Chapter Text
Riddle arose that Friday morning to his alarm beeping at its usual 6 A.M. and a text from Floyd.
>> mornin lil goldfish <3
Okay, so he hadn’t been hallucinating all of yesterday, and he actually was going out with Floyd. What a world he was living in.
Riddle slowly sat up in his bed and set down his phone on the nightstand. He would deal with that text when he wasn’t so groggy. A yawn escaped his mouth as he maneuvered his way out of his bed and to the bathroom, where he splashed cold water onto his face in an attempt to wake himself up. In all his years of waking up this early, it never got easier. Even when he lived at home with his mother yelling at him to get up, he still struggled to be wide awake before the sun came up. Riddle reached over to the towel rack and quickly grabbed one to dry off his face.
Consciousness slowly started seeping its way back into his body as he walked back to his bed to check his phone once more.
>> i know ya saw my text
>> no response even after i woke up soooo early to send it? :(
<< Thank you for the good morning text, and good morning to you as well, Floyd.
>> no heart either??
A crimson blush crept its way up Riddle’s neck as he slammed his phone face down right back onto his nightstand, where he couldn’t see Floyd’s stupid texts. What was he doing? Honestly, he had no clue. This was utterly absurd. There was no way he could keep this from his mother! And yet…
Riddle wanted this; he wanted to go out on a date with Floyd. Wanted to feel what it was like to have another look at him so intently again. Wanted to feel normal for once in his life.
Slowly, Riddle picked his phone back up and sent a single message before he began to get ready for his day.
<< <3
—
“Good morning, Riddle,” Trey spoke as he kneaded, preparing a dough for a pastry that would be undoubtedly delicious.
“Good morning, Trey,” Riddle spoke as he made his way to the toaster, pulling out a slice of toast from the loaf of bread nearby and inserting it into the toaster. “How are our dormmates? Are they all awake?”
“Well… the majority of the second and third years are, however, I believe the first years may have fallen a bit behind this morning,” Trey spoke as he placed the dough into a bowl to proof.
Riddle scowled as he glanced at the clock, 7:30; the first year had about thirty minutes before any dorm members were beheaded for not following Heartslaybuls' strict start time.
“If you wish to warn them, I suspect Trappola especially, I would do that now.” Riddle gave advice to Trey as he grabbed the butter from the nearby fridge. He then turned his attention back to his breakfast.
Trey nodded as he walked towards the first-year dorms.
Riddle took his now buttered toast and sat down at the counter. He pulled out his phone and checked his texts, only to find a barrage from a certain eel mer.
>> awww you do like me
>> want me to walk ya to class????
>> mmm dont care ima do it anyways
>> ill wait for u at the mirror
>> dont keep me waitin <33
Groaning, Riddle ate his toast begrudgingly at this point as his stomach felt like someone had just kicked him right in the gut. He suspected Floyd wouldn’t leave him alone, but this?? This was a bit much, but he couldn’t find it in himself to say no to the guy.
As Riddle finished his meager breakfast, he noticed Cater make his way into the kitchen.
“Mornin’ housewarden,” Cater yawns as he opens the fridge, fishing for something to eat quickly.
“Good morning, Cater. Is Trey waking up the first years now?” Riddle asked as he stood up, taking care of his dirty dish.
“Yeah, he like yelled at Ace, it was super funny watching him scramble out of bed as Deuce mumbled out ‘I told you so’s.” Cater smiled at the memory.
“That sounds about right. I’m going to start checking the third-year dorms and ensure that those on hedgehog and flamingo duty know who they are. Enjoy your classes, Cater.”
“You too!!” Cater shouted back, mouth half full of whatever he had found, as Riddle made his way towards the dorms.
Riddle meticulously checked each of his dormmates and ensured they were all awake and ready for their classes, finding no faults; he was impressed.
Today was going to be a good day after all, Riddle thought as he stepped through the mirror.
Alas, all good things must come to an end, as Riddle is practically tackled by Floyd, who decided it was a fantastic idea to all but attack Riddle’s back by draping himself against it.
“Hi Goldfishie~!” Floyd smiled as he rested his cheek on top of Riddle’s head.
“Ah- Floyd! Remove yourself from me!” Riddle yelled as he pushed Floyd off of him.
“Okayyy…” Floyd stumbled off of Riddle and quickly gained his composure to rejoin Riddle, this time at his side. “Anythin’ fun in class today?”
“We have a test in History of Magic, which you would know if you paid attention.” Riddle scoffed at Floyd’s ignorance.
“Ya, I know, I said fun didn’t I? Test ain’t fun, jus’ boring,” Floyd whined as he bumped Riddle’s arm as he walked, intentionally walking as close as possible to the other.
Riddle glanced away, feeling a tinge of guilt bubble up within him, “Oh, I apologize for my accusation. I had no intention of insulting you.”
“Ehhhh, it’s fine,” Riddle felt as if it was far from fine, but decided to let it go.
Not knowing what to say, Riddle stayed silent as Floyd continued to babble about all sorts of nonsense, nodding along as they reached Riddle’s classroom. Before they entered, Floyd grabbed a hold of Riddle’s arm and pulled him to the other side of the hallway, where fewer students were loitering about.
“So, did you want to go out tomorrow?”
Riddle felt warmth fly straight to his cheeks as he slapped his hand over Floyd’s mouth.
“Floyd,” he whispered-shouted, “We are in public, please be more discreet.” Sighing, Riddle removed his hand from Floyd’s mouth ever so carefully as Floyd raised an eyebrow in amusement.
“I didn’t say date or anything, I just said go out, you’re the one getting worked up,” Floyd grinned.
“I- uh- I suppose you didn’t mention anything of the sort, but still, please just say ‘hang-out. Don’t pout at me, you agreed to this!”
“Aww, the little goldfish is getting all red~” Floyd cooed at his frustration, clearly enjoying Riddle's state of dismay.
“I am not!” Riddle shouted back, then quickly lowered his voice, noticing that the students were taking notice of the two of them and their exchange.
“Yes, you are,” Floyd teased.
“You are insufferable.” Riddle sighed, giving up on arguing with someone who would never admit defeat.
Floyd only smirked at that, seeming to agree with Riddle’s words.
Riddle rolled his eyes at the eel’s antics, taking a deep breath before speaking. “Floyd,” he spoke calmly, causing the merman to focus his attention back onto Riddle, “I suppose we could hang out this weekend. Would you like to go into town tomorrow?”
Floyd's eyes widened with elation, “Yeah! Sounds fun,” He was still grinning, but this time without a hint of amusement, and rather it was replaced by pure joy.
“I will text you the details. I need to head to class now. Goodbye, Floyd.” Riddle nodded politely and turned to walk about, but was caught by Floyd, who grabbed his arm.
“Wha-” In no less than two seconds, Floyd had grabbed a hold of Riddle's arm and pulled him into a quick squeeze before letting go and running off, waving goodbye.
“Bye Goldfishie~!” Floyd laughed as he ran down the hallway to his own class.
Riddle felt his face flash hot with anger as he sputtered out and yelled at Floyd about how inappropriate that was and how he should not be running in the halls. Anger wasn’t the only thing that made his face flush, as he felt himself wanting to be held by Floyd again, even if just for a brief moment. ‘An unfortunate feeling,’ he caught himself thinking.
Collecting himself, Riddle turned to make his way to class, preparing for potionology as he mindlessly started to put on his lab gear, failing to notice a certain eel creeping up behind him.
“Good morning Riddle.”
Riddle spun around to find one of the people he least wanted to see right now, “Good morning, Jade.”
“I heard Floyd making a commotion outside earlier. I apologize on his behalf if he has caused you any trouble this morning,” Jade smiled politely down at Riddle as he reached for his own lab gear.
Unfortunately, Riddle knew full well that Jade’s polite apology was hollow, as he also found amusement in seeing Riddle suffer, mostly in just seeing his brother be obnoxious.
“Yes, thank you, though it should be Floyd the one apologizing to me for the emotional distress he caused,” Riddle spoke the truth. Floyd had caused him emotional distress, maybe just not the kind Jade was thinking.
“Say, Floyd hasn’t said anything, out of the ordinary, recently, now has he?” Jade side-eyed Riddle, looking knowingly at him.
Well shit.
Riddle paused for a moment, losing himself in thought. There was no way he knew. From what he knew, Jade knew that Floyd liked Riddle and had advised him to confess, but he didn’t know if Floyd had actually done so. Floyd had said over the phone that he was going to tell Jade, so it was most likely that Floyd had gone home moping the night before, so that Jade would assume Floyd had confessed and then been rejected. However, Floyd was in a great, no, wonderful mood today, so that would leave him curious about what had actually happened. In record time, Riddle came to the conclusion that all he had to do was play dumb, pretend he had no clue, and then advise Floyd to do the same.
“Nothing out of character for him, just the usual about whatever nonsense topic he recently latched on to,” Riddle feigned ignorance and could tell Jade was annoyed; however, Professor Crewel entered at that moment and yelled at everyone to take their seats. Feeling triumphant, Riddle smirked as he made his way to his desk, preparing for class to begin.
Riddle enjoyed his time in his classes that day because, for the first time in the past 24 hours, he was not thinking about a certain teal-haired merman. Instead, his thoughts were consumed with the familiar thoughts of academics and classwork, where he excelled in life. He had total control in this environment, which was comforting for him, especially after all the rule-breaking he had done recently.
As his classes wrapped for the day, Riddle made his way to the stables. There weren’t any club activities today; however, the familiar routine of taking care of Vorpal helped calm his mind after a long day. Opening the door to the stables, he walked over to Vorpal’s stable and greeted the horse before grabbing a nearby brush he had left out and beginning to take care of his horse while softly speaking to him.
“Vorpal, I may have made the worst decision of my life, I-” pausing before looking around the stables to ensure he was alone. “I am, well, I think I am, going out with-” He paused again, but not for privacy, for the fact that this was the first time he would say it out loud. Riddle had barely admitted what he was doing out loud. He still couldn’t fathom how he was defying his mother in such a way; she would be oh so livid if she found out. That fact both terrified Riddle and excited him at the same time.
“I’m going on a date tomorrow, Vorpal,” He spoke quietly as he groomed the horse's mane. “It’s with Floyd, I honestly have no clue if I even like him, but I want to try something normal for once. I want to go on a date without my mother’s permission.” He chuckled at that sentence and the absurdity of it. Riddle was almost an adult and still terrified of his mother's rules. To give him some credit, he was working on it, but he wasn’t fully there yet.
“I don’t know why I agreed to be fair. I think I just wanted someone to want me?” He questioned as he finished brushing the horse, who only snorted back at him as he spoke.
“Vorpal, if you’d have seen him, he just looked so enamoured with me and I just–I couldn’t turn him down.” Riddle sighed as he put the brush back.
“Thanks for listening, boy,” Riddle smiled as he patted Vorpal, who seemed to be content with the brushing he got out of it.
With that, Riddle walked out of Vorpal’s stable and left the stables, turning into Heartslaybul for the night.
As he walked, Riddle pulled out his phone and checked his messages, finding, of course, a message from Floyd
>> what time did u wanna meet tmmrow
>> did u want me to pick u up like a gentleman?? ( ˶ˆ꒳ˆ˵ )
<< I will meet you in town tomorrow at noon. I figured we could get lunch and then check out some of the stores.
Almost instantly, another message flew in. Floyd was stalking him, Riddle was sure.
>> okay!!!! cant wait for our date goldfishie ;)
Riddle almost tripped as he stepped through the mirror, clumsily stumbling through, causing a nearby Heartslaybul student to ask if he was all right.
After quickly shoving his phone in his pocket and assuring them that he was in fact fine, Riddle walked back to his dorm, where he had the last of his weekly meal preps, chicken and vegetables, heated them up, and sat down to eat his meal.
Before reopening his texts, Riddle ensured he was alone within the kitchen and then glanced at Floyd’s text, deciding his best course of action.
<< Yes, I am looking forward to the event, just remember it is not a date in public, we are just hanging out.
>> boooooo ofc i remember jus didnt wanna think about that part
>> wanted to think about how it is a date and how ur all mine on it hehehe
Riddle slammed his phone down as he choked on a piece of broccoli. He didn’t think he would ever get used to this.
After choking down some water and coughing a bit, Riddle regained his composure and decided that eating and texting Floyd was not good for him, so he finished his meal and headed to his room, saying goodnight to any Heartslaybul residents as he passed.
He closed his door and sat down at his desk, then opened his phone again to see another message from Floyd.
>> awww my breaks almost over and we barely talked…
>> if only i could hear the voice of my goldfish then I might have the strength to go on
<< Did you want me to call you?
>> uh duh why wouldnt i wanna hear ur voice
That made Riddle’s ears feel much hotter than usual.
<< How much longer do you have on your break? And are you in a private place?
>> 6 minutes and ya im in back and no ones here
<< Fine.
Not even two seconds later, Floyd’s caller ID popped up on his phone. Before answering, the idea of declining it flashed across Riddle's mind. Just to torture the mer just as he had tortured Riddle in the past.
Riddle did pick up, though, as he’s weak and wanted to hear what Fkoyd was going to say.
“Hi, my little goldfish~” Floyd spoke playfully, and Riddle could hear the wide grin in his voice as he spoke.
“Floyd, what did you need?”
“Can’t a man just want to speak to his boyfriend?”
“Boyfr- Floyd! You didn’t say we were–y’know!”
“Well, I asked ya out, didn’t I?” Floyd’s smile in his voice was gone, replaced by an irritated pout.
“I suppose you did, but that typically just means going on a date, not immediately dating!”
“Ughh, you land folks and your weird courting ways.” Floyd groaned, and Riddle could hear him rolling his eyes, “I asked you out, said I liked ya, you accepted my feelings, and now we're dating, which means we're boyfriends! What is so hard about that to understand?”
“Floyd, that’s not how it works. I agreed to go on a date and accepted your feelings, but we were not boyfriends!” Riddle tried to reason with him
“What is the difference?”
“Well.. going on a date means if it doesn’t go well, there’s no hard feelings, and you can't go on to date another. Dating means that there is a breakup and strong feelings attached.” He tried to explain to the exasperated eel.
“What do you want to date someone else? Do you not want to go out with me or somethin’?” Floyd huffed out.
“No-! I don’t want to date anyone else– it’s just going really fast to say boyfriend when we haven’t even had our first date yet, Floyd! We will get there when we get there, that’s just too fast!”
There was a long pause before Floyd spoke again, causing Riddle’s nerves to shoot through the roof. Riddle didn’t even know why he was so nervous. He just didn't want Floyd to leave, but this was far too fast.
“...You’re still mine though?”
Riddle’s breath hitched as he answered Floyd, “I suppose so, yes, I just don’t want to label it that fast, Floyd. I hope you can forgive me.”
“I will always forgive you. Anyways, I gotta go, as long as you're only mine, I guess it’s fine. Bye bye, my little goldfish~!” Floyd hurriedly hung up the phone as Riddle heard Azul faintly yelling at Floyd in the back.
Riddle softly laughed at that before processing what Floyd had said to him, ‘I will always forgive you.’ How could he be so sweet when just weeks before, he was chasing Riddle around just to annoy him? He supposes that it could have been Floyd trying to get his attention, but how childish! They weren’t five! Floyd could have gone about it in a normal way, trying to woo Riddle, but he supposes that wouldn’t have been very Floyd-like, would it?
Leaning back in his chair, Riddle decided he should rest that evening in order to prepare for their date the following day. He peeled himself up from the chair and made his way to his bathroom to follow his night routine.
Throughout the routine, instead of the pleasant thoughts he had of Floyd the night before, he was filled with dread as he pictured his Mother, for some reason, finding them on their date. She would know, and Riddle would never be allowed outside his mother’s view again. His stomach sank at the thought, and he had to physically shake his head to clear his mind. Stepping out of the shower, Riddle tried his best to steer his thoughts back to welcome thoughts of Floyd holding his hand secretly or just leaning against him as they sat next to each other. His mother seemed to creep into every one of those wonderful thoughts, tainting the fantasy and sending chills down his spine.
Even as he fell into sleep, Riddle felt more uneasy than he had ever felt in his life.