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“Big Brother Ruggie!”
“Yeah?”
“Let’s play house!”
The hyena beastman stopped what he was doing to give the little prince a sideglance. Cheka only gave him a 1000-watt smile in return, unbothered by the dismissive message Ruggie had tried to give. This made him sigh.
“…Okay, okay. We’ll play house once we get back to the dorm,” Ruggie said as he stood up from his seat. He went and carried the little child in his arms. “Your ojii-tan doesn’t seem to be here, anyway.”
The two were currently at the botanical garden, surrounded by lush greenery and pleasant ambiance–two of the things Leona usually went for when looking for a place to nap at. Ruggie came here to…“hand over” his nephew to him, but it seemed like he wasn’t spending time there that day.
Argh! As expected of that guy, Ruggie complained in his mind. Of course he had to leave his nephew with me just so he could laze around! Seriously, this is supposed to be his responsibility–!
“Wait, Big Brother Ruggie!” Cheka gently patted the sophomore’s cheeks, prompting him to stop walking. “We need to do something before we play house!”
“And whazzat?”
“We have to look for a partner for you!” the child huffed. “Aren’t families like that? There has to be a Mama and Papa in a family, you know?”
Ruggie chuckled bitterly. Most families, he thought, but he didn’t say it aloud. The prince didn’t have to know.
“Anyway, we should look for someone else to play with us first!” The child kicked his legs, prompting the sandy-blonde teen to begrudgingly put him down. “Maybe we can find someone if we keep walking around here! Let’s go!”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m following you~!” Ruggie replied, but he was half-sure that this would be a futile effort. Classes were ongoing at this sort of time, and none of them were assigned to have classes in the botanical garden. They most likely wouldn’t find anyone here.
But he didn’t have the heart to tell Cheka that, of course. He’d just let the kid figure it out on his own.
“Come on, come on! You’re too slow!” Cheka’s hands tugged at him when the hyena beastman slowed down. Ruggie groaned.
Their walk lasted a long while. They probably even went in circles at one point! But Cheka was determined to find another playmate, so they kept on going.
He’ll get tired soon, Ruggie tried to reassure himself as they went on a loop for the third time. And maybe when he’s tired, I can persuade him to take a nap. And then–
“Ah, I spotted a friend!”
“Huh?”
Looking in front of him, Ruggie recognized familiar white hair, and familiar garnet red eyes. There also was a familiar smile that greeted him. And…
“Hey, Ruggie! Fancy meeting you here? And you’ve got Cheka with you, too!”
…a familiar voice, too.
“Kalim!” the hyena beastman called out without him realizing. “What are you doing he–wait, what, you two know each other?”
The Afterglow Savannah’s prince ran towards Kalim and hugged his leg. He nodded. “Yeah! Mr. Heart and Mr. Spade introduced him to me last time I was here!”
Mr. Heart and Mr. Spade? “Ah, Ace and Deuce!”
That’s right. Leona had abandoned his babysitting duties when his nephew visited before, too, and he’d thrown the responsibility over to Heartslabyul’s freshmen. Ruggie didn’t know the extent of their babysitting adventure, but he surely didn’t expect Cheka to have known Kalim because of it!
“Hey, Big Brother Kalim! I wanted to ask a favor from you,” Cheka cutedly said as he still hugged the Scarabia dormhead’s leg. He sure looked comfortable with him. “Can you play house with me and Big Brother Ruggie…?”
“Of course not, Cheka, he’s busy–”
“Of course I can!”
“Eh?!”
Kalim put down his potted plant first before he hoisted Cheka into his arms. He twirled the prince around, gave him a gentle smile, and said, “We’ll play house together, okay?”
“Yay! Thank you, Big Brother Kalim!”
Ruggie facepalmed. He hadn’t thought that the Asim heir would agree to this arrangement…but maybe he should have figured. Kalim would definitely jump at any chance to play games, after all.
Besides…
Looking at them now, the Savanaclaw sophomore realized that Kalim was hefty good with children. In fact, as Ruggie watched Kalim adjust his personality to balance Cheka’s, this was probably the most mature he’d ever seen the Scarabian act. Maybe playing house with him wouldn’t be so bad…
“Oh, right! Before we go back to ojii-tan’s dorm…” Cheka whispered something into Kalim’s ear. Ruggie couldn’t quite hear it. What were they talking about? “Can you do that for me, Big Brother Kalim?”
“Sure, sure! What else do you need?”
“I also need–” Ah, whispers again. If they were sharing secrets, Ruggie wanted in on it too!
“E-eh?” A blush suddenly spread across Kalim’s face. Hm? What’s with that expression?
And was it just Ruggie, or were they glancing at him frequently, too? Nah, maybe he's just overthinking it...
As the two like-minded rich kids nodded to themselves in agreement, Ruggie just sighed. Well…maybe he didn’t need to know what they talked about, and maybe what he didn’t know wouldn’t backfire on him in the longrun.
It couldn’t possibly be that bad, right?
It was bad. It was really, really bad.
Inside Leona’s room, there were things that hadn't been there before: there was a makeshift altar, some clumsily made wedding designs scattered– (“Decorated!”) –all around them, and, get this, both Ruggie and Kalim were wearing their gala couture outfits, too! (“They look like wedding clothes!”) To add to that, the two of them were currently seated in front of said makeshift altar, with Cheka standing dead-center, apparently officiating this “wedding.”
“Do you, Big Brother Ruggie, take Big Brother Kalim as your husband? Yes, right?” Cheka said enthusiastically, holding an upside-down magic pharmaceuticals textbook as a bible alternative. The little prince was also wearing the outerwear of his uncle’s gala couture costume–his reason? “Leona-ojii-tan looked like a priest when he wore this!”
A bright smile painted itself on the child’s face as he remained blissfully unaware of his two babysitters’ increasing embarrassment. He continued, “Okay, and Big Brother Kalim says yes, too! You may now kiss the groom!”
“I—I thought we were playing house?!” Ruggie exclaimed. He tried to take off the veil Cheka placed on his gala couture flower crown. “Th-this wasn’t what I signed up for!”
How could he have known that it would lead to this? Ruggie was prepared to play house, not play marriage...!
To his misfortune, however, his words did not yield against the lion prince, as Cheka believed that before they played house, he and Kalim had to pretend-marry first. And speaking of that Scarabian…
Kalim laughed at Ruggie's desperation, and amid all his blushing, stopped his fellow sophomore from taking off the veil. “Let me take that off for you, habibi—”
“WHAT?! Why are you being so chill about this?! Also, you knew that this would happen, didn’t you?!”
“I’m not being chill! And y-yeah, I did! But Cheka wanted to officiate a wedding! So…”
Soft, unblemished hands gently cupped Ruggie’s flushed face; hesitant yet determined garnet eyes gazed into the crevices of his soul as Kalim subconsciously pursed his lips. “So just this once, let’s…let’s kiss, okay?”
Oh, damn it all.
Ruggie tightly shut his eyes, bracing himself. Fine. Fine. He could accept this happening. It was Kalim, after all, it should be fine, right? And besides, the kiss shouldn’t last that long…it would probably just be a peck…and…his lips would probably be real soft…
Argh, my thoughts are straying. Just kiss me and be over with it, Kalim!
Ruggie waited and waited, but…the kiss never came. Instead, what happened was that the door to the room clicked open, and a certain lion beastman entered the ‘wedding’ location, looking appropriately grossed out by the sight before him.
“EEP!” Kalim yelped, immediately backing away from Ruggie, thereby backing away too much, and falling from where he sat. “OW!”
“Leona-ojii-tan!” Cheka tossed away the ‘bible’ he held and jumped into his uncle’s arms, causing the older man to grimace. “Leona-ojii-tan, Big Brother Ruggie and Big Brother Kalim were about to be married, and I was the priest! I was a priest just like you!”
“When the heck did I become a priest?” Leona asked, his nose scrunched up in confusion. He also tried to drop Cheka, at one point, but the lion prince held onto him tightly. Sighing, he turned instead to the two blushing sophomores in his room. “And you two, why do you look as red as an angry Riddle Rosehearts?”
“THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT, YOU KNOW!” Ruggie pointed at the Savanaclaw dormhead accusingly. He looked like that one meme Yuu showed them before. “IF…IF YOU HADN’T LEFT CHEKA TO ME, THEN THIS WOULDN’T HAVE…!”
“So…so you regret playing with me, Big Brother Ruggie?” Cheka interjected, tears welling up in his eyes. Uh-oh. “I just wanted everyone to have fun…”
“N-no, Cheka, Ruggie didn’t mean it that way!” Kalim panicked as he approached the little prince. The child reached out his arms to him, and the Scarabian dormhead carried him in Leona’s stead. Leona sighed in relief. “I’m sure that it’s just because he’s frustrated right now–”
“I…I wanted to play marriage before we played house because…” Cheka hugged Kalim tightly, unable to look at his first babysitter in the eyes. “…because when I said I wanted to play with a complete family, Big Brother Ruggie looked really sad…”
Ruggie felt a sudden pang at his heart. God, he was an idiot for thinking that the kid wouldn’t notice. How could be forget that children are very perceptive, even when you think they didn’t know any better?
Ruggie should have known that more than anyone else.
“…Cheka, c’mere.” Ruggie took the prince from Kalim’s arms and embraced him tightly, a gentle smile on his face. “Sorry if you thought I regretted this…or something… We really did like playing with you today, okay?”
“Yeah, yeah! What your ‘mom’ said!” Kalim interjected, hugging the both of them. Wow, he’s getting in-character, huh? “We’re just super glad we got to spend time with our adorable child!”
Cheka giggled as he wiped away his tears. He hugged Ruggie and Kalim, too. “Thank you, ‘Mom’ and ‘Dad’!” he said as he squeezed them tightly. “Thank you for everything you did for me today…!”
Kalim stifled a sob, already crying because he got touched by Cheka’s words. Ruggie wanted to cry, too. He got called “mom” twice today…but whatever. At least Cheka wasn’t sad anymore.
Leona coughed. Oops. They forgot he was still there. How dare they display “familial” affection in his presence.
“Oy, you,” he called, referring to Kalim. The bejeweled boy blinked at him. “Snake-boy’s been looking all over for you. He said you were supposed to do remedial experiments together.”
Kalim clapped his hands. “Oh, right! We were supposed to do that!”
“I knew that it was odd for you to be there at that time…” Ruggie sighed, eyeing his fellow sophomore. “Why did you come along with us if you actually had an appointment?”
“I couldn’t leave Cheka alone! Hehe~”
“Well, ya better leave now or else Jamil will get mad at you.” You charming idiot.
“I know, I know!” the Scarabia dormhead playfully said as he ruffled Cheka’s hair for the last time. “See you when I see you, son! And…”
Kalim planted a quick kiss on Ruggie’s cheek, making him blush. “Till next time, habibi!”
And then, he left. He’ll probably realize three hours later that he ended up being too invested in his “father” role. Seriously, that guy...
“...So,” Leona said after a few beats had passed. He turned to Ruggie as a smirk tugged at his lips. “You and Kalim, huh…”
Ruggie couldn’t retort anything. He just punched Leona’s arm as Cheka giggled in glee.