Friday came faster than the couple had expected, and now both men were waiting in front of the pet shop for Sanji and Zoro to show up so they could all go together and check the puppies. Marco's phone started buzzing in his pants pocket.
"I have to get this…" he murmured with a sigh and walked a bit to the left as he accepted the call.
Ace started whistling lightly a random tune he heard on the radio and got out his phone, texting his best friend Sabo to pass time. It wasn't long before Marco came back, walking with an ice cream cone in each hand and chatting with Sanji and Zoro, obviously having met them when he was wandering around talking on the phone.
Ace tucked his phone, after telling Sabo that he had to go, and grinned as the other three joined him.
"Took you long enough, you two. What, Zoro was driving?"
"Shut up, freckles. The shit cook was flirting with some girl at the store we went to before we came here. Tch, had to drag him away to come here in time." Zoro glared at Sanji, who was licking at his ice cream leisurely and ignoring him
"I will always appreciate beauty when I see it, mossball. Being in a relationship with you won't change it, so you might as well just suck it up."
Ace laughed at their usual fiery temper, and Marco had to physically interfere before the two made a scene in the middle of the street and fought.
"Okay you two, let's go already and see the little dogs," Marco declared and held Ace's free hand as they entered the shop. They were greeted by two employees at the front desk. It was obvious they were here for the puppies because the young girl smiled politely and told them to follow her inside to where the puppies were staying.
Ace was grinning widely like a child in a candy shop. He looked at the cages on his right and left and played with the dogs.
"I wish I could take you all with me. Man, you're all so nice I want to keep you all," Ace murmured and smiled when Marco squeezed his hand lightly, sure he heard his soft voice even through all the barking around him. He snapped his attention to a certain cage, however, when small, high pitched barks reached his ears.
"Oh my god!" Both Sanji and Ace said at the same time and kneeled in front of the cage, watching the little puppies trying to bark like the big dogs. They were still fairly young, some huddled on each other at the back of the cage for warmth, so deep in sleep, while other puppies were barking and stumbling over their feet to go see their new visitors.
The employee chuckled at the boys' reaction. "14 of the puppies managed to find homes so far. I think someone must have written about them somewhere. But we still have 30 more that need foster homes." She smiled at the little puppies lovingly and continued, "The cage is too small to hold this number of dogs, even for little puppies."
"Yes, it seems so, indeed." Marco eyed the little dogs huddling at the back, noticing that two or three were completely covered with their brothers and sisters. He got a bit concerned. "There are a few sleeping beneath those." Marco pointed at the back of the cage and let the question hang out. The employee nodded with a smile.
"You've got a good eye, sir, but don't worry. They always turn around in their sleep." Marco smiled and nodded, crossing his arms over his chest as he watched Ace and Sanji, who were joined by Zoro, and all three of them were playing with different puppies.
Two puppies, especially, seemed to grab Ace's attention as he grabbed theirs and they were playing with his hand, licking and nibbling on his fingers. The raven-haired young man laughed and was about to look back at Marco, but the latter beat him to it and leaned down, resting his chin on Ace's head.
"They seem to like you, yoi," Marco murmured softly for only Ace to hear.
Ace grinned. "Yeah, so it seems. Marco, they're so adorable."
Marco smiled as one hand reached out for the two puppies, letting them sniff it then lick his fingers. "They are adorable."
Ace laughed quietly then smiled. "They even like you… So, which one are we taking back with us?" Ace asked softly, his voice showing his true sadness that they would have to choose only one to foster.
Marco looked at the two puppies playing with his and Ace's hands and leaned to the side to look at Ace's face, murmuring, "Who said we're only taking one puppy, yoi?"
The reaction was, as expected, priceless. Ace's eyes showed his shock then his utter happiness, and Marco couldn't help but feel warmth spreading inside his chest. He was glad he could make his boyfriend this happy, because that alone made him happy as well.
"We… Marco… Thank you!" Ace chuckled and gave his boyfriend a side hug that only lasted a few seconds before he turned to the puppies and cooed at them,
"Guess who's coming home with us, little ones?"
All four friends and the young employee laughed at the happy, cute barks the puppies gave.
"We're going to take two as well," Zoro announced as he stepped back slightly with Sanji, wrapping his arm around the blond cook's shoulders.
Ace grinned and looked at Sanji, "That's great." He stood up with his boyfriend and smiled at the employee. "Are there any papers we have to fill?"
The girl nodded. "Yes. Just go back to the front desk and my colleague will give you the fostering forms to fill and answer any questions you have. I'll get the puppies ready for you," she said with a happy smile.
After filling in the forms and buying the puppies' treats from the pet store, both couples found the young girl coming with a big box that had the four puppies barking cutely in it. She put it down in front of them and reached behind the desk and got out 4 leashes and collars.
"Since you'll be fostering the puppies and won't be fully adopting them, as stated in the fostering form, you'll have these collars and leashes for the two weeks of foster," the young girl said and handed Ace the items and he proceeded to give Zoro, Sanji and Marco a leash and a collar each.
"We won't be taking them in that box, right?" Zoro asked and nodded when the girl said that she only got the big box to bring out all four puppies at once.
"Alright then, let's get the little ones out already." Ace grinned as he and Sanji hooked the leashes they held with the collars. Both employees nodded and undid the clips that held the top of the box to its bottom.
The first puppy to come out had Sanji grinning from ear to ear. It was a caramel coloured dog with small brown dots decorating its back and stomach. The young girl held the little dog as Sanji placed the collar around his neck and made sure it wasn't too tight.
The puppy seemed too excited as he wanted to run off as soon as he was placed down on the floor. The shocked noise that escaped Sanji and his reaction were comical enough to make his friends start laughing.
The next puppy had Ace step up with his collar and leash. He was white coloured with a couple of brown large patches on his sides. The little dog barked happily as he spotted Ace coming closer to him and wiggled his tail behind him, a gesture of pure excitement. The freckled young man laughed and placed the collar on the puppy and laughed even harder when the puppy started circling him.
Marco smiled at the little animal and took a step forward as the third puppy came out of the box. This one seemed calmer than his brothers, only looking around the shop as if he was taking in the details of everything around him. The brown puppy with two white patches on his sides didn't notice the collar as it slipped around his neck and just looked at Marco when the blond collected him in his arms. As a counterpart to Ace's puppy, that was still running around Ace and nuzzling his leg, the puppy in Marco's arms stayed still and just enjoyed the view he got from being hoisted up. "Perfect for me, yoi." Marco chuckled and stood next to Ace, both playing with the puppies.
The last puppy that the employees got from the box soon had the collar around his neck, Zoro already ready and not showing any reactions right away. But anyone could see that the little puppy was so cute and, surprisingly, a good match with Zoro. The puppy was an off-white one with no other colours except on his four paws. He had brown colour circling his paws as if he was wearing brown shoes. Once Zoro had received him he put him on the floor and the dog looked around and started sniffing Zoro as far as he could reach.
"Well, that's all. Thank you, again, for your care and enthusiasm to come and foster the little ones," the male employee said with a friendly smile as the group of friends nodded and thanked them as well before heading out onto the street once more.
"We'll need to buy them some food too, yoi," Marco said as they exited.
Sanji smiled and shook his head. "I did some research on little dogs' food, we can cook it ourselves. There's a good variety and it doesn't have any special ingredients. It's really easy and simple, both you and Ace could cook it."
"Good! 'Cuz I'm definitely going to cook whatever is safe and healthy for them," Ace replied as he squatted next to the puppy and started messing with his hair lightly.
"Look, we can go to the market over there and check for what we'll need for the puppies." Ace pointed at a super market on the corner across the street.
The group agreed that Ace and Zoro would wait outside with the four puppies while Sanji and Marco went inside to look up what they needed. Soon enough, the two blonds appeared with what looked like some heavy bags.
"I thought you were going to buy the necessary stuff only, cook?"
"Ah, yes. But then we decided we'd get them some pillows to sleep or rest on and some toys." Sanji grinned and handed Zoro two bags, taking his puppy's leash from him while Marco did the same with Ace.
"Alright, I think that's all we need, yoi. Ace," Marco said then turned to his boyfriend, "Thatch just called and wanted us to go have dinner with him and Izo. But knowing Thatch, they'd want us to come early to prepare dinner with them, so how about we go now?"
Ace grinned and nodded. "Yeah, let's go. We have nothing else to do today and it'd be nice to introduce the little puppies to them as well." The couple turned back to their friends who grinned at them.
"Sounds like a plan to me. We'll check out with Nami-san and the others and go out to walk the puppies some more," Sanji said with a smile before lighting up a cigarette and Zoro nodded.
"Okay, take care, you two. We'll see you later." Ace and Marco waved before leaving, walking in the direction of Thatch and Izo's house in a comfortable silence.
"They seem happy, yoi," Marco remarked as he watched the two puppies walk around with their tails raised up and wiggling, wrapping his arm around Ace's waist to bring him closer to his side.
Ace chuckled and nodded. "They do. They get to see the world and feel our love now." Marco chuckled and nodded as well.
"They must be sensing our feelings towards them." Ace only hummed and leaned against Marco as they reached their brothers' house. Walking up the nicely kept garden and the couple of steps up the small porch, Ace rang the bell and looked down as the puppies started moving to the right and to the left, sniffing around the porch. A few seconds later and the front door opened to reveal a smiling Izo. He gasped as he saw the two little puppies who barked at him in their little voice. He chuckled and leaned down to pet them lightly.
"You're lucky I'm not wearing my kimono today and settled for a pair of jeans and a shirt." Izo got up and moved to the side for his brothers to come inside, closing the door behind them.
"I don't think they're trained, though, Izo. So you might want to keep at least the back door open for them," Ace said and only earned himself a roll of eyes from Izo.
"Ace darling, I don't let animals stay inside the house… Except you-"
"Oi!"
" -so they're going to stay in the backyard anyway. You don't have to worry about them getting lost or anything, I have a high wooden fence covered with bushes," Izo said as he led them through the house to the back door.
"Hey, Thatch!"
"Thatch."
"Yo Ace, Marco. Woah! Puppies!" Thatch replied with a grin, but it soon fell off his face when he heard Izo's tone.
"Oh no. You're staying in the kitchen till you finish the dessert. We'll play with them later."
Ace snickered as he heard Thatch grumble under his breath, but he was soon focusing on his cooking again and Ace followed behind Marco and Izo to the backyard.
After making sure the puppies were playing happily and exploring Izo's well-kept backyard, the brothers went back inside, heading for the kitchen to help with the final preparations for dinner. Thatch had everything almost done and soon enough, food plates were moving from the kitchen to the dinner table and the four brothers enjoyed a good meal and a catch up on each other's lives.
By the time Marco and Ace had excused themselves to go back home, the freckled young man was happily stuffed and up to date with the latest news, not only Thatch and Izo's, but news about all his brothers and Pops. After all, he and Marco moved out from Whitebeard's house and got an apartment for themselves before any of their brothers and sisters.
"That was a lovely meeting," Ace said quietly to Marco as they walked back home. Marco hummed and smiled, adjusting their shopping bags and intertwined his fingers with Ace's.
"I'm happy you're happy, yoi. Now to the fun part of having those little ones explore our home." He chuckled and eyed the puppies as they walked down the street excitedly, every once in a while, making sure the puppy he was holding wasn't straying to the side or onto the street.
"Ah, yeah. That ought to be fun." Ace grinned and fished for his keys as they arrived at their building. He opened the door and held it for Marco. Walking down the hall, he quickly unlocked the door to their apartment which was on the ground floor, luckily, and had a door that led to the building's backyard.
As soon as they were inside and the door was closed, the puppies got all serious into exploring the different scents the apartment held. It definitely had the scents of the two humans who brought them here but there were odd scents as well…
They sniffed every corner of the entrance and the small hall that reached the living room, then were stopped by Marco and Ace, not wanting them to delve too deep into the house without them being there to secure that they didn't break anything.
"Let's take them to the bedroom as we change our clothes, yoi. They'll get to explore the bedroom then and we can also set their sleeping pillows." Marco grinned and pecked Ace's lips.
Together with the puppies, the couple walked through the living room to one of the doors that led from the living room to their bedroom and closed the door so the puppies couldn't go out. Ace unhooked the leashes from the collars around the puppies' necks and put them on top of the drawers chest as Marco got out the soft sleeping pillows and looked around the room for a good place to put them.
"Why don't we put the pillows here next to the bed?" Ace suggested as he got into a comfortable pair of sweat pants.
Marco shook his head. "I don't want them to sleep under the window so they will get sick," he replied and looked around the room once more.
The room was big enough to fit the couple's double bed which was set in the middle of the room, right in front of the door. The window was on the same side as the bed, only a bit to the left, and on the wall closest to the window stood the wardrobe and the dresser. On the opposite side of the wardrobe, on the empty wall, the drawers chest stood and next to it hung a small bookshelf that held various novels for Marco's and Ace's night reads.
"Under the shelf?" Marco suggested. Ace looked around and stood next to Marco in front of the shelf, his eyes moving lower to the empty space and he grinned.
"Yeah. That's our best option." Ace nodded and looked back at the puppies. He rolled his eyes and chuckled as he saw one puppy sitting on the floor behind them and looking up at Marco.
Marco looked back and picked up the puppy, petting his head softly with a small smile and Ace couldn't help but smile at that. He looked back again and searched for the other trouble maker and finally located him under the bed, nibbling cutely at an old belt that Ace thought he'd lost.
The black haired young man picked up the puppy with the belt still hanging cutely from his mouth and chuckled, tickling his little stomach and laughing at the cute barks he earned.
Marco knelt in front of the pillows they had placed on the floor and put the puppy in his arms on one of the soft pillows. He watched as the little dog sniffed around him and circled the pillow to sniff every inch of it, before settling down on it, his small short paws lying in front of him as he laid his head on them and looked up at Marco then at Ace and his brother who was barking in Ace's arms.
As soon as the other puppy noticed his brother was looking at him he wiggled in Ace's arms, wanting to get down as well. Laughing at the little puppy, Ace knelt down and placed him on the other pillow.
Needless to say the energetic puppy kept hopping over the pillow, sniffing it and circling it. Both Marco and Ace watched with silent amusement how the puppies interacted with each other and with their new properties. It made Ace's heart warm to see the energetic puppy hop down his pillow and try to pull it closer to his brother's pillow.
"Awww… Here, little one, let me help." Ace leaned down and pushed the pillow over so it would be side by side with the other puppy's pillow. And with a happy little bark his puppy hopped back on it, curling on himself close to his brother who curled on himself as well and drifted to sleep instantly, having had such a long day, no matter how energetic a puppy can get, they'd go to sleep instantly.
"We should probably do the same, yoi," Marco remarked as he wrapped his arms around Ace's waist, moving to stand behind him and hugged him to his chest. Ace only chuckled lightly at the gesture and wrapped his arms over Marco's.
"Want us to cuddle to sleep, babe?"
Marco chuckled at that and moved his head to drop a single open mouthed kiss on Ace's neck. "We can always do more than cuddle to sleep, yoi," Marco whispered huskily against Ace's skin, smirking at the groan he earned from the freckled young man.
"Hmm… We can, yes, but not today. They're with us in the same room, Marco."
Marco didn't hide his disappointment when he heard Ace's reply but nodded nonetheless, leaning his arms lower against Ace's body and swiftly carried him and walked the short distance back to the bed before lowering Ace, who was laughing quietly and happily to himself.
"I like it when you carry me like that." Ace smirked and pulled Marco by the collar of his sleeping shirt, making him topple and hover above him.
"I know, yoi. That's why I don't miss a chance to carry you like that and hear you laugh." Marco grinned and leaned his head down, capturing Ace's lips in a soft, loving peck.
They broke the kiss all too soon and Ace stifled a yawn with the back of his hand. Marco took that as their cue to sleep and lied down next to his boyfriend, turning on his side and draping his arm over Ace's waist. Ace smiled in content and turned to face Marco, doing the same and moving his arm to lie over Marco's waist.
"Good night, Ace," Marco whispered softly, his droopy eyes already dropping more and almost closing.
"g…..night…" was the last thing Marco heard before he drifted to a peaceful sleep with a small smile on his face.