Wishfull-star - Brownie good boy! Thank you for enjoying this! it was something new to try, dog POV! Go brownieeeee

Zoysite - Thank you! Ace everyone's favourite!

I said before Ace orders food online... so ehmmmm... alternate reality? Ace does go shopping alone this time hahaha. Or with Brownie! I wrote this before I remembered I said he doesn't go shop alone.

POV Ace – At a local store, cash register

"This is a 5 dollar bill, sir."

Ace blinked, he was sure that he had handed over a bill of 50 to the cashier, "oh- sorry! Let me take that back and I'll find a 50 for you!"

He held out his hand and accepted the bill put it into it. He felt over it and nodded to himself, it was a 5 indeed. "I'm sorry," he apologized again as he felt through his wallet, finding another bill and making sure to double check that it was a 50 before handing it over. "This should be the right one, right?"

"It's all good. It happens to the best of us."

Ace heard the smile in the cashier's voice as he spoke, very happy the man didn't seem annoyed he had messed up.

"Here's your change, sir. Please have a good day."

"Thank you." he smiled accepting the few coins and put them away, taking his bag that was also handed to him nicely, "You have a good day too! Home, Brownie." With the command given, Ace's loyal dog didn't hesitate to start his walk home, pulling Ace along to show the way.

POV Marco – Also, at the same store... by coincidence...

Marco, who had been close behind Ace saw red. Now it all made sense as to why Ace was missing so much money! It had happened a few times at home recently that he saw Ace counting the bills he had, only to frown. Asking what was wrong, the raven waved him off saying that he counted wrong again, that he thought he had some more last time he counted but that he probably misread a number. The dots telling the number sometimes got a bit flattened over time, so he understood.

But it had been happening more and more and it made the blond want to investigate. Thus on a few trips when Ace went to the shop, Marco secretly followed. This would have been his last time following as he hadn't seen anything happen in the other shops and he really was thinking maybe Ace counted wrong. But now... now he was furious.

"How dare you-yoi."

The cashier blinked as he pocketed a bill and looked up, "oh goodmorning sir, I'm sorry I didn't see you. How can I help you-"

"How dare you scam him!" He couldn't stop the yell from leaving him. He was just so mad!

"Excuse me?"

"You switched the bills!"

You could see that the cashier knew he fucked up, but still he tried to act innocent.

"I'm sorry sir, I don't know what you're talking about."

A thick mark appeared on Marco's forehead as he stepped closer, "Let me re-tell what just happened for you as it seems your short-time memory isn't that good." he spoke in a tone that meant danger. "He handed you the correct bill. A 50 dollar bill." Marco accentuated the different sentences, he after all didn't want the cashier to not understand him. And he also didn't mind the people gathering around to listen in. "You told him it was a wrong one. You said it was only a 5. And instead of handing the 50 dollar back, you took a fiver from the cash register and handed that one over."

"I- sir- I think you saw wrong- I wouldn't-"

"You switched the bills before handing it back. Ace thought he really took the wrong bill, pocketed the 5, thinking he has no loss. And gave you another 50 bill. Only this time you accepted it."

"S-sir-"

"And you pocketed the profit, didn't you?"

"N-no."

"Oh? So then you don't mind taking out the cash you just put in your pocket right-yoi? It wouldn't come out to exactly 45 dollars, would it?"

A crowed had formed, all murmuring as the cashier's hand clutched his pants pocket, "th-this isn't f-from the register."

"Ofcourse it isn't" Marco smiled before frowning, "it's Ace's. You stole it. You think he's an easy target because he's blind?" The blond didn't let himself be stopped from the gasps from the crowd, they deserved to know what this man did to his love. "Just because he can't see, you think it's okay to scam him like this. To steal from him in broad daylight like it's nothing?"

"I- I'm sorry! I didn't- I didn't realise-"

"You didn't realise you would get caught, hmm?"

"H-here!" the man hurried to take the cash out of his pants and held it out, the whole crowd scowled and threw remarks that the cashier really did it. "Y-you can have it back! I'm sorry!"

"Oh?" Marco raised an eyebrow "So you think giving your stolen money to a stranger is going to make it okay-yoi?"

"a-ah, you- you know him! You called his name!"

"I did. I do know him. But you don't know our relationship. You can't be sure I would even give this back and tell him of this situation. So giving this to me does nothing. If you were really sorry, you for one wouldn't have done this in the first place. And second, if this was a genuine mistake, which obviously it isn't, you would have yelled or run after him to give the change. 45 isn't a small amount you can just ignore. Where's your manager?"

Eyes widened of the cashier, "No! Please! Next time he comes in I'll pay him back!"

"Just to take it again another time? No thank you. Manager. Now."

"Sir!"

"No need to call for me. I'm here." a woman stepped out from the crowd and Marco looked to her and saw the nametag, he turned to explain the situation but before he would, she spoke. "Jerry, you're done for today. Put the money on the counter and you can retire."

"Don't fire me!"

"You're not fired, yet. We'll be watching the camera footage, if what I heard now is all true, then we'll let you know that you're fired. If you're innocent and that's your money, you'll get it back when you come in for your shift tomorrow. Now go."

From the way the cashier left and cursed as he put the money down, it was obvious he knew that he was a goner.

The manager turned to Marco and bowed, "As the manager of this store, I apologize for this happening. I heard everything and we do not tolerate this. No matter if it was to a blind person or not."

"It's not me that needs an apology" Marco said calming down a bit.

"I know." she nodded, "Ace is a valuable customer of us and I'm glad he had such a good husband to look out for him." she chuckled at the confused look from the blond, "I've talked to Ace several times, helping to find some things. And he often gushes about you. Even showed me some pictures. So, please, when you see him at home, tell him he can call the store or visit in person and I shall apologize to him, reimburse him for not only the money stolen but also the trouble he had to go through."

"... I'll speak with him. I don't know if he wants to come back here though."

"I understand." she nodded and saw Marco look to the money on the counter, "I do hope you understand I can't let you take this money with you right now. Even if I do not believe you lied, we like to see both side's view, in this case watch the cameras to see what happened. How it happened. And what was taken."

Marco nodded to it, he did get that. "It happened more too-yoi. I don't know if it happened in this store. But it's not the first time Ace has been missing money. Can you watch earlier videos too?"

"I can see this month's tapes, more back and I need to contact the higher ups. I promise to look through this month's tapes and see if it happened again. If it happened more, I'll contact higher up to check more footage and we'll calculate how much was taken and reimburse."

"Thank you. I appreciate that."

The two exchanged some information to contact each other before Marco went home. Finding Brownie eating from his bowl and Ace just finishing up putting the groceries away. The raven quickly turned and was all smiles hearing the front door open.

"Marco! Welcome home! I thought you would have been back already!"

The blond smiled as Ace walked to him and he didn't hesitate to close the distance and hug him, pressing a kiss to his lips, "Took a little detour but I made it home to my love."

Giggling Ace returned the hug, "You made it! I love you!"

"I love you too, firefly." for now he would keep it quiet, wait for the shop to see the footage. Then go over everything that happened with Ace when he knew every single fact. Until he had that, he would make sure to join Ace on his occasional shopping trip. He never minded spending extra time with his husband anyway.