"Mmmg...when was the last time I burned something?"

"What the hell?"

Ace's eyes shot open at the sound of the foreign, but strangely familiar voice. He sat up and looked around, soon realizing he wasn't in his own house.

The hell happened last night?

"Don't tell me you're gonna set my place on fire."

Ace whipped his head to the side to see Marco sitting on a window frame with the morning newspaper in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other.

With no shirt, I might add.

Ace's eyes instantly zoned in on his broad chest, quickly noticing the large tattoo of a big, blue cross with a crescent spread over the middle.

Ace had never seen such a symbol before. It was beautiful, with it's own type of rugged manliness. It was foreign, yet oddly familiar.

"Hey, you alright, Ace?"

Ace quickly snapped out of his little trance and realized that he had been staring at the older man's bulking chest for a little too long.

"Uuuhh...yeah! Yeah, I was just, um...hey how'd I get here anyway? What happened?"

Marco stared for a moment, then laughed. Oh, how embarrassed this kid would be if he knew the type if shit he said last night.

Actually, the things Ace said made him a little embarrassed as well. They were just so...explicit and vivid, he couldn't believe some kid could conceive thoughts like this. About him of all people.

----

"Yay! Get to go to Marco's house, get to go to Marco's house. Woo!"

Marco was trying desperately to keep his slightly intoxicated focus on the road, with Ace cheering and screaming, causing quite the obnoxious disturbance, that task was becoming rather hard to accomplish.

"Hey Marco, let's play a game! Who can come up with the dirtiest fantasy about the other, hmm?"

Marco's judgment was indeed being interfered by the little alcohol he had ingested because on any other occasion, he would've refused flatly.

"Sure, alright, I'll go first." He said, then paused to think of something that would really make the teen squirm in his seat.

"Alright, when we got home, I really wanna see how much of the random shit in my drawer I can fit inside your asshole."

Ace's spine shivered, and later became restless and something hard was starting to develop in his pants.

"W-what do you have in your drawer?" He asked, a bit scared to know just what the older man had lurking around in his bedside furniture.

"Oh you know: dildos, ass-beads, vibrators...I think I have one of those giant pencils lying around somewhere."

Marco turned to see a wide-eyed Ace whose face was completely devoid of color, looking similar to a severely frightened ghost.

Ace shook his head, trying to erase the images of him being stretched out by multiple objects.

"Is that all? Pathetic, man. I would've tied you to the bed, put a cock ring on you, and blew you until you were gonna pop. Then I'd ride you all night long."

He made sure to put extra emphasis in the end, to have that sexy sexy voice, you know.

Marco gulped hard. Could this kid really take control of sex like that? Hell, he'd love to see that happen. Being dominated by someone with such fire like Ace's was a tingling, masochistic fantasy. One he'd rather not admit to himself. At least not now.

"You wanna put those words to action?" Marco asked simply. He wanted to counter that little fantasy with flustering Ace into bluffing out.

"Only if you're prepared, old man." Ace said with a sly smirk. Damn, that alcohol was really taking a toll on the kid. He should never have agreed to let an underage kid participate in such a stupid game.

"Alright then, we're here."

They pulled into Marco's driveway and got out of the car. Ace took the time to examine what he could about the house, since it was in the middle of the night.

It was a nice, quaint house. A tiny, two-story building, yet big enough to house a growing family snuggly. Everything about it was well pampered. Nothing falling apart from what he could tell, front hedges nicely groomed, lawn perfectly trimmed, front door giving off a warm, inviting aura. The house was quite beautiful, making Ace all the more excited to return under better circumstances.

Marco walked up to the front door and unlocked it, stepping aside to signal Ace to enter. Once inside, Ace wasted no time to scout the place. It was quite homey, humbly furnished with simple decor, and some random nick-nacks that provide the house with antique but modern atmosphere.

"Make yourself at home I guess." Marco said while shaking off his coat and removing his shoes, having Ace mimic his actions.

"Cool, let's get this party going! Where's your room?"

"Upstairs, second door on you left."

"Ok, bet!"

Ace ran up the stairs only to trip and fall on the second step. Marco tried his hardest to stifle a laugh, but ended up failing horribly.

"Don't laugh! It's not funny!" Ace screamed, embarrassed, and ran the rest of the way to the top. Then collided face first in the wall in front of him. He looked back to Marco to see if he was laughing at his new found clumsiness, in which he wasn't, then he continued on his way.

He groggily walked down the hall, bumping into every wall and piece of furniture that was found in it, then finally made his way to Marco's room.

Just like the rest of the house, it was simply decorated, though there were more personal pictures of family and friends.

Ace stopped at a photo that sat upon a dresser. There was Marco standing next to an abnormally large old man with a mustache resembling a white banana. It nearly made Ace laugh at how comical the guy looked, but he quickly caught himself.

"Hey, who's that old guy?"

Marco looked at the picture then smiled softly, "That's my Pops."

"Oh yeah? You guys don't look that much alike."

"Yeah, I was adopted."

"Oh, wow. That's cool. Wish I had a dad... Anyway, I still have to ride you. Get on the bed."

Marco's eyes shot up. This kid wasn't really willing to have sex with him, was he? All that stuff in the car was only for fun, wasn't it?

"Ace, you know I was only jokin-"

"Well I wasn't. Come on, old man, you're not getting scared, are you?" Ace said in a teasing, slight sexy tone. But before Marco could answer, he was pushed backwards on to his bed with Ace quickly climbing on top of him. Ace pinned his hands down beside Marco's head, demobilizing the older from escaping, and looked deep into his eyes.

"This is gonna be so fu-..."

Ace's eyes fluttered shut and he fell in the space between Marco's neck and shoulder, snoring with such vigor it could rattle the whole room. Asleep.

Marco just laid there, dazed, completely perplexed as to what the hell just happened. He stared at his ceiling, as if it could give him some sort of clue as to why Ace wasn't impaling himself with Marco's length, then one particularly loud snore woke him from his imaginary high.

"This is complete bullshit."

----

"And that's what happened." Marco concluded, without so much as a glance up from his daily paper. With which he was currently using to hide the pink hue appearing on his face from the rather disappointing flashback.

Ace stared wide eyed at the older man, finding it hard to believe that he said such lewd things. And had the nerve to pin the poor guy to his own bed? Just what the hell had gotten into him last night?

Oh wait, the vodka...duh.

"I'm sorry...guess I can't really hold my liquor, hehe." Ace stared down at the sheets, afraid to meet the latter's gaze.

"Hmm, it's not your fault, you're still so young."

What? What's he mean by that?

For some strange reason, Ace felt his heart drop a little when hearing those words. Did Marco really just see him as a kid? He was acting a little bit more reserved than before, is he not interested in him anymore?

Ace was knocked out of his thoughts when his stomach gave a heart-wrenching growl, throwing both men off guard.

"Well someone's starving. How 'bout we go somewhere, I don't have that much food here since I've seen how you eat."

Ace's entire being lit up at the mention of food. And this wouldn't just be some food outing, he could turn it into something more...like a first date! His first date with Marco...he had to make sure this was perfect.

"Yeah that sounds awesome, let me just get ready...um, can I use your bathroom?"

"Oh yeah, c'mon, I'll show you. Make sure you don't bump into anymore stuff." He looked up with a small smile.

"S-shut up! I was drunk!"

"Yeah, I'm well aware." Marco was already walking out of the room and Ace jumped out of his bed to join him in the hallway. They walked some ways down until Marco stopped and opened a door, revealing a nicely sized bathroom with several pictures of whales and ships littered on the walls.

"Let's see...here's a washcloth and a towel. I'll bring some of my clothes while I wash yours, you can just leave them on the toilet or something. You need anything else, just ask, alright?"

"Yeah, thank you." Ace smiled.

"No problem." He smiled back at the younger man and exited with the door closing behind him.

Ace wasted no time striping, folding his clothes and placing them neatly on the lidded toilet seat, and entering the shower. The hot water pelting his body was extremely calming to his overzealous mind, it gave him an opening to think his plan through to make sure nothing went too wrong today.

'Well, for starters, we could go to...Ihop? Cheesecake Factory? No, no, that's a lot for a first date... Uuuuh... Miss Shirley's? Yeah, I haven't been there in a while, I wonder if he likes that place...'

Ace then exited the shower and found that his old clothes were replaced with Marco's. There was a white T-shirt, a black bottom up with thin, vertical, white stripes, and black fitted jeans.

Before ace put on his clothes, he turned to the mirror to glimpse at his second self. His curly, jet black hair that framed his slightly round face, his deep, dark chocolate eyes that could melt the heart of anyone if he tried hard enough, along with those oh-so-adorable freckles dispersed across his checks. He had a rather love-hate relationship with his freckles. He loved them because they made him feel somewhat closer to his deceased mother, that he always had a part of her etched on his face. But hated them because they gave him that innocently childish persona that no one would take seriously.

He sighed and started drying his hair. He then grabbed some toothpaste, and since he didn't have a toothbrush...he added some to his finger and rubbed it on his teeth. Afterwards, he took the deodorant and applied some to his armpits.

He started getting dressed so that Marco wouldn't continue to wait. He rolled up the sleeves and left the button up open to expose the white undershirt and left the bathroom.

He carefully, but quickly ran down the steps to see Marco in dark blue jeans and a royal blue button up with the top three buttons undone to expose that chiseled chest and a small part of his tattoo. Ace had to fight his desire to continuously stare before Marco got too freaked out.

"So, uh...what's that tattoo mean?" Ace asked, as a desperate distraction.

"Oh, this is my family symbol. Everyone has it."

"Oh that's really cool! You know, I feel like I've seen it before..."

"Yeah, you've probably seen it around my old orphanage, the Moby Dick."

That's right! Ace had past by that place maybe once or twice before. With that scary looking emblem, he thought is was some type of sweat shop, not an orphanage.

Although, now that he thought about it...there was a fricking sign in front of the damn building.

It's amazing how he doesn't pay attention to small, significant details like that. Maybe he should start listening to Sabo.

"Yeah, that's right! So that's your old home, huh? That place is big, I thought it was a factory or something."

"Haha, yeah it was a huge place. Really takes me back."

Marco stared into space for a second, becoming reminiscent by his distant past. It seemed so long ago when he was living with his Pops and brothers under the same roof. He shook his head, not wanting to feel too old in front of Ace, for some strange reason.

"So...here are your clothes, and your wallet and keys." He handed him a plastic bag with his Ace's old clothes neatly folded inside, along with his other belongings. "Where do you wanna go?"

"Oh! Do you like Miss Shirley's? I haven't been there in a while."

"Oh yeah, I love that place. There's one not too far away from here, actually."

"Cool, let's get going."

They both walked out and entered Marco's car. They sat in slightly awkward silence as Marco drove. Ace really didn't know what to do or talk about, so he turned the radio on.

"Oh, baby, give me one more chance! (To show you that I live you) won't you please let meeeee back in your heart."

"Oh my gosh, I love this song!"

"I didn't know you were into old music."

"Of course I am, the 80's were the best time in my opinion. Especially with the Jackson 5, I love them."

"Huh. Well good to know you're not into that noise your generation is into."

This was his chance!

"Hehe, yeah, I'm way too mature for that type of ignorant gibberish people call music nowadays."

"That's good. Nice to know I'm not dealing with some immature teen." Marco said with a slight chuckle.

Yes! He was actually seeing him as his equal! If he could just keep this up-

"OMG, OMG! there's a carnival! Can we go, pleeeaaaase?!" Ace squealed as they drove by the summer carnival that was still in town.

Goddammit...

Since school had just started, and the weather had yet to drop, it was only present for a little while longer. Marco stared at him for a moment, then began to guffaw the most majestic laugh Ace has ever heard.

"Sure, alright. After breakfast, okay? I'm starving."

Just then, Ace's stomach gave off an agreeing rumble and they both laughed.

"Yeah, me too."

Marco had finally pulled into the Miss Shirley's parking lot and Ace was instantly dashing for the door. He held it open for Marco to enter with a slight bow of the younger's head- to show his polite selflessness.

They were lead to a booth where they sat and started idle small talk. The waitress later came to take their orders.

"Can I start you off with something to drink?"

"Yeah, can I have a coffee and for him..."

"Coffee too, please."

"Coming right up." And she left without another word.

"I didn't know you liked coffee. You already have so much energy, I didn't think you'll need it."

"Haha, yeah well, you know us mature adults need more caffeine to get through our busy days."

"Hmm, is that so?" Marco rested his chin on his hand, slightly amused with Ace's desperate acts of false maturity.

"Yup!"

This was his chance, this is happening!

"And just what type of mature things do you do?"

"Uhh...well..."

'Sleep, eat, sleep, fight with brothers, sleep, run from Garp, sleep...sleep...'

"Sleep."

Before Ace even realized what he had said, Marco was already spewing his magical laughter in his face.

"Hahaha! Yeah, I bet it takes a lot of energy, sleeping. And since you do it nearly 12 times a day, I bet you're really exhausted. Poor baby."

Marco wiped away his tears while giving the poor baby a fake pouty face. Ace couldn't even comprehend the amount of embarrassment he was harboring in that very moment in time. All he knew was Marco was laughing in his face because of his stupidly poor attempts at relating to his age group.

Oh my fucking gosh.

"Here's your coffees." The waitress put down two steaming cups of coffee before the couple and took out her notepad.

"Ready to order?"

"Yeah, I'll have some French toast and for him..."

"A stack of pancakes, please."

She quickly scribbled the orders and left as fast as she appeared.

"So..." Ace started, "that's a really cool tattoo you've got there."

'What the fuck, dude? You already asked about his tattoo, remember?!"

"Wow, you must really love my tattoo, huh? Yeah, everyone in my family has one. It's like a symbol of our kinship."

"Wow, sounds like you all love each other." Ace said with a bit of jealousy laced in his voice.

"Yeah, we've been together since childhood. Pops made sure we all stuck together, even after our graduation."

"That's amazing, I wish my dad would look out for me like that... you probably know him, he's kinda notorious."

"Oh? Who is he?" Marco asked, curiously, as he took a rather large gulp of his coffee. Ace was amazed how he could stomach such a hot drink instantly.

"Gol D. Roger."

Ace narrowly missed the scolding beverage from splashing all over his handsome face. He should've told Marco to drink his coffee after he told him such surprising news.

"G-Gol D. Roger?! The Gol D. Roger?!" Marco whisper shouted, for that name belongs to one of the most dangerous people in this planet. It would cause a whole lot of head turning if anyone heard that name.

Gol Roger was one of the biggest gang bosses in the country. He even had some international connects that would reek certain havoc worldwide. His untouchable, illusive reign lasted 20 years until he was caught and executed on sight in some small village called Log Town. There had been rumors that he had a child, but no one ever believed it. Now Marco was at a complete loss for words as the actual son of Gol D. Roger was staring at him frightfully, yet expectingly for a negative, venomously scornful reaction.

"Yup. I'm the son of a monster."

"Uhh..." Marco stared, unable to fathom words to appease the tension that lingered thickly in the air between the two. It was almost too much to handle.

"Ace you're not-"

"Here's your food." The waitress boldly stated as she placed two plates of food in front of the duo. She eyed them for a second as they quietly said their 'thank you's and began to eat.

They both ate in silence for some minutes, both having so much to say, but unable to select the right wording. Ace took several gulps of his coffee before starting,

"You probably don't wanna be around me anymore, huh? That's understandable, I wouldn't wanna hang out with someone like me either."

That made Marco snap. How could he talk about himself in such a degrading manor? Ace was amazing and funny and handsome and just a wonderful person to be around. How on earth could anyone think otherwise just because his father was some terrorizing tyrant known worldwide. It wasn't his fault!

"Hey, stop that! Don't say that about yourself, Ace. Who cares who your father was, I surely don't. Because I like you for you. Your DNA doesn't define you, so don't go acting like the whole world is against you, 'cause it isn't."

Marco finished his little motivational speech with downing the rest if his coffee in embarrassment and frustration. Ace stared again, in absolute awe. No one had ever said that to him... Wow. He felt so...loved. A slightly different love from Luffy and Sabo. It was nice.

"C'mon, finish your food so we can go to that carnival and throw everything up." Marco said with a mouthful of toast. Ace giggled slightly then starting digging in, then guzzled down the rest of his coffee. They finished quickly and Marco left $20 on the table as they were exiting.

They entered the car and made a U-turn back towards the carnival. Ace's heart beat was getting faster and faster the closer they got to their date location... Wait... Date? Really? Did Marco see it as a date? Or, no, this is just a little outing for two homosexual males to hang out with each other. God, he prayed that wasn't the case.

Ace started bouncing up and down in his seat. He didn't know why, he just felt so restless all of a sudden. He also had the brightest smile laced on his face and his eyes were shot open with such childish excitement. Marco took a side glance over to him and chuckled to himself, getting Ace's attention.

"What's so funny? I wanna laugh."

"Maybe that coffee was a mistake, huh," Marco muttered, more to himself.

"What, no! I've never had this much energy, this is awesome! Now we can go on all the rides that place has to offer."

"...Alright." Marco sighed in defeat of this kid's exclaiming spirit. They arrived to their destination fairly quick. What with Ace constantly telling the older man to speed up. Once they stepped out, Ace was completely captivated with all the lights, and the music, and the smells. This place was positively magical. All the different shops with a plethora of items to win and choose from, to the colorful food vendors along with their menagerie of exotic foods and drinks. He wanted to partake in everything this place has to offer.

"Ace, here, let me put your bracelet on." Marco attached the required neon orange strap to Ace's wrist and he was officially in love with this place.

"Marco, let's go on that big one first! Please?" Ace squealed, pointing to the biggest roller coaster in the entire vicinity.

"Uh...ok, sure...what could go wrong?"

With that, Ace dragged the older man into the surprisingly short line and waited about 5 minutes. They were escorted into their seats and safely secured with the bars.

"Welcome to The Death Toll. We don't care whether you put your arms and legs out or not, just don't fall out of the coaster. We are not responsible for any breakage of the track, personal anxiety attacks, or any sort of defecation you do on yourselves.... Yeah, there you go."

A bored looking teenage worker finished his morbidly lazy introduction before Marco could question just what type of scam this place was having. He managed to stretch his head around to see that he and Ace were the only people on the ride. Everyone must've gotten off while the worker was droning on about how nothing would be his fault. Dammit.

"What the fu-" With that, the ride started. And it started fast. Marco could barely prepare himself for all the turns and loops and falls and thrashing and screaming and wishing that he had never agreed to this type of torture. He had to admit to himself, he was too old for this shit. Ace, on the other hand, looked like he was having the time of his life. While Marco saw his flash before his eyes. The ride ended and they swiftly halted to a stop. Marco wasted no time to retreat to the nearest bench so he could reconciliate with his stomach.

"Awe, Marco, are you ok? Sorry, that might've been a little too much for you, huh?" Ace said, kneeling down to get a better look at the paled faced Marco.

"Ugh, y-yeah... Just let me catch my breath, 'kay?"

"Uh, sure, I'll go get you something to drink." Then, he ran off in a random direction to find is...lover? Yeah, maybe, whatever, he just needed something to drink.

He came back a few minutes later with a couple of bottled waters. Marco thanked him and drank half the bottle in less than a second.

"Yeah, sorry. No more rides today, right?" Ace said, still a little worried for the older man, though his color was starting to come back.

"Sure, okay. Let's go play some games or something."

"Yeah, that sounds awesome!" Ace grabbed Marco's wrist took off to the nearest gaming booth.

"Come one, come all! Knock over the pins to win a flashy prize!" Screamed a man with clown makeup on for some reason. He also had electric blue hair and was dressed as a waiter.

"Cool! Imma win you something, watch me!" Ace declared while warming up a ball.

"Hmm, not if I win you something first."

They both stood, impatiently waiting for the clown man to give the 'okay', while playfully glaring at the other.

"Okay, lovebirds! Start!"

They both started throwing at lightning speed, while efficiently knocking the pins over the edge. Well...Marco was, at least. Ace was just grabbing the balls and throwing them in random directions as fast as he could. Somehow managing to knock them over, eventually. When the timer buzzed and the raspy voiced clown said the game was over, both men had no more pins to knock down.

"Well, since you both knocked all your pins down, you both win. Choose your prizes."

There was a colorful array of oversized plushies to choose from, but only two distinctive ones caught their attention.

"Can I get that big pineapple?"

"I want that big blue chicken!"

"Uh, sure." The clown said as he took down the two requested toys. "Actually, its a phoenix..."

"Really? Cool! Here Marco, didn't I say I'd win you something?" Ace said with a big, cheery smile.

"Yeah, but if I recall, I said the same thing." He replied as they switched their rewards.

"Whatever, now I'll have something that reminds me of you." Ace said, happily hugging the stuffed pineapple that was about half his size. Marco blushed at how happy the younger looked to receive such a silly thing. Did he really remind him of a fruit?

"Wanna walk around?" Ace finally asked knocking Marco out of his thoughts.

"Sure, yeah." Then they started walking through some jewelry booths with a while bunch of pretty, exotic looking jewels that came from all over the world. But Ace stopped at a traditional African booth that was home to they most beautiful red bead necklace he had ever seen. It was so bright and shiny, it looked like there was whole bunch of shattered glass inside, like someone shook it a lot and left the insides in complete shambles. Marco instantly spotted how Ace's gaze was transfixed on those beads. It was cute.

"Excuse me, how much are those?" He asked a dark tanned man with a long mohawk ponytail that was smoking a blunt of weed. He had a strange, green, tribal looking tattoo around his left eye, and several more on his shoulder.

"5 bucks." He said bluntly.

"Alright then." Marco pulled out a $5 bill from his wallet and handed it to the man. Ace hadn't even noticed what was happening, he was still hypnotized by the prettiness of the beads. Marco walked up and took them, then slid them over his head, upon his neck.

"Well, don't you look pretty."

Ace blushed, "Wha- I'm not pretty- don't you have to pay?"

"I just did. Ready to call it a day?" Marco said while taking Ace's hand and walking away. Ace's blush deepened as he stroked the beads with the tip of his fingers. So smooth.

"Wow. Thank you so much. Yeah, I'm kinda tired."

Marco chucked, "well, let me take you home then."

"Alright." Ace allowed himself to be lead back to Marco's car, and they were back on their way. This time, the silence was comfortable and welcoming. They both sat and thought, playing all of today's events on replay, over and over again. They pulled up to Ace's house but neither of them made any effort to move.

Ace spoke first, "thank you, I had an amazing time."

"Sure thing, anytime..." Marco rubbed the back of his neck, unsure what to say next. "Uh, you know...I really did mean those things..." He finished off with a flushed face.

"Yeah, I know. You're so sweet, my big pineapple." Ace stretched over and cupped Marco's cheek. Their lips connected in a sweet, understanding kiss. It was short, but very meaningful. They pulled back only a little to rest their foreheads together and stare into each other's eyes.

"I'll see you soon?" Ace whispered, in an almost pleading voice.

"Of course you will." Ace smiled and pecked his lips once more before exiting the car and pulling his key from his back pocket. He looked back and waved as he unlocked the door and entered, quickly shutting it and sliding down to the floor, cuddling the large toy to his body. He listened to the car engine start up again, then pull out and quickly disappeared. He finally looked up to find he was the only one in the living room.

"Hello?!"

No answer. Meaning his brothers were still hung over at their friends' houses. Meaning Ace had no one to make fun of him for squealing and rolling around on the floor like a love sick teenage girl...or boy, in this case. He ran upstairs and plopped down on his bed, still holding the pineapple closely to his face, while murmuring incomprehensible remarks and giggles about just how perfect this day was. He had just had his first date with Marco! Absolutely nothing could ruin it.

"Ace, we're back! And we have food!"

Nope, not a damn thing.

Ace quickly ran down at the mention of food, with a big, goofy smile still plastered on his face. His brothers quickly noticed his chipper persona, along with the shiny red beads decorating his neck.

"Well you look happy, did something good happen?" Sabo asked while setting one of the multiple boxes of pizza on the table.

Ace shrugged, his face still glowing of radiant happiness. "Nothing much...just know that I just had the most perfect date of my young life."

"Hmm, okay, that's good. Let's eat!" Luffy declared, only partially interested in Ace's day. They all began to dig in as Ace stared into space, slowly munching on a a pizza slice.

Yeah, that surely was the perfect date. Anything better would've ended in them having sex in Marco's bed, but let's not go there just yet.