Chapter 8: Opening Up
I blew it! I totally made her uncomfortable! I don’t know why the hell I did that!
Ace!
She’s your partner, not mine. I should have known better than–
Ace!! You’re coming completely undone. Calm down, it’s not a big deal.
It feels like a big deal.
“For a while? Ah…” Sabo closed his eyes as they walked and he sighed. “Koala, I’m sorry. Ace feels like he made a mess of things.”
Koala ran her hand through her hair “Ace feels like…” She tugged her fingers through it with a sharp laugh. “Geeze, Sabo, I’M the one who made a big mess of things!”
She made a mess of things? Ace protested. She didn’t do anything wrong. I’m the jerk here!
Sabo shook his head. “I’m still putting together what happened but I don’t think either of you made a mess. I think you’re both just being silly. Why don’t we save it to talk about until we’ve got somewhere private? because I’m tempted to dump Ace right on top of you again to solve this.”
Koala looked around with her wide eyes as she felt her heart rate pick up again. “Y-yeah uhm…let’s get back somewhere private, please. This isn’t the sort of conversation people need to overhear.”
Sabo leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. “No it isn’t. But I’ll let them overhear me compliment your dancing. You should dance with me sometime soon.”
What a ridiculous situation he had somehow found himself in. Playing mediator for an awkward date between his long time partner and his long lost brother. Who was sharing his body. This was not the sort of adventure he’d imagined as a little boy.
I’m sorry.
Oh shut up! I didn’t say it was a bad adventure. Just that I didn’t expect it.
He was glad at least that he knew Ace could feel the wave of exasperated affection that he wafted in his direction of their mind.
Koala was about to jitter herself apart. Her whole body felt filled with bees as she bustled around their rented bedroom, cheap but comfortable, and fell into the same old routine of tidying the place up more than the owners had to get it ready for them. Folding blankets to distract herself—checking the pillows to keep from thinking about how she was going to approach this.
She was sure it looked bad from the outside.
It must have, because after he’d shed his coat and hat, Sabo came up behind her and folded his arms around her, resting his chin on her shoulder. “Koala…”
“Eeep!” she squeaked as she fell back against him with an awkward grin. “…Sabo, this place is a mess. I’m just getting it livable before we talk.”
“You say that, and Ace might believe you, but I know you well enough to know you’re giving yourself busy work, dear.” He kissed over her jaw and ear. “Come on, cuddle with me and we’ll talk.”
“Alright—” Koala sighed and turned to loop her arms around him. The fluttery feeling of his kisses were a comfort— she did love physical affection— and she let herself be eased down into the bed.
“I didn’t mean to get him upset, you know.”
“Tch, you didn’t upset him, dear, he upset himself.” He tugged her into the room’s narrow bed– just about big enough for the two of them without either of them falling off, and he nuzzled against her. “He thinks he overstepped.”
She nuzzled back against him, both arms looping around him to draw him even closer as she huffed out a soft sigh. He thought he overstepped— it was a natural conclusion from the way she froze up in a panic.
But that was the opposite of the problem. She flushed, and buried her face against Sabo. “He didn’t overstep, I–I mean…he tried to kiss me and I just got …”
Sabo petted her hair. “You got what, dear? Flustered? I’m going to guess flustered. Maybe confused?”
“I got really flustered,” she murmured. “and I froze up, Sabo. Even if I wanted to close the gap.”
“Well, that’s understandable, I think?” Sabo said softly. “Ace was absolutely sure he did something wrong. He was being melodramatic about it.”
“From how I’m getting to know him, that’s hardly a surprise!” Koala groaned as she thunked her head against his chest. “Please, please, please tell him he didn’t do anything wrong, Sabo!”
He petted her hair gently as she thumped against his chest. “He’s still ‘awake’ enough to hear you himself, despite what he said about being ‘tired’. I’m half tempted to wrestle him up here but I’d rather not make it any more awkward for the both of you than it already seems to have gotten.”
Koala gently thumped her head against him again, as she thought through the whole thing. That was what she was feeling, wasn’t it? Attraction, and then now—sadness and frustration that she let herself get too worked up in the moment.
“It got pretty bad,”she murmured. “But I can fix it, Sabo.”
“I know you can, dear. Ace’s a bit of an idiot, and I know you can handle idiots. You’ve always handled me just fine.”
“I always have, indeed!” Koala looked up and into his eyes with a small smile. The problem was there was so much unknown—this whole situation was so unexpected and new. She’d always been good at adapting—but, this was something new.
She had to admit it— even if a part of her thought it was coming on too quick she was attracted to the man who’d taken up residence inside Sabo’s heart. He was charming, fun— and she’d almost leaned into that kiss before that hesitance inside her froze her in indecision.
But there was so much she didn’t know. Sabo and Ace seemed close, closer than they’d said straightforwardly—and what did Sabo think of this situation?? What would he think?
She swallowed thickly before she murmured. “Hey Sabo can I ask you something?”
He cocked his head, warm, dark eyes trained on her. “Anything, dear. You know that.”
“First—you and Ace.” She looked up into his eyes as she wrapped both arms around him and hugged him closer. “You’ve never said anything specifically but one could easily get the impression that you were rather—close.”
“Ah, well…” Now it was Sabo’s turn to look flustered. “We certainly are close.”
Koala stared him down, but she already knew his answer—he never was good at hiding things from her. She could tell just from the look on his face that she’d hit the nail on the head.
Why are you embarrassed all of a sudden? Ace asked. Sabo felt like he could feel his own gaze boring into him. Obviously we’re close.
Ace, she’s asking if there’s something romantic between us.
Suddenly both of them were turning over long ago memories. Holding hands high in the branches of their tree fort hideout. Practicing kisses between one another.
“Ah, well,” he managed embarrassedly, “we certainly are close.”
Koala nodded slowly at him, her eyes never quite leaving his face. “The sort of ‘close’ that I’m imagining?”
“Well, you know, we children last time we saw one another, but…”
But there had been the kisses. The clumsy flirtations and experimentations with one another out of the eyes of adults. Sabo felt himself heating up even further. For a long, long time he’d completely forgotten about all of it.
I never did. Ace seemed to gather him in his arms in the shared space of his mind. I know we haven’t talked about it since I— got here. But, I always thought of you as the first person I fell in love with.
A choked noise escaped Sabo’s lips.
Koala poked him gently. “…Sabo?”
“Ah, sorry, yes, I,” he sputtered, now very much the one flustered in this conversation. He held Koala tightly, sure he looked absolutely ridiculous. “Hold on just a moment, please.”
That’s a hell of a thing to say to a man in the middle of a conversation, Ace!
You don’t… feel that way?
The sudden wave of Ace’s disappointment was crushing. Vicelike. Like a wave of grief. Like the sad stares of a thousand disappointed puppy dogs.
if Sabo had been standing upright he probably would have fallen over.
“Of course I feel that way!” he rushed to assure him— so quickly and so intently he realized, mortified, that he’d said it out loud.
Koala was dead silent, her arms loosening as she pulled back to look at him. “…you’re talking internally, right? Do–should I…should I take a walk and give you a moment?” she asked with a furrow of her brow.
Sabo gurgled with frustration, and kept a tight hold on her. “No! No going anywhere! Honestly we should have discussed this before but–”
He hadn’t wanted to. Not before he found out if Ace was real, or if he’d just gone mad. At this point though, he almost felt like it didn’t matter. Whatever Ace was, the feelings were real. The memories were real. He wanted desperately to believe that Ace was real too.
Sabo held onto Koala in the physical world, and Ace held onto him in the mental one.
Sorry to throw everything into chaos, Sabo.
Don’t you dare apologize! I love you, you idiot. Now– now I just need a moment.
He took a long breath, and tried on a smile at Koala. “But anyway. You’re right about us being close. I’m happy to elaborate, if you like.”
Koala looked at him with dubiously concern—he probably didn’t look very alright, honestly. She was clearly picking up on his emotions with none of his internal context. She nodded slowly, tightening her arms again. “Please, if you don’t mind.”
“Well, ah, I’m a little embarrassed to admit that it turned out that my first kiss with you wasn’t actually my first kiss.”
“I’ll take away the little medal I gave myself,” she joked wryly, her smile teasing— honestly though she had expected that. The way they talked about one another and the past, it was pretty obvious that she wasn’t his first kiss.
Sabo rubbed the back of his neck, smiling at her awkwardly. “We were just little kids, you know? We never really talked about what we were doing, and honestly, we kind of had a pretty macho thing going on in those days, so we weren’t exactly declaring our love for each other but…”
“But it was young love?” She prodded, hoping to get him to open up— this, this was exactly what she’d expected. Without confirmation though, it felt like a barrier in the way of getting past the sea of awkwardness between them.
He laughed softly. “It was, yes. If I didn’t know in my heart I suppose, Ace just very much confirmed it for me. That was the little outburst you heard. Sorry, he surprised me is all, and well, I nearly hurt his feelings.”
“I’d heard,” she said with a small smile. “That’s really sweet, Sabo—I can see why it was a surprise, but I hope you soothed his feelings?”
“I did my best,” he chuckled sheepishly. “At least now I’m as flustered as both of you are, too. But ah, you asked me if we were close. And we are. Romantically, yes. So that’s the answer to your first question.”
“Now we’re all on the same page, then.” Koala laughed, before she hesitated. The next question had just gotten—well. A bit more complicated, but also less at the same time. “Good thing we’ve got an open relationship then, eh?”
She framed it as a tease, poking his chest with her fingertip.
He turned red as a beet again and pressed his face to her shoulder. “I suppose so! Ah, really, I have no idea how to navigate this, Koala. I mean it seems like things would be obvious if Ace were here well, normally. But having him sharing my body like this certainly presents a new twist.”
“It’s definitely a bit of a twist, yes… admittedly it makes it a little tricky for me too.” She flopped back on the bed, running her hand through his hair as she pulled him with her. “Not impossible, but it’s new to everyone.”
“Very new,” he agreed, huffing as he lay his head on her stomach, looking up at her. “So, I take it you’re ah, interested in Ace, then? Or am I on the wrong track?”
Koala sputtered quietly before she dropped her head on the pillow again with a huff of breath.
“I was fully prepared to kiss him back in that restaurant, you know. Excited to, until I worked myself up for it to the point of paralysis.” She chewed her lip. “I am interested, but i wasn’t sure how we’d navigate that.”
“Well, we’ll navigate it,” Sabo said firmly, laying his head gently against her. “It’s not as if I’m against it. Frankly, with the way things are I suppose it makes things easier in some respects! No matter what way the question we’re pursuing resolves…”
“No matter what way the question we’re pursuing resolves. I think—no matter what he’s quite a separate entity! So—no matter what about any of that, I think we’ll navigate it just fine!” She pet his hair with a quiet smile “it does make things easier, doesn’t it? I mean, at least when I’m not having a panic in the middle of the restaurant and making everyone feel awkward!”
“If that was a panic attack dear, you’re a very calm individual,” he chuckled softly. “I think you handled it remarkably gracefully, looking back, considering.”
“It was just a little one,” she huffed. “…with you, it was that long, slow slide into feelings. You know? I didn’t even realize it until we were well and truly together, and I knew my feelings incredibly well.”
She reached up and ran her hand through her hair. “I realized in the restaurant that I have no idea how to deal with a ‘crush’ type feeling at all.”
“If it makes you feel better I think it’s the same way for all three of us. Ace is telling me he hasn’t exactly been Mr. Normal Relationships either.”
Somehow that didn’t surprise her either—for a pirate, even an incredibly charming one, he had an air of uncertainty when it came to things like their aborted date, or even talking about this sort of thing.
“So we’re all kind of novices at this, huh? That’s not reassuring,” She teased quietly. He wasn’t ‘Mr. Normal Relationships’—she knew that his affections with Sabo likely weren’t what most would call ‘typical’ from the stories Sabo told—and she could only imagine what other experiences he might have, and how they didn’t fit a conventional mold either.
“Really?” Sabo teased back. “I think it’s very reassuring. None of us has more experience to make the others look bad. We’re all making it up as we go along.”
“Good point,” Koala laughed softly, looking up at him with her wide eyes. “Hey, mind if I ask if I can see Ace for a moment? I’ve got something I’d like to say.”
“Not at all,” Sabo said, shaking his head. He sat up from where he’d been laying on her, and kissed her gently on the lips. “I’ve been thinking it would be good for you two to talk directly.”
“Thanks, Sabo” She murmured as she pressed her lips softly to his. “I think you’re right.”
Ace nervously shifted forward in their mind past Sabo, his touch lingering on him as they rearranged. Even with all the assurances, even with Koala directly saying she was interested and that he hadn’t messed anything up, he still felt like he should have said something first instead of rushing forward.
He guessed now was the time to make that right.
He saw Koala half sitting up on the bed, looking up at him with her big, bright blue eyes. She tilted her head a little to the side. “Do I have the pleasure of speaking to Fire Fist Ace? The look on your face says ‘yes’ , but I wanna be sure.”
He laughed bashfully and nodded, Sabo’s bangs falling in his face. “Yeah, it’s me. Wish I could switch faces for you, but Sabo was the pretty one anyway.”
Oh don’t be like that, I always liked your freckles.
“Oh hush,” Koala huffed. “I’ve seen your wanted poster, mister. You’re very cute. And I can say for damn well certain that you’ve got a pretty smile!”
“You’re gonna make me blush!” He laughed, answering both of them at once. It was a nice feeling though, embarrassed as he was. “Sorry about the whole mix up at dinner. I never knew when to slow down in my life. Guess I haven’t figured it out yet either.”
“It’s not a very piratical skill, admittedly, knowing when to slow down I mean,” Koala laughed, before her expression grew serious, and she leaned slightly in to stare him down with a piercing look in her eyes.
She was quiet for a moment too long before she grabbed his shoulders and pressed forward to kiss him rather suddenly on the lips.
This time Ace was the one who hadn’t been ready for it. He could hear Sabo laughing at him in the back of his mind as Koala grabbed him. He heard himself make a noise– but as soon as he realized what was going on, he leaned into it, wrapping his arms around her.
Kissing on the bed like this was definitely going even faster than a kiss out for dinner would have been, but Ace didn’t mind one bit.
Koala’s slight body was pressed close in the cramped little bed, but she didn’t seem upset about that in the least—she squeezed her arms around his shoulders and leaned into the kiss with a satisfied hum.
Her lips were soft, and a little tacky with a sweet-tasting lip cosmetic as she held the kiss for a long moment before breaking it enough to smile up at him with an edge of mischief in her eyes. “I’m pretty bad at slowing down, too, admittedly.”
“You know I got the idea you might be.” He grinned back, feeling himself a little flushed but relief surging through him. It turned out that was the reassurance he had needed after all.
He immediately went in for another kiss, not content to let her have the ‘last word’ in the matter, so to speak.
What have I started! Sabo teased in the back of his mind. Ace just grinned through the kiss.
That was exactly the reassurance Koala needed to punch past the veil of awkwardness and hesitation and the strangeness of this whole ‘her boyfriend and a very handsome pirate who she was getting kind of fond of’ sharing a body…thing…
The swift, percussive maintenance of a kiss to finish what they’d started at the restaurant before her nerves had set in.
His answer, told in a kiss, had been a surprise if only because she’d thought he’d want to catch his breath first—but it wasn’t an unwelcome one. She clung to him with both arms, flushing brilliantly and grinning behind the kiss.
She and Sabo had an open relationship—Sabo and Ace were already in love—and she and Ace had been getting closer in the moments they’d had—as odd as the situation was, it worked out rather perfectly.
As perfectly as a relationship with a ghost involved probably could, anyway.
As Ace’s kiss finally broke, he nuzzled his nose against her teasingly. “Well, I guess that settles that!”
Koala laughed, her nose brushing against his with a flustered grin. “I guess it does! I wanted to show you, Ace. Even if I’d frozen up in the restaurant , it didn’t mean I wasn’t interested.”
“I’m glad. I was worried I, you know, misread things, or went too fast. I may have good manners for a pirate but it’s, you know, for a pirate,” he teased. “I grew up wild, and I’m not really sure how other people do things.”
“Admittedly I’m not either, Ace. Like—I can pretend enough to make a good infiltration agent, but I grew up a slave…and then a pirate…and then a child soldier, so like—your guess on how other people do stuff’s as good as mine.” Koala chuckled quietly as she tilted her head. “I was worried maybe my little crush on you was too fast, and I wasn’t sure how to tackle it…especially since I hadn’t talked to Sabo or you about it.”
“Well, we’re talking now, right? Feel free to quiz me on whatever you want.” He smiled quite charmingly at her, and grabbed a lock of her hair gently. “I know you don’t have the advantage I do– I’ve been able to learn all about you from Sabo.”
Koala flushed, always happy to have her hair played with. She leaned against him with a quiet hum. She stuck out her tongue teasingly.
“So he’s been talking about me, huh? I bet you’ve got my whole life story. so—I’ll have to quiz yours out of you! To start with—” She put her hand to her chin with a soft hum before she asked “This first mate of yours—how early in your adventure did you meet him?”
“Pretty damn early,” Ace said with a nostalgic glint to his toothy smile. “As in right after I left home. Within the month.”
Koala shifted up to prop herself up against him with a laugh. “Woah, so he’s pretty much been with you since the beginning, huh? Enough that it’s not even worth asking how you made it on your own, sounds like.”
“Yeah. The answer to that question is ‘I didn’t’. I left Foosha island behind and immediately got myself shipwrecked on an island looking for treasure.” He curled against her, putting an arm over her waist. “Lucky for me Deuce was there. If he hadn’t been? I would never have escaped.”
“You were both shipwrecked on the same island?” Koala asked, “that’s pretty lucky, alright— especially for a Devil Fruit user.”
“Oh I wasn’t a devil fruit user yet!’ He laughed and leaned in even closer to her, warm and smiling now. “Here, let me tell you the whole story— if you want it.”
Koala was curious–she had questions after questions after questions—but the best place to start was simple.
Right at the beginning. She grabbed around him with both arms, koala-like and snuggly, and nodded her head “Lay it on me, Ace!”