Work Text:
Marco was running into certain difficulties whenever it came to trying to get Ace to realize anything. He wasn’t sure if it was because Ace was so bad with social cues, or he was just naïve. He was smart as hell, but there were certain moments when Marco was pretty sure that Ace had no idea what was actually going on.
He was in a bit of a predicament. How could he admit to having feelings for the Second Division Commander when he’s told him right to his face and he still didn’t realize what Marco meant.
He felt like he was running out of options.
They were docked on a small island, grabbing some much-needed supplies for the ship. Marco walked alongside Thatch; his hands buried deep in his pockets as his frowned settled worse on his face.
“Buddy, if you keep frowning, you’re going to give yourself wrinkles and your Tori Tori no Mi won’t do shit for you.” Thatch cackled, nudging his elbow into Marco’s side as the teasing tone slipped past his lips.
Marco deadpanned, tilting his head to look at his nakama, “You’re always meddling, Thatch.”
The Fourth Division Commander shrugged, humming as the smile played on his lips. “I can’t help it.”
“Yeah, you could. You just don’t want to stop.” Marco retorted.
Thatch gave him a smirk, giving him a quick glance. “I’m a pirate. We do whatever the hell we want.” Marco could have smacked him for that one.
Marco sighed, “Ace is going to be the death of me.”
Thatch made a noise, twisting on his heel so he was facing Marco and walking backwards as they kept moving along. “That bad, huh?”
Marco nodded. “I can’t tell if he’s just fucking with me or if he really doesn’t realize it.”
The cook howled out in laughter for a moment, twirling back around and casting his arm over Marco’s shoulder. “Man, it’s Ace. Give it some time. He’ll figure it out.”
“I really hope you’re right.” Marco muttered.
Marco looked away from Thatch for a moment, his eyes landing on ahead of them where Ace was standing. Ace wasn’t far from them with a few members of the former Spade Pirates. He had stopped in his tracks, looking down at a small collection of flowers that was there.
Marco stood there, just watching him for a moment. He had never seen that look in Ace’s eye before. He typically had these gleams that would show varying emotions. His thoughts on something. The look was so soft. He looked happy. Like he was entranced somehow by the beauty of the flowers he was looking at. Ace had kneeled down, letting his fingers graze over the petals of the flowers before his name was being called and he was hurriedly following after who called for him.
As Marco and Thatch walked past the same spot, he took a moment to glance down at them.
Forget-Me-Not.
In that moment, an idea struck Marco.
He knew how to get his point across now.
When Marco found Ace again, it was late at night. The younger pirate was on the deck, running through his normal nightly routine. Every night without fail, Ace would be out on the deck practicing and refining different techniques for his Mera Mera no Mi. Coming up with new ways to utilize his fire abilities from the standard ones he typically used during a fight.
When Marco laid his eyes on him, it was almost like he was in a trance. That there was nothing else around him as he watched Ace move through his move that he named Firefly. Little streams of fire coming from his fingers and encircling around him with each swipe of his hand. His eyes were closed, and his raven black hair fell into his eyes as he moved around.
If Marco didn’t know any better, he would think that Ace was just purely dancing.
The First Division Commander stood there for a moment. Just watching Ace move. The only light on this side of the deck was coming from Ace. Marco felt the slight smile coming to his lips as he leaned back against the rail, keeping his eyes locked to the other.
Ace always looked so happy whenever he was doing something like this. The face he was making was very similar to what he had seen earlier that day. It was so soft. Gentle.
After a few moments, Ace realized that he was standing there. The Fire Logia stopped what he was doing, bouncing on his feet for a second as he said, “Marco!”
Marco felt the soft smile come to his face for a moment as he tilted his head, “You looked like you were enjoying yourself.”
Ace smiled, lacing his fingers behind his head as he shrugged, “Nighttime is really the only time I can let loose without the possibility of hurting someone.” He paused for a moment, looking straight up at the sky, “Also, it’s always so beautiful out at night.”
“Yeah, it is.” Marco stated, his gaze still locked to Ace.
Ace looked back to him as Marco let the smile settle on his face. Ace still had his smile gracing his face as he walked forward, leaping down from where he was standing on the figurehead of the ship. “You’re up pretty late.” Ace stated as he readjusted his shirt for a moment.
Marco shrugged, “Couldn’t sleep.”
Ace cast him a look for a second, shrugging it off as he leaned back against the rail that Marco was standing by. “You like watching me.” Ace murmured.
“I mean… who wouldn’t?” Marco shot back, smirking as he noticed that the heat rose to Ace’s face a second later. “Kind of hard not to look away.”
Ace chuckled, shaking his head as he bit down on his lip. “Why are you really out here?”
Marco shuffled on his feet, pulling out the little bundle of flowers that he had gotten back on the island. He leaned his elbows against the rail, looking down at the Victorian white color of the flowers. “Don’t really have a reason.” He stated.
He noticed the way that Ace’s gaze had moved from his face, moving down to the flowers in his hand. Marco held them up, giving a slight smile, “Here. I think you’d have a better time with these than me.”
Ace paused, bringing a hand up and letting his fingers graze across the petals. For a brief moment, Marco saw it again. The way that he was looking at them just like he had back when Marco first noticed. The same gentle smile came to Ace’s face as he took them from Marco’s hand, once again moving his fingertips over the flowers.
“They’re pretty.” Ace whispered.
Well, I think you’re pretty.
“I thought so too.” Marco chose to say instead.
It didn’t take much longer before they fell into a peaceful conversation. Not once did Ace look away from the flowers that were now in his hand. It made Marco happy just seeing the look on his face. How relaxed Ace was.
As he went to tell Ace how he truly felt, he had stopped for a moment. Just from seeing Ace, he felt like he couldn’t say it in that moment. Instead, he just carried on with what they were doing.
He would do anything to keep that smile on Ace’s face.
He wasn’t sure why this exactly became his thought process, but Marco had made it a life’s mission to go in hunt of the specific Forget-Me-Not flowers. Whenever they were close enough to an island, Marco would leave the ship temporarily in search of the beautiful flowers. Ace had kept ahold of the ones he had given him that night, but they were quickly welting away. Ace had pinned them up into his hat, letting the flowers sit across the brim of orange.
It made Marco’s heart swell. A giddy feeling in the pit of his stomach to know that those were the same flowers that he gave to him. It was like Ace was treasuring them in a way, checking every so often to ensure that no harm came to them.
When he did finally find them, he had departed the island with his prize in his beak. He kept them securely there as he made his flight back to the Moby.
There was an anxious feeling in his gut as he soared across the ocean. He kept wanting to tell Ace about his feelings, but there was something about seeing Ace’s smile that actually made him hesitant to say anything. What if he said something and that smile disappeared from his face? What if he made Ace uncomfortable by admitting it to him?
This felt like a good alternative for the time being. He didn’t want that smile to go away. He wanted to see it gracing the younger pirate’s face continuously. It was almost addicting to see his smile. Like he needed more each time it graced his beautiful face.
Ace was among his nakama standing on the deck when he made his arrival back to the ship. Ace’s eyes had fallen on him immediately. There was a glimmer in Ace’s eyes that he couldn’t quite place as his talons hit the rail and he landed. Ace had walked over, giving a slight confused look, “You went to the island for… flowers?” Ace questioned. His voice was so soft. Dropped almost to a whisper.
Marco couldn’t say anything back in this form as he settled the new flowers to the side, twisting his body enough to pick off the old ones off of Ace’s hat. The Second Division Commander had completely stopped moving. Freezing in his spot as Marco went about his task. Once he had gotten all the old flowers off, he turned and grabbed the news once, replacing them back into the brim of the hat. Taking special care in making sure that they were tucked securely into the beads that were there.
As he pulled back, he saw Ace reach up. His fingers moving across them. The petals moved with his fingers as Ace looked up at him. That twinkle was back in his eye and the soft smile returning back to his face.
Marco morphed back into his human form, settling down on the rail as he smiled. “You needed new ones.”
Ace laughed slightly, “I suppose I did.”
Ace reached up, grabbing at his hat for a second to pull them down. Admiring the new flowers that were now settled perfectly on his hat. Marco felt the smile tug on his lips before he looked up, noticing that they were being watched, “Don’t you all have jobs to do?”
Quickly, their nakama scattered and went back to what they were doing before. Through the corner of his eye, he could see Whitebeard’s amused smirk as the man shook his head and took a drink.
Marco went back to looking back at Ace, seeing that gentle smile was remaining on his face. It made Marco’s stomach twist as he heard the soft mutter of, “Thank you.” Coming from Ace.
“I just want you to keep smiling like that.” Marco had stopped for a moment as he realized he had said it out loud.
Ace’s smile only got a bit bigger as he slipped his hat back on, focusing his gaze onto Marco’s. “It’s perfect.” He gave a slight wave as his name was called and Ace gave a quick, “I gotta go!” Before he was taking off after the person who called out his name.
Marco’s focus was no longer on the flowers are he muttered out, “Yeah, you are.”
At this point, it felt like it had just became their thing. Marco knew that he was eventually going to tell Ace the truth. That he did in fact have feelings for him, but now, it felt like the idea that he had initially had completely changed.
It almost felt like his mission now was to solely keep that smile on Ace’s face. He was much more relaxed than before. His smile came to his face a lot more. It made Marco happy just seeing it.
Ace hadn’t taken the flowers out of the brim of his hat once. Leaving them there in their full glory to show off. Once again, they were reaching the point that they would need to be replaced as petals started to fall off.
They were on an island, hosting a large party among the flagship crew and some of their allies. He could hear all the laughter moving around. Between the music playing and the drunken laughter, Marco almost couldn’t hear his own brain trying to operate.
He had maneuvered through the men to try and get away from most of them who were roughhousing at this point. He managed to get to a small clearing, sighing as he sat down with his tankard in hand and in the small flower field that was nearby.
He had lost sight of all the other Commanders. Ace was probably with Thatch and happily eating away. He couldn’t even spot Whitebeard’s large form among how many people were there. It was a lot.
“It’s not like you to not be apart of the festivities.” Marco looked over his shoulder, seeing Whitey Bay standing there. Her sharp blue eyes locked to the people ahead of them.
Marco shrugged, leaning back on his hands as he muttered out, “Shouldn’t you also be out there?”
Bay hummed, “Maybe.” She took her own drink, adjusting the way she was standing to put more weight on one side as she tilted her head. “It’s been a long time since I’ve talk to you.”
Marco felt the smile slip onto his face, “Well, someone ran off to be their own Captain.”
After a bit more conversation between the two, Bay suddenly interjected with, “So, how’s the kid fairing as Commander?”
Marco paused, looking over to where Bay was motioning. Ace had broken away from the crowd, venturing off by himself to get closer to the shoreline by himself. Taking a seat down in the sand. Marco’s gaze followed him as he replied with, “He’s great at it. He already has the respect of a lot of the crew.” As he finished speaking, he took a drink from his tankard.
“Reminds me of someone.” Bay murmured before she kneeled down, “How long have you liked him?” Marco choked on the alcohol, coughing, and sputtering for a second as he looked over to the older woman. Bay looked amused as she added in, “It’s obvious.”
Marco laughed for a second shaking his head, “A while.”
“Have you told him?” Bay questioned.
The First Division Commander looked back at Ace. Once again, he was wearing his shirt, probably due to the falling temperature. He didn’t wear it often, but he usually did at night. Despite being a Logia type, he was still prone to the elements of the world.
“No.” Marco admitted.
Bay snorted, shaking her head, “You should. You’re like the one person on the Moby that has never actively had a partner.”
Marco felt the slight smile hit his face as he shook his head. “I don’t know, Bay.”
“Eh, go for it.” Bay stated, tapping at his back before she was standing back up and taking off towards the others. “Life is precious! Take your shot while you can!” Was the last thing that he heard Bay say before she was gone.
Marco sat there for a moment, his gaze moving back to Ace. He was just sitting there, looking out at the ocean. The First Division Commander leaned back, sighing for a second before he felt something touching his hand. He looked down, pausing as he saw the Forget-Me-Not flowers right there.
He hummed for a second, picking the flowers before he stood up and crossed over to where Ace was sitting.
It was much quieter where Ace was. Just enough noise to know there was a party behind them, but not enough to be a bother. Ace hadn’t looked up when he got up to him. Instead muttering out, “I’ll be back over there soon. I just need some… quiet.”
Marco sat down beside him, close enough that he could feel some of the heat radiating off of Ace’s body. “Don’t worry about it. They are drunk enough they wouldn’t even notice.”
Ace smiled. One that made Marco stop for a moment and just look at him. The way that the smile caused dimples to show up on his face. The slight crinkle by his eyes and his freckles seemly sticking out just a bit more. His eyes had a sparkle to them as he looked out to the ocean. It was one of those genuine smiles that he didn’t catch Ace with often.
“Sometimes the quiet reminds me of home.” Ace murmured, curling his arms a bit on his knees as his smile became a bit fond. “My brothers and I would spend countless nights in the woods. We could hear everything. The animals… the wind… it didn’t matter. It was the quiet of the night.”
“Sounds peaceful.” Marco replied.
“I miss it sometimes.” Ace admitted, “But I love being out at sea. It’s where I belong. I sometimes wonder what Luffy is up to.”
“He’s still back home, right?” Marco questioned.
Ace nodded. “He’s probably driving Dadan crazy.” For a second, Ace laughed a bit before he was tilting his head to settle it on his arms and looking over to Marco with glossy eyes. “I’m really happy that I found all of you.”
Marco smiled, feeling the grin getting a bit bigger as he exhaled sharply and looked out to the sea. “Just a bunch of misfits and outcasts who made a family together.”
“Is there anything better?” Ace said back.
Yeah… you.
Marco didn’t say it out loud, even though he really wanted to.
Marco looked down at his hand, the flowers were still within his fingers as he lifted his hand up and presented them to Ace. “Here.”
Ace’s gaze fell down onto them. That soft glance that Marco could get lost in locked to them as he reached out and took them. The heat of his fingers grazed against the back of Marco’s ever so slightly. His smile had returned to his face as Marco let the flowers slip away from his grasp and Ace was bringing them up to his nose.
“Is there something you’re trying to tell me, Marco?” Ace questioned, a smirk forming on his lips as his sharp eyes turned to Marco. There was something lingering within them that he couldn’t place. He wanted to say it looked calculating.
“Actually—” Only he wasn’t able to finish what he was saying as he felt paws thump him in the back and knock him down onto his face as a bark followed.
He had also heard Ace’s shocked shout of, “Kotatsu! Stefan!” Before he was letting out a loud laugh.
Marco grumbled for a second as he finally managed to wrangle Stefan off of him. His face was now covered in sand as he paused for a moment when he felt a hand dusting it away. He turned his head, noticing that Ace was leaning a bit over, the best that he could now that he had a lynx in his lap with Kotatsu’s head placed on his shoulder and Stefan’s paws were digging into Marco’s shoulder blades as the dog barked again. Ace’s fingers moved across his face for a second before the younger pirate was eyeing Stefan, “That was mean.”
Stefan just barked in reply, bumping his nose into Marco’s ear before he was pushing off of him. The dog moved, shuffling his way into Marco’s lap as the Commander sighed and started running his fingers through the white fur.
“You little jerks.” Marco whispered. If Ace heard it, he didn’t say anything about it. Kotatsu mewled for a second, curling a bit closer to Ace as his paws landed on Ace’s shoulders alongside his head.
For a split second, he could have sworn that he saw Kotatsu smirk at him as the feline swished his tail.
Well, so much for that.
Marco had came to the conclusion that the next time that he gave Ace flowers that he was absolutely going to tell him how he felt. Every time he attempted to, either it was foiled, or he just couldn’t bring himself to do it.
He had taken the time to go to the nearest island that had Forget-Me-Not flowers, getting a bundle of the white and blue ones, tucking them behind his back before he went looking for Ace.
Surprisingly, Ace was hard to find.
It had taken him a while before he had managed to track him down. He felt like he shouldn’t have been surprised to find him out on the deck with the others. Marco didn’t even care if they had a crowd. He was telling Ace, and he was doing it now.
He exhaled sharply as he stood by the cabin doors, finding that his feet couldn’t move. Why was this so damn hard? He was the First Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates for heaven’s sake. He was practically the right-hand man of one of the Yonkos of the Sea.
Yet, it felt like he was going straight into a war trying to do this.
Actually, scratch that, he would absolutely go to war for Ace.
“Are you going to tell him or not, son, or are you just going to stand there all day?” Marco would never admit that he practically jumped a foot in the air as he turned his head to look up at Whitebeard. The Captain was looking down at him with an amused smile on his face.
“You’re literally twelve feet tall.” Marco grumbled, “How do you always manage to do this?!”
“It’s my ship.” Whitebeard hummed, turning his attention back to Ace, “So, are you going to tell him?”
“How did you even know?” Marco questioned, flabbergasted that Whitebeard was urging him forward.
Whitebeard snorted, “Son, I just know things.” Once again, Whitebeard was motioning his head towards Ace, “So, go tell him.”
Marco exhaled sharply.
There was a strange bit of confidence that struck him at that moment. He eyed Whitebeard for a second as the Captain grinned at him, waving his hand to usher him forward as Marco finally turned his attention back to Ace.
His heart was pounding against his chest as he crossed the deck. Ace’s back was too him when he finally got to him. The older pirate shuffled his weight on his feet as he muttered out, “Ace?”
Ace turned, the slight smile on his face getting a bit bigger as his gaze fell on Marco. “Marco, what’s up?”
“I have something…” Marco’s voice trailed as he realized that the words had gotten stuck within his throat and his hands had gotten clammy.
Why was this so difficult?
C’mon, Marco… Just tell him.
Ace tilted his head slightly, the last arrangement of flowers that Marco gave him tucked behind his ear. There was something about seeing them there that had Marco’s face flaring. His grasp tightened on the flowers as Ace muttered out, “Marco?”
Marco pushed through the sudden frozen moment as he pulled his arm out from behind his back, holding out the bouquet towards Ace.
Immediately Ace’s gaze turned to them, and the smile got a bit bigger. His gaze was just a little bit softer as he reached out. His pale fingers graze over the petals like Marco had seen him do before.
“Forget-Me-Not.” Ace whispered.
“Ace, I…”
Marco actually stopped speaking as Ace stepped forward, his hand settling over Marco’s tattooed chest as he pressed a gentle kiss into Marco’s cheek. Marco could only blink for a moment as he felt his brain cease to function.
Marco snapped out of it, feeling the warmth of Ace’s palm against his chest. He was sure that Ace could actually feel how hard his heart was beating.
“I really like you, Ace.” Marco murmured, feeling Ace’s breath lingering on his cheek as the younger barely pulled away. “I’ve been trying to tell you for a while.”
“I knew the whole time.” Ace whispered.
Marco paused, pulling back a bit so he could look down at the other. “You knew?”
Ace smiled and nodded. “I figured it out the first time.”
Marco laughed for a second, shaking his head. He should have known. No wonder Ace seemed to proudly wear the flowers whenever Marco gave them to him or the smiles that he would give to him.
Ace reached up, his hands landing on either side of Marco’s face. Warm fingers sprawling out over his cheek bones as Ace got up onto his tiptoes to press a kiss into his lips instead.
It felt like the spark shot right down Marco’s spine as he used his free hand to wrap it around Ace’s waist, pulling him a bit closer but careful not to crush the flowers he was still holding. Ace was the first to break it, his lips still grazing over Marco’s as he whispered, “I feel the same way. I just… I just needed to hear it from you.”
Marco shook his head, grinning as he surged forward and connected their lips again.
Marco was a fool, but you know what, that was okay.
In the end, it all worked out.
Still, he adored the smile that came to Ace’s face.
It meant that he would never stop.
Anything to keep that smile on Ace’s face.