Wishfull-star - Thank you very much! Marco got his happy ending with the proposal succes indeed! Happy blond!
Zoysite - But Marco's nerves paid off in the end and he got a "YES" as a reply! Brownie's the best dog! Thank you! It took a while to update one of your more favorite stories, but here it is! I hope you will enjoy it!
This chapter is actually the chapter that started this whole story. It's even the very first chapter I wrote for Blind Ace, yet never published. Thanks to a little convo with a friend, finding this file again, I decided to finish it.
I wrote this before even thinking of giving Ace a guide-dog, so for obvious reasons it's before Brownie. Here it is, please enjoy!
A raven and blond couple were walking around the city, enjoying the winter breeze that December brought with them when the raven suddenly spoke, breaking the peaceful silence.
"Can we go to the rink?"
"Rink-yoi?"
"The Ice-skating rink in the park. It's set up by now, right?"
"It is..." Marco said slowly, he had seen the flyers for the rink... which obviously the other hadn't … "I didn't know you skated."
"Ah I ehm" Ace fidgeted a bit "I don't... anymore... I just like to listen... but it may be boring for you... It would be boring for you, wouldn't it haha, just... sitting there. Never mind!" He laughed nervously and pulled Marco along to start walking again, trying to change the topic. But Marco stopped him, squeezing the hand in his.
"Ace, if you want to go, let's go. I'm fine with just sitting and watching- sorry, listening." He gently kissed the other's cheek "Please don't worry about if it would be boring for me, if you're happy, that's more than enough for me."
With that Marco turned them around, making sure not to go too fast so Ace had the time to feel the floor with his cane, and guided them to the park.
When they made it to the rink, they sat practically against the rink, a bench that no one used because it was squeezed so close to the barrier of the rink, you couldn't even see over it to watch your child or anything, so it wasn't used. But for them, for Ace, it was perfect. Nice and close to the sounds he apparently liked to hear. And while it was a tiny bit funny to see Ace look happy in front of him, following the sound of passing skaters, when he was actually literally looking at a wall, Marco didn't say anything and didn't complain of having no view. He may not see the rink, but he saw the sparkle in Gray misty eyes, and that was more than enough for him.
"I used to come here all the time." Ace suddenly started. "With Luffy and Sabo. We were on it before it was even finished setting up. The people were always mad at us." the raven chuckled. "Tried to chase after us the first days, trying to get us off, but even while small, we knew they didn't even mean it, they all looked happy to see us playing, we always made sure to not be in their way."
Marco listened attentively to Ace getting nostalgic, talking about his many trips here every single year again and again. The bright shine, the happiness in his eyes as he spoke was something Marco hadn't seen that often before, not this much. And it only got brighter as he 'looked over' the rink as he spoke and even pointed out where there would always be a Christmas tree, and where the chocolate milk stand was, how lovely all the lights were that were always hanging around. How they were even allowed to help and would get some marshmallows in return.
The raven was so, so happy... until the enthusiasm died a little when Marco asked about the next year. What stunts they pulled then... because... Ace never went anymore. Not since he had lost his visions. No matter the pushes of his brothers, he never set foot on the Ice anymore.
He made it seem like it was a logical step. He couldn't have a solid footing on ice, couldn't feel the floor on skates, couldn't use his cane, nothing. So of course he wouldn't go on it. But Marco saw the longing in those unseeing eyes. So right then and there, Marco made his decision. He'll make sure Ace can skate again, he'll show him he doesn't need to give up on everything he loves because of his blindness.
Some days later
"Where are you taking me Marco, and you know I don't need a blindfold!" Ace laughed as his boyfriend led him somewhere, they had already driven around and were now walking outside, Marco having insisted on Ace having on full Winter clothes even if the weather wasn't THAT cold.
"I know, I know-yoi" he scratched his neck as he pulled the other along, "It just adds to the surprise a bit, don't you think?"
Giggling Ace hummed affirmative. It was kind of fun that Marco still tried to be secretive, treat him like you would treat anyone else when trying to show a surprise, even if to him the blindfold wouldn't make any difference at all, being blind and all.
"We're here-yoi!"
"Oh wow, amazing!" He exclaimed in amazement as Marco took off his blindfold, putting hands on his cheeks and looking around, as if his view was anything else then black.
Snorting Marco gave him soft hit on the shoulder, making the freckled one laugh. He was glad the blond could laugh at his own jokes of being blind too now. It had taken a while for the other to not be uncomfortable, not knowing what would be too far.
"c'mon" Being pulled along, he let himself be pushed down to sit on some kind of bench, before his shoes were being pulled of and replaced by... other shoes?
"Marco?"
The other didn't react and just continued to fasten the laces of the new shoe. "Don't suddenly stand-yoi, you'll fall. But... well, do stand... But be careful, feel around first. I'll hold you."
Very confused he nodded slowly and moved his feet a bit, they instantly tilted over, as if the sole of the shoe wasn't flat, but instead was very narrow. He put some pressure on his feet as he moved them. He knew this feeling...
"Marco... Why..." he knew what he was wearing, he was sure of it... Ice-skates. He would have been so happy, if not for the fact that he could not see. Now these just reminded him of what he couldn't do anymore. "I can't..."
Taking the delicate hands in his own, Marco brought them up to his lips to kiss them. "You can. I'm here for you, I'll make sure you won't fall."
"... I'll be in the way of others."
"First of all, Ace, you shouldn't care about that. You have as much right to be on the ice to skate just as much as anyone else. Second." he spoke a bit softer "You don't have to worry about that now. We have the rink only for us."
Blinking he looked up, searching for the position of Marco's voice "What?"
"Yes-yoi, we're the only ones here now. I contacted them and explained what I wanted to do. They of course couldn't just stop others from getting on throughout the day, but they did give me, us, permission to come on here in the morning, before it opened. The only thing we have to deal with is that it's of course 'Used Ice', they haven't gone over it to put a new layer on it yet since they do that only just before it opens. But we'll be fine."
"No one is here?"
"No one. You can hear that it's silent right, only the birds waking up. We have the whole place to ourselves. No one to run in to, no one that may judge us. We're as free to do as we please."
"..."
A soft smile on his lips he leaned down to give a small peck to Ace's head, "Let's try and get up-yoi."
Holding strongly onto Ace's arms, he helped the other up. "Calm Ace, it's fine, I got you. I know it's scary, but I'm here."
His boyfriend in his arm was trembling in place, unsteady on his feet as those eyes desperately tried to see anything around his feet. He guessed it must be very scary, his feet led him everywhere now, he used them a lot to feel the ground, if it felt sturdy, slippery, if there was a ledge, … all those abilities were gone now.
"We're going to take a few steps forward." Gently pulling on Ace's arm, he was able to get the other to slowly move, step on the rubber mats to before the door in the barrier that led onto the ice.
"I-I-I don't know if I can do this, Marco." What once used to be something he loved, now seemed immensely scary.
Marco spoke as kindly as he could, conveying a small smile in his voice, "Let's sit down right here for a minute. There's a step in front of you, a little deeper than a normal step. Take that and then just sit back down."
With a nod, instructions were followed and even with trembling legs he was able to take the step and sit down. He was sure that he had squeezed the life out of Marco's arms for the short walk, and then this step. It always scared him when the steps were deeper than expected, to him it seemed like he was walking off a cliff, not knowing when the ground will follow.
"That's great, you did great, love. And... you're actually on the Ice right now."
"What?!" Unseeing eyes widened in shock and he looked down at his feet by reflex "But? It wasn't slippery?"
"I asked the workers to put a plate down beforehand, so you could step in without slipping. Now, listen to me Ace." He eased Ace's deathgrip from his arms and once again took the hands in his own, squeezing them gently "If you don't want to do this, that's fine-yoi. I won't force you or be mad or disappointed. I know this is difficult and scary for you. But know if you want to try, I'll be here. I'll be next to you at every moment, I won't let you fall." Marco looked into Ace's grey eyes. Even when seemingly covered by a layer of mist, they showed so many emotions. At the moment, fear, lots of it. But there was also an undertone of want, excitement. "Even when you say you want to try, we can stop at any moment."
He could see the barriers Ace had put up slowly start to fall, he was unsure, he wanted too, he could see he really wanted to, but fear still stopped him.
"I'm going to remove the plate." he released Ace's hands that instantly searched for him again. It pained him to see the other so lost, to see that the other literally lost him even when he was still standing right in front of him. So, the moment he had put it aside, he also made sure to grab the hands again and sit next to the other, shoulder to shoulder.
Leading one freckled hand he put it on his own thigh, putting his own hand on top of Ace's.
"Let's just move our legs a bit. We won't stand up. Just stay seated here, nothing can happen then, right?" he smiled reassuringly at the other even if he would never see it.
To show what he meant, he moved his own feet, letting them slide over the ice. And thanks to the hand on his thigh tightening, he knew that the other felt what he was doing. Moments later Ace joined him, careful, tiny movements at first. Before being a bit more confident and moving his legs in bigger strokes, scraping over the ice by holding his skates sideways every now and then.
A tiny laugh escaped the other as he did and Marco smiled brightly at hearing it. Taking a moment to kiss Ace's cheek as they continued their little seated skating session.
Feeling a squeeze in his leg he looked to Ace who was turned to him, only slightly looking too high and missing his eyes.
"I want to try."
Even though the voice was soft, it brought a smile to his face and he squeezed the hand over Ace's "Let's do it-yoi."
Standing up Marco moved to be before Ace. It was a good thing he was good at skating himself or supporting another human while doing so would have been impossible.
Reaching out he put a hand under each of Ace's armpits, waiting a little until Ace took hold of his arms back before he started to lift the other. The moment he was up Ace practically clung to him, not even a millimetre of space in between them as the raven's legs trembled.
Embracing the other Marco gave words of encouragement, rubbing over Ace's back until the body under him started to relax more. When he tried to pull away, he got a look of slight fear in return and he couldn't help but lean forward and press his lips to a cold forehead, earning the slightest flinch of surprise in return. He learned to stop apologizing for it since Ace genuinely didn't mind and loved the 'surprise' kisses.
"Hold onto my shoulders-yoi, you can squeeze as much as you want, we'll start by me just pulling you forward."
Nodding the other patted over his sides, finding his way up until hands found their way up to his shoulders and they took a strong hold.
"That's perfect darling." With a smile he held onto Ace's sides, just under the armpits before he slowly started to glide backwards, pulling the Raven forwards and starting their little private skating session.
"Marco!" Ace called out in desperation when he was let go, hands searching before him, but Marco was long out of reach. Fingertips were centimetres away from touching the body, if Marco stretched his own arms, he could touch the other, but without sight, for Ace, it would feel as if he wasn't even there.
It pained Marco to see it, but he really hoped the other would forgive him and that maybe this could become a good memory and support for Ace that even if he's blind, he can still do these things on his own.
"Ace." he called back as gently as he could, milky eyes locking onto his general location instantly, "Come to me."
"I can't!"
"You can, love, you can. You've been skating on your own for the last hour. I've simple been holding your hand. You did everything." And Marco was honest in this. It had taken a while for Ace to dare move his feet himself, at first just letting Marco drag him along, but once the raven had tried to move his feet and he didn't immediately fall, his confidence had spiked and he had started to skate of his own. Even allowing Marco to change his hands from holding onto his body to holding his hand and skate next to him.
"I'll- I'll run into the barriers Marco! In- into the decorations!" the second statement made Marco raise an eyebrow, decorations? There were no decorations on the ice rink itself? … aaaaah, yes, years ago they always placed a big Christmas tree in the middle, Ace even told him about it, but they hadn't the last years since people found it too dangerous, even if pretty. Well, no need to break Ace's memory he had of the place so he would just let it be and not correct it.
"I won't let that happen-yoi." He could still see that Ace was unsure, but he pushed on. "Love. I'll come back to you this very moment if you really ask me to. But right now, I am only an armlength, my armlength away from you." he proofed it by stretching out his hand and touching Ace's shoulder gently, but retreating back before he caught it. "It's one movement, one... skate... and you'll have reached me. You can do it."
The other seemed to think but nodded and carefully, just like he had done before, slightly pushed off on the Ice. And just like the other had said, before he even properly started gliding, he already hit a strong chest and was kissed on his head.
"There we go-yoi. Good job. That was amazing."
Humming Ace hugged him close, calming his breathing from the fear that had gone through him of being left alone. But... he felt so accomplished too, he did it, he skated on his own, the very first time he actually succeeded in it since becoming blind. Even if it was barely any distance, he did it. He... he wanted to try again.
"Marco... I want to try again."
Marco wished the other could see the happiness and excitement on his face, he hoped he would be able to convey his feelings anyway.
"Of course!"
They repeated the same action a few more times, Marco moving away slightly further away each time until he was about 3 meters away. Ace growing more confident each and every time, already starting to skate towards him the moment he backed up. He loved seeing the other enjoying himself.
"Ace?"
"Yea?" Ace called back rather loudly because of excitement, even if they were holding hands and he was standing right before him, grey eyes shining with happiness as they looked up, seeming to lock eyes with him as he smiled.
"Do you trust me?"
"huh, of course I trust you Marco, why would you suddenly question that?"
"Then," he slowly eased his hands from out of Ace's grip, the other now less scared since they had been doing this for a while now, probably expecting it to stay the same, "Follow me, let's skate for real."
"W-what? What do you mean?" the other skated forward a bit, and a bit more, hands outstretched and searching, face looking more desperate when he couldn't find him as soon as all the other times "M-Marco, don't leave me alone."
He was about to reply when Ace called out a heartbroken 'please', he instantly skated back to him and hugged him, pulling him against him as Ace latched onto him . He had one hand tightly around the other's back, while the other held his head against him "I'm sorry Ace, I shouldn't have done that, I'm sorry."
Ace sniffed a tiny bit, "It-it's okay. What... what were you doing?"
"I wanted to skate together, like... a bigger distance, a longer distance for you to freely skate, instead of stopping every few seconds." he rubbed the back under his hands, "I'm sorry, Ace. I should have explained that, I wasn't thinking, I-"
Lips on the edge of his mouth silenced him, tough they quickly moved to properly cover his lips fully into an actual kiss.
"Ace..."
"It's okay, Marco." The raven smiled softly, "I know you mean the best for me. We're both still getting used to these things. I... I want to try that. Skate longer by myself. But could we do the route you want us to do together once, hand in hand so I know how long the straight parts are?"
"Of course-yoi."
They had been skating in circles for close to half an hour, Ace's laughter echoing the whole time up until it happened.
"Ah!"
"ACE!"
Marco screeched to a halt and was skating back, falling to his knees at Ace's fallen side. Gathering him in his arms and getting him set up. But before he could even start questioning if Ace was okay, the Raven started to laugh as he held onto him, hugging him and burying his face into his thick jacket.
"Ace-yoi?" Marco questioned, trying to look the other over, patting over the legs to gauge the reaction, if there was pain. "Are you alr-"
"Kiss me!"
"Huh?"
"C'mon haha!"
"O-okay!" Stunned Marco could do nothing else then pull back, and putting one hand on the back of Ace's head. The raven instantly using it to find his location and grab his face back, pulling him forward to connect lips. The whole time Marco's eyes were wide in surprise.
When the kiss broke Ace laughed again, smiling bright at the other. "Thank you."
"I- No problem?" he said slowly, before stroking Ace's cheek, "Are you okay Ace?" He finally got the question out, "You didn't hurt yourself anywhere?"
"I am fine Marco! So much more then fine!" He was ecstatic even and couldn't stop laughing, even laughing a bit more at feeling the obvious confusion in the other's body language. He went back to burying into the other, cuddling the blond until his laughter stopped, but the smile never left his lips and he pulled back again to show that smile to the other.
"Thank you." He repeated honestly, "For bringing me here, planning this all out, for allowing me to do this."
"You were always allowed to do this-yoi. There's no rules that you can't come on the ice."
With a hum Ace leaned into the hand that came to gently stroke his cheek, "No physical rules no... But it's difficult. The looks, I can't see them, but I know they're there. I can hear the whispers. But even if those weren't there... My own fear would hold me back, has held me back for so many years. But now... I-" even if he smiled, his eyes were a tiny bit moist with emotion, "y-you showed me I can still do this, I can still come to skate, I always loved it so much, I hated having to give it up, but- I don't need to- I can still do it. T-thank you. Thank you so much."
A trembling smile played on the blond's lips as he leaned forward to connect their lips briefly again, "We can come here every day, I'll come here with you every single day the ice rink stands. We can come before it opens, or even during the day, skate with the other people. We can do this every year again and again-yoi."
A new laugh escaped the raven. Every year, every single day again and again may be a little much, but he had faith that if he were to ask just that, Marco wouldn't hesitate to bring him here and enjoy every second of it with him.
With the help of the blond, he got onto his feet again, and for the remainder of the time they skated hand in hand up until the very moment the workers arrived to prep for the day. For the first time in a long time, coming to the ice rink would bring more than just a nostalgic feeling or the longing for old times, instead he now wondered what wonderful new memories he could create with the blond by his side.