Work Text:
Bess had suggested it. Instead of their usual games night, she wanted to organise a treasure hunt for the remaining four of the crew. Two teams, boys versus girls, and a list of objects and tasks they needed to do around the town. Bess would wait for them at the Claw and the first team that returned with everything on the list would be declared the winner.
When Nancy had first heard about the idea, she had thought they were just humouring Bess by letting her organise something but, having been given the list of thirty items and sent out to collect them with George, Nancy was actually enjoying it.
She had come to her house, working on item number 7 – freshly baked homemade goods. While she waited for her cakes in the oven, she made a call to George.
“So you’re handling 10 and 11 at the moment?” Nancy asked.
Item number 10 was a family heirloom. Item 11 was to something stolen. Both of which George knew she could get from Nick’s. An old ring belonging to her great aunt had been left at Nick’s house when she had removed it so she didn’t risk losing it while fighting a dog snatching ghost. And then she could just pick up any old item to count as their something stolen. It paid to have a key.
“Just gotten inside.”
“Either of the boys about?” Nancy asked.
She suspected Nick and Ace would have done the same thing she and George had done, split up to cover more ground.
“Nope. I won’t be long. How are the cakes coming?” George pressed.
“In the oven now. Are you sure it has to be my baby photo we bring?”
“You know where yours are,” George replied.
Nancy was trying to construct a response when she heard a knock at the door. She frowned.
“Sorry, George. Give me a second. Ryan probably forgot his key again.”
She rested the phone against her shoulder as she made her way to the door. Nancy opened it, preparing to turn away to leave her father to settle in.
Only it wasn’t Ryan on her doorstep.
It was Ace.
“George, I am going to have to call you back,” Nancy said.
She ended the call and pocketed her phone, all the while studying Ace. She wondered what he was up to. He shifted on the step, silently asking if he could come in. Wanting to see how it would play out, Nancy invited him in. He sniffed the air with a smile.
“Number 7?” he asked.
“Yeah. Nick baking yours?” Nancy asked.
Ace shook his head.
“We asked Bess how fresh. She said last twelve hours and my mom was making cookies when I left for games night. She has already agreed to let us have some.”
“Oh, so you’re cheating?” Nancy laughed.
Ace feinted offence.
“It’s not cheating. It’s using our ingenuity.”
Nancy tapped his arm in playful scolding and asked if he was there to interfere with her baking efforts.
“No. I’m here for item 11. Something stolen.”
Nancy raised an eyebrow as she studied him intensely. He sniffed the air again.
“You might want to check on your cakes,” he said, brow furrowing.
And then he swept past her, making his way into her sitting room. Nancy stared after him before turning back to the cakes, realising her timer was bleeping. She grimaced and hurried over to collect them.
“You know,” Nancy said, joining Ace in the sitting room, “most thieves don’t announce their intentions.”
She had removed her cakes from the oven as quickly as possible and abandoned them on the stovetop, hoping that she might be able to catch Ace before he slipped out. He seemed to be leisurely strolling about the place, looking at all the knickknacks and souvenirs her family had gathered. Nancy cast an eye over him, examining pockets for anything that might have been concealed in them. She didn’t miss the fact that he was wearing a jacket with many pockets. It seemed like he had planned it so she couldn’t properly check for stolen goods.
“Well, I thought I would play fair considering you accused me of cheating,” Ace said.
Nancy watched his hands intensely. One was resting on the back of a chair while the other carefully nudged photographs out of the way so he could see the ones behind them.
“Nice pictures.”
“You’ve already seen them plenty of times,” Nancy returned. “You’re not going to distract me from what you are doing. I’m watching you.”
“Of course,” Ace said.
He continued his stroll about the room, eyeing everything. Nancy watched his every move. It was strange. She so often found herself doing it, her eyes drawn to him. But very rarely was it intentional. Still, she was just as mesmerised. There were so many little quirks in the way Ace moved and Nancy wanted to make a note of every item that drew the slightest smile from him.
He seemed unaware of her eyes upon him but Nancy could sense that was an act. He was conscious of everywhere her eyes went, aware of which hand they were focused on, of how he could obscure certain movements from her view.
A full lap of the room brought him to where Nancy was standing, watching her. He gave her a smile.
“All done,” he said.
“All done?” Nancy clarified.
Ace nodded. Nancy grimaced. He must have taken something while she was getting the cakes out of the oven. All that circling the room had just been for show. Just as Ace was going to slip past her, she caught his arm.
“Can I search you?” Nancy asked.
Ace paused for a moment. Nancy thought for a second she might have seen a flicker of panic on his face.
“Yes,” he agreed.
Although surprised that it had taken no convincing, Nancy nodded. She reached out, running her hands down Ace’s arms at first. The moment her fingers touched him, she realised she had made a mistake. A heat played across her face as she realised she could feel the firm muscle of Ace’s biceps beneath his jacket. Still, if she stopped, she would seem suspicious. She let her fingers play down Ace’s arms, finding nothing. She tried not to linger, tried to keep her touches light. Once she found her fingers reaching his hands, she met Ace’s eye. He lifted his arms and Nancy found herself staring at his chest. She swallowed thickly, looked away in the hope Ace would not see the blush reddening her cheeks as she reached out. Her hand pressed against his muscular chest and Nancy tried to focus on the pockets of his jacket. Each seemed empty. She really wished they weren’t. If she found something, she had an excuse to end the act.
Because as much as she wanted to touch Ace, she didn’t want him to realise she did.
“Should I just turn out my trouser pockets?” Ace suggested.
Nancy nodded mutely. She watched as Ace turned out his pockets. His phone, Florence’s keys, a shopping list, a sweet wrapper. Nothing stolen from her house.
Had Ace given up?
She looked down wondering if Ace might have had time to sneak something into one of his shoes.
“Nancy?”
Her name falling from Ace’s lips drew her like a beacon. Nancy looked up, going to ask what was wrong. And suddenly Ace’s lips were pressed on hers.
It was fleeting. Less than a second.
But it had happened.
Ace had kissed her. It was brief and teasing and… Stolen.
Ace had stolen a kiss.
Nancy wanted to be angry at being outfoxed. But when it was Ace, how could she be? He had kissed her. Even for the slightest of seconds, his lips had been on hers. And it was such a clever, ingenious plan, luring her in, tricking her into standing so close to him.
Ace was smirking at her, handsome and charming.
Nancy gripped his jacket and pulled him in. She pressed her lips onto his, feeling his shock turn into surrender as she lost himself in the kiss. She felt his arms sneak around her, settling around her waist. Knowing he had no intention of pulling back, Nancy let her hands play over his neck, brushing against his heavenly soft hair as she matched his hungry passion.
Ace was forced to pull away first, panting. Still, his eyes lingered shut long after Nancy’s did. She studied his face, looking for his reaction.
“That first kiss was stolen,” he whispered. “That second kiss was… something else.”
He opened his eyes, slowly letting his hands pull away from Nancy’s waist. She felt like there was something missing the moment they pulled away and wished Ace's hands could remain there.
“We should talk,” he said.
“After the game,” Nancy said.
She needed time to ready her thoughts. That kiss had taken her ability to think and she wanted to know she wasn’t going to ruin something so perfect.
“After the game,” Ace agreed.
He turned to go. Nancy watched him. She followed him, lingering in the front door as he made his way toward Florence, parked on the road.
That kiss… Those kisses. Nancy wondered if Ace knew how perfectly he had sabotaged her. She wasn’t going to be able to think of the game at all while the ghost of those kisses still lingered on her lips.
But she didn’t want him to have the final word.
“I don’t think stealing a kiss counts!” Nancy shouted down the driveway.
“Maybe not. That’s why I took this too!”
Ace held up his hand. Nancy stared. Immediately her hand flew to her pocket. She found it empty.
“That’s my phone!” she gasped.