Chapter Text
This is the worst day of Ace Trappola’s life.
Worse than the day he met his Dorm Head for the first time and got an ugly collar locked around his neck.
Worse than the day he got conned into working for Mostro Lounge with an even uglier anemone sticking out of his head.
Worse than the day his mother accidentally left the iron on, and his six-year-old ass stupidly decided to touch it to see what it felt like.
Yes, today was worse than all of those. Possibly combined.
Geez, where does he even begin? First, he, along with everyone else on campus, gets chased out by a bunch of obnoxious ghosts, just so their dumb princess with bad taste could marry Idia-senpai. Then, he’s forced to handle things personally when the aforementioned princess turns out to pose a bigger obstacle than they expected her to be. Finally, after everything is done and settled, he becomes the laughing stock among the other first-years because Ortho is incapable of keeping his damn mouth shut.
And is apparently a useless hunk of junk, because what? He sensed that Ace was serious about that shit he spewed about love? As if. Idia-senpai should check his “little brother” for bugs because there’s no way he was being accurate at all. Stupid, malfunctioning machine. It’s all his fault that those assholes started making fun of him at the end of the night.
He hates them. He hates them all.
Except for maybe Epel. Epel’s a good kid. Much better than stupid, shitty, serious Deuce-kun.
(Yeah, Jack, Sebek, and the Ramshackle duo were there, too. But Ace chooses to devote all his hatred to shitty, stupid, serious Deuce-kun and his shitty, stupid, serious face.)
“Why are you glaring at me like that?”
Speaking of shitty, stupid, and serious.
Ace continues to glower at him as he wipes away his red eyeliner with a damp washcloth. “Screw you.”
Deuce rolls his eyes while he brushes his teeth without a care in the world. “Get over yourself, idiot,” he replies with a mouthful of toothpaste.
“Shut up, Mister I-Can’t-Talk-To-Any-Girl-That-Isn’t-My-Mother,” Ace sneers, moving the rag from his eyes to the heart painted on the side of his face. “You all suck.”
“I’d rather worry about how to talk to girls than ditch my girlfriend like you did!” Deuce snaps back, spitting toothpaste everywhere.
“Ugh, gross! Don’t brush your teeth and talk at the same time, you weirdo.”
The two of them are already dressed in their nightclothes, ready for bed after such a long day. Ace is more than happy to be out of that stuffy tuxedo and in something to which he’s much more accustomed, and he can’t wait till he’s able to crash into bed and knock the hell out. At least then he’ll be able to forget about the humiliation he suffered tonight for a few hours.
“You know,” Deuce begins after he spits all the toothpaste into the sink and rinses his mouth, “if you weren’t so you, it wouldn’t have been that funny.”
What, is he a mind reader now? No way. He’s so dense with his own brain, he can’t possibly be any better with anyone else’s. “Huh? The hell is that? Fuck off,” he grumbles out loud before pushing Deuce aside so he could use the sink for himself.
He can’t believe he’s being mocked by this idiot.
“Hey, it’s really not that big of a deal, you know,” Deuce sighs and shakes his head in exasperation. “Stop acting like you’re five.”
“I… Shut up,” Ace repeats when he fails to come up with a better retort. Part of him realizes that he indeed is behaving like a child, but he’s not about to admit it. He’s not about to admit that Deuce Spade of all people has a point.
He instead chooses to focus on squeezing toothpaste out of the tube and onto his toothbrush, making sure that the amount is just right. It ends up spread evenly across the bristles in a perfect line, and he quickly begins brushing his own teeth before the other boy can realize that he has no comeback.
He makes sure to brush everywhere, starting from the front and going all the way to the back, determined to pass Trey-senpai’s test if he were to come by during this very moment. He does his task in silence while Deuce stands by doing who knows what; it’s not like he’s watching him or anything.
A couple of minutes later, right as he’s rinsing his mouth, Deuce suddenly starts laughing like the insane person that he is.
“The hell?” Ace wipes the back of his hand across his wet lips to dry them. He should probably invest in a small towel in addition to the one he uses for his makeup. “What’s so funny?”
“Just this entire day,” Deuce chuckles, putting a hand to his mouth when he realizes that it’s three in the morning and he should probably quiet down before a certain demonic redhead has his head. “It’s all… really hilarious, once you think about it.”
“Yeah?” In Ace’s honest opinion, it wasn’t really that amusing to be chased around the entire building by a bunch of ghost guards, but to each their own.
“You know… Shroud-senpai getting kidnapped by a ghost in love with him, the rest of us getting slapped and paralyzed—”
“You guys got slapped and paralyzed,” Ace interrupts. “I was fine and did all the dirty work.”
“I was just thinking about how my mom would react if she knew,” Deuce continues, ignoring Ace’s remarks on the side for once. “She’s always asking how I’m doing at school, so I try to keep her updated, but…” He laughs some more. “I don’t think she’d believe me if I told her about today.”
Momma’s boy, Ace thinks. Still, he gets what Deuce is getting at. He’s not sure his own parents would swallow what happened so easily, either. His brother probably would, since he’s an alumnus of Night Raven College and all, but…
“Heh.” He can’t suppress the smile rising to the surface. Can anyone blame him? Laughter is contagious… It has nothing to do with lame, old Deuce being funny or anything. “I guess, yeah.”
This is how they’ve always been since their first day on campus. One second, they’d be at each other’s throats, and the next, they’d be like best friends having the most pleasant conversation with one another… It’s a dynamic that comes so naturally to both of them. Ace is still kind of mad at Deuce and the others, but it’s hard to hold a grudge during these moments that they share.
But that’s a thought that’s going to stay as nothing more than a thought—locked up inside his head and never uttered aloud. It’ll just get to their heads if he ever confesses something like this.
(He makes a mental note to stay away from Ortho as much as he possibly can in the future.)
“Were you serious, though?” Deuce asks once he’s composed himself. “About that whole love thing.”
Ace raises an eyebrow. If he hasn’t misunderstood the question, this is his one chance to deny it and save his own dignity, but… “Seriously? You were making fun of me all night, and now you’re asking me? It’s a little late for that, don’t you think?”
“No, not that.” Deuce rolls his eyes. “I’m talking about that other part. When you said love was just a pain, and you weren’t interested in it, and how you’d rather hang out with guy friends instead.”
Ace blinks. What? “I mean… yeah?” He’s surprised Deuce still remembers that part of their conversation, since everything that they talked about afterward seemingly overshadowed it. “We’re teenage boys. Why would I waste my time being like Jack with his ‘mating for life’ bullshit?”
Deuce shrugs. “I was curious, so I figured I’d ask. I told you, didn’t I? It’s not like I have any experience.”
“Ehhh, you’re not missing out on much.” Romance is overrated. The others can make fun of him as much as they want about his philosophy on love, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t bore him half to death after the short-lived time he spent with his ex. Good for those that manage to get something out of it, but he can’t imagine getting into it again any time soon. Unable to resist a little tease, he adds with his signature smirk, “But maybe one day, you can find someone who’s as much of a dumbass as you. I’m sure it’d be cute.”
“You—!” An indignant Deuce glares.
Ace laughs. Getting under this simpleton’s skin is too easy. Still… maybe the exhaustion from today’s events is starting to get to him, but more words suddenly form in his mouth and spill out before he can stop them:
“But honestly? They don’t have to be a dumbass to like you. You’re likable enough in general, really.”
He immediately regrets it. The fact that Deuce is gaping at him with wide eyes now isn’t helping matters.
“I mean you’re likable enough, like… like how most people are! It’s got nothing to do with romance, moron!” Ace snaps, beginning to feel uncomfortably warm for the second time that night. “It’s not like you’re worse than anyone at this damn school. I mean, I don’t feel completely awful being around you—”
Oh god, he’s only digging himself deeper, isn’t he? How the hell did he let his guard down enough to let this happen? Is it because it’s so late, and it’s beginning to get to him mentally? Fuck this.
“That’s… Okay,” Deuce finally responds quietly, clearly floored by the sudden “compliment.” Emphasis on the quotes. It doesn’t take much to overcome this guy, huh? Then again, it’s not like Ace has a reputation of saying anything even remotely nice…
“...Let’s never speak of this again,” Ace finally says dully, after he decides that clonking Deuce on the head with a brick in the hopes of giving him amnesia was a little too cruel, even for him. He turns on his heel and trudges off, not bothering—not daring—to look back. He can hear the blue-haired boy’s footsteps signaling to him that he’s following him to their shared room, but he’s determined to make no further eye contact with him.
After all, if he does, he’s just going to be mocked even further.
How embarrassing.
Deuce doesn’t get the hint that he doesn’t want to talk to him anymore, though.
“A-Ace, you—”
Ace whirls on him—out of annoyance or out of shame, he’s not sure. Most likely a bit of both. “How many times do I have to tell you to shut up?!” he snaps.
He has his outburst right when the two of them are passing by a certain door, because of course he does. Not even two seconds pass before it opens, and then—
“Off with your head!”
A familiar yet dreaded collar fastens itself around both of their necks.
“No yelling in the hallways! It’s a school night!” Riddle barks before slamming the door to his room shut with a loud bang.
Ace is pretty sure he wasn’t nearly as loud as he was just now, though.
“Uh… Sorry?” Deuce apologizes to him, though the way he says it makes it clear that he’s not really sure what he’s sorry about.
God, this is all his fault.
Stupid, shitty, serious Deuce-kun.