I don't play their game.

"You already taught me how to shoot so I guess you can be assured I'm a good student." She could tell now that he meant it, and if he thought it necessary it was because he'd seen things first hand that made it that way. Not that that was a particularly comforting thought to have, so she brushed it aside. "Mm, it's been a big night. I think all of them showing up at your door wanting answers is going to be inevitable at this point so you might as well accept the idea. I think between the five of us we could do alright," she laughed sleepily, though she was already pinned simply by him having his arm around her. "Good night, Ace."

"People talk about me and my gang, they don't make enough noise about what you and yours get up to. I'm on to ya." Ace noted that he liked Tessa's sleepy laugh, it made him feel kind of warm inside. He dropped a kiss on her jawline then reached over with his unoccupied arm to cut the light off, "Night, Princess." See you in the morning." He'd waited until he was sure she was asleep before having no trouble knocking out himself, content with the woman in his arms.

"No, I'm too tired for a training montage," she sighed, not taking him particularly seriously though there was every chance that he was and she was about to find out the hard way. "I don't know, everyone has their things, right? Maybe yours is stealing underwear, how am I supposed to know?" She hummed noncommittally, not admitting nor denying being disappointed to only see him with his clothes on, "It's no one's business, is what I'll say. That's between me and maybe you, if you're lucky. We'll see."

"Not right now, but it's in your future princess. You ain't gettin' outta this one." Ace was in fact serious, being anle to defend yourself physically was not something he fucked around about as the world was dangerous and ugly as Tessa knew, but it could always get uglier and everyone should know how to throw hands to get out a sticky situation or take the respect they were owed; charm, after all didn't get a person everywhere even if it did get them far. "Well I'm feelin' pretty lucky so like you said, we'll see. You ready to sleep since you're so tired? You go home all deprived of rest and shit, next thing I know I have a bunch of chicks at my door wantin' to take me down. I know for a fact that for you they'd have the balls to try and do the impossible."

"Hope not, I'm not a great fighter." While Tessa was nervous about the future - she'd never dealt well with change - she felt content in that moment and that was enough. "Well, now, that sounds like something someone who took a souvenir would say," she lifted her head just enough to eye him with suspicion. "Is that a problem you've had? People stealing your shirts? And yet, you still somehow manage to be fully clothed every time I see you. I say they're not trying hard enough."

"See you shouldn't have told me that, now we're gonna have to fix it. No matter what we're gonna be, you're my people and my people can't be walkin' round the world not knowin' how to fight. That shit is unacceptable." Ace chuckled at the accusation, "I look like some weird ass virgin to you? All I had to remember you by is memories." Ace knocked his forehead against Tessa's gently, "Couple times maybe, that's why you never give the ones you'll miss too much just in case. It's trecherous out here. You say that shit like you're dissappointed everytime I'm fully clothed. What would the world do if they knew Tessa Lisbon was freaked out like that?"

Tessa chuckled when he told her to tell him again another time, for possibly the first time ever not even considering dropping headfirst into a doubt spiral over it. She knew what he meant, that they had finally landed on the same page, so they could allow themselves time. It felt like a weight off her chest, like she'd been carrying it around with her for years just waiting for the timing to be right. "I know. I just needed to say it. Feels real out loud. I'm okay with time." She tucked herself into him, sneaking a gentle press of her lips to the hollow of his throat. "I'm definitely keeping the shirt though."

Ace couldn't be 100% sure that Tessa understood, but he wasn't the kid gloves type and if she didn't get what she was saying, that his words weren't a rejection but really just step 1 for whatever came next, then he'd have no issues trying to explain it another way. Still, he trusted that she did, as understanding most things had never been their issue, "Yeah I mean, bein' this close to me could make any woman feel like she wants me you know?" He joked as he tightened his arm around her once she tucked herself into him. "I dunno about that, I'm doin' bag checks in the mornin' like I said. I ain't take none of your bras when I was at your place, did I?"

She wasn't exactly capable of serious thought at that point, but once she was back home in the quiet of her own room she was sure she'd think about how she liked the way he followed what she asked of him. How he'd held off on the physical to give her the reassurance she needed in words. He'd told her he wanted her, and he was talking about how the simple act of her looking at him made him want her more. For someone so intimidating he was so gentle with her, patient and accommodating. She was doing it again, she supposed, looking at him with her doe eyes as she thought about him touching himself and thinking of her. "I do want you," she finally said it back, her confidence simply on a slight delay. "Truly, this time. I want everything."

Ace was a realist at all times even when it came ti intimacy so while Tessa telling him that she wanted him truly felt good, he wasn't going to hold her to anything just yet. "Tell me that again some other time. I'm alot of everything, you know? You are too. It ain't that I don't believe you, because I do. It's been one hell of a night though and we got a lot between us. Want me all you want, princesses but you got me tonight. I like you in my bed."

"I mean, some of my sisters are more comfortable with it but..." it wasn't that she felt embarrassed, he'd never given her reason to be, but it was more of a mental block based on her upbringing and how hard the aftereffects had been for her to shake. She wasn't supposed to enjoy sex or even want it lest she spend eternity burning for it, and talking about it was definitely too vulgar and inappropriate. But talking to Ace about it didn't feel dirty, it felt intimate. "It, uh, it makes me feel..." she found his hand on her neck and guided it to her chest so he could feel her heart racing in case her words failed her again. "I never want to go so long without touching you again. And when you think about that, the way I was looking at you?"

"Ah it's all good, i'm only really interested in how comfortable you are with it anyway. They'd gotten through whatever awkwardness had come up as a result of the two of them getting caught like a couple of teenagers. Ace's eyes travelled with his hand, "Mmm, my hands do all of that to ya, huh?" The greaser wasn't exactly known for his words, however that's what she was asking of him, "I dunno, hungry I guess, like not for food or nothin', like I want more of it, that look. If I think about it too much I start thinkin' about how you felt too and if I think about that too much…" He trailed off, sure she could see where he was going with the rest."

She appreciated that he didn't push, that he'd always accepted her at face value and trusted the nuances she relied on to get the point across that she couldn't manage in words. There was no hurry on her behalf but she supposed that was because it didn't feel new, it was simply a continuation of where they'd left off. Of course the bear wasn't what she thought about either, but she liked making him laugh. "That wasn't funny at all, it was quite embarrassing actually," she scrunched her nose at him, as if she could manage to be even remotely as intimidating as Marina. "I mostly think about your hands," she eventually quietly admitted, not exactly one to talk about these things out loud, "and how you said my name when I touched you..."

Ace and Tessa lived very different lives, but in listening to all she'd told him over the course of knowing her he understood enough about her, understood the pressure she had one herself and he had no desire to apply more pressure in any way so he tried his hardest to never do that. It wasn't hard, a nice little bonus was that if she did or said something he knew it was because she wanted to say or do it, not because she thought she should or that he would want it or something. In truth, all Ace wanted from Tessa was what she wanted and his actions had shown that up until this point and it wasn't going to be changing. "Come on, you tellin' me you and your sisters don't ever talk about sex and shit? I don't know maybe guys are just different in that way." Laughter faded into more comfortable silence until Tessa broke it, "Oh yeah? How does it make you feel when you think about it? I think about how you were lookin' at me."

It seemed valid in her eyes that he wouldn't want to put himself on the line if that was how he saw things, not working in his favour. It opened up a new perspective to her as well, that while she'd thought he'd been fine, that he would just move on to the next pretty little thing, she might have just been trying to convince herself that there was nothing there for her to miss. "No more favours," she murmured, accepting his terms and trying to remember how to breathe as his thumb ran over her lip. Whether he kissed her or not didn't really matter, she had missed the simplicity of his touch just as much. That he was putting the ball in her court, forcing her to make the ultimate decision, was theoretically fair but her inability to take the leap was something she'd been fighting her whole life. It could take minutes or it could take years, she never could be quite sure. "Mhm, I think about it." Tessa up to that point had kept her hands to herself, tucked up against her chest like she was trying to make herself smaller. She snaked her hand out, allowing herself to touch, to want, grazing her fingertips from his hand on her neck, up his forearm, to his own throat. It felt like a privilege to have such unfettered access. Surely more than one person had wanted to sink a blade into his neck. The thought was terrifying. "I often think about how you made fun of Bearold."

Ace didn't need confirmation, (like he said, he knew that Tessa wanted him) but it came in the form of her reciprocating his touch. They were on the same wavelength, Ace could feel it - there was desire, but no anticipation as neither of them were in a rush for anything; where they were right now was what it was, and that was enough for him. "That creepy fuckin' bear ain't exactly what I think about." He laughed, not expecting that to come out of her mouth considering what they'd done that night, "I think about that death stare your sister gave me when she caught us on your couch. That shit was funny as fuck for real."

What she was thinking was that if she went to sleep it would be tomorrow, and tomorrow meant the night would be over, but she wasn't ready for it to be over. She didn't want to be greedy, kept telling herself she shouldn't even want to be there, yet his smile as his hand traced her outline had her transfixed. It had taken years but her resolve had thawed to a point where she couldn't see the merit in denying herself any longer. "Is that a bad thing? For you?" Ace had a much wider moral grey area than she did but she wasn't sure where the boundaries were on it. She also wasn't sure she wanted to be considered akin to an addiction, something that haunted him, but that concept could be a 50/50 on being all in her head. The situation unfolding before her was what she needed to focus on, not the demon in her head forcing her to walk through life on eggshells doubting her every move. His hand on her hip, his smile, his eyes unwavering in their focus on her, there were no lines to read between. "I tried not to be selfish. I tried to leave you in peace. I don't think it's going to work anymore."

"What? I can't test it ou–" Tessa was cut off by the shock of being picked up, no chance of being able to fight back, and let out a short squeak as she hit the mattress. It was crazy to think that only a few hours ago she'd been at the bar leading herself to the edge of temptation in grief. Then again, as she pushed her hair out of her face and watched him watching her she supposed she was still tempting herself in other ways. "Sorry, wasn't conjured on a full moon in the woods. I know it's disappointing, much like how I can't believe you didn't just bleep into existence a fully formed man," she laughed, but it was true, she couldn't picture him any less than what he was. "Good, because I like it," she mirrored him in the way she laid, hyper aware of the closeness but not pushing the boundary which was something she'd always been good at. Too good to her own detriment, it could be said, but it had felt like enough of a risk to even acknowledge she'd missed him let alone actually ending up curled up in his bed wearing his clothes. "Are you going to stare at me all night?" she eventually whispered, again finding herself watching him watching her watching him. "I'm not going anywhere, promise."

"What you can't picture me as a kid? I was a cute as fuck kid, your imagination probably wouldn't come close to it anyway." They were face to face now with the way Ace oriented himself and Tessa mirrored him. They watched each other and Ace wondered what she was thinking, her point of view of where they found themselves comfortable in the silence between them, "You're starin' at me too." He pointed out, hearing her reassurance but not acknowledging it. Instead, his fingers traced the curvature of her profile, then on the next pass his palm. He noted how her soft skin against his rough hands felt and it made him smile a little more. Eventually, his hand rested on her hip, "Guess I'm the one temptin' myself now."

"Sorry, forgive me for thinking you might contain multitudes, David." She twisted her lips when he called her princess again, trying not to smile about it even if she'd come to admit to herself that she'd missed hearing the nickname. "Never say never. I didn't think I'd ever go to Korea. No, no, Lisbon, Ohio," she wrinkled her nose, not intending to go back to that place. The way he said her name was like he was trying it on for size. She agreed, it didn't feel like her out loud but it was hers to keep on a shelf in case the day came. "It feels kind of like the person my parents withheld from me, if that makes sense. Like I could have been her, whoever she might have been. I think it means elegant? Graceful? Something like that. Pretty sure she just picked it because it sounds similar to Tessa. No need to like, use it or anything though, that'd be weird since you don't even use my name anyway."

"No fuckin' way you just called me that. Don't you know what they say about loose lips, princess?" Ace was grinning, not really upset in the slightest about her saying his name when it was just the two of them in his bedroom. He did however rough house her a little bit, ducking his head underneath her arm and wrapping his arm around her waist. He picked her up effortlessly and playfully slammed her back down on the bed as if they were in a WWE match. "Fuck outta here you were born in Ohio? I don't know why but that's the funniest shit to me." He said as he settled back into his bed, folding his pillow before plopping his head down on it while his eyes remained on her, "Well if that's what it means I'd call you both of those, so it fits. I wasn't plannin' on usin' it - you'll always be princess to me."

"Mm, I think so too. Don't think I'll get any more though, you can keep that as your thing." It shouldn't have surprised her that he was actually listening to her, thus catching her comment about her name. He was always catching the comments she threw away, seeing value in everything she had to say. "You finally figured out why I said we couldn't be together..." she shook her head solemnly, but only for a moment before her laugh broke through. "My sisters and I went to our mother's home town a few years ago, in Korea. Found our grandmother. My parents changed their last name when they came here... It was Chu. I was born in a town called Lisbon, turns out. Not particularly creative of them. But, uh, yeah, my grandmother didn't like our names so she gave us better ones in her eyes," she paused, thinking about how she'd kept the name gifted to her close to her chest, as if she had to keep it safe. "Taeri. It's not like I'm going to change my name or anything, but it's precious to me."

"You think tattoos are my thing? It's more the boogeyman of Rosewood. I can only carry so much on my back, princess." It was strange hearing out loud acknowledgement of her saying they couldn't be together while she was in his bed, even if it was in a joking manner, Ace just didn't let words slip past idly. "Yeah, I think I remember you bein' gone for a while. I dunno if I knew you went to Korea, that's cool. I ain't never been outta the country and I doubt I'll be makin' it to Singapore anytime soon. Hold up though, there's a place called Lisbon in Korea?" He knocked her name around in his head before he repeated it out loud slowly - it didn't fit per se, she was Tessa to him, but it was also beautiful and for that it fit in a way of sorts. "Yeah, that's somethin' special. And hey if you ever need to go on the run you already got an alias locked and loaded. Does it mean somethin'?"

For a split second Tessa wondered if she'd said too much, but only that. The little voice in the back of her head was probably always going to be there telling her she was wrong, but she'd learned the hard way that she was better off ignoring it. She had to trust what people showed her, had to give them a chance rather than deciding they couldn't possibly mean it. And if anyone was the type not to waste their time and energy, it was Ace. "I thought about LISBON across my chest but the flowers ultimately won out," she laughed quietly, watching him touch her tattoo if only because she was too shy to look directly at him in that moment. "Technically that's not even my real name so probably good thing I didn't go with that. People would probably just think I was a really big fan of Portugal."

"Probably wouldn't look as good as this. This fits you, princess." There was questioning in his eyes, never hearing before that this wasn't her real name. He didn't really give all that much thought about her last name, after all, his was 'David Claymore'. "What's your real name?" The question felt like more than what it was - it was intimate just like the way it was the day he divulged his real name to Tessa. Ace believed that a name meant a lot - his name meant a lot to him to he didn't take it lightly. If this is a reveal that we're secret siblings I'm fuckin' outta here." He joked, just to make the atmosphere light.

Tessa's expression went deadpan when he suggested she was having a tantrum, and she refused to give him the satisfaction of proving him right by arguing back. Instead she gave a sharp nod, agreeing to the terms. She knew it was hypocritical of her given her reasons for distancing from him in the past, but all she knew was that so much time had passed and she still cared so why fight it and make herself miserable in the process? "Soul searching? Don't let people hear you've got one of those..." To her it was a good sign though, that he wasn't spending so much time just knocking people out for fun and rather doing... whatever it was he did. Gang admin or something that ended with less blood on his hands hopefully. "Yeah, just a place to sleep," she agreed, though she wasn't stupid, she was well aware of the optics of it all. Neither of them were innocent with their little game of make believe. "Fuck the rules, everyone's always saying I've got too many." A statement that was true, but likely not including the self imposed distance kept from Ace. Breaking that one was all her every single time. "Anyway, with no shame in it, I missed you. Maybe we should do brunch sometime?" She was being silly now, her smile wider as she let herself relax. Her hand came up, tracing a tattoo on his arm that had caught her eye, if only because she'd been staring. "This one is new? Ooh, did you know I got one?" Wriggling to sit up a bit, she pulled up the sleeve of his much too large for her t-shirt, showing the delicate little spray of flowers inside her bicep. "It's no skull and crossbones but there's five, for my sisters."

"I'm always gonna be a big fan of saying fuck the rules so you ain't gonna hear any disagreements from me." Ace raised an eyebrow, cautious but receptive to what she was saying. The upside of running a gang was that if you needed to focus on something other than your own shit there was an abundance of it at all times, but even still if it were just him and his lost boys vs. the world, Ace was never the pining type and never one to stick around in places he wasn't wanted and wasn't owed so he fell back the moment she made clear it was what she wanted, but now… well he was essentially told he could for all intents and purposes regain some of that closeness they both walked away from. So he went not all in, but dipped a toe as he relished in her fingers moving across his skin. She wanted to feel him, and attention didn't need to be brought to it for the both of them to know that was true, so he acted in kind when she showed him hers, "No shit that's tuff. Makes sense that a permanent addition to your body would be an ode to you and your sisters. I like it. It looks good on you."

"No wonder you and your boys are a bunch of weirdos. Always listenin' to each other fuck," Cam laughed, joking for the sake of joking. Living up to his nickname some night say. Even if he wasn't sure he and Ace would ever see eye to eye it was nice to meet in the middle occasionally, just sit in the diner eating lunch together like a pair of normal brothers. "You want kids?" He didn't mean to sound so surprised, it just wasn't something he'd ever considered. Ace wasn't exactly the warm and fuzzy type and he could hardly imagine him changing a diaper. "Depends which end of the societal spectrum you're lookin' at. My end isn't ever going to accept me but I've come to terms with that. Kinda hard for law people to get past the whispers about my ties to the underworld. That mean you're gonna get a normal ass job if you have kids? I don't know if you're cut out for the nine to five, man. You and rules ain't never really been friends..."

"Yeah well you and your crew would have had to if you weren't all fuckin' virgins." Ace was always able to give as good as he got when it came to clowning with the lost boys so Cam was no different. Cam's surprise had Ace arching an eyebrow, "Yeah, don't sound so fuckin' shocked before I get offended." Ace didn't see a problem with Cam's cards, the way he saw it if they were gonna run their mouth about Cam having underworld ties then Cam should use it to his advantage, make all of those motherfuckers fear him enough to never fuck with him without ever confirming or denying anything. "I don't know about that part. Didn't think about it honestly. Maybe I'll just stack a nest egg and figure some legal shit out that's also my own shit…maybe a bike shop or somethin'." Ace shrugged, really not having those details panned out. While he could see himself with children, he also couldn't see himself not a greaser and the two lives weren't exactly compatible. "You could fuck up a wet dream, you know that, bro?"

"See, that's the thing that bothers me. Everyone gets to see me at my worst but never the other way around. It's my turn next, okay? I get to drag you out of the mud. Because you're right, you're still you at the end of it all and I still care." Tessa scrunched her nose in a silent laugh as they reminisced their early days. He was right though, he'd given her confidence even if it wouldn't have helped if he really was the bogeyman everyone had told her he was. "If you weren't busy being a kingpin you'd make an alright motivational speaker. Always made me feel powerful even without a knife." Doing as she was told, she scooted to the top of the bed to make herself comfortable next to him. There was a brief moment of wondering how many heads had rested on the same pillow but she shoved it away. Jealousy had no business being there. "Thank you," she curled onto her side to see him better, "for tonight. I know I'm probably not supposed to say it, but I've missed you."

"Alright alright relax, it ain't nothin' against you, princess. Outta all the people who ever seen me at my worst only about 5 of 'em stuck around me, and one of 'em just started likin' me a few years ago, so it ain't personal, it's experience. If I need draggin' outta the mud though I'll remember to call you, just so you don't have another temper tantrum, princess?" That was the truth, but part of it, the part Ace didn't feel the need to say is that she'd rejected him once, deemed the parts of him she did see as not worthy of choosing him and Ace respected her choice, but he also wasn't keen on being that gullible to do the same thing twice. He'd be damned if he didn't say her littler mannerisms didn't still get him though; the nose scrunches and how she stared at him and he couldn't figure out what the fuck she was thinking and didn't know where to start. "I feel like it sometimes so I guess that comes with the territory of bein' a good leader cause before when I was just fuckin' people up and nothin' else I ain't have to do all this thinkin' an' soul searchin' all of the time." Did he miss those days? In a way - things were more simple, but they were also more rough so it was give and take. Besides, he wouldn't go back if it meant the trajectory meant a gentrified Southside. Ace looked over and down at Tessa, taking in her freshly showered natural beauty, in his clothes and smelling like his body wash - if he were the type to dream like that, he could pretend he was in an alternate universe where they had worked out and this was their every night. "It's all good - just a place to sleep." He shrugged, downplaying but kept his eyes on her, taking a page out of Tessa's book and surveying her entirely from her damp hair to her slightly blushing cheeks, her lips…"You know you're the reason' you're probably not supposed to say and then you go and break your own rule."

"You are straight forward. I mean that I know who you are with me, but that's not who you are always. I've heard the stories, I've seen the damage - and that's not judgment, just truth. I don't think anyone is completely knowable, you just have to have faith in the parts you have access to. I used to turn myself inside out trying to atone for the sin of existing, so I'd say I'm doing a lot better at being whatever I am without guilt." To be fair she supposed people who'd been in cults didn't really consider it as such, so she probably sounded exactly like someone who had escaped a cult, which had her wondering to herself for a moment. But no, she was confident her parents were ultimately just unkind people. "Yeah, they're missing out but that's their choice. I'm okay now, I have more people who love me than they ever will." Tessa narrowed her eyes as if i was challenge accepted, which he'd only find out in the morning. Then he brought up showering with her and her eyebrows shot skyward. "You're evil," she grumbled as she followed, giving him a small smile of thanks before disappearing into the bathroom. When she returned, she laid her neatly folded outfit on the dresser. "Usually, yes. One must take every opportunity presented to them," she chuckled, perching herself on the edge of the bed and watching his knife. She would have offered to take the couch but like he'd said earlier, they had a full house so someone else already had dibs. "I needed a minute. Remember when we first met and you walked me home and let me hold your knife because I didn't trust you? As if I'd even stab you..."

"I'm tryin' to decide if you could stomach seeing the parts of me you're talkin' about. I wouldn't lie to you about none of it. If you really wanna know all the shit I ain't ashamed of nothin' and what I am I'll tell you I'm ashamed. I'm all of it though, the parts you see and don't, I'm still Ace at the end of it." Ace wasn't so sure Tessa wasn't in a cult but semantics were semantics and either way it amounted to her parents being fucked up. When she was out of the shower, Ace was sure he stared some before he caught himself and put himself more in check. Perhaps he wasn't as over her and all of it as he thought he was or as he wanted to be, but he pushed that thought back down. "Yeah I remember, I didn't think you had it in you to stab anybody but the power of it made you feel safe enough so it did wat it was 'posed to do." Ace stopped flipping the butterfly knife open and closed to use the knife to tap the spot next to him on the bed, "I ain't gonna bite. Get comfortable before you start to make me nervous."