Nope, nothing important to add here, except dat obligatory disclaimer statement here.

Knowing that, Deuce slowly unrevealed herself off her blanket. That sudden action of her, however, seemed to surprise the person before her as he stopped his approach in a swift moment. She quickly trailed her eyes to his'. They were too dark to tell at this level of darkness, but she could tell exactly from the person's silhouette; it was definitely Ace.

"You're… still awake…?"

She was totally unsure on how to respond to Ace's surprise. Nonetheless, she kept that inside for a while as she motioned a small nod.

"Mmm."

Just now, was Ace trying to… visit her when she wasn't awake? That wasn't something that their Ace would do. He was always the most straightforward of all, no matter how bad the taste of the results.

"Ah…" Ace cut, his words were as good as a small whisper. "…Are you doing fine?"

Or maybe it was just her. He was still as straightforward as ever, despite his current heavy tone. Still, she didn't know why, but Deuce found herself hard to open her mouth to answer in front of his presence. It took her a few tries before she successfully let out her sentences.

"I… suppose."

Full stop. Neither spoke. Ace seemed to slide his neck aside as if he didn't want to stare her at her eyes even though the room was perfectly dark, while Deuce herself could only drop her chin down until it almost touched her neck.

Why… Why did it have to be this way? Why did it have to be this awkward? Never but for this one occasion, she found herself difficult to said even a letter to him. Ace was being a totally different person as well, he was clearly trying to not to state many words this time.

It was arduous, but she, once again, managed to open her mouth.

"Ac-"

"Take a rest, Deuce."

Managed, yes, but not a total success. Deuce's eyes went full circle at Ace's words as the blonde himself turned around to leave the room without further words, his eyes left no emotion as well.

He was being unexpectedly uncaring, if not ruthlessly cold.

In shock, Deuce tried to speak, but it was for naught, only desperate and choked gasps were out of her tiny lips.

Why… Why did he have to act this way? When she needed him the most? She… just wanted to speak with him for a bit, for he was the only one who could make her days brighter in comparison to everyone else by his own, unique boyish action.

"It wasn't your fault."

"Neither was his fault."

Trey's and Queen's words flew by her mind in a flash, although she failed to register and comprehend the advice. At every moment passed, she found herself harder to hold her tears back. For once… For once…

For once, she just wanted him to look at her.

"That's… all you can say…?"

Her statement was the perfect idiom of cynicism and sinisterness, something least you would expect from Deuce. Ace noticed the tone, although he didn't react all that much, he did nothing else but stopping his steps.

"That's all… That's all you want to tell me…?"

The dark brown haired girl gripped the bed sheet tighter, her sobs were not going unheard.

"I-I-!"

It was neither his nor her fault, but still…

"I-I called for you! I-I called for Ace! I kept calling for Ace!"

She shouted at him in tears, although she made sure that her sentence wasn't loud enough to disturb others. Surprisingly, Ace didn't budge even a muscle at Deuce's outburst.

Except for the unseen fist clenching of his right hand.

Both of them weren't at fault, but she just… couldn't hold it anymore! She… She just wanted him to-

"S-scary… It was so scary…" she moved her arm to wipe her uncontrollable tears. "I-I was too terrified… I c-couldn't do anything…"

She just wanted him to be by her side for a while.

"W-Why didn't you… come?"

With those words, she said nothing further. No, she couldn't say anything else, because her sobs overrode her words. Deuce was left to do nothing but wiping the waterfall of tears from her eyes.

Meanwhile, she didn't realize that Ace had turned back to face her when she was venting her fears, yet. It was when she felt two boyish arms surrounded her tender figure did she realized that.

Ace was already on the bedside, embracing her tightly.

The hug lasted only for a while before Ace pulled back. Even though the gesture was pretty short and she couldn't move her body to reciprocate, the warmness of Ace's body managed to comfort every piece of her soul.

At the very least as well, Ace was now gazing straight into her eyes with his azure one. An arm slowly reached for Deuce's cheek to caress it, before he moved it to wipe her tears off her eyes.

"This is… why…" He exclaimed, his tone was pretty repressed. "…I don't want to come here when you're awake. I'll find you crying."

She couldn't say anything to object his statement, only a low sob was out of her lips. Ace didn't have any lamentation on his face, let alone tears. His eyes were red, but they didn't let out even a single trail of water. It was as if… He had cried a lot before he reached her and his tears had run dry.

"I hate it. I hate it when your face is covered by tears, Deuce…" As he said that, he then wiped the tears from her left eye. "So please… Don't cry."

Once again, he surprised her by embracing her. This time, though, it lasted rather long that she had the time to raise her own arms to hug him back, before she rested her head across his chest. His warmth soon combined to hers, giving every little piece of protection to her frail figure.

They stayed like that for a brief moment, before Ace spoke.

"…Deuce?"

She still had series of sobs by her, although it was obviously not as extravagant as before.

"…Mmm?" she answered slowly, her face was still buried inside his embrace.

As one of Ace's arms gently caressed her back, he slowly leaned the other arm to her chin to lift her face up, so that now they were facing each other straight at the face. Azure pierced emerald, its warmth combined with each other.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't say that," she shook her head slowly. "It's not your fault."

She was just quoting Trey's word, but she needed to make sure Ace hear it directly from her. Even when she said that, though, Ace still had that hesitant look on his face.

That was when she noticed that his face was very close to hers. Sure, they were already doing something more intimate –hugging-, but she still couldn't help but blushing. It took even a full ten seconds before she could muster her courage to open her mouth.

"Ace—"

Her words were abruptly cut off when he suddenly kissed her, right on the lips.

The flutist's eyes widened in surprise and she let out a silenced gasp at his sudden action. Thanks to that, her muscles tensed up as fast as a lightning, especially when Ace's hand moved to hold hers romantically. Deuce was still unsure on how to react to that. She… was supposed to kiss him back, right?

Before she could push her own lips to his, however, he pulled back again. That, of course, surprised the already-surprised Deuce even further. She stared back at him in a mixture of confusion and embarrassment, and he countered that only by emotionless stare.

Except he wasn't so emotionless. A small smile soon crept into his lips as he caressed her chin lovingly.

"You're indeed the cutest when you're blushing."

His compliment was plain genuine, which only sent Deuce blushing even crazier. Shyly, she tried to roll her eyes aside but it was fruitless, because her heart kept ordering her to look at him, which she couldn't disobey. They traded stares again until Ace, once again, leaned his lips against hers. At this occasion, Deuce was unsure no more. Even though she still did it shyly, she responded it by pushing her lips maidenly.

She had been kissed many times by her captors, but without a single doubt, Ace's kiss was different. They were rough and forceful, while Ace was soft and gentle. It gave her a different feel altogether. This kiss was really like in a fairytale. It was lovely and she felt pure bliss as their lips danced against each other.

How and when did Ace learnt how to this? Or did it come naturally with him?

She could care less for that, actually. For now, she just wanted to share this love with him, as well as replied with the same intensity of love by Ace. This wasn't a dream, this was real. A reality, a romance that she wished would last forever.

Unfortunately, her breath didn't last for eternity. It was due time that she almost got suffocated from the lack of oxygen. Since Ace himself didn't give any sign of pulling back yet, she was the one who needed to arch her neck back, separating their lips together. She was still holding tightly onto him, of course.

Today, she learned new things about him: Ace was quite a kisser. He still looked as calm as ever, even after kissing her for a while.

"I'm sorry," he quickly apologized when he watched her gasping for breaths. "I shouldn't have gone that far."

Still catching her breath, Deuce politely shook her head. "Mmm, it's okay. It felt… nice."

That was when Ace acknowledged that Deuce had returned to her usual self, as she showed him her embarrassed smile. The number one couldn't hold himself to smile back at her. Before long, he once again connected his lips with her for the third time.

This time, Ace played an extreme game, he slipped his tongue in. Deuce was caught on the spot, her tongue was soon got dominated by his. However, once again, Ace still did things as gentle as ever. Whenever she wanted to wrestle her tongue against his for dominance, he would loosen his power a bit so that she would be able to push his tongue back. Both of them simply made sure that their tongues stood on the middle ground, Ace wouldn't push his in too far and vice versa for Deuce.

Moreover, he slowly pushed her body back so that she was laying on the soft surface of the bed as their lips were still intertwined with each other.

After what seemed like forever, the young pair removed their lips from each other, catching their breaths together. Her arms were dropping to her side, while his were guarding them. He was on top of her, albeit their bodies were still yet to touch with each other.

Noticing her current predicament, thick blushes were quickly appearing on her face again as she shyly moved an arm over her own lips. She knew all this condition too well. She could already guess what was coming.

Still, Ace didn't do it just like that. He stared at her for a while, unsure written all over his face. Indeed, those horrible things that had happened to her… There was but one way to heal them.

"Deuce," he spoke clearly under his ragged breaths. "Will you let me… clean you up?"

This was something that only he could do, as a leader, a friend, and more importantly, as someone who loved her.

Deuce acknowledged it too. Those scars would never gone and could never be healed, except if they were overwritten by another feels of pleasure altogether. Maybe if she were to do it with him… She swallowed a nervous lump on her throat first before she slowly confirmed his question by a single nod.

"Just… Please, be gentle."

It was a bit rhetorical, though, she already knew that Ace would do it gently.

"I will."

For Ace's part, he was never in an intercourse himself, he wasn't too comfortable with the idea itself. He was sure that Deuce was probably still a little dubious about doing it as well. However, some things just needed to be done. He would need to apply those actions that he had only read from a book before.

First thing first, he needed to make sure her body was comfortable with him.

With that mindset, Ace slowly travelled his hand around her robed figure. He touched her everywhere he could think. He gripped her soft breasts with his hands tenderly, which were slowly moving to her hips and legs, before he ended it by putting one finger inside her entrance between her velvety legs.

Fortunately, while he was doing those things, Deuce responded with soft moans of pleasure. One thing that Ace needed the most right now, she was reacting positively.

He started to move his finger inside out. Every time he did that, Deuce would let out a moan that was louder than before. Even though she had already accepted him, her body was still jerking up and down in response to his finger's dance.

It was only his finger, but it already stirred her crazy inside. Her legs started to wiggle and move around in random directions due to the uncontrollable pleasure inside. Soon, she was already lost in the pleasure of his touches, her moans turned more and more wanton as he performed his ability.

When he decided to insert another finger inside, that was when she lost herself.

"A-Aaah-!"

It didn't take too long after two of Ace's fingers were inside of her that she let out her love juices. As soon as Ace felt his fingers were enveloped by her liquids, he quickly pulled them back, watching Deuce as she reached her climax. The flutist fell back on the bed wearily. She was panting uncontrollably as Ace turned his attention at his wet fingers for a while.

Deuce was more sensitive than he had originally thought. He needed to be a little gentler.

He turned his attention back at the brunette as he slowly proceeded to uncover her off her bath robe. She was a little surprised at first, but she gave no resistance to stop him from doing so, she was only holding her hands together across her chest shyly.

When he was able to see her whole feature, Ace felt himself petrified on the spot. He always thought of Deuce as a 'cute-type' girl more than a 'beautiful-type' one. What stood before his eyes proved him very wrong. Her breasts were relatively small, indeed, but in the middle of them, her nipples were colored with pretty pink radiances of hers. Her unclothed body was shaping femininely. Too slender and feminine that it was inhuman.

"Beautiful…"

He subconsciously let that out, without any exaggeration. It was pretty hard to differentiate her from a divine being even just by a single glance, it was as if he had an angel just beneath him. Those naked figures that he had seen on the laboratories or books couldn't even come close to Deuce's. Deuce herself could only go redder at Ace's exclamation.

The blonde soon had enough of watching and he decided to put his action in motion. This time, he groped her small mountains gently directly on her skin, playing with her nipples as gently.

Deuce reacted indifferently. She made no attempt to cover her moans, which sometimes would be spiced with his name between them. Whenever he touched her nipples, she would still thrash her legs around despite how comfortable she was. It wasn't that she hated him doing that, it was simply because the sensation was too much for her to take.

He, however, stopped when he considered that she was too overwhelmed. She let out one final gasp just before she felt his hands were parting from her small boobs, slowly opening her eyes again to stare at him again and tilted her head to the side a bit in question.

He was different from those rapists. He wanted Deuce to be in an equal position as him. His own desire would come after Deuce's pleasure, no matter how uncontrollable it was. For instance, to be equal, he needed to be in the same situation as her.

"Deuce… Can you undress me?"

He had taken her off her clothes, this time it was her turn to do the same to him. She stared at him for a while before she mustered a nod back at him. Slowly but steady, she proceeded to undress him, starting from his red cape, followed by unbuttoning his uniform, and at least she reached his pants. Touching his belt, she stared at Ace again to reconfirm it for one last time. When he nodded, she unbuckled his belt, pulling his pants down, and ended it by removing Ace off of his boxers.

She was still surprised at how hard Ace was right now. His thick shaft was already rock hard when she discovered it.

"Sorry," this time, Ace was the one who blushed thousand shades of reds. "You're being extremely irresistible."

Before Deuce could form a proper reaction to that, Ace had already dived in to lock her lips with his. Yet, it was just another short and sweet kiss, as he pulled his lips back after around five seconds or so. Still, that was more than enough to raise the momentum for both of them

Carefully, Ace crept his arms around Deuce's weakening legs and pushed them apart. Deuce swore that she almost panicked and wished to just rub them together again, the memories of that incident haunted her for a flash second. However, when Ace's azure eyes pierced her emerald spheres, she had quickly thrown that idea away and let him lead the intercourse. His eyes were warm and charming, they were more than enough to convince her that she would be okay even after all this.

Ace assigned his position so that his stick was right in front of her hole. He knew he should've used a safety for this, but there was none around them and nobody had the idea to actually bring one with them in their missions. He had to settle with the unprotected sex, frankly.

"Deuce, I'm putting it in."

His nervous heart was beating so fast right now. There was definitely no turning back for him after this.

For her, though, she couldn't turn back already. She… was not a virgin anymore and that could only mean, he needed to be the one to take the responsibility.

Deuce gulped nervously as she nodded once again, preparing herself by grabbing Ace's shoulder. Ace himself inhaled a very deep breath before he moved his hip down. The head of his penis soon penetrated her entrance, making her squirting the remnants of the juices that were still around her inner wall.

He was inside of her.

"Nngh-!"

"A-Aahh-!"

Ace let out a pained grunt as Deuce screamed right beside his ears. The impact was too amazing for both of them. He needed to grab the bed sheet to not to fall on top of her, while on Deuce's part, she desperately tightened her legs around him, her nails digging into his shoulders.

The card user put an immediate pause to this. He needed to make her comfortable first, as she was spasming crazily in her position and tears were dwelling around her closed eyes. It was obvious from the way she was biting her bottom lip that she was still in pain from the first thrust.

He worriedly gazed at her pained expression. "Are you okay?"

"Y-Yes, Ace… I-I am fine." Even though she said that and smiled, her tension clearly remained.

Another method was necessary. When Deuce kept flinching even though he made no movement, Ace leaned on top of her and hugged her tight, still careful to not to put his weight on her.

"Deuce…" He whispered beside her ears, hoping that his advice would reach her, who kept gasping all the time. "Take a deep breath. Let your body relax."

"Ah… Y-yes… Mmm…"

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath… Let it out, then did it again. In… Out… In… Out…

"Mm… Haaa… Aahn…"

As time passed and Ace's body temperature sunk into her, Deuce's pain began to melt like snow. Her breaths were getting more and more normal as well. That was his cue to move again. Ace pushed in through her soft flesh. This time, Deuce gasped in passions just with a touch of pain.

As he pumped his thing in, Ace inadvertently groaned again. He was prepared for the hot feeling around him, but it felt like he was melting away inside of her. Each centimeter he advanced into her intoxicated him with her warmth. The pleasant feeling made him shiver.

Ace bit his lip, staving off his urges to just to move his member inside her wildly. Steadily, he buried himself completely inside her pussy.

"Nnhaaa…"

Deuce's white stomach quivered and she moaned softly. She continued to clamp down on him. When she felt him going through until he reached the deepest part inside of her and rubbed himself there, the brunette grasped the sheets and forced her eyes open to stare back at her dominant partner.

When they were connected like this and he was trembling inside of her… She liked it, because she could tell that he was feeling good, just like Deuce herself. This felt too good.

"A…ce…"

She smiled at him and put her hand around his back. She pulled him forward, completely burying him inside of her again. That single jabbing of thrust surprisingly sent a powerful wave of pleasure through both of them.

That was perfect.

Assuming that as the milestone, Ace immediately pulled himself back and thrust into her again with the same force. And like he had assumed, a sweet moan was out of Deuce's lips once again. He continued to drive into her a second… third… fourth time. That single persistent movement continued, Ace kept rubbing himself through Deuce's inexperienced vagina. Her moans were starting to make lovely rhymes in his ears.

"Mmmnn! Mn! Aaah! Haaa! Ace… Ace…!"

The way she called his name… The way her body tensed up and down… She aroused him to no end.

"M-my body… is starting to g-get really hot…"

Maybe he was being too extreme to her. Ace relaxed his pace and gave Deuce enough room to catch her breath. Yet, what she was doing was nothing but writhing beneath him and hesitated to look at him in his eyes.

"My head… started to tingle… Mmmmmnn !" Deuce's own words heightened her excitement and goosebumps appeared on her arms.

Bad.

This was bad.

Watching Deuce's body fidgeted in shyness and pleasure awakened his male instinct to dominate her. Biting his lips and clenching the bed sheet still didn't help. He couldn't hold it inside any further. He wanted her. Ace wanted Deuce so bad.

"Deuce-! Hold still-!"

Lost in the heaven of pleasure, Ace began thrusting into her without abandon. Deuce's small body was already jerking up and down at his first strike, but when he connected it into a series of thrusts, she was totally helpless, especially when he fastened his pace.

"Aaaaaaahn! Kyaahn! Mmn! Mmmhaaaaa! A-Ace..! T-Too fast—!"

His continuous thrusts into her depths tinged Deuce's groan with pains again. But Ace didn't hesitate to stop. Instead, he pumped Deuce even stronger.

"Ah! Aaah! Ace… D-Don't…" she begged while squirming under him, lost in her own mixture of pain and pleasure. "Something… Something's coming… Inside my stomach... Mmmn! Haahn!"

Her hair scattered behind her head, her skin shone with her sweats, and the sweet scent of her femininity filled the room. She was practically shrieking right now, but Deuce didn't care anymore. She just wanted to be one with him for now, she just wanted him to engrave his love in the deepest part of her.

"AH-! ACE!"

Ace started to shake himself left and right in addition to his thrusts and bite Deuce's slender neck, leaving deep hickeys here and there. Deuce's spasms got more and more extreme, and she doubted that she could hold it inside any further. On Ace's part, he was undergoing the same level of pleasure as well.

"Ace… ACE! I-I CAN'T-! AAHN!"

"Deuce— I'm… almost-!"

Deuce's back arched with her cry and she tightly clamped down on him, bringing Ace to pleasant numbness of orgasm. The fingers of his hands were pinning hers, tightly holding them protectively even at a moment like this.

"Kuh!"

"AH! AAAAHH!"

At the same, exact moment, their love juices were out of their sexual organs and they mixed into one, the remaining of their cums that didn't combine into one made a shallow puddle just around Deuce's love hole. Ace, however, never released his grips on her hands and he didn't befall his whole body on her while Deuce was trying her best not to faint after all that.

Their heavy breaths of tiredness erupted many times, but it soon beat into one when their eyes fell upon each other's again. Granted, Deuce was pretty exhausted after their first time, but she was always the most kind of a girl, her lips formed a smile, which Ace replied with one of his own.

"Ace…"

Calling his name never felt so better than this one occasion. Her lover didn't reply with calling her name, but he simply tilted his head a bit, locking his eyes tight at her mesmerizing feature.

"Hmm?"

"I love you."

It was pretty unlikely of her to just spurt something pretty romantic, and not to mention, embarrassing like that. But there were never a perfect moment back there for dropping the L-bomb in front of him.

Always the man of surprise, Ace didn't say a word. The blonde just pushed his neck down so that his lips captured hers again. Everyone could tell that he reciprocated her feeling easily, but he never preferred words as a way to relay his heart back to her, for action speak louder than words. Unsurprisingly, his partner agreed to his method and she just replied positively to his kiss.

At that night, Ace and Deuce expressed their love for each other again through any way they could think of on the bed, be it kisses, hugs, or something more intimate. Their night was still young.

…

It was another beautiful morning. Along with the chirps of the morning birds, Ace rested his chin on his hand, which he rested on the windowsill by the lobby of the inn. By fortunes, he had managed to slip out of her room first thing in the morning before anyone woke up.

He did feel bad for leaving Deuce's side when she was still sleeping peacefully, but he couldn't afford to let anyone find out about his special night just yesterday. Not this fast, at least. What had happened last night was one hell of a step in his relationship with Deuce, but Ace was, by any means, never the quickest when it comes to relationship, he always took his things slowly.

"Good morning."

"Morning~"

"Morning to you too."

His friends were already around, greeting each other in the lobby. Ace was only able to return their greetings with a simple nod of head for no apparent reason, perhaps it might be due to the lack of sleep or maybe because his mind was still wandering around a particular girl, nobody could tell.

He yawned once before rubbing his eyes in attempt to return his consciousness back before it get the best of him. After adding a headshaking to his side and forth, he was able to grasp his vision clearly. It went without saying that he needed to stay on guard even at this moment, he shouldn't let the tiredness from yesterday bother him.

Because what had happened last night was definitely worth it.

At one time, everyone started a discussion. It was not an important discussion, just some sort of morning ramble, one of their morning activities. Ace hadn't risen from his seat, but he happily joined in the discussion whenever there was an interesting topic.

Their random talks were put a full pause when a certain door was slowly opened. Every eye was quickly darted to the said direction. That door, that room was no other than…

Emerging from the room was none other than the number two, Deuce. Dressed in the proud uniform of Peristylium Suzaku, the girl was femininely putting her hands together in front of her tartan skirts. But of course most of all, her trademark smile was on her lips, complementing her already-cute face.

"Good morning, everyone."

She only needed to say that single sentence to have everyone else storm her. While they still had their worries over the youngest member, the gladness on their emotions buried those unnecessary worries inside.

Just like yesterday, Ace didn't join them, he remained on his seat. However, while Deuce was busy replying to others about her condition, he made a small, secretive small that only Deuce could comprehend. He didn't really need her to notice, for he was already very glad that she was perfectly okay.

Merely watching her smiling around her friends was a special treat of its own for him. Whether it was for him, or for anyone else, he really loved her smile.

"Now then-"

As Ace pronounced that, he rose from his seat and all his friends', including Deuce's, attentions were directed at him. He brushed his pants a bit before he calmly approached at his friends.

"Let us make haste before the sun at its peak. Another mission might be waiting for us back home."

With that, Ace simply skirted through his friends, as unperturbed as ever. As the said man walked through her, Deuce could only watch every single trace of movement of his elegant moves. His hair as well as his cape was flowing alongside the warm wind that was barely there. It was as if time moved slower when he walked past her.

"Ah, Ace! Wait for me!"

Before anything could even be registered in her mind, her body already moved. Everyone else could only witness in surprise when Deuce's heel made its first movement to turn around and follow Ace's path, her small figure chased him up until she was close enough and she lowered her pace so her speed was equivalent to that of a walking one.

However, their stares turned warm no sooner and smiles were coloring their faces when something extraordinary happened. They soon followed the number one and two to make their beelines home, some of them still kept their smiles intact at the sight before them.

Deuce's hand was connected to Ace's.

Aaand look, this is my first multi-chaptered story that I managed to finish. What a procrastinator I am lmfao. Feel free to make anything of that one liner ending. I even dare you to.

Final line, see you all in my other stories. Phantasm of Oriense, Babysitter Extraordinaries, and Idunn's Apple are going to be updated soon enough.