Chapter Text
Ace, Thatch and Marco were walking in the park, the brunette having just got off of work and running into the other during their walk through and decided to tag along. The snow had just fallen the other day and the park was covered in the pristine and powdery frost, the grass and pavement crinkling under their boots as they walked.
Ace had always loved the snow. He, Sabo and Luffy would always go in front of Dadan’s place and do a snowball fight, which usually resulted in their caretaker coming from her house to drag them back in, unsuccessfully, and in turn get pelted with snowballs instead. Then they grew up and Ace had to go and work to pay for their education, Sabo went to school and Luffy made friends outside of his brothers…
And Ace was alone for some time…
Then, Ace met Marco and things began to look up again.
“Man, it’s almost Christmas!” Thatch’s voice cut off Ace’s thoughts as he blinked back to the present, glancing at Marco with a raised eyebrow.
“Christmas is a big deal in our family, yoi.” The blond explained. “Having sixteen children, our father tends to throw big bashes for any and all holidays.”
“That includes Groundhog Day!” chuckled Thatch and Ace’s brows furrowed momentarily.
“But…schools don’t even celebrate that,” He chuckled in disbelief as the other two nodded, faces deadpanned.
“Yeah, Pops loves three things in this world,” Thatch started sagely, Marco nodding as the trio paused in their walking. “One, his family, two, alcohol and three parties. He can have all of them on holidays, so he celebrates everything with a bang.”
“Your old man amazes me and terrifies me every time you tell me about him,” sighed Ace as he leaned down and began to play with a small amount of snow, molding it into small shapes at first, before making a little body and finding some still green patches of grass and plucking two to make a small snow bunny.
“You? He terrifies me with his drinking habits,” Marco shook his head, bending down to watch Ace make two smaller snow bunnies and place them next to the biggest one, the tiniest one going in the middle. “Cute, yoi.”
Ace snorted, breathing puffing out in a white cloud as he finished up, picking the little snow sculptures up and placing them under a tree as if to preserve them a little longer. “Well, let’s get you two home. It’s freezing and I have to get ready for work soon.”
“Oh! What are you doing for the holidays, Ace?” Thatch asked not even five minutes into their resumed pace. “You work a lot to pay for your younger brothers’ schooling and stuff, right? Does that mean you’re going to be with them for the holidays?”
Ace paused for a moment, thinking about the conversation he had with Luffy not too long ago. His youngest brother had decided after high school he wanted to travel and even managed to get a boyfriend, who happened to live out of Japan. This Christmas, Luffy had said he would be meeting his boyfriend’s family and next Christmas he’d be back to introduce them,
He hadn’t called with Sabo yet to check what he was doing, so Ace didn’t know about him at the moment. “Not too sure,” He admitted after a moment's pause as they came to the fork where they would split off. “I’ll see you around.” The freckled young man turned and pecked Marco on the lips, the blond humming as he did so, before turning and waving at Thatch, before he left.
“Did Ace ever say what he did last Christmas?” Thatch asked his older brother as they began to walk back home.
“No, I didn’t pry and he didn’t say anything.” sighed Marco, shoulder’s slumping. When he’d met Ace, the younger had been lonely and angry at everything. Marco didn’t want to ask things that might remind the younger of that time, so it never came up as the season’s changed and the holidays closed in. “I’ll offer for him to come to our family’s holiday party next time, I promise.”
“Yeah, you better.” The head chef grunted, rolling his shoulder, until he heard a satisfying crack. “Pops really wants to meet the brat you’ve been dating.”
“Shut up, yoi.”
⸻
Ace walked slowly through the snow, his boots crackling loudly as he pulled his phone out, dialing his middle brother’s number in quickly. He held the phone to his ear and waited for either a pick up or voicemail, it was usually hard to tell with Sabo,
“Ace? Hey!” His brother’s voice greeted from the other end.
“Hey ‘bo,” He laughed as he heard a small curse as the blond tried to make himself comfortable wherever he was at the moment. “I have a question.”
“Shoot.”
“Are you coming for Christmas this year?” A pause. “Oh, I see,” He hummed as Sabo continued to explain, nodding along even though he knew the other couldn’t see. “No, no, it’s fine. Really.” He gave another small hum, tacking on a laugh for better effect. “Okay, no yeah, I’m just on my way to work.”
He continued his walk, trying his best to keep his voice positive, though it was hard. Ace really hated the winter sometimes…right now, being one of them.