Archive of Our Own ^beta

It was odd how in tune Marco was with the new person on board. He didn’t want to see it at first, thinking that there was nothing going on at first until they asked him to go and look for Ace as no one could find him. All of the sudden he could feel the phoenix inside of him coo at the mention of the Fire Logia, which should have been his first clue that something more was going on.

Finding Ace proved no issue, even if he was worried at seeing the place where he had chosen to hide away. In a storage room in the bowels of the Moby Dick, away from the others and protecting himself as much as possible.

There was some attraction there, which he thought was just a worry. There was a reason why they called him a mother hen after all, he was always the one who tried to make any new recruits feel comfortable, this wouldn’t be any different.

How wrong he was.

As soon as Ace started coming out more, even if it was to try and kill Oyaji, Marco knew before anyone else did. He’d look up as soon as he noticed something and act on it. It was starting to get noticed, with Thatch and Haruta teasing him in ways they hadn’t done in a long time.

Sitting in his room after that first few weeks, he pondered on what it could be. Eventually asking his devil fruit what was going on, not a lot of people knew that Marco had awakened his devil fruit quite a while ago and could communicate with the spirit within. Phoenix was mostly dormant, but he could sense the bird coming to the forefront a lot more than he used to.

“What is even going on?”

He gets a coo at first before he gets some images projected, once he knew from once before when he asked it and didn’t know what to think about that.

“Mate? You truly believe that Ace is our mate? He hasn’t even been on the ship for a month -yoi.”

He gets another array of images before they settle on the fire he knows are Ace’s devil fruit. It kind of makes sense, in a way, that the owner of the Mera Mera No Mi would be the one the Phoenix was attracted to. Given what he knew about Phoenixes it was that they roosted in fire and went through a burning cycle that gave them new life.

“I see, does he know about this too?”

The sad coo that followed told him Ace wouldn’t know about that. But it did explain why Marco knew where Ace was at any given time. Their devil fruits were compatible, given that Ace didn’t have his for as long as Marco did there was a good chance he didn’t awaken it yet and as such couldn’t speak to the spirit residing in it.

“That’s good to know, although I don’t know how to tell him that -yoi. Given that I get the chance to tell him that even, he doesn’t seem that convinced to actually wanting to join. But we’ll have to wait and see, I guess. I’m not going to force him to do anything, just so you know.”

The coo he gets in return shows him that the Phoenix agrees, which is a relief. He doesn’t want Ace to feel forced to stay or to be with Marco. He didn’t know if he wanted that to start with even less than he knew if this was as forever as he expected his life to last.

Marco only told Oyaji, mentioning that he didn’t really know what to do with that but that he was willing to wait until Ace had made his choice. 

Oyaji seemed overjoyed, but then again he had complained that he was worried about Marco not finding someone to settle down with a lot of times before. Marco had to agree that he was looking forward to a chance of having someone to just be himself with instead of only being the oldest and the First Division Commander.

When Ace did agree to join, it was after almost three months. Three months where he started to seek out Marco after that first one, striking up a careful friendship and actually listening when Marco told him something. As such he knew that Ace had made his definitive choice after Marco talked to him about why they called the Old Man Oyaji and what he had done for so many of them.

It was also moot to think that Ace didn’t feel the same way as the moment he officially joined, he came to look for Marco with a blush on his cheeks stammering through an explanation that he could feel some sort of pull towards Marco and he didn’t know why.

Inviting Ace in, Marco set him down before laying out the facts as he knew it. Pressing on the fact that this didn’t mean anything in his eyes, Ace didn’t need to do anything despite the information he had shared.

“What if I want to?”

Blinking, Marco looked at Ace, his head somewhat tilted and entirely too birdlike, “What?”

Shuffling closer, Ace grinned, “What if I want to start something with you? What if… What if I wanted to kiss you, could I do that?”

Marco didn’t answer, he just cupped Ace’s cheek in one hand and pulled him closer before pressing their lips together. Sighing into the kiss when he heard Phoenix also call out in joy at having this with their mate. Wanting to keep it brief, Marco pulled back slowly, “You can always do that -yoi. Normally there is a rule about not mixing in command, but everyone has been on my ass about getting laid so don’t think I’ll hear anything about it.”

The beaming smile directed towards him was enough to lean in again, the second kiss even better than the first, if that was possible.

Mixing in command also became less of a problem when Ace was made second division commander not six months after joining, his affinity with navigation and leading was enough for Marco to slowly give him the tasks he did as interim commander for the second. Grinning when he shared as much with Oyaji.

They talked to several people of the Second, including Teach, who all praised Ace and shared that they were willing to come forward to ask Oyaji to consider him too.

Marco pulled Ace with him to the commander’s meeting, even if Ace didn’t know what was happening. Shocked when the first order of business was his official promotion. One that was celebrated with Marco pressing closer and kissing his cheek. Grinning when Izou laughed loudly and held out his hand to get paid for the bet they had going on. Because of the rules they had kept their relationship somewhat on the downlow even if Ace’s impish smile directed at him almost gave them away multiple times.

“Congrats, Firefly, you deserve it -yoi.”

Ace gasped at him, “You’ve been slowly giving me all the tasks for the Second, haven’t you? I know some of the guys were so secretive but I didn’t link it all together until now.”

Nodding, Marco grinned at him, “You did such a good job too -yoi. Several of the guys told us they were planning on putting you forward as Commander when we asked. You deserve this and you do amazing with this, don’t worry!”

The blush on his cheeks is amazing to see and enough for Marco to pull Ace close and kiss him again. Settling in their chairs after to start the meeting officially. The deck will be party ready after, as the word would get around soon and the crew took every opportunity they could get to throw a party.

Waving off the other commanders when they congratulated them, Marco pulled Ace with him to stay in the meeting room a little longer. Oyaji waited for them with a smile on his face, “You deserve this, son, take care of Marco for me will you?”

Squawking at his father’s request, Marco hadn’t expected this. But he blushed and laced his fingers with Ace when his boyfriend just assured Oyaji that he would do his best and just enjoy the good life Marco did bring.

He didn’t know what he had done to deserve this, but he couldn’t be happier about it.

The party was indeed in full swing by the time they managed to make it on deck, several people including the former Spades came to look for them to congratulate them on both Ace’s promotion and their relationship. Deuce sporting a giant grin as he did so, seemingly conversing with Ace with looks alone. Ones that told him that if he ever worked too much or whatever, his new second in command knew just who to call for.

It had been a long day, Marco had been awake since ass-o’clock in the morning, having been woken by one of the nurses that several of their crew suddenly started getting violently ill. He’d been on the clock for almost twenty hours and could feel it in his bones. Deuce sent him out of the infirmary once he arrived, actually threatening to call Ace if he didn’t comply. 

Leaving, Marco was half asleep until he ran into someone’s back. The heat that greeted him enough to let him know that it was Ace, moaning as he snuggled closer to his mate.

He must have fallen asleep, as the next thing he knows, he’s being carried back to their room. Ace grinning when he noticed that Marco’s eyes went open.

“Hey there, pretty bird, I heard you had quite the day today.”

Humming, Marco just snuggled closer, closing his eyes again and only waking up briefly when Ace took off his shoes and covered him with the blanket in their room.

“I’ll be right back, I’m going to finish my shift in the navigation room before crawling into bed with you.”

Cooing, Marco nodded, trying to stay awake until Ace did indeed join him. Snuggling into a warm chest once he did and falling asleep almost instantly.

The next day Deuce had a shit eating grin on his face when he entered the infirmary, “Rumour has it you slept really well last night.”

Not finding the words, he doesn’t need to say anything before Deuce is sharing that Thatch and Izou came to the infirmary to share how he had wandered out on deck and just plastered himself to Ace’s back and fell asleep.

“If I have to believe Izou it was beyond cute and became even cuter when Ace turned around, swept you up in his arms and made his way to your rooms. The whole ship is talking about it.”

His smile turns gentle, “Ace is amazing, Commander, I’m glad you have him as you deserve someone like that. I heard from the nurses that you have a habit of overworking and I know Ace won’t allow that.”

Thinking about his mate has Marco blushing, he and Ace had been talking about that already. He also knew that Ace was going out of his way to make it easier on him seeing as he did three jobs all at once. Deuce helped with the First Division, no doubt at the incentive of his former captain, while Ace helped in making his job as first mate easier. He might actually have some more free time soon too.

“Yeah… I can see that happening -yoi. I also know that since the Spades joined the First has been running even smoother than ever.”

The beaming smile he gets is more than answer enough. He can’t say he minds, if anything his life has been better now than it was ever before and he enjoys himself so very much with the jobs that used to be just too much for just him (but he was too stubborn to admit).