Ace got two chapters (even if it's because the second chapter was 8k long and i am NOT doing that again), so it's only right Marco also got two.

Before we start, in my defense, this is supposed to happen since i first wrote this story.

When Marco's consciousness finally came back to him, he felt like he had just been stepped on by an elephant, before being tossed into a washing machine, and finally thrown on to a combine harvester. Then someone must've kidnapped him and operated on him to put a ticking bomb on his brain.

In other words, everything hurts and his head felt like it will explode at any given moment.

Moving proved to be a rather impossible task, when he felt like he was being held down. Or maybe it was just his body refusing to cooperate. He tried to open his eyes first but the moment he saw pure whiteness from behind the safety and protection of his eyelids, he immediately closed them again, groaning at that millisecond glimpse of light. Whose idea is it to create lights? They do nothing but hurt and made his head felt worse.

"Oh, oh, i think he's waking up,"

Somewhere in his poor, addled brain, Marco realized that someone is nearby, and that voice sounds dauntingly and mockingly close to Thatch's. Which means Thatch is nearby. Which means Thatch is nearby while he is asleep and thus cannot defend himself. A lot of experience during their college years has taught him why that is a tremendously bad idea.

Opening his eyes means torturing his poor retina ever more, but that was nothing compared to what his brother might do if he goes back to sleep. Much to his relief, the blonde found his brother a few feet away, one hand holding up his computer tablet right next to his very largely grinning face. He blinked a couple of times, trying to chase away the torturous headache that comes with finally being awake and losing, "What are you doing?" he ask, finding his own voice hoarse and scratchy.

Still grinning, Thatch adjusted the tablet in his hand, allowing Marco to better view that the screen consisted of their father and several of their brothers. When the people on the screen moved and voices that weren't Thatch's voice started entering his senses, he began to slowly realize that it's a video chat.

"Morning sleepyhead," he heard Haruta exclaim first, head rested on top of Pops' shoulder. Pops himself was at the very front, practically filling the entire screen if Haruta didn't start adjusting their camera to allow Marco to see that there's more of them. Marco tried to sit up again, but to no avail. He's starting to be aware that it wasn't quite his body that's unwilling to cooperate, there was something on top of him that's stopping him from moving.

He turned his head, trying to see whatever it was - it's probably one of Thatch's prank - the same time he heard Pops said, "Haruta, lower your voice, the young man next to him is still asleep,"

And it wasn't just any young man; Marco could tell that dark, wavy hair and the freckled cheeks underneath it anywhere. What he could not tell is what said head was doing on his chest, while the entire rest of body it was attached to was sleeping on top of him under the cover.

As if on cue, Ace stirred, eyes lidded and heavy with sleep still when they flickered open to find Marco's very wide and surprised ones. The singer - who was obviously unaware he had spent the night sleeping only a couple of feet away from a closet full of paraphernalia with his face printed on them, including a human sized body pillow - let out a - cute, very cute - yawn. Marco could feel what is very clearly an arm snaking from his stomach to his chest.

"Why are you up already?" the young man moaned against his skin, before plopping his head back on to Marco's shoulder. The movement caused the blanket on top of them to shift and fell down a little, just enough to show him that they're both equally topless. Ace's spotted shoulder laying back against his chest and once again rendering him unable to move, ever more so as the younger started to squirm and pulled their bodies even closer together, "Mmh, Marco, you're so warm,"

Marco's mind short-circuited, and he was only briefly aware of Thatch's snickers before his eyes rolled backwards and he suddenly lose consciousness again.

"This is… this is just… wow," Marco spent several seconds observing the trophy in his hand, a sleek little thing, so polished he could see his contorted reflection on the contorted surface. He tossed it up a little, feeling the weight again - it's surprisingly heavy - before speaking again in the same slurred and obviously intoxicated manner, "Look at this thing, it's so.. shiny. And you already got my name engraved on it. Wow, i never win anything before. Well, unless you count free hot dog raffle back during junior high,"

There's several laughs from the audience, and instantly, the blonde head snapped back up, staring to the nearest camera, "Hey, Pops, i won! I hope you're watching," he laughed, before looking back down on the trophy once more. It's rather small in his hand, slim but a tough little thing. Kind of like Ace's waist. It's such a nice waist, even nicer in Izou's suit.

"I'm a lucky man tonight, don't know what i did to deserve this," the blonde mumbled against the microphone in front of him, "Thank you for giving me this, thank you for my manager, the ever wonderful Nico Robin, to Sengoku Buddha, terrific director who gave me a chance to work in such an amazing project, to my co-stars, to the people working behind the scenes, to Pops and my brothers, who's been blowing up my phone the whole day, i told you repeatedly i don't know what i'll do without my family," he turned around, finding Shanks grinning at him, "Shanks, for the… the drink, mostly. What the hell did you make me drink? I can't think straight right now,"

There's even more laughter than before, with Shanks the loudest and the proudest, tossing his head back in hilarity, as if what Marco said was the funniest thing in the world. Seems like he's not the most drunk person on stage.

He looked up, and even through the bright lights, he still found the table he was looking for, to the person he's been searching for, "But if… even if i hadn't won tonight, i would still be the luckiest man in this room. The world even," he chuckled, sighing with a sappy grin, "for having you by my side,"

The moment he said that, the screen on the far side of the room, directly opposite of the stage suddenly changed the image from him to Ace, and Marco was glad for it. This far away he couldn't see anything, and the light certainly doesn't help, but now he could see Ace in his nice suit, eyes wide and equally clouded as his, looking absolutely, absolutely enchanting, "I've been nothing but lucky since i met you. My days were full of new experience, good and bad, they felt easier, calmer, they were wonderful,"

He paused for a little laugh, a sappy sound that he hadn't expected to come out of him but then he was already at lost for words despite having so much more to say, "I know there's millions of people watching me, but honestly, Ace, i could only see you right now," he laughed again, surrounding, trophy, stage, lights, cameras, all forgotten. His head was getting lighter, and his sight sways, but he couldn't be saying truer things, "I think it's always been like that since the day we first met,"

"—But of course, nothing stole everyone's attention during Mariejois Award last night more than Marco Newgate's winning speech, and what a speech it was! The winner of the Best Actor category spent half of his time on stage claiming his love and affection for his boyfriend, and between that and the big kiss they had before, it was probably the most romantic moment ever in the history of—"

"Thatch, can you please turn the TV off?"

Thatch did, but not before letting a little disappointed noise. As if Marco didn't know he probably already recorded last night's live broadcast, and even found videos online that he shared in their family chat group. In fact, Marco knew he already did the latter; he's in the family group chat after all.

A hand made it's way to his shoulder, and Marco would've jumped away if he didn't remember that Ace was seated right next to him. Ace, who was clad in his shirt and loose pants, because while he was - thankfully, though maybe a bit regrettably - not naked underneath Marco's covers, he was only in a loose pair of lounging shorts that the blond was sure he wore to bed the night before. Because apparently the pants that he wore last night had been way too tight and uncomfortable to wear to bed and he had to borrow something since he doesn't wearing anything underne—

His eyes are now directly on Ace's crotch. He should look away before anyone notices.

"Okay, one, his eyes are way higher than that and two, i'm still in the room, lovebirds,"

Too late.

"Go away, Thatch,"

But of course, getting rid of his brother is not that easy, because Thatch only huffed indignantly, "Oh, win one fancy award and think you can start bossing me around, do you? Nope, not happening," True to his words, he took seat on the sofa right next to Marco, and suddenly, the man found his pounding headache worsening by miles when the pompadoured chef extended his hand over to Ace, "Thatch Newgate, so good to finally meet the reason why my brother had been so sappy lately,"

"Thatch!"

Ace's reply was a little more subdued, but he still ended up taking up Thatch for the handshake, smiling slightly, "Nice to meet you too. Sorry about this morning, wish i was a bit less…,"

"Scandalous?"

"That's it, get out,"

"You know, this is my place too," the auburn haired man quipped, but finally gave up when Marco glared even harder. With both raised hands he stood up, whistling as he did, "Alright, alright, i'll be out of your way. Gotta make breakfast anyway. You want some, Ace? I know traditionally it's the person you're sleeping with that's supposed to make one, but you can't trust Marco to even boil water—"

"Out!"

With one last exaggerated wave, Thatch left. Just to the kitchen right across the living room, that is, but at least he's out of sight for the moment.

Once, the sounds of clanking pots could be heard, Marco leaned back against the sofa, groaning while holding on to his aching head. The hand on his shoulder slithered to his nape and back down again, massaging comfortably as they go, before he felt another supple body leaning against his, "Are you still hung over?" Ace muttered, his other hand placed on top of the older's thigh and pressing slightly, "Do you want me to get you anything?"

Marco shook his head, an action he severely regret when everything started spinning. He opened his eyes slowly to find that Ace was a lot closer than he originally thought, and as their eyes met, the younger smiled, almost shy and gentle, "Um, sorry about this morning. I swear i was planning on crashing on the sofa but you wouldn't let me go and i didn't want to wake you up,"

"I didn't let— What even happened last night?"

Memories from last night was really a giant blur, but there are a few things that he could remember, some that left him absolutely mortified right now. He remembered drinking glass after glass of whatever drink Shanks gave him and felt sorry for his liver, he remembered laughing and talking with Ace about some thing or another, and he remembered Ace telling him something with such fiery passion, remembered watching those stormy grey orbs focused on him with such intensity that he felt dizzy as if he had taken another shot, and then he remembered…

He remembered…

Oh fuck, oh, fuck, fuck, fuck, that TV reporter did say something about a kiss so that wasn't just his imagination. That wasn't some wild fantasy going rampant in his drunken state, that was real. He kissed Ace. He actually kissed Ace, in front of everyone in that room, including whoever was watching, so that was a lot of people and he kissed Ace in front of all of them—

And the worst thing is, he actually remembered it feeling good.

"Marco?" at the call for his name, the blonde snapped his head up to find Ace once again so close, his smile now turning into a concerned frown. The hand on his shoulder was suddenly on his cheek, framing his face, and Marco's breath stuttered, "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah," he managed to choke out, eyes slowly rolling to the hand on his cheek as the thumb started moving to caress his skin. There's a movement from the corner of his eyes, and as Marco looked back, he caught the dark haired male in front of him moving - almost crawling, even - closer, that their faces were merely inches apart. He widened his eyes when the hand on his cheek trailed lower to the side of his jaw. Ace smiled, lips puckered slightly and with his eyes lidded, the look he gave was smouldering, "Uh, Ace?"

"You know, what you said last night," the younger trailed off, voices barely above a whisper but very audible with the distance between them. The hand on his jaw still moved again, trailing and dare he say, sensually, "They made me really happy,"

The actor blinked, eyes owlish and felt a bit dry by how wide he had them, "I, uh,"

"And that kiss was, well, to be honest, i was really caught off guard," As if to give emphasis to his words, Ace bit his lower lips, dragging his upper teeth slowly across his lower lips. Marco couldn't stop staring, "But it was really, really…,"

He trailed off, possibly looking for a proper word, and Marco took that exact time to finally gain coherence, "I know, i'm so, so sorry about that, i don't know what came over me. W-well, i do, it's the alcohol, but i swear, i didn't mean to, i'm so sorry,"

Okay, maybe if he's honest with himself it was alcohol and the fact that even through drunken haze, Ace just looked incredible. He had never seen a pair of eyes who can project that much emotion on them, even when they're contorted to something close to anger, such a passionate expression, and somehow, he recalled felling this… this joy. This sense of unexplainable elation enveloping him. There was that moment when Ace's face turned from that intense frown to surprise, and suddenly it became jubilation and Marco knew it wasn't just through the rosy lenses from a strong drink that made him think how much he wanted to kiss—

No, wait, that doesn't matter.

He shouldn't have done it. No one liked to be kissed out of nowhere, especially by someone they're not even in a relationship with, and why is Ace even still here, he would've thought he wanted nothing to do with him anymore, but then perhaps he was waiting for a chance to scold him to say how inappropriate it was - and it was! In front of so many people! - and that's what he's going to say—

"Wait," Ace's voice broke through his seemingly endless train of thought, and when Marco snapped his sight back to reality, the distance between him and the younger had grown, their faces no longer so close to each other, and there was no a confused, if almost hurt, frown on Ace's brows, "You… you didn't mean that?"

"No, of course not!" He has to fix this somehow, the small voice in Marco's head screamed persistently, he doesn't want to lose Ace over something so stupid as getting drunk and doing something stupid, "Of course i didn't mean to do it, and i'm so sorry,"

He knew he shouldn't expect Ace to forgive him. What he did was beyond foolish, hell, maybe it could even be classified as harassment. It's one thing if he made an idiot out of himself, because at least, he'll be the only one facing the repercussion, but he definitely didn't mean to drag Ace along, and especially not Ace, into his stupidity—

Yet when the raven haired male unceremoniously stood up without a word, there was a pang of guilt and dread washing over the insides of his chests still, "Ace—"

"I should get going," the younger abruptly said, his back to Marco and his face concealed, but his voice sounded quivering as if holding back a strong emotion, "I didn't even tell Sabo or Luffy where i was, they're going to be worried sick,"

After a silent beat, Marco nodded, "Right. I'll… i'll drive you back—"

"No need, i'll take a cab or something," Then Ace was gone, making his way back to Marco's room, probably to pick up his stuff. Surprised, the blond followed suit, the pang in his chest growing even harder and aching.

He doesn't quite understand yet - and to be honest, thinking made his head hurts right now - but he fucked up something bad, worse than he thought, didn't he?

When he reached his bedroom, Ace was rolling his clothes from last night harder than necessary, tossing them to the side before he picked up one of his shoes and looked around. With a loud click of his tongue, he ducked down under the bed, shoving one hand inside to probably reach for the other pair. Every single movement he made was jerky, aggressive even, and it was with apprehension yet the need to make things right that Marco spoke, "You don't have to, i can take you back home. Really,"

"Marco, i," Ace snapped his head up as he barked his name, his voice matching that brief glimpse of anger that slowly disappeared with a deep intake of breath. It actually made the older jolt, the sight of that very apparent emotion intensifying the guilt that kept festering in his chest and made his stomach churn. With another sharp inhale, Ace glanced back at him, and while the anger has dimmed down, there was something apologetic yet cold in his eyes, "You don't have to. It's still pretty early, a cab's fine by me,"

"It's no problem, i swear,"

Ace didn't reply, simply letting out a grunt while he tried to reach deeper under the bed.

With a suppressed sigh, Marco finally braved himself to approach, lowering himself down on the floor just enough to put his arm inside right next to where Ace's was. It wasn't long that he located the smooth, leathery material of the elusive shoe and fished it out, but instead of giving it back immediately, he held it in between them, the sole against his palm and Ace's sharp and unwelcoming gaze meeting his own pleading eyes, "Please?"

The singer kept staring at him, until he finally let out a sigh, "You're still hungover though,"

Finally seeing an opening, Marco quickly shook his head, ignoring the way his brain felt rattled by the motion, "Not with Thatch's breakfast. Don't tell him i say this, but he cooks like a god. Best hangover cure in the world, i'll be up and running in no time," he smiled, aware of how weak they are by just how desperate he felt to get Ace to finally agree with him. He had the feeling that if he let this go, if he let Ace leave now without him, things would not be the same, and he might lose him, "Besides, he probably already made one for you, you should definitely try it out,"

Again, there was another stretch of silence that lasted all too long. Still, in the end, Ace nodded, even if the gesture looked resigned, "I guess i am feeling a little bit hungry,"

The drive over to Ace's house was the same as breakfast this morning: Quiet.

At least Thatch had been a good enough buffer to fill in the silence, but right now, left just with the two of them, it's very apparent that the silence between them was no a familiar and comfortable one that would usually stay in the car. There's a tension between them, a tension that Marco could not stop blaming himself for since the first time the wheels rolled off the parking lot, but he couldn't for the life of him found something to say.

He said sorry, but he found that sorry was rarely ever enough, and this is just another one of those occasion. Saying something like 'hoping he could take it back' or another impossible promises doesn't really mean anything. Above all, he wanted to ask if things between them are alright, if this ruins anything, but that's just stupid, he knows it's not.

Marco would've slammed his head on the steering wheel, but that's a driving hazard and the last thing he should do now is get Ace involved in another accident.

Eventually, they arrived in the younger's house, but even before Marco could finish driving his car into the driveway, he saw Ace reaching for the door's latch, "Look, Ace," he stopped right then and there, stepping on the brakes and making the car lurch, the tired making a squealing sound. Another mistake early this morning, but that one is not as important as this one, "I…,"

"You're sorry and you don't mean last night at all," Ace cuts him off snippily, looking away yet the reflection on the car was enough to show Marco that it's not a friendly one, "Not the kiss, not your speech, it was all an accident,"

"No," Marco could only admit in a small voice, "Well, not entirely,"

Ace took in a shaky breath, and for the first time since they entered the car, turned to face him, even if only by a fraction.

"I'm sorry i kissed you," Sorry i let my attraction gone out of control, the blond thought and immediately squashed by shaking his head slightly, "But i meant what i said on stage,"

There's a shift from next to him, and when Marco lifted his head, Ace was facing him. He didn't look pleased, and the frown was still marring his brow, but at least he didn't look angry anymore. He hated that look, hated that when it was aimed at him it would be from Ace of all people. Especially when he clearly know he caused that.

Marco took a deep breath, reaching over for his car keys to turn the engine down, but really he was just trying to do anything so he won't have to see Ace's eyes as he spoke, "The things that happened after we met was… crazy. The rumours, the interviews, the amount of interest, when our companies got involved, i'd be lying if i said i was enjoying any of it. But when i think that through all of that it allows me to know and be close to you, then i'd do it all over again,"

The engine had died, so Marco kept his sight on his lap, "Meeting you was the luckiest day of my life. At first, it was just about being starstruck, but then we keep meeting, no matter the circumstance and it was about finding someone i can ever be comfortable with. Someone who saw my hand shaking and didn't ridicule me for it, someone who saw how afraid i was and let me hid for a while or let me lean on them," he lifted his hands, placing them on top of his thighs palms up, as if to prove a point, "I have a lot of idiosyncrasies, a lot of faults, but somehow you put up with all of that,"

It's only been a couple of weeks, and yet, he had never met someone quite like Ace before. He hadn't expected to, he knows the kind of person he is, and yet here Ace was. If them having to fake dating each other so each other will stick around, then he's fine with it. He's fine with pretending his whole life if he has to.

Call him selfish - because to be honest, he does feel like one saying all of this - but he doesn't want to lose that. Not like this.

"Please forgive me. I'll do anything, just please, forgive me,"

Perhaps he had said too much, maybe he had said the wrong thing instead, because Ace didn't say anything. He sat there quietly, staring at Marco with this unreadable expression that he can't make the heads or tail of it.

Then he opened his mouth, but before he said anything, the younger suddenly turned, and frowned, "Ugh, what is he doing there?"

Confused, Marco turned to the direction Ace was staring to find Sabo in front of the door, arms crossed and one feet tapping impatiently on the carpet. There's a wary look on his face, his eyes boring holes on to Ace, as if urging him to come out of the car.

With a groan, Ace opened the door and stood up just right outside of it, leaning his weight on to the car's door, "Okay, i know i went over my curfew and didn't call last night, but can you stop acting like my dad and waiting outside like that? Marco and i are kind of in the middle of something here,"

Instead of answering, Ace's blond haired brother grimaced and the door behind him suddenly opened to reveal a tall, dark haired man clad in what looks like a red bathrobe, "Alright, if your brother can't, how about your own father?"

Marco could hear Ace letting out a choking noise, the same time as his heart skipped a beat before falling into his stomach. And then started pulsing in an impossible speed when the man turned his shadowed gaze to Marco himself, the look of a dangerous, angry predator locking his prey on sight.

Today is just not his day, is it?

Uh, yeah. I did say many times that this fic is filled with guilty pleasure so….It... was… supposed… to… happen…