#AARRRGGHHGH CLUTCHES HEAD

[kunikame]

please excuse me for a moment.

↳ devotion of a contrarian

character: ace trappola

a/n: shout out to natsume who is starving for ace content so i am biting her head and feeding her <3 anyways @kunikame

warnings: fem!reader implications

When was the last time he could remember seeing her smile at him in an unadulterated manner? In a way that he did not have to wonder if there was a secret message behind such a movement? Perhaps it was when they were really little, blissfully unaware of what life was going to prepare for them.

"Catch me if you can!"

"Ace, if I do, you'll act like you weren't playing. I'm faster than you."

"Oh yeah? Prove it! Let's race right now!" The best way teachers could describe him was a precocious boy. The kids around him said he was popular and the fastest runner in their grade. But he didn't care what anyone else had to say: his eyes stayed on his princess.

The princess was not someone to mess with, not because you were scary, but due to the fact that you would not hesitate to make anyone eat dust for trying to challenge you, competitive as you were. Ace could only think about that gleam in your eye, the promise he made of proposing a legitimate challenge for you to conquer.

And conquer it you did, like always. Ace didn't know what went over him, but every time, when he played tag with others, he'd win. But with you, it was different. Unless it was a class sport and they were team captains on opposite ends; that was when they'd tear each other apart in what can only be described as two shooting stars, combined and falling together.

He loved teasing you, loved seeing how you rolled your eyes and walked away from him. However, the tiny smile tugging at the corner of your lips told him that you liked the challenge. He consistently kept teasing you, the two of you poking and prodding each other to annoy the other. In reality, it was like a subtle action, one in which the two of you were at a mutual understanding for at least a couple of moments.

It was never meant to stay as such, however. You were a princess. He was nobody. He was not a lord or a prince, not a duke or even someone from the High Court. He was a lowly commoner who had gotten mercy from the princess that did not know any better. And yet, even then, he'd always receive letters at night from weary-looking birds that flapped their wings inside his room, gave him his letter, and made a beeline for the exit to sleep.

Each letter was simple at the beginning, merely stating how your day went, what they were teaching at the royal academy, the occasional sarcastic remark about him that was merely an inside joke between the two of them. He always liked these jabs at him, it made him remember that the princess was not just his princess, you were his princess.

The years went by, your letters exchanged. The writing grew more mature based on the eloquent sentences, mixed with a bit of lighthearted taunting. He hadn't told you that he was planning to try out for one of the knights, particularly your own knight. At a certain age, all royals required a knight of their own to be around for a long time and he would be that knight.

He was dedicated to the craft but if anyone asked him about it, he would deny any allegations that it was due to the princess. He only worried a bit when he realized that technically speaking, he did not know you as well anymore. They had only been linked through letters. Was it enough? Would you still cherish him?

These worries just made him train harder until he was officially elected as your knight. It was the most glorious job he could have: protecting you in public, joking with you in private. He loved it. He loved the invigorating feeling of affability that came with the presence of his princess. His princess, the same one who hung the stars in his eyes.

In the present day, he was stuck, however. The slight yearning feeling when he saw her, smiling brightly at other nobles in a way that he would never be able to have. The princess, who only shows your true self to him, but still manages to leave him astounded with the beginning of a teasing taunt on his lips. The princess, who in the gloominess of the winter skies, shows him the beauty of your summer eyes.

Ace was perched by the entrance, his scarlet eyes a mirror for those who merely moved past him. He could not care less of those royals that left the premises, they were not important to him. But he watched as his princess waltzed in the halls. Your dance was something out of a dream, and yet, you just had to be paired up with nobles who danced as if they were going to collapse if they did not move with speed belonging to a maniac. He watched painfully as these people dragged you around and you had to hide how she really felt behind a mask.

It was torture to watch you dance and him not being the one to hold you close.

"You know, you shouldn't be staring so much. You're too obvious." His fellow guard, Deuce, was a model knight, never slacking off no matter who it was for. Ace only served you, no one else so what did it matter to try and protect the others?

"No one's going to notice. For all the other royals care, we're dead to them until they need us to protect them from some stupid assassin."

"Our duty--"

"Is our duty. Jeez, Juice, do you never get tired of repeating the same line over and over again? You're sounding like Riddle."

Deuce squinted at him, crossing his arms. "Our captain is right. If it wasn't for us following the rules, we wouldn't be in the position of protecting the princess."

With his chin in his hand, Ace's eyes wandered back to the princess and how you glided across the ballroom floor. There was something hidden behind those pretty eyes of yours, clearly disdain for your dance partner. He hesitated before he decided to do the dumbest thing he could have possibly done as your knight. He carefully moved over to you, asking for permission to dance with you. "May I?"

"Of course." You said, formally solely to keep up the act of peering eyes from those who were searching for gossip. Of course, what was better gossip than the princess dancing with her own knight?

"You truly suck at dancing." Ace grinned at you as he held one of your hands in his, the other gently on your waist. The waltz he led was one that the two of you fell into so easily. It was the very same one that he had taught you in the whispers of the dark, the silence of the night. The same waltz that encouraged the yearning of a kiss, yet detained by their roles.

Even now, you could not help yourself from making a remark. "Seems like the teacher doesn't know his own course. You taught me this, remember?"

"Ah yes, but unlike you, I can actually do it well. If my waltzing was a class, you would have failed."

"You wouldn't even pass the test to become a teacher."

Your friendly bickering was the norm and if it did not happen, that would usually mean something was wrong. Ace did not remember the last time he saw your tears; nevertheless, the dreaded event happened about a month after the ball. He had been ready to serve you that day, to joke around with you. But he had seen how you isolated yourself, how cold you were. The iciness of your tone could have frozen him and yet he only felt the warmth of his adoration for you.

"What's wrong?" He sat carefully next to you, a hand on your back. He knew your subtle signs of when you were upset, and today it was more obvious. "Don't lie to me. I know when you're lying."

You looked up at your ceiling, inhaling before speaking. "I have been betrothed to someone I do not know."

Ace could feel everything around him shatter. Was it the earth shaking or was it him? Perhaps the earth was preparing to swallow him whole. No, it was worse. He saw a glimmer of your tears on your cheeks as you quickly moved to hide. Your voice held so much pain and anguish that it tore him to shreds, wanting nothing more than to help, to contribute to the joy that you should be feeling. Without your smile, no matter how sunny it was outside, he would only feel the world's darkness. "When did you find out?"

"Yesterday night."

"Why didn't you tell me?" He whispered, carefully moving beside you. His rambunctious demeanor slipped away, in place was the Ace who was always prepared to do whatever it took to see your happiness again.

You could feel your throat burn as you looked at him. "How was I supposed to say it? 'Oh, hey, Ace, by the way, I am getting married to a man I don't know and I have to choose my dress because the king says so, but hey, what's for lunch?'"

As if on cue, the king had ordered for him to go to his throne room, where he would receive a new mission. When he left you behind, his limbs went numb, unfeeling, like his own heart did. Strange. His symbol was that of a living heart that held up even through the worst times. So why was his own being crushed by a void he could never get out of?

His new mission, according to the king, was to protect your soon-to-be husband. Ace's face dropped. He would never be able to do that. His loyalty was to you, not to anyone else. To make matters worse, he would have to protect the man who stole you from him, the man who stole any possibility of him being with you.

But maybe not.

Ace knew it wasn't time for his rounds yet so he snuck into your room from the window. The rain pelted at his face, blinding him; however, he was led to you only through the notion of what he had in mind.

When you opened the window, you gasped. "Ace, what the hell are you doing? It's raining hard outside!"

He didn't waste any time grasping your hands. His were cold and so were yours. In the coldness bloomed a fervor that both individuals hid from each other. His words were rushed too. "Run away with me."

"What?!"

His voice was in his throat, but for the first time in forever, you could finally see the love he had hidden away. The love that he had for you was one you would never obtain in your arranged marriage. It was the same love that he had harbored for you since elementary school. "As a knight, I am to follow orders, no matter if I see fit or not. I am not going to protect a man who I will never respect. My loyalty is to you. It always has been."

"Ace, I--"

"No, listen to me for once. There is no me if you do not exist. Every single star in the universe could collapse, but you will always be the one that I will see. I do not care if I never see the sun, your eyes show me the sun, the moon, and the skies. Not a single flower will ever bloom if it does not have you amongst them. Princess...who am I, if I do not have you to love? I don't fear anything, except living the rest of my life without the feeling you give me. I never wish to be parted from you from this day on. Please, run away with me."

His words were the most serious and desperate they ever were with you. How much he loved you all these years came rushing to you at once. You could never be separated from him, not now, not ever. There were so many sacrifices you'd make before you would be apart from him. No other options were good enough for you, because it would always be him. It was always Ace.

There was one choice to make and it was yours.