Chapter Text
They could feel the camera on their back, but didn’t let that stop them. The kiss only just stayed decent enough to be shown on national television, because that’s what they had asked for.
Pulling back, Ace makes a show of licking his lips before he’s grinning at Marco, “Make sure to think that over, won’t you?”
Taking a step back, he winks once, again in full view of another camera and saunters away from a stunned Marco. Blond hair in disarray, looking like he just stepped had the best kiss of his life. Ace hoped he did.
Only once he passed the camera’s did he sigh and let the bad boy persona drop. He was a brat, at times, he knew that well enough. But the way it was pushed and prodded for viewers didn’t sit well with him. He and Sabo had entered this reality TV show for shits and giggles. Both had finished their master’s degree and had jobs lining up. Sabo was a lawyer at Dragon’s firm, Revolutionary Law, which was one of the best in the country. Ace, on the other hand, would be starting at his father’s R&D department, looking into new things for Gol Industries to develop and expand. That engineering degree finally paid off, and the chance to spend more time with his dad had been an added bonus.
Still, they needed something to do and had time to spare. So entering this dating show for one Marco Newgate seemed like the best thing to do. Except that the spark jumped over during casting, back when nothing had been set in stone just yet.
As best friends, with Dragon’s wife and Ace’s mother being sisters, they had spent a lot of time together once Dragon adopted Sabo almost 15 years ago. They were both referred to as ‘big brother’ by Luffy, Sabo’s adopted brother and Ace’s cousin. Even if they didn’t feel anything remotely brotherly for the other, they hadn’t been willing to risk their friendship for this.
Enter Marco Newgate, the oldest son of Business Tycoon; Edward Newgate, who had been known to be the most eligible bachelor for years now. Something he had been sick and tired of for quite some time. Having allowed his siblings to start arranging for a reality show for him to find true love. Quite controversial too, as the man was known to be gay. But people were picking up on it, and before long there was a call for single men between a certain age range to apply.
Which is what let them there, as the first casting call made it obvious there was something there between Ace and Marco, as well as Sabo and Marco. Leading to them all talking about it without the crew present. Marco mentioned that he didn’t want to do this at all, but he had agreed to at least try for the sake of actually getting a boyfriend. “It’s just hard, you know, being this well-known means that a lot of people just want me for the money or the connection to pops -yoi. I hated that, but I do want to find true love.”
He had sighed, “What I hate even more is this whole crew, they seem to think that this is some kind of soap they can use to gain viewers without taking into account what I want from this -yoi.” His face pinched as he shared that he had seen people he couldn’t match with, that the camera crew wanted to include because of the different aesthetics they represented. His eyes softened as he looked at Sabo and Ace, “And then the two of you appear and I’m so scared they’ll scare you away -yoi. They don’t want my happy ending, they want to seem inclusive with a gay man as the person in the center, and hope to do away any kind of memo that they would be homophobic or anti-LGBTQ+.”
Sabo had been the one to propose the plan, to play this out. As they wanted drama, so they’d give them drama. Explaining that the both of them had registered under a fake name as they too were tied to big names and didn’t want too much publicity. Outlook was Sabo’s birthname, tied to a couple currently serving 20 years for child endangerment in Goa, so he was clear. But if they did a background check, they would surely find that the couple had one son who grew up in foster care. Making it easy for Sabo to lean into the quiet, more secluded kid who had a rough life but wanted to make something of himself.
Ace, on the other hand, had registered with his mother’s maiden name; Portgas. Not a lot would be found about him, except that one picture of his mother that had been taken before she flew out to live with his father. For all that he was his father’s son and his parents did marry before he was born. There was a time that this almost didn’t happen. Rouge Portgas became a picture for single mothers doing it all alone, especially in more Southern provinces, like Baterilla. If they leaned into that, let the people believe that Ace was raised by a single mother and as such, had learned to have a thick skin from the start. It would give them both quite the range.
Marco had agreed, someone assured when they introduced themselves properly as Sabo Monkey and Ace Gol. Making it abundantly clear that neither of them were in this for money or connections. Both of them had enough of that on their own terms.
But the crew, and the viewers, didn’t know that.
This made for quite a lot of entertaining moments, where Ace, quickly dubbed as a bad boy, had taken the lead in popularity polls. Able to make sure that others found him as he made out with Marco. Always teasing, always pushing buttons, but the viewers were loving that.
On the other side was Sabo, who kept more quiet, but bounded with Marco over books, certain papers they had both read or dates they went on. Museums, walks around nature, a picnic. The quiet dates were Sabo’s. The action packed ones, those were Ace’s; rides on a motorcycle, an amusement park, hiking up a mountain trail and stopping to dine at some hole in the wall place that had been there for years.
People very obviously had a preference for either Sabo or Ace, as the other contestants had been dropped by now. Those few that lasted just didn’t have that connection with Marco. Even more so, several had been dropped the first two episodes for being too handsy, or even just announcing they were only doing this for the money or the fame it brought rather than the person waiting at the end.
It was weighing on them, though, the sneaking around as outside of the time the cameras were rolling the three of them were going on dates and getting to know each other. Even Ace and Sabo, who had been friends for so long, found themselves falling for each other and Marco. Having talked about it when the shoe dropped and Marco had to choose. Not in the show, of course, that had all been played pretend. But neither of them knew if Marco intended to choose either way. Not everyone was open to polyamory after all, and the one left behind would be dealing with the heartbreak on top of all that.
They would manage, that had been the deal too. But it would still hurt.
—
Once back in his room, Ace showered and checked his phone. Texting Luffy and his parents to let them know he was okay. That he hoped this was over soon and they could meet Marco as he wanted to introduce the man to his family.
Everyone of them was aware of what was happening, and while they had their concerns they knew Ace and Sabo were smart enough to deal with it all. Dragon had been notified that it might come to a lawsuit, as the producers of this show seemed to think that they could change whatever it was they wanted. More than once someone tried to keep a candidate in the show, because of one reason or another, despite it being noted down that Marco would be the deciding factor.
There were several of those instances, to the point that once this was over, the chances they would sue were getting larger and larger.
Getting out of the shower, Ace opened the door a crack to check that no one was in the apartment he could call his own. Invasion of privacy was just one of those things. He had fallen asleep in Marco’s apartment one time, and they woke up to cameras in their faces to the point that he had almost called it quits. Until he could see the tears in Marco’s eyes and made it a point to be loud, mean and aggressive to get everyone out of that room.
Sabo slipped in not long after and they spent hours calming Marco down, who admitted to hating this too.
No one was there, in person at least, letting him leave the room in just his underwear to go and slip into lounge wear. Knowing that the tattoo on his arm, an Ace of Spades, lined in gold with red hibiscus around it was on full display. Padding to his bedroom, he opened it to see Sabo laying there, looking up and grinning, “How did it go?”
Huffing, Ace dropped down on the bed, “Well enough, I know the viewers are going to eat it up. Marco even looked totally out of breath there, I just feel bad for leaving him all along to those vultures.”
Luckily, Sabo mentioned he had kept an eye on the feeds (having hacked into them ages ago) and none of them had followed a still dazed Marco to his rooms. Maybe for the best, as that had also happened before and not a lot of people seemed to think that was one more boundary crossed.
“How long until this is over,” Ace muttered.
Leaning over, Sabo pressed a kiss to his cheek, “Not long now, we’re the last two remaining so I’m guessing they’re going to do the big reveal soon.”
A large grin stretched over his face, “I hope they do it and mention that being the end of it all. Dad has been dying to take this to court. He, your dad and Marco’s dad are all talking, to make sure that no one that’s been horrible to us here will be getting away from this. Marco’s at the end of his rope too, he wants his freedom back as he hasn’t been able to get any work done with how much they’ve been shadowing him.”
Grinding his teeth, Ace could see that too. The bags under Marco’s eyes were getting bigger, he was getting paler too. On top of that, no one seemed to think of the person behind all of this. Even Izou, the sibling that had set all of this up, was feeling back. Had tried to get the production halted, but given the contract (despite it being breached) held firm and made it impossible to stop.
A text from Marco, asking them to join him in his rooms had Sabo pulling out his phone to check the feeds and sneak into the apartment reserved for Marco. Leading Ace through several backrooms and service hallways, before knocking and slipping in when the door opened.
Marco greeted them, looking drained, and just pulling them close as they all settled on the bed. Locking the door behind them, as they didn’t want a repeat of before. Hoping that at least tomorrow it would all be over and done with. “I want this to be over,” Marco whispered.
Sabo hummed, “It will be, we’ll make sure it is. The original contract stated 8 weeks and we’re just over that, so they can’t keep us here right now. My dad and yours looked it over in every direction, so we’ll make sure they can’t keep doing this. We all have lives to get back to, and I for one, hope it gets to include all three of us going forward.”
Blinking, Ace looked at Sabo. They had mentioned before to not bring that up. But he had to admit he was curious too. Turning to look at Marco, who was looking from one to the other, “I… Yeah, I assumed, it would be the three of us -yoi.” His face fell, just slightly, “Until this is getting too much, I totally understand if it is. I… I wouldn’t want to do this after everything, so it’s fine if you want to leave.”