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“Dorm Leader Riddle!” Ace calls out in greeting.
“Oh, Ace,” Riddle says, glancing up from the rose bushes he’s tending. His gaze sweeps down Ace’s outfit, appraising the birthday boy banner before returning to coolly meet Ace’s eyes. “It’s your birthday, isn’t it? Happy birthday.”
Talk about a cold reception. “Shouldn’t a dorm leader be more attentive to his members’ birthdays? I had to come all the way out here to get my own birthday greeting and all!”
“Were you looking for me?” Riddle asks, finally turning away from the roses to address Ace, looking a bit put upon. “I wasn’t aware a birthday greeting from me was something that you’d want.”
“Well, you see!” Ace says, “I heard a rumor from the upperclassmen—“
“Oh?”
“That the dorm leader would grant you a request for your birthday. So I came to find you!”
“As self-interested as ever, I see,” Riddle says with a laugh. “Did you mix up our dorm with Octavinelle? Azul’s the one that grants wishes.”
“No, they said it was a rule of our dorm! Rule number... 730-something of the Queen of Hearts: ‘You must listen to the words of the birthday boy.’” It had sounded like they’d been joking, and maybe he’s just running straight into getting his head chopped off, but surely Riddle would offer some preferential treatment for his birthday, right?
“Is that so?” Riddle asks, appearing to consider the point. “Then what are you asking for?”
—and if nothing else, it’d be fun to see Riddle thrown off tempo and flustered by his underclassman’s unreasonable requests. “I want you to kiss me,” he says with a grin.
“W-what?” True to expectation, Riddle blushes a cute red, his hand drawing up to his face as if to distance himself from Ace. “Why would I—“
“C’mon, just a peck,” Ace says, leering and leaning down into Riddle’s personal space. Despite his intimidating presence, Riddle’s so small it’s easy to look down on him, to cage him in against the rose bushes with a hand against his shoulder. Riddle could probably blast him away with a flick of his magical pen, but he won’t, will he? “A gift for your favorite first year.” A bit questionable, but Riddle didn’t seem like the type to get close to many other first years.
“I…” Riddle says, turning redder and redder. “I…” His body begins to shake. Uh oh, has he gotten himself into some deep shit? But then Riddle’s shoulders untense, and he looks up at Ace with what seems to be determination. “I’ll do it,” he says, and pulls Ace down with a tug on the birthday boy banner.
It’s not just a peck. Ace hadn’t really expected Riddle to kiss him, so he’s not sure what he’d imagined, but… Riddle at first seems tense, with his lips pressed stiffly against Ace’s own, clutching at the cloth clenched in his fists like a lifeline. Slowly, he seems to relax a bit, moving his lips gently against Ace’s own, nervously pressing forward with a swipe of his tongue and then startling when Ace parts his own lips to meet him. Ace presses forward another step, and Riddle makes a soft noise in his throat, tilting his head up at what must be an uncomfortable angle.
When they part, Riddle’s cheeks are still tinged pink, the rise and fall of his chest visible with his breaths. The rose thorns have snared his clothes, causing a frayed string here and there.
He pushes Ace away as forcefully as he’d pulled him close. “Just so you know,” he says, “there’s no such rule of the Queen of Hearts. Did you think that you could fool me with such a ruse?”
There isn’t?! Then…
“Next time you want something from me, maybe you won’t be so craven as to make up an excuse to ask,” Riddle says, seeming to look down upon Ace with a haughty grin. Impressive, considering how he hasn’t gotten any taller.
Next time, huh? “Okayy,” he says.
“That’s ‘Yes, Dorm Leader.’”
Some things don’t change, no matter how cute Riddle looks getting kissed. “Yes, Dorm Leader.”