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"It's too humid for this" Law grumbled to himself as he sat down among the reeds.
Summer was over, the sun had set, and yet the heat would not let up.
Law would prefer to be deep in the forest, laying among the cool stones of his home as he lazily watched the fireflies wake up for the evening. Instead he was all the way out here, the forest an indistinct line of darker shades against the darkening sky. His ear flicked at how exposed he felt, the open fields spanning for a good few miles.
"Oh come on, Law! It'll be fun, just give it a chance!" Law's gaze was drawn to the overexcited man who had managed to drag him so far from his home, a feat not even his closest companions could achieve on a good day.
Ace was peculiar to say the least.
Law was cautious of him at first, maybe a bit more playful than he usually was while assisting the man on his quest but he had been quite bored beforehand. Now, he considered the man a close friend even if his companions teased him about his fast relationship with the other, fast by Law's track record anyway. It helped that Ace wasn't entirely human, like Law himself, though Ace passed for human much better than Law ever could.
A fly buzzed around his head and Law found his ear twitch on reflex, flicking away the irritating insect. The deer faun did not enjoy large gatherings or parties but Ace had insisted he accompany him to this year's end of summer celebration his family liked to throw.
The party hadn't even really begun yet and there were already many people loitering around and Law had forgotten the names of half of them when Ace introduced them. Also they all kept looking at him then giving Ace pointed looks like they were all in on some inside joke.
All in all, Marco and Izou where the only two of Ace's family that he felt he could tolerate for an entire conversation. The rest were either loud in a way only Ace could pull off as endearing or already half way to black out drunk. The head of the family himself, Newgate, was a large man and Law made sure to sit quite far from him. He thought that maybe the man was part giant. He also kept giving Law and Ace certain looks and Law felt he couldn't shrug it off like he could with the rest of the family so he elected to just avoid the man all together. By avoiding Newgate he also avoided most of the commotion as his son's tended to stick near his side.
So it would be an uncomfortably warm evening filled with strangers, mostly humans, being loud and drunk.
Law sighed as he leaned back on his hands. Why was he here again?
"Hey, I managed to snag some skewers while Thatch wasn't looking. Want one?" Ace sat down next to Law, a honey glazed skewer of meat in each of his hands. He held one out to Law. Right, that's why.
"Hmm, really Fire-ya? Meat? For a deer?" Law leaned forward, moving his arms onto his knees as he watched Ace flounder with a smirk.
"I'm kidding, I can eat meat" He snagged the skewer from Ace's hand before the scandalised man could take back his offer.
"Do you have to joke like that? I thought I'd just committed some terrible offense" Ace relaxed as he bit into his own skewer. Darkness was falling rapidly and they'd have to light the bonfire soon. Until then there were many small torches scattered around lighting the area. The warm light seemed to make Ace's lips glisten as they were covered in the honey glaze. Law looked away.
"It's funny how flustered you get. I wonder sometimes if you could get flustered enough to cause a wildfire" Law glanced back at Ace as he rolled his eyes.
The half nymph was still new to his abilities and when he used them they had a tendancy to go out of control but so far he'd never used them without meaning to.
"You can be real mean sometimes you know that" Ace pouted as he stared down at the now meatless stick in his hand.
"And yet you've dragged me all the way out here to party with your family" Law bit into his own skewer before Ace got any ideas of stealing it. The other man grinned at him.
"Well you came with me when I asked, didn't you?" Law wondered what part of Ace's smile made it so charming.
The bonfire was lit not long after and that's when the proper partying began.
Merry cheering and signing. Challenging eachother to competitions. The sound of loud laughter echoing into the night.
It was draining but not as uncomfortable as Law thought it would be.
It was getting late into the night and Law was pleasantly buzzed from the alcohol he'd drunk. He'd sat himself back down on the grass a little ways away from the bonfire. A few people had taken up their instruments and were now playing loud merry music.
"Hey" Law looked up to see Ace standing over him. His face was flushed slightly, probably from the alcohol as Law had seen him get dragged into a drinking competition earlier, though he'd only be tipsy instead of outright drunk thanks to his constitution.
"Yes, Fire-ya?" Law tilted his head as the silence stretched on, the other just looking down at him with a small smile. His words seemed to snap Ace out of whatever trance he was in.
"You wanna dance?" Ace asked and Law's ear flicked slightly as he looked over to see that most people had congregated by the food and drinks area set up, which was on the other side of the gathering area.
"I'm not very good" He mumbled half heartedly.
"That's fine, I suck at it too" Ace laughed.
"Then why are you asking me?" Law asked.
"Come on! It'll be fun! One dance!" Ace insisted, completely by passing his question "Don't tell me you're chicken" Ace grinned as he moved away from Law. He spun with a jump and a wild grin in his face.
"Or do I make you nervous?" Ace giggled. The bonfire at his back and sweat making his skin glisten in the light. Law had the sudden thought at how ridiculous it was Ace practically never went around with a shirt. The half naked fool was only wearing shorts, not even his hat anywhere to be seen tonight.
Law wondered if Ace was drunker than he first thought and then wondered if he himself was drunker than he'd thought. Maybe someone had spiked his drink with something stronger, that must be why he felt so hot and why he got up to follow after Ace.
Gods, he felt like a fool chasing a spark in the night. Inevitably, it would slip through his fingers but he was helpless to follow.
Ace grabbed his hand and they danced. Or attempted to anyway. They really were both terrible at dancing.
Ace's definition of dancing seemed to be lots of fast movements, spinning and jumping. Whenever Law tried to pull him into a more proper partnership dance form it was like Ace's skin was boiling under his finger tips. Inevitably, one of them would break away and the other would give chase.
It was still fun, somehow. Their adrenaline was pumping and more than a little laugher bubbled from them.
Eventually, Law grew exhausted and decided to take a break. The grass was cool against his back as he layed down, his robes had loosened much more than they had been at the beginning of the night but Law didn't care.
Ace leaned over him, his own exertion clear with his heavy breathing.
"Done already?" Ace asked.
Law smirked "You're a madman"
"That's why you like me so much" Ace grinned as he straightened.
Law hummed before reaching up, grabbing Ace's hand, and then pulling him down onto the ground with all his strength which was not an insignificant amount.
"Oof! Hey!" Ace laughed and then tackled Law in retaliation.
The two roughhoused in the dirt for a bit before Law finally managed to get the upper hand, pinning Ace under him with all his weight.
"Okay! I yield! I yield!" Ace called, hitting the ground a few times. Law smirked before leaning back, still sitting on Ace but no longer with all his weight.
"Wow, you're stronger than you look" Ace mumbled at he caught his breath.
"Mhm" Law hummed "and you're much less flexible than I expected" the words tumbled from him without a second thought and Law didn't even bother to feel embarrassed of the tone he'd said them in.
"Wha- what's that supposed to mean?" Ace asked, his voice cracking. Law tilted his head as he looked down at him.
"Do I make you nervous, Fire-ya?" Law asked from where he sat straddling Ace's hips.
Ace was looking anywhere but the deer faun, his face bright red.
"No, why would you?" Even now Ace still tried to save face. Law smirked, a thought crossed his mind as he felt the other man's body heat up like a fever under him.
"Be careful, " He leaned down to whisper the words right into Ace's ear, his tone low and sultry "The grass is dry"
Somehow, Ace got even redder and Law thought that maybe the half nymph would really burst into flames under him with how dramatically the temperature rose.
"Come on! I'm starving! We gotta get to the food before the best stuff is gone" Ace suddenly deflected as he sat up and got out from under Law. The best stuff had probably already been eaten and they both knew it, they'd been away from the main celebrations for a while.
"Alright" Law conceded as he stood and fell into step with Ace.
"You didn't answer my question" Law blamed the alcohol in his system for him pushing his luck.
"Your tail was wagging" was all Ace replied with and it was Law's turn to go bright red.