Work Text:
Marco checked his phone again as he was getting towards the end of his shift, frowning slightly at the lack of messages. He had been at the hospital for over twelve hours in the ER, and while he didn’t generally have time to check his phone, it was unusual for him to have nothing, especially from his partner.
Ace was supposed to have gotten off from the firehouse four hours ago, granted he may have ended up staying late, either due to an emergency or just because Marco wasn’t going to be home for a while. And while Ace didn’t usually have time to text while he was on duty either, it still wasn’t common for him to go radio silent on Marco. Often times would just get “Proof of life babe!” or a random picture at random points during the firefighters shift for the sake of Marco's sanity.
Marco sighed and decided to just text the other man.
>> Hey, just wanted to check in. Everything okay? I should be home in about an hour and a half.
Marco watched his phone for several moments, waiting to see if the little unread would flip over to read before he gave in and tucked his phone back in his pocket.
Marco continued on his rounds for another half hour or so, checking his phone far more often than he should, when he ran into someone who could hopefully ease his worries.
“Doctor Trafalgar,” Marco greeted, joining his colleague off to the side for a moment.
“Doctor Newgate,” Law replied, pocketing his phone and standing up from where he was leaning against a window.
Marco waved off the slight concern in his look, generally Marco only approached Law at work if he needed the cardiologist's opinion on a case. “Nothing work related. I was just curious if you’ve heard from Luffy today,” Marco said, trying valiantly to hide his worry.
Law scoffed and pulled his phone back out. “Yeah, apparently it’s a slow day at the station. He’s been blowing up my phone for the last hour. Why?”
Marco shifted his weight and sighed. “I just haven’t heard from Ace today, I was getting a bit worried,” Marco admitted.
Law’s brows furrowed as he looked up from his phone again. “Do you want me to ask Luffy about him?” he offered.
Marco shook his head, “Nah, if something had happened to him, I’m sure Luffy would have said, thanks though.”
Marco appreciated having a coworker who understood the stress of having a significant other in a constant line of danger. Marco had met Ace when Luffy had been admitted to the ER after part of a ceiling had collapsed on him in a bad fire. While they were waiting on tests, Ace and Marco had bonded about hard headed younger siblings who got themselves in trouble while Luffy countered that he was the captain and thus was supposed to put himself in danger. His bravado didn’t last long, though, when Law had stormed in growling at the captain in German. Since then the two doctors would commiserate together about the constant worry about every fire call they got and having a partner who was more than willing to throw themselves into danger at the drop of a hat.
Law nodded and rolled his eyes as his work phone buzzed. “Duty calls,” Marco chuckled. “I’ll see you later, Law.”
Law nodded and waved over his shoulder as he strode away quickly.
Marco rolled his neck and felt the vertebrae pop before he went back to work, counting down the minutes until he was off work.
0808
Marco was relieved to see Ace’s truck in the drive when he got home, though he was more than a little surprised to see the entire house dark with all the curtains drawn.
“Ace?” Marco called, dropping his keys in the bowl right inside the door. The house was just as silent as it was dark, usually Ace had music blaring or was chatting up a storm on either the phone or his laptop. But the dark haired firecracker was nowhere to be seen on the first floor of their house.
Marco flipped on a couple lights as he moved towards the stairwell, it wasn’t dark outside yet, but with the curtains drawn the house was pretty dim. The upstairs was similarly dark and quiet, though their bedroom door was left ajar.
“Ace?” Marco called again, though he immediately regretted it when he opened the door.
Ace was asleep on top of the covers, still in the sweats he usually wore home from work and his firehouse hoody. The hood was pulled up and over the top half of his face and he had arm thrown over his eyes.
Marco moved over and sat down at Ace’s hip, taking Ace’s free hand to rub his thumb over the knuckles.
Ace let out a huff of air as he started to wake up, fingers tightening on Marco’s hand.
“Hey, firefly, you feeling okay?” Marco asked, voice low.
Ace groaned as he pushed the hood off his head. He smiled at Marco, but the edges were pinched in discomfort.
“Hey birdie,” Ace cleared his throat, “I wasn’t expecting you home for a while yet.”
“Ace, it’s after five,” Marco responded with a raised brow.
Ace’s eyes went wide. “Shit!” he flailed his arm over to the nightstand to check his phone. “Fuck,” he groaned, “I’m sorry babe.”
Marco huffed out a laugh, “It’s okay. You not feeling very well?”
“It’s just a headache,” Ace said flippantly. He sat up and slumped forward to curl into Marco’s side.
“Babe, you closed all the windows. You hate it when the house is dark.”
“Okay, it’s just a headache with some light sensitivity,” Ace acquiesced.
“So you had a migraine,” Marco said bluntly.
“No! I–yes fine,” Ace gave in at Marco’s hard stare. “I had a migraine so I tried to sleep it off.”
Marco sighed and brought a hand up to run through the hair at the base of Ace’s neck. “How are you feeling now?” he asked.
Ace sat quietly for a moment. “The light still hurts and sitting up made the pressure throb,” he admitted in a murmur.
Marco hummed in sympathy. “How about we do this, I’ll order from that Indian place that you like so much and then we can cuddle and relax.”
“I wanted to do something nice for you though,” Ace whined. “We haven’t had days off that lined up in forever.”
“We’ve got all day tomorrow, firefly,” Marco soothed. “Besides, I can’t think of a better way to relax after a long shift.”
0808
Ace was starting to feel better finally. They had eaten a large dinner of curry and rice, Marco had kept the lights dim to avoid aggravating his migraine further, and now they were lounging on the couch. Ace had his head in Marco’s lap while Marco scrolled aimlessly on his phone.
“This too much?” Marco asked, running his fingers through raven locks.
Ace hummed, eyes drifting shut. “Just don’t tug and it’s fine,” he said. He cracked an eye back up to see Marco smile indulgently at him.
Ace was damn near putty in Marco’s lap as the older man started gently rubbing at the base of his neck, he could almost feel the tension finally bleeding out of his head.
“I’m always jealous at how boneless you get,” Marco laughed.
Ace chuckled and rolled over to bury his face in Marco’s stomach.
“I love you,” Ace mumbled.
Marco ran his fingers through the hair at the back of Ace’s head in a near caress. “I love you too, firefly.”