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Marco would never believe such thing can happen. It all started one Friday evening when him and Ace decided to go to cinema date to watch a movie. Marco knew Ace loved action movies and so they went to watch Deadpool. Marco bought them butter-flavored popcorn and they went to their respective seats. They came pretty on last minute because Ace couldn't get his hand away from Marco. As usual. Ace just loved Marco wearing shirts.
Anyway, they sat down and settled everything to get comfortable. The lights darkened and soon they were in complete darkness. Ace snuggled his hand into Marco's palm and caressed him by his thumb. Marco touched him back. The advertisement part began. Marco didn't really pay attention as he was busy with caressing Ace. Suddenly they noticed a few barely audible giggles from the seats few rows from them. As they turned their heads in the direction of those noisy guys, Marco suddenly felt his hand being firmly squeezed by Ace's palm.
"That's Luffy! And he's being harassed by an older man!" Ace hissed. Marco froze. That giggling boy surely was Ace's younger brother. His laughing sounded happy. Marco didn't have enough time to look at the other guy though because Ace was already getting out of his seat heading off to Luffy. Marco sighed. Why did his lover had to have such a severe brother complex? Luffy was known for having a large variety of friends of various ages and personalities. He was practically able to befriend anyone.
"Ace, love, Luffy seems like he's having a good time, yoi. Could you please calm down? It’s most likely just one of Luffy’s friends." He tried to calm him down. Ace turned to him and frowned.
"You want me to let that guy hurt Luffy when I can prevent it!?" Ace was already burning with hatred towards the stranger that dared to put his hands on his precious younger brother. Marco grabbed his hand and dragged him back to his seat.
"Ace, I can understand your feelings. You can confront them as soon as the movie ends, but PLEASE, don't spoil other people's fun. Wait until the movie finishes." He hissed. Ace pouted but shut up and sat down quietly. Marco sighed in relief. Thankfully, Ace didn't want to make a scene, which would ruin other people's fun. After few minutes, he got immersed into the movie's plot and stopped throwing occasional glares on the seats, where Luffy and that stranger were seated.
As soon as the movie finished though, Ace jumped out of his seat and rushed down to the row, where Luffy and his acquaintance were sitting. Marco hastily grabbed all of their things and quickly followed Ace. When he finally reached their row, Ace was already almost throwing a punch on the guy. Marco dropped the things and rushed to grab his lover, seeing as Luffy jumped in front of him to defend him from his brother.
"How dare you!" Ace was yelling at the man while trying to jerk out of Marco's embrace. His eyes were burning with hate.
"Ace, calm down! Let Torao be!" Screamed Luffy on Ace. Marco just now glanced on the tall figure standing behind Luffy and his embrace loosened a bit out of shock. It was his colleague from work, Trafalgar Law. Ace took advantage of his loosened grip and wriggled out to throw a punch again.
"Don't touch my brother, you asshole!" He tried to punch him, but Luffy grabbed his fist and pushed it back. "Luffy, move away this instant! You don't know what's going on! He's taking advantage of you!" Ace yelled. Luffy glared at him back.
"No, you don't know what's going on, Ace! Stop! Torao is my boyfriend!" He shouted back. Ace froze. Marco and Luffy took advantage of him being in shock and dragged him further away from slightly taken aback Law.
---
The four of them were now sitting in a nearby restaurant, Ace throwing glares on the tall black-haired man sitting next to Luffy, his arms crossed. Luffy was reciprocating his glares and poor Marco with Law were awkwardly looking at each other. Marco sighed. Oh, what a nice evening.
"I want an explanation." Growled Ace. Luffy angrily pouted and crossed his arms as well.
"I don't owe you an explanation. Torao is my boyfriend. The end." He murmured.
"Luffy!" Screamed Ace in shock. He was only trying to protect him, why didn't Luffy get it? "He's only taking advantage of you! He's much older than you! Can't u see it?" He tried to reason with him.
"Oh, shut up! You think you can slander Torao when you yourself are dating an older guy? No offense though, Marco." He snapped and immediately turned to Marco to assure him he didn't mean it in a bad way. Marco was a nice guy , and he didn’t deserve being accused as well, since he loved Ace dearly.
"It's okay, yoi." Said Marco. These were his only words during this whole mess so far. Marco knew Luffy actually liked him and said it only for Ace to remind him that he's not in position to criticize his relationships. Marco however was quite self-conscious of his and Ace's age difference. Ace was making him feel like and old guy sometimes, be it his antics or his quite naïve view of world. But he always made sure to assure Marco that he loved him even despite their age. Nevertheless, Ace has just unconsciously reminded him how people looked at him. They looked at him as if he were an old pervert harassing a youngster. And Marco was unhappy from it.
Ace twitched and quickly glanced on his lover. This was not what he intended. He was only trying to protect his precious younger brother from a dangerous older... Oh no! Only now he realized his words hurt Marco as well. He reached for Marco's hand and gripped it tight to show Marco, that he didn't mean to hurt him. Marco sighed and smiled. This meant Luffy managed to break Ace's arguments.
"Well, what about I take Law out for a quick smoke and you two can talk it out, yoi?" Marco asked and blinked on both Law and Luffy. Luffy grinned and showed him a thumbs up. Law looked like he's relieved he can escape Ace's deadly glares. Only Ace started to object.
"But Marco! I'm not finished with him. I have to-" Marco interrupted him with a quick peck on his lips to silence any protests.
"We'll be back in a sec. We all need to calm down a bit." With that he grabbed Law by his shoulder and they both walked outside the restaurant.
"Thanks a lot." Said Law as soon as they walked out of the door. Marco smiled at him.
"No worries. Well, Ace is a bit stubborn and overprotective. But he's a good guy." Marco lit his cigarette and offered Law his lighter.
"You don't mind me calling you Law, do you? I think we'd just never had an occasion to talk together properly. Call me Marco, by the way. I think we will see each other more than occasionally now, yoi." He chuckled. Law smirked.
"Only if Luffy's brother won't pierce me through with his glares." He said and visibly shivered.
"He will get used to it in no time. I'll talk to him. Anyway, how did you and Luffy meet?" Marco asked him instead. He was quite curious how his colleague, who doesn't seem like the type to enjoy a lot of activities ended up dating the master of shenaniganry himself.
"Well, long story short, he fell for my dog Bepo while I was on a walk with him. He's a white Samoyed. We kept on bumping into each other in the same park and soon he asked for my number. It's about half a year that we decided to make it official." Law quickly retold their story. Oh, how cute.
"I'm amazed you two managed to keep it secret for so long, yoi. Luffy usually can't keep anything. How did you do it?" Marco whistled surprised. Law shrugged his shoulders. He had no idea, he was pretty much sure Luffy already blabbed it out, that’s why he was so surprised, when he found out Ace has no idea about him. It made him like Luffy even more than before.
For a few moments they were both quiet, silently smoking. Marco was still kind of in awe from how the events of this evening turned out to be. Law then dared to break the silence.
"Well, to be honest, I knew that Luffy's brother Ace was dating some Marco guy, Luffy occasionally mentioned it. But I'd never have guessed it was you. It's nice to have an ally." He laughed slightly. Marco sighed.
"Believe me, you'll need one, yoi. You've just met only one of the brothers. You don't want to know how it is when you have to deal with two portions of deadly glares at the same time. But luckily for you, Sabo is the more reasonable out of these two, he'll be easier to convince. And as you caught Ace off-guard, you've dealt with the worst one for now. I just don't recommend being too 'expressive' for some time if you know what I mean. And also, if you need something, don't hesitate to talk to me. We both know Ace and Luffy's antics can be ridiculous sometimes, yoi." He winked to Law.
"Seriously, thanks a lot, Marco. For everything." Law joined his hands in front of his chest. Marco only shook his head. Then he finished his cigarette and turned to him.
"I think it's about time we go back, yoi?" He looked at his wristwatch and made a step closer to the door. Law followed him, only a bit hesitatingly.
Luffy was already grinning as if nothing happened, happily eating the last bits of his chickenburger menu. Ace was still pretty much frowning but looked a bit calmer. He didn't immediately jump on Law, only raised his eyes, and glared at him. This was already a progress. Marco sat down and lightly caressed Ace's hand. With this, they calmly finished their portions in silence. Ace tried to intimidate Law with some questions, trying to find any flaw on him, but Law was calmly answering and explaining all of them, shattering his efforts. In the end, Marco paid for their meal and even though Law argued with him that he will pay for Luffy and himself on his own.
"Let it be. You can treat us some other time, right Ace?" Marco threw a glance on his frowning lover and nudged him. Ace only murmured something and pouted. They all collected their things and walked out of the restaurant. Marco and Luffy wanted to say goodbye, only that Ace grabbed Law's coat lapels and dragged him down a bit.
"Don't think we're already finished. I'll keep watching you. If you dare to hurt Luffy, you're dead." He hissed. But Law was no longer intimidated by Ace as before and bit back with a smirk. „Then I’m pretty much safe since I love Luffy-ya very dearly.“
Ace growled and pushed him away. Then he stomped away, in the direction of the tram station, without even saying a mere bye. Marco smiled apologetically.
„I’ll talk to him, Luffy. Don’t worry, he’ll get over it. Gotta go. Take care, you two.“ he said to them and rushed to catch Ace before he boards the tram all by himself. He had to smile for himself while running though. These two brothers, always only causing him trouble.