Well this is a little late…sorry…Hope y'all enjoy it anyway? It's been in my head since last week but man did I have some issues just writing it all out (kept getting distracted by Stony XD )

Day 3: Flowers

This one is dedicated to InspiringLight , cause this is right up her alley and I've been a horrible pen pal lately.

Warnings: This does not have a happy ending. Do NOT read it if you aren't in the frame of mind for some serious angst. This is my only warning.

SET SAIL!

Ace was one of the best things to happen to the Whitebeard Family.

It was something every member will agree on, no matter their status. Ever since the Underboss, Marco, and some of his capo friends rescued the kid from an unfortunate street fight Ace has basically been a part of the Family, despite never being formally inducted. And the Family members treated him as such.

Hating Ace was incredibly difficult; especially when he started bringing his younger brothers with him to hang out around their Main House. Sabo and Luffy were just adorable, and so was Ace when he was around them.

Of course hanging around a known crime syndicate brought some unnecessary trouble to the trios door, but they never talked. Even the one time they were picked up by the FBI, they kept their silence and the family's secrets, and that earned them so much when it came to the family.

Especially when it came to Marco.

The underboss was enamored with Ace. Everyone could see it, and his siblings, the capos of the family, brought it up every time Marco got distracted by the teen.

Whitebeard approved of his Underboss's inclinations, and even told the blonde to get over silly things like age and just ask the kid out.

Which, of course, Marco did.

Though if he was being honest he only did so because he thought it would be easier to get the rejection out of the way early on. He never expected for Ace to say yes; and certainly not with a wide smile and flushed cheeks.

Another unexpected action was having both Luffy and Sabo corner him in a hallway off the main room of the house to ask about his intentions with their older brother. It was both cute and a little annoying that they did that, but Marco appreciated the protection the two provided for Ace.

One date led to another, and another, to Marco teaching Ace to fight, and the teen showing off his pyrotechnic talents. Soon it was no longer just the Underboss, Marco. Now it included his boyfriend, Ace.

The teen asked to not be a full part of the family, but he gladly supplied them with bombs and other such incendiary devices that they required, that was as far as he would go.

Marco and Ace settled into a life together pretty easily, and they enjoyed Luffy's conversations with Whitebeard about starting his own Family, and were exasperated by Sabo wanting to join the social rebellion currently happening. But it was family, and it made them happy.

That happiness only lasted two years.

A month after Ace's twentieth birthday, Marco was planning a way to propose when everything went to hell in a hand basket.

It was Thatch that found him, brooding in his and Ace's shared room trying to figure out the perfect way to propose. Marco thought it was about the Family, thought something went wrong with the raid that was planned to happen that day.

The blonde felt horrible for wishing that it was something to do with the Family.

Marco's happy world crashed around him at that moment, with Thatch still speaking and everything narrowing into a fine point with what the capo just imparted.

"Ace was taken to the hospital. He's really sick..."

REMINDER TO SELF INSERT LINE HERE!

Marco was quiet as he walked down the white white halls of the only hospital in the city that fell under Family rule. It was something he did often enough now. Nurses would greet him, doctors would shake their heads sadly, and long-term patients would complement his choice.

Fire Lilies were today's. They were beautiful lilies, some of the prettiest he had ever seen, despite his love for Oriental ones. Ace showed him a stunning field of them for their third date. His mother was buried nearby and the two of them always were fond of them.

He had a full bouquet of them because Ace loved them so much. He figured it was because it was fire and he'd always loved anything to do with fire, but then he looked up the meaning online one day.

Ace loved Fire Lilies because of their color, but he loved lilies in general because of what they meant.

Motherhood.

There was a Greek myth surrounding the creation of lilies but Marco hardly remembered it anymore, but he did recall that they were a symbol of motherhood.

They were Ace's favorite because they reminded him of the mother he never truly got to know. And if he teared up a little at that when the younger had told him, Ace had never held it against him.

Normally Marco didn't visit every day, but lately the doctors have been telling him that the love of his life might be waking up soon. So of course the blonde had taken to being there as often as possible, and every day he brought with him a new bouquet. Most commonly a type of lily but there were some sunflowers, orchids, hydrangeas, and the odd bunch of various colors of carnations.

A sigh escaped his throat as he stopped walking and just stared at the door to room 314. Something he'd seen far too much of in his opinion.

Marco opened the door quietly and felt the strings in his heart tug a little at the sight that greeted him beyond the entry.

Ace's once tanned skin was pale and sickly, nowhere near the sun kissed beauty it used to be. His arms were bony and there seemed to be little, if any, muscle mass left on his once toned frame. What used to be fluffy and silky ebony locks were now stringy and flat as they splayed around his clammy face, freckles sticking out in the worst of ways. The rest of his body was covered by the stark white hospital sheet but Marco knew from previous experience that it's just as gaunt as his arms and face.

That was the most painful part really. A once vibrant and loud and joyous youth crippled to such a state because-because of a disease he didn't even know he had.

Marco sighed heavily as he placed the fresh bouquet in the only empty vase in the room, which was filled to the brim with flowers, vases and potted alike. Ace said flowers were the one thing he loved to indulge in, loved to be around them, loved to see them, loved to grow them. The whole family knew that, which was why his hospital room was like a mini flower store.

A chair was waiting on the side of Ace's bed, like always, and Marco wasted no time in sitting down in it, like he did every visit.

Lightly he lifted the bony hand lying outside of the covers and held it. It was a constant reminder, in addition to the beep beep beeps, that he was still alive. That Ace was still breathing and hadn't left.

He let out another sigh before he smiled half-heartedly, letting his voice out of his strangely constricted throat.

"You missed so much since the last time I was here, yoi. Even though it's only been about sixteen hours since the staff kicked me out yesterday. You know how your brothers are, yoi. Can't keep them still."

Marco felt his lip tremble and took a deep breath to settle his nerves and anxiety. For some reason today just felt like a horrible day to be at the hospital.

"Luffy found another family member. Skinny guy, yoi. Really obsessed with panties but plays the violin like you wouldn't believe. He always said he'd get a musician didn't he, yoi? He barely thought over joining the mafia and just said yes. What kind of guy disregards the fact that everything we do is illegal and joins a fledgling family just like that?"

A slow blink as he tossed through the happenings of last night before he started speaking again, listening to the various machines in the room continue to beep.

"Sabo is doing well, yoi. We got a letter from him yesterday while I was here. Apparently he was listening to all those lectures you gave him on the proper way to dismantle a bomb.

Someone planted one at the place he was protesting at and if he didn't stop it then it would have hurt a lot of people, yoi. Seemed to do more for his cause than anything else, people listen more to heroes for some reason. The family won't stop calling him the 'Savior of the Masses'. You woulda loved it, yoi."

He mentioned he might be able to come visit you soon. And three soldiers have come to me in panic attacks about their changing sexuality. He still makes everyone reconsider their stance on attraction, yoi."

Marco took a deep breath and stroked the bony hand lightly, caressing it like he used to do when Ace woke from a nightmare. He hoped it helped with whatever was keeping him asleep.

"Thatch is doing a lot better now. Although he curses Teach's name every time his leg starts acting up or he trips over his own cane. The doctors doubt he'll ever be able to walk without one so he is trying to make light of the situation, yoi. But he and Izou did finally get together. I remember you used to rant at anyone you could about their undying love for each other. Thatch even said it was probably because of you that he stopped stalling."

Tears start to gather in his blue eyes and he's not sure he can do anything about them. If he wipes them away, they'll just come back and then he'll have released Ace's hand for no good reason. So he let them slide down his cheeks and continued talking.

"Pops is doing well enough. He's having a few problems with his liver now, but the nurses have him on an all water diet that should fix it right up. The only thing he needs now is his last son home and healthy. Everything would be perfect then, yoi."

Marco folded over. His elbows resting on his knees, Ace's hand still clasped between his larger ones, and he rested his head against the smooth slim appendage. Taking a shaky breath he lost the logical part of his mind and just spoke.

"This isn't fair, Ace. We were supposed to have forever. I was ready to spend the rest of my life with you and only you, yoi. Everyone would have been there, we would have been happy. We would have adopted a kid, cause I know how badly you want to be a parent even though you kept saying it was a bad idea. We would have gotten a dog cause you're stubborn and the kid would get that from you, even though birds would be a better choice, yoi.

But you're stubborn, Ace. You can't let this beat you. We didn't even know you had it, even though we were so careful the Family makes me get tested every week, just in case. But that's not your fault, we didn't know ,yoi. And you have so much more living to do, babe. You just have to open your eyes and be here, and live. We can do this, you know we can. And I-I don't want to do this without you, yoi. I don't know if I can anymore.

And I still have so much more to do with you. So many promises I haven't fulfilled, so many that I swore to you I'd do with you, yoi. Sky diving, you wanted me to jump out of a perfectly good airplane. And a safari in Africa, that you've wanted to do since we watched that one documentary on leopard cubs. And I promised snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef, yoi. And-and Disney World. Even though you were half joking I know you want to go and I promised to myself that I'd take you. And I can't take you if you don't get better, yoi."

The tears slip out faster now but he doesn't really care. Marco had been holding this all in since the day the doctors told him that Ace wasn't allowed to leave the hospital. That it was too dangerous for his system to be anywhere that wasn't completely sterilized.

Slowly the tears slow and Marco resigns himself to another day without seeing Ace's lovely dark eyes when the hand in his grip tugs a little.

His head snapped up faster than he honestly thought it could and he starts crying all over again as those dark dark pools look into his own from under half lidded eyes.

"Ace…"

Said younger man smiles weakly, before he moves his hand from Marco's grip to his cheek, cupping in softly. The bony arms are shaking from exertion but the blonde can't find it in him to do anything but just stare at the eyes he hasn't seen in well over a week.

"I love you, Marco. I love Pops. I love Luffy and Sabo. And I love our family." Ace speaks softly and Marco has to choke back a sob at his words. This first words he's uttered in so long, and it didn't even sound like Ace any more. Just a defeated version of what he once was, and it sounds too much like good bye for the blonde to think anything else.

Ace puts more effort into his smile and suddenly it isn't a weak pathetic shadow of what once was. It was the smile that made him fall in love, and things felt right and it felt like before. Before Ace got sick, and sicker, and never got better. It recalled happy times to his mind and he knew what that meant and he just didn't want to believe it.

"No, Ace. Nonononono. You can't. You can't, yoi! It was supposed to be forever!" Marco hadn't yelled in months, hadn't had the energy. And his voice cracked from misuse now that he had.

"I'm sorry…"

The words were punctuated with a steady long beep instead of the continuous flow of them.

Doctors rush in, and so do the nurses, and there is a crash cart and yelling and screaming and pushing him out of the way. And sounds that sort of make up a sentence of "his heart finally gave out", when it fully hits Marco.

Ace was gone. He wasn't coming back. They weren't going to get their future, the one Marco had been dreaming about since their first date. They didn't even have a chance to get married, the blonde never even got to propose.

Just as suddenly as Ace passed Marco was on the floor. Screaming his pain into the tiles, pounding them with his fists until they were bloody and it wasn't fair. It shouldn't have been Ace. Anyone but Ace. The black haired man didn't deserve this, he didn't deserve to die like this!

"Damn you Roger! HOW COULD YOU?! YOU KNEW! YOU KNEW, YOI!"

There were people grasping at him and trying to move him, but Marco wasn't having any of it. He kicked them away, punched when they restrained his legs, tried to bite when they got his arms. He kept yelling though.

"YOU KNEW YOU HAD AIDS, ROGER! HOW COULD YOU LET ROUGE DO THIS?! HOW COULD YOU HAVE THIS SON, THAT I LOVE AND DESERVES SO MUCH MORE, WHEN YOU KNEW HE WOULDN'T LIVE LONG ENOUGH! HOW DARE YOU!"

They had him strapped to a gurney when his voice gave out completely. He tried to continue screaming but nothing came out. And without a way to release his anger it all turned into sadness and then he was sobbing as they wheeled him out of the room.

Marco's very last glance at the only man he would ever love was of one of the doctors covering his face with a sheet. But not before Marco saw the smile on his face and a hibiscus by his ear.

FIN

Well? Hate me yet? This was totally and shamelessly inspired by RENT the movie/musical~ something that lead me to writing in the first place I swear~ (watch it if you haven't it is the greatest thing ever)

Go vote in MY POLL PLEASE!

See y'all hopefully on time tomorrow~