Chapter Text
Leona set his phone on the nightstand with a soft, careless tap, and for a while, he didn’t move.
He just sat there on the edge of the bed, shoulders loose, his head tilted just slightly as he lay back down. The room stayed quiet—perhaps too quiet, but then again, that wasn’t anything new for Savannaclaw. Nights always settled heavily. Settled still and warm…
…safe, in a way. Despite everything.
Leona exhaled slowly through his nose and dragged a hand over his forehead. “Finally.”
No Vil, no cameras, no weird, staged nonsense…
It should have felt better than it did, really.
His shoulders loosened, but not all the way. Not like they usually did when he was alone. Which was… crappy. He tried his best to keep his eyes fixed on the ceiling.
For some reason, his thoughts drifted.
Back. To earlier. To Vil.
Leona clicked his tongue under his breath. “God, are you fucking serious?”
Of all things… he stuck?
Vil standing in the studio, in his dorm room with perfect posture and expression. Like nothing had touched him, like nothing ever could. Except Leona knew damn well that wasn’t true.
His eyes narrowed at the ceiling. He’d seen it—that small, buried, subdued emotion… still there, still seen through the tightness in his shoulders, through the sharpening of his voice, and how he looked so deep in thought, like if he stopped for even a second, something would… slip.
Leona huffed quietly. “Bad at hiding when it matters.”
Which was saying something, considering Vil was usually very good at it.
Too good, almost. It was irritating.
Everything about him was: his voice, his attitude, the way he always had to be right—
Leona frowned.
—the way he usually was.
“Tch.”
Leona turned his head to the side, staring at nothing in particular.
Rook suddenly came into mind. Unconscious on the floor, then in Vil’s arms. The image lingered longer than it should have. He didn’t want to think it was because of Rook, because he was sure it wasn’t. Leona had seen worse, it was…
…Vil. Vil hadn’t hesitated. Not for a second. No complaints or dramatics or concern about appearances, how it looked, who might see, just… moved. Picked him up, handled it.
“He’s my hunter.”
Handled him like it was obvious. Like there wasn’t any other option. Which, really, there wasn’t, but…
“You’re a pain,” Leona muttered.
Because that didn’t match the version of Vil Schoenheit he preferred to deal with. The loud one, the arrogant one… the one that was easy to push back against. Not—not…
…not that.
The one who got quiet, focused. Sharp, but in a way that didn’t leave room for anything but the blades.
Leona rolled onto his side, reaching blindly for his phone. “He ain’t gonna sleep.”
It was said certainly, surprisingly. The thought came out flat.
“After something like that?” he murmured to himself. After someone got into his room, got to Rook…
“Yeah. No way.”
Leona let his hand drop back onto the bed. “And he’s gonna try to handle it himself. Great.”
Of course he was. Because that’s what Vil did. Control. He controlled the situation. Fixed it, perfected it. Even when it wasn’t something you could fix by adjusting the lighting.
Leona’s brow creased slightly. “Idiot—”
A sigh.
“Should’ve stayed.”
The words just sat there uncomfortably. Leona himself didn’t like them. But he didn’t take it back.
His phone buzzed again.
Leona blinked, attention snapping back to the present. He grabbed it this time, already unlocking the screen—
Vil Schoenheit - You have two (2) new messages.
Leona frowned. “That was fast.”
He opened the message.
on second thought, come back.
I need you here.
Leona stared at it.
Just like that, everything from before shifted, pushed aside. Because…
“No.”
It came out immediately, almost a blurt. But it was filled with nothing but that cold certainty Leona loved.
His eyes moved over the message again, slower this time.
on second thought
“Since when do you do that?” Leona muttered. Vil didn’t hesitate like that. Didn’t phrase things like that.
If he ever did change his mind, it came out clean.
Decided.
Not like this.
Leona pushed himself up onto one elbow.
I need you here.
That got nothing but a quiet scoff. “Sure you do.”
Leona knew well that Vil didn’t need him.
Not like that, no, not in a message like this. Not…
…not without saying why.
Or where, or how long.
Leona read it again. The weight of the message seemed off. Like… like something trying too hard. Missing something small that mattered.
“You’re off.”
Not Vil. Not how he talked. Not how he thought.
Leona leaned back slowly, the laziness from earlier gone completely now. Rook’s voice slipped back into place in his head.
“They matched my pace. I did not hear them approach.”
Leona looked down at the phone again.
Now it made sense. Someone careful enough to get past Rook would be careful enough to try this, too.
His thumb hovered over the screen, but he didn’t type.
The phone buzzed again. Leona didn’t react right away. He simply watched the screen light up.
Leona? are you there?
come here. Now. I really need your help. It’s urgent.
Leona let out a quiet breath, not an amused one, not a surprised one.
“Mm.”
don’t keep me waiting, Kingscholar.
“There it is.”
He swung his legs off the bed, standing in a single smooth motion, and sighed.
“They don’t get you at all, princess.”