The sweetest melody Ace had ever heard proved to be the factor in waking him up.

The sunlight from outside nearly blinded him when he opened his eyes, and the all-white room didn't help.

He sat up in the bed, his eyes finding nothing about it to be the least bit familiar. The red carpet and the whitewalls could have been the fancy room in Akademia were it not for the simplicity of it all. Besides the bed the only furniture in the room was a small circular table in the center of the room and the two wooden chairs that came with it. Besides that and the two bedside tables on either side of the bed the room had nothing to tell him of where he was. He certainly didn't know where he was.

However, as pressing a matter as that was, the music he was hearing got his attention more.

The sound was originating outside a pair of glass doors that were open. The white curtains swayed in the breeze as Ace made his way to the doors. He only had to peer outside to see that a beautiful girl was sitting on the white stone railing playing a flute. She was brunette with long tresses along her temples, and longer down her back. She wore the same Class Zero uniform that Ace wore, complete with the crimson red cape the class was known for.

Ace recognized her as Deuce, one of the girls of his class and the melody she was playing he knew by heart. It was the same melody she played whenever she was uneasy in order to calm herself down.

For a few long minutes Ace stood in the doorway of the balcony and listened to Deuce play her flute, not wanting to stop her. Why would any sensible person want to interrupt such a beautiful thing?

Once she finished playing her song, Deuce slowly lowered her flute to her lap and took a big breath of air, seemingly relaxed at long last did Ace finally speak.

"That was beautiful, Deuce."

She turned to see Ace standing near her and she smiled, "Thank you, Ace. I hope you slept well."

"I did, though when I woke up I was kind of overwhelmed by what I found."

Deuce looked out at the beach and ocean that stretched forever beyond the balcony she was standing on. "It's a beautiful sight to see, though I am concerned about how we got here."

Ace couldn't answer her, though he tried hard to find a suitable one he couldn't.

He walked back into the room and made a last moment recon of it. He felt rather uneasy about the room, though he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

Deuce followed him back into the room, walking over to the table and setting her flute down on the top. "I woke up on the bed next to you, and I couldn't leave through the front door I just went out to the balcony and stayed there the whole time."

It was at that moment that Ace realized that there was indeed only one bed in the entire room. Not so much as a couch was found, which meant that even if though he had not chosen to do so, he had shared a bed with Deuce. That thought made him all flustered both inside and out.

He must have been visibly flustered too, as he heard Deuce ask, "Why is your face all red?"

Ace tried to hide himself by looking in another direction, "Must be the heat..." He undid the straps of his coat and walked to the end of the room.

She smiled lightly, "It's not that hot in here, though." She took a seat at the table, "You look like you're going to be ill."

'That's beside the point,' he thought. "I'll be fine." It wasn't the idea of how he felt this way that made him uneasy it was the fact that it was happening so fast that made him feel ill. He silently cursed whoever got the idea to have him share a bed with Deuce. 'We aren't far enough in our...relationship to have that as an option!'

Back home at Akademia, despite the rule of affectionate relationships being banned as part of their training, Class Zero had two notable instances where that rule was not applied. The main one was classified as the worst kept secret of the class, that being Ace's strong relationship with Deuce. The two tried to keep it secret from the rest of the school but thanks to that blockhead Nine the entire school eventually found out about it. Deuce had taken it badly, since she was the one who urged it to be kept secret, and she stopped talking to Ace for nearly a week as a result. Their Mother Arecia was one of the few who allowed them to have feelings for each other as well as remain together, as long as it didn't get too tangled with their military goals that is.

Deuce and Ace then tried to keep any sensual contact minimal, holding hands was the farthest they ever got when in the school. Still, as much as Ace cherished her, Deuce was less apprehensive than he was about their privacy. She talked about him to the other girls of the class, albeit in favorable terms and never spoke about what they did when they were alone, while Ace got enough crap from the guys to the point where he gave them little to no information about Deuce.

Still in the long run, Ace had trouble moving the relationship at a pace that was not comfortable with him. Thankfully, Deuce was more supportive and tried to share the lead when she could. It helped ease him into being affectionate with her.

"Ace?"

The teen was brought out of his daze as he saw Deuce standing next to him, her hands holding onto his arm.

"You sure you're alright?"

Still visibly upset ace tried to hide it from Deuce. She didn't need to hear about his personal discomfort. The worst case scenario he felt would be her thinking she was the problem instead. He didn't want that for a girl as sweet as her to think she was at fault when it was his own.

He gave her a reassuring smile, the best he could make, "Yeah..."

She smiled in return, "Good, because I think room service is here."