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‘’No, you’re not understanding what I’m saying. That’s not the reason why I- Can you stop interrupting me for one second?’’
Deuce was just about to head into his room when he heard someone inside who sounded like they were having a heated phone-call. It sounded like they could use some privacy, but Deuce really needed to be in there to collect his homework. He quietly opened the door where he saw Ace standing with his back to the door. He remained oblivious to Deuce’s presence while he carried on with his discussion and the more Deuce overheard, the more interested he became.
‘’I’ve apologized like a thousand times right now, so I’m not sure what you wanna hear from me at this point. I didn’t handle things too well back then, but that doesn’t change how I feel now.’’
At this point, Deuce just stood there as he forgot why he was here in the first place, curious to know with whom Ace was having such a passionate discussion.
After a little while, Ace released a soft sigh and ran his hand through his hair, almost as if he was frustrated. ‘’If you really wanna meet up, I guess that’s fine if that makes you feel better. Don’t expect my answer to change, though. Is tomorrow good?’’
Ace finished making his appointment on the phone before he hung up. For a brief second, he looked exhausted from that call, but then he nearly jumped out of his skin when Deuce made his presence known.
‘’Your mom?’’ Deuce asked, smirking in delight when he successfully startled his friend.
‘’Jeez, dude! How long have you been standing there?’’ Ace took a deep breath to calm himself from that small scare.
‘’Long enough to know how fed up you are with whoever called you,’’ Deuce responded. ‘’So, who was it?’’
‘’Just my ex-girlfriend,’’ Ace mumbled, completely catching Deuce off guard. That was not the answer he expected to hear, even though he knew that Ace did used to date someone not too long ago.
‘’Wait, you mean the girl you ghosted in middle school?’’
‘’I didn’t ghost her,’’ Ace tried to defend himself. ‘’I just… needed some time to think, away from her.’’
‘’Did you tell her that?’’ Deuce asked.
‘’Well no, but…’’ When Ace couldn’t think of an excuse, he just clicked his tongue. ‘’Whose side are you on anyway?’’
‘’The right side, which usually doesn’t involve you,’’ Deuce remarked lightheartedly before walking over to his desk to search for his homework, giving Ace some time to vent to him.
‘’She’s been calling and texting me for a while now, it’s driving me insane.’’
‘’Well, she’s obviously still upset about what you did.’’
‘’Yeah, but it’s more than that.’’ Ace nervously rubbed the back of his neck. ‘’She kinda wants to get back together with me.’’
Deuce looked up from his desk, remaining quiet for a bit with an unreadable look in his eyes. ‘’But you don’t?’’ he finally asked.
‘’No, man,’’ Ace immediately replied and seeming pretty passionate about it as well. ‘’It was super boring hanging out with her. We didn’t vibe at all. I keep trying to tell her that we’re just too different, but she won’t let this go. And now she wants to meet up ‘cause she thinks she can change my mind. I feel like I should try and hear her out after what I did, but nothing she says is gonna change how I feel. I get that she’s upset, but it’s been two years now. I just wanna move on with my life and she should do the same.’’
Deuce looked at him with a rare look of sympathy on his face. It really sounded like Ace had made multiple apologies, but for some reason this girl couldn’t let it go. That must be frustrating for both of them. ‘’Well, maybe you should stop ignoring innocent people and hurting their feelings then,’’ he remarked teasingly, which unsurprisingly earned him an annoyed groan. ‘’But other than that, I’m probably not the person you should ask for advice about things like these.’’ Unlike Ace, Deuce had no experience whatsoever with dating. He really was trying to think of something useful to say, but Ace would probably just make fun of him if he said something stupid. ‘’I hope you figure something out so that you can both move on, though.’’
‘’Funny you should mention that,’’ Ace then said, ‘’Because I already thought of the perfect plan to get her off my back. I just need this teeny tiny favor from you to make it happen.’’
Deuce cocked an eyebrow. What part could he possibly play in Ace’s idea that could solve his issues with this girl? If the favor really was as small as Ace said it was, he wouldn’t mind helping him out.
But Ace’s request was beyond anything he could have imagined. ‘’I need you to pretend to be my boyfriend tomorrow.’’
Deuce’s eyes immediately widened. He tried to look for some sign that Ace was joking or teasing him, but other than that sheepish grin on his face, he seemed to be dead-serious.
‘’A-Are you serious?! What makes you think I’d go along with that?’’ he asked in utter disbelief.
‘’Oh, come on. It’s not like you’d have to do much,’’ Ace said before smirking a little. ‘’Just stand by my side, hold my hand, you know… Just make it seem like you’re really infatuated with me.’’ Deuce could hardly believe what he was hearing, but Ace wasn’t quite done yet. ‘’And we only have to kiss once. Just to make it more believable.’’
‘’Wha- No!’’ Deuce immediately shouted, feeling his face burning up at the mere thought of it.
‘’Okay, fine... We don’t have to kiss,’’ Ace caved with a sigh. ‘’Just hold my hand and-‘’
‘’No! No to everything!’’ Deuce shouted again. Why was Ace talking so casually about this? They were friends! Was he really comfortable being so physically intimate with Deuce? Would they be able to look each other straight in the eye after they acted all lovey-dovey? It would be beyond embarrassing. ‘’I’m not pretending to be your boyfriend!’’
‘’But it’s the perfect plan!’’ Ace said passionately. ‘’She refuses to accept that we’re just too different. She thinks she can change to make me fall for her again, but it doesn’t work like that. But if I can show her I have a boyfriend, she’ll know that she doesn’t have a chance!’’
‘’Then why not just lie to her and tell her you have a boyfriend? Why do you need me for this?’’ Deuce questioned, to which Ace snorted.
‘’Come on. There’s no way anyone would believe I’m gay if I have nothing to show for it,’’ he said with a cocky grin. Ace wasn’t about to let this go so easily. He really needed Deuce to be a part of his plan. ‘’Okay, fine. Then just call me tomorrow while I’m meeting her and say some melty things-‘’
‘’No.’’
‘’Or you can send me a text message with lots of hearts and stuff-‘’
‘’No.’’
‘’Then how about we take a picture together right now where we’re all over each other-‘’
‘’No!’’
‘’Man, I do stuff for you all the time! You can’t do this one little thing for me?’’ Ace exclaimed in annoyance. ‘’You’re really not gonna help a guy out? You seemed willing to help me out a while ago, though. Why are you so opposed to this?’’
‘’Because… we’re friends!’’ Deuce responded, clearly seeming uncomfortable with the whole idea.
‘’And we’ll still be friends after this! You think some melty stuff or a fake kiss is going to change that?’’
‘’Stop suggesting that already! Why are you being so casual about it? A kiss is… meant for someone special,’’ Deuce confessed softly. The silence that followed only made him feel even more embarrassed.
Ace accidentally snorted while trying to hold in his laughter. ‘’Don’t tell me you’re one of those people,’’ he said. He was surprised that a former delinquent like Deuce cared so much about the meaning behind kisses. ‘’Dude, it’s really not as special as people make it out to be. It’s nothing like in movies and stuff. It’s just something people do for the fun of it.’’
‘’Yeah, well… To some people it actually means something,’’ Deuce tried to defend himself, though he came across as rather insecure. He didn’t want to linger on the subject long enough for Ace to tease him about it. ‘’Even if I wanted to help you, I’m hanging out with Jack and the other club members tomorrow after school. Besides, do you really think it’s a good move to lie to someone whose feelings you’ve already hurt once? It’s not fair to her.’’
‘’What other choice do I have? She refuses to hear the truth!’’
‘’Maybe that’ll change when you see her in person tomorrow. Just sit her down and calmly explain your feelings to her. If she still doesn’t understand, then at least you tried.’’ Deuce could tell that Ace was ready to engage in a heated argument with him, so he quickly ended the conversation. ‘’Riddle is waiting for me downstairs to help me with my homework, so I gotta go. Good luck tomorrow. I’m sure everything will be fine as long as you’re honest with her.’’
On that note, Deuce left the room, leaving a frustrated Ace by himself. ‘’As long as you’re honest with her,’’ he mocked him once he was out of hearing range. After having made so many attempts to be honest with her, he doubted her reaction was going to change when he would tell her the exact same things in person. But with Deuce refusing to have anything to do with this, Ace didn’t have any other choice but to try it.
‘’I still can’t believe the way you talked to those guys. I could swear one of them was about to burst into tears.’’
‘’Will you stop bringing that up?’’ Deuce clearly seemed ashamed of himself whenever he succumbed to his old habits. ‘’I’m embarrassed enough about it. Please just forget it…’’
‘’Why would you be embarrassed? Those guys were being real jerks to that barista. You put them back in their place.’’ Jack seemed genuinely impressed as he brought it up for the third time since it happened this afternoon. He tended to forget how frightening Deuce could be because he seemed like such a softy at school.
After a pleasant afternoon, the other club members had gone back to school while Jack and Deuce hung out a bit longer until they decided they should head back as well. They were strolling through Main Street and talked a bit more while they were heading to the Hall of Mirrors to go back to their respective dorms, when Deuce suddenly heard some voices in the distance that caught his attention. One of them, strangely enough, sounded like a woman’s voice. What was a woman doing on their campus?
However, the other voice he’d recognize from anywhere. That was definitely Ace’s loud, obnoxious voice, so Deuce could only conclude that he had brought his old girlfriend back with him. Deuce highly doubted he had done that willingly though, after how much he complained about meeting with her. Both of them sounded frustrated.
‘’Deuce?’’ Jack stopped mid-conversation when he realized Deuce wasn’t paying attention to what he was saying. ‘’You okay?’’
Deuce felt bad about having his attention diverted, but he doubted he could get it back to the conversation. He knew he shouldn’t care about the mess Ace worked himself into, but he couldn’t help but be a little worried. He just wanted to make sure everything was alright between them.
‘’Yes, I’m okay,’’ Deuce reassured him while offering him a weak smile. ‘’You go on ahead. I remembered I have something else to do.’’
Jack didn’t question his odd behavior much further and they parted ways, with Jack heading back to Savanaclaw and Deuce now making his way back over to the entrance of the campus. And sure enough, Ace was standing there with a girl who looked their age, and neither of them looked very happy. Ace kept trying to wrap up the conversation and walk through the gate, but the girl wouldn’t let him leave yet as she wasn’t through talking to him. Deuce kept himself in the background for now and listened to what was being said. He just wanted to make sure that the situation was under control.
‘’Why won’t you just give it a chance? I’m just asking you to try it!’’ The girl seemed pretty passionate about getting back together with Ace. Despite the hurt she had gone through because of him, she still seemed pretty hung up on him. Deuce felt bad for her that she couldn’t let it go. She was a very attractive young woman, with long brown hair and beautiful hazel eyes. Deuce could see why Ace went out with her. Of course, he didn’t know if her personality matched her appearance.
‘’I don’t want to try it. I have tried it and it didn’t work out,’’ Ace responded a little harshly. He looked tired, so Deuce could only imagine that at this point he was just repeating himself to her. ‘’I already said I’m sorry for ghosting you, but you can’t guilt-trip me into this. I don’t like you like that!’’
‘’No, you didn’t like who I was before. I’ve changed since then,’’ the girl insisted. ‘’I’m not into that girly stuff anymore and I won’t force you to do any of those things anymore. I like card games now, just like you. We can lounge around on the couch and play videogames or watch horror movies, and you can teach me all of your magic tricks.’’
‘’You don’t actually like that stuff though, you’re just saying that…’’ Ace mumbled. ‘’And it wouldn’t make a difference anyway. Our vibes just don’t match. It’s got nothing to do with you or with me. Sometimes people just don’t work out.’’
‘’How can you give up so easily? We had a good thing going on. I could tell you liked me, other than our different interests.’’
Ace remained silent, but Deuce recognized that look in his eyes. He was holding himself back from sharing a painful truth, that he probably didn’t like her that much at all. He probably didn’t want to hurt her feelings again, but Deuce now understood what Ace meant when he said she couldn’t let this go. This was one of the rare occasions where he actually sympathized with Ace. She had a serious problem letting go of the past and it didn’t look like anything Ace said could change that. At least, nothing that was truthful…
Deuce clenched his jaw, conflicted about what he should do. He didn’t want Ace to be trapped in an endless conversation that kept going around in circles. It must be exhausting to deal with that.
‘’What’s keeping you from just trying it for one week? What do you have to lose?’’ she asked again, either not noticing Ace’s frustration or not caring about it.
With an exasperated sigh, Ace ran his fingers through his hair. He was so done with this. He just wanted to go back to the dorm and relax. ‘’Look, I’m really trying to be polite here, but I can’t keep doing this. I don’t know why you refuse to listen to me…’’
Ace was about to make one last attempt to get her off his back, but then another voice suddenly joined the conversation.
‘’Ace!’’
He turned to the source of the sound, where he saw Deuce running up to him with a bright smile. What was he doing here? He thought he was back at the dorm already.
‘’Here you are! You left so suddenly after class without saying anything and I couldn’t reach you on your phone, so I got worried,’’ Deuce said, much to Ace’s confusion. What was he talking about? None of that happened.
‘’What…’’ Ace could barely utter a sound when Deuce loosely wrapped his arms around his neck and, to his sheer surprise, pressed a kiss to his cheek. Ace was extremely confused right now, but when he turned to look at Deuce, they briefly communicated with their eyes and Ace quickly realized that Deuce had a change of heart about his earlier plan.
Deuce leaned into Ace and kept his arms around him while offering a warm smile to the stunned girl across from them. ‘’Who is this?’’
It took everything within Ace’s power not to smirk as he was beyond relieved that Deuce rescued him from this situation. He happily committed himself to the play and wrapped his arm around Deuce’s waist, pulling him closer. ‘’This is Evelynn, my ex-girlfriend,’’ he introduced to him. He then looked back at Deuce and grinned in his own goofy way. ‘’Sorry for keeping it a secret, sweetie. We just had to get some things straightened out and I didn’t want you to get jealous for no reason.’’ Ace could tell that Deuce felt embarrassed by the little things he did, but on a larger scale, he was really acting the part. ‘’Evelynn, this is Deuce. My boyfriend.’’
‘’…Boyfriend?’’ She failed miserably at concealing the contempt in her voice. She looked at the two ‘lovers’ with disbelief in her eyes. ‘’You’re gay?’’
Ace shrugged his shoulders in response. ‘’Who knows? I just ended up falling hard for this goof. He’s such an adorable idiot. And I’d like to think he’s pretty crazy about me too.’’
Deuce chuckled painfully. ‘’Keep thinking,’’ he remarked playfully, though with a hint of truth in his voice.
‘’…So all this time I’ve been wasting my time trying to impress someone who’s interested in other men.’’ Something changed in Evelynn’s eyes, like her ego had just taken a big hit.
Deuce decided to say something in hopes of making it better. ‘’Please don’t feel bad… There’s no way you could have known-‘’
‘’Shut up,’’ she simply said, her anger getting the best of her. ‘’Screw you. Both of you. You deserve each other.’’ She tightly gripped her purse and strode away from them. ‘’Don’t worry, I won’t ever contact you again,’’ she shouted at Ace before she made her dramatic exit, leaving Ace and Deuce by themselves in a flabbergasted state.
‘’Jeez… She’s acting like she’s been harassed these past few days,’’ Ace murmured, a little annoyed by her strong reaction.
‘’Well, it’s all over now,’’ Deuce said with a soft sigh. He was just glad that the situation didn’t escalate any further. ‘’You won’t ever have to see her again.’’ After a little while of silence, his eyes went down to Ace’s hand, feeling a little nervous from this intimate touch. ‘’You can let go of my waist now…’’ he murmured awkwardly.
‘’And you can unwrap your arms from my neck,’’ Ace told him softly.
They held eye-contact for a bit before they awkwardly released each other and almost immediately averted each other’s eyes. Deuce in particular was left with a funny feeling in his stomach. He was so nervous when he decided to help Ace out that way. He knew all of it was fake, and yet there was this fluttery sensation in his chest when Ace pulled him close and he had to peck his cheek. He had never been that close with anyone, but he was starting to wonder if he would have felt this nervous if he had been acting with any of his other friends…
‘’Finally! I’m exhausted!’’ Ace practically flung himself onto his bed once they reached their room. Most of the other students were still relaxing at the lounge area, including their roommates. That made it a lot easier to discuss what happened just now. ‘’Thanks for helping me out, Deuce. I knew you weren’t heartless.’’
‘’Of course I’m not!’’ Deuce responded offendedly while having a seat on his own bed. ‘’It’s just not up to me to clean up your messes every time. But… it really looked like you were in a tight spot there.’’
‘’You’re telling me. I would have been talking to her until dawn if you hadn’t shown up when you did.’’ Upon recalling Deuce’s bright smile while running up to him, Ace smirked at him. ‘’You’d make a pretty cute boyfriend, you know? I didn’t know you could smile like that. How come you always wear that nasty scowl whenever I’m around?’’
Deuce was conflicted between taking offense in that last remark or feeling happy from that somewhat embarrassing compliment. ‘’Who would smile in your presence?’’ Deuce decided to tease him back with a small smirk of his own.
The two of them got changed into their nightwear in silence, which allowed Deuce’s mind to race and eventually trail back to their conversation from the day before.
‘’Hey… If I had kissed you on the lips just now, you know, in front of her,’’ Deuce started, pushing through his nerves to finish his sentence. ‘’Would you seriously have been okay with that?’’
As expected, Ace was acting pretty casual about it. ‘’Yeah. I mean, it’s fake, right? I would have understood the intention.’’
Deuce sat back down on his bed, thoughtfully looking down at the floor. He remembered Ace saying that a kiss just didn’t mean that much to him and that it wasn’t just meant for someone special. It wasn’t a big deal to him. ‘’So… have you kissed her?’’
‘’Obviously,’’ Ace replied with a snort of laughter. ‘’She was my girlfriend. Of course we kissed.’’
‘’And you didn’t like it?’’
Ace just shrugged his shoulders. ‘’It was fine, I guess. Nothing special. It’s like I told you: there’s nothing exciting about it. People do it all the time just for fun. It’s not a big deal.’’
Ace cautiously glanced over at Deuce, who was clearly having a hard time dealing with his answer. He thought it was funny to see Deuce brooding so hard about it. Since he had never experienced it, he just couldn’t understand where Ace was coming from, so Ace was about to change that.
‘’Okay, get up,’’ he told Deuce, who looked at him in confusion. ‘’I’m going to kiss you and you’ll see what I’m talking about.’’
Immediately Deuce’s face burned right up. ‘’What?!’’
‘’I can tell you’re curious about it! I know you want to try it at least once, and you’ll never understand how insignificant it is until you’ve tried it.’’ Ace grabbed him by his arm and pulled him up, only to pin him against the wall.
Deuce was beyond flustered right now. Was Ace being serious? ‘’D-Don’t mess around!’’
‘’I’m not messing around. Are you telling me you’re not even a little bit curious?’’ Ace leaned into him, but didn’t do anything yet as he wanted Deuce to confess to it first. And as expected, Deuce couldn’t deny it.
Of course he was curious. Almost every boy his age had kissed someone at least once. He had been saving his with the belief that it would be something special, but now he was being told that it was ‘just fun’ and he could basically do it with anyone?
Ace’s confident grin was making him feel nervous, or maybe it was because his face was so close to his own right now. His eyes shifted to Ace’s lips and he felt his heart skipping a beat at the mere thought of being kissed by him. Ace grinned even wider when he saw Deuce getting excited for it, so he leaned in a bit further, only for Deuce to make one final protest.
‘’This is weird…’’ he muttered. ‘’Friends don’t kiss…’’
‘’Friends help each other out, don’t they?’’ Ace remarked softly. ‘’It’s really not a big deal. I promise it doesn’t mean anything.’’
With that final statement, Deuce surrendered to his curiosity and felt his heart soaring when Ace captured his lips in a kiss that started out soft and slow. His feelings were bundled up in a confusing mess and his mind was racing with millions of thoughts. He couldn’t believe he was kissing Ace right now. It was so… weird. It wasn’t unpleasant at all, but he still wasn’t sure if things would be normal between them after this.
Ace made sure to keep the kiss lowkey to give Deuce some time to get used to it, but soon it was time for the real deal. He slowly slid his hand up to the back of Deuce’s neck and pressed their bodies closer together, earning him a surprised squeak. However, Deuce made no attempt to resist. He stiffly moved his lips against Ace’s until finally Ace slipped his tongue inside. Deuce felt like a nervous mess at first, but after he gave in a little, his thoughts were becoming quieter until they completely disappeared. The nervous feeling in his stomach faded until he was only left with a feeling of longing. Shyly, Deuce moved his hands to Ace’s shoulders, not sure what to do with them at first, but his movements became more natural overtime. This didn’t feel weird at all, it felt… natural. And good.
For a solid minute, they lost themselves in the kiss that progressively became more passionate. Something changed in the way Ace moved, like he had a strong craving for Deuce that he couldn’t satisfy. The kiss was starting to feel a little too real to just be ‘satisfying curiosity’, but Deuce didn’t question it. He was in far too deep to think about anything but the amazing, mind-blowing kiss.
And when they finally did part, they both had an equally dazed look in their eyes. They kept their faces just inches apart while they looked at each other. Deuce could hardly think right now. That was far from anything he ever imagined… That was one of the most amazing things he experienced. It felt so good, and Ace was so skillful at it. But… to Ace this wasn’t a big deal. He had told him so. So Deuce wasn’t about to humiliate himself by confessing how incredible that was.
‘’You’re right,’’ he reluctantly said. ‘’That was completely average.’’
Ace didn’t respond at first, simply staring at Deuce before he feigned a disappointed look. ‘’That was far worse than average,’’ he said, much to Deuce’s surprise, only to add insult to injury. ‘’You really suck at this.’’
And just like that, Deuce felt that warm feeling in his chest fading into thin air. ‘’What?! No way!’’ he shouted passionately. He knew he was new at this, but he couldn’t have been that bad. ‘’You’re messing with me!’’
‘’I’m really not. I was embarrassed for you,’’ Ace insisted, even though the look in his eyes didn’t match his words. Which was why his next suggestion had everything making sense. ‘’I can’t let you walk around like this. I don’t want you to embarrass yourself with the next person.’’ Ace looked at him through determined yet slightly nervous eyes. ‘’I’ll help you get better at it.’’
Deuce’s anger disappeared almost immediately. One look in Ace’s eyes told him all he needed to know. This hadn’t been a meaningless experience to him either. Both of them felt fireworks from that kiss just now, and it didn’t look like either of them were ready to leave it at this.
Deuce smirked at him, even though his cheeks were still flushed. ‘’You’ll help me get better? Really?’’ he asked him, but Ace didn’t budge from his story.
‘’I told you that friends help each other out,’’ Ace replied with a small grin of his own. ‘’I feel like it’s my responsibility to help you out with this issue…’’ He left a lingering peck on Deuce’s lips that had Deuce closing his eyes in delight. ‘’Feel free to practice on me anytime. That’s what friends are for.’’
And with that, they lost themselves in another heated kiss, each one feeling even better than the last. Their lips kept pulling towards each other like a magnet. That one taste was enough to make both of them addicted to the feeling. Ace had never felt this good from a kiss before, and Deuce didn’t for a moment regret giving his first kiss to Ace.
Ace was right when he said that they would always be friends. Nothing could ever change that. But there was no reason that two friends couldn’t end up becoming lovers as well.