Archive of Our Own ^beta

Normally, Ace wouldn't give a shit about what Trafalgar got up to outside of, y'know, treating the consequences of having a giant hole punched through Ace's chest.

But today was a Bad Day, the pain not fading no matter the amount of drugs he downed (yeah, sure, he wasn't supposed to take that many of them, but whatever, it'd be fine), and not even food could take his mind off of it, so-

Trafalgar's drama it was.

"So," Ace opened with a solid minute later, after finally managing to shuffle himself through the (not particularly large) mess and collapse onto the bench beside the surgeon. "What's got you in a mood?"

"None of your business," Trafalgar huffed, but Ace could tell his heart wasn't really in it. The benefits of having once dated the guy, he supposed.

He kept tracing random shapes in his food, and it was pretty obvious he was dying to talk about whatever was bugging him. Ace just had to be patient (ha! He was already Trafalgar's patient, so like. Maybe the drugs were doing something, beyond failing at helping with his pain) and-

"It's stupid," the surgeon sighed. "And also about my boyfriend- Ex-boyfriend now, I guess. Would be weird if I complained about it to you."

"Don't see how it'd be weird," Ace shrugged, stealing Trafalgar's food. What? He wasn't eating it. "Did you dump him, or...?"

"He did."

"Fucker," he said mildly, nodding along. Trafalgar was a real catch, so the idea that some upstart could think dumping him was a good idea... When they broke up, it was a perfectly amicable break. Different needs, all that jazz.

"You don't even know anything," Trafalgar snorted. See? Ace still got it. Mastered cheering him up down to an art. "I could deserve it."

"Then tell me about it."

Trafalgar sighed, and Ace already knew he won. "He said we couldn't keep dating because his priority was his job and his family, and that he couldn't afford to have split loyalties."

"Wow," Ace actually put down the drumstick he stole. "And you've been going out for...?"

"Two years."

"BRO ," Ace slammed his palms on the table, the plate rattling. "That's fucked up! Is he still around-?"

"He's on the other side of the Red Line." Then, at Ace's questioning look. "He called me on the denden."

"He broke with you over a-" he couldn't even finish the sentence in his indignity. He would have leaped to his feet if he wasn't running a risk of immediately falling to the ground. "How did you even last two years with that asshole?"

"He seemed... Nicer," Trafalgar pushed his plate fully towards Ace, using the space to lay his head down on his arms. "Perfect gentleman, unhinged when situation called for it, a good lay-"

"Man, fuck him," Ace shook his head. "He's not worth your time if he's willing to break up a years-long relationship on a whim."

"Mhm..."

He slapped against Trafalgar's shoulder. "No, you gotta say it!"

"Fuck him," Trafalgar mumbled.

"Full chest!"

"Fuck him!"

"C'mon, properly, whole government name style!"

"Fuck Sabo!"

"Yea-! Wait, what?"

"He doesn't have more to his name," Trafalgar explained, misinterpreting Ace's question. To be fair, Ace wasn't sure himself what the question was. "Said it had something to do with his amnesia? I don't know, he wasn't really-"

"Sabo," Ace repeated, as if in a daze. The idea that he's been alive all this time... "Blonde? Wears a top hat? Fights with a pipe?"

Trafalgar straightened out just so that he could blink at Ace. "Yeah, the revolutionary. You know him-?"

Ace leaned back on the bench, mind whirring. "You know, a revolution, very important cause," he mused. "And family- yeah, a whole handful. Highest time he picked up his responsibilities-"

Trafalgar looked taken aback which, admittedly, was rather fair. "Are you- Are you agreeing with him now?!"

Well, he might have loved Trafalgar once, but this was his brother. They'd always come first, even if they had just came back from the dead.

"Speaking of which, do you know what happens at a shovel talk? Because apparently I'm overdue to give you one."