Who: Nancy Drew and Ace What: Nancy and Ace wake up together When: backdated to day 1 Where: Their cabin Rating: low
When Ace had gone to bed last night, it had been by himself. This wasn’t unusual both here in Madison,but also back home in Horseshoe Bay. Like usual, Ace’s bedtime attire consisted of his boxer-briefs and nothing more. This, too, was not unusual. What was unusual was the fact that when he slowly came to consciousness the next morning, he was aware of a warm and very solid body next to him in bed.
Not someone who openly overreacts, Ace sat up and simply turned to look at… Nancy? He blinked, confused, then looked around. This was neither of their apartments. When he noticed the window and saw water and a pier, this was definitely one of those weird Dome things. “...Nancy?”
Maybe he should have moved, but he was currently dealing with his usual male morning issue and didn’t exactly want to announce this ‘problem’ to Nancy.
–
Had this been back when Nancy was still working through the loss of her mother, then maybe her being in bed with someone was to be expected. Even if that someone had usually been Ned, but around here, she had been going to bed by herself. There was only one person who she wanted in her bed, and that was out of the question. Sticking to her normal clothing for bed, she had on a shirt with very short shorts on. Not that it mattered since she hadn’t been expecting to be in bed with anyone.
The sound of her name caused her to stir and a small groan as she turned over, trying to ignore whoever that was. Nancy wasn’t ready to get up. Or she hadn’t been until she curled up against a warm body, opening her eyes to see who the hell it was when there should be no one in her bed. Her eyes noticed rather quickly the room being nothing like the apartments, but that was pushed out of her mind on seeing Ace.
For a moment her body did not react the way she wanted, but then she finally snapped it back and quickly moved out of the bed. “Oh god,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest as if she wasn’t wearing a shirt. Unable to stop herself as her eyes looked over his chest, thinking back to those fake memories of resting her head against it. “This isn’t good at all!” Speaking more to herself, pacing as she tried to think whether this would be considered acting on feelings. They hadn’t done anything! Realizing what she was doing, she stopped to face him. “I’m sorry. Are you okay? This can’t be at all easy,” she said, now wondering if she should turn away for him to feel comfortable or not.
–
Ace blinked and the reaction was one he hadn’t anticipated. Well, he had anticipated some of it, but hearing things like ‘this isn’t good at all’ was definitely more extreme than Ace would have liked to think her reaction to him would have been. Talk about a quick demoralizer. He simply sat there and watched her silently pace, waiting for her to process. At least that whole experience helped with his morning wood.The thing was that while Ace fantasized about Nancy a lot, he didn’t find this particularly embarrassing. They were friends and neither were completely naked, so that was something.
“My ego might need a bit to recover from that reaction, but I’m fine. I don’t think we’re in danger or anything though. This room feels like a hotel room.”
–
Nancy wanted to kick herself when she realized how her words came across to him, hating herself so much in that moment. It would’ve been a whole different story if she didn't need to worry about the hex or terrified that this might be taken as acting on feelings even when neither of them had put themselves in this position of being in bed together. All she wanted was the chance for this to be a real possibility without the hex looming over them,..well her since he had no idea, and right now all she could think about was the fake memories and how perfect it had felt to wake up with him. Only right now it felt like a nightmare because she knew the cost of what could come from this if the hex took it the wrong way. Needing to forget that for the moment, she hated herself for not thinking it through before reacting. Realizing this was like him thinking he wasn’t enough for her and feeling he had to change, which had been surprising to hear back in their world. "No, I didn’t mean it like that," she said with a sigh, moving to sit back on the bed. She wanted to touch him, to kiss him, fighting that urge by pushing a piece of her hair behind her ear. Nancy bit her bottom lip, trying to decide how to phrase what she wanted to say. "My reaction has nothing to do with you," she said as she opened her mouth to say something else before closing it again and then opening it again. "Any girl would be lucky to wake up next to you." Nancy never said anything about how she felt, but she knew Ace was far from an idiot, even if some might like to think he was. She hoped he could pick up on that it wasn’t the problem. Moving on to a safer topic, she moved back off the bed, deciding it would be safer than climbing over him to the other side to look out the window. "Unless the dome has decided to have its own live action Titanic," she pointed out, sitting down on the bed again on his side this time. Her eyes were still glued to the outside. —
He gave her a small smile. He wasn't feeling that bad even if he was surprised at her reaction. It was good to know she hadn't meant he was the most repulsive thing ever. Still, he has to wonder where this was coming from, especially since she said it had nothing to do with him.
Ace told himself he probably shouldn't think too hard on all this. Besides, they were somewhere different than the night before so that had to be a good distraction, right?
He sat up and pulled the covers away now that he felt sufficiently like he wasn’t about to embarrass himself. Ace dangled his own legs off the side of the bed, though he made sure not to be too close to Nancy. “I’d have to be a modern retelling.” Since the technology around them was modern day stuff. “But maybe getting the lay of the land and knowing where the lifeboats are, isn’t a bad idea.”
Ace offered Nancy an easy smile before he stood up and headed for the drawers in the room. He pulled the top drawer open and paused briefly - some of Nancy’s bras were there. Underwear drawer. It appeared that his own underwear was also in the same drawer. Not wanting to embarrass Nancy, he simply moved onto the next drawer and ended up tugging on jeans and a t-shirt.
He turned toward her while pulling on his shirt. “Do you think it’s just us?” It seemed weird to isolate just the two of them, but it was possible. “The good news is this doesn’t feel like a parallel universe?” Ace had had enough of those for a long time.
–
Nancy was thankful for how Ace left what she had said at that. It was too early for her to come up with different ways to avoid spilling anything while also trying to explain her feelings. There was no way she could straight up tell him how there was never anything she wanted to change about him. Or about how much she cared for him. All she could do was think it in her head, and keep her mouth shut, hoping she could figure out the hex problem sooner rather than later.
Her gaze may have wandered over his body a few times, making her angry at herself. This was causing her to think about the fake memories that Temperance had given her. That pain, the joy, and then the heartbreak that came from all of those memories. Not a single one of those memories were real, but they felt real to Nancy. Those memories caught her off guard, and had her wishing she could tell him they’d look for the lifeboats afterward, wanting to stay in bed a bit longer. Nancy couldn't, though, and she had to push all the feelings down to ignore and avoid questions. "Definitely wouldn’t be a bad idea. Even though it seems like we’re out of the dome for whatever reason, I’m not assuming it has no control over where we are." Yeah, because that wasn’t a chilling thought at all.
Moving closer to the top of the bed and near the nightstands, her eyes glanced at the one on his side before the one on hers. Nancy was allowing her brain to focus on the situation and away from Ace, knowing it was her healthy way of coping. Some may disagree, but she dealt better by keeping her mind busy to avoid feelings, and she needed it right now. His question caused her to think how she wouldn’t mind if it was just them. However, her answer was far from what she was thinking. "I doubt it. I could understand if I was here on my own as a weird timeout for pissing off the dome. I tend to have that gift with people, but I don’t think it’s just us. Is your device with you so you can check the network to see if anyone is freaking out?"
She was sure that if others were here, then someone would be posting on the network. Opening the drawer of the nightstand, she found it empty, and moved over to the desk in the room, spotting what she was looking for. "Looks like we’re going to Alaska," she held up a sheet before setting it aside, then scanned the one under it, "And then we have the different planned spots."
—
He did not want to ever find himself in another universe again, having almost died in one. He’d like it less if Nancy was in danger too. Ultimately if he had to choose, it’d be him, but he’d rather not choose at all.
Ace was looking on his phone which was definitely a good distraction for being half naked in the presence of Nancy Drew. “Looks like the whole town is here. Well.. the refugees, anyway.” Ace doubted they could fit the whole of Madison Valley in a cruise ship, but… maybe. “So we’re on an actual cruise?” His brow furrowed a little. “I’m pretty sure I recognise the ship name. So… we’re on a regular cruise? It seems almost… too normal?”
–
Nancy did not like the idea of anything where Ace was more at risk for being hurt or killed, especially with waking up together. Her mind kept wanting to slip to horrible thoughts and images in her head of Ace ending up dead while on this cruise and it’d be her fault. Her fault and the dome, since she had done her best to avoid giving in to her feelings. It was her family member and him being her weakness that made it her fault. It wasn’t like she could tell him to stay in the room and never leave. Nope, that would bring questions from him and ones she couldn't answer.
It was hard to focus her attention on something that didn’t involve Ace and his lack of clothing. Nancy couldn’t help herself when she found herself glancing over a few times before forcing herself back to the drawers on her hunt for information while he was checking out the network. "Probably be easier with the refugees expecting weirdness such as waking up on a random cruise," she commented, on hearing how it seemed like all the refugees were here. A small nod to his question about this being an actual cruise before picking up the sheets of paper and walking over to him. "I know the name. I know nothing about the cruise, but I recognize the name. But yeah, it seems like it." She started before she remembered reading about this. I've read about cruises as some of the dome's stunts pulled over the years. They tend to be normal, other than unable to spend the night elsewhere. Maybe hoping people get caught off guard by something normal?" Nancy knew it was wrong to be happy about how he couldn’t spend the night elsewhere, but she also knew it was safer. Still, the idea of him waking up in bed with anyone else hurt even more because of being unable to say anything to him. She moved over to him and looked over his arm at his phone to see what information he was looking up. Before moving back a bit, realizing she had been too close to him and she did not need to almost give in to what she was feeling. Instead, holding out the papers if he wanted to look at them.
—
"It could be a reward for all the stuff we've had to put up with." Ace was mostly unaware of the awkwardness that was happening for Nancy, especially since now he was focused on his phone and on the whole cruise thing. "or a reward before something really bad happens. Like the calm before a storm…. Not sure which version of that I'd prefer, but I guess the first one since it'd mean we were already over all the bad stuff."
He took the papers to look over, noting some of the places mentioned that he wanted to check out while they were there. Seemed like there were shops here so maybe that have PJs. He had a feeling Nancy would prefer them.
Realizing there'd be no real good time to get up, Ace held out his phone for Nancy to read and explore what people were saying about the cruise. Then he slipped out of bed and padded to the drawers in his boxers. The first drawer was a bust unless he thought socks would make things more comfortable. Finally he found jeans and he pulled them on. "At least we have clothes so we're not in pajamas for two weeks." Going to Alaska like that would be cold. Knowing their destination, Ace opted for one of the long sleeves shirts in the closet, pulling it over his head and completed the 'being clothed' look. "We could go exploring if you want. See the ship for ourselves?"
–
Nancy was definitely glad his focus was not on her because she felt like an awkward mess, and that was not normal for her. Not counting any times she found herself acting differently because of something in the supernatural area, like when she was very hot for all the men around her. Taking a deep breath, she was determined to try and dial down on the awkwardness that she brought to the table, knowing she was bringing a lot, thanks to the damn secret. She hoped that sooner rather than later, she could finally tell him without his life being in danger. "I’d definitely prefer the first one because I don’t want to imagine what other hell it might bring after giving us this. I’d rather think we already went through the bad because it's over and it wasn't that horrible." If it was bracing them before something else came, then Nancy was willing to bet it was not going to be pretty or easy to deal with. Her eyes glanced at his back, hoping it was nothing dangerous to the point where she’d have to worry about him more than she already did. She took his phone and scrolled down, looking over what people were saying. Only glancing up for a moment when he moved and eyeing him, hating Temperance right now more than anything. The fake memories kept flooding back into her mind, especially the one with them in bed together, and it had her wishing she could just spill everything to him right there. Her feelings, the secret, and how badly she wanted him. Instead, she turned away from him and examined his phone. "That’s good to hear. While I’m not in anything that will be drawing attention, I’d rather not be making my vacation a PJ only theme." When he spoke again, she glanced up to see he was clothed, holding out his phone to him. "Yeah, I wouldn’t mind doing that. We can also grab some food, if you’re up for it? After I get dressed, that is," she said before moving off the bed to grab some clothes. She moved to the dresser and opened the drawers to find her bra and underwear, then moved over to the closet, looking to see what her options were. —
“Clothes are probably better for snooping, yeah.” He knew they’d snoop even if they’d call it exploring. “Food sounds good too. If we’re on a cruise, that means buffets. Hopefully good buffets.” He loved buffets if they were good. Some of the parties hosted by the Hudsons and the Marvins had fancy buffets for the town. He had liked those. Chinese buffets were pretty great too.
Yep, he was hungry.
Ace went back to his phone and sat on the end of the bed, purposefully with his back to Nancy so she could change in privacy, though he wouldn’t begrudge her for going into the bathroom either to change. As much as he’d love to see her naked, he wasn’t going to be disrespectful and sneak a peek - he wasn’t that kind of guy. “At least we’re near an ocean now.” He had missed it. He was looking forward to smelling the sea air, even if it was going to be Pacific rather than Atlantic.
–
Nancy smirked at his comment about clothes being better for snooping. “I don’t know, I think I could manage some snooping in my PJ’s,” she tossed back in a teasing tone. Almost adding how now the way he woke up wouldn’t be the snooping outfit of choice, but was trying not to think about him like that. Or accidentally let it slip how distracting that would be for her. “Sounds like you already made a decision on our game plan. Food then exploring?” She wanted confirmation even if Nancy already figured it’d be how they’d do things once she was dressed.
No part of her was even worried about Ace trying to sneak a peek. He wasn’t that type of guy and the thought never even crossed her mind. There were a few guys who had been in her life who were that type, but no one could ever say Ace was and have Nancy believing it for even a moment. Still, she grabbed her clothes and went into the bathroom, feeling it was the better choice for both of them. Leaving the door open just a crack so she could still hear him and yell back without any issue. Undressing, she changed into the outfit she picked out. “Feels a bit more like home in that sense.” she yelled to him as she pulled on her shirt over her bra. Pulling her hair from under her shirt, Nancy stepped back out into their room.
“All ready. You good to go?”
—
It did feel like home a bit and it was nice. As long as this turned out not to be some weird experiment or something, Ace was kind of looking forward to it.
"Yeah." He stood up with a smile, pocketing his phone for now. "Let's go."