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. More of the Author's can be found at the end.

Chapter 14: In the Eye of a Hurricane

The storm raged on outside of the windows of his bedroom. Soft muted light filtered in from outside, alternating in its intensity as fireballs bloomed and lightning struck various points of the desert. Despite the storm, the air was warm, humid and hazy giving the impression of moving through honey. Ace hummed in contentment as he remembered the events of earlier that morning.

He had been unable to speak when Marco had asked permission to kiss him. All he had been capable of was a small nod. But that kiss, Ace was still having trouble believing that it had happened. Things this good simply didn't happen to him. And that kiss had been good. More than good. It had been a promise of more and prompted a rather startling realization.

Marco liked him as well. That news had been and quite frankly was still staggering. Against all odds Marco, who could have anyone he wanted, liked him and the only reason that Ace even had a chance to tell him how much Marco had come to mean to him was due to dumb luck. The other had survived not one but two near death experiences within the past few days. It was nuts.

Earlier, that sudden reminder had left Ace with an undeniable desire to prove to himself that this wasn't some sort of dream or fantasy that Marco was truly here. He had pressed his lips to Marco's once again and this time the kiss was anything but chaste. Their tongues had tangled and took turns exploring the other's mouth while hands wandered. When a hand landed on his ass and a thigh slipped between his providing friction that he hadn't known he needed until moments ago Ace had groaned and pulled away from the kiss panting heavily to rest his head against Marco's shoulder. Marco had been smug, as evidenced by the chuckle that had rumbled through them both. It had quickly turned into a groan when Ace turned his head and nipped lightly at the exposed skin of the other's neck. He didn't stay long though because Ace knew where this was heading, or more accurately where he wanted this to head and the bar was not the place for that.

Now, while the reminder of Marco's not demise was still nerve wracking it didn't concern Ace in the way that it had. Not at this moment in time anyways. They had managed to work out that they both had feelings for each other and act on them. Now Ace was pleasantly sore in what he certainly considered the best way. Marco was alive and returned his feelings. Ace grinned again at that knowledge and shifted closer, a hand lazily snaking up to rest upon Marco's chest. He just wanted to lie there for a little longer and bask in comfort of the moment. A soft kiss was pressed to the top of his head, letting him know that Marco was also awake, but no words were exchanged. It appeared that Marco simply wanted to spend the moment in comfortable silence as well. Marco shifted his arm to accommodate Ace's movement and his hand started to trace lazy nonsensical patterns over his hip as they both watched spectacular light show occurring outside the window just a few feet away.

"Ace," Marco said softly.

"Hmm?"

"We need to talk."

"About what?" Ace questioned.

There were several things that they could be discussing right now. Ace figured that they needed to talk about a lot of things ranging from personal stuff that Ace simply hadn't ever told anyone to the entire situation dealing with the Card Deck. Frankly Ace had no idea what if any of the outstanding issues it would be.

He still had no clue as to what he was going to say if Marco asked about the Card Deck. He owed it to the rest of the Deck to make sure that Marco understood they were not a threat to Agvitatmaa. He also owed the rest of the Deck, David and Marie in particular, to ensure that their chances at vengeance were not ruined because of his idiocy. He really had screwed up big time by not telling them who Marco was the moment that he had recognized the other man.

The entire talking situation would be a lot easier if Marco's questions were only about Ace. Those he would and could answer truthfully. Well at least mostly truthfully, maybe just not completely. Ace's brain whirred and something inside him still balked at confessing all of his secrets. Ok, he corrected his previous thought. He would answer most of those questions truthfully at least the ones that didn't infringe on other's secrets. Unfortunately, Ace knew that the questions Marco undoubtedly had would involve many people other than Ace himself. No matter what Ace wouldn't reveal other people's secrets at least not willingly. His friends had suffered enough betrayal in their lives and he'd already personally contributed to that betrayal, directly in David and Marie's case and indirectly for others. There was no way in heck he was going to add any more to the mix.

"Hey, breathe." said Marco as he gathered Ace into a full body hug. "You're thinking too hard."

"Huh?" was the only thing Ace could think to say as he was jolted out of his thoughts by the sudden solidity of Marco's arms around him.

"You're thinking too much. There are a lot of things we need to talk about, but before we even get there, well…" Marco paused and Ace could feel him take a deep breath. "I need to tell you something; something important; something about who I am. After I tell you if you want to kick me out of bed and tell me to get lost then I will."

Ace blinked. Well that was unexpected. Marco was offering to get lost but the older man's body was telling a different story. His arms were still wrapped around Ace and he was holding on as if nothing would convince him to let go. Still, Ace couldn't help but attempt to tease the other man slightly.

"Who you are? You're Marco." Ace said snuggling a bit closer and sticking his nose into the hollow of Marco's throat.

He felt Marco huff, "It's a little more complicated than that Ace."

Ace smiled into Marco's neck, "Oh. Well, you can say it if you want but I'm pretty sure I already know what you are going to tell me."

"Really?"

"Really, really!"

"You know that I'm the First Division Commander of the Whitebeard Enforcers?" Marco asked in a rather indignant tone

Ace raised his head and squiggled in Marco's arms so he could see Marco's face. He chuckled at Marco's expression. Marco looked thoroughly put out so Ace kissed him. After a brief enjoyable interlude they stopped to catch their breath.

Before Ace could start kissing him again Marco pointedly asked "How?"

"How what?" Ace decided that if Marco wasn't going to be derailed from the conversation then he deserved to be teased.

Marco refused to be baited, "How did you know?"

"Well," Ace replied with a grin and a wiggle of his eyebrows, "your tattoo isn't entirely inconspicuous and I just spent the past hour or so becoming very well acquainted with it."

Marco's grin turned smug again and he chuckled while Ace grinned.

"But I kinda knew before that," Ace continued.

Marco's expression turned questioning and Ace shrugged, "I had my suspicions from the beginning but I didn't make the connection at the end of the 2nd click. Right about the time you had become a regular."

"And you never said anything?" Marco asked and Ace shook his head. "To anyone?"

"Why would I?" Ace countered as he snuggled into Marco's side. "I'll admit that I was a bit suspicious at first because I couldn't figure out what you were looking for when you first started showing up. When you kept coming back I realized that you weren't looking for anything other than a place to simply be yourself. If you had wanted me to know, you would have told me."

"And it doesn't bother you?" Marco asked even as he pulled Ace close once again.

"What?"

"That I've practically been lying to you about this since we've met."

"No?" Ace was a bit confused buy the turn that the conversation was taking. "I make my living running a Bar in the Border. If I was offended by people lying to me I would have stopped running a bar a long time ago. Besides, I know that you know there's more to keeping this place running than that."

Marco made a little affirmative sound.

I do have to ask though," Ace raised his head to look Marco in the eye, "is there anyone who's ever fooled by that Merchant Scout routine that you gave me?"

"Hey, I'll have you know that it works," Marco stuck out his lower lip in a mock pout. "Quite well most of the time. It's the perfect mix of importance to be able to get into certain areas but still low enough on the totem pole that people speak freely around me."

Ace grinned, "It's kinda ridiculous."

Marco huffed, "Your brother said the same thing."

"I'm not surprised. He's right, but then again Sabo's usually right about a lot of things. He was right about us at any rate." Ace rolled over so that he was lying on his stomach and could look directly at Marco without craning his neck, "and while it's usually really annoying I'm rather thankful he was correct in this case."

"Um huh," Marco agreed, "I know all about annoying siblings saying I told you so at the most inopportune moments."

Ace watched Marco closely. The man was relaxed but something was still bothering him. Ace decided to bite the bullet and see if he could get to the bottom of whatever it was.

"As amazing as this all is, I'm pretty sure that's not what had you heading out this way so early in the morning."

"It wasn't." Marco said

"I figured," Ace said. "You gonna tell me what it was?"

"I'm trying to figure out how to. You completely derailed all of my plans."

"I what?"

"I have some questions. Unfortunately they are not easy questions and I didn't want to ruin our friendship by asking a bunch of questions on subjects that a merchant scout shouldn't know about in the first place and had no business in asking in the second. I figured I would come clean about who I was, why I needed to know the answers and just let you answer whichever ones you wanted to."

"And why can't you do this now?" Ace asked "I mean, I'm likely to do exactly that anyway."

Marco huffed, "I just feel like I'm taking advantage because we're now both aware of the emotions which are involved here."

Ace snorted as he crawled forward slightly so that he could give Marco a quick kiss.

"That's awfully sweet but misguided of you. If I was concerned about it or felt that you were taking advantage of me way I wouldn't even be offering to answer." Ace thought for a moment then admitted, "and we also wouldn't be having this conversation at all. I'd have just let you ask and spun you a tale. If it bothers you so much then don't let me push you into asking your questions anyways."

Marco sighed as he appeared to mull that over. It was clear as the nose on his face that he was conflicted. Duty vs affection; Ace knew that dilemma all too well. What one to choose if you can't do both. Ace bit his lip and worried it between his teeth. How could he help Marco out of this bind? Suddenly it occurred to him.

"How about this? I'll adopt Sabo's rules. I know you're familiar with them," Ace offered. "I can tell you right now that I may not, more likely will not, be able to give you answers to everything you want to know," he warned. Ace realized that they had to get the ground rules straight before any potentially sensitive information was given otherwise this relationship, whatever it turned into, would never be able to progress beyond a one-time roll in the hay. "And that's something that's not likely to change. Not all of the secrets I hold are my own. While I don't mind sharing information, I refuse to share the secrets belonging to certain others unless I know with absolute certainty that they wouldn't mind you knowing."

"That's fine. I understand. There are going to be times when I have to do the same," Marco said and there was a note of satisfaction in his voice.

Ace took a good look at his new lover to make sure that Marco had considered all the ramifications of what Ace had offered. Marco looked right back at him, a small smile on his face. Yep, Ace thought to himself, this was going to be tricky to keep any secrets at all from Marco and it was also clear that Marco was going to have the same problem on his side. While it would be difficult Ace also knew, if this morning was any indication at all, that it would be oh so worth it.

"So," Ace said softly, "Just what did you want to know?"

"At this particular moment? What kind of storm is this and how long does it last?"

Ace blinked at the sudden non sequitur but went with it anyways, "You don't know?"

"No."

"Huh. I guess they don't ever make it up to the top of the Mesa otherwise you'd recognize it."

"I wouldn't have asked if I recognized it," Marco snorted. "I've never seen something look quite that noxious or move that fast before."

While there was a complex explanation he could give about how and why the storm looked and acted like it did Ace went with the simple one, "When Flashflame, the rain and those toxic dust storms mix they create something called a Hubloo. There's no one definite duration of one of these things either. It could take anywhere from a few more hours to a month or so for it to clear up."

"That's… interesting." Marco said with a small frown pulling at the corners of his mouth.

"Why?" Ace asked suddenly in an attempt to distract Marco from whatever new thought was plaguing him. "Do you have somewhere you need to be?"

"Not at the moment, no. My family is used to me disappearing on occasion," Marco said as he pulled Ace closer to him. Ace squirmed slightly making himself comfortable in Marco's arms. "Besides," Marco continued, "it means I get to spend time with you. Not a bad trade in my opinion especially since the odds are that we'll be uninterrupted for a minimum of a few hours."

Ace laughed softly as the fuzzy feelings that he was getting from those words fluttered pleasantly in his stomach while the actual warmth of having someone he loved beside him began turn into something entirely different and he shifted once again.

"I hope you feel the same after all of this. Even I get tired of being stuck indoors with just me for company after a few days."

Marco chuckled and the sound was something that Ace knew he wouldn't mind hearing for the rest of his life.

"I could never," Marco said and proceeded to kiss Ace rather soundly again. "What about your questions?" he asked as they separated.

"Later," Marco said. "We'll have time to talk later. I don't want to waste time now worrying about things that I won't be able to deal with until the storm calms. If that's alright with you?"

"That's perfectly fine by me," Ace said with a wicked grin taking the question as an invitation and decided to take things in hand, literally. That of course provoked retaliation in kind from Marco. Ace agreed that there would be time to muddle through the crazy mess of emotions and tangled web of explanations that they both needed to get off their chests, including the truth about Ace's own identity later. Right now he was simply going to enjoy what he had.

AN: Hey guys! Its been a while. Sorry about that. Ive been dealing with the aftermath of the aforementioned science explosion. I want to make this warning in advance that it may be another two weeks before you get the next chapter as well. In the middle of this upcoming week, my life is about to get crazy hectic again and I'm not sure that I'm going to be able to post. Again, sorry in advance, and hopefully this is not the case. Anyways, I hope you like this chapter. Please let me know what you think about it. Again, this is the first time that I've ever written anything like this and it would be seriously appreciated if you would let me know what you think.