Following what's kind of becoming a tradition now, May 20th is my birthday and, as such, I am updating some of my stories (I wanted to update everything, but life and other things got in the way, so it couldn't be done).
Remember I commented I'd love some fanart about the photographs' scene from last chapter? Well, the awesome TigerMii surprised me by actually doing it, and so now here we have one of the compromising pictures Marco took of Ace :D
foxmii. deviantart art/Breaking-Barriers-Chapter-10-609593197
Chapter beta-read by Aerle
Chapter 11
The concept of videos goes surprisingly well with Marco.
Well, that is a bit of an oversimplification. It goes well because Marco doesn't panic or decides to suddenly mistrust the camera when Ace makes a simple recording of the creek nearby and shows it to him —Ace will leave all his recordings of the town for later, because there is too much explaining needed for those, and he expects a much stronger reaction to them. Ace thinks Marco reacts so well because he already likes the camera.
After a good amount of staring and replaying it, because Ace has already explained the controls needed for that, Marco unsurprisingly asks Ace to teach him how to make videos himself.
Before he starts teaching Marco, Ace has the forethought of passing all the previous videos from the camera to his phone. It is better not to risk Marco playing them by accident. That could go poorly.
This time, however, Marco doesn't spend as long playing with the camera as he did when Ace showed him photography. There is only so much you can record in a monotonous, calm forest. He is visibly upset, and Ace has to make an effort not to laugh.
Ace agrees to model again, but this time he sticks to safe actions, and they both run out of ideas for those not too long afterwards.
Ace is nervous, he won't deny it. They are sitting by the unlit campfire after breakfast, Marco's books piled next to them.
"Alright, this is important," Ace states.
Marco just tilts his head because, of course, he doesn't know the meaning of the word 'important'. Ace shakes his head. He can't explain the term; it is one of those words that Marco will have to figure out on his own by hearing Ace use it.
Reaching for the pile, Ace takes the first book. 'Jimmy's day'. It is a simplified guide through the daily life of a kid that can't be older than five.
Today is when Marco's hurried introduction to twenty-first century life truly begins.
By the time lunchtime rolls by, they are three pages into the book. Marco, as expected, has asked what everything in each illustration is. Ace, sadly as expected as well, has trouble replying to half of the questions.
The first image has a happy sun in it, shining through the window of a silly child's bedroom with a bed, a nightstand with its corresponding lamp, a rug, a closet, a desk with a matching chair and a bookcase with books in the upper shelves and toys in the lower ones.
The fucking toys.
Ace would never have expected something so simple, something he has always considered one of the easiest things in life —because he grew up with them, because he has never stopped to question the reason and purpose of the existence of toys and because children's things are seen as some of the simplest objects in the world— to be so difficult to explain.
If he has to be completely honest, when Ace chose the book he didn't even consider Marco would ask about the toys. They are adults, and toys —at least that kind of toys— are of no consequence to the lives of adults that don't have children. But of course Marco asks about them, and Ace is unable to explain. The closest thing Marco and Ace do to playing is sparring, and while that may have passed as playing during Ace's childhood, it certainly doesn't apply here, just like it doesn't apply to any average childhood. Ace tries to explain object by object, but he desists the moment he realizes there is a firefighter truck amongst the toys. Oh, Ace will have to explain vehicles soon —he is well aware of it, and it also is one of the upcoming conversations he dreads most— but he isn't adding that to an already complicated conversation.
Finally, Ace's choice is his default 'it's complicated' that he uses in whatever situation he doesn't know how to handle. Marco isn't pleased when Ace says it, just like half the times when Ace resorts to those words, but he shrugs and they move on.
Fortunately, the rest of the page is relatively easy to explain once Ace gets across the message that it is a room inside a house —he can draw parallels between the bed and their sleeping bags, the lamp and their lanterns; the desk, chair and bookcase are ridiculously easy after the toys dilemma. Marco is puzzled by the concept that the room is Jimmy's, that everything inside belongs to Jimmy, but he lets it go. Given Marco's surprise when Ace gave him the backpack after his shopping trip, Ace is willing to bet Marco isn't used to the idea that people can own so many things. He is in for one hell of a surprise once they get home.
The second page shows Jimmy in the bathroom. That one is tricky, but Ace and Marco do enough bathroom-related things that Ace can explain. Marco understands what the shower is, even if he asks how it works when Ace explains that, contrary to the portable shower Ace brought here, this one doesn't need to be refilled. This time, when Ace says it's complicated, Marco just nods in understanding. Ace is glad Marco understands that he can't explain how everything works; Ace thinks Marco's acceptance of that response depends on how complicated what he asks about appears to be to him.
Marco is puzzled by the toilet, Ace is certain he doesn't really understand the need for it, but Marco doesn't ask, and Ace is relieved. He really hopes the 'you just have to do it' argument will work to convince Marco to use the toilet. It has worked with the sandals, and Marco doesn't like those. Marco sort of understands the use for the sink. He tilts his head in confusion when Ace says that water comes out of there like it does in the shower, but nods when Ace adds that there is no river to use —that isn't the reason, but it's a little too soon to explain the wonders of plumbing: it's one of those things Marco will need to experience for himself to understand— but then Marco blinks, asks why Jimmy doesn't just use the shower for the purposes of the sink (not in those words, of course, Ace has never used the word 'purpose' around Marco) and Ace has to laugh. Marco is well on the way to being offended before Ace can explain that he isn't laughing at him. He just replies by saying that is how things are done, and is pretty sure Marco's grimace then says he thinks Ace's people are idiots. Toiletries are easy enough, because Ace has everything that appears on the image here and some more —shaving utensils aren't for children, after all— so Marco already knows them.
Finally, there is the third image, the horrible third image.
Ace grimaces when he turns the page, and he does a valiant effort to try to avoid the unavoidable. He points out the mother in passing, then immediately moves to the table, the chairs, the cutlery, names various depicted foods —some Marco knows, others he might do but they haven't eaten here, and others Ace is pretty sure he doesn't know, but Marco accepts they are food and that is enough— he explains the cupboards... and then the inevitable question comes.
"What's that?"
'That' being the stove. Ace explains it is for cooking, Marco raises a skeptical eyebrow and states there is no fire. Ace says there is enough heat in it that a fire like the one they use isn't necessary, Marco frowns, stares at the image and shakes his head, demanding Ace to explain it further. Ace really doesn't want to get into an explanation about gas. Or, worse yet, electricity. Which is what they have at home because they decided that having a gas stove was asking for a disaster —and holy fuck, Ace can't avoid the electricity explanation for long: he won't think about that for now. The stupid argument takes way over half an hour before finally Ace promises he will explain at home. Where he —sort of— can demonstrate and will hopefully have Sabo as backup.
Marco is so going to be fascinated by it. Ace's only comfort is that even with his complete lack of knowledge of the modern world, short of setting the house on fire, Marco will be hard-pressed to cause more damage than a half-asleep Luffy when left to his own devices.
Ace makes a mental note to ask Sabo to buy a few extra fire extinguishers.
Marco nods reluctantly and moves to his next question.
The fridge.
Ace hates kitchens.
He closes the book, states it is time to eat, and resolves to spend the entire meal trying to come up with a way to explain the remaining appliances. There is a fucking dishwasher in that picture.
If there is something Ace has learned from their introductory lesson into Jimmy's deceptively complicated world, aside from the realization that many things Marco will have to learn from experiencing them, it is that Marco is really confused by the fact that houses are so 'large'. Jimmy's house in the book is pretty average, and yet Marco has already asked the purpose of so many rooms. The bathroom being separated from the rest he understands, but the fact that Jimmy has his own room seems to puzzle him. He is also struggling with the knowledge that the kitchen is so big —and he may have asked where the animals are, to which Ace may or may not have laughed and then apologized.
Ace's response, as he suspects it will be for a while, has been 'that's how things are', and now that they have eaten lunch and he has sorted through the remaining appliances on page three, he has decided to give Marco an idea of how large Ace's house is. Ace may not be an artist, but he is decent enough with a pen that he can draw a resemblance of the house's proportions. To give Marco a reference of the size, Ace has added his own bed in his bedroom, and drawn a stick figure on it that is supposed to represent Ace sleeping.
Now Marco is staring at the notebook page, blinking at the three story house with its five bedrooms (there is Gramps' barely used room and a guest room, aside from Ace, Luffy and Sabo's bedrooms), three bathrooms (having less would mean war), kitchen, sitting room, play room (yes, they have one, though 'videogame room' would describe it better now that they don't have toys anymore) and basement that doubles as gym. And Ace hasn't added the garden.
Ace has belatedly remembered than in many cultures throughout history, short of rich people's giant houses and palaces, houses were very small, and in many cases entire families lived in a single room. Ace wonders what Marco considers to be an average-sized house, and what he will think of Ace's middle-class suburban one.
Drawing it, too, has made Ace realize something he hadn't thought about before.
"Marco," he says, and Marco looks up at him, "I have to go call Sabo."
Marco nods and looks back at the drawing. It seems like it will take some time for him to adapt whatever worldview and expectations he had to what he has just learned.
Ace stands up and walks to the cave; he forgot the phone next to their bed this morning. Dialing Sabo's number, he sits on the sleeping bag to wait. Sabo picks up on the fourth ring.
"Isn't it a bit early for you to call?" Sabo asks in lieu of a greeting. "Did something happen?"
"No. It's just I realized I have to buy a larger bed." Because Ace's bed is too small for two, and setting Marco up in the guest room when he will be in an entirely alien space doesn't seem like the best of ideas. Also, sex. It is a lot more convenient if they share a bed for that. "Do we happen to have enough savings that I won't have to ask Gramps?" Gramps is okay with paying for their expenses for now, and he generally doesn't ask, but sometimes he does ask what they want the money for. Ace really doesn't want to risk having to explain about Marco to Gramps. He knows he will have to, eventually, because it's only a matter of time before Gramps shows up and Marco meets him, but that is a topic that goes straight to the 'don't think about it' category.
Sabo stays silent for a moment.
"Do you think you'll have any money left when you come back?"
"Some, but not enough. I can try to save it, but there's no way it'll be enough if I have to pay for a second train ticket. And…" he trails off. This is something he would rather not have to do without.
"And?" Sabo presses when a minute passes and Ace has yet to continue.
Ace sighs.
"And I had thought it could be a good idea to go back to town a day early, before the train ride, and grab a motel room. Do a sort of crash course on basic appliances while it's just the two of us, without Luffy bouncing around and before Marco gets unsettled by the train." Because Ace has no doubt the train ride will unsettle Marco, he knows he will have to put all his effort into keeping him as calm as possible, and have him get a little used to technology first will help. He hopes, at least.
This time it is Sabo who takes a while to reply.
"That's a good idea, yes," he concedes, then hums. "Okay, we'll do this: I'm gonna break something outside, blame it on a mishap during training —because you know a reminder that we're training will appease Gramps— and then make it sound like it's worse than it really is so he gives me more money than necessary. He's not even in town, so there's no risk of him showing up to check." That… is perfect, Ace decides.
The problem about lying to Gramps is that Luffy is absolutely incapable of lying, so the only way of doing it without Gramps eventually discovering the truth is to keep Luffy aware of the lie itself, but unaware that it is a lie. Luffy never pays attention to small things like prices, and he won't notice if not all of the money goes to the repairs. Gramps will eventually notice the bed, of course, but once it has been bought he is as likely to give it a second thought as Luffy is.
Ace grins, even though Sabo can't see it.
"You're the best."
Jimmy's tiny book is taking up a lot more time than Ace anticipated. Of course, that may well be related to the fact that, as it turns out, Ace didn't pay its contents as close attention as he thought he did back at the bookstore.
When Ace opens the book on page four to discover a smiling Jimmy sitting on the back of his mother's van he groans and buries his face in the book. That, of course, catches Marco's attention, and the very curious and determined look Marco fixes on him marks the end of Ace's successful efforts to avoid explaining vehicles.
"I'm not explaining how they work, that's too complicated," are Ace's first words upon giving in, and when it looks like Marco will protest (because Marco has enough vocabulary to understand the first part of that sentence), he continues: "I don't understand half of it."
That takes Marco completely by surprise. It occurs to Ace that while Marco has accepted in the past that Ace can't explain some things, he might have done so thinking it is because Marco doesn't have the necessary vocabulary or background knowledge to understand it, but he might not have realized that Ace doesn't have all the knowledge himself. Which is endearing, Ace decides, and he leans close Marco to kiss him just because he can.
Ace would have pushed things from there, only partially because it would have distracted Marco from the conversation, but Marco carefully pushes him back and very pointedly looks down at the book still in Ace's hands.
Ace frowns, maybe pouts a little, and Marco just smirks knowingly at him.
"I hate you," Ace mutters, and while Marco doesn't know the meaning of 'hate' he proves he has correctly guessed Ace's mood by chuckling. It is in times like these that Ace can't believe he ever suspected Marco of being naïve or oblivious.
"Can you explain?" Marco asks, and Ace looks fondly at him out of the corner of his eye because he finds it cute whenever Marco makes the effort of using whole sentences when a single word would have got his meaning across.
Ace sighs, and starts on a very simplified explanation of the usefulness of cars, trying to use vocabulary that Marco already knows —he still has to explain a few words despite his efforts. When Marco asks why they need them to move inside a town, Ace belatedly realizes that what Marco envisions as a town is nothing like Ace's definition of one. After giving him a considering look Ace decides that, if he has to suffer through this, Marco could use a little suffering himself. Ace grins evilly, waits just enough for Marco to start looking apprehensive and then gives him an estimation of the inhabitants of his hometown.
Ace hears some distant birds singing in the ensuing silence.
Marco blinks, clearly attempting to process the number in his head, then looks down at his hands and moves his fingers in a gesture Ace clearly identifies as assistance for some mental math. When Marco turns wide, shocked eyes on Ace, Ace promptly bursts into peals of laughter, loses his balance and falls on his back.
It takes Ace what is most likely over a minute to get himself back under control, and by then Marco has crossed his arms over his chest and is leveling a supremely unimpressed stare on him. Marco's unimpressed stares are pretty impressive.
"Are you done?" he asks, and of course that sets Ace off again, which in turn earns him a not-so-slight kick to the shin. Ace has noticed Marco favors a kick-based fighting style, and it seems it applies to light-hearted blows too.
Once he is done laughing, Ace continues on his explanation, but it isn't long before Marco interrupts.
"The… vehicles?" he pronounces carefully, the word new to his tongue and Ace berates himself, just realizing he has been switching between 'vehicles' and 'cars' all the time. Ace nods.
"Cars are a type of vehicle. Like dogs are a type of animal," Ace explains, and Marco nods.
"Are there other vehicles?"
"Yeah, we'll get to them later."
Another nod, then Marco tilts his head.
"Are they very…?" Marco pauses and frowns, like he does whenever he can't remember a word that he knows he has already learned. Finally he sighs and makes a frustrated movement with his hands, dragging them quickly from right to left.
Ace has a pretty good idea of what he is trying to say.
"Are they very fast?" he offers, because while Ace isn't likely to forget the ridiculousness associated to that particular explanation anytime soon, 'slow' has come up during training, but he doesn't think they have ever used 'fast' in conversation before.
"Fast, yes," Marco agrees, nodding.
He has barely started to think on how to respond, other than a yes because he suspects in this he and Marco have different notions of 'fast', when he remembers he has a measuring tape in his bag.
"Wait a sec," he says, jumping to his feet, and runs into the cave.
He comes out a minute later, measuring tape in hand and having decided the metric system is a better option to get started, because it is a much more straightforward one and Ace is going to spin the story of Marco being foreigner anyway, so it makes more sense for him to know that one.
After that explanation is done with Ace is surprised that Marco has taken the speeds Ace has told him about in stride once he assimilated the fact that vehicles move fast. Then he remembers a blue bird in a cave, and wonders at what speed Marco can fly.
He doesn't ask. He isn't sure his brain is ready to know.
They spend the remainder of the day looking through a book on vehicles —which Ace may have been paranoid about and kept in his bag instead of Marco's— getting Marco at least acquainted with different types of vehicles.
Ace makes a point of stressing that they are noisy, because that is something he wants to avoid from backfiring if at all possible. The explanation of the term 'noisy' is one of the most ridiculous he has enacted so far, which isn't helped by Marco's feignedly innocent question of 'that means you're noisy in sex?'
The ass.
Ace keeps the videos for another day.
To be continued