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It had been days since Savanaclaw lost the spelldrive tournament and Leona was still residing in the infirmary. Despite wanting to do nothing more than sleep, students from his dorm would come in nearly every hour to check on him. It was bad enough that Jack was always there but having a bunch of other freshman who looked at him with big sad eyes didn’t help much either. It became worse when Rook appeared and insisted on taking care of him, though thankfully the vice housewarden was easily distracted by Ruggie. The lion huffed loudly as he heard the door to the infirmary open again, his ears raising as he heard footsteps get closer. They stopped at his bed, causing for the lion to turn from his side onto his back.
Leona scoffed as he locked eyes with Malleus, who looked down at him with a blank expression.
“Did you come here to laugh at me? Or maybe to brag that you won again? Is that it?”
“…Not at all, Kingscholar. The human has recently caught a fever so I came in to get her some medicine but Professor Crewel isn’t here. Do you know where he went?”
“He’s on lunch break, he won’t be back for an hour. Just go buy something for the herbivore from Sam’s shop.”
“I do not know what medicine a human would need, Kingscholar. So I’ll just wait here.”
Malleus walked from the cot Leona was laying in and sat on the one next to it, staring at the door quietly as he waited.
“…Are you seriously going to wait an hour for him? Can’t you go do something else and return later?”
“That doesn’t make any sense, Kingscholar. I’m already here, so I might as well stay till Crewel arrives. Not to mention he may return early.”
Either Malleus didn’t hear it or he simply ignored the growl that came from Leona's throat, what he didn’t ignore was the loud coughing that came from the prince moments later. Leona continued to cough roughly before grabbing a cup of water that was held out to him and chugging it. Though he quickly shoved the cup back into Malleus’s hands once he realized the fae had given it to him.
“What’s your issue?”
“Nothing, you sounded as if you were choking so I was merely trying to help.”
“…Whatever.”
Malleus was quiet as he sat back down on the cot, before letting out a gentle sigh.
“Now what?”
“…Kingscholar, you have a lot of friends, correct?”
“…Excuse me?”
“You have a lot of friends. I’m asking if you have friends.”
“And why the hell does that matter to you?”
“…Lilia said when people are sick or in recovery, they get gifts from friends and family. Like trinkets and flowers and stuffed animals. I noticed you only have a single bouquet, but I was under the impression that you had a lot of friends. Was I wrong?”
Leona was silent for a moment as he sat up in the cot, glaring at Malleus as he kept his ears pointed up.
“I do have a lot of friends, you freaky lizard. This isn’t my first day here. I had Ruggie and Jack take that garbage back to my room. I have a lot of friends. I’m not a freak like you. Do you even have friends? And don’t say your guards, they don’t count. They’re only nice to you cause you’re the crown prince.”
Despite the bile behind his words, Leona raised an eyebrow at Malleus’s reaction to them. Normally, the fae didn’t hesitate to bite back at the lion. Throwing an insult usually twice as worse than what was given to him. And yet, he simply looked down, awkwardly shifting his legs as he tried his best not to look at the other housewarden.
“…I wasn’t trying to insult you, Kingscholar. I was just asking if you did. If you didn’t, I was going to leave and get you a present…”
“…Are you pitying me cause you think I’m weak right now?”
“We both know I wouldn’t do that, Kingscholar. You played injured and yet you were still a fierce opponent to the very end. I have enough respect for you to not treat you like you’re lesser.”
“Are you kidding me right now? That’s all you ever do, you think you’re so much better than me, you walk around with guards everywhere, you flaunt your wealth, and you’re the strongest mage here. You really expect me to believe that you think of us as equals.”
“I do. We’re both royalty, housewardens, and in the same year. Why would I not think of us as equal?”
“Oh cut the bullshit, it’s just us. Nobody else is here, you don’t have to fucking act holier than thou. We’re not equals. One of us is a crown prince and the other is a waste of space.”
“…Do you truly think that of yourself, Kingscholar?”
It took Leona a second to process what he had said, but the moment he did, he started growling again at Malleus as he reached for one of his pillows to toss at him, the others gentle expression only enraging him further.
“…I don’t have a lot of friends.”
“I don’t care.”
“…Our freshman year, I wanted you to be my friend.”
“…”
“…I don’t know your situation but being a prince isn’t a dream come true. I was raised by…a knight and my grandmother. I never knew my parents. You’d think that would mean I’d be spoiled rotten, but it was the opposite. Whatever happened to them terrified the kingdom. I was kept locked in the castle nearly every single day, everyone was too scared to even talk to me.”
“I’ve always been very talented at magic, that’s what my grandmother would say. But I see it more as a curse. For the longest time I couldn’t control it, the slightest emotion caused a whirlwind of magic to go out of control. Even my grandmother spent most of her days away from me. I was only allowed to attend this school because the knight that raised me insisted I needed more world knowledge. When I heard there was another prince attending, I was excited. I thought maybe I’d find someone to relate to and befriend…”
“…I’m sorry.”
“…Excuse me?”
“…I’m sorry for trying to injure you with a stampede. I should’ve just let you play, if I hadn’t done that maybe I could’ve beaten you this year.”
“…You need not apologize, I never held any grudge against you. Grim does though, you might need to buy him a can of tuna to make him forgive you.”
“…Seriously, you have friends, Malleus.”
“…I have the human and her cat. If we’re not counting guards then that is my list of friends.”
“…You have me.”
Malleus stared wide eyed at the prince, blinking a few times as if he wasn’t sure if he heard correctly.
“…Once I’m better we can hang out or something. What do you like to do, lizard?”
“…I like to read. And look at gargoyles.”
“Anything else?”
“…I like to eat ice cream. And fly.”
“…Then it’s settled. We’ll get ice cream once I’m better. You gotta pay for us though. I’m sure Ruggie has spent my monthly allowance already.”
“…Alright. Then I’ll be contacting you with a letter soon…Leona. Is it alright if I use your first name since we’re friends?”
“…Yeah, that’s okay.”
The door suddenly opened as Crewel walked in, raising his eyebrows at the two, as if he was waiting to hear an explanation of what was going on.
“Ah, hello professor. Chirayu needs some medicine, she is rather sick right now.”
“Then go down to Sam’s shop, even if you are a prince I can’t give you medicine without the student in need of it being here. You might take it for yourself instead of giving it to Chirayu.”
“…Ah, Leona told me I should just go to Sam’s. It seems he was correct. Well then, I’ll be writing you a letter tonight, friend.”
Malleus said with a smile as he walked out of the room, Leona smiling softly as he watched him leave before letting out a big yawn and turning on his side once more in order to sleep.