Work Text:
Floyd was, surprise surprise, very bored.
He was like this all day, actually. When he woke up that morning, there was something in him that just knew that it wasn’t going to be a good day. He could barely focus in alchemy class. It prompted Crewel to chew him out when he dropped the zinc from too high a height and the resulting splash almost melted his partner into a sad puddle of flesh. P.E. was the same. He almost fell from his broom. Twice. He just barely caught onto the broom the second time. Vargas was a bit nicer about it than Crewel was, but it was still a pretty bad lecture. It just left Floyd in an even worse mood.
When the final bell rang, signalling the end of the school day, Floyd went to Monstro Lounge to start his shift. But Azul, having noticed his state of lethargy, deemed him unfit to work and promptly kicked him out. He didn’t feel like going back to the dorm, so now he roamed the halls of the school, listening to the echoing of his footsteps and the whistling of the fall wind.
He thought that causing problems would be fun, but nobody was around. Everyone that noticed his crappy mood turned tail and ran for the hills. Boring, and quite rude too, if he might add. He thought maybe the Savanaclaw students might indulge him, but they fled too. Was he really giving off that bad of a vibe?
Very boring, indeed.
During his meanderings, Floyd passed by the library. Glancing inside, he noticed a flicker of a wonderfully beautiful red amongst the floating books. He knew that shade of red anywhere. After all, nobody could emulate his goldfish’s hair. His was special.
(Perhaps Floyd’s expression brightened up a bit. But really, who was to say? It was not like anyone was around to notice something like that. )
From the door, the only thing one could see was the back of Riddle’s head, just peeking out from the headboard of his chair. Oh, that poor, foolish goldfish. Perhaps since he apparently never left his house as a kid, he was never taught common sense. But, everyone else knew never to leave your back facing the door when you’re alone. You’d get killed like that.
“Bah!” Boo.
Riddle let out a squeak. “Floyd!” He said, batting the eel’s head with a textbook from the top of his pile. “You dolt, don’t do that!”
He smiled, catching the book before it fell to the ground. “Maybe you shouldn’t have your back turned towards the door then, dear Goldfishie~” retorted Floyd as he took the seat opposite of Riddle.
A scoff. “What do you want?” He finally asked.
“I’m bored.” He declared, reading the title of the book that Riddle had hit him with. ‘Alchemy Advanced: Potions with Blot’. How boring. When Floyd put the book back on the pile, he noted how it was almost as tall as his goldfish. There was a brief moment where he was imagining Riddle on the tips of his toes to stack all of the books on top of each other. Kind of cute.
“Of course you are.” Riddle sighed, closing his book. The noise barely made an echo through the library. “And just what did you expect me to do here?” He asked.
Floyd shrugged. “Just do what you were doin’ before.” He said. “Being with Goldfishie is good enough for me~”
Despite Floyd’s constant affection towards him, Riddle still couldn’t help but flush a bright hue of red at the comment. See that? That wasn’t boring. Not at all. Riddle huffed. “You’re insufferable.” He muttered, trying and failing to hide the sappy smile that twitched at the edges of his lips. Floyd had the perception of a predator, after all.
“Maybe I am.” Floyd leaned forward, his head in his hands. “But you still love me.”
“That I do.” It had taken a long while for Riddle to be able to admit that to himself. Even now, he found it exceedingly difficult to simply say ‘I love you’ to anyone, much less Floyd. But that was okay. He showed it in other ways, and Floyd would’ve gotten the message even if he didn’t. Floyd’s smile softened at the words. He felt all of the negativity that coalesced that day disappear as well. Reaching over the table, he began ruffling Riddle's hair playfully, earning a half-hearted swat in response. “If you’re going to stay here, you should at least do something productive,” Riddle stated, offering him a book. “Here, take this.”
“Bein’ productive, eh?” Floyd feigned thought at the idea, glancing lazily at the book. Just some random novel. Riddle must’ve probably been planning on reading it after studying. “Azul said I shouldn’t.”
The shorter of the two sighed, but there was still a fond smile playing on his lips. He reached over and lightly smacked Floyd on the arm. "Sevens, I hate you,” muttered he, but there was not even an ounce of heat in his words. “You’re twisting his words.” He deduced. “There’s little chance that a man like him would ever say such a thing.”
“You’re no fun.”
“The library is not a place for fun, especially not your definition of it.”
Riddle returned to his book, and they quickly fell into a comfortable silence. The only sounds were Riddle’s pen scratching at his notebook and the flipping of pages. All the while, Floyd watched him with a fond expression. Neither of them were quiet people. They knew that well. And yet, when together like this, isolated from the rest of the world, there was simply nothing that needed to be said.
Until Floyd noticed the way Riddle’s eyes drooped, and how he struggled to keep himself sitting upright. His goldfish needed a break. And he knew just how to do that.
“Let’s play tag~!” He declared as he stood up, taking Riddle’s notebook from him. He glared up at Floyd, his face a mix of annoyance and surprise. Floyd, however, was undeterred by Riddle's expression. He grinned mischievously, holding the other’s notebook out of reach as he tried to take it back.
“Floyd!” He yelled. “Give it back!”
“You gotta catch me first!”
Despite having only gained legs recently, Floyd was a nimble thing. But that wasn’t what he was proud of. Somehow, he managed to not only get Riddle out of the library but also as far as the P.E field. He darted past the Spelldrive club members, even through the violent barrage of spells. Having noticed the arrival of the Heartslabyul house warden and one of the Leech twins, a few of them stopped playing just to process what they had just seen.
Epel stared blankly as the two figures disappeared from sight before Leona threw the disc right at the side of his head.
“Oi, you lot. Quit starin’ unless you wanna end up running extra laps.”
“Yes sir!”
Riddle gave up at some point after that and returned to the Heartslabyul dormitories, where he found Ace in the lounge, cradling an icepack on his jaw while placing strawberries on a cake, likely for the next day’s unbirthday party. Grim and Deuce could be heard arguing over topping ideas in the kitchen. It was a silent agreement that Ace wouldn’t question Riddle’s frazzled state and that Riddle would question his injury.
His notebook was returned a few moments later, along with a quick peck on the cheek and a few desserts from Monstro Lounge.
(If Riddle noticed the doodles that were drawn in the corners of the pages, he didn’t say anything, nor did he get rid of them. )