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Deuce knew Ace was hiding something from him and the rest of the crew, he just didn’t know what it was. Whatever it was, wasn’t something that could be easily be said and that was saying something considering Ace had a habit of putting his foot in his mouth, a lot.
But it was obvious in the way he never took his hat off around the rest of the crew and despite often complaining about how hot he was, the freckled teen never took his shirt off, always with it buttoned up too.
And he just seemed to be drawn into the sun spots, much like Kotatsu, and the giant lynx treated him differently to the rest of the crew. The feline would seem to press against him and lick Ace more than any of the others.
He treated Deuce and the others like feeders and treated Ace like one of his own…
But the masked man never badgered his partner, no matter how much he wanted to, it was hard enough for Ace to confess to being Roger’s son, he didn’t want to push and Ace ended up hating him for it.
He couldn’t stand the thought, considering how they just recently got together and he didn’t want to lose his sun already.
That is until Ace actually approached him, those silver gray eyes looking around nervously, gently tugging his obnoxious orange hat’s brim and even though Deuce hated the hat, Ace just looked too cute with the oversized hat, blushing just a bit under his boyfriend’s soft and sweet gaze.
“I need to talk to you,” His captain pursed his lips. “It’s important.”
“Of course.” Deuce easily agreed, reaching out and lacing their fingers together when the other attempted to pick at his cuticles, a constant sign of worry and stress from the darker haired pirate.
As they left the upper deck, he tried to catch Ace’s eye, only for the other to avoid his gaze, almost frantically. Once they finally reached the captain’s quarters and the door was shut, Deuce led Ace to the bed and sat him down, gently pressing the other into his chest with a firm hug. “Ace, you’re starting to worry me…what’s wrong?”
“I have another secret,” A lump filled Deuce’s heart as Ace looked up at him, tears in the corner of his eyes. “I’m sorry…this one is a lot harder to come clean with, even harder than the one about my blood…”
“I can handle it, Ace.” Deuce spoke firmly, lifting a finger to brush the stray tears away. “I can handle anything for you.”
Ace hugged him tightly, his face pressed into his chest and Deuce instinctively hugged back, one hand flying around the other’s waist and hand landing on the soft…black locks?
He glanced down and noticed that when Ace had hugged him, he’d thrown his hat to the floor, revealing shoulder length black hair with a pair of…soft white tipped cat ears nestled gently within the hair, a sleek black tail with a white tip as well, slowly slunk out of Ace’s shirt.
“I’m a real life monster…” whimpered Ace, taking Deuce’s silence as a rejection, but Deuce just smiled, tilting his chin upwards and pressing a soft kiss to his lips, then his cheeks and finally his forehead.
“No, but now you have a new nickname,” He teased, running a hand along the ear, chuckling at the slight shiver he received. “Kitten.”
Ace squeaked, face coloring and Deuce couldn’t help but laugh. He thought it was something deeper and darker, but it turned out to be something so cute, that he found it hilarious at the end, even as Ace yelled at him despite his happiness at being accepted.