Chapter Text
Ace wasn’t sure how he had gotten so lucky. He really thought he was out of chances when he had texted Marco the day before to cancel their latest try at a date, and instead he was sitting in Marco’s car heading to meet up with his siblings. He was pleasantly sore from their late night activities and he smelled like Marco’s body wash. It was almost perfect, in Ace’s opinion.
They had stopped by the house Ace shared with Sabo and Luffy long enough for Ace to change into clean clothes and let Sabo know that he still wasn’t dead before leaving again. Ace had been sure it would take longer, Sabo had been wanting to size up the doctor that Ace hadn’t been able to stop talking about for months now, but the blonde was up to his eyebrows in preparation for a case the next week and barely spared Ace a wave.
Ace looked down at their hands with an almost dazed smile. Marco had casually twined their fingers together as soon as he put the car in drive, like it was something they had done every day for years and the feeling made Ace’s chest feel fuzzy.
“Everything okay?” Marco asked, glancing over at him.
“Yeah, just still a little stunned I guess,” Ace admitted, squeezing Marco’s hand. “I’ve never been introduced to someone’s family as their boyfriend.”
“To be fair I’ve never brought anyone around to introduce to my family. I’m sure they’ll be insufferable, so just let me know if they get to be too much,” Marco grinned but Ace could see just the slightest hint of a blush on his cheeks.
“You’re kidding,” Ace said, slack jawed.
Marco huffed out a laugh, bringing Ace’s hand up to brush a kiss against his knuckles. “I spent way too long wrapped up in school and then work, after that, well not many people are willing to understand my schedule.”
“Yeah, I guess I can understand that,” Ace admitted. His own schedule was fucked up beyond belief most of the time and before that–he didn’t really like to think about his thought process before that. “Anyways, who all are we meeting up with?”
“Not the whole family,” Marco assured. “I’m pretty sure it’ll just be three of them, Jozu may join us if he gets off work early.”
Ace hummed and went back to staring out the window until his phone went off and distracted him.
<< Bo
Did you stop by the house?
Ace couldn’t have stopped the laugh that burst out if he tried, ignoring Marco’s confused look as he answered.
>>
Yeah man. Came and left like 10 min ago. Even said hi to you.
“Everything okay?” Marco asked.
“Yeah,” Ace was still laughing. “Sabo was so into whatever he was doing he doesn’t remember me going home.”
<< Bo
Shit. Sorry about that, I had wanted to meet Marco. I guess I got too wrapped up in this case.
<< Bo
I’m sorry Ace.
>>
It’s no big deal Bo, I think this one’s gonna stick around a while.
“Does he do that a lot? Forget he saw people?” Ace could read the concern in Marco’s voice. It made Ace smile a little that the older man couldn’t fully turn the doctor off any more than he could turn off the first responder instincts.
“Nah, not really, he’s medicated for ADHD but sometimes he still gets a little hyperfixated on what he’s doing. Especially if he has an interesting case he’s working on,” Ace explained easily.
“Ah,” Marco let go of his hand to scratch the back of his neck, “sorry, that probably–”
Ace waved off the rest of Marco’s sentence. “No big deal. You worry, it’s part of who you are,” Ace smiled.
Marco sighed as he pulled into the parking lot of their usual lunch place. “Well, it’s now or never,” he groaned, making Ace laugh.
“You act like you’re being led to your execution,” Ace teased.
“Yeah, yeah, tease me all you want,” Marco sighed dramatically, getting out of the car.
Ace joined him around front of the car, laughing as he tangled their fingers together. He was still grinning when they walked into the cafe, following Marco as he led them to a table in the corner.
“Well, I’ll be. He actually did bring someone,” Ace turned to greet the voice and promptly froze at the familiar faces.
“Shut up. Ace, these are my brothers, Izou and Thatch. Guys this is–”
“Ace! Good to see you again man!” Thatch exclaimed, jumping up from the table to pull the firefighter into a hug.
“Thatch! How’ve you been? And Izou, it’s nice to see you again,” Ace grinned at the two before turning back to Marco.
Marco blinked at them blankly for a moment before he smiled. “I wasn’t aware you guys knew each other,” he said simply.
“The All Blue used to cater a lot of the events the firehouse would do before the Baratie took over,” Thatch explained, leading Ace into a chair and leaving Marco to sit on his own.
“And Izou helped us with that calendar fundraiser we did last year,” Ace grinned at the other man. “Honestly I never put two and two together because I don’t think you called Thatch by name since we started talking.”
“Okay, but I know I’ve talked about Izou,” Marco counted.
At this Ace flushed bright red, scratching the back of his neck as Izou raised an eyebrow.
“So, I maybe never caught Izou’s name during the shoot,” Ace admitted, flush darkening as Izou raised the other eyebrow and Marco tilted his head. “Nami set most of it up and once everything started you mostly talked to Luffy, who is absolutely terrible with names. By the time I realized I never caught your name it was really too late to ask.”
“He can’t be that bad,” Thatch interrupted.
“Thatch, he doesn’t even call his own boyfriend by his name and they’ve been together for years,” Ace insisted with a slight laugh. “I’m pretty sure he usually called you ‘bread hair’ and Izou ‘pretty guy’. So if anyone ever expected Luffy to pass on a name, I can’t be blamed for not knowing it.”
“It’s true,” Marco agreed. “I had to ask Law to find out if he actually knew my name after he called me pineapple for the third time.”
Ace groaned and hid his face in his hands. “I am so sorry about that,” he mumbled, “I promise he does know your name.”
“It’s fine,” Marco laughed easily.
“At least he thought I was pretty,” Izou snickered.
“Bread hair? Really?” Thatch groaned.
“I keep telling you the pompadour isn’t in anymore,” Marco teased.
Ace just smiled. It was nice that he was already vaguely familiar with some of Marco’s family, from what they had talked about, his family meant a lot to Marco. Ace was sure if his family didn’t like him he wouldn’t stick around for very long.
They had fallen into a steady rhythm, Ace easily joining in on stories about their weeks and the what’s what around the community.
They had just finished putting in their orders when Ace’s phone rang. He pulled his phone out of his pocket with confusion, Sabo was busy, Luffy was at work, and Marco was with him, so who would be calling him?
Confusion turned to irritation at the name across his screen. The large ‘Johnson’ glared at him from the screen as he declined the call.
“Everything okay?” Marco asked, watching as Ace fought not to slam his phone on the table.
“Yeah everything is–” Ace broke off with a harsh sigh as the same name flashed across the screen again. “I have to take this. I’ll be back in a moment.”
Ace leaned over and kissed Marco on the cheek before standing and answering the phone. “Portgas, go ahead,” he greeted.
“Hey Portgas, I’ve got a huge favor to ask you,” Johnson said on the other end.
“If it’s not an emergency I’m not interested dude,” Ace said. He had moved into the hallway by the bathrooms for the conversation, he could still see Marco from where he stood and he tried to give him a smile. He could tell the doctor wasn’t convinced by the tilt of his eyebrow, but he turned back to his brothers anyways. He turned his back to the restaurant to keep his mind from wondering.
“Come on, man, I really need you to cover for me. There’s this super hot chick that agreed to meet with me tonight,” Johnson nearly begged.
“Johnson, I haven’t been able to take a full 48 off in over a month. No, I’m not covering for you,” he argued.
“Come on, just because you’re captain’s favorite doesn’t mean–”
“I said ‘no’, Johnson. Now fuck off, I’m at lunch with my boyfriend,” Ace snapped, hanging up the phone.
He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths before opening the notes app on his phone. It automatically opened the only note he kept on that app.
I am allowed to set boundaries. I am allowed to say no. It’s okay to get help maintaining those boundaries if I need to.
Call Nikki if you need someone to tell me I can do these for myself.
Ace took another deep breath, guilt and shame eating at his chest for standing up for himself. He could hear Marco laugh from their table, the sound made him smile and he forced the burning sensation down.
>> Lulu
Hey Cap, I just wanted to let you know that Johnson just called me trying to get me to cover for him. He’s pulling the usual insult too. If there’s an emergency I’d be willing to come in, but I’d really like to enjoy my 48 off.
Ace waited a few moments, he could see when Luffy read the message, before he locked his phone and went back to the table.
“Everything good?” Thatch asked as Ace sat back down.
“Yeah, one of the guys wanted me to come in today,” Ace explained easily, taking a drink of his water.
“I do hope you told them no,” Izou nearly teased. “I nearly remember you living at that fire house when we were working together.”
“You’ve barely been off twelve hours,” Marco agreed with a slight frown.
“I told him no,” Ace agreed.
He didn’t have to defend himself further as the waiter came with their food. It was easily distributed among the four of them, the teasing came even easier as the majority of the plates were set in front of Ace, who just shrugged in response.
“I burn a lot of calories,” he defended easily.
“Yeah I bet you do,” Thatch laughed, nudging Marco in the side. Marco just rolled his eyes and drank his coffee to hide his smirk.
Ace used the brothers’ distraction to check his phone again, blinking in surprise at the two texts he had.
<< Lulu
Portgas, the chief and I have had a very long talk about how devoted you’ve been to the house and the many times you have given up your off time to help out around here. We have agreed that you have earned some extra time off. You are not expected to report for duty until Wednesday. Let me know if there are any more false claims.
<< Lulu
Okay now that your captain had a talk, if I catch your ugly mug in my firehouse before Wednesday I’m throwing all of your workout clothes in the lake :) Thank you for telling me, love you!
Ace couldn’t stop the almost hysterical laugh that bubbled out of his chest. Marco leaned over to look over Ace’s shoulder at what had him laughing so hard, just to smile in response.
“Is throwing your clothes in the lake that big of a threat?” he asked.
“Gym clothes make up like 90% of my wardrobe,” Ace chucked. “That’s his way of saying if I show up he’ll make sure I have to stay in uniform which is a fate worse than death for me.”
“Drama queen,” Marco teased.
“Says the drama queen,” Thatch argued.
“Hey now, if any of us is a drama queen here I’m pretty sure it’s the man with eyeliner sharp enough to cut a man,” Ace piped in, gesturing to Izou.
“I’d be annoyed if it weren’t a badge of honor,” Izou sniffed before all four of them burst into laughter.
0808
A little over an hour later Marco led Ace back out to his car and he wouldn’t have been able to wipe the smile off of his face if he tried.
“Your face is going to get stuck like that if you’re not careful, Birdie,” Ace teased, poking his cheek. He laughed when Marco grabbed him around the waist in retaliation, loud and bright and boisterous.
“How can I not smile when I have such a pretty boy on my arm?” Marco teased back with a smile, pressing Ace’s back against the car door.
“You smooth mother fucker,” Ace laughed, shoving at Marco’s shoulder to get him to back up.
Marco backed up enough to open Ace’s door for him before going around to his own. Ace is still grinning too when he starts the car, reaching over to tangle their fingers together as soon as Marco backs out of the parking space. His cheeks hurt from the smile.
“You’re really happy about this, huh Marco?” Ace murmured.
“I really have a good feeling about us,” Marco admitted softly. “The fact that you get along so well with even just a few members of my family makes it feel even more real.”
He could see Ace blush and duck his head slightly out of the corner of his eye and he barely refrained from teasing him about it. Marco was content to let the subject drop, humming along to the radio as Ace leaned his head back on the headrest with a smile.
“So,” Marco started when he pulled into Ace’s neighborhood.
“So,” Ace hummed.
“I have an early shift in the morning but it’s not a long one, since you now have a few extra days off, would you like to do dinner? Or just hang out?” Marco offered.
“I like the sound of that,” Ace grinned. “Why don’t you text me when you get off and we’ll decide what to do based on how you’re feeling?”
Marco put the car in park in front of the house before leaning over to pull Ace into a soft kiss. “Sounds perfect,” he whispered against Ace’s lips.
Ace grinned and leaned in for another kiss before pulling back and unbuckling his seatbelt. “Alright, get out of here then before I decide not to let you leave,” Ace teased.
“Alright, alright,” Marco laughed, sitting up as Ace got out of the car. “I’ll text you when I get home.”
“You’d better.”
Marco watched Ace walk up to the door, turning to blow Maco a teasing kiss. Marco waited until Ace had disappeared into the house to pull away, grin not fading until well after he got home.
Ace leaned against the door as soon as he got inside, hands coming up to hide his goofy grin but he couldn’t hold back the delighted almost-giggle the burst from his chest.
“Damn,” Sabo said from the couch in the living room, barely looking away from the TV, “you’ve got it bad.”
“You have no idea, Bo,” Ace sighed happily. He had a great feeling about them.