This had to be it. He and Thatch had been practicing this for the past 2 weeks.
He would finally confess to their 1st Division commander that he had feelings for him.
Ace recounted Thatch's plan on 'Capturing the bird' (The said man had spent too much time laughing at his own 'clever wordplay').
"I'm gonna give you two some alone time so just spit it out okay?"
Leaning at the wall behind him, he could see Marco's form staring out into the sea. No one was around the deck—even whitebeard had retreated to his quarters to take a nap. The rest of the crew were in the kitchen, lured in by thatch's promise of overflowing food until Ace finally confessed.
"Remember, the longer you drag this out, the more food will be depleted from our stock. You don't want to starve for the next three days right?"
The threat of starvation had pushed him to go along with his brother's plan.
"Damn it! I can do this!" Through gritted teeth, the fire user had tried to comfort himself.
Dragging his feet towards his crewmate, he knew that the man had already noticed his presence even before he talked.
As he neared him, Marco had already began talking, his eyes never leaving the sea. "Why were you hiding there for the past 20 minute, yoi?"
"I was thinking of…stuff." Ace could not even look at the man's back. His heart was pounding like crazy and he knew that his face would be blushing to the same shade of red that his fire often gave out.
"What stuff?"
"Just…"
A long silence came between them, prompting Marco to turn a bit to look at the younger man who was still finding the floor more fascinating to look at.
"Yoi. What's wrong with—"
"I LIKE YOU DAMNIT!"
Marco blinked, his head still turned towards Ace; Ace on the other hand was staring at him with wide eyes, his face a dark shade of red.
As another silence settled between them, the fire user wasted no time turning his heels and walking away like nothing happened.
Marco could only blink before his face broke into a smile. "Brat."