VII.

"Now, Marco, I don't want you to take this personally," Ace began to mutter, scratching his neck.

They were now walking down the hallway to Marco's apartment. The poor man from the past was draped in a blanket from the blond's trunk, covering it around himself and looking around every which way. His eyes hadn't had a chance to close since they'd gotten back here in the future, there was too much to see and speculate, all of which just made him grin. Except, well, a certain thing.

"I don't reckon I'll get along with that car thingamajig."

Marco, too, couldn't stop grinning since they'd gotten back and was even smirking now while he fetched his keys. It was hard to explain, he knew the modern world and its wonders to an extent, but seeing Ace's reactions to things he interacted with on a daily basis was just priceless, every comment - whether dripping with country sass or not- was pure gold.

The car fiasco was eventful to say the least. It wasn't that Ace got car sick and that was why he didn't enjoy the ride, in fact, at first he seemed pretty pumped and accepting of the thing, excited to give it a spin. It was the idea of there being other cars on the road, specifically in the other lane coming in their direction. No matter how many times Marco swore they weren't coming right for them, it didn't matter.

Somehow, even while wearing the seat belt, the wannabe cowboy, draped in the blanket, managed to climb up into his seat more onto his feet to get a better aerial view through the windshield. His hand held a death grip on Marco's shoulder, a consistent chain of 'whoa whoa whoa' coming from his shallow breaths until a car passed by and they had a few moments of one not coming towards them.

"You'll get used to it, I swear the other cars weren't going at us, yoi." Marco turned the key into the lock. "Just wait until you try indoor plumbing or a hot shower."

The doorway inside the apartment was dark, just the way Marco had left it. Even still, trusting him, Ace followed him inside the dark room and let the door close behind.

"Plumbing?"

Oh, that would be fun to explain to Ace. Marco side stepped over to hit the lights, but froze when they turned on before he could. He doubted Ace knew the light switch just yet, which meant they weren't alone. One look over across the room at the second switch, there was a familiar face.

It was Luffy. Not the Wild West Luffy, to Marco's surprise as he'd never seen modern Luffy. He looked just as young, dressed like any other young adult these days, but his eyes were wide and focused right on Ace. How the hell had he known where Marco even lived? His Ace senses were tingling perhaps? Marco decided not to question it too much as it seemed like he had something to say, but remained silent. Then came the dry sobs.

Ace was just as surprised to see Luffy here. Everything was so new to him in the future, finding his brother in Marco's home most likely hadn't crossed his mind. Yet, here he was and if Ace had been feeling sort of home sick in the last twenty or so minutes of being in the future it was long gone.

"Luffy-?" he started, his grin starting to form, until of course he made contact with the back of the door.

His brother had practically tackled him against it, his arms around him. "Ace!" His voice was so sad, Marco felt an actual twinge of guilt. Though did he have a reason to feel guilty? He did back Ace up kind of.

Feeling this wasn't his reunion to spoil, especially if this reincarnation of Luffy had just remembered he had a long lost brother he'd forgotten, Marco moved to put away his things from work and a certain gun in his pocket. To think they came back to this day where he'd left, it felt unreal. That, and since he wasn't initially planning to drag a guy out of the Wild West and into the future to stay with him in the beginning, preparations needed to be done. And for some reason, even though he knew Ace didn't know what a modern home should like, he felt like he needed to take advantage of cleaning what little mess there might have been.

"You little rubber bastard, what are you doing here?" Ace laughed, pulling his brother's face away with his hands. Then he pulled at his cheeks, stopping and cocking an eyebrow at the fact there wasn't their usual stretch. "Or not rubber bastard."

"I thought you were dead!" Ugly crying, there were ugly tears.

"You… You thought I was dead?" Ace's voice might have cracked. The tears were contagious, they were such brothers. Considering his time jump, there had to have been hundreds of years he was missing and assumed dead. "Well, kind of, but…"

Dropping the blanket that was draped around him, he bear hugged his brother in return. "I ain't leaving again."

There wasn't a dry eye in the house, except for Marco's, who was still tidying up pillows on the couch. Slowly, he stood up to look at how they turned out, pausing to stare at the picture on the end table. It was of him, Thatch and Izo. If Luffy remembered his past now that Ace was here, how likely was it that those two remembered as well? Now that Marco understood everything was more on reincarnation terms and not ancestral.

That, and how much did Marco secretly owe his brother in all this? A hell of a lot, that's what. He didn't help directly, but just from being a nerd in this sort of thing and bugging Marco most of his life, he helped him out big time. Even if Thatch didn't remember, he felt like he owed him enough to secretly introduce him to one of his western idols. How long would it take Thatch to recognize Ace's face or would he just compliment him on making the costume?

He got his phone out of his pocket and looked back over to the other two in the doorway. He didn't need to keep looking back at Ace, but he still wanted to. It was exciting to have him here, it felt unreal to imagine him in his home - so of course Marco wanted to steal any of the glances in Ace's direction he could just incase fate was cruel and might take him away.

Both the brothers were wiping at their eyes and laughing like idiots, a happy reunion indeed.

"Oi, Ace! Have you seen what a microwave is yet?"

Ace shook his head. "Uh, I don't reckon so? Is it at a beach?" Such innocence, he heard wave and thought water.

Speaking of water.

"Luffy." Marco walked back into the kitchen, hovering in the doorway with his phone out. They weren't acquaintances or anything, but he felt confident the little brother would want to show Ace everything just as much as Marco wanted to. "Show him a shower first, yoi."

Luffy's eyes seemed to brighten at that, his mind working and knowing how nice of an upgrade that had been since the West. He grabbed onto Ace's arm, dragging him in the direction of the bathroom. Marco dialed Thatch's number and brought the phone up to his ear.

Ace was being dragged across the floor, but held his ground. "I'll go, I'll go, just wait a gosh darn second, Luffy!" He pulled away, taking a deep breath before looking over at Marco.

"What are you going to do?"

What? Why was he asking something like that, wanting to know what Marco was up to? With a concerned face like that, still scuffed with dirt from their last battle. It didn't slightly, just a tiny smidge, flatter the professor. He averted his eyes and cleared his throat.

"I'm calling Thatch. He's my brother in the future, yoi."

Was it really that surprising? Well, at least Ace knew now the other Thatch he said he knew.

Ace went to say something, perhaps something about how could you call Thatch from being in here, but stopped when audibly the other line on the phone picked up. Marco cursed his phone volume for being loud enough that others could hear from it, not even on speaker.

"Yo, Marco, I heard you and a student ran out of the library shirtless-"

"THATCH?" Ace moved quickly, jumping to snatch the phone from Marco. He stared down at it. He was quick to accept things of the future, but this was too perfect. He shook it, then listened to see if there was a noise inside of it. "Are you in there, Thatch? It's Ace! I'm in Marco's house! Ya'll are brothers?"

The cellphone became the potato in a game of Hot Potato, as Luffy snatched the phone next and handed it back to Marco, who was thankful. He didn't know if he would have had the power to take the phone from Ace, his curiosity to what he would've kept saying too strong. Promptly, Marco turned the volume down and gestured Ace off toward the bathroom.

"Don't worry what I'm doing, yoi, I'm not going anywhere."

Was Ace having those same thoughts? About everything feeling almost too good to be true? Idiot, there was no use in them both worrying about something like that. Ace nodded, then let his brother continue to drag him off.

There was only one phrase that accurately described Izo's face as he stood next to Marco and watched the scene before them. Then he facepalmed, hard, shaking his head further into his hand. Marco would've joined in that facepalm, but, instead, he just watched with open eyes. Ace had enjoyed his first hot shower, everyone on their apartment floor probably knew considering the 'yeehaw' he'd proclaimed, and was now outside again. Except he hadn't gotten dressed. Luffy and Ace were supposed to raid Marco's closet for some modern wear while Marco left for a moment to let Izo into the building. However, Ace, wearing his towel loosely around his waist and another one around his hair, twisted like some sort of tower, was down on his knees next to his brother. Both of them were way too close staring straight into the microwave as it cooked what smelt like some kind of meat.

"Are you two morons?" Izo dropped his hand and hissed, shooting them a look.

Both brothers moved to sit up, but accomplished knocking their heads together instead. Rubbing their noggins, they looked up and shared in saying their friend's name.

Ace got to his feet first, unable to stop himself from hugging Izo. "Izo, you're in the future too? Did you know Thatch is in a tiny little box?" He stepped away, mildly concerned.

Izo shot a glance at Marco, who just muttered the explanation that he meant a cell phone. Izo just nodded, then looked to Ace. Then, shocking everyone but maybe Luffy - who was getting the meat out of the microwave - he smacked Ace clear across the face.

"What the hell is the matter with you? Leaving without saying a word and disappearing like that! Did you want to give us heart attacks?" He bit on his lip, then turned his face away.

If it hadn't literally felt like yesterday to Marco, he wouldn't have understood. But now he knew what he was referring to, which was Ace and himself leaving to confront Teach While Izo and Thatch had gone into town.

Before the startled Ace could answer, Izo was shaking his head again and smiled. "Well, it doesn't matter that much anymore, you're here with us now, right?" Still, he jabbed a finger into the wannabe cowboy's face. "But you have to put some damn clothes on."

Skip a few hours ahead and a few drinks gone, Ace was sprawled onto the couch asleep. Which was a shame, he actually wore modern clothes very nicely. Well, he wore Marco's clothes very nicely, the professor thought, not that he'd checked him out after Izo had dressed him, laughing at the fact he was still adamant about keeping the button up shirt open to expose his abs. That would have to change over time and not right away, it seemed.

Still, time moved by a lot faster after that. Ace and Luffy went on a binge spree through Marco's magical ice box, using the equally as magical microwave to send their taste buds on a ride like never before. Izo tried to fill Ace in on the most important things in the world nowadays, but gave in and went back to joyfully drinking when it was obvious a lot of it was too overwhelming and went in through one ear out the other. Of course, Ace passed out on his own accord, leaving Marco alone to host to their house guests.

Thatch was the last to arrive - unlike Marco, he didn't feel a reason to ditch work so quickly, because his memory hadn't seemed to return right away. Even after he walked into Marco's apartment and saw the sleeping Ace, it hadn't completely come back. He recognized who Ace was supposed to be and that he was the real thing and they knew one another, but couldn't place personal memories back. He also claimed to continuously be receiving visions of Izo in Wild West attire and lingerie that Izo didn't care for one bit.

Eventually Thatch sat on the couch and tried to wrap his mind around what he was being told.

"So let me get this straight." Thatch put his hand out in front of him while he spoke, completely in the zone. "You, of all people, got sent back to the Wild West to save Portgas D. Ace, my favorite cowboy?" As he spoke he pointed, just for emphasis.

Marco, lounging back in his spot next to the sleeping Ace just nodded, taking a drink. "Yup. Even saved his life and killed Blackbeard in the process, yoi." The bragging rights were so, so sweet.

"Why?!" Thatch purposely shoved at his stack of books he'd brought for shits and giggles, the books Luffy was looking through for the pictures only. "Out of all of the people who could've been sent back, they sent you? Does this mean one of my theories were correct?"

Izo reached across the distance to point and whisper at something in a book to Luffy, and they shared in a laugh.

The sound of a book falling from the tower onto the coffee table was enough to wake the sleeping western beauty from his sleep. Slowly, Ace sat up and rubbed at his eyes and glared at the book in question. As if nothing else mattered, who was around him or what time period he was in, just what had woken him up.

That book in particular had already been book marked in several places, Ace chose one at random. Then he winced.

"Man, they got my face wrong." He turned a few pages to the next one, then his eyes widened. He beamed at his little brother and lifted up the book. "Luffy, you did all of this stuff?"

Luffy grinned, laughing with his shishishis.

Ace gave a nod to Thatch, then looked back at the book, excited about what he was reading.

"Well, shut my mouth." He smirked, though was he really surprised? The two brothers seemed to hold each other in high regard.

There was a small murmur of laughter to Ace's remark that made the freckled man look up, his smile fading slightly, almost embarrassingly.

"What? Did I say something?"

Izo nodded. "Yes, everything you say." He started to explain. "It's not really how people talk anymore. But don't worry, I'm sure Marco finds it adorable."

Marco shot him a glare. How to throw someone under a bus much? He shook his head. "It's alright, yoi. Hater's going to hate."

His eyes moved, meeting Ace's that had gone to look at him. The cowboy's cheeks had actually flushed and he quickly turned away, turning to Thatch. Marco looked down at his drink and finished it off.

"So how did you two defeat Blackbeard then? Your gun, Ace?" Thatch asked, stopping himself in realization. He'd remembered something. "Ah, the guns, do you still have your gun?"

There was Marco's chance to get up and away. He rose to his feet. "I'll get it."

Quickly, he went to where he'd stashed it, then brought it back to the table. He handed it off to Thatch and straight lined to his balcony without another word. He needed some fresh air and a chance to think since he'd made it home.

It was a great feeling to have Ace in his real home and his real time period with his friends, but something still pained Marco as a slight guilt. He hadn't intentionally done it, but even so in doing it, he hadn't given Ace much of an option. Would he have really wanted to come to stay here in the future with him, the guy he'd only known for a few days? This was a place where things like his magical guns were useless or non existent and all that Ace had known had been changed. Sure, it might have beaten dying, but Ace himself had said he wanted to see what the cards had written out for him.

Marco stayed out there a good half hour, listening to them inside laughing and getting drunk. But honestly, he was appreciating the night a bit more as well. He turned his head back only once, when the sliding door opened and it was his cowboy in question who stepped out to meet him.

"Sorry," he muttered, coming up to the balcony beside him. "Didn't mean for you to run out like that. It's your house, won't hurt my feelings a bit if you make them go."

That made Marco huff slightly and he looked back at his view. The sun had long set. "They're fine, yoi."

Ace joined him a long few minutes to stare at the view, then he turned his back to it and fiddled with his gun. He'd brought it out with him and twirled it around his finger carelessly, stealing glances in Marco's direction.

"You know, it doesn't seem to work anymore." His voice was low as he explained, looking his weapon over. "I think it went to sleep, knows we won't be needing it anymore for awhile. What do you think?"

Marco didn't know what to think. It would be nice to think of it as dormant now until they needed it most, but he wasn't sure. Another big possibility was he used up all its juice to be selfish with Ace.

"It sucks. You were a pretty weird looking bird too, I reckon I would've liked seeing that again."

Oh right, the bird thing. The blond would just happen to forget to acknowledge that. Marco sighed, turning to face him. Cautiously, he studied at Ace's face, at all those freckles again he really enjoyed counting. He really was relieved getting to see him here, have him this close to him again and back at home when things were less confusing - to himself anyway. He could really reach out to him if he wanted and not be stuck with an incorrect sketch in some history book.

"Do you regret leaving?"

Ace lifted his head at that, turning to look up at Marco. His eyes calmed slightly and he shared in a sigh.

"I'm not sure." He dropped his hand with the gun to his side, then looked up toward the stars. "I read what that there book said about me ,and I think, the cards chose wisely. They did sent you to me and vise versa. Besides, me and Luffy, we were talking about maybe trying to see if our other brother is around. If I wasn't here, we wouldn't have that chance. This future of yours has a lot of neat things, I tell you what."

Slowly, Ace brought his chin down to look at him. Marco could feel he was analyzing his face just as much as he was his.

"Are you having regrets?"

Marco pressed his lips together. Well, he was going to be honest. Did he regret this stuff, being sent back to the Wild West, going on an adventure, having a stupid crush on someone for the first time since maybe highschool and then not having to leave them behind in their own time period? Who would honestly regret that?

"No." He shook his head.

Ace seemed satisfied with that answer, switching around so that they were both facing the view once more. Then, and Marco wasn't sure if he meant to make it obvious or not, he scooted over closer to him. "Good. Cause' I'm fixin' to believe it was kind of romantic. You went all the way back in time just to come get me. And now look at me," He pulled on where the button up shirt was opening. "I'm standing here wearing your shirt and drawers."

Yes, he was, Marco wasn't going to forget that. Slowly, he found himself leaning in closer to Ace. "You haven't even seen romantic yet, yoi."

Ace filled in the gap, kissing him before teasingly whispering, "I reckon this is just gonna keep getting better then, yoi."