I planned to post this chapter last Saturday, but then my internet died XD

Beta'ed by Vergina-spva and MyLadyDay

Enjoy ^^

Reborn in Fire

Chapter 26

Ace wasn't sure how long he was standing there, gaping at Marco. "You're… breaking up with me?" he finally managed to bring out. The whole situation, it all felt surreal. The blonde had told him he loved him when he was drunk, but just now when the freckled man confronted him with it, he hadn't denied it. So there had to be some sort of mistake. Marco had to have fear of commitment or something, that had to be it.

The blonde had evaded eye contact again, his hands in his hair as he seemed to stop himself from pulling it out. "I'm sorry…"

"Just stop it, okay?" Ace knelt down again. "I don't know what suddenly got into you, but you love me, right? That's all that matters."

"I do," Marco whispered and he didn't stop the fireman when he kissed him.

Ace couldn't help but feel relieved. He still didn't know what had gotten into the blonde all of the sudden, but it seemed like he could kiss it all better.

Marco responded eagerly to his kiss, until he suddenly pushed Ace off of him. "No!" He jumped up and started to pace up and down. "I can't…"

Ace felt himself getting angry again. "What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"I told you, it's over!" Marco leaned with one hand on the table and used the other to rub his temples. "Please, just go."

"So you're actually serious?" Ace had trouble keeping his breathing under control. "You're breaking up with me?"

"Please… just go." The blonde's voice was barely above a whisper. He sounded so tired.

Ace, however, was in no mood to feel sorry for him. Grabbing the man by the shoulder, he spun him around. "Not until you give me a fucking reason!"

Marco opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it again and shook his head. "I'm sorry…"

"Stop saying that! If you really were, we wouldn't be in this situation! We've been dating for months, but you decide to dump me right after I tell you I love you?!" Ace's voice broke.

"I'm s– I shouldn't have let it come this far," the blonde interrupted himself.

"Does that mean you knew you were going to break up with me the entire time?" The freckled man sounded dangerously calm.

Marco didn't respond, merely looked at the ground.

"What the hell kind of psychopath are you?! You get off from ripping people's hearts out? How can you do this to me, after you were the one who said he wanted a serious relationship?" Ace bit his lip to prevent tears from spilling. Like hell he would cry in front of Marco. Soon, he tasted blood.

"I never meant to hurt you." A bit hesitant, Marco reached out his hand and touched the freckled man's face. "I'm so sorry."

For a moment, Ace closed his eyes and leaned into the touch, pretending all was normal. But as soon as he opened his eyes again, he knew it wasn't. Marco's eyes were sad, remorseful. This was really happening.

Angry, he batted the blonde's hand away. "I told you to stop saying that! You owe me an explanation, you fucking bastard!"

"I can't give you one! Please don't take it personal. It's not you–"

Ace scoffed. "You seriously gonna give me the 'it's not you, it's me' speech? You're pathetic!"

"I'm sorry… I can't stand the idea of you hating me…"

"Well, too bad! 'Cause I hate you already!"

He knew Marco could have stopped his fist, but apparently, the blonde felt so guilty he let Ace punch him in the face with his full strength. The freckled man heard a crunching sound and he knew he might have broken the arson inspector's nose, but he didn't stay to find out. He needed to leave this place.

The world was spinning around him when he finally came to a stop. He had ran the entire time from Marco's house to wherever the hell he was now, never stopping to look where he was going. He didn't care about being lost, though. Less chance he would run into someone he knew, because he didn't want to talk to anyone right now. Marco had just ripped his heart out, knowing fully well how Ace felt about him, and even worse, had known this whole time that things were going to end this way. Why the blonde had decided this was the appropriate time, Ace couldn't even begin to comprehend. Did he feel like Ace was getting too close? But they were dating for months! And their relationship had been more intense than those of ordinary people, with all the attempts on their lives and all. He had just met Marco's father, for crying out loud! And then the blonde had the nerve to not even give him as much as a reason?!

No matter how long he thought about it, Ace didn't understand. Everything had been going so well. A few hours ago, he had been in bed with the man he loved and his life had seemed perfect. Now, it felt like his heart was ripped out of his chest and displayed in front of him. Was there any way he could have seen this coming?

He shook his head violently. No. This was not on him. This was all the fault of that bastard who had the nerve to call him a kid, while the blonde was the one not ready to be in a relationship.

He didn't need this right now. He just wanted to forget about everything, even if it was for a little while. A sign above a door that said 'Shakky's Rip-off Bar' drew his attention. Alcohol. That was just what he needed. He had never been to this side of town before, much less in this particular bar, but booze was booze. Trying the door handle, he found the door to be open and stepped inside.

The bar was dark and some people were sitting in the corner, talking softly to each other. It seemed a bit shady and maybe a place where the Mafia would hang out or something, but what the hell, they accepted money from everyone, right? Ace took a seat at the bar and waited until he had the attention from the bartender, a woman with black hair in a bob cut smoking a cigarette.

"You must be new here," she said.

Ace just shrugged.

Sensing this one wasn't in the mood to talk, the bartender continued: "What can I getcha?"

"The strongest and cheapest stuff you got. I need to get drunk, and fast," he answered monotonously.

"Ah, the broken heart special." The woman poured some kind of whiskey or rum in a glass and placed it in front of Ace on the bar.

The freckled man tossed his drink back and tapped on the bar to indicate he wanted another. The bartender complied before tending to another customer.

Ace wasn't sure how many drinks he had when his vision went a little blurry, but he still had the presence of mind to realise that someone came to sit next to him, so he wasn't nearly drunk enough.

"Looks like you have had a bad day."

Ace turned around – almost slipping of his bar stool – to tell the guy to mind his own business. He was met with a friendly, elderly face of a man, with long silver hair and a matching goatee. A small sober part of his mind tried to tell him he had seen this man before, but he couldn't place him. The words had died on his tongue a while ago and he just sighed.

"Shakky, another round for me and my friend here."

The woman behind the bar rolled her eyes and took a drag from her cigarette. "If you're ordering, it's going on your tab, Rayleigh."

The man beside Ace groaned. "You stepped into the wrong bar to get drunk, son. It's not called 'Shakky's Rip-off Bar' for nothing."

Ace shrugged. "I don't care."

"Anything you want to talk about?" the man asked.

"Not really."

A few drinks later, he found himself pouring his heart out. "And then the bastard dumps me, without giving me so much as a reason! But yeah, I'm the kid here." He took another swig of his drink, wobbling on his stool. Pointing at the man who had been introduced as Rayleigh, he cocked his head a little. "Have we met before?"

The silver haired man plucked at his goatee. "Have we, indeed."

Ace didn't get it, but he stopped caring when another glass filled with some kind of alcoholic beverage was placed in front of him.

He had no idea what time it was when Rayleigh asked him: "Do you need a ride home, son?"

"No, I don't wanna go home. Luffy can't see me like this," the freckled man answered, not realising that Rayleigh probably didn't know who Luffy was in the first place. A bit wobbly, he climbed off his bar stool. "I'll walk. I can walk off the alcohol. I'll be fine." He almost bumped into another customer. "'xuse me, kind sir."

The door was a little farther away than he expected it to be, causing him to almost fall over, but he managed to stay on his feet. Turning back to the bar, he waved at Rayleigh and Shakky, as the bartender was apparently the owner of the bar, and called: "I'm okay."

Outside, it was dark. He couldn't remember if it had been when he went inside, but it didn't matter, anyway. He needed to sober up and get home. There he could sleep the whole thing off and start fresh tomorrow. Yet, he had no idea where he was. Was this how Zoro always felt? He finally understood his green haired friend. The streets were moving!

After having walked a few blocks, he realised he had to pee. He should probably have gone in the bar, but it was too far to walk back and he didn't know how long it would take him to get home. Checking if no one was looking, he zipped open his pants and sighed in relief when he didn't have to hold it in any longer. While peeing, he studied the car he was urinating against. It did look kind of familiar…

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

Ace zipped up and turned around smiling. "Smokey!"

Smoker was standing behind him, fuming, it seemed, with his arms crossed before his chest. "Well?" He tapped his foot impatiently on the ground.

"I was peeing," Ace shrugged. "But it's so good to see you again, Smokey~"

The other man studied the fire fighter's face. "Are you drunk?"

"No, of course not. You know me, Smokey~"

"That's why I asked," Smoker grouched. "What are you doing here anyway? You live around here?"

Smoker had never been to his house, as when they still slept together Smoker wanted to keep things private and Luffy was not one for keeping secrets. Besides, Ace rarely had sex at home because his brother lived there as well and he wasn't ready to answer the questions the boy might have.

"I'm not sure where I am."

Smoker sighed and rubbed his temples. "I should arrest you for damaging police property, you know. Not to mention public intoxication."

"I was just peeing! You don't arrest every bird who craps on your car, right?"

"I wish I could," the captain said through clenched teeth.

"But I don't mind being arrested~" Ace took a step closer and let his finger run over Smoker's chest. "You'd have to cuff me though, officer~"

"It's captain, damn brat. And aren't you dating that arson inspector?"

The freckled man looked at the ground and bit his lip. Fuck, he was just starting to forget about that bastard.

Smoker seemed to understand and awkwardly scratched the back of his head. "Alright. How about I take you home?"

"I don't wanna go home! Luffy… He can't see me like this. Can't we just go to your place? Please?" Ace grabbed the police captain's wrist. "I just wanna fuck."

"No."

"Whaddya mean, no?" Ace asked a little insulted. "You never had a problem with my ass before." To emphasise, he pressed said ass against the policeman and wiggled a bit. "Come on~ I know you want to~"

"I said no, damn brat." Smoker pushed him away. "I can't use cuffs as a threat since you'll only like that, but I will clog you if you don't cut it out."

"Why not?" Ace whined.

Smoker scratched the back of his head. "I'm… sorta seeing someone."

"Who?" the freckled man demanded.

"That's none of your damn business. Now, get in the car so I can take you to the station."

"Fine." Pouting, Ace walked around the car to get to the passenger's side, when a thought entered his head. "You're not thinking about fucking me in a cell, are you, captain?" he all but purred.

Smoker lit his second cigar as he strapped on his seatbelt. "No, but I will let you sleep in one if you don't cut it out. Put on your seatbelt."

Ace did a few half-hearted attempts to click the device in, but his brain was too drunk to succeed. "It's broken."

"No, it's not." Sighing, Smoker leaned over him to fasten his seatbelt for him.

Ace groaned and stamped his feet frustrated. "You sure we can't fuck?"

Smoker just snorted and started the car. They must have been close to the police station, because when Ace opened his eyes again, they were parked and the captain had opened the passenger's door for him. "Come on, brat."

Ace did as he was told, staggering once he was on his feet – maybe a little on purpose – and Smoker had to catch him. The captain sighed and dragged him to the door, but before they went in, Ace suddenly placed his heels firmly on the ground and Smoker had to stop.

"Wait. Gramps isn't here, is he?" the raven haired man asked worriedly.

"No, the chief doesn't work at this godforsaken hour. Now, get inside, it's freezing out here."

The nice October weather they had had on Marco's birthday had vanished and now it was cold and bleak. How appropriate, Ace thought snorting.

Smoker led them to his desk. The police station was rather quiet, only the poor souls who had the night shift and some workaholics present. Ace wondered which group Smoker belonged to.

"Give me your phone."

Obediently, he did as he was told. Those tiny buttons were too small, anyway. He needed a new phone, one with bigger buttons. Or with voice recognition.

"Who can I call?" Smoker asked, as he took a seat behind his desk. "Not your brother or grandfather, apparently, and I assume that blonde either?"

Ace huffed. "Throw that number out altogether. And remove the pictures he's in."

"Do it yourself," Smoker grouched. He seemed to have found a number which pleased him, because he began to dial it on the landline.

"I'd rather just go to your place," Ace muttered, but shut up when Smoker glared at him. Sighing, he placed his forehead on the desk in front of him and tried to focus on Smoker's side of the conversation, but he kept drifting off.

"Yes, please come pick him up, he's driving me nuts," Smoker grouched. "Thank you. Sorry to bother you at this hour." With that, he hung up. "Well, your ride is on the way," he said to Ace.

The freckled man lifted his head. "Who'dya call?" he asked a bit slurred.

"A friend of yours. Zoro, I believe. He'll be here in a few minutes."

"Ha, if it's Zoro, it can take a few hours!" Ace clutched his stomach as he couldn't stop laughing.

Smoker just sighed agitated and demonstratively picked up a file and started reading it.

Finally, Ace calmed down and sighed, placing his head on the desk again. This day officially sucked.

The phone rang multiple times. He had tried ignoring it the first time, but the caller was persistent. Sighing, Marco picked up the device. Thatch was trying to reach him. That's right, he thought, Thatch said he would wait at Izo's place.

His finger hovered over the ignore button, but that would only mean Thatch would come over to check up on him. He really didn't want to see anyone right now. Not that he wanted to talk to anyone either, but it was the lesser of two evils. So finally, he picked up.

"Damn Marco, you had me worried there," Thatch's voice sounded through the phone. "You guys okay? You talked?"

"Y-yeah," the blonde said. It wasn't a lie, they did talk. They just didn't reach the conclusion Thatch thought, or hoped, they would reach.

His brother sighed in relief. "Good. So the fight is over?"

He stayed silent for a moment. "There never was a fight." With that, he hung up.

He was woken by someone gently shaking his shoulder. Sleepily, he opened his eyes, trying to remember where he was. The sounds of phones ringing and chatter told him he wasn't at home and slowly it dawned upon him that he was at the police station. The person how woke him turned out to be Zoro, who looked down on him worriedly.

"Zorri!" he called out.

The green haired man snorted annoyed. "How drunk are you?"

"Annoyingly so," Smoker answered without looking up from his file.

"You've always found me annoying, but it never stopped you from fucking me before~" Ace teased as Zoro hauled him up. Then a brilliant idea popped into his head. "Wait a minute, I've slept with you both already! How about we make it a party?" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"I already told you no, brat."

"Sanji is waiting for me at home," Zoro bit.

"Does that mean if he wasn't, you would be into it?" the freckled man asked triumphantly. "But he can join too, I don't mind. And maybe he can learn a thing or two. Right, Zoro?" He poked the green haired man's ribs.

Zoro rolled his eyes. "Come on. I'm taking you to our place since captain Smoker said you didn't want to go home, right?"

Ace shook his head and let himself be dragged along. "Bye, Smokey!" he called to the annoyed captain. "Call me if you change your mind!"

The freckled man leaned heavily on his friend as Zoro brought him to his car, both because he was tired and because he was still drunk. Zoro put him in the passenger's seat and walked around the car to get into the driver's seat. As they pulled up, the green haired man turned on his left ignition light.

"Er, if we want to go to your place, we have to go right."

Zoro muttered something like, "What do you know? You're drunk", but still turned on the other ignition. Ace giggled.

The freckled man drifted off, but was woken every time the navigation system said the directions and Ace was sure it sounded more desperate every time Zoro took a wrong turn. Eventually, though, they reached the house of Zoro and Sanji. They had moved in together after Zoro's house burned down and it seemed to go well.

When they entered the living room, Ace saw Sanji sitting on the couch, reading a book. Noticing them, the blonde put his book away and looked over the rim of his reading glasses at Ace.

"Fuck, I forgot how sexy you look with those glasses," the freckled man groaned.

"I forgot how much you stink when you're drunk. What the hell, Ace," Sanji grumbled.

Ace pouted a little, but then bowed as his manners told him. "Thank you for picking me up and letting me stay."

Sanji sighed. "That's okay. Come on, sit down."

Ace did as he was told, sitting closer to Sanji than was strictly necessary. "It's so unfair you get to keep him all to yourself, Zoro," he groaned.

The blonde rolled his eyes and took off his glasses.

"Be honest," Ace moved closer and whispered, "ever thought about having a threesome?"

"You're drunk."

"Doesn't mean I don't know how to fuck. Come on~"

Sanji sighed again. "Alright."

Ace perked up. "Are you serious?"

"First, you eat, though."

"Okay." Like hell he was going to say no to a home cooked meal made by Sanji. Food and sex, a threesome no less, maybe this evening wasn't so bad.

Zoro followed Sanji into the kitchen, whispering: "What the hell, Curly-brow? Shouldn't we discuss this?"

He didn't hear the blonde's response as they were already in the kitchen, but no doubt Sanji was busy convincing the green haired man. Contently, he kicked off his boots and lied down on the couch, his hands behind his head.

When Sanji returned, Ace almost ripped the plate out of his hands. The mention of food made him realise he hadn't eaten anything since that bowl of soup who knew how many hours ago and his stomach growled. "Thanks for the food," he said bowing his head, though his words lost a little of their impact because he had his mouth stuffed full.

Sanji sat down next to him on the couch, Zoro taking a seat across them in a chair. "You want to talk about what happened?" the former asked Ace.

"Not really. Is that thyme I taste?" he asked between bites.

Sanji sighed. "Yes."

"'s really good!"

The food was gone in no time and Ace sighed contently as he placed the plate on the coffee table – or so he thought, as it fell on the floor. Zoro rubbed his temples as the fireman giggled. "Sorry. Now, let's get down to business." He couldn't suppress a yawn.

"Why don't you take a nap first," Sanji proposed. "To gain more energy."

"Yeah, a nap sounds nice." Ace starched out his legs when the blonde rose and snuggled up when a blanket was placed over him. "Then I'm ready for action," he muttered as his eyes fell shut.

Waking up, he felt like a steamroller had run over him – and twice over his head. He groaned and sat up, a little surprised about his surroundings. Slowly, the previous night came back to him, albeit with holes, but the breakup was replayed vividly before his mind's eye, over and over again.

Groaning, he sat up as he heard some moving about in the kitchen. Sanji appeared, carrying a tray loaded with food. "Good morning," he said.

"Morning," Ace muttered a little embarrassed. Despite the delicious smells that were drifting his way, he wasn't hungry. He did, however, accept the glass of orange juice gratefully.

Sanji had taken a seat next to him on the couch. "Aren't you going to eat?"

"I don't really feel like it."

Sanji nodded, worry evident on his face. "Alright, just try in a bit."

Ace hummed and they sat in silence, before the freckled man said: "I'm sorry for intruding on you last night. And making you worry about me."

"That's okay, Ace. You're our friend."

The raven haired man nodded as he stared at his plate. He couldn't remember the last time he didn't feel like eating. And this was Sanji's food, for crying out loud! Still, he couldn't bring himself to take a bite. "Marco… broke up with me," he said slowly. He swallowed hard. As much as he didn't want to talk about it, he owed Sanji an explanation.

"So I've heard." The blonde's voice sounded soft. "How are you?"

"It's okay, I'm alright," he shrugged.

"Ace… You're crying."

"What?" Confused, he wiped with his hand over his cheeks and stared at the wet substance. He was crying. "Fuck!" He clutched to Sanji, his shoulders shaking with every sob. He hated to look so vulnerable in front of his friend, but he couldn't hold back anymore.

Slender hands rubbed soothing circles on his back until his calmed down. Gasping for air, he sat up again, wiping his cheeks. "I'm sorry. I just… I really l–" He fervently shook his head and hid his face in his hands. After having taken a few deep breaths, he felt like he had himself under control again.

Sanji still looked at him, his unique eyebrow pulled in a worried frown. Not wanting his friend to feel bad on his account, Ace forced a smile on his face. "Really, I'm fine. Come on, you know me." Though, he realised, in the time he had known Sanji he had been in prison and the rest of the time he had been dating Marco. Still, the chef must have heard stories about how he bounced from one guy to the next, right? This was just like that. Only… Only this time, it might take a little longer before he was ready to date again.

"So where's Zoro?" he asked to change the subject as he tried a tiny bite from the food in front of him – it smelled so good – and decided that he may be hungry after all.

Sanji smiled encouragingly. "He is picking up Luffy."

Ace stopped his fork on its way to his mouth. "Oh. Was he worried?"

"Not until we called him. He assumed…" Sanji trailed off.

Sighing, Ace placed his fork on the plate again. "He assumed I was with Marco."

"Yeah…"

An awkward silence fell. Sanji moved and leaned with his elbows on his knees, his head resting on his palms. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but can I ask why you broke up? Things seemed to go really well, so…"

"That's what I thought too." Ace sighed again. "I don't know, it came out of the blue. He never gave me a reason."

Sanji frowned, but didn't press. They heard the key turn in the lock and a pair of footsteps in the hallway. Luffy was the first to appear in the doorway. Ace hastily wiped any possible traces of tears off his face and rose when he saw his brother.

"Ace! Are you okay?" he asked, an uncharacteristic frown on his face.

Zoro appeared behind him. "Morning," he grumbled.

"Morning," he muttered back. "Yeah, Lu, I'm fine."

"Do I need to punch him?" his brother asked, face entirely serious.

Ace smiled and ruffled his hair. "I already did. I would just like to go home now."

Luffy nodded and pressed his hat firmer on his head. Ace followed his brother to the door, turning around in the doorframe of the living room and bowed. "Thank you for taking care of me."

The piercing sound of someone holding the button from the doorbell woke him. Groaning, he reached for his alarm clock. It was ten o'clock, he had slept for a solid two hours. Sighing, Marco got off from his bed and walked downstairs. The smell of alcohol and cigarettes still lingered in the air. He peered around the corner of the living room. Several empty bottles were lying on the ground and an ashtray he hadn't used in years was filled with cigarette butts.

The piercing sound of the doorbell continued and realising his guest wouldn't go away, Marco peeked through the window next to the door. As he had expected, an outraged looking Izo had pressed his perfectly manicured finger against the doorbell and didn't seem he was about to let go. The blonde was just happy his brother hadn't decided to use his own key and just barge in. Izo was an obstacle he couldn't avoid, not matter what, so sighing, he unlocked the door.

"What the hell have you done?!" Izo spat at him as soon as he had opened the door a little. The cross dresser pushed the door open and stomped by him, not giving him the chance to change his mind. Thatch, who had been standing behind his brother, hurried along after him, trying to calm him down, but Izo was furious. Marco had to admit he couldn't remember seeing Izo this mad ever. Briefly, he wondered if he would survive this visit.

"I've been calling you all morning." Appalled, Izo placed his hands on his hips and looked around the living room. "What the hell happened to this place?" He turned around. "You look like hell."

Thatch pointed at Marco's nose with a painful face. "He got you good, didn't he?"

Gently, the blonde felt at his nose. After Ace had clogged him and stormed out, he had gone to the emergency room. It turned out his nose was broken, but hadn't appeared to be crooked, so they had placed a special cap on his nose to make sure it stayed straight and to protect it. He couldn't do aikido for two weeks, though. "I let him," he muttered.

Izo made a frustrated sound. "You know, I called Ace this morning since we couldn't really get any information from your cryptic phone call. Why the hell did you break up with him?!"

Marco sighed and turned around. "Just leave me alone."

"Not until you give me a decent answer! Ace said you didn't even give him a reason."

"Then why would I give you one?"

Izo looked at him genuinely hurt. "We're your brothers!"

Marco remained silent.

"Dude, you have some awful timing for breaking up," Thatch said softly.

His brother's comment made him want to rip out his hair, curl up in a corner and die. He was so lost in self-pity for a moment that he hadn't heard Izo approach until he placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Marco, are you that scared of being happy that you would sabotage the one relationship with the person that could have been the one? Marco, you love him!"

In the blink of an eye, Marco had turned around and had grabbed Izo's wrist, his breathing heavy. The cross dresser was caught off guard for a moment and just stared wide-eyed at the blonde. Brusquely, Marco let go of him. "Just… leave me alone." Without looking back, he went upstairs.

It was a few days after the breakup. Ace's life was going back to normal, as he still had to work like always. He hadn't seen Marco the entire time, which only proved how talented the blonde was at hiding from him. He supposed Marco had had a lot of practice when he first started working at the fire station.

Ace couldn't say he didn't appreciate not seeing the arson inspector. He was doing his best at avoiding him as well, but given the elder man's talents, Ace didn't have to go through much trouble. The rumours about their breakup were already buzzing through the fire station, including speculations about why and how Marco had broken his nose. That one was actually dead on, as everyone was convinced Ace clogged him in the face.

Today was Sunday and he didn't have to work, which meant he didn't have any distractions. Sure, there was Luffy, but this one day Gramps had decided to take the boy fishing – Ace really wondered why he tried, it wasn't like Luffy could sit still for more than two minutes. His grandfather had not been the most supportive about his breakup, hitting Ace over the head and asking him what he had done this time to drive Marco away. Ace had yelled that the blonde had broken up with him, but Garp had merely snorted and pulled Luffy along with him. Gramps did have a little sympathy for Ace, because he didn't force his eldest grandson to come along.

Ace had been watching TV all day, just to take his mind off of Marco. Thursday, after he got home, he had hoped Marco would call him to apologise and tell him it had been a mistake. But when his phone finally rang, it had been Izo calling to check up on him. He had never heard the cross dresser that angry. He almost felt sorry for Marco. Almost. He heard Izo yell for Thatch and then the artist said he would take care of it. Ace could only assume he was going to yell at Marco and silently, he was rooting for Izo. Nothing had changed, however, Marco hadn't called him or approached him at the fire station, or at home for that matter. Even a furious Izo hadn't been able to change it. Then, Ace had been certain this breakup was permanent.

The ringing of the doorbell woke him from his musings. Curious who it could be, he turned off the TV and opened the door. There he was surprised by the faces of Thatch, Izo and Haruta.

"Hey guys," he said, though it didn't came out too enthusiastically.

Izo frowned worriedly. "How are you doing?"

He shrugged. "I'm okay." He took a step aside to let the others in. "Why are you here?"

"To check up on you of course." Haruta frowned as well. "Marco is acting really strange."

Ace snorted. "You don't say."

"We've tried to talk some sense into him, but he won't even tell us why he did what he did," Izo said as he sat down.

"I'm sure he has a good reason," Thatch said soothing.

The cross dresser rolled his eyes. "What reason could possibly be good enough to dump the one guy he is actually crazy about?"

"Thatch is right, you know," Haruta piped up. "This is Marco we're talking about. He doesn't do things on a whim. He has thought long and hard about this and came to the conclusion that breaking up would be the best decision."

Annoyed, Ace turned around. "I don't want to hear it, okay? To me, he is just a coward who ran when things became too hot for him. I know you mean well, but you really suck at cheering me up. Could you please stop being his brothers for a moment and start being my friends?!"

The three brothers fell silent for a moment, until Thatch rose. "You're right." He wrapped an arm around Ace's shoulder. "We're actually here to invite you to this boxing match. And don't worry, Marco isn't coming. We're all yours, the whole afternoon. Whaddya say?" He waved tickets in front of Ace's face.

Still pouting a little, the freckled man grabbed the vouchers from his hands. "Fine. I'm in. But you buy my popcorn."

A grin appeared on Thatch's face. "You got it."

Ace didn't think it was possible after how miserable he had been feeling the last few days, but the guys actually managed to cheer him up. Also, two guys beating each other up helped a little, especially when he imagined the one losing was Marco.

Laughing again felt really good, so when he was dropped at his home, slightly tipsy, he bowed. "Thank you for taking me out."

"Of course~" Thatch said, more than a little tipsy. He poked Ace in the chest. "It's not like you to be moping around."

"Call us if you need anything," Izo impressed on him. "We might be Marco's brothers, but we're also your friends."

It was late Sunday night when the doorbell rang again. His brothers hadn't dared to stop by again, not even Izo. Apparently, the cross dresser had realised he wouldn't get a straight answer and had started devoting his time to cheering Ace up, or so Marco heard. He was actually happy about that. With his brothers fussing over the freckled man, he didn't only not have to worry about Ace being sad and lonely, but also no one would be so stupid as to try and harm Ace when the Whitebeard brothers were around. And if they were, well, they would soon regret their mistake.

Knowing Ace was taken care off, Marco devoted his energy to avoiding the fireman. It wasn't too hard, he only had to watch out when he went to work and when he went home. As expected, the other fire fighters had taken Ace's side, but nobody dared to do much more than give him dirty looks. He had never cared much about the opinions of the fire fighters – with the exception of one, obviously – so it didn't bother him in the slightest.

Though he sat in his office all day, he didn't get much work done. He had barely slept the last few nights, being lucky if he had two or three hours of sleep. Guilt gnawed at him and made it impossible to focus on anything else.

More often than not, he stared out of the window of his office down on the training area, as he had done so many times before he lost control and indulged in a relationship with Ace. The freckled man was working out, shirtless as always, but at a certain point he turned around and Marco knew he had been caught. The freckled man's lips pulled in a thin line and he brusquely turned around, starting to train twice as hard as before to work off his rage. Marco had averted his eyes. At that moment he knew this couldn't go on. He needed to get away, so he had taken up his vacation days starting Monday. He was going to his father's place for a while, as everything in his own house reminded him of Ace.

The doorbell rang again and Marco hoisted himself from the couch, rubbing his eyes. He had actually been dozing off, so this better be important. Phoenix, the bird he had gotten as a present from Ace and Luffy, sat on his shoulder. Marco had tried to set the parrot free, but Phoenix seemed content just sitting on his shoulder, so he had given up trying to get it back in his cage.

Much to his surprise, it were not his brothers, but someone else's sibling who was standing on his doorstep. "Luffy."

"You look like a pirate!" The boy started laughing, pointing at Phoenix, but when he calmed down, he leaned in and studied the blonde's still bandaged nose. "Did Ace do that?"

"Yeah."

"I thought you could beat Zoro. And you kept Gramps at bay," Luffy summed up, counting on his fingers.

Marco averted his eyes. "I deserved it. So are you here to punch me as well?"

"Nah, Ace said he had taken care of it."

"Then why are you here?"

Luffy put up his serious face, arms crossed before his chest, and opened his mouth to say something, when he started to sniffle. "Are you cooking?"

"Not anymore, but I have some leftovers if you–"

Luffy had already ran past him and shaking his head, Marco closed the door. He followed the boy to the kitchen and helped him heat up the food he had barely touched.

After the food was heated up, Luffy brought his plate to the couch and contently started to eat. Marco sunk down next to him, feeling exhausted, but he knew he wouldn't sleep tonight either. Still, watching Luffy eat with great relish made him smile a little. "Have you been eating well lately?" he asked, despite knowing that even if Luffy had consumed a three meal course half an hour earlier, he would still be eating Marco's food.

The boy nodded with his mouth full. "Sanji has been coming over or sent food from the restaurant." Licking his plate clean, he placed it on the coffee table and pulled a serious pace again, though the effect was a little lost as he had tomato sauce all over his face. Marco handed him napkin.

"Ace is really sad, you know," Luffy said as he wiped his face clean.

Marco sighed. "I know. I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt him."

"You're hurt too."

"It's never fun to break up with someone," he muttered. Phoenix shifted a little on his shoulder.

"I don't like it when Ace is sad," Luffy declared.

Marco brought his hand to his shoulder and let Phoenix hop onto his finger. "You just need to give him time," he said as he caressed the little head of the bird. "Before you know it, he'll have forgotten all about me." Somehow, that thought made his stomach turn, but he ignored the feeling of nausea.

Luffy pouted. "He doesn't want to. Why did you break up with him?"

He hadn't told Ace, nor has he told his own brothers. Whitebeard was the only one who knew what really happened that night. Still, it must be the exhaustion, because he said: "I did something horrible he can never forgive me for. So he can never know."

Luffy frowned, but before he could protest, Marco said: "Can you do me a favour? Part of the reason why I stayed as long with your brother as I did, is because someone is after his life."

"I know," Luffy said.

It always managed to surprise him how the usually dense boy was sharp when it mattered. Ace had never told his brother as not to make him worry and Marco was sure he would have never found out is he hadn't asked directly. "Alright," he said. "Please protect him."

A grin threatened to split Luffy's face in half. "Ace doesn't need protection, silly. He's my big brother!"

A little touched, Marco smiled as well. Luffy had so much faith in Ace, it was endearing.

"I should go." The black haired boy hopped off the couch. "I went fishing with Gramps today and I fell in a pile of fish. Shishishi!"

So that was that smell.

At the door, Luffy turned around. "You know, I don't think it was horrible what you did. And Ace won't hate you." With that, he left, leaving Marco gaping after him.

He had never considered that Luffy might have been there that night. He had always been focused on Ace and the other boy, Sabo. But as he tried to recall the events of that night, he remembered a detail that had never occurred to him before. In the crowd behind the freckled boy crying over the body of his friend, was another black haired and even younger boy, wailing loudly.

And it would appear that that boy remembered him.

~ To be continued

For those of you who wanted to see a threesome between Ace, Zoro and Sanji, I refer you to my story Sharing the Love *cough* shameless selfpromotion *cough*