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Rain pattered on the window. Deuce watched the droplets roll down the pane. A constant dot, dot, dot partially hidden behind the tattered curtains of the living room, if it could be called that way. It stenched of death, despite nothing having died there. Or maybe something did die. It would explain the cat --not a cat, a giant lynx, he reminded himself-- munching on something with such ferocity.
Deuce jolted from his thoughts.
"Kotatsu!"
He munched faster. When Deuce was almost there, Kotatsu ran. He leapt through the air with his prey, something which was too big and too dark to be a pigeon, though the latter might be because of the minimal lighting in the room. Deuce went after him, but stopped when the bastard slithered into Ace's bedroom and slammed the door close.
He could probably open it and retrieve the cat without Ace waking up, if he was careful enough.
No, scratch that.
Despite falling victim to his narcolepsy all day, Ace was definitely a light sleeper. Both a symptom of his narcolepsy and rough childhood growing up, having to raise his littlest brother practically all on his own without any adult supervision. Deuce didn't know how Ace didn't manage to wake up at the slam of his door. Normally, he would already be up and murmuring swears to whoever woke him up.
But it didn't matter. It was Ace's responsibility in the first place, so he shouldn't be fuzzing too much about it. Deuce walked back to his spot on the window with his brows furrowed and sat to keep watching the rain, notebook open and pen in hand in case of a burst of inspiration.
Admittedly, Ace had been taking better care of Kotatsu, lately. Ever since the hairball incident, which was less of an incident and more of Deuce nagging him for not picking up a hairball. So maybe Deuce was being unfair.
Besides, Kotatsu was eating his prey mere meters away from Deuce and he'd been too distracted to notice that the stench of death was coming from there. Hairballs don't even smell, so maybe Ace hadn't known it was in front of him that one time.
Yeah… he'd been unfair.
…
The smell persisted.
…
He had forgotten to clean the mess. Hadn't even looked at it when he went to chase Kotatsu, so he didn't know how bad the situation was. He grunted and set his notebook aside. Not getting any writing done any time soon.
He was half-way through cleaning it, mop in hand, when a yell of "KOTATSU" vibrated the whole room. He turned to Ace's bedroom and saw a guilty Kotatsu walking out, and a disheveled, very mad Ace, stopping on the doorframe to glare at the beast. His eyes rested on Deuce and his respiratory mask, then to the mop in his hands, and sighed.
"Hey Deuce" he stumbled towards him "Sorry for Kotatsu. We should get some security measures up in here so that he doesn't go out and kill another raccoon or something"
Deuce almost choked "It was a raccoon?!"
"Yeah. Should've seen it. It was huge" Ace signaled its size with his hands. "Anyway, give me the mop when you're finished. I really don't want to have my bedroom stink of blood later." Ace looked at the window "I'mma open the window. Be right back"
He stopped mopping "No, Ace. Don't!"
"Huh?" Ace had his hand on the handle "Why not"
"Just look outside"
Ace did what he was told and stood mesmerized for a few seconds by their platter. Theb looked at the couch, on top of which was Deuce's notebook, and rubbed his eyes "Sorry. I'm not quite here, you know?"
"Yeah, I get that" Deuce continued mopping.
He slumped on the couch, careful not to sit on Deuce's stuff. Eyes closed, he leaned his head on the wall "Had a nightmare again"
Deuce's eyes opened in shock
"And Kotatsu munching didn't help" he chuckled, but it was empty of humor.
"I'm sorry, Ace…" he gripped the mop. It was obvious something was wrong. Should've been obvious. The only times in which Ace couldn't wake up, the only moments in which he was too deep in sleep to do anything, was when he was having a vivid dream, and Deuce knew this. "I should've noticed. I'm sorry"
"Nah, it's not your fault. Not like you were sitting by my bed and didn't do anything"
"Yeah. I didn't go into your bedroom to not wake you up. No wonder the door slamming didn't do so."
"Yeah…"
Deuce sat down next to him, the mop forgotten on the floor "Wanna talk about it?"
"Not really" he shrugged and rested his head on Deuce's shoulder "I'm just… I don't want to lose Luffy, or… or leave him alone. I know, he has friends to take care of him. And yeah, Sabo survived the accident. But… that was only because I reacted quickly and looked for someone to call the medics. What if something like that were to happen again and I wasn't there to do anything about it? And I know we were only children but…" he eyed Deuce "What if nobody was around and Sabo or Luffy were to die? Would it be my fault? For not… being there? Would they… would they think I'm a bad brother? And would I?"
Deuce stared at him with wide eyes. He couldn't have predicted that, but it wasn't time for him to dwell on it.
He pulled him into a hug.
"You're a great brother, you know? I can tell by the way you speak so fondly about them. I can assure you that nothing that would ever happen could change that fact, and they're aware of that. They love you Ace. Just as much as you love them"
Ace started trembling, and his tears fell to the rhythm of the rain.
…
"Anyway" Deuce said when they parted minutes later "Let's deal with this bastard of a lynx before he gets into any more trouble, what do you think?"
Ace chuckled, drying off his remaining tears with his hands "Yeah, that would be nice"
Deuce stood up and stretched his back. Ace looked at him.
"Oh, and Deuce?"
"Hm?"
"Thank you. For listening."
Deuce smiled "Any time"