Chapter Text
It wasn't something either of them planned on happening. It was the night after Riddle's overblot. No one would've been asleep if they witnessed what they saw.
Deuce lay awake in his bed, fidgeting with the edge of his blanket. He was so incredibly exhausted, but his mind wouldn't let him sleep, replaying the events of the day over and over. The fight, the egg, the overblot itself, watching whom he thought was the real Cater take a spear to the chest for him before quickly realizing it was just a clone. Thank the Great Seven it was just a clone.
He glanced over at Ace, who was shifting once again. He was almost a hundred percent sure he also wasn't sleeping given how much he was tossing and turning. At least he was trying to sleep. Deuce just felt paralyzed since he laid down.
"Alright, this is useless," he heard the redhead mutter to himself as he threw the covers off of his body and strode towards his desk. He snatched the deck of cards that were sitting on it and moved to sit down on the floor by the edge of his bed. He pulled the cards out of the box and began to shuffle.
Slowly, Deuce sat up from his position, watching as Ace began to lay out cards in front of him. "What are you doing?" he asked.
Ace jumped slightly in surprise, not expecting Deuce to be awake. "Having the same problem as you," he replied, clearly annoyed. "I'm too high strung to sleep."
He didn't elaborate further, but Deuce knew why. Of course he did. How couldn't he understand after all of that? He slowly slid off of his bed until he was also sitting on the floor. "Same."
Ace paused his minstrations and risked a look towards his roommate. He could see his exhaustion and paranoia reflected back at him through Deuce's eyes. The tension in his muscles melted away. "Should we like… I don't know. Should we talk about it?"
Deuce shrugged his shoulders. "Probably."
Neither of them said a word. How could they? What exactly were they supposed to say after all of that? Was there even anything that wasn't already said? Both of them didn't know how to even start having a conversation about it all.
"What a start to our first year am I right?" Ace chuckled nervously, beginning to flip over cards with unsteady hands. "I mean who would've thought our housewarden would try to kill us in our first weeks of school. Crazyyyy."
"Uh, yeah," Deuce replied. Silence quickly settled heavily between them again for a little too long. "What- um, what are you playing?"
Ace continued flipping over cards and placing them below others. "Solitaire."
"Oh. Like the same one on the computer?"
"Yup."
He nodded slowly in understanding, shifting so that he could peer over at the cards. "That's cool."
Ace hesitated for a moment before setting what was left of the deck back down on the ground. "Did you want to play something?" He must've sensed Deuce's split second of doubt since he immediately followed with, "I mean, I don't think neither of us are gonna sleep any time soon. Just figured it could be something to distract us or something."
"I just don't know that many card games."
Ace immediately began picking up the cards, filled with a new type of vigor his roommate had never seen before. "That's fine. I can teach you some. If you want. But you know how to play Concentration, right?"
Deuce blinked at him. "Huh?"
"It's matching the pairs."
"Oh. Yeah I know that game."
"Awesome." Ace began to reshuffle the cards and laid them all out face down in random spots on the floor. "Do you wanna go first or do you want me to go first?"
"You can go."
Ace flipped over two cards; the ace of spades and the seven of diamonds. Deuce tried to remember those two positions, but he was so taken aback by Ace's sudden burst of energy that he couldn't think about anything as he flipped over two more cards. They ended up being the three of diamonds and queen of clubs.
The game preceded almost silently for a few moments before Deuce asked, "So, you like card games?"
"Yeah. Love 'em. Not many people I've met are ever willing to play with me so I normally end up playing with my brother when he has time." Ace got his first match and quietly cheered before snatching the cards and putting them in front of him face up. He went again and drew a dud. "What about you? Any kind of games you like? Card games, board games, or anything?"
"Nah not really. I kind of spent my days terrorizing innocent people."
"Ah, your delinquent days?" Ace flipped over two more cards. Not a match. "I honestly think the worst crime you committed back then was what you did to your hair. Bleach blonde? Woof."
That comment managed to get a small smile out of Deuce. "Did I tell you about the time my mom had to pick me up from the police station?" He took his turn and didn't get a match.
"I think I remember you saying how you got grounded for months and you were forced to go grocery shopping with her," Ace replied. He flipped over two fours and scooped up the cards. "Aw nice! Lucky pull!" He revealed two more cards that weren't a match, turning it over to Deuce.
He flipped over another two cards that weren't a match. "Do you have any crazy family stories?"
Ace seemed to pause for a few moments before flipping over a match. "I mean, nothing too crazy," he said carefully. "My parents left me at a gas station on a family roadtrip once."
Deuce's eyes widened, and he forgot to take his turn as he demanded, "What?!"
"Yeah." Ace chuckled quietly at the memory. "I think I was nine. The girl at the register was really nice though and gave me some free candy. My brother noticed I was gone about ten minutes later according to him and they turned around."
"That's awful."
Ace's smile became a little more strained as he waved his hand dismissively. "Yeah, well, it's all in the past." A brief moment of silence passed between them. "It's your turn by the way."
"Oh. Sorry." He turned over two more cards that ended up not being a match. "That's wild though. I can't really think of anything that can top that then when my dad walked out on us."
Ace gave a sympathetic nod as the game proceeded with his turn. "Yeah. He sounds like a real piece of shit from what you've told me."
It hadn't been too much. Deuce had really only mentioned that his dad randomly disappeared one day and that before that he was never really around. Ace very quickly realized after that why Deuce idolized his mom so much, and he couldn't help but do the same. He couldn't imagine something like that happening in his own family.
"Well, he's gone. Probably fled off to the Shaftlands or is dead," he replied nonchalantly. He finally flipped over a pair of twos and cheered, "Finally!"
Ace's smile reappeared as Deuce scooped up the cards and took another turn. He didn't pull a match. "Families are weird," Ace settled on saying.
Deuce agreed, "Yeah. Jeez, I don't even know how I'm even gonna explain everything that happened to my mom."
"You don't have to tell her right away y'know." Ace flipped over a dud. "You can let yourself process and plan what you're gonna say before you tell her anything."
Deuce took his turn. "That kind of makes it sound like I'm lying." When Ace didn't respond, he looked up to see that he had a slightly sour look on his face. "What? Am I wrong?" Ace reached over and flicked his roommate on the forehead. "Hey! What was that for?!"
"Number one, can you yell at me a bit quieter? Don't want to wake the whole dorm." Deuce shrank slightly, belatedly realizing how loud he was. "Second, I didn't say you have to lie to her. I'm just saying that you don't have to throw your raw feelings out there with no thought. You can think through what you're feeling first before telling her anything. If anything, you'll probably be even more honest with her that way."
Deuce gave Ace's words some thought. He kind of always did just charge headfirst into things because of his emotions, didn't he? He probably would benefit from just sitting with them for a minute like Ace said he should.
Suddenly, the sound of a knock on their door startled the two freshmen. "Act like you're sleeping!" Ace whispered panickedly as he used his magic to clean up the cards and stack them neatly on his nightstand. Deuce was a little mesmerized by his level of control before climbing back into bed and throwing the covers over himself.
Ace waited until he heard another knock to go answer the door. He opened it, putting on his best disoriented expression. "Trey?" he asked, deepening his voice to mimic his usual grogginess in the morning.
"Hey Ace. Did I wake you?" he whispered softly.
The redhead noted how bloodshot Trey's eyes were. Looks like he and Deuce weren't the only ones having a hard time sleeping. "Yeah. A little. Dude what time is it even?"
A guilty frown crossed the vice housewarden's face. "Sorry. I just thought I heard voices as I was doing the rounds. Curfew and quiet hours you know."
Ace rubbed at his eyes a little, nodding in understanding. "Maybe they were in the next room? Or maybe in the bathrooms? It is, like, two doors down. Maybe someone's doing a late night karaoke session."
A small chuckle left Trey's lips. "Maybe." He glanced behind Ace to see what he thought was Deuce's sleeping figure. "Well, sorry to wake you. Hope you can get some good rest."
"You too man. G'night."
"Goodnight Ace."
Ace watched Trey walk away and gently closed the door and locked it. Deuce immediately threw off the covers and turned towards the door. "Is he-?"
Ace shushed him, listening for the fading sound of Trey's footsteps. Once he was sure Trey was far enough away, he started giggling. "Yeah. Man he was easy to fool."
That caused Deuce to frown a little. "He's just checking in."
"He was gonna report us to Riddle don't even try to deny it. Despite how traumatized we all are, the strict enforcement of the rules isn't going to go away overnight."
Deuce wanted to argue, but he knew how stubborn their housewarden could be if today was anything to go off of. "Yeah fine. You're right."
"Thank you."
A long, somewhat awkward silence filled the space between the two Heartslabyul freshmen. Their game was kind of ruined by Trey knocking on the door and scaring the shit out of them. Neither of them really knew how to get the conversation started again either. What exactly were they supposed to talk about now?
"I'm kind of tired now," Deuce found himself blurting out, surprised that it was true. Somehow, after talking with Ace for a bit, he felt more at ease.
"Kind of same," Ace replied with a genuine yawn. "Guess we'll have to pick up our game some other time. Or play something else if you're up for it."
"Yeah. For sure, for sure."
Ace crawled back into bed and turned off the alarm that was set to go off on his phone. He pulled the covers over him as he said, "Welp, goodnight Juice. See you in the morning."
Deuce let out a sigh and shook his head, unsure of why the nickname didn't bother him as much as it did before. "Goodnight Ace."
And almost as soon as they closed their eyes, both boys were able to finally fall asleep peacefully without the day's events plaguing their minds.
One overblot happening in their dorm was one thing, but it happening again in another dorm right before their eyes? And it was one of the most powerful mages at the school with one of the most devastating signature spells? That was hell on earth itself, and Ace considered himself and Deuce lucky they survived.
He couldn't stop thinking about it. The whole plot by Leona, the ground breaking beneath their feet, the sand they had to clean out of their wounds. That wasn't even mentioning Jack and Yuu. Jack, despite not knowing him very well, jumped in to help them with little hesitation and helped them protect Yuu and Grim. Ace was grateful for that, though he got injured pretty badly. He made a mental note to check up on him during their PE class tomorrow.
Oh, and they still had to go to class. As if life should still keep moving at a normal pace after that whole debacle.
Look, one time is a fluke, two times can be considered a coincidence, and three times is when it's considered a pattern. Ace wasn't normally one to immediately look at the bad or start anticipating the worst after two similar events, but he wouldn't be surprised if a third event happened at some point this year, even if he prayed to every god out there that that didn't happen.
His mind couldn't help but drift back to when Riddle overblotted, watching Deuce nearly die and Cater (a fake Cater but still traumatizing) take the fall instead. This time, it was his upperclassman Ruggie nearly kicking the bucket. He wasn't as close with him as he was with Trey and Cater, but it was still terrifying. And the beast that appeared behind Leona was just as terrifying as Riddle's. It was like watching history repeat.
The cards in Ace's hands suddenly fell and were splayed out all over his desk. He had messed up a flourish now he had to clean up his mess. He snapped his trembling fingers and the cards reshuffled themselves into a neat pile in his palm. "Focus," he whispered to himself, willing his body to calm down. It was failing spectacularly.
A few location changes later in the room, Ace wound up on the floor by the edge of his bed shuffling his cards. He had no luck calming down whatsoever and just resigned himself to playing Solitaire for the rest of the night. Unless Deuce felt like playing something with him, which was pretty common. He would never say it out loud, but he was beyond grateful that Deuce gave him the time of day when it came to his interest in card games.
He jumped at the sound of the door opening. He turned to see Deuce with a towel over his wet hair. "Oh, hey," Deuce said softly. "Can't sleep?"
"Asks the guy who decided to take a shower well past midnight," Ace replied, turning back to his game. "No, I can't sleep. We both can't sleep. Per usual."
Ever since Riddle's overblot, it had been a common occurrence for both of them to be up late at night. Whether one of them was plagued by a nightmare or just too anxious to sleep, one of them was usually up. When they were both awake at the same time, they usually played a card game of some sort, and never the same game twice in a row. That would be too boring for Ace.
He paused his lonely game of Solitaire and asked, "Did you want to play something?"
Deuce massaged all of the excess water of out his hair and hung his towel on his closet door. "I don't know if I'm up for playing anything," he replied guiltily, unable to hide the exhausted strain in his voice.
Ace nodded quickly, focusing his stare back down at the cards in front of him. "Yeah yeah that's cool that's cool. All good." Ace could keep himself entertained for a night. It wasn't like he hasn't done that before countless other times. Or his entire life.
A tense silence fell between the two as Deuce stood awkwardly in the middle of the room. The sound of Ace flipping over cards was the only thing that could be heard. Ace wasn't sure why Deuce hadn't already moved to lay down in his own bed, but he didn't care to dwell on that at the moment. He personally just wished his hands would stop shaking.
Suddenly, Deuce began to move towards the redhead's side. "Can I watch you play?"
Ace nearly dropped the cards that were in his hand as he turned to stare up at Deuce. Though his first instinct was to question him, he knew that the boy was being genuine in his interest. He was just like that, Ace had come to realize. It always made him do a double take.
"It's not gonna be that interesting, but knock yourself out."
Deuce plopped down next to Ace, hugging his knees close to his chest. There was barely an inch of space between their bodies, Ace realized all too quickly. He redirected all of attention back to the game, hoping to take his mind off of everything that was being thrown at him. Maybe then he could make himself tired enough to sleep a few hours. Thank the Great Seven that tomorrow was Friday.
Ace played in silence with Deuce peering over his shoulder. His hands moved swiftly, eyes almost immediately identifying what cards could go where. Deuce watched with rapt attention. Ace thought he looked almost a little too invested, but whatever floated his boat. He wasn't in charge of what he did with himself when he couldn't sleep. Ace was finding that he wasn't in charge of a lot of things nowadays. As if he was ever in control before.
"You can't do that," Deuce suddenly spoke.
Ace froze in his spot. "What?"
He pointed to the red ten Ace just laid on top of a red jack. "You didn't follow the pattern."
Well that was really fucking embarrassing. Ace scooped up the card and flipped over a different card. It just so happened to be a black ten that he could lay down. "Shit, thanks," he replied.
They fell back into silence for a few blissful moments before Deuce remarked, "You're shaking."
Ace already knew that. His normally steady hands could barely even pull off a few simple card tricks. But when did he start to feel it in his arms? When did his stomach start doing somersaults? When did his vision start blurring in the corners? How did Deuce notice it before him, and why the hell did he feel the need to make him aware of it?
"Sure," was all Ace could think to say. Because what else could he say? Nothing would change or magically fix everything, so what was the point?
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"I never want to talk about anything."
He said it a little harshly, probably a little too harshly. Deuce was just trying to be nice. He didn't need nice right now. What he needed was a distraction. That didn't seem to deter his roommate. "Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why don't you ever want to talk?"
"Why do you?" Jeez he was being such a dick for no reason. He wished he knew how to stop.
"I normally feel better after talking about things that are bothering me," Deuce explained.
"Good for you."
Another brief moment of silence settled between them. Ace could already feel the words beginning to form on Deuce's tongue to attempt to get him to open up. Couldn't this guy just take a hint? "Do you not normally feel better?"
"No."
"Oh." Another beat. "You're kind of hard to talk to."
"People have said worse."
That was the wrong thing to say, because Deuce suddenly seemed a little bit more awake as he asked, "What kind of things?"
"Things that you don't need to know about."
"Were they things people said about you here?"
Ace let out a quiet sigh of frustration. He liked his roommate overall. He was polite enough when it came to the ground rules they set for living together, and he was kind of fun to mess with. His goody two-shoes act was kind of annoying at times, but Ace knew he meant well. Right now though, he felt like starting a fight. Physical or verbal would do.
"People just talk. What's it matter what they're saying?"
"It sounds like it bothers you."
"It doesn't," Ace snapped.
That little slip of emotion caused Deuce's eyes to widen. Dread immediately settled in Ace's stomach at his mistake. "Clearly," Deuce replied softly.
"I thought you were watching me play. Not trying to psychoanalyze me."
He could see Deuce tense slightly next to him. "I just thought- Nevermind. I don't know what I thought."
Ace quietly breathed a tiny sigh of relief when Deuce finally went quiet. Though, he didn't expect the small amount of guilt that accompanied it. Deuce really was trying to help. Whether it was because he cared or just wanted a peaceful evening without Ace's anxiety weighing him down was a different debate entirely. A debate that he didn't have the capacity to have with himself at that particular moment.
"For the record," Deuce started, exhaustion creeping into his tone, "I think you're pretty cool."
Ace nearly dropped the cards in his hands. "What?"
"I don't know what people say about you, but I like to think I know you a little bit better than them since we've been living together for a little over a month now. Sure, you're kind of an asshole, but you do care. I think you care more than you want anyone to really know. And you're not a coward. You could've run away when we were fighting Riddle and Leona, but you stuck by us. A lot of the guys I know back home wouldn't do that for even their closest friends. So if it's people's opinions you're worried about, then there. Just wanted to say that."
Before Ace could even process that, Deuce's body suddenly slumped against his. Ace didn't need to turn to see that his roommate had just fallen asleep. On his shoulder no less. He totally wasn't freaking out. Who in their right mind would freak out over something like that?
Ace set down his cards and carefully placed his hands on Deuce's chest and back. "Alright Juice, you can't just-" He lifted him up slightly to try and wake him up, but that only made so that they simply just scooted closer together. Deuce's head was firmly laying on Ace's shoulder, his dark hair tickling his neck. Their sides were now completely flushed together, and all Ace could process was that this was too close for them. They hardly even knew each other, and Deuce had just fallen asleep on him? This shouldn't have happened.
However, he couldn't deny that he enjoyed the sudden warmth that flooded his body.
He let his shoulders fall to allow Deuce a more comfortable position and simply continued his game, careful not to move too much. Deuce's small speech swarmed every part of his brain, and he could feel something burning in his eyes. His vision blurred to the point where he could barely even seen the cards in front of him. He felt so warm. When was the last time he felt that warm? Why did his face feel wet all of a sudden?
He eventually gave up on finishing his game and let himself just sit there with Deuce for a few moments. He wiped at the tears running down his face, sniffling quietly. "Everything sucks," he whispered, not expecting a response from the sleeping boy next to him. He turned to look at the peaceful expression on Deuce's face, feeling something coil in his chest. "Thanks for making things suck a little less."
Ace listened to the sound of Deuce's deep breathing, the shaking in his limbs slowly subsiding until he was lulled to sleep. He knew it was a little weird—falling asleep with his roommate like this—but it was the most relaxed he'd felt all week. They'd deal with the consequences of this in the morning.