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It had started off like any other day, Ace had woke up early so he could catch the flight to the tower. Today Ace had to turn in some reports on their last few expeditions, he was almost done so he wasn’t worried. It had been warm that morning, that had meant summer would be coming soon. As Ace stepped off the shuttle, he was almost immediately tackled to the ground by one of his teammates from his fireteam. Ace had been surprised to say the least, yelling out as he fell hard against the floor. Ace looked up to see John was on top of him, the warlocks face beaming with the cheap victory he had on Ace this morning. Ace was confused, yes John did tend to be eccentric but he never was this bad during the mornings. Ace pushed John off with a puff, John laughing as he rolled across the marble floor. Ace raised his eyebrow as John stood up, he knew today had to be something really special if John was this excited.
John gave Ace a look of confusion, Ace sighed as he raised his hand to call his ghost, the area above his hand flashed, and suddenly his ghost was there. Ace’s ghost gave him a knowing look, then proceeded to turn towards John. “Ace wants to know what the occasion is, you seem really excited today.” It said with a slight glow. Even though Ace almost never talked, he was lucky enough to have a ghost who was willing to translate for him. “Ohhhhh,” John said as he sat up “So you forgot what today was, hm?”. John gave a wide grin as he crossed his arms “You lost that bet remember! The one where you had to confess to you know who.”. Ace immediately started to blush a light orange, how is it that he had forgotten that today had been the day!
A couple weeks ago Ace and his fireteam were celebrating yet another victory for the guardians, having won the battle against the Red Legion. Now they had their light back, and everyone was starting to come together to rebuild the cities that had been destroyed in the takeover by the Red Legion. The party had started at the crack of dawn, all of the classes coming together for the first time in the last 10 years. Everyone was singing and dancing, a chorus of voices filling the air as the music ebbed everyone on. Zavalla and Ikora were sitting down off to the side together, discussing the plans for how they would work to rebuild the city. Cayde was in the middle of the chaos, dancing with everything he had while the audience cheered him on. People screamed his name as he spun, his whole body becoming enveloped in the music. Ace was a little off to the side, having been content with just watching Cayde dance.
Ace liked parties, he really did, he just never liked to be in the center of attention, preferring to just sit off to the side and bask in all of the energy released from the other guardians. Ace watched intently as Cayde started to shake his butt, the guardians around giving a big whoop. Ace’s face plates heating up as his jaw went slack, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Ace gave off a light orange glow as he stared, not able to take his gaze away from the magnificent shaking object in his vision. Ace was completely off guard when his view was suddenly overtaken by a hand slamming against the table he was sitting at, making him yelp. Ace looked up, and was pleasantly surprised to see that it had been Cayde who slammed the table, and not another drunk guardian looking for someone to flirt with.
Cayde smiled down at Ace, “Hey Ace, I saw you were sitting all alone over here, so I wanted to come and ask you something.” Cayde said as he leaned over the table. “So, I was wondering if you, Ace, would like to dance with my magnificent self.” Cayde said with a wide smirk, his playfulness with the guardian making Ace’s head swim. Ace blushed orange as he thought of what to do, but after a second he had pulled out his ghost, thankful that his ghost was always willing to talk for him. Ace’s ghost looked at him for a second before turning to Cayde, “Ace does want to dance with you, and he is thankful for the offer.” his Ghost said, happy to help Ace with anything he was having trouble with. Cayde smiled at the answer, holding his hand out for Ace to take, causing him to nearly jump out of his chair so he could accept it. Ace took his hand as they started to walk towards the dance floor, people clearing the way for them. Ace was practically glowing orange now, and his faceplates must be as hot as a furnace. As they entered the dance floor Ace started to have second thoughts
I can't do this
,
everyone is going to look at me
. Ace started to silently panic, but just as soon as he had started to panic Cayde had turned around to face him. Cayde instantly noticed the worried look on Ace’s face, he reached his hand to his face and tried to calm him down, “Hey, Hey, it's going to be ok, just look at me and pretend no one else is watching.”. Cayde stroked his cheek, as Ace started to calm down. Ace smiled and grabbed Cayde’s hand off his face, taking it into his hand as he started to move to the music. Ace could do this, it was suddenly like everyone else in the world was gone, it was just him and Cayde. Ace and Cayde danced as the music got faster, their very being rubbing up against each other as they started to lose themselves to the music.
It had been hours, and now Ace was sitting with a couple of his fireteam members around a fire. Ace had a lot to drink, and was now in the middle of a bet circle, not really thinking about what could happen if he was to lose. Ace took another swig of his drink as he watched John balance himself on a gun, having lost his bet with Dan, the awoken titan laughing as John fell flat on his face again. John sat up and gave a huge groan “I'm sorry I just can't get it to balance!” he yelled as he swung his hands in the air. Dan practically fell of his chair, holding his gut as he laughed even more “Dude I didn't think you would actually do it, this is fucking amazing!” he bellowed from the ground while he pounded his fist into the gravel. John gasped loudly at this revelation, but then stopped when he heard Ace laugh, Ace gave a big laugh at the others misfortune. John gave a huge grin as he got a brilliant idea, “Well I guess that means it's my turn huh?” he said as he spun around to Ace, “ACE! I want to make a bet with you, how about it?” he said with a shit eating grin. Ace thought for a second, before he nodded and gave a slight tilt of the head to show that he wanted to know what the bet actually was. John spun oh his heel as he spoke, “Well, lets just say that I saw how you were looking at Cayde,” raising his finger as he teased, “And everyone in the fireteam has been suspecting you liked him for a while, I mean you practically glow orange whenever he speaks to you!”. Ace blushed a bright orange, completely taken aback, he had thought that nobody was looking at him while he stared at Cayde. The light from the fire burns bright in the setting sun, Ace sat there for a second as he thought what that could do with a bet. Ace raised his eyebrow as he looked over at John, sure now he knew they had known about his crush, but how was that relevant to a bet? John crossed his arms as his grin widened, “I bet that you can't confess your feelings to cayde in at least one month, anytime before the end of this current month is fair play. If you win and you confess your love for Cayde then I will give you all of the glimer we make on our next mission. But if I win and you can't confess your cute crush, then I get to have an audio byte of you saying out loud that I am the best on the fire team!” he explained as he leaned down to have his face level with the sitting Ace. Ace thought for a moment, he had been sitting out for most of the other bets made, and even when he was included he had declined, so he really should accept this one. But this one had really high stakes, and while Ace had fallen head over heels for Cayde, he doubted that the hunter reciprocates his feelings. Ace didn't want to have Cayde reject him, he could feel even now his world collapsing at the thought. Ace shook his head, if he was ever going to tell Cayde about his feelings this bet would be the perfect opportunity. Ace looked up and locked eyes with John as he pulled out his Ghost and answered, “I accept your bet.” the ghost stated as it also looked at him. John have a wide smile as he held out his hand “Then let's shake on it!”. Ace cracked his own smile as he put his hand in his teammates, and shook, making the bet official.
Cayde was suddenly drawn back from his memories when John stood up, “Today is your last day, better make it count!” the guardian called as he walked away. Ace was left there sitting on the floor as John walked away, sitting in his thoughts as a orange blush crept onto his face. Ace quickly stood up, trying to calm himself down before his blush became too bright. Ace had been preparing to confess to Cayde for days now, trying to prepare for anything that could go wrong. But eventually he stopped, knowing that no amount of preparation would necessarily help him, mostly it had just been stressing him out. Ace knew that Cayde was in a meeting right now, probably bored out of his mind as all of Zavalla and Ikora’s words went right over his head. Cayde wasn’t dumb, he had proved that to everyone pretty quickly when he became a guardian, he just hated having to sit for so long and listen to people talk when he could be out doing things. Ace respected his mentality, but he liked being able to listen to plans on missions ahead of time, while Cayde just liked winging it. Ace smiled at that thought, how many times had missions taken a completely different turn because Cayde had done something out of plan? Ace didn't remember them all, there was just too many to count, and that fact made him smile as he started to walk through the main hall. He really loved Cayde, everytime he was around him he was able to make Ace smile, and he was one of the few people who was willing to just sit there and talk while he listened. Cayde had even saved him once during a mission where they had to take care of some Vex. Ace was towards the back, focusing on helping his teammates and sniping Vex who got too close. He was so focused on helping his teammates, that he hadn’t noticed that one had gotten right behind him. Ace had sensed its presence a moment too late, swinging his head around to see it bring a sword down to his face. But right before it had reached its target there was a loud bang, and the Vex warrior fell to the ground with a mechanical scream. Ace whipped his head back around, and was suddenly met with Cayde completely engulfed in an orange flame, his gun still releasing smoke. Cayde gave Ace a wide smile as he called out, “Hey, don't you die on me! We still gotta get drinks after this!” Cayde yelled as he turned around, shooting the next vex with his special. Ace thinks that was the time he had first fallen in love with Cayde, his face had heated up as he glowed a crimson orange. He had never realized just how amazing Cayde was, and he couldn’t focus for the rest of the mission, he was too busy focusing on Cayde. After that mission he had danced with his fireteam, celebrating another victory as they partied into the night.
That night Ace had found Cayde passed out unconscious on a table, having drank so much that his system had put him into sleep mode. Ace decided after a moment's hesitation, to take him back to his room for him, picking the heavy vanguard up and carrying him on his back. As Ace started to walk to the exit, he heard a whirr coming from Cayde’s systems, signaling that he was starting to wake up. Cayde slowly looked around, confused at why he was moving, but then he realised he was being carried. “H-hey, where you takn meh?” he drunkenly slurred out, his voice glitching from the alcohol in his system. Ace quickly called his ghost out, not wanting Cayde to struggle from fear, “We are taking you to our room, you are in no state to be out with the others right now.” his ghost stated as they exited the casino. The fire team had taken residence in a hotel, having bought out the casino/bar for the night. Ace looked around for an elevator, but all he could find was stairs, he sighed as he hauled Cayde up a little higher and started to walk up the stairs. After about 30 steps Ace had to stop, his systems were working in overdrive just to carry the other Exo on his back, he had to think of something else. Cayde looked up when they stopped, and looked at the other exo panting as he tried to keep Cayde from slipping. “Yo-You dnt have to crry me, I cn carry myslf” Cayde said as he tried to get off Ace, but Ace immediately grabbed Cayde's legs even tighter as he spoke. “You can't walk Cayde, you cant even speak!” Ace said as loud as he could, which is barely above a whisper compared to the boisterous exo on his shoulders. Cayde was taken aback by his words, he had only ever heard Ace speak once, and it was only when one of the vex had taken a hold of John, he had yelled at them to get their attention. Cayde was suddenly drawn out of his memories as Ace started to move again.
Just, a couple, more steps!
Ace thought as he pushed himself to his limit, he had to get Cayde up the stairs. Ace practically burst up the stairs, having reached the floor with his room he gave a big sigh of relief. Ace walked down the hall as Cayde mumbled some drunk nonsense, he hurried to his door and opened it with just a touch of his hand. The door slid out of the way as Ace walked through, closing behind him as he tried to decide where to put Cayde. After looking around there really was no other place to put him on besides the one bed, so he walked over and gently laid Cayde down. The bed creaked under the exo’s weight, its covers still fresh from being washed. Cayde made a couple sounds at being put down, but before Ace could say anything had fallen asleep. Ace smiled at the sight, Cayde looked so cute when he was laying there. Ace practically slapped himself at the thought, Cayde was drunk and he was simply putting him to bed that was it, yeah just letting him sleep in his bed. Ace glowed a deep orange as he tore his head from Cayde, he hadn't really thought about where he was gonna sleep. Ace sighed as he looked around, there really was nowhere else he could even sit, so he slowly layed down on the bed next to Cayde, trying not to wake the exo. Ace pulled the covers over them both, and turned away so he didn’t have to look at Cayde, but suddenly he felt something warm wrapping around him. Before he could do anything about it Cayde had completely wrapped himself around the other in his sleep, making Ace silently panic about what to do. Cayde mumbled something in his sleep before rubbing his head in the crook of Ace’s neck, making the other exo even more flustered than he ever could have imagined. But after a couple minutes of panic Ace had calmed down, and he slowly started to fall asleep himself. As Ace was losing consciousness he whispered something into the night as he lay there, “I love you.”.
Ace had been filling out some papers for a couple hours now, and he was insanely bored. He looked up at the clock and practically screamed, he only had 10 minutes until Cayde’s meeting ended. Ace quickly finished up his last paper, before quickly running out of his office, people turning to stare as he ran down the hallway. He had to be quick if he was going to make it in time, he needed to see Cayde after this meeting no matter what! Ace ran down the stairs, he could see the entrance to the meeting hall, its dark brown wood standing taller than even the biggest titan’s he had seen. Ace slowed down as he reached the bottom of the stairs, happy to know what he made it in time. Ace quickly composed himself, making sure that everything he was wearing looked neat and not like he had just been running as fast as he could.
The heavy doors opened and Ace immediately went rigid, his mechanical heart beating out of his chest. Everyone slowly walked out of the hall, still talking amongst one another about what had been discussed during the meeting. Ace watched as Cayde walked out, laughing at a joke that Ikora had made about Zavala and how grumpy he always was. Zavala walked out behind them with his arms crossed, obviously displeased with the joke that they had just made. Ace took a deep breath, still trying to calm his anxiety from what he was about to do, and started to walk towards them. Zavala took immediate notice at Ace’s sudden appearance, and proceeded to give him a nod of greeting. Ace waved as he walked over, walking up to Cayde and Ikora, making them notice his presence as well. “Hey Ace, what are you doing here? I thought you had some papers you were filling out?” Cayde said as he turned towards the other exo. Ace swallowed the fear that started to bubble up and spoke, “I-um, Cayde I have something I need to tell you, it's kind of really important.” he said in his whispery voice as he shifted his weight from side to side. Cayde was surprised he had used his voice, Ace could tell that much, “Yeah, what do ya need Ace?” the vanguard said with a slight tilt of his head. Ace could feel everyone’s eyes on him and Cayde, but he had to do this, because if he didn't do it now he might never get the chance again. Ace looked up and locked eyes with Cayde, “Cayde, I have loved you for a long, long time. You always manage to make me happy whenever I feel down, and you are one of the few people who doesn’t mind me not talking. So I was wondering if you would like to go out with me, because I know I want to.”. Ace had done it, he really had done it hadn't he, but suddenly a deep anxiety filled him to his core. What if Cayde said no, what if he had just poured his heart out for all to see, just for it to be broken if front of everyone's eyes. Ace looked at the ground, he was ashamed, how could he have thought he could do this, he had even spoken out loud in front of everyone. But just when he felt like he was about to cry, his head was lifted by a gentle hand, and he was met with Cayde’s soft eyes. Cayde slowly put his hand onto onto Ace’s cheek before speaking, “Hey, its ok, you don't have to look at the ground like you want to just disappear.” he said as he stood up a bit straighter, “But damn, I can't believe you beat me to the punch! I had this whole thing planned and everything.” Cayde said with a smile. Ace was so confused, what was that supposed to mean? He had beat Cayde to the punch, but what was he aiming his punch at? Ace looked up at Cayde, “I don't know what you mean, how is this relevant?” he asked as he shook his head slightly. Cayde looked stunned for a second, before bursting out into laughter, slapping his knees and everything. Ace was even more confused now, what was Cayde doing? Was he laughing at him, at for being stupid enough to even think he had a chance with the vanguard. Suddenly Ace was enveloped in warmth, he opened his eyes and saw that Cayde was hugging him. Cayde whispered in his ear, “I love you too you dummy! I had this plan where I was going to take you to dinner and ask you out, but I guess that's completely thrown out the window huh?” he said as he stepped back and held Ace’s face, “You always manage to make me so happy, of course I don't mind that you almost never talk! You are so loyal and always making sure that none of us ever get hurt,
you
are amazing. That's why I fell in love with you, that's why I am here right now saying that I do love you.”. Ace was so stunned, but it only lasted a second before he was overwhelmed with joy, he had just confessed to Cayde, and he had said YES! Ace couldn't contain his joy as he slammed his body into Cayde’s hugging him with everything he had, tears of joy raining down his face in the process. Cayde hugged Ace back as everyone around them clapped, Ikora giving a big thumbs up at the new couple. Cayde picked Ace up and swung him around, laughing as the other yelped in surprise. Ace looked down at Cayde’s smiling face, this was everything he had ever wanted, so he started to laugh too. They laughed and spun as they both reveled in the joy of the moment, not caring about anyone that was watching, they were both truly happy.