Casual

Casual <3

Ace Trappola x reader

Notes: reader is yuu, english isnt my first language and this is my first ever fic, so dont expect anything too good

Warnings: Idk this is pretty much hurt/comfort, with a lot more hurt than comfort and a little ooc, tiny papa crewel mention if you squint.

Angst with a happy ending

Casual is what Ace Trappola would call your relationship.

To him you were just friends, even as you helped him overcome his fears, standing by his side when he thought he couldn't trust anyone.

Casual, he said, even though he knew you were his rock, his anchor.

So why? Why did he feel that way? Seeing you smile at that random NPC from his dorm. Why did he feel strange? He didn't know.

"Hey Prefect," he had called out, trying to get your attention. He walked towards you, lazily swinging an arm around your shoulder, "What'cha talkin' bout?" he'd asked with that boyish grin of his. The NPC answered for you, telling him that he was just asking for the notes for your shared Potions class. You just nodded with that sweet, sweet smile of yours that he couldn't get enough of. Platonically, of course.

Later that day, he found himself laying awake at night, unable to get your smile out of his head. He didn't know what was going on, you were just a friend, right? So why did he feel this way?

It had been a few weeks since Malleus' overblot, everything seemed to be back to normal, but Ace.

He could not get the memory of his dream out of his head, or the way you held his hands and encouraged him as he finally got his unique magic.

Maybe this wasn't just casual...

It was the last week before summer vacation, and Ace was excited to finally have time to think about his feelings.

All of your friends, except Ace, had offered to come with you for the summer, but you had refused, telling them that Crewel would let you stay with him.

Over the summer, your friends came to visit you often, and you had hour-long video calls on days when you couldn't get together.

Crewel took you shopping, bought you clothes and school supplies.

He also let you decorate your room at his house, not to mention his puppies. It was a perfect summer, or so you thought, but something was missing, it wasn't your home or your family, it wasn't the friends you had back in your world. No, it was something else.

You spent countless nights awake that summer trying to figure out who or what was missing.

Until one restless night you decided to go and get some water. Downstairs you saw Crewel sitting in the living room with a book in his hand, he noticed you and asked if everything was okay. "Yeah, just getting some water," you say as he just hums in acknowledgement. "Are you and that Trappola pup okay?" he asks, and suddenly, everything makes sense.

You have found what you were missing.

It was Ace.

You spend the rest of the summer trying to ignore the strange feeling you got whenever you thought about him, or the stupid excuses he made, every time you tried to contact him. It was weird, too weird.

Ace couldn't sleep either, he was up all night thinking about you, your smile, your laugh, the way you teased him back, the determination on your face every time someone challenged you, the way you switched to your customer service voice during your shifts at the Mostro Lounge, the way you always gave your friends a free drink behind Azul's back. Just you. At this point, he was sure it wasn't just casual, he was in love.

School started again, and you immediately went looking for Ace during orientation. When you finally found him, you decided to confront him, after all, he was your best friend, so why should he avoid you all summer?

He just made up another excuse and you felt your heart tighten, it hurt, but you just let it go, not wanting to ruin what you had.

It has been 2 months since school started again, Ace and you barely spoke anymore, even your friends noticed.

And it hurt, it hurt so much.

Ace was your first friend here, the first person you really talked to other than Crowley and Grim, he was your rock, you knew no matter how much he teased you that he would be there for you, after all he was your ride or die.

Honestly you were surprised it hurt so much, you thought after 7 overblots nothing could hurt you anymore, but you were wrong, so wrong.

Ace and you didn't talk at all for the last 2 weeks and it was killing you inside, you barely ate or talked anymore, you felt like you just lost a part of yourself.

Ace wasn't much better, he started skipping class a lot more, slept all day and got collared at least 4 times a week. But the fear of facing you after realizing his feelings was too strong. He just couldn’t face you right now.

And it hurt, like hell.

No matter how many times your friends tried to get you guys to talk, how many times you went over to Heartslabyul, how often deuce tried to get him to text you, nothing worked. He was in too deep and there was no way out anymore.

It has been 3 weeks now and you had enough. You had been crying non stop for the past few weeks and couldn’t take this anymore. You were going to talk to him, even if he didn’t let you in, even if he avoided you, you were going to find a way.

So that night you decided to sneak into his dorm, deuce asked to sleep over at pomefiore with Epel, so this was your chance, Ace was alone and you were going to use that to you advantage.

Deciding that knocking would he too loud, you climbed up to his window, trying to break it open, to no avail, when suddenly, someone opened it.

Ace, he opened it, he was pulling you inside, he was talking to you, he was telling you how dangerous that was, a worried expression on his face, but you didn’t care.

You just jumped on him, both of you falling to the ground, all of your hurt coming back as you started to sob. “Why did you avoid me?” You asked, your voice cracking.

It was too much. Ace couldn’t take the hurt on your face, the raw emotion, the way the tears were spilling out of your eyes, your quivering lips and god he hated how beautiful you looked, even while ugly crying into his shirt. He just hugged you, tears starting to roll down his cheeks as well.

A barrage of “im sorry”’s and “i missed you so much”’s leaving his lips.

You both just continued laying there, hugging each other so tight, as if the other would disappear if you let go.

“I was scared,” Ace admitted as you both calmed down a little, his eyes still wet as he continued before you could even ask what he was scared of, “it’s just that you are so great, prefect. And I don’t know, I really like you, and I guess I was just too scared of the rejection and the fact that you would have to leave eventua-“. Ace was interrupted by your lips on his, taken by surprise, he just pulled you even closer, before you pulled away, “you are so fucking stupid, you know that?”, you ask, lightly punching him in the chest. “I thought you hated me, Ace. You were my closest friend, i trusted you with so many things, i was vulnerable around you and you thought i would hate you for liking me?” You ask, your voice starting to quiver again. “I fucking love you and you made me think i lost you forever”. Ace just looked at you, his eyes filled with regret, “im sorry, prefect, i really am”, was all he managed to get out before breaking down again.

That night you both just held each other, comforting one another, and to be really honest that was the best either of you had slept in months.

That was definitely not casual <3