Author's notes (or aimless rambling): So, in honor of Valentine's day I've decided to post this story. I hope y'all enjoy it. To those of you who've read my other stories, thank you so much. If you haven't, please check out my other two Fics: Forty to None (MarcoXAce) and Not Another Excuse (MarcoXAce). Please, don't forget to leave a review if you enjoy it. Thank you so much!

Warnings: MalexMale pairing

All credits go to the artist of the cover picture and all characters pertaining to One Piece belong to Eiichiro Oda.

One In The Morning

Quickly and easily, Luffy gave up.

His spirits were high and his body was abuzz with excitement. He had tried to contain himself, sitting as calmly and quietly as he could at the kitchen table, but wasn't able to maintain that state. It was a lost battle, so Luffy gave up.

Bouncing excitedly, Luffy quickly lost all attention to the pile of meat sitting before him. What was coming—what he was SURE was coming—would be much better than any meat that Luffy had ever had before.

"Is it true? Is Shanks really coming over?" Luffy asks, not bothering to keep it to himself any longer.

Rouge, who had been passing through the kitchen, pauses, an earring dangling loosely in her hand mid-way to her ear as she took in her youngest son's excitement. Of course Luffy was excited. Luffy adored Shanks, and Rouge was positive that Shanks adored Luffy back. That fact certainly helped her feel better about dumping the energetic boy upon the red headed man for the night. If anyone could handle Luffy, it was Shanks.

It was her other son that had Rouge a little, well, worried.

"Yes, he is," Rouge responds as she puts her earring in, completing her look. She was all dressed up, a simple red dress clinging to her slim frame, which matched the red with her lipstick and the flower hair accessory she had pinned to her blonde hair. It was her night out with her husband and their friends, an occurrence that she didn't feel happened too often. Thankfully, Shanks didn't mind stepping in, in place of her absence.

It was going to be a long, fun night for all of them, Rouge was sure of it.

"Shanks should be here any moment now," Rouge continues.

"I can't wait!" Luffy gushes, jumping up. His already large grin only seemed to split wider. "What about you, Ace," Luffy asks, turning to his brother.

Luffy was very excited. He couldn't help it. The same sentiments, however, were not shared by his older brother, Ace, who was sitting at the opposite end of the table.

Ace sat with a deep scowl upon his face. Luffy noticed that the older male got moody like this every once and awhile—a moodiness in which his parents blamed mostly on puberty or adolescence or something else that Luffy had forgotten about. Ace, as Luffy had also noticed, got like this especially whenever Shanks was mentioned. It seemed that just by saying the red headed man's name was enough to set Ace off.

"Does he have to come over?" Ace asks tightly. "I'm old enough to look after both myself and Luffy."

Rouge rolls her eyes. "Yeah, and look how well that turned out last time."

Warmth flooded Ace's cheeks as he remembered that night—he remembered that night quite clearly. It wasn't like anyone would let him forget it anyways.

That night, it hadn't been Ace's fault that the kitchen was so hard to navigate and the appliances within it too complicated for use. Ace had better things to do than to learn his way around the kitchen and to learn how to use the stove. And, besides, it also wasn't his fault that out of all the rooms in their house, there were not enough fire extinguishers stashed within them. In fact, their house had no fire extinguishers…

Not one.

Needless to say, the house that night had nearly burned down.

"I told you that, that was the last time I'd ever leave you alone to look after Luffy," Rouge replies, an amused smile forming upon her freckled face as she shook her head.

"Well, anyways, whether you like it or not, Ace, Shanks is coming over to look after the two of you. It's only for one night. It'll be over before you know it."

"I really don't see what you have against him anyways, " Roger, their father, chimes in, entering into the kitchen and standing beside his wife. "Shanks is a good guy."

"I just don't like him," Ace grumbles as he folds his arms over his chest. He looks away as he sees his father lean forward to place a kiss upon their mother's lips.

"Aw," Luffy says, looking at his brother with a frown and wide, dark eyes.

"Ace doesn't like Shanks? Why?"

"It…it doesn't matter, Lu," Ace sighs standing up.

"But—"

"It's none of your business, Luffy," Ace hisses as he glares at his brother.

"I thought you liked Shanks?" Rouge asks, ducking out of the kitchen for a brief moment before reappearing.

"Did not."

"You did too at one point," Roger points out. "If I recall correctly, you used to like Shanks a whole lot."

The heat on Ace's face intensified. It felt, and probably looked, as if he was being scorched.

"What changed?" Luffy asks.

"Nothing changed, now drop it."

"But—"

The doorbell rings, interrupting them. The chime echoes throughout the house.

Another surge of excitement floods through Luffy. He knows who it is on the other side of their front door. Shanks.

"Will someone get that?" Rouge asks.

Ace opens his mouth, nerves aflame as he tries to coax out words. But, before he can manage anything, Luffy beats him to it.

"I'll do it!" Luffy shouts, rushing out of the room. He was aware that Ace followed behind him slowly, but didn't stop. Shanks was here. Luffy wanted to see Shanks. Throwing the door open, Luffy grins broadly as he was greeted by a familiar red head.

"Shanks!"

"Luffy!" Shanks greets, matching Luffy's grin.

Moving to the side, Luffy ushers Shanks into the house. The red head steps past him, eyeing the contents of their home in quiet admiration. Luffy closes the door behind himself, watching as Shanks' roving eyes came to rest upon Ace, who stayed in the doorway to the room.

"Hey there, Shanks," Ace sighs, not bothering to make eye contact with the red head.

"Ace…long time no see," Shanks says, stepping up and messing up Ace's hair. There was a scowl and, though Luffy knew that Ace would never admit it, a faint blush on Ace's cheeks as he tried to smooth down his hair. Smirking Shanks passes the freckled teen, stepping into the kitchen where he greets their parents. It was normally like this whenever Shanks came over, which really wasn't a lot. Ace would always clam up around the red head, going from being one of the warmest of the two of them to being the coldest. The last time Shanks had watched over them, however, Luffy noticed something had changed between Ace and Shanks. Ace had suddenly warmed up to the red head. Luffy could only hope that Ace would warm up to Shanks like he had last time.

From the kitchen, their parents emerge with Shanks in tow. They were dressed nicely for a night out on the town. Opening the door, Roger holds it open for his wife as she steps out into the night.

"Take care of the boys for me!" Rouge calls out behind herself to Shanks.

"Don't worry! I will," Shanks responds, waving them goodbye.

Luffy watches alongside Shanks and Ace as their parents left, disappearing quickly down the street. Once they were gone, Shanks turns to Luffy and Ace cheerfully. "All right, now the real fun can start. Let's party!"

"Yeah!" Luffy agrees, sharing in the red head's enthusiasm.

"No thanks," Ace says tonelessly, turning away. "Count me out."

"Oh, but Ace…" Luffy whines. "Come on. Please?"

Pausing, Ace looks back at his brother from over his shoulder, taking in the pleading look upon his face. His eyes, for a moment, slide over to where Shanks was standing, seeing the man watching him blankly. Returning his attention to his younger brother, Ace stays firm.

"No."

Frowning, both Luffy and Shanks watch as Ace climbs the stairs, disappearing into his room with a loud slam of the door.

"Ace isn't happy," Luffy says quietly.

Looking down at Luffy, Shanks regards him quietly before breaking out into one of his famous, easygoing grins. "Don't worry about it, Luffy. Ace will come around eventually. In the meantime, why don't you and I have some fun. Okay?"

"Okay…" Luffy's crestfallen face suddenly lights up.

"Movie! Movie!" Luffy shouts excitedly, bouncing a little.

"All right. All right," Shanks chuckles following after the energetic boy. "A movie it is."

Excitedly, Luffy bounds off towards the living room, leaving Shanks behind. Before following after him, Shanks pauses, looking up the stairs to Ace's room. The door remained closed.

The room is dark when Luffy awoke.

There is a blanket draped neatly over his skinny frame that hadn't been there before. Sitting up with a yawn, Luffy rubbed the sleep from his eyes with the back of his hand. The TV is off and, a quick look at the clock on the video player, showed that it was around one in the morning. The movie he and Shanks had been watching had long since finished.

"Shanks?" Luffy calls out softly into the darkness, yawning once more.

There was no response. A quick look around the room along with the lack of response told Luffy all he needed to know. He was alone.

Shanks was nowhere to be found.

"Shanks?" Luffy tries again a bit louder, getting up off the couch.

Where was Shanks? Why had he left Luffy alone? He never left Luffy. Shanks was almost always by his side when he came over to look after him and Ace.

But not this time…

Padding quickly across the living room, Luffy started his search for Shanks by first checking the kitchen before moving into the foyer.

From above, at the top of the stairs, there was a warm yellow light flowing out from Ace's bedroom door, which was now ajar. It filled the room, falling upon Luffy haphazardly. Voices drifted down from Ace's room, harsh and muffled. It sounded like a fight that was trying hard not to be heard. But with who? Shanks? Was Ace fighting with Shanks?

Curiosity, as well as worry, filled Luffy and, before he even realized it, his feet were touching the stairs and he ascending slowly.

The voices grew louder as Luffy approached Ace's room. As Luffy reached the top of the stairs, the voices softened out, once more going low. Intimate.

Luffy paused for a moment. Intimate. No, that couldn't be right…could it? Ace didn't like Shanks. Ace refused to get along with Shanks. But as the thoughts ran through his head, Luffy's stomach started doing flip-flops as the possibility became a little more… real.

Stopping outside the door, Luffy couldn't bring himself to look into Ace's room. He wasn't entirely sure he wanted to. Instead, Luffy stood on the outside listening in on what was going on. He identifies the two distinct voices still talking softly to one another.

Ace and Shanks.

"It's not that easy," Ace says. Luffy could detect traces of irritation in his voice.

"Why not?" Shanks counters, his voice a bit calmer but also holding some irritation. "They wouldn't have to know anything."

"But they would. They'd be…suspicious."

"Well they wouldn't be so suspicious if you hadn't started treating me so coldly in the first place," Shanks says. "Seriously, Ace, don't treat me like that. It's not like you."

There was some shuffling around as they moved coupled with a brief moment of silence before anyone spoke up again.

"If Luffy knew, this would really crush him, y'know?"

"What he doesn't know won't hurt him."

Curious, Luffy looks in. Ace and Shanks were both upon the bed naked. Shanks was laid back slightly, his back resting against the headboard of Ace's bed. Ace was nestled between the red head's leg, his head dipping forward every-other-beat or so in a steady rhythm. The movement was unmistakable, even for Luffy who was usually shielded away from seeing things like that.

Pulling back quickly from the door, Luffy felt his face flame up. It was wrong. It was SO wrong having witnessed his older brother and the man he looked up to the most like…that. And yet…well…

Peering back into the room, Luffy's eyes zeroed in on the red head whose head was tilted back, eyes shut close. He seemed to be very appreciative of what his brother was doing, encouraging him with soft murmurings and heavy pants.

"Ace…" Shanks groaned softly, hand gripping tightly on to the back of the younger man's head.

Slowly, Ace pulls back, licking his lips. Reaching forward he presses his lips against Shank's.

Luffy gasps quietly from the doorway as they kissed. First their lips only met briefly for a quick, chaste kiss. But then, as both Shanks and Ace dove in for more, their kisses started growing in length. Pink tongues darted out between lips, intertwining with one another.

This was a new side to his role models, both Shanks and Ace, that Luffy had never dreamed of seeing. And, from the looks of it, things had been growing steamy between the two of them for quite awhile.

"Ah, Shanks…" Ace moans, allowing himself to be pushed back on to his back by the red head. Throwing a leg over Ace, Shanks straddles the freckled boy, peering down at him with a smirk. He leans down, once more capturing Ace's lips in an almost bruising kiss.

"Ace, turn around," Shanks pants.

Wordlessly, Ace obeys, flipping himself on to his stomach. Luffy watches as his brother grabs the headboard and Shanks pulls himself up directly behind Ace. From somewhere that Luffy couldn't see well from his position, Shanks pulls out a bottle. Coating his fingers with the bottle's content, Luffy felt his eyes grow wide as Shanks inserted a finger into his brother. Softly, Ace groans at the intrusion, closing his eyes and allowing his head to fall forward as Shanks worked his finger in and out. After awhile, the red head adds another finger, which causes Ace's breath to hitch a little and then come out in short little pants. A wide grin splits Shanks' face once the third finger was inserted. Ace throws his head back, a loud groan-like scream escaping him.

"Yeah, that's right baby," Shanks murmurs lowly into Ace's ear.

"Enough," Ace commands, panting heavily. "That…is…enough."

"You sure?" Shanks asks, furrowing his brows. "Ace, I don't want to hurt you."

Ace throws a grin over his shoulder, waggling his brows. "Don't worry. I can handle it."

"Well, if you say so," Shanks murmurs removing his fingers.

Ace flips back on to his back as Shanks looms silently over him in anticipation.

"Are you ready for this?" Shanks asks.

"Yeah…" Ace replies breathily.

"Good because I'm going to fuck you hard."

Shanks hitches one of Ace's legs up over his shoulder, his arms caging the younger freckle faced man in. Leaning down, he captures Ace's lips in his, kissing him slowly and passionately. The kiss only lasts a moment before Shanks was pulling back.

"I love you, Ace," Shanks murmurs. It was soft and tender. Luffy nearly misses it.

"I love you," Shanks repeats, thrusting once and entering into Ace smoothly.

Luffy watched in awe as Ace cries out, back arching obscenely, toes curling, and fingers digging deeply into the red head's shoulders.

Shanks' thrusts are raw and nearly animalistic, the force of each rocks Ace back almost to the point of banging his head against the headboard. With each thrust, Ace wailed loudly, seeming to be uncaring or at least forgetting that neither he nor Shanks were the only ones in the house. How they expected Luffy to just sleep peacefully through this on the couch, Luffy didn't know. But, then again, this didn't seem to be the first time Shanks and Ace had engaged in such… physical activities. It was safe to say, Luffy had slept through many instances such as this before.

Heat rushes through Luffy. He couldn't help it, no matter how much he tried to will it down—no matter how wrong he told himself the scene before him was. And to make matters worse, he felt a discomfort grow in his lower half. His hands, clearly not on the same page as the rest of him, were itching to fix the problem. Luffy had only experienced a problem such as this a few times before. It was nearly a year ago that night that Ace had first explained to him what the problem was and what he could do to fix it. But Luffy didn't want to fix it.

He couldn't.

It was wrong.

This was Ace and Shanks he was thinking about…who he was currently watching.

"Ah, Shanks!" Ace moans.

The bed shakes and creaks with each of the powerful thrusts delivered by Shanks. Steady and frantic, Shanks kept up the pace.

"SHANKS!" Ace was nearly screaming now. Luffy was glad their parents weren't there to hear him.

Reaching down between them, Shanks grips Ace firmly in his hands. Ace howled unabashedly at the contact. His howls subsided, replacing themselves with soft sobs of pleasure of Shanks plowed into him, bombarding him with pleasure from their contact.

"Ah, Shanks... I'm coming!"

"Me too…" Shanks replies tightly.

With Shanks' hands still on him, Ace came first. He came all over himself as well as Shanks. Luffy saw thick streams of cum shoot out, coating both Ace's as well as Shanks' stomachs.

"Ace…Fuck…" Shanks hisses. Doubling over, Shanks buries his face into the crook of Ace's neck, muffling his moans as he followed Ace's lead and came as well. His entire body spasmed as Ace squeezed the last of the red head's orgasm out of him.

Shanks slowed down, his hips slowing to a rock before stilling all together. The room fell silent. Luffy was aware of his own heavy breathing mixing in with those of Ace and Shanks. They gazed deeply at one another for a moment before Shanks pulls out and off of Ace, rolling over on to his side beside Ace. Luffy could see that his body was still buzzing with the after effects of their fast paced fucking.

Luffy's eyes were owlish by this point as a strange mixture of arousal, embarrassment, and shame washes over him. He had to admit, Shanks and Ace—together—were hot. But he shouldn't have seen it. Luffy shouldn't have stayed around to watch them. It was wrong… but it was all so hot.

The discomfort in his lower half had only grown for Luffy, swelling phenomenally. He didn't dare to touch himself, but the intensity of the discomfort was making it really hard for him not to. As the seconds ticked on, Luffy saw himself having less and less of a choice.

Slowly, Luffy withdraws from his brother's bedroom door, backing away and pausing after having taken only two steps when he heard the voices start up again. He could still see Ace and Shanks together on the bed, bed sheets lying haphazardly around their sweaty, naked forms.

"For now on," Shanks says, breaking the silence, "don't treat me coldly any more. Agreed?"

"Agreed," Ace nods, still panting.

"And if anyone asks?"

Ace glances at Shanks, bare chest heaving. "I'll just tell them we settled our, um, differences."

Shanks smiles. "Good boy."

Pulling away from the doorway, Luffy slinks back down the stairs and through the darkness to the guest bedroom on their house's bottom floor. Quickly, and as quietly as possible, Luffy took care of himself. He tried to imagine anything but the scene he had just watched play out before him, but willing those images of Shanks and Ace locked in a heated embrace was much harder than Luffy had initially assumed it would be. After having finished, Luffy found himself returning to the living room—returning to the couch Shanks had left him on, his mind still reeling.

Morning couldn't have come any slower for Luffy, who had lay awake on the couch unable to shake the images of his brother and Shanks from his mind. Their parents had returned sometime after two in the morning. Shanks, beforehand, had snuck back downstairs. For a moment, he had stood in the doorway leading to the living and the foyer watching Luffy, who did his best to pretend to be asleep. Shanks had stood there for only a moment before moving on. Now, as the morning light fell upon him and the kitchen filled with an intoxicating aroma, Shanks was long gone leaving behind only memories that had been permanently seared in Luffy's mind.

Luffy was sitting at the kitchen table scarfing down his breakfast when Ace finally emerges from upstairs.

He looks exhausted as he slides into his seat, his brows furrowed showing that he had, as more often than not, woken up on the wrong side of the bed. Ace never has been much of a morning person anyways.

"How was last night?" Rouge asks, turning to give Ace a plate of his own. From beneath his breath, Ace mutters his thanks before digging into his plate of food.

"Yeah, how was it?" Roger chimes in from behind his newspaper. "We ran into Shanks last night. He seemed to be in high spirits."

"And the house doesn't appear to have been miraculously burned down," Rouge adds in throwing Ace a pointed look. "I'm assuming things went fine."

Luffy chances a look at his older brother who, at the same time, looks at him. Their eyes caught one another's, holding for a moment. Luffy felt himself stiffen, a slight warmth overcoming his cheeks. He was forced to look away first, but not before he saw Ace's dark eyes darken further, recognition and understanding filling them.

Seeing the look the brother's were exchanging with one another, Rouge shares a look of her own with her husband. Folding up his newspaper and coughing slightly and awkwardly into his fist, Roger speaks up, "Everything, uh, did go all right last night…right?"

Luffy chews his breakfast slowly as he recounts the night before. Images of Shanks and Ace together like, well, that flashed before his eyes. Casting another quick look towards Ace, Luffy swallows.

"Last night was fine," Ace answers, holding eye contact with his brother.

"Yeah," Luffy agrees. "Everything was just fine."

Ending notes:Thank you so much for reading! Please don't forget to leave a review! It would very much be appreciated! Again, thank you!