Marco was barely awake, but the figure he was holding was just too warm to let go. He wasn't expecting someone to speak though.

"I wasn't expecting to find the Prince of Moby in my brother's bed this morning."

Marco opened his eyes, realizing that the warmth he was curled around was indeed Ace. Their compromising position was only made worse by the fact that Ace's brother was staring straight at them.

"It's not what it looks like," he blurted out, feeling a little stupid from the sudden, impulsive words that only made the situation seem worse.

"Sure," the blond said, smirking. "Nice to officially meet you. I'm Sabo."

He failed to mention the less than desirable circumstances, but Marco decided not to bring it up either. "Marco. Do you- uh- need something, yoi?"

"I expected that you'd be in here- well, not specifically in my brother's bed, but anyways- I wanted to have a chat with you."

"Here? Now?"

"Yes. Is that a problem? Won't take long. I promise."

Marco shook his head, gently prying himself out of Ace's grip, who had been holding him too. Ace softly groaned, but continued to snooze away.

"I see you two made up. It'd be a downer on all of us if you were still fighting. He's not exactly levelheaded."

"I know. Stubborn and hotheaded, easy to worry about."

"That's why you said what you said, right?"

It was hard not to grimace just thinking about it. "It was," Marco answered truthfully. "We thought he had been kidnapped or something, and I, well, I'd been waiting for him to come home."

"Was he away for long?"

"Only around a week, but he's usually never been away for that long. I just wished he told me why, but I guess it worked out for him in the end."

"Worked out for us too, but I'm sorry he scared you all like that," Sabo said. "He probably wasn't thinking."

"I have a feeling that this isn't what you wanted to talk about."

"Smart, though it's interesting to hear what you have to say." He leaned back in his chair, relaxed- which was an emotion Marco wasn't feeling at all. "I'll get right to it then. Don't hurt my brother."

Marco stared. "That's it?"

"I'm serious."

"I assumed, but hurting Ace is the last thing I was to do." Marco paused, looking down at Ace's sleeping form to stroke his hair. "Even if we do fight, Ace is precious to me."

"Good," Sabo said. "I'll be watching you though."

Being interrogated as soon as he awoke was Marco's first impression of Sabo.

Thankfully, some servants left two stacks of clothes: one for him and one for Ace. Ace had not awoken yet however, so Marco chose to look around the room while he waited.

The room was nothing like the ones in Moby. Marco was used to seeing a room packed full with each siblings' things. Izo and Ace's room had a tendency to be one of the more cluttered ones when they forgot to clean: Izo's fabrics and sewing needles strewn about the tables and chairs while Ace's neglected paperwork littered the floor. This room was certainly cleaner, but still somehow Ace: a pair of boots at the door, some packaged chips for a snack on the table next to a staff, but he kept his hat and the beads right at his bedside, something that made Marco smile. There was a desk, but it was empty with the exception of a stack of books covered in a layer of dust.

"Marco?" Finally, Ace was awake.

"I'm here," he answered. "Sabo told me they'll serve breakfast soon."

"Breakfast?" Ace leaped up. "Wait, Sabo was here?"

"He left a while ago."

"They're going to eat all the food!" He almost bolted out the door, but Marco grabbed his hand, glancing over Ace's bed-tousled hair and messy bedclothes.

"Don't you want to change first?"

"Er- right. Thanks, Marco!"

They walked to the dining hall together- well, more like with Marco following Ace, who was running through the castle halls- only to arrive at a surprisingly rowdy scene. There were only three people at the table, but the piles of plates, and the shuffling servants, and the yelling of cooks from behind the constantly swinging kitchen doors was jarring. Sure, Marco was used to loud meals, but usually that occurred with more people.

Rouge stood from her seat at the head of the table, walking over to greet them. "Good morning, Marco." She hugged Ace and kissed his forehead. "And good morning to you too, my little fireball."

"Ma!" Ace's cheeks were a faint pink again, making his freckles stand out.

"What a cute nickname." Marco smirked at Ace. "Suits you."

"Not you too," Ace groaned, pulling Marco away to lead him to their seats. He sat next to Ace, but all he could see across from him was a mountain of plates. "That's Luffy. He's too busy eating to notice you right now. I'll introduce you later."

Ace began to pile bacon and eggs onto his plate as Marco glanced around at the available options. He picked up a banana and a mango from the pile of fruit that was still full, pausing before scooping up some blueberries and strawberries with his spoon. As he began slicing, he slipped a few pieces onto Ace's plate (he really needed to balance his diet more).

It wasn't until he started eating that he noticed the mountain in front of him disappeared, and someone was staring right at him. He froze in his chewing, unsure of how to react.

"Who's the pineapple?"

Of course it had to be a dumb nickname.

"Luffy!" Crumbs of bacon sprayed out in front of Ace as he yelled out. "You can't just call him that!"

Sabo however, spoke calmly. "Luffy, this is Marco. I told you about him yesterday."

Luffy frowned as if he were thinking. "Nope! Don't remember!"

Ace and Sabo sighed in unison while Rouge smiled into her breakfast. Marco finally swallowed his food before saying, "It's nice to meet you, yoi."

"You sound funny."

"Luffy!"

A messy breakfast and an oblivious attitude was Marco's first impression of Monkey D. Luffy.

It was hard to forget the first impression of a motherly Portgas D. Rouge, and his impression was only cemented when she invited him to the parlor later for a cup of tea.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, handing him his cup.

"Much better, thank you," Marco said.

"I'm glad to hear that. And Ace?"

"He's not mad anymore at least, we talked about it last night."

"I was worried. He can be such a stubborn child."

"You can hardly call Ace a child anymore."

"I know." Rouge's words were quiet as she looked away towards one of the shelves, crowded with pictures. An apology formed on Marco's lips, but Rouge continued speaking before Marco. "Anyways, how is your father? It's been so long since we've been in contact. Well, after the funeral and all, it'd been much too busy."

"Still strong and active as ever, and as he would brag, still as tolerant to alcohol as ever."

"Ah, yes. He and Roger had their fair share of drinking contests back in the day."

"I wouldn't put it past him, yoi."

They sat there for a while chatting about a number of things: family, affairs of their respective countries, stories about Ace. Eventually, both teacups as well as the teapot were empty.

"What do you plan on doing now?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure," Marco admitted. The same question had come to mind the previous day, but his argument with Ace had preoccupied his thoughts. Before, he knew he needed to have a plan of attack so he could bring Ace back to Moby, but now that he knew Ace was safe, that plan flew out the window.

"It would be lovely if you stayed for a bit," Rouge suggested with a welcoming, warm smile. "Ace would love having you here, and we have our mid-year festival coming up soon."

Celebrating a festival with Ace? It sounded wonderful, bringing warmth to Marco's heart to push his serious thoughts to the side.

"I think that sounds good, Miss Rouge."

The door opened as he finished, and Ace stepped in."Hi, Marco. Hi, Ma," he said. "Are you done? I was wondering if I could show Marco around the castle."

"Of course, dear." Rouge gestured at Marco to go as Marco bit back a laugh, both of them failing to mention how she had allowed him to explore the castle on his own already. A tour wouldn't hurt to further familiarize himself with the pace though (castles could be very confusing places).

Ace took Marco's hand. "Let's go then!"

"Yes, let's."

Ace groaned, and even though he was barely awake, he could feel that the bed wasn't as warm as it previously had been in the past few days.

"Marco?" He opened his eyes and sat up. Marco wasn't next to him, and there was only one stack of clean clothes for the day: Marco was long gone. "He could have waited for me," he grumbled to himself, knowing that his complaints were useless. The walk to breakfast was rather lonely. He had gotten used to walking by Marco's side as they chatted about little things.

He arrived in the dining hall and his eyes immediately darted to the seat Marco had been using: it was empty. Before he could speak, Sabo answered. "Marco finished eating already."

"Where is he?"

"Said he was going to the library."

Ace quickly piled some slices of ham and scrambled eggs onto his plate (it was less than usual, but it would have to do), but just as he was about to leave for the library, Rouge coughed and Sabo glared.

"I hope you're not thinking of bringing food into the library."

Ace felt himself start to sweat. "Um… no." He quickly returned to his seat, taking a bite of his eggs. It was hard not to think about the empty seat next to him, bouncing his leg in impatience.

Ace rushed over to the library as soon as his plate was clean. "Are you there, Marco?" he called, ducking between bookshelves.

"I'm here!"

After following the source of the words, he found Marco in the very back corner as he lounged on a sofa with a book. "Good morning," he greeted.

"You should say it when I actually wake up," Ace said.

"You're pouting again."

"Am not!" Ace lay down next to Marco, legs taking up the rest of the sofa as he rested his head on Marco's lap. "Oi," he softly protested when Marco rested his book on his forehead. "What are you reading?"

"A History of Raftel."

"Boring."

"Say what you want, but I find it rather fascinating," Marco said, turning another page. "'In celebration of Raftel's founding, an annual festival is hosted on the anniversary of the creation of the country. Activities include merchant and food stalls as well as a midnight ball among other things.'"

"Oh right! The festival!" He had lost track of time. Was it July already? "We'll have to go out that day. I forgot what it feels like."

"Seems like a plan," Marco agreed. "Your mother told me about it, but reading about it piqued my interest. You'll have to show me your favorite activities."

"Experiencing it will be way better than reading about it in some stupid book, but well, it's been a while, so I dunno if things will be the same," Ace said.

"I guess we'll just have to experience this together." Ace could see Marco's smile past the book being held in front of his face. "It'll be like the market back at home."

"I still need to take you to the market here! It's really cool since I think you'll like it. It's pretty organized. like a certain chicken I know."

A hand left the book to ruffle Ace's hair. "Are you trying to say something, Ace?"

Ace grinned. "Just teasing, but you can be a neat freak a lot of the time."

"Easy for you to say. When was the last time you cleaned your room?"

"Hey! I clean. It's Izo's fault too with all his sewing stuff, and besides, my room here isn't even that messy."

"You haven't had any paperwork here, Ace."

"Sh-shut up! I try at least."

"I know, I know," Marco said. "I won't bother you about it anymore. Let's just relax for now, yoi."

Just sitting together even without words was comforting, especially when Marco kept a hand on his head, stroking his hair gently like Rouge would. Ace closed his eyes, leaning into the touch.

"Getting sleepy there? Didn't you just wake up"

"Mm hm." He curled in on himself a bit, keeping his head in Marco's lap. "I ate a big breakfast." His words were quiet as he was lulled closer back to the world of dreams.

"Alright then, Ace. I'll be here for you when you wake up."

Marco was too warm for Ace to acknowledge his words, and so even though it was still morning, he found himself at peaceful rest in Marco's lap.

"So where are we going today?" Marco asked to Ace, who hummed quietly as they strolled outside of the castle along a stone pathway.

"See those?" Ace pointed ahead to an area concealed by hedges, a tree towering above. "Those are the gardens. It's nice to go there to relax, but I'm sure the library suits you just fine."

"I get out too, yoi."

"Yes, when I drag you out or when you need to do so to work," Ace said. "You need to get out to have fun, Marco! Lately, you've just been doing paperwork or..." The words mentioning Marco's potential suitors died on his lips. Ace bit his lips and looked away from Marco as his bouncy steps slowed.

A gentle hand touched his shoulder, and it was hard not to look back at Marco, whose eyes were shining in concern. "Is everything alright, Ace?"

Marco's mere presence was so reassuring that the smile, albeit one much less intense, returned to Ace's face. "Yeah, sorry. Just lost my train of thought." As comforting as he was, Ace knew that he could never tell him the truth. "Let's go have that picnic!"

"Oh?" Marco raised an eyebrow, smiling at the same time. "A picnic?"

Ace held up the basket he had been holding in his other hand, blanket draped over his arm. "Yep! C'mon. I want to show you my favorite spot." They wove through the hedges together, stopping occasionally to admire some of the different arrangements of the bushes. Currently, the flowers were arranged by colors on the outer ring of the garden, creating a wonderful rainbow in a myriad of blossoms as they walked along.

"Ma worked hard on these gardens. There were only a few types of flowers here she first became queen, but she wanted to change that. Nowadays, the castle staff help maintain it with magic, especially when they want to move things around."

"Not always like this then?"

"Nope. Sometimes they go by season, or they change them for the occasion."

"Magic is truly remarkable," Marco said in awe, brushing his fingers against one of the roses. He pulled his hand back as tiny flames sprouted around a minuscule prick on the tip of his index finger.

Quickly stopping to check if Marco was okay, Ace nodded in agreement. The gardens at Moby's castle were beautiful, but it always stuck to seasonal blooms, no one working in the gardens using magic upon them. He and Marco often took walks there together too, but their other siblings would spend time there as well (like Izo, who would sometimes take cloths out for a flash of inspiration on a design). It was hard to get complete privacy there. Here, as much as Rouge loved to visit the garden daily, Raftel's castle was much less crowded, so Ace was easily able to ask everyone for privacy for his picnic with Marco.

The center area of the garden was reserved for only the family's favorite plants: most notably Rouge's red hibiscus bushes ("These are like the one in your hat, yoi.") or the tree that towered above. Ace set the basket down next to his feet before taking the baby blue blanket and waving it out flat onto the grass. He and Marco sat down together as they smoothed out the wrinkles.

"So why the sudden picnic?" Marco asked, helping Ace take sandwiches out from the basket.

Ace merely shrugged as an answer. "It just seemed like a nice day, and I thought it would be nice for us to come here together."

"Well, I won't complain then. The flowers are beautiful here."

"Of course." That was absolutely an indisputable fact.

"Are you sure that you don't want to eat inside with everyone? This isn't a lot." Marco would always get concerned if Ace didn't eat enough, and as much as Ace would reassure him, his worries weren't completely unfounded. When Ace first became a part of the family, he was unaware of his own appetite. After one incident of extreme exhaustion, Marco took charge of making sure Ace ate adequate meals.

Ace reached up and poked Marco's nose playfully. "I'll be fine, pineapple! I ate a snack earlier."

"Oh? I'm back to a pineapple now?"

"It's a promotion."

Marco chuckled, poking Ace back. "Well, thank you very much then, yoi."

"You're welcome."

They took turns speaking and eating, Ace nodding eagerly as he chewed while Marco smiled to Ace's own stories. No matter what, they could always find something to talk about. Even if they didn't always care or understand what the other was talking about, just having someone to listen to was enough for both of them.

"By the way, thank you for the sandwiches, Ace."

Ace blushed, eyes wide. "Wh-what are you talking about?" There's no way he could have figured it out, but on the other hand, Marco was much more perceptive than Ace was and his smirk said everything.

"I saw you go into the kitchen after breakfast. I thought it was suspicious, but I guess it wasn't too hard to figure out."

"You weren't supposed to know."

"Don't feel bad about it, Ace," Marco reassured. "As delicious as Sanji's cooking is, it means a lot that you took time to make lunch yourself. I'll make lunch for you next time."

"Do you even know how to cook?" Ace teased.

"Says the one who just made sandwiches."

"Fair enough."

They finished their meal and packed up the bag, but both silently agreed to remain for awhile longer. They laid on the blanket side-by-side, not particularly looking at anything (the tree obscured much of the sky), but just basking in each other's presence.

"This is my favorite tree, you know," Ace said. "I used to climb all the time with my brothers, and well, there were a lot of close calls."

Marco turned on his side slightly towards him, raising an eyebrow. "How close?"

"Broke my leg."

He sighed. "Of course. You make me worry even when it's in the past. I can only imagine how Rouge felt about that."

"I just make things more interesting. And all she did was scold me, I'll have you know."

"Hm, if you say so."

Ace puffed up his cheeks in a huff, jabbing at Marco's nose again with a finger. Marco caught in a gentle him before he could make contact, retaliating by poking Ace back. "Not fair," Ace muttered.

"I'm just teasing."

Soon after, Marco sat up, Ace frowning in concern. "Did I say something wrong?"

"No, it's not that." Marco shook his head. "I was just thinking that we could climb it right now if you want to."

His words brought a slow, yet sly grin onto his face. "That sounds like a good idea." Before Marco could say anything else, Ace leaped up and sprinted towards the base of the tree. "I'll race you to the top! And no cheating!"

If Ace hadn't rushed off so quickly, he would have seen Marco shoot him his own sly grin. "Alright then. I'll play."

Despite Ace's head start, they grabbed the branch deemed as their destination at the same time. Thankfully, the branch was wide enough to comfortably relax on with two people, Ace Ace lay on his back, panting. "I... I win."

"I'll concede." He wasn't panting like Ace was (he didn't tire as quickly because of his powers), but he did take a seat. "So what do you want to do now? Want to head back down?"

"Let's wait until the sunset!" Ace suggested, finding just enough energy for enthusiasm. "I haven't seen it from up here in a while and I want you to watch it with me."

"That's still a while away."

"You're welcome to leave and get another one of those boring books."

"I'll be back quick then. Maybe I'll bring a picture book for you."

"Hey! Those fairy tales are exciting, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. Want me to read them to you then?"

"Jerk."

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