Originally posted on Ao3, but then i forgot to also post it here for months now.

Hope you'd enjoy!

On the corner of the busiest district in the city was a store that held a pretty impressive collection of movies and music albums. Usually the front window would be plastered by variety of posters for new music and blockbuster movie releases. Today, however, the window, along with nearly every inch of the store were covered with the same black and white promotion poster of a newly released music album of a famous singer.

The singer, Spade, was pictured looking to the distance mysteriously, dressed in a half-unbuttoned dress shirt with material so light, you can see the outlines of his abs and nipples. The title of the album, 'Longing' was printed underneath the photograph in delicate white font with the title of two of the main song titles being printed right underneath it, along with a bonus track.

Sweltering behind a scratchy scarf that covers half of his face and the giant, funky sunglasses 'borrowed' from Brook, Ace stared up at one of those posters, watching his own face plastered on top of rows of sold out shelves. He always thought that it the album title was fitting; during the photoshoot for this particular poster, the only reason he finally managed to nail the 'melancholic longing of a lovelorn man' expression was because it was 10 minutes over for lunch and he had been staring at the cheeseburger set Luffy was eating off screen.

The raven haired man glanced around at the small crowd gathered around the cashier, all who were mostly holding said albums in their hands, and grimaced a little. He wasn't upset that they were buying his stuff - on the contrary, he was proud of it, he really came a long way since his first debut - but the line was damn long and he already suspected at least half of the costumer in the store that day were suspicious of him. Either about his real identity or for his creepy get-up, but he really can't take the chance, so he hid here, waiting for the line to empty out.

Sighing, the freckled male peeked from over his thick sunglasses to the cover of the top DVD box in his hands, the reason why he had braved the crowd today of all day.

The image pasted on the front of the box was the same image that has been in every major billboard and advertisement screens around the city for three months now, the promotional poster of the highly anticipated action-sci-fi movie. The poster depicted the main characters posing bravely on the foreground, surrounded by galactic ruins, while the single villain loomed in the background with his back turned and only half of his face is seen.

Ace let out a muffled squeal when he regarded the villain again. The movie was good, even if the genre wasn't his exact cup of tea, but it wasn't entirely the reason why he had watched it for over 5 times in cinemas and streamed it 20 times on his Mushiflix account.

Marco Newgate, the actor playing the villain, had been a moderately known silver screen actor up until 3 years ago, when his first blockbuster movie role debut got highly praised by critics. It shot him immediately to stardom, starring in no less than 3 different movies the next year and 8 by this year, not including the ones that are still in production. This year, he is nominated for his first feature film award for the second movie in Ace's hand, an older movie from the beginning of the year where he played the lead role of another action oriented movie.

His name began popping up everywhere in entertainment news, a synonym to high-quality entertainment, but Ace knew him longer than that. Ace knew him when he was still a small name playing as a side character in a moderately known TV show that ended years before he became famous. He starred into several more television drama then, mostly as either one episode guest stars or recurring characters that never showed up in the season enough to satisfy Ace's craving. There had been rumours that he was supposed to be the lead of some new television series, until it was cancelled and replaced by someone else. Ace was this close to storming into the board's meeting room and demand answers.

Of course, months later it turns out he got casted first for a big screen movie, an adaptation of a fantasy novel as an anti-hero deuteragonist who ended up dying in the climax. He remembered screaming in the middle of the night when he first watched it at home - he had been busy with music promotions when the movie hits cinemas - prompting Sabo to storm into his room and nearly strangle him. Apparently, it was a widely known fact for the people who had read the 30 years old book, but it doesn't mean that Ace will stop being upset about it. He waited months to see his favorite actor again, only for him to die. Nothing is fair in the world.

Sabo called him ridiculous, but Ace called himself a dedicated fan. He knows word for word of Marco's IMDb page, own every single one of his filmography works from years back, knows all of his roles, and depending who asked, might have a secret tumblr blog that exclusively followed all of the man's fanpages. And there may or may not be an entire 10 gigabytes worth of pictures taken from various sources and news outlet in his computer, but nobody should ever trust Law's words. Especially when he goes around snooping and hacking into people's computers.

(In all honesty, though, he had to figure out a better password than his favorite actor's birthday)

Deep in his musing and admiring, Ace nearly missed the figure that suddenly raced towards the section he was in, skidding and nearly falling. The figure was of a tall man dressed in dark coloured hoodie with the hood pulled up, wearing a much more face-fitting sunglasses and a pair of professional-grade headphones adorning the top of his head. He took one look at the empty shelves and groaned in anguish, "No! Not again! This is the last store!"

Ace has never heard anyone that upset since Luffy found out Grandpa Garp ate the leftovers from Baratie's limited time menu.

The man continued to mutter to himself, something about hatch and faults, and repeatedly moaning about special releases. Oh right, Spade's albums sold during this very first week had his personal signature included, along with raffle for a chance to win a ticket to his first major concert in a few months. Ace grimaced at the memory of signing so many cards in 3 days.

Glancing at the long queue - how many people were in the store that afternoon? - and back at the man, an idea popped up in Ace's mind. Well, it might compromised his disguise, but while he had fans in different age and gender groups, most of his most ardent fans had been women, rarely a man. Plus, the way the man kept on sulking about missing his chance to buy his album was honestly adorable. One hand poised over the sunglasses, he slowly made his way over to the black-clad male.

"Um," he began, trying to get the man's attention. He lowered the glasses down a little, just over the bridge of his nose, ready to take it off when the man turned, "Excuse me—"

Only, the glasses were a lot more loose on his face and slippery due to his sweat. Brook's glasses slipped from his fingers, and after a few fumbling, fell on the floor, at the same time the man turned. Ace watched in slow horror as the man's foot stepped on the pair of glasses, breaking it into pieces.

Fuck. That was Brook's favorite pair too.

"Oh shit!" the hooded man exclaimed, his feet jerking up immediately, "I'm so sorry, i wasn't looking at where i'm going. Look, i can replace that if you like,"

Kind as the offer was, he didn't think that'll work. Brook always told proud stories about how that pair was a rare collectors item from some company that went bankrupt 40 years ago, and how the owner had given it to him personally. Ace highly doubt a replacement actually existed anymore. With a grimace, he lifted his head, trying his best to give the frantic man some reassurance, "It's fine. I'll have to apologize to my friend,"

It took Ace a while to notice that the man wasn't even listening to him, his mouth gaped wide and eyebrows shot up high. It took him quite a little longer to also realize that, without the glasses, his face was clear for the world - or rather, the man - to see, "Oh," he voiced lamely. Well, this isn't how he had planned to surprise him, but he supposed it worked nonetheless, "Yeah, hi. I'm sorry for startling you in the first place. I just wanted to—"

The man took off his own sunglasses, and this time, Ace was the one who was struck speechless.

Behind the designer frames were familiar droopy blue eyes. When the motion caused his headphone and hood slide off from his head, Ace could catch tufts of blonde hair, and coupled with the familiar hairstyle and stubbles, the face of the man in front of him was revealed to be none other than the same face he had been silently squealing over a moment ago on the cover of his DVD box.

He could also hear the familiar tune of his own song coming out of the headphones, and with the revelation on just who is standing just a foot away from him, Ace felt like he could faint at any moment.

(He didn't, but he felt like he could've died at that moment and be happy, and that was close enough)

The sound of the front door being slammed close and the rapid footsteps following it startled Sabo out of his deep concentration, "What the fuck," the scarred blonde stated plainly, glancing towards the source of the sound only to find a dark blur suddenly zooming from the front entrance to the direction of Ace's bedroom. The door was slammed close so hard the picture frame near it shook.

After a few blinks, he shared glances with Koala, who was sitting sideways across his lap, "What was that all about?" the blonde girl asked, popping a single grape into her mouth and another to Sabo's, which he accepted by opening his mouth without looking. The man underneath her rolled his eyes after a bit.

"Knowing Ace at this time of day, probably something stupid," he grumbled, returning back to the important matter he had been doing before he was rudely interrupted: Trying to solve this week's crossword puzzle on the newspaper, "9 words down, ends with L. The clue is shrill howling,"

"Scream,"

"Nope, that doesn't end with L,"

"No, i mean someone is screaming in there," with a smooth motion, Koala leapt off from Sabo's lap, nearly jostling the newspaper in the man's hold, "There it is again. Listen to all of that caterwauling,"

"Caterwaul! That's it!"

"Sabo!"

With a sigh, Sabo looked up from his neatly filled paper to the girl, "Look, Koala, i know Ace, okay. If he's really having a problem, he'd be quiet as a mouse. If he's slamming everything in sight like he's on fire, that means he's more than okay and it's going to be a waste of my precious time,"

Koala still wouldn't relent. She puts both of her hands on her hips, making the bag of grape she held bounce a little on her skirt, and puffed up her cheeks. Sabo took one look at her, pulling a pitiful expression, "Oh come on, this is finally a day for me to rest after so long. I only got like 3 days off, can't we just spend the day together in peace?"

Another scream came from Ace's bedroom, this time a lot louder and near hysterical. Koala raised her brows, "That doesn't sound like nothing to me,"

"He screamed the same way once when his favorite actor died in a movie, Koala. I'm not getting fooled again, not on my break,"

Before Koala could give any reply, another scream was heard, this time followed with a much more vivid scream of 'Kill me now!'. She crossed her arms and raised a brow at her boyfriend's direction, who turned his pained gaze at the closed bedroom door. Finally, reluctantly, the blonde male stood up, dropping his pen and paper before trudging over to the door and knocked, "Ace? You okay in there?"

No reply. Koala sidled close to Sabo, trying to listen in inside of the bedroom. There's the sound of repeated thumping somewhere inside. She jabbed his side, and with another weary sigh, Sabo spoke, "I'm coming in,"

Entering, or even taking a glimpse at Ace's bedroom was always a surreal experience for Koala. Not because it was a man's bedroom - she had often stayed over at Sabo's after all, when they were kids and way before they dated - or that it was messy - unlike Luffy's bedroom, just a few feet away from here - but because entering Ace's bedroom was equal to either entering an obsessive 12 years old fangirl's bedroom or a serial killer's lair.

Every inch of the bedroom was filled with posters and photo spreads of Marco Newgate, not to mention the posters from the various movie and TV shows that he was in. There was an entire display that held figurines of the characters said actor has played as, and she had heard horror stories about a 10 gigabyte picture folder from Law, Ace's co-manager alongside Sabo.

While she hesitate and partially admire the dedication given to make a bedroom to look like such, Sabo was more than used to it. He strolled inside to where Ace had buried his face on a pillow, slamming his legs behind him in an up and down swinging motion on the bed, "Alright then," the blonde sighed, slapping the back of said swinging toned thighs a couple of times before ruffling his dark haired 'sibling's' locks, "What's this all about?"

"I'm stupid!" Ace cried out from behind his pillow, burrowing his face even deeper and slamming his feet faster on the bed. Koala took careful steps away from those legs as she approached the bed, sitting next to Sabo, "I'm so stupid and mortified, kill me now!"

"I don't know, wouldn't want to deprive Sakazuki from the chance. He's been hunting you down since he found out you're the one who scratched his car," the blonde deadpanned, only to be poked by Koala, "But seriously, everyone who know and loves you know that you're an idiot a long time ago, it's nothing new, Ace, you don't have to be this upset,"

"Sab," Koala hissed when Ace whined even harder, but the blonde only shrugged. When she sensed that no help will be coming from the raven's sworn brother, she rolled her eyes and patted his arm, "Is everything okay, Ace?"

Immediately, Ace half leapt and buried his head on Koala's lap, pulling her by the waist. As she gently shushed him, Sabo rolled his eyes. There hasn't been a time when that's a problem, because looking around Ace's room can tell you that even if Ace was into chicks, it'll only because Marco Newgate was actually one, "What's that? I can't hear you if you keep mumbling,"

When Ace lifted his head up, there are genuine tears dripping down from his eyes and his lips wobbled as he sobbed. For a moment, Sabo was actually worried, thinking that his assessment might've been wrong, at least, until Ace spoke, "I met Marco today. In person,"

He can already tell from the way Koala pursed her lips that she's already regretting it, but well, it's her fault. He told her they should've just left this alone, "That's great, Ace. You're a fan of his, after all,"

"No! No, it's not great! It was a disaster! My life's ruined!"

It was honestly baffling to Sabo how Ace could ever have a reputation as a cool and aloof person from the media, when in reality, he was the most dramatic being Sabo had ever come across. And he had been around a lot of artist in the course of his job, "Why? Shouldn't it be a great thing? I mean, you've been mooning over the guy since you first saw him on TV. Its like, what, 10 years now?"

Sabo didn't mean it, but he must've said something completely uncalled for because Ace turned to him in full aghast, before falling into Koala's embrace to wail some more. Koala glared at him, though whether it was for upsetting Ace again or because he caused her to have a 'koala' of her own, he honestly didn't know, "There, there, Ace. I'm sure whatever happened wasn't that bad—"

"Yes it is!"

"So like i've been asking for the past 5 minutes, what happened? And quit using my girlfriend as your personal teddy bear and tissue,"

Ace finally relented, but he still had both muscled arms holding Koala's slim body to his. Koala, for her part, patted Ace on the crown of his head as he began to explain, "I went out to buy movies today, in that store downtown—"

"The big one that's currently selling your album? Ace, you would've gotten mobbed there—"

Sabo flinched at the swat on his thigh, "For someone who kept insisting that today's a break, you sure go back to work mode pretty easy," Koala jabbed at him, turning back to Ace, "So what happened then?"

"Well, there's a long line on the cashier, and i think that some people already guessed who i am even with those on," he pointed to a pile on the floor, a collection of Law's coat, Sabo's scarf, Luffy's winter mittens, "So i hid in the shelf on the furthest back to wait, since no one's there anymore,"

He sniffled, wiping snot on his sleeve. Koala winced a little, but Sabo only handed him a tissue from the bedside table. Cool and aloof indeed, "So, that's also where they sold my albums and this guy came by, all mad because it was all sold out, and since he looked so upset about it, i thought it would be kinda cool to tell him i'm there. Just to be nice, you know?" Ace's face began to crumple and he began to break down into a tearful mess once more. If Sabo tilted his head right, he was sure he could see that the shoulder on Koala's favorite pink shirt was now tear-drenched, "It was Marco of all people! It was Marco and i made a complete fool out of myself!"

Once again, Sabo would've delivered a line about how that is to be expected, but Koala's warning glare discouraged him of it. Instead, he asked, "So, he's a fan of yours. That's pretty cool. What happens then? Did you shake his hand, did you ask for his autograph and a selfie, did you tell him that you wanted to marry him and have his little blonde and droopy eyed babies?"

"No," To his credit, Ace actually managed to sound indignant about it through his sobs, but it was mostly because he had spent years having Sabo tease him about it. Sabo actually half expected him to continue with the old counterargument on how 'the babies would at least have his freckles too', "That would've been a lot better than what actually happened,"

"Yeah? What happened?"

The raven haired male buried his face in his hands, muffling his reply, "What was that?"

"I ran away! I saw his face, i froze and then, when he was about to say something, i ran as fast as i could out of the store!" Ace screamed, before burying his face in his hands again, shaking his head so hard his hair went fluttering everywhere, "I didn't even realize what i did until i was on my way here!"

Koala shushed him down by patting his back, while Sabo flopped down on Ace's bed, "I finally met him in real life and i just ran away without even talking to him!" Ace cried out even more, "Worst of all, he was really nice to me. He wanted to repay Brook's glasses that he stepped on—"

"Wait, what,"

"—but because i ran away i forgot to pick them up. I even forgot to pay for the DVDs,"

"Ace!"

"What if he thinks i'm a weirdo? I must've looked so clumsy and stupid—"

"You look like a thief in a broad daylight, that's what you looked like!" Sabo pointed to the door leading to the bedroom, "Go back there and pay for them!"

Ace looked up, eyes wide as if he was shocked by his suggestion, "What?! I can't go back there, what if he's still there?! I don't want to show my face in front of him!"

"I don't care, this is my day off and the last thing i need is having to do a damage control for a stupid thieving scandal," the blonde climbed down the bed and gather the lump of clothes in his hand, dumping them all over Ace and half of Koala's laps, "Go back there, pay for the DVDs, before i make you,"

"Sabo, i can't! Marco might still be there!"

"If he already knows it was you and think you're stupid, trust me, not meeting him won't change anything. Now go! And pick up Brook's glasses too! Dammit, Ace he's always bragging about how much he loves that thing,"

And of course, like a child, Ace had to pout, even having the audacity to hide behind Koala, "No,"

"Ace," with his best 'scolding father' tone - he spent too much time around Dragon lately, hasn't he? - Sabo folded his arms, looming closer to Ace. The raven haired male still tried to slink behind Koala even further, which is ridiculous considering she is much smaller than him, "Go,"

Of course, behind tear streaked face, Ace still has enough defiance in him to hiss out, "Make me,"

Ace stood in front of the cashier, pouting and massaging the spot on his head where Sabo had hit him, DVDs clenched tightly in his hand, "I'd like to pay for these, please,"

The pink haired girl behind the counter stared at him with crooked brows. Ace didn't blame her; He was in the very same getup, but in lieu of the broken sunglasses, Ace now wore Sabo's pair, which is quite nice, if it wasn't for the fact that it was attached to a fake beard from last Halloween. The store was nearly empty, with only a couple of stragglers in different sections, a far contrast from how it has been before. Just to the side of the cashier queue, Sabo stood next to Koala, the two of them browsing through the selection of movies, pretending not to notice Ace glaring at him while fishing out his wallet.

As the girl scanned his purchases - all the while eating a large slice of pizza - he scanned around the store once more. At least his worst fear didn't come true; there's no hooded man around so Marco must've left.

"There, i'm done," he muttered sullenly as he made his way over to Sabo and Koala, carrying the plastic bag with his purchase inside, "Can we please go now?"

But instead of listening to him, Sabo waved him off, reading the back of a Blu-ray box, "Give me a sec. What about this one?" he turned to Koala, showing her the same box, "I've read the synopsis. This one got a spy side-plot, so that's a win-win for us, right?"

"But i wanted the superhero one. We watched your chick-flick yesterday night, why can't we watched mine today?"

"They're not chick-flick, they're romantic comedy!"

"Semantics, Sabo!"

As the blonde couple continue to bicker, Ace rolled his eyes and made his way to the exit. Sabo and Koala rarely bicker about anything, but the few times they did, it was always about something inane. In fact, Ace was pretty sure that the few times they did, it was also because of Sabo's not-so-hidden fondness for romantic movies versus Koala's own taste for actions.

Sighing, the raven haired male leaned by the door, taking out his purchases. Man, he can't wait to get back home and watch them again. Suppressing a squeal, Ace cradled the DVD boxes close, giggling to himself.

At least, until the sound of someone clearing their throat reach him, and he nearly dropped the DVDs.

Thankfully, he was quick enough this time to catch them, but a second hand also held on to the box, presumably whoever it is who had disturbed him. He glared up, ready to be mad when he found a familiar sunglasses-framed face staring back at him.

Ace's eyes went wide behind his sunglasses.

The hood was back up (hiding the clean shaved side of his head and those soft blonde locks), though the headphones were now around Marco's (strong, muscled) neck and his face was once again covered by his sunglasses (his eyes, pretty and blue like the ocean, oh god, he's really there). The blonde bit his lower lip (thick, a little chapped but no one's perfect, and why does it look so kissable), taking a deep breath before he spoke uncertainly, "Excuse me, but, that coat and scarf," he looked around, before leaning closer and nearly making Ace's heart pop, speaking in a lowered tone, "You're Spade, right?"

Right, he had been wearing the same thing when they met this morning. Ace wanted to nod, but it's like his head was locked in place, so he ended up only staring from behind his sunglasses, mouth agape. After a while, Marco cleared his throat, reaching into his hoodie. From the inside, he pulled out a folded handkerchief, opening it to reveal Brook's broken sunglasses, "I, uh, i thought you might came back for it, so i waited for you. N-no! That came out wrong, I didn't wait— well, i did, but i wanted to give it back, a-and to p-pay you back. J-just for that, i swear, i didn't have any other meaning— No! No, no, i didn't mean to imply that i…,"

Ace was still too stunned to say anything. Marco cleared his throat again, "W-what i'm trying to say is, i'm so sorry for breaking your glasses,"

He offered Ace the handkerchief folded around the sunglasses, but Ace's eyes were on the monogramed initials on the corner of the cloth. Oh god, it's an embroidered, personalized handkerchief, with Marco Newgate's initial, which means it's his. And he's giving it to Ace.

With shaking hands, he reach for the handkerchief and sunglasses. His fingers were jittery, and Ace swore his heart stopped when the tip of his fingers touched Marco's. As he blonde released both the handkerchief and the DVD box - they were still holding on to it, and Ace didn't even realize - near simultaneously, Ace's hands were frozen still. He's never going to wash his hands ever again. From now on, he'll be taking baths with gloves on and not even his mother can stop him.

"Uh, I'm Marco,"

"I know," Ace replied all too quickly, voice coming out a lot more high pitched squeak. He winced.

"Oh, right," the blonde nodded, laughing sheepishly. Ace's knees felt weak. Why is that smile so beautiful up close, "Uh, i don't know much about glasses, but the frame seems okay, but one of the glass was cracked. I'm, uh, maybe you can have it fixed still. I-i'll pay for it, of course!" he blurted out, reaching hurriedly into his pocket again. From inside, he pulled out his phone, "But i don't exactly have cash on me right now. Maybe we can exchange phone numbers, so we can talk about it,"

But Ace was frozen stiff, and he could even feel his heart thumping against his ribcage.

Did…

Did Marco…

Did Marco Newgate, the Marco Newgate, just asked for his number?

Ace wanted to slap himself awake from what is surely just a bizarre fever dream, but if this turns out to be his own imagination, he didn't want to go back to reality just yet.

Marco seems briefly confused by his silence, before he began stammering again, "N-no, wait! I swear, i swear this isn't some ploy to get your number— I mean! I really just wanted to apologize for the glasses, i— Oh god, get a grip Marco, you fucking mess, he's probably creeped out by you," he muttered to himself, too low for Ace to catch but oh, is he talking to himself? Why is that so adorable? "Look, i— i'll admit, i'm a fan of yours. Big fan. Biggest fa— You get the idea. But i swear there's no hidden motive whatsoever. I genuinely felt bad,"

He put his phone away, pocketing them once more before reaching to his jacket pocket to pull out a pen - what are the things this man has in his pockets, Ace would really like to know - before taking a close step to Ace. Much to the freckled male's shock, Marco cradled his hand, then started writing on the folded edge of the handkerchief in quick and precise writing. Ace's heart thumped even louder in his chest, too close to bursting out.

In fact, it did, in the form of a little muffled squeal that escaped from his throat.

"There, i'll give you my number instead, s-so it'll be your choice whether you wanted to call me or not," he smiled a little, before turning alarmed, "Not call! Text! W-well, if you wanted to call, it's fine by me, too. J-just whatever is easier for you, it's really up to you,"

His number?

Ace shifted his gaze to the handkerchief - Marco's handkerchief, in his hand - and sure enough, they writing Marco had left was actually a phone number, written upside down from his position. Marco's number.

This is too much. He can't handle it. Today's been too much.

From behind him, a light breeze blows as the store door was opened, "Sorry for making you wait, Ace," Koala's voice called out cheerfully. From next to her, Ace could hear Sabo grumbling to himself.

Marco glanced behind him, putting his pen away, "So, uh, yeah," he muttered, giving Ace one last smile, "I'll— I'll look forward to your call. Not! Not that i—, i mean, i do want you to call but, just—" finally he sighed, running a hand down from his nose to his chin, "I'm so sorry. H-have a good day, Spade," he nodded with a glance behind Ace, presumably to Sabo and Koala before walking away in rapid speed.

Leaving Ace still frozen in the same pose, mouth still agape and eyes so wide they're starting to sting.

"What was that all about?" Ace heard Sabo asked, placing a hand on his shoulder, "Was that Marco Newgate just now?"

"He's a bit awkward in real life, isn't he?" Koala voiced from his other side, her blonde locks appearing from Ace's periphery. At the silence she received, the strawberry blonde girl began waving her hand in front of Ace's face, "Helloooo? Anyone home?" she called out, frowning and turning to her her boyfriend, "Sabo, i think he's catatonic,"

Sabo tapped Ace a few times on his shoulder, each tap slowly turning to a shove, "Ace? Hey," he called out, and again, fail to receive any reply. The blonde inspected his brother's suspended arms, finding a DVD box in one and the folded handkerchief in the other, "Oh, that's Brook's sunglasses. Good thing you found it— Is that a phone number on the handkerchief?"

"Sabo?"

The blonde looked away from the handkerchief to Ace, frowning, "What?"

"I'm going to faint. Hold me,"

"Huh? Wha— Ace!"