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Ace pulls to a stop in front of Nick's apartment in his designated parking and shuts the car, sitting in silence for a moment, letting the exhaustion from the events of the last few days wash over him.
In the span of 48 hours, he'd had to babysit two grown men with the consciousness of teenagers, hunt for his friend who had gone missing, be held prisoner by a supernatural entity and then decode what said supernatural entity was trying to communicate with him - only to hear a chant of ‘die’ on loop. Tired doesn’t even begin to cover how he feels in the moment.
He’s half wishing the ground would open up and swallow him in a cocoon so he could finally just rest for a little when a familiar blue Alpine pulls up in the space in front of him. He spots Bess in the driver’s seat and Nancy next to her, head leaning against the passenger side window, and before he realises it, he’s opening the door and walking towards them.
Nancy looks deathly pale as she steps out of the car, her arms trembling just the slightest as she clutches the top of the door for support. He’s at her side before she’s straightened up fully, his hands going to her elbows to help her up.
“Nancy,” he breathes, his voice just barely above a whisper. “What happened? Are you okay?”
It’s a stupid question. He knows she’s not okay. He can see it in the sunkenness of her eyes, in the ashen colour of her cheeks, in the way her entire body quivers against him. Still, she lifts a corner of her mouth in a soft, albeit weak, smile.
“Just a few bruises,” she assures him, “and a brush with death by the supernatural. The usual. I’ve been through worse.”
She waves a hand dismissively - the same hand that had been holding onto the car door - and loses her balance, stumbling just slightly. Ace is right there, though, and he wraps an arm around her waist, not letting her fall. She clings to his arm like a lifeline and gives him a grateful smile.
She’s putting on a brave face for him, but he doesn’t believe it for a second. He knows her too well. “I know you’ve been through worse, but just humour me for once - what the hell happened?”
Nancy moves to shut the door close, and Ace shifts enough to allow her to without leaving her side, still holding onto her. “Really, Ace, it’s nothing. It’s…” she takes a deep breath, and when she blinks, her eyes stay shut for a moment too long, long enough to send tendrils of worry coiling in his core. “It’s just a little blood loss and fading adrenaline high from your standard-issue Icarus Hall monsters.”
It takes him a second to register her words, and his eyes fall down to her hand, the one clinging tightly to his jacket sleeve - the one wrapped up in a white cloth, like a bandage.
Blood loss. Icarus Hall .
Ace feels his blood run cold. He pulls his hand back, running it along the length of her arm, and grabs hold of her palm, turning it up to reveal a red soaked patch on the cloth.
"Nancy," he says, his voice flat and even, belying the emotions simmering just underneath, "did you perform another blood ritual for Temperance Hudson?"
She doesn't meet his eyes, and it tells him all he needs to know. Maybe it's the exhaustion from the day, but something inside him snaps. The tension boiling inside him explodes, and he feels a white hot rage, unlike anything he had ever experienced before. The heat of his anger spreads through his body, and he feels the blood rush to his head, leaving him feeling just as dizzy as Nancy appeared to be.
"Gods, will you ever stop being so reckless?!" he nearly yells, his voice getting louder with each word. "Just for once will you stop risking your life?"
Nancy flinches, taking a small, nearly imperceptible step back - one he would have missed if he hadn't still been holding onto her. It surprises him enough to give him pause. The ferocity of his anger surprises him. Ace doesn't get angry. He definitely never yells .
After his father's accident, he had learnt to not be loud. His household was always volatile, but they never screamed or shouted. The only person who ever really yelled was his father, when he'd get so frustrated that he needed an outlet that signing just could not provide. Ace had learnt to avoid such arguments - he despised it when his father got angry enough to yell.
He suddenly feels a lot like his father. It's the worst feeling in the world for him. He doesn't want to be like his father, not towards Nancy.
"I-" He starts, cheeks burning in shame. "Nancy, I'm sorry-"
"No, it's not - you don't need to apologize," She places her palm - the uninjured one - on his chest, and all remnants of his anger fade with the single touch. "It was reckless. And stupid . And entirely useless because it didn't help Temperance at all."
"Was this - when Ryan called you earlier, is this what you were doing?"
She huffs and pushes a strand of hair behind her ear. "Yeah, it's been - it's been an eventful day. I'll tell you all about it but I think I need to sit down first."
She's starting to sway a little, Ace realises, and he wraps his arms back around her. She leans into him and lays her head on his shoulder, letting him support her weight entirely.
"Come on, let's go up," he murmurs. "I'll change your bandages. Whoever's wrapped your wound has done a very shoddy job of it."