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Azul has been with Floyd for long enough to have become accustomed to his fickle mood swings. Absolutely anything could be its trigger; being asked to attend class more often (his attendance is barely over 50%; but for the fact that his grades were outstanding, Azul is sure that Crowley would have blown his top by now), his meal being too hot, too cold, or too ‘ stupid-looking’ , tripping over a rock that had absolutely no business being in his way…Floyd is, for sure, a bratty kid trapped in a six-two seventeen-year-old’s body. (Think of the brattiest, most fickle kid you know. That is Floyd. But ten times worse).
With practice, and a tad bit of luck however, it is possible for one to somewhat predict the moves of an annoying child, and counter them in such a way that their inconvenient irritance dissipates, and is replaced with a more tolerable attitude. For example, offering a screaming child their favourite snack in exchange for being well-behaved for the rest of the day. Even if such methods do not come with a 100% success rate, the percentage is high enough for Azul to feel comfortable with relying on the tactic to steer Floyd back into behaving like his usual, mischief-loving and obedient self.
It doesn’t work all of the time, yes, but. It’s never, ever failed this hard before.
Azul recalls the story of how it all began this way;
He recalls Floyd returning from wherever he’d ventured off to during his break in the middle of his usual shift at Monstro Lounge. He’d been doing well not to fall into one of his bad moods that day, a true blessing. For that day had been an important one for the business. Monstro Lounge was releasing a completely new menu, one exclusive to its regulars who had filled up five or more of their loyalty cards. Azul, nervous about its debut, had wanted things to run smoothly, and for that to happen, Floyd had to behave (It was a major factor after all. On a good day, Floyd is just as hard a worker as Jade). All had been well until Floyd had returned from his break. What could have possibly soured his mood? Anything, really. But Azul didn't have time to concern himself with the specifics. After seeing the all too familiar look on his face, Azul sends Floyd off for an extra break. Maybe giving him an extra fifteen minutes would brighten the eel’s mood?
Wrong.
Floyd doesn’t return after fifteen minutes. He doesn’t come back after thirty. After an hour, Azul gives up on hoping that Mr. Attitude would ever return. For the rest of Monstro Lounge’s open hours, Azul tries not to allow his own mood to affect his performance. Without Floyd, Jade and the other Octavinelle members had to work twice as hard to serve the seemingly never ending stream of regulars who wanted to get a taste of the new delicacies featured on the menu. There was no time to get angry or sulk because they were one waiter short.
Azul waits ever so patiently for the day to be over, before he storms home to Octavinelle’s house. Jade is right behind him, politely asking Azul not to be so hard on his brother. Azul’s too worked up to pay him any mind.
Floyd flinches when his room’s door is slammed open. He moans, turning his body and rubbing his eyes. Much to Jade’s dismay, Azul only grows angrier at Floyd for his relaxed and uncaring demeanour.
“And just where the hell have you been?! I said you could have an extra fifteen minutes, not take the rest of the day off!”
“Noisy…Go away Azul.”
“Go away?? I am your housewarden!”
Jade puts a hand on Azul’s shoulder. He shrugs it off, but takes a deep breath, and stops his shouting.
“Floyd?” Jade approaches his twin’s single bed. Floyd shifts his legs, makes room for Jade to sit, who does after thanking him. “Is there a particular reason why you skipped out on the rest of your shift?” Floyd has always been pretty good at making eye contact when partaking in a conversation. So, when his droopy, dual-coloured eyes favour darting around his room rather than focusing on Jade’s matching ones, Jade knows that whatever Floyd was going to say next would not be truthful.
“Mmm…I guess I clonked out before I could set an alarm.”
“You knew this day was important!” Azul can’t find it in him to stay quiet anymore. “It is the only thing I have been going on about for weeks, and yet you…! Why can’t you just grow up Floyd? Be more like your brother, who’s mature and looks out for others, and isn’t so fickle, that even the clouds shifting slightly in the sky will dictate his behaviour?”
Floyd shuts down when he is on the receiving end of genuinely angry people’s wrath. He’s never been good at responding to those, too laid back to be able to either seriously fight back, or even care about what said person is mad about. Floyd twitches at Azul’s comment though, Jade notices. The first real reaction to negativity that he’s probably seen in years. An unidentifiable look settles on Floyd’s face for just a moment; “Yeah. If only I were like him,” Before it’s gone, and replaced with the expression he usually wears when he’s in one of his moods. “Just get out, will ya?”
It’s been four days since then. Neither Azul nor Jade have ever seen Floyd be down in the dumps for this long, so dealing with it is difficult. Azul, once he realised that something was seriously wrong, had decided to let go of his grudge against him and focus on getting him back to normal. He’s tried everything to help, including assuring Floyd that he wasn’t mad anymore about him skipping out on his shift, offering to participate in one of his (silly) pranks that make poor Riddle want to rip his hair out, and bringing him Takoyaki in bed. (The last one really killed Azul. He’d rather the members of his house eat at the table, not in their rooms). Alas, nothing was working. Jade had tried similar things, and also tried to coax his brother into telling him what the issue was. Floyd didn’t feel like talking.
After so long without him driving Azul nuts, he was determined to find a solution, and fast. Floyd hadn’t attended any classes this week, so Jade made the suggestion that maybe it was a classmate who’d upset him. Azul interrogated those who Floyd interacts with the most; Ace, Deuce, Jack, Riddle; but none of them seem to have a clue about what could be going on with him. It’s somebody unexpected who gives Azul a promising lead to the cause of Floyd’s extended mopiness.
“You tried asking his girlfriend?” Kalim, who’d been in the vicinity when Azul had been asking about Floyd, asked.
“Girlfriend?”
“Yeah! Have you asked her?”
“Kalim, y/n and Floyd are not officially together.” Jalim corrects. Kalim seems surprised to hear it. Nevertheless, the small interaction encourages Azul to seek you out. He finds you inside an empty classroom, earbuds in and pen held tight as you scribble down whatever it is that you want to. You don’t take notice of Azul’s presence, until he’s standing right in front of your desk.
“Azul!” You greet him with a smile. “Everything okay?”
Kalim’s statement about you and Floyd being a couple might not have been true, but even he, a person completely uninterested in anything romantic, could understand what Floyd would see in you if he were to have a crush on you. Your smile is very pretty, for one. And you’re kind, and willing to help others, irrespective of their house or whether or not you think their actions are good or bad. You make people laugh, and you’ve got this sort of aura that just draws people to you. Probably Floyd’s exact type on paper.
He’s entirely convinced now that Floyd has definitely got the hots for you. Just how hasn’t him or Jade taken notice of that?
“Earth to Octoboy?” Your teasing comment makes Azul aware that he’s probably been quiet for too long. He doesn’t take your name-calling to heart (nor does he bother about asking for the dictionary definition of ‘Earth’ is - you probably made it up anyway), knowing you didn’t intend for it to be an insult. Instead, he clears his throat and gets to the point.
“It’s about Floyd.”
You’re brought over to Octavinelle after school. Jade knocks on Floyd’s door before Azul pushes it open and then ushers you in. You turn to look at the smiling boys one last time before they shut the door.
Floyd has already got his eyes on you by the time you turn back to look at him. He looks so serious, and…Sad. Azul and Jade were right - this did go beyond Floyd’s generically baseless mood swings.
“Hey,” You start. You slowly make your way over to him. “I haven’t seen you around lately.”
Floyd stretches his arms out, putting them to rest behind his head. “So what?” He stretches his legs out as well, preventing you from taking a seat on his bed. With a small sigh, you resort to kneeling in front of him.
“So…” You stall, wanting to think carefully about what you say. While you don’t think Floyd could get any worse than this, you don’t want to make any attempts at testing that out, hence he becomes even more withdrawn. “I miss you. Art was especially boring without you today.”
Art. The one class that Floyd and you share. It’s one of the classes he regularly attends (the class only takes place once a week though, so it doesn’t do much to bump up his attendance percentage) - you and Floyd always have a great time poking fun at each other, and pretending like you are on par with some of the most famous artists in terms of your drawing skills.
“Jade was there.” He retorts. He sounds bitter about the fact, and you aren’t sure of why.
“Uh huh,” You blink. “But he’s not you, Floyd.”
“And that’s a good thing. Right, l/n ?” Hearing your own name as it rolls off of Floyd’s tongue, is akin to trying to understand somebody who is talking to you in a foreign language. He’s never called you anything other than Shrimpy; a little nickname that, in your eyes, was proof of your friendship. But now, he wasn’t even calling you that.
“It isn’t! Of course it isn’t. Why would you think that?”
Floyd purses his lips and turns his head away from you. Not willing to talk anymore, clearly. Well, like hell you were going to walk away now and let Floyd continue to sulk after you’ve beverly gotten the truth - or at least, a reader’s digest version of it - out of him.
You rise from your kneeling position, and hop up onto Floyd’s bed. His mouth falls open, and surprise takes root on his face.
“You,” You make yourself comfortable on top of him as you say this. “Will tell me what you’re thinking. Now!”
Floyd challenges your command in the form of a staring contest. He lasts for about ten seconds - your eyes are blazing with far too much intensity, for him to be able to put up much of a fight.
The man beneath you groans, before he finally (but very reluctantly) murmurs the truth. You’ve got to lean in a bit to hear him. “I won’t say it again: I like you, but you like Jade.”
His confession, coupled up with his completely untrue accusation is enough to throw you through a loop. Your head is scrambled - I mean, your crush just confessed, so whose wouldn’t be - but you can still manage to smile. If that’s all he’s been sulking about, thinking that you don’t like him too, then you’ll definitely be able to get Floyd back to normal quickly.
“What makes you think I’m crushin’ on your brother?” You ask, curious.
“You said so yourself.”
“When?” Floyd doesn’t find the situation amusing like you seem to. It’s actually annoying, having to recall and retell the event that led him to feeling this way. But, if it’ll get you to stop wasting his time and confirm his suspicions that you do indeed harbour feelings for Jade, then…
“Four days ago. I was comin’ to see you during my break from working, and I heard you say to one of your friends,” Floyd clears his throat for this next bit, “ Jade is soooo cute! Literally! There is no other way to describe him. I’m so in love, I hope he’ll fall in love with me too! What do you think? Do you think I’ve got a shot with–”
“Hold it right there!” You interrupt. His attempt at imitating your voice was lousy at best, but enough to bring a smidge of red to your face. “I did not say all that.”
“Whatever.” Floyd huffs, eyes shifting. “Point is you called him cute. That must mean you love him, right?”
“If I call my socks cute, does that mean I’m romantically interested in them?” He doesn’t seem to understand what you’re getting at. You roll your eyes. “Floyd, my friend has got a crush on Jade. I was just hyping her up and telling her that I think he’s cute, and a good choice.”
Floyd blinks. “Really.”
“Really.” You confirm. His mood brightens in an instant, and Floyd grins; the big one that shows off all of his teeth. Your heart flutters; that one’s your favourite. “And, um,” You try to maintain eye contact when you confess that, “I like you too. Like-like. Love.”
Floyd takes his hands out from behind his head. One comes to hold your hip, the other goes to the back of your neck. You let him pull you down, right up until his lips come into contact with yours.
Your first kiss with Floyd is pretty much like what you’ve always imagined it’d be. It’s a series of gentle, light, and feathery kisses. They’re short, playful. He doesn’t have to use words to tease you.
Floyd’s fingers, when they slide beneath your shirt to touch you, are cold. Your mouth parts, and you suck in a sharp breath. Floyd hums, apparently satisfied with the reaction. His tongue slips in without further ado. Your needy mouths part and collide and part and collide again, until you’re forced to put a hand over Floyd’s mouth to stop him from chasing your lips again.
“Need-Need to breathe!” You tell him. Floyd tuts, evidently ticked off that he can’t get any more kisses - for now, anyway.
Both of your attentions are taken away from one another when two knocks come at the door. Enter Jade and Azul. Jade is all smiles, while Azul stands awkwardly. He can certainly tell what the two of you have been up to.
“So, Floyd is back to normal I see.” He readjusts the glasses on his face.
“And now I’m busy with my girlfriend , so get lost.”
‘That’s the second time you’ve used that tone with me, jerk.’ Rather than voicing his frustration, Azul lifts his head high, turns on his heel, and does exactly what he’d been told. Jade follows soon after, but not before advising that you keep your voices down, should you choose to indulge in anything…more intimate. Floyd isn’t fazed by his comment, unlike you who tries and fails to land a headshot with a pillow you toss in Jade’s direction.
Once the door has been firmly shut again, Floyd tickles your hips. When you jolt, he smiles.
“Let’s continue where we left off. Yeah?”