Crying, you said, "Fairy tales are all lies. You can never become my knight in shining armor." But you don't understand that the moment you said you loved me, my sky lit up with bright stars.

Ace barely stumbled past the safe confines of his room when he completely broken down into a sobbing mess in the corner, muffling his erratic gasps with his hand as he fought to keep the tears from spilling any further. Why was it just so hard to breathe now? He felt his chest and throat constrict tightly together as he fought desperately for much-needed air, only to choke and gasp in pain on the tears that stubbornly continued to stream down his face. Why did it have to hurt so much? Fingers clenched tightly onto the soft fabric of his unbuttoned shirt, threatening to tear the material apart in anguish.

Why was he such an idiot? Ace mentally berated himself for confessing his love, for that moment of pure stupidity where his feelings had gotten the better of him to make him spill his overwhelmed heart like a lovesick fool. Where did his level-headedness go, his bare thread of sanity that kept him hooked onto reality to keep him from falling into a deep emotional pit? Countless questions continued to race through his mind as he remained curled in a fetal position, giving up all effort to wipe the relentless tears.

"Ace…"

He looked up in alarm to see Marco's familiar form as he leaned against the doorway, illuminated by pale moonlight. His features were twisted into a concerned expression, mouth turned slightly downwards in a worried frown. Ace's eyes traced over the way the other crossed his arms, how one foot was raised slightly so it was pushing back onto the side of the doorway, how his blonde hair was bleached a beautiful shade of silver under the moonlight, and just how damn handsome Marco looked under simply any condition as the pain in Ace's heart impossibly grew and blossomed through his entire chest.

The younger broke his gaze and heard soft footsteps as the other approached him.

"Look at me," he pleaded quietly as he knelt down onto the hardwood floor, laying a gentle hand on Ace's shoulder.

With his head still stubbornly turned away, Ace said bitterly, "What could you possibly want with me?" There was a tiny hint of old ire in his voice that nearly made Marco smile.

"You said you loved me." It was a statement said firmly with enough certainty that it was obviously not a question. Marco was not here to ask because he was confused; he had another purpose that Ace didn't dare to think about. He didn't want to have his hopes be lifted, only to have them be crushed into a million tiny pieces that would only continue to shred his wounded heart. "If you're going to reject me, do it now. Don't drag it out. I don't think I can take anymore of this."

There was a short pause. "What makes you think I'll say that?"

"Then?" Ace met the phoenix's curious and imploring gaze at last. "What are you going to say? A whole long stream of sugar-coated bullshit and pity to make me feel better? Or lies to pretend that you love me back?"

Silence reigned.

"This isn't some goddamn fairy tale," Ace chuckled hollowly, making a feeble attempt to erase tear stains as he hiccupped. "I've long accepted that I wouldn't get any happily-ever-after. This is reality. It just doesn't happen that way."

Marco did not say a thing.

"Just please." His voice was no longer harsh and raw. "Say that you don't love me, put my mind to peace."

"Who said I never loved you back?" The grip on Ace's shoulder tightened infinitesimally as the older man's frown deepened. "And who said fairy tales couldn't become reality?" Marco's eyes burned with an unreadable emotion as his other hand grasped the younger's chin and tilted it upwards, leaning forward. Their lips touched.

Ace was frozen with surprise, before he began to kiss back, finding himself thoroughly enjoying the kiss.

It was a long moment later when they finally broke apart, both panting for air as Ace continued to look at Marco with shocked eyes.

"Who said we couldn't have a happy ending?" Marco said, a small grin beginning to spread. "I love you, Ace. I've always had."

Ace clamped a hand down onto the other's lips before he could continue to speak. "Shut up and kiss me, you pineapple." This time taking the initiative, he captured the other's lips.

"You need to believe that we'll be like fairy tales. Happiness will be the ending, so let's write our story together."

What is this… this… mess… I'm never writing something like this ever again because I just don't do sap and fluff. I think one time experimenting was enough… This last part seriously took me a long time because I'm not into this couple as I used to be, and material like this is just extremely difficult. I tend not to write romance, let alone boy love (that kiss killed me with frustration), or any happy things in general so this pretty much sits at the opposite of my comfort zone. Nonetheless, I hope you guys enjoyed this short fic! There will be one more one-shot I intend to publish before I finally go back to updating my stories. And also, please do leave a review.