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Even after enlisting his help with Azul, Yuu doesn’t actually consider themself friends with Leona. Acquaintances, sure. Friendly nemeses, even – they’ve spent enough time getting on his nerves and prodding him into helping out with their various schemes to stay alive to understand at least some of what makes the sleepy lion man tick. But if anyone had asked them if they thought Leona considered them to be someone he could ask for help, they would’ve confidently answered no. And also probably laughed in the face of whoever asked that question, because seriously, Leona? Asking for help? As if.
Well, apparently, Yuu is Boo Boo the Fool, because soon after that affair, Yuu leaves the classroom for Ancient Curses – theory only, of course, they’re still a first year – and finds Leona waiting for them.
“You. Come here.”
The sound of his deep, lazy drawl sends shivers down Yuu’s spine. Unfortunately, it also makes Yuu’s legs lock up for a moment, which is more than enough time for Leona to wrap an arm around their shoulders and begin hauling them off in the wrong direction.
“W-wait,” they manage, “I still have another class!”
Yuu isn’t tall enough to see Leona roll his eyes, but they can feel the disdainful rumble in his chest vibrate against them. “So skip. Aren’t you always getting in trouble for your friends?”
There something ugly in the way he says that last word, equal parts dismissive, cynical, and jealous. Yuu doesn’t bring this up because Yuu isn’t that much of an idiot. Leona can turn people to sand with a single sentence. He’s tried to do so in public before. While Yuu isn’t afraid to bother him gently, ideally from a distance, being up close with the unpredictable prefect of Savanaclaw makes them stiffen up. Mostly out of fear.
Look, he’s a jackass and an unrepentant attempted murderer, but he’s also very pretty, okay? Just look at those eyes. Gorgeous. And those abs Yuu is currently pressed up against… if they could get away with licking him, they would.
“You’ve been hanging out with Ruggie,” Leona rumbles.
“I guess,” they say cautiously. In practice, it’s more like Ruggie keeps going out of his way to bother them while he’s out on various errands. He keeps stealing their wallet, too, and then they have to go chase him for it. Ruggie isn’t Jack but his stamina is still way better than theirs, so that tends to end with them collapsing and a cackling Ruggie going through their wallet in front of them.
Joke’s on him, though, they’re as poor as he is. One time he felt so bad about what he found that he slipped 500 Madols in there and they only found it hours later. They thanked him for it the next time they saw him and he used Laugh With Me to make them trip down the stairs. Fortunately, they were only on the third step, so the only thing bruised was their pride.
Leona glances down at them, gold eyes narrow. “Where?”
Uh oh. All the brainpower Yuu was putting into fond-ish memories of Ruggie and thirsting over Leona is abruptly rechanneled into survival. “Um. May I ask why?”
“You may not.”
Well, okay then. “He doesn’t usually stick around in one place. I run into him while, uh, going about my day as normal.”
“Hah. How boring.” Goddamn it, even Leona’s sigh is attractive. Yuu resents knowing this fact. “Then I’ll be troubling you.”
“Troubling me to what?” Yuu asks.
Leona smiles, canines glittering. “To be bait.”
Despite his ominous choice of words, Leona doesn’t actually do anything to Yuu. He just follows them around from a distance for the rest of the day. They almost manage to put it out of their mind after a while, though they still end up jolting every time he makes a snippy comment – or worse, one that sounds almost approving. Leona is a jackass, but he’s an unreasonably talented jackass. Between him, Azul, and the Leech twins, Yuu has to admit that they like boys who are good at things. Maybe because they themself are just barely keeping their head above water.
The rare grunt of not bad is almost worth the frustration of watching Leona turn his nose up at their best efforts. Not everyone can be good at everything they try, damn it. Yuu thinks they’re doing pretty well considering that they have no background in runes, curses, or poisons. Or the history of this world, for that matter. They’re basically starting their entire education over from scratch.
Leona rolls his eyes when they tell him so. “Boo fucking hoo.”
“I’m just saying, my ignorance is justified.”
His eyes darken. “There are no justifications, only excuses.”
That sounds a little too heavy to be directed at them. Yuu waits for a moment, breath caught in their throat, but Leona doesn’t elaborate. He leans against the wall while they’re in their next class, eyes narrowed, lost in his own head. When class ends and Yuu starts walking toward the cafeteria, he drifts after them in silence.
Yuu can’t actually afford cafeteria food, but sometimes the staff are nice and give them discounted food after lunch. They aren’t the only one with this strategy, of course. The first sign of Ruggie’s presence is the sound of running feet. As they’ve noted before, Ruggie’s no Jack, all trim muscle and long legs, but damn can he move when he puts his mind to it. That’s why he can afford to mess with Yuu even on days they’re both racing to the cafeteria. Usually, those footsteps are Yuu’s cue to start power-walking in a vain attempt to stay ahead without activating anyone’s chase instinct. Not this time.
For a moment, they think seriously about warning Ruggie that they’re not alone. Unfortunately, that’s a minute they don’t have. By the time they resolve to open their mouth, it’s already too late.
Leona’s standing beside them, half-shielded by a totally unnecessary gothic pillar, uncharacteristically quiet and moving unexpectedly slowly. Maybe that’s why Ruggie charges down the hallway at top speed, his eyes skipping right over the tall shadow in favour of landing on Yuu. He grins meanly and veers sharply toward them.
“Let your guard down!” he sings.
Not bad, as last words before disaster go. Kinda cheesy, sure, but he gets top marks for irony. Also, he was right – Yuu was so stressed by Leona’s presence that they totally let their guard down. Ruggie’s fingers brush their pocket for a second. Then Leona tackles him to the ground in a move that makes Yuu’s back ache in sympathy.
Ruggie yelps as Leona’s weight slams him down. Then he goes very still. For a second, all Yuu can see is Leona’s back, twisted in Overblot, as he throws Ruggie’s broken body around like rag doll – or worse, a cat toy.
They blink. Ruggie’s fine. Just stiff, and pinned, and wearing the fakest smile they’ve ever seen. “Yo, Leona. What do you need?”
“Nothing,” Leona rumbles, crouched low over Ruggie’s motionless body. That sure is a lot of long hair, dark skin, and slowly swishing tail on display. Add in how much smaller Ruggie looks under him, clothes mussed and ears pricked up, a mess of tan skin and scars, and you have a really appealing picture.
Yuu stands awkwardly to the side, mostly freaked out, a little unfortunately turned out. Hopefully neither of them can smell emotions.
“Oh, is that so!” Ruggie says brightly. “So you pounced on me for fun! It must be nice to have so much free time.”
“Shut up,” Leona snaps, then squeezes his eyes shut. “I’m thinking.”
“In that case, let me up, I don’t have hours to waste on you gathering your thoughts.”
A low growl echoes through the room.
“You’re avoiding me,” Leona says.
Ah, so that’s why he’s upset. Well, no wonder. Leona did try and kill Ruggie a little while ago. If it was Yuu, they’d be going far out their way to make sure they never saw Leona again. They hope, anyway. Any other reaction would mean they’ve been in Twisted Wonderland for too long.
“What?” Ruggie stretches the word out as far as it will go. “No way. ‘m still running your errands, right? And waking you up? And doing half your homework? I’m doing everything you pay me for.”
Green eyes narrow. “And nothing else.”
“So?” Ruggie says flippantly. “Didn’t you say you didn’t care about our dreams anymore? You know, when you tried to turn me to sand?”
“…I know what you’re up to.”
“I’m not doing anything. You’re the one who put my position–” His life, more like. “–in jeopardy. Trying to kill me in front of everyone? You threw me away like trash, Leona. Forgive me for assuming you wouldn’t want trash cluttering up your life since you never actually took any of that back. Ah, but if you changed your mind, you’re gonna have to spell it out for me. Since I’m the type to cling to stupid, simple dreams where your actions are justified, Leona.”
“It’s not cute to hold grudges.” Leona’s hands were on Ruggie’s shoulders. Now one of them is on Ruggie’s exposed throat.
Yuu steps forward, hands raised, about to – what? Protest? Tell Leona to stop? Try and distract him so that Ruggie, who already almost died at Leona’s hands once, can slip away? They have no idea.
Ruggie’s throat bobs under Leona’s fingers. His grin turns mean. “Oooh, scary. Shouldn’t the future king be able to control himself? Even when someone is holding a grudge against him?”
Yuu stops in their tracks, a chill going down their spine. That tone was a threat. Ruggie is… threatening Leona? In this position?
It makes an uncomfortable amount of sense. The thing is, Ruggie doesn’t walk like he’s afraid of Leona. He never has. For as long as Yuu has known him, he’s been the same: swift, anxious, and light on his feet. Even when Leona swats at him, he dodges away from one sluggish fist just in time to pop up on Leona’s side, grinning and ready to continue needling his – prince? Employer? Friend?
Whatever pattern Ruggie’s developed to work around Leona, the only time fear ever entered it was the day Leona Overblotted, and even then, it was mostly consumed by shock. In Yuu’s surprisingly comprehensive experience, people respond very differently to watching a loved one Overblot. The boys of Heartslaybul had their flight instinct kick in. The Leech twins went the opposite route and tried to fistfight a berserk Azul. Kalim didn’t really seem to realize what was going on, but Ruggie? Ruggie knew. And rather than try to escape or fight back, he just collapsed on the middle of what was becoming a battlefield, soft, confused laughter drifting through his teeth.
Leona growls again, so deep Yuu can feel it in their bones. Then he tightens his hand around Ruggie’s neck, jerks his prey’s chin to the side, and licks a wet swipe down Ruggie’s cheek.
Ruggie jolts in Leona’s grip like he’s been electrocuted. “What the hell are you doing?!”
“Shut up.” Leona’s tongue glistens as it darts out. “I won’t let you go again.”
“You, you–” All of a sudden, Ruggie blurs into motion as he finally begins to struggle. He flails wildly, lashing out as best he can. One of his shoulders is still pinned, but the other is free, and he slashes out at Leona’s face with fingers hooked into claws.
“Don’t!” Yuu yells, but it’s too late.
Leona ducks his head down about two inches and sinks his teeth into Ruggie’s throat.
Once again, Ruggie goes very still. His eyes are the size of dinner plates. For a second, Yuu is certain they’re about to watch him die. Then he makes a soft little whimpering noise that they’ve never heard outside of porn before and goes completely limp. Shaky laughter bubbles up from his throat as he tips his head back to give Leona better access. Leona pulls back slowly, licking his lips. There’s a bitemark stamped over Ruggie’s windpipe, vivid, already bruising.
It isn’t bleeding, at least. That’s something.
“So pushy, Leona,” Ruggie says breathily. “’m still mad.”
“I don’t care,” Leona says, and swipes his tongue over the mark. “You can be as mad as you want and hold as many grudges as you want. You’re still mine.”
Ruggie twists away from him, face tinted red, and makes eye contact with Yuu. Oh no. “Save me,” he drawls, “the scary lion’s gonna kill me.”
Leona hauls him back without visible effort and glares at Yuu. “Don’t you fucking dare.”
Yuu swallows hard and backs up a step, raising their hands defensively. “I thought you were gonna kill him.”
They also thought some other, thirstier things, but shut up. Leona was literally licking Ruggie. What Leona doesn’t know won’t get Yuu killed.
“Stupid,” Leona dismisses, and starts licking his way down Ruggie’s collarbone. Again.
Yuu makes a sound like a boiling kettle, but nobody seems to care about them.
“You tried before,” Ruggie points out.
Leona yanks Ruggie’s top and scarf down, shoves his nose into the junction where neck and shoulder meet, and bites down. “If I was going to kill you, I wouldn’t be claiming you again. So stop running. If you try and leave me again, I won’t hold back.”
Ruggie looks up at him. "Done with excuses?"
"Shut up," Leona growls, and kisses him.
All of a sudden, Yuu realizes that this is Leona’s version of an apology. Because no one can just say they’re sorry in Twisted Wonderland when they could instead make an ordeal out of it, least of all Leona Kingscholar.
“Oh my god, you had me act as bait so you could say sorry by molesting Ruggie in public?” They clutch at their hair and squeeze their eyes shut. It’s no use. The image of Leona licking Ruggie – kissing Ruggie - claiming Ruggie – has already been seared into their mind.
Leona huffs, completely unrepentant. As usual. “If it works, it works.”
“Eh, that’s so unfair!” But Ruggie is still laughing. Yuu suspects that if they opened their eyes, he would be smiling for real. That might be more than they can take. “Staking out my favourite target like that!”
“Who’s your favourite target?” Yuu grumbles. “Shouldn’t that be Leona if you’re mad at him?”
“No,” Ruggie says immediately. “If I’m bugging Leona, then I’m acknowledging he exists.”
“…damn. You ghosted him? That’s cold.”
“I like Leona best when he’s arrogant and unreasonable. But even I get pissed sometimes. Hey, open your eyes already, we’re basically done.”
Yuu cracks an eye open, unsure if they trust him, but it seems like Ruggie was telling the truth. Leona is sitting up, absently licking his lips. Ruggie slides out from under in one swift motion and bounces to his feet. He looks debauched and slightly mauled, but his eyes are bright. Before Yuu can react, he grabs their hand and taps his neck.
“See ya, Leona! Gotta go show this off to the underclassmen!” he says, and then takes off.
For some reason, that excuse works – Leona rolls his eyes and hauls himself up, stalking off in the opposite direction. His ears are facing forward and his tail is tilted up at the tips. That means he’s happy, right? Yuu wishes they could check where Leona’s going, but Ruggie is akind of a force of nature when he’s moving, so all they can do is stumble down the hall after him.
“So,” they pant once the two of them are far enough from Leona that it probably doesn’t matter. “That happened.”
Ruggie finally stops and bursts into gleeful cackling. There’s no other word for the explosion of sound that erupts from his chest. Yuu drops to the ground, breathing hard, and wonders if he’d sound like this in bed as well as – whatever that just was with Leona. They can’t decide if the laughter would be a turn-on or a turn-off.
“You didn’t get it, did ya?”
Yuu shakes their head.
“Don’t worry about it! It’s a beastfolk thing. Bonding and dominance or whatever.” There's clearly more going on, especially with that kiss, but he doesn't elaborate.
“Like mermaids and cannibalism?” Yuu asks sourly.
Ruggie beams at them. “Yeah, like that.”
Right then. Yuu is just gonna not ask about any of that, they guess. “…please don’t get mad at me. I didn’t really have a choice. Leona’s been following me around all day waiting for you.”
For some reason, Ruggie looks touched. “Whoa. I may actually have to forgive him. He hates sappy things like this. Then again, he did claim me in the halls… maybe he’s turning over a new leaf?” A brief pause. “Nah. He’s going way out of his comfort zone on this one. ’m gonna tease him forever.”
That’s… kinda sweet, Yuu guesses.
Of course, Ruggie immediately goes on to ruin the moment by fishing a suspiciously familiar object out of his trousers. Or rather, a suspiciously unfamiliar object.
“That’s not your wallet,” Yuu observes.
“Nope.” Ruggie flicks it open. Inside are more Madols than Yuu’s ever seen in one place before. Other than Kalim’s wallet, they mean. “Ooh, jackpot! He must’ve hit the ATM before coming to find me. Yeah, this’ll do as a final apology.”
“You stole his wallet?!”
“He’s got way too much cash and I’m still pissed.” Ruggie cackles, loud and free. “What’s he gonna do, try and kill me again? He just told the whole school I'm still his number two!”
Yuu lets out a heartfelt groan. “I wanna go home.”
“And I wanna use this cash to buy out Sam’s entire supply of Star Fragments for the month and resell them at jacked-up prices. Only one of us is getting our wish. Come on, help me carry them and I’ll give you 2%.”
“…5%.”
“3% and you’ll like it.”
“Deal.”