𝖠𝖼𝖾 𝖳𝗋𝖺𝗉𝗉𝗈𝗅𝖺 𝗑 𝖱𝖾𝖺𝖽𝖾𝗋 (1): saying ‘I love you’ in a way only we can understand
Summary: Its during spring on a sunny day, when your best friend Ace Trappola unexpectedly comes up to you one day, eagerly asking you to teach him how to use sign language.
Tags: deaf yuu/reader, angst, hurt/comfort, reader is yuu, artist yuu/reader, there might be spoilers for the actual game, this is the first chapter of the fic!
a/n: this is cross posted on my ao3, chuuslover. If you enjoyed reading, please share some love and send me some kudos or comments :)
Hearing.
It's something that you’ve observed— comes easy to non-humans in Twisted Wonderland. Your fae friends have enhanced hearing, and you’re pretty sure that with how big some of the savanaclaw students' ears are, they can easily hear you and the other first years gossip about the headmaster.
You still remember how the shock felt. You still remember the panic that set inside your whole entire body the moment you kicked open that casket you were stuck inside in, finding yourself in an unfamiliar place with a weird cat beast, and then getting stuffed inside a dorm that's almost on the verge of falling apart. But you managed. You managed, because of a promise to yourself that you will get out of this place safe and sound even if it was the last thing you do.
You remember the face of Crowley when you explained that you had trouble hearing even from an early age. You could hear high pitched noises, but not entirely the voices of everyone around you. You still remember how Grim looked at you, his hench-human (with a hint of concern,) but you made sure to reassure him. You aren’t ashamed of something you weren’t able to control.
—So you started to slowly teach those around you sign language. Simple signs consisting of hello, sorry, thank you, and words that they could easily use in a sentence. You weren’t a master lip-reader after all. Crowley and Grim were the first to pick up, though very sloppily, the headmaster pointing out that he had come across non-hearing students in the past, albeit very few. There weren’t many accommodations supporting deaf students here, which you were also disappointed in, and you silently hoped that you could make a change to help people like you as well.
—-——
It was during a lively afternoon when your best friend, Ace Trappola, who was also the first person to meet you (and make fun of you and Grim, much to your disappointment) came up to you to ask you to teach him how to sign. You don’t hesitate to take him up on that offer.
You invite him over to Ramshackle (or rather he invites himself,) and motion for him to sit across your seat. He obliges, and you start your first makeshift tutorial session with Ace, and you half-expected him to bail out last-minute, but he's actually putting in some effort. You start with the basics. How to say ‘thank you,’ and ‘please.’ He manages to follow along, until you reach ‘sorry.’
“Not like that.” you sign and shake your head, and he abruptly stops. You pull out your phone to type and motion for him to wait, before finishing and showing him your screen, which had this typed in on it.
‘Unlike spoken languages, sign language has no tone. You need to use your facial expression to show your feelings and emotions. Try it with me again.’
He tilts his head and nods, trying to sign “Sorry.” once again.
You shake your head again, and type for a few seconds as you show him the screen. “Still no.”
He practically groans, before you flick him on the head dramatically, earning a wince, as you type once again. “Try it again, with feelings this time.”
—-——
You are going to kill Ace Trappola one day.
It's during your fifth tutorial session with him (which frankly, you had been surprised as to how quickly he picked up on everything,) when he started asking the quote on quote, “real questions.”
His signing was better than the first time he tried it out. He was able to incorporate facial expression and emotions into his signing, and he can also sign in sentences. In any other case, you would have been proud of him.
But the first thing that comes out of your hard earned labour was a simple gestured sentence and a happy grin. “Teach me how to curse in sign language.”
You almost smack him. Actually! Scratch that. You already did.
You huff, and sign urgently. Face contorting into a dissatisfied frown. “And here I thought you actually wanted to learn how to be practical for once. I’m disappointed in you…”
He sees the flicker of rage in your eyes and signs back. “Wait, wait, wait.” he repeats while rubbing the spot on his forehead where you smacked him. That's definitely going to leave a bruise and you're damn proud. “Just know that I'm only asking to piss off D-E-U-C-E.”
“And why do I care?” you stand up from the bench the two of you were sitting at in the courtyard and face him, blocking the sunlight from his face. “So you went through all this trouble just to curse out Deuce in sign language?”
He dramatically stands up and holds your arm like in those cringey soap operas you and the other first years have always watched when they crashed at Ramshackle and pretended to sob. “Come on, just one word!”
You stare daggers into his eyes, and he stares back with sparkling eyes, determined to see this through, and you practically take 2 minutes before you finally agree.
You sign once again, “Fine.” and you step back.
Ace raises his fist in the air in victory, and grins like it's the best thing he’s ever accomplished.
You flick his forehead.
—-——
Ace Trappola, you’ve observed, likes cherries.
It's something that he raves on and on about, and it reminds you of your friends back in your world who would always urge you to get a sweet treat at an overpriced cafe during the weekends. “Just one piece of cake!” they’d say, as if that one piece of cake didn’t cost you your entire budget for the week. You noticed his love for the fruit because of how often you hung out with him and Deuce, and you brought it up during a break in between your classes.
You tap him on the shoulder and he looks back, as you sign. “You like cherries, right?”
He nods almost immediately and signs back. “Yeah.” he grins. “How’d you know?”
You sign back with a mischievous grin. “I have my ways.” as you hand him a coupon. “Here. I got it from a shop in Foothill town. It's a coupon for the Patisserie.”
Ace looks at you and then back at the coupon, grabbing it and flimsily shaking it around, as he signs in response. “Seriously?” you nod happily, and he continues. “Sweet! Thanks!”
You think of how, in this singular moment, he was kind of cute. You smile back with a toothy grin, and for a split second— (you didn’t know if you were imagining things,) you saw a red tint creep up onto his cheeks while he was staring at you, before he quickly looks away and coughs. (You stop the urge to laugh and fail, before a snort comes out of you.)
His eyes widen as he quickly signs back. “Can you not?!”
You laugh heartily, and it slips out almost naturally, like you’ve known him for years. Ace stares and stares, because really, it was his first time hearing such an unfiltered laugh from you.
(He tries to stop himself from grinning as well.)
You cover your mouth as soon as you catch yourself letting your voice out. He furrows his eyebrows… Why? It was nice to hear your voice once in a while, and he gets the answer as soon as you sign.
“Sorry,” you pressed your first to your chest, slowly moving it into a circle while your face flushed with embarrassment. So it was your turn to be embarrassed. “I’m not used to using my voice.”
His hands move before he could think his words through, and he can practically hear Cater laughing behind him. “I think it sounds nice.”
You stare at him in genuine shock. He stares back as well. The sounds of the students filling the halls fill Ace’s ears, filling in for the awkward silence between the two of you, as you sign back. “You think so?”
He gulps, then nods.
—-——
You really like art.
That's what your best friend, Ace Trappola makes out of you. When you’re not around him and Deuce, you take Grim outside Ramshackle so that you can draw out the surroundings. You always splurge your savings on oil pastels and sticks of charcoal in Sam’s store.
The other first years notice as well. When Jack goes out for his morning runs, he always sees you outside on a bench while you sketch whatever catches your eye. You can only faintly hear background noise, albeit very drowned out, so you opt to capture it in art. Little sketches paired along with onomatopoeia, (he only knows you do that because he snuck a peak one time during lunch, right up until you smacked him for looking.)
Grim snickered beside you, mocking Ace. “Thats what you get for pissing off my hench-human!”
Ace rubbed the spot where you smacked him once again. Seriously, he just wanted to see what you were working on! You stick out your tongue at him and begin patting off eraser shavings from your uniform and standing up, urging Grim to follow you, before accidentally dropping your sketchbook.
Ace doesn’t hesitate. He picks up your sketchbook and keeps you from snatching it away from him all the while laughing. You feel red in the face- which you can’t differentiate from it being either anger or embarrassment.
You sign angrily. “Give it back!”
He sticks out his tongue in return. “N-O-P-E. Let's see what you're so dead set on hiding…” Ace answered aloud, then signed it, while slowly opening the first page of your sketchbook.
The first thing that greets him is a detailed portrait of his face. He seems animated, like he was talking to someone while you drew him, and he thinks back to a time back when he was bickering with Deuce in Ramshackle while you quietly looked on. Yeah, he did think it was really weird for you not to at least sign and ask what was up with him and Deuce, but now, he understands.
Grim is walking ahead the two of you, grumbling about how he wants more tuna. And the two of you are surrounded with awkward silence once again, right before you sign slowly.
“Can you..” you pause, face red. “Give it back now?”
Ace stares again for a few seconds, then closes the sketchbook and gives it back to you. You practically have to stop the urge to cover your face with your hands and dig yourself deep into a hole while every second passes without him even bothering to talk. Is it disgust? confusion? maybe he was creeped out because you drew him without permission? maybe—
Ace signs. “You're way too good at drawing.”
You stare at him for a few seconds, face still red, before you sign back slowly. “Thank you.”
He nods back and signs. And now, it isn’t your imagination, because your best friend is also red in the face. “Yeah.”
—-——
It's during a rainy evening when the rest of the first years gather inside Ramshackle to hang out. The Ramshackle ghosts are more than happy to help you host those (loveable) idiots, of course! They were practically beaming with joy because of how lively the living room was, and you made a mental note to thank them once the party was over.
You scurry along, holding two trays of food for all of you, as you set them on the table. You look around for a seat, surveying everyone. Jack, Sebek, and Epel are proudly sharing their routines for workouts, and Deuce is staring at the giant machine that Ortho brought into the living room, while Grim scratches the metal, earning a worried cry from Ortho. And that only leaves…
There's a tap on the side of your shoulder, before you see Ace snacking on a bag of chips he snatched from the tray you just set down.
He sets the chips down, and signs. “Got surprised when you suddenly disappeared.”
You smile back in return, and sign. “I went to the kitchen to get you guys snacks.” you gesture towards the color-coded mugs on the table, "The ghosts made hot chocolate.”
Ace grins back, then beckons the other first years. You read his lips, and he shouts something along the lines of you bringing snacks, and the rest of the first years quickly surround the table to get slices of pizza while you stop yourself from laughing from how relieved Epel is to be eating junk food. You, Grim, and the rest of the first years make yourself comfortable on the couch of Ramshackle Dorm. Some of them watch the movie screening on the projector, others eat while chatting about, and you find yourself conversing with Ace Trappola.
(Before you notice the other first years eyeing the both of you on the couch.)
You sign a little slowly this time, like you were cautiously asking a question. “Why are they staring at us?”
Ace immediately looks (or rather, stares down) the others after you sign, ultimately ending with them getting startled, chuckling, then continue back to their own things. He clears his throat and signs back. “I don't know.”
A smile creeps up on your face. That's great. He always likes seeing you smil— wait, what?
He wants to ask himself why he liked seeing that…you were his best friend, yeah! That's exactly why. It's perfectly normal to admire your friend’s smile. Perfectly normal.
Theres a few awkward seconds of silence between the two of you before he finally signs, making up some small talk to get his mind over things. “…Can I ask you a question?”
You sign back. “Yeah, sure.”
He smiles. “Why do you spend so much time on art?”
The atmosphere around the two of you turns heavy after his question and he's contemplating if he accidentally signed something wrong, before you finally respond.
“I wanted to become an artist, you know.” You shift from your position, uncomfortable. “I really did.”
It's the first time since forever he’s seen you be so open about your feelings. He doesn’t really like the sad expression that’s on your face. “So? You still can.”
You sign back, so very slowly. “…Back in my world,” you pause, seemingly trying to articulate the right sentence. “There was this thing called practicality over passion.”
He signs back. “..Then?”
“…Art can’t afford my life, Ace.” you sign, then look up at him, and he sees your smile. It's nothing like that smile before, this one’s bittersweet. “It can’t afford my living expenses. The tuition for the art school I’m eyeing— well, was eyeing, was so expensive as well, so..”
He doesn’t like the way your mouth grins. Not one bit.
Hey, but don’t get him wrong! He likes— no, loves, seeing you smile. When you smile at his card tricks, his cheesy jokes, his teasing directed at Deuce, it makes him feel as if he became world’s happiest man overnight.
But this one’s different.
And it doesn’t take long for him to awkwardly look around the Ramshackle lounge, making eye contact anywhere but your eyes, and maybe once Deuce figures out what him and you talked about, he’d call Ace a coward for not comforting you.
dividers by strangergraphics & enchanthings