paigelyness

[authenticaussie]

ur favorite one piece pairing + your favorite au

how can you ask such a thing of me alkshdgf i have To Many Favourite AUs

haha can i just link you to the mas ao3 page nonnie bc trust me any au that has mas also has my heart ///ahhaha not joking tho the link’s right here bc im a Sucker

Okay but like one of my favourites is Totally sUPERHEROES!!!!!! so!!!! Secret Identity MAS AU let’s Go 

[mobile beware: readmore]

 Sabo’s a hero / vigilante who has a lot of powers but they’re all largely synthetic. His only ability was like….melding??? And when the govt. found out they used him as an experiment to see if they could get other people’s powers to bond with him, and they can but- Sabo can’t use them properly. He has the ability to breathe underwater but if he tries, his lungs will fill up with water and they don’t empty. He can make and control fire, but it doesn’t stop him getting burnt by it. He can turn invisible but he can’t see. Superstrength but no superbone density. All the minor parts of superpowers that people take for granted don’t come to him. 

Anyway I mentioned above the fire thing well Ace was totally the one that the govt. used to give Sabo fire abilities because they found out he was Roger’s kid (Roger, of course, having argued against having like, superpower registries and anyone not registered w/ the govt. being classified as a “villain” and maybe being the reason people had powers in the first place??? like, the govt. tried to keep it just for themselves but Roger was like whoops secrets! and revealed it all) and Ace having powers was just icing on the cake??? And they tried to take them and give them to Sabo and Sabo didn’t know about the cost of his powers until he tried to use them to get him and Ace out and he burnt. (His hands are the first things that get burnt. He gets used to using his left hand for writing and other jobs. His right is- harder to use.)

Garp gets them out because he’s- he’s terrified for these kids (and they’re just kids, he doesn’t understand this-) and gets people to give them other identities and Sabo and Ace rail against the govt. and throw them away basically and blackmail them and lots of shit like that but basically Sabo’s t e c h n i c a l l y on the hero register but the govt. hate him so they refuse to help if he’s in any shitty situations and h e y guess what.

(quick break before Ominous Shit Goes Down) Marco’s a villain! He used to be a hero, but…How do you explain to someone that you walked out of a fire that should’ve by all rights killed you, when their husband didn’t? How do you live with a bullet passing through your damn chest and hitting the child you were trying to protect? How do you be a hero when your powers are so inherently selfish? 

Sabo & Marco are in a few of the same uni classes together and though they don’t talk, Ace notices that Marco has some of the same habits that he and Sabo have; watching the doors and windows and mapping out escape routes and being uncomfortable if people get to close….And figuring hey marco probably wasn’t Fucked Up by the goverment but he definitely isn’t The Best and befriending Marco in efforts to try and help him because while Sabo’s a hero Ace has never been able to- just fight for strangers like that. But Marco reminds him so much of him and Sabo…. and they become friends and one day when Marco jumps when someone gestures a bit too quickly, Ace carefully asks if Marco needs any help and Marco looks at him and then realises what ace is asking and And Ace kind of Not So Subtly always says that his and Sabo’s home is open if Marco needs it as they become friends and mentions it again and Marco’s like are u…kidding. Dude. No. And takes him to meet WB and ace is like ohh. oh. But ace is still a bit of a Curious Fucker and ends up poking a little bit and being like

“So you’re not afraid whenever anyone sits next to you???” and Marco kind of laughs but also flushes bc he didn’t realise Ace was??? paying attention?? what other things has he accidentally given away. Like. Ace is so far off base w/ his suspicions, but the fact he’s curious about Marco makes marco kind of…Uncomfortable?? People being interesting in him only ends badly. 

Blah blah blah Ace finds out Marco’s a villain and technically Sabo’s archnemisis (even if like half the time Phoenix is just a tease and a bit of a jerk but Sabo Hates Phoenix’s puns) and he Freaks a little bit but also marco needs his help and marco’s still his friend so he pushes it to the side and spills it to Sabo later and Sabo’s like aRE YOU KIDDING ME???

Sab being a Sulky Kiddo and he goes along w/ it bc he trusts Ace’s judgment but also ACE PLEASE WHY ARE WE BEFRIENDING A VILLAIN and Ace has to placate him w/ lots of cuddles and kisses and assurances that ofc you’re my fave sab and no dont worry sab I’ll make sure to be careful around him and no sab i havent told him your identity, your safety is more important to me than him. And then Marco finds out that Ace knows Blue - like, because Sabo left his costume lying abt or smth, or Ace accidentally slipped when helping Marco fix his few seastone injuries and when Marco’s like “you’re good at this” his reply is “yeah i’ve had practice aha” and Marco can only think about what Ace thought about him before they knew each other better. 

“You know that the reverse offer…is always open to you too, right? Like…you offered your home to me, if you need to- get away from it, my home’s open to-” and ace is like wOOOOAHHH no Sabo is Not Like That don’t even??? insinuate that??? lowkey how dare you???? and he kind of goes “i do take care of other people, not just you fluff butt,” and marco’s like ??? other??? people??? and then he’s like WAIT is this why you said you had an emergancy button??????????????/ aRE YOU TAKING CARE OF HEROES TOO and ace is like fLAILING and he’s trying to lie and MArco’s like who??? who??? is it someone i know??? do you know their identity as well???

n O ace says, voice squeaking, and Marco starts laughing and puts his hands up and backs away and promises he won’t pry but Ace eventually starts sharing a few stories about the heroes he knows (because he does meet a few through Sabo) and Marco’s so obviously amused and…Ace made him promise never to use the information he’d been given against the heroes. 

(Ace makes Marco swear to never let Blue get hurt, because Blue is important to him, and Marco, who’s started to hear of the fire wielder that’d saved Ace when he was a child, starts to realise just in what way.) 

And Marco’s repertoire with Blue gets a little bit more friendly and teasing and Ace tells Sabo stories about MArco too and Sabo eventually, carefully, starts befriending Marco as well and Marco even as normal him uses sO MANY PUNS AND DO YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS. DO YOU. SABO GETS SO FRUSTRATED WITH MARCO’S CONSTANT PUNNING THAT HE YELLS AT MARCO TO STOP BECAUSE HE’S HEARD ALL OF THEM AT LEAST TWICE NOW AND HE’S SO SICK OF PUNS!!!! ITS BEEN A WEEK OF HORRIBLE PUNS HOW MANY “I’M FEELING BLUE” PUNS DO YOU FUCKING NEED, MARCO???

And marco’s like Holy Shit. And sabo’s like Fuck I just Revealed my Identity. And they kind of stare at each other and then Marco starts smiling and he’s just like…”So….instead of feeling blue you’re….burning up with rage??”  aND HE GRINS EVEN WIDER AND SABO LOOKS LIKE HE’S ABOUT TO START YELLING AGAIN and!!! they don’t bring it up again but they know the other knows they just?? never?? use it against each other. 

ANYWAY BACK TO THE OMINOUS SHIT ™ so!!!!!!!!!! marco does a lot of thieving and likes to work with people because it’s easier and Look healing is helpful and all but it’s not like he can fucking fly like some other guys. (he can glide. There’s a difference, one that he’s Always been Annoyed by.) And his partners on this particular case are talking to him about how easy it’s going to be because they took out one of the most annoying things in their way and Marco thinks that they got a technopath to stop the cameras and other security systems but as he walks through the apartment w/ his from out-of-town partners that they’ve staked out before the heist and from the corner of his eye Marco sees this man tied to a chair and he’s like huh uhhh maybe they captured head of security instead???? And maybe he makes some sound, turns slightly, he isn’t sure, but his partner grins at him and signals to someone else and they tangle their hand roughly in this blond’s hair and yanks his head up. 

Marco winces reflexively because that shit ain’t nice but then his heart does a stutter in his chest and his eyes go wide, because that’s-

Dried blood crusted on his lips and a shiny, swollen cheek and this damning purpled bruise around his eye and-

He’s pretty sure those are fingerprints around Sabo’s neck

(And it’s Sabo)

It’s Sabo, mask in tatters and blue eyes half-lidded because he’s only just managing to hold onto consciousness

“You see why we said there’d be no interruptions, my friend,” Marco’s partner says, so fucking proudly, so smug and Marco can’t stop himself from taking a step forwards, can tell when Sabo sees him come into view because his glare sharpens just barely and his throat bobs (is that- fear?)

Sabo’s hair is let go and his head drops, in a way that makes him grunt because he can’t hold it up properly, and marco feels to-

Reverent to be touching sabo right now, knows his touch is to soft and gentle to be one of an enemy as he slids his fingers beneath sabo’s jaw and gently cups his cheek, tilting his head up. His nail catches on dried blood as he smoothes his thumb over the corner of sabo’s mouth, and Sabo’s still glaring but something else is in his eyes now, something that Marco doesn’t really understand-

(it isn’t relief and it isn’t gratitude and it isn’t recognition but he thinks…maybe it’s some combination of the three?)

“You utter asshole, I can’t believe I’m doing this for you, I hate you-” he kind of mumbles, but Sabo’s just barely leaning into his touch now, like it’s the gentlest thing he’s felt for days (and maybe it has been, and Marco can feel something angry growing in his chest now and it shouldn’t because this is his nemesis but he can’t- This is also sabo. This is Blue, and Marco promised Ace that he’d never see Blue hurt.) 

Gently brushes part of Sabo’s greasy, blood-matted hair from his face and Sabo blinks at him and half-mumbles, “ace….?” and Marco huffs grumpily and mumbles “wow you dick at least properly acknowledge who’s rescuing you” and he turns around to his partners and they’re staring at him like wait what what do you mean rescuing???

and Marco’s like  “oh yeah, sorry guys. Kinda promised a friend of blue’s that I would never hurt him to badly. If you hadn’t showed him to me i guess i coulda stood by….”

(he’s lying, he hates the fact that he’s lying, that omission wouldn’t have crushed him with guilt just as surely as it’s crushing him now, but he- can’t admit it to himself. How much he cares about someone he’s meant to hate.)

 “But….well, a promise is a promise. I’m sure you understand. If you could just let him go that would be great???”

“Let him go??????????? Uh no??? Do you know how long it took to catch him??? We’re not just letting him go!!!!” And Marco’s like u GAHHHH YOU KNOW I FIGURED THIS WAS GONNA HAPPEN BUT I DIDN’T WANT IT TO??? and kicks ass and protects sabo and knows that his reputation is going to suffer from this but nothing hurts worse than imagining how worried Ace’s face is gonna be when he brings Sabo home. 

Anyway, as well, after that MArco is Constantly trying to assert that he is a Bad Guy and poking and prodding sabo and being a Jerk but also unconsciously seeing sabo like, limp into a room and being like oh??? hit you to hard last night did I ??? need an icepack?? and he says it mEANLY but when sabo says yes marco just IMMEDIATELY JUMPS UP AND GRABS AN ICE PACK AND ANGRILY FUSSES/INSULTS SABO //and look Ace thinks it’s fucking hilarious but sabo’s really kinda confused bc he was out of it for a lot of his rescue, and he doesn’t remember the last few hours, he just remembers someone being so gentle w/ him and then being awake at home and feeling better and he thought that it was Ace, when ace was trying to take care of him. 

Marco doing nice things for sabo but having to taunt him before hand bc otherwise it’s not Antagonistic enough. He’s failing #villain status unless he insults sabo teasingly before hand/gets sabo riled up. Ace thinks it’s kind of hilarious, especially when he sees that MArco starts getting sUPER FLUSTERED whenever sabo gets riled up and yelling and his cheeks are bright red and his powers are Doing Things

Also more on Sabo’s powers; costs are usually Equivalent to the powers, like, he can use fire but it will burn him and he can grow things but they ain’t gonna be strong and shit like that and he??? uses lower cost powers around the house to do chores???? Ace is like sabo come on do ur shit properly ur gonna get a migraine doing it w/ telekenisis and sabo’s like yeah but this is easier and it’s only a minor migraine??? and ace is like [yelling] pls u dumbass

Bu t,,, sabo being raised and trained as this powerful being,,, as a weapon for other people to use ,,,, so him getting to use his powers for himself….Ace can’t say no to that, especially if sabo wants to do it. Even if it hurts him, it’s- Sabo hasn’t had many choices in his life, he should at least get to choose this. 

Ace doesn’t get burnt from his fire but sabo who does - and has - gotten burnt,,, who’s afraid of fire ,,,,Ace who represses every urge to use his powers because he knows sabo’s afraid, and besides what good could fire do???? like, sure, he can control it to some extent but…he’s never going to be a good hero. He’s to selfish. He cares about himself and his family and his friends and like….god he’d sacrifice anything for them, he’d do anything but he’s not….kind. He’s polite and he technically cares, and he’s empathetic to people’s struggles but- unless he cares about you, unless he thinks it’s part of what he needs to do and who he needs to be he just- won’t. 

Marco calling his powers selfish bc he can only heal himself and not anyone else. Saying that he couldn’t have been a hero, what would he have done? (How do you explain to someone’s husband that your survived the explosion that killed their wife? How do you say that you got shot and walked it off, and the child in your arms didn’t? He’s never known. He thinks he never will know.)

(He doesn’t want to know. There’s- to much guilt in him for him to survive being a hero.)

For an extra dose of pain imagine Sabo asking/pressuring Marco to be a hero and work beside him and MArco’s certainly strong enough for it and Marco keeps telling him to drop it but sabo won’t and one day marco’s patience is worn through and he gets up and rips a newspaper off the wall that sabo’s never paid attention to and slams it down in front of him. “this is why i dont bother wasting my time. People are ungrateful and shitty and-” (I can’t live knowing i survived and i couldnt save anyone)