Work Text:
Icy waters weren't the favorite of many sailors to grace the New World, but there was one young man that wouldn't trade them for a thousand days in the summer seas. Laying with his head close to the porthole, Ace could hear the gentle knocks of ice against the wood of the Moby. She broke through icebergs easily, sending the echoes of crackling ice through the quiet halls of the commanders quarters; although that wasn't the only sound in the hallway that night.
Footsteps-- gentle and slow, as if the person tiptoeing closer didn't want to admit they were making this trip. Didn't want to admit they were cold.
His door creaked open equally as slow, moonlight revealing the intruder. Ace couldn't stifle his laughter.
“New record, if you ask me.” Blankets pulled aside, he grabbed the man's favorite pillow and began to give it a good fluff.
Marco scoffed, kicking off his shoes and nudging them towards Ace's boots for the night.
“Jozu offered to take over my post early!” A defensive reply as he dove towards the bed, landing in a gentle roll and a bright flash of light. “I'm here because I'm your boyfriend.”
Ace laughed and shook his head. As smart as the man was, he never put together why the others were so adamant about him staying in from the cold.
“You're here because you're cold.”
The door opened again as the two got settled, Marco muttering about being plenty warm on his own (while burying his head in the crook of Ace's neck). A few thumps of clothing and a long sigh, the smell of cigars and long nights spent peeling onions and potatoes.
Thatch knew the bird on the bed was his commander, a man he held a great deal of respect and admiration for, but he was just a human and Marco was a very cute bird. He reached down, ruffling the feathers atop his head.
“Hard to take orders from you sometimes when I know you look like this.”
Ace could only laugh, adjusting his position so Thatch could get comfortable under the covers. He closed his eyes, one arm around Thatch, the other stretched above his head. Marco snuggled in his usual spot in the corner, his head cradled perfectly in the space between Ace and Thatch.
Sleep had begun to take them away when the door opened a third time, long enough that the mystery guest could stare at the bed and judge what was happening first. Deciding it was safe, the door shut again.
Ace thought that the intruder had left until the corner of the bed dipped down and suddenly a petite figure had flopped unceremoniously atop him.
“I feel pain just like you,” Ace wheezed, laughing and having to remind his brain for the millionth time the weight wasn't Luffy. “please respect the heater.”
“Sorry.” Haruta barely repressed their laughter, pressing their face greedily against his chest; much like a lizard discovering a hot patch of sand for the first time. “Its a complimeeeent.”
Ace was about to say that Luffy had once tried to claim the same thing about his hugs being much too tight, but the sound of the door opening and closing quickly made him stop.
Counting the people around him like a mother duck, Ace wondered who would be next. Most other people would be asleep by this point, and Kotatsu was already in his room.
The covers shifted and his mystery guest slid in beside him, wrapping one arm around his torso (he could have sworn he felt Thatch reaching to meet him), head taking up the last bit of real estate on his chest.
The smell of gunpowder tickled his nose.
“I thought you said you could outlast any cold--”
“I did not say that.”
“-you've slept in the coldest snowy mountains-”
“You are making up lies about me again!”
“-that no cold could ever reach you into your deepest soul-- OW HEY-!” Ace had found his cheek pinched older brother style in Izo's bandaged hand, unable to keep himself from laughing.
“Shut it, cowboy!” Even with his annoyance, it was impossible to wring Izo’s words dry of the paternal feelings he held. He was right; a childhood in the snowy hills of Ringo made icy waters comfortable for him.
It wasn't the cold that brought him here, after all.
He sighed and rubbed the man's cheek, quickly shutting down Ace's demands that he kiss the wound and curling back up beside him. Thatch once again was there to meet him and lace their fingers together, much like otters that didn't want to lose each other in the open water.
The room returned to its usual near silence; Kotatsu purring in the corner, echoes of the broken ice in the water outside and Haruta's soft snoring. Ace fought sleep away for just a few moments more, savoring the moment as he had it.
No, many sailors would scoff at the idea of enjoying ice filled waters. But for Ace, it drove his loved ones closer in search of warmth.
And well, that's just not something he would change for all the treasure in the world.