Work Text:
It's only been a couple days since the incident, but things are almost back to normal again. Either that, or people are really good at pretending to be okay.
Sometimes it feels as if a heavy blanket has fallen over Heartslabyul and the building took it as a sign to rest. The stairs still creak with every step taken down, but there's a thick silence now, as if the students are afraid of waking a slumbering beast.
They weren't afraid like this before.
Riddle Rosehearts regrets many things these days. He stopped yelling and scolding everyone for miniscule errors, still they're more afraid than ever. The Heartslabyul students flinch every time they spot him walking down the hallway.
Trey has taken up most of the scolding now. Whenever Riddle attempts to raise his voice in a scathing remark, his throat seems to close up in warning. If he speaks, he will lose everything. Maybe for good this time.
So he stays silent and lets Trey be the bad guy. Fortunately, Trey only speaks up when actual danger is involved. The students aren't scared of him.
Riddle spends a lot of time thinking alone in his room, blacked out by heavy curtains. Of course he leaves for classes, doesn't miss a single assignment or patrol. He has a reputation to uphold after all, traditions to follow.
He's grown quite fond of the taste of honey sweetened tea before bed.
As Riddle wanders the moonlit hallways, making sure no one's up past curfew, another redhead startles awake in his bed. A hand reaches up to clutch at his shirt, tugging, and searching for any sign of injury. He's fine.
So, same thing as always these days. Ever since Riddle, their beloved housewarden, had lost his marbles, Ace is left to deal with the fallout. If the nightmares weren't so terrifying, he'd be laughing. As if cake and a party could fix waking up in a cold sweat every night.
He's tired in a way sleep can't fix anymore.
Everyone is treating Riddle like some fragile porcelain doll and he's tired of that too. All of Heartslabyul is left to pick up after him, but he's the one being coddled? Yeah, right.
Ace tries to focus on breathing through the panic. In and out, just like always. He rubs at his chest, pulls the blanket tighter around himself, but something is different tonight. He can't seem to shake the terror off quite as easily this time.
So he gets up, pulls on his shoes and takes a walk.
He wanders aimlessly, listening to the footsteps and the echo following him down the empty hallways. It's just him and the absurd feeling of paranoia at the back of his mind. The familiar sound of creaking stairs keeps him company as he escapes the building through a side entrance and ends up in the rose garden.
Under any other circumstance and nightly stroll through the moonlit rose garden would be relaxing. In Ace's haste to get out, he forgot that this is where it all started. This is where the fear comes from, this is what haunts him each night.
Unfortunately, the air seems to help clear his mind, so he keeps his eyes firmly towards the sky as he walks through the garden. They're just bushes, they're not going to start attacking him. Not by themselves, anyway. He doubts Riddle would be out here this late. He probably has a pristine bedtime routine and wakes up at five in the morning, like all the other overachievers.
Lost in his own thoughts, he doesn't catch the mess of torn up rose bushes in the path and takes an ugly nosedive to the ground. In an attempt to catch his fall, he ends up scratching up his palms and tangles his leg in some remnants still rooted in the ground.
It's almost funny how Riddle's mistakes keep making him pay.
He wants to curse and scream in pain, but he can already hear the housewarden scold him at the back of his mind. Seriously, Riddle is the last person he wants to hear right now.
"You should be asleep, Trappola", comes the all too familiar voice from somewhere behind him. Turning around takes considerable effort, but when he does, he can see Riddle down the path, dressed in red, as always. That goddamn red.
From a distance it looks like he's morphing, coming closer, red hair dripping into black. Ace tries to break free from his thorny prison but ends up digging an even deeper grave. If Riddle wanted to kill him again this time, he wouldn't even be able to dodge the attack. The thought terrifies him more than any nightmare could. Unlike his dreams this is real and he's in danger. Did he break any rules recently? Seven, he tried so hard to be good.
"You're hurt." Riddle reaches out in what he hopes to be a reassuring gesture, but Ace feels it like an attack.
"Fuck off Rosehearts", he spits and tries one more time to wiggle out of the thorns. It doesn't work.
"Ace, please, you're hurting yourself." There's fear in Riddle's voice. Concern bleeding into his expression like the blot did only days ago. Ace wants none of it, he doesn't believe it, he can't.
Riddle is confused. Why won't Ace let him help? Why does he keep pulling away, the thorns digging deeper into his leg? What could possibly have Ace Trappola of all people scared enough to injure himself like a trapped animal? This is a school, and yet he acts like someone is trying to kill him. No one would–
Oh. Right.
Seven, he feels so stupid.
Riddle backs away as if burnt and pulls his phone out of his pocket as he walks away. With every step taken, Ace feels like he can breathe easier again. Once his heart doesn't feel like jumping out of his chest anymore, the pain starts to creep in. A part of him wonders how he's supposed to show up to basketball practice like this.
It feels only like seconds, when Ace hears footsteps come back. They sound different though. There's an urgency as the person approaches, footfalls heavy in the gravel, but something almost professional too. Deuce?
Suddenly there's a face in his field of view, dark hair messed up from the sprint and worry plastered over his face. Ace doesn't like that look being directed at him.
"Couldn't sleep either, huh?" He attempts to lighten the mood, as he always does. Though he doesn't feel up for that signature grin today. His heart's just not in it.
"Yeah. How about we go back to the dorm? I don't think sleeping out here is a good idea."
It's almost scary how easily Deuce matches Ace's attitude, even in the middle of the night. Friends for life and all that, right? Though, surviving Riddle's rampage together would make anyone grow closer.
"Not unless you brought something to do some gardening. I got caught up in Riddle's mess again." At least the pathways should've been cleared by now. Why weren't they? The one time it would be reasonable to lecture students on slacking off and he doesn't.
"Trey set me up with these, since a cauldron didn't seem helpful", Deuce triumphantly holds up a pair of garden shears.
"Hey, you never know!"
Deuce gets to work freeing him from his prison and Ace lets out a sigh of relief when he can wiggle out of the bushes. Pain shoots up all the way to his hip when he tries to get up from the ground, but when Deuce hurries over to help him, Ace pushes him away.
"You're absolutely not carrying me. Don't you dare."
"Alright, but at least lean on me."
·· ─ ·✶· ─ ··
Riddle sits on his bed, Trey next to him, both of them holding a cup of tea that borders on cold. Uncomfortable silence stretches between them. The room feels both too big and too small for Riddle's realisation.
"He's afraid of me." It's not phrased as a question and still Riddle hopes Trey will disagree with him. He doesn't.
Instead he sighs, putting his cup to the side before turning to his friend. "You tried to kill him, Riddle." He tried to kill all of them, but he doesn't say that part out loud. They should be asleep, instead Trey is here, helping him work through his feelings. It's more than he deserves.
Riddle Rosehearts regrets many things these days, but they all pale compared to the fear in Ace's eyes.
"It was good you called me when you did." It's the most comfort Trey can offer right now. Though Cater was less than happy to have his beauty sleep disturbed.
"I don't know how to make up for it, Trey." Riddle isn't talking about the phone call or the conversation. He's not even talking about how Trey went to get Deuce instead of coming to help himself.
"I don't think you can."
It's not like Riddle broke Ace's favourite toy on the playground. They're young, but not children anymore. You don't just walk away from someone trying to take your life.
A heavy sigh leaves Riddle before burying his face in his hands. Regret threatens to swallow him whole, but if he gives in and hides away, he's nothing but a coward. His students deserve better than that. Ace deserves better.
"I have to."
Because Ace saved his life. When Crowley wanted to run away with everyone else, bring them to safety, Ace wanted to stay. Ace brought him back to his senses. Riddle would be dead now without him, he knows that.
"I owe him my life, Trey. I have to make up for it. I have to try."
"You can start by not giving him another reason to punch you."
It seems so small, so simple. It can't be that easy. He can't just become a better person, be kinder, more forgiving, and that will fix everything. It won't be that easy, but it's a start.
Riddle picks up his teacup again and empties the cold tea in one gulp. "Thank you."
"Will you be alright tonight?" Ever the worried Trey. More concerned for Riddle's wellbeing than his own.
"I believe so, yes."
·· ─ ·✶· ─ ··
Riddle demands all of Heartslabyul to gather in the lobby before classes start for the day. Despite the dark circles under his eyes, he stands before his students as an imposing figure, striking fear into the hearts of everyone. A murmur goes through the crowd, people wondering if something happened. Are they in trouble? Did they break a rule?
"Your classes are about to begin, so let me make this brief." He waits for everyone to stop whispering before he continues. His hands shake, but his voice is sure as always.
"For the upcoming unbirthday parties, I want the upperclassmen in charge of the roses, while everyone else takes care of the hedgehogs and flamingos, am I understood? I don't want first years messing with magic they can't control yet." At least that's what he says.
In truth, he just wants to keep Ace away from the rose garden for as long as possible. Unbirthday parties happen at the housewarden's discretion, and he may not feel up for it for a while yet.
Riddle Rosehearts regrets many things these days, but Ace's sigh of relief isn't one of them.