I really think it's actually a better idea to reply to your comments before the new chapter tbh, so I'll do that from now on owo.

Thanks again to aqua-empress for beta-reading. The last chapter as well. I was just stupid and forgot to say it, ugh. :(

bloodytears87: I have to agree that would be a good idea :,D. But he's out for now, Thatch needs a break from all the drama!

sairakanzaki: Aw, I'm so sorry D:. And no, no, don't think Ace's gonna give up that easily!

Kyyhkynen: OMG. I AM SO SORRY. AND ALSO... It makes me so happy to see you read this story of mine and like it OwO. (Because I'm a fan of you *whispers* ;_;)

Animezpeps: Aw, no! You have to wait and see how it continues? :(

Ghost of the Past

Chapter 14: Ignorance

Just about a week later, things had finally started to look like they were returning back to normal.

Ace had been allowed to leave the infirmary under the strict condition that he did not overexert himself. He had planned nothing of the sort anyway. Even training was out of the question for him at the moment. He felt no motivation for any of that anyway.

On the outside he might be giving of the impression that everything was fine at the moment, but on the inside he was constantly thinking about how he could manage to change Marco's mind. He knew the older one wanted him. Why he continued to hold himself back then was beyond Ace. He still found himself unable to understand it and that although Marco had said he would be honest to him and explain it properly.

But he had not explained even half of it properly yet. All he had said was that he did not want to hurt Ace anymore. It was ridiculous. He would never be able to understand it like this. When the both of them felt the same, why would it be wrong for them to indulge in these feelings?

But he had given in anyway. He knew there was no point in acting like a sulking child who was unable to accept the situation as it was. So during the past week he had acted like everything was fine now, even in front of Marco. At least they had been able to interact normally again thanks to that, although their communication had been limited to the absolute necessary.

While he had made sure that Marco believed everything was fine now, he had been thinking about a certain plan he had come up with in his mind. This time the advantage would be on his side. He would make sure that Marco would find himself unable to resist him. He would definitely make sure that the blond would regret the decision he had made concerning their relationship and finally see the truth that he was so desperately trying to deny.

At the moment he was sitting on deck of the Moby Dick, his arms pinned down behind his upper body, supporting him as he was looking up to the sky, seemingly enjoying the cool breeze and the sun's warmth on his skin.

He was however aware of the fact that he was being watched. Marco had taken his usual place at their pop's side and his eyes never left Ace.

Moments later Ace jumped up energetically. He turned around and faced Marco with a smirk on his face.

The blond jumped a little at this himself, feeling as if he had been caught doing something forbidden. And he could not completely deny it, because after all he should not be doing this: watching Ace all the time. But what sort of choice did he have when the younger one was apparently sunbathing right in front of him? And half-naked, too, because the raven haired man never bothered to wear a shirt. Not that anything was wrong with that. Marco was enjoying the sight after all. At least looking was not forbidden yet.

But Marco was still startled when Ace caught him right in the act of him checking the raven haired man out like that.

Ace took his time to walk over to him. And he only stopped when he was standing right in front of Marco.

"Hey." The younger one said with a smile.

"Anything you need, yoi?" Marco asked just as friendly in return, even though he was cautious. When it came to Ace it was always hard to guess what might happen or what the younger one might be up to. They might have been doing fine for a week, but Marco was almost absolutely sure that Ace had not been satisfied with the explanation he had given him. And he knew that was his fault, because even though Marco had urged himself to tell Ace the real reasons behind his actions, he had not been able to do so in the end.

"Yeah." Ace replied slowly. "I need to talk to you." He added. His glance seemed to pierce right through Marco.

"Are you free this evening? I could come to your room." The younger one suggested carefully. And for a moment his eyes shifted to glance at their pops for a second.

Whitebeard had been observing the short conversation of his two sons without interrupting them, but he would be lying to say that he was not curious as to what was going on. But he thought it inappropriate to interrupt them in their talk.

Marco scratched the back of his head nervously as he thought about the question for what in his opinion was a little too long to not look suspicious. He wanted to refuse, but that would have seemed too weird a thing of him to do. He did not want their pops to think that anything strange was going on. And somehow he thought that that was the reason why Ace had chosen this exact moment to ask him. He knew that Marco would be unable to lie now. Or act like he was not in his room later. Or in general just anything like that really. Because Marco might have done that to avoid talking to the younger one in private, but lying in front of Whitebeard was completely out of the question and acting like he had no time for Ace was, too.

And that when he had hoped that little problem between them had finally resolved itself, but apparently it had not. He did not want to deal with this anymore. Why did Ace have to make it so hard for the both of them?

In the end he knew that there was no way he could refuse the request, so very reluctantly he agreed upon the meeting with a short and quiet "Okay.".

It made Ace beam a smile at him before he turned around and left, but not before making sure to tell him that he would be happy to see him later then.

Marco only sighed in relief when the raven haired man was finally gone. He received the loud and booming signature laugh from his pops for that.

"That boy really is a curious one." Was all that Whitebeard remarked upon the conversation he had just had the luck to overhear, but the only reaction Marco gave him was a slight shrug of his shoulders.

...

Evening came too soon and Marco found himself in his room earlier than he had planned. He was nervously walking up and down, trying to calm himself down, but the attempts seemed to be futile. He thought about what to tell Ace if he happened to ask about that certain matter again, but he came to no conclusion. He had already told him what he was thinking and feeling and he had already told him that it was definitely impossible. What else was there to tell him?

The truth, a tiny voice in the back of his head suggested, but he ignored it skilfully. He did no longer want to do that. After all it was better if that – if the truth – stayed a secret. No one needed to know.

An energetic knock on his door abruptly interrupted his trail of thoughts. His feet stopped and he looked up to stare at the wooden door for a moment, as if he could see through it if he only looked at it for long enough. Ace was awfully early.

He wondered if he was ready to talk to him yet. He believed not. But truthfully, he probably never was.

So, completely reluctantly he went over to the door and opened it.

And sure enough, there was Ace standing in front of it, a wide grin on his face as he entered Marco's room.

He closed the door behind his visitor as he followed him back into the room. He knew he had to solve this situation somehow diplomatically. Without causing any more drama between them. But if Ace wanted to talk about that he would need to ask about it himself. Marco would definitely not start a conversation about the topic.

"Sit down if you like, yoi." He said somewhat politely, pointing at one of the chairs that was placed around a table in one corner of his room.

Ace complied gladly and he was still smiling as he sat down.

Marco on the other hand was feeling uneasy. Probably because Ace had not said a single word yet. Or maybe just because of the current situation in general.

So instead of sitting down himself he went over to his cupboard and opened it. Various bottles of diverse liquids greeted him. He remembered the day he got drunk after his first conversation with Ace in here after the incident. He had been stupid back then. Stupid and weak. But this time he would not make such mistakes. He would not let the conversation escalate like that again.

So he shook off the thought and turned around. With a smile he asked the younger one: "Would you like to drink something? I got wine, beer. Anything really."

Ace only smiled back at him as he replied, speaking for the first time since he had arrived at Marco's room. "They said I'm not allowed to yet."

"Oh." Marco brought out, suddenly thinking that he should have known. He should have been more attentive than that. "I see. Sorry, yoi."

"No need to apologize. I'll take water if you got any." Ace said.

Marco only nodded as he turned around again, bringing out two glasses. He filled one with water and he opened a bottle of red wine for himself, hoping that he did not appear impolite for drinking alcohol while Ace was not allowed to do the same.

He took both of the glasses and went over to the table at which Ace was seated. He placed them down carefully and took a seat himself, opposite of Ace.

For a while they were just sitting there, no one doing anything, or even daring to speak.

In the end it was Ace who broke the silence. "How are you doing, Marco? Haven't really had the chance to talk much lately." He said calmly.

The older one frowned at the question. He would like to know what Ace was up to, or why he was here in the first place. Surely not to have some pointless small talk? "Fine, I guess. There's a lot of work to do at the moment, yoi." He took a sip from his glass before he continued. "Pops has me looking through the documents Thatch brought with him from your mission."

Ace shot him a glance that was hard to interpret, but Marco's statement had surely piqued Ace's interest. "No one's told me about it yet." He said almost sulkily. "Would be nice to know if the mission was worth risking my life for."

"Nothing's worth risking your life for, yoi." Marco answered abruptly. He remembered Ace saying something along the line before, like his life was completely unimportant.

"I'd risk it to protect someone who's important to me." Ace replied matter-of-factly.

The remark made Marco flinch a little. He could not tell if Ace meant it as an accusation or if he just said it because he really felt that way. Or if it was both. "I guess." He said evasively.

"Anyway." The blond cleared his throat. "They were plans for sea stone infused weapons. Pretty nifty stuff to be honest. And dangerous, as you've already experienced first-hand."

"So they use that base to test them?" Ace asked.

Marco could not help but wonder why Ace was showing such an interested in the matter. He had never seen the younger one take an interest in these things before. But maybe it was because he had been on the mission and really just wanted to know what he had been sent there for.

"Not sure. They might be creating prototypes there. Having a seemingly unimportant base as a disguise for something like that could be possible, yoi." He answered with his own assumptions of the matter, thinking that it would not hurt Ace to know.

A short "I see." was all the younger one replied. He seemed to be in thoughts about the matter for a moment, but then he looked up and smiled at Marco.

The next moment Ace took the glass from the table in front of him and emptied it in one gulp. "Can I have another one?" He asked cheekily as he placed it back down onto the table.

Marco only shrugged his shoulders as he got up. "Sure, yoi." He said as he took the glass and went over to his cupboard once more.

"Was that why you wanted to talk to me, yoi?" He asked without looking back to where Ace was sitting. He was relieved. If that was everything Ace had wanted to discuss then maybe things could really get back to normal now.

If only he had known how wrong he was with his assumption.

Marco had just grabbed the bottle and was about to open it when he suddenly felt two hands tugging at the back of his jacket and the next moment a warm body pressing against him from behind.

The smile he had been upholding faltered almost instantly and he lowered the bottle and placed it back onto the shelf he had taken it from just a moment ago.

"Ace." He said quietly. He had not even heard the younger one get up or walk over to him. And here he was thinking that everything was fine, when of course it was not. The burning feelings of regret returned to him almost instantly.

"No." The younger one simply said. His voice was muffled by Marco's jacket as Ace had buried his face into the older one's back.

"Let go, Ace." Marco's voice was more forceful this time. He did not want to push Ace away, but he had to stay hard or the younger one would never understand.

"No!" Ace said again, albeit louder this time.

Marco sighed, but then he slowly turned around. Ace let go of his jacket at last, although very reluctantly and before the younger one was able to catch the front of Marco's jacket again with his hands, the blond caught them in his own, holding him still.

"What are you doing?" Marco asked softly, unsure as to what he himself should do now.

"I want to be close to you." The younger one replied truthfully. His voice was a mere whisper and sounded completely weak and defeated.

It made Marco's heart beat faster and he had a hard time suppressing the fear that was building up inside of him. He was going to hurt Ace again. Why could the younger one not just let it go? Why did everything always have to be way more complicated than necessary?

"You know I can't, yoi." He finally said, his voice hard again.

"No, I don't!" Ace almost screamed, he tried to bring a little space between them, but Marco was still holding him by his wrists. "You said you'd explain it, but you didn't!" He added as anger started to rise in him.

He freed his wrists with a violent twist of his arms and then suddenly he leaned forward again, placing his hands against the cupboard behind Marco at each side of the older one's body.

"I know you want this." He said, his voice suddenly low and seductive.

"Ace, please – " Marco tried, but he was immediately interrupted.

"I know you want me." The younger one elaborated as he lifted one of his hands to cup Marco's face with his palm. His dark eyes were piercing and there lay a slight smirk on his lips.

Marco swallowed hard as he suddenly found himself unable to avert his eyes from the man before him anymore. He knew damn well that Ace was right. And it scared him. He did definitely not want to be in this situation right now. But somehow, at least a small part of him was starting to get excited and hoping that this moment would last for a little while. That part of him wanted to selfishly enjoy the closeness between them, although he knew that was wrong.

"Stop it, Ace." He started another lame attempt to prevent Ace from doing whatever he was about to do, but he did not even try to push the younger one away anymore.

Ace's face came dangerously close to Marco's and when the younger one's lips were almost touching Marco's ear – breath tickling the blond's neck and sending tingles up and down his spine – he whispered:

"I know what you've done." Ace gave the other one a moment to let the words sink in. A dreadful moment in which Marco was completely unsure as to what Ace could be referring to.

"Thatch told me. The night of our mission you came back to the ship very late." He dragged the words out playfully, teasing Marco as he revealed how much he actually knew about that night. His fingers were gently caressing Marco's cheek and it send shivers down the older one's spine, who by now found himself completely unable to resist verbally any longer. His mouth had gone dry and he was fearfully anticipating what Ace was about to say next.

"You were on that island, right? You met up with a woman, didn't you?" Ace looked at him with eyes that were filled with torment. It made Marco's heart throb painfully.

And it took the blond a moment to reply with a stuttering "Y-yeah.".

"Did you know her before that night?" The younger one continued his questions and upon this one he found himself unable to hide a slight jealous touch to his voice.

"I didn't." Marco answered shortly, somehow hoping to simply satisfy Ace's curiosity with that. To make him stop.

But Ace did not want to stop. He had his mind set on hurting Marco. And himself. He hated this, but what he hated even more was this dreadful lack of knowing what was going on in Marco's mind. And he had to find out, no matter what.

"Did you fuck her?" Ace's next question came quick and angry.

It caught Marco completely unprepared. "Ace!" He exclaimed as he finally tried to push the other one away from himself, but Ace's other hand had found its way between them and was pushing Marco back against the cupboard.

"Just answer the damn question." The younger one said sharply. He knew that he had no right to be jealous or condemn Marco for it if something like that had actually happened, but that was not the point here. He was trying to achieve something very differently after all.

"I don't see the point in this. How's it going to change anything if you know, yoi?" Marco had finally regained his ability to protest as it seemed.

"Well did you, or did you not?" Ace repeated his question, completely ignoring what the older one had said.

By now somewhat annoyed Marco finally gave in and said. "I did."

A shallow laugh escaped from Ace's lips. It was unpleasantly loud in Marco's ear due to the short distance between them.

"Good." The younger one said as he brought more space between them once more. "Fucking great." He added, biting his lower lip in an attempt to think about Marco's reply for a second.

"So I'm correct when I'm thinking that while you said that you were in love with me. And while you kissed me and then left me standing on the ship. And while you told me that it was impossible that there could ever be something between us, you went ahead – on the day you refused to go on that mission with me no less – and went to fuck some random woman you'd just met?" He was not really expecting an answer, he was simply stating painful, cruel facts by now.

And a quiet "I'm sorry." was all Marco was able to say.

"Heard that one before." Ace spat out coldly. He could not believe this. He could not believe the man standing in front of him. Of all the things he would have expected of Marco, this was definitely none of them.