Ace refused to leave his room until Chewie needed to eat and pee. Levi texted him that morning asking why he had missed their daily run, and he did not reply.
Levi called, and Ace did not pick up but texted him that he didn't want to see him anymore.
After a lot of encouragement from the embodiment of an after-school special, Invictus, and happy barks from his dog, Ace got dressed for work, in his white police uniform. His favorite part was the fancy belt but he hated the hat that reminded him of something a train conductor would wear.
Once fully dressed he remembered he was suspended from work and was cross with himself.
While chugging an energy drink and emptying his pockets of work-related items, a knock came at the door. Assuming it was his neighbor, an old woman, Mora, who sometimes asked for help, he opened the door without asking, and instead, it was Levi.
Levi was not his usual self, his hair not brushed, still wearing his workout clothes from earlier in the day, his blue sneakers, and Sike black jacket with blue shorts.
He tried to shut the door, but Levi pushed his way in, and Ace was terrified because it was happening . Levi was going to set his apartment on fire, kill him, kill his dog, kill Mora, then-
"Ace why are you doing this," Levi asked. "Is this because of last week?"
Ace didn't remember what happened to make him upset last week, but Ace didn't remember much anyway. He lied and said that he needed to go to work, and The Rock, still sitting on the coffee table, turned a bright red.
Levi noticed it, sitting there on the table, silently, threatening him, menacingly and he was hurt because he knew that Ace wasn't going to work, and The Rock announcing it silently, adding lemon juice to an open wound.
"You can't just do this over a text message. Aren't I more than this?"
Ace rubbed his throat, still sore, remembering the heat of the flames, the helplessness as Levi squeezed the life out of him, used him, and threw him away. The man who stood in front of him did not look like the same Levi.
His eyes were red and puffy and Ace started to try and rationalize everything he had seen. It was just a dream. It was all so real, the pain so real, and Ace was afraid, afraid that that was a dream, inside another dream, that he was crazy and-
"Don't just stand there, say something," Levi said.
Frantic and trying to come up with a real excuse that wouldn't get him killed, Ace decided to continue the conversation from his dream.
"I don't feel like we're together sometimes," Ace said quietly. "This won't be much of a change."
The Rock turned green.
Levi scratched the back of his head and looked down, surprised that the dog was trying to comfort him, rubbing up against him, and he was embarrassed, fully aware that he didn't shower after his jog, that he probably smelled, that he cried, and then cried that he cried.
And now the dog knew that he was hurt, and it was too much.
"Why didn't you talk to me first," Levi asked. He tried walking closer to Ace, but he walked back, right into a corner, and Levi was confused because all he saw was fear.
"What did I do," Levi asked.
"You...we never go out on dates anymore," Ace mumbled. "I'm just a guy you get to third base with whenever you're bored. I liked it better before we started this."
"I'll take you anywhere," Levi replied. "I'll do anything. "
Ace grabbed the hat off his head that he hated and squeezed it, trying to make sure it was real, that the apartment wasn't going to explode, that two half-naked men weren't going to burst into the room covered in multi-colored glowing liquids and attempt to kill him again.
Sadly, it was real.
"I...I don't like that you get angry whenever Ronnie calls and-"
" He's an opportunist, " Levi groaned. "He slept with you-"
"I slept with him because I knew he was into me Levi; it went both ways."
"I don't want you talking to other guys!"
"You can't talk to me the way your dad talks to you, Levi," Ace screamed.
The dog started barking, not sure whose side to take in the fight, so he ran into the kitchen to hide while Ace shouted at Levi each and every complaint, he had hidden inside of him, some of them he had deep inside for years.
When he was done, Levi had his hands in his pockets, a kid who was scolded, and he was uncomfortable, because the older they became, the more the dynamic between Ace and him changed, and it wasn't in his favor.
Ace knew that it was real, his dream was not coming true, because nothing that ridiculous could ever come true, he was being paranoid, and it was probably a subconscious manifestation of his multiple, numerous, bad life choices.
"Levi, I don't expect you to just leave her all of a sudden, but I don't know if you want to sleep with me or if you're serious about me from the way you act and it's so confusing."
Levi took his hand and Ace let him hold it, leading him to the couch, next to the strange glowing object on the coffee table. His favorite part about Levi was his hands and he wanted to hold them a little longer, but once he laid his eyes upon The Rock he was brought back to one of his many, much more bizarre issues.
"When you leave, take it with you, it's a little creepy," Ace said.
"No."
"Please."
"I don't want it, I kept it in the guest room! Why'd you take it out?"
"I didn't, that's the issue," Ace whispered. " It's alive. "
"No it's not," Levi chuckled nervously.
The Rock turned red.
"It came here through my dreams," Ace said quietly. "My bracelet spoke to it and I think they have some sort of thing going on."
The Rock turned green.
"Ace there are so many better ways you could have worded that differently. You sound insane."
"It's true," Ace exclaimed. "Just ask it!"
Levi wasn't sure if he meant the rock or the bracelet and he did not want to ask.
"He came through my dreams because he missed me," Ace insisted.
Levi waited for the punchline, but Ace was serious.
Ace sat on the couch detailing his entire nightmare, of a male Candice, blood that grew trees, and that The Rock was not a malevolent force but a kind spirit trying to warn them.
Levi listened to the entire story, about Ace's dreams that told the future. He said nothing because Ace was opening up to him, but it didn't sound real, nothing could be that absurd.
While the first sunset in a thousand years occurred on Paradis, the twin stars hiding behind the horizon, sleeping until the next day, they hadn't even noticed until the first fireworks went off, and the dog started howling.
The entire town celebrated at once, the apartment building cheering, the dog howled even louder, even The Rock joined in, flashing multiple and various lights. Ace did not regret leaving his old life behind for a new one for something much more normal, yet somehow he was dragged back in, kicking and screaming by his ankles.
He now sat in the dark with a howling dog, a strobing light show emitting from a large rock, and covered his face, groaning, leaning onto Levi's shoulder, everything is now forgiven because he did not want to suffer alone.
Levi held him close, now starting to believe his story, because if a witch had brought back monsters from the dead and eaten children before, what was there to stop her male counterpart from coming to wreak havoc on them next?
"Levi, you need to get rid of that mirror," Ace said.
"I can't, someone is alive in there, " Levi insisted.
"I am not going back there until you promise me you'll at least put it somewhere else."
After more squabbling, calming the dog, nervously looking at The Rock, and deciding what to do, they made their first compromise in a relationship that should have never begun.
In the blink of an eye, Ace, Levi, and The Rock returned to his home, and this time they were prepared.
They thought they were prepared.
The entirety of the apartment had splotches of moss all over it. Ace awkwardly held the sentient geode and Levi lit up the dark hallway with crackling light from his hands, both of them ready to kill on sight.
Inside the guest room, a jungle sprawling, bugs crawling about, laid a broken mirror and Chad's finger with his wedding ring still on it. Inside the bathroom laid the ribcage sword stuffed into a rose bush. From the ceiling hung vines, and Ace closed the door when a moth the size of his head tried to exit the room.
The Rock turned blue.
"Looking at that broken mirror was like staring at a dead body," Levi said.
"I think I heard it cry," Ace replied.
"What are we going to tell Mary Jane? There's grass all over the place!"
" We? You mean you, right?"
"Don't be like this."
Ace took his hand and blinked, and again, they were back at his small apartment. The parades outside, the balloons seen through the large living room windows floating towards the sky, Ace thought it was mocking him.
He knew it was mocking him.
"I can't do this again, I can't deal with more crazy shit, " Ace said. He placed The Rock on the glass dining room table overlooking the large windows and a gross feeling came over him.
Invictus could be seen, sitting at the dining table, staring at The Rock, and now Levi could see him too. Levi had long known about Invictus, their relationship ironically the most honest of all the ones he had in his entire life, and Ace knew about his own parasitic twins as well.
They were appalled as for whatever reason, another light show went on, and they went red, not knowing why, and quickly left for Ace's bedroom. Ace blinked and bounced around his room, rapidly, flicking on the light switch, picking up several items and Levi made himself at home, taking off his shoes and putting them in the corner.
They decided to just worry about whatever bizarre problems they had in the morning.
When Levi came out of the shower in an undershirt and checkered boxer shorts, Ace's room was much cleaner than before, but Levi said nothing because he knew if he did Ace might not clean it again out of spite.
Ace was dressed for bed as well, and bonding over their shared trauma, they made up and kissed in bed, and made many promises that would most likely be broken.
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It was the middle of the night when Levi's phone rang. Ace was asleep, but Levi couldn't sleep, because he was trying to come up with what to tell his wife when she would return home to the Amazon rainforest inside their apartment.
Without looking at the caller ID, Levi answered the phone, and sighed, because he was expecting it to be someone calling him about a problem they could solve on their own, or a call that could have been a text message instead.
The call was very short, the voice unique and recognizable, and at the end of the call, Levi regretted bringing back the mirror with him when he and Ace found it inside a storage unit almost two and a half years ago.
Now it was impossible to sleep.
Ace woke up around two AM to use the bathroom and noticed that Levi was still awake, which wasn't odd because he didn't sleep a lot, but he had a guilty look, and Ace gave him the knowing look.
He got back into bed, and Levi laid his head on Ace's lap and squeezed his eyes shut, gripped his phone, and flung it off the bed.
"Are you that angry about people calling you about work," Ace asked.
"It's not work," Levi grumbled.
Ace's mind went to the only place it could go.
"Is it, is this about the no sex and-"
"Ace, someone called to tell me that my dad is doing something illegal, and it is another dead person."
Ace's eyelids twitched involuntarily, another fun side effect from the stress of his bad life choices, as Levi told him another horrible story at two in the morning, the magical hour when the worst phone calls seemed to occur.
"Santos called me on the phone and told me my dad stole his body."
"Levi that's craz-"
"He also told me that apparently, Gabriel is alive. "
Ace now could not sleep as well.
"Santos also told me that he traveled through Hell and that astrals all go there no matter what, so there's that, " Levi said, his voice cracking. "I was just born bad."
"We're not bad people," Ace replied.
The Rock , still sitting outside on the dining room table turned red.
"You think so?"
"We can't be. We help people for a living."
It stayed red.