Warnings: AU, Language, canon-typical violence, possible Out of Character moments, too many characters, OC's galore, implied sexual content, slow burn, mentions of non consensual drug use.

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners. I simply play with them for my, and your amusement.

Authors Note: This was beta'ed by the magnificent Ktwontwo and the artwork that you see in the cover is by Idaida on tumblr. Yall can find a much larger and better version of the magnificent stupendously phenomenal picture here! post/143364258999/one-piece-big-bang-2016-what-are-the-odds. Much thanks to Lunarshores for dealing with all of my complaining and aggravation when the first draft of this chapter was being written. I appreciate it more than you know.

Chapter 13: Fanning the Flames

Well, Marco mused as he ambled down the Border Road that lead to The S'andwich Bar, the past few days had been a harsh teacher of a lesson that he had not thought that he needed to relearn. After fully turning into the phoenix to save his siblings, it had taken a full two days before he had managed to muster up the effort to become human once again.

Despite the inconvenience he had learned a few things from the experience. The most important lesson of course was don't let 30 cycles pass without changing. The consequences were too severe in terms of loss of control. Shifting to his other form was not the indulgence he had treated it as. He could no longer regard it as a waste of time. It was a part of him, crucial to his wellbeing and something that should not be neglected. If he ignored it his own body would force him to transform sooner or later whether it was convenient or not. He had had also learned there were significant benefits to being in his other form for a bit. Physically he was feeling much better than he had in a long time. Mentally he felt better too. It was as if bathing in fire had burned away cobwebs in his mind that he hadn't even been aware had existed.

Now that the mental fog had lifted he could think over the events of the last few clicks and it left him with a multitude of questions; vital questions that needed answers. For example, what the hell had Marie been doing at the compound? How had she even known of its existence? Was she responsible for the mayhem, death and destruction that they had stumbled upon? Did her tattoo really mark her as a member of the Card Deck or did it mean something else? How long had she been involved with the Card Deck? If Marie was involved with this group what did that say about David's allegiances?

Marco shook his head. Maybe the mental lassitude wasn't as gone as he'd thought. That last was a rather stupid question. Where Marie went David followed and vice versa. There was no way Marie was involved with the Card Deck without David. The two had been practically attached at the hip for as long as he had known the pair. The only time he had ever seen them otherwise was when Ace was in the vicinity. Did that mean they were watching Ace? Protecting him for some reason? What purpose would that serve? Had they simply employed themselves at the bar as a way to find out information about Blackbeard? Did Ace even know that Marie was part of that group?

That last thought led to a new series of questions, ones that he had not seriously considered before. Was Ace himself a member of the Card Deck? Ace did resemble the description that Jinbie had given of the fighter called Spade. Ace was also most likely an ability user. His extreme reaction to the initial news of the Hunts as well as the symbol on the shop sign left little doubt in Marco's mind about that. Unfortunately he hadn't asked him about it or seen anything to indicate the nature of Ace's ability so what exactly it entailed was anyone's guess. No, Marco realized that with the information he currently had he couldn't rule out the possibility that Ace was somehow involved with the Card Deck.

He also couldn't exonerate him either. While Marco hadn't ever heard anything incriminating during the afternoons he had visited he really hadn't been paying close attention. He had chosen the S'andwich Bar because it was close enough that he could assist his family if needed but it was far enough away that he wouldn't be immediately recognized for his position. In addition he had chosen the times he had visited so that the chance he would be recognized was relatively slim. All that meant was if the Card Deck was using the bar somehow then it would be relatively easy to hide their business from him because he wouldn't be lost or forgotten in a crowd of patrons.

Marco thought back over all of the things that they he and Ace had talked about. Not once had Blackbeard ever come up. Though to be fair, he had never asked Ace about Blackbeard. Actually, when it came right down to it, he had never asked Ace a lot of things and not all of them pertained to what Ace might or might not be involved. No, Ace's activities and associations made up less than half of the questions that Marco wanted answered. It was, in fact, answers to a much simpler set of questions that Marco was more interested in knowing. He had no idea where Ace was from, why he chose to live in the border, why despite the dangers his brothers lived with him, if he had any family outside of his brothers and so on. They were not terribly critical questions, but they were interesting questions nonetheless and there were way too many of them.

Of course, Marco thought, even if he asked the questions getting Ace to actually answer any of them would be difficult at best. Marco did not fancy ruining whatever the hell their relationship was developing into by prying into Ace's personal business. That had been perhaps the most interesting revelation from his time as a phoenix. Emotions were much simpler and much easier to accept when he didn't have to worry about social constraints. The apparent depth of his feelings for Ace while in phoenix form had been slightly surprising. He still wasn't quite sure what had held him back from flying to outskirts, sitting on the roof of the S'andwich bar and singing his ardor for everyone within earshot to hear. It had happened before after all. Maybe the phoenix had finally realized that things were hard enough navigate as a human. Throwing legendary user ability into the mix was a good way to send the object of your affections running for the hills.

Marco was grateful that he'd managed to refrain from an overt display of avian affection. He'd just have to keep showing his interest in the same old fashioned human way. And unless he was misreading and misremembering things, Ace was certainly interested in him as well. Marco wanted to let things to continue to develop before complicating things like abilities and powers came into play.

They had been progressing nicely and Marco hoped that getting the answers he needed would not disrupt that progress. Maybe it was time to come clean to Ace about who he actually was and offer that by way of explanation on why he had to ask those questions in the first place and leave the answers up to Ace's discretion. That would be the best way to deal with it he decided. With a tentative action plan firmly established Marco picked up his pace. The sooner he could get this done the sooner he would figure out if this was going to piss off his friend and if they were even going to still be friends by the end of the day.

A voice screaming his name caught his attention and Marco's head snapped up to see Ace practically falling off the balcony of the second floor of the S'andwich Bar in an attempt to get Marco's attention.

"Wha?" He half whispered to himself as the second part of Ace's scream caught up to him. Run? From what?

He watched as Ace pointed to something behind him and Marco whirled around to see whatever it was that had gotten Ace so worked up and froze. Time seemed to slow as Marco took in the wall of the toxic purple red soil that stretched across the horizon. Greenish grey clouds raced overhead, as if land and sky were racing to see who could block out the slowly rising sun first. Occasionally, a bolt of lightning would jump down from a cloud to illuminate one section of the wall of dust. As he watched one of the bolts split rather abruptly sending a cascading series of flashes across the face of the oncoming storm. A distant noise, sounding vaguely like a muffled explosion followed, presumably what happened when the lightning finally touched down somewhere. It was majestic and beautiful in the uncaringly dangerous way that only nature in its full fury could be and it was headed right towards him at breathtaking speed.

"Shit." Marco whispered and just like that the moment was broken. Time resumed its normal pace and Marco took off at a run towards Ace's like his life depended upon it. Given the circumstances, it probably did.

The road seemed to stretch in front of him and Marco knew without a doubt that he was not going to make it inside in time. Not as he was. He was a man racing a storm, a man racing against the full fury of nature. But that was not all he was. He was also a phoenix, famed for his ability to survive what others couldn't. Sometimes that meant healing from wounds that would normally kill a man. Other times that meant enhancing natural abilities to avoid situations where he would be wounded like that in the first place. What he needed now was the latter.

Winds howled from just behind him, sending a scattering of dust and sediment across the back of his legs before snatching it away. A strange itching pain was left in its wake, but Marco had no time to figure out what was causing it or where the injury had come from. Blue flames sprung from nowhere in particular and licked his skin devouring the injury and giving Marco a much-needed burst of speed. The storm was picking up, even more than it had been and Marco looked up from the road. He was so close, so very close. Hand outstretched, his fingertips had barely touched the door when he was practically thrown into it by a shockwave.

Marco yanked the door open just wide enough to slip inside as blue flames flared to life, healing his injuries. They didn't subside immediately like Marco had expected, they persisted, casting an unnatural blue glow into the bar. He glanced around, attempting to figure out what it was that was causing the injury that his flames were still healing when he noticed the still open door. Of course. He already knew that there was something up with the sand and here he was just letting the hazardous material into Ace's home.

He had just turned to push the door closed when the windows rattled and the entire building shook as a peal of thunder sounded reminding Marco uncomfortably of what had happened only two days ago. He had no time to dwell on that though. The door was being held open by the wind. Marco started pushing harder at the door. As he did he realized that the sound of the wind and sand hitting the building was starting to change. Marco did not know what that change in sound meant but he guessed it was nothing good. Surging forward, Marco slammed the door shut just in time to hear something that sounded remarkably like a fire igniting on the other side.

Marco sagged against the closed door as his blue flames finally died down returning the room to darkness. That had been much too close for his liking. Another flash of lightning illuminated the bar momentarily just as the door to the interior stairwell crashed open. Marco saw Ace stumble out and watched as he sighed in relief when he spotted Marco leaning against the door. It was clear that Ace had been worried that Marco hadn't made it inside.

"Oh thank the Gods" slipped out as Ace practically threw himself across the floor at his friend.

Marco stepped away from the door to catch him but it didn't matter much because Ace's momentum carried them back into the door with a harsh bang. The noise Marco's back made hitting the door seemed a mockery of the explosions outside. Ace's hands caught the lapels of Marco's shirt and the pair stared at each other for a rather poignant second.

Marco only had a moment to catalog all of the differing emotions he could see on Ace's face. Relief, joy, and love leavened with a bit of anger and exasperation were clear for anyone to see. Marco, however, did not expect the end result of all that emotion as Ace appeared to suddenly decide to throw caution to the winds and pressed his lips to Marco's in an urgent and desperate kiss. It seemed as if Ace was attempting to convey the depths of all his emotions that he wasn't sure how to voice in a tangible, physical way. Marco was stunned but Ace didn't appear to notice as he pulled away.

"Holy shit Marco!" he exclaimed the relief evident in his tone. "You nearly gave me a heart attack when I spotted you out on the road. What the hell are you doing here this early? Didn't you realize that Flashflame had started?"

Marco blinked slowly. He was having a hard time processing as Ace looked up at him. He raised a hand to his lips and looked at Ace, surprised at the sheer amount of emotion the younger man had just expressed. His brain was whirling with the realization that Ace was just as attracted to him as he was to Ace.

Unfortunately Ace froze as he had apparently just realized what exactly he had just done. He stepped back from Marco looking slightly apologetic rather than embarrassed by what had just happened. It was clear, at least to Marco, that Ace thought that he had really screwed things up. Watching Ace's face Marco could almost see the thoughts running through his head. It was obvious that Ace was berating himself for ruining one of, if not the best, friendships he'd ever had.

"Sorry," Ace said softly while taking a step backwards, "Sorry, Marco. I shouldn't have done that. I should have… it's just, you're alive and I thought…it really freaked me out when… and I would have never gotten to tell you but clearly I was reading too much into things. Shit I'm so sorry Marco. I didn't mean to screw everything up."

Ace winced, presumably at the rambling babble that was pouring from his mouth. He then looked down at the floor as if couldn't bear to look at Marco for fear of what he would see.

Marco realized that he had to do something about this and fast. He took a couple of steps and reached out, putting a hand on Ace's arm. Ace froze in place and Marco had to tug lightly in an effort to pull him closer.

"Hey, hey no." Marco said softly but Ace didn't look up at him. "Shhh. None of that now Ace."

Marco could tell from the muscle tension he could feel in Ace's are that the younger man was rather confused. Ace clearly didn't know if he could trust what he was hearing in Marco's voice. Marco saw that he was caught in a dilemma of indecision; he didn't know, didn't really want to know, was sort of afraid to know, but really needed to know, what Marco was attempting to express.

"Ace, look at me? Please?" Marco asked his voice still soft.

Ace swallowed before complying. Silver eyes met blue as Marco moved his other hand up to cup Ace's face. "There," He said with his voice still soft, "much better."

Ace blinked in confusion, "You're not upset?" he questioned.

Marco had to smile. "No, not at all; quite the opposite in fact," Marco hastened to explain himself. "I don't know what you were talking when you said you'd ruined everything. You haven't ruined anything Ace. I was just surprised. I hadn't realized that you returned my interest."

Marco's brushed his thumb gently across Ace's cheek and he leaned in, impossibly close. From this distance Marco could see Ace's eyes dilate and feel his breathing pick up as he registered Marco's intent.

"May I?"

It was clear Ace couldn't speak due to an overwhelming surge of emotion. All he could do was nod fractionally. Marco took that as assent and pressed his lips to Ace's. The kiss was sweet, chaste and a promise of more.

As Marco started to pull away Ace gasped. His brain apparently had suddenly caught up with the rest of him realizing exactly what Marco was attempting to convey. Message received, Marco thought somewhat amusedly to himself as he found Ace enthusiastically returning the kiss.

They broke apart after a moment; forehead's resting against one another as their breath mingled. Ace grinned apparently unable to help it and Marco returned it with one of his own.

Marco watched as Ace came to grips with the realization that the person he liked fancied him as well. Sabo had caused a similar reaction in Marco with his questions and Marco was still processing it. Marco was perfectly content to wait until Ace wrapped his head around the staggering idea. After all, he'd been dealing with it for several days now and still didn't quite comprehend it.

Marco was a bit surprised when Ace closed the miniscule gap that was still between them. He pressed his lips to Marco's and this time the kiss was anything but chaste. Tongues tangled and took turns exploring the other's mouth while hands wandered. An arm snaked around Marco's waist holding him in place as the kiss deepened. Ace seemed to be intent on proving that Marco was really present and not going anywhere. Marco supposed that this was understandable. Ace had just almost seen him get fried by the Flashflame on steroids or whatever it was that was going on outside. Without knowing about his Phoenix nature Ace wouldn't understand that the storm would have merely caused him discomfort and pain rather than perishing, thus a bit of overreaction was expected.

Still he couldn't say that he wasn't enjoying it. No, he was enjoying this immensely. Now the question was how far would this go? Marco contemplated whether or not to pull away and ask when a hand landed on his ass and gripped. Well, that answered that. Marco returned the favor and slipped his thigh between Ace's legs. He was rewarded by Ace's hips grinding against him providing friction that neither of them had known they had needed until mere moments ago. Ace groaned and Marco hummed in response. Finally Ace reluctantly pulled away from the kiss panting heavily and placed his head against Marco's shoulder.

Marco let out a smug chuckle that rumbled through them both. It quickly turned into a groan as Ace turned his head and nipped lightly at the exposed skin of his neck. Ace didn't tease him long. With faint sigh of regret Ace pulled away.

Slightly puzzled, Marco looked at Ace questioningly. He thought he knew that the younger man wanted but he wanted to be sure. If this was going where Marco thought it was the bar was not at all appropriate or comfortable for continued activities. Marco didn't have to wait long before Ace made his intentions crystal clear.

"Come on." Ace said, clearly struggling to keep his voice even. He backpedaled slowly pulling Marco along with him.

"Where?" Marco replied huskily. His attention was focused primarily on Ace at this point. It didn't matter where Ace was going, he'd follow.

"Upstairs." Ace said as he continued to back across the floor of the shop.

Marco was very much in favor of that idea. Upstairs was where Ace presumably lived and would have a bedroom with a bed; a bed that would shortly be put to good use if Marco had any say at all in the matter. Marco licked his lips in anticipation letting Ace see the desire that suddenly rose up like his flames to consume him.

Ace had just managed to get through the doorway into the interior stairwell when he caught a good look at Marco's face. Whatever he saw in Marco's eyes caused him to miss the first step. Only Marco's quick reflexes saved Ace from the rather embarrassing fate of falling up the stairs.

Macro throttled back his lust for a moment. If he didn't he realized there was no way they'd even make it to the bed without one or the other of them ending up injured. Ace apparently agreed since he squiggled out of Marco's embrace and practically sprinted up the stairs, taking them two at a time.

Ace paused at the landing and half turned, "Bedroom?" with a smile and extending his hand.

"I think," Marco growled softly back, "that is a very good idea."

AN: Heeeeeey guys! So this is late. Like, a week late. I am so sorry about that. Seriously. Im not sure you all know how sorry I am. For those who are interested, Science exploded and furniture is really heavy and two weeks of dealing with that makes a person hella exhausted. Ah well. Anyways I hope yall liked the chapter! It was the most frustrating thing to write. Seriously. Anywho, feedback would be seriously appreciated, especially on this chapter because this is the first time Ive ever written anything like this and I'd like to know what you thought of it. Thats all from me. Till next time!