Soulmate AU - You touch someone and see colour for the first time in your life.
Marco x Ace
ANGST
SFW
Soulmate AU
WC: 1,200
Soulmates were such a strange concept to Marco, to think there was someone out there designed to be his match, to be the person he would be with for the rest of his life. Marco had hated how he dedicated so much time to think about it, the notion of soulmates.
He would find himself staring out the window, watching the clouds slowly sail by as he drummed his fingers on the desk, as he chewed at one of the arms on his reading glasses, pondering for all the world where his soulmate could be. Everyone had one, he was no different.
It seemed cruel, the entire belief that you could never be happy until you met them, in such a large and vast world you only had one perfect person. He’d known many people to never meet theirs, it seemed common to just bumble through life attempting to find connections with others, always with the looming shadow of this person will never be good enough already self-sabotaging every chance.
Marco knew it wasn’t impossible and maybe that's why despite being inherently against the idea of soulmates he still clung to the thread, always pulling at it when he was left alone to daydream, left to unravel the fabric of all the possibility, all the what ifs in the world.
He remembered when Toki met Oden, how they’d touched for the first time, they’d told him about all the colours they could suddenly see, how vibrant the world was now they had one another.
Colours are a gift only those who’d been lucky enough to meet their soulmate could ever enjoy, another reason Marco had a negative view of the entire thing. He wondered what everything really looked like. A little jealous of those who could enjoy the world in colour.
When he had been young he’d ask Toki what colour his eyes were, she’d smiled sweetly and cupped his cheeks in her hands, the smile was tinged with sadness as she explained “It wouldn’t matter if I told you, how would you know what that looked like? Let it be a surprise.” she’d kissed him on the forehead before moving away.
Marco’s fingers stopped drumming on the desk, he blinked and let out a long sigh, a breath he’d been holding without thinking about it. He leaned back in his chair, arms behind his head as he thought about it more.
There was a knock at his door and he finally decided to stop torturing himself with the ifs and buts and dragging up moments from the past. He didn’t need to drag himself deeper into the crashing waves of his mind.
“What is it?” he asked, not meaning to sound as rude as he came across but Thatch didn’t seem to take it to heart when Marco stepped out of his office.
“The rookie’s tryin’ to kill Pops again, wanna place bets on how long he lasts this time?” Thatch said with a widening grin, hand clapping on Marco’s shoulder.
“Again?” Marco sighed and rested a hand on his hip, shaking his head in disbelief, chuckling as he followed Thatch. “I am not dumb enough to take that bet Thatch…”
——————————————————————————————————————————
Sure enough Ace was wielding another weapon he didn’t seem capable of picking up, let alone the fact he lept into the air with a defiant screech, desperate to take the head of Whitebeard. Thatch laughed when Whitebeard simply swotted the young man into a nearby stack of barrels and crates.
A loud bang and sound of crunching splintered wood as Whitebeard let out a loud laugh, hand over his stomach as he threw his head back and enjoyed the amusement of another assassination attempt.
Ace pulled himself out of the mess and could barely stand but Marco could see the determination flashing in his eyes as he balled his hands into fists, flames ignited as Ace launched himself out of the debris, his foot caught on something and he tripped, skidding across the deck, a few others witness to the event laughing.
Marco sighed, again, he felt like that's all he did today as he walked over to Ace who was fuming with, his hurt ego and hurt body. Marco knelt and reached out for him.
“Hey, stop it now, your hurt bad, let me help yoi.”
Before Ace could spit out curses or insults before he could jerk away from Marco’s outstretched hand it landed on his shoulder and the wind was knocked out of him. Marco snatched his hand back, pulling it to his chest as his eyes widened, staring at Ace.
“I-” Marco had no words as he blinked, slow and deliberate, looking at Ace, his equally confused face.
Marco looked at the sky, seeing the white clouds against a pastel blue sky, he looked around at passersby and all the colours each person wore. He looked down at himself, the purple shirt he wore, the blue ink that stained his skin permanently.
He looked back at Ace, the yellow shirt, the bright orange hat, the red of all the accessories he wore. Ace’s eyes got teary, he reached out and grabbed Marco’s shirt, overcome with emotions and all Marco could do was let him cry against him.
Thatch who had been watching the whole encounter laughed, awkward sounding as he rubbed the back of his head, watching as Marco just cradled the feral monster that had been trying to kill Whitebeard moments ago.
“I can see colour yoi.” Marco couldn’t help the smile that took over his face as he stroked Ace’s hair.
“What? Really?” Thatch asked, not believing it as he narrowed his eyes at the two.
Marco stood, helping Ace as he did so, who pulled away and looked at his soulmate's face, tears running down his cheeks, snot dripping out his nose before he rubbed his face on his arm, still babbling at Marco, unable to grant himself any composure now the world was in full colour.
“I never thought I deserved a soulmate.” He mumbled but Marco had caught the confession and just smiled, brushing Ace’s hair back.
——————————————————————————————————————————
Two years Marco had gotten colour in his life.
He could remember the very second the world plunged into darkness, it was before he could even turn around and take in what had happened. His world was a dull grayscale as he blinked his eyes, the dust settling down and seeing it, seeing Ace.
Two years later he found himself thinking about soulmates again. Staring out a different window, at a different sky, breathing in a different air but the same thoughts still lingered. The thought of soulmates, his soulmate.
Marco always knew he would outlive his soulmate, the problem with immortality. But he’d never dreamed his life of colour to be so short-lived. Ace had made everything so bright, so vibrant and full of life.
Despite the years of grey that stretched out ahead of him, and how heavy his heart felt without Ace he would rather have only known the joy of colours, the joy of Ace at his side for such a fleeting moment, a blink of an eye, then to never have known such an incredible person.
