HAPPY Birthday ACEEEEEEE ! ! ! (And for the creator, Oda, a happy birthday too! Because they share their B-day, but sorry Oda, no special story about you, forgive me. Maybe if you undo what you did to Ace I'll make you your own story.)
Now, the story starts off a bit sad, I don't know how it happened, I'm sorry! But I swear, I swear it gets better and even has the best happy ending Ace could ask for!
Humming in the kitchen, Thatch was putting on the last decorations on the cake he had made. It was a huge three-tier cake, each layer having another flavor, all covered in the brightest orange fondant he could find. He had also sculpted little spikes with some hard sugar, all in different hues from yellow to red, positioning them all over the cake in different ways to make them appear as if real flames were sprouting from the cake. A real masterpiece if he dares say so himself.
Smiling at the finished result he put the cake in the fridge, ready to serve to his youngest brother in the morning. He was looking forward to his reaction! Besides this one, there were plenty of other cakes in the fridges, one cake obviously wasn't enough for the size of their crew. But this one was the only one that was this extensively decorated, this one is special and will be Ace his very own cake, and with his stomach, he could probably eat the whole thing without problem too.
-----
Throughout the night almost everyone would be partying to celebrate the New Year, so even though most would be awake at the change of day, Thatch, together with the other commanders, had decided to not instantly celebrate Ace his birthday at midnight. While the chef had wanted to bring out the cake then, they had a few good reasons for the decision;
1. By midnight everyone would be roaring drunk and their little brother deserved better birthday wishes than those coming from drunk sailors,
2. They didn't want to start a celebration only for Ace to fall asleep a few seconds after, or for him to forcefully stay awake and it screw with his Narcolepsy too much,
3. Ace should simply also have the chance to celebrate New Year too,
4. Lastly, this one actually being the most important one. The Spades had told them some days before in private that that Ace always separated from the group at the change of day, no matter if they were happily playing a game a few minutes before. Once the clock hit midnight, Ace would look solemn and excuse himself, only to be found looking out towards the sea with a sad look later on. They said it would kind of last the whole day, but it seems the worst was at midnight. By the morning Ace would try to act normal again, even if he wasn't 100% okay. The Spades never dared to question it too much, they just knew he needed some alone time and that he would be okay by the next day.
With everything combined, they decided to celebrate Ace his birthday in the morning. And even if they wanted to know what haunted their little brother at the change of day, they won't force him. They'll find out at some point, and then, once he is ready to share, they'll be there for him. But for now, they'll grant Ace the time and space he needs.
-----
In the end it went exactly as the Spades had said. Ace had been sitting with some of his division, drinking away even if he couldn't get drunk. He had been laughing, literally, about something when the countdown for the New Year had started. And the moment it did you could see the shine in his eyes lessen the lower the numbers became.
Opposite to him, those around him got smiles and started counting down too, looking towards the sky and waiting for the firework, but not Ace. Together with the shine leaving his eyes, Ace had also slowly lowered his tankard to the ground before saying something to the group and getting up, disappearing towards the stern of the ship. The commanders who noticed looked on sadly but didn't follow, as promised they would leave him be.
And in the morning? In the morning everything seemed fine. Only the ones closest to Ace would notice that something felt off, but even then, it was difficult to pinpoint exactly what was wrong. But Thatch had hope that his birthday cake would cheer the kid up, who didn't like a birthday cake especially made for them! While the other commanders tried to keep Ace from eating the whole breakfast table, Thatch went to get the cake.
Getting to the kitchen he took the cake out of the fridge and placed some candles on it. He admired his own work for a minute before giving himself a pat on the back for it, it looked great. Even the candles were in the same theme and had fire marks on them. With a hum he grabbed a lighter and the cake before making his way towards the birthday boy.
"Make way, make way! Important delivery coming through!" The chef was calling with a smile, already getting the attention of said birthday-boy. Nothing is done in vain, because in the moment of his distraction, Marco had quickly swiped the plates of food from in front of Ace, thus creating enough space for the cake to be put down.
"Here you go! An absolute masterpiece if I say so myself haha!" - "Hmmm, you really outshined yourself, didn't you, Thatch-yoi." While lightning the candles, Thatch was smiling like a lunatic, swimming in the praises, "But of course! You do know you are talking to me right, everything I make is sublime! And this is for my baby brother, so it has to be perfect!"
Once all the candles were lit, they had wanted to start singing for Ace, but Ace beat them to it with a very unexpected question.
"Why did you light the food on fire?"
"Huh, what?"
Ace quirked an eyebrow, the kid looked genuinely confused "The food, why did you light it on fire?"
Thatch didn't know who, but someone supplied the very logical reason of "Because it's your birthday cake."
"Huh, I didn't know there was a special cake you could like on fire, neat."
"I... Ace, no..." The chef was kind of speechless, who didn't know what a birthday cake was? "... Haven't you had a birthday cake before?"
Ace had stood up from his chair and was looking over the cake in wonder, poking the flames. One would normally say to not play with fire, but well, Ace is fire, so he is an exception. "Hmm, I don't think so, are they always on fire? Because I've had normal cake before, like you even made those ehm lava cakes last week." -Even if they had no real lava in them, false advertisement.- "mmm, now that you mention it, I think I did see these before. The noble kids sometimes had these, they didn't have these fancy flames decorations on the side though. They did have these mini fires on them, I tried to steal one at some point because it looked cool, but the fire went out the moment I ran with it so it was kind of disappointing, and the guards were even able to stop me that time, so I didn't have the chance to eat it."
The commanders all had a sad look in their eyes, they knew that Ace didn't have the best childhood, you could see it from the way he carried himself. But to not even have had a single birthday cake? Or even a cupcake with a candle? It broke their heart, even if they were supposed to be fierce pirates, this was just sad. "Ace...."
Still poking the flame, the named person looked up, still looking very intrigued "mmm, yea? ...... Thatch, why are you crying dude? I can put out the flames if you want, so it doesn't burn the food?"
Thatch quickly wiped his tears away with his sleeves, this wasn't about him, this was about Ace, "No, Ace, leave them on and come here bro!"
"HHH?"
Suddenly the fire-user had his arms filled with a still weeping Thatch, and a fraction of a second later a lot of other commanders had joined in the impromptu huge groups-hug. Even pops had put his hands around them.
"Wha, what's happening guys?" Ace tried to muffle his head out to get the questions out.
"AAACEEEE"
"THATCH WHY ARE YOU CRYING, You're putting snot all over me!"
"Don't worry about thaaaaaat! ACEEE, we'll make sure you have the best birthday ever, you'll get 100 birthday cakes every year, all on fire!!!"
"Wha no, that's not necessary, it's nothing impo-"
"DON'T SAY THAT! It is important, it's our baby brother's birthday, it's the most important event of the year! Maybe even more important than Pops his birthday!"
"No, thatch, I.."
"Shut up-yoi, you're getting the best birthday and that it, you can't stop us."
This got a lot of comments off approval from the pile of people on top of Ace, squeezing the birthday boy a tad harder at every confirmation.
"I... guys.... thank you..." Ace said softly before slowly returning the hug to those close to him.
After some more cuddles they slowly released Ace and allowed him to get back up, having been pushed down sometime during the hug.
Thatch was wiping his face off which his sleeves again before straightening himself and putting his hands on his hip.
"Alright, Ace. First things first, the birthday cake! It's a special cake, especially made for the birthday person. It should be personalized for them, and they always get the first piece of it! OR in your case, you get the whole cake. But before you eat it, the candles, the mini fires as you called them, will be lit and the people who are celebrating your birthday will sing you a song. The song can change depending on the place where you're from though, so I do not know if you had a special song in the blues or something, but we got our classic pirate birthday song for you so don't worry!" Someone in the back added a murmured "It's the same songs but with the addition of lyrics about beer and treasure added to it though" - Thatch promptly ignored it and spoke further "Then afterwards, you get to blow out the candles and make a wish!"
"A wish?"
"Yes! Some places also say if you can blow out all candles at once, you have more luck for it to come true!"
"... I need to tell everyone the wish?" The kid suddenly looked nervous, what could he want to wish for...?
"Don't worry haha, you can keep it too yourself. So wish for all the ladies you want in peace!"
Thatch his words got a slight blush out of Ace, the kid is so fun to tease.
"So ehm ... Everyone does this? The birthday cake and candles thing?"
"YE-"
Marco cut in Thatch's excited yell "No, not everyone does it -yoi. There are some places that don't do this, but they often do have a different kind of celebration for a birthday. Or if food is scarce-"
"Don't make this sad birdy!"
"It's just information Thatch, and if he wants to know it he'll get it, it shouldn't be lied about even if a bit sad. So, like I said, if you live somewhere where food is scarce or there're no recourses for cake, then of course a birthday cake is not possible to get it. But still people will often try to give the birthday kid at least something small, or just try to make the day special for them in their own way."
Ace suddenly looked to be thinking back on something "Ow... I.... ehm, On my birthday... Dadan, made me not do the dishes, didn't yell at me, and now I think of it, I even got a second bowl of rice! Is that for my birthday then?"
"Yes-yoi, it could have been her way to make the day a bit more special than usual..."
"Oh" A small smile spread on Ace his face. The commanders were still a little sad that even if this 'Dadan' person did these things for his birthday.... most of the time it was something more than that... Maybe food really was a scarce thing for Ace? He seemed especially happy about the rice... Not getting yelled at or doing the dishes for a birthday present.... well.... at least Ace looked happy about the realization that this person may have celebrated his birthday without him knowing, no need to pop the bubble no matter if it was true or not.
Not wanted the other commanders to start weeping, the chef tried to start the festivities back up, "Enough about this! Let's get on with the cake before all the candles are burned up!"
"Alight alright yoi, Ace, sit down before the cake please, we're going to sing you a song, and then you can blow out the candles and make a wish alright?"
"I..." Ace seemed very shy all of a sudden "You don't have to sing for me..."
"NONSENSE!" the chef yelled, now sit down, so we can sing!
Once Ace sat down, more like pushed down by Thatch, the commanders started off the song, with all the others in the messhall soon following their lead. And while Ace was still slightly embarrassed by all the attention by him, he couldn't keep the smile, and blush, off of his face while looking around at the singing pirates.
".... HAPPY BIRTHDAY ACEEEEE!"
The song was over before he knew it and Ace thanked them in a small voice. It got a chuckle from those around him and a hand came to ruffle his hair. "Now you can blow out the candles-yoi!"
"AND MAKE A WISH" Someone yelled.
"And make a wish-yoi.
"I.. I just blow the out? Isn't it going to get spit on the cake?"
The chef put a hand on his shoulder "Don't worry about it Ace, it's your cake anyway! So if you want a spit cake, enjoy, otherwise, just try and blow air instead of spit maybe hahahha"
Ace nodded, his cheeks having turned even redder with Thatch his reaction. Gathering himself he sat up and took a breath before blowing at the candles. He was able to get them all of them in one go and looked pretty proud of it. After a moment he looked over to the excited chef who was silently mouthing the word 'wish' to him on repeat. So wish Ace did, he closed his eyes -Dear who-ever hears these wishes, I don't really have a wish, but I do want an answer to a question, if that's okay..... Is it... Is it okay that I was born?-
When Ace looked up, he looked happy, but there was also a sad undertone visible in his eyes, the commanders decided not to voice this though. They would make sure that for the rest of the day, Ace would only have a smile on his face!
Pops clapped Ace on the back, almost throwing him off his seat, "Gurarara, happy birthday son!" Ace smiled up at him brightly, he wanted to thank him, but once again the chef was there to take his attention away, this time joined by Haruta at his side.
"PRESENTS TIME!"
"That really isn't nece-"
"Ace-dear" Looking towards the voice, he saw Izou looking down at him. "You're not going to be able to stop them, and actually, you're not going to be able to stop any of us. You're getting the best birthday whether you're ready for it or not.
Ace looked down at his hands, playing with his finger "Thank you... ehm... what about the cake?"
"You'll get to eat that while you open the presents, now, LET'S GOO OO!" Ace his wrists were grabbed by the pair before he was being hauled off towards the deck.
Out of the corner of his eyes, Ace could see some members scrambling away and back inside the messhall. He was sure that they had been eating with them too before the whole cake thing, what could they have been doing outside?
They opened the door and Ace was dumbstruck "Woo ow, What? How? When?"
"Hahaha, don't underestimate the whitebeard pirates brother!"
The deck was fully decorated with ribbons, garland, balloons, confetti, ... all in the most vibrant colors you could think of. Everything was scattered around the deck and strung all throughout the rigging.
"For me?" Ace asked in a small voice looking at it all.
"Of course little brother, we said we would give you the best birthday ever, so we WILL give you the absolute best est birthday ever!!!!!"
"YEA! Now c'mon Ace! There's more to see!"
He was pulled along to the center of the deck, only when he was almost there did a big mountain catch his eyes, up until now he was still distracted by all the decorations, never seen that many in one place especially not for him. Around the main mast were presents stacked upon presents. Some of them were neatly wrapped, while others seemed to have seen better times.
Izou coming to stand in front of him knocked him out of him stupefied state of looking at everything in aw. "Not everyone is the best at wrapping, as you can see.... but even I must say that it's the thought that counts. Though, my wrapping you should admire for a bit before opening! Here you go!"
"Oi, don't cut in line!"
"Shush Thatch."
Pushed into his hand was a beautifully wrapped box.
Running his hand over the not so paper wrapped gift, "Is this silk?"
"Of course, only the best for my little brother, it's part of the gift too, so open it carefully."
Ace took another moment to admire the present, and not because Izou had said that he had to, but because it was just very impressive and pretty. The silk was a beautiful (or obnoxious in izou's words) bright orange, with it bound in an extraordinary bow on top. The silk also wasn't pulled taut around whatever was inside, but rather it was folded in intricate patterns. "This is beautiful Izou."
Izou hid his face behind his face "ow shush dear, you haven't even opened it yet!" you could hear that the geisha was smiling at the compliment even with his face hidden.
Carefully Ace pulled at the ribbon, making the silk fall down over his hand, Ace gasped at the revealed present, a pouch. A pouch just like the one he had had before on his pants, it got ripped off in one of the latest marines fights. Looking closer at it, the model seemed to be the same, so it would fit perfectly, but the fabric and belt part seemed to be made of a lot more durable material than the simple cloth his old one had been. But the thing that really caught his attention was the embroidery that was on the front.
He carefully touched the delicate piece, holding back some tears, he wasn't going cry, but he did know he would sound a little emotional "Izou... How?"
"I heard you tell some stories and while you seemed to try and avoid talking about one of the items, I know they are important to you. So I hope, whatever it is, this could make you have it closer again. I hope it looks a bit like what you had."
Ace sniffed, quickly wiping the threatening to fall tears away, "Thank you Izou, Thank you, it's perfect." On the pouch-front was an embroidery array of just a few simple items: on the right was a small version of his own hat, with details that small he could enough recognise the smiley faces on the rim, slightly leaning on his own hat was a straw hat with a red ribbon at the base. Grabbing his attention the most, was the item in between, with the sides slightly hidden behind his own hat, but tall enough to rise above it so the item didn't lose any details, was a tophat. A tophat with a pair off glasses on it, ... And then, fully behind it all, to really finish the piece, were two pipes sticking out of the top, seeming to be behind the whole thing in a X shape.
Ace really didn't know how Izou knew all of this, knew that these items were all close to his heart. Of course, the pipes and glasses, weren't 100% identical to what they had had, but it was very obvious of what they were meant to be and still very recognizable. And very, very impressive to have been made from apparently some stories he had told. Probably all at separate times too, he really tried to avoid the topic of his second little brother...
While all these thoughts were racing in his head, Ace tightly secured the pouch to his leg, going over the design with his fingers one more time and pulling the belt once more to be sure it's tightened enough, and he won't lose it. He stood back up again, his eyes never leaving the pouch, and while he was still emotional he looked at it with pride.
Giving Ace some time to breath and calm down from whatever he was experiencing, izou gave some info on the silk, even if the kid still didn't seem 100% back into reality. This would give him more time to calm and it could be a distraction.
Izou was inwardly really happy he decided to make this, it had taken a while to actually make the decision to actually do it. Seeing that these items meant a lot to Ace, also meant it could have gone very wrong. Luckily, it was the good thing to do.
"Now for the silk, it actually isn't a finished gift yet. It's more of an invitation to come over one day soon. I've seen you patch up that arm-brace you have a few times now and I want to help you remake it."
"I don't need a new one" And Ace was pulled out of his stupor.
Izou rolled his eyes "I know you don't want to rid it of it, even if it would be better to replace it. But that's not what I meant, with that fabric, or another if you want, I'll just re-make the outside layer, making sure the whole thing stays together and you can wear it for a few more years. Maybe add a bit more padding if needed too."
"Ow" it made Ace a bit speechless. Numerate people, especially the nurses (and Deuce and Marco) had already nagged him to get a new brace since his was really wearing down, but he didnt want to, it had meaning to him, even if the functionality decreased. He knew getting a new one would be easier and quicker then having it fixed, but Izou wanting to put the time and effort into it, to want to fix, so he could keep this one, really meant a lot to him.
"I... Thanks Izou, really thank you, for both Items, I'll treasure them forever"
Izou took his fan down, revealing a soft smile "I'm glad you like them Ace, I would have loved to have it made for today, but these things are better to be fitted every few seconds. So whenever you have some time, let me know, and we'll see what we can do alright."
Ace held the cloth tightly, and if it was known or not to the birthday boy himself, he also clutched at his pants, close to the pouch, "yea, thank you Izou".
-----
The still kind of emotional moment was broken by the yelling of the chef who had been patiently waiting off towards the side.
"Now it's my turn!"
Thatch turned around to pick something off of the ground, wanting to be the next to give Ace a gift. But in his first step he almost stumbled over something "Stefan!".
Looking more towards the ground, Ace saw their ship's dog running towards him, he had a mustache just like the captain, it was very cute, Stefan would even get grumpy if it fell down and would sulk until someone re-did it for him. A bark got his attention, and he noticed that Stefan had something in his mouth "What you got there, boy?"
A bit further away from him he could hear Thatch his mumbles of 'defeated by the dog!' but he ignored it in favor of giving his attention to tiny being at his feet.
Stefan then jumped on Ace with his front paws, pushing said thing in his mouth against him. Ace bend down, grabbing whatever the dog had. It looked like a small package but... "Jeffrey, is this your underwear?"
The named person, one from Ace his division eeped before he came running, trying to take the offending piece of clothing, only to be stopped by the mighty Stefan biting his ankle. "Aw Stefan! Let me get back my underwear, why do you even have it, much less give it to commander Ace!?"
Of course, with the dog being a dog, he only got some barks in return before the dog was back at Ace his side, sitting down and looking up at him while wagging his tail, giving another bark before nudging Ace his leg with his nose.
"I think you need to open it-yoi."
"Open it... these better be clean, Jeffrey. ...... Jeffrey?"
"...."
"I can always bur-" - "NO!" - "Geez, it's a joke, don't worry"
Ace opened 'the package', he paid no heed to the packing material disappearing from his grasps rather quickly and focused his attention on the contents. Inside was one of Stefan's favorite plushies. It was a small boat with a whale figurehead, just like the Moby. It had their flags and everything, it even seemed to have some cloth meant to look like pop's chair, for a dog toy, very detailed.
The dog was still looking at Ace, seeming to wait for something. But Ace didn't know what to do, this specific toy normally never left Whitebeard's chamber. Not because it wasn't allowed by Whitebeard or something, no, because Stefan himself always protected it. When the dog had just gotten it, it was always on deck, until it fell into the sea once and Namur had to get it out. Stefan didn't seem to mind if it happened to his other toys, but with this one he had looked distraught. Since then, he has always kept the toy in his bed, sleeping with it or only playing with it in the safety of Whitebeard's chamber. Not even Whitebeard himself was allowed to touch it anymore, Whitebeard had said it was Stefan's treasure. They even had a rule on the ship with a punishment of months of toilet duty if someone took it and angered or saddened Stefan.
Looking over the toy once more he noticed something different, something their real ship didn't have.
"Marco?"
"Yes Ace?"
"Why does this boat have feathered tail?" Suspicious looking, elegant blue feathers. About the same size as a certain pigeon had.
"...It was an exchange yoi, I'll replace those feathers as long as Stefan doesn't chase me every time I transform." Stefan seemed to bark in agreeance.
So apparently Marco was an exception to the no-touching-rule, but only when the feathers became worn.
Ace was still unsure of what to do though. "Ehm... you want me to throw it?" Ace started to raise the toy in the air, ready to throw it for the dog, but he instantly got a hand full of dog jumping at him and barking angrily. No throwing then...
Ace crouched down to the dogs height, holding the toy, seeing if Stefan maybe just wanted it back. But the dog just kept barking, more happy now, in between nudging the toy more into Ace his hands. He didn't want the toy back "I... Stefan, I don't know..."
"Gurarararaar"
Looking up towards his father standing a bit further away, seeming to have just arrived at deck. "Pops."
"He wants you to have it boy."
"Have it?"
Immediately happy barks came from Stefan before the dog was running up to whitebeard, giving some licks to his shoes, not able to reach anything else, before once again going up to Ace happily wagging his tail.
"Yes son, Stefan is giving you his treasured toy, as a gift. gurararara, He for sure likes you! I may become jealous, even I'm still not allowed to touch it!"
"I ehm, Stefan, are you sure? I... It's your toy?"
People may think they're stupid for talking to a dog, but Stefan is a smart dog! He seemed to know what they said. So in reply the toy got nudged against his body again, the dog still looking as happy as always.
"O-okay, Thank you Stefan, I love it" Ace smiled a petted the dog. Once Stefan saw that Ace accepted his gift, he was running off again, towards his big owner. Whitebeard who was by now in his chair, picked up the little dog, letting it settle in his lap for a nap.
-----
The whole day went on full of laughs, opening plenty of packages while being allowed to eat his cake. It was heavenly and Ace was extremely happy that he had a whole cake to himself! Thatch slapping everyones's hands away who tried to get a piece of his special cake. After opening all presents, which already took a long time! He was instantly pulled of to some food table that had randomly appeared on deck, barely able to grab a handful of food, he would be once again pulled off to somewhere else to receive congratulations and to get roped into some games.
In short, Ace was always surrounded by his brothers, someone always made sure that he had enough food, that his drink was always refiled and that he was participating in some game of some sorts or some other birthday tradition he didn't know. With the amount of people onboard, there was no keeping track of what was just a random party game and what was an actual tradition, but Ace enjoyed it either way. At moments when it became a bit overwhelming, Ace would go sit with pops and just talk for a bit or look over the rest of the crew in silence. It wouldn't be long before someone would be able to pray him away again, but these small breaks did wonders.
Every time he had one of his narcoleptic attacks, which would only increase as the day and night of no sleep went on, someone would always carry him back to pops, giving him a chance to wake up in peace before going back to party. One time he was sure he was eating a chicken leg and when he woke up, he promptly bit pop's finger. Ace was a blushing embarrassed mess, apologizing to pops for biting him. Said old man seemed to have the time of his life and just laughed it off, asking if he was delicious at least while clapping Ace on the back. It just made Ace his head flare up from embarrassment, literally. With his head being a fire beacon, it was immediately known that the birthday-boy was awake once more and thus was promptly being picked up by someone to go party again.
For the first time in a long time, Ace wasn't drowning in self-pity and hate on the first day of the year. At times, those bad thoughts he had each year would come back to haunt him, but he was quickly pulled out of it by someone close by. Not allowing him spiral into despair like each year earlier. Someone was always close by, distracting him the instant his face seemed to fall. Maybe, just maybe, he could get used to this, a happy start of the year was a nice change for once.
-----
A year later, Ace was once again put before a cake, this year without needing instructions or prompting on what to do.
He took a moment to admire the cake, it was even more impressive than last year. With one breath, he blew out the candles and closed his eyes to make a wish.
And for the first time in years, there were no sad thoughts at the start of the new year, not even briefly. No, he has found his answer to his question, just like he had wished for at his previous birthday. From now on, there was only one thing he really wanted, one thing he already had, and had had longer then this past year, but it took a while for it to really settle in. It was the one thing he was sure of that it was the only thing he would ever need to be happy, to live with no regrets, 'I wish for our adventures to never end, I want to stay with everyone for years to come!'.
Once his wish was done, he opened his eyes and looked to those around him. The commanders were all smiling at him, same with his own division close by, all the spades, the rest of the crew, and the one standing tall above them was his pops also smiling and looking proud at him. Just like last year, he was the first to personally wish him a happy birthday after he had made his wish.
A smile, a true smile, appeared on Ace his face, and he laughed, he looked forward to the next year, and the one after that, and all the years that will follow! With the party now really starting and cake and presents made their way around, Ace was happy, truly happy.
He deserved to be born, his family had more then proved that to him. And now, after all this time, he could accept it for himself too.
Ace looked over the commanders, the spades, ... his friends, his brothers, his family, his pops, and for the first time voiced a sentence he never even thought he would have had the right to say, let alone think. "I'm glad I was born.".
For Stefan's toy, Ace keeps it in his room and his room is now equipped with a basket for Stefan too. Stefan often coming in to play with it or nap with it when Ace is working on his paperwork or napping himself.
Everyone is in different time zones, so for some this may be to late, for some too early, but either way; HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! May this become a great year!