Thank you so much for your kind reviews and support! It really motivated me to write the chapter! :D

Tons and tons and tons of thanks to HelAuditore for betaing this chapter! You're a sweetheart!

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Chapter 3

Leaving the luggage next to the bed, Ace headed out the room, smiling to himself. He'd been waiting for Sanji to arrive since the moment they planned the whole trip four months ago. And the last week had passed in pure agony, every minute stretched to feel like hours. Nothing distracted him from thinking about finally meeting Sanji. He had cleaned his apartment four times last week and again in the morning, he had thought and thought about where he wanted to take Sanji for the week that they would be spending in LA. Ace lived here but somehow the city seemed a lot more interesting since he started planning trips for himself and Sanji.

Luffy had noticed his excitement. He had been pestering Ace to tell him what was up but Ace had managed to change the topic after avoiding it for a while. He had not told his family about his sexuality, he knew Garp wouldn't take it well. Cool as his grandfather was, the man was still old school and Ace could respect that. Though not telling Luffy was tough, he was sure his brother knew on some level but he was not comfortable with being out in the open about it yet. Sabo knew, but then he did walk in on Ace being fucked to oblivion one day, it hadn't been Ace's choice. He had kept the secret though, he'd been very supportive and helpful too. Ace had no clue where he was now, he was rumoured to be a part of an untracked hacking team called The Revelation.

And due to that, no-one in his family knew that he was in love, that he had met someone who understood him to his very core and supported him, kept him strong and it pained him. He had thought, at first, that it would pose an issue in their relationship when Ace didn't tell his family or friends about Sanji, but the blonde had been surprisingly understanding and said that he would never force Ace to come out till he was ready. He had even told Ace that he wouldn't tell his family about Ace if that would make him comfortable. The support had been overwhelming and Ace had fallen asleep that night listening to Sanji's mellow voice and warm hums. He remembered waking up the next day to tons of kiss and heart emojis on his whatsapp.

Heart fluttering to the memory, Ace returned to his drawing room and saw Sanji checking out his small collection of books and DVDs. Once he had taken his jacket off, he looked slimmer… though the blue tee shirt he was wearing had creased due to the journey. Realising he hadn't even offered the blonde any water, Ace hurried to the kitchen and filled two glasses of cool water, grabbed a bottle from the fridge and set the three contents on a tray. He carried them out to the drawing room, seeing Sanji holding "My Fair Lady" in his hand, as he read the summary.

"That's probably my favorite classic." Ace grinned, setting the tray on the table in front of the sofa before walking over to Sanji. "Have you seen it?"

"No," Sanji answered, smiling up at Ace, handing him the DVD, "but it sounds interesting. Let's watch it tonight."

"Aren't you tired?" Ace asked, setting the disc on the TV and pulling Sanji closer, settling his hands on the toned waist.

Sanji shrugged, his own hands coming up to grab Ace's tee shirt near his chest, feeling the muscle underneath and looking down, a little distracted with how taut he felt… he looked up again into Ace's eyes, gazing into the dark brown, flickering down the soft freckled thin nose to the mildly parched tanned lips.

Ace watched Sanji's eyes dart to his lips and controlled the urge to lick them, pulling Sanji a little closer, smiling when the gaze returned to his eyes. He saw warmth in Sanji's beautiful blue eyes, saw the tiredness in them. Saw how the black in his eyes subtly increased. Leaning in, he was gifted with small, soft kisses very close to his lips, setting off a flurry of tingles up his brain and butterflies in his stomach while his heart beat faster.

Humming and tilting his head, he caught the next kiss on his lips, eyes closing on instinct. Sanji's grip on him tightened as he sighed into it, letting Ace suck on his lower lip. Ace tasted the faint mint toothpaste that Sanji used, and licked on Sanji's lip, first outside and then slowly sliding his tongue further in, the tip meeting Sanji's.

Sanji felt Ace's tongue meet his, feeling the wet texture and tasting the tangy taste of saliva on him. He closed his lips around the muscle and sucked it softly, flicking his tongue over it, feeling his cheeks tickle with more warmth when he heard Ace inhale sharply. Bringing his teeth together, he trapped Ace between them and pulled back, feeling the hold on his waist tighten, letting his teeth brush the tip before letting go and giving it a final lick and kiss.

"I love you too..." He said.

He felt the other man smile against him and opened his eyes as Ace whispered "forever.'

Ace still had his eyes closed, and his face was radiating warmth, the smile on his face highlighted some of the freckles while his hair touched his right cheek and a part of his face was shadowed while the other reflected the light. He looked... Angelic.

Grinning automatically, Sanji placed a kiss on Ace's smiling lips and then snaked his arms around his broad chest, setting his head on the shoulder, feeling Ace's hair tickle him softly. One of Ace's hands came up to rub Sanji's head and the other held his waist as he too hid his face in the blonde's hair.

000

Bonney was not cooperating. Zoro glared at the lady, sick of her immaturity and willing to punch her in the face and smack all the piercings off it. He was holding back because Nami would end up banging his head against the wall for it. She always said that Zoro was short tempered and needed to practice self control, Zoro held the same opinion of her.

Bonney glared back, clearly not interested in talking to him. She had been told that she would be allowed to go back to Sanji after the last question but that had caused a series of further interrogations and it irked her. She needed to go to Sanji. Why couldn't they hold the interview in the ward?

Nami sighed, looking between the two while Usopp sat next to her, his drawing board and pencil in hand, looking quite interested in the scene. He added another stroke to his page, the scratching tone of pencil against paper the only sound in the room. He had been called up fifteen minutes ago by Zoro, who wanted him to draw a sketch of two men and a woman Bonney would describe.

The lady, however, was refusing to even speak and Usopp had decided to doodle the funny scene he was witnessing… He would add it to his sketchbook.

"Alright," Nami suddenly spoke, fist coming to bang on the table as she sat up straight, "you need to speak. Tell us the details and we let you go back to Sanji. Why are you being so unhelpful?"

Bonney turned to look at Nami, her eyes holding the officer's gaze in a cold stare. "You can continue this in the ward, can't you? It's you who is being unreasonable."

Behind the two sided mirror, Johnny and Yosaku mentally disagreed. How were they supposed to record a session in the ward? Plus it would get too congested and the statements could have been framed by that time.

"We cannot." Nami said, "I'm sorry Ms. Bonney but your brother's health is not exactly the best. Crowding the room can cause a problem. And Dr. Tony would never allow it."

Bonney looked at her long and hard before looking away to the opposite wall, obviously still sticking to her decision.

"Why you..." Zoro was standing and had held Bonney's tank top, pulling her off the chair to stand and glared into her eyes. Both chairs grated against the hard floor as Bonney was manhandled and Usopp shrieked in surprise. But there was not a hint of panic or surprise in Bonney's eyes. No, she was looking at him with confidence and warning, her own hands coming up to grab his shirt collar. They were separated by the table in between them and Usopp was sure that given a chance, Bonney would slam Zoro's head into it.

"No!" Nami too got on her feet and had a controlling grip on Zoro's shoulder, "don't you dare." She growled.

Zoro glared at her, still holding Bonney, "she needs a thrashing."

"She is not a suspect. Let her go. Now." Nami's voice was strong, authority resonating.

Zoro took a second then let the lady go, pushing her as he did. Surprisingly, she didn't stumble back and released her hold on Zoro too, breathing heavily, her hair falling down her temporary bun and hanging haphazardly in a messy knot.

"Fine," Zoro rounded at Nami, "you deal with her then." He picked his coat from behind the chair and stormed out, the front of his grey shirt a crumpled mess.

"Out." Nami snapped at Usopp who looked at her indignantly but complied nonetheless.

Once the door was closed, Nami turned to Bonney, "being a lady, I expected you to be more intelligent. But you refuse to act as a grown up."

Bonney shrugged and pulled her chair forward and sat down on it again, elbows resting on the desk, forearms crossed, "you all don't seem like a bunch of grown ups either." She said, keeping her gaze locked with Nami.

Nami held her tongue, looking at the lady. She understood what she was going through and knew that Zoro did too. But he was a little prick and often disregarded emotions as distractions. This lady - Bonney had lost her brother three years ago. It might have been difficult for her to cope up, to adjust with the feeling of losing her sibling. And by the sounds of it, her father too. There was no way a girl who faced such circumstances wouldn't be stubborn, strong and independent.

Suddenly being told that her brother was alive, and seeing him all beat up at the police hospital... The girl was probably caught amidst a turmoil of emotions and Nami was surprised he still kept her head.

Shaking her head, she walked over to the water cooler and filled two plastic cups with chilled water. She approached Bonney and held out one for her. Bonney looked at it, biting the inside of her lip once before her eyes followed Nami's muscled arm, up her long neck and strong jaw to her deep dark hazel eyes.

Something in her ticked when she saw the softness in them and she pursed her lips together before nodding and taking the cup, drinking as if it was a shot. The tickle of cool water down her parched throat comforted her and made her eyes prickle. Blinking, she kept the empty cup on the table only to see Nami holding out the second for her too. Licking her lips, she grabbedtook it and took a decent sip.

Nami walked around her and picked up a seat, setting it next to Bonney so that both of them were on the same side of the desk. She sat down on it, breathing out heavily through her nose, her legs set slightly apart and arms crossed over her chest.

"Your father..?" She spoke, softly.

Bonney stared at her hands that were holding the cup, biting on her lip. She looked so grieved… Nami controlled her instinct to console the girl, letting her take her time.

Bonney saw the still water in her cup, transparent and clean. She remembered that day just the same…

"Dad! I'm home." Bonney entered her house, calling out to her father. She had to stay a bit longer at work and her battery had died. She had hoped Zeff wouldn't worry too much. It was eleven thirty and she was hungry.

She took off her coat and hung it on the hanger set at the entrance. The house seemed quite… Empty. It always did now... ever since Sanji… Sighing and wanting to distract herself, Bonney headed to the kitchen while checking her messages.

"You won't believe what these two thieves did today," she spoke aloud, swiftly going through the whatsapp group messages, checking to see something of importance. "They stole this lady's cat and demanded her to give them 2000 CAD in return."

She entered the kitchen and looked up, expecting to see Zeff reading the newspaper or Twilight. He rarely talked to her anymore.. Always immersed in the paper or that book Sanji loved. He didn't cook anymore either. And he had lost weight… Bonney had a hard time in forcing him to eat.

But he wasn't there… Bonney set her phone aside on the counter, noting the untouched tea she had left him that afternoon.

"Dad?" She called again, walking into the corridor again. She started climbing up the stairs, keeping the feeling of dread at bay, gulping hard as she climbed up the stairs, he was probably asleep. He usually slept by 12 but maybe he was tired.

The cup of tea flashed through her mind and she hurried her steps, "Dad?" Her voice quivered, "Dad!?" She ran to his room and opened his bedroom door.

The sheets were not touched, there was no one sleeping on the bed or any sign of struggle.

"Dad!?" She gasped, turning around and checking the bathroom - empty. Her bedroom - empty. Sanji's bedroom - empty.

Fear gripped her heart, the hold strong as she shook her head to remove the thoughts flooding her head.

Where could he be? Where could he be? Where could he have gone? He would have replied if he heard Bonney calling out to him so many times, right? She stumbled down the stairs, her whole body shaking, legs barely listening to her and wanting to jam up on the spot. She headed to the library, holding onto hope when she opened it but it was empty.

Backing out the room and setting her jaw together, she rushed to the back porch - empty.

Empty.

The house was empty.

Maybe he went to the market… Maybe he felt like cooking. It was Bonney's fault.. She was late… She usually cooked when she came home.. He probably got hungry.

Bonney watched the water in the cup ripple as her hands shook. She hadn't found him. That night, or the next or the one a month later. The police had no leads. The car had not been taken but his wallet was gone.

The only consolation through all the turmoil was that they didn't find Zeff's body either. It was the only thing that Bonney clung to. The only thing that kept her strung together.

But it didn't ease the fact that Bonney had been left alone… Her brother snatched away and her father left on his own, abandoning her, without a word.

"He left," Bonney heard the same quiver that she heard in her voice that day. She gritted her teeth together, ignoring the prick in her eyes, trying to control herself, "he left one day and didn't come back."

Nami was silent for a few second, watching Bonney trying to control her tears.

"That must have been painful." She said softly.

Bonney nodded, her vision blurring as she pressed her lips together, feeling the pressure build at the back of her head.

"You're not the only one."

Bonney looked up at Nami, blinking, tears finally leaving her eyes as she looked at the officer, confused.

Nami's heart broke when she saw the agony in the blue eyes. She reached out, covering the cold shivering hands in her warm ones. Bonney was biting hard on the inside of her bottom lips, Nami could see her trying to avoid further tears.

"It seems like Sanji was kidnapped and forced to be a part of a drug and prostitution ring." Nami started, keeping her eyes fixed on Bonney's. "It broke your family."

"And believe me, Bonney… Yours is not the only one. As we speak, more people - young girls, young men… Are being kidnapped or drugged. Families will keep falling. The fact that Sanji is alive and all the evidence was framed, means that someone from our own system is a part of it. We need your help and Sanji's to catch them. The two names you mentioned are of high ranking officials here. If they actually are a part of this... Then action needs to be taken."

00

Picking the last piece of Grilled chicken with his fork, Sanji watched Eliza Doolittle trying to improve her phonetics as she tried speaking tongue twisters and ended up setting her page on fire. The fork shook in his hand as he laughed too hard and Ace was in a similar state next to him, though he had finished his food sooner and now had his arm resting behind Sanji on the sofa head, his hair tied up, keeping it from falling on his face.

Ace had insisted on Sanji to freshen up while he finished cooking their dinner.. About half an hour later, Ace put on My Fair Lady on the DVD player for Sanji and set up the food on the rectangular coffee table. He had offered wine but Sanji preferred juice.

Right now, hours later, Sanji was lazily lounging on the couch, his legs thrown over one of Ace's and enjoying his food and the other man's warmth.

Sanji sniggered as the scene passed onto the next and leant forward to set his empty plate on the table and then sitting back, shifting so that his side was pressed against Ace and adjusted his legs to be more comfortable while still resting on the brunette who finally moved his hand from the sofa to pull Sanji closer.

Smiling, Sanji rested his head on Ace's shoulder, noticing how muscled it was. Snaking his arms around Ace's waist, he continued to watch the movie with content. It wasn't long before he was drifting off, the movie making lesser sense and one scene playing over and over in front of his eyes, though what the characters said became incomprehensible with every repeat. It was very confusing.

He felt Ace rub his arm and blinked, not realising when he had closed his eyes. Wasn't he just watching a very confusing scene in the movie? But the TV was off and Ace was talking to him softly in his ear, "you want to move to the bedroom now?"

Humming, Sanji nodded but instead of getting up, just hugged Ace tighter and snuggled further into him, turning his face away from the blank screen to rest close to the brunette's neck, eyes closing again. It was warm… Sanji could feel Ace's beating pulse on his forehead and the warmth soaked its way into him.

"Ace?" he whispered.

"Sanji?" Ace replied, the words vibrating through his neck to Sanji, his hand holding the blonde closer.

Sanji didn't know what to say, he just wanted to take Ace's name. Realising how sappy he was being, he blushed.

This was so embarrassing.

"Mm… I'm sleepy." He murmured, glad that Ace couldn't see him.

"Yes, you are." Ace chuckled. Sanji could hear the laugh in his voice and grinned to himself.

"I don't wanna move though!" he whined.

"You want me to carry you bridal style?"

That gave Sanji a good push to leave his laziness behind and he opened his eyes and raised his head a little to pout at Ace, while the other man grinned at him, "Neow."

Ace laughed and pulled Sanji closer, placing a hard kiss on Sanji's forehead before releasing him and clapping him on his back. "Alright, up you get."

Sighing, Sanji sat up straight, detaching himself from Ace with much regret. The central cooling hit him the moment he was separated from Ace's body and he wanted to wrap himself around the older man again. He lifted his legs off Ace but he had barely set them down before Ace had swooped his arm under his knees while the other wrapped around Sanji's waist.

Sanji gasped and a small yelp escaped him as Ace stood up in one fluid motion with Sanji in his arms, flailing to wrap his arms around Ace to keep himself from falling as Ace moved.

"I hate you," Sanji mumbled, not meaning a word of it. He was happy to be close to Ace again and was not going to complain. Grinning, he leaned in to kiss Ace's cheek as the man walked out the drawing room to the corridor.

"Your words and actions are contradictory." Ace grinned as he turned to lean against his bedroom door and sliding in when it gave way. Instead of helping Sanji onto the bed though, he headed to the bathroom. Once inside, he let Sanji down to stand in front of the mirror and sink.

"Brush before sleep." He said and handed Sanji a new toothbrush.

"Okay, mom." Sanji intoned, receiving a snort from Ace as he squeezed out the offered paste on the bristles.

The two brushed their teeth in silence, Ace finishing first. After cleansing his mouth, he walks out to set the bed. He lifts the bed cover and dusts the bedsheet. He then takes out the comforter from the sliding panel of the bed and lays it neatly on the bed and fluffs the pillows. Happy with his work, he goes out the room to switch off all the lights and lock the doors and windows,turn off the gas and carried back two chilled water bottles to his room.

Sanji is already sitting on the bed, legs hidden under the comforter when he arrives and is typing on his phone. He looks up when Ace entered the room and closed the door behind him.

"I forgot to ask you, when did you give Bonney your number?" He asked.

"About three years ago." Ace said, setting the bottles on his bedside desk. "I thought you knew?"

"No, it was a surprise." Sanji says, returning to his screen. Ace guesses that Sanji is texting his sister then. It's probably a couple of hours past midnight in Toronto. "Does she talk to you often?"

Ace shrugged as he slipped out of his slippers and got under the comforter as well, "We talk once in awhile. She's really cool." he turned to lie on his side, pulling the tie holding his hair to let it fall freely, away from his face before tugging his hands under the covers, one coming up to rest in the space between Sanji and him.

Locking his phone, Sanji let it fall on the bed next to him and lay down comfortably, facing Ace, bringing his hand up to rest on his.

They remained silent for a few seconds, just looking at each other.

"So." Sanji said, a little nervous. He had longed to be with Ace for ages and now that he was, he was a little angry with himself for getting nervous every few seconds.

Of course he and Ace had discussed this multiple times. Ace had always told Sanji that they would never rush into anything. But Sanji felt that waiting for four years was sure to give the man reasons to rush. He himself felt that his nervousness and tension levels would fall a bit if things just happened between them asap.

A gentle stroke on his cheek broke his chain of thought and he blinked Ace's face into focus again. The man was looking at Sanji with a curious smile on his face, "what are you thinking?" He asked, retracting his hand now that Sanji was back with him.

"Uh.." Sanji speculated about sharing his thoughts.

Ace shifted closer to Sanji, leaning up to rest on his elbow, "tell me." He prodded.

"I… Don't you wanna…" Sanji started, a little uncomfortable in saying it out loud.

Ace's brows scrunched for a few seconds, trying to understand what Sanji was saying before he seemed to understand and he looked at Sanji sharply.

"Do you?" He asked.

Sanji tucked his lower lip in between his teeth and let his gaze fall. Ace scooted into Sanji's space and lay down, wrapping his free arm around Sanji over the comforter, pulling him closer. Sanji went with it, still not looking up. His throat was locking up and eyes prickling.

Ace directed Sanji's head to lay on the arm under him and bent slightly to place his lips on the blonde head.

"Sanji?" Ace said, "what's wrong, babe? We've discussed this before, haven't we?"

Sanji nodded, his hand coming up to hug Ace back, "I just... If you want to do it, I can try," he muttered out, thickly.

"Shut up." Ace hugged him even closer, "I love you because of who you are. Sex doesn't have anything to do with it."

Sanji shifts, leg working under the comforter to nudge its way between Ace's legs. He sniffed, feeling a couple of tears leave him. He had come out to Ace as a somewhat asexual - side gay about two months after they started talking. The man was surprisingly unconcerned about it.

"It's not a big deal, I guess. Why are you so nervous about it?" He had said.

Right now, Sanji felt mildly ashamed. They had discussed this before. Sanji rarely got turned on and when he did, he didn't like anal sex - in any form. He had been shamed for it by his previous partners or guilt tripped into actually participating. It was always painful and a huge trigger to lower his self esteem.

Ace had never done that. He had been clear about it since the very beginning. He was not going to force Sanji into anything that he wasn't in the mood for. His attraction towards Sanji was not limited to his physical form. He had said that though Sanji was probably the most handsome guy he had ever seen, it was his nature that attracted him and he would do nothing that would hurt him, ever.

He felt Ace's thumb wipe a tear track from his face, "relax." He said, and pressed his body full against Sanji, fingers combing through blonde hair, lips speaking comfort. It wasn't till a couple of minutes later that Sanji realised how tense his body was. He began to loosen his muscles, feeling his eyes drying up. Ace was still talking in his ear, telling him that he is perfect, and doesn't need to overthink. They finally met, they need to enjoy, not worry about things.

Sanji nods into Ace's neck, and tilts his head a little upward to give the brunette a quick kiss under his jaw. Ace chuckles softly before pulling back a little and kissing hard on Sanji's forehead, long and hard enough to make Sanji laugh and tell Ace to stop.

"Love you," Ace reveres, still not stopping.

Blushing and content, the words are pouring out of his mouth before Sanji can even stop them, "love you more."

That lead to a competition of who loves the other more and how immeasurable it is, interrupted by occasional yawns and ended with Ace snoring mid sentence after a few minutes and Sanji gazing at his face for a few minutes, before he switched off the side lamps and fell asleep listening to the barely audible snores, wrapped underneath warmth and love.

000

Zoro looked through the two way mirror as Bonney finished describing Ace's face to Usopp and confirming the sketch that the artist made. Nami rubbed the lady on her back in comfort and the pink haired girl looked at her and smiled for a second before looking back at Usopp.

She looked like she had aged years since he saw her yesterday. He didn't blame her. The woman was actually surprisingly strong but he definitely wouldn't want to be in her shoes. He watched as Nami picked up the sketch and looked at the mirror, like she knew that Zoro was watching.

Eyebrow raised, Zoro pressed the microphone option and talked into it, "yes?"

Nami heard him through the earpiece and flipped the sketch, presenting Zoro with a charcoal sketch of an all too familiar face.

"Okay." He said, into the mic and Nami set the paper back on the desk.

Zoro looked down to his right, watching the surprise on the face of his Captain.

Luffy had been looking for his brother for three years, without success... Who could have thought that a drug bust would give them clues?

To Be Continued...

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