Serendipity

Insouciant

Izou smirked as he tapped Thatch's shoulder and gestured to the incoming fire user.

Looking at Izou in confusion, Thatch followed the path of his sight to see Ace only a few feet. Without stopping, Ace reached out his hand, grabbed Thatch by his pompadour and dragged him off to the side, fully knowing the pain Thatch would feel, emotionally and physically.

"Oi! Let go of my hair, you brat!" Thatch yelled out, more distressed over his hair than what was to come.

Izou giggled behind them as Ace let go of his hair and crossed his arms, giving Thatch a fierce glare.

"Sheesh..." Thatch said as he tried to fix his now wilted hair, ignoring Ace's glare and pouting at the lack of improvement.

Ace slapped his hands away from the hair and went back to crossing his arms. Thatch then looked back at Ace in confusion. Glancing at Izou, Thatch slowly backed up, arms beginning to raise in surrender.

"I'm not sure what I did this time...but I'm," he paused to search for the word, "...Sorry?"

Ace took a step towards Thatch, closing the distance that Thatch had inched back, his face remaining the same; a hard glare that was far from wavering.

Neither party spoke. Thatch let out some nervous chuckles, all while Ace's glare continued to darken and Izou passively watched.

Finally biting the bullet, Ace sighed loudly, closing his eyes in exacerbation and letting his arms relax to his side.

"We need to talk about you know who and you know what."

Hearing this, Izou let out a little gasp, excited about whatever had happened since their last talk, while Thatch's eyebrows had shot up in surprise.

"You said something to him?" Thatch asked quietly. He quickly glanced around trying to find the blonde in question, only to see Ace jerk his head up slightly, gesturing to the crow's nest. Nodding in acknowledgement, Thatch grinned saying,

"Well, let's head to the mess hall then, hm?"

After some snacks and a thorough explanation of the previous night's events, Ace let himself sag against the table, waiting for their reactions. Both Izou and Thatch had been silent thus far and only nodded during his retelling. Ace, being accustomed to constant interruptions and comments whenever telling a story, thought the silence was different, new.

Though if it is a good new, we'll have to see.

"So you were confronted and tried, unsuccessfully, to question what he knows? That sound right?" Thatch said beside Ace.

Ace nodded his head that still laid on the table, and relaxed at the hand that patted his back.

"I'm not sure asking rhetorical questions was the correct way to integrate him." Izo pointed out.

This is Marco we are talking about, the voice in his head laughed at him.

"So what now, are you going to tell him or wait?"

Ace had left out his discovery of an actual attraction to Marco. How the tallies on his skin being from Marco wasn't as much of a coincidence as he originally thought. The more he dwelled on it, the less angry he was with Thatch being the catalyst, and the more angry he was at himself.

How could I not have seen it?, he thought.

It had been clear that at least the commanders, if not most of the crew, had seen through Marco and his relationship as brothers and saw something more.