This one too was a request on Tumblr from one of those sentence starters. I seriously hadn't meant this one to get so angsty. But enjoy!~

Prompt: "You haven't touched your food. What's going on?"

Pairing: MAS, MarAceBo, MarcoxAcexSabo

Warnings: Polyamory, loss of appetite, terminal illness.

"You haven't touched your food. What's going on?" a concerned voice snapped Ace out of his thoughts and brought him back to the present where he sat in front of a rapidly cooling plate.

"I'm just not that hungry, Bo." Ace mumbled, pushing around the fried rice on his plate.

"You? Not hungry, yoi." Marco stepped into the room wiping his hands clean-he had been left in charge of that night's dessert. "Acey, were having your favorite tonight, not to mention you're always hungry. Is everything okay?" Marco asked as he sat in his seat and took Ace's hand.

Sabo had already taken his other hand into his own, and was frowning at how cold it felt.

"Are you sick, Ace?" Sabo asked as he pressed the back of his free hand to Ace's freckled forehead. However, he found nothing to be alarmed about and the worried blond frowned.

"Well it isn't a fever…" he confirmed for Marco who shared in his frown.

"Did you eat something bad? Is your stomach giving you problems?" Marco followed up and Ace shook his head in response.

"Guys, really I… I'm just not hungry tonight, is it okay if I head to bed?" Ace asked quietly and two hearts broke at the sight.

Reluctantly, each blonde let Ace slip away from their grasp and watched him rise from his seat, put it back into place and shuffle down the hall. Green eyes met hooded blue ones and quickly came to an unspoken agreement. Sabo rose as well, and cleaned up the table, placing the uneaten food in the refrigerator, and the used plates into the sink where they were left to soak.

While, Marco set the desert in a container and stored it away before tidying up any loose ends he had left in the kitchen. Once everything was in order, he and Sabo took a deep breath and went in search of the distressed raven.

A short search later brought them to a cocooned bundle in the middle of their bed, and that just deepened their concern for Ace. Slowly, Marco and Sabo settled themselves on the bed, each of them gently nudging the balled up form.

"Ace, babe, you can talk to us. Please tell us what is going on." Sabo spoke softly as he stroked Ace's covered head.

They received no response, they got nothing to indicate he had even heard Sabo.

"Is there any way we can help you, Ace, yoi?" Marco chimed in laying a hand beside Ace and patiently waiting for a reply.

Seconds turned into minutes that felt like years to the pair of blondes, but soon enough Ace shifted and dared to look out of his safe haven. His eyes were red, puffy, and swollen with shed tears. "You can't." Ace whispered.

And Sabo and Marco were at a loss. What couldn't they help with? Both of them knew that Ace was a free spirit, he was as independant as they came, and stubborn to a fault. But they understood, they shared these traits amongst them, but each of them knew their limits, each of them knew when to ask for help. So why wasn't Ace doing so?

"What happened today, Acey?" Sabo asked, heart picking up speed as the cold feeling of dread clawed at his gut and clenched his heart.

Across from him, Marco could feel the same distress, but he pushed it aside. Instead Marco reached out to brush Ace's dark hair away from his eyes."We're here with you always Ace, yoi."

Those words seemed to be the opposite of what Ace needed, however, as fresh tears were brought to his gray eyes and spilled along his freckled cheeks. "B–but I… Sabo…" Ace swallowed thickly. "Marco...I'm scared." Ace finally said and clutched at both of their hands with every ounce of strength he had.

Marco was afraid to ask, but he needed to know. "Afraid of what, Ace?"

Ace didn't answer for a long moment, before foreign words came out of his mouth and turned all of their worlds upside down.

Sabo and Marco didn't know what to say, much less what to do with that information. How was it possible? How had it happened? This couldn't be real.

And yet it was.

They joined Ace, they held him fiercely as they consoled him, spoke of sweet nothings, promised that they swore they would keep. Told him of a better tomorrow, even though they knew not what lay ahead. They assured him that everything was going to be fine. But truth was, they didn't know, and the fact that they couldn't guarantee for certain what lay in Ace's future tore them apart.

Ace's leukemia had returned, and at that point his fate was uncertain. The doctor told him to prepare himself for the worst before treatments began the next day.

So yep, angst strikes hard.

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Lol seriously though humor me, till next time.