ACE (Jeff X Reader)~ The Death Card

                                                                  ( ͡     ͜ ʖ ◉)  

After all that, the girl couldn't even remember what had happened. She'd felt too tired and sulked to the couch. She didn't care where Jeff went, as long as he wasn't in the same room she was. 

Smile had come along with her, layed beside her on the couch in dog form. Meanwhile EJ.. 
EJ was somewhere in the world. Maybe with Jeff. The girl didn't care about them either.

She focused herself on smoothing the wild strangs of fur on Smile's head, while he stirred and blinked his eyes, dazed from sleep. A few seconds later, his eyes went wide open, full of alert. But his ears were flat down. He transformed to his half-human-half-dog form and fell of the couch.

Smile made a whimpering noise. "I thought that was still a dream. I guess it wasn't huh," Smile said, refering to the earlier event that had happened. 

The girl nodded in response. "Yeah, it wasn't a dream though." 

"Then what do you call it?"

The girl stared at him. 
"A nightmare."

•-*–*•

Dead leaves sprawled across the forest floor, the wind swirling, messing up Jeff's wild hair. He yanked his hoodie back so hard that he thought it had almost ripped. He continued his way, somewhere, anywhere away from the house, to take a breather, kicking the dead leaves out of his way, that always seemed to make their way back to him again.

He could hear the faint huffing and panting sounds of EJ who was trying to catch up with him from behind. 

"Dude," he heard. "Slow down." 

Jeff ignored him and continued his way, passing by a tree until he heard a whizzing sound near his head which he instinctively moved his head away. He turned around to see a small sharp blade sticking out of the tree's bark. He turned around and glared at EJ who was a few feet behind him.

EJ held his hands up in defense. "That's the only way I could stop you." 

Jeff stared at him for a moment, not saying anything, and turned away, still walking as if nothing had happened. 

He stopped again once he heard EJ shout, "You should apologize, you know." 

Jeff let out an annoyed sigh, which turned into a thin visible breath that slowly evaporated into the sky. It was cold, and he dug his hands deeper into the pockets of his hoodie. 

"Great. You're also on her side?" Jeff asked, not bothering to hide his annoyance. 

"I don't see why I should be on your side." EJ said calmly. "She didn't do anything wrong, did she? She at least protected your cover. She could've exposed you to the police. She could've gotten out of that place, away from you and from us." 

EJ walked towards Jeff, yanking the small blade from the tree bark along with him. He stopped once he was near Jeff. "But you know," he continued, quietly. "she didn't."

Jeff tried to cut in, but EJ made it first.

"I've been wondering why." He mumbled, his empty black sockets stared into Jeff's wide eyes. "You know why, Jeff." He said, staring at him.

"I don't kno-" Jeff began.

EJ cut him off, surprising Jeff. "Bullshit." EJ cursed. "Utter nonsense. You know why. Stop pretending like you don't know it. And once you do, I hope you get your shit together, because you need to step up and apologize." 

"Why should I?" Jeff countered back.

EJ stared at him with silence for a moment or two. "You know," he said quietly. "I don't even consider myself human anymore, since I can't guarentee humans eat humans." he said, gesturing by waving his body down. 

He glanced back up again. "But at least I know what's the right thing. And non-humans, they don't usually do that." He said, shaking his head.

"But you? You have absolutely no clue what to do, that an ANIMAL has to teach a HUMAN BEING what's the right thing to do." He said, clearly pronouncing the word 'animal', and 'human being' precisely.

"At least take this one advice from me, Jeff." EJ breathed calmly, controling his temper. "Use that brain of yours, and THINK for a moment. Just think. The girl had one chance of escaping. It had been easy, she could've just told that police officer everything. By now, we would've all gotten arrested." He pointed out.

"But she didn't. If you still don't get it, I'll give you a hint." 

Jeff narrowed his eyes. He didn't like being told off, but he listened anyway.

"Trust." EJ whispered. "She trusted you Jeff, and by doing so, she loves you Jeff." He added, with a more soft tone. "Even I can see that."

As Jeff heard that, his face immediately reddened. He had now began to feel the regret and guilt that had seemed to punch him in his gut over and over again.

He felt like he was going to puke.
And he did.

EJ watched him as he threw up into the open. He crouched down as well, patting Jeff's back. Once Jeff had finished, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Everything had now began to be clear, and he glanced up at EJ, who nodded at him. 

"What the heck did I do.." Jeff said, beginning to tear up.

EJ patted him across the back comfortingly. "The biggest mistake of your life." He said. "Now go fix it. Fix everything. I'll meet you back there at the house, hopefully after you two have made up." 

Jeff sworn, if EJ had eyes right now, he would've given a wink.

Jeff nodded and mumbled a quiet 'thanks', embarassed to let anyone hear. 

EJ nodded back and bowed. "I am pleased with your humble words." 
He glanced back up. "Now giddy back up to those feet of yours and start running, boy." 

Jeff did so, and he began running, running faster and faster, thinking of a million things he could be saying. 
Two things that he had been repeating over and over again. 

1. "I'm sorry." 

2. "I love you."

Jeff had reached the door and catched his breath, his heart literally pounding out of his chest. He slowly creaked the door open and saw the girl laying across the couch, before she stood up. Jeff thought the girl had seen her and began making her way to the door, but instead, the girl didn't see him and began walking towards the kitchen.

Now was his chance, he thought.

He quietly opened the door, and didn't bother to close it, since he knew EJ would be coming soon anyway. The girl was reaching to open the cabinets and Jeff rushed towards her and engulfed her into a big warm hug. 

The girl, startled waved her arms back and forth and glanced back, her face turning into different emotions. 

"Wha- mmm!" The girl said, but was soon cut off as Jeff rushed into a kiss with her. 

The girl melted into the kiss with him and they both soon parted for breath. Jeff looked into the eyes of the girl, finding the courage he finally had, he mustered up what was left of him, panting as he said those two things he knew could change the biggest mistake he had made in his life.

"I'm sorry." 
The girls eyes flickered.

"I love you." 
The door banged open and both Jeff and the girl turned around, face-red, to see EJ whistling and clapping. 

EJ smirked under his mask. "So, when are you going to hold the wedding?" 

But he was soon cut off as a pillow was thrown to his face by the girl. Jeff turned around, startled. "Wow, I didn't know you had this much power." He teased. 

The girl stared at him. "Shut up and kiss me, or else I'll do the same to you too." 

Jeff smiled and did so. 
And when they parted, Jeff panted, saying, "God, I'd kiss you all day if you'd let me."

Now it was the girl's turn to smile and say, 
"In your dreams."