Chapter Text
Chapter 1: Rainy Thursday Evenings
It was a lazy Thursday evening – almost night, actually – and it was raining cats and dogs. Not that she’d have noticed, if not for the stranger knocking at her open door, dripping wet and glancing around forlornly.
She’d been in the middle of going over some readings the machine had only just spit out and had fully expected one of the nurses to ask her again when the results would be in. She had already opened her mouth to tell whoever was bothering her that things took time, you can’t rush science.
When she looked up and caught sight of him, her mouth snapped shut and she couldn’t help but stare.
Strands of jet-black hair were stuck to his cheeks, little water droplets caught in them and slowly dripping down one by one. His dark eyes landed on her, he blinked in confusion, leaned back out of the room to check the door sign, and then looked at her again. A tentative smile tugged on his lips as he brushed his hair out of his face and she noticed his cheeks were dotted with freckles. She swallowed. He looked absolutely stunning, chiseled chin, mesmerizingly warm eyes and all.
“Good evening! My apologies, I think I must have gotten lost. I was looking for Marco and the plan at the entrance said his office should be here, but…,” he said and gestured towards the many appliances in the room. “This doesn’t much look like an office.” He scratched the back of his neck sheepishly.
It took her a moment to gather her wits about her – he had caught her completely off guard. At this time of day, she was usually alone on this floor, and aside from staff nobody should have access either, even during normal working times. It was a restricted area, after all, the equipment in the laboratories was expensive and delicate and they processed many confidential patient samples.
“Marco?” she echoed lamely and cleared her throat, hands still firmly gripping the sheets of paper in her hand.
“Dr. Marco?” he tried and when she raised an eyebrow at him, more amused than quizzical, he amended: “Dr. Marco Phoenix? Really tall guy? Pineapple hair?” Lifting his hands he was gesturing above his head to emphasize the hairstyle she meant. Even if she hadn’t known the name, the description alone would have been enough to immediately recognize who he meant. After all, Marco was the head of the medical center and her boss, after all. She bit back a laugh.
“I know who you mean.” She quickly looked at the screen of the machine – it would still take 30 more minutes till the next run was completed – and placed the papers in her hand down on a laboratory bench. “A couple of weeks ago the construction division decided last minute that the medical center can be set up more efficiently, so they shifted laboratories and offices around quite a bit before we opened up. They probably haven’t updated the plan.”
He nodded his head, his smile widening. She couldn’t help it, her eyes flickered briefly to his chest. His shirt was only half-buttoned up and she could distinctly spot the outline of his pectorals, even more so as his shirt was wet and clinging to his sun-tanned skin. He wore a necklace of bright red beads around his neck, quite the eye-catcher, she really couldn’t be blamed for looking at it, right? Quickly she snapped her eyes back up, hoping he hadn’t noticed despite that justification.
“Who are you, if I may ask? This floor is restricted to laboratory personnel. You shouldn’t have managed to get in here. Wasn’t there somebody at the reception?” With some effort, she managed not to notice how wide his shoulders were, or how cute he looked when he ducked his head and tried to look innocent.
“Ah, sorry, that was really impolite of me! My name is Ace D. Portgas! I’m a friend of Marco’s! He told me to drop by so he can check up on this here!” His smile was still there as he lifted his right arm and she noticed now that his hand was bandaged – and also his arm, at least up until his elbow. The smile turned bashful. “I missed my appointment this morning because I had to take over a shift last minute, so he told me to come in when I was done. He told me he’d be around, so I thought I’d not need to bother anybody else and told the guy at the reception that I’d manage just fine without help – guess I was pretty wrong there, huh?”
It took a moment before the name sank in but when it did, she recognized it from the introduction to the archipelago and its infrastructure she’d gotten after transferring here from another region under Edward Newgate’s jurisdiction.
“Ah, you’re the 2nd division commander – you’re in charge of the fire brigade, right?” she blurted out before she could think. It explained how he’d gotten in and past the nightguard without any issue.
He blinked at her in surprise, his smile dropping for a brief moment before he nodded, eyeing her curiously. “Correct. How do you know that?”
“Introduction portfolio,” she answered briefly, putting her hands in the pockets of her lab coat, suddenly embarrassed. She didn’t even know why. “All 16 divisions of the Archipelago are listed and elaborated on a bit, including commanders and general infrastructure setup.”
His eyes twinkled with amusement as he chuckled and shifted to lean against the doorframe. “You read all that?”
Blinking at him owlishly, she cocked her head to the side. “You didn’t?” According to the portfolio, he was the youngest division commander, and even so, he was already in charge of the fire brigade for almost ten years now. The portfolio wasn’t very extensive, really only an introduction to the archipelago and a little orientation help for anybody who started to work in one of the divisions that helped run the community.
The impish grin that pulled at the corners of his mouth made him look boyish. “If Marco asks, yes, yes I did!” When she huffed a chuckle, the grin widened. “So, what does it say about me?”
She shook her head in disbelief. It certainly hadn’t said that the commander of the 2nd division seemed to give 0 fucks about official documents, even when he and his division were mentioned in them. Or how distractingly cute his grin somehow was. “Portgas D. Ace, head of the fire brigade and part of the emergency response team for close to ten years now. A little CV section. The locations of the fire brigade stations, as well as the central office, are listed. It also roughly describes the structure and purviews of every division.” It didn’t say he was one of the adopted sons of Edward Newgate, but that she knew without a portfolio. All of the commanders were, and everybody in his jurisdiction knew. The press loved any tidbit about the Newgate family, be it truth or speculation.
“Huh,” he said completely unabashed, “Sounds like useful information.”
“Yeah,” she agreed and couldn’t help the soft chuckle that escaped her. “You should try reading it sometime.”
He waved her off, grin only growing wider. “Ah, you see, I’m not the reading type.” Then, straightening again: “So… The plan said is here is Marco’s office – but it isn’t. And you aren’t Marco.” He pointedly looked at her and the machine a bit further away from her that had started to blink, signaling it was done. She couldn’t deny that talking to him was certainly amusing.
“What gave it away?” she asked dryly. “The 20cm height I’m missing?”
He looked her over, head to toe, and his smile shifted into that impish grin again as his eyes met hers. “You sure it’s not closer to 30cm? He’s really tall and you’re…,” he gestured at her, “really not.” She straightened, but he already continued. “I think my biggest clue was the hair, though, even if the color matches, the style is distinctly different.” He paused for a moment, the grin widening. “Yours looks better, though – but don’t tell him I said that.”
“Alright,” she said slowly, resisting the urge to touch her hair. “The bar you’ve set is low, but I’m glad I cleared it.” He laughed and she didn’t fight down the smile that curved her lips. He had a really nice laugh. “Now that we’ve established that much at least… let’s get Marco to come and pick you up, hm?” She walked over to the phone installed on one wall and started dialing his short number, waiting for him to pick up. It kept ringing and after a minute in which she awkwardly stared at the wall, she gave up.
Ace cleared his throat and she turned to look at him. He had pushed away from the doorframe now, one hand in his hair as he smoothened it back over his head. “I tried calling him before, but he doesn’t pick up.” With a sigh, she abandoned the idea of calling Marco.
“Probably he’s got it buried below three days’ worth of paperwork again,” she mumbled and was surprised when Ace laughed.
“I guess you know him well, then?” he asked, his eyes on her as she took off her lab coat on her way to him and draped it over a hook on the wall next to the door.
“I think anybody who’s been in his office more than once knows that much, but yes – I’ve been around for a while now, there’s been more than one call from me he didn’t take because his phone was somewhere.” She came to stand in front of him and had to incline her head to meet his eyes – he was half a head taller than her and had carried in the smell of rain with him and underneath it the quite literally watered-down traces of a cologne that reminded her faintly but pleasantly of a late-night camp-fire. “I think it’ll be easiest if I bring you to his office.”
He inclined his head as he looked at her but stood unmoving and she shifted her weight from one foot to the other, suddenly conscious of the loose tank top she had put on this morning – the last clean one she had, so she’d simply put on a sports bra below it and figured it didn’t matter anyhow. Suddenly it seemed to matter. Clearing her throat she briefly considered squeezing past him through the doorway but there was no way she’d manage without brushing against him, so she vaguely waved at him. “If you let me pass, that is.”
Startled, he immediately took a step back and out of her way, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly. “Sorry! I didn’t realize I was in the way!”
“No worries!” She quickly left the laboratory, not meeting his eyes, and lead him along the corridor towards the staircase. “He’s just one floor above us. Follow me.”
He fell into step beside her and didn’t seem perturbed – thankfully so, as it made her ease up again. “So you’re working for Marco?” he asked.
She nodded and led him down the stairs. “Yes, I am running the analytic laboratory for him. Bloodwork, Immunohistochemical stainings, PCR and ELISA tests, you name it, we probably do it here. We’ve even been able to secure enough funding for a state-of-the-art DNA sequencer – once we have that, we can…!” As she turned to smile at him she noticed his blank stare and chuckled. “Basically we simply use different types of tests to analyze patient samples and the results help to pinpoint the cause of illness. It sounds fancier than it is, really. Once everything has arrived and is installed we can do all the tests we need in-house, which saves time and money.”
“Sounds plenty fancy to me,” he answered and grinned at her. “Fancy enough for me to not understand anything you said after ‘bloodwork’.” It didn’t seem to bother him too much, though, and when they reached the bottom of the stairs he took two quick steps to grab the door handle and hold the door open for her. “Do you like it here? Here in Sphinx, I mean.”
She slipped through the door, nodding her thanks with a smile. “It’s bigger than anything I was used to – more people, more buildings, more everything. It feels a bit hectic, but I have to say that I enjoy all the conveniences here. The cinemas, the theater, the restaurants… oh, especially the restaurants!”
He chuckled. “They’re pretty good around here, huh? If you want to eat the best food you’ve ever had, make sure to stop by Thatch’s place – have Marco take you there! You’ll get a spot easily, then!” Pausing briefly, he put his hands in his pockets and smiled down at her. “Or tell Thatch hi from me - that should work too!”
“Thank you! I… oh, wait a moment!” She was just about to tell him that Marco had already taken her there a few times and she wholeheartedly agreed – it was the best food she ever had and she made sure to stop by there at least once a week, sometimes more often – but then they passed by the staff room and she held up a hand, quickly slipping inside.
When she came out, she held out a towel and a water bottle, and he raised his eyebrows at her. “The towel is for you, you’re drenched,” she explained, “The water is for Marco. Could you pass it on? Oh, and make sure he actually drinks some. He probably hasn’t even had dinner yet. You want something, too?”
He stared at her for a moment, then beamed at her and it was her turn to stare, not having expected quite this level of gratitude. If that smile got any brighter, she’d need sunglasses. “You’re nice,” he stated as if it was a surprise. “Thanks!” He took the towel and plopped it onto his head, starting to dry his hair, and then took the bottle. “I’ll make sure the old bird drinks this, promise!”
“Ace?” she heard Marco call out and when they turned, the tall doctor was peeking out of his office. He’d rolled up the sleeves of his purple dress shirt and his hair was even more of a mess than usual – a clear sign that he’d been dealing with paperwork he didn’t care too much for.
“Ah, hey Marco!” Ace lifted the hand with the bottle, waving enthusiastically at him. “You could have told me that the floor plans at the entrance are useless! You sent me on a merry little scavenger hunt!”
“I had full trust in your navigational skills-yoi,” Marco replied dryly. “You have found me, after all.”
“Yeah, no thanks to you!” Ace answered without any heat. He turned to look at her, inclining his head as he smoke. “Thank you! I owe you one!” Then, with that big, beaming smile again: “See you around!” It did funny things to her insides.
Before she could think of an answer, he’d already turned around and was jogging toward Marco, who sent her a lazy wave. She waved back before turning and starting to walk back. Halfway up the stairs, she realized with a groan that she’d forgotten to use the chance to bring Marco the latest results he’d asked for.