Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

‘’The strawberry lemon cake is ready,’’ Trey announced while he hurriedly set his creation down on the table that was already loaded with sweet snacks and tea. ‘’How are the roses coming along?’’ Upon getting some positive answers from the freshmen, he went to check on them and was pleased to see the results. ‘’Perfect. Just two more trees. Not blue, not green, not aquamarine. You guys can do this.’’

‘’We could use some help putting down the tableware!’’ Cater called to anyone who was willing to help him.

‘’On my way!’’ Deuce immediately jumped into action.

They were in quite a hurry to set up this unbirthday party mere minutes before it would start. They had been a little behind on schedule, but no one dared telling the housewarden that. Riddle was under the impression that it was pretty much finished already, so when luck suddenly favored everyone when Riddle was spontaneously called into the headmage’s office, they immediately took full advantage of the opportunity. They had been running back and forth to finish setting everything up before Riddle would return.

Deuce carefully set down a tower of plates on the long table when he suddenly caught a glimpse of someone hiding behind one of the trees in the garden. Seeing the orange, spiky hair poking out from behind the tree made Deuce frown before walking over there, only to see Ace shamelessly devouring one of the pastries in secret.

‘’Seriously?’’ he said. Ace didn’t even seem shocked that he was caught, especially not when he realized it was Deuce who caught him. ‘’Everyone here’s working hard to avoid Riddle’s wrath and you’re eating sweets that aren’t even meant for you?’’

‘’Oh, I’m sorry, did you want this?’’ Ace asked him with a playful smirk. Deuce’s gaze softened when he saw that Ace’s lips were red from the strawberry filling and there was whipped cream on his nose which he didn’t seem to notice. It was a rather adorable sight. ‘’I don’t blame you. It’s really good. Too bad you didn’t get there first.’’ Ace took another bite while holding Deuce’s gaze as if to tease him even more. Then he suddenly leaned into him and smiled suggestively. ‘’I’d be willing to share, though. Want a bite, Deucey?’’

He was so close to him, it made Deuce’s heart skip a beat. And although he wanted to indulge Ace in his request, he still refused. ‘’Just put it down and help us out. Riddle could be back any second.’’

‘’Come on, you gotta taste it! Just take a bite!’’

‘’No, I’m not- Ace! Stop it!’’

While Deuce backed away, Ace persistently grabbed his arm and tried to feed him the cake by hand. But when Deuce lost his footing and fell backwards, Ace tumbled down with him and he ended up accidentally pressing the cake into Deuce’s face. Upon seeing Deuce now covered in whipped cream and strawberry, Ace started laughing hysterically. ‘’You could have left some for me,’’ he then teased him with a snicker.

Deuce sighed, but he didn’t seem very upset. In fact, hearing Ace’s belly-laugh made him grin a little as well. ‘’You’re such an idiot…’’ he said lightheartedly. ‘’How is it that whenever you’re around, every situation escalates into a mess?’’

‘’Seems to me that you like it, since you keep coming back to me.’’

Deuce had no intention of denying that. He was about to push himself off the ground, but then Ace unexpectantly scooped some whipped cream from Deuce's face and shamelessly licked it off his finger, before flashing his now embarrassed friend a flirty grin. ‘’For some reason, it tastes even better now,’’ he then stated.

Deuce felt his heart pounding nervously at his comment, clearly flustered by it. Ace helped him back on his feet, but even then his hand lingered on Deuce’s arm while they sheepishly smiled at each other.

For quite some time now, the vibe between them had been… different. They still bantered a lot, occasionally bickered, and teased each other like usual, but there was also something else now. They could both feel it. They were becoming even closer. Deuce couldn’t help but notice that something had changed in Ace’s eyes when he looked at him, and he would be lying if he said that something hadn’t changed for him as well. He had never felt this way before, but he was pretty sure he felt butterflies in his stomach when he was with Ace. He just felt so at ease with him. They could always talk about anything and it was always fun just being with him. No one occupied his mind as much as Ace did. Deuce could no longer deny to himself that he had started to like Ace. Really like him. And he was pretty sure that Ace felt the same way.

Up until now he had been too insecure to come forward because he didn’t want to embarrass himself in case he was wrong, but by now the chemistry between them was undeniable. One of these days, Deuce was determined to tell him the truth about his feelings, and then hopefully they would be able to take their relationship to the next level… It was a scary yet exciting thought and he was ready to explore their connection some more.

Their lingering eye-contact was interrupted when a flustered Cater ran over to them. Upon seeing Deuce’s face covered in cake, he frowned in confusion. ‘’What happened to- You know what, it doesn’t matter.’’ After all, he could pretty much guess since Ace was there at the scene as well. Cater quickly grabbed some napkins and gave them to Deuce. ‘’Wipe your face, quickly. Riddle’s here.’’

Both of them startled at the announcement and Deuce hurriedly did as he was told. Thankfully, they were able to finish setting everything up in time. When Riddle entered the garden, he didn’t seem suspicious at all, much to everyone’s relief. But they were surprised to see that Riddle didn’t come alone: three other guys followed closely after him. They were wearing the Heartslabyul dorm uniform, but no one had seen them before. One of them was particularly burly. He looked like he belonged in Savanaclaw rather than in Heartslabyul…

‘’The garden looks as festive as always. Thank you everyone for your hard work,’’ Riddle began when he had everyone’s attention. ‘’How lucky we are to be able to welcome three new students on an unbirthday. Rayne, Keagan and Tai have transferred here from their previous school in the Queendom of Roses. Let’s all do our best to help them adjust and make them feel welcome.’’

‘’Great to meet you all!’’ Tai was the first to speak up. His radiant smile made him look very approachable. He was definitely a handsome guy, too. His hair was dyed bright red and he had some obvious piercings in his ears and eyebrow and, upon closer look, in his tongue as well. His charming attitude instantly appealed to many students present. ‘’I’m excited to be here. I hope we’ll all get along.’’

‘’I’m sure we’ll fit right in,’’ Keagan added with a grin. ‘’Can’t wait to get to know you guys while eating some good grub!’’ Keagan’s brash voice and attitude definitely matched his appearance. While his words were friendly, his whole being was rather intimidating. And those muscles were definitely on par with Jack’s and Leona’s. He had a small stubble and half-long spiky black hair. Deuce knew he shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but that guy looked like the leader from a street gang.

And then there was Rayne, who didn’t speak a word at all. Even when Trey approached the three to welcome them and invite them to join their unbirthday party, he hardly responded at all while the other two wholeheartedly accepted. His longer, dark-purple hair partly covered one of his eyes. He quietly followed the rest over to the long table. He seemed quite introverted. He immediately reminded Deuce of Ignihyde’s housewarden. He was probably just shy from coming to a new, unfamiliar school, so Deuce offered him a friendly smile when they walked past him. However, when those piercing light-blue eyes looked back at him, Deuce felt a shiver going up his spine. What fierce, intimidating eyes he had. He felt like they penetrated his very soul. Those eyes were already scary on their own, but the look he gave Deuce made him freeze on the spot. Was it just him or was he… glaring at him?

Deuce only managed to breathe again when Rayne finally walked away. The whole thing didn’t escape Ace’s attention either. ‘’Jeez, if looks could kill, you’d be dead three times already.’’ Ace shuddered, also feeling uneasy by the look in his eyes. ‘’What the hell is his problem?’’

Deuce frowned to himself when he started feeling some déjà vu from this. Something like this had happened before… Had he seen those eyes before? The feeling of being paralyzed by them felt a bit too familiar to him. He watched Rayne a bit longer, who was quietly sipping tea while Tai and Keagan made conversation with everyone. Tai noticed Deuce’s eyes on him, and Deuce was surprised that he held his gaze with an unreadable expression on his face before he faintly smiled at him and then continued chatting with everyone else. The longer he looked at them, the more familiar it felt. And then suddenly, it came to him, and it drained the color from his face. His stomach dropped like a rock when he was confronted with an awful memory that he had pushed into the very depths of his mind.

His horrified expression didn’t go unnoticed to Ace. ‘’Okay, I know he’s scary, but aren’t you overreacting a little?’’ he teased him, obviously not understanding the true reason behind Deuce’s reaction. Deuce was starting to feel nauseous with nervousness just by being in their presence, so he quickly backed away and hurried back inside the dorm, much to Ace’s surprise. ‘’Deuce? Hey, where’re you going?!’’

Of course he chased after him, but Deuce didn’t go very far. He just wanted to escape the garden for a bit.

‘’Hey, what’s going on with you?’’ At this point Ace looked a bit worried. Deuce wasn’t the kind of person who would freak out over nothing, so something was definitely wrong.

Deuce looked absolutely guilt-ridden when he finally came out with it. ‘’I know him,’’ he said softly, which was not what Ace expected to hear at all. ‘’I know all of them…’’

‘’Seriously?’’ Ace asked in surprise. ‘’How?’’

‘’We went to middle school together. I shared a class with Rayne and Tai first, and then later with Keagan. At least I… I think it’s Keagan. He’s changed so much, it’s hard to recognize him.’’ But Deuce was sure it was him solely based on the look in his eyes and the way he talked. Deuce lowered his gaze in utter embarrassment. He tried so hard to forget this, but he should have known that his past would come back to haunt him. ‘’I was so awful to them… I did horrible things to them,’’ he said in a whisper, disgusted by himself when more and more memories of them started to resurface.

‘’Oh, come on, we were all stupid in middle school,’’ Ace tried to reassure him, clearly underestimating the extent of Deuce’s actions against them. ‘’I’m sure they forgot about whatever mean comments you made about them.’’

‘’No, it went way further than that! You don’t know what I was like back then!’’ Deuce knew he had already told Ace about what a jerk he used to be, but he was reluctant to really get into it and mention some of the things he did. He didn’t want Ace to think less of him, but at the same time he deserved to know the truth. And it would come to light soon enough anyway with three of his victims around.

‘’I bullied them so much, always saying something mean or embarrassing to them whenever I had the opportunity… And I was always surrounded by my friends when I said horrible things like that, so we could laugh at them together,’’ he confessed softly. ‘’Rayne had always been quiet in class, so I kept trying to provoke him to get him to speak.’’ He remembered poking him, pushing him, throwing things at him in class and sometimes even going as far as to slap him across the head. ‘’Back then his eyes also used to freak me out, probably just because they’re so light, it felt like they were piercing right through me… And I never liked feeling intimidated by something, so I made awful comments about his eyes as well, calling them scary and ugly among other things…’’

Reliving it made him cringe at his own actions, but Rayne wasn’t his only victim. ‘’Tai always had big talk when we were younger and he was rather popular, especially with the girls. He was a good-looking guy back then too and always seemed so confident, and I guess I didn’t like him getting a lot of attention. I started making fun of the fact that he kept dyeing his hair blond.’’

‘’Didn’t you used to do that too, though?’’ Ace asked, seeming to recall Deuce mentioning that he also dyed his hair in a different color before.

‘’Yeah…’’ Deuce responded, nervously scratching the back of his head. ‘’I was just insecure, nothing I said made sense…’’ At first, Tai had always made great comebacks whenever Deuce insulted him, but as Deuce persistently continued to bully him, Tai became quieter overtime. He basically subdued him by making fun of the way he talked, walked, acted all tough in front of the girls… The list went on, and it seemed that he really got to Tai eventually. ‘’Later, I learned that he had a crush on one of the girls in our class, and he became quieter because apparently I had been making fun of him in front of her. Then on Valentine’s Day, I caught him trying to slip a letter in her bag without her noticing, so I took it from him and read it out loud in front of the entire classroom.’’ No one was laughing except for Deuce and his friends, but apparently that was enough for Tai to burn up with embarrassment. He ran out of the classroom and Deuce hadn’t seen him in days after that incident. Later he learned that Tai transferred classes because of him.

‘’And Keagan… Well, he’s changed the most since then. Small guy, big personality. Everyone liked him. He had a real feisty attitude.’’

Ace snorted at his description. ‘’Kinda sounds like our housewarden.’’

Deuce couldn’t help but chuckle a little. ‘’Yeah, he had a bit of a temper too, but he was hilarious. I actually really admired him.’’ His smile faltered when he recalled what happened. He actually really wanted to be friends with the guy, but his insecurity made him do despicable things instead. ‘’I bullied him for being short and scrawny,’’ he started. ‘’I did things like putting his stuff in high places so he couldn’t reach it, lifting up his shirt in class to point out his ribs, giving him weird nicknames… And sometimes after class, we would take him to the sports field to make him work out. And my friends would chase after him to make him run faster, even though we could tell he was at his limit…’’

While Deuce described his horrific bullying, Ace remained quiet while trying to think of what to say. He couldn’t downplay Deuce’s actions because they really were as terrible as Deuce said they were. But he could tell that Deuce was beyond embarrassed of his actions and that he felt terrible about them.

Ace sighed in defeat. ‘’Okay, yeah, you definitely used to be a bully in the past and I doubt any of them have forgotten what you did,’’ he admitted. ‘’But you’ve changed since then and you’ve reflected upon your past actions, which is more than you can say for most bullies.’’

‘’I guess, but that’s little comfort after all I did to them,’’ Deuce responded, though he was pleasantly surprised that Ace still tried to cheer him up.

‘’You can still make amends though, can’t you? I bet they’d already appreciate it if you apologized to them and showed them you’re remorseful. I know I would, if I were in their situation.’’

‘’It can’t be that easy…’’ Deuce still said hesitantly. ‘’I doubt anything can make up for the pain I’ve caused them. Whatever resentment they hold toward me, I deserve it.’’

‘’Dude, you’re being too hard on yourself!’’ Ace gently yet firmly grabbed Deuce’s shoulder to make him look at him. ‘’Everyone’s done something they regret before. Just because you used to be a jerk to people back then, doesn’t mean you’re not a good person now. You can’t change the past, you can only choose how to deal with what’s been done, and so can they. You know you gotta apologize to them, ‘cause that’s the right thing to do. But stop driving yourself insane by trying to anticipate their response, and just let it happen in the moment. Whatever happens, happens.’’

Deuce knew he was right: he couldn’t predict the outcome of his apology, but he couldn’t let his fear prevent him from doing it. They deserved an apology at the very least. ‘’You’re right… Yeah, of course you’re right,’’ Deuce said, taking a deep breath to calm himself down. ‘’All right, I’ll apologize to them and I’ll just see what happens.’’

Ace stayed quiet for a bit and Deuce noticed that he still had his hand on his shoulder. When he looked up at him, Ace was staring at him with an unreadable expression. ‘’What?’’ Deuce asked, but he still didn’t receive an answer. Suddenly, Ace leaned into him, making Deuce flinch. His heart was pounding nervously when Ace unexpectedly brushed his nose against Deuce’s cheek. ‘’W-What are you doing…?’’

Finally, Ace pulled away with a playful grin. ‘’You still smell like strawberry cake.’’

Deuce’s face flushed with embarrassment at Ace’s weird claim. He playfully shoved him in his chest. ‘’What a creepy thing to do…’’ he stated, even though Ace’s shameless action clearly made him grin.

Ace laughed in response and wrapped his arm around Deuce’s shoulders before pulling him back out to the garden. ‘’There’s that dumb smile of yours! It’s about time!’’

‘’Who are you calling dumb?’’ Deuce teased him back.

After Ace successfully lightened the mood, they headed back to where the unbirthday party was in full swing. The three new students each received a warm welcome from the other Heartslabyul students and they were all enjoying the festivities. Ace stayed right by Deuce’s side for now while they avoided the newbies since it would be too awkward to just go up to them. Ace made sure that Deuce was having a good time as well by fully occupying his attention, which Deuce had no objections to. As usual, they had lots of fun together while enjoying the tea and sweets that were laid out for them.

But their laughter and flirty exchanges also caught the attention of a few other people. Keagan had briefly abandoned his conversation to watch the two of them distancing themselves from Tai, Rayne and himself. And the rest of the day went on exactly like that as well, with everyone having fun while the three new students occasionally glanced over to their past bully.

The following day, Deuce was practically trembling with nervousness. He could no longer avoid the victims of his past and he decided it was finally time to face them. However, he was even more scared than before after he spoke to Riddle during the unbirthday party and learned something disturbing: Apparently none of the three boys had been assigned to Heartslabyul by the Dark Mirror. Tai and Rayne were originally assigned to Diasomnia while Keagan should be in Savanaclaw, but all three of them insisted that they wanted to join Heartslabyul. Deuce found it hard to believe that they already knew that Deuce was at this school in this particular dorm prior to their arrival, but it still made him feel anxious to say the least. What if they did know about his whereabouts all along? It was a bit odd that three of Deuce’s victims transferred to NRC at the same time and all insisted on being placed in Heartslabyul. Had they come back for revenge? Honestly, Deuce wouldn’t even blame them if they had. But he promised Ace not to worry too much until after he would hear their response to his apology, so he pushed his worries out of his mind before hesitantly approaching them.

The three of them were chatting and playing a card game at the lounge. Or rather, Tai and Keagan were talking while Rayne still remained awfully quiet. But when they noticed a nervous figure approaching them, they immediately stopped what they were doing.

‘’Hey, guys…’’ he mumbled softly, not sure how else to open the conversation.

Tai grinned from ear to ear while he completely abandoned his game. ‘’Well, well, well. Look who decided to finally pay us a visit.’’ He got up from his seat and walked up to him before ruffling his hair in a way that was supposed to look friendly, but was actually pretty aggressive. ‘’If it isn’t Cauldron Deuce. What happened to your hair? Are you telling me your hair wasn’t naturally blond?’’ he asked him sarcastically.

Keagan got up from his seat as well along with Rayne, but he alone wrapped a firm arm around Deuce’s shoulders. ‘’Looking pretty frail there, broomstick. Or, wait, I think you preferred ‘Skindiana Bones’ back then.’’ Even though Keagan wasn’t being too rough on him, Deuce felt like he could easily break him in half if he wanted to. Those muscles were insane. Anyone would seem scrawny in comparison. ‘’If you want, I can give you some pointers. Come on, let’s go out to the sports field. I’ll give you the same kind of training you gave me to get me into better shape.’’

Deuce lowered his gaze in response, feeling his stomach drop as they clearly still resented him for everything he did. Rayne didn’t say anything, but his vicious glare spoke volumes. And Deuce couldn’t blame any of them. He didn’t expect anything less. Before he could speak up however, Keagan burst out into laughter and gave Deuce a hard pat on his back.

‘’I’m just messin’ with ya, slim. Don’t look so down.’’

‘’…If you wanted me to do that, I’d do it,’’ Deuce then said. ‘’I deserve it after the things I did to you.’’

Keagan stayed quiet for a while, seeming surprised by Deuce’s reaction. He then snickered again. ‘’Hey, lighten up. I said I was joking, didn’t I? Besides, it all worked out for the best. I’ve had quite the glow-up.’’

‘’That doesn’t make it okay,’’ Deuce responded again, this time pulling away from the two so he could look them all in the eyes. ‘’Guys, I… I want to apologize to all of you,’’ he finally came out with it. ‘’There’s nothing I can say that will ever make up for the things I put you through, but I still want you to know that I’m absolutely disgusted with myself for doing the things I did. I’m determined to be a better person from now on. And… I want you guys to know that I actually thought all three of you were really cool people. I was just insecure about myself and ended up hurting you when I really wanted to be your friend.’’

‘’Oh, you were insecure about yourself? If you had said that back then, I would have forgiven you right away,’’ Tai responded yet again sarcastically.

‘’I know that’s no excuse, but I wanted to give you a reason at least,’’ Deuce said embarrassedly. ‘’And I wouldn’t dare asking for your forgiveness. All I wanted was to let you know that I’m really, really sorry for everything and that I’ll never stop working toward becoming a better person. I’m not the guy I used to be, I can promise you that. And… well, if you ever need help with anything, I’m here for you.’’

All three of them remained silent at Deuce’s heartfelt apology, so Deuce figured he should probably leave them be now. Before he could leave however, Keagan finally responded. ‘’Pfft. Look at this guy getting all anxious,’’ he said with a harsh laugh. ‘’It’s fun watching you struggle for once.’’

‘’Yeah, I’m satisfied with seeing you so troubled,’’ Tai added, smirking a little as well. ‘’It’s all good. Seems like you’ve learned your lesson.’’

Deuce could hardly believe his response. ‘’Wait, do you mean it?’’

‘’Sure, man,’’ Keagan responded on behalf of all of them. ‘’Water under the bridge. Don’t expect us to be mates right away, but I’m sure we can move past this.’’

Deuce felt an intense wave of relief coming over him. This was not at all how he expected this meeting to turn out. He couldn’t have asked for a better response. ‘’Wow, guys. I don’t know what to say… That’s incredible of you,’’ he said in complete awe of their kindness. But there was one person who hadn’t spoken up yet, so Deuce anxiously turned his gaze to Rayne who had been quietly standing in the exact same spot. ‘’Do you feel the same, Rayne? If you feel differently, please say so. I would completely understand.’’

There was a long silence and Deuce felt his nerves rising the longer it went on while Rayne gazed at him with those fierce eyes of his. Then, he finally spoke. ‘’It’s fine,’’ he said in a husky voice. It wasn’t much and he didn’t attempt to put any emotion into it, so Deuce wasn’t sure if it was actually ‘fine’, but he decided to trust him on his word.

‘’You guys, I…’’ Deuce couldn’t help but smile at their incredible attitude. He really was at a loss for words. ‘’I didn’t expect you to be so forgiving, especially after I heard how insistent you were to join this dorm.’’

‘’Did you honestly think we would make such an important decision because of a guy who used to tease us a few years ago?’’ Tai asked with a small laugh, making Deuce laugh sheepishly in return.

‘’No, I suppose not… It sounds kind of weird when you say it like that. Then, if you don’t mind me asking, why did you want to come to Heartslabyul so badly?’’

‘’Parties, sweets, a diligent housewarden, good rep, best marks on average… What do you think?’’ Tai responded, which made a lot of sense to Deuce. ‘’We just wanna enjoy the rest of our school lives and get good grades while we’re at it. We know about those weird rules and all that, but it seems like a small sacrifice to make for all the good stuff you’re getting in return.’’

‘’You’re definitely right about that,’’ Deuce responded. ‘’In that case, I’m glad you came here so I could have a chance to apologize. I know you guys don’t wanna be friends, but like I said: if you need anything at all, I’ll help you with whatever you need.’’

Keagan gave him another strong pat on his shoulder. ‘’Might just take you up on that,’’ he said with a grin. ‘’Mind if we get back to our game now? I’m sure we’ll see each other around.’’

‘’Ah, yes, of course! Sorry for the hold-up,’’ Deuce said. ‘’And thank you guys again. Really. I will not take your kindness for granted.’’

Deuce offered them one last grateful smile before turning around, failing to see the three of them exchanging some glances amongst each other as he left. He made his way into the garden so he could carry out his remaining duties, which involved feeding the hedgehogs among other things. While he made his way over there, he quickly ran into Ace, who had just finished tending to the flamingos.

‘’Hey, you’re still alive!’’ Ace stated with a chuckle. He knew Deuce had just been inside to talk to those guys, after all. ‘’I take it that’s a good sign.’’

‘’Come on, I never thought they would kill me for it or anything,’’ Deuce mumbled when he could sense Ace making fun of him.

‘’You sure acted like it though,’’ he teased him before wrapping an arm around his shoulders. Unlike Keagan, he was much more gentle on him. ‘’What was the worst that could happen? That they’d still hate you. Yet you didn’t get a wink of sleep last night because you were dreading this moment.’’

‘’Okay, so I overreacted a little,’’ Deuce reluctantly admitted before sharing the good news with him. ‘’But it went better than anything I could’ve imagined. They were so gracious and they even forgave me,’’ he stated with a bright smile. ‘’I honestly didn’t think that anything good would come of me apologizing. I did it because they deserve to hear it, but I never expected them to respond so well to it.’’

‘’And so what if they didn’t? You’re moving on from the past. It’s their choice if they would’ve still held onto anger.’’

‘’How could I have lived with that? I would have felt terrible if they couldn’t move on because of the severity of my actions. Besides, things would have gotten super tense and awkward at the dorm if they refused to speak to me or even look me in the eye...’’

Ace suddenly smiled sheepishly. ‘’Well, you would’ve still had me, wouldn’t you?’’ he then stated, of course making Deuce’s heart flutter in response.

‘’And everyone else,’’ Deuce replied with a grin. ‘’I have other friends, you know.’’

‘’But I’m your favorite person, aren’t I?’’ Ace snickered while gently pinching Deuce’s cheek.

‘’Seriously, your arrogance knows no bounds…’’ Deuce couldn’t outright deny Ace’s statement, because it was entirely true. Without him, his school-life would have undoubtedly turned out to be a lot more boring. ‘’Besides, you’re way more attached to me than I am to you. Look at you… I can’t feed the hedgehogs if you keep clinging to me like that,’’ he said playfully as Ace still had his arm wrapped around his shoulders.

‘’You think this is clinging?’’ Ace then wrapped his other arm around him as well and leaned on Deuce’s back with his whole weight until Deuce burst out in laughter.

‘’You’re so immature! Get off of me, you’re heavy.’’ He pushed Ace off of him who was now laughing as well.

‘’All right, all right, I’ll go. Only because I know you’ll look me up soon enough again,’’ Ace stated with a cocky grin before he left Deuce to carry out his tasks.

While Ace walked away, Deuce peeked over his shoulder to watch him leave, smiling softly to himself. Ace always managed to make him feel better in his own goofy way. He was great at reading the room, knowing exactly when to lighten the mood or when it was time for a serious chat. And he always knew exactly what to say to make Deuce feel better.

‘’Well, you would’ve still had me, wouldn’t you?’’

A warm sensation spread throughout his chest at those endearing words. Yeah, he was sure of it now: he was definitely ready to explore this connection with him further. He just had to think of the right time to bring it up…

Some time went by when Ace entered his room with a deep sigh, longingly looking at his bed. He could seriously go for a nap right now, and he was planning to until Riddle brutally reminded him of his exam next week. Seriously, that guy needed to stop keeping tabs on his schedule. He would have started studying eventually, just not right now…

But as Riddle was impatiently waiting for him downstairs to join them for a group study session, Ace reluctantly retrieved his history book from his desk. Before he planned to leave, he looked at his bed again, but then noticed something odd. Something was sticking out from under his pillow. He curiously pulled out what appeared to be a note and his heart immediately raced in his chest upon reading the contents.

Ace,

Meet me at the coliseum just before our curfew tonight. There’s something important we should talk about.

Deuce

Ace bit down on his lip, barely able to contain his excitement. So it was finally happening. They were really going to make things official now. After months of cheeky flirtations and lingering touches, their relationship was going to reach its full potential. He knew Deuce felt the same! Dammit, what a waste of time that they hadn’t done this sooner, but he supposed he was just too nervous to bring it up himself. Even though he could feel the romantic tension between them, part of him always wondered if it was all just in his head. And the idea of him baring his soul to Deuce only to be rejected by him would have absolutely crushed him. But he hadn’t been imagining things after all. This was happening tonight. What a weird yet exciting thought… Would he really be able to call Deuce his boyfriend after tonight?

He was so nervous, but also so ready for this. While discreetly slipping the note into his pocket, he cheerfully left the room to join Riddle’s study session, smiling like an idiot the entire time. He kept glancing over at the clock to count the final hours before their secret meeting.

While Riddle and Trey made their final rounds around the dorm before bedtime, Ace managed to sneak out unseen and he hurried over to the mirror that would take him to campus. It certainly was a big risk they were taking, sneaking out at this hour. If anyone caught them, they would never hear the end of it, but Ace understood Deuce’s reasoning behind it. They shared their room with two other guys after all, so privacy was hard to come by at the dorm. However, he couldn’t deny that there was something fun about sneaking around like this. It felt like they were doing something forbidden, but in a really exciting way.

Once Ace reached the coliseum, his heart was anxiously pounding in his chest. He wondered if Deuce was already here or if he was the first one. How should he open the conversation? Should he tease him like he usually did? No, it wouldn’t feel right in this situation. Besides, Deuce would immediately be able to tell how nervous he was if he did. Maybe he should just let Deuce talk first.

When Ace entered the large, empty area, he let his eyes wander across the field as well as the stands. It was extremely quiet and at this point it was so dark he could hardly see anything from far away.

‘’Deuce?’’ he called out in hopes of catching his attention, but the surprise that awaited him instead was something he wasn’t prepared for. A different voice responded to him.

‘’Nope.’’

The next thing he knew, he felt an indescribable pain to the back of his head. He was brought to his knees when he was struck over the head with a large rock. ‘’Shit!’’ he cursed in pain while immediately reaching for his head which was now bleeding, but he didn’t have any time to recover from the blow when he was kicked down to the floor, his face scraping across the hard ground.

Ace quickly managed to roll onto his back with a shocked look on his face to get a look at his assailant, only to find out that there were actually three of them, and he immediately recognized them as the three transfer students. Tai got up in his face and roughly grabbed him by his collar. There was nothing left of that charming, pleasant attitude of his. He looked like he was out for blood, which was proven when he threw his fist in Ace’s face, knocking him back down on the floor. Not a moment later, he was harshly kicked against his back. The three of them ganged up on him and didn’t hold back a single blow, not giving Ace any time to get back on his feet or even comprehend what was happening.

‘’What the hell?! Get off of me, assholes!’’ His protest was interrupted by one of his own cries when another foot launched into his stomach, and another fist flew to his face.

‘’What the fuck does that guy think? That we’re all good after one measly apology? After the shit he gave us for years?!’’ Tai was absolutely raging, kicking Ace in the head repeatedly while Keagan climbed on top of him to mess up his face some more. Rayne’s blows went rampant as well, not sparing an inch of Ace’s body from his vicious attacks.

Ace had no idea where to turn; wherever he looked, he saw a fist or a foot coming toward him. His agonizing screams filled the entire coliseum as he could actually hear some of the bones in his body breaking. He was in excruciating pain, but the trio did not grant him any mercy. He was gasping for air as the oxygen was repeatedly knocked out of his lungs, and his vision was starting to blur because of the repeated assault to his head and face. The attack seemed to go on forever and he felt like he was about to pass out from the pain when they finally had enough.

The three of them were out of breath when they finally pulled back and the evidence of their crime was imprinted on their knuckles. They looked down at the bloodied, broken body of Ace who lay there hopelessly, trembling and still gasping for air. His lungs wouldn’t expand. He felt like he was suffocating.

Keagan grinned like he was truly proud of what they just did. ‘’That little shit won’t be messing with us again, unless he wants to see me snapping this guy like a twig.’’

Ace was barely conscious when he was forced to sit up by someone who yanked at his hair. This time, it was Rayne who was up in his face. There was a deranged look in his frightening eyes that wouldn’t leave Ace’s memory anytime soon.

‘’If you think this is bad, try snitching on us and see what damage we can really inflict. Breathe a word of this to anyone and Deuce will be next, but he won’t be nearly as lucky as you. Got it?!’’

Ace felt a shiver running up his spine, but that was the last thing he felt when Rayne smashed his head against the concrete floor, knocking him unconscious. At last, it went completely silent. Rayne got back up and he looked down at the barely-breathing boy before a disturbing grin curled upon his lips.

He joined the other two who were clearly pleased with the results as well and they left the area together, not a shred of remorse on their faces while they abandoned Ace in this state, leaving his beaten-up body to be found by someone else.

Anxiously looking down at his phone, he kept glancing at the time while nervously bouncing his leg up and down. Why the hell wasn’t he responding to his texts? Deuce hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep last night as Ace hadn’t been back in their room all night. He didn’t think much of it, since Ace had always been the kind of person to take risks and get himself into trouble, although it did strike him as odd that he didn’t inform Deuce about what he was up to that night. Deuce had been repeatedly texting him throughout the night, but he still hadn’t gotten a response. He knew he should have probably alerted Riddle of Ace’s absence last night, but he didn’t want to get Ace into trouble. He was probably somewhere out there, goofing off. But right now they had just fifteen minutes before their first class would start and Deuce couldn’t keep covering for him.

Seriously, where could he be? It was unlike him not to text him back after an entire night. Could he already be at school? Maybe he should just go to school and if he didn’t see Ace in class either, he would inform the headmage and his housewarden.

Deuce noticeably startled when the door to his room opened, instantly jumping to his feet when Riddle appeared in the doorway.

‘’Housewarden!’’ he called a bit too panicky. ‘’S-Sorry about the delay. I was just looking for my book, but I found it!’’ he said with a nervous chuckle, failing to see the alarming lack of anger on Riddle’s face. ‘’Um, Ace already went ahead though!’’ he quickly tried to defend his friend. ‘’I was about to meet up with him at school.’’

‘’Deuce…’’

Deuce was surprised by Riddle’s soft tone of voice. He finally took a moment to properly look his housewarden in the eye, only to immediately notice that something was off. Riddle looked troubled, and that was putting it lightly. He looked like he was building up the courage to say something.

‘’…You should probably come with me,’’ he finally said before calmly guiding Deuce out of his room.

Deuce was taken aback by his unusual demeanor. Was it just him or was the mood a bit tense? ‘’Um, where exactly are we going?’’ he questioned. ‘’School starts in a few minutes. I don’t think professor Trein would appreciate it if I’m late.’’

‘’Don’t worry about that,’’ Riddle reassured him. ‘’School can wait a moment. This is important.’’

At this point, Deuce was certain he didn’t like this tension. Riddle Rosehearts told him to take a day off from school? Something was definitely wrong. He didn’t like this at all. What could possibly be more important to him than their studies?

‘’What’s going on…?’’ he asked softly. The nervous question had Riddle once again looking for the words to break the news to him, but there was simply no right way to tell him this. He finally met Deuce’s anxious eyes.

‘’Deuce, Ace was found at the coliseum by Malleus this morning. He was unconscious… and badly injured,’’ he began to explain to him. ‘’He was rushed to the hospital where he’s being treated for those injuries. I’m afraid… that the only logical conclusion is that he fell victim to a brutal attack.’’

Deuce remained completely silent, the dreadful words not quite reaching him yet. His body felt cold and he could only see Riddle’s lips moving as he continued to explain Ace’s current state, but Deuce couldn’t hear a single word he said. The news left him feeling nauseous and with an intense feeling of terror.

Ace was… attacked?