Title from the song When can I see you again? by Owl City

"Can I get another one?"

Marco picked up his glass and wiggled it, as he had done multiple times that night. Or rather, morning. By now, even the saddest of Ace's regulars had crawled back to where they came from.

Ace put down the glass he was washing and picked up the bottle of whiskey he had been pouring from all night. "You know, I'd cut you off if I didn't think you'd be able to hold your liquor." It was, after all, not Marco's first night here, and Ace had seen him put away quite a bit.

"It's good stuff," Marco replied. "And it helps I got a cute bartender." He smiled sheepishly.

Ace rolled his eyes. Marco wasn't very subtle with his flirting, but he was also not pushy or annoying. Ace had never encouraged him more than topping off his drink a little, though he hadn't explicitly turned him down either. If it helped sell more booze… A guy had to eat.

"Well, you're single handedly funding the bar with the stuff you're drinking. You must have a good job."

Marco shrugged as he took a sip of the glass just placed in front of him. "Family money."

"Ah, drinking away your inheritance. Well, my hypothetical future children thank you." Ace made a mocking bow and started drying glasses. "However, this will be your last one. I'm closing up."

Marco nodded and took another sip.

They settled into silence for a while, Ace washing and drying glasses and Marco drinking his whiskey. Marco had been coming to the bar for a while, not every night like some of his regulars, but often enough to become a friendly face. They chatted often, if the amount of customers allowed it, and Ace liked him. Not in the way Marco was probably interested, Ace intended to keep their relationship professional. But Marco was smart and funny, he didn't cause trouble and always paid his tab at the end of the evening, which was more than Ace could say of some of his other regulars.

When Marco had nearly finished his drink, the door of the bar opened and two men entered. Ace immediately recognised them. Those bastards came earlier every time.

Not to alarm Marco, Ace casually strolled around the bar and toward the door. "Sorry, boys, I'm about to close. You'll have to look for booze elsewhere."

"You know that's not why we're here," one of the men spat. His jacket shifted a little.

Ace felt Marco's hand on his as to stop him. Fuck, he'd seen the gun too.

"Yeah, well, how about you let my customer through and we can go to business," he replied coolly.

The first man pulled his gun and aimed it at Marco's head. "How about you get us the money and I don't blow your customer's brains out."

Ace's heart was racing, and he grit his teeth. Marco looked awfully cool considering the situation, but that man had one hell of a poker face. He could be terrified, and why the hell shouldn't he be? Civilians were not that often held at gunpoint. Well, civilians that weren't extorted by the mob, like Ace was.

"Just let him go, he has nothing to do with… this," Ace trailed off.

Marco had moved his hand, but not, as anyone with common sense would do in the same situation, to raise it in defence. Instead, he'd slapped the mobster's hand. It had looked like he barely touched him, yet the gun flew through the room, hitting the wall on the other side and leaving a dent.

For a moment, they all stood frozen, both mobsters, flabbergasted, Ace, terrified, and Marco with his hand still raised and completely unbaffled.

"Fuck," Ace finally said.

Somehow, that seemed to wake the mobsters from their trance. The one who had lost his gun aimed to punch Marco, but Marco was quicker, driving his own fist onto the mobster's stomach and sending him flying. The man landed on a table in the corner.

The other man drew his gun, but before he could fire, Marco caught his arm, forcing it upward until there was a painful snap. The man screamed but still tried to attack Marco with his good arm. Marco kicked him in the chest, sending him through the window.

The door flew open again and more mobsters entered shooting. Ace dove behind the bar. Bottles of liquor exploded and glass and alcohol rained down on him as he protected his head.

From behind the bar, he could hear the shooting stop, followed by pained groans and grunts. Ace peeked over the edge of the bar, where Marco was single handedly beating up the mobsters, without effort, it seemed. He hardly had to touch them for them to fly across the room. A few lay unconscious around the room, with their guns scattered between them. Every time a mobster was stupid enough to try to pick one up, Marco launched an attack on him or threw one of his buddies at him.

After what could only have been a few minutes, the mobsters scrambled out of the door, taking their unconscious colleagues with them.

Once he was certain the criminals were gone, Ace rose, wiping the glass and liquid from his hair. Marco was standing by the broken window, looking outside, no doubt checking if the coast was clear. When he noticed Ace, he turned around. "Are you okay?" He took a step towards Ace, but Ace stepped back.

"I'm fine." He paused. "You're one of them, aren't you? A superhero?"

Marco scratched the back of his head. "I wouldn't call myself that."

"A vigilante then." When Marco made a face again, Ace sighed. "Whatever, you have superpowers."

"Yes," Marco admitted. He scratched the back of his head. "I'm sorry about the mess."

"It's fine. The bar's insured."

In the distance, sirens wailed and came closer.

"Shit. I'm not crazy about cops. Do you have a back door?" Marco asked.

Ace rolled his eyes. "Figures. Yeah, you can go through the back room." He pointed to the door behind the bar.

"Thanks." Marco hesitated for a second as if he wanted to say something, but then fled through the door.

The sirens stopped as a car parked next to the bar. Soon, two officers entered the remainders of the bar. They introduced themselves and asked what had happened.

Ace eyed the door in the back. "I was about to close when a few of those mob guys entered. They must have been from rivalling gangs, because they immediately started to fight. As you can see, they destroyed the bar."

"Did you see what happened?"

"Can't say I did. As soon as the first punch was thrown, I hid behind the bar. Finally, they all left. I don't know why."

"Are you hurt?"

"No."

"Are you the owner?"

Ace shook his head. "The owner is… not available at the moment."

One of the cops pointed at the security camera in the corner. "Does that work?"

"No," Ace lied. "It's a dummy."

The cop wrote something down. "Perhaps we'll have more luck with the camera from across the street."

They asked a few more questions, but since Ace was certainly not the only victim of mob extortion, the officers were soon satisfied.

"We'll be in touch," they said as they left.

Once they had pulled the door shut behind them, Ace looked around the mess in the bar and sighed. He was dead tired, but he also didn't feel like leaving the mess to tonight. Besides, he should probably seal off the window.

Walking to the door leading to the backroom, Ace was startled to find Marco still there. He was flopped down on the beaten down couch.

"You're still here?" Ace asked, reaching for the broom that was standing in the corner.

Marco removed his hand from under his jacket. It was red.

Ace sighed and pulled out his phone.

"No hospital," Marco croaked. Ace only now noted how sweaty and panting he was.

"No shit," Ace snapped. "People who aren't fond of cops generally aren't thrilled about hospitals either. I'm calling my brother."

"Hello?" Sabo's sleepy voice said.

"How the hell could you sleep through all that?" Ace scolded him.

"Sleep through what? I was wearing earplugs."

"You heard your phone."

"It was on vibrate."

Ace sighed. "Whatever. Just come down here and bring the first aid kit. I need you to stitch someone up. I'll explain later. Oh, and bring Luffy."

He hung up before Sabo could ask any questions. As he waited for his brothers to arrive, Ace dampened a clean towel and walked over to Marco. Marco had still pressed his hand against his side. Ace pulled it away and helped Marco out of his jacket. He then inspected the wound. There was a nasty gash in Marco's side, from a knife it seemed. Ace hadn't even seen a knife during the fight.

"It was a lucky shot," Marco croaked.

"Yeah, yeah." Ace lifted up Marco's shirt and gently pressed the dampened cloth against the wound.

Footsteps stormed down the stairs and the door that led to the apartment upstairs opened.

"You have some explaining to do," Sabo said. He was only clad in pyjama bottoms, but he had the first aid kit with him, in addition to his own instruments. "The hell, Ace?" he said when he spotted Marco. Luffy followed Sabo down the stairs, still rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

Ace sighed. "This is Marco, a regular. He got hurt when fighting like six mob guys."

"Eight, but who's counting?" Marco said and groaned when Sabo knelt down next to him and removed the damp towel.

Sabo cast a questioning look at Ace.

"He has powers," Ace said.

Luffy was suddenly awake. "Ooh, that's so cool! What kind of powers?"

"Super strength." Ace looked questioning at Marco in case he wanted to add anything, but Marco just nodded and grit his teeth as Sabo poked at his wound.

"Which is why I need you, Lu. You need to help me hold him down."

"Give me your belt," Sabo said to Ace. "I don't have any anesthetics," he explained to Marco. "Also, I am a student nurse and I have only practiced on oranges before, so I'm completely unqualified to do this. Hold him down," he said to Ace and Luffy as he shoved Ace's belt between Marco's teeth, before he could protest.

As Ace and Luffy held on to Marco tightly while Sabo stitched up the wound, Ace could feel Marco's muscles tensing up, trying to hold himself back. It was a good thing, too, as Ace was pretty sure Luffy and he, despite not being the weakest in the bunch, would to be able to hold Marco down if he used full force. Ace had seen what kind of strength Marco possessed.

"There, all done," Sabo finally said as he put a bandage over the now stitched up wound. "You shouldn't move around too much in the next few days."

Ace took the belt out of Marco's mouth. There were deep bite marks in the leather and Ace hoped they wouldn't be too recognisable as teeth when he wore it.

"We should bring Marco home," he said.

"Yeah, I should put on pants for that. Lu, you too." Sabo dragged Luffy back upstairs.

"How are you feeling?" Ace asked.

"Like I've just been stitched up by a student nurse." Marco sighed. "But I'll live."

"Maybe that'll teach you not to beat up eight mobsters."

"They're extorting you. How could I let that slide?"

Ace snorted. "Now who isn't a superhero?"

"I'm not." Marco sighed. "Just let me know next time they bother you, okay? I can protect you."

"I don't need protection," Ace huffed. "And if you say now, 'you should always use protection', I will slap you, I don't care that you're wounded."

"Not protection. Just… insurance."

"I have insurance, thank you very much, which will pay for the damage that you did."

"Geez," Marco said. "It's not like I expect you to thank me on your bare knees, but I was just trying to help you." He paused for a second. "It's the super powers, isn't it? You don't like them."

"I do not."

"Not to brag, but it's actually a turn on for most people."

Ace rolled his eyes. "Well, I'm not most people."

"Yeah, I got that."

Just then, Sabo and Luffy came back downstairs, dressed this time. Together, they hoisted Marco in the back of the car and Sabo crawled behind the wheel.

"Where to?"

"Moby Dick Academy."

"Yeah, we could have guessed that," Ace muttered as he put on his seatbelt.

"Are we gonna meet the other supers as well?" Luffy asked, sitting way too close to Marco as he bounced excitedly up and down.

"If they're there, yes," Marco said and hissed as they hit a speedbump. "It's good to see someone in the family doesn't judge supers immediately."

"Please, Luffy gets excited about a tennis ball. Of course he gets excited about supers too." Ace rolled his eyes.

"Be nice," Sabo hissed.

Ace huffed and didn't speak again for the rest of the ride.

Finally, Sabo parked in front of an enormous building, fenced off from the rest of the world with an iron fence with pointed tips. Above the fence, the words "Moby Dick Academy" were written. While the building didn't look inviting whatsoever, the moment they approached, Sabo and Ace supporting Marco, someone came running out of the building.

The boy was about Ace's and Sabo's age, with brown hair. As soon as he had evaluated the situation, he turned his head and shouted. "Pops! Marco got hurt. Again!"

When they had reached the gate, the boy opened it for them. Just then, two men exited the building. One was built like a house, with black hair in several small buns and a black beard. The other was older, bald with a large wide moustache. He was giant, too, leaning on a cane, and had a friendly face.

"Well, well, playing hero again, son?" the elderly man said smiling.

"It's nothing, Pops. I just got stabbed a little," Marco replied, wincing.

The black haired man clucked his tongue disapprovingly. "Stabbed. I'm disappointed in you, Marco."

"It was a lucky shot. In fact, there were a lot of actual shots that missed," Marco said defensively. "Besides, we can't all have impenetrable skin."

"Oooh, you're Diamond Jozu!" Luffy exclaimed, his eyes turning into stars. "Can I stab you?"

Juzu shrugged grinning. "If you like."

"Lu, we don't stab," Ace started, then pinched the bridge of his nose as Luffy was already running towards Jozu with a raised pocket knife, "people."

"Look, Ace, it's true!" Luffy called excitedly. He was holding up the pocket knife which currently didn't contain a knife anymore. Jozu's skin was unmarred.

"Showoff," Marco muttered.

"That's so cool!" Luffy exclaimed. "What's your power?" He turned to the brown haired boy.

"Oh, you can't see mine," the boy replied with a grin.

"Boo." Luffy pouted. "No fun."

"No, you literally can't see it," the boy said and turned invisible.

Luffy's eyes turned into stars again. "That's so cool! Where are you?" With his arms stretched out before him, he started walking around the fenced off area.

The elderly man chuckled and turned to Ace and Sabo. "Thank you for bringing my boy back in one piece."

"Well, he did fight off mobsters for me, I guess," Ace said. "Despite the fact I didn't ask him to."

The elderly man threw his head in his neck and laughed loudly. "That sounds like Marco."

"I stitched up his wound, but Marco really should take it easy for a while," Sabo said quickly, before Marco could interject.

"I'll make sure he does," the elderly man said, leaning with two hands on his cane. "Jozu, Haruta, would you help your brother inside?"

Jozu and an invisible force took over Marco from Ace and Sabo, despite the fact that Luffy was still calling for Haruta elsewhere. As he was carried inside, Marco looked over his shoulder – and straight through Haruta – one last time. He seemed a little sad, but Ace refused to feel guilty.

"So, considering there were mobsters and Marco, are there any damages?" the elderly man asked. "I'd be happy to reimburse you if your house got damaged."

"Bar," Ace corrected him. "It's not mine. And it's insured, so we should get it all back."

The elderly man nodded, his lips pursed. "All right. Just let me know if there is anything I can do for you."

"No, thank you. I already declined Marco's offer for protection. We'll be fine on our own. Have a nice day, sir." Brusquely, he turned around and started walking towards the car.

"Lu, come on!" Sabo called. "He's already gone."

Luffy stopped abruptly waving his arms around and pouted again. "Boo."

"You could have been nicer," Sabo said to Ace as they walked back to the car.

Ace rolled his eyes. "I was polite, isn't that enough?" Sabo's look told him that Sabo didn't think so. Ace sighed. "Look, what do you want from me? You know I don't like supers."

"Yes, and I know why, but-"

"And I'm fine with Luffy being a fan, and Marco's free to spend as much money on booze as he wants. Doesn't mean I have to be nice. Just polite." He sat down in the passenger's seat and pulled the door shut hard.

"Yes," Sabo said, sitting down behind the wheel, "but…"

"Can we just drop it, please?" Ace leaned with his head on his hand against the window. "Let's just go back to the bar. We have a lot of cleaning up to do."