I'm sorry for the long update, but here it is! Oh and look, a bit of plot!...If you can call it that.
Hope you'd enjoy!
Ace's statement about his gated community turned out to be true; Marco had never seen a security guard as menacing and big as Oars Jr., and he certainly hadn't been expecting the amount of reporters and TV channel vans swarming the roads outside. You would've think that there's more important things to cover, but apparently everyone is a lot more fixated on a couple of celebrity's non-existent relationship than any other news category.
They had to ditch away his car to escape through some blocked paths inaccessible by vehicles, and by the time they finally reached a populated road, Marco was too tired from running that he didn't have the energy to think about some place to impress Ace for breakfast.
So the nearest fast food restaurant it is, with an unhygienic table top and a bored looking attendant, indulging in the kind of food that would've made Thatch faint over the sheer amount of oil dripping out of the fries alone. The entire place was empty at least, except for one or two hungover souls in some corners and that's all Marco and Ace could've asked for.
They had been eating in silence, when Ace suddenly piped up, "So, what did your manager scold you for?"
Marco looked up from his mess of a burger, to see that Ace was already on his 5th or 6th burger and has emptied out one of the 4 giant fries bowls they ordered. He never thought he would ever be alive to see the legend in action; That Spade, the handsome and charismatic singer women and men drool all over, can apparently out-ate several farms worth of cows. The way the stories were told to him - well, the ones he eavesdropped on - were extremely unflattering, and Marco had to admit even he stopped to stare for an entire minute after seeing one poor burger being devoured in two large bites.
"Robin didn't scold me per se," he said after a few sip of his coke, hoping it will finally chase away the stale ketchup taste on his tongue. It hasn't been working so far, "She thought that i'm hiding the fact that i'm dating. After i told her that it was all a big misunderstanding, she was fine with it,"
The actual thing that Robin had said was, "Oh, thank goodness. I thought you have finally snapped because of your obsession and resorted into unsavoury methods to force him to be with you. I'm glad that you still retain your sanity and self-restraint, Marco. I wouldn't want another one of my client to end up in a Impel Down too," and it was all told with a sweet smile that was not sweet at all. Not that Marco will tell Ace that. His manager had a morbid sense of humour that could only be described as an acquired taste.
Now that he think about it, she doesn't seem to be joking about the Impel Down comment…
"Oh man, she sounds nice. I'm jealous," Ace said with a pout, and Marco had to quickly look away because even with a face smattered around with mustard and ketchup, that was damn adorable, "Law came barging in to my room at 7 am and started screaming the house down. He then started hitting me with magazines and chase me around. Pfft, he's acting like this never happened before,"
One of Marco's finger twitched and he bit a little too hard on his straw. Ah yes, he's well aware of what Ace was talking about; In the years he had followed the younger's career, he heard of rumours and news of him dating around with various other celebrities. Marco remembered glaring at Doma during the entire filming of 'Through the Grand Line', and while it had been great for their on-screen chemistry as both main antagonist and protagonist, Marco made it his personal goal to have an amicable relationship with all of his colleagues and that was hard to achieve with the other actor.
Of course, it was all fine and well once the rumour died down and Doma personally explained that no, he only met Ace during a talkshow interview and they found out they had a lot in common. Also, he's dating is manager, Whitey Bay, and was now well on their way to marriage.
That Doma was also one of the people who found out that he's a big fan of Ace was all Thatch's fault. And maybe partially his fault too for introducing them.
The dark haired man crammed a handful of fries to his mouth and sighs after he swallowed, "Oh well, it'll die down sooner or later, that's how these sort of things always works. Some bigger news will come up, Rayleigh will issue a statement as my recording representation, and that'll be it. We can go back to our normal daily lives,"
Marco only nodded, taking another bite of his overly charred beef burger and the bitter ketchup concoction.
'Ace! Phone call! Phone ca—Aah! Sabo, that's my chips! Go away!' 'Ow! Luffy, stop hitting—!' 'Ace! Phone call! Phone ca—Aah! Sabo, that's my chips! Go away!' 'Ow! Luffy, stop hitting—!'
As Ace quickly fished his phone out of his pocket and hastily tapping on the screen, Marco could only blink at the sudden appearance of the foreign noise. He recognize the first voice as the Ace's brother, the one that called him from Ace's phone, "What was that?"
"My ringtone," the dark haired male replied offhandedly, still grimacing at his screen. When what was apparently Ace's ringtone started playing again, he then quickly flicked the phone away to the table, narrowly making it land in one of the greasy fries bowl.
Out of curiousity, the older man took a peek when a name and a picture appeared on the screen of Ace's phone. The image was an unflattering photograph of a pissed off looking man who seems to be caught off guard and glaring daggers at the camera, with the name 'Traffy' blinking on top of said picture.
'Ace! Phone call! Phone ca—Aah! Sabo, that's my chips! Go away!' 'Ow Luffy, stop hitting—' Ace reached over and tapped on the ignore call button before flinching back as if he had been burned.
'Ace! Phone call! Phone ca—Aah! Sabo, that's my chips! Go awa—' Again, Ace tapped the ignore button. Marco imagined that by now, the man on the other side of the phone was probably holding the same expression as his image on Ace's screen.
'Ace! Phone ca—' the call ended itself without Ace even reaching close for the phone.
If it was possible, the singer's face turned sheet white,
"And that was…?"
"My manager," Ace squeaked, "Shit, i thought the game would've bought me more time. We haven't been away that long, have we?"
Marco fished out his own phone, staring blithely at the amount of text message he had been receiving for the last couple of hours that he had been ignoring it. The newest ones were consecutive texts from Pops, two of them asking him to clarify about this news he just heard from his brothers, and the last and topmost one was a text that reads 'Where to buy the tasty oatmeal my dear son thatch bought me last week'.
It was probably just another confusion with the search engine, but he probably should go and make sure Pops didn't actually want him to go and buy groceries later.
With that in mind, he glanced at the clock and grimaced, "We've been away for nearly an hour and a half,"
As if on cue, Ace's phone let out a short beeping alert that Marco recognize as a default text message tune and glanced to the phone nearly at the same time as Ace did.
New Text Message from Traffy (°ロ°) [08:09]: HOW DARE YOU ESCAPE
New Text Message from Traffy (°ロ°) [08:09]: WHERE DID YOU GO?!
New Text Message from Traffy (°ロ°) [08:09]: i saw the car outside. if thats who i think it is, youre dead.
"Oh, i'm dead. I'm so dead,"
The amount of horror in Ace's voice actually made Marco quite concerned. He didn't actually think Ace's manager was going to harm him, but then again…, "Do you want to go back?"
"Are you kidding me?!" the younger nearly screeched, shocking Marco at the sudden raise in volume, "Didn't you see what he just said?! He's going to tear me limb from limb!" Another text alert came in, but before Marco could even see what it said, Ace had already flipped the phone upside down to hide the screen away, "Please, don't throw me to the big bad wolf! Let me stay with you!"
Now it was all obviously said because of the perceived direness of this situation, but Marco couldn't help the heat that suddenly rose to his cheeks. The neediness in Ace's voice was adorable in so many ways, completing the frazzled and distressed expression on his face as he stared into Marco's eyes pleadingly. It made him tongue tied so badly, that Marco could only managed to utter a low 'yeah'.
Ace's expression cleared up immediately into an open display of joy, leaving behind no traces of his earlier worries. Marco has seen plenty of people that was good in manipulating their expression at any given moment, but all of them were techniques crafted by years of experience. Every expression that crosses Ace's face was incredibly genuine, the mark of someone who wore their heart at their sleeve and isn't afraid to show it.
Marco was honestly so dazzled, that he missed the moment Ace leaned over the table and wrapped both arms around his shoulder, exclaiming, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" repeatedly to his shoulder.
If this sudden and unexpected contact made Marco bodily choked and ultimately embarrassing himself in front of Ace yet again, then it's fine by him. He knows nothing this good can happen without something disastrous following it to balance things out.
Ace was already scared shitless at the prospect of going back just to pick Marco's car up, so they ended up walking around the same neighbourhood to kill time. There's not a lot of people milling about in a suburban area like this one, but in only under 5 minutes, Marco knew that some people are staring at their direction. It was rather expected, considering that his hoodie and sunglasses could barely hide away his identity and Ace straight up didn't wear any disguise.
After a couple of rather excited looking schoolgirl nearly ran up to them from across the street, Ace pulled him to duck into what seems to be a party supplies store, and kept pulling until they're on the very back of the shop. The cashier, an older grandmother with thick reading glasses only looked at them oddly, before returning to the newspaper on her counter.
"Maybe you should wear my sunglasses," he told Ace after they were sure the two schoolgirls left, loudly claiming disappointment over losing their target while insisting between themselves that yes, that must be Spade they saw earlier, "I don't attract as much attention, so a hoodie should be enough, but you're pretty easily recognizable,"
Ace looked at him as if he just admitted to once drunkenly ordering a lifesized body pillow of him. Well, Marco did, but he wouldn't ever admit that even under extreme torture. Or that said body pillow is still inside of his locked closet, "And you think you don't? Do you even know who you are?!
The way Ace said it made Marco's face felt hot, and the way he stammered in panic afterwards made Marco decide that hiding in such a small shop in such a cramped space is not a good idea, "W-well, i'll admit that my haircut is rather… distinctive, which is why a hoodie should be enough—"
"Not just the haircut! Everything about you is easily recognizable! Your eyes, your lips, your jaw, your accent, your entire goddamn face," The younger continued to gush rapidly, and in his passionate explanation, he leaned so close towards Marco that there's not much gap between them. Even when Marco moved backward, he quickly hit the wall, and nearly went cross-eyed at how close Ace has become, "The fact that you're simply exuding charm and charisma without even doing anything! Marco, you can be in a crowd of a thousand people and i can still tell where you are!"
Those dark orbs looks beautiful when they twinkle like that, Marco thought in his speechlessness.
Sadly, the sight didn't last long, because Ace widened his eyes when he seemingly gained awareness of his surrounding, and jumped back with a yelp, hitting a rack full of colourful hats behind him, "I'm sorry! I-i-i didn't mean to get so close!"
"N-no, it's fine,"
Huh, it was a shame that it was cut that short. On the other hand, this extremely bashful Ace is also incredibly cute.
Marco pinched his own arm to bring him back to reality, and bit the insides of his cheek to stop himself from making a sound.
"Stop making a ruckus! Are you all buying something or just loitering about?!"
Shoot, they forgot the old lady cashier.
"S-sorry! We'll be more careful," Marco called after her, and turned back to Ace, "Anyway, if you insist on not borrowing mine, maybe you can get something from here before we leave,"
Ace nodded jerkily, and gave him a weak grin, "Besides, the last time i borrowed someone's sunglasses hadn't ended up well, maybe it's for the best,"
They finally settled on something out of the hat rack that Ace bumped to, which is a ridiculously orange cowboy hat. And by they settled, it means that Ace took one look at it, deemed it cool and wore it to show Marco, who thinks that Ace's boyish grin was utterly precious and agreed in a heartbeat, despite how silly he actually think the hat looks.
"I really want to wear this on a music videos," the dark haired male mused as he chose between decorations to put on his newly chosen headgear, when he thought that it looked too plain. So far, he had chosen a cute looking face buttons with two contrasting expressions, and was now looking around a large array of decorative beads. He kept looking between ones that are coloured red and green, and Marco hope for everything holy he pass on the green ones, "I wonder what kind of setting will match a cowboy hat? Oh, maybe i need to make a song that match! Something cowboy, something wild, what do you think, Marco?"
Marco paused his own perusing on the oddly shaped balloons display. Did Ace just… did he just discuss the creation of one of his songs to Marco? Did Ace, Spade, hottest selling male solo singer and top album charter for several seasons, and all around Marco's favorite artist just asked him for an opinion for his music?
Maybe he hit his head back at the fast food place. Yeah, that must be it. This is the dream world right now.
"Marco?"
"I'm sure that anything you came up with will be amazing, Ace,"
He, along with who knows how many fans Spade has around all 4 seas, knows that Ace is skilled and talented, and he has an enviable amount of passion put into his craft. There's a reason for all of the accolades he collected and all of the awards he received, after all, despite being so young. One just need to go to his phone right now and find his music streaming app, and they would know that Marco wasn't just throwing a flippant remark.
But when Marco turned back and saw Ace's face, he began to consider whether or not it was actually the right thing to say.
Ace looked rather downcast, staring down at the hat in his hold and the red beads he had been staring to, "Y-yeah, i guess,"
During the ensuing silence, Marco took one careful step, and called out in uncertainty. Is it something he said? "Ace? Is something wrong?"
The younger shifted his gaze away, turning enough so that Marco could not longer get a good look of his expression, "It's, it's nothing. I," he let out a weak, almost half-hearted laugh, fiddling slightly with the hat's outer rim, "I just had a stupid thought, i guess. It's nothing to be worried about,"
Is what he said, but Marco didn't have to grow up with several younger siblings to know that nothing about that tone was alright, "Well, if you don't mind me asking, will you tell me what this thought was about?" when Ace remained silent, Marco took another step, and hoped that if whatever it is truly was his fault, insisting like this won't cause it to be worse, "It can't be nothing if it changed your mood so drastically,"
The singer drew his shoulder close for a moment, before he exhaled, "I don't know. It's just," he inhaled and exhaled again, and turned his body enough so that Marco can at least caught the glumness in his eyes, "Do you ever think that maybe, things has been going too well for you? Like, even thought you're happy with the way things are going for you, deep down, you kept thinking that you don't actually deserved everything you got now?"
Out of everything Marco had expected to hear, he hadn't been expecting that.
"Like i said, it's stupid. Sabo said that it's just my anxiety talking and that i've been exhausting myself and that's why he wrangled this few days break for all of us, but it's still there, i know it is, even with so many things happening since yesterday. It kept making me think," he took in another deep breath, unconsciously curling a little to himself, "What if i wasn't as good as everyone seems to think i am and one day, they'd see that and i'd ended up disappointing so many people?"
The air between them suddenly became heavy, and despite it only being a couple of seconds long, Marco felt as if the silence stretched between them for hours long. Slowly and almost shyly, Ace turned his head towards him, "Sorry. I didn't mean to dump all of that on you. It's really nothin—"
"To be honest, your genre of music in the beginning wasn't exactly my usual cup of tea,"
Ace shut his mouth so quickly, Marco could hear a clack, and he knew there's not taking back his words. The blonde pursed his lips and raised a hand to rub his nape, cursing the fact that there was no script available for this sort of situation to smooth out the things he wanted to say properly, "We're raised in different generations, and i have to admit, your usual style is probably too modern for me. I'm not even big on listening to music, usually, but i still really, really liked them, because i can tell how much you cared about the songs you created,"
He paused, clearing his throat to hide the fact that he could feel heat rushing up to his face, "I didn't exactly know you until your song was played on every shooting set or places i frequent, and when i say it was played a lot, i meant a lot," the actor smiled sheepishly, and chuckled, "Every single time i asked, everyone will raving about this hotshot talented singer and i got curious. At the time, you only had your first single out, and to listen to the EP that everyone kept telling me was 'the best thing they ever heard', i have to sign up to a music streaming website. Originally, i thought i was going too far just for a simple curiosity, but i did it, and it was probably the best spontaneous thing i ever did,"
When Marco lifted his head, Ace was staring at him as if there was nothing around that can take away his attention, hanging on to his every word with great focus. He briefly thought that this is a mistake and he probably made things worse, but the sadness on Ace's face was gone, and it was replaced by something else unreadable, almost like awe. He looked away from the heated gaze, and continued.
"I still remembered it 3 years ago, sitting on my own in my bedroom after a long and tiring day, and listening to 'Baptism of Fire' for the first time. It was catchy, energizing, it was as fun as the first time it caught my attention, and i found myself actually listening to it for months straight. I only stopped - well, to listen to something else, that is - because a co-worker told me you released an entire album. Bought it myself, one old man in the middle of a flock of adolescent kids and women, but i don't care. I want to know more about you,"
Ace's face turned beet red, and Marco would've noticed it if he wasn't too busy staring at a random row of banners in an attempt to continue on with his story without looking at Ace in the eyes, "I didn't expect to like every single songs, but even the ones that i listened to the least, i respected. They had different vibes to them, different stories and i found out later was even in different genres, and i can tell with every single one of them that you loved doing what you do. Some of the lyrics felt like it was taken out of something personal to you, and the tunes helped me to understand the sort of emotion you wanted to convey. It was brilliant, and i think it was at that moment that i become a big fan of yours,"
Obsessed, if he wanted to use the word Thatch, Robin and pretty much everyone else in his life used to describe what he felt about Spade and Ace in general.
He huffed, rubbing his nape once more, "Okay, this isn't going to the direction i thought this would be going. I didn't mean to dump an entire confession about how i become your fan, but what i'm trying to say is," the blonde looked up, and for a brief moment, he nearly forgot again about what he was going to say when he saw the sheer awe on Ace's face. He gulped, but this time, he resisted from the temptation to look away, "You know that i'm incredibly biased, and i am not a musician, so i definitely can't give you an objective or a professional opinion,"
Marco smiled, and despite his utter mortification about the things he had just vomited out to Ace, it came easy to him, "But i can tell you this as someone who also loves what they're doing; Even if one day you fall out of the spotlight of fame, as long as you still make music that comes from your love for it, every adoration you receive will always be well deserved," the blonde smiled even wider, a little bashful but unable to help himself by adding, "And i'm always going to be your number one fan,"
For a moment, the older regretted adding that particular detail in to his mess of an encouragement, because Ace stayed silent. He lifted his head, apology on the tip of his tongue until he saw that not only was Ace's face had gone beyond red, his eyes had gone glassy and his lower lips trembled ever so slightly. Marco felt his stomach plummets down to the centre of the earth, "A-are you… okay? Did i say—"
Before he can finish, Ace suddenly lunged over, wrapping an arm around him tightly. Another embarrassingly high pitched squeak escaped the blonde, as the man hugging him mumbled in a fast and near intelligible way, "How can i not be?! My favorite actor of all time just told me a lot of amazing things, i'm more than fine!" he heard being sobbed to his shoulder, and immediately, all of his worries were gone, "I feel so fine that if someone hand me over a pen, my keyboard and my sound mixing equipment right now, i can make, like, the best song ever!"
There is no word to describe the mixture of pride and the honest-to-god exhilaration that blooms from inside of his chest. He did it, he cheered Ace up.
And he's Ace's favorite actor of all time.
Screw the award nominations, he already won the best award right at this moment.
Buying the hat may be a bad idea in a hindsight, because something that caught more attention than a celebrity walking down the street is someone wearing a bright orange cowboy hat in the middle of the day. It was even worse so when it's a celebrity wearing a bright orange cowboy hat, so they settled with spending time in a small ice cream shop that Ace claimed to have the best gelato in the world and spent the rest of the day trying out every flavour Ace insisted was the best, which was just about everything in the shop.
But of course, good things cannot last forever, and it was with great regret - and mighty trepidation in Ace's case - that Marco walked Ace back to his house just as the sun began to set on the horizon. A quick peek to the front gates told them that the mass of reporters were long gone now, but they kept wary lookout for any paparazzi hiding in the dark and opted to walk quickly through the path they took during their early morning escape.
"You know what just dawned on me?"
"What?"
"I haven't showered the entire day. Law pulled me out of bed before i can even wake up, and then you texted me right after,"
"Ah, not as bad as me, then,"
"Huh?"
"The shorts i'm wearing? I wore them to sleep last night. Robin didn't even give me that courtesy before showing how disappointed she is with me,"
They laughed all the way until they reached the front of Ace's house, after which the younger grimaced and whimpered pitifully with his hand hovering above the doorbell, "I feel like a dead man walking to his execution,"
"I doubt your manager will still be waiting inside. We've been gone for a while—"
Ace didn't even have to ring the doorbell when the front door was suddenly flung open and a man stood in front of it menacingly, the same man Marco recognized from the call screen on Ace's phone this morning.
"Or not,"
"Get. inside," the man, Law, gritted out, using his taller stature to physically loom over Ace. He turned his attention to Marco, narrowing his sharp eyes in an almost threatening manner, "And you. I have spoken to Nico Robin about you kidnapping my charge—"
"Kidnapping?!"
"—and she would like to speak to you at your earliest convenience. Expect an early morning awakening,"
"Again?! Like one time isn't enough for you sadist managers?!"
"Shut up, people who ran away while i'm trying to be mad at them doesn't get to talk!"
"Now, now, Law, let's just be glad Marco brought Ace back home safe and sound," a calm voice came from inside of the house, revealing the owner to be the same blonde man that Marco recognize to be Ace's other manager and his other brother, Sabo, "Besides it's getting late, and who knows if there's still some paparazzi roaming around. We don't need another picture to this house right now,"
Law glanced between the three of them and left with a huff, yelling at Luffy to start the game again because he needs to cool down his head. Once he was out of sight, Sabo turned to Marco, and smiled apologetically, "I'd invite you in, but while i can probably kept Law from screaming at Ace, i won't be able to stop him to do it if you're around too,"
"Aw, but Sabo—"
"Ace,"
The two 'siblings' looked at each other quietly, one with a pleading look on his face and the other with a stern expression, communicating quietly. In the end, Ace sighed, "Fine," he pouted, before turning to Marco and flashing him a smile instead, "Thanks for today, Marco. I had a great time,"
The older returned his smile, resisting the urge to look down to the ground and kick his foot like he's some bashful middle-schooler back from his first date. Which he's not. And it was most definitely not a date, "Me too. I'll see you soon, Ace," He was about to turn away and made his way out of the lawn when he heard Ace calling for his name. Marco turned, and the acknowledgement died on his throat when he caught sight of Ace's dazzling smile, a large grin that looks like it will split his face to half, the rosy cheeks and wide eyes.
Marco was so awestruck, he missed out on whatever it is that Ace told him, "What did you say?"
He thought that Ace will be miffed at him, but he only smiled even larger, the redness on his cheeks becoming more prominent, "I said, i promise i'm going to be your number one fan too forever and ever!"
Ace ran back into his house as soon as he finished and before he gave Marco the chance to recover, but through the door, he heard the sound of Luffy's voice asking what happened, Sabo admonishing him for slamming the door around and Ace's near squeal about how 'he said it! he finally said it!'
After nearly 10 minutes of just standing around and grinning to himself, Marco headed home with a skip on his steps.
And promptly forgot that he brought his car with him until 30 minutes in and he was halfway back to his apartment.
New Text Message from Edward Newgate (Pops) [19:49]: where to buy cinnamon bun
New Text Message from Edward Newgate (Pops) [19:49]: search where to buy cinnamon bun
New Text Message from Edward Newgate (Pops) [19:50]: cinnamon bun
New Text Message from Edward Newgate (Pops) [19:50]: how to call my son marco
Sent to Edward Newgate (Pops) [19:51]: Pops, for the last time, this isn't a search engine. This is a text app, you have to go to your browser to start searching
Sent to Edward Newgate (Pops) [19:52]: I'll come over tomorrow to help you buy groceries
New Text Message from Edward Newgate (Pops) [19:52]: tx u
New Text Message from Edward Newgate (Pops) [19:53]: haruta taught me that see? its thank you but shorter
Sent to Edward Newgate (Pops) [19:54]: That's great Pops, see you tomorrow
New Text Message from Edward Newgate (Pops) [19:55]: c u 2
New Text Message from Edward Newgate (Pops) [19:55]: thats see you too but shorter
Sent to Edward Newgate (Pops) [19:56]: You're on fire today, Pops, i'm proud of you
New Text Message from Edward Newgate (Pops) [20:10]: browser search kibbles of stefan and puppies
New Text Message from Edward Newgate (Pops) [20:10]: browser search my son marco dating a young man news?
Sent to Edward Newgate (Pops) [20:12]: Goddamnit Pops
Yes, Marco owns a dakimakura of Ace. He was horrified when he remembered and was even more so when it came to his house, but thankfully Thatch wasn't home so he could easily hide it away from prying eyes. If he actually snuggled a little with it for an hour or so, that's nobody's damn business but his own.
I know i add a lot of stupid details like this in but please let me have these sort of things in my own fic thank you and bless.
And last thing, to anyone who will probably recognize some of the song titles included in this fic now and later, yes, i played Cytus 1 and 2. No i am absolutely not good at it, but the songs are amazing.
Please tell me what you think and thank you so much for reading, for the kudos and for all of your lovely comments! I hope you liked this update!