woo i'm a bit late on this, feels like. i hope you guys like this chapter even though it took so long! your reviews are my strength.
Haruta is around, of course, as they often are. They're wrapped in the afghan off of the back of the couch when they answer the door, a big grin on their face. They almost always treat visits as if they're the first ones in a long stretch of time, instead of a multi-weekly thing. Tell me how you've been, they'll say with a hug. Marco likes that about them.
"Hey, Marco! Who's your friend … ?"
"His name's Ace."
They file inside the home. Ace carries himself inside with a little bit of trepidation; maybe this large house and the bouncy sister and all of the decorations are overwhelming.
"Ace! Hi, I'm Haruta. If you're looking for Pops, he stepped out for a bit."
"Oh. Damn." Marco slumps his shoulders a little, "I guess we can just hang out with you then. Anyone else around?"
"Oh, jeez! You make it sound like a chore to be with me." Haruta begins slap fighting at Marco, who responds in kind, albeit with lazy movements, "Izo and Thatch are around, but … Y'know."
Marco rolls his eyes and bends to pick Haruta up over his shoulder. They kick their feet gently, giggling, while Ace follows them into the living room.
Its a pretty big room, with the biggest couch Ace has ever seen, and a TV to match. Marco gently sets Haruta down on the couch and plops down himself. Ace is just slightly nervous, but he tries not to show it as he sits beside Marco.
"So how did you two meet?" they ask brightly, picking up the remote. They were watching some sort of documentary. Ace pointedly ignores their subtle flirty inflection, opting instead to look at Marco with a loss of what to say.
"He came into the motel a lot." Marco shrugs; he conveniently leaves out the fact that he thought the other was a sex worker, "We just got to talking."
"That's hardly romantic!"
"Who said we're involved like that?" Marco answers. Sure, they've been flirting and talking and Ace thinks the other is pretty cute, but that's a bit much to assume.
"Oh. I guess I just assumed … And don't say that thing about assuming making an ass out of you and me. I'll fight you."
"He pulled that one on me, too." Ace snickers, "Picked on him for it."
"Good. He talks like a teacher sometimes." Haruta is up on their feet again, and Ace wonders if they ever shut down. They go about messing with the TV and some gaming system on the entertainment stand, before the title screen for Mario Kart appears.
"Ah, jeez. Do you really wanna involve the new kid in that?"
"New kid?" Ace mumbles. Marco just sighs.
"Why not? You can learn a ton about someone by how they play Mario Kart!" Haruta chirps. They hand Ace a controller and Ace thinks he might not be able to say no to that grin, even if he wanted to. He's used to playing games with his brothers, anyway.
They remind him a lot of Luffy, and he thinks that they'd probably get along pretty well. Hell, they'd probably get on with Sabo well, too; not that he's difficult to befriend. He's roped into playing this game, with Marco taking on the winner, "even though, like, I can kick his ass".
Ace ends up winning, though Haruta gave it their all. Marco seems both surprised and impressed.
"Seriously, how did you do that? Haruta's mad good at that game."
"I have two little brothers." Ace explains, shrugging, "We settle a lot of shit with video games."
Haruta passes the controller onto Marco, who takes it with a bit of a huff, "Let's do this, I guess."
"Can we make it interesting?" Ace asks.
Marco quirks a brow, but curiosity pulls his lips up in a grin.
"How so?"
"I'll admit that's all I got. I was thinking a bet or something."
Two people enter the room, then, and Ace notices the way they carry themselves first and foremost. They both breeze into the room, the pompadoured one standing taller and cocking his hip out where he stays. The smaller one, black haired and striking, crosses their arms over their chest and lays their eyes on Ace.
They stand close together and Ace averts his gaze after a moment, looking towards Marco.
"Winner gets a kiss." says the one with the pompadour. His companion elbows him in the ribs a little.
"From who?" Marco asks.
"You, stud. Who's your friend?" he's all grins, "I'm Thatch and this is Izo."
"Ace. Its nice to meet you." he says politely, trying not to laugh at Marco being called 'stud'. Izo gives him a small wave and a smile, but its apparent that they're less outgoing than Thatch is.
"So you're playing Mario Kart, huh? You kick Haruta's ass already?"
"I did, actually. I'm about to kick Marco's ass, too."
"Probably." Marco sniffs. They start the race while Thatch and Izo seat themselves on the couch. Its chill for most of the race, save for some shouting between the two players and Izo and Thatch talking sotto with Haruta.
Its close, but Ace still wins the race. He throws his hands up in triumph, turning to expect a sour look on Marco's face, but he's smiling. Its a soft sort of smile, amused, and Ace averts his gaze after a moment.
He wonders just why it is that Marco's looking at him like the sun shines out of his ass, but doesn't dwell on it too long.
"Me and Izo next. We got shit to settle." Thatch sticks his hands out and wiggles his fingers towards the controller, "You'll be surprised at how skilled and ruthless he is at the sport."
They go through the evening playing more Mario Kart, some fighting games. Turns out Marco is much better at Mortal Kombat than anyone else, absolutely trouncing the rest of the group. He says he sucks at racing games but fighting is his forte.
They're all pretty chill people, he finds. Izo and Thatch bicker the whole time, and Ace thinks they must be a couple right off the bat. They're cute together despite the never-ending banter; its plain to Ace that Thatch cares a lot for him, given how he looks at him and teases him.
Ace gets a text sometime between matches against Izo.
hey sabo wants to celebrate a good thing that happened
where are you? come home!
He texts Luffy back that he's hanging out with a friend and he'll be back soon.
"Hey, Marco … Would you mind bringing me back home, soon? Sabo wants to celebrate something. No idea what." Ace inquires. Marco agrees.
Its after some good byes and nice to meet yous that Ace and Marco take their leave from the home. Seated in the jeep again, Marco starts it up and goes about taking him home.
"Sorry you didn't get to meet Pops. He's been pretty busy lately."
"Oh, that's okay. I'm sure I'll get to meet him soon." Ace says, but smiles sheepishly, "I mean, if you'll have me."
Marco gives him a bit of an odd look, "Of course. Why wouldn't I?"
Ace shrugs and looks out of the window, a different sort of smile pulling up his lips. It was a good time, today, when he thought he was going to be stuck in the house alone. Maybe he's got some new friends that aren't as shitty as the ones he used to run with. The prospect is exciting.
"How'd you like everyone, though? That's not everyone, but you get what I mean."
"Everyone's really nice and welcoming, I liked them." Ace says, nodding his head. That makes Marco nod and grin, too.
"Good. I'm sure you'll like the rest of the squad."
They make conversation casually on the drive home, mostly about how he'd come into the picture with Thatch. The pair had been punks running around doing "hoodrat shit" for a while until Marco got clean and sober, when they both met Whitebeard.
"I'm not quite sure what to consider Thatch, really." he'd said, shaking his head, "He's like a brother and a best friend and … That all doesn't quite fit, at the same time."
Then Izo had come along, with Haruta following shortly thereafter. Rakuyo, Vista, Fossa, Jozu, Curiel, and a couple others were all there before hand, he'd said. Haruta was sixteen and living on the streets until Whitebeard took them in. Their parents weren't so accepting of their identity, of their need to transition to free themself from "truly horrendous dysphoria".
Marco's voice had darkened at that last bit, thunderclouds creeping into his voice. There's stories there, in those clouds, but Ace doesn't dare pry, doesn't ask how bad their dysphoria really is.
Still, he can relate to that.
As they draw closer to Ace's neighborhood and home, the conversation lightens again considerably, carries them all the way home.
He finds Marco to be incredibly sweet and easy to be around. Refreshing, almost, when he was hanging out with the same stale jerks time and time again, starved for company and attention outside of his brothers.
They sit there in silence for a few moments before Ace worries at his lip and acts on impulse.
He kisses Marco's cheek, sure and sweet.
"I know I won the race earlier, but I wanted to give you that anyway. I'll, uh. Text you."
He feels a little heated all of a sudden, wants to make a getaway before he sees Marco's reaction.
Marco grabs at his arm before he can escape, "Hey."
But as he turns, Marco covers Ace's lips with his own, just as gentle as the cheek kiss before. It makes moths flutter just inside his ribcage, makes him shift just out of pure nerves and high. Marco smiles into the kiss, pulls away.
"Go get to your celebration. Tell me how it is."
"Okay. I'll see you later." he's sure his face is burning up; certainly, his insides are on fire. He slides out of the jeep and walks up to the door on his high, waving to Marco just before he pulls out. God save him from the remarks from his brothers about his shit-eating grin.
He does his best to wipe said grin from his face while he kicks his shoes off. Luffy is on him shortly thereafter, however, arms and legs all wrapped around the other and, shit, how is he so bendy -
"Whoa, kiddo. Down."
"Sabo and Koala are dating!" he shouts.
From inside the living room, Sabo yells, "Luffy!"
"What? I was excited and he was gonna find out anyway!" Luffy pouts, disengaging himself from around his brother to plop back down on the couch. Ace spots a bottle of rum on the coffee table, glasses full of dark liquid. He takes a seat on the other side of Sabo, slinging an arm around his shoulders.
"Is that true, man?"
"Yes." he sounds a little sour at the fact that Luffy spoiled the surprise, but that only lasts for a moment, "She asked me out, actually. But I kissed her first, and uh …"
He's pulling a sheepish look, tucking a lock of hair behind his ear.
"You didn't round the bases already, did you?"
"N-no! No, we didn't, I just … I'm still reeling a little, you know?"
He leans forward and takes his glass of rum and coke off the table to drink deeply from it. Ace pours one himself, then clinking his glass against Sabo and Luffy's. They drink together in the name of romance, then drink again in the name of brotherhood.
None of the three are really big drinkers, or anything, but they share glasses once in a while. The journey through the bottle and through the night and through inebriation is filled with stories of their days - mostly Luffy's, as he had quite the adventure with his friends - and lots of laughter.
At some point, Luffy spreads himself out over the both of them, head and arms over Ace's lap and legs stretched across Sabo's.
"I got a kiss today, too." Ace confesses, nods.
"Was it Marco? Does he taste like birdseed?"
"Birdseed, why the fuck would he taste like birdseed?"
"He looks like a bird." Luffy supplies. Ace tugs on his hair again, laughing lowly.
"Yeah, it was Marco. And he didn't taste like birdseed."
This ends up sparking an argument, of course ("Maybe you just don't know what birdseed tastes like!" "Well maybe you should fucking kiss him!"), an argument that Sabo has to cool down. The alcohol laps at their cares, eats away at them like waves on a shoreline.
Similarly, time erodes the night into the quiet, hidden hours between midnight and dawn, and its there that the brothers find sleep.
Another week passes before Ace goes over to Marco's house for the first time. They've been texting one another near constantly, quickly settling into one another's lives like they were meant to be there. Or maybe it feels like they were friends a long time ago who are just picking up again. Marco sends him good morning texts when he gets off work, and Ace calls him on days off.
Its nice, Marco thinks. Its only been a little while, but they're pretty comfortable with one another.
It would have been sooner that Ace had come over to Marco's, but he'd been so busy with bringing Sabo and Luffy here and there, running errands for Dadan, seeing this friend and that one. Pretty typical week, all in all, and it always leaves Ace feeling just a little tired.
Marco seats himself next to Ace on the couch, turns up the stereo a little.
"So Sabo's been pretty much up his girlfriend's ass." Ace shrugs, by way of conversation, sipping at his drink.
"Whoa, man, didn't need to know that about your brother." Marco holds his hands up in jest and Ace elbows him in the ribs.
"You know what I mean."
"Eh, it happens. I'm sure he'll come back around to you in time, gotta learn how to balance that kind of thing, you know?"
"I guess. I'm probably getting too clingy after a week of him being absent, but we've been really tight since we were kids." he admits, "So … Y'know. Even Luffy has been pretty cagey lately, but …"
Marco nods, presses his lips together in a tight line. He seems to weigh his words.
"From what I heard, it sounds like you guys have been through too much together to just fall apart like that. And its only been a week."
He does have the propensity to catastrophize at times, especially with stuff like this. Chalks it up to being brainweird; sometimes still, its hard to detect what's badbrain and what isn't. Its nice to have someone to be able to pick and pull apart the dark spots, to help him see something from an objective standpoint.
"Yeah, you're right. I'm just being whiny."
"Nope, not whiny. You have a legitimate concern, and you're all right with that and in voicing it."
Ace bows his head a little, in thought and in thanks, "Thank you, Marco."
"No problem. Wouldn't wanna see you bummed and - hey, listen to this part."
They listen to this part indeed, the crescendo of the music that he's put on. Chorus music, which is weird, but its honestly a beautiful song. The rise and swell and twist of voice gives him chills.
"What is this?"
"Frightened Rabbit. Their music isn't normally like this, but this song has always been one of my favorites."
They fall into a discussion about music, a discussion they both get into animatedly. Some of their music taste overlaps, but mostly they're unfamiliar with the others' choice in tunes. As most of their conversation does, it morphs into something else, finds them at a completely different topic entirely.
The visit is mostly just that - talking - and its nice. They bullshit their way through a movie and its in watching that that Ace tips his head back against the couch and falls asleep. Marco debates on taking a picture for prosperity, to show him how ridiculous he looks when he sleeps, but decides against it.
He gets a text when he's getting up to go to the kitchen, a text that makes his heart drop in his chest.
harutas freaking out and thatch is at work
are you around? they want you here
He texts Jozu back quickly.
On my way.
And he's gently shaking Ace awake, regretfully. He'd let the other sleep there until he woke up of his own accord, if he could, but there's more pressing matters pulling his heart and mind home. Ace rubs at his eyes and, shit, he's cute, and he's sitting up.
"Aw, shit. I'm sorry …"
"Its fine. I gotta get to Haruta at Pops' place, they're in a rough way. I feel like a dick for this, but do you mind uh … Heading home?"
"Oh, no, not at all. You're fine. I hope Haruta is feeling better." he says, bleary. He moves up to his feet yawns, stretches. Marco's grabbing the necessities, figuring its their gender dysphoria, wondering how he's going to bring them out of this.
They part there, Ace going into his truck and Marco into his jeep, with a promise to text one another once Haruta is feeling better.
When Ace gets back to Dadan's, there's no one there.
Typical, lately. Everyone has places to be.
He feels bummed at this almost immediately, sinking onto his bed and curling up. He feels better when there's someone around to need him and want his company, hence why he thrives so well taking care of his little brothers. But now he's the only one closed in the jaws of the house, and that doesn't feel too nice.
He can't quite put a finger on how this makes him feel, exactly. Ace does not despair over this, and nor does he leap at the prospect of being alone. He simply is, simply commits himself to video games because there's nothing else to do at all. It serves as a nice distraction, all in all.
Sabo and Luffy both traipse back in sometime after Dadan does, but they traipse in together. Ace worries at his lip.
"Oh, hey." Sabo greets, genuine smile. He plops down next to Ace on the floor.
"Hey. What's good?" Ace asks, bonks his head into his younger brother's. Luffy finds his way there too, yawning greatly. Must've been a big adventure today, to tire him out like that.
"I took Koala around, today. That girl can eat."
Ace wiggles his eyebrows and Sabo laughs, pulls at his hair, "Shut the fuck up."
"Usopp and Sanji and me went swimming, we should go swimming." Luffy tips over, wiggles in place because he can never stop moving, "How was Marco's? Did you kiss again?"
"No, but. It was fine. He's pretty good to talk to."
"Do you liiiiike him? I mean, you must."
Ace considers the question.
Marco is sweet and funny and interesting and he has good hair. And he loves his family very much. All good qualities to have in a person. He kissed him sweetly, said he liked his company, said he'd like to have him around, more. And Ace thinks he'd like to be around him more, too.
"I might be starting to." he says evenly.
"That's gay!"
"That's the fucking point."
In their bickering, Ace finds that he doesn't feel so empty anymore. And that's a little worrying - why does he only exist when he's around people? Why can't he just … Be? Loneliness isn't a cross he can comfortably bear, whenever it comes that he has to shoulder it.
But for now, he has his brothers, and that's all that matters to him.