New Text Message from Edward Newgate (Pops) [07:04]: marco i am disappointed :)(

Sent to Edward Newgate (Pops) [07:06]: Pops…

Sent to Edward Newgate (Pops) [07:06]: Wait.. is that supposed to be a sad face with your moustache on it?

New Text Message from Edward Newgate (Pops) [07:06]: don't change the subject, son

Sent to Edward Newgate (Pops) [07:06]: Sorry…

New Text Message from Edward Newgate (Pops) [07:06]: you used to tell me everything when you were a boy

New Text Message from Edward Newgate (Pops) [07:07]: about school, about your day with your brothers and your little friends

New Text Message from Edward Newgate (Pops) [07:07]: now i have to find out you found a special someone from my morning papers

Sent to Edward Newgate (Pops) [07:08]: Pops, it's not like that.

New Text Message from Edward Newgate (Pops) [07:09]: will you bring him over?

New Text Message from Edward Newgate (Pops) [07:09]: he seems like a nice young man

Sent to Edward Newgate (Pops) [07:11]: Yes, he is.

New Text Message from Edward Newgate (Pops) [07:11]: :))

New Text Message from Edward Newgate (Pops) [07:11]: ok, i look forward to it

Sent to Edward Newgate (Pops) [07:11]: what?

New Text Message from Edward Newgate (Pops) [07:11]: but tell me a day ahead before you bring him around. you know stefan the 5th sheds a lot and steffany will need to be taken out for a walk before she meets a new stranger so she wont piss on their shoes

New Text Message from Edward Newgate (Pops) [07:12]: also i need to clean up the house. first impression is important

Sent to Edward Newgate (Pops) [07:12]: wait

New Text Message from Edward Newgate (Pops) [07:12]: oh i have to go now, its almost stefan the 4ths turn to be called by the vet

New Text Message from Edward Newgate (Pops) [07:12]: his cold is getting better

New Text Message from Edward Newgate (Pops) [07:12]: you and thatch should come visit soon to see him. he and the puppies misses you two

New Text Message from Edward Newgate (Pops) [07:12]: bring your young man too

Sent to Edward Newgate (Pops) [07:13]: ok Pops. I'll tell Thatch.

Sent to Edward Newgate (Pops) [07:20]: wait

Sent to Edward Newgate (Pops) [07:20]: Wait Pops, you misunderstood.

Sent to Edward Newgate (Pops) [07:21]: Pops?

Sent to Edward Newgate (Pops) [07:24]: Goddamit.

Trapped in a world of mystery. Shadows are all closing in, and i can't breathe…

His electronica-beat induced trance was interrupted by a poke on his shoulder, and lethargically, Marco dragged his face upwards to meet the owner of the looming shadow that had set in front of him. Above him, he met Robin's benevolent smile, seemingly amused by him as she sat down right across the table from where he sat. She said something, her words drowned behind the verse's mellow beat and Spade's lulling tenor interwoven together into a very familiar tune.

In a prolonged, sluggish movement, Marco reached for his phone inside of his hoodie pocket and clicked the pause button on the music player app, before pulling his headphone back slightly, "What?"

Robin's smile turned sharper, "I said wanting to forget your problems while listening to what caused you trouble in the first place seems counterproductive,"

In response, Marco dropped his head back to the table, face first, causing the headphone to slide down back to cover his ears. He used his thumb to click on the play button again, filling his ears with more beats and more of Spade's voice.

…escaping possibilities. Around, around is all we know. Is all we k—

The music was suddenly cut short, and in irate, Marco snapped his head towards his hand, where he felt a clod finger against his that he deduced had been the culprit behind it. His narrowed eyes met Robin's own amused ones, "Leave me alone, Robin, this is my break," he murmured, pressing his chin down the marble table surface, "Besides, i thought you'd be madder at me about all of this,"

"Oh, Marco, do you think i'm so unfair that i will blame you for something out of your control?"

Sometimes, "No,"

The aftermath of yesterday's disaster can be seen in the multitude amount of magazines, news spread and was even playing on the large plasma TV on the other side of the room, all of them reporting about the apparently live recording interview that people neglected to tell him. Apparently, both Robin and Nekomamushi had agreed to let that little detail slip by him as not to make him any more nervous than he already was, which in a way was both a blessing and a curse.

Most of the film crew were gathered around it, while trying not to stare blatantly at him. Marco caught one of their eyes, groaned, and buried his face back to the table, "I can't believe last night even happen,"

"I can," he heard Robin said, tapping her nails on the table top, "Ivankov's ratings went off the chart after the second segment, beating all other programs that aired at the same time by 16.5% and peaked at 22.1 million viewers, breaking the show's records in over 8 years it aired. It was sneaky, and we definitely need to address it later, but aren't you glad we didn't tell you it was live?"

Marco's answer was just a strangled groan, almost a sob.

There's a chuckle followed by a motherly pat to his head, "Now, now, what done is done. Look at the bright side, this whole thing has made Nekomamushi and Inuarashi start to work together again. They're so flooded with not only request for interviews and high-end endorsements that they can't ignore each other if they want their agency to work efficiently," At Marco's questioning look, Robin seems to grow even more amused, "Seems like you'd be extremely busy these next few months, maybe even year. How long it might take for your 'romance' with Spade to lose its novelty,"

It made sense why, he supposed, but still, "But we're not dating,"

Robin's hand slid down to his outstretched hand, her eyes full of sympathy, "I know, Marco. We'd settle—" before she can say anything else, there's a chirp from inside of her purse, one that Marco recognize to be her phone's ringtone. She pulled the device out, took one glance at the monitor and frowned slightly, "Sorry, but i have to pick this up. Remember, after this, we have a meeting after this with Spade and his representatives at Sabaody Records to discuss last night's happenings so pack up quickly, alright?"

Once the actor gave a nod, she stood up and turned her attention to her phone, "Is something wrong, Franky? I thought you'd be at work by now… I packed Chopper's lunch in the red lunchbox and yours in the blue one, yes. Don't mix it up, i put in his juice box there too— Yes, i'm fine with take away for tonight, just remember that you're picking Chopper up from school today, i'm going to be home a little late from sorting out Marco—"

Robin's voice faded away the further she become, and once his manager is out of sight, Marco laid his head back down on the table, positioning his headphones better before glancing to his phone screen. The title of the currently paused song was scrolling by, and after some consideration, he pressed the next button before pressing play yet again. A different, faster and louder tune filled his hearing, before Spade's voice entered the fray.

Sitting in the darkness, void of human emotion. Light is calling out, the feeling is hazy—

"What?!"

When Spade's voice was once again paused, he didn't even bother hiding his annoyance at whoever caused it. He just wanted to be left alone the first half of today, before the inevitable blowout later. Heck, he just wanted to be left alone for the sole principle that yesterday even happened at all.

Unlike the subtle amusement Robin gave him earlier, this time Marco was faced with a taken back Shanks jumping backwards, eyes wide and one hand automatically rising up, "Woah, jeez, testy!" the red haired man exclaimed, patting his chest and grinning sheepishly.

Marco sighed, but he didn't stop the movie director from taking the seat Robin had vacated. Shanks is annoying, but he is a friend and a respected co-worker, and he is a director in the movie he is currently working on so to tolerate him means a good working environment for the next few months. That was the mantra Marco repeated in his head when the red haired man spoke up again before he can turn his music back on, "Did what happen yesterday really got on your nerve that much? I mean, it was kind of bad though, even i cringed. You took home the award for 'the most uncomfortable man on the planet' for the entire 1 hour and a half,"

He stifled a groan, not wanting to be reminded by it, "Didn't know you watch talk shows,"

"I work in the entertainment industry, i have to be up to date with the latest news!"

And he loves gossip, true, but one cursory glance at the man, with his rumpled shirt, evident eye bags and the way he kept tilting his head to one side told a different story. One that Marco had seen a couple of times to immediately recognize, "Did you pissed Mihawk again and had to sleep on the sofa?"

Shanks' grin turned glum, "That sofa is goddamn uncomfortable and i know he only kept it around for whenever i messed up. The TV's my only solace," he sniffled, "How am i supposed to know that shirt colours can bleed out and stain lighter fabrics?"

"Maybe if you actually do laundry once in a while…,"

"But then i won't be supporting Yasopp's wife's laundromat business and i'm their most loyal costumer," Shanks proudly replied, before sighing again, "When are they going to go back from that stupid family holiday? I miss my best cameraman and Banchina's the only one who can clean that damn coat Mihawk loves so much in a 'correct way',"

Marco rolled his eyes surreptitiously. He reach over for his phone again only for it to be swiped away from underneath his own hand, "Hey!"

"Hafta say, it's kind of sweet how supporting you two are with each other's profession," Shanks uttered, staring at his phone screen and hopefully doing nothing else, "Nice, isn't it? Having a significant other that understood your work? Before, i always got chastised for how busy i got during a project but with Mihawk, he's just as busy doing his own things that it's never a problem," the red haired man snickered, "Well, he chastised me about different things, but it's okay, he never said it but he likes setting me straight,"

"It's not like that," Marco quickly cuts, because not only did Shanks misunderstood - just like the majority of the population at this point - he's not hearing him gush about the stern-eyed producer. Again, "Ace— Spade and i literally are just friends. We're not in a relationship,"

"Coulda fooled me," the director mused, "After all, as the meme said, there's already receipts,"

"…The what?"

"You didn't see it? It's in every forum and social media right now,"

He didn't check his phone once since last night - though only once to reply to Pops' text - and now, Marco's dreading it even more.

And because of course Shanks doesn't understood reluctance or can read the situation, he pulled out his own phone, "Here, let me show you. I saved up some of the funniest, because man, your face,"

Marco could've just told him that he's not interested in seeing, but curiousity killed the cat and it killed him indeed.

It was a still picture of him taken from last night's interview, his face full of incredulity, complete with gaping mouth, bulging eye and both hands in mid-gesture. On the bottom part of the picture was the word 'OH COME ON', the same words he had shouted during that exact moment, written in bolded white text with thick black border, and just by scrolling past Shanks' photo roll, he caught multitudes of those pictures attached to another picture or just a bunch of text. Warily, he clicked on one, making the full picture pop out in full screen.

[When bae reads text one second ago but hasn't replied]

[OH COME ON]

"W-what the hell is all of this?!"

"It's called meme, Marco, come on, surely even you know that," the red haired director laughed, one finger showing up in Marco's periphery to swipe to the next picture.

[When people say world's gonna end but years later you still alive]

[OH COME ON]

[When your teacher won't round your F to an A+]

[OH COME ON]

"Wait, wait, let me show you the one i told you earlier," the phone was swiped away from under his nose, which was good because with every one of those… meme things, Marco's head is spinning. The moment of reprieve didn't last long when Shanks' phone was shoved to his face again, showing another longer variety, which looked like a series of pictures instead of just words with his picture attached to it.

[When you tryna deny you're dating but the entire world comes at you with receipts]

It was followed with various pictures of people in sassy poses, all looking down to the bottom, in which again, Marco found his picture, this time without the quote. Which, in a way, made it all the more jarring and distressing.

Shanks cackled at the look on his face. Marco wants to drop dead.

As if his torment wasn't enough of course, a familiar noise blared through his phone, followed by a vibration somewhere from Shank's direction. Before he could react, the blonde watched the director lifted his phone up with a quirked brow, which slowly turned into a mischievous grin. Warily, he asked, "Who's calling?"

Instead of answering, Shanks turned the phone in his hand, and Marco's eyes widened.

INCOMING CALL

Ace Gol-Portgas (Answer Immediately!)

The grin on Shanks' face didn't disappear even when the phone was harshly swiped out of his hand, and only seems to amuse him further, "'Answer Immediately'?"

"Shut up," Marco hissed, pulling his headphone back and pressing the green 'answer' symbol, "H-hello?"

"Hey," the voice from over the phone was hushed, as if Ace was trying not to speak too loudly, "Um, sorry, are you busy right now?"

Marco shook his head rapidly, before he realized that the younger couldn't see him and felt rather foolish. From the corners of his eyes, he saw Shanks standing up and walking away, subtly snickering. He glared at the man's back, "No, it's my break right now. It's uh, it's a script reading for a new movie,"

"A new movie?" Ace's volume increased slightly, back to speaking normally and even rather enthusiastically, "Is it the one that people are speculating about, Shanks Red's new project with you and… wait, um, who was it? I don't know, i just saw your name and that's all i remember,"

Just as Ace finished saying that, Marco eyed a commotion in the middle of the break room, where his co-star, Cavendish Hakuba, actor and a famously spoilt diva who hated not being recognized all the time, was fighting viciously with Bartolomeo, one of the junior producers, because he did exactly that weeks ago when they were first introduced. As a matter of fact, it was their constant quarrelling that ended up making him late to Spade's album launch, and what had inadvertently caused him to meet Ace in the first place.

He silently exhaled over the memories of that day, and spoke, "I'm bound by contract not to discuss too much of it with anyone," he glanced around again - just in time to catch Cavendish smacking Bartolomeo with one of the prop swords upside the head - before continuing over Ace's disappointed sigh, "But yes, that's the one,"

Obviously, he couldn't see Ace's face, but the muffled squeal he let out was enough to tell Marco how truly happy he was, "Seriously?! Oh my god, Seriously?! I'm— I'm so— Aah! A new movie from you! When is it going to be released?! What are you playing as?! Oh my god, oh my god, please, please, please, do me a favour, take a selfie on set, or with your costume on, for my scrapbook and my wall posters and i will built a literally shrine—" in the middle of his rapid gushing, Ace suddenly stopped, and for a while, there was nothing on the other side of the phone. Marco was about to call out before the singer's voice returned, slightly shaky, "I, uh, i mean, um, that's… wow, that's great! Shanks' movies are great, he inspired my brother a lot and Luffy's been single minded about wanting to be a movie director ever since, i should really tell you about that one day, but anyway, uh,"

There's a long drawn groan from the other side of the phone now, slightly far away as if Ace had removed himself from the receiver and in a way, made Marco slightly concerned, "Uh, Ace?"

"Sorry, sorry," the younger sighed, his exhaling making a static noise through the phone, "I just wanted to call to ask how you're holding up. It's pretty tense here, Law and Sabo's fighting with Ivankov's people the whole day, and i think Sabo took it rather personally because he always had a good working relationship with Ivankov especially. He didn't expect me to be thrown under the bus and our agreement to be broken for the sake of ratings and views, in his own words,"

Ace sounded tired now, even more as he exhaled again. Marco can relate, "It's not much better here, i guess. I've been doing this script reading and rehearsals since this morning, so i haven't met with anyone from the agency, but Robin said my bosses were forced to work together for this entire matter. And they hated each other,"

"Shit, that's gotta be rough,"

"Yeah, i honestly, can't imagine them having to tolerate each other," despite himself, Marco quirked the corners of his lips briefly at the thoughts of Nekomamushi and Inuarashi mysterious long standing rivalry and mutual dislike being put in a halt, "But otherwise, i'm fine, thank you. How about you? You don't sound too good,"

This time, Ace groaned, and there's a thud and several rustling on the background before his voice became even closer, "I don't even want to leave the bed until we have to meet later. My parents called from a continent away in the middle of the night, with no regards to time zone, it's that bad. Apparently, the news already reached there,"

"Fuck, where are they?"

"On a business trip to Skypeia,"

"Skypeia's on the other side of the world,"

"I know,"

The two of them groaned almost simultaneously, as Marco placed his head back to the table, his phone leaning against his head without him holding them to allow his arms to hung down freely, flopping on either one of his sides.

"Marco?"

"Yeah, Ace?"

There's a brief moment of silence, so quiet that he thought the call had been disconnected. Before he can call out again, Ace's voice returned with a hint of apprehension, "I know i asked this before, but," he paused again, and when he spoke, his voice was small, almost muffled, "This isn't going to change anything, right? It won't make things awkward between us? Cause i don't want it to,"

Ace sounded almost scared when he asked, and that tugged every single string that controlled Marco's heart. He lifted his head with a sense of urgency, wide eyed and unable to form words for the first few seconds, "No. Oh god no, it won't. I don't want things to be awkward with us too, you're very, very dear to me, Ace,"

Just as he said that, a group of female employees passed by, stopping to glance at him before they walked away giggling and cooing between themselves. Marco watched them leave, stifling his sigh with a mighty effort.

The sound of Ace's nervous laugh immediately distracted him, "I'm… yeah. It's the same for me. You," the laughter gained a higher pitch, almost squeal like, "Oh god, my face is so hot. I-i mean, ditto, you know,"

It was an unintelligible mess of words as best, but somehow, Marco still found himself smiling, ignoring the group of women from earlier - who has now congregated with another mixed group, whispering and silently gossiping between themselves while blatantly staring at him - in favour of enjoying Ace's little giggles through the phone. He adjusted the headphones hanging around his neck, and decided that while he can't really enjoy his songs right now, hearing Ace talk in person is much better as a stress reliever. He had that effect on him, he realized.

"We'll be alright, we'll handle this together,"

Even without being able to see, Marco can feel Ace's smile through his words, "Yeah," the younger chuckled, before yawning, "Sorry, i'm going to take a quick nap. Dad kept me up all night wanting to talk about the news, and talking him and mom out of buying a plane ticket home and ignoring important investors is hard work. I'll see you later?"

Marco nodded, noting from the amount of people who had started finishing up their meals and the dwindling amount of people in front of the TV that it was probably nearly the end of his break as well. Of course, they might start a little later, considering Cavendish and Bartolomeo's squabble doesn't show any sign of ending any time soon, "Yeah, i'll see you late— Oh, wait, Ace, before you go,"

"Hmm?"

"Can you, can you explain to me about this whole.. meme thing? What is that and why is my face on it?"

New Text Message from Shanks Red (Director) [23:20]: [macro_ ]

Sent to Shanks Red (Director)[23:25]:Stop

New Text Message from Shanks Red (Director) [23:25]: [macro_ ]

New Text Message from Shanks Red (Director) [23:25]: [memepage_ ]

New Text Message from Shanks Red (Director) [23:25]: [mov_worldboard_ ]

New Text Message from Shanks Red (Director) [23:26]: [ ]

New Text Message from Shanks Red (Director) [23:26]: [ ]

New Text Message from Shanks Red (Director) [23:26]: [CoolPics_ ]

New Text Message from Shanks Red (Director) [23:26]: [macro_ ]

New Text Message from Shanks Red (Director) [23:26]: [fullboard_ ]

New Text Message from Shanks Red (Director) [23:26]: [snailboard_ ]

New Text Message from Shanks Red (Director) [23:27]: [ ]

Sent to Shanks Red (Director)[23:28]:STOP

Sent to Shanks Red (Director)[23:28]:I AM NOT INTERESTED IN SEEING THESE MEEMS ANYMORE

New Text Message from Shanks Red (Director) [23:30]: OMG WHAT HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

New Text Message from Shanks Red (Director) [23:30]: ITS SPELLED MEMES YOU ACTUAL PREHISTORIC CREATURE

New Text Message from Shanks Red (Director) [23:31]: Seriously, Marco, get on with the trend. I thought dating someone so young means you'll be better at this.

Sent to Shanks Red (Director)[23:32]:I have Mihawk's phone number and i'm not afraid of using it

New Text Message from Shanks Red (Director) [23:33]: …seriously, you're dragging Mihawk to this thats so not cool

New Text Message from Shanks Red (Director) [23:43]: [ ]

Sent to Shanks Red (Director)[23:44]:That's it.

New Text Message from Shanks Red (Director) [24:01]: Pfft, i know you don't actually have the balls t

New Text Message from Shanks Red (Director) [24:03]: Apologies for the late night disturbance, Newgate. Have a good rest.

Sent to Shanks Red (Director)[24:05]:Night and thanks Mihawk.

Song lyric was taken from 'Fight Another Day' by Kat Penkin and 'Baptism of Fire' CliqTrack Remix, both songs in Cytus II.

Which is a game this entire fic was based on.

Yeeaaaah.

Anyway, hope you liked it!