Prompt: Marco/Ace, Ace finds Marco's lost pet. This leads to them meeting, requested by Ventusio
Mentally, Ace was checking to see if he had bought everything from his shopping list. There was meat, vegetables, meat, milk, fruit, meat…
Perhaps he shouldn't have taken Luffy's suggestions. Not that Ace was opposed to meat, though.
As he hoisted the paper bag higher on his arm, he suddenly heard a soft whine of a dog in pain. It appeared to be coming from the alley he was passing.
Ace squinted, but it was too dark to see. Carefully, he stepped into the alley.
On the ground, a white dog was lying. Well, Ace supposed he was white, because right now he was dark with mud and what Ace feared was blood. It also almost appeared as if the dog had a moustache.
The animal looked up when it saw Ace and growled.
"Hi there," Ace said softly. "It's okay, I can help." Cautiously, he stepped closer. "Are you in pain? You are, aren't you?" He could see the dog wasn't leaning on one of his hind legs.
The dog let out another growl in warning.
Ace reached into his grocery bag and tore open a packing of meat, holding it out to the dog slowly. The dog sniffed at it and started to eat.
"You're hungry, aren't you?" Ace said softly.
The animal had devoured the meat in no time and licked at Ace's hand when he reached out. Ace petted him, and the dog let him.
Ace reached for the leg that appeared to be painful, talking in a soothing tone when the dog growled again. "It's okay. I can help." There was a nasty cut in the leg. Ace wondered if the dog had been fighting.
Well, it was a good thing he had a brother studying to be a vet.
"Can you walk?" he asked the dog. "You're a bit big to carry." He tore open another package of meat and fed a bit to the dog. "Come, I'll make sure you'll get better."
Much to his joy, the dog followed him, though he limped a little.
Ace's home was fortunately close by. Luffy almost threw himself on the dog in excitement, but stopped when Ace said it was hurt.
They first cleaned the dog in the shower, causing the whole bathroom to become wet, and afterwards, Sabo looked at the cut.
"It's not as bad as it appeared at first," he said in relief. "I'll put a bandage on it."
"Do you think this is someone's dog?" Ace asked.
"I'd think so. He has a collar." Sabo looked at the label. "His name is Stefan. There's no address, though."
"Well, they can't be very good owners, now can they?" Ace huffed as he scratched Stefan behind his ear.
"You don't know that. He seems to be well fed. Maybe he ran off chasing a cat or something," Sabo suggested, "and then got hurt."
Ace huffed again.
"Can we keep him?" Luffy asked in a whiney voice. "Please? He's so cool! He has a moustache."
"First we should try to find the owners," Sabo said strictly.
Both Ace and Luffy pouted.
Over the next two days, Ace and Luffy hang up flyers to announce that they had found a dog named Stefan, though they didn't put a photo up. Ace caught Luffy hanging them where no one would see them and reprimanded him, but he could understand it.
Stefan was a great dog. He was well trained and affectionate. Ace couldn't say he would mind if the owner never showed up.
Unfortunately, someone called his number, which was printed on the flyer.
"I saw your flyer. You've found my dog?" The man on the other end of the line sounded relieved.
Ace ignored the fact that he had a very nice voice. "I don't know," he said haughtily. "We found a dog. How do I know it's yours?"
The man hummed. "Well, he's big, about the size of a small pony, and white. Plus, he looks like he has a moustache."
Ace pouted. That sounded a bit too accurate. "Well, I guess he's yours then." He didn't even try to hide his disappointment. "You can pick him up tonight if you want." He gave the man his address.
That evening, they were all sitting on the couch pouting, even Sabo. They had all grown attached to Stefan.
Stefan seemed to sense the mood and tried to cheer them up by licking their faces.
Way too soon for Ace's taste, the doorbell rang.
"Let's pretend we're not home!" Luffy said as he wrapped his arms around Stefan possessively.
"He's not ours, Lu," Sabo said with a sigh.
"But…" Luffy's bottom lip started to quiver.
The doorbell rang again.
"I'll get it," Ace said sighing, and with his shoulders slumped, he opened the door.
On the doorstep, a gorgeous man was standing, smiling as he saw Ace. "Hi, I'm here for Stefan."
Before Ace could reply, Stefan bolted into the hallway and jumped the man, uncaring that he trampled Ace along the way, and started licking the stranger's face. The man was obviously used to be jumped like that, because he barely staggered as he braced himself.
"Good boy," he said laughing. "Are you okay, though?" he asked Ace worriedly, as Ace scrambled to his feet.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I guess there's really no doubt you're his owner," he muttered.
"Thank you for taking care of him," the stranger said with a smile. "I'm Marco." He held out his hand.
"Ace. Would you like to come in for a bit? My brothers grown attached to Stefan, so they'd like to say goodbye," he suggested.
Marco smiled again, causing Ace's heart to flutter somehow. "Of course."
