Author's Note: PLEASE SEE THE ENDING NOTES AT THE END OF THIS CHAPTER. I'm posing a story-related question there and I'd like to get as many opinions as possible.
"My goodness, this has been quite the day," Crowley sighed as he looked out at the cafeteria. Most of the students had left by this point, eager to get back to their dorms to unwind after a long day of ghost shenanigans. Unfortunately, it seemed the wedding decorations didn't leave when the Ghost Bride and her retinue did, meaning the cafeteria still looked as though a wedding reception was about to begin. "And to think the ghosts would just leave without bothering to break down the wedding decorations," he tutted. "How utterly irresponsible. The students won't be able to eat lunch in here tomorrow if we just leave things as they are." He turned to the handful of freshmen that stood off to one side talking amongst themselves. "Freshmen, I would ask that all of you take down these decorations before heading back to your dorms for the night."
The boys' heads whipped toward Crowley as though they'd been on the receiving end of Eliza's slaps. "What?!"
"You mean everyone except Team Tux, right?" Ace asked hopefully. "Surely Epel and I are excused after everything we did today!"
"Of course not. I expect all of you to participate," Crowley insisted before offering himself a congratulatory smile. "A model educator treats all students equally, after all, and I am nothing if not "top-tier", as you kids say."
"Aw man…," Epel grumbled.
By this time, Devon had appeared at the cafeteria doorway with Ortho, the little robot wanting to give his brother a chance to talk to Dominic alone. She caught Grim's eye, hesitating to come into the room as her monster companion gave her a subtle gesture to stay where she was as he sunk down onto all fours and began to slink toward her.
"Can't you cut us some slack? I've already put in a ton of work today. I'm dead on my feet over here!" Ace complained with a shake of his head.
"You both put on a truly spectacular performance today," Crowley agreed, "but this is another matter entirely. Many hands make light work, you know. If you put the same amount of energy into this task as you do with your group's usual antics, you'll be finished in no time at all!"
By this time, Grim had reached Devon and hopped up onto her shoulder as he whispered to her urgently. "C'mon Dev, let's warp outta here before the headmaster notices we're-"
As if on cue, Crowley turned to face the Ramshackle duo. "Ah yes, and of course Devon and Grim will be expected to contribute as well.
"Ah crud! He caught us!" Grim cried.
Devon sighed. "Nothin' else for it, I guess. Come on, Grim. The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can leave."
"Okay seriously, who even needs this many ribbons for a wedding?" Epel asked as he pulled several of them down at once. "I've been at this forever, but it doesn't even look like I've made a dent in 'em."
"Grrr, these stupid lace streamers keep getting caught on my claws when I try to take 'em down!" Grim complained, holding up his paws toward Devon with a pitiful expression so she could untangle him.
Across the room, Ace, Deuce, Jack, and Sebek were preoccupied with moving the many rows of large chairs from the cafeteria tables. "Geez, these chairs are heavy!" Ace grunted as he strained to move another one. "What even are these? Tombstones?" He walked around the chair to get a better look, only to see that the greyish backs of the chairs were, in fact, made of stone. "Oh snap, they are! Man, that's creepy! I mean, I know they're ghosts and all, but that's dark."
"It never ends…," Devon mused as she looked out at the amount of decorations they still had to take down and put away.
"Don't worry, guys! I'll help out too!" Ortho volunteered, immediately setting to work taking down the decorations that were too high for anyone but him to reach without magic.
"Ugh, I don't believe this!" Ace whined. "I already worked my tail off today and now I'm stuck on cleanup duty?! Make it make sense." He glared down at the chair as he renewed his struggles to haul it to the corner of the room. "Those ghosts aren't even here anymore and they're still huge pains in the rear! Like, how can you even stay that obsessed with love for 500 years? It's nuts, I tell ya! The retainers were bad enough, but that princess took the cake! I mean, seriously, just get a hobby and let the love thing go already! Would've saved us a whole heap of trouble."
"C'mon Ace, don't be like that," Epel said with a teasing look on his face. "I mean, are you telling me you've never had feelings for someone before?"
Ace startled, nearly stumbling as he continued to push the chair. "What?! Where'd that come from, man?!" He glanced nervously over at Devon as his cheeks began to turn pink, despite the fact nothing about Epel's question gave any indication that he was alluding to Ace's not-so-secret feelings for his best friend.
"I'm just a little surprised to hear you say that you think it's "nuts" that the Ghost Bride held out for her true love for so long," Epel elaborated with a smirk that only Ace was able to see. Thankfully for Ace, Devon happened to be too preoccupied with Grim when Epel first made the comment, though both of them were now looking toward them thanks to Ace's outburst. "I figured out of all of us, you'd be an expert in matters of the heart."
Ace blinked. "What does that mean? You think I'm some kinda flirt or somethin'?"
"Heh. You're barkin' up the wrong tree askin' Ace about romance!" Grim chimed in with a smirk as he and Devon made their way over. "He probably doesn't know the first thing about how to make a partner happy. Nobody'd touch a snarky jerk like him with a 10-foot pole if they had any sense."
"Pfft. Please, Grim. I know you're jealous, but you could try to make it a little less obvious," Ace shot back with a smirk of his own. "I'll have you know that I had a girlfriend when I was in middle school, thank you very much. We went out to movies and the amusement park and everything."
"Are you serious?! What kinda magic trick did you have to pull to make that poor girl agree to go out with you?!" Grim asked incredulously.
"According to recent statistical analyses, movie theatres and amusement parks are considered classic date spots!" Ortho chimed in as he floated down toward them to dump two armloads of white fabric into a nearby box.
"Ya know, it's kinda nice to swap stories like this," Epel commented. "Nothin' beats some good ol'-fashioned guy talk! Oh, wait. I mean some good ol'-fashioned guy and gal talk." He looked at Devon apologetically before rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry about that, Dev. Wasn't tryin' to leave you out."
Devon smiled and shook her head. "It's cool, Epel. Don't worry about it." She looked over at Ace mischievously. "So? Finish your story, Casanova. I wanna know what happens."
"Uhh, well…," Ace stammered hesitantly. In addition to not wanting to dwell too much on his ex, especially in front of someone he was interested in, he knew he hadn't handled breaking up with his last girlfriend especially well. He was low-key ashamed of it, but come on! He was in middle school at the time and barely knew how to navigate a romantic relationship. Not that he was an expert now by any means, but he liked to think he'd grown enough as a person that he wouldn't make the same mistake again. "She said the thrill rides were too scary for her, so we only went on the merry-go-round and Ferris wheel. She'd go on and on about how cute it was and snap a buncha pics for Magicam, but I never got what was so great about it. And she never wanted to watch any action or horror movies when we went to the theatre, so all we ever saw romances and talking animal movies and stuff."
"Sounds like you guys didn't have very much in common," Epel commented.
"No kidding," Ace agreed. "Hanging out with her was just boring, so I stopped calling her after a while."
"So you ghosted her," Devon concluded.
"That's…a mite underwhelming," Epel added.
"Just wait; it gets worse," Ace continued. "Do you know what happened after I distanced myself? One day, this group of girls I didn't know called me up completely outta the blue. They gave me the whole third degree! "Why aren't you calling?!" "How could you do that to our friend?!" "She's been crying this whole time!" "You're just a heartless jerk!" I mean, can you believe that?"
"Actually, I kinda can," Devon replied. "I dunno if it's the same for guys, but middle school is when a girls' friend group is the tightest. There's always exceptions, of course, but my experience is that middle school is typically when girls are either at their most back-stabby or at peak ride-or-die status. And there doesn't seem to be an in-between, either."
"I feel like there's a story behind that comment," Epel said, looking at Devon curiously.
Devon shrugged. "Well, one time this person my friend Sydney had a crush started being really mean to her for no reason, so I did some digging and it just so happened that this person is terrified of opossums. It also just so happened that one of the regulars at my tio's restaurant is a taxidermist. I don't think I need to tell you what that jackwagon about in their locker not long after they started treatin' Sydney bad."
Ace and Epel could only give Devon a gob smacked stare for a moment. "Dang, New York. I knew gettin' on your bad side was a dumb idea, but man…"
"Hey, I never said I was the one who planted it," Devon defended, though the satisfied smirk on her face gave her away, "but if it came down to it, I'd do the same for any one of you guys. Point is, middle school girls tend to close ranks around a hurt friend before going on the attack."
"Yeah well, that day those girls blindsided me was the day I learned that romance is way more trouble than it's worth and it's way for fun to just chill with my buds instead!" Ace declared.
Grim gave Ace a flat look. "Yeah? Well, I learned somethin' from your story too: You're a big baby. I bet you'd be the type of partner that breaks up the first time you have a fight."
"Whatever, Grim. You're the least likely of us to have had any sort of romance," Ace scoffed. "And if you wanna talk about who's the most clueless when it comes to love," He gestured toward Deuce, Jack, and Sebek, "those guys are waaaay worse than me."
Hearing Ace call them out, the other three boys paused in their moving of the chairs. "Hmm? What are you on about now, Ace?" Deuce asked.
"Can we just get the cafeteria cleaned up already? It's already past midnight and I'm barely awake as it is," Jack said.
Ace rolled his eyes. "Oh please, you guys had plenty of time to kick back and take a nap when you were lyin' on the floor earlier." He smirked over at Grim. "Think about it for a sec, Grim-between me and these dorks over here who botched their one job, who's really the most clueless about love?"
"Heh heh, I guess you got a point there," Grim agreed before eying Deuce mischievously. "Between the lot of 'em, I'd say Deuce was the lamest since he froze up in front of the bride like that."
"Right?!" Ace exclaimed, glad the attention was off of him now. "I couldn't breathe I was laughing so hard!"
"Hey! What do you want from me?!" Deuce shouted defensively. "Before I met Dev, I'd barely ever talked to any girls at all! Thankfully Devon doesn't get offended when I stumble over my words, but I didn't know what to expect with that bride. I was worried I'd say the wrong thing and end up hurting her feelings by accident and I got so into my own head that I forgot what I was going to say at all."
"Hang on. I thought you went to co-ed schools before you started here," Ace recalled. "Actually, I kinda figured you would've been a girl magnet. Y'know, since girls dig the whole bad boy thing."
"Hmm… Do they?" Deuce shook his head. "That wasn't my experience. They didn't really talk to me. In fact, most girls except my mom-most guys too, actually-would take off as soon as I made eye contact with 'em."
"Ah, I get it. So you were too scary for 'em, huh?" Ace reasoned. "Actually, now that I think about it, Jack got rejected right away too. Guess the scary look doesn't draw that much attention from potential romantic partners."
"Leave me outta this," Jack said exasperatedly. "I'm fine with not havin' people flocking to me to date 'em."
"Oh, is that right? Methinks someone's feelin' a little bitter," Ace teased.
"You can think whatever you want, but it's not an ego thing for me," Jack explained. "Wolf beastmen only have one special someone, ever. That's how it was for my parents and grandparents. They're together from the time they wake up until they go to bed. They walk together, eat together, all that stuff. I'm sure I'll be the same way. When I fall in love, I'll want to be with that person for life. So I'm actually happier without a lot of romantic attention."
"Ugh, what gives, dude?! You gonna start talkin' about mortgages next?!" Ace exclaimed. "We're still in school and you're already talkin' about spendin' the rest of your life with someone! You're taking dating way too seriously, if you ask me."
"You don't even know what you plan to do for a living and you're out here assuming you'll get married," Deuce added.
Grim shook his head and crossed his arms. "Man, I'd never wanna date Jack."
"It's none of your business, anyway!" Jack growled, embarrassed.
"Seriously. I don't know why you guys are dumping on him when y'all are the ones that dragged him into this conversation," Devon agreed. She gently patted the wolfman's arm. "Don't listen to them, Jack. I think it's really sweet that you wanna hold out for that one special person. Not that I think you should be lookin' for a spouse right now or anything, but I'm sure that when you do find them, you'll make 'em real happy."
"Tch, whatever. S'not like I asked you or anything," Jack grumbled. There was a pause for a moment before he gently bopped Devon's leg with his tail. "But thanks, Dev."
"I guess that means Epel's the suavest outta all us guys, then," Ace said as everyone turned their attention to the lavender-haired boy. "He's not intimidating in the least and he's a good-lookin' guy with a bright future."
"Huh? Y-You mean me?" Epel asked uncertainly.
"C'mon man, you're the one who got this whole conversation started," Ace pressed. "I'd say it's your turn to share with the class. So? Were you into anyone back home?"
"Well, umm…," Epel trailed off.
"Hey now, no holdin' out on your Team Tux buds!" Ace continued, wrapping an arm around Devon's shoulders and pulling her against him.
"Don't be like that, Ace. If he doesn't wanna tell us, he doesn't have to," Devon said.
"Why are you so hung up on this stuff anyway?" Deuce asked.
"I bet he's stalling," Jack replied. "He's probably hoping we'll finish up all the work while he's talkin' everyone's ear off."
"Yeah, that does sound like something he'd do," Deuce agreed.
"Oh, get off your high horses! Are you gonna tell me you guys aren't curious too?" Ace challenged. He smirked as Deuce and Jack looked askance, unable to argue. "That's what I thought. So spill it, Epel! Has anyone ever confessed to you? Have you ever had a crush? Have you ever dated anyone?!"
Epel looked back and forth between the expectant looks his friends (minus Sebek, who was the only one doing any actual work at this point) were giving him and sighed. "I'm sorry to get your hopes up but… I'm from a pretty small village in the northern part of the Shaftlands. Most of the villagers are either way older or way younger than me. The time I've spent here at Night Raven College is the most time I've spent around people my age. Back home, I spent most of my free time doin' farm work-er, I mean, assisting with the family business, so I don't have any exciting stories to share."
"Nothin' from you either, huh?" Ace sighed.
Epel shook his head. "'Fraid not. Sorry to disappoint."
"Heheheh," Ortho laughed. "You four are greatly lacking in formative adolescent experiences compared to data from other boys your age."
"Shuddup!" Ace exclaimed.
"Actually…I'm kinda interested to hear what Devon has to say," Epel said with a quick glance over toward Ace.
"Oooh, I am too!" Ortho agreed. "It's not every day I get the chance to compare the responses of a person from another world with statistical data from the people of Twisted Wonderland!"
"I've actually been pretty curious about that too, but I was afraid it'd be rude to ask about it," Deuce added. "I know you said you weren't seeing anyone when you arrived here, but there's no way someone as pretty as you hasn't at least been asked out."
"Heh. Well, I've never been in a serious relationship before so I don't have any stories on that end, but I've been on my fair share of dates. Most of 'em were okay, but some were impressively bad."
"Examples, please," Epel requested eagerly, practically bouncing in place.
Devon thought for a moment. "This one time, I went out with guy who insisted on takin' me to this place he said his dad owned. Said it was the best restaurant in New York City. I figured 'Eh, why not? I can stand to eat a free meal around this guy', so I agree. We get there…and he brought me to my uncle's restaurant. Ya know, the uncle who very explicitly does not want to have children."
"Are you kidding me?" Ace asked flatly.
"I almost wish I was," Devon replied. "Dude walks in there with the whole 'don't you know who I am?' attitude goin' on and the staff just keeps sendin' me these amusedly confused looks, but they don't say anything."
"Please tell me Tio Diego got in on this," Epel said hopefully.
"Naturally," Devon confirmed. "He waits until we've got our food and then sits right down with us all like, "Hey, sonny-boy, how've ya been? Good to see ya. How's your mother?" All that stuff. Keep in mind that my uncle looks nothing like the guy I'm on the date with. I'm doing everything I can not to bust out laughing and the guy just looks more uncomfortable as Tio Diego keeps up this doting father act until finally he says, "So you wanna tell me why you brought your cousin here on a date, son?" I swear, I thought the guy was gonna pee himself as he finally put two and two together."
Ace, Deuce, and Epel immediately burst out laughing and Jack was trying and failing to hide a smile.
"Myahahaha!" Grim cackled as he wiped a tear from his eye. "You weren't kiddin', Dev. That was real bad!"
"Seriously! Did that guy just…not do any research at all before asking you out?" Epel asked. "You've showed us pictures of your family before and you and your uncle look enough alike that he should've suspected something."
Devon shrugged. "I guess not. I'd known him since grade school and he'd always been really entitled on top of being a compulsive liar, but like I said, I figured I could tolerate him for a few hours if I got some free food out of it. At least he was tellin' the truth about taking me to one of the best restaurants in NYC, though." She smirked. "Believe it or not, he wasn't even the worst one."
"It gets worse?!" Jack asked in disbelief.
Devon nodded. "Oh yeah. Granted, the worst one wasn't so much a date as it was someone trying to ask me out."
"Well don't leave us in suspense, New York," Ace urged.
"The guy wrote a "song" for me and then sang it to me. Outside. In front of my house," Devon supplied.
"I could practically hear the air quotes in your voice. Was it that bad?" Jack asked.
"What it as cringe as the one that guy from Diasomnia wrote about you a while back?" Deuce pressed.
"What guy from Diasomnia?!" Ace exclaimed. "What's he talking about, Dev?!"
Ortho laughed. "I remember that! That was funny!"
"Seriously, what guy from Diasomnia?!" Ace demanded again.
"Just hush and let her talk, guys. I wanna know what happened," Epel chided.
"Honestly, it wouldn't have been quite so awkward if the guy hadn't gone on and on about how he'd been working on the song for weeks…and then it mostly just ended up bein' my name repeated a whole buncha times," Devon recounted. "I mean, I'm not an expert songwriter or anything and I get that my name isn't the easiest out there to rhyme, but he could've at least gone with 'heaven' or 'seven' or, y'know, something else."
"Please tell me you've got a recording of it somewhere," Epel pleaded.
"I don't, but I'm pretty sure Dom does," Devon replied. "If I ever get the chance, I'll see if he can get it to me somehow."
"Have all the people you've been out with been like that, though?" Deuce asked. "Have you really never felt a connection with any of them?"
"That's…complicated," Devon replied. "Y'all know I'm demiromantic, so I don't develop romantic feelings for someone unless there's an emotional bond between us. That means that when I do get crushes on people, they tend to be people I'm good friends with, which then leaves me in this weird limbo of tryin' to decide whether to go for it and risk things getting weird between us or leaving things the way they are."
"You don't say…," Ace mused softly.
"If I'm being honest, I'm not sure if I've ever actually been in love before," Devon continued. "I did have one friend that I felt more intensely about than I did toward my other friends, though, but she moved away before it could really go anywhere and our friendship-and whatever budding feelings I was experiencing-pretty much fell by the wayside. She was my first kiss though, so she's made it impossible for me to forget her completely."
"Do you have any idea what sort of traits you'd want in an ideal partner?" Ortho asked. "I ask because I'm curious if all females are as particular as the Ghost Bride."
"Yeah, she was a pretty extreme example, but I'm pretty sure most of us aren't like that," Devon agreed. "I can't speak for all women, but for me personally, there are traits that I tend to be more attracted to, but it isn't a deal breaker if someone doesn't have them-all it really means is that they end up on my radar a little quicker. As far as relationships go, though…" A fond smile graced her features. "I guess I'd want something like what my parents have, so I'd look for a partner that'll help me build a relationship like theirs."
Epel tilted his head. "What do you mean?"
"Mama and Papa have been married for the better part of 20 years now and my aunts, uncles, and grandparents have all commented at different times that they still act every bit as in love as when they first started dating," Devon explained. "Papa always says that one of the worst things you can do in a long-term relationship, especially a marriage, is let things get stagnate. My parents never stopped courting each other, even after my brothers and I were born. Papa still brings Mama flowers at least every other week, more if he knows she's been stressed out, and Mama always writes these little notes to Papa and slides 'em into his work stuff before he leaves for the day. They still go on dates and take weekend trips when they have the time, too." She shrugged. "I guess that's my ideal relationship: someone who never stops cherishing me and who I'll never stop cherishing no matter how long we're together." The corner of her mouth pulled up in a smirk. "And someone who won't be afraid to thoroughly kick my ass at paintball if the need arises."
"Paintball?" Epel asked. "Your parents play paintball?"
Devon nodded. "It was how they met, actually. Mama and Tio Diego got into it as a way of getting their anger out when my grandparents and Tia Camilla got be too much. Mama got really good at it, but one day Papa managed to get the drop on her more or less completely by accident and knocked her out of the tree she was hiding in. She said he didn't even seem to register that he bagged the opposing team's best player or that both teams were decked out in protective gear; he was too busy worrying that he'd hurt her somehow. She brushed him off that first meeting, but their teams played each other again not long after and their relationship just kinda blossomed from there. My brothers and I have played with 'em before and lemme tell ya, Mama is absolutely ruthless. The fact that Papa managed to land even one hit is mad impressive."
"Dang…now I wanna meet your family even more," Deuce commented. "Between your folks and what you've told us about where you grew up, it's no wonder you're such a badass, Dev."
"Humans!" Sebek shouted, causing everyone to jump slightly in surprise. "None of you have been moving for the past several minutes. Cease your chit-chatting and move some more of these chairs!"
Ace smirked in Sebek's direction. "And here he is, folks. Let's give a big round of applause to our number one worst contender!"
"Yeah, I think his performance today was the biggest letdown of all," Jack agreed.
"Hmph," Sebek scoffed, crossing his arms. "You do well to stop prattling on about such sentimental drivel. We're students, in case you've forgotten. We need to be focused on studying, not on such frivolous pursuits as romance!"
"Says the least romantic person here!" Grim retorted. "The bride shot you down right out the gate."
"Not so, Grim," Sebek countered with a confident smirk. "I was the one who shot her down. I don't have time for romance. My schedule is packed as it is with guardsman duties and training regiments so that I can protect Malleus."
"Okay, but what would you do if, hypothetically, you met someone who caught your interest?" Ace asked. "Are you just gonna yammer on about Malleus non-stop again?"
"Never fear. I have a plan for just such an occasion. Master Lilia has taught me the proper course of action to take when someone has captured my attentions," Sebek assured them. "To begin with…I shall pen them a missive!"
"Pen them a missive?" Ace repeated. "What, you mean write 'em a letter? Okay, and what's next, Grandpa? You gonna take them for a buggy ride?"
"Why not just send them a text or Magicam DM like a normal person?" Deuce asked, shaking his head.
"And what would be the point of that? Master Lilia has declared in his infinite wisdom that a fountain pen and some stationary are the greatest weapons when it comes to matters of love," Sebek proclaimed confidently. "I shall pen my feelings, slip a photo of my smiling visage into every third missive, and repeat this until the twenty-fifth full moon. Once a sufficient amount of correspondence has been exchanged, I shall sit beside them on a bench in Briar Valley Central Park! Oh, and I'll make sure to keep a person's worth of space between us, of course."
"Yeah, I think Lilia's just been messing with you again," Epel replied.
"How dare you question Master Lilia's integrity?!" Sebek shouted.
"Ugh," Ace groaned. "Man, my ears are ringin'. We'll be here all night if we get into all that, so can we just let it drop for now?" He sighed. "Ya know, I never thought I'd say this, but I do think Sebek was right about one thing."
"What? You into writin' letters too?" Jack teased.
"Oh absolutely! I'll just grab my unicorn stationary and write "my beloved" in that fancy loopy cursive and-yeah, no. Not about that part," Ace snarked. "I meant what he said about focusing on studies for now. I mean, at the end of the day, Rook and dorm leader Riddle had to bail out me, Epel, Dev, and Grim, right?"
"It's true," Epel agreed. "I doubt we would've gotten anywhere near the cafeteria if they hadn't stayed behind to keep those ghost guards busy."
"When I saw Riddle takin' down all those ghosts single-handed, all I could think was, "Man, this guy is cool!" It made me wanna get better at usin' magic. Right now, I don't hold a candle to him or any of the upperclassmen, but one of these days I'm gonna be able to blow 'em all away with my magic!" He smirked. "I get a rush just thinkin' about the slack-jawed looks on their faces when they see what I can do. So I can't let romance distract me. I've gotta buckle down and study if I plan on gettin' where I wanna be."
"Yeah! I know what you mean!" Epel agreed.
"Hmph. Seems you might be more sensible than I first gave you credit for," Sebek commented.
Deuce nodded. "I should probably get more serious about my studies too."
"Heh. If a guy with Deuce's grades is in agreement, you know we're onto something," Jack added.
Everyone else nodded in agreement. "I know that's right."
"Why is it you guys can only agree when you're dumping on me?!" Deuce exclaimed.
Devon laughed before putting a hand on Deuce's shoulder. "Because you're the glue that holds this group together."
"Uh, actually I'm pretty sure that you, Dev. I don't think any of us would've been able to get past Sebek's…Sebek-ness with you dragging him over to have lunch with us so often," Jack pointed out.
"You're also the only that can rein Grim in," Epel added.
"Nuh-uh!" Grim protested. "The Great Grim can't be tamed!"
Ace laughed at Grim's posturing before catching sight of all the decorations that still had to come down. "Aw, crud. We've been so busy talking, we haven't actually made any progress getting this mess cleaned up. Bad enough those ghosts made us all look like chumps, but now we've gotta clean up after 'em too…" He sighed and shook his head. "We're pretty lame, huh? I don't think there was a single cool moment between the lot of us today."
"That's not true at all!" Ortho chimed in cheerfully.
Ace blinked. "Huh?"
"As you know, I was able to access the video feed to keep track of everyone's progress," Ortho reminded them. "The headmaster and I saw your dramatic entrance into the wedding hall, Ace Trappola. The way you and Devon Lopez burst in and shouted, "WE OBJECT!" was like something out of a movie! I could tell how determined you were to save my brother…and it was so cool!"
"Well, I can't speak for New York," Ace replied, "but I don't know that I'd call myself invested. It was more like I got caught up in the moment after dealing with all those ghosts."
"I disagree," Ortho argued, shaking his head. "You looked quite intent when you rushed in. And that speech you made to the bride and her retainers… That came from the heart, didn't it?"
"You got it all wrong, Ortho. Ain't no way Ace is some knight in shining armor on the inside," Grim commented flatly. "I bet he was just doin' what he usually does-spoutin' off a buncha stuff he doesn't believe as long as it gets him what he wants."
"Y-Yeah!" Ace agreed quickly, his smirk looking more forced this time. "See? Grim gets me."
"Judging from the elevated heart rate my IR sensor detected, as well as Ace Trappola's voice level and pupil dilation, every metric points to him having been sincere," Ortho argued. He closed his eyes, the corners crinkling in a way that hinted at an amused smile under his mask. "You don't have to be so modest, you know! There's no need to hide it."
Meanwhile, the other boys had been listening intently. "Hang on. So that means…," Deuce began.
"Everything he said to the Ghost Bride about the perfect partner…," Sebek continued.
"He actually believes it?!" Jack finished, his shoulders shaking as he chuckled.
Ortho nodded. "Yep! Beyond a shadow of a doubt!" He looked over at Ace again. "I think it's so cool that you have such a clear vision of your perfect partner, Ace."
"What?! I do not!" Ace protested, waving his arms out in front of him. "I don't got a romantic bone in my body!" He offered up his usual self-assured smile, though it didn't seem as convincing when paired with how red his face was beginning to turn. "I just improvised that speech. I just said whatever I thought that ghost lady would buy."
"Is that right?" the other boys chorused, looking between Ace and Devon who, thankfully, was too busy being amused at Ace's suffering to notice.
"You sure are protestin' an awful lot, ain't ya?" Grim observed with an amused smirk of his own.
"Even the headmaster thought your speech was absolutely endearing!" Ortho continued. "And that's not even getting into how loving and sincere you looked when you proposed to Devon at the front gates!"
"Wait, what?!" Deuce, Jack, and Sebek shouted.
"Oh yeah, I'd almost forgotten about that!" Epel said with a mischievous grin.
"Look, it's not what you guys think, okay?! C'mon Epel, you were there! We all had to do a rehearsal proposal in front of one of the guards or he wasn't gonna let us in the building." Ace explained. "It's not like I was the only one that fake proposed to Devon-Epel had to do it too!"
"True, but you were the only one who gave Devon such an adoring look," Ortho pointed out.
"Not to mention that forehead touch thing," Epel added.
Devon could feel her own cheeks getting warm as the memory came back to her and she tried to calm her own quickening heart rate before Ortho could call her out. Like the rest of them, she'd been too preoccupied with stopping the Ghost Bride to dwell on Ace's fake proposal until now but recalling it brought all those butterflies right back to her belly. 'Yeah, okay. I definitely didn't feel this flustered when any of the other guys proposed to me. And Ace has been with me pretty much right from the start; longer than Deuce, even. Now that he's stopped being as much of a buttchicken, he's probably the person I have the most fun with on campus. And lately I keep finding myself wanting to be physically close to him more than I do my other freshman friends and getting all warm inside whenever he hugs or leans against me. …Yeah… I think I am starting to catch feelings.'
"Based on my statistical analysis and a review of the literature in the field, I can conclude that if you declare your love as ardently as you did today, you'd win anyone's heart without question!" Ortho declared, pulling Devon out of her thoughts.
"How many times do I gotta say it?! I don't do declarations of love!" Ace protested. He caught sight of Grim and the boys' faces and his eyes narrowed into a glare. "Will you knock it off with those smug looks?!"
"Wow, I had no idea you were such a sweetheart, Ace," Epel teased. "I was there for the proposal, but now I'm really wishin' I could've been there for that speech."
"No need to worry there! I made full recordings of both the speech and the proposals!" Ortho supplied helpfully. "I'd be glad to send them to you later."
"Dude! Not cool!" Ace shouted. "Why would you even do that?!" 'Okay, there's no way he doesn't know what he's doing!'
"Great idea, Ortho. Why don't we all watch it together once we finish up here?" Deuce suggested before turning to Devon with a grin. "Is it cool if we do it at Ramshackle?"
"Fine with me," Devon said, hoping she sounded sufficiently nonchalant and hoping she wouldn't melt into a flustered mess upon seeing the recording of the proposal again.
"What?! New York, no!" Ace shouted with a betrayed look on his face. "You were supposed to be the one person I could count on!"
"Heh. A group watch sounds like it could be fun," Jack said. "Suddenly I'm not feelin' so tired anymore."
"I shall join in as well!" Sebek declared with a smirk. "As I recall, Ace, you called me the number one worst contender. I hope you're prepared for my rigorous assessment!"
"Ugh, seriously! We don't have to hold an entire watch party over this!" Ace's protests continued to fall of selectively deaf ears.
Devon reached out to touch Ace's arm. "You really did look cool out there, though. What's the harm?"
"What Devon said!" Ortho agreed. "This shows that you've seriously considered what the perfect marriage means to you. I'd say that makes you the most eligible bachelor of all!"
"How many times am I gonna have to tell you that none of that was even the slightest bit sincere?!" Ace argued, though nobody was buying it by this point.
"Whoa, check it out!" Grim exclaimed, hopping onto Devon's shoulder and pointing at Ace's reddening cheeks. "Ace is blushin' so hard, his ears are turnin' red!"
"Hmm? Hey, you're right!" Deuce agreed as the rest of the boys looked over at Ace as well. "You don't see that every day, huh?"
"Make sure you get a record of this too, Ortho," Jack said as he gently nudged the younger Shroud.
"Yeah! And you should get a shot with your ghost camera, Dev!" Grim added.
"Why do you guys gotta mess with me like this?!" Ace wailed. "Can't we just move on already?!"
"What's the matter, Ace?" Deuce taunted with a smirk. "You're always teasing us about something or another, but it sounds like you can't take what you dish out."
Thanks to Ortho's motivation, the group finished cleaning the cafeteria in no time flat (even with Ace dragging his feet) and made it back to Ramshackle shortly thereafter. It was decided upon arriving at the dorm that nobody really felt like making the trek back to their own dorms after the long day/night they'd have, so everyone who needed to checked in with their dorm leader (or vice dorm leader in Epel, Ace, and Deuce's case) to let them know they'd be staying at Ramshackle for the night, using magic to change into their pajamas pretty much as soon as they crossed the threshold.
"Wow, Ace. Could you look any more lovestruck?" Jack teased as Ortho played the proposal video.
"Seriously, you look like you to smooch her right there in front of everyone," Deuce agreed.
"I was really surprised he didn't, actually," Epel added.
Ace grumbled something unintelligible in response to his friends' taunts but most of his attention was occupied Devon, who had fallen asleep against his shoulder almost as soon as they had sat down. The boys were cautious with their volume at first when she was dozing off, waiting until they were sure she was actually asleep before saying what was on their minds. They weren't too concerned about waking her-all of them knew from experience that she tended to sleep like a rock if she was tired enough. After all, if she could sleep through Grim's snoring and sleeptalking, she could sleep through them having a conversation so long as they weren't too loud.
"Hey, Ace," Epel spoke up. "Were you serious about what you said before? You know, about how you don't want romance to slow you down?"
"Does that mean you're not gonna do anything about your extremely obvious crush?" Jack asked.
Ace looked over at Devon to make sure she was still asleep, only answering when he was satisfied she wouldn't stir. "Well, it's true that I want to surpass dorm leader Riddle someday and I wasn't kidding about buckling down, but as for Devon… I don't really wanna get into it, but things are kinda complicated. I mean, I do like her. A lot, actually. But I don't see the need to rush into a relationship right now. The way I see it, things are fine as they are right now so we'll just…see where things go. If we become something more, great. And if not, she's still the coolest best friend I've ever had. I'd say I win either way."
The boys didn't look entirely convinced, but they didn't press the issue. Ace was grateful for that; his feelings for Devon as well as his insecurities regarding actively pursuing a relationship with her ran deeper than he cared to share. He didn't want to get too into his own head about his feelings. He glanced over at Devon, unable to keep the warm smile off his face when she nuzzled closer to him in her sleep. Yeah, there was no need to complicate things right now; he just wanted to enjoy school life with his buds…and keep making sure Devon enjoyed hers as much as she could being apart from her family and all. To that end, he made a mental note to call home when he got back to Heartslabyul. Depending on how it went, he might have a nice surprise for Devon for winter break.
Ending Notes: Why yes, I was thinking of the Peaches song from the new Mario Bros. movie when I wrote the bit about the guy's "song" for Devon.
Alright, so I have something I'd like my readers' opinions on. I've been toying with the idea for a while, but I've been thinking about making Silver a love interest for Devon. He's been growing on me for a hot minute now, but I wasn't sure I wanted any of Devon's LIs to come from the same dorm. After I thought more about it, though, I found myself liking the potential romantic dynamic between Devon and Silver. Devon tends to favor guys with a sneaky-if not outright underhanded-side, so Silver (by virtue of not having a single deceptive bone in his body) would be an interesting contrast. And I could honestly say that, while her parents and siblings each tend to favor a different one of Devon's current LIs for different reasons (not that they'd interfere with her choice either way), every single one of them-even Valentina and Tio Diego-would approve of Silver. Let me know what you guys think. If I'm going to add Silver to the love interest roster he and Devon are going to need to interact more, so I'll need to start planning those interactions. Thankfully we're coming up on the Scarabia arc and the limited cast available for that arc means I'll have time to work some stuff out.
Thank you all so much for reading! As always, feedback and constructive criticism are welcome. Geekinthepink, out!