Dollhouse

Something Better

Haydn understood that things wouldn't turn back to normal the moment the villain kids chose to be good, but it still hurt to see how everyone shied away from Ace and his friends like they were a plague. It was strange to him, how they all accepted the daughter of Maleficent, the worst criminal of them all, with some hesitancy or none at all, but Ace walked into the room and they all acted like he was about to attack them like his mother had threatened him on the Island. It hurt to watch, too.

Those who were friends with the villain kids, like Ben, Jane, Lonnie, Doug and him, they weren't afraid of Ace, but everyone else was terrified he would snap and attack them. Those who were his friends, tried to explain to the others that he wasn't like that, but it was like pulling teeth when Audrey and Chad were involved. They only made everything worse, and Alice's daughter was no help, either. Every time Ace came into view of the Wonderland "good girl"'s daughter, she would run away screaming bloody murder. Mal was one more time away from casting a silencing spell on her.

Ace had all but given up. He still spoke as little as possible, still kept his gaze from meeting anyone else's, and on many occasions he had returned to their room with bloodshot eyes and just looked completely exhausted. Haydn had actually started forcing Ace to sleep in the same bed as him so the poor boy could feel loved and have a peaceful night of sleep, much like how he had been forcing Ace to take care of himself. He wasn't entirely sure if the Prince could feel how hard his heart was pounding each night, but he figured that since Ace had yet to say anything, it was alright. He vaguely wondered if it was possible Ace was taking it the wrong way, but he hoped everything else he did refuted the idea.

Today was, for some reason other than the sudden downpour of rain, more draining and terrible than all the others so far. When Haydn and Ace were heading to their classes or elsewhere, they had somehow managed to run into Audrey, Chad, and Alice's daughter at some point throughout the day. Well, more like they ran into Audrey and Chad, and heard Alice's daughter running in the complete opposite direction. Needless to say, the interactions did not end well.

After that, Haydn's not really sure what happened. They were in their history class together, learning about Elsa and Anna, Princesses of Arrendelle, and Ace had been progressively becoming more and more jittery, more shaky, more hurt looking until he had just snapped and ran out of the classroom. Chad had chuckled from the front of the room, and Haydn had to stop himself from attacking the other male, reminding himself it wasn't worth it as he asked to look for Ace and was given a worried confirmation that it was okay from his teacher. He had spent a good portion of the day looking for Ace, but he still didn't see him again until around ten at night.

He had been in their room, pacing nervously, when Ace had come in, soaking wet and dripping water from head to toe.

"Ace!" Haydn cried, running over to him and gently taking his hands in his as he pulled him into the room. "What happened, bud? Where have you been?" He asked softly, grabbing a towel and immediately starting to wrap it around him. Ace didn't respond, only looking down at the floor as water dripped from his hair and clothes. Haydn didn't ask again, knowing he probably wouldn't get a response, and focused on trying to dry Ace so he wouldn't catch a cold.

Eventually he went to Ace's dresser and opened the drawer that held his pajamas, walking over to Ace again and nudging him towards the private bathroom in their room after shoving the fuzziness and warmest looking pair he could find into his hands. "Take a warm shower, get dressed. I don't want you getting sick."

Ace had done so almost robotically, making Haydn's heart break, and he was momentarily glad that Fall Break was right around the corner and his mother had been gracious enough to let all the villain kids and even Ben stay with them for the week, because then Ace could finally relax and begin to feel safe again.