The Beginning of It All
"Please go out with me!"
"For the last time, I'm not interested!"
"Why not?"
"I'm not going to be a replacement for my little brother. Just because he's gay that doesn't mean I am!"
"He's not your little brother, you're twins."
Smoker ground his teeth into his cigarette as he tried to out-walk the obnoxious bastard that insisted on following him. "He's still my younger brother. And being twins almost makes it worse. Just leave me alone!"
"But I was never interested in your brother! Smoker!" Ace frowned as he watched Smoker storm off ahead of him. What was he doing wrong? Was it something he'd said? Maybe he could try talking to Smoker's brother; get some advice. Ace whipped out his phone and scrolled to the very bottom of his contacts, pressing dial before bringing the phone to his ear, listening to it ring.
"H-Hello?" He sounded breathless, and there was rustling on the other end. Ace felt like he'd just intruded on something.
"Yeah, hey, Zoro, listen, I need to talk to you. Are you, uh, busy?"
There was grumbling on the other end of the line in a voice that was too smooth to be Zoro's. Oh yes, Ace had most definitely interrupted something.
"Err, do you think we could talk later? Hey, cut it out I'm on the phone! Sa—!" The line went dead, and Ace had his answer. He hung up his phone and put it away. Smoker was probably almost at his job by now. He hurried along, wanting to catch the man before the place got too busy.
Smoker, Zoro, Sanji, and one of Zoro's friends whose name escaped him for the moment, all worked part time at a local restaurant as waiters and kitchen assistants that catered to a mostly female clientele. Ace and the others had always teased them about working at what everyone secretly referred to as the "host club." But because it had recently become common knowledge that half the men working there were gay, the nickname was slowly changing to the "homo host club."
Ace requested a table that he knew was in Smoker's section, hiding behind his menu until Smoker came to take his order.
"Welcome to Alubarna, are you ready to place your order?"
Ace put down the menu, surprising the unsuspecting employee. "I would like 5 minutes with the waiter."
"Are you out of your mind? I could get fired!" Smoker brought his voice down to a deadly whisper. "If you're not going to order anything, then get out. I don't have the time or the patience right now."
"Then I'll have a coffee. Cream, no sugar."
Smoker grumpily took down the order, "You can add the cream yourself." He mumbled before going over to the complex, old-fashioned coffee machines. Ace watched as Smoker walked away, noticing how the short-sleeved button down showed off his strong arms and broad shoulders, how the belted pants showed off his narrow waist and hips and the curve of a muscular ass that led to strong legs. He wanted so badly to have Smoker on his back with his legs wrapped around his waist, panting and moaning his name as his face turned bright red. Suddenly, his view was cut off when Smoker went behind the counter; going to brew a mug of hot, pitch black, strong as hell coffee, the way he knew Ace liked it.
It was then that Smoker's brother, Zoro walked out from the kitchen. His face was still flushed from what Ace could only assume were kitchen shenanigans. Ace took a moment to watch Zoro as he carried a tray over to a table. He was most definitely quite a bit smaller than his brother; still strong and muscular, but more lean, a bit thinner with narrower shoulders. His hair was darker than Smoker's by quite a bit, and his face's default expression was much less scary and intimidating than Smoker. He watched as Zoro went over to the serving window to talk with Sanji for a second. His vision was blocked when an irritated waiter stepped in front of him.
"Your coffee." Smoker presented before stalking off, not giving Ace any time to say anything. The dejected youth looked back over at Zoro. He was cute, in all honesty, but he wasn't the one Ace wanted, not really. He'd completely blown his chance with the person he truly cared for. Ace poured a little cream in his coffee and stirred, thinking back to when it had all gone wrong. It had all started with one of Thatch's dumbass plans.
"Trust me, he won't know what hit him! He'll be all over you in no time." Those had been the reassuring words that had started the whole charade.
o()o()o
"You know, I'm gonna be the smart one here and tell you that this is just plain stupid. It doesn't work in the movies, why would it work now?" Marco interjected, somewhat cynically. He was the word of wisdom amongst the group, which meant his interjections oftentimes went unheeded.
"No, it only doesn't work in movies, because directors find it funnier when complicated plans like this don't work. However, we're not messing around. We're gonna get this to work no matter what, right Ace?"
Ace had been stupid enough to go along with his flamboyantly straight friend. "Alright, so you'll be my wingman, right?" He smirked, feeling just as confident as Thatch did.
"But of course!" Thatch gave him a manly thump on the back, something you wouldn't think a man who wore a silken neck scarf would do. "I have your back, man. Well, actually, with how the plan would have to work, Zoro'll have to be your wingman I suppose..."
"I'm telling you, you're gonna regret it." Marco said from where he was lounging against a tree. "You idiots are gonna mess this up. You can make someone believe you hate them for a hell of a lot longer than you can make them think you love them. It takes a lifetime to gain trust and only a second to lose it. How many more clichés am I gonna have to throw at you for it to sink in?"
"Ohh, quit being so damn negative. It's incredibly off putting." Thatch frowned and folded his arms.
"I'm not being negative, I'm being realistic. Jealousy will only breed contempt."
"Oh, shut up. You sound like an old man." Thatch dodged a well-aimed kick to his shins.
Ace watched as his friends went at it, still feeling remarkably confident despite Marco's warnings. "I'm gonna head over to Alubarna. I'll catch you guys later." The other two shouted their goodbyes as they continued their tussle. Ace just laughed before heading off towards the restaurant.
Once he got there, he was pleased to see that the twins were on duty. He took a seat in Zoro's section and waited for him to bring the menu.
"Oh, hey Ace! Been a while since I saw you here. What's up, man?" Zoro gave him one of his brightest smiles. The two were good friends, having met through Luffy and also having the misfortune of nearly failing chemistry together as lab partners.
"Not much. Just hangin in there." Ace flashed an equally broad grin, genuinely happy to see his friend again after having transferred schools. "Think you can si'down for a sec?"
Zoro looked around before taking a seat. "Something on your mind?"
"Ehh..." Ace looked around and had to hide a smirk when he saw Smoker looking at them out of the corner of his eye. "Your shift end soon? I kinda wanna talk about it elsewhere."
Zoro's brow furrowed with concern. "Yeah, dude. Sure. I get off in, like, an hour and a half, so you'll have to wai—"
"Zoro! Get your lazy ass back to work!"
Ace chuckled a bit at Zoro's horrified face. "I'll have a cheeseburger'n sweet potato fries."
"You can have a good kick in the ass if you don't get the hell out of here. You're gonna get me fired, you bastard." Ace let out a belt of laughter as Zoro scurried to the service window, dropping off Ace's order and picking up the two trays he had to deliver to his waiting customers.
"Try pulling your weight around here, dumbass! Don't keep the customers waiting!" Sanji scolded through the little window.
"Shut up and get back in the kitchen where you belong, curly cook!"
Ace watched as Zoro and Sanji argued for a moment before Zoro hurried off to deliver food. Ace quirked an inquisitive eyebrow when he noticed the way Sanji kept staring, even after Zoro had left. 'How very interesting...'
Once Zoro clocked out, he met up with Ace just outside. "Well, I got yelled at. No thanks to you." He smacked Ace upside the head and got a gentle punch in the arm in return. "So, what's up? What is this big mystery you couldn't tell me inside?" Zoro was overly dramatic as he asked, chuckling a bit until he saw Ace's expression. "Hey, dude, are you okay?"
Ace turned and pushed Zoro up against the wall, his forearms flat against it on either side if Zoro's face. They were incredibly close, kissing distance. That is, if they had been at all interested in kissing each other.
"Oi, you're really close."
"Well, yeah."
"Any particular reason?"
"Yes."
"Oh." The silence wasn't awkward, but it was long. Ace was the one who eventually broke it, not feeling the need to remove himself from Zoro's bubble of personal space.
"You know I'm bi, right?"
"I had a hunch."
"And you're gay, right?"
"What're you trying to get at?"
Ace turned and saw Smoker leave the building. He had to act now. He pressed his and Zoro's foreheads together and closed his eyes. "I need you to do me a favor."
Smoker looked over and saw Ace pressed up against his brother in the adjacent alleyway, his leg snug between Zoro's and their faces so close together that with only the slightest nudge their lips would meet. He felt his cigarette slide from between his lips, dropping to the ground to join his broken heart. He turned away, hoping that they hadn't seen him, and hurried home.
Zoro heard the crunching of gravel and quickly turned to see who had caught them. "Hey...hey, wait that was my brother!" Zoro pushed Ace away. "Shit, what if he misunderstood?" Zoro frowned, "Did you plan that?"
Ace folded his arms and leaned back against the wall, not saying anything.
Zoro sighed, running a hand through his green hair. "I wish you wouldn't pull shit like that. I'm gonna get my ass beaten the second I get home."
"You can handle yourself in a fight just fine."
"That's not the problem." Zoro sighed, "You said you needed a favor from me?" Zoro was a bit reluctant to grant Ace a favor after the stun he just pulled.
"...There's this guy—"
"I refuse."
"Oh, come on Zoro! I really need your help." He folded his hands and gave the marimo head his best puppy dog pout. "Pleeease?"
"No. Absolutely not." Zoro crossed his arms and closed his eyes. "I'm not going to help you make my brother jealous. I can't do that to him. Plus it'd just be weird. No offense, but you're not exactly my type."
"Oh come off it. Sanji and I are more similar than you'd think."
"What! No, I—I don't—"
"Yeah, yeah. All I'm saying is that it could help you out as well. That blondie's the jealous sort."
"How would you know?"
"Just trust me."
Zoro gave him a suspicious look, "You're not trying to set me up with your sloppy seconds are you?"
Ace blinked for a moment before he burst out laughing, startling an innocent passer-by. "Good god, no. I mean we get along fine, but we aren't really...compatible."
"...?"
"We're both tops, Zoro." Ace smirked as Zoro's face lit up a brilliant shade of vermillion. "What, you didn't know that and you had your eyes on him?" Ace turned to start walking. "Sanji is many things, an insatiable pervert being one of them, but a docile bottom he is not."
Zoro followed Ace out of the alley, a frown setting in.
"What, are you disappointed?"
Zoro was silent for a while before he mumbled bashfully. "...I'm not getting topped by Sanji."
"You haven't gotten topped already?"
"What the hell are you talking about!"
"...I could've sworn you two were at least casual..."
"Of course not! He's an obnoxious, pompous bastard that flirts with anything beautiful and feminine. In case you haven't noticed, I'm neither."
"I wouldn't say that." Zoro was very beautiful, in a different way than women were, but he was.
"Screw you. Anyways, there's no way I'm letting that wimpy ass cook top me. Never."
"You say that now." Ace smirked, "Just you wait and see. That is, if you get together."
Zoro grumbled as he walked alongside Ace. The two of them soon got back to a more normal sort of conversation: the fight last night, dumbasses at school, college applications. Everything was all well and good until Ace kept following Zoro when he should've turned left to go home.
"Why're you following me?"
"Come on, I waited around till 9:30 on my Friday night for your shift to end. The least you can do is feed me."
"You only waited around for your own personal vendetta. Plus you got my bro all pissed at me. No way are you coming over."
"I can save you from your brother's wrath."
"You'll make it worse."
Ace frowned before he felt one of his narcoleptic fits hit him. He heard Zoro shout something and felt his body getting caught before he blacked out all together.
Zoro was now in a real conondrum. He didn't want to take Ace back to his house, but Ace's house was further away. What should he do?
A) Take Ace to Zoro's house. (Next Chapter)
B) Take Ace home. (Chapter 8)
