#acenico

Nico’s room was exactly what Ace had expected it to be.

In that it was everything he hated about his own room.

Rather than horses, it was clear that MonoTV had gone for more of a general animal vibe with their decor, with the biggest emphasis being placed on cats. Various animal supplies and toys littered the room, and a carpeted cat tower was situated in one corner. Several stuffed animals were seated comfortably on the pawprint-blanketed bed, and even the large TV on their wall seemed to be displaying some kind of cutesy cat cartoon on a loop.

Aside from the lack of any real animals—as far as he could tell—the room gave off the same vibe as stepping into some random Mom-and-Pop-owned pet store that was a bit too passionate about what they did.

The realization that they were bringing someone new into their room suddenly shrank Nico's posture as the two of them stepped through the doorway. “Uh, feel free to sit anywhere,” they said, before making their way towards the bed. “I don’t have any tables or chairs that would work for eating at, so I usually just go to the cafeteria for my meals."

Rather than sit down on the bed itself, they opted to take a seat on the floor with their back pressed against the bedframe. "I don't like doing it, but it keeps me from getting crumbs everywhere and having to clean them up later."

Ace watched them settle, eyes narrowing with confusion. "Didn't you just say that you didn't have any chairs?" he asked, flicking a thumb towards the chair situated at the desk on the other side of the room. "The hell do you call that?"

"That's a desk chair, not an eating chair," they explained further. "Feel free to sit at my desk if you want to, though, I don't mind."

"Okay, so why the fuck don't you just eat at your desk?"

"It's a desk, not a table."

"It—fucking, whatever. Who gives a shit?"

After staring intensely at the desk for a few more seconds, Ace opted to storm his way past it completely—sliding down to the floor with his back to the adjacent wall. "It is kinda dumb how MonoTV didn't give us, like tables or whatever for our rooms," he muttered, setting the makeshift jacket-bag in his lap. "Bet that stupid robot did it on purpose, just so we didn’t spend all our time locked in our rooms."

“Maybe,” Nico replied. “Guess it would make for a pretty boring game if we did.”

"Tch, joke's on them. I don't plan on leaving my room or yours unless I have to at this point."

The sides of the jacket were peeled apart to reveal the gathered cans, one of which Ace pulled out to inspect before setting to the side. "What'd you snag for your stash?"

"Honestly, not much of substance," Nico said, as they began to shift through their own bag. "MonoTV did store a lot of unperishable food in the storage room. But a lot of it was stuff like crackers and nuts and other snack foods, so not exactly filling."

They pulled out a small, flat can. "I did find some tuna in there as well, but…"

"But what?" Ace asked sarcastically. "Not a good enough brand for you?"

"No, I…don't really like meat that much."

Their answer earned a raised eyebrow from Ace as he looked over to them. "You don't eat meat?"

"I mean, I can eat it in a pinch if I have to," Nico said, features scrunching with distaste. "But it's not my favorite thing in the world and I usually try to avoid eating it whenever possible."

Ace stared at them in genuine surprise for a moment more, before he shook his head and returned to his work. "Yeah, well…guess that makes two of us."

Nico tilted their head. "What do you mean?"

"I don't eat it either," he explained, setting another can aside. "Can't stand the feeling of having something that used to be alive in my mouth. Hell, I can barely stand the smell of it cooking sometimes. Just knowing that someone's got something dead roasting in their oven or on their grill is enough to make my stomach turn."

"Oh," Nico said with a thoughtful expression. "Huh, I never would've guess that—"

Ace's attention snapped back to them in an instant, gaze narrowed. "Never would've guessed what?"

"Ah, sorry—" they started quickly. "Nothing, I swear! It…it actually makes a lot of sense when you explain it like that. In fact, it's part of the reason I try and avoid it, as well. At least from distributors I'm not really familiar with, or ones I know don't treat their animals well while they're alive."

A scowl. "But figuring all of that out isn't always easy, so I usually just avoid eating meat entirely unless I have no better options. I just don't like the idea of eating an animal who wasn't treated well in life. Feels like such a cruel fate for them."

"Psh, figures your concern's with the animal part," Ace muttered. "I just don't wanna eat something I know had a heartbeat once. Feels…weird."

"Either way, my choices are usually pretty limited," Nico explained, setting the tuna aside. "So I'll just save it in case of an emergency. Probably won't taste as good without any mayonnaise, though, and I didn't grab any bread."

"Fuck—speaking of which, where'd that peanut butter go?"

Ace reached a hand deeper into the bag to try and feel around for the jar, his efforts earning nothing more than a wince and a sharp curse as his fingers smacked against metal. "God damn it, did I leave it back in the kitchen?"

"I think I heard Veronika mention something about bringing Arturo a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch," Nico said. "Said that Charles and Whit had been in the middle of making them when they went to the kitchen."

"Son of a bitch!" Ace hissed, tossing the bag aside in frustration. "I could've really used the protein!"

"Would peanut butter really be good for your stomach right now?" Nico asked, tilting their head. "After…well, what happened earlier?"

"Mind your business," Ace snapped, jutting a finger in their direction. "Actually, fuck it—go ahead and add that to the rules. Something something, no bringing up each other's secrets! If I ain't allowed to comment on your gender, you can't comment on my diet!"

"That phrasing seems a little…inaccurate," Nico pointed out. "I said you couldn't make fun of my gender, not that you couldn't comment on it at all. And I'm not really commenting on your diet so much as making sure you don't go and eat something that'll make you throw up again. I mean, we can't exactly look out for each other if you're too sick to focus, right?"

"Whatever, I don't wanna hear shit about my diet in any way!" Ace insisted sharply. "You think I don't know how to take care of myself?"

"…I didn't s—"

"Shut up, you know what I meant!"

"Okay, okay, fine."

They held up their hands, hair tufts flat against their head. "Fine, I'm not gonna say anything more about it. You probably do know your own body better than I ever could."

"Damn fucking right I do," Ace sneered back. "So just keep your mouth shut!"

Lips pursed, they returned to rummaging through their bag. "You know, I'm not trying to start a fight with you every time I say something."

"Oh, please," Ace scoffed. "We both know you've been itching to scrap with me from the goddamn start—"

"Am I the one who's been itching to fight, or are you the one who wants to fight?" Their gaze snapped back to him, irritated frown lowering further. "Because you seem to be the one jumping for a fight every time I say anything."

Ace bared a fist. "Oh, don't fucking pretend like you don't know what the fuck you've been doing—"

"I know what you think I've been doing," they interrupted firmly. "But I can tell you what I'm actually doing, and that isn't looking for a fight. Especially not now, when we’re supposed to be working together. Why would I want to fight you when that would just make things a lot harder for us to do that?"

Ace's shoulders tensed at their words. “Well…who gives a shit if you're not looking for a fight? You think that just because we’re working together doesn’t mean we’re not going to butt heads? Or did you expect us to hold hands and sing fucking Kumbaya?”

“No, I didn’t expect any of that,” Nico replied. “But I’m also not looking to start any fights with you, and especially not looking to end any fights with you.”

They cast him a cold look. “Especially since you already know how I’d end a fight…”

“Wh—are you threatening me, you little bastard?!”

“No, but I am telling you that I’m not going to keep fighting with you if we’re serious about working together,” Nico said. “And that if you do insist on fighting even when I don’t want to, I-I won’t be afraid to resort to ending a fight if I need to.”

Despite the stutter, they punctuated their sentence with a sharp glare. One that causes some of Ace’s vigour to falter, before he simply narrowed his eyes at them in return. “Tch, so you are threatening me.”

He returned his bag to his lap. “Think you’re so fucking tough now that you got in a lucky shot on me? Think just because you almost killed me that I’m suddenly gonna kiss the fuckin’ ground you walk on and bend over backwards to not get on your bad side—”

“No, I don’t.”

Once again, Ace found his attention being drawn back to Nico as they continued: “I don’t think I’m tough, and I definitely don’t expect you to do any of that to me. You don’t like me and I don’t like you, and I know nothing’s going to change that. Especially not after everything that's happened.”

They pulled a box of crackers out of their bag. “Which is why I don’t understand why you keep trying to start a fight with me. We already don’t like each other, and we’re trying so hard to actually work together to get out of here alive. Like I said before, why would you want to make that harder than it already is?”

“I…”

Ace’s features shifted in a number of ways—as if he wanted to argue their point, but simply couldn’t find the words—before finally pulling the can opener out of his bag with a huff of frustration. "Whatever…"

Instead of reaching for a can, however, he peered closely at the collection he'd gathered. "…Hey, did you bring that notebook from my room with you?"

Despite the affronted side-eye they cast at him, their head once again tilted to the side with mild curiosity. "Of course, why?"

"I wanna write down my food stock," he explained. "You know, keep track of both the food I got and what I might need later? I gotta make sure I'm getting the right amount of calories every day, and make sure my diet stays balanced."

The annoyance in their expression melted to a look of intrigue. "Oh! You mean like, if you're missing specific fruit or vegetables or a source of protein, you'll know what we need to grab the next time we need to step out to restock?"

"More or less," Ace said. "Plus I wanna keep track of what I have, just in case you decide to get cute and try to steal from me when I'm not looking."

"Cute?" Nico repeated in confusion. "…Wait, why would I steal from you when I have my own food right here?"

"Fuck if I know," Ace replied with a scoff. "I mean, you said you got nothing but snacks and junk, so you know my can stash is way better than your shitty snack bag. Maybe you're jealous enough to try and fix that, or whatever."

"…Uh-huh."

A snap of his fingers. "So hurry up and just toss it to m—wait, wait—"

His objections came too late, for the notebook had already left Nico's hands and was sailing right at his face—which it hit with perfect accuracy. "You little shit!"

"Catch," was Nico's deadpan reply before they returned to their bag.

With a growl, Ace yanked the notebook from his face. "Thought you weren't looking for a fight, jackass?"

"I'm not," Nico said. "But you were being a jerk and I felt it was the fairest and safest way to retaliate. You can toss it back at my face once you're done, if it makes you feel better."

Rather than oblige, Ace simply cast them a sneer before flipping to a fresh page and making a show of squinting hard at his stock of cans while he began to take notes. For the fit he had thrown about it earlier, there admittedly wasn't a whole lot in terms of food that would be good for his stomach after the reprised upheaval of his remaining stomach contents. He hadn't thought to snag any bags of rice (no way to cook it) or applesauce (none to be found in the cupboard he'd searched). The sliced carrots he'd grabbed might be the best option, although they'd be a lot better cooked than eaten straight out of the can.

Too bad there hadn't been something along the lines of, like—canned bananas or whatever. He'd seen a bunch of them in a bowl on the counter at one point, but they felt too easy for someone to tamper with—even with their peels. For all he knew, someone could stick them in a bucket of poison and let it soak through the skin to the bananas inside.

…Was that actually doable? Fuck if he knew, but he sure wasn't about to find it out the hard way!

"Kind of a shame we've got to rely on canned fruits and vegetables or snack-y versions of them for substance," Nico mused from their spot, a box of fruit snacks in their hand. "Would be nice if this place had somewhere we could get everything fresh."

Speak of the fucking devil. "I've seen some bananas and stuff in the kitchen before, so they have fresh food coming in from somewhere," Ace said. "I just don't normally go for them. Too easy for someone to mess with food that's not vacuum-sealed."

"Fair point," Nico mused, followed by a thoughtful hum. "Hmm, you know what people probably couldn't mess with? Eggs."

Ace looked up from the notebook. "Eggs?"

"They're protein, right?" Nico asked. "Uh, that was a rhetorical question, I know they're protein. Sometimes I need to mix in plain scrambled eggs with my clients' food to help them get more protein in their diets. And I usually hardboil five or six at a time, to make breakfast easy across several days. Anyway, it'd be hard for anyone to mess with them without cracking them open first, right?"

Ace's hand met his chin. Huh, he hadn't even considered snagging a carton of eggs. Only way anyone could really mess with them was by cracking the shell, and he wouldn't be eating them at that point anyway.

Oh, wait, there was one thing they hadn't considered—"And how the hell are we supposed to cook the damn eggs, genius? Unless you've got a stove hidden under your bed or something?"

"I think I saw an egg cooker in one of the kitchen cabinets," Nico mused. "You know, the kind where you just have to add water, put the eggs in and wait? We could probably grab one of those too, if you want to avoid cooking in the kitchen."

They pressed a hand to their own chin. "Although that would limit us to eating only hardboiled eggs. Maybe if it comes with one of those omlette or poached egg attachments, we'd also be able to eat them that way? But that's a big maybe."

Ace scowled. "Tch, look who has an answer for everything."

"…I mean, would you prefer I didn't?" Nico asked.

"I don't know…" Ace said, returning his attention to his work. "Whatever, I guess it's not a bad idea. Maybe we can also grab an electric kettle, so we can boil water for other stuff and—oh."

"What?" Nico asked.

Ace reached down to pick up one of the cans again, staring closely at the label that clearly read 'Beans'. "…Guess I grabbed something that'd work for my protein boost after all."

"Oh," Nico echoed. "…Is that bad? You don't exactly sound thrilled about it."

"Nah." Ace reached for the can opener and settled it in place on top of the can, before giving the knob a good twist. "Just would've preferred the peanut butter. Beans taste better cooked and I'm only going to eat about a spoon…ful—fuck."

"What's wrong?"

Nico looked over to the sight of Ace staring hard at the now halfway-opened can, features narrowed with annoyed realization. "…I didn't grab a fork or spoon."

"Huh," Nico said, with a glance into their own bag. "Guess I didn't think to grab any utensils either."

"Shit—" Ace muttered with a low hiss. "Should've checked before I opened it, can't set it aside for later now. Unless—"

His gaze darted around the room in a slight panic, before returning to the can. "No, there's nothing. Fuck, and I'm gonna need to drain them, too." His free hand grasped at his forehead. "God damn it, why didn't I think this through?!"

"Ace?"

"Whatever," he quickly muttered, before carefully setting the opened can aside. "It's fine, there's gotta be something here that's easier to eat—"

"Ace."

"No, shut up, lemme do this—"

"Ace, if you want something that's easier to eat," Nico continued firmly. "I could just trade you something from my bag instead."

"I—wait, what?"

"I know you said you didn't want to share your food with me," Nico said. "But a trade's different than sharing, I think? Or, at least, it's a different form of sharing—"

"Once again, don't need to lecture me on the importance of sharing," Ace said flatly. "But…fine, what else you got besides the shitty tuna? 'Cuz I ain't eating that even if it was easy to eat without a fork."

"Well," Nico began, as they pored through their stuff. "I've got nuts, raisins, crackers…some of those little snacks with that fake cheese dip—"

A grimace. "Again, it's not much but I was grabbing what I could."

"Yeesh, you really didn't get much good stuff, did you?" Ace muttered, with another glance down at the opened can. "…Fuck it, gimme a sleeve of crackers and the beans are yours."

A nod, before Nico rose to their feet and crossed the room to trade. "…Wait, weren't you worried about food that was too easy to mess with?"

"Yeah, I still am," Ace said, holding out the hand with the can. "And if you even think about touching these now that they're mine, you're gonna fucking regret it."

A wince, before his other hand move his stomach. "But…I'm real fucking hungry and I don't care at this point."

"Alright," Nico said. "Crackers are pretty good for your stomach after throwing up, anyway. So…that's good—"

"Shut up."

Ace's halfhearted demand was silenced by the crinkling of the plastic wrap around the crackers as Nico held them out for him to take, the sound increasing in volume as Ace snatched it from their hand in a hurry—promptly replacing the emptiness in their wake with the can. "Here, now hurry up and go back to the other side of the room."

Nico took a step forward to oblige, but stopped to stare at the can with a curious look, before looking back to him. "…What do you plan on doing for the protein you need?"

"The fuck does it matter to you?" Ace muttered, words followed by a grunt as he fought to tear open the plastic sleeve.

"It just seemed like a such a big deal for you," Nico pointed out. "And I know you'll probably get mad at me for saying this, but…crackers and beans by themselves aren't exactly a meal."

"Again, the fuck does it matter to you?" Ace asked, eyes narrowed. "Can you hurry up and get to the point so I can eat?"

"I know we both already pointed out how you weren't interested in sharing," they explained. "But…crackers might work as a spoon, right? So what if we just…combined the two and ate them together? Would probably be a lot more filling for both of us, and you can get the protein you needed."

Ace made a face. "Beans on crackers? What, are we British now?"

"You can always just say no if you don't want to," Nico pointed out. "It's fine if you don't, I'll just go eat them by myself. But I just thought it'd solve a couple of your issues if we did."

Despite the lingering grimace on his lips, Ace's gaze moved between Nico and the can of beans in an uncertain silence. As much as he could feel yet another opportunity to snip and snap at them lying in wait atop his tongue, he couldn't help but feel a sense of reluctant agreement once again preventing his complaints from being heard.

Another lurch of his stomach brought a hand to the front of his shirt. Damn it, they had a good point about neither being filling enough for a meal. And while he normally wouldn't care about that—he usually didn't eat anything for lunch anyway—a back-to-back throw up session was making that familiar ache a lot harder to ignore.

Could he somehow demand the can of beans back from them while keeping the crackers? No, even he knew that wouldn't work. Did he have a spare can he could just eat on his own? Nope, a quick glance at his stock answered that question pretty fast. No plates or anything either—man, he'd really screwed himself when it came to what he'd gathered in a rush.

"Not that you need to let this affect your choice," Nico continued. "But…it is a lot harder for anyone to mess with food that they're actively sharing with someone else."

…Damn it, another good point. And when combined with another painful gurgle of his insides, it was finally enough for Ace to gesture defeatedly to the spot on the floor before him. "Fine, whatever, just…sit down and don't talk too much. And keep everything in the center where we can both see it."

With a nod, Nico carefully lowered themself to the floor, hand moving to twist the can opener further and peel the lid off completely. And while they occupied themself with that, Ace finally ripped open the plastic—nearly sending a cracker or two flying in the process—and set the package on the floor before them. "We should get paper plates or something too."

"We can make a list of what we need after we eat," Nico said, copying his movement and setting the properly-opened can upright on the floor.

Ace merely hummed in response before reaching for a cracker, then the can. It was a struggle; he barely managed to scoop more than a couple beans onto the cracker before the entire thing grew soggy and threatened to dissolve in the cold bean juice, leaving him forced to retreat with one hand cupped beneath the entire thing. But eventually it finally made its way to his mouth, just as Nico followed suit and brought one to their mouth as well. Silence lingered around them as the two of them chewed, then swallowed—

"…This kinda sucks."

Nico was the first to break the silence, tongue poking out between their lips with a look of disgust. Rather than argue, however—Ace's scowl returned in full as he reached for another cracker. "No kidding. Told you the beans would be way better cooked."

"Not sure the crackers are exactly helping either," Nico mused, another cracker also finding its way into their hand. "Maybe it was a bad idea to use them as a spoon after all, the bean water's making them all crumbly and wet. It's just…salty mush on salty mush."

"Maybe that's why the British eat this shit on toast instead?" Ace muttered through a mouthful of his second scoop.

"Too bad Xander's not still here," Nico said, while they gingerly tapped a couple of beans onto their next cracker. "Maybe he'd have an answer."

Xander…

The name struck Ace silent as he shoved more food into his mouth, the events of the past week or so chilling him more than the unappealing flavor ever could. It'd really been almost a whole week since they'd gotten here, with three—almost five, potentially four—people having already died, and it had all started with Xander.

His hand began to tremble as he reached for another cracker. What had gone through Xander's mind in that final moment? Had he been scared? Surprised? He'd looked surprised when they'd examined his body, Ace's stomach once again churning at the thought despite the food within finally beginning to settle into place.

And what about before, when he'd—in the would-be victim's own words—tried to kill Teruko? How had he felt in that moment? Scared? Determined? How had Teruko herself felt during the attempt itself? How had Min felt when she took action to stop him, knowing it would seal her own fate? How had Arei felt—no, Ace could answer that one. He'd known how she felt, and the answer was that she hadn't felt anything. He'd made sure of that, made sure to make things as painless as possible for her.

Another lurch of the beans and crackers settling in his less-empty stomach. Had that been better for her, dying in blissful ignorance of her fate? Or had that been crueler on his end; denying her any chance to fight back or escape?

Was it better to know what was coming, or to be left in the dark?

And how did all of that compare to his own attempted murder and execution, a horrible mix of both? The knowledge that death was approaching, hanging over his head like an executioner's blade, no real knowledge on when it was finally going to come down until—

"You're getting your shirt wet."

Nico's voice dropped Ace's attention to the front of his shirt, where one hand—gloved fingertips soaked in bean juice—now gripped the fabric tight. With a shake of his head, he let his arm fall back to his side before he rose from his seat. "I'm done eating. Lemme look around your room now."

"Go ahead," Nico muttered through another mouthful of food. "I told you before I don't have anything to hide."

"I expect you're gonna want me to avoid your bathroom, huh?" Ace asked, hands on his hips. "'Cause fair's fair and all."

"It would be fair," Nico agreed. "But again, I have nothing to hide and I did say I'd planned to let you go through all my stuff. So look wherever you want."

Ace stared hard at them for a few seconds before turning his gaze to the bathroom door. But while he did approach it at first—hand coming to rest atop the handle—he eventually shifted his attention to the nearby desk, choosing instead to poke and prod through its drawers. "Yeesh, you've got next to nothing in here, huh?"

"There wasn't much in it to begin with, and there's not really anywhere to get stuff to put in it," Nico pointed out.

"Well, nothing aside from—"

Ace picked up one of the little toy mice from the surface of the desk, studying it closely for a moment before crossing the room to their bed. "Yeah, think it goes without saying, but you got a shit ton of animal stuff in here," he said, peering beneath and reaching for a box labelled 'Supplies'. "I mean, cat toys. Pet food?"

After rummaging through the box (the contents inside consisting of—unsurprisingly—pet supplies), he slammed it back underneath and flicked a thumb towards the TV. "Even a fucking cat cartoon on the TV?" He clasped his hands together with a sickeningly-sweet bat of his eyelashes. "Surprised you don't have a whole-ass animal in here to go with the cutesy-wootsy kitty-witty look."

A pause, before his gaze darted around the room in its entirety. "…You don't have a whole-ass animal in here that you've just been hiding until now, right?"

"Sadly, no," Nico replied. "And I didn't decorate the room, it came pre-furbished with all the various pet supplies. Which I don't really mind, but it does feel a little hollow without any actual animals to use them."

A flat look. "And for as much as I don't mind the cartoon, it does feel a little condescending that MonoTV assumed I'd like it. Like, yes, I like animals and don't mind the cutesy-ness of it, but the assumption that I would like it by default is the part that bothers me."

The condescendingly-saccharine look on Ace's face disappeared as he moved to their dresser—one drawer pulled open to the sight of a dozen similar blue shirts. "Yeah, well, guess I can understand that," he said as he poked through them. "It's like with my room and all the goddamn horse shit that the little bastard set up for me."

Nico fell silent, focus fixed on nibbling around the edge of a lone cracker. "You know, it would be nice if they had some kind of store in the building. One where we could buy stuff to decorate our rooms with, preferably how we'd like?"

"And where the fuck would we get money to do that?" Ace asked, pushing the drawer closed before yanking open another. "Unless you're suggesting that MonoTV should give us jobs or something? Yeah, just what we fucking need. More stuff to worry about on top of trying not to die."

"I guess that's a good point," Nico said, hand pressed to their chin. "Maybe it could hide money around the building for us to find at our own leisure? Even a killing game is a game, after all."

"Tch, like I'm gonna crawl around on my hands and knees looking for coins in the nearest potted plant," Ace said. "What the fuck does it think this is, Easter?"

"…It could be," Nico pointed out, turning back to the food. "We don't know what day it actually is."

"Yeah, well I—AHH!"

Ace's scream was immediately followed by the sound of something heavy clattering to the floor, causing Nico to jolt with surprise and crush the cracker in their hand to pieces. "What?! What's wr—"

The words were cut off as their gaze fell on Ace's pointed finger, and followed it to where the object that had fallen. And as Nico stared closer, their features twisted with grim realization at the sight of a familar, square container now lying sideways on the floor.

"Oh, right. The turpentine."

"Get rid of it."

Ace's words were sharp, vicious. Barely more than a growl as his trembling hand pointed at it as sternly as he could manage. "I don't fucking care how, that shit's not staying anywhere near you or me! You fucking understand?!"

He'd backed himself against the nearest wall, with little indication that he was even aware that his body had moved there. "I mean it, get it out of here! And I don't wanna hear shit on me trying to start a fight or nothing, get it out of here—"

"Okay, okay—"

Nico bolted to their feet and hurried over to scoop it up as quickly as possible. "Okay, getting rid of this," they assured him. "Should I throw it out somewhere outside of the room?"

"I—fuck, wait, don't do that!"

Despite the lingering panic, Ace managed to detatch himself from the wall he'd flattened himself against and stood up straight again. "Someone might snag it from the trash if you just throw it away willy-nilly."

"Okay," Nico said. "So…what should we do, then? Give it back to Rose?"

"Sure, fine, whatever," Ace said quickly. "Let's just go knock on her door and give it to her."

Before Nico could even respond, Ace had stormed his way to their door—yanking it open and gesturing for them to follow. "You go ahead. I don't trust you to walk behind me with that shit."

"That's…fair, I guess," Nico said. "Do you want to carry it instead?"

"Hell no," Ace insisted. "Like I need anyone to see me walking around with shit like that! Nah, you're handing it back to Rose yourself."

Despite the scowl on their face lowering further, Nico did as instructed and made their way out of the room—with Ace following closely behind on their heels. "Alright, which one of these rooms are hers?"

"Probably the one with her name on it?" Nico said over their shoulder.

"Shut up, I meant which direction!"

"…I mean, my room's at the end of the hallway so probably the other one?"

"Oh my fucking God—"

With a growl of frustration, Ace turned and stormed further down the corridor in the opposite direction—attention snapping from one room to the next until his eyes landed on Rose's name. And without hesitation, he slammed his fist against the front of the door with a series of loud bangs. "Rose! Open the fucking door! We gotta give you something!"

"Hold on—" Nico said, coming up behind him. "How do we know she's even in there?"

"We don't," Ace said, fist not ceasing its speed for an instant as he continued to knock. "If she doesn't answer, then we just go find her—"

"What the hell's going on out here?"

The knocking finally stopped as both Ace and Nico turned to the sight of Teruko standing in her doorway, a look of irritable confusion on her face. "Oh, that explains it," she said flatly. "Look, I know you two have your reasons for it at this point, but can't you go five minutes without fighting?"

Her glare grew more pointed at the sight of the turpentine in Nico's hand. "...Don't tell me the two of you were jumping right back in to trying to kill each other. You're both already in enough hot water as it is…"

"And who the fuck said we were doing any of that?" Ace asked. "Also aren't you supposed to be fixing my door?!"

"I was," Teruko replied sternly. "Until I heard you two yelling out here. What's going on?"

"Uh, well, actually, we were looking for Rose," Nico explained. "We…need to give her back her turpentine."

"I—" The frustration in Teruko's face vanished in favor of curiosity. "Wait, we?"

"Yeah, we," Ace confirmed. "Nico and I decided it'd be better for the both of us to work together going forward."

The confusion lingered as Teruko continued to stare at them. "…No, seriously, what's going on?"

"Believe it or don't, but it's actually what we're doing," Nico said. "Like you said, the two of us are already in a lot of hot water. So—"

"So you decided to team up with the only other person in the group in as much hot water as you?" Teruko guessed. "That's—"

A pause, hand pressed to her chin. "—actually not a horrible idea, much as I want to say it is. And as much as I doubt that the two of you will last five minutes before tearing each other apart."

"Yeah, yeah, get all your smart-ass remarks in," Ace said. "But after you're done with that, can you tell us where Rose is?"

"I've been stuck in my room since MonoTV dropped that electric fence down in front of your room and stuck me with the task of fixing your door," Teruko explained. "I know about as much as you do when it comes to where anyone is right now."

"And you haven't seen anyone between now and then?" Nico asked.

"Oh, I didn't say that," Teruko clarified. "A couple of folks came to check on me after I dragged David off to talk, but MonoTV popped up shortly after they arrived and I didn't keep tabs on everyone after that."

"The hell did you want to talk to David for, anyway?" Ace asked. "Other than being a loudmouthed jackass during the meeting, I mean."

"Nah, that was pretty much it," Teruko confirmed. "As for Rose, I know she was with the group that came to check on us, but I think she retreated to her room almost immediately. If she's not there now, you could always check the dressing room downstairs, since she likes to paint down there."

"She does?" Ace asked.

"She does," Nico confirmed. "I laid on the floor and watched her the other day, although she didn't remember notice I was there until Teruko tripped over me. That was before I…"

Their words fell alongside their gaze to the turpentine in their hand, which caused Ace to take a step away from them. "What, before you fucking stole that from her to try and kill me?"

"Yeah, remind me again why the two of you are working together?" Teruko said, before her expression flattened. "Wait, actually—I don't care. All I ask is that neither of you go and do something stupid as a result. Again."

"Whatever, we got what we needed," Ace said, and turned to point back down towards the other end of the hall. "You, start walking. We'll check the dressing room for her."

"You don't have to order me, I'd already planned on going," Nico said with a glare over their shoulder as they began to walk forward.

While Ace continued to gripe back at them—their voices growing quieter as they drew further away—Teruko lingered in her doorway for a few seconds longer as she watched them head back down the hallway. Once both had vanished out of sight, her eyes travelled down the various doors that lined the hall—scowl lowering further as it came to rest between the two closest to her own room. "Working together with someone in the same boat as you, huh?"

A sharp pain in her side drew her attention back, hand moving to grip her injured spot with hiss of discomfort. "D-damn it…"