A penny for my thoughts?

Get to know about me! (I guess)

Call me Achi

He/She/Them

I am a multishipper mess, writer and also a artist

English is not my first language, so you might encounter some wrong grammar/spelling/sentences here and there but I'm trying to improve!

I've known Tumblr for so long but this is my first time really using it, so there might be some parts where I don't know what to do here hehe

Won't take any request, I don't want to make empty promises again, but I do love to hear your thoughts and ideas relating to the fandoms I'm in. So you are free to talk to me through the ask box. Who knows, I might write about those, no promises.

Fandoms I'm in right now:

Genshin impact

A3! (Act! Addict! Actors) (main)

Bungou Stray Dogs

Ouran High School Host Club (OHSHC)

Twisted wonderland

Old art I made for my school work. Been sitting to my wips folder for so long and I like how I finished this because I'll use this to pass for my assignment lol

Pose ref is based from the cover song here, pls check it out.

Ever since I saw the cover song art my mind and hand immediately said jubansaku. If no one's gonna do it then I will.

Your first thought to Ace Trappola, is what most people first think of when they first meet him.

An asshole.

At first, he looked like a pretty nice kid. The way he stood and talked to you and Grim when you first met him, you can tell he's one of the kids who's a carefree yet chill person that many can get along with.

Until he decided to say something that contradicts to your thoughts about him.

First impressions are important. This will be the first thing people will immediately take notice of you and it'll be part of your identity that will haunt you forever in the place you made an impression off, no matter how good or bad those are. First impressions have a long-lasting impact on everyone, so everyone is careful when giving their first impression, be it to someplace or to someone. So for him to do and say that to you just to have shit and giggles all to himself and make fun and insult the source of his "entertainment" along the way, make your first impression of him take a 180-degree turn.

From a carefree, kind person, turned into an A-class jerk.

Your mouth stays hanging open as you watch him chuckle at both of your reactions to what he just did. You can feel Grim's fur rise and puff under your (S/c) fingertips along with his slow change of stance like he's ready to pounce at him with a claw ready to be scratched on his face. 

You tighten your grip on him, but that didn't help both of your cases to what Ace said next.

"Unlike you two, I actually have classes to attend. Keep this school squeaky clean, you two~"

You silently hope those words won't snap Grim's self-control.

"This jerk!" You heard Grim hissed.

You spoke too soon.

"He's just gonna say that and leave! I'm ticked off!" Grim said as he jumped off to your hold and ran straight to Ace who's walking away.

You heard him take a deep breath, and with an exhale, everything fell out of place. 

Because of what Ace did, chaos ensued.

You stay in your place as you watch Grim put the streets on fire. You silently hope those fire hurt Ace, just for a tiny bit.

Through the chaos, another one took place. 

"Aaaaaah! Crap! The Queen of Hearts' statue is charred!"

You sigh and rub both sides of your temple to soothe the migrating headaches just by being alone with these two.

From one chaos to another, it attracts another one because apparently, the world loves to make you suffer.

"As punishment, I order the three of you to wash 100 windows around campus!" The Headmaster, Dire Crowley, announces to you, Grim and Ace, after tying up both idiots Ace and Grim from his kinky weapon 'lash of love', gaining three of your attention.

You're not even shocked by the punishment given to the three of you, though you thought the punishment that will be given to you three will be harsher than the latter. You've been through worse, so cleaning 100 windows is far away from the “worse shits you experience from your entire life”. This punishment is basically doing manual labor like you always do from your world, so this will be a piece of cake for you.

But for the others...

"Nyaaa!?" "Eeeh!?" Both idiots exclaim at the same time.

"It's all cause this joker was making fun of us!" Grim added while pointing his paw to Ace tied up next to him, accusing the man who started it all.

"Me too?" Ace also adds while looking at Crowley with wide eyes.

"Most definitely!" Crowley confirmed. "After school, meet in the cafeteria. Understood?"

You reap what you sow, bitch.

You heard Ace sigh in defeat. "Fiiine..."

Serves him right. You thought with a smug tone. You hid your grin behind your (S/c) hand as you watched both of them wallow in misery.

Overall, your first thought about Ace Trappola? Yep, he's an asshole.

-----------------------------

You're at your fucking limit.

Instead of cleaning the 100 windows as a form of punishment and finally go home to take a nice long-deserved bath and sleep, you get roped to a new chaos. 

But hey, you met someone that helped you capture Ace after trying to ditch punishment like a bitch he is. He used a cauldron, out of all objects or ways he can think through, to capture him and you never felt so satisfying as you watch the cauldron fall down to his head and squish him like an annoying ant he is. 

It was beautiful, it was breathtaking to watch it all happen to your (E/c) eyes. You love the show and have mad respect for the guy who helped you and Grim.

He introduced himself. Deuce Spade, the name fits because of the spade located beside his right eye. He's kind and has the looks like he had the same mentality and brain cells as yours, so you really hope to God or whatever the "Seven" you keep hearing others say when they're in your position that he won't do something stupid that will change your opinion about him.

Once again, you spoke too soon when you watch the chandelier fell down in front of you and Deuce, reminds you of the musical film 'Phantom of the Opera' you watch on one of the illegal websites ever since it came out since you don't have any money to buy tickets and watch it on the movie theater.

It's a great show, but that's not what you need to worry about right now. You just watch a chandelier fall down in front of the both of you while Grim and Ace are on top of it. The cause of its fall? Deuce threw Ace there just to get Grim. There goes of knowing someone who's sane like you, then again, do you even have the right to say those? 

You sometimes wonder how both of them manage to survive from the fall and so does to the both of you when you and Deuce are literally near to where the chandelier falls. There's abound that the materials attached to the chandelier will separate itself from the object and spread itself to the area around them due to the impact between the chandelier and the ground, so there's a bound that someone will get injured, yet, all of you miraculously came out unharmed.

You sometimes wonder if you should've gained an injury there so you have an excuse to leave the place and finally rest, but you know how the world is to you, you can even hear the world whisper something to you.

Join the suffering.

So you get roped to bringing a magic crystal to the Headmaster located on the Dwarfs' Mine so all of you can still stay at the school, not like Crowley can toss you out since you have nowhere else to go. If he ever did, let's see if his ego still exists when you ask him what happened to his 'graciousness' that he keeps mentioning every single time he did something good like he's trying to justify as to why he's doing those things.

But another instance occurred when ghosts had been haunting the place because it was apparently abandoned for a very long time. There's also this big monster that looks like a miner because of the pickax it holds and wields like a weapon, its face looks like it's made of glass base on the cracks it had, and oh my god is that ink running down to its face and body?

Well, whether it is ink or not, it started chasing after you and the others, so you have no time to deduce if it's ink or not.

Which leads you all here.

"Stuff you're good at, you can go off instinct."

Once again, you rub both of your temples as Deuce made a rebuttal to what Ace said. You silently decide to add medicines to lessen headaches as "one of the important things to buy once you earn cash". You can hear Ace, Deuce, and Grim screaming in the background as you try to calm your nerves, so you can think of a plan on how they can make it through this challenge and survive the day.

So you can go back to the stone mattress that you call bed and cast this all aside, for now. 

"However, judging by the chandelier incident, you're a complete idiot." You heard Ace say to Deuce which made him sputter. "You couldn't land a single hit earlier, but now you'll 'figure it out'? It's going to end the same."

A helpful opinion, that you won't admit it to his face but he's edging him to snap instead of helping him to correct himself. You're this close to snapping at the three of them now.

You can already feel Deuce pop a veil from what Ace said, which stands you corrected when you heard him grit his teeth, loudly.

"Come again!?" You heard Deuce sneer which didn't help the growing migraines one bit. "You think..."

"Here they go again.." You heard Grim mutter.

Like you said before this all happened, you're at your fucking limit. And this situation is not helping you one bit. 

So you can't blame yourself that you finally snap at them.

"Will you two knock it off!!"

Your outburst causes the three to jump on their stance -which was kind of funny to watch- before turning their attention to you.

"Waah! Why are you shouting all of the sudden?" Grim asks, voice and face are full of alarm.

Now with their attention on you, you finally gave them some piece of your mind. Sure they're kind of harsh, but they really need to hear those. What Ace said not too long ago from Deuce made you realize that you also need to wake them up, not just Deuce but also him and Grim. As mean as he said those, he's kind of right, and as rude and had no filter those mouth of his, those are actually important and needed to be used most of all in a situation like this. You definitely won't admit that you just complimented his blunt tongue to him even if you're six feet underground.

Though, when you told them that you all should work together because of the strategy you come up with out of whim, why are they looking at you like you just lost your goddamn mind? Does the definition of 'teamwork' does not exist in this world? 

What a load of self-centered pricks then. What's the point of even going to school?

But hey, at least they reluctantly agree to work together and listen to your plan. 

"You... really think it'll go as planned? I'm sca... no, just nervous." You heard Grim say, pretty sure trying to reassure himself more than doubting your plan.

"Better than nothing." Your simple reply.

"You're too stiff." Ace points out to Grim with a chuckle. "Just go with the flow." He tried to advice.

"So let's get this over with!" 

And you never agree to Ace's last words so fast as the three of you start making your way back to the mine with a strategy in each mind.

-----------------------------

"Eh!? You really went to Dwarfs' Mine to find a magic crystal?" Crowley asks them, voice astonished.

A moment of silence passes by them. Till hell breaks lose.

"Eeeh!?" The loud trio exclaimed.

Meanwhile, you facepalm after many attempts of not doing so in front of them.

Apparently the Headmaster didn't expect them to really go that far to go the Dwarfs' Mine and try to get the magic crystal, he even prepared paperwork for their expulsion. This explanation leads to another one when Grim mentions about the 'crazy beast' they were fighting off not too long ago. The entire explanation took so long that they manage to reach the end of it when they step foot to the Headmaster's office.

"A mysterious monster living in the coal mine. The four of you worked together to defeat it and bring back a magic crystal?" Crowley overall summarizes your explanation with a chuckle, like what he just heard is a joke.

"Basically." You answer with a half shrug.

Meanwhile, the trio tries to deny the 'teamwork" they just pulled as their reply.

But those denials they made fell on deaf ears and the Headmaster's sudden outburst of tears are the proof of it. 

"In all these years that I've been Headmaster..." He sniffs. "For the day to come that students from Night Raven College go hand-in-hand to face and defeat their enemy!" He continues with a sob.

"What!? I did not hold this guy's hand!" Deuce immediately rebut and took a step back like that personally hit him with a disgusted look.

"I would never do that, gross!" Ace agrees with a face scrunched up like Deuce.

"Why the fuck are you both talking like holding hands is some sort of kinky shit?!"

"Language child!" Crowley exclaimed with glowing golden eyes(?) narrowed to your way.

You dryly swallow while you raise both of your hands as a sign of defeat.

After he nags at you for cursing out loud, he starts rambling some random bullshit that you have a talent of some kind of beat tamer that the school desperately needs right now because of its students who are mostly prideful, egotistic, self-centered, and selfish bastards, which you can't help but agree to every insult he spouts about his students because really, he's right. You already saw those traits just from the three idiots alone, so you're not even shocked and surprised if the entire students of this school are also like that.

And with that thought, this is where Crowley decided to drop a bomb, by letting you and Grim enroll in his school as one student. You didn't expect this sudden level up, nor the change in occupation, but with the way Grim looks so happy at the news, you can't help but just go along with it.

Though, you didn't expect another responsibility to be placed on your shoulder when Ace and Deuce decided to open their fucking mouth.

"Aha! Look at you." Ace said as he placed one of his elbows to your shoulder as he leaned his weight to you as a support. "School's just started, and you're already a supervisor?" He added with a cheeky smile sent to your way.

"I see. There's only the two of you in your dorm after all..." Deuce mutters. "So if you've been entrusted with supervising Grim, that makes you a supervisor." 

Ace huffs "Isn't that unheard of?" He asks, which, jeez, thanks for the confidence.

"For there to be a supervisor student who is unable to use magic." He continues but mutters the last words, suddenly deep in thought.

Ace slowly hums and soon raises his head to nod to your way, cheeky smile is still there but softens a bit.

It shocks you, to say the least.

"Nice! It's cool! A supervisor student who is unable to use magic!"

You slowly blink. You didn't expect him to say that. You didn't expect him to say anything good about you at all. You expected him to throw a fuss about you getting an easy way into the school despite having no magic. So really, you didn't expect him, a jerk self-centered bastard, to compliment you. 

For him to say that maybe his view of you changed ever since you three went to the mine. 

or maybe the Headmaster's idea is actually a good one after all?

"I'm not sure about this..." You mutter with a pout.

Ace laughs at your misery like a jerk he is "Good luck, Supervisor!" He tries to encourages you with a closed eye smile sent your way.

Your eyes widen.

With one of his elbows still placed to one of your shoulders, you now realize the distance between you both is smaller than you thought for it toes the line of the distance that 'acquaintances' must not have. You also realize you get to see his face up close and personal.

And what you saw and realized made your heart stop beating for a second. 

It's a weird feeling, this is the first time you ever felt this. Normally, people who go to your personal space as they own it make you wanna die internally which makes you immediately take a step back, but here, you don't mind the sudden invasion of personal space he did.

Maybe it's the lack of sleep that makes you like this or your sudden agreement that yeah, he kinda does have a cute face for someone who's a cheeky bastard to them not too long ago, but whatever it is, that moment, it kind of felt.....intimate, to say at least.

But of course, the moment had to be ruined by the Headmaster when he decided to give you another duty like being a Prefect to the old dorm and a new student is not enough to make you suffer.

but you wonder, if his views about you change, maybe your views about him can change as well

-----------------------------

You spoke too soon.

"Okay.." you start off with a sigh as you let your weight drop to the clean and fixed sofa that you and the ghosts manage to salvage. 

"What did you do this time?" You continue with a glare straight to Ace who's sitting cross-legged on the floor while busy looking everywhere except you.

You sigh again while you rub both sides of your temples, feeling headaches forming already just by seeing him sitting on the floor with a nervous look and what looks like a collar wrapped around his neck. You turn your attention to the hanging clock that you miraculously found working in the dorm to see its three in the morning, which means you got four hours of sleep so far, and it's still not enough after what you've dealt with not too long ago.

You wonder who's fault is that as you bring your attention back to Ace.

"Ace." You call his name with a tone of obvious doubt and disappointment.

Ace immediately looks back at you with a glare that soon changes when his eyebrows knit together.

You raise an eyebrow, why is he looking at you like he's worried? It's creeping you out.

"Nyeh?! What happened to your voice henchman?" You heard Grim's voice vibrate to the lounge which you might add, making your ears hurt.

You slowly blink. Huh, now that you think about it, you haven't drunk any water at all. After yesterday's events, your body immediately screams sleep as soon as you come back home, not caring to do any other necessities that humans must do before going to sleep. You remember you're on the verge of passing out once you made it to the bedroom before everything went to black.

Maybe you did pass out there. You woke up on the floor and not on the bed like you hope to.

"Here."

Your train of thought vanishes when you see a glass cup full of water dangling to your face. You slowly raise your (S/c) hands and gently grab the item in front of you. Your palms felt the sudden cold the cup has, but that didn't stop the warmth spreading within you when you turned your attention away to the glass and face the person who gave those which appeared to be Ace. 

You watch him a scratch behind his head while avoiding your gaze with a slight pout. "Your too busy doing some monologue shit in your mind so I took the liberty to get one for you. Don't want you dyin' already when you haven't help me with these yet." He said while pointing his other hand to the collar wrap around his neck.

You watch him turn his head further away from your view, but that didn't stop you from seeing red hues appearing on his skin which you can't help but smile.

He actually cares, but his ego is on the line so he won't admit it.

You chuckle, which got you a slight grumble from him in return. "Didn't know you also swear."

"Yeah, wonder where I got it."

That made you laugh a little, missing the sudden widening of red eyes directed in your way along with the sudden redness of his face just from seeing you laugh. The smile still hasn't left your lips as you finally drink the refreshing water until nothing is left.

You left out a content sigh as you finished drinking. You place the empty glass cup to the table and face Ace who's silent on his seat but now looking back at you, red flush gone like the moment didn't happen at all.

For a man who has a mischievous personality, he can be caring sometimes. Everything starts to fall into place now.

"Don't think this will help you escape my interrogation."

"Dammit."

-----------------------------

You really need to stop speaking stuff too soon.

"Being negligent on the first day, are we~?" 

Your fist tightens. You can feel a vein on the verge of coming out to how pissed you are. You can feel Ace’s smirk widen just to your reaction alone and you want to punch his face so bad all you will ever see there is red and purple.

But you too had to hold your grudge for your ego.

"So, d’ya want us to help you catch Grim?" Ace asks, a cocky smirk that's really tempting to get rid of by a punch still plaster to his face.

You can tell from that question and smirk alone, he'll ask for something in return.

For a person who begged you to help him apologize to his Prefect so he can remove the collar on his neck, he sure thought he won't pay you back.

So does helping him solve his problem already sound like a pretty good repayment? Then again, you already agree to help him without expecting anything in return. Yeah, you can change it by mentioning that you're already giving him a solid by helping him, but it might make you look like a stuck-up jerk, which reminds you of him.

And you don't want to be like him.

You click your tongue. You're too kind for this. So, swallowing your pride again, you bow in front of them.

"Please!" 

Chasing Grim on a magical school academy alone will take you a while to find him, most of all if this said creature is a sneaky bitch that can slither away easily like some kind of snake. Plus, the school is large and looking at him by yourself might take you years to find him.

"I want some chocolate croissant from the canteen!" 

Your fist tightens, is he serious?

"Then, I shall have some café latte from the cafeteria." 

Are they serious?!

You grit your teeth. There goes the allowance the Headmaster gave to you.

"Haah~?" You heard Ace ask as he plasters himself to your side. You side-eye him to see him one hand on his ear with his signature smirk still present to his face like he knows what you're thinking about.

"Can't hear what you sayin' over here~" he taunts.

He's so lucky you need him right now or you probably sent him to the infirmary.

"Okay! As you wish!" You recoil with a sneer to your words sent to their way, or more specifically, to Ace.

At least Deuce has the decency to look ashamed for the sudden request, -but only for a minute-, unlike the certain bastard whose smile widens like he just won something.

Which is basically true.

"And that’s a deal!" Ace said while he removed himself to your side. "Alright, shall we go help out our helpless friend, Deuce-kun~?" Ace asks Deuce who's already twisting his shoulder up and down.

"Sure thing, Ace-kun~" Deuce agrees with a sudden cheeky smile on his face. "I’m most looking forward to lunchtime."

Where's the ashamed look he sent to you three seconds ago?

You watch both of them nod to one another before taking off to hunt a certain cat raccoon. You stay where you are, watching both of their silhouettes disappear from afar. When their silhouettes slowly disappeared, you can't help but think of what Ace called to you.

Friend, huh.....

----------------------------- 

You're used to people making fun of you.

From when you were small till today, you can hear mocking words about you no matter where you are. You can even feel their judgment about you just from the way they stare at you. It's unnerving, but you got used to it, and that's not healthy at all. It's normal for everyone to have this kind of experience after all.

But that doesn't mean it's healthy to keep experiencing it.

Your shock that you haven't exploded at all. You did let your emotions get the best of you through some parts of your life, most of all when the world decided to drag you deeper to the darker parts of your mind and the mocking whispers about you either upfront or behind your back didn't help you at all. So when your outburst takes over you, regret immediately follows. 

You never wanted to feel so hollow again after every outburst, so you bottle them up and continue living your day. You pretend that the insults they spit about you come and go to your ears -when truly, those insults make you insecure more each day- and add the emotions you felt about those said insults to your bottled up emotions, keeping it safe and out of harm for others who might feel your wrath. You sometimes open the bottle to de-stress yourself, and your mind mostly becomes the victim of your wrath.

But hey, it's better than someone.

So you never expect someone to stand up to you, nor try to defend you. These are the burdens that you will carry alone despite having new people that for the first time sees you as a person and not a laughing stock that surrounds you.

Really, it's fine for you to have all of these burdens alone to not make everyone worry.

"I’VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU!!"

So watching Ace do a right hook punch to Riddle, his Prefect no less, is the last thing you least expect to happen on your first week to this goddamn school.

Your mouth drops open as all of you watch Riddle fall down to the ground from the impact. You heard Trey, Cater, and the Headmaster call out Riddle's name behind you along with the whispers of other students about how Ace had guts to do something like that to their Prefect, you can't tell if those whispers are praise or disgust. Then again, do you even have the time to think those through when you have bigger problems to deal with? 

Like how Ace just fucking snap? 

You know he has guts, but you never knew his guts would resort to violence. You can see him as the type of person who'll destroy you just through words alone, but through action as well? That's him being a delinquent now instead of a "good boy" he imagines himself off.

But there's another thought that sinks in through your mind. 

Who knew Ace's breaking point was listening to Riddle insult you?

Even Deuce also breaks character a little. His eyes narrowed, both fist tightened and teeth grinding together, all of those that showed signs of full anger before coming back to his senses and just looked at Ace with his teal eyes wide open. If Trey didn't get a hold of him, you're pretty sure he'll be the one who'll do the first punch before Ace, which also ruins the "good role model" he tries to picture himself of. 

"That was a pretty clean right hook!" You heard Grim say on your right shoulder.

Despite everything that happened, you can't help but agree with what he just said.

You heard Deuce call for Ace behind you. Your (E/c) eyes watch Riddle slowly place his gloved hand to his cheek where Ace punched. His silver eyes are shocked yet dazed while staring back at Ace's red eyes as if he didn't expect someone to do that to him for his entire life. You saw him open his mouth and move but can't hear what he said due to the distance between you.

"Kids aren’t their parents’ trophies." Ace said as a start "Your parents aren’t the ones who get to decide what you’re worth. I finally understand that you being a trashy person isn’t your mom or dad’s fault at all!"

Actually, they are because through their actions, it influences him in the process. 

"You’ve been in this school for a year. And the one to blame is the bastard you call a friend who did nothing but turn a blind eye to your selfishness!"

Okay yeah, you're going to stop Ace there for a bit.

"It's his parent's fault!"

You can feel all eyes on you when you cut in through their conversation, or rather, their moment. You can't tell what emotions their eyes are telling and you prefer to never know. All eyes and attention on you always scare you, it feels like they're staring deep through yourself, it makes you feel naked. 

But you have to suck it up if you want others to hear your voice.

"First off, Ace, you're right but at the same time not!" You said with (E/c) eyes narrowed to Ace’s direction.

"Haaah?! Don't tell me he's the victim too?!" Ace asks with an offended tone like he's the one wrong here and not Riddle.

"Oya? Are we really watching a debate right now?" You heard Crowley say behind you.

"Oh~! Let me get some popcorn for this!" Followed by the familiar cheeky voice.

"I want mine tuna flavored!" You heard Grim voice soon followed, which made you become aware that he's not on your shoulder anymore and instead of chilling in the back with the others.

"Geh?! Since when did you get here senpai?!" You heard Deuce added.

"Is that flavor even a thing??" You heard Trey ask.

"As much as I'd like to have popcorn as well..Now's not the time.." You heard Cater said with a nervous chuckle.

"Ace, did you ever wonder why Trey never tries to reach out to Riddle in the first place?" You ask which you got a shake of his head as a response.

"It's because of his parents, the power his parents hold I mean. If they can influence Riddle the way he is today, what do you think if they did those to others as well? There's a power imbalance between them. You saw the power imbalance already right? You even do it first hand, remember? The very first day of school, as you being the student and me being the handyman." 

You heard Ace wince, along with the silent "Ooohhh" and "Bars bitch" of whoever those people in the back.

"If he tries to change him and word gets out that Riddle actually acts like this, do you ever wonder how long his voice lasts? I can already predict it won't even last for a day. That's reality, the one who has the power can twist other people's minds through money and pretty words alone to hide the truth. If he tries to show the world that his parents are massive dicks, most of all when he was at a young age at that time, tell me, who will the audience listen to? The child? Or the well-known magic doctor?"

"Fear stops him from reaching out, so I can understand his perspective, but that doesn't mean I don't understand yours as well."

You finally decided to make eye contact with Ace. Your narrowed (E/c) eyes met his wide red ones, you can tell he didn't expect you to agree to what he said which you can't blame him.

"Though as annoying as Ace is, I agree with some of his points." You continue and turn your attention to Trey who immediately shrunk at his stance from your stare. "You should've at least tried to reach out for him and correct his mistakes. You are given an opportunity to try and change him in this school, but instead, you still continue to turn a blind eye and let him act to what his parents want him to be. I can understand why you didn't correct him when you were young, but you're a third-year now! You're doing the same thing again at this point! His parents are not here inside the school, the people who scaring you make a move to change him long ago aren't here to stop you, so shouldn't you at least used this opportunity and try to reach out to him when he's so close to your reach right now?!"

"Instead, you continue wallowing yourself to your guilt that won't help you correct and guide your friend at all!"

said the person who's wallowing themself to their of lashing out because of their overwhelming emotions not too long ago

"If you at least tried to reach out. Not only it shows you made an effort but it also shows you care for him that you're willing to go up against the people who hold more power than you even if the attempt you made is only once. Friends are supposed to have each other's back no matter the consequences right? So why can't you do it? Is it really out of fear to face his parents? Or are you being selfish too by protecting yourself and your family if his parents become aware you're trying to change their son?"

You saw Trey froze at the last part before looking away. Ah, hit the nail there.

"In the end, both are victims and the ones at fault are Riddle's parents." You hit your fist lightly to your palm. "Court is adjourned."

You take a deep breath and slowly release it as soon as you're done talking. You notice that the area becomes silent besides your heavy breathing after you're done talking. It's scaring you to be honest.

You decided to book it and look back at the eyes that bother you. You saw Crowley silently slow clap along with the other mob students, Cater apparently recording the whole thing, Deuce, Grim, and Che'nya shoving popcorn to their faces like they just saw a god damn drama happened which is basically true, Trey hiding behind Deuce back, avoiding your gaze and lastly, Riddle and Ace still on their position but both had wide eyes from shock while looking back at you.

You saw Ace’s cheeks slowly turn red like Riddle's hair when your eyes met his. 

Thanks, these mixed reactions you're getting make you nervous now.

You watch him shake his head and look back at you with his face back to normal, but you can still see he's still flustered because his ears are still red.

Aw, how cute.

"Do ya really have to do that? What's this? Q&a of a beauty pageant or somethin'?"

And once again, he ruined the moment.

"Anyway!" He turned his attention back to Riddle "I understand that your mom raised you the way she did, but is “Mama this, Mama that” all you can say?! You’re not capable of thinking for yourself!?"

"NOW'S NOT THE TIME TO INSULT HIM-"

"To hell with that “Red Ruler” bullshit!" He cuts you off.

"You’re just a baby who happens to be gifted with magic!"

You saw Riddle's face slowly turn to red along with the anger that slowly morphs to his face.

Ah. You sigh.

You shouldn't have let Ace talk after yours. It ruins the moment.

-----------------------------

"Why did you defend me that time?"

You can feel Ace's attention and eyes turn to you, but you didn't stare back, instead chose to look ahead in front of you. 

"Defend you from what?" You heard him ask.

You sigh "From what Riddle said to me before he overblot silly."

What happened there was still fresh from your mind. Memories that you'd rather forget than remember, but despite wanting to forget, one thought continues to haunt your mind like a nightmare. It's eating your mind alive, wanting to get answers so it can finally shut up. 

So you ask him what's bothering you ever since that incident. It's a risky move, but it is worth the shot just to give peace to your mind and heart.

So why are you feeling like you're waiting for him to confess or something? From the way your hands sweat and your heart beats louder and a little bit faster through your chest than usual, you act like you confess your feelings to him and wait for his reply if he reciprocates it or not. 

You don't understand why you are acting like that. Since when did your heart beat faster whenever he's around? Since when did your smile get softer whenever you look at his way? Since when did your cheeks start to become warmer whenever he did something to you despite the constant teasing you get in return? Since when did your heart drop whenever your mind rewinds a memory where you almost lose him like a broken tape?

This feeling is new to you. It's warm and soft, a new sensation to feel and explore.

And you didn't mind exploring that sensation with him.

Your train of thought halts when you hear Ace scoff beside you.

"It's not like I intended to defend you there. It's just plain coincidence that I snap when he talk shit 'bout you."

"Oh." Your only reply to his answer.

For some reason, his reply made your heart drop. Of course, why would he even defend you in the first place when he's doing all of those for his own gain in the end? He didn't attack Riddle just because he's bullying you or anything, it's for him to remove the collar on his neck, making him realize his mistakes was an additional bonus. 

So why did it feel like you were rejected? 

You're not surprised by his reply, it's obvious after all.

but you can't help but feel disappointed with what you discovered

You lower your head to stare at your hands instead. You saw your sweaty (S/c) hands both clasps to one another shaking slightly, not noticeable but there. It's probably due to the anderline that you felt when you ran to the rose maze with Ace to hide from the certain Heartslabyul Prefect, which is why both of you are alone together in the garden maze right now instead of being part of the Unbirthday party. It's quiet, one that you can consider as awkward instead of a peaceful one. The only noise you can hear is the noises of the party in the distance, the caress of the wind to both of your hair and face, your fidgeting fingers, and the frantic beating of your heart. 

You guess it's better to hear those instead of your dark thoughts running through your head.

"But what Riddle said about you is stupid."

Your eyes widened in surprise, and here you thought its the end of the discussion about that topic. You slowly raise your head to look at him only to see his face turned away to you, hiding himself away from your prying eyes.

"Unlike him, you are capable of thinking for yourself. That brain of yours is really somethin' you know? The way you come up with plans is really something that never ceases to amaze me. Despite the troubles you brought, being with you has never been so boring! It's like, everydays' a new adventure waiting for us to conquer it! Which is why I trust you and that bastard brain of yours despite my constant whinings- Hey! Stop laughing! We're having a moment here!"

You can't help it. You laughed because you didn't expect that from him. You laughed because you felt relief. You laughed because you're happy that he's not rejecting you. You laughed because holy shit he's not only rejecting you but praising you. You laughed because you felt happy with what he saw in you. You laughed because what's with the description he described about you? You laughed, and laughed, and laughed till your throat went raw and tears gathered in the corners of your (E/c) eyes. 

Sure you may look like a lunatic in front of him, but you can't help it. You haven't laughed so genuinely for years, it's a great stress release after having a lot of bottled-up emotions gathered and trapped within your mind for years. It felt refreshing, it felt like a weight had been lifted off your shoulders, all thanks to that one bastard.

You cleared your throat and heard him let out a huff.

"Anyway, how you manage to survive this far is proof that you're an independent and capable person, so for Riddle to say all of that is just him spitting lies when he didn't know you at all and what you're capable of…." His words slowly turn soft and quiet in the last while he's staring at you. His mouth continues to close and open but no words come out while his red ruby eyes are wide, openly staring at you like he can't believe what he's seeing right now.

You noticed that the conversation between you quiet down and so does your openly staring at him too with a look of what can be overly described as a lovestruck stare.

It's sick, it's disgusting. Openly staring at someone like an idiot in love is weird and makes them uncomfortable.

But you can't help but look at him like that when he compliments you so openly like he's not afraid of the backlashes he might get. Maybe that's also one of the reasons you like about him, his blunt tongue that you didn't expect but do wonders.

Your thoughts shattered when you heard him groan out loud. 

"Stop looking at me like that!" He shouted at you while grabbing both sides of your shoulders to shake you. Missing the way his face is still flushed like he didn't want you to see that so he's diverting your eyes away from his face.

You can't help but let out a laugh again despite slowly becoming dizzy from the shake. "I can't help it!" You said with a giggle.

The shaking immediately stopped. You slowly open both of your eyes to see his face as red as Riddle's hair. 

"Stop looking!" He immediately said and turned his head away to yours.

You felt your smile morph into a teasing one. Oh how the tables had turned.

"What~ can't hear you!" You teased while you let your body and weight fall to his side, bringing yourself closer to his warm side.

He moves a little, giving a little bit of distance between you but you immediately shorten it, making him groan.

"I hate you." You heard him mutter. You can see his ears are still red, contradicting what he said.

"But you like me." You can't help but tease.

But he didn't accept nor deny what you said.

-----------------------------

"There you both are!"

"Shit he found us-"

"OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!"

Two high pitch screams that somehow manage to synchronize to one another echoed to the maze garden.

"This is all your fault!"

"How can this be my fault when you're the one who dragged me here!"

Deuce slowly blinked as he watched Ace and the Ramshackle Prefect had a screaming contest in the maze garden.

"Huh, never knew that Ace had someone to match him in fightin'." He heard Grim mutter from his shoulder. He felt Grim stare turn to him.

"And here I thought you and Ace are the one match made in war."

Deuce can't help but agree. Sure he and Ace fought a lot, but it won't rival on what's going on between Ace and the Prefect. It looks like something happened between them while staying in the deep part of the maze garden, but he can't point out what it is.

"Well, you're the one who's talking loud!"

Ace gasps, like he's offended "You bitch!"

"Never knew you'll make me your bitch this fast huh~"

Deuce watches Ace choke on his own saliva. He heard Riddle let out a loud gasp and Trey wheeze.

"The fight between them…" he heard Grim mutter again. "Are more of a romantic tension than a real fight."

Deuce slowly turns his head to his side to properly look at Grim. "Romantic tension…?" He asked.

He also heard his Prefect echo what he said.

"It's a-another form of fight!" Trey interjected himself.

Another...form of fight…

"Ah!" Deuce exclaimed and pound his fist to his other open palm. "I get it!"

"Yes! I truly understand!" Deuce said with a smile. 

As someone who experienced many fights, he probably understood the feeling between them too well. They're probably fighting because it's their way of talking to one another, to understand one another, truly a way to show they're on equal grounds.

He felt Trey's stare in his way, but he just ignored it because of how great Ace and the Prefect friendship grows. So with that in mind, he resumed watching two of his now good friends show their friendship through fighting. 

 -----------------------------

Your first thought to Ace Trappola, is what most people first think of when they first meet him.

An asshole.

But as time passed by and get to know him, he's a really great friend. He may be an asshole at heart, but the little ways he did that shows that he cares, and the words that may seem sounds harsh but always hold truth, shows that he sees you as an equal, that can slowly turn into friendship, and maybe, just maybe, something more.

But despite from that, he's still an asshole

Your idiotically, annoyingly, yet unfortunately lovable, asshole.

-----------------------------

- This is actually a very old fic I made ever since ghost bride rerun started. Never got the chance to finished it cause I didn’t got Ace there cri. That lovable btch.This fic was supposed to be more longer (there was also a scene from the ghost bride event) but decided to cut it off here cause it’s really long just for being a oneshot.

- Haha still had to cry over my assignments so I used this opportunity to write as practice before I start working again, college really sucks :’DD