Ace Trappola centric

hate me, hurt me (praise me, love me)

summary: Ace Trappola was as prideful as every other student in NRC. Unfortunately that causes him and others to neglect his ever-so-slight need for affection.

Pairings: Ace Trappola Harem baby

People at NRC were prideful, teachers, students, and ghosts alike. For example, one would rather die than admit that they are in a critical condition, but they would also rather die than be placed in that humiliating situation in the first place. Very contradicting I know, but then again this is a school full of a bunch of morally grey, bordering dark, teenage boys who were all somewhat traumatised as children and need therapy. Are we shocked?

Anyways, ignoring all that, people at NRC were prideful, that included one Ace Trappola. He was, however, also incredibly spoiled and he and shit to back up his pride.

Ace, as the youngest, had always been subjected to a fair amount of love and attention, whether that may be from his grandparents, parents, brother, or other family members, he was never limited on people who he could just turn to and flash a little smile to and be immediately rewarded with praise and candy.

As well as this Ace was a natural entertainer. He had a natural charm to him, and his charisma caused people to let him in or flock to him, depending on his mood. He was also smart. He knew when to lie, when to twist his words and when to tell the truth, whether it be the full truth or not. He knew how size up his enemies and what fights to pick or lose. He could pick things up easily, only needing a few tries to get it down and he knew how to work his way through the basics without tripping up.

However, that was back home. At NRC? Everything was different.

To start with everyone wore a mask, which made them all so much harder to read, to reel in, to attract.

Second thing was that everyone was strong. Whether it be through magical prowess, physical strength or intellectual ability, everyone had something that made them strong. Even one's that seemed like nothing but a speck of dust, or a coal in a diamond mind, they all had something in them had warned Ace that it wouldn.t be wise messing with them long term.

(When Ace looks back on it, he supposes that's when it all began)

Despite everything however, everyone at NRC still had emotions, feelings, and a need. And thankfully Ace found people who didn't look the need nor want of friendship.

However, Ace realised he needed something more. No, it hadn't been to surpass the other first years (okay so maybe he was a little salty that Deuce, Epel, and Jack all had their Unique Magics, and yes maybe he was a little jealous of the praise that they were receiving but still! He was over it! (He wasn't)) And no it wasn't to grow to be the tallest or the strongest (he enjoyed his height and size, thank you very much. It helped him feel nice and-). And no, he didn't want to be the top of the year for the exams (But mean, it would be nice to be finally sent a letter of acknowledgement or to be told that someone was proud of him. He hadn't heard it since he started at NRC from anyone really. And he absolutely did not want to be part of the spell drive team at all! (Following his brothers' footsteps by wanting to join Heartslabul had already been a mistake, he didn't need to make another one thank you very much.)

No, what was Ace realised he needed was praise.

***

He first noticed his need when Deuce had gone running to their upperclassmen to inform them about his acquisition of his unique magic.

"Well done, Deuce!" the rare praise coming out of their house wardens mouth made something in Ace's gut twist painfully, but he pushed it down and chalked it up to nerves from having to fight and overblotted Vil-senpai.