I'm sorry for making you all waiting. I actually have a lot of things to do and study and my beta still has problem reading the story for the "song" and the "misery" day. I'm really sorry. I MAY publish the two missing fics but I'm not sure.
Rating: M, just to be safe
Warning: ...ok, I can't tell or it will became a sopiler. NO death or non-con. There's a happy ending, I swear.
His pride as a man was definitely destroyed, wounded beyond repair. Hod did it happen? How should he behave now? Oh, god, this was downright embarrassing. He wouldn't come out from his room for the next five years after this humiliation, wishing that no one would ever have to know what was going on now. God, he really wished he could melt into the floor. Marco never wished to run away from his home, but right now that option sounded very appealing. He closed the infirmary door behind him, still shell shocked, and walked to Pop's room in a trance-like state. The blond knocked and entered. Whitebeard was on his bad, drinking some sake. He looked down on his son, worried.
"Marco, my son, what happened? You look shaken"
"Pops, I..." Marco interrupted himself. "Promise me not to laugh -yoi."
Whitebeard looked at him a little taken aback, but if his son was in distress he would never laugh. "Of course my son. Now come sit next to me and tell me what's wrong" He invited patting the mattress next to him.
Marco felt a little better after the talk with his father, but he still felt uneasy to say at least. He got to his room and let himself drop on the bed, face down. He was so stressed he almost jumped when he heard someone movement behind him. No, not someone, Ace. Of course it was Ace, they shared the room. He gave his partner a fleeting glance, watching him standing from his desk, before burying his face again in the pillows. The mattress shifted lightly and he knew Ace was now seated besides him. A warm hand started stroking his back in a soothing manner.
"Hey" He started sweetly. "Marco, what happened? It's rare to see you so stressed, are you alright?"
"It's nothing -yoi" Marco was so caught up in his own misery that he did not felt bad for lying to his lover.
"And this 'nothing' can make you, the mighty Phoenix, sulk like a teenager and try to suffocate yourself with our pillows?"
"Don't name that stupid bird in front of me!" Marco snapped. Ok, now seeing his lover's shaken face felt like a dick. He took a deep breath. "I'm sorry -yoi, it's just...we need to talk." Ace's face became worried.
"I knew something was wrong. What's up Marco?"
"Ok, laugh and I'll castrate you." When Ace nodded with a puzzled expression, he went on. "That fucking bird." He started. "Thought that modify my body was a great idea -yoi."
"What do you mean?"
"Since we share one body, it's not rare that sometimes I found myself with bird's limbs instead of human's. After all, my Phoenix has a conscience." Ace nodded. He saw with his own eyes how sometimes the bird showed his presence, acting like a really bored child. "Well, it appears that she decided it was a good idea to shift a part of my insides -yoi." He really hoped Ace would get it, but the confused look on the other's face told him otherwise. He took all the courage he had left after his talk to Pops.
"My phoenix is a female. And she...well...I now have her genitals inside of me. With two eggs in it. At least, that's what the nurses are saying -yoi. It's actually sudden since I only had my genitals last time I had a check-up. " Ace blinked, and stared at him. He understood what it meant but it couldn't accept it like that. His partner, his very male partner was pregnant.
"Oh shit" He whispered. "We are going to be...parents" The word was so foreign and tasted weird on his tongue.
"Yes -yoi." Marco laughed brokenly. "That's- how can it be? God, am I still a male after this? I- how can I show my face in front of the crew and say something like that?" His hands flew to his hair. Ace was taken aback by such a reaction. His lover never freaked out, but there he was, panicking like a teenager. However Ace understood. After all, he was a man too, he could imagine how the first mate was feeling, so he smiled softly and started rubbing soothing circle on his back.
"It's alright, Marco. No one will make fun of you. I'll beat them up if they even try. I-"
"This is your fault, you know." Ace looked at him with shock written all over his face.
"...mine?" His voice was little as he retired his hand. Marco was feeling like this because of him? All this stress...all because of him?
Only being alive would be a fault that would bring death to him.
Ace's breath hitched and tried to shove the memories down. It wasn't like that. Being alive wasn't a fault, wasn't a sin.
"And who do you think knoked me up?" He glared at the raven. "I just wish you hadn't -yoi."
"...you...don't want them?"
"Not inside of me!"
You should never have been born
Marco saw the punch approach his face, but was too stunned to move away. The hit never arrived, though, the hand stopping a few inches from his face. Did Ace just tried to punch him?
"...never" Ace gritted his teeth "Don't say something like that! Ever again!" He grabbed Marco's collar in complete fury, looking the blond dead in the eyes. "If you really don't want your children I'll take them inside of me." Marco watched shell shocked as his partner go up and headed to the door.
"Where...where are you going?"
"To take some fresh air" The door closed with more force that was strictly necessary. Marco stayed like that, still too shaken to move, for what seemed like hours. When he finally found in himself the strength to get up and search for comfort in Pops' presence. He knew Ace was mad at him but his brain was still too busy in trying to process the fact that he was pregnant to understand what he done to make his beloved react like that.
"You can't do that, Commander Ace. That will probably kill you." Marco halted every movement. He hadn't noticed he passed before the infirmary's door.
"Why? Just pass the entire apparatus in me!" Ace sounded angry, really angry.
"Commander" A nurse tried to calm him. "If we do something like that, your organs will be pushed and pressed, your body is not made for that."
"Neither Marco's" Ace was growing impatient.
"Yes, but his body will change according to the needs thanks to his Phoenix..."
"I'm fucking logia, I can handle changing! Hell, my body changes as fast as the weather on the Grand Line."
"But you won't be able to regenerate them. Commander, we are talking about a child inside an egg, we don't know how much something like that is going to weight. And they're two. They can reduce your organs to a pulp"
"There aren't proofs for that theory. They can be light."
"Commander, it's too dangerous" Another nurse was speaking now. "How do you think you'll give birth? Commander Marco can just transform in his Phoenix self! The Phoenix it's three time bigger than his human form, she can give birth to two eggs, but you..."
"It's simple." Ace's voice was dead serious. "You'll rip me open"
Marco's eyes shot open and he heard many gasps.
"Commander we can't do that! If your organs are damaged and we are doing a cesarean section, you'll die of blood loss before we could even take the eggs out!"
"It's alright." There was a change in his voice, he sounded almost serene. "My mother kept me in her belly for 20 months by sheer will power" Again, several gasps sounded from the infirmary and Marco himself was feeling shocked. "What you are asking me is nothing compared to that. I'm a D after all. I'll bring these ones in this world, no matter the cost I'll have to pay. Marco doesn't want them, but it's alright. I'll gladly die for them."
He turned to peek from the opened door and his heart skipped a beat. Ace's expression was full of peace and joy, like he reached his objective in life. The blond was starting to feel sick at his own selfishness. He needed to talk to Pops now, needed some help to make Ace forgive me. God damn it, he was in love with the raven, still he treated him really badly. How could he? He needed to get things right. Now.
The first thing Marco heard as he started to wake up was a light murmur. He remembered returning to their room after his talk with Pops and falling asleep alone, exhausted. However, now there was a warm hand and a head on his belly and he knew that this was Ace. Has he calmed down?
"It's alright, I won't let Marco abort. You are not unwanted, you deserve to live" The blond's breath hitched and he lifted a hand to pet his lover's hair, but as soon as it made contact Ace's head whipped towards him, glaring at him like he was an enemy. That actually broke his heart.
"It's alright -yoi. I won't hurt them." Ace snorted.
"Oh, yeah? Just hours ago you were wishing they weren't here."
"I was shocked..."
"That's no excuse."
"I know."
If he wasn't so busy feeling guilty, Marco would have probably found funny how Ace's hands were caressing gently his belly while he was glaring at him.
"You have something really important inside of you. I will protect them even if you won't."
Marco smiled sadly and caressed Ace's cheek.
"You're gonna be a good parent. Don't worry, I'll behave -yoi."
The raven nodded before resting again his head on his abdomen. Marco smiled before starting to stroke his hair. He knew Ace was tense beneath his touch but it was alright; after saying such things his lover needed time to trust him again. Sighing, he left himself drift to sleep again.
The next months were the busiest Marco had ever experienced. Everyone in the crew knew about his condition in merely two days and even if he made clear that lots of attention made him unease, he was constantly showered with question about his pregnancy. After that his abdomen started to grew, he refused to get out from his room, too embarassed to walk around on the ship. However, his Phoenix often bursted out from inside of him, searching for wood to create a comfy nest for the little ones in the raven's old room. Ace was the one who busied himself the most: he opened a door through the wall that separated the first and second's commander rooms, created two cradles, took care that he ate enough, helped the Phoenix adjust her nest, kicked an overexcited Izou out of their room everytime the man came in with new onesie that he sew and so on. He really was working himself to the bone, but kept on going. It had surely something to do with the look he saw everytime he caught his younger lover stare at his belly. His heart fluttered at the sheer adoration in these silver orbs, just to clench at the mixture of betrayal, love and annoyance his eyes showed when they looked at each other. It could not be helped, it seemed that Marco had hurt Ace on a fundamental level, something that would have probably caused the raven to sleep in a different room if it wasn't for his lover's round belly. Said belly seemed the centre of Ace's worry and affection and Marco could not deny that he was a bit jealous, especially now that the younger was angry with him. It wasn't like Ace mistreated him, but it was clear that the blond didn't have his complete trust anymore and that the other felt contrasting emotions about him.
On one hand, Ace loved Marco, he really did, and he understood why he freaked out so much but on the other he just couldn't forgive him so easily when in one minute he managed to hurt him and, worst of all, their unborn children. Their children had done nothing wrong, they were pure, how could he be that mean to them?
The raven sighed, entering their shared room. He was tired after all the work he had done and who could blame him? He had to coordinate the first and the second division and he wasn't like a certain blond who suffered from insomnia and could do some work while he couldn't sleep, he had fucking narcolepsy and he kept on faceplanting everywhere an any time of day because of the lack of sleep he had in these days.
Ace blinked the sleep away, noticing that Marco wasn't in their room. He looked toward the bathroom's door but found it open. The blond wasn't there neither.
"Marco?" He called. That was strange. The man never left their room, too fucking embarassed to have their children inside of him. Ace took a calming breath, trying not to get angry over his lover's actions. He moved towards their children's room, frowning. Marco was never there because it remembered him that he would give birth and that freaked him out, but Ace opened the door nevertheless.
Inside the room, the majestic Phoenix was resting on the nest.
"Fuu?" He called. That was the name he gave to Marco's Phenix. Since she was to thanks for their situation, Ace thought it was sign of gratitude giving her a name and she liked it. Originally, "Fu" was from "Fushicho", a foreign word for Phoenix, but he discovered that in the same language Fuu meant wind, so why not? She was a bird after all.
"What's wrong? You're not feeling well?" He asked, coming closer and stroking Fuu's soft plumage. She cooed and carefully stood. Ace felt like his heart stopped beating and his breath stuck in his trot. With shaking hands he reached for the two eggs laid inside the nest. They were almost twice the size of an ostrich's egg, of a faint violet that turned pale shades of red and blue here and there. Ace felt excitement grow inside of him as he smiled like a madman.
"God...they're so worm...and little. And alive" Ace's voice was full of wonder, almost reverent. He glanced up at the bird, eyes shining with emotions.
"Thanks." He breathed. "You were wonderful. Both of you." He said, reaching out and caressing her long beak. Fuu cooed happily again, rubbing her cheek against the palm.
"Are you sure that my body heat would be a good substitute for your brooding?" The bird nodded. Even if Marco had once told him that the phoenix supported that it would be enough, Ace couldn't help but worry: he didn't want to harm them! "Won't it hurt them? What if it's too hot for them?" Fuu let out a trill and caressed Ace's cheek with her own, reassuring him. The raven let out a breath and smiled.
"It's ok. If you say so I believe you. You can leave it to me and just let Marco enjoy his new freedom. Besides, someone has to tell the family that we now have two little eggs to look after right?" Ace smiled and climbed in the nest, curling around the eggs.
Slowly, the blue flames died down and Marco stood in the bird's place. The blond reached out to caress his lover's hair, smiling weakly.
"Hey" He started.
"Hey" Ace replied as he hugged the precious eggs. "Are you tired?"
"Not really -yoi. It wasn't as traumatic as I thought it would be, you know. Besides, Fuu made all the work, I barely felt any pain." He kissed the freckled cheek without thinking. "Were you worried?"
"Of course I was. But I'm still angry at you." Marco smiled weakly and Ace sighed. "Why don't you go tell Pops he's gonna have to babysit his grandchildren soon?" The blond nodded, a little wary to let his lover and unborn children alone. Now that they were out of him he could see how frail they were. Sighing, he moved to accomplish what Ace asked him to do and to enjoy the freedom of movement without that huge belly in his way.
As predicted, the whole ship was in an uproar the moment they heard about the eggs and Marco had to personally drag Izo, Thatch and Haruta out of their room. Funnily enough, Ace was practically snarling to anyone that neared the eggs and could harm them and watched warily anyone who wanted to touch them. Anyone besides Pops, of course. The man could soon be found more often than not beside the raven, sharing his parenting experience with his younger son as said one kept the eggs warm with his abnormal heat. Marco was still being watched warily but could see that the irritation was fading away. That might have something to do with the flawless behaviour he lead in front of the younger commander: he always brought Ace food and water, attentive to cover the eggs -with some extra blanket to keep them warm- whenever the raven had a narcoleptic fit, providing for pillows to keep Ace comfortable.
Marco was happy that he could reconquer Ace's trust again. Smiling, he opened their children's bedroom door.
"Hey, Ace, I brought.."
He cut himself off, seeing his lover asleep, hugging the eggs like they were a teddy bear. Smiling, he put the tray of food on the desk and moved until he was lying next to the raven, bringing the eggs between both of them to keep them warm. Marco passed an arm around Ace's shoulder and closed his eyes to take a nap. Not even an instant later, he opened his eyes again, feeling a small movement under his arm. He watched Ace, expecting to see him waking, but his breath stayed even while another small movement made his eyes turn to the eggs. Suddenly, both of them jerked, making him yank the arm away. They weren't going to- were they?
His eyes were glued to the eggs until Ace stirred and woke up. He blinked at him, perplexed.
"What? You look like you saw a ghost..." He stated, rubbing the sleep away from his eyes and sitting up.
"T-the eggs -yoi."
"The eggs? What-?" Ace shrieked at the next jerk. The silence was heavy between them.
"Marco?" The blond looked up to the rave, panic written all over his usually collected face. He couldn't speak, the shock robbing him of his voice.
"Go get the nurses. And Pops." Marco just looked at Ace numbly, something that enraged the younger.
"NOW!" Without even noticing, he found himself in front of the infirmary, shouting for a nurse to go to their room because their eggs were going to hatch. Not even 5 minutes later, Pops and a few of the nurses were inside of the room, looking at the eggs that were jerking every few minutes. Marco was busy pacing up and down while Ace kept the eggs warm with his ability.
"God, the wait is killing me -yoi. Can they even broke such a thick shell?" Marco mumbled, worried.
"Marco, my son, calm down. Let the nature follow its flow."
"But Pops-!"
"Marco!" The blond was next to Ace in an instant.
"What? What happened -yoi?!" The raven pointed to a faint crack on the first egg. Marco held his breath and squeezed Ace's hand in his. Slowly, more cracks appeared on the first egg that jerked violently. Violently enough to bump against the other one. Both parents gasped, Marco's hand flying to cover the injured egg, while Ace's held the other far from its sibling in the same moment. Newgate smiled at the scene but said nothing, returning to watch how the second egg started to crack as well. Without warning, a little hand broke trough the shell. Both parents stared at it in wander as it tried to get hold of something. Ace was the first to react and to cradle it gently. Smiling the raven started to help the baby broking the egg, careful not to hurt him in any way.
Seemingly not wanting to be left behind, the second one followed the example of the sibling and broke the egg with both his tiny little hands. Marco watched Ace, who stopped breaking the egg to grin lovingly to the other egg, before hurrying to help the other child as well. They were allowed to see the children or an instant as the nurses kicked in, apologizing about the interruption and taking both baby to clean and measure their parameters.
The blond turned again towards his lovers, still shocked, and laughed at the pout on his lover's face. Soon they were presented again with twin boys and they took them in their arms. The first one to came out was awake, with big, stormy eyes was watching everything with interest. He had a little blond hairs that resembled a crest and freckles dotted both his cheeks that his nose.
The second one was whining lightly, a little disturbed by the movement he'd been trough, and Marco cradled him gently until his newborn child watched him. Here and there black hair stood messily in the infant's head, beautiful blue eyes were watching him with sleepiness. Like his twin, freckles were splashed on his face and danced as the little boy yawned.
Whitebeard came to stood in front of the new parents and they both smiled to him. Ace stood up.
"Pops. Let me introduce you Portgas D Hayden." He said, presenting him the blond twin. Marco stood as well.
"Meet Portgas D Angelo, Pops." The man smiled to his grandchildren and bent to caress both their frail head. Both parents were completely at ease to see the giant caress their little children, knowing that their father wouldn't hurt his grandchildren.
"Welcome to the family, both of you."He smiled before turning towards Ace and Marco. "Well, my sons, won't you introduce our little ones to the rest of the family?" He asked laughing. As predicted, hell broke loose the instant their family saw the two bundle nestled within both men arms. Photos, questions and congratulations were shot from left to right and just the combination of Marco's commanding voice and Ace's fire was able to shut everyone down. After few minutes they successfully retired in their room but not without an entire bag full of onesie between their hands. And they thought Izou would be satisfied with the 105 he made until now...
It was only after feeding, cleaning and dressing the children -Hayden with a mouse onesie and Angelo with a bunny one-, putting them to sleep and eating themself that they both fell on the bed at either sides of the twins, exhausted. They looked at each other and Marco chuckled.
"It's just day one and I already need a vacation -yoi." That made Ace laugh.
"I forgive you for what you said." Ace said smiling and that filled the blond with relief.
"Thank you -yoi." He said truthfully, kissing his lover. Ace smiled before looking at the twins.
"I really am happy that they are here." Marco smiled.
"Yeah, me too."Ace chucked.
"I wonder how they'll became after growing up..."
"They're going to be amazing."
And they talked about their children's future for hours, spinning tales about how brave and loved they'll become for hours, basking in their new little family's warmth.
This is actually a little revenge of mine because it's always Ace whose pregnant. And I'm NOT ok with it. I'm a bad person...