Chapter Text
Ace was bored. They were five minutes to close and he was bored out of his mind. Everything was clean and put away and all that was left was to leave. But he couldn't. Because the bar still didn't close for another five minutes and even if they didn't actually serve drinks at five minutes to close they still had to keep the doors unlocked. Why he didn't know since if anyone were to actually come in Ace would just send them right on back out the door and tell them to come back tomorrow but his boss insisted that the doors had to stay unlocked until two and even though that was stupid, Ace was leaving the doors unlocked until two. Unfortunately.
Drumming his fingers against the counter in boredom, Ace looked up at the clock again. Four minutes to go. He swore the second hand was moving slower and slower as it made its way around the clock face. There was just no way that only twenty seconds had passed. Maybe the battery was going out.
A bell chimed as the door opened and Ace groaned quietly as he straightened up. This was why it was stupid to leave the door unlocked until two. They weren't even serving alcohol which meant all Ace was going to be doing was pissing someone off and if he got hit again he was going to tell his boss where to fucking—
“What's good, yoi?” a familiar voice drawled, amusement creeping in beneath the innocent question. “At least, I imagine you're the expert to ask.”
Ace sighed fondly as he rolled his eyes, giving Marco a deadpan look from where he was grinning at him from near the door. The top three buttons of his shirt were undone giving Ace a very nice peek at his chest and he was wearing a pair of dark jeans that had a hole worn through one of the knees but that he refused to throw away because they were comfortable. “Really?”
“What? It worked the first time, didn't it?”
That it did. Though some days Ace really wondered how in the hell it had considering how generic it was. Not that he was complaining.
Leaning against the counter as Marco approached it, Ace pressed a short kiss to his lips. “You do know that the bar isn't closed yet, right?”
“I know.”
“Then why are you here?”
“I got bored of waiting in the car.”
Fair.
“Everything is done. As soon as the clock hits two we can lock up and go.”
Marco hummed softly in acknowledgment as he leaned his hip against the counter. “Who's closing with you?”
“Deuce. He went to start the washer about five minutes ago. I think it ate him.”
A soft snort left Marco but the door behind the counter swung open before he could respond. Ace half-turned his head to glance over at it, watching as Deuce walked into the room. “Hilarious,” he grumbled, giving Ace a look that was only half annoyed. “The stupid thing wouldn't start. I tried and tried but I don't really give a shit so I left it.”
Fair enough. “Was the water not starting?”
“None of it was. The start button wouldn't light up and the water wouldn't start running. I tried closing the lid and waiting but it still wouldn't do anything. I think it finally shit out.”
Joy. Not that Ace was surprised. That thing was ancient and had been on its last leg probably since he had started three or so years ago. Though he really wished it could have waited to crap out on someone else's night. At least then he wouldn't have to be the bearer of bad news.
Standing up so that he was no longer leaning on the counter, Ace turned to fully face Deuce. “Rock, paper, scissors you for who has to tell the boss.”
Deuce's eyes narrowed slightly but he raised both hands regardless, a fist resting sideways in the palm of his other one. “Rock, paper, scissors, shoot?”
Ace nodded as he held his own hands up. At the same time they both said “rock, paper, scissors, shoot” and Ace had to bite back a laugh when he saw they'd both done paper. They tried again and Ace was no longer laughing because he had picked scissors and Deuce rock and goddammit he didn't want to be the one to tell their asshole of a boss.
“Two out of three.”
“Nope. We didn't agree to that beforehand. You lost. You tell him.”
Ace pouted as he crossed his arms. “But he doesn't like me.”
“He doesn't like any of us.”
Well....yeah, no, he really didn't. “He likes you more though.”
“No he doesn't.”
“Yes he does. If I did half the shit you did I'd get fired.”
Deuce just stared back at him with a raised eyebrow. “I don't know what you mean.”
That was bullshit. He knew exactly what Ace meant. Everyone did. Every single one of them had seen Deuce do things that would have gotten any of them fired if they had tried. Including, but not limited to, physically forcing a customer out the door, punching someone who punched him first, dumping a cup of water over someone's head for trying to grab a different coworker's ass, refusing to serve someone that was sober but had pissed him off, and, Ace's favorite, making a drunk customer clean up the bathroom after they'd thrown up and missed the toilet. The bathroom had been surprisingly spotless considering the man could barely stand.
Deciding that even though it was true he didn't want to get into it since it was two now and he just wanted to go home, Ace just turned away instead and pointed towards the door. Marco straightened up as well and crossed towards it, locking the door and flipping the open sign to 'closed'. At least he listened to Ace. Unlike somebody.
Turning to the register, Ace opened the till before pulling the cash drawer out and handing it off to Deuce. As Deuce headed towards the office to put the drawer in the safe, Ace flicked the lights off before following him into the back part of the bar, Marco trailing after him. He grabbed his stuff out of his locker as Marco meandered over towards the washer, looking at it with a critical gaze.
“I'm not staying so you can fiddle with that thing,” Ace warned him as he slipped his phone into his pocket after confirming he had no new messages from his brother. “We can hold a funeral for it with baseball bats some other day. Tonight I just want to fucking go home.”
Marco snorted even as he hit a few buttons and, when nothing happened, leaned over it to look at the backside. Ace just rolled his eyes as he took the few steps towards him, poking him in the ribs. This was fiddling. Ace didn't want to fiddle. He wanted to go to bed. Especially since someone had woken him up early this morning because they wanted a kiss before they left for work. Which while Ace had been happy to give, he had unfortunately not really fallen back asleep which meant he'd been up basically since eight in the morning and he very much wanted to just go to sleep.
“You could always see if Curiel could come look at it. He's good at fixing things.”
He was. And if this had been the washer in Ace's apartment he would have asked him to do so. However, this was the washer at his work which meant he really didn't care what fucking happened to it and honestly he would rather it stay broken so that they could get a new one that wasn't close to a hundred years old.
Turning away with a sigh, Ace grumbled, “Let's just go. I want to go to bed.”
“I could—”
“Marco.”
“I'm just offering, yoi. That way you don't have to tell your boss it broke.”
That was sweet of him. However, Ace still didn't care. It wasn't like his boss could fire him for the washer breaking. And if he threw too much of a fit, Ace would just tell him that Deuce had been the one to find out that it wasn't working. He had no problem throwing him under the bus since their boss would immediately steer the other way.
The lid thumped quietly as it was closed before steps followed after Ace, a hand quickly grabbing one of his own to hold. Deuce was waiting for them out in the hallway and together the three of them left the building, the door closing with a clang behind them as they stepped out into the tepid night air. It had been surprisingly warm for March so far and while Ace enjoyed the fact that it wasn't freezing cold and snowing, he was a bit concerned about what that might mean for summer. He didn't particularly mind the heat but he didn't enjoy it when they went weeks of blistering hot days with nights that were barely any cooler and when it got humid, forget it. If he couldn't walk around without a shirt he didn't want to do anything.
The hand that had been holding Ace's let go but before he could protest Marco draped it around his shoulders instead, tugging him a little closer to press a kiss to the side of his head. Suck up.
“You graduate soon, don't you?” Marco asked Deuce who was a few steps in front of them. “This May, right?”
Deuce nodded as he shoved his hands into his pockets. “Yeah. Though it doesn't really feel like I am since I'm going to med school in August. Sort of feels like I'm just trading one school for another without a break.”
Marco snorted in amusement. “It doesn't feel like anything until after residency. You just feel like a zombie instead.”
Ace understood why all the schooling was important and all to become a doctor, but honestly it just sounded like some form of torture. He hadn't even heard half of it and yet what he had heard had been too much. What kind of person would willingly subject themselves to that kind of hell for over ten years? They had to be a masochist.
“Speaking of,” Marco continued, pulling Ace's attention back to the conversation, “did you ever hear back from the hospital?”
The hospital?
“Yeah. Yesterday, actually.” Deuce's eyes lit up as he looked back at them, a small smile on his face. “Thanks for that. I go in for an interview next week and if that goes well I'll go back for a second one the week after.”
“Wait,” Ace said, cutting into the conversation. “What about the hospital? And what interview?”
The smile on Deuce's face flickered before fading away. He clicked his tongue quietly as he looked forward again. “Marco, uh, helped get me an interview at the hospital. Since all I'll have is a pre-med degree there isn't much I can do but they're basically offering me a sort of paid internship while I'm in med school so that I....so that I don't have to try and work at the bar while studying.”
What?
“It's hard to work while in med school,” Marco explained quietly. “There's a lot of work and tests and studying and a lot of people burn out trying to juggle the course load with work. And I know loans don't cover enough. I got lucky and was able to work at the hospital while in school which gave me a lot of time to study and so I talked to a few people to get Deuce an interview there.”
Oh.
It made sense but....Ace just kind of figured that Deuce would keep working at the bar while in med school. He had made it work in undergrad and sure med school was a lot more rigorous and all but surely he—surely he could still work on the weekends and be okay?
“It wouldn't be until the fall,” Deuce hurriedly added. “I would work both jobs over the summer and then come fall I'd....I'd only work at the hospital.”
“Oh. That-that'll be cool. Get you a foot in the door.” Ace tried for a smile even if he knew it was wavering a little bit. “Guess we'll have to find someone else the boss likes to yell at customers for us.”
Deuce agreed quietly and Ace had never been so grateful to get to the parking lot. He said a quick goodbye before making a beeline for Marco's car, the doors unlocking as he got close so that he could sit in the passenger seat. The car was a bit too warm and Marco was still standing several feet away talking to Deuce but Ace just settled back in the seat as he put on his seat belt. He'd just turn the air on or roll the windows down or whatever when Marco started the car.
It was a good few minutes before Marco finally headed towards the car, one last wave thrown over his shoulder at Deuce who was getting into his own car. The car purred quietly to life as Marco turned the key in the ignition and Ace rolled down his window to let the slight breeze in. It didn't do much to move the air around but once they got moving it would.
Fingers gently squeezed Ace's knee and he turned to look at Marco with a questioning look, vaguely watching the way Deuce pulled out of the parking lot behind him.
“I thought he told you about that,” Marco said apologetically. “I didn't realize he hadn't yet. Sorry, love.”
Ace shrugged. “It's fine. I just....I guess I just thought he'd keep working with us like he had been. I didn't really think about how much more work med school would be.”
“It's a lot more work.” Marco shifted the car into drive before pulling out towards the road. “A lot more. I mean, I think I only made it through it because I had that job at the hospital which allowed for a flexible schedule and because Thatch insists on feeding everyone. Well, that and the fact that I lived with Pops at the time and so I didn't really have to worry a whole lot about money.”
Fair. Ace didn't even want to try and imagine what it would be like if he went to med school. The cost of tuition and the fact that he wasn't smart enough for it aside, he barely made enough to keep him and his brother afloat working forty-hours a week. If he cut his hours for school they'd probably end up getting kicked out of their apartment for failure to pay rent but if he didn't cut his hours and worked on top of school, he would be a zombie. Like an actual zombie. He'd be so dead to the world he was sure he'd fall asleep standing up and mess up every single test question.
“It's not like you'll never see him again, yoi,” Marco added as they turned onto the main road. “I mean, you have his number. You can always go out for food and drinks or whatever.”
“Wow. Thank you, mom. I never would have thought of that.” Ace rolled his eyes. “I know that, idiot. I just like working with him.”
The hand on his knees squeezed a little harder in retaliation and it was only the fact that Marco was driving that Ace didn't retaliate against his retaliation. His retaliation that he hadn't needed to do.
Looking out the passenger window, Ace settled one of his hands over the hand still on his knee. “Speaking of, how was work?” he asked, changing the subject.
“Fine. Kind of slow, actually. Well, as slow as can be in the emergency room of a big city hospital.”
Ace snorted. Fair. He couldn't imagine it was ever actually slow. Not like the bar got slow. Ace had only been there a few times to drop things off to Marco and there had always been people in the waiting room. Even the one time he'd gone in the middle of the night there had been people there. Quite a few of them, actually.
“What about you? Slow night?”
“Always is on a Monday.” Well, on spring break maybe it wasn't, but it wasn't spring break right now which meant it had been a slow night. A very slow night. Which was the only reason they had been able to leave at two since they had already gotten everything done. Otherwise they probably wouldn't have gotten out until half past two at the earliest.
“Did you eat? If you're hungry we can stop somewhere and grab something.”
“Mm, no, I'm good. I'll eat when I get home.” Ace was pretty sure he had something quick he could make. If not he at least had bread so he could always have a sandwich. “Are you staying the night?”
Marco glanced over at him with a raised brow. “Would you like me to?”
“I always want you to, dumbass.”
Marco laughed softly as he focused back on the road. “That's not true,” he teased. “I'm pretty sure the other day when you lost to me in mario kart you told me to leave and not come back.”
“Yeah and I also told you I was going to find a cactus and shove it up your ass. I wasn't serious.”
“Kinky.”
Ace hated him.
“I mean, if you want I'm sure I could find a cactus shaped dildo if I look hard enough. It won't have spines on it but—”
“Oh shut up.”
“We can add it to the collection in your night stand, yoi.”
One of these fucking days. “I hate you.”
“I love you too.”
Ace rolled his eyes—even as he mumbled the words back.
Even after over a year of dating there was still a little flutter that went through his stomach every time he heard Marco say those words to him. It was like even after all this time he still couldn't quite believe that of all the people he could want Marco wanted him, the boring bartender trying to raise his little brother. Him who was the son of the city's most notorious and dangerous criminal and the adopted grandson of an asshole cop with a vendetta against Marco and his entire family.
Somedays he really did wonder if he had actually woken up in that hospital or if he was in a coma and this was all a dream. Somedays that seemed more realistic than the idea that anyone could actually love him.
Raindrops began to patter against the windshield as they drove through the quiet city and so Ace reluctantly rolled his window up before reaching over to turn the air on low. Since Ace had moved over a year ago out of that crappy apartment and could no longer walk to and from work, Marco insisted on driving him home nearly every night. It didn't matter if he had to be to work at six in the morning, he would still drive the half hour or so to pick Ace up at two and bring him home. It was nice in the sense that Ace got to spend at least a little time with him nearly every day, but he also wished he would sleep through the whole damn night without getting up to come get him. It wasn't like Ace couldn't take the subway home like he did to work. Or that any of his coworkers had offered to bring him home. It wasn't like he'd be stuck there without him.
Red glowed off the concrete in front of them as they stopped at a red light, the rain still dripping softly against the window.
“Hey,” Marco suddenly said quietly, a sort of odd note to his voice that instantly pulled Ace's attention towards him. “Uh, I don't know if Luffy said anything to you—” Ace could feel the small bit of fear that began to flutter in his stomach “—but....he asked me to teach him how to drive the other day.”
The fluttering settled. He could have led with that instead of scaring Ace and making him start thinking worse case scenarios.
Clearing his throat, Ace shook his head. “He never—he never said anything to me. Did he tell you why he wanted to learn?”
Marco hesitated, his lips pressing together as he exhaled softly through his nose. “Not really.” That was a fucking lie. Ace could tell that he did. Could tell by Marco's face. “He just....he just said that he wanted to know just in case.”
“Just in case what?”
“He, uh, he didn't say. Just that he wanted to know just in case.”
Just in case. Just in case what? There really wasn't a good reason for him to need to learn how to drive. They lived in a big city with plenty of public transport that was fairly safe—and even if he did run into something, both him and Ace had been learning 'self defense' from Marco's brothers for a year now which meant he was sure Luffy could handle it. Sure he still talked about wanting to go on that road trip with his friends after he graduated, but Ace had sort of assumed someone else would drive since Luffy was....well, Luffy. He could be a bit spacey at times and was easily distracted and honestly the last thing Ace wanted was to trust him with a thousand pound vehicle.
“I told him to ask you, yoi,” Marco continued after a beat. “For permission and all. He said that he would but I didn't hear anything else so....”
Yeah....he was also forgetful. Not like Ace, but he at least had the excuse of brain trauma. Luffy's forgetfulness was just because he was....Luffy.
“He never said anything to-to me,” Ace told him, watching as the familiar building of his apartment began to come into view. “Though quite honestly....I don't know if I would trust him to drive. I mean....I-I remember teaching him how to ride a fucking bike. I can't even tell you how many times he crashed because he saw something and got distracted by it and forgot to look where he was going.”
Out of the corner of his eye Ace saw the way Marco grimaced. If they taught Luffy how to drive it would have to be with Marco's car since Ace didn't own one—wasn't allowed one technically due to his narcolepsy—and even going slow Ace knew if Luffy hit anything it would leave a dent or a scratch. He'd really rather Luffy not do that to Marco's car. Doubly so since Ace also knew that Marco wouldn't let him pay to fix it and would instead cover it out of his own pocket.
“I'll talk to him about it,” Ace added as they pulled into an open spot in the parking lot. It wasn't anywhere near the door to his building but since he was pretty much always the last one home on account of his work schedule, there never was a close one. “I'm sure it's just a passing idea anyway and he's probably already forgotten about it.”
Marco didn't look convinced—and now Ace knew Luffy said more than 'just because' to him—but he nodded nonetheless as he turned the car off and Ace decided to save pressing for an answer for some other time. Some other time when he wasn't half asleep.
Cold rain drops fell on them as they made their way across the parking lot and towards Ace's building. The air had grown muggy on the drive over on account of the rain and yeah, Ace was definitely dreading what this summer was going to be like. At least the air conditioning in his apartment worked fairly well. And the windows didn't leak all the air out. Though the bill could still get expensive. Unfortunately.
Ace unlocked the main door and held it open for Marco before heading deeper into the building. His apartment was the very last unit on the main floor. It was nice that he no longer had to lug groceries up a flight of stairs, but he couldn't deny that he was still a tad....not nervous exactly, but uneasy about being on the main level. Because at least on the second floor the windows had been high enough off the ground that no one could easily break in through them. Sure there had been the two that were set on the main walkway, but Ace always made sure those were locked and someone would have probably noticed if the glass was broken. Also, he hadn't really been worried about that when he had gotten that place. Not like he was now. Not after....not after everything that had happened.
The apartment was dark when Ace unlocked the door and stepped into it. He flipped the hallway light on as Marco locked the door behind them, the light falling out to illuminate a tiny part of the living room. Luffy's shoes were laying haphazardly across the mouth of the tiny entryway and Ace rolled his eyes as he kicked them over to the side of the wall where they were supposed to be before undoing his own to drop there.
Leaving the entryway, Ace headed for the kitchen and turned the light on in there. He made a beeline for the fridge and was pleased to discover that his leftovers were still in there and that his brother hadn't eaten them like he had anticipated that he would. Though the chicken breasts that had been in the fridge were gone and while it wasn't like Luffy didn't know how to cook, he also very rarely did so since he tended to either not read the recipe and mess it up or forget he was cooking at all and burn his food.
Ace pulled his leftovers out and put them in the microwave. Punching in a random time, he turned to look at the sink, finding a dirty saucepan sitting in it with what looked like residue coating the bottom. At least he had used some kind of dish to cook with. Even if it was the wrong one.
Steps padded softly into the kitchen behind Ace and he turned to look at Marco as he leaned his back against the counter. “Are you hungry?” he asked him, reaching up to wrap his arms around Marco's shoulders when he stepped closer.
Hands landed on his hips as Marco shook his head. “Not really. I ate dinner before I fell asleep earlier.”
“Yeah? When was that?”
“Mm ten?”
So four hours ago.
“Thatch cooked,” Marco added. Ace supposed he wouldn't try to feed him then. Thatch always cooked like he was feeding an army and Ace knew he would make sure Marco ate enough. “We had a meeting with Pops about things and so he made a bunch of food for us. I meant to bring you some but, uh, I forgot the container at my house.”
“How dare you,” Ace teased. “Eating all that delicious food without even br-bringing me a morsel.”
Marco just rolled his eyes as he bent down to kiss Ace—to shut him up. Ace supposed he could let him get away with it this time.
As if he didn't let him get away with it every time.
The microwave dinged and so Ace reluctantly pulled back and let go. He turned to grab his food before grabbing one of Marco's hands and pulling him after him as he headed towards the living room. Sure their dining table was right there in the kitchen but the couch was more comfortable. Marco flipped the kitchen lights off behind them as they headed to the other room, leaving Ace to feel along the wall as he tried to find the light switch that would turn on the lamps.
He paused as he did so, though, because there was a faint glow of light coming from up the hallway. There shouldn't be any lights on up that way. Ace knew for a fact that his light was off and he could see from here that the bathroom light was off. That left only Luffy's room but....it was close to three in the morning. He should be in bed.
“Ace?” Marco asked quietly from a step behind him. “What's wrong?”
“There's a-a light on,” Ace mumbled back, dropping Marco's hand. He set his container of leftovers on an end table as he began to make his way up the hall. He could just hear Marco's footsteps following behind him on the carpet but all of his attention was focused on the light that was coming from beneath what was definitely Luffy's door and the faint voice he could hear behind it and he could already feel the way his heart rate was beginning to slowly increase. Nothing had happened for over a year but—
Marco grabbed Ace by the arm and eased himself in front of him as he knocked on Luffy's door, his posture tense. Ace glared at him even though he knew that he couldn't see the look in the darkness. It was the thought that counted. Luffy was his brother.
The voice on the other side paused and there were several beats way too long before the handle began to turn and the door was eased open.
“Hey, Ace!” Luffy greeted him cheerfully, holding the door suspiciously mostly closed as he just barely peeked out of it. “Oh, and hey Marco! You guys just get back?”
That wasn't suspicious at all.
Marco's posture relaxed as he looked at Luffy with a raised eyebrow.
“What are you doing still awake?” Ace demanded as he used an elbow to nudge Marco to the side. “It is almost three in the—in the morning on a school night.”
Luffy blinked hard and even though only part of his face was visible Ace could see the guilty grimace he made and he narrowed his eyes at him. His brother was up to something.
“I, uh....I was, uh....I was doing homework! Math was kicking my ass. So I....I was working on that.”
Thank god Luffy was still an absolutely terrible liar.
Something rustled in Luffy's room and Luffy's gaze darted off towards the side. “Anyway,” he said around a nervous laugh. “I, uh, I'm going to bed now. Good—”
The door was suddenly pushed open wider and something shot out of it and in between Ace and Marco, making Ace flinch at the touch. From Luffy's room a familiar voice cursed loudly before shouting, “Sorry, Luffy! He scratched me!”
He....what?
Luffy pushed the door open wider before bounding down the hallway and after....whatever he was after. Through the now wide open door Ace saw a guilty looking Zoro holding a hand covered in scratch marks.
Just....why?
“Hi, Ace,” Zoro greeted him around a sheepish smile. “Nice night, isn't it?”
“Yeah,” Ace said dryly as he crossed his arms, staring at the teenager with a tapping foot.
Next to him Marco headed down the hallway after Luffy, turning the lights on as he went. Zoro continued to look anywhere but directly at Ace as he continued to hold his bleeding hand.
Why couldn't Ace have just gone to bed? Why did Luffy have to do....whatever it was he did?
“So,” Ace began as he stared at Zoro. “Care to tell me—?”
“Got him!” Luffy shouted from down the hall. There was a beat before Marco began to laugh and he was laughing so hard that honestly Ace was almost afraid to turn around. He wasn't sure he wanted to know what the hell Luffy was up to.
Letting out a breath, Ace slowly turned. Luffy was standing at the end of the hallway and triumphantly holding up a furiously wiggling lump of light brown tabby fur.
“Why....” Ace scrubbed a hand down his face. “Why are you holding a-a cat? Why is there a cat in our apartment? Luffy, what the h-hell?”
Luffy lowered the cat down so that he could cradle it. “It's not a cat.”
Ace just stared at him. He was literally holding a cat.
“It's a kitten!”
It....it is was not a goddamn kitten! It was a fucking cat!
“I found him,” Luffy continued around a grin. “Well, me and Usopp found him. I called Zoro to help us because he was stuck in a tree.”
....what?
“And he was scared and cold and hungry so we brought him here and made him some chicken. And then we gave him a bath which he really didn't like much so he scratched Zoro. But he's really sweet.” Luffy thrusted the cat closer to Ace. “Wanna hold him?”
He....what?
Ace looked at Marco but he was still bent over laughing. Traitor. What a fucking help he was.
“His name is Kotatsu!”
No. Oh no. No no no no.
Ace pointed his finger at Luffy. “No.”
“Ace—”
“No. We are—we are not keeping it.”
“But Ace—”
“No.”
Luffy pouted up at him, his eyes all big and watery. “But Ace,” he whined, cuddling the cat up to his chest. “He was all alone. He's just a little baby.” He was not a little baby he was a cat. “He's just a little innocent baby kitten. And he's so cute and sweet and he fell asleep on me earlier while purring.” Luffy's eyes somehow got even fucking bigger. “Please, Ace? He's got no one else. No one else but us.”
Ace crossed his arms. “No. We're taking him to the—to the pound in the morning.”
Actual fucking tears started to well up in Luffy's eyes. “But, Ace, he's just a baby. He's not cut out for a life in jail. It's not his fault he was born on the streets. You can't punish him for that.”
He....what? What the fuck did that mean?
Luffy looked over at Marco with the same teary-eyed, pleading look. “Marco,” he all but whimpered. “Tell Ace he's being mean. Kotatsu is just a baby. A little baby. And he was all alone. You can't make him be alone again. It's not fair to him. He deserves a home that loves him—and I love him.”
Marco bit his lips to keep from laughing as he looked at Ace. Ace just looked at him.
“I, uh, I'm staying out of this one, yoi.” Marco held his hands up as he shook his head. “This is between you and your brother.”
A glower slipped into Luffy's pout as he looked at Marco. The pleading look returned as he looked at Ace. “Zoro!” he called. “Tell Ace how alone and cold Kotatsu was. Tell him how nice he is and how he fell asleep on my shoulders.”
Zoro peeked out from Luffy's room and out of the corner of his eye Ace could see the way he frantically shook his hand near his throat, silently telling Luffy to stop talking. At least he was smart.
The glower returned before Luffy looked back at Ace and now the tears were back, making his eyes look like little pools with a dark center. “Ace....”
Ace just stared at him. He refused to cave. He refused to fucking cave goddammit. They weren't keeping the cat. No. No way. They weren't keeping it. They weren't fucking keeping it.
“Maybe you could take it to the vet in the morning?” Marco suggested and Ace glowered at him. So much for keeping out of it. “I mean, it could be someone's cat. If so it should have a chip.”
“But what if there isn't one?” Luffy asked as he shifted his begging look to Marco. “We can't leave him there. He won't understand and he'll think he's being abandoned again.”
God-fucking-dammit.
No.
No.
Nu uh.
They weren't keeping the cat.
No.
“He'll think his family doesn't love him,” Luffy continued. “He'll think that he did something wrong and—”
“Fine,” Ace snapped as he interrupted him.
“Fine?” Luffy asked, perking up a little bit.
“Fine,” Ace repeated as he ground his teeth. “We'll take him to the-the vet in the morning. And if....he....isn't someone's cat....we'll....mm....we'll—”
“Keep him!”
Luffy bounded down the hallway and shoved the cat in Ace's face. “Look at him!”
Kotatsu just blinked as he looked at Ace.
Drawing his arms back in, Luffy turned Kotatsu around so that they were face-to-face with each other as he held him up. “Did you hear that Kotatsu? You're staying! You've got a new family now and we won't ever abandon you.”
Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Ace had another question.
“Why is Zoro here?” He pointed towards the door that Zoro was still peeking out of.
Luffy just looked at him as he brought Kotatsu back into his arms to cuddle. “Cause he helped us get Kotatsu out of the tree.”
Yeah—Ace knew that. “I meant why is he here? You know the rules. No friends over on school nights and no friends over when I'm not home.”
Luffy's gaze drifted off to the side. “Well....Kotatsu was hungry. And I knew we had chicken in the fridge but I don't know how to cook and Zoro does so.... I asked him to come back with me?”
One of these fucking days.
“Luffy—”
“I know, I know,” Luffy hurriedly interrupted. “But it was for Kotatsu's well-being. He was so hungry. And then....well it got really late and it was dark out and, um, no one could give Zoro a ride home and it's not safe to walk by yourself that far at night so I....told him he could stay the night?”
He....told him he could stay the night. Without consulting Ace.
Ace ran a hand down his face again. “Did you ask Zoro's parents if it was okay?”
Luffy scratched the back of his head.
Goddammit if Zoro's parents thought he was fucking missing—
“I texted my dad,” Zoro hurriedly assured Ace. “He, uh, he hasn't answered but he's working so....it's fine.” It wasn't. It really fucking wasn't. “I made sure my sister knew I wasn't going to be home and she didn't care.”
Since when did Zoro have a sister? Ace had literally never heard of her or seen her in the years he'd known the kid.
Blowing out a breath, Ace glanced at Zoro and then looked back at Luffy. He was so fucking grounding him for this.
“Okay. Because it is late I am not going to make Marco drive you home. However, this is never fucking happening again, do you two understand me? I don't care if the world is on fire, Luffy, you aren't allowed to-to have people over when I am not home. Especially when I don't know about it.”
Luffy gave him a sheepish smile. “It was for Kotatsu.”
“I don't care if it's for the fucking president, it isn't allowed.” Turning to Zoro, Ace added, “And you, I'm telling you now so you know. Luffy isn't allowed to have people over when I'm not home so if he invites you over and I'm not home, you're going to say what?”
“No?” Zoro hesitantly answered.
“Exactly.” Turning around to face Luffy again, Ace pointed towards his bedroom. “Now go the fuck to bed. It's three in the morning and you both have school tomorrow and no Marco is not going to drive you so you can sleep in a little more. You should have thought of that before-before doing all this.”
Luffy hesitantly held Kotatsu up again. “Want to pet him?”
Ace just stared at him. Luffy slowly pulled Kotatsu closer to himself.
With a rushed goodnight Luffy darted past him and into his room, pushing Zoro back into the room so that he could do so. The door closed and the light almost immediately clicked off, a tiny mrow sounding right afterwards.
Why?
Just why?
Ace headed back to where he had set his leftovers down and grumpily picked them up. “Traitor,” he muttered at Marco as he made his way towards the couches, flopping down onto one of them.
Marco snorted quietly as he followed after him. “Hey, I wasn't getting involved in that. Not with the look you were giving your brother.”
“You got fucking involved! You said to take the cat to the vet!”
“Well....to check it for a chip. With how friendly it seems it might be someone's lost cat, yoi.”
He was still a fucking traitor.
The couch dipped as Marco sat down next to him and Ace threw his legs over his lap. “Still a traitor,” he muttered under his breath as he started to eat, one of Marco's hands running lightly up and down a calf.
Marco just shrugged. “It's a cute kitten.”
“It's not a kitten. It's a cat.”
“I'm pretty sure it's a kitten still. It looks like one.”
“It's the size of a cat.”
“It's a big kitten.”
Great. A kitten the size of a cat. By the time it was fully grown it would probably be the size of a fucking lynx. Maybe it would be an actual lynx. Knowing Ace's luck, it was possible.
Groaning, Ace closed his eyes and tipped his head back to rest it against the pillow next to the arm rest. He probably shouldn't have since immediately he could feel sleep tugging at his mind and he knew he had dropped his fork, but he was also so tired that he didn't really have the energy to particularly care that he was falling asleep either. He'd just eat in the morning. And he knew Marco could carry him to bed if he didn't wake up soon.
And, not that he would admit it....that kitten was pretty fucking cute.