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One of the notable things about Yuuya, Ace found, was he avoided eye contact like the plague.
Ace wasn't an idiot. He knew that all sorts of people on all sorts of spectrums (or something) felt that eye contact was overstimulating. Something about Yuuya was different, though. There seemed to be a deeper reason than just that. Whenever in a crowd in the school where everyone knew his name (via the opening ceremony fiasco) and treated him like a zoo animal, Yuu was so anxious and jumpy it was concerning. He had been getting a bit better recently, at least Ace thought so, but it looked like it still got to him.
Another notable feature (number one on Ace's personal list. Don't ask why he was keeping a list) was his near pathological degree of conflict avoidance. Which was unfortunate, considering the school he was currently attending. The student body was entirely made up of proud little bastards who barely needed reasons to start throwing hands. During the weeks after Riddle's overblot and leading up to the spelldrive tournament, Yuu often stuck to his side to avoid the onslaught of questions directed his way.
(Ace was weirdly comforted by this. They had only really known each other for a month at best, but Yuu at least considered him enough of a friend to use him as a shield. Which was mildly annoying sometimes, but endearing others...
He could tell Yuuya was a caring person. A softie. He was going to get crushed by the combined force of the nature of the school and his anxiety.
He hated giving out favors, but maybe Ace could... help????)
Why was he even thinking about Yuu so much anyway. It wasn't like he was the Queen of Hearts' rulebook, or the upcoming midterm exams, or something like that worth worrying about for more than 30 seconds. What was even his problem??
As it always did when thinking about Yuu, Ace's brain replayed each significant interaction they'd had. The way they first met (which he still felt a bit bad about); teaming up with him, Grim, and Deuce at the Enchanted Mine; the way he smiled at him after the tart incident. (Wait. What?) When he apologized, for nothing that was his fault, while confronting Trey. Facing off with Riddle. Investigating the possible culprit of the Spelldrive incidents, playing in the exhibition match, and almost dying from a high velocity disc to the head...
However. One of these moments stood out from the rest.
They were in alchemy class. Crewel had put his students into pairs for a potion assignment, and Ace was technically paired with Grim, but Yuu was there too because of the whole two people, one student thing. Ace maybe wasn't paying attention, which wasn't his fault -- he knew Yuu got especially nervous in this class and was trying to keep an eye on him -- and bumped into the guy behind him. Said guy must've dropped something into his cauldron he wasn't supposed to, judging by his flippant "aw man, dude, I'm gonna kill myself," and Ace looked up,
And for a split second,
caught Yuuya's eye.
He didn't know if he could describe the expression.
Vacant, maybe. Heavy and resigned. The bags under his eyes were deeper. There was something Ace couldn't name, but knew was there.
When Yuu noticed Ace looking at him, he froze up. They didn't look directly at each other like this often -- they usually stood side by side, with Ace's arm around his shoulder if he felt he could do so without being Weird -- and Ace was almost surprised about just how petrified Yuuya looked. Ace tilted his head. You good?
...And then, with a hesitant smile, he was back to normal. The same anxious, reserved, kind and caring Yuuya Kuroki that Ace knew and
appreciated as his best friend.
If Yuu walked a little slower, was a little quieter for the rest of the day, Ace didn't say anything.