Thanks Vergina-spva and MyLadyDay for beta'ing


Chapter 11

Izo stared up at the building Thatch lived in and hesitated to go inside. The last time he had been here, he had found Thatch half dead in a puddle of his own blood, not knowing whether he would live or die. Of course, Thatch was sitting alive and well in front of him in his wheelchair as Izo had been pushing him, but the images of him stabbed had been burned onto Izo's mind eye. He knew his brothers had cleaned up while Thatch was in a coma, but he could never unsee the image.

Thatch looked over his shoulder at Izo, patting his hand to comfort him. Izo wondered if he knew what Izo was thinking or if he just noticed Izo was upset about something. Thatch didn't ask, in any case. Taking a deep breath, he pushed Thatch towards the door. Thatch opened it with the key, though he had to fumble a bit with it before it worked. Izo let him and didn't say anything, even though he had a key as well. The key that had saved Thatch's live, in a way. Had he not had it, he would never have been in time to save Thatch and he would have…

"Izo?" Thatch's voice interrupted his thoughts, and Izo startled. He shouldn't think about things that could have happened. They hadn't happened. Thatch was okay. Izo reached out to caress his cheek, but changed his mind. Pretending everything was just fine, he pushed Thatch's wheelchair to the lift and pressed the button to go up.

After a few seconds, the doors slid open, revealing a dark haired woman carrying a laundry basket. She probably came from the basement, which contained the laundry room. She smiled at them.

"Hi Acilia," Thatch greeted her cheerfully as the lift doors slid shut. "You remember my brother Izo?"

"Of course," she replied, smiling at him. "It's good to see you up and about. The whole building was upset when they heard what happened."

Izo stiffened.

"That's sweet of you guys," Thatch said. He wore his trademark grin, but Izo noticed it didn't reach his eyes as usual. He would have to keep an eye on that. "I'm just here to pick up some stuff, though. I'm gonna live with Izo for a while, you know, to recover."

Acilia nodded, still smiling. "Do you know how long you'll be gone?" she asked.

Thatch looked over his shoulder at Izo. "I dunno. Couple of days?"

Izo bit his lip not to blurt out that that was probably a bit too optimistic, but he didn't want to send Thatch down a depressed spiral again. "Please, if I have you cooking for me daily, I'm not going to let you leave again," he said, trying to sound light.

"If you decide to stay away longer, you might want to consider subletting your place," Acilia proposed. "I know someone who might be interested."

Thatch pursed his lips. "That might not be a bad idea. Y'know, if it takes longer to heal and all. I'll think about it."

Acilia smiled. "That's great." The lift came to a stop and the doors slid open. "Let me know. You have my number, right?"

"I do, don't worry." Thatch grinned, looking sincere this time, and Izo sighed in relief. "Bye, Acilia!"

She waved as the doors shut, and the lift started moving again. Izo smiled slightly. Thatch had always made friends easily, so it didn't surprise Izo that he had befriended most of the residents in his building. It had been evident in the amount of get-well-soon cards he got and while Izo hadn't paid attention to it at the time, the hospital room had looked more like a flower shop than, well, a hospital room, with the amount of bouquets decorating it.

They arrived at the door to Thatch's apartment, and Izo braced himself for what he was about to see. He forced himself to act normal when Thatch had opened the door, and pushed him inside, but it was Thatch who suddenly stopped his chair, staring at the large stain on the floor. It had been cleaned well, as the carpet was only slightly darker than the rest, but it was still visible nonetheless. Izo swallowed and tried to think of something light to say, but when he saw Thatch's pale face, the words stuck in his throat.

Thatch brought a trembling hand to his face, covering his eyes. "Damn," he whispered. "Damn it, damn it!"

"Thatch? Are you okay?" Izo asked, kneeling down next to him. Obviously, he wasn't okay, but Izo needed him to snap out of it.

Fortunately, it worked. Thatch rubbed his face, nodding his head. "Y-yeah. It's just… You guys told me what happened and all, but… It was just a story, y'know? Seeing this… It's blood, isn't it? My blood. God, that's a lot of blood."

Izo bit his lip harshly to force the image of Thatch lying on the floor out of his head. He hadn't considered how Thatch might react. Of course he couldn't just laugh this off. He had been stabbed in the back by someone who he had considered his friend. Izo could just hope that didn't make Thatch lose his faith in humanity. It hadn't seemed like it in the lift with Acilia, but he couldn't be sure. Thatch hadn't really interacted much with anyone outside his family since he had been awake. Suddenly, realisation hit him. Had that been the reason Thatch had been so weird to Shanks the other day? Shanks was close to the family, but still further removed than his brothers.

Thatch grabbed his hand. He felt clammy and was almost crushing Izo's bones, but Izo didn't have the heart to let go. He pulled Thatch into a hug, taking a few deep breaths to calm himself. When he let go, he said, "Come on, let's go pack your things." The sooner we're out of here, the better, he thought.

Thatch nodded, still looking rather pale, and rose from his chair. Izo helped him until he had found his balance. Fortunately, the living room showed no evidence from what had gone on in this apartment not even two weeks before. The place had been trashed then, or so Izo had heard, because he had been too busy trying to save Thatch to notice. Teach had tried to make it look like a robbery gone wrong and trashed the place, but now everything had been cleaned and put back in its rightful place. Izo decided not to point it out, even if Thatch had already heard it.

Thatch went into his bedroom to pack his clothes, while Izo went into the bathroom. Thatch had most of the toiletries he needed at Izo's house as well, like a toothbrush and a razor, since he sometimes dropped by unannounced, but Thatch wasn't happy unless he could use his own hair gel – which was ridiculously overpriced in Izo's opinion.

"Okay, I have your hair gel, is there anything else you want or are you cool with using my shamp–" he called to Thatch, when he was interrupted by the sound of glass breaking. Startled, he ran to the bedroom, worst-case scenarios running through his mind. Had Thatch lost his balance and fallen through the window? Was someone here to finish Teach's job?

In the bedroom, he found Thatch sitting on his bed, a picture frame lying on the ground with broken glass. Izo heaved a sigh in relief, but noticing Thatch's posture, it was pretty obvious what had happened. Thatch used to have a picture of him and Teach hanging in his room. Izo didn't doubt that was the picture that had made its way to the floor.

He wanted to see Teach's face as little as Thatch did, but Izo also wanted to make sure Thatch never had to see that bastard again. Without a word, he retrieved a dustpan and brush, and swept up the broken picture frame in one brusque movement. He then made his way to the trash bin in the kitchen and threw the frame in without a second glance.

"Come on, start packing. You wanted to go to your restaurant afterwards, didn't you?" he said lightly as he got the vacuum cleaner for small shards of glass.

"It's not my restaurant," Thatch replied, like he always did. It put Izo at ease again. "But yeah, I should tell them I'm gonna be away for a while."

"Then hurry up. I have plans, you know," Izo called back over the sound that the vacuum. He didn't, not for today anyway, but he still believed they shouldn't stay in the apartment too long, for both of their sanities' sake. It would be good for Thatch to be away for a while, and perhaps he should consider moving after he left Izo's place, seeing how much trauma he had experienced here.

"Remind me to check the mail before we leave," Thatch said. Their brothers had picked it up while Thatch was in a coma, so at least the mailbox wouldn't be too full.

Izo put away the vacuum cleaner and checked in the refrigerator while Thatch was packing his clothes. He found some spoiled food, which he threw out, and packed the perishable things that weren't expired yet. Thatch hated to throw away food, but when it was green and mouldy, Izo thought it was time to get rid of it. When he was done, he sat down on the couch and flicked through a cooking magazine that was lying on the coffee table.

A while later, Thatch came out of the bedroom with a suitcase on his lap. "I think that's all. And if I missed something, we can always go back."

"Yes, because I have nothing better to do than driving back and forth between your house and mine," Izo said half-jokingly, half-seriously. "You better think about if you haven't forgotten anything."

"I've got everything. Besides, I already have a toothbrush at your place. Let's just go." Thatch rolled himself towards the door.

"Alright." After a moment of thought, Izo took the cooking magazine with him and placed in Thatch's lap as well.

When Izo had helped Thatch into the car and put the suitcase in the trunk, he sat down in the driver's seat, but before he could start the engine, Thatch placed his hand on his.

"How about we go straight to your house?" he said.

"I thought you wanted to stop by your work?" Izo asked surprised.

Thatch stared out of the windscreen and just shrugged.

Izo's mind flashed back to the photo of Teach. That had to have made the betrayal real to Thatch, but Izo wasn't going to let Thatch become distrustful of everyone. "Thatch, I know your co-workers. They're your friends."

"So was Teach," Thatch said bitterly. "Or so I thought." He eyed the cast around his arm. No doubt he had realised too that his broken arm hadn't been an accident, but Teach's first murder attempt.

"Thatch, look at me." When he did as he was told, Izo looked him straight in the eye. "I know you feel betrayed and hurt, we all do. But you can't let him control your life. He's not worth that. Don't alienate your friends, okay?"

Thatch nodded reluctantly.

"Good." Izo turned back to the windscreen and started the engine. "And if anything, I won't let anyone hurt you ever again." He grabbed the gearstick to put the car in first gear, when Thatch placed his uninjured hand on his. Izo looked to the side, to see Thatch smiling warmly at him. Izo hastily focused on the parking place again and drove away.

Thatch worked in a fast food place, which was kind of below his skills, but Thatch loved working there. His boss was nice enough and let Thatch experiment with the food. If something good came out of it, it became the special of the day, or, if it was really popular, the permanent special. Izo had stopped by more than once, either to chat with Thatch or to pick him up, and every time, he got a free meal. While he wasn't a fan of fast food, he was polite enough to eat it all, especially if he was used as a guinea pig for Thatch's creations. It was a small place, and Izo knew all of Thatch's co-workers.

When they entered, they were greeted by the newest member of the staff, whom Izo had only seen a few times. He was a young man with bright green hair, a nose ring and strangely pointy canine teeth. Thatch perked up at seeing him and greeted him enthusiastically. Bartolomeo, if Izo recalled correctly, called to the back, and the other co-workers, including Thatch's boss, came out of the kitchen.

Izo smiled when he saw Thatch's happy face. At least he knew he had done the right thing by forcing Thatch to face his friends.

It didn't take long before Izo was shoved into a chair and a plate of food was placed in front of him, and one for Thatch as well.

"So, what happened?" Thatch's boss inquired, leaning on the back of a chair. The place was pretty much empty, aside from a regular, who was quick to join him. Izo wasn't surprised that Thatch had befriended him as well. "We heard that you were in a coma, but no how or why."

Thatch's face fell. "I had an accident. That's all." Obviously, he didn't want to talk about it, which his co-workers seemed to pick up on.

"Well, it's good to have you back." Thatch's boss slapped him on the shoulder. "Will you be out of that chair soon? Or do we have to make the kitchen wheel chair friendly?"

"Actually, I'm not sure," Thatch replied. "I hope so, but I'm gonna live with Izo for a while, so I don't know when I'll be back."

All eyes were suddenly on Izo, who tried to find an elegant way to shove his hamburger in his mouth.

"Are you sure he won't drive you crazy?" Bartolomeo asked him with a grin.

Izo, who had just decided to wait with eating the burger until he wasn't in the centre of the attention anymore, placed it back on his plate. "Please, I survived him in puberty. I can handle him."

"Like you were mister sunshine during puberty," Thatch snorted.

Izo looked at him deadpanned. "I'm always a delight." When Thatch didn't respond right away, Izo looked at him. "Don't you agree?"

Thatch grinned at him, the grin Izo had missed so much, and wrapped an arm around him. "I wouldn't dream to disagree."