Literally procrastinated brushing my teeth to write this. I'll get it up on ao3 later because I have to go to work 😂
Dedicated to @flythesail because you know why, Ash. You're the reason this dialogue spark happened.
“And then we, uh, you know.”
“Oh.” Ace sounds surprised. “We did? Here? Like, in this bed?”
Nancy huffs a quiet laugh, forehead creasing as she considers his question. “Sort of? It was your apartment but it looked different than this. You know, like how things in a dream are not quite right but they feel familiar? The bed was in front of a window.”
“I don’t even have a window big enough to put a bed in front of.”
Nancy laughs again. “Maybe interior design wasn’t Temperance’s specialty.”
“Hmm.”
Silence falls between them, the comfortable kind they always used to share, and Nancy closes her eyes, soaking it in. Ace made that comment about losing a friend and she hadn’t realized just how much she had missed this. That loving him was getting to love all the parts of him.
“Was it good?” Ace asks so suddenly that it startles another loud, watery laugh out of Nancy.
“That’s your question?” she asks incredulously.
“Well, yeah.”
“Ace,” she begins in almost exasperation. “It was great.”
“Hmm,” Ace hums again.
“Oh no, that’s your jealous ‘hmm’.”
“I am not jealous.” He protests, but his voice says otherwise.
“Nice try.” Nancy looks over at him with a fond smile. “But I know you.”
“He—that version of me got to be with you. Of course I’m jealous of that guy.”
“Well, that guy also died,” Nancy quips, the laughter rapidly draining from her voice as she realizes the weight of her words, having been caught in their banter.
She looks over at Ace, finding similar tears brewing in his eyes. But he just looks concerned, worried for her, not upset about his death. She’s not sure why she expected anything else.
Instead, Ace smiles, pulling her back to right now, making real memories, here, in his bed. “That guy is definitely missing out. He didn’t get personally delivered bagels and pickles.”
Nancy smiles too. “A winning combination, really.”
“Hmm,” Ace muses for a third time, only this time Nancy can tell it’s soft and sappy. “Just like us.”
She rolls her eyes but smiles wide. “Yeah, Ace. Just like us.”
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