with the room more clear now with the Ace’s fire reflecting the room, Deuce grabs his stethoscope from his bag and slowly moves towards Ace and kneels down to press down gently on his baby bump.
A small cute bump on aces stomach, is full of life living in there.
While slowly moving it down his baby bump, deuce catches a small movement of skin stretching on Ace’s belly where he’s currently hearing the faint heartbeat of the baby.
Ace, who’s staring attentively throughout the check up, rubs his thump over the area the baby had just moved in.
Looking up at Ace with a warm smile, Deuce then gets plastered in the face with a pillow. It’s an embarrassing sight for Ace, who’s blushing and frantically whispering half yelling for Deuce to leave already.
Deuce gets up from his kneeling, chuckles softly, and puts his stethoscope away. "The baby's heartbeat sounds perfect," he says gently to Ace.
Trying to act tough despite the fact he’s deep down both relieved and happy about it just not out loud, he turns to deuce and makes eye contact with a wobbly lip and sad eyes that are about to tear up.
He embraces Deuce and whispers a “thank you” although it’s not always that Ace does physical affection to his crew.
Everyone knew how Ace was to them; he was their sun. He found a way into his crew’s hearts and built a home for them together. That’s why every time they were on a new island, they stood by his side, not just out of gratitude for Ace's kindness and respect, but also for the baby that their captain carried and cared for.
Even with that, deuce pats his back and rubs it while trying to position his body away from the baby bump to prevent putting pressure on it.
Laughing while pulling away, Ace stares at deuce with vulnerability and nods at him with a smile.
Just as he was about to leave, he grabbed a blanket from his bag that surprised Ace because it wasn’t just any blanket—it was a baby blanket.
"I thought it was cute while we were staying over in the village and saw it, and uhm, I thought it was cute. For your baby," Deuce said nervously but with a smile. Ace blushed happily, clutching the blanket.