The Birth of Venus || Various!TwistedWonderland X Siren!Reader

✧9. Deuce.✧

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You waved goodbye to Yuu and Grim and began to walk to your first class. You briefly considered asking Ace for directions but decided not to. He'd already gotten on your nerves, you don't need to talk to him more. Fortunately, you found your class. Unfortunately, Ace was in it. Unfortunately, you were placed right next to him.

Class was awkward and boring and when it finished you walked to the cafeteria as you were told to. Grim and Yuu stood there, Grim looked exhausted. "I'm already exhausted from a full day of cleanin'. I can't believe we still gotta wash a hundred windows!" You sat down at one of the cafeteria tables, silently waving to Yuu. "We just gotta suck it up and do it." Yuu shrugged picking up a towel and handing it to you. "What's buggin' me is, Ace ain't even here yet! To make us wait, after what he did... Grrr!" Grim frowned and crossed his arms. 

It was silent for a few minutes. You were too mentally tired from being a person and watching boys gawk at you. "... And now he's super late! I bet he up and bailed on us!" Grim crossed his arms. "I wouldn't be surprised..." You mumbled. "That's possible." Yuu frowned. "Ain't no way am I doin' his punishment for him! C'mon, you two! I don't care if we gotta drag him kickin' and screamin', he's washin' those windows!" Grim began to walk and You and Yuu followed him.

Grim opened a pair of grand doors dramatically. "Hey! Ace! Get over here! Try to hide from me, will ya!" The room was empty. "Huh... Maybe there's really no one here?" "Oh, I wouldn't say that, I'm here." A voice behind us suddenly rang out. Your group turned around to see who was speaking. Oh? Person in the wall? Legit? "Bwaaah! That painting just talked!" Grim yelled, surprised. Ohh a painting! Paintings aren't usually animated, nor do they talk. "Yes, and...? Is a talking painting really such an oddity at this school? The lady in the portrait on that wall talks too. As does the gentleman in the portrait on this one. As long as a painting has a mouth, why wouldn't it be able to talk? Is that really so strange?" 

The painting was kind of sassy, it was probably magic that brought them to life. "In fact, yes. Paintings don't usually talk." Yuu stared at the painting confused. "Well, your "usual" and my "usual" clearly differ. Shall we agree to disagree on the matter?" The painting smiled and Yuu shrugged and nodded. "Now, you seem to be searching for someone." Grim put his paws on his hips. "We're lookin' for this guy called Ace. He's got messy hair and a heart drawn on his face." "Real annoying." You crossed your arms sassily. "Ah, I know the one. A new student, I believe? Today was his first day at school. I think he went back to his dorm a while ago." The painting informed our group. "Myaaah! So it's true! He's tryin' to ditch us! Do you know which way he went?"

"The door to the dorms is in the eastern building." The painting responded. "Let's chase after him, C'mon!" Grim began running, as did Yuu. "Oh- Thank you!" You smiled at the painting and ran after the two. Running felt so fun, you'd figured it out last night. "Yeah right, like I'm gonna was a hundred windows. I'm just gonna go back and—" Ace grumbled to himself. "AHA! GOTCHA, PUNK!" Grim yelled. So much for the element of surprise. "Oh no! They saw me!" Ace looked like a deer in headlights. "Stop right there, pal! No fair gettin' a head start! Wait!" Grim began chasing Ace, and you and Yuu followed along. "Who in their right mind would ever wait?! Seeya!" Ace yelled at us as he ran. At this point, we were approaching a boy with dark blue hair. Hearing the commotion he turned his attention to us.

"...Hm?" Ace pushed past the boy. "Outta my way!" "Hey! What gives?!" He yelled at Ace as he ran. "He's shirking his cleaning responsibilities!" Yuu pointed at the ginger as he ran further down the hall. "What? That's not right! But how to stop him? Like, freeze his legs? Or bind them with a rope? Or maybe I could... Hmm... No..." The boy thought. You had a closer look at him. He had a spade symbol on his right eye and his eyes were a brilliant cyan color. He actually wasn't too bad looking. "I don't care how! Just do something! Anything!" Grim stressed to the blue-haired boy.

"Anything?! Anything, huh... All right! Here goes anything! I summon thee... something heavy!" He casted a spell, summoning a large cauldron that directly landed on Ace. This was hilarious to you. "Bwaaah?! Wha?! A pot?!" You began to laugh as your group (plus the dark-haired boy) walked over to a squashed Ace. "You look just like a squashed bug! Ahaha!" You pointed at Ace and laughed. "Ah ha ha ha ha! Look, guys, look! That Ace guy got crushed beneath a giant cauldron! It squashed him flat! Aha ha ha! That's what you get!"

"A cauldron?! I wasn't expecting that. I may have overdone it this time..." The dark-haired boy thought aloud. "Owwww! What are you bothering me for? You guys coulda just banged out the work yourself!" Ace whined beneath the crushing cauldron. "There's no "banging out" a hundred windows!" Yuu put his hands on his hips. "You have to wash a hundred windows as punishment? What the heck did you do?!" The dark-haired boy furrowed his eyebrows. "I was just screwing with that furball a little. ...Okay, and the statue of the Queen of Hearts got a teeny bit charred. Sue me." Ace rolled his eyes.

"You damaged a statue of the Great Seven?! No wonder he flew off the handle at you! After you managed to get into THIS school, how could you get in trouble on the very first day?!" The boy scolded Ace. "Oh, shut up. Who are you, anyway?" The boy deadpanned. "My name is Deuce. Deuce Spade. Don't you remember your own classmate? Uh..." Now that you think of it, you do remember seeing Deuce. He was sat next to Ace and looked as if he was struggling to think. "You don't remember my name either, do you?" Ace deadpanned. "That's not the point! You shouldn't try to shirk an order from the headmage!" Deuce scolded Ace once again. "Yeah, yeah, message received... Fine, let's bang out the windows already. Huh...?" Ace looked for Grim. "What...?" You looked around. Grim. That little shit! He ran off! "The furball! He's gone!" Ace yelled in surprise. 

"Ah ha ha ha! I'll let you three handle the rest! See ya, suckers!" Grim called as he sprinted down the hall. "You caught me so YOU could run away yourself?! Hey! You there! Uh... Juice?" Ace looked at Deuce. "My name isn't "Juice". It's Deuce! With a D!" Deuce frowned. "This is partially your responsibility, you know! So help me catch that little furball!" The cauldron disappeared and Ace got up. "How is this my responsibility?!" Deuce frowned at Ace. "Grim's useless janitor friend can't use magic. That means this is up to you and me!" Ace then pointed at you. "You too, Y/N!" ...you're not very good at magic. Shoot. "uhh! Yeah! For sure!" You gave Ace a thumbs up. 

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