The Spade Coffee

Chapter 5

Marco was woken up by his phone vibrating, he took it and extricated himself from Ace. He closed the bedroom door and looked up who had called him, he had three missed calls from Izo, and before he could call back, Izo called him again.

"Izo, if you're calling to set me up again, I'm hanging up" Marco said after picking up.

"Where the hell are you?" Izo demanded, pissed.

"At my friend's place, why?"

"Did you forget? Our monthly family lunch, it's at your place."

"Oh, Fuck. I forgot, look I'm here in ten minutes, use the spare key to go in. It's hidden under the false rock behind the hibiscus."

Marco heard someone talking behind Izo, then his brother responded to him "We got it, ten minutes." Then Izo hung up.

Marco sighed and turned over to go back in the bedroom to collect his clothes, Ace was in the doorway and looking at him.

"You're going already." Ace yawned. He looked adorable with his messy hair, and the oversized t-shirt he was wearing.

Marco swore under his breath, of course now he needed to hurry back home while Ace was looking like that, his family was a bunch of cock blockers since his adolescence, and they proved that they still are.

Marco hurried to get dressed while explaining to Ace what was going on. "My family gets together once a month, and this time it's at my house. And I completely forgot about it." Marco was putting his coat on. "I'm sorry to leave like that, Ace"

"It's okay, you should go" Ace agreed, even if he didn't like that Marco had to leave so soon, but he understood that Marco had already plans.

Marco was about to open the door before he turned around, took Ace in his arms and kissed him passionately. "I will call you tonight" He promised Ace before leaving.

Marco ran to his house, it's a good thing that Ace was living ten minutes from him. When he arrived, he could tell that all his family was already there, he sighed.

He had barely entered that Haruta was throwing herself into his arms. Marco put his coat away before he went to his living room, and took a turn of the room to say hello to everyone. They had already made themselves at home. Marco could hear Thatch and Izo discussing in the kitchen. He sighed, after gathering his strength, Marco entered ready to confront his brothers.

Izo and the others said nothing until they had finished all the food and Marco's father was sipping at his after-dinner liqueur. The coffee had been served, and Marco had even put on the table two pies he had ordered from Ace.

Marco was at his second bite of his apple pie, when Izo began his interrogation.

"So Marco, did you do something yesterday?"

Marco would later blame the glass of wine he had with the lunch, and the fact that he was eating Ace's pie for what he was going to say. "A friend invited me to a game night"

"Someone we know?" His father asked.

"No, I met Ace at the coffee shop." Marco began to realize what was happening, and he tried to deter them by making short answers.

"Oh, Ace. What does he do for a living?" Thatch asked.

"He is a baker, and the owner of the coffee shop."

"Where is it? Might look it up later." Thatch demanded.

Marco frowned and said. "Why? Do you want to spy on him too?"

His father grinned at Thatch's and Izo's obvious embarrassment. When Marco was in college, he had dated a fellow student and when he refused to tell them anything about his boyfriend they had decided to see him where he was working as a server, Vista had let it slip in a conversation. So, both of them, thinking they had a foolproof plan, went for dinner. The guy was their waiter, and they couldn't help but ask him private questions. Their luck ran out in the next minutes, because Marco entered the restaurant to retrieve his order for takeout. His boyfriend went to say hello to him, and he mentioned some suspicious guys he was serving. Marco turned to look at them, and he recognized his brothers that tried really hard to disappear under the table.

This event accelerated their break-up, the boyfriend had problems with Marco's overbearing family, he told him that he didn't want something that serious for the moment. At least their relationship was at its beginning, and they weren't in love per se. Marco was more hurt at what his brothers did than at his breakup, he gave them the silent treatment for three months, before their father intervened and made them talk it out calmly.

Thatch and Izo were still embarrassed about it, and they never tried something like that again, they still tried to coax Marco to give them information but stopped to do stupid thing like that.

Marco was taking pity of them, he was going to tell them the bare minimum before the bell rang. He stood up and went to open the door.

Ace was standing in front of him with his helmet under his arm."Ace?"

"Hey, Marco. Sorry to bother you, I know that you have your family over, but you left your wallet." He said holding it out.

Marco took it " Thanks, I didn't notice that I hadn't had it with me."

"I tried to ..." Ace leaned on the side and looked behind Marco. "Hum, hi" He hesitantly said.

Marco turned over to the sight of his brother eyeing them from the hallway. He glared, and they deflected, Marco groaned, he stepped out and closed the door behind him. "Sorry about them, they are nosy."

"I tried to call you, but your phone was disconnected."

Marco took his phone out of his pocket to check it out "Dead. Sorry, you must have been worried." He sighed "I'm sorry for leaving this morning"

"It's okay, you had other plans."

Marco chuckled, "Believe me, I would have preferred to spend this morning with you rather than with my siblings." Marco put a lock of hair behind Ace's ear, his hand rested on his cheeks.

Ace leaned his head against his hand. "They are unbearable?"

"How did you know?" Marco laughed a little.

Ace smiled and looked on Marco's right. Marco followed his eyes, and some of his siblings, read Thatch, Izo, and Haruta, were observing them through the window.

Marco put his head on his hand and groaned. "I'm so sorry for this, Ace."

Ace chuckled a little "I should let you go back inside. Why don't you come tomorrow? You could stay the night, if you want."

"I would love that." Marco smiled.

"See you tomorrow, then" Ace was about to go down the few steps of the porch, when he turned to catch Marco by his collar and kissed the hell out of him. "A little something to make you wait" Ace said after he gave Marco a peck.

Marco stayed outdoors until Ace's motorcycle disappeared at the end of the road. He then went back inside only to find his brothers waiting for him.

Marco groaned, now they were gonna be unbearable as ever.