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Deuce sat next to Ace on the couch. It was a very old thing, but clearly well taken care of. It was woolen and beige in color, with flower embroidery from a rolled arm to the base to the other arm. Long enough to fit three people but nothing more.
“You know, I’ve always wondered where this couch came from” he said, and Ace tilted his head towards him.
“What do you mean?”
“Well,” he turned his body to Ace and crossed his legs “You clearly didn’t buy it. It’s old enough to be your grandpa’s, but I really doubt he’d buy something like this, and unless you stole it, I have no clue how you could’ve gotten it. Not that it’s your style either, so I don’t see why you’d buy it”
Ace nodded and looked into the distance.
Deuce stopped “Unless… you did steal it?”
He chuckled “No, no. I wouldn’t steal a couch. That’s dumb”
“So?”
“This was… actually my mother’s, before she had complications with my birth. Little fucker me decided to be born 3 months after the due date”
“Oh, I-” he grew quiet
“It’s fine. I never met her, but I guess this couch makes me feel connected to her, somehow. That’s why I have it. If it belonged to someone else before her, I don’t know. Probably.”
Deuce sat in silence, brows furrowed slightly “Did you ever meet your bio grandparents?”
“Nah. If they had been alive, I would’ve probably been given to them, instead of shitty gramps. Not that I resent that, though. If shitty gramps hadn’t left me at Brazil, of all places, I wouldn’t have met my brothers to begin with. I do wish I could meet my mom, though. Like, not in the past, but now, after I’ve grown up. From what he told me, she was a very nice person, and I guess I’m just curious, you know?”
Deuce smiled “Yeah, I’d be too, if I were you. There’s only so much curiosity that second-hand stories can satisfy, and that is, if the person’s perception of the other wasn’t skewed.”
Ace nodded sadly, clearly something he’d had to go through, but Deuce didn’t ask him to elaborate.
“Actually, I have a question. Your brother Luffy, is he somehow related to your grandpa? Or is it an ‘adopted grandson’ situation like you?”
“Yeah, they’re related. Bio gramps. How did you know?”
“I think you mentioned that your grandpa dropped him off at the same house as you? So unless he went through the same ordeal, I guessed they must be blood-relatives? Not that it matters now, though, does it?”
He laughed “You’re right, it doesn’t. I’d been calling him gramps since I was a baby, and the day the three of us became brothers, Garp also became Sabo’s, so…”
“That’s nice. I kinda wish I’d had brothers the same way you did growing up. Would’ve helped with the loneliness.”
“Well…” he started “do you feel lonely now?”
He chuckled dryly “Well, of course not. I have you and the dumb cat. And the others, though I haven’t seen them much recently. Mihal is too busy being an elementary school teacher and Skull is who knows where. Does Isuka count as a friend too? Oh, and the rest hates me, but what can we do about it.”
Ace hit him without force “Hey! What do you mean they hate you! They don’t!”
“Yeah, yeah. Don’t respect me, at least”
“I won’t take this slander. How about this. One of these days, I’ll have you meet my other group. They’re gonna love you.”
He sighed but he wasn’t angry. Not really.
“You sure about that?”
“Pft, fuck yeah I am! They’re cool”
“And that… is what I’m afraid of”
“Oh, come on. You can’t seriously- Deuce- You’re always the one telling me not be a self-deprecating ass and here you are, doing the same. Come on. Let me introduce you to the others right now.”
He couldn’t help but smile “Alright”