Work Text:
The elevator dinged at its destination. The doors slid open, and a pair of footsteps scuttled through. A curtain hush-opened and closed. Ace paused in the middle of their room to yawn, stretch, and scratch at a random spot on their cheek, before they shook their head and reached for their closet.
Ace fished out a pair of loose pins and stepped toward the clothesline on the opposite wall. With a one-at-a-time press of each pin, Ace's damp jacket– no longer doused in mud, just water– hung limply from the line. Ace stared at it, huffed a sigh through their nose, and returned to their closet to find a spare coat.
They leaned down to shuffle through the bottom drawer, finding only spare nick-nacks and old cards. Of course, obviously, this was not the part of the closet that clothes were stored in. Ace huffed again, closed it, and reached for the closet door–
Their window clicked and slammed open. Outdoor heat and a dramatic fanfare seeped into the room. Ace turned, very slowly, just in time to see Jack scramble through the open window and land on the ground, lockpick that they apparently knew how to use in hand and screen buzzing with the visage of a catlike smile.
"you!!!" Jack declared, pointing at Ace with a single claw. "you really thought you were safe here? hah! not even in your stuffy old room can you escape us!"
Ace blinked twice at them. They re-opened the bottom drawer.
"we've got eyes everywhere, ace!!! and we're always ready for a battle!"
Ace pulled a spray bottle out of the drawer.
"so get rea– what. what's that?"
Ace sprayed Jack with the spray bottle.
Jack yowled, hands flailing wildly, and scrambled back. They wiped the droplets off their screen with one hand and shook the rest off like a dog. "wh– how DARE you?!?! that is SO rude!!!"
Ace tried to sign with the spray bottle still in their hands, failed, set the bottle down, and tried again. "Get out of my room."
"you really think you can scare me off with that little thing? y–" Ace sprayed Jack again– "AUGH!!! STOP!!! I'M TRYING TO FIGHT YOU!!!"
"Get out of my room," Ace signed again.
"no!! i wanna fight!!!"
"I'm doing my laundry," Ace signed, and with no further fanfare, they sprayed Jack again. "Get out of my room."
"S-STOP SPRAYING ME!!!" Jack leapt atop Ace's bed in an effort to escape, hands flat against the mattress like a puffed-up cat. "you're being SO RUDE!!!"
Ace looked at Jack, looked down at their visibly scorch-marked boots on their bed, and looked back up. "If you make me wash my sheets I'll sic Hero on you."
The screen on Jack's helmet flickered to a doubtful squinting emoticon. "nuh-uh. my beasties would save me."
"My Beasties have beaten yours every time. Hero would win."
"nuh-uh," Jack said.
Ace sprayed them again. They shrieked, tried to scurry back farther, got their boots tangled in Ace's sheets, and toppled to the ground with a loud thud. A moment later and they were back on their feet like nothing happened, so Ace sprayed them again.
"stooop!!!" Jack whined.
"Get out of my room."
Jack growled a bark and stomped their foot against the wood floor. "FINE!!! whatever!!! do your stupid laundry!! but when we find you again, we'll–"
Ace sprayed them again.
"AUGH!!! STOP! I'M LEAVING! LET ME DO MY DRAMATIC MONOLOGUE!!! D:<"
"Get out of my room."
"I'M WORKING ON IT!! jeez!!!"
And with that, Jack stepped back out through the window, gently slid it closed, and hopped off the roof. From the window, Ace watched them soar up into their view, then out of sight into the horizon.
Ace blinked twice. They put the spray bottle back in its drawer, closed it, and continued to dig around for a spare jacket in peace.