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Deuce narrowed his eyes while he struggled to assemble the poles of his tent. He got that really intense look in his eyes when he was concentrating and he automatically drowned out the voices around him, which was why he didn’t notice someone sneaking up behind him. He remained oblivious to his surroundings until he was suddenly roughly grabbed by his shoulders and someone screamed near his ear, making him nearly jump out of his skin and release a terrified screech of his own.
But when he swiftly turned around, he saw Ace and a couple of first-years in stitches. Ace was even clutching his stomach as he could barely breathe from laughing uncontrollably after he successfully startled his friend, earning himself a hard shove from the now flustered Deuce.
‘’You’re such a jerk!’’ he shouted at him, but Ace was hardly offended by it.
‘’Dude, your scream!’’ Ace exclaimed in-between his laughter. ‘’You acted like you were about to get murdered!’’
‘’Anyone would startle when you scream in their ear like that!’’ Deuce shouted back, feeling his face getting red from having made a fool of himself in front of his friends. ‘’Let’s see how you’d react when I catch you off guard.’’
‘’I sure wouldn’t nearly burst into tears like you just did,’’ Ace responded with a cheeky smile.
‘’Guys, please,’’ Trey interjected. He had come over once he saw that the two troublemakers of the dorm were going at it again. ‘’Riddle won’t be kind on you if he realizes you’re goofing off. We need to take this mission seriously.’’
Ace held back from rolling his eyes until Trey turned his back on him.
The entirety of Heartslabyul had been sent to camp out tonight in the woods under Crowley’s orders. He had been informed about an unfamiliar and potentially dangerous creature roaming this area. The source it came from was rather unreliable, but Crowley decided to have it checked out anyway. If he would ignore the issue and a student would get hurt, he would be liable. So his solution was to sent out his students to investigate this possibly dangerous situation and have them deal with it… The lack of logic was no longer a surprise to anyone, but Riddle still accepted this request as an official mission and he intended to carry it out with utmost caution.
The students of Heartslabyul were naturally a little on edge because of the unknown situation they were put in, but it also didn’t help that tonight was the night of Halloween. Camping out in the woods with an unfamiliar creature on a spooky night was rather unsettling, although no one felt comfortable enough admitting that out loud.
It wasn’t long before all the preparations had been made and the students were gathering around the campfire to enjoy their dinner.
‘’All right!’’ Ace proudly looked at his tent once he was done assembling it, and it seemed that everyone else was about done with their own as well. ‘’The tents are up, the sun is down and the fire is roaring. Y’all know what that means, right?’’ People watched Ace with great anticipation as he pulled out his iPad from his bag and flashed them a big grin. ‘’There’s no way we’re not watching a scary movie on Halloween. And the setting couldn’t be better! I downloaded Sinister and The Conjuring. Which are we watching first?’’
Deuce looked at his dormmates who were clearly excited about the idea. He, on the other hand, wasn’t all that fond of it. Watching a horror movie in their current situation seemed like a bad idea, but he knew he couldn’t voice his concerns without everyone making fun of him. And when Ace seemed to catch that glimpse of doubt in his eyes, that only reinforced his belief.
‘’I’m gonna let Deuce decide on this one,’’ Ace announced with his lips curling into a grin. He was clearly messing with him. ‘’Take your pick, Deucey. I’m sure you’ll hate them both equally.’’
Deuce glared at him to communicate his exasperation, but before he had a chance to respond, the iPad suddenly flew out of Ace’s hands and landed in Riddle’s, who had approached the group once he realized what was happening.
‘’No one will be watching any movies tonight,’’ he announced.
‘’What?! But it’s Halloween!’’ Ace loudly complained, accompanied by quiet protests from his peers.
‘’Precisely. The last thing I want to do tonight is babysit some frightened students who can’t distinguish fiction from reality.’’
Ace didn’t look like he was ready to let this go, so Riddle shut down the argument before giving him another chance to respond. ‘’I don’t care to hear your complaints. I forbid everyone from watching any scary movies tonight. Those who disobey me…’’ Riddle narrowed his eyes and gave each of the students a threatening look. ‘’…will suffer the consequences.’’
With that warning, he left with Ace’s iPad and let the disappointed students sulk to themselves. Ace especially was annoyed by the new rule, but he couldn’t help but notice a little smile on Deuce’s lips when he turned around to face him.
‘’You sure look relieved,’’ he stated.
‘’I just don’t think it would’ve been a good idea to watch something like that under the current circumstances,’’ Deuce replied, feeling more confident to speak out his concerns now that they weren’t allowed to watch a movie. ‘’Panic can escalate quickly, especially with such a large group.’’
Ace just stared at him a little while. Deuce expected a condescending comment from him right about now, but Ace just had a seat around the fire without saying another word about it. However, Deuce noticed a mischievous glint in his eyes, which was a telltale sign that there was trouble ahead.
The fire was out, dinner had been eaten and so far there had been no signs of any suspicious creatures lurking in the shadows. It was time for everyone to retire to their own tents, and Deuce did so as well. All that could be heard at this point was some whispering and rustling sounds coming from the tents around him. The noise was slowly dying down while Deuce made himself comfortable in his sleeping bag, planning to go to sleep as well when he suddenly heard footsteps outside. They very slowly made their way across the field and seemed to be heading directly towards him. The moonlight casted a shadow of this being directly onto his tent. Deuce nervously followed it with his eyes, his heart beating a little louder the closer it got. He tightly gripped his sleeping bag when the person reached for the zipper and clumsily opened the entrance. Deuce let out the biggest sigh of relief when he saw Ace entering his tent. Deuce knew he had no reason to feel this on edge, but he supposed the spirit of Halloween hit him harder than he had thought. He was more jumpy than usual.
‘’What do you think you’re doing?’’ Deuce whispered at him.
‘’What does it look like?’’ Ace crawled in further until he was lying next to him. Then he pulled out his phone and a pair of wired earphones. ‘’I’m saving our Halloween experience.’’
Deuce bewilderedly watched him putting on one of the movies he had suggested earlier. ‘’Riddle clearly told us not to watch any horror movies tonight. We can’t go against his orders.’’
‘’Yeah, I don’t see how he’s going to find out if we stay quiet. As long as you can hold in your screams, we’ll be fine.’’
‘’Let me be more clear: I’m not going to disobey the housewarden.’’
‘’Come on, Halloween only comes once a year! We can’t let Riddle ruin that. Besides, you said that panic would escalate quickly within a group, but now it’ll be just us watching.’’ It was obvious that Deuce was still uncomfortable by the idea, making Ace grin at him. ‘’You’re seriously hiding behind the housewarden’s orders to cover up how scared you are to watch a movie?’’ Ace snickered. ‘’You’re pathetic.’’
Deuce couldn’t stand his taunts, but they never failed to make him commit to something he didn’t want. ‘’Why would I be scared of something that doesn’t exist? Sounds like you might be projecting your own fears onto me.’’
‘’Who’s projecting? I’m ready to go. You’re the one who keeps trying to get out of this.’’ Ace smirked at him. ‘’Tell you what: I’ll leave you alone if you can admit that you’re too scared to do this.’’
Although Ace hit the mark, Deuce knew he would never let him live it down if he did admit it. His pride wouldn’t allow him to admit defeat, so he saw no other option than to go along with it. Reluctantly, he took one of the earbuds Ace held out to him and they each plugged in one of them.
When Ace started the movie, he threw one more cocky glance Deuce’s way. ‘’Now if you get really scared, feel free to hold my hand anytime.’’
‘’That goes for you, too,’’ Deuce replied, trying to mimic Ace’s superficial bravery. ‘’I’ll protect you from the big, bad monsters if you need me to.’’
Only when Ace redirected his focus to the screen did Deuce take a deep breath, bracing himself for the fear factor he would be subjected to.
About halfway through the movie, their attitudes had changed drastically. Neither of them were speaking as their eyes were glued to the screen where the most horrific events unfolded. Disturbing paranormal beings, children being possessed, inhumane ways of killing people… They both flinched at every jump scare and they had to look away for every gory detail. There was no space left between them as their bodies longed for the comfort of the other. And despite their earlier bickering, they were in fact holding each other’s hand. They couldn’t even remember who reached out for whose hand first, but they didn’t care, because they both needed it to get through the rest of the movie.
When the movie finally ended on a horrifying note, they released a collective sigh of relief. Ace was the first one to release Deuce’s hand.
‘’Damn, I’m going to feel this tomorrow. You were squeezing me really hard,’’ he said with a grin, although he didn’t look nearly as confident as he did before the movie began.
‘’Right back at ya,’’ Deuce replied. ‘’For someone who insisted so hard on watching this, you were awfully jumpy.’’
‘’You’re imagining things… The only reason I occasionally startled was because of your strong reactions.’’
They both avoided each other’s gazes. Now that they stopped speaking for just a moment, they realized how quiet it was outside. No wind or rustling or anything. It was rather unsettling after a movie like this. Deuce hated to admit it, but the only reason he felt even remotely safe right now was because Ace was still here to keep him company. Unfortunately, he knew that couldn’t last forever.
‘’You should go back now before Riddle or Trey notices you’re gone.’’
Ace seemed reluctant to go back to his own tent and he desperately searched for a reason not to have to. ‘’I’m thinking that… maybe I should just grab my sleeping bag and sleep here tonight,’’ he suggested. ‘’I mean, you were already scared before the movie even started. I bet you don’t want to spend the night alone right now. So I’ll be a good friend and stay here with you.’’
‘’How noble of you,’’ Deuce responded sarcastically. ‘’I’ll ignore the fact that you’re clearly doing this for your own reassurance. I’m fine with it. So go get your sleeping bag.’’
‘’I will. I just really gotta go pee first…’’
‘’So pick a tree and do it. What are you waiting for?’’
Ace didn’t respond and just awkwardly wiggled in place, showing just how badly he needed to go. And yet, he didn’t. Now it was Deuce’s turn to smirk. ‘’Want me to come with you?’’
‘’I think you should,’’ Ace responded, frowning at Deuce once he saw him grinning. ‘’Not for me, obviously. But otherwise you’d be here without me for two whole minutes. I don’t want your imagination to run wild during that time.’’
‘’I’ll be fine,’’ Deuce insisted. After a moment of hesitation, he crawled out of his sleeping bag. ‘’But I’ll come with you if you really need me to be by your side.’’
‘’Whatever makes you feel better,’’ Ace scoffed, but he was incredibly relieved that Deuce decided to accompany him. There was no way he wanted to be out there in the middle of the woods at midnight all by himself. And Deuce felt the same way.
It was even darker than expected outside. The trees barely allowed any moonlight through. Ace used the flashlight on his phone to navigate through the darkness. They stayed close together while they anxiously left their campsite to go a bit further into the woods.
‘’Are you trying to get to the other side of the forest? Why are we walking so far?’’ Deuce complained.
‘’I don’t want anyone to see or hear me doing my business,’’ Ace responded before he finally picked a tree.
‘’Guess I’m the only exception there. I’m flattered and a little grossed out,’’ Deuce said.
While Ace went behind the tree to do his thing, Deuce nervously scanned his surroundings with Ace’s phone in his hands. He still vividly remembered the appearance of that horrifying demon in the movie they watched, so his mind kept tricking him into feeling a presence near them. His ears suddenly perked up at a rustling noise in one of the bushes. His heart sped up and he audibly gasped when something jumped out of it. A small, hairy creature with large ears and a bushy tail startled from Deuce’s yelp and quickly hopped away.
Ace snickered from behind the tree. ‘’Did you just get frightened by a bunny?’’
Deuce blushed at the correct assumption. ‘’I thought it was something else,’’ he weakly defended himself.
‘’Dude, we’re in a forest. The only things we’ll encounter here are birds and squirrels.’’
Ace finished up and got from behind the tree, smirking at Deuce as he planned on teasing him some more. But both of their expressions faltered when a bloodcurdling scream ripped through the woods. It was distant, and it sounded like someone was in great distress. It was soon followed by another scream, this one belonging to someone with a lower voice. After that, the whole forest went completely silent again, and Ace and Deuce stared at each other with both of their faces white as sheets.
‘’That wasn’t my imagination, was it?’’ Deuce asked, for the first time hoping that Ace would tell him that it was all in his head. But unfortunately, Ace’s disturbed expression told him that he had heard the chilling screams as well.
Ace desperately tried to make sense of it, and eventually managed to crack a smile. ‘’Ah, I get it… I’m pretty sure some people saw us leaving and now they’re trying to scare us. It’s just a silly prank.’’
‘’If you’re right, then I’d expect Riddle to be berating them by now for waking up the whole camp, but I can’t hear him at all…’’
‘’Maybe he’s a deep sleeper,’’ Ace said in response, but it wasn’t enough to convince Deuce. ‘’Come on, what other explanation could there be? Do you really believe this forest is haunted?’’
Deuce felt silly for even considering that a possibility, but the screams just felt a bit too real for it to be a mere prank. When Ace encouraged him to follow him back to camp, Deuce stayed closely by his side. Ace wouldn’t admit it, but Deuce could tell that he was rather nervous as well.
The silence was deafening. All that could be heard were the leaves and twigs crunching underneath their shoes. They couldn’t wait to confirm for themselves that they had been messed with by a couple of jokesters and then sleep in the same tent together.
But when they reached the campsite, they instantly stopped in their tracks. Their hearts stopped and they stayed frozen in place. Neither of them were prepared for the harrowing sight before them. At first they thought they were imagining things, but even in the dark, it was unmistakable.
There was hardly anything left of their camp.
Tents were shredded to pieces, some of them completely destroyed. Their earlier campfire had been trampled over, like a fight had taken place here. It looked like something evil had attacked this place, and whoever fell victim to the attack had clearly been resisting, judging from the trampled grass.
Deuce no longer cared about keeping up the brave act. He reached for Ace’s hand, who then tightly squeezed him back. With their hearts in their throats, they cautiously walked further to investigate the campsite.
‘’Guys?’’ Ace called out with a noticeable tremble in his voice. ‘’Housewarden?’’
‘’Cater? Trey?’’ Deuce called as well.
But the silence remained.
Without letting go of each other’s hand, they peeked inside the tents that were still standing, but they found each one empty.
Ace released a shaky sigh. For the first time, he longed to hear Riddle’s booming voice telling him to be quiet and go back to sleep, but it was eerily quiet.
‘’Okay, this is no longer funny,’’ Deuce said quietly, and Ace silently agreed. ‘’What do you think happened here?’’
‘’I have no idea,’’ Ace confessed. There was no way he could put a positive spin on this. Every single Heartslabyul student had vanished, and there wasn’t a single logical explanation for it.
‘’Could it have been the creature the headmage was warned about?’’ Deuce nervously sought out Ace’s eyes. ‘’Do you think… it looks something like what we saw in that movie? Pitch black eyes, mouth sewed together, skin white as paper…’’
‘’Come on, let’s not try to make ourselves crazy,’’ Ace said, even though the face Deuce described was vividly on his mind as well. ‘’We don’t know what it looks like or what it wants. Heck, for all we know this wasn’t that creature’s doing at all. Maybe it was something else entirely.’’
‘’Well, whatever it was, it dragged everyone we know out there into the woods!’’
‘’We don’t know that! Maybe they all fled in time and now they’re hiding out. We had Riddle with us, for crying out loud. There’s no way he would let anything happen to anyone.’’
Their discussion was cut short when a long, high-pitched screech filled the sky, making them shriek at the same time and move even closer together until they were practically hugging each other. Their knuckles had turned white from how tightly they were holding each other’s hand.
Deuce felt like his knees were about to give out from the amount of fear he felt. ‘’We need to contact the headmage right now,’’ he said. ‘’He needs to get us out of here.’’
Ace immediately reached for his phone, clumsily searching for Crowley’s contact information with shaky fingers before he managed to call him, but the line was immediately cut off. Ace had to take one look at his phone to know what the problem was. ‘’There’s no service here,’’ he said softly. At this point, Deuce noticed the fear in Ace’s eyes as well. He was no longer pretending to be a hero in all of this.
They stared at each other, trying to think of their next move while they still could. Deuce kept looking over his shoulder in fright, but then he caught a glimpse of something lying on the ground near one of the tents.
‘’There’s something over there,’’ he said while pulling Ace along with him. He knelt down next to the object and picked it up, immediately recognizing them. ‘’These are Trey’s glasses.’’ One of the glasses was cracked while the other was covered with something that made Deuce squeeze Ace’s hand even tighter. ‘’It’s… blood,’’ he squeaked out before looking back at Ace’s frightened expression.
Neither of them could deny that something awful had taken place here and, based on all the evidence, it didn’t look like their dormmates left this camp unscathed. If anything, Ace and Deuce were fearing the worst for their friends…
When an eerie voice echoed through the woods accompanied by a shadow rushing through the bushes, the boys shouted at the same time and Deuce recoiled against Ace’s body. Trembling in place, they looked around themselves. They couldn’t see anything, but they felt an unmistakable presence near them.
‘’W-We need to defend ourselves!’’ Deuce said fearfully.
‘’We left our pens in the tent!’’ Ace reminded him before they both rushed over to Deuce’s tent.
Deuce was forced to let go of Ace’s hand to search for their magic pens while Ace kept watch. They were both trembling so hard that they could barely focus on their respective tasks.
‘’Don’t go anywhere, you hear me?’’ Deuce called from inside.
‘’Don’t worry, Deuce. I got you. I’m right here,’’ Ace reassured him.
It only took a moment for Deuce to emerge from the tent, but his eyes only showed despair. ‘’They’re gone,’’ he announced with a hint of panic in his voice. ‘’It stole our pens.’’
Ace couldn’t believe this was actually happening to them, but they were running out of options. And there wasn’t much more time to think when Ace caught a glimpse of a shadow lurking behind a tree, which then dashed as soon as he noticed it. He shrieked in surprise, and they both whimpered when the creature started making those creepy sounds again while it ran from tree to tree. It was so fast and their surroundings were so dark that neither of them could see it properly, which might also be a good thing.
‘’Forget defending ourselves, we gotta run!’’ Ace shouted, pulling Deuce along with him.
‘’Wait, what about the others? We can’t just leave them out here!’’ Deuce weakly protested.
‘’Dude, didn’t you see our camp? They’re gone! If we don’t escape now, it’s gonna kill us too!’’
These woods were right behind campus, so they knew it wouldn’t take long for them to reach the PE grounds. And yet, every second felt like an eternity to them. They ran for their lives and they didn’t for a second let go of each other’s hand.
But the mysterious creature they were fleeing from suddenly dashed right in front of them, making the boys scream and turn back to try another route. They could hear themselves being chased, peaking their anxiety. Adrenaline fully took over, almost making them feel like they were flying through the woods. But wherever they turned, it seemed like this demon caught up to them in no time. First the chilling whispers came from behind them and now they were in front of them. Most of the time, they couldn’t even pinpoint it. It sounded like it was coming from everywhere. Was it really just this fast or could there be multiple creatures involved?
When they had exhausted all of their options, they started running around aimlessly, just trying to survive this horrific encounter. Eventually they were being chased back onto the destroyed campsite. Neither of them had any faith that they would escape with their lives. And they were exhausting themselves running around like this, which led to Ace tripping over one of the tent poles on the ground.
‘’Ace!’’ Deuce shouted worriedly. He didn’t even hesitate when he knelt down next to him. He refused to leave his friend, even when the creature finally came out of hiding and approached the two. It was still too dark to see its appearance, but the fact that they could see its shadow and hear it breathing was enough to send them into a full panic. There was nowhere left to run anymore. It completely had them subdued.
Deuce collapsed next to Ace and they instinctively wrapped their arms around each other, hopelessly watching it closing in on them. They felt like their hearts were about to give out and their breathing quickened to the point that their chests started to hurt. And all they could do was scream from the top of their lungs when it threw its arm into the air, as if it was about to strike them.
Then it crashed its arm down, but there was no pain. It didn’t strike them. Instead, the campfire that was destroyed earlier lit up, illuminating their surroundings. The boys fearfully looked up to meet their tormentor. They were staring right into the eyes of a tyrant, but not the kind they had in mind.
‘’Gotcha.’’
Hovering over their huddled bodies was Riddle, smirking from ear to ear. Ace and Deuce stared at him in utter confusion, unable to comprehend what just happened. Up until now, they believed Riddle might have been killed by that monster. But despite the many questions they had, the lingering fear in their bodies prevented them from speaking yet.
‘’Come on out, everyone,’’ Riddle shouted.
Slowly, all the Heartslabyul students came into the light, all of them completely unharmed. Ace and Deuce looked around themselves to see Cater emerging from the bushes, along with all of his lookalikes. He chuckled at the sight of the trembling boys still tightly holding each other.
‘’Clever, huh? I had all of my Cay-Cay’s surround you to confuse you.’’
While they were running earlier, they were confused about whether they were being chased or if they had been caught up with. The noises sounded like they were coming from all around them. Apparently Cater had used his signature spell to play with their heads like that.
The last one to come out of hiding was Trey, who looked pretty amused himself. He took out his pen and waved it around, returning their surroundings to their original state. The tents blurred out and seemed to repair themselves. The dents in the grass were disappearing as well. Within a matter of seconds, their camp looked exactly like they had left it, like nothing had happened.
‘’W-What’s going on…?’’ Deuce quietly asked once he finally found his voice again.
‘’Paint the Roses,’’ Trey answered him, smiling proudly. ‘’I used my signature spell to make the camp look like it had been damaged. Nothing had physically changed about the camp, it just appeared like it had been destroyed.’’
‘’Housewarden Riddle had us all hide out in the forest as soon as you guys left your tent,’’ one of the sophomores explained. He snickered softly with a couple of his friends. ‘’It was hilarious watching you running around like headless chickens. You looked like you were about to piss yourselves.’’
‘’B-But… your glasses!’’ Deuce looked over at Trey, his body still trembling from the aftermath. ‘’There was blood on them! I saw it!’’
‘’That was just a bit of ketchup,’’ Trey explained with a chuckle. ‘’I thought that would go a bit too far if I’m honest, but Cater insisted I use my spare glasses to make it look even more like a crime scene.’’
‘’In fact, this whole play was Cater’s idea,’’ Riddle told them. Cater looked rather proud of himself from all the credit he received. ‘’Pranks – especially of this kind – aren’t usually my style, but I have to admit that this was rather amusing.’’
Riddle couldn’t help but chuckle as well, but even after the whole thing was finally explained, Ace and Deuce were still at a loss for words. They needed a moment to have everything sink in.
‘’You’re…’’ Ace finally spoke, his eyes wide in disbelief. ‘’You’re evil! What’s wrong with you all?! Seriously, that’s messed up! Deuce was on the verge of tears over here!’’ he shouted at them. Deuce was still far too shocked to point out that Ace was at least as scared as he had been. ‘’Why would you do something like that?’’ Ace genuinely asked.
Riddle crossed his arms, a subtle smirk playing on his lips. ‘’You disobeyed me,’’ he simply said, making the color drain from both of their faces. They didn’t think they would get caught going against Riddle’s orders, but it seemed that nothing ever escaped his attention. ‘’I told you that you would suffer the consequences if you went against my orders, and when Cater explained his idea to me, I thought it was a suitable punishment.’’
Ace and Deuce couldn’t believe just how far Riddle was willing to go to teach his students a lesson. That mind-numbing fear they felt just now which brought them to their knees and made tears jerk to their eyes, was all because of their housewarden. He really was a tyrant.
Riddle clapped his hands. ‘’All right, everyone. The show is over. Get back into your tents. I don’t want to hear another peep the rest of the night.’’
Everyone immediately did as instructed. Trey looked over at the frightened couple and whispered a quick ‘Sorry, guys’ before going back into his own tent as well. While everyone went back like nothing happened, Ace and Deuce remained on the ground in utter disbelief about everything that happened just now. They now knew the truth about the ‘demon’ that tormented them, but that knowledge changed nothing about the horror they just went through. And they had never been that frightened before in their lives. They couldn’t just turn off those feelings.
After catching their breaths, Deuce was the first one to speak. ‘’I’m sleeping with you tonight,’’ he said determinedly.
‘’I wasn’t gonna let you sleep anywhere else tonight,’’ Ace responded shamelessly. He longed for Deuce’s company as much as Deuce longed for his.
Deuce quickly fetched his sleeping bag and they both hurried into Ace’s tent, where they spent the rest of the night trying to fall asleep, without much success.
‘’Boys…’’
Riddle stood in the door opening of Ace and Deuce’s bedroom, an unimpressed expression resting on his face upon seeing that Ace had crawled into Deuce’s bed yet again.
‘’How many times must I apologize?’’ Riddle asked with a sigh.
Three days had gone by since the incident. Crowley had officially confirmed that the unknown creature he was told about, did not exist. It was simply the product of a student’s wild imagination. But that information hadn’t changed anything.
Ace and Deuce were back in each other’s arms, like they had been every night since they had been pranked by their dormmates, and they couldn’t care less about their pride at this point. Ace threw Riddle a pouty look, refusing to budge from his position.
‘’This is ridiculous. You guys are 16. You can’t keep sleeping in the same bed together.’’
‘’Is there a rule against it?’’ Ace asked, knowing fully well that there wasn’t.
‘’How you present yourself is at least as important as following rules. Do you think people will take you seriously if they knew you’re too scared to sleep in your own bed?’’
‘’That’s where you come in and tell them that you traumatized us,’’ Ace replied.
Deuce respected Riddle too much to talk back at him, but he seemed pretty set on staying in this position as well.
‘’We’re staying like this until we’ve recovered from our PTSD,’’ Ace insisted, making it incredibly hard for Riddle not to roll his eyes at his exaggeration. But since there was nothing left to be done, Riddle quietly closed the door, leaving them alone.
He pinched the bridge of his nose and let out an exasperated sigh. ‘’I should’ve just removed their heads,’’ he mumbled to himself before getting ready for bed as well.
It would be a while before Ace and Deuce would feel comfortable sleeping apart from each other again. But in the meantime, they felt perfectly safe and content to be in each other’s arms and protect each other from all those fictional monsters living in their minds.