"Hey Marco…how many girlfriends have you had?"

Marco had almost choked on his food at the sudden question.

"Hey! Take it easy!" Izou, who had just arrived with his own tray of food in hand, gave his brother a hard slam on the back, effectively helping Marco to finally breath again.

"W-where the hell are these questions coming from?!" Marco glared at Ace, quite surprised that such thoughts plagued the simple-minded boy's mind.

The fire user merely looked at Thatch who had a perverted and amused look on his face (How he made those faces Marco had yet to figure out).

Marco gave one hard glare at Thatch before going back to his meal, composing himself after his slight outburst; He had a reputation to maintain with the crew, after all.

It was only Ace who could bring out different, embarrassing sides of him without meaning to.

"Don't ask stuff for that idiot." Marco mumbled, earning a frown from the younger commander.

"But I wanted to know too." Ace answered, genuinely sad that Marco would not divulge such personal secrets to him.

Izou, who was sitting right next to Ace, grew interested too. "Yeah Marco, Just a number will do." The Kimono-clad man had a huge grin on his face. It was rare for the phoenix to fold; but with ace at the front line, he knew the man's resolve was weaker than normal.

"I am not having this conversation." Marco had ended with that, standing up after hurriedly finishing his meal. Ace and Izou could only watch as he left the kitchen, his usual stoic façade back in face.

"Spoil sport." Izou could only roll his eyes, opting to finish with his meal too.

Ace on the other hand, intently watched as Marco left.

o

Dinner had gone on far longer than he had expected. All of his brothers were getting drunk, Thatch and Izou leading the pack as they went on a singing spree while overflowing beer was served. He had effectively excused himself, not wanting to get a hangover the next morning coupled with Marco's deadly sermons.

Just as he closed the door, he felt someone's presence right beside him.

"I never had a girlfriend."

Turning to look at the man leaning on the wooden wall, he was met with the sight of Marco looking away, doing his best to hide the blush that was forming in his cheeks.