Thanks MyLadyDay and Vergina-spva for beta'ing


Chapter 8

Marco brought Izo to the train station the next morning. They hadn't heard anything from Thatch aside from the text Marco made him send, as proof of life.

Izo had confessed to being in love with Thatch to Marco the night before, but he had made Marco promise never to speak of it again. Marco hadn't judged him for being in love with someone he was supposed to see only as a brother and friend, nor had he seemed to disapprove. He had mainly been sad that one of his brothers was unhappy and wasn't likely to be happy anytime soon.

The fact that Thatch didn't even come to see Izo off hurt almost as much as being ditched the previous night.

Marco hugged him tightly. They would see each other at Christmas in any case, but that was still a few months away. Izo would miss him.

He tried not to think about Thatch.

Izo stepped into the train, lingering in the doorway. Foolishly, he still hoped Thatch would run onto the platform to say goodbye, but he never showed.

The conductor blew their whistle to announce the departure of the train, and Izo was forced to find a seat. Marco waved at him while the train rode off, but there was still no sign of Thatch.

Izo tried to take his mind off Thatch by reading a bit, but he realised he was reading the same paragraph over and over, before giving up with a sigh.

Despite yesterday being a complete disaster, Izo felt a bit of relief now that Marco knew. Marco wouldn't disclose his secret to anyone, and certainly not Thatch.

Speaking of the devil, just that moment his phone vibrated and Thatch's name was showing up on the screen. Izo debated picking up for a moment, but deep down, he did want to hear Thatch's voice. Biting his lip, he pressed the answer button. "Hello?"

"Izo! I just arrived at Marco's house, but you were already gone!" Thatch called in his ear.

"You knew which train I would take back," Izo replied coolly.

"Well, yeah. But I was hoping you'd wait for me." Thatch sounded disappointed, but Izo wasn't about to take pity on him.

"After ditching me last night, how was I supposed to know you would even show up?" he bit at Thatch.

Thatch was silent for a moment. "You're mad at me," he finally said.

"How sharp of you," Izo snapped.

"Come on, Izo, don't be like that! It's not like this happens to me often. What was I supposed to say, no thank you?"

Izo closed his eyes for a moment, taking deep breaths to calm down. He didn't want to yell at Thatch, most certainly not on the train, but his frustration had turned into anger, and it was threatening to come out.

"Do you know how much I was looking forward to this weekend?" he finally said. "I study the furthest away from all of you, and I was looking forward to seeing my brothers, to see you again. Instead, you drag us to some club and ditch us the second you get better company!"

"I wouldn't say better, per se," Thatch protested. "I mean, she's really great, but I was happy to see you again too! Izo, I missed you too."

"You have a funny way of showing it."

"You should know me better than that," Thatch replied.

"Should I? Because the Thatch I know wouldn't have ditched me like that." Izo bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from crying again. He hated fighting.

"I'm sorry about leaving you like that. I'll make it up to you, I promise."

"Don't bother. Why don't you have fun with your girlfriend," Izo sneered.

"Maybe I will!" Thatch started to get angry as well, Izo could hear it in his voice. "You know, I've always supported you in whatever you did."

His words cut Izo like a knife. He wanted to scream, but instead he said coldly, "I'll see you at Christmas."


Izo finished his cup of coffee and sighed. He had no idea how long Nojiko would stay with Thatch, but he didn't want to go home either in case Thatch needed him afterwards. Nojiko had seemed conflicted the last time she was here because they had only dated for a brief period. Izo had no idea if she wanted to continue doing so or would end it now.

Izo rose to throw away his cup. Over the years, he had mastered pretending to be happy for Thatch whenever he was dating someone, though he wasn't afraid to voice his opinion when he thought the woman wasn't up to Thatch's standards.

However, objectively, he couldn't say anything bad about Nojiko, or give a good reason why they shouldn't date. Not even their age difference was a valid one, as the gap between Marco and Ace was even grander, and they made it work just fine.

In the past week, Izo had slipped, and he was sure that Nojiko had at least a hunch of his feelings for Thatch, if her sister hadn't told her. Izo wasn't sure if he could look her straight in the eye anymore, especially not after she caught him with Thatch just now. It had been an accident, but how would he even begin to explain? Would Thatch explain it? Would she tell Thatch what she knew?

Dread filled Izo, and suddenly, he found himself race walking back to Thatch's room. Before he could open the door, however, he stopped himself. He was being ridiculous. Besides, even if his worst fears came true, him barging in would only make things worse.

Even if Nojiko told him what she knew, or thought she knew, Thatch would laugh it off. It was ridiculous to think that Izo, his brother, would have those kind of feelings, right?

With a sigh, Izo dropped into a chair that was standing in the hallway. He was so stressed out this week. It was like he was eighteen all over again.

The door of Thatch's room opened and tore Izo's thoughts away from his self-pity. Nojiko walked into the hallway, and Izo immediately rose, though he wasn't sure why.

"How did it go?" he asked, both bursting with curiosity and dreading to know.

Nojiko took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "We broke up," she finally said. A hint of a smile played on her lips as she added, "So you can finally start liking me."

"I like you," Izo protested.

Smiling, she shook her head. "It's okay. We talked a lot and we agreed it would be for the best."

"Are you okay?" Izo asked worriedly.

"I don't know. I feel a little guilty, though he assures me there's no need for that. But then again, him being so sweet makes me wonder if I'm making a mistake." She let out a laugh. "It's complicated. But on the long run, I think it's for the best."

"It's not because of…?" Izo started. "I mean, he just tripped and we fell awkwardly..." His cheeks were bright red, and once more, he was glad it was obscured by his make-up.

Nojiko smiled at him. "I didn't tell him, if that's what you're asking. And no, it wasn't. Not entirely, anyway. He needs time to recover, and I'm away a lot."

"He adores you, you know," Izo said softly. "I just want him to be happy."

She walked up to him and wrapped her arms around him. Caught off guard, he returned the hug.

"He doesn't need me to be happy," she whispered. "He needs his family." As she pulled back, she kissed Izo on the cheek. "I hope we can be friends."

Izo was still too stunned to react when she was walking away, trying to process the information he had just received.

Thatch and Nojiko had broken up.

However, that also meant Thatch might be hurting. Nojiko had said it was mutual, but that didn't mean Thatch wouldn't be heartbroken.


Izo hadn't spoken to Thatch since their fight, which was already a few weeks ago. He missed him terribly, because even though they lived quite far apart, they had always talked at least weekly on the phone.

Now, Izo heard news about Thatch from his brothers. That was how he knew that Sora, who had just been supposed to only be a one night stand, had become Thatch's girlfriend. When he had heard that, Izo's resolve to call Thatch to apologise vanished. He couldn't deal with a girlfriend, not yet.

Their family knew about the fight and didn't try to meddle, though Izo knew it made them sad, especially Pops. Marco, as the peacekeeper, would probably have intervened long ago if he hadn't known the true story.

It would probably have been Christmas until they saw each other again and would be forced to interact, if Thatch hadn't been on Izo's doorstep one day. He looked pale and rather upset.

All Izo's anger vanished into thin air when he saw Thatch and immediately pulled him inside.

Thatch wrapped his arms around Izo and buried his face in the crook of his neck. "I'm so sorry," he whispered.

"I'm the one that should apologise." Despite the fact he could feel Thatch shaking, Izo was so happy that he was here and in Izo's arms.

Thatch shook his head, which Izo felt rather than saw, but didn't reply. Instead, he tightened his hold on Izo.

"What's wrong, honey?" Izo asked softly as he started caressing Thatch's back gently. "You're scaring me."

There wasn't a family emergency, he was sure of that. There were much faster methods to inform him than Thatch coming to deliver the news personally. But he had never seen Thatch so upset before.

Thatch took a shaky breath and pulled back. "I… She… broke up with me."

Izo's face softened. "The girl from the club?"

Thatch nodded. He looked so miserable that it broke Izo's heart.

Izo pulled him with him to the couch, where he sat down. Thatch buried his face in his lap.

"You really liked her, huh?" Izo said as he stroked Thatch's hair.

Thatch nodded again without looking up. "You must be pleased," he said, sounding muffled.

"You think I like seeing you like this?" Izo asked slightly indignantly.

Thatch sat up and sighed. "No. I'm sorry. This whole stupid fight was because of her." He looked at Izo. "I don't want to fight."

"Me neither." Izo sighed. "I'm sorry too. I guess I was jealous of a stranger demanding your attention."

"Hey, you'll always be my number one." Thatch grinned at him, and Izo realised how much he had missed that smile.

He pulled Thatch into a hug and pressed a kiss against his temple. "I didn't have time to do groceries, but I think I have some chocolate ice cream in the freezer. Would you like some?"

Thatch smiled at him. "Do you also have something to make it Irish?"


Thatch's main problem was that he fell too hard and too fast for the women he dated, which meant that Izo had to gather the pieces after.

Taking a deep breath, preparing himself for the worst, Izo pushed open the door of the hospital room.

However, instead of being heartbroken, Thatch smiled at him when he entered. "Hey! I was wondering if you might have gone home."

"I couldn't leave you, seeing she might…" Izo shook his head. "I heard you broke up. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Izo. So you knew it would happen, huh?"

"I just knew she was really confused the last time she was here and you were still…" Izo sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed. He didn't want to think about that anymore. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah. I mean, we only went on three dates," Thatch said.

Izo hummed. In a few instances, that had been enough to leave Thatch a mess after breaking up, but he wouldn't bring that up. "So I don't need to go out to get chocolate ice cream and whiskey?" After the first time Thatch got his heart broken, that had been the recipe to get Thatch to smile again. Along with watching cartoons all night with Izo.

Thatch smiled. "Maybe for Ace, since he set us up. I'm fine, Izo, really. We only went out a few times, and she's a lot of fun, don't get me wrong. Under different circumstances, we might have made it, but things didn't go that way. It wouldn't be fair to ask her to wait for me to recover. She has her work to focus on, and I have my family, which is kind of a mess right now."

Izo sighed, a soft smile on his lips. "Please, you slept through most of that mess."

Thatch elbowed him playfully. "Yeah, well, I'm still a mess."

"Your hair is, in any case." Izo ruffled his hair to empathise.

"Oi! I don't have my gel here." Thatch slapped his hand away.

"Whatever, you look ridiculous either way," Izo said teasingly.

Thatch huffed indignantly. "My hair is awesome."

Izo chuckled, when his eye suddenly fell on the music box that was standing next to Thatch's bed on the nightstand. "Oh, did I leave it here?" he wondered out loud as he grabbed the box. Apparently, he had placed it on the small table when Thatch woke up. He had never thought of taking it with him again.

"Yeah, you got that from me, right?" When Izo nodded, Thatch smiled smugly. "I'm so considerate."

Izo slapped him playfully and carefully opened the lid of the box. Much to his relief, he saw the photo lying facing down at the bottom. He couldn't remember putting it back after looking at it, but apparently, he had. Not that he thought Thatch would have a clue if he saw it, but Izo rather not show it anyway.

Instead, he pretended to be listening to the music and smiled gently. "It's too bad you gave me this so early on. You've never been able to top it," he said teasingly.

Thatch snorted. "And still I'm your favourite brother."

"Favourite dumbass is more like it."

Thatch huffed, but didn't reply.

They sat in silence for a while, listening to the music from the music box, when Thatch finally said, "The doctor says I can go home in a few days. But I'll need someone to help me out around the house, at least for a while."

"You can stay with me," Izo suggested as he closed the lid of the box.

"No way."

"Excuse me?" Izo asked indignantly. "My house isn't good enough for His Majesty?"

"I didn't mean it like that," Thatch said hastily. "Just… You've done enough for me already. When I was in a coma, you went out of your way to stay with me. I can't ask you to do that again."

"I'm offering it," Izo countered.

"Still. I can hire someone."

Izo snorted. "Yeah? You and what money?"

Thatch pouted slightly and then sighed. "I could borrow from Pops…"

"You're nearing forty, that's too old to leech off your father."

I'm not even thirty five," Thatch protested. "And why would it be worse than leeching off you?"

Izo sighed. "You're so stubborn. Thatch," he took Thatch's face between his hands, "you're not a burden."

Thatch took his hand, but didn't remove it from his face. He sighed, but his lips curled into a smile. "And I'm the stubborn one."

"Yes, you are."

Thatch huffed and crossed his arms before his chest. "I guess we'll have to settle this the Whitebeard way then."

Izo chuckled and moved off the bed. "Fine, if that's what you want. I'll schedule a family meeting and we'll decide democratically what will happen." Smirking, he added smugly, "Then we can combine celebrating your recovery with celebrating you moving in with me~"