…Okay, so I MAY have cheated a little and made it Immortality-esque… But you don't understand! I read "childhood" and I couldn't stop thinking about that fic, okay?! I tried T_T
Childhood!AU
Ace peeked around the corner, his large eyes following the moving form of his caretaker as he paced about the room. Marco, patient, relaxed Marco, was chewing his lip and tapping the wood of the table, getting up only to sit back down moments later and bore holes into the floor with the strength of his glare. The boy's fingers tightened around the beam he hid behind, his own anxiety bubbling in the pit of his stomach. He'd never seen the phoenix lord like that, and he was scared.
The blond dropped his head into his hands and released a shivering breath, and Ace found himself taking a hesitant step forward, then another and another until he was standing before the man with the fabric of his overskirt crumpled within his fists. He swallowed. "…Marco?"
The man's posture went rigid as he slowly turned, meeting the boy's grey stare. "Yes, Ace?"
"Lu…" His voice faded as he thought back to how sick his brother looked, how his skin turned to ice beneath his fingertips with a chill so strong it sucked the heat from Ace's body with the slightest of touches. "I-is he gonna be okay?"
The words had barely passed through his lips when he was pulled in tightly, embraced by fiery robes of red, a palm pressing against the back of his head as his chin came to rest in the crook of Marco's neck.
"It's alright, yoi," Marco whispered, his voice breaking as he took in a breath. "Nothing's going to happen to him."
"But—"
"He's going to be fine, Ace. Trust me."
Ace found himself deepening the hug, grabbing the fabric of the layered regalia as though to keep Marco from leaving.
"I'm here," the phoenix cooed, rubbing soothing circles into the small of his back. "You're not alone. You're never alone."
And Ace buried his face into his caretaker's shoulder, allowing salty tears to sink into the cloth.
He didn't know what he would have done if Marco wasn't there.
Adieu~