Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

This was the third time Deuce rode in the back of a cop car with his hands cuffed behind his back. He noted how tight the metal restraints were on him this time. A different officer got him too. He remained silent the whole ride to the police station, not giving the officer any information about the fight that went down. He’d rather spend the rest of his life in jail then sell out any of his posse.

When they finally stopped, the cop driving got out of the car and opened Deuce’s door. “You wanna come peacefully or would you rather me drag you out like I had to earlier?” Deuce just stared at the cop defiantly, and the man sighed in exasperation. “Kids these days.”

The cop gripped the teen’s arm tightly and yanked him out of the car. Deuce could do little to resist, and his body already ached enough from the fight. He was lucky he didn’t end up with a broken rib. He just hoped everyone else got out safe enough. The only reason he got caught was because he wasn’t running fast enough.

“You’ll spend the night here unless your mom comes and gets you,” the officer said as the two walked towards the holding cells. He opened one of the cell doors, took Deuce’s handcuffs off, and shoved him inside. “Try not to make our jobs any more difficult now.”

The cop closed and locked the door just as the fake blonde tried to make a run for it. He slammed his hands against the bars, making a loud bang reverberate throughout the station. “This is bullshit man! We didn’t even start the fight!”

“Yeah? Well you sure did finish it.”

As the officer walked away, Deuce kicked the bars, causing another loud noise to echo in the station. None of this shit was fair. That other gang started the fight, why did he have to be the one that gets arrested? Not to mention he was the only one that got caught. That’s gonna make him a liability in the future. He just needs to stay silent and not make any more trouble for the rest of the-

A nearby cough suddenly shook him out of his thoughts. He looked over in the next cell to see a skinny boy around his age sitting in the next cell over. He had messy red hair, pale skin, and was dressed in baggy sweats that looked too big for him. His dull red eyes had bags under them, and they were staring straight into Deuce’s complementary green ones.

Deuce was freaked by the sight of him. The kid looked like he should be dead. “You got a problem?” he growled.

The boy’s gaze slowly raked over Deuce’s body, assessing him from head to toe. His expression was blank, and it didn’t even feel like he was even all there. “Are you a killer?” he asked groggily.

“What?”

“You’re covered in blood, and you don’t look injured besides a few bruises.” Deuce looked down at his blood stained clothes. He stupidly wore a white shirt underneath his jacket. It was completely ruined now. He barely even noticed how his hands and face still had that metallic stench on them. “So? How ‘bout it? You kill someone?”

“What?! No!”

“Aw, shucks.” The scrawny boy looked away and curled back up into his seat, resting his head against the wall. “I love having roommates that turn out to be killers. They always nearly get the job done when they're here.”

“What does that mean?”

“Oh I don’t have to explain anything to you, Not A Killer. Now if you wouldn’t mind, you woke me up, and I’ve had a very long day, and I would like to sleep.”

Deuce felt anger begin to surge through his veins. What the hell gave this asshole the right to talk down to him like this? Who the hell did he think he was? He looked so frail Deuce bet a small breeze could knock him over. He probably couldn’t even take a friendly slap on the back.

“Who’d give a shit about what you want?” the delinquent snapped.

The redhead grumbled in reply, “Someone who’d have basic human decency and realize they woke someone up with their little temper tantrum.”

“The fuck did you just say about me?!”

“Hey!” An officer came by and swung his baton against the bars. Both boys flinched harshly at the noise as they turned to stare at him. “Deuce, watch your mouth. You’re already in enough trouble as it is. And Ace, stop provoking him.”

“Not my fault he’s a manbaby,” Ace said with a smirk.

Deuce glared and grit his teeth. “The hell did you just call me?!”

“Ace!” The redhead flinched again at the loud voice. Deuce couldn’t help but look down at the boy in disgust. Not only was this guy annoying, but he was a coward. The officer corrected his tone, and said much more softly, “Just… please. Deuce already caused enough trouble as it is.”

Slowly, Ace nodded in understanding. “Sorry Officer Walker.”

“Thank you. And Deuce? Your mom will be here soon.”

Officer Walker left the two alone. Deuce sat down on the bench in defeat. Now his mom was coming to get him. Not only was it embarrassing, but his mom had other things to worry about than her delinquent son. She didn’t need to take the time out of her busy schedule to come pick him up. He just got careless this time and didn’t get away fast enough.

“So,” Ace started, “your mom responded pretty fast.”

Deuce turned to glare at the back of the boy’s head. “If you try to insult my mom-”

“No dude, jeez. I’m not that much of an ass.” Ace turned his head to look at the blood soaked delinquent. “I was just trying to say that it must be nice to know you won’t have to spend the night here.”

“Yeah, well, she wouldn’t have to pick me up if I didn’t get caught,” Deuced muttered.

“Or if you just didn’t do a crime at all she wouldn’t have to come.”

Gods this guy was an asshole. Of all the people to get stuck sharing a room with. “Oh and what about you, huh? What did you even do to wind up here in the first place?”

Ace had the audacity to smile at him. It wasn’t a regular smile. Underneath it, there seemed to be something twisted and broken inside of him. “I was just walking around, minding my business when I wound up in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Ace looked away, leaning his head back against the wall. “And before you ask, no this is not my first time spending the night here. The former happens to me more often than you’d think.”

Deuce rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Don’t tell me then.” The redhead let out a small, broken chuckle. “Something funny about that?”

“No, no. Nothing funny at all.” He curled in on himself even further, hugging his knees tightly. “You just… You reminded me of someone just now.”

The delinquent was about to ask, but then his cell door opened, and he was met with Officer Walker. “Your mom’s here kid.”

Great. Just great. With his head hung low, he stood up and slowly walked out of the cell. He didn’t know what compelled him to look back at Ace, but he did. He looked even smaller now that he could see his whole frame. Gods he really did look like a breathing skeleton. He had to do his best to hide his shock when the boy turned to look at him, and he saw that the other half of his face was covered in swollen bruises.

“Hopefully the next time I see you you’ve earned the rank of Killer,” he said with a grin.

Deuce just glared at him. He for one hoped he never saw this asshole again.

Chapter Text

A few weeks later, Deuce got arrested again. This time, for attempting to shoplift.

He couldn’t even try to get out of it, and he only made it worse by trying to run. He can run fast, don’t get him wrong, but his ability to dodge and weave left much to be desired. He needed to get better at that, or his posse would eventually drop him. He couldn’t let that happen on his watch. He needed this gang.

He didn’t resist the officer that brought him to the station this time. It was late and he didn’t feel like making his life more difficult. Maybe if he was quiet, they wouldn’t call his mom again. Ugh, if only he didn’t get caught.

“Oh, look who’s back. You a killer yet?”

Deuce jumped at the sound of the familiar voice. He looked over into the adjacent cell and saw Ace staring at him with a thin lipped smile. He looked better than the last time he saw him, but not by much. The bruises on his face were all healed, but Deuce noticed that there were a few small cuts around his lip and above his eyebrow. Instead of sitting on the bench like he was last time, he sat on the floor, facing Deuce’s cell.

“Why are you back here?”

Ace glanced the boy up and down. Something about the boy’s gaze didn’t sit right with him. It was too keen. Too analytical. Like all he had to do was look and he suddenly had Deuce figured out. “Well, if you did kill someone it wasn’t with violence.”

“I didn’t kill anyone and you didn’t answer my question.”

“Vandalism.” A vandal? With those injuries he saw the other night? The kid had to be lying about earlier then. “What about you, Not A Killer? You’re not covered in blood. What are you in for this time?”

Deuce just sighed and sat down on the cold hard bench. “It’s none of your business.”

“Huh. Okay then. Be like that.”

This fucking guy… “You’re not gonna make me tell you.”

“I never said you had to. I just asked you a question you refused to answer.”

“I don’t gotta tell you shit if I don’t want to!”

Ace smirked. It irritated Deuce to no end. “Once again, I never said you had to. I’m not forcing you to tell me anything.”

“Then why does it feel like you are?”

He held up his hands in mock surrender. “Hey. I just asked you a question. Not my fault that you really wanna answer it.”

The delinquent just glared at the vandal and grit his teeth. This guy was about to make him a killer if he kept getting on his nerves. “How long you been in there anyway? You’re still in that same shitty outfit you were in when we first met. Did you even leave that night?”

A short, sudden laugh escaped Ace’s throat as he looked down as his bandaged hands, his smirk dimming. Everything about this guy creeped the delinquent out, especially that blank look in his eyes. “If I had the choice, I’d stay in this cell for as long as possible like I did last time.”

Deuce clenched his fists. Sure, he had a knack for getting himself in trouble, but he would never wish spending a night in these dingy cells on anyone. He remembered the one time that happened to him. It was three in the morning, and his mother was already asleep, exhausted from working. Deuce woke up with the worst back pain and to his mother trying to hold herself with her brave face plastered on. He could tell it bothered her seeing him in a cell. He vowed to never let that happen again.

He was doing a very shit job so far.

“Why the hell would you choose to be here? It’s awful.”

“Sometimes there are worse things than being inside of a jail cell.”

“Oh yeah? Like what?”

“I’m sure you can think of a few.”

“No, I really can’t. What’s worse than having the one person you’re doing this all for look at you and just see disappointment?”

Any hint of a smile on Ace’s face disappeared. He didn’t look back up at Deuce and kept his red eyes on his damaged hands. “Like I said last time when we saw each other, if you didn’t commit any crimes, you would have nothing for her to be disappointed in, and you could be home with her instead of talking to a fellow criminal like me.”

“Don’t act like you fucking know me,” Deuce snapped, his hands clenching into fists. “You don’t know shit about any of this or anything about my life! So don’t judge me for winding up here with an asshole like you because of my own stupid mistakes!”

For a moment, Ace didn’t say anything and Deuce thought he finally got the kid to shut up. What did he know about the hardship that he faced? This asshole literally preferred being in here while Deuce would do anything to be out. To do anything to keep himself from seeing that tired look in his mother’s eyes whenever she’d come down to the station, greet the officers by their first names, and then send him off to bed when they got home with a speech prepared in the morning.

“You wanna talk about being an asshole? Have you looked in a mirror recently?” Ace fired back at the boy. Deuce felt another surge of anger run through his veins.

“The fuck-?!”

“You’re talking about me making snap judgments about you but what about me? You don’t think I don’t know how you already think of me even though we’ve only talked once?” Deuce was about to argue but Ace beat him to it. “You think I’m some ungrateful, privileged bastard who is just looking for trouble. While the latter is true, I’m not some privileged asshole. So don’t talk as if you’re somehow better than me just because you’re always getting caught. I bet you my sob story can beat yours. You’re not special for having a hard life.”

Deuce stood up, looking ready to punch something. “I don’t know why you’re talking about ladders but you’re dead wrong about me. My life is plenty hard.”

“Did you even listen to a word I said?!” Ace yelled. “And what do you mean by ladders?! I wasn’t talking about-!” The redhead’s eyes widened for a fraction of a second right before he started cackling hysterically.

The delinquent just looked at him with a mix of confusion and rage. “The fuck are you laughing about?!”

Ace just continued to laugh, feeding Deuce’s growing anger. “Oh Great Seven you’re such a dumbass!” he laughed.

Oh this guy was just begging to be punished. The redhead was sitting too far away from Deuce for him to be able to reach through the bars, but he could scare him like the officer did yesterday. With all the force he could muster, he kicked the bars with his leather boot, causing a loud banging noise to reverberate throughout the station.

It was kind of scary how Ace immediately stopped laughing, that blank look replacing his previous devious smile that accompanied his maniacal laughter. Deuce felt a strange sense of guilt begin to pool in his stomach. Weirdly enough, he preferred the boy’s crazed laughter to whatever he was doing now. He hated that blank look more than whatever weird argument they were having just a moment ago. Maybe he really was the asshole in this situation. Scratch that, he knew he was the asshole.

“Don’t call me a dumbass,” he muttered, all of the fight leaving his body as he sat back down, facing away from Ace and bringing his knees close to his chest.

The silence after that felt like it stretched on forever. Deuce wondered if that was it. Maybe he was rid of the kid pestering him and he could just go back to his normal routine of getting arrested and going home only to end up right back here, thinking about how he keeps fucking up everything for his mom.

After a few moments, Officer Walker stopped in front of the cells. “You two doing alright? It’s been pretty quiet for a few moments back here. Wanted to make sure no one killed anyone.”

“We’re fine Officer,” Ace squeaked, a strained smile spreading on his face. Deuce didn’t glance back at him or say anything else, his guilt gnawing at him.

“Okay then. We called your mother and she’ll be here soon, Deuce.” The boy just gave the cop a weak thumbs up, and the man took that as a sign to walk away.

As soon as he was gone, Deuce let out a quiet, exhausted sigh, leaning his head back against the bars. Why did he have to go and get himself caught again? Gods he was a terrible son wasn’t he?

“Dumbass,” he suddenly heard Ace mumble. He turned his head slightly to look back at the frail redhead to see a slight smirk on his face.

“What do you want now?” Deuce asked, not in the mood for another argument where he did something that he would regret.

“You’re a dumbass.”

“Yeah, you’ve said that.”

“Why are you angsting over your mom coming to pick you up? You did this last time too.”

“Why do you care?”

Ace paused for a few moments. He didn’t have a good answer to that. He had no reason to care, and Deuce knew that. He wasn’t sure what answer he was preparing to hear, but it wasn’t what came out of his mouth next. “Well, at least your mom cares enough to actually come and pick you up and cover whatever bail you might have.”

Deuce didn’t know what to say to that. He didn’t even know what to do with those implications. Did Ace’s family not come to bail him out the last time he saw him? Did they not come any of those times Ace might’ve been in here? Were they not coming tonight either? He just stared at the boy behind him for a few moments, still unsure of what to say.

The door to his cell opened and there stood Officer Walker. “She’s waiting outside for you,” was all he said as he stepped aside to give Deuce space to leave the cell.

“Well, guess I’ll see you around dumbass,” Ace said with that little, irritating smirk of his.

Deuce just stood up and shook his head, keeping his gaze directed at the ground. “Asshole,” he mumbled underneath his breath as he stepped out of his cell, leaving Ace alone.

Chapter Text

“We gotta stop meeting like this.”

It had only been a few days since Deuce was last at the police station, and today, he got into yet another fight. It wasn’t even his fault though. His gang was being stupid and picking the fight for no good reason. Of course Deuce was gonna back them up, but if you asked his opinion, he’d call it stupid. They were lucky those guys didn’t hit that hard.

Officer Walker walked Deuce to his cell. Ace sat right up against the bars, sitting very still with an arm wrapped around his torso. There was dried blood on his lip and chin, a small cut right below his eye, dark bruises blooming on his cheeks. There seemed to also be some blood stains on the boy’s red sweatshirt now that Deuce was looking closer.

When the door was closed and the cop walked away, Deuce sat down across from the redheaded boy, whose forehead was leaned right up against bars. “You look terrible,” the delinquent said.

“Thank you,” Ace replied with a blood soaked grin.

“You get into a fight or something?”

“Something like that.”

Deuce didn’t understand this guy one bit. “Is that really why you’re always here? You’re always getting into fights?”

“How dare you accuse me of lying to you? I’ve only ever been honest when we see each other.”

“See, you say that, but your tone is so fake that I don’t believe you.”

Ace scoffed and rolled his eyes, shifting slightly. Deuce noticed how he clenched his jaw and tried to hide his pained groan. “And I thought I had trust issues.”

“I don’t have trust issues.”

Ace shifted his body again, attempting to hide his pain while trying to get comfortable. “Well you clearly don’t trust me despite my honesty.”

“You’re really being honest with me?”

The redhead smirked at him, causing Deuce to glare ferociously back at him. He didn’t know why that stupid smirk riled him up so much. He didn’t know why he was angry even looking at the kid. “You’ll clearly never know, dumbass.”

Deuce’s eyes narrowed further. “Do you know you’re an asshole or does everything just bounce right off of you?” He shrugged his shoulders. Even that slight movement seemed to cause the boy pain. Just what the hell happened to him? “Also why should I trust you? I don’t even really know you.”

Ace hummed thoughtfully. “Maybe we should change that.”

The delinquent didn’t like the look in the vandal’s eyes. It was full of trouble, and while Deuce often had a habit of getting into trouble, this was something he wasn’t sure he wanted to jump head first into. This guy felt like a whole different brand of trouble. It freaked him out more than he would’ve ever admitted.

“Maybe we shouldn’t,” Deuce replied.

Ace’s smirk fell as he turned away from his cell mate, his shoulder leaning up against the bars instead of his forehead. He let out a quiet, defeated sigh. “You’re no fun.”

“We’re not friends and we never will be friends.”

“You’re making that abundantly clear.”

“I got my own gang to worry about. I don’t have any more room for any more friends.”

No response came from the injured teenage boy. In fact, his eyes had closed almost as soon as he switched positions. An incredulous chuckle escaped from Deuce’s lips, because seriously? Did he seriously just fall asleep, just like that? And how in all of Twisted Wonderland could he fall asleep on such an uncomfortable floor and against jail cell bars? The delinquent just bit his lip and shook his head in disbelief. He seriously did not understand this guy in the slightest, and he didn’t think he would at all.

“Huh. Turned in early tonight,” Officer Walker commented as he walked by the two cells. “He’s usually still up by this time.”

“Is that supposed to be surprising?” Deuce asked. “He literally looks like he’s one breeze from being knocked out.”

The cop just crossed his arms and exhaled through his nose in exasperation. “You know kid, you got a lot of judgment for being in here for running around and beating up innocent kids that piss you off on the wrong day.”

The bleached blonde teen clenched his hands into fists and aimed his glare at the cop now. “They were messing with my friends.”

“The same friends that steal from stores, start fights with gangs, and drag you down into their trouble with them?”

“You wouldn’t understand!”

“Oh I think I understand plenty enough.” The cop paused and leaned back against the countertop behind him. “I get it Deuce. You and your mom are in a tough spot right now now that your dad’s gone.” The boy scoffed and averted his gaze. “I know you think throwing in your lot with these kids will help you guys out but it won’t, and I think you know it won’t.”

The boy shook his head and crossed his arms. He didn’t even realize his knee had started bouncing up and down rapidly. “They help me get the money we need, okay?” he confessed, his anger morphing into desperation. “If I don’t have them, then I have nothing to help my mom and then what was doing all of this for then?”

Officer Walker shook his head. “There are other ways to support your mom than trying to get money.”

“Oh yeah, like what?”

“You could focus on your studies for one. A good education can get you a good job which can lead to you getting good money.”

“School’s pointless. I’m not even good at it.”

“You’re smart enough. I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

Deuce shook his head once more and scoffed, swiveling his head to look at the sleeping boy in the next cell over. “Bet this asshole-”

“Watch your mouth.”

“-has everything figured out and he still gets into trouble.”

Officer Walker sighed. Some nights he really needed to remind himself why he became a cop in the first place and not to be too harsh to these kids. Deuce could really test his patience some of these nights. “Number one, again, you have no room to judge, and number two, you don’t know him.”

“Oh and you do?”

“Way more than you do pal.”

“Like he’s not lying to you any chance he gets.”

It was way too late for this kind of conversation. “I’ll give you that at least. He’s not the most honest kid, but I don’t blame him for that. A lot of kids aren’t honest to cops.” Deuce noticed the officer’s gaze shift over to the sleeping boy, watching his expression soften ever so slightly.

“Yeah but he’s always getting into fights. Where else would he get those bruises from?”

Walker shook his head again. “You’re wrong about that one. Never arrested under the pretense of starting fights. He’s always found like that after he vandalizes some other building he hasn’t been to already.”

Huh. Well Deuce didn’t expect that to be true. He thought… He didn’t really know what he thought to be honest. “Do you know why he’s always hurt?”

The man’s expression darkened for a split second before he shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. “I have my suspicions, but like I said, kids will lie to the cops. And even if I’m right, I don’t think he’ll ever confirm my theory.”

Deuce stared at the sleeping redhead for a few moments, feeling that familiar guilt he felt the last time he saw him. Maybe he was being too stubborn in his thinking and maybe this kid was more broken than he thought. Maybe they had a little bit more in common than he originally thought. Maybe Ace was here for a reason bigger than just the thrill of getting in trouble.

“How old is he?” Deuce asked, his voice softer than he expected.

“Fourteen. Same as you.”

That answer sent a chill down Deuce’s spine. Ace did not look like he was about to start high school soon. “He looks like he’s about to enter middle school.”

The officer’s gaze darkened again as he opted for looking down at his shoes instead of the kids. “Yeah. I know,” he said. The silence stretched between them for a few moments before Officer Walker pushed himself off the counter. “Your mom is almost here by the way.” The two locked eyes one last time as the cop said, “I hope you take what I said into consideration.”

Walker left the two boys alone. Deuce let his tensed shoulders fall and went very still. His gaze softened as he stared off into space, defeat very apparent on his face. He would love to take Officer Walker’s advice. He would love to be a son that his mother could be proud of. Get good grades, stay out of trouble, but he just wasn’t like that. He didn’t know how to be that kind of person. And if he did, there’s no way he’d be able to be that person now, even if he tried his best.

He turned back towards Ace’s cell only to find the redhead wide awake, staring at him with that creepy blank expression. Deuce didn’t have the energy to fight or talk. Not after that conversation with Officer Walker. “What?” he asked brokenly.

Ace stared in silence for a few moments longer before turning away again and leaning the side of his head against the bars. “Nothing,” he replied quietly.

Deuce watched him drift back to his peaceful sleep as he continued to wait for his mother to arrive.

Chapter Text

Deuce literally would’ve rather been anywhere than in a grocery store with his mom, but he supposed he deserved to endure the torture with the amount of stress he’s been giving her over the last few weeks. Besides, he couldn’t remember the last time his mom had any time in between her jobs to hang out with him. Or even do something as mundane as going to the grocery store to pick up ingredients for dinner. Deep down, he was just glad he had the chance to hang out with his mom.

“Okay, so we need eggs, milk, salads, carrots, cream cheese, bread, cheese, and grapes,” Dylla said to her son, already throwing some of the bagged salads into the shopping cart. She turned back to look at Deuce, a bright smile on her face. “If you want anything, just throw it into the cart.”

Deuce nodded silently, already knowing he wasn’t going to do that. They didn’t have that kind of money where they could just grab whatever they wanted, and he knew his mom knew that. They were on a strict budget and they could only afford what was on the list. While the sentiment was nice, Deuce didn’t like that she was treating him like an oblivious kid that needed coddling.

Deuce followed his mother around like a little duckling, listening to her mutter about prices, deals, expiration dates, and coupons they had saved from the newspapers they got. It was all stuff he’d heard almost two years ago back when his dad died. Back when he first started running with his gang doing shady shit just to make some extra money so they could afford to get stuff they wanted rather than needed.

“Deuce, honey, are you okay?” The delinquent snapped out of his thoughts and turned to face his mother, who was looking at him worriedly.

“Yeah. I’m fine,” he replied.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes Mom. I’m good.”

Dylla looked like she was about to say something else when her train of thought was interrupted by her phone ringing. Deuce already knew it was the delivery company she worked for. “Hey boss, everything alright?” the woman asked. The teen watched as his mom’s expression changed from cheerful to concerned, the slightest bit of terror behind her eyes. “A mix up? No, I can assure you I delivered to the right address. They signed off and everything.” Dylla glanced at her son for a moment, and Deuce already knew this was going to take a while. She suddenly handed her son the grocery list. “Sorry baby, but could you get the rest of the stuff on the list? I just need to take this for a minute.”

“Yeah sure.”

“Thank you.”

Deuce walked away before he could listen in on any more of his mom’s conversation. He should’ve figured that her boss would call while they were in the middle of grocery shopping. He stayed silent, determined to get this trip done and over with as quickly as possible. After all, time wasted meant that money was just going down the drain.

The delinquent stared down at the list. The closest aisle to him was the dairy products, so he figured he’d grab the milk, cheese, and cream cheese first. By the time he actually calculated how much money that would cost, his mom would be done with her call.

When he turned around the corner, he was suddenly met with familiar red eyes locking onto his own.

“Oh why the hell are you here?” Deuce immediately groaned in annoyance. “You stalking me or something?’

Ace just scoffed and rolled his eyes, turning back to look at the milk expiration dates. “Just because we’ve been arrested at the same time for a few consecutive nights does not mean that I’m stalking you,” Ace replied coldly, sipping his cup of iced coffee. He held up his basket full of different foods. “We all need to go grocery shopping at some point.”

Deuce sighed, glancing the boy up and down with his gaze full of mistrust. He noted that he was wearing a school uniform that actually seemed to fit him this time around, same as he was. But while Deuce was wearing a gakuran, Ace was simply wearing a white short-sleeved polo with navy blue pants and a matching tie. He noticed that his left forearm was wrapped in gauze, some dried blood stains dotting the bandage. His unbuttoned collar revealed more splotchy bruises. He also had a pretty bad looking black eye. Deuce was no stranger to those.

“I guess you’re right,” the bleached blonde teen figured, moving to stand next to the injured redhead, who was eying him warily. “I’m guessing you’re here alone.”

“Uh, yeah.” Ace watched as Deuce began to pull down different cartons of milk, carefully examining each date and price. “My parents were busy and I got nothing better to do.”

“That’s nice of you.”

“Huh?”

“It’s nice that you're grocery shopping for your parents since they’re busy.” Deuce put a few of the cartons back, keeping the one that was deemed satisfactory in his hands. “Unless I’m being an idiot and you’re doing this because you have to.”

“Everyone has to grocery shop.”

“I meant-” Deuce cut himself off and shook his head. He’s been angry at this guy enough for the past few weeks. He was getting sick of it. “Nevermind. I honestly don’t feel like being here anymore so I’ll get what I need and leave you to it.”

He began to walk away, not sure why he even tried to start a conversation with the teen in the first place. He didn’t get very fair as he heard the vandal chuckle behind him. “You actually want to be in a grocery store? What kind of kid wants to be in a grocery store?”

Deuce turned back around. Guess he wasn’t going anywhere any time soon. “What kind of kid wants to be in a jail cell?”

Ace opened his mouth to retort but quickly closed it, that smirk etching itself onto his face. “That’s fair. Well played.” He took another sip of his iced coffee, and Deuce almost smiled. No way they were actually having a conversation where they weren’t getting angry at each other. Hell hath frozen over or something like that. “Guess we all got our preferences.”

Deuce’s lip quirked up ever so slightly. “Yeah.”

The redhead took another sip of his coffee, glancing down at the list in his hand that was carrying the basket full of food. Deuce couldn’t help but take a quick glance at what was in the boy’s basket. He saw eggs, cheese, cherries, strawberries, crackers, and oysters. He looked down at the last item quizzically. “Oysters?” he questioned.

Ace sighed and rolled his eyes dramatically. “Yeah. Oysters,” he muttered, clearly irritated.

“You don’t like ‘em?”

“No. I hate them.” Ace pulled a milk carton down from the shelf and carefully placed it in his basket. “My brother loves them though. I always buy them just in case he comes to visit.”

“You don’t seem happy about that.”

He shrugged his shoulders in reply, his mind seeming like it was somewhere else. “Yeah, well, my family pisses me off a lot.”

It seemed like a touchy subject, so Deuce didn’t pry. Besides, he’d rather not talk about his own family situation either. It’s been two years and the pain from his dad’s death still felt fresh. “What else you buyin’?”

Ace looked back down at his list. “Bread, chips, and pasta.”

“There’s a deal on bread and chips today. White bread is fifty percent off while the chips are buy two for five thaumarks.”

The redhead looked back up at Deuce, a somewhat bewildered expression plastered on his face. “Huh. Thanks. But why are you helping me out?”

Deuce did an internal double take. Why was he helping this guy out? He didn’t owe him anything, and he’s been nothing but an asshole since he’s known him. Why in all of Twisted Wonderland did he randomly decide that this dude deserved his sympathy? He scratched the back of his head nervously as he thought about the reason why he was helping him. “I guess… Officer Walker got it in my head that maybe we’re not so different, and I figured that I haven’t really been hearing you out or giving you a chance.”

Ace stared at him for a few moments before a small smile stretched across his face. “So you’re saying you don’t think I’m an asshole anymore?”

“Oh no you are definitely still an asshole, but I don’t think that’s all there is to you, and that maybe there’s a good reason that you do the stuff that you do.”

A small giggle forced its way out of Ace, his smile widening. Deuce barely fought his own smile. “Thanks? I guess? You need to work on your wording but I think I get it. You don’t actually hate me, right?”

The slightest hint of pink bloomed on Deuce’s cheeks. “I never hated you. Maybe strongly disliked.”

“Whatever, dumbass.”

“You’re just proving my point, asshole.”

Ace was about to say something else when Deuce heard a familiar voice call out to him. “There you are, Deuce!” his mother cried in relief. She walked towards them with more stuff in the shopping cart. “They had this deal on the eggs so I got some extra!” Her gaze quickly fell onto the bruised redhead. “Who is this?”

Oh shit. Deuce did not expect his cell mate and his mom to actually meet while they were all in here. How does he explain that this is a guy he’s been stuck talking to while waiting for her to pick him up from jail? “Oh, um, Mom, this is-”

“Ace Trappola, ma’am,” the teen cut in, sticking out a bandaged hand for Dylla to shake.

“I’m Dylla Spade, Deuce’s mom,” she replied with a bright smile and meeting the boy’s hand.

“Pleasure to meet you.”

Dylla’s smile was so bright both boys thought they might be blinded by it. “How do you two know each other?”

The two glanced at each other nervously for a few moments. “We, uh, well-”

“He protected me from some bullies at my school.” Both of the Spades stared at the boy, one of them dumbfounded and the other concerned. “I was walking home late the other night when these guys jumped me. He came in and saved me from a worse beating. I mean, we both ended up in jail so it wasn’t all super heroic in the eyes of the police. But he saw me and came over to check on how I was doing.”

Deuce just continued to stare at the boy in complete shock. His jaw hung open slightly while all Dylla had on her face was concern for the boy in front of her and pride for her son. She squeezed her son’s arm affectionately with a warm smile. Deuce whipped his head around to look at her, conflicting emotions flashing through his head as he forced a small smile.

“Glad to hear my son’s made a good friend,” she said. Both boys quickly threw a nervous glance at each other once again. “I won’t keep you two. Deuce, just come find me later. I can take that milk.”

Dylla took the carton of milk from her son’s hand, put it in the cart, and left without another word. When he was sure she was out of earshot, Deuce immediately whirled on Ace, that familiar glare back on his face. “Why did you lie to her?” he demanded.

That stupid fucking blank look was back. “I did you a favor.”

“What favor? Making my mom believe that I’m some knight in shining armor when that is just the craziest bullshit that no one besides her would believe?”

“You don’t believe you could be good?” That stunned the boy for a few moments, because what the hell kind of question was that? He… He didn’t have a choice in the matter. When the silence stretched on too long, Ace suddenly fished inside his basket and handed Deuce the box of fresh cherries along with the thaumarks to cover their price. “Here.”

He looked down at the bright red fruits and the money like they were dangerous. “What the hell?”

“I don’t need them,” Ace explained. “You can have them.” The delinquent didn’t have any words to respond with. “Your mom seemed nice, by the way. I can see why you’re doing all of this for her.”

Before Deuce could reply, Ace turned around and began to walk away. His gaze flicked between the box of cherries and the vandal himself. “I don’t get you at all man,” he said, causing Ace’s pace to falter for a moment before he sped back up.

“I don’t really get me either.”

And just like that, he turned around the corner and disappeared from the delinquent’s view.

Deuce tried not to dwell too much on that whole interaction as he settled on finding and returning to his mother. He could have put down the fruit and just taken the extra money, but for some reason, something in his brain told him not to. When he finally found his mother in the bread aisle, he set down the cherries in the cart and handed his mom the money for them. “From Ace,” he said.

“Oh! Well that was very nice of him,” she replied as he took the money and shoved it in her jacket pocket. For some reason, the fake blonde felt like he had an ulterior motive for giving up those cherries. “He seems like a good kid.”

Deuce just shrugged his shoulders in response and followed his mom around in silence for the rest of the shopping trip.

Chapter Text

It was only another few days later when Deuce found himself being driven back to the police station in the middle of the night. He got into another street fight and couldn’t escape fast enough again. At this point, Deuce was about to chalk it all up to him being unlucky. But maybe there was a small part that hoped that if he got captured, he’d get to talk to the one asshole that seemed to give a shit about him.

So when he was pushed back into his familiar holding cell and Ace didn’t say a word, he couldn’t help but feel a sting of hurt.

“What’s up with you tonight?” he taunted, hoping Ace would reply and they’d fall into their familiar pattern of tearing into each other. The boy didn’t respond. He didn’t even move to acknowledge his cell mate in any way. His back remained pressed up against the bars, red hood over his head that rested on his knees. Was he even conscious? “Fine. Don’t answer me. You’ll probably make fun of me for getting my ass beat and not being able to run fast enough.”

Again, there was no response. The silence irritated him more than the vandal’s signature smirk did. Still, there were days when he himself didn’t feel like talking to anyone. Maybe this asshole was having one of those days too. Or maybe he just felt like messing with Deuce. Either way, it made the delinquent uneasy.

Deuce thought he could sit in silence. After all, that’s what he did any time he was here when Ace wasn’t. For some reason, he could feel himself getting antsy the longer the silence sat between them. The silence should feel natural to him. It should bring him comfort, not give him anxiety.

To fill the void, he just started talking. “Thanks for the cherries by the way. My mom and I really enjoyed them. She made cherry pie and tarts on her day off the other day. She was really happy,” he rambled. Deuce shifted so that he was laying face up on the dirty cell floor, hands folded over his stomach like he was lying in a coffin. “She likes you by the way. She thinks you’re nice and probably good for me and probably wants me to hang around you more. And before you laugh at that, it’s your fault for lying to her about how we met. Still kind of confused on why you did that.”

He paused to see if Ace was listening. He didn’t give any indication that he was, so Deuce just kept on talking. “You probably already know that I’m always in here because I’m trying to help my mom out and trying to make some extra money. And you can see how spectacularly I just keep failing at it over and over again. ‘Cause I always just wind up back here, making more trouble for my mom because I’m a terrible son who can’t even pass my classes even when I try.

“I’m not even useful when I’m at home. When I try to do the dishes, I end up dropping a plate or somehow getting it even dirtier. I do the laundry and I end up shrinking all of our clothes. I try to clean the house and it’s somehow in an even more fucked up state than before I even started. I can’t do even one thing right. I always gotta mess it up somehow. ‘Cause that’s just what I do apparently.”

Deuce craned his neck to check in on Ace. The boy still didn’t move or make a sound. “I guess it’s all pointless at this point, right? At this point, my criminal record won’t let me get a decent job anywhere when I’m finally old enough to start legally working. I’d probably have to get court mandated therapy or whatever it is they say in those shows. Even then, my future’s probably fucked.” He let out a mirthless chuckle. “As much as I hate to admit it, I guess you’re right about me being a dumbass.”

He let out a quiet sigh, stopping himself from saying something that got too real with a probably unconscious body. Seriously, was Ace okay? He couldn’t very well ask and expect a response when he already wasn’t responding to his other comments and questions. He resigned himself to staring up at the ceiling, his tired eyes beginning to droop closed as he stared off into space.

The delinquent was suddenly brought out of his head when he heard some coughs that sounded like they were trying to be contained in the next cell over. Deuce glanced towards the redheaded vandal, watching his body jerk up and down with each cough. He grimaced at the sight. At least he got the confirmation that he was alive.

“What happened to your dad?” the boy rasped hoarsely.

Gods it sounded like his vocal chords got ripped out and shredded. Also, that was a random question. “He died. Two years ago now. Probably almost three.”

“How’d he die?”

“Cancer.”

There was a significant moment of silence that passed between them. “I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, well, nothing can bring him back now. And life just gets shittier and shittier each day he’s not here.” He let out a broken chuckle. “I can just imagine the way he’d tear into me if he saw me right now. Yelling at me for getting in trouble and being stupid, running with bad people instead of buckling down and getting my work done.” A sad smile slowly spread on his face as he recalled the memories of his dad. “He used to be a police officer, you know. Probably would’ve been called to take me in a hundred times now.”

“You must really miss him.”

His smile faltered. “Yeah.” He suddenly pushed himself up off the ground and sat with his legs crossed, turning his head to look at the vandal in the next cell over. “What about you, asshole? What are your parents like?”

For a minute there, Deuce didn’t think Ace was gonna respond. “They’re nothing like yours,” he settled on, followed by a series of short coughs.

The delinquent didn’t push him. “What about your brother? What’s he like?”

“An asshole.”

“I guess the apple doesn’t fall far or something like that.”

Deuce thought he heard the redhead chuckle the tiniest bit at his comment. “He’s not around much anymore. Moved out as soon as he graduated from Night Raven College.”

“He’s a mage?”

“Mhm. Works at an amusement park as far as I know. Don’t know where.”

The bleached blonde nodded along in understanding. “I’m sure you miss him.” Ace simply hummed in reply, but his body seemed to curl in on itself further, arms wrapping around himself tighter. Deuce didn’t know why he was acting so weird, but he figured he’d give him a break. He stood up, sat down on the bench, and curled up in the corner. “Well, I guess I’ll let you sleep. Sure you’ve had a long night.”

Ace turned to Deuce in surprise, and the delinquent could see the dark spots that marred his face and neck. He always looks awful whenever he sees him but damn. “Your mom’s not coming?” he squeaked, his voice cracking painfully.

“It’s like, 3am. I’d be surprised if she gets woken by anything at all. She’s definitely not gonna be woken up by a phone call.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. So I guess I’ll see you when the sun’s up.”

“Alright.” Deuce let himself close his eyes while Ace stayed wide awake, unsure of how the teen would react when he was gone in just a few hours walking out without another word.

Luckily for him, by the time Ace’s cell door opened, Deuce was still fast asleep, and the delinquent didn’t have to watch the pathetic sight that was Ace walking back to his other prison alone.

Chapter Text

A few days later, Deuce was right back in jail, his shoulders and ribs throbbing in pain. His head pounded with pain as blood dripped down from his brow down to his chin. It even hurt to fucking breathe.

“Shit man, you good?” Ace asked as Deuce collapsed against their shared bars.

“Yeah I’ll be good in a few minutes,” he groaned quietly, sinking down further and arching his back, ignoring the stab of pain that tiny action brought him.

“You look awful.”

Deuce knows Ace wasn’t judging him for his injuries. He turned to fire back a quip about his own, but for once, the redhead actually looked okay. Well, that wasn’t exactly true. His rolled up sweatshirt sleeves revealed bloody bandages and small yellow bruises on both arms, but his face was mostly safe save for one white bandage plastered on his cheek. Deuce’s eyes wandered to the boy’s neck, seeing a yellow-green collar of bruises around it, almost like someone tried to strangle him.

“You… actually don’t look half bad besides…” Deuce vaguely gestured to Ace’s neck. The vandal looked away and gently rubbed his fingers over the healing marks, wincing at the lingering pain. “Having a good week?”

Ace nodded, turning around and pressing his back against the bars so that the two of them were facing opposite directions. “My brother’s visiting,” he explained, a soft edge to his voice that Deuce had never heard from him before.

“That seems good for you, despite the fact that he’s an asshole.”

“He’s only an asshole because he left and barely speaks a word to me anymore.”

“I’m guessing it’s complicated?”

Ace seemed to curl in on himself further, his arms resting on top of his knees. “Complicated but also not that complicated. He got a taste of freedom and he decided to go and enjoy it and isn’t thinking about me clearly.”

Deuce frowned and stared up at the ceiling. He couldn’t ever imagine cutting contact with a family member all together, even if they were a bitch sometimes. “Yeah. I’d call my brother an asshole too if I was you.”

“Yeah.” Ace tugged at the bandages covering his hands anxiously. “I mean, I think I get it. My brother lived with our dad so, um, I don’t really know what living with him was like.”

“Your parents are divorced.”

“Yeah. It was pretty messy. I think I was five? I don’t really know, but it was all kind of fucked if you ask me.” The redhead stared at the wall ahead of him. He could picture it all like it happened yesterday. The arguments, the disgust in his mother’s eyes, his father’s back turned to the door with his brother following him, unsure of when he would see them again. “I still don’t know the whole story, but the courts told them that one of us would go with the other.”

“And your dad chose your brother.”

“They both chose my brother.” Deuce’s eyes went wide as he craned his neck to try and get a look of Ace’s face. Both of his parents wanted Ace’s brother instead of him? “I don’t know why. Maybe it was because I was a loud, immature, reckless preschooler who didn’t know how to sit still. Or maybe there was something wrong with me. Or there was just something about Jay that made him inherently better than me. I’ve stopped trying to figure it out, but it essentially came down to a coin toss and my mom ended up with me. Unlucky her I guess.”

Deuce didn’t know what to say. That was… so fucked for so many different reasons. He could feel his veins start to boil. “But, anyways,” Ace continued, “I’ve been trying to figure out why my brother cut contact with me. Been turning it over in my head for a while now. We’ve really only seen each other on holidays, and before that, he used to text me all the time before he got to Night Raven College. It could probably be a hundred different things and I wouldn’t blame him for any of it.”

“Have you talked to him about it?”

“I try to, whenever I see him, which is rare. I text but I never get an answer. In rare times I call and he lets it go to voicemail. At some point I just stopped trying. I still don’t know why I buy him those stupid oysters that always expire because he’s never there to ever eat them and I’m just wasting money and then my mom gets pissed and-!”

Ace suddenly cut himself off before he said too much. He let out a shaky sigh, letting his arms and shoulders drop to his sides as his forehead rested on top of his knees. “Sorry,” he mumbled, blinking away his tears.

“You’re good man,” Deuce replied, shifting uncomfortably to minimize the pain in his torso. “I’m just sorry about all that shit that’s happened to you. Sounds rough.”

He chuckled brokenly in reply, “Yeah, well, just in case you ever doubt how much your mom loves you, just think about me and my shit show of a life. Because no one except maybe Officer Walker seems to give a shit about me.”

A sudden chuckle forced its way out of Deuce’s throat. “You’re wrong about that one.”

Ace turned back to look at the delinquent, who had a smirk on his face. He just blinked his red eyes at him, unsure of why his heart skipped a beat at the sight of his stupid upturned lip. “Oh yeah?” he fired back at him. “You give a shit about me?”

The delinquent sighed dramatically. “I admit it. You do make my stays in this cell less terrible when I do see you. Life’s not as bad when you’re here.”

Deuce must’ve had a concussion or something because there’s no way he would’ve said that without some kind of haze fogging his mind. He let out a disbelieving chuckle. “Okay. Sure man. Like you don’t call me an asshole every chance you get.”

“Don’t get me wrong. You are an asshole, but I’m starting to think that’s part of your charm.”

“My charm?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you even know what you’re talking about?”

“Not really.”

Ace scoffed, but he couldn’t help the small smile that spread on his face. He turned back around to face the wall. “Dumbass,” he muttered, unable to hide the fondness in his voice.

He was just about to say something else when he felt calloused fingers brush his own from underneath the bars. He flinched and recoiled from the touch immediately, head whipping around to see Deuce had shifted so that he was now lying down on his side, looking like he fell asleep. His fingers had slipped through the bars, his palm upright as if offering for Ace to hold his hand. Which was dumb. Deuce would never ask Ace to hold his hand in his right mind. They weren’t friends. They didn't even like each other.

But… Even if this dumbass wasn’t in his right mind, Ace wanted to believe him, even if it was only for a few moments.

Hesitantly, he curled his bandaged index finger around Deuce’s, burying his face in his knees. “Life’s not as bad when you’re here either, Deuce.”

Chapter Text

It was late and Deuce just wanted to go home. He was exhausted from school, and then his friends got into another stupid fight that ended with them basically running away and giving up their turf. Now, he may not have been the smartest, but even he wouldn’t have tried to fight the gang that was threatening them. It was all pointless, but he was nothing if not loyal to his friends. He was starting to wonder why he even liked these assholes.

He continued to walk back towards his house, carrying his backpack over his shoulders with food from the nearby gas station hanging in a plastic bag in his hand. He’d ditched his school uniform hours ago, shoved in his bag full of books. Finally back to casual clothes for him. At least it was the beginning of spring break and he wouldn’t have to wear it for a while. He could ask his mom to iron it when school started back up.

“Oh look who it is!”

Gods fucking damn it.

“I didn’t think you idiots could be so stupid walking back into our turf.”

Deuce saw one of the goons he fought with earlier today. He noticed two others creeping up behind him. He really didn’t feel like getting into this right now. He had no doubt he could take them, but he promised his mom he’d stay out of trouble. He was not getting arrested tonight thank you very much.

“Look man, you don’t want this tonight,” Deuce said, his hands held up placatingly. “My friends were being stupid.”

“Well one of yous has to pay, and you’re the dumbass that stepped onto our turf.”

Deuce glared fiercely at the grunt. That motherfucker didn’t get to call him a dumbass. He was plenty smart enough not to want to start a fight with these guys in the first place. “I’m not scared of you.”

All of a sudden, three more goons appeared from out of the alleyway, fully surrounding the delinquent. He prided himself on being a good enough fighter to take on a few people at the same time. Six people, however, was a losing battle. The smart thing to do would be to de-escalate as best as he could and try to make it out without getting physical with anyone.

But these people were pissing him off. It wasn’t his fault that his friends were more stupid and reckless than he was. And even then, these assholes couldn’t just let this go. He couldn’t back down now with his and his friends’ dignity on the line. He had to make them proud, even if he himself wasn’t proud of what was about to go down.

Flames began to flicker and dance along Deuce’s hands. “You don’t wanna fight me,” he threatened darkly.

“Yeah sure. Ten to one?”

Ten? Deuce looked around and saw that more people had begun to close in on him. “Well shit,” he mumbled to himself. If he didn’t consider himself in trouble, he definitely did now.

He set his food and backpack down by his feet, knowing they’d probably get stomped on during the fight. Not like he could stop the fight from happening now. He raised his fists to his face defensively, flickers of flames spitting out from his hands.

“Let’s get this over with,” he growled.

He threw the first punch at the closest assailant and all hell broke loose. Two goons immediately retaliated, moving in to attack. Deuce was able to block one attack, countering with a hard punch to the jaw. He felt a swift punch connect straight to his ribs, briefly stunning him before he grabbed the guy’s wrist, lightly burning him before bringing his knee up to snap his arm.

Even though he was able to take the first two down, he was overwhelmed by three more people all attacking him at the same time. His fire powered hands were able to burn anyone he touched, but he was quickly knocked to the ground. He was punched and kicked repeatedly, barely even able to register each hit as his vision began to blur.

“Don’t let up boys!” their leader cried. “Let him have-!”

The leader suddenly went silent after a muffled metal bang caused the gang to pause their attack. They watched as their leader fell hard onto the concrete with a skinny figure standing over him, face bloody with a bat in his hands. The leader writhed on the ground in pain, clutching his ribs and crying out before the surprise attacker brought the bat down on the boy’s head. He was completely knocked out, some blood oozing out of his head.

Deuce watched as familiar yet foreign red eyes bore into his other attackers. “Which one of you is next?” he asked in a dark tone the delinquent had never heard him use before.

“Who the fuck are you man?!” one of the grunts shouted, trying to mask his sudden fear.

“I’m a guy who’s had a very very rough week, and you guys-” He pointed his bat at the group, eyes wide with mania. “-are beating up the one guy who has helped me keep my sanity throughout my mess of a life. So you can either back off, or face the end of this fucking bat.”

Deuce shook his head. Despite the vandal’s impressive and threatening display of power, Ace did not look like he could take these guys in a fight. And hell, he looked like one step would send him straight down next to the leader he just knocked out. He brought himself down enough, and Ace had enough problems of his own. He did not need the redhead here to defend him and end up getting himself hurt even worse than he already was.

“Alright punk! You and your boyfriend asked for it!”

The goon started running towards Ace but his vicious swing was faster. The metal bat connected with the boy’s hip, a sickening crack checking in the alley followed by a bloodcurdling scream. It was enough of a distraction and a threat for the other guys that four more guys peeled off of Deuce to attack Ace.

Deuce didn’t hesitate afterwards. He pushed himself up and punched one of the guys around him. All he could see was red as he took blows and punches and countered it with twice as much pain and rage. He barely flinched at the blows he took, solely focusing on dealing damage wherever he could. At least until the goons fell down.

As soon as he registered the people around him were on the ground, he immediately whirled around to find that Ace had knocked three of the guys unconscious. The last one however had landed a punch on him and knocked him to the ground. Deuce swiftly strode up towards the assailant and punched him square across the face, feeling the bones in his nose crack underneath his fist. The guy stumbled but didn’t go down completely. He was about to retaliate when a strong burst of wind magic sent the guy flying back against the alley wall. He stayed down after that.

Deuce turned to see Ace with his hands stretched out. No doubt that magic came from him, and if Deuce didn't remember that his brother went to Night Raven College, he would’ve been surprised. Despite his worry, he flashed Ace a bloody grin. “‘Sup asshole,” he greeted.

Ace was breathing heavily, eyesight blurring in and out of focus. But he could recognize that voice anywhere at this point. He let out a breathy laugh and collapsed back onto the pavement, looking up at the cloudy night sky. “Hey dumbass,” he replied, sounding exhausted. Deuce didn’t doubt that he was.

“You good?”

“What do you think?”

Deuce looked around at the pile of unconscious bodies, an uncomfortable feeling of dread beginning to pool in his stomach. Now that his anger was dying down, shame, guilt, and terror began to seep into his bones. “I think you’re a lot more dangerous than everyone thinks you are.”

“Well I was going to take my anger out on a building like I normally do, but then I saw my cellmate getting pummeled by some douchebags.” He pushed himself into a sitting position, clutching his ribs in pain. “Not my greatest moment, but it saved you.”

Deuce so badly wanted to refute that. Say he didn’t need Ace to come in and stop those guys from possibly killing him. Unfortunately, he couldn’t, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t gonna give Ace the satisfaction of winning. “Are you expecting a thank you for getting yourself beat up even more?”

“I’m used to this man.”

The delinquent grimaced. “That doesn’t make it better.”

Ace let out a short, broken chuckle. “Yeah, well, it doesn’t really matter. We gonna get out of here or what? ‘Cause the cops could find us at any moment.”

“Shit. You’re right.” He bent down slightly to offer a hand to Ace. The boy flinched but untensed quickly when he looked up at his cellmate. “We should get going.”

Ace shook his head and smiled as he clasped his hand with Deuce’s. “You gonna whisk me away somewhere safe and warm and totally not the police station?”

Deuce pulled the redhead up to his feet. The boy stumbled and groaned quietly in pain. “I don’t know about warm, but it’s not the police station and it is safe,” the delinquent explained, not letting go of Ace’s hand until he regained his balance.

After Deuce picked up his somehow untouched food and backpack, the two began to walk out of the alley, careful to avoid any areas where people might be watching.

“Can’t wait.”

—

“Your house?”

The two boys stood in front of the Spade household dripping in blood. Deuce knew he couldn’t get arrested again for the sake of his mom, and Ace, if his suspicions were right, definitely couldn’t go home. So he chose something that seemed the best for both of them.

“I know it’s not much,” he said, taking his keys out of his pocket and walking up the porch to the front door, “but I figured it’s the best place to go to avoid both the cops and your… whatever you need to avoid.”

Ace glanced between Deuce and his house. It was smaller than his own house, and there was a strange stench oozing from the mold he could see growing on the windowsills. The small number of plants that were planted in front of the house desperately needed to be watered, but overall, Ace wasn’t concerned about any of that. As long as the house was livable, he was fine.

No, the problem was more of the fact that this gesture went far beyond what he thought their relationship was.

Not that Ace didn’t consider them friends. This is in fact what normal friends do; they hang out at each other’s houses sometimes. But Deuce wasn’t someone he considered a normal friend like that. They talked when they saw each other in their cells and when they occasionally saw each other out in public. This wasn’t something they did. They weren’t this close or even supposed to be close. They were just two guys that got arrested at the same time and it just happened more than once a few times.

This felt invasive, even though Deuce literally dragged him here and was welcoming him into his home. It felt too personal. Too risky on an emotional level for him to be completely okay with this. What made Deuce think that Ace was worthy of stepping into what he assumed was his safe haven and willingly sharing this place with him?

“I’m sure it’s fine,” Ace said, climbing the stairs after Deuce. “Better than my house at least.”

Deuce unlocked and opened the door. As soon as they stepped inside, Ace was hit with a profound sense of security and anxiety. The kitchen was messy, dirty dishes piled in the sink. The living room just next to it had a worn couch and armchair, and some nails poked out from the carpet floor.

The whole house felt very lived in, which made him feel safe but also even more like an intruder.

“Can you walk up more stairs? The first aid kit is in the bathroom,” the bleached blonde said.

“Who do you take me for?”

“Just making sure.”

“You’ll know if I’m not good when I fall down the stairs.”

Deuce grimaced. “Please don’t.”

“I’ll be fine.”

Ace began to climb the stairs as Deuce walked down to the basement. He tried not to keep overthinking about why Deuce was so willing to let him into his house. That wasn’t gonna help him now that he was here in the slightest. The best he could do to mitigate whatever anxiety he had was to leave everything exactly as it was when he left it. Make as little as a disturbance as possible.

The bathroom was easy to find. It was the first door he saw as soon as he walked up the stairs. He walked inside and flicked on the too bright light. He twisted the knobs on the sink and let the water run for a few moments before splashing it on his face. His blood began to drip down into the pool of water beginning to form. He always hated the sting that followed and the sight of his reflection stained red in the water.

Once all of the blood was washed away, Ace opened a cabinet and immediately found the first aid kit. He took out some bandaids and slapped them over some of the larger cuts on his face and pressed toilet paper to the smaller ones to see if they stopped bleeding. Now that the blood was washed away, all that was left were the ugly, purple splotches on his face. This was the worst part of it all. When he’d have to look at himself in the mirror, see the damage done, and then restart it all the next day.

A knock on the door knocked him out of his thoughts and caused him to jump. “You good?” Deuce asked from the other side.

Ace quickly put the first aid kit away, turned off the sink faucet, and walked towards the door. He opened it to find that Deuce had changed into sweats and was holding the food he was carrying earlier. “Since my mom’s not here to make dinner I had to pick up food from the gas station, but it’s enough for us to share,” the delinquent said sheepishly.

The redhead glanced from the food to his cellmate, who did not need to be this nice to him. He didn’t deserve this kindness in the slightest. He didn’t even know what he deserved in all honesty. “You don’t have to offer your food,” he replied.

“I’d be a bad host if I didn’t. Besides, I’m not super hungry after that fight anyway.”

Ace stepped out of the bathroom and closed the door behind him softly. “Violence doesn’t work up your appetite?”

“Not really.”

“Well I didn’t get a chance to have a coffee today so I’m starving.”

Deuce’s lip quirked upwards briefly before he handed the box of food to Ace and said, “My room is over here so you can eat in there if you want.”

The skinny boy followed the more muscular one towards his room, getting more tense by the second. Once he entered however, he was surprised at how comforted he was by the sight of all of the posters, knick knacks, and just the overall mess that Deuce’s room was. The posters taped on the walls were all of blastcycles and popular action movies that Ace was sure the guy had probably seen a thousand times. There were action figures all over his dresser and a few photos of him and his mom. There were a few dirty clothes on the floor and the room had a distinct smell that Ace couldn’t place.

“I know it’s a mess,” Deuce mumbled.

“It’s nice,” Ace confessed. “It feels lived in.”

“Uh, thanks?”

“I don’t know how to explain it but it’s a good thing.” My room feels like a prison cell compared to this.

“Then thanks.” The bleached blonde sat down on the floor, leaning back against his bed as he reached into his backpack and threw his school uniform in the laundry basket that was in his closet. He then pulled out his laptop and asked, “Did you wanna watch a movie?”

The redhead blinked for a few moments before replying, “Uh, sure.”

Ace sank down to the floor next to Deuce, careful to keep a little bit of space between them. “Oh, when you get too tired to stay awake, you can take the bed by the way.” He queued up a few movies they could watch.

Anxiety thrummed through Ace’s veins. “What? I can’t take your bed.”

“Why not?”

“You’re already giving me your food, I can't just take your bed too.”

“I’m being a good host.”

“Okay well your “good host” act doesn’t need to apply to me and I can just take the floor.”

Deuce glared at him, but there was no malice or real anger behind it. “Dude, you’re hurt. And you’re hurt way worse than me. You need to sleep somewhere that’s not a hard floor and actually get some good rest for once.”

“You can’t sleep on the floor in your own house in your own room.”

“Well the only other option is sharing my tiny ass bed but that’s not gonna happen.”

Ace’s heart raced with anxiety and his cheeks heated up at the thought of being that physically close to Deuce. The former because he could barely even handle regular human touch and the latter for reasons he didn’t feel like examining at the moment. Either way, it was clear that Deuce wasn’t budging and he was too tired to continue the argument. “You shouldn’t sleep on the floor,” he tried weakly.

“I’ll be fine. That’s why I grabbed more pillows and blankets from the basement.” Deuce turned the laptop towards Ace. “Which movie do you wanna watch?”

Wordlessly, Ace chose one of the movies his cellmate had prepared. He’d already seen it, but he could tell it was the one Deuce wanted to watch the most when he started to pull the different options up. He opened the food container carefully and ripped the plastic package off of the chopsticks. Slowly, he began to eat the sushi inside, trying to ignore the abnormally fast pace of his heartbeat. He made sure Deuce at least ate a few before his growling stomach demanded that he eat the rest.

As the movie went on, Ace could feel himself relaxing more and more, his eyelids growing heavy. Everything in his brain told him to resist. To stay awake. But he couldn’t help it when this dumbass was making him feel so safe.

At some point, he lost consciousness, head falling on Deuce’s shoulder. The delinquent tensed, unsure of what to do for a few moments before carefully and gently scooping the exhausted redhead into his arms. He shouldn’t have been so surprised at how light he was as he set him down on his bed with ease and threw a blanket over him.

Deuce finished the movie and shortly turned in right after Ace, checking to make sure he was fine one last time before closing his laptop and going to sleep.

—

Deuce woke up to the smell of breakfast wafting from the kitchen. He immediately checked behind him to see if Ace was still there, but he wasn’t. His bed looked like it had barely even been touched. A surge of anxiety ran down his veins. As he stood up and began to walk downstairs, he started to think he imagined last night.

When he got to the kitchen, he froze at the sight of his mom cooking while Ace was sat at one of the four empty chairs. He didn’t know why his chest did a somersault at the display.

“Good morning Deuce,” Dylla announced softly, giving her son a strained smile that poorly masked her worry. “I made pancakes and eggs for you two.”

Deuce sat down next to Ace and slowly began to eat his breakfast. “Thanks Mom,” he replied, glancing at Ace briefly.

The two locked eyes and Ace gave the boy sheepish smirk. “She wouldn’t let me leave without giving me food.”

Deuce giggled quietly. That was his mom right there. Kindest person he’s ever met. “Well I’m glad you’re here.”

Ace did his best to mask the sorrow trying to creep into his smile. “Thanks.”

“Anytime.”

The two boys continued to eat their breakfast, unsure of why it felt like things would be different from here on out.

Chapter Text

From then on, talks in their cells got easier. Nicer. More personal. Both of them simultaneously loved and hated it. They never expected that after a few shared times in jail would they actually become friends. They talked about everything. Conversation topics could range from how their days went to their deepest darkest fears and insecurities. It was strange but nice.

Deuce figured out a lot about the previously mysterious Ace Trappola. His favorite color was red (no surprise there), stray cats follow him around in his neighborhood, he’s got two close friends from school, his brother is seven years older than him, he hasn’t talked to his dad since the divorce, and when he was usually arrested he either graffitied on buildings or broke them with his bat. And no, he didn’t play baseball, so Deuce had no idea why he even had a bat in the first place.

…He did finally get the confirmation that his mom was in fact… not treating him right, to put it lightly.

His injuries always ranged from a couple of bruises and cuts to “holy shit why haven’t you gone to a hospital” and it was never consistent. Ace wouldn’t talk much about the reasons for any of it. They got into a few arguments about it, both of them always too stubborn to stop pushing or relent and finally open up. The topic would eventually be dropped and they’d fall back into their banter, but Deuce’s worry just kept growing and growing the more Ace brushed off his concerns.

He tried to trust his newly discovered friend, he really did. He tried to trust the fact that Ace knew what he was doing and was never in serious, serious danger. But Deuce had always been stupid and a little bit more than naive.

For once, Deuce was sitting in his cell alone. There were some other weird people sitting in the next cell over, all already dead asleep. He couldn’t get that stupid asshole out of his head, thinking about his blank expression that he’d been seeing more and more lately. He fidgeted anxiously in his cell, wishing he just gave his number to him just in case he ever wanted to talk. Not that he would’ve taken it, but at least he would’ve let Ace know that he was there. Then again, he had been more closed off lately. It stressed the delinquent out as he bounced his leg up and down in his cell.

All of a sudden, however, his cell door opened and there stood Ace before he was promptly shoved inside. He stumbled and collapsed onto the dirty cell floor. Deuce turned and glared at the unfamiliar officer that showed so little regard to his friend, but he was suddenly startled by Ace coughing violently.

The redhead began to push himself up with shaking arms as blood splattered onto the floor from his coughs. Deuce was frozen in horror for a moment, taking in the sight of his battered friend. His bright red sweatshirt was stained a darker shade of crimson. His face was bruised and covered in blood, running down and dripping from his chin. He could see glass shards sticking out of his legs and torso. The most terrifying injury had to be his hand. A thick shard of glass was speared right through it.

Deuce swallowed thickly, pushing down the bile that was beginning to rise as that metallic stench swarmed his senses.

“Ace!” he exclaimed, helping him up off the floor.

The battered boy flinched and weakly pushed Deuce off of him when he got into a sitting position. “Ge’ off me, dumbass,” he mumbled, his words slurring slightly. Blood dripped from his forehead, and the delinquent could see that there was a large gash by the boy’s hairline.

“Ace what the hell happened?!”

Ace winced and shut his eyes tightly for a few moments. “Too loud.”

“I’m serious Ace you-” Deuce saw the way Ace’s head lolled to the side, his dull red eyes not focusing on anything. “Do you have a concussion?” he asked, making his voice softer but still keeping that same worried urgency.

“Probably.” He could barely even see what face Deuce was making, but he could sense another argument coming on. “Dude I’m-”

“If you finish that sentence I swear to the Great Seven I-!” Deuce took a breath. He couldn’t be wasting time like this. Ace could very well be dying in front of him and like fucking hell he was gonna let that happen. “You need to go to the hospital.”

“I’m-” Ace couldn’t even finish his sentence before Deuce had stood up and started kicking the bars to get someone’s attention. The boy flinched and poorly attempted to cover his ears. He blinked heavily, unable to get his vision to focus as dark circles began to creep in. “Dude… seriously. I jus’ need…”

“Hello?! Can one of you dipshits actually help us?!”

Before any of the other officers could come up to ridicule him, Officer Walker practically rushed over once he saw how worried the delinquent seemed. He took one glance into the cell and immediately shouted, “Who the hell let this kid in here like this?!” Every officer that was there looked away in shame. Walker would deal with them later. He quickly pulled out his keys and unlocked the cell door.

He knelt beside Ace, whose eyes had drifted closed. He gently shook the boy. “Ace, can you hear me?” he asked. Deuce could only watch as his friend laid there, completely immobile. Officer Walker turned to the delinquent, his expression grave. “I need you to carry him while I bring one of the cars out front.”

“Me?! Why not-?!” Deuce cut himself off, swallowing thickly and feeling his heart lurch in his chest.

“We call his emergency contacts every time, kid. They never answer. You might as well be as good to take him out of here as anyone else.”

He felt like throwing up again, but he needed to get Ace to the hospital. “I got him,” he said, his voice surprisingly even. Officer Walker nodded as he rushed out of the cell and towards the back of the building to pull a car around. Was what he was doing legal? Probably not, but these kids mattered more.

As soon as he was gone, Deuce carefully scooped Ace into his arms. His whole body was slack, limbs flailing out and shifting what little weight he had. The delinquent had to adjust Ace’s position in his arms so his neck didn’t look like it was about to snap. He tried not to jostle him as he ran out the cell as quickly as he could.

Right as he exited the police station, Officer Walker was there with the police car. “Sit in the back with him and try to stop any bleeding you can. I threw my first aid kit in the back.”

Deuce just nodded wordlessly and carefully climbed in the back with Ace. Once they were situated, Officer Walker turned on his lights and siren and began to speed towards the nearest hospital. The teen tried to keep his counterpart as still as possible, occasionally checking to make sure that he was in fact still breathing.

As soon as they got to the hospital, Officer Walker carried Ace inside while Deuce trailed behind them. He watched as nurses and doctors began to swarm around the unconscious boy and drag him away on a gurney. All he could do now was wait and pray to whatever gods would listen that this stupid asshole wasn’t about to die by the time the sun came up.

Chapter Text

Ace woke up to the sound of a heart monitor beeping, bright lights causing his head to pound with pain. His whole body felt like it was being crushed by cement. He could barely even turn his head to register his surroundings. He didn’t really need to. The sterile smell of a hospital gave it away.

“‘Sup asshole,” an all too familiar voice spoke from the chair next to his bed.

Ace couldn’t help but flinch. He didn’t want to see the face of a person who, for some fucking reason, decided to ignore him and take him to a hospital anyway. He didn’t want to think about why he did that right now. He didn’t want to think of how bad the damage to him actually was. He didn’t want to think about how pissed his mom was going to be when the bill showed up at the front door. He didn’t want to think at all.

“You really scared me y’know.” For some reason, that notion filled Ace’s veins with anger. Deuce didn’t need to be worried about him. There was nothing he needed to be worried about. Except that maybe there really was and Ace just didn’t want to deal with that fact. “If you’re mad at me I’m not sorry. You were going to die.”

“You didn’t know that,” Ace immediately snapped, voice hoarse and raspy.

“Are you joking? Look at yourself!” Ace didn’t need to. Even with the amount of painkillers he was most likely on, he could feel every dull ache in every bruise and cut that was etched into his body. At least he felt something. “You were bleeding out on the floor as soon as you got there!”

“I was not.”

“You got fucking stabbed right through your hand!”

Ace tried not to pay attention to how the stitches that uncomfortably pulled on his skin every time he went to flex his hand. “I would’ve been fine.”

“Are you fucking stupid?!”

“Probably.”

Deuce let out a quiet laugh in disbelief. He shook his head. Ace refused to meet his eyes. The delinquent would hate the blank look he sported anyway, his creepy red eyes stretched just a little too wide and staring a little too far behind their target. He tried to force himself to look normal, but he’s pretty sure that trying to act normal made everything about this situation worse. He always ended up making things worse.

“I don’t get it,” Deuce said, his voice cracking slightly. “I don’t get you. I keep thinking that I do the more we talk but then you keep being a stubborn asshole. Why won’t you let me help you?”

“I don’t need a savior.”

“Why don’t you accept help from anyone?”

Ace clenched his hands into fists. The stitches felt like they might rupture. He mustered up enough strength to slightly turn his head away from Deuce. “Why do you care so much?”

“Are you serious? We’re friends.”

“Are we?”

He wanted to take back the words the moment they left his mouth. But he figured that was what he did. He fucked things up for him and everyone around him. He was a problem that couldn’t be solved. He pushed the people he loved away, even when they were nothing but kind. Even when they wanted to help. Even when Ace refused to help himself. Even when the worst parts of him were all on display, for some reason–some gods forsaken reason–this dumbass cared enough to try and get him help.

He didn’t deserve it.

Deuce just stared incredulously at the boy in the hospital bed, blinking back tears that had begun to form. “Are you trying to say we aren’t friends?” His mind began to flash back to their talks in their cells, the rare times they waved to when they passed each other by on the street, the grocery store, the fight, the movie. “Are you saying that all of the times we hung out together meant nothing?”

“It was all circumstantial. Us talking so many times.”

“Circumstance?”

“We’re just two people that just so happened to get arrested at the same time. There’s nothing special about that. It happens all the time.”

Deuce clenched his hands into fists, a familiar anger building along with a strong sense of desperation. “You’re lying.”

“Am I?”

“You’re lying.”

Ace finally turned to look at Deuce, his blank red eyes meeting the other’s crazed green eyes. “What makes you think you know me enough to tell?”

The delinquent’s jaw clenched, teeth beginning to grind together. “Because you’re a liar.”

“When have I ever lied to you?”

“Whenever you need to actually be real with me.” Deuce’s eyes seemed to be searching Ace’s. The redhead winced at the sudden pain in his chest when he noticed how glassy the other’s eyes were. “You think I don’t care about you. Why?” Ace couldn’t answer. Logically, he knew that the delinquent did care. Why else would he be sitting here and fighting with him like this? Maybe it was because he didn’t want him to. Maybe it was because he knew that with the way things were going for him, it was better if Deuce left him behind and forgot he existed entirely. It would save him all of this hurt that Ace was causing just by being the person that he was.

“What is it then?” Deuce asked, the desperation clawing its way up his throat. “Do you just not care? Do you just think I’m some loser who’s wasting his time with someone who can’t even bother to give a shit that I care if he fucking dies?!”

I care, Ace wanted to say. I care so much it hurts. His throat tightened up as he swallowed thickly.

“What was all of it for then, huh?! Was all of it just some game to you?! All of those weeks we talked just for you to say it was a situation we suffered through together?! Was any of it even real to you?!”

Tears began to leak out of the boy’s peacock green eyes. Ace didn’t know why Deuce was getting so worked up about this. He wasn’t sure why he himself felt like crying too. “It was real,” he barely managed above a whisper.

“Then why aren’t you acting like it?! Why are you acting like none of this matters?!”

Because it won’t when I’m gone. The redhead could feel the words on his tongue as he bit it to keep from speaking. Deuce didn’t need to know about those thoughts he never dared to speak out loud. Instead, he remained silent and averted his gaze towards the floor.

Deuce shook his head in defiance. He didn’t know why Ace was saying anything, but he wasn’t about to let him off the hook. He stood up and grabbed the vandal by his hospital gown, bringing their faces close. Ace flinched harshly at the contact. “What’s wrong with you?! Why are you acting like this?!” The vandal wouldn’t meet his eyes, blank gaze fixated elsewhere. Deuce lightly shook the boy in his arms, unable to stop the tears from falling down his face. “Why won’t you look at me?! Look at me Ace Trappola! Look me in the eyes and say that you don’t care!”

Ace sat there, frozen in place. It felt like the entire world went silent except for Deuce’s shaky breaths and quiet, painful cries that slipped through every now and then. He knew looking would only make the pain in his chest feel worse. Maybe he wanted worse. Maybe he deserved worse.

Looking into Deuce’s eyes was like looking into a shattered mirror. He could see every ounce of grief, anger, desperation, hope, and devastation he felt mirrored right back at him in tear filled green eyes. All that performative apathy he held in his eyes instantly melted away at the sight of Deuce unraveling before him. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair for Deuce to be able to care about someone like him so openly and passionately. To get so angry at the way his only family treats him. It wasn’t fair that Ace didn’t know how to properly express any of what he was feeling to the boy crying in front of him.

He hated this. He hated that Deuce was here because of him. He hated that he caused his tears. He hated that they were in this whole mess because of him and his inability to be anyone but himself. He hated that it felt like there was no escape from his miserable life. He hated that once he finally found a way out, he decided to screw it up like he screwed everything else up by just existing.

“Deuce I do-”

“Am I interrupting something?”

A familiar voice to Ace but foreign to Deuce suddenly appeared in the doorway. Deuce let the redhead go and furiously wiped his tears away. He turned to look at the man who interrupted and saw a man who looked scarily similar to Ace. He had the same hair color, but the man’s was longer. He was much taller too, and his skin had a slightly darker complexion than Ace’s, but that could’ve been just because he was healthy. The only difference seemed to be his eyes. They were more of an orange-yellow color than Ace’s cherry red.

“What are you doing here Jay?” Ace asked, a slight tremor in his voice. Deuce couldn’t tell if it was because of fear or shock. It was probably both.

“Officer Walker called me and told me you were in the hospital,” he said gravely, glancing over his baby brother with worry. Any softness in his gaze disappeared when he turned his head towards Deuce. “Who is this punk?”

Ace opened his mouth to say something but Deuce hurriedly grabbed his jacket. “I’m no one,” he replied, his voice somehow holding even. He quickly threw it on and stormed towards the doorway. “See you around asshole.”

The redhead watched as the delinquent ran out the door and down the hall, feeling some sort of light he once had dim until he could barely feel what little warmth it was already giving.

Chapter Text

It’d been weeks since Deuce saw the redhead. He had legitimately avoided getting in trouble with the police since the hospital incident. The few times he was arrested, however, Ace was nowhere to be found. Deuce tried not to think about him too much. He failed at that more often than not.

His fifteenth birthday came and went. His dark roots began to show more prominently through his frosted locks and for once, he didn’t feel like covering them up. He slowly started to not hang out with his posse, and his mother stopped fretting over him so much because of it. Her smile got a little brighter, and conversations with her felt easier. They talked about Ace a few times. Those conversations always fizzled out quickly. Maybe one day they’d have a proper conversation about what actually happened between them.

Deuce often dwelled on Ace’s fate after the hospital. After all, they never had any other form of communication besides randomly bumping into each other on the street. It was a morbid thought, but the longer he didn’t see the redhead, the more likely Deuce thought that he was dead. He preferred it that way. At least if he was dead, he wouldn’t have to suffer through pain like that anymore.

Life did suck just a bit more without him around though, and selfishly, Deuce hoped that he would see him again.

He got his wish by the end of that summer.

It was raining and Deuce was walking home with last minute groceries his mom forgot to grab before her night shift. He also bought cherries with the extra money he had on hand for reasons he chose to ignore. Seriously, he didn't know what possessed him to grab them before he left, but he did. Now he was underneath his umbrella, clutching the groceries in his free hand tightly.

He was about to walk past the bus stop when he saw a familiar figure sitting in the protective space, drenched in rainwater from head to toe. Ace had that blank stare in his eyes, just like the last time they saw each other, and he was dressed in a black sweatshirt instead of his normal red. His jeans and shoes were black too. It was an eerie sight to behold if Deuce was being honest. Ace had looked devoid of life before, but now, it really felt like he might be looking at his corpse.

Still, he walked up to the boy. He had to try to talk to him at least one more time.

“Hey,” he said quietly. Ace’s eyes widened slightly at the voice as he turned to face the former delinquent.

“Hey,” his own voice squeaked out.

“You do know the bus isn’t coming, right?”

Ace looked back down, turning his phone over in his hand a few times. “Yeah I know.”

Deuce let out a quiet sigh. He didn’t even ask if he could, but he sat down on the opposite side of the bench and closed his umbrella. Ace didn’t seem to mind, but he still kept his eyes trained to the blank screen of his phone. Deuce didn’t really think of what he was going to say though, which was typical of him.

He just started going off the top of his head. “I’m not sorry for getting you to the hospital. You can be mad about it, or however you were about it when I saw you there, but I’m not gonna apologize for saving your life.” Ace didn’t say anything, but his now scarred hand seemed to clench his phone a little tighter. Deuce continued to talk. “I don’t know what happened after I left and what you’ve been going through, but, and this is gonna sound cheesy, I want you to know that I never stopped caring about you.”

Something in the boy’s eyes flickered for a brief moment. “I care about you too,” he admitted softly. “You don’t have to believe me. It’s completely fair if you don’t.”

Deuce didn’t acknowledge the boy’s words in any meaningful way. In all honesty, neither of them really knew what to say or do. It was clear that they couldn’t just go back to whatever banter they were used to, but the gap felt too large to fill. And what the hell could they even fill it with now? The broken pieces of themselves that neither of them had the ability to fix? How did they go from strangers to friends and back to strangers again?

“Maybe you were right though,” Deuce spoke matter of factly. “Maybe I don’t know you, and you don’t really know me either. And maybe we were never really friends in the first place.”

“We were.”

“And what are we now?” Ace hung his head lower, clenching his jaw in frustration. The boy with blonde highlights turned to the redhead that refused to meet his eyes. “I don’t know about you, but I still want to be friends.”

Ace let out a scoff on pure instinct. He hated the way his chest panged at those words. He wanted to be done with this conversation already. “I’m on borrowed time man. You’re basically asking to be friends with a dead guy,” he confessed, his leg starting to bounce up and down.

“Maybe. But even if that guy doesn’t believe enough in himself to survive something that’s possible to escape, I do. And even if you don’t want to help yourself, I’d try to get your stubborn ass to see reason. Even though you don’t wanna listen to me.”

Ace just shook his head, unable to pinpoint when tears began to form in his eyes. “Why are you here then?” he asked. “Even though you know I’m not gonna listen to you.”

“To let you know that I’m here, even if you don’t want me to be.” Deuce kept on staring at the redhead, whose leg just began to bounce a little faster. “I don’t know what goes through your head, but whatever it is you’re thinking, whatever you’ve tricked yourself into believing, I’m someone that cares about you.” The boy took a breath and turned away from the other. “But I’m not gonna stay the way I am. I’m gonna be better than what I am. Be someone that my mom can actually be proud of. That I can be proud of.”

If Ace’s throat wasn’t so tight, he’d give the boy next to him his respect and well wishes. It took guts for someone to want to even try to change. He was sure that Deuce was stubborn enough to keep pushing through. Ace was too much of a coward to ever take his fate into his own hands.

Deuce continued to talk. “I’m gonna get into a good school. Actually pick up a textbook and study hard for my grades. Maybe I’ll make some decent friends along the way too. I’ll graduate and become a police officer. Actually help kids like us who have no idea what they’re doing getting into the amount of trouble we get into.” He turned back to Ace, who was still refusing to meet his gaze. He didn’t deserve to. “I think you can change too. Be more honest. Be someone you actually like. Get out of the hell that you’re living in. And maybe you and I could actually get to know each other.”

It sounded nice when Deuce said it, but like the redhead said earlier, he was on borrowed time. He didn’t have anywhere that felt safe. He didn’t have anyone that cared about him. He wanted so desperately to believe every single one of the boy’s words, but he couldn’t. What made Deuce naively think that he was worthy of another chance at a better life?

“Maybe,” Ace whispered, ignoring the tiniest spark of hope that flickered in his chest.

“I know you don’t believe me, but I think it’s possible. And you can call me stupid, naive, a dumbass for thinking like this, but you don’t need to keep living the way you’re living. And even if you don’t want my help, I’ll always be here. Even if you change, even if I change, or we both stay the same, I’ll be someone you can call if you need someone to be there.”

Hot tears silently dripped from Ace’s blank red eyes, hating the feelings in his chest with every ounce of his body. This was not how this night was supposed to go. He heard Deuce rustle through his grocery bag and set a box of cherries between them. “I don’t know why I bought them, but you probably need them more right now.” He pulled out a folded up sticky note from his coat pocket and stuck it onto the plastic top. “My number is on there if you ever wanna text or call me.”

Deuce stood up, opening his umbrella back up and grabbing his groceries. He looked at Ace one last time. “Maybe I’ll… see you around?”

He should meet his eyes. He knew he should at least make eye contact. He deserved that much from him. Painfully, Ace looked up at Deuce and flashed him a small smile. “Sure,” he replied.

The former delinquent smiled at him one last time before walking away back towards his house. Ace watched him go with tears blurring his vision. His chest ached and bottom lip trembled as his forced smile fell.

Stupid Deuce and his stupid fucking words that made him believe he was actually worth something. And those stupid fucking cherries. Why did he have to say all those things? Didn’t he know by now that Ace was just a lost cause? That he was something that couldn’t be fixed no matter how hard anyone tried? But if that was all a lie that he was telling himself, then what could Deuce see in him that he couldn’t?

“Dumbass,” he whispered as he finally let himself break down into quiet sobs.

He cried at the bus stop for a few more hours before he finally worked up the courage to call his brother to come pick him up.

Chapter Text

Over one year later, Deuce fidgeted anxiously in his seat in a sea of people in the matching ceremonial robes of Night Raven College. It still felt so surreal to be in the arcane academy’s Hall of Mirrors. He can still remember getting the acceptance letter in the mail, his mother beaming with pride with tears in her eyes. The two of them ate out to celebrate. Through all of the preparation for moving in and getting all of his supplies, he wished he could show Ace how far he’s come, if only to show that changing wasn’t impossible.

Don’t get him wrong, he still had a long way to go. After all, getting into the school was only the first step.

He tried and very much failed to sit still. He had no reason to be this nervous during the ceremony. He was just getting sorted into one of the dorms. He was already here. There was no need to start freaking out. Still, an irrational surge of anxiety flooded his veins as he watched each and every person that wasn’t him walk up to the mirror and have their dorm announced for the whole school to hear.

He was staring off into space, waiting for his turn when he suddenly saw a flash of familiar red walking past him towards the mirror.

He blinked a few times, staring at the figure as they adjusted their hood and hiding their hair from Deuce. He had to have just been imaging things. There’s no way Ace Trappola was at NRC with him too, even if his brother did go here too. Could’ve just been another student with red hair and he was overthinking it.

“State thy name,” the Dark Mirror boomed throughout the hall.

He was overthinking it. He was definitely just overthinking it.

“Ace! Ace Trappola!”

Great Seven he wasn’t overthinking it.

Deuce drowned out the rest of the words spoken by the Mirror, his gaze glued to the back of the boy’s head. Everything in the room suddenly melted away until it was just them. He could feel his heartbeat pounding in his chest the more he realized that Ace was actually standing in front of him. Everything about it felt surreal.

The first thing he noticed was that the robes looked like they actually fit him. And maybe they were tailored to be that way, but he no longer looked like the frail fourteen year old he first met in that dingy cell. He stood up straighter, his shoulders were more relaxed, and he was holding his head higher. Even though he couldn’t see his face, he just seemed to look and act so much better than when he saw him last.

When the Dark Mirror dismissed him and Ace turned around, Deuce could see how much healthier he actually looked. Granted, it could’ve been the makeup, but his skin didn’t look as pale, the bags under his eyes were gone, and there were zero bruises in sight. The most striking were his eyes. They didn’t hold that blank expression in them anymore. He actually seemed alive instead of a husk that could barely breathe without feeling pain. Deuce couldn’t help but smile at the sight of him, even though he was a hundred percent sure he looked stupid.

As Ace walked back to his seat, his gaze just so happened to lock onto Deuce. Their eyes met for the briefest moment, but it felt like an eternity. The redhead’s eyes widened slightly at the sight of his former friend sitting in the same hall as him. Something flickered in those red eyes. Deuce wasn’t sure what exactly, but for some reason, his heartbeat quickened at the sight.

But before he knew it, Ace just simply walked past him with nearly no acknowledgement besides a split second of eye contact. Deuce didn’t really know what he was expecting. After all, it had been over a year with zero word from the redhead. And they were in an important ceremony. They couldn’t exactly pull each other aside and talk to each other and catch up on all the crazy shit they could’ve gone through without each other's knowledge.

All of a sudden, an aching pit of loneliness and heartache that he had pushed down after those first few days made itself known. He forgot how much he missed that stupid asshole.

Before he knew it, he was being summoned by the Dark Mirror for his placement. He stood in front of the massive artifact, stated his name, and was announced to be in Heartslabyul. He took one look at his strict dorm leader and quickly returned to his seat, unable to think about anything but the fact that Ace was in fact alive and apparently going to school with him. It was like the universe was giving him a gift for all of the hard work he put into even getting here in the first place.

Just then, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Against his better judgment, he pulled it out to see a message from an unknown number. He could barely fight his smile when he read those two little words.

Hey dumbass :)

Deuce immediately typed back.

Sup asshole.

—

“Not gonna lie, I thought you were dead.”

“I lived, bitch.”

Deuce and Ace had just finished moving into their room and now the former couldn’t hold back any of his thoughts and feelings that’s been resurfacing ever since they saw each other. Despite the redhead immediately swearing at him, the former delinquent couldn’t help but smile. Even the way Ace talked seemed different, but in a good way. He sounded more sure of himself and spoke with less fear.

The two sat on their respective beds facing each other. “I didn’t think I’d see you again.”

Ace nodded in understanding, a sad smile spreading on his face. “That makes two of us.”

Deuce had so many questions on his mind, but the first one was, “What happened after we last saw each other?”

“I called my brother and he picked me up. Since then I’ve been jumping in between staying at his apartment and at my house,” he explained. “Life’s been weird with him suddenly taking a lot more interest in my life.”

“Does he know?”

Ace shook his head. “Don’t think so.”

That made Deuce frown, but then again- “You seem better though.”

The redhead considered his words and nodded slowly. “Yeah. I think I’m doing better. Everything’s just been kind of wack so hopefully being here will let me clear my head.” He flashed Deuce a devilish smile as he threw a stress ball at him. “What about you, honor student? How’s it been?”

Deuce caught the ball and looked down at it. He squeezed it a few times before replying, “Oh I don’t know. Kind of boring to be honest.”

Ace’s smile widened. “Gotta love boring.”

This conversation felt so surreal. Everything felt surreal. Deuce was worried he’d wake up back at home and this all ended up being some kind of horrible, amazing dream. “Yeah.”

A few moments of silence passed between them. In all honesty, as happy as they were to see each other, it felt weird to be talking to a guy that saw the worst parts of you and didn’t know you outside of that miserable version of yourself. Deuce felt like he was looking at an almost completely different version of Ace, and even though the redhead was hiding his emotions well, he could tell that he felt the same way. Where did they go from here? Could they even rebuild whatever relationship they lost?

“So, uh,” Ace started nervously, averting his gaze and scratching the back of his head, “are we gonna be cool?”

“What do you mean?” Deuce asked.

“I mean can we kind of pretend we don’t know each other?”

An unknown emotion stabbed right through Deuce’s heart. “Pretend we don’t know each other?”

Ace suddenly heard how he sounded and immediately backtracked. “No, no! That’s not what I meant! I just…” He took a breath before continuing. “I’m sure neither of us want to bring up… before.”

Ah. That made a lot more sense now. Deuce cringed internally at the thought of talking about his past with anyone that wasn’t Ace. “Oh, uh, yeah.”

“So I mean when making other friends just don’t bring up the fact that we used to know each other before coming here. That’s what I meant.”

The former delinquent nodded in understanding. “Yeah, I agree with that. No bringing up the fact that we used to know each other.” The two boys’ eyes met once again. “But we can still… go back to normal?”

Ace let out a quiet chuckle. “Whatever the new normal is.”

Deuce smiled back at him. “Alright.”

Suddenly, the redhead pulled his backpack up on his bed and fished out his laptop. “Anyways, as a roommate bonding exercise, I’m thinking we watch a movie.”

The two boys sat back on the floor and queued up a movie for the two of them to watch, and Deuce was way more excited for the rest of the year at Night Raven College.

Chapter Text

Life had been going good at Night Raven College all things considered. Deuce and Ace had witnessed and fought back against more overblots than was probably mentally healthy for them to, but it was almost like nothing between them had changed. The only difference was that everything felt easier. Ace spoke without much of a filter, which could be problematic, but the dark haired first year wouldn’t trade this Ace for the one he knew before. He was pretty sure the redhead shared the same sentiment.

Through all of the trauma and gruelling schoolwork, the two actually managed to make friends and share a friend group. It was nice to have friends that only expected them to be themselves. Deuce finally felt like things were turning around for him, despite some of the rough patches their colorful cast of flawed freshmen went through. Life was messy, but it was good.

“Why do you hang around him all the time?”

Deuce stared at Epel like he had grown two heads. He and the rest of his friend group (minus Ace) was sitting in the cafeteria chatting when Epel thought it was appropriate to ask such a dumb question. “What?”

“Ace. Why do you always hang out with him?”

“Because we’re…” Deuce wasn’t really sure what they were. When they were younger, the former delinquent had always seen him as a friend until Ace said he didn’t feel the same. Even though he was lying, the dark haired first year never really thought of Ace as a friend after that. He was more like… someone. Someone he shared the darkest part of himself with. Someone that was more special than a friend but wasn’t sure exactly how. “...friends?”

“Why do you stay friends with him?” Jack asked, taking a bite of his food that sat on his lunch tray.

“Excuse me?”

“I mean, he’s rude? He’s kind of a dick to you and the rest of us,” the Pomefiore freshman explained. “Why do you put up with his bullshit?”

Deuce felt strangely defensive of the redhead. They didn’t know this guy. Not really. They didn’t even really know him, so what gave them the right to judge his relationship with his roommate? “Why are you asking me that?” Deuce fired back at them, not appreciating how Yuu wasn’t saying anything in Ace’s defense.

“There must be some story behind your companionship,” Sebek declared.

The Heartslabyul student went red in the face. “Don’t call it that.”

“Then tell us! You and Ace clearly have something else going on that we don’t know about! You’re seriously gonna forgive him for calling you dumb at SDC?” Epel snapped impatiently.

He flinched slightly at that memory. In hindsight, he knew Ace didn’t really mean anything by it. He was just teasing him and Deuce blew up at him. It wasn’t either of their finest moments, and they’ve had plenty worse than that in the past. And if Deuce was being honest, their living disputes were more painful than that, as Ace usually ended up blaming himself for anything going wrong while they were living together. Ace just liked to tease him and be an asshole. It wasn’t like Deuce couldn’t dish it back out to him too.

“He apologized for that,” Deuce countered. And he did so very painfully but genuinely. Deuce still had to talk to Ace about how he’s just gotta suffer maybe a little bit of embarrassment when he apologizes and not a raging inferno of anger from the offended party.

“We just want to know if there’s any special reason you and Ace seem to get along so well despite you guys always seeming to argue,” Yuu clarified. “And don’t think you can lie. I’ve been suspecting that you two have something else going on since we first met.”

The boy’s face got redder. He didn’t want to ask what Yuu meant by that in front of everyone. Maybe later. “Well, if you’re really curious… We used to know each other.”

The table got quiet for a few moments. “I thought you said you didn’t know each other before coming here,” Epel said.

“Neither of us ever actually said that.”

“Makes sense though,” Jack followed. “How do you two know each other then?” Deuce cringed at the thought of explaining that bit of lore to them. He thought about lying, but he figured that everyone here was going to find out eventually.

Before he could respond, he felt a hand on his shoulder using him as a support as the figure climbed over the bench to sit down next to him. “We got into too much trouble and met in a police holding cell,” Ace explained nonchalantly as he sat down. He gave Deuce a soda from the vending machine and put it on his tray. “You owe me five thaumarks.”

“Thanks.”

“Hold up, you two got arrested together?” Epel questioned.

“Not together,” Deuce clarified. “I ended up getting into a fight and he was spray painting buildings. Just got arrested around the same time.”

Yuu turned to Ace, surprised. “You were a delinquent too?”

“Hey, I resent that label. I was a common vandal. I never did the things Juice here did.”

“You did get into one fight.”

“Well we didn’t get arrested so I don’t count that.”

Everyone at the table was dumbfounded. Most of them already knew about Deuce’s delinquent past but none of them knew about Ace’s past crossing over. In fact, none of them really knew much about Ace’s past at all. Never did they expect he’d also been a troubled kid back in the day.

“So, wait, you guys spent the night in jail together?” Yuu asked.

“A few times, yeah,” Deuce revealed.

“Jail has been a recurring occurrence?!” Sebek shouted. Everyone jumped at how loud the half fae’s voice was.

“How else would we have hung out?” Ace replied, taking a sip of his drink.

“There must be more to this story,” Ortho said, more invested than he thought he would be. “I find it hard to believe you two have stayed friends throughout your time as less than upstanding individuals.”

Ace and Deuce glanced at each other. “I mean, yeah, we lost touch for about a year,” the redhead explained.

“What happened?”

Their silence spoke volumes, but it seemed like the rest of their friends weren’t about to take that silence as an answer. “It’s not a fun story,” Deuce mumbled as he pushed his food around with his fork. “Neither of us were really… in the right headspace, at the time.”

“You guys get into a fight?” the Savanaclaw freshman asked.

“A little bit more than that, but yeah, that’s the gist.”

The gang could tell they weren’t going to get that much more out of them about whatever went down between them. At least not right now. “Well, clearly whatever happened wasn’t strong enough to keep you guys apart forever,” Yuu said.

“No it was not,” Ace replied. He said it in a way that should’ve been followed by a witty comment, but the redhead’s expressionless face said it all. He did not want to discuss “before.” As if realizing that he should end this conversation, he followed with, “Life’s just funny sometimes though, y’know?”

“Yeah,” the rest of the first years agreed.

The table fell into a somewhat awkward silence after that. The first years besides Ace and Deuce all glanced nervously at each other. Both of the boys’ attitudes changed almost as soon as they brought up whatever went down between them a year ago. Deuce was failing to act like everything was normal while Ace barely even looked up from his tray, his whole body tense. Despite the burning questions at the forefront of everyone’s minds, it was extremely obvious that they shouldn’t push this issue.

Still, there was one thing Yuu had to know. “So, like, even though you guys didn’t talk for a year and you had that whole mysterious fight, you’re just friends again?”

Ace and Deuce threw another brief glance at each other. “Uh, I guess?” Deuce replied unconvincingly. “Everything just went back to normal when we saw each other so…”

Yuu simply stared at Ace, waiting for him to respond to their question. When they made eye contact, the redhead simply shrugged. “What he said,” he followed.

“You said that in a suspicious way.”

“How was that suspicious?”

“Your reply was short and you’re not making any eye contact.”

“Can you not psychoanalyze me right now?”

“I’m just saying that you-”

“You know what?” Ace suddenly grabbed his tray and stood up. “I’ve lost my appetite.”

He quickly left the group without another word as everyone watched him leave in stunned silence. Everyone immediately turned to Yuu, who hummed thoughtfully. “What the hell was that about?” Deuce asked them. “You didn’t have to push him like that.”

“Don’t you think it’s weird he, and also you, didn’t specify that you were in fact friends?”

Before Deuce could even respond, Ortho chimed in, “Are you implying that Ace Trappola may have romantic feelings for Deuce Spade and/or vice versa?”

The former delinquent’s face went red. “What?!”

Yuu looked around at the rest of their friends, taking a sip of their drink. “Is it not obvious to the rest of you?”

Sebek nodded and mused thoughtfully, “It does make more sense with those implications.”

“I do not have a crush on Ace! And he definitely doesn’t have a crush on me!” Deuce argued, clearly flustered.

“Then why can’t you confidently say you’re just friends?” the prefect countered.

Deuce clamped his mouth shut before he said something that he shouldn’t. He could lie and say it was because of that fight he had with Ace at the hospital, but it was more than that. He couldn’t help but think that after that talk at the bus stop that their relationship had changed. And now that they reconnected, both of them mostly healed from their past actions and experiences, Deuce would be lying if he said that he only thought of their relationship as friendship. It ran deeper than that.

He didn’t want to think about how deep their connection actually went.

“I’m also not really hungry anymore,” he announced as he also stood up with his tray and walked away from the group.

Chapter Text

“Do you have any other jail stories to share?”

Ace and Deuce were sitting in Ramshackle with the rest of their friends when Yuu suddenly asked about people's childhood stories. Ace had shared one of the times he had been arrested, which just so happened to coincide with one of Deuce’s arrests. Ace had apparently graffitied on an important office building and Deuce had gotten into a fight with his gang. Neither of them were uncomfortable with telling the story, but they didn’t realize that it would open up a floodgate of curiosity for their friends.

“Well, there was the time I was caught shoplifting late at night,” Deuce said, scratching the back of his head nervously.

The rest of them ate it up, shocked yet curious expressions on their faces. “What did you try to steal?” Jack asked.

“Jewelry.”

Ace giggled, “How the hell did you think you were gonna pull that off? If it’s the jewelry store I’m thinking of then what the hell were you thinking?”

Deuce glared at him. “Like you weren’t fourteen, desperate, and stupid. And if I remember correctly, you also got arrested that night.”

“Eh, that’s fair.”

“What did you do that time?” Epel asked the redhead.

He shrugged his shoulders in response. “My usual bit of vandalism. Graffiti and a light bit of property damage. Just put my signature on the building. It was old and abandoned, no one really cared but the police.”

“I think that was the second time we saw each other at the station,” the dark haired Heartslabyul student mused.

“Yes it was.”

“I still think it’s kind of crazy how you two met,” Ortho said. “I would never imagine that you two would end up in a police holding cell multiple times over the course of your adolescence.”

The two boys shrugged sheepishly. “Fate I guess,” Ace replied.

“Kind of sucks that you don’t have any pictures to commemorate anything though,” Yuu said. “Even if there were bad times, I’d still want to look back and see how far I’ve come from at the very least.”

“Well the only thing you’d be able to find are our mugshots with Ortho’s crazy search engine with the ability to breach people’s privacy to an impressive degree. We’ve never taken a picture together once when we were younger.”

“Um, actually,” Deuce chimed in nervously, “I do have one picture of us together.”

Everyone, including Ace, whipped their heads towards the boy. The first years were all very interested in this while the former vandal looked like he might bolt out the door any second from now. Deuce knew he probably shouldn’t have said anything, but the words just slipped out. Besides, maybe seeing what they used to look like might finally quell their curiosity enough that they stopped asking for stories for a while.

“Well now you have to show us,” Epel said with a devilish grin.

“I admit that my interest is piqued,” Sebek followed, finally setting his book down to join the conversation. “I would like to see what you two looked like when you were younger.”

“Uh, I think we all would,” Yuu agreed enthusiastically.

“What picture do you have?” Ace asked, his tone coming out more nervous than playful.

Deuce opened his phone and began to scroll. “It’s just some picture my mom took of us when you spent the night that one time.” His tone was light but Ace could tell he was just as nervous to show this mysterious picture to their friends as he was. “I thought about deleting it but, uh, never did. Obviously.”

It took a few more seconds of tense scrolling until Deuce found the image. Everyone crowded around him to get a peek at the now infamous picture. It was of the two boys at Deuce’s house presumably eating breakfast. They seemed to be bickering, but they both had these smiles on their faces that made it seem like they were enjoying their argument. Ace had to admit, it was actually a pretty good picture of them. Except for Deuce’s stupid blonde hair ruining it.

“Wow, you two look so different,” Ortho said.

They really did. Not only were they covered in bruises in that picture, but they were younger and just… Yeah. They really did look different now. “I forgot how skinny I was,” Ace muttered, suddenly hyperaware of how he could no longer feel his skin stretching across his ribs twenty-four seven.

“You think you’re currently not skinny?” Yuu asked incredulously.

“I mean in the picture. Of course I know I’m currently still skinny.”

“What is wrong with your hair Spade?” Sebek inquired.

“I thought blonde hair was cool?” Deuce explained uncertainly, cringing at his life choices.

“Why are you both covered in bruises?” Jack questioned.

Ace and Deuce shared that secret glance that they had. How the hell were they going to explain this? “Well we got into a fight the night before,” Deuce started. “There were like ten guys that jumped us.”

“Holy shit no wonder then. You guys look like hell.”

Ace suddenly stood up and walked towards the kitchen. His roommate watched him go worriedly before continuing, “Yeah. It wasn’t a really fun night. We held our own pretty good though.”

“How’d you get out of it though? And how’d your parents react?” the Ramshackle prefect asked.

“Well, Ace actually showed up later and saved my ass. Completely knocked a guy out with one swing.”

“Swing?”

“Oh yeah. He had a baseball bat.”

“You actually thought I was punching people with my scrawny limbs?” Ace called from the kitchen, rifling through the fridge for lunch meat.

“I’m just concerned for the people that were attacked.”

“They were fine… Probably. Maybe some head trauma.”

Yuu shook their head. “What the fuck you two?”

“Hey! It wasn’t Deuce’s fault that I brought a weapon to the function!”

“Can you continue the story?” Epel asked.

Deuce threw another look Ace’s way that seemed to go unnoticed, so he continued to explain, “So basically, with Ace having a freaking bat and me who is pretty used to fighting, we were able to get out of it fairly easily actually. And then we just went back to my house and my mom was actually pretty okay with it? Like, she wasn’t happy that we got hurt but I think she was just happy that Ace was there to be honest.”

“How did your parents react, Ace?” asked the wolf beastman.

Ace tensed for a few moments before nonchalantly confessing, “They didn’t know shit. Neither did my brother.”

“What do you mean?” Ortho inquired.

“I mean they didn’t know and they still don’t know.”

“Your parents don’t know that you got jumped in the middle of the night,” Yuu stated.

The redhead sighed and just ended up pulling out a bottle of water. “No Yuu. They don’t know anything. You could say that they’re… less than involved in my life.”

Concern was etched into everyone’s face. “What do you mean by that?”

An evil, broken smirk stretched onto the boy’s face as he twisted open the cap and took a sip from the water bottle. “Well, since you’re all so curious, my parents are divorced, and I have not talked to my dad in years and my mom and brother are currently in the middle of a long court battle to win sole custody over me.”

Everyone’s eyes, including Deuce’s, widened. He didn’t know that that was something that was taking place. He was happy that Ace’s brother was fighting for him to get out of that wretched house but he was sure it was stressful for his roommate to endure. And if this was the first he was hearing about it, he couldn’t imagine how long it has already been going on for.

“Oh shit,” Jack whispered underneath his breath.

“Damn that’s…” the Pomefiore freshman trailed off.

“Do we even want to know why you are in this predicament in the first place Trappola?” Sebek asked, uncharacteristically soft.

“Oh you probably don’t. I’m sure you can imagine a hundred different reasons why this has happened and I can guarantee you none of them compares to the real thing.”

The room was filled with a tense silence, and Deuce couldn’t help but feel bad for his friends. This is what happened when you dug too deep into their past after all. It wasn’t pretty, and there were even worse stories to tell about their history. He figured he should say something to clear the air. Maybe try to make everyone feel better about the revelation that Ace had it rougher than anyone thought.

“Sorry about… whatever you’re going through with your family,” Yuu apologized sheepishly.

“It’s fine. I just don’t wanna talk about it.”

The room was quiet for a few more moments before Deuce was able to steer the topic back to something a little more lighthearted. Ace stayed away from the group, letting them chat about whatever anecdotes popped up from his and his roommate’s past. Deuce threw the boy a few more concerned looks before ultimately deciding to give him his space.

—

The two Heartslabyul freshmen were walking back to their dorm in silence after their hang out at Ramshackle. Deuce kept on nervously glancing at his tense roommate. He felt bad about sharing all that stuff about their past when they both agreed it was best if they kept it under wraps. And then Deuce ran his mouth and forced Ace to have to talk about his parents.

“Hey,” the dark haired boy started gently, “are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Ace replied, lying through his teeth.

“I’m sorry about-”

“You don’t have to be sorry. It’s not your fault.”

“But, you know, we agreed we wouldn’t really talk about anything that went on when we were younger.”

“So? I mean, yeah we said that, but they were always gonna find out eventually. They're our friends.”

“You shouldn’t have to talk about anything if you don’t want to though.”

The boys’ paces began to slow down. Ace frowned and simply shrugged his shoulders. His expression was neutral, but Deuce could tell that he was anxious. “Well, it doesn’t really matter now. At least they’ll stop asking so many questions.”

Hesitantly, Deuce reached out to comfort the redhead. His fingers tentatively brushed the back of Ace’s hand. The boy jumped in surprise at the contact. “Sorry,” the former delinquent apologized quickly. “Sorry. I just- I’m sorry about everything that’s been happening lately. It can’t be fun for you.”

Ace just stared at his counterpart for a few moments. The silence seemed to stretch on forever until the redhead let out a quiet sigh. “It’s better when you’re around,” he replied so timidly Deuce thought he might have misheard him. He didn’t get a chance to respond when he suddenly felt the boy’s hand grasp his own and begin to drag him along. “We’re gonna be late for the unbirthday party if we don’t hurry up.”

Deuce let himself be dragged along, watching the boy’s ears turn red. His own cheeks warmed up as he held back onto Ace's hand and continued to walk all the way back to the dorm like that. Both boys tried to ignore how their heartbeats began to speed up the longer they held hands for.

When they got back to the dorm, they both only held on tighter to each other, and Deuce started to believe that things between them were finally starting to make sense.

Chapter Text

Ace and Deuce sat with their upperclassmen in the lounge discussing their spring break plans. Cater seemed very adamant on visiting everyone in the Queendom of Roses at some point, so everyone had started offering up the times they would be available. So far, the people that were most free were the two freshmen of the group. Riddle’s schedule was packed with different internships and Trey had no clue when he would be free from work at the bakery.

“I guess Acey and Deucey are the only ones that truly love me,” Cater lamented dramatically.

Trey smirked and rolled his eyes fondly while Riddle took a sip of his tea. “Freshmen often don’t have as many obligations since the ones who do choose to intern often have their programs taking place over the summer,” the housewarden stated.

“Who said neither of us have jobs?” Ace fired back.

The second year gave the redhead a look. “And I am to believe you two have started applying for jobs?”

“I have applied for some.”

“And?”

“...There was no more room.”

Trey smiled sympathetically. “I’m sure the criminal record doesn’t make it easier.”

Ace frowned. “No it does not.”

The three upperclassmen had known that their two favorite freshmen knew each other before school started the moment they all met. It was obvious in the way that they talked to each other and interacted, always throwing each other looks they thought no one else noticed. When they finally told them how, they were a little shocked, but accepted their explanation and didn’t push for any more information.

“Well at least you don’t have to worry too much about income,” Cater followed. “A job isn’t totally necessary at the moment for you two. Assuming all is well of course.”

“Getting a job right now feels like it would be nice to have,” Deuce replied. “My mom’s been getting raises so money isn’t as tight, but it would be nice to have an extra bit of security.”

“Feel that,” Ace agreed.

“Anyways though, you two don’t have any vacations planned?” the ginger third year asked. “I’m surprised. I thought your families would plan something given that they haven’t seen you guys in so long.”

The redhead first year shrugged. “My brother tried to plan something, but that fell through due to… circumstances.”

Underneath the table, Deuce discreetly reached for Ace’s hand, giving it a comforting squeeze. Ace squeezed back. “My mom is planning a trip to the city. I know it’s not a vacation but we don’t go very often so I think it’s exciting. And we might do a weekend beach trip but I don’t know. We usually play it by ear,” the dark haired boy explained.

“Well that sounds fun,” Cater said with a grin. “Trey’s always telling me how nice the capital of the Queendom of Roses is. Maybe I’ll crash your trip as long as you and your mom don’t mind.”

“That’s fine. Ace is coming too so it’ll be like a mini Heartslabyul reunion.”

Riddle took another sip of his tea, hiding a small smirk. “You and Ace seem to have plans to hang out a lot over the break,” he pointed out.

Deuce was caught off guard a little. He thought it was kind of obvious that the two would be practically attached to the hip all spring. “Well, uh, yeah,” he stuttered. “The two of us are staying at my house the whole break.”

The three upperclassmen all exchanged glances. This was news to them. “That’s nice,” Riddle remarked carefully, “that you are able to spend the break together.”

“Yeah,” Ace replied, squeezing Deuce’s hand tighter.

“My mom was more than happy to have Ace stay over,” the former delinquent explained. “She actually likes him compared to all of my other friends I used to hang out with.”

“I’m sure,” Trey chuckled. He turned to the other first year and asked, “And you’re all good on your end? Everyone that needs to know where you are will know where you are right?”

Ace nodded. “Yep. I already told my brother so I’m all good. He’s gonna bring anything else I might need when we get back.”

“That’s good.”

Cater was practically beaming at his two freshmen. “Aw you two are so cute spending your break together. Not gonna lie I couldn’t imagine spending my break with my roommates, but I guess because you guys have known each other for so long it feels natural to spend so much time together.”

The two freshmen threw a glance at each other, both of their faces reddening. “W-well, I guess so,” the redhead replied.

“Don’t tease them, Cater,” Riddle chastised. “You don’t appreciate it when anyone teases you about you and Trey.”

“I- Yeah, you got me there.” The third year chuckled nervously as his counterpart shook his head with a fond smile. He pressed a kiss to Cater’s temple, causing him to go completely red in the face. “Love you too Trey.”

Deuce felt Ace’s hand squeeze his even tighter. The former gave the latter a brief glance, seeing his face flushed with embarrassment. Deuce’s heart beat a mile a minute as he traced circles on the back of Ace’s hand soothingly. “You two are disgusting,” Ace said.

“Yeah yeah you’ll get comfortable showing affection one day Acey.”

“I would like to ask you a question, Ace,” the second year suddenly requested.

“Yeah?”

“Are you seeing your mother at all this spring break?”

The whole room seemed to tense for a moment. They all knew about Ace and his less than cordial relationship with his mother through mostly some jail stories and inferences, but no one really knew what Ace’s mother was like. They could assume what happened, but they didn’t know the full story. They would all wait until Ace was comfortable enough to tell them about it.

The first year quickly replied, “No. My brother was granted emergency custody and I got a restraining order so no seeing her until the trial.”

“Good. I would appreciate it if you did not come back to school with life threatening injuries. Either of you.”

“We won’t, Riddle,” Deuce promised.

Cater slung an arm around Trey, leaning close to his boyfriend as he said, “Don’t worry Riddle! Your beloved upperclassmen will make sure these two freshies don’t get into too much trouble while on break!”

Riddle smiled at the third year. “I will eventually join you all once I figure out where I am able to fit free time in my schedule. I am excited at the possibility of meeting up with all of you at least once over the break.”

“Yay! This is gonna be so fun!” Cater cheered. He unlatched himself from Trey and stood up. “Now, I gotta pack up the rest of my stuff, but I’ll talk to you all later, kk?” He gave his boyfriend a quick peck on the lips before retreating back towards his dorm room.

“Guess I’ll go help him,” Trey said as he stood up, “but yeah. Whenever you guys wanna hang out, just text the group chat and I’ll talk to my parents about leaving the bakery.”

“I suppose I’ll finish packing as well, but I look forward to seeing you all over the break,” Riddle announced as he also stood up to return back to his own dorm.

As the two upperclassmen left, Ace and Deuce continued to sit there, hands still clasped together. Both of them could feel their growing excitement as the realization of spring break starting tomorrow settled over them. Deuce looked over at his counterpart, who was barely containing his smile. “What’s up?” he asked him.

“Nothing. Just finally feels like life is going right for once.” He suddenly became shy, looking away as a cute blush bloomed across his cheeks. “Plus, I’m actually excited to go back for once. And it’ll be nice to hang out and stuff.”

Deuce couldn’t help the big grin that spread on his face. He gave Ace’s hand a gentle squeeze before standing up to return to their room. “We should probably finish packing too and hope we don’t forget anything.”

Ace stood too, still holding onto his roommate’s hand. The two walked back to their room, excited for the new changes spring break would bring.

Chapter Text

Ace set his bag on the floor as Deuce prepared his bedroom floor so the two of them could sleep comfortably. “You can sleep in your bed you know,” Ace said timidly. “You don’t have to sleep on the floor with me.”

“Well since my bed is a little too small for the both of us to sleep comfortably I figured I’d just sleep on the floor with you,” he explained like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “It’s not fair if I get to be comfortable and you don’t.”

Ace looked away guiltily. “I’ve learned I can’t stop you so okay.”

Deuce finished laying down the blankets and replied, “Well it’s not like it’s the summer. It’s only a week and a half of spring break that we’ll be sleeping like this.”

“I guess you’re right.”

The two freshmen sat down on their makeshift sleeping arrangement, unsure of what to do. The last time they were both in this room felt like forever ago, and it was hard not to think back to those times as they stared at each other. They both knew and acknowledged how far they’ve come in the past two-ish years. But that didn’t stop those painful memories from resurfacing.

“Kind of crazy that we both go to the same school,” Deuce said, scratching the back of his head.

“You’re still on about that? It’s nearly been a year man,” Ace giggled.

“I know I know but I still think it’s crazy.”

“I think it’s crazier that we ended up roommates.”

“Yeah.”

Ace suddenly leaned back and began to lay on the floor. He let out a quiet sigh as he stared up at the ceiling. Deuce moved to lay down next to him. “Thanks for letting me crash,” Ace said. “I know you guys still aren’t the most financially stable and it’s probably harder now that I’m here.”

“Don’t worry about it. You’re more than happy to come over any time you want. My mom loves you,” Deuce said.

“Oh yeah?” The redhead turned to his side to face his counterpart, smirking. “I’m sure. Do you talk about me all the time to her or something?”

The dark haired boy flushed a deep crimson. “Kind of.”

His playful smirk fell. “Oh.”

Deuce also turned over to face Ace, and the redhead suddenly realized how close they were. He averted his cherry red eyes, feeling his face heat up. He could practically see the words waiting to be released from Deuce’s tongue, but it still didn’t prepare him for the actual sentence to leave the boy’s mouth. “I want to ask you a question but I need you to promise me you’re not gonna freak out.”

Ace already knew the question and he was already freaking out. “Sure.”

“What are we?”

Both of their hearts began to beat faster now that the question was out there. They knew they’d have to talk about it all at some point. Since that moment at the bus stop, things weren’t ever really the same, even when they reunited at NRC. There was always something there that felt like it went beyond the normal bonds of friendship. Something deeper, something raw, something that made them both feel inherently vulnerable whenever they locked eyes.

“I don’t… I don’t know,” Ace mumbled. “Can’t we just be us?”

“Well, you know me. I’m terrible at social cues.” Deuce reached for Ace’s hand. The redhead’s face got redder as his counterpart gently rubbed his thumb over the scar that marred the back of his hand. “I don’t wanna fuck up our relationship again.”

Ace understood that, which was why he was so scared to actually talk about his feelings and what that actually meant for the two of them. “Okay. Yeah. That’s fine then. And that wasn’t really your fault by the way.”

He shrugged. “Still, I don’t want there to be any questions about what we are to each other.” Deuce scooted a little bit closer, his gaze softening. “I know you hate talking about your feelings but this is important to me. You’re important to me.”

Sometimes, Ace wished Deuce would keep his mouth shut. He squeezed his hand a bit tighter. “Yeah. You’re important to me too.”

“I can talk first if you don’t want to.” The redhead nodded wordlessly. Deuce wasted no time getting into it. “I think even back then I might’ve liked you more than a friend. Every time we talked I wished we were able to talk longer. You just have this way of making me feel like things can go right even when shit is going horribly. When you’re not around I find myself wishing I could talk to you. Even during the year we didn’t talk I still thought about you, and now that you’re back I don’t want to lose you again. But overall, I just want you to be happy, because seeing you happy makes me happy. So if you want things to stay the same I’m more than happy to do that.”

Ace simply stared at his counterpart for a few moments. The longer those cherry red eyes bore through Deuce, the more shy and red he became. He was usually pretty good at reading the other boy at this point, but there were still moments like this where doubts began to creep into his mind.

The boy suddenly smiled. “You know you’re an idiot right?”

A small surge of frustration ran through Deuce’s veins. “I literally just bared my soul to you and you’re calling me an idiot? You-”

He was suddenly cut off by Ace’s hand finding his face and caressing it gently before capturing his lips in a gentle kiss. Almost immediately, Deuce began to kiss back, both of their hearts beating together. All of their thoughts melted away, replaced with the warmth of their care for each other. Everything finally felt right, and Deuce couldn’t help but smile against Ace’s lips as they pressed impossibly closer.

When they separated, they each had a stupid grin on their face. “Dumbass,” Ace said.

“Asshole,” Deuce replied.

They both met for another kiss, and things finally felt complete.