HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME (5th of September, this is EARLY GIFT to myself), I hope you all have great week :)
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In First chapter, small mistakes were corrected and it was partly beta'd, read it first :).
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Author's note:
YAY
I just want to tell you I have TWO betas, YAY, the wonderful Kurapikababu who gave me some ideas how to write this chapter and the amazing Mercyless who gave me a great feedback while writing and made this chapter more presentable. Thank you sweethearts ^^ for encouraging me to write more and share with you.
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Check Kurapikababu's stories and arts on her tumblr, if you are an OP fan, you will love it ( I know I do ^^)
Seriously GO!
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And go gave Mercyless some love, and read her first fanfiction "Soldier Dream" (mercyless witness).
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Warnings:
English is my fourth language. Warning may change in the future.
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Thank you all for showing me how much you appreciate my writing and this Fic. It really warmed my heart and gave me inspiration to write more. THANK YOU.
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I have a lot of plot bunnies (new word I learned) for this Fic, I am not sure which I will chose.
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To all of you who reviewed, then I would like to say: Thank you (Gracias;)). Your response motivated me to write! Here is the next chapter ;)
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Hope you enjoy,
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The chapter was partly beta'd, see notes at the END, please.
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It have been five days since they left the peaceful Moby Dick, and thank the sea gods, they were on their way back now. In two more days they would be back with their family again, Marco thought to himself, watching the smoke from their little 'adventure' still clear to the eye, even though they had been sailing for a few hours.
He never thought that he would ever say this, but he preferred doing a mountains of paperwork in the most stuffy room in the Moby Dick, than being here, handling Ace.
He sighed for the twentieth time in the last hour (Yes, he was counting. It wasn't like he had anything better to do). Ace was sitting, lifeless, in the side of the ship, near where Marco was steering, not moving, not speaking, hardly answering when spoken to. He only seemed a bit alive when the Den Den Mushi rung, and that was only for the duration of hearing that there were still no news about his siblings.
Things weren't this bad in the beginning. At first, Ace seemed almost like himself. True, his smile was strained and his posture tense, but he was trying to act normal and hopeful. But with more calls and no more information forthcoming, he began to lose any pretense and began to be less and less positive and responsive, Marco sighed again (Twenty one).
Marco had to explain the situation to the others from his division, when Ace begin acting all gloomy and not like himself. Marco grimaced at the memory. His brothers naturally tried to cheer him up, which had the opposite effect. Marco sighed again (Twenty two), now they were avoiding him like the plague (which explains why they were all alone in the deck of the small ship and he was stuck steering), not that he blamed them or anything. Ace's depressing mood would probably even dampen Thatch's mood, who was the golden standard of cheery idiot, Marco sighed again (Twenty three).
Marco even saw him eyeing the Striker several times. Ace had insisted on bringing it with them for "any emergency" (according to him). It made Marco's uneasiness intensify, and kept him from having almost any sleep. He sighed again (Twenty four).
The only time Ace actually seemed contented was when they got their first Den Den Mushi call from their father. Hearing that several of their allies had gone to Paradise especially to help look for his siblings made Ace speechless for a while. The number of times he said thank you when he remembered how to speak made their pops irritated, snapping at him: "You are one of my sons, and your siblings are family, well, unless they are bloody slavers or rapers," (which made Ace splutter in denial). Their father continued by saying that if Ace was this grateful, he could go to their allies personally and thank them, after they found the bloody brats (He needed to meet their other allies, anyway). That was the highlight of this whole voyage.
Well, there was another amusing call from Oars in the same day, who seemed rather upset that pops didn't agree to let him go looking for Ace's siblings. Apparently, Ace had told him about them when they met two months ago. Oars wanted to help and meet the brats, but pops said that his presence would attract too much unwanted attention, they already had many allies in Paradise as it is.
Their father was right, Marco mused to himself. The marines always kept close attention to their moves, not that they cared or that it affected them in anyway. Still, it was better if they didn't attract attention to how important the two brats were. Having too many Whitebeard allies looking for them specifically may attract the bad kind of attention.
Well, the rest of their conversation was, of all things, about a hat, which weirdly enough made Ace laugh. And that was the last time he heard him do it.
When they got to the island three days ago, they began looking for information about the pirate's attacks from the inhabitants. They quickly realized that the attacks appeared to happen sparsely and randomly. They were afraid (especially Ace!) that they would have to wait for an attack or they would have to hunt them down themselves (Ace was all for this), but they didn't need to worry.
Two days later, the unlucky morons tried to take control of the island at dawn. They even brought allies with them: in total three small ships (everything was small compared to the Moby Dick) and hundreds of men. It took less than half an hour to take care of them, and he was being very generous in his estimation. It was all done by Ace.
He and the others just watched open-mouthed (not him) as Ace, well, no other word to describe it, went batshit crazy. If Marco was a betting man, he would bet that more than half of the surviving pirates had sworn off the pirate life. Marco didn't have the heart to stop him, and their father did ask them to teach them a lesson Whitebeard style.
Those morons shouldn't have been causing problems in their territories to begin with.
Of course, then the Marines had to become involved. Marco was able to convince Ace not to attack them when the morons decided to fire at them. Marco couldn't help but shake his head at the memory.
It was probably a new commander that wanted to impress his men and prove himself. No veteran marine would make the mistake of attacking them (Seriously, they had their father's jolly-roger flying atop of their small ship, it was hard to miss!) with only four marine battleships.
Well, let's say that the man could forget about any promotion any time soon. Probably gonna stuck in desk job for the rest of his bright career, Marco mused in glee.
Ace actually seemed at ease for a while after that. Maybe it was due to the fact that he was able to burn his frustration out, or the fact that he was able to send a message to his siblings; this stunt would definitely get him an increase in his bounty. Ace even joked with his subordinates from the first division about the bounty increase. Their bets were going from 50-200 million Beli, last he heard.
They stayed another half day to help with the clean-up. Having destroyed flaming ships near the island port was problematic, Marco snorted.
The inhabitants insisted in throwing them a party as show of gratitude, Marco had to use all his diplomacy skills and patience (normal folks can be as stubborn as pirates apparently!) to avoid staying for any party that will take hours and hours to prepare for. Finally, telling them bluntly (lying, when his patience run out), that they needed to leave immediately to take care of another disturbance.
Here they were, on their way back to the Moby Dick.
Ace was back to being lifeless again. He would take him being restless anytime instead of this.
Marco was reaching the end of his rope. He sighed in deep frustration (Twenty five).
Marco had already tried bribing him with food (not that Ace was eating much, he usually was able to convince him to eat something because of his narcolepsy meds). Marco also suggested sparring (that didn't merit even a shake of his head), taking him flying (got a raised eyebrow), tried telling him stories about pops' adventure when the crew was young (Ace was actually listening for a while, but...). He was considering calling Oars (he had made him laugh talking about a hat! of all things...), or maybe call Thatch or Haruta to ask advices on how to cheer him up (he would prefer not to, they would never let him live it down). He had tried everything he could think of, Marco sighed (Twenty six).
Well, except the obvious he admitted to himself, talking about the brats. This could go badly, Marco pondered.
Nonetheless this couldn't continue any longer (if only for the sake of his sanity and sleep), and if it did go badly, in two days they would be back on the Moby Dick, and others could try to cheer him up (Thatch and Haruta) and keep close an eye on him. Marco would finally, finally, get some very much needed sleep, he will have Jozu continue taking care of his duties for a while longer. He sighed (Twenty seven).
Now or never.
"Yo Ace, why don't you tell me about your siblings, yoi?"
Ace tensed and uttered fiercely, "Why?" Progress, maybe.
Marco decided to go with honesty.
He shrugged, "No reason. They are your family and ours by extension, yoi. Got me a little curious, especially after what you told pops."
Apparently that was the right thing to say. Ace relaxed a little and seemed deep in thought. Marco sat in front of him, leaving the steering wheel, the course was set.
Ace sighed and said, "There are so many stories... don't know what to choose."
He had a reminiscing smile on his lips.
Marco, stayed quite, afraid to disturb his walk down the memory lane.
"Well, there was one time, Luffy was a little bit sick. I wanted to cheer him up, so I decided to take him to eat in restaurant instead of hunting."
Marco shook his head in amusement, and said, "Food is your answer to everything, yoi."
Ace shrugged. "Well, maybe not everything. Almost everything. Hmmm, but this is Luffy, food is always the only answer." He continued, "Luffy and I went to eat in town..." he stopped, seemed unsure how to continue.
Marco raised an eyebrow in wonder, he didn't know much about Ace's childhood, but from the little he knew, child Ace eating in restaurant properly, with his little brother no less, was hard to picture (Ace's eating habits as adult left much to be desired).
"I mean to dine and dash," he amended.
Marco snorted at that. Ace gave him a look, telling him to keep quiet or he would stop.
"We were unlucky. The place had several guards eating there that we didn't notice. The dining bit went well. Now, when we got to the dashing part, the guards were able to follow us closely. One was able to catch Luffy, and unfortunately we didn't have our pipes with us."
"You used pipes to fight, yoi?" Marco couldn't help but ask, finding it hard to imagine Ace fighting with anything but his fire.
"Yeah, we were kids, using whatever we had. Pipes were easy to fight with and easy to find," Ace defended.
"Anyway, I knocked the guard and Luffy escaped. But with all the chaos, we got separated. I was able to slip away," he smiled as if remembering a funny tale, he didn't want to share.
"I went to look for Luffy, only to find that he was caught. Several guards, the restaurant owner, and a lot of curious people were surrounding him. Luffy was trying to fight one of the guards that had him by the cuff of his shirt, when he punched himself, and got knocked onto a wall. He lost consciousness immediately."
"Punched himself, yoi? "Marco asked, raising an eyebrow in disbelief. Ace's brother was very unique, how could someone punch himself, no, knock himself out, by mistake.
"Yeah, he punched himself," Ace assured, watching Marco worriedly. As if Marco was the one being strange, not Ace's brat of a brother. Was he missing something or had Ace lost it? Marco tensed, how is he gonna explain this to his father?
Ace eyes lit up in understanding after several seconds, and laughed full out. "Sorry, I forgot to tell you. It's just that Luffy is..." He continued laughing, his hands clutching his stomach, which made Marco tense even more.
Ace took long breath. He looked exactly like the carefree Ace that he knew, which made Marco want to sigh (Twenty eight, could he finally stop counting now?) in relief.
"Luffy ate the Gomu Gomu no Mi," he said, still breathing hard from laughing.
Rubber... Oooh that explained it, punching himself indeed.
"I only met him after he had already eaten it. So I just can't imagine Luffy without it," Ace explained, still chuckling a little.
"Where in the hell did..." Marco stopped, wondering how old the brat was when he ate the Devil Fruit.
"Seven," Ace piped up.
"...seven years old child get a devil fruit in East Blue, of all places, yoi?"
Ace looked at him shrewdly. "Where do you think?"
…Hmmm, where indeed? Marco thought, could it be…
"Red-Hair," Marco said finally, shaking his head. That utter moron let child eat a devil fruit.
"Got it in one go," Ace said, smiling.
This was an important information. Marco made a mental note to tell the others about it, when they called tomorrow for an update. Just so that they knew what to expect.
Marco had several questions running around his head, but he decided to hold them in for now. The night was long, and Ace wasn't gonna sleep. He knew because he himself wouldn't. Watching over Ace was tiring physically and mentally.
"Anyway," Ace said, trying to get back to the story, "Luffy still didn't have the best control over his ability then, didn't even know how to aim. It did make for entertaining spars."
Marco chuckled, he could imagine.
But wait... something wasn't making sense... how…?
"How did he knock himself out if he was made out of rubber? Shouldn't physical attacks not affect him?" He paused. "Well, except armament haki," Marco amended.
"You're right. Marcy and I did wonder about it for a little bit," Ace said thoughtfully.
"Luffy was sick then..." Ace trailed off not sure how to explain, and shrugged, "This is Luffy we are talking about. You learn to just go along with things, and not question things too much."
After a little bit he continued, "I was looking at the guards and all the people around, and trying to decided what to do; how to save Luffy," he explained. "We weren't in the best relationship with the city guards." Marco snorted at that. Ace continued avoiding his eyes. "Not only because of the dine and dash," but he didn't elaborate. There was a very interesting story here.
"I didn't want them following us, or making trouble to the village and everyone. They shouldn't see my face.. " he trailed off.
"I was just about to head there to get Luffy and run, and to hell with the consequences," he stopped, looking at Marco, for the dramatic effect.
"When Marcy came strolling down the street with a dress on," he stressed the word dress so obviously, that Marco had to raise an eyebrow.
"I guess I have to explain," he sighed, shaking his head, still smiling.
"I didn't know Marcy well then. We still didn't get along at that time." Ace eyes were downcast.
"We kinda didn't get along well at first. She came to live with us in a difficult time. Luffy liked her instantly. I was kinda jealous I guess, and she reminded me of someone..." he trailed off again. It was clear he wasn't proud of himself for this.
"But even I knew she hated, no, despised dresses," he continued. "I remember one time, not long after she came to live with us, gramps brought her some dresses. He was kind of happy about it too, until she blew up in his face. She knew several interesting curses that even I didn't hear before. And I spent a lot of time in and out of bars, meeting all kind of unsavory people."
It made Marco wonder about the kind of childhood they all had. He remembered Ace once saying something about bandits and social skills.
Now that Ace deemed that Marco understood the importance of the dress, he continued, "So, seeing her strolling down the street with a dress, jewelry too, looking all princessly," Ace was gesturing with his hands all around trying to stress the point, "was a shock. I think I froze for a while. She stopped besides the guards and demanded loudly that they release her little brother. How dare they hurt him. She was gonna tell her father, no, she demand to speak to their superior. The king would hear all about this at the dinner tonight." He had his hands on his waist, his nose high up, obviously trying to imitate Marcy's pose. Marco inwardly smirked, Ace looked ridiculous like this.
Ace coughed, a little bit embarrassed, and continued, "I wasn't the only one that was shocked. They were all like me, and I was sure that someone would hit her, and tell her shut up you little brat." Marco had to say that Marcy was one brave spitfire to try to pull something like that.
"It worked." Amusement was dancing in his eyes. "The people around began shaking their heads at the guards' behavior. How dare they attack and hurt a noble child. The guards looked around bewildered, turning from heroes to villains in less than minute, confused the shit out of them. They began to apologize and bow. I saw someone kiss her hand even." Ace snickered.
"They took them to a fancy inn nearby, holding Luffy gently." Ace looked murderous. "Someone ran to bring a doctor," he shook his head. "I was sure that this would blow up in our faces, that someone would question her, or that Luffy would wake up and do something stupid," which was a real possibility, if Luffy was anything resembling Thatch, Marco thought.
"Somehow everything worked out, I slipped in from a window that Marcy opened. I took Luffy and food, apparently the restaurant owner felt quite bad that he brought a lot of food to ask for forgiveness for even considering that such a noble child could commit a crime." He shook his head at the irony. Marco snorted with agreement.
"Marcy stayed to take care of the situation. I didn't want to leave her to handle everything alone, but she gave me that look. You know, the look you and Izo usually give Thatch when he asks or do something stupid."
"Which is all the time, yoi," Marco answered. They both chuckled.
Marco wondered how stupid the brothers were then for the young girl to master such look early on.
"She came back three hours later, wheezing, still wearing the dress, asking about Luffy between breaths." He gave a soft smile at the memory.
"Of course, Luffy was still sleeping, not knowing all the trouble he had caused."
They both chuckled, and then quieted down for a while, lost in their own thoughts. Ace in his memories, and Marco trying to put some order in his fried brain; order into all the new information that he learned in such short time.
"Looking back, I guess this accident was the beginning of the turn in our relationship," Ace mused to himself softly. He looked at Marco, needing to explain.
"You know, I thought... If she was ready to wear a dress for Luffy's sake, something that she hated with such passion, then she was okay. It sounds funny when I say it like that," he laughed.
Marco shook his head. "I understand what you mean, yoi. Yes, it does sounds funny." They smiled at each other.
Ace was truly relaxed now.
Marco pondered if he should break the magic, and ask the questions that he had been holding, or just let the nice atmosphere last. In the end, his curiosity won.
"You said that you met Luffy later? You aren't blood related, yoi?"
Ace shook his head. "None of us are, but that doesn't mean we aren't family. You should understand."
"Of course," after all the Whitebeards were a big happy, crazy family, without care of blood, standing, gender, or race. They were all the children of Whitebeard, and they were quite proud of it.
"They seem a handful, yoi," he remarked.
Ace snorted, "You don't know half of it."
"You are all orphans that were able to find each other and make your own family, yoi." Like them, Marco mused, lost in his own little world, not paying attention to the impact of his words on Ace.
"Ace…" Marco began, intending in asking another question, when he noticed how tense Ace had become.
Shit, why? They were just chatting, relaxed… What had he missed? Was it something he had said? What did he say? What was it? Shit...
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Ace was pondering a lot of things. Yeah they were orphans. Maybe not Luffy and Marcy, but being an orphan was better than having a blood-family like that, maybe except shitty-grampas (a big 'maybe').
Talking about his family made him wonder about his new one. He trusted Marcy and Luffy completely, they were his world, his reason for living and trying. What about his new crew? They called each other brothers. A family.
Shouldn't he try to trust his new family more? Families were supposed to be all about trusting and helping each other, not that Ace was an expert in the subject.
Maybe he should tell Marco about… Ace grimaced.
He had already told pops. And pops didn't even bat an eyelid, calling him a child of the sea, his child. That memory made him feel content, a feeling that he was missing since he saw those damn wanted posters.
Ace exhaled, trying to relax his shoulders, pondering about the problem at hand.
Marco was the one to really convince him to stay, to give the Whitebeard crew a chance.
If it wasn't for him…
He actually can't imagine future without being part of Whitebeard crew. He would always be grateful to him for not giving up on him.
He remembers their conversation clearly.
"Why do you guys... call him pops, anyway?" Ace couldn't help but ask.
Marco, eyeing him, answered "Because he calls us his Sons." He paused, Ace looked up to him.
Marco continued, "To the rest of the world we are just outcasts, yoi. It makes us happy." Marco smiled happily looking at his crew partying and said, "It just a word, but it make us happy."
Marco was his friend, at least he thought of him like that, he was also the first mate of his crew. Shouldn't he be able to trust, at least, him?
And... if he...
If he didn't accept him, then he could just leave. Striker was here, his hat was here, and he didn't need anything else. He could just leave, and go search for his siblings himself like he was contemplating. Maybe even sail with them in the future. It wasn't like he really wanted to become the pirate king.
Decision made.
Ace looked up, to see Marco eyeing him worriedly.
No going back. He took another deep breath, reminded himself that this was Marco, who was trying for the last hour to cheer him up even suggested taking him flying (Ace would have jumped at the opportunity any other time), and that he was no coward. He promised, no regrets.
He asked, his voice barely above a whisper, "Hey Marco, what would you do if the pirate king had a son?"
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Marco raised an eyebrow. He was wondering if he should try calling Thatch after all (Yes, he was desperate), when Ace spoke. What the hell kind of question was that, coming out of the blue? He was gonna tell him just that, when Ace continued, eyes dropping to the floor, "And he was part of your crew? Of your family?"
What?
why would he…
Ohhhh, he couldn't mean...
Marco mind went blank for several seconds, and then he …..
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Ace head shot up.
Marco was laughing, Ace marveled. He didn't remember Marco ever laughing. He remembered him smiling, smirking, even chucking, but God to honest laughter!
NEVER.
Well, if Marco hated him now (He didn't think so, he was still laughing), then at least he could say that he made Whitebeard first commander laugh uncontrollably.
He didn't break him, did he? Suddenly Ace began to panic.
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Marco tried to stop himself from laughing when he saw Ace panicked face, but the look only spurred him on. He tried to gesture that he was okay (was he okay? He was so tired...), but he wasn't sure he was able to get the point across (or help his case about being a sane person).
It wasn't even funny, this was very serious business to Ace, but by the sea Gods... he couldn't stop laughing.
He blamed this at the fact that he was bone tired and so anxious. He hadn't slept for a while, and the wine that he had drank earlier to keep him alert (Not smart without eating, a voice, that sounded like Thatch, said in his mind) didn't help matters. And finally, the fact that he finally had the last piece of information to understand the mystery that was Ace. This piece of information explained so much about Ace, his drive, his attacks on pops… It made everything Ace did and said need to be examined once again.
Ace was looking at him, guarded and worried now.
He wasn't expecting this reaction from him, he was expecting…
Rejection.
This though sobered him up, faster than a sneak attack on their father back (that he didn't anticipate) could.
Well, Marco couldn't let this continue.
"Ace," he called, making sure that Ace was looking at him when he spoke, "Ace is Ace. He is my friend and brother."
Ace was looking at him in an astonishment, opening his mouth, probably to protest. But Marco continued, giving him no choice but to listen.
"Ace, I told you once that we are all hated by society, have pasts, burdens, things we don't want to remember, things that we are ashamed of." He needed Ace to understand, so he added, "Even me." Ace seemed ready to burst out with questions. Marco waited. He got hold of himself.
"But under pops' flag, we are all family." He got hold of Ace's eyes again, at this moment Ace's eyes seemed like dark bottomless abyss, Marco noted.
He stressed every syllable, "I don't care."
Ace's eyes were sparkling with tears, and he dropped his head down, his hands rubbing his face. Marco looked up at the sky, giving him the privacy to get his emotions under control, when a thought occurred to him.
"Ace, you told pops, right?"
"Yeah," came the hoarse answer.
"Good."
"You don't want to know what he said?" Ace asked gruffly, still unbelieving.
"I know what he said." Ace was gaping at him.
"He said the same thing I did," Marco continued. Jokingly, he added, "I know I look young, but I have known pops for a long time." Then he added quietly, "And you are still here."
Ace was back to pondering, but he seemed even more relaxed than before. His eyes were red, which emphasized the bags under them.
Good, at least he is relaxed.
Marco himself had a lot to think about and examine. But he was so tired. The whole voyage, the pirates, the marines, and the whole conversation with Ace made him even more wary and exhausted.
When he had begun this conversation earlier, he had expected a lot of things, from Ace shutting down completely, to him going batshit crazy at him, but not this. Ace truly expected him to reject him, he shook his head at the thought.
If he thought that… then...
"Ace, what did you intend to do if I said I didn't like you now?" Marco refused to utter the words hate and rejection.
He refused.
Ace tensed dropping his head in shame, Marco eyes narrowed.
"Ace, you wouldn't, by any chance, be stupid enough to consider running away, right?"
Ace's shoulders bent, and his body shrunk into itself.
What kind of f*cked up world they were living in? That child (Ace was still one, especially in this moment) was afraid of rejection because of something his biological father, someone he never even met, did years ago. Marco wanted to rage, to destroy something. But he knew that Ace's fears were real. Even in their own crew, there were people that would judge him and shun him because of his biological father.
Well, Marco was gonna do something about it. He was gonna have a very long talk about this with their father when they got back. If they needed to let people go than they would, if they weren't able to see beyond their grudges, then they were no brothers of his.
But now, how to handle the situation at hand.
Marco sighed, the whole day was one long roller-coaster ride.
Marco thumped him in the head, making him look up. "You idiot, that's something I expect from Thatch, not you." Ace seemed to relax a bit, giving him a small apologetic smile.
Good, now to other important matters...
"Ace, if you ever tell anyone about the laughing, yoi. I will make you do bathroom cleaning duty, and help me with accounting for months and months."
Ace smirked, and responded immediately, "Don't worry, I couldn't even if I wanted to. I will have to tell them what I told you to make you laugh like a maniac."
Marco tensed, but Ace still seemed relaxed. He would let the maniac bit slide today. It was a long day, after all.
"Come, you need to sleep, yoi." Marco said while standing up and stretching his arms and legs to loosen his body after sitting for so long.
"Not tired," was Ace's automatic response, not moving a muscle.
"Well, I need to sleep. It was a long day," he gestured at Ace, "And you will keep me company, yoi".
Ace winced at that, he seemed to have noticed that Marco didn't sleep either.
"Sorry," he said softly.
Marco sighed, "Ace, you need to be at your best, if you want to help Luffy and Marcy, yoi."
"I will keep watch," Ace replied.
Ace still wasn't moving. Marco considered the effort he would need to use to drag him to the small sleeping quarters, with him fighting and dragging his feet all the way, and then waking Liam to keep watch and... He decided it just wasn't worth it.
He slumped next to Ace.
"Ace, I am counting on you to keep me warm, nights could become real cold here, yoi."
Ace blushed a beautiful red, and stuttered, "You are a phoenix. You should go insi…"
"We will sleep here," Marco cut him off in finality. Not that he really was gonna sleep. Someone needed to keep watch, and it wasn't gonna be Ace. Marco stopped himself from sighing.
Ace's ears were red too, Marco thought in amusement, while eyeing Ace from the side, now that he was sitting beside him.
He should remember to tease Ace more. Blushing suited him, and it made his freckles stand out.
Marco tried to get more comfortable, as anyone could get at the deck of a moving, small ship. Getting closer to Ace, he crossed his hands behind his head.
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...
Ace felt bone tired. He admitted to himself that he didn't want to be alone. Marco being here was a big help in keeping the dark thoughts away. He got closer to Marco, to keep him warm like he asked. Ace blushed, and inwardly smiled. Their shoulders and sides were touching.
He felt like beaming. Marco knew about that, and he was still beside him, he wasn't flinching away.
He wondered what Luffy and Marcy would say to that. Luffy would probably look at him weirdly, not understanding how someone couldn't like Ace. Marcy would probably raise an eyebrow at him, snort and shake her head, calling him an utter idiot.
His head felt like it weighed a ton, he let his head slump backwards against the ship. He was actually surprised that his narcolepsy hadn't kicked in before. He was so tense. His eyelids were heavy, why were they open again? ...yeah, he wanted to say something, something important to Marco, what…?
Ace mumbled, "'raco, t'nk yo."
Using Marco's shoulder as pillow, knowing that he was accepted and loved wholly. Ace finally drifted off to sleep, to the feeling of Marco's fingers running gently through his hair, missing Marco's answer by a bit.
"Don't mention it, kiddo."
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Even though it was only partly beta'd, I wanted to share this chapter as gift to myself and you all. My birthday is in the 5th of September ^^.
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What do you think? ^^ Be honest!
This was a little bit heavy? Huh, it was supposed to be a small part about Marco and Ace (very small part) and then with Luffy and Marcy.
Well, next chapter will have Luffy and Marcy (I hope).
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Important, please read:
The status:
Chapter 1: small mistakes corrected, partly beta'd.
Chapter 2: published, partly beta'd.
Chapter 3: written, need editing.
Chapter 4: ¾ written.
Chapter 5: first scene
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Even though I have two amazing betas, they both are quite busy and will be unavailable in the near future, so if anybody has an excellent grasp on the English language and grammar, (me and grammar are natural born enemies, I kid you not), and want (can) to help, PM me please.
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I rewrote my first Fic "Anchor and compass" and published it.
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I am written two other Fics, I intend to publish one of them, in few days, look forward to it ;)
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Please leave a review, they are my fuel to writing more!