You sit alone in the bubble bath, in your room's bathroom. You had your playlist of relaxing music on loop playing as you just played with the bubbles. Ah, I totally deserve this. You thought, quietly sinking into the bubbles. You didn't use your room's bathroom often as you usually just used the other bathroom. But since you were now living with roommates, it would be weird so you decided to use your bedroom's bathroom. Plus, the tub there was way bigger so it was great for you. You held up your clothes to the boys and compared it to them before deciding they could probably just take off their Heartslabyul jacket and red blazer and just sleep in the white t-shirt under it.
In the end, Deuce and Ace decided to sleep in the dusty bedroom together seeing as the other bedroom had been proclaimed as off-limits. You made sure to lock the door to that room tonight. You didn't know if they had some sort of magic to unlock it but you hoped not.
Outside your room, you hear screaming. However, it's drowned out by the relaxing music.
There are footsteps getting louder.
You closed your eyes.
Suddenly, the bathroom door slammed open. "[Your Name]!" Deuce busted in, screaming. You remained silent, still sinking behind the cover of the bubbles. "Ace, they aren't in here!" He turned back, shouting. "It's so cold! How do I set this thing?!" You heard Ace shriek from further away.
You opened your eyes.
"It's so loud..." You murmured, he just had to interrupt your relaxation session. "Huh!? The bubbles spoke?!" Deuce yelped. You sighed. He really just mistook your voice as the bubbles speaking. "Yes, I'm the bubbles, ooh..." You said in a deeper than your usual voice. "Oh wise bubbles of the tub, what is your wisdom?" He asked you, his voice full of wonder. "You were looking for wisdom but it was actually me!" You cackled like the gremlin you were as you pop your head out from under the bubbles.
Deuce screamed and flailed backwards. "Deuce, why the hell are you screaming?! F-ck, now it's too hot!" Ace cursed loudly. He doesn't answer, instead, you watched as a red blush overtook his face as he realized what he had done. "Oh my gosh, I am so sorry-" Deuce got up, he blurted out his apology so fast, his words were nearly mashed together. He then rushed out of the room, you can basically see the steam coming out of his head. "Mom would be so disappointed...ugh, that was so embarrassing, I can't believe I did that..." You heard him mumbling to himself as he ran off. You didn't really understand his reaction. You only showed your head, the rest of your body was concealed by the bubbles so it wasn't even like there was anything to be embarrassed about.
You sighed, getting out from the tub and taking a quick shower before drying off once you realized you wouldn't be able to continue your relaxation session with Ace and Deuce trying to figure out how your shower worked in the other bathroom. You changed into your pyjamas and drained the bathtub. You made your way to the other bathroom and knocked.
"You can come in!"
You entered the bathroom and were met with a very strange sight. "W-Who the f-ck are you!?" You shouted, pointing at the strange man in your bathroom. "It's Ace. My hair always just puffs up after it dries." He deadpanned at your overreaction. "How the hell does that work..." You mumbled to yourself. "Anyway, can you please help me turn this?" Ace gestured to the shower knob. "Yeah, okay. So, this side is hot, this side is cold." You explained. "And this button makes it lukewarm if the two are too extreme for you."
You pressed it to show him as lukewarm water began flowing from the showerhead.
"Wha- But Deuce said he tried that already!" Ace frowned. "Deuce, come in here, tell me what button you pushed." You called out. "I-Is it safe?" He squeaked from behind the door. "I don't know what you mean by that but we're all fully clothed here." You told him. Deuce opened the door, his face was still slightly tinted red as he walked in. "R-Right...so I pressed this button." He pointed to one of the buttons underneath the shower knob. "Oh, yeah, that. That's the button that activates the ice mode where it starts dispensing ice cubes from the ceiling." You nodded.
You had no idea what that button did either when you originally moved in. But you never dared to touch it. You were too curious however and one day decided to press it. Your pure shock when small ice cubes start raining from the showerhead as the water grew increasingly cold. You quickly panicked to turn it off and twisted the other shower knob to turn off all the water. It only resulted in a headache after the incident because thankfully the cubes were pretty small and didn't do much damage. You never pressed the button again.
You probably should've warned the boys before they went into the bathroom but it had completely slipped your mind as you were setting up your bubble bath.
"Why is there a button for that?!" Ace demanded. "I have no idea." You shrugged. "I'd advise you guys not to touch any of the other buttons, I'll be going now." You slipped past Deuce and left.
In the living room, you heard soft snoring and looked over the couch to see Grim had fallen asleep on the couch again. You noticed the slight stench now coming off of Grim and realized you'd probably have to bathe him soon. You didn't know if normal shampoo would work with cats so you decided to take the safer course of action by ordering cat shampoo and nail clippers for cats online. You had always wanted to own some sort of pet so you had done some research prior to this.
You brought out the smallest blanket you could find from inside your closet and covered Grim with it. Well, not only him but it basically draped over the entire couch, bits of it hanging off. You went into ADeuce's room and dropped a larger blanket on their bed for them later.
Looking at the clock upon the wall, you decided this would be a great time to start heading to bed. You brushed your teeth, closed the lights and settled under your blankets. You shut your eyes at last in peace.
Hah, of course not. You stay in your bed, looking at your phone all night, scrolling through your feed. You look on in envy at people having fun with their life unlike you, holed up in your apartment. You sighed, deciding that was enough social media for tonight and turned off your phone.
♦♣♠♥
Kikoeru darouTobira no mukkou
Kimi wo matteru
Ikkou ze Wonderland!
Your phone rang out once again. You grumbled slightly, rolling over to face your shaking phone. You heard a loud thump from the other bedroom. You're quickly distracted from it though as your alarm song is interrupted by a different ringing. An incoming phone call. You shot up from your covers swiftly, shocked and confused. Who's calling me!? You grabbed your phone off the end table to see the caller was just Ben. You let out a little sigh of irritation as you realized who it was.
Yes, Ben was that unnamed, constantly brought up one person from college who you could consider a friend. You accepted the call.
"[Your Name]! Hi, how are you doing?" His eager voice came through loudly, making you slightly even more annoyed. It was the morning, you needed at least one bowl of cereal first to be dealing with this. You could hear through his background that he was at a shopping mall. "Hi, Ben, how are you doing?" You tried to smile, forcing yourself to sound awake and energetic to match Ben's voice.
"You didn't answer my question, [Your Name]..." He noted, you can just hear the disapproving frown on his end. "I'm fine, honestly. I want to know how you're doing." You sighed. "I'm doing great, thanks for asking, [Your Name]!" Ben exclaimed cheerfully.
"Hey, [Your Name], have you considered making your Jiffygram account public?" He asked suddenly. You had created a Jiffygram account but you made it completely private. The only person following you was Ben himself and your parents. All you did was post pictures of your food, the view outside your window and less than flattering pictures of yourself. "Uh, no way. Nobody would even see it and it'd just be...bad." You laughed dryly. "Really, [Your Name]! You should consider it! I think you look really good!" Ben urged you. "Just because you think I look good, doesn't mean others will." You said softly.
"Mm, I think others will like you...I have to go to the bathroom, I'll call you back later!" Ben tapped to hang up and left it on the table. "Idiot forgot to hang up the phone, again." You muttered to yourself noticing you still heard his background, about to make a move to hang up the call before you froze.
"Man, I keep believe he's still talking to that person from college."
"I tried searching them up on Jiffygram, no social media presence whatsoever!"
"Bet they can't even get over 100 likes!"
You heard the clanking of plates.
"Oh, our food is here! Lets take some pictures!"
You hung up after that. "No social media presence..." You sat in your bed, your mind processing what had been said. Eh, those guys are all a--holes anyway...their opinions don't really matter to me. You shrugged.
Suddenly, Ace burst into your room. You waved at him. He looked at you weirdly, probably at your messy hairstyle. You grow a little self-conscious and coughed. "Why are you in my room?" You asked. "Oh yeah, right. Grim burned breakfast, the fire alarm went off and Deuce smashed it." Ace explained. "Seriously?!" You groaned, flopping back into your bed.
"Is the fire still going?" You frowned. "I put it out." He said. "Thank you so much, Ace!" You let out a little sigh of relief, it seemed the only relatively sane person here might be Ace. Which wasn't a good thing at all.
"Pay me back later~" He threw you a wink before leaving your room. You blushed furiously. "Wha- Ace!" You shouted as you heard him snickering behind the door. You rolled your eyes, trying to bring your cheeks back to their normal colour.
You went into the bathroom and brushed your teeth. You picked out the first thing you found in your closet and put on that. You left your room to find Grim scarfing down a burnt sunny side up, Deuce hunched over the coffee table tinkering with something and Ace making sandwiches in the kitchen. Speaking of the kitchen, it was kind of charred.
Okay, so maybe because of this, you won't sneak raw oysters into Ace's food next time. Maybe you'll even try to make him a cherry pie to thank him!
"Deuce, get over here and stop working on that thing, or at least eat breakfast first." He said, his attention is focused on slathering huge amounts of [favourite type of jam] on the bread.
Deuce sighed, getting up from the couch and shuffling over to the kitchen island where Ace had laid out 3 sandwiches he had made. "[Your Name], I'm sorry for breaking your fire alarm." He apologized. "It's fine, the thing goes oftenly, nobody really cares about it unless it goes on for more than 3 minutes." You smiled. "Is that what you were trying to fix over there?" You asked.
He nodded. "But I'll fix it for you as soon as I find a screwdriver and a step ladder," Deuce explained. "You can probably find something like that in the supply closet." You recalled just stuffing all the useless things you didn't need in there, you probably had a screwdriver and a step ladder in there. "Which room is that...?" He questioned, scratching the back of his head nervously. "That one." You pointed to a door on the side.
Deuce nodded, walking toward the room before Ace caught him by the back of his shirt and pulled him backward. Your eyes widened. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on there. Eat breakfast first, you knucklehead." He scolded him as Deuce stumbled backwards into his arms. "Huh?! Who're you calling a knucklehead!?" Deuce shouted, steadying himself and getting out of Ace's arms. What- What is happening this morning?! You thought, wondering where all this chaos was coming from.
You heard somebody chewing on something and turned to the island to find Grim mid-bite, already having grabbed a sandwich. "Grim!" You gasped. "What? Nobody wrote their names on it dazo!" Grim smirked as he took another bite. "Grim, you can't just eat other people's food!" You groaned, did you really have to spell it out to him that this was wrong? "Nyahaha, it's mine now dazo!" He cackled, jumping off the chair with the sandwich still in his paws and raced off.
You were too tired to go chase him. Geez, is this what Yuu had to deal with every day at Night Raven College? You thought. At least you were only dealing with Adeuce and Grim. Gosh, if the other boys arrived, I think I would go insane... You shuddered. The NRC boys were harbingers of chaos and trouble, that was true at least.
You prepared another sandwich to replace the one Grim ran off with while Ace and Deuce continued to fight. "Alright, breakfast is done." You told them as you grabbed a sandwich for yourself and ate it. Ace and Deuce glared at each other before sitting down on both sides of you and silently eating their sandwiches. You rolled your eyes at their childishness and scrolled through your Jiffygram homepage. Ace peeks over your shoulder, Deuce does so as well.
"Is this your world's version of Magicam?" He asked, curiously. "Heh, I guess." You chuckled, continuing to scroll. "Wait, move back up a little." Deuce suddenly said. You don't question it and just scroll back up.
"It's us!" He gasped as soon as he saw the post clearly. It was indeed a Heartslabyul dorm group cosplay. "What?! How is that possible, I don't remember taking this picture!" Ace exclaimed, shocked. "Bu-But it's not us! Dorm head's eyes are different and Cater's diamond is too low." Deuce rationalized. You're a bit surprised at how many details he noticed.
"They're just pretending to be you guys, don't worry about it." You reassured them but your comment only served the opposite effect. "There are people pretending to be us?! How do I know you're actually Ace?!" Deuce accused him. "What?! How do I know you're Deuce?!" Ace retorted.
"Guys, they're just cosplaying!" You shouted over them. "How did you even know our names in that alleyway yesterday?" He asked, bringing the attention to you all of a sudden. "Wha-" You spluttered. "Normal people don't just randomly bring people they find in alleyways home. And that old man yesterday called us characters. Mind explaining?" Ace's cherry red eyes narrowed on you. H-He noticed?! You thought. You had hoped he would forget that!
"I-"
"Don't avoid the topic, [Your Name]." Deuce demanded. Oh sh-t, this is getting serious! You panicked, slowly trying to shuffle away from the situation. Deuce caught this and slapped his hand against the wall where you were going to escape. You blinked. D-Did he just kabedon me? You continued to stare into his peacock green eyes, confused but grew exceedingly flustered. "Okay! Okay! So, you guys are a part of a video game called Twisted Wonderland and a lot of people simp for you guys!" You blurted out quickly, stumbling over your words.
"Fungya? A video...game?"
It seems Grim had come in after finishing his sandwich. Looks of shock are splayed across all their faces."So...our whole life is a lie...everything we went through..." Deuce trailed off, stepping backwards and freeing you. You're still frozen and terrified to move. "...was part of a video game." Ace finished his thought for him. They looked to you for confirmation to which you nodded slowly.
"That's not as bad as I thought dazo." Grim shrugged. You blinked. Well, they didn't overblot in my kitchen over that information. That's good at least. You thought. "Yeah, I thought you were going to trick us into staying here and then murder us or something worse." Deuce told you bluntly. "What-!? I would never!" You shook your head profusely.
"Why would I ever do that?! You guys are the only friends I've-" You stopped, looking to the floor ashamed. Did they even really consider you as a friend? You had only met them like, a day ago. Not to mention, they just found out you were perhaps keeping the biggest secret ever from them, would they even consider you a friend after that?
Ace sighed, shaking his head. "You idiot, you're just like Yuu sometimes..." He smiled wistfully. "Sorry for assuming we're friends..." You apologized. "It's okay, I speak for both of us when we say we consider you a...friend." Deuce cringed a little saying the last part. "Speak for yourself." Ace snorted, walking over beside Deuce. Your heart dropped.
"I'm still mad about you hiding that from us. Why didn't you tell us earlier?" He asked. "Yeah, me too!" Grim nodded. "I thought you guys would have a breakdown and overblot in my kitchen or something!" You exclaimed. Ace and Deuce tried to stifle their giggles as Grim full-on started laughing on your kitchen floor. "Wha- Why are you guys laughing?!" You demanded, embarrassed and their laughter was contagious also causing you to laugh quietly. "We wouldn't overblot over something dumb like that." Ace flicked you on the forehead. "Ow-" You glared at him.
"You have too little faith in us, henchman 2. You should thank me for not overblotting by buying me more tuna dazo!" Grim cheered. "Alright, alright." You smiled. This seemed to blow over just fine, maybe you overreacted a little.
♦♣♠♥
"Hah, that's you, I remember that." Deuce snorted. They said they had wanted to see this video game they were in so you pulled up youtube and let them watch the entirety of Twisted Wonderland. They were currently at the beginning of the Heartslabyul chapter. "Ugh, don't remind me." Ace scowled. You sat on the right side of the couch while Ace and Deuce huddled together on the left, Grim as always, was fast asleep in your lap. Seeing as you couldn't move due to the cat law, you just got comfortable and took out your phone.
You started where you left off and kept scrolling. That was when you spotted a really good cosplay. They were people cosplaying Cater and Trey. You felt that uncanny feeling in your gut...that these weren't just cosplays.
"Ace...Deuce...did anybody else follow Yuu through the mirror?" You asked. "We went through first so we couldn't see if anybody else came with us," Deuce said. "Why'd you ask?" Ace tilted his head. "Well, does this guy look like Cater and Trey?" You showed them the post. "Yes, that's even the same as Cater's Magicam username." He nodded. There was clearly no way these were just cosplayers then, Cater's Magicam username was never mentioned in the main story or any side stories that you knew of.
They looked a little worse for wear and you wondered if they had just been dropped in the streets just like Ace, Deuce and Grim. You immediately followed who you presumed could be the real Cater and dm-ed to ask if he and the other person in the photo were doing alright and said ADeuce and Grim were with you.
You got a response within minutes, Ace and Deuce were looking over your shoulder and Grim peeking in between your arms. "What did he say dazo?" Grim inquired, curiously. By this point, Ace and Deuce had paused the video and Grim had awakened.
♦♣♠♥
Love.CateR: hii, me and the person in the photo are doing great, thanks for asking!
Love.CateR: can you post a picture of ADeuce and Grim for proof?
[Your Username]: uploaded a photo
♦♣♠♥
"Trey, I found Adeuce and Grim~!" Cater came skipping up to Trey.
"Did they send you a picture?" He asked. "Yup, looks just like them!" He nodded eagerly. "Hm, ask them to meet up." Trey sighed. This was the only lead they had found so far. This person was most likely the one they saw walking alongside Ace, Deuce and Grim that day. He only hoped they also found the dorm head. Ah, I hope he's doing okay... Trey thought. He knew that the dorm head could take care of himself but still...he couldn't help but feel worried.
♦♣♠♥
Love.CateR: do you want to meet up? Trey's with me
[Your Username]: Sure, what time and where?
Love.CateR: 3 PM?? I don't know, is that ok for you? I think there's a park nearby too
[Your Username]: Okay, see you there, I'll bring ADeuce and Grim.
♦♣♠♥
You could only assume it was the park nearby your apartment building. It was one of the only 4 parks in the city and from the background of the post, you could tell it was a café that only recently opened in your city and it only had one location so far. "Alright, boys, we're going out!" You put Grim on the floor and stood up. "Are you asking us out on a date...?" Ace grinned slyly. "Um, if you'd like to think of it that way, sure!" You shrugged. Deuce only blushed silently while Ace looks surprised that you even agreed with him.
"Oh, aren't the clothes you guys ordered coming today?" You questioned. As if on cue, your door gets knocked on. Outside is the courier, they're holding boxes of clothes. You eyed them warily, wondering how much ADeuce even bought. You looked back and hushed them before you opened your door. You received the packages as the courier left after you signed.
"H-How much did you guys even buy!?" You wheezed, dropping the packages onto the living room carpet. You could only hope there was nothing fragile in there. "We purchased like, 2 pairs of pyjamas, 2 sets of casual clothes and some shoes individually." Ace listed. You exhaled, that wasn't as bad as you thought.
You picked out one of the smaller boxes and read the label. Oh, this is the cat shower kit I bought! You excitedly realized. "You guys' should go change, it's almost 3." You told them. "Alright, we'll be ready in time!" Deuce saluted, carrying the boxes into his room with Ace. They closed the door behind them and you heard shuffling inside and muffled chatter.
You turned to Grim, who was looking through your cabinets for food, before glancing up at the clock. You sighed, it was nearly 3 anyway and you didn't have enough to bathe that cat. Plus, the stench wasn't that awful, it was still tolerable. After 8 minutes, you knocked on their door. "Okay! Okay, we're almost done!" Ace shouted from inside. You rolled your eyes, before taking a seat at the couch. After another minute, Ace and Deuce came out.
It was a bit weird seeing them in casual clothes because in all of the in-game art, they were always in a uniform. "Okay, it's literally 3, let's go!" You rushed them out the door and slipped into your shoes, grabbing your keys, wallet and Grim as you dragged him out. "Fgya! I'm going to choke henchman 2 dazo!" He wailed as you pulled him down the hallway.
"Shush, keep it down remember?" You reminded him as you let him free. Grim glared at you to show he wasn't happy with this but kept his mouth shut anyway. "Also, turn off the flaming ears." You told him. Grim had, at some point, reignited his ear flames and you had let him since it wasn't like anybody else would see him beside the people in the apartment. Grim looked away, content with giving you the silent treatment. You sighed, I might've been a little too rough. You thought guilty. They were all cooperating so far and so you felt bad.
You left the apartment building and headed to the nearest park. You groaned, shielding your eyes from the sun. "Waa, I smell something delicious!" Grim whispered excitedly, his nose perking up as he ran after the scent. You sighed and trudged after him.
Ace and Deuce looked around, a tad bit bored. "[Your Name], can we buy some ice cream?" Ace asked, gesturing to an ice cream truck parked on the side. "Yeah, sure. Get [favourite flavour] for me too." You handed them some cash as you continued to go after Grim. "Thanks!" Deuce nodded before walking off with Ace toward the ice cream truck.
Grim was quick. He scurried through people's legs and slipped into the crowds easily. You, however, kept your eyes on him and continued to follow him. You see him running toward a person and you expected Grim to swerve out of the way to wherever his nose was leading him. But instead, he stopped. You sensed trouble and burst out of the crowd, grabbing Grim. "Fynga!" Grim let out a little squeal of surprise. The person he stopped behind turned around and you looked up to see a surprising face.
"Hi..." You said, meekly staring up at him from the floor. He only chuckled in response.
"Hello there."
-
This was way longer than I intended to be but I finally got it out! Should be doing Science homework right now but that can wait for another day. Anyway, here are the results for the poll!
RESULTS:
3rd option - 12 votes
2nd option - 4 votes
1st option - 1 vote
And with that, we have a poly Ace x Deuce x Reader on our hands! Whoo! Thank you so much to everybody who voted! The poll is now closed! I'm sorry to say romance may be taking a bit of a backseat (or is it) as I am still trying to introduce all of Heartslabyul so far. It hasn't been decided yet though!
By the way! Characters will be aged up because [Your Name] is canonically out of college so it would kind of weird for their love interests to still be in college. So let's say that scene from the first chapter was just the out-of-college boys returning to see Yuu off in their dorm uniforms? I can figure out logistics for later (by which I mean shove it to the back of my mind, lock it into a room and never try to think about it). I'll be taking a small break now, see you next time!
Also, thank you for 1k reads! It means a lot to know people clicked on this!
-Mysti