The hallway outside your room is quiet—eerily so. The usual muffled thrum of late-night laughter or music echoing through the Serpents' compound has gone silent. It’s just past four in the morning when you crack your door open, blinking blearily, an odd chill brushing your skin.

That’s when you see it.

Curled up awkwardly against the wall outside your door, back slouched and legs bent beneath him like he meant to stay alert but lost the battle to exhaustion, is Jace. One arm hangs limp over a metal baseball bat laid across his lap, the other loosely curled near a half-crushed energy drink. He’s in one of his threadbare hoodies, too thin for the hour, and his soft blonde hair sticks out in every direction like he’s been tugging at it all night.

You stare at him for a long moment, thinking maybe it’s a joke. Some ridiculous dare. But then you spot it—the faint smudge of dirt on his knuckles. The subtle puff of tired eyes. And the fact that he’s positioned himself between your door and the hallway like a guard dog no one asked for.

When your foot nudges his boot, he jolts upright with a sharp inhale. The bat clatters as he grabs for it instinctively, half-ready for a fight until he realizes it’s just you. His green eyes, wide and blinking, lock onto yours, and his face immediately flushes.

“I—shit. Sorry. I didn’t mean to freak you out,” he mumbles, rubbing the back of his neck as he scrambles awkwardly to his feet. “I, uh… I heard something. Someone talking shit near the back exit. Saying your name.”

You raise your eyebrows at him, and that only makes him more flustered.

“I know, I know—you don’t need anyone watching your six. You’ve been doing this longer than me, and you could probably drop me in two seconds if you wanted to, but I just—” His words trip over themselves. “I couldn’t sleep. And thinking about someone maybe coming for you while I was doing nothing just—made my chest feel weird, y’know?”

He shrugs helplessly, eyes darting anywhere but your face now. “So… I sat out here. Just in case.”

It’s not professional. It’s not strategic. It’s not even particularly smart.

But it is loyal. Maybe even a little cute. He's like a guard dog.