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It was the end of a long day at Night Raven, and Trey heaved a sigh of relief, slowly walking up the dorm staircase and making his way to his room. With Riddle and Deuce gone, attending the social at Noble Bell College, Trey was left in charge of the dorm, being the vice housewarden of Heartslabyul. Since the Halloween festivities were coming up very soon, he’d been busying himself with whatever he could, taking care to keep everything afloat so that when Riddle came back, things would go back to normal as soon as possible.
He hadn’t for the life of him imagined that the others would throw him another surprise birthday party like they had the previous years; honestly, he hadn’t even imagined anyone would remember his birthday. But to be fair, if Cater remembered, it meant there was absolutely no way he wouldn’t do something for Trey’s birthday.
A small smile graced Trey’s lips. Though overblown parties weren’t really his thing, it was nice to enjoy the day with the rest of them. The cake they’d all thrown together wasn’t nearly as good as what he could make himself, but it was perfect nonetheless, a pleasant reminder that they really had been preparing in earnest. He even got to see a bit of Riddle and Deuce, whom Cater and Ace managed to video call for just a few minutes so the two could pop by and wish him a happy birthday.
Still, now that the party was over, all that was left was the exhaustion Trey gained throughout the day. All he wanted to do now was go back to his room, crash in bed, and drift off to sleep. After he brushed his teeth, that was.
Creaking open the door to his room, however, Trey couldn’t help but pause, wondering why it was so quiet when his roommates should’ve been in the room by now. But it was only when he fully opened the door that he realized what was happening.
There, sitting on the edge of Trey’s bed was a familiar figure with teal hair, back turned to the door, reading a book in the dim light from Trey’s open window. The other beds in the room were empty, no sight of Trey’s roommates anywhere in the room, and everything was neatly tucked into place, a sight that Trey rarely saw with his roommates’ habits.
Trey knew who the figure was. He knew it all too well. It was Jade Leech, his boyfriend, sitting poised on the edge of his bed, acting as if this was Jade’s own room, and not Trey’s. What he didn’t know, however, (and didn’t want to know, for that matter) was what Jade was doing here, and how the mer had entered, or, for that matter, where his roommates were.
Despite all of the unanswered questions, however, Trey didn’t say a word, only stepping forward, staring at his boyfriend in a trance. It was only when he called out Jade’s name that the mer finally met his eyes.
“Jade…?”
Jade turned around, mismatched eyes glowing and mysterious, alluring as ever. The sweetest sharp-toothed smile grew on his face, and he closed his book, setting it aside as he put his left hand over his chest in the way he always did.
“Happy birthday, Trey.”
“…Jade?” Trey said the name again, this time a bit louder, rubbing his eyes and doing a double take.
At the repeated words, Jade’s mouth formed an even larger smile, and the mer seemed obviously pleased at his doings, a devilish-looking grin blooming on his lips. It was a grin that never ceased to amaze Trey—after all, how could anyone look so handsome yet dangerous, so beautiful and terrible at the same? How could anyone act so perfectly polite and poised yet be so fiendish and mischievous?
Jade could. If anything, Trey could say he was the only one who could pull off such a persona, the only one who could charm Trey with the most unorthodox of tactics and the most eerie of ways.
To think Trey once thought he’d never fall for anyone.
He really had lost on all fronts, hadn’t he?
“It seems that you have yet to exit your state of surprise,” Jade interrupted, his voice coming from close by.
Trey snapped out of his daze, looking up at the mer, who was now standing just a ways away, abandoning his spot on the bed in favor of looming over Trey, eyes still sparkling in the moonlight.
“Don’t tell me I’ve rendered you so speechless you cannot even say anything other than my name?” Jade took a step forward, smiling as always, his voice teasing. He put a gloved hand to Trey’s chin, caressing it lightly. “Are you perhaps too distracted by me that you are unable to pay attention to any of my words?”
Trey laughed, pulling Jade’s hand from his face and shaking his head. “No. I was just surprised to see you here.”
“Are you, now? You’re awfully calm for someone who’s just seen an intruder in his room.”
“Aren’t we dating? You’re not just a random intruder, are you?”
“And if I was?”
“Hah? I’d magic you away with my signature spell.”
“How cruel.” Jade’s face didn’t seem to match his response, however, as he only continued to smile, wrapping his arms around Trey’s stomach and pulling him toward the bed, laying them both down in the soft blankets.
Trey crinkled his brows, laughing again. The grip the eel had on Trey was tight as if Jade were trapping him, preventing him from escaping. “Are you trying to choke me or something?”
Jade chuckled lowly, the soft vibrations of his chest against Trey’s back almost comforting, in a way. “You wound me. Contrary to your expectations, I didn’t come here to murder you.”
“Then what are you here for?”
“To wish you a very happy birthday~” Jade pressed his lips to Trey’s neck. “And a happy Halloween.”
“Halloween, huh?” Trey smirked. “We still have a week left to go, though?”
“Oh, I assure you, I know. But it is never too early to celebrate. Just like it’s never too late to celebrate your birthday.”
“Never too late?” Trey cocked an eyebrow at that. “What exactly do you mean?”
Jade chuckled again. “You know exactly what I mean. We’ve both been busy as vice housewardens taking over for our housewardens in their absence. There hasn’t been nearly enough time for us to spend together.”
“So you’re saying you want to spend more time right now?”
“Indeed.” Jade’s finger slid down Trey’s chest slowly, the eel still caressing him from behind. “And I know you want that too, don’t you?”
Jade was right. The past few days really had been busy without Riddle to keep everyone in line. Though Trey thought he’d done a pretty okay job himself taking over, he missed the time he could spend with his boyfriend, the time he had to himself, to enjoy himself.
But even so, tomorrow was a school day, as well as the day Riddle and the others were supposed to return. Trey couldn’t afford to miss out on any bit of sleep if he wanted to be prepared for their arrival. Then again, even if he refused, Jade would convince him otherwise anyway with that sweet silver tongue of his, somehow coaxing Trey to agree to do whatever Jade wanted them to do, even despite the consequences.
Not that Trey didn’t want to do it too; he just didn’t want to feel the metal collar of shame clamping down on his neck.
…although if Jade were to have one as well, maybe it would be worth it.
Sighing, Trey gave in to the eel’s words. He closed his eyes, rubbing a finger over his temples. “Fine. But we’re stopping when it gets too late.”
The victorious smile on Jade’s face couldn’t be clearer to Trey as he watched the mer’s eyes glow brighter at the fact that Trey had agreed.
“Of course,” Jade agreed. “I would hate to inconvenience the birthday boy.”
It was a complete lie, and both of them knew that, but Trey ignored it, looking around at the empty room and shaking his head. “You took care of my roommates?”
“Indeed I did. How else could I ensure my plan would work if I didn’t eliminate them first?”
“Stop making it sound like a planned assassination.”
“Oya, is that how it sounds?”
Trey rolled his eyes, smiling, disentangling himself from Jade’s arms and standing up. He pulled out one of the drawers of his desk and glanced back at Jade with a questioning look. “You brought everything we needed, right?”
“Everything and more.”
“And more?”
“Heh. We can go for quite a while, after all. It’s more exciting when you have options.”
Of course Jade thinks that. Trey stifled a laugh. “Can you show me what you brought?”
“Of course.”
In an instant, a black fabric bag appeared out of thin air, floating into Jade’s left hand with his right occupied by his magical pen. It didn’t seem to be carrying very much, just a few small items from within, but Trey knew it was more than enough for the both of them to enjoy the evening, as they always did. Jade opened the bag slowly, making a show of himself as he inverted it, the contents of the bag sliding out onto the bed.
As expected, it was a pile of DVDs, with each DVD fit in its own little case with a title denoting its topic and length. Even from a distance away, Trey could clearly see one labeled Fungi - Part 1 with a length of exactly 10 hours, not that they would ever make it to the end of that one.
“You do know it’s my birthday, right?”
Jade smiled. “Of course. I still brought plenty of mushroom ones since you’re such a benevolent boyfriend, always following whatever it is I want to do.”
“Ha ha, very funny. I’ll excuse it for now. But did you bring them?”
“You mean these?” Jade pulled out a couple of DVDs from the bottom of the pile, holding them up for Trey to see.
“ Dentistry parts 1 to 3 and Cake parts 1 to 3?” Trey shook his head. “I would've thought you’d received parts 4 and 5 by now.”
“It takes quite a lot of time.” Jade’s smile turned mildly dangerous. “If you really wish, I could stop bringing them and only bring the mushrooms.”
“It was a joke, a joke.” Trey laughed, turning back to his drawer and fishing out a DVD player. “Want me to make you a few snacks while we watch?”
“No, thank you. I’d rather get into it already.”
“Impatient much?”
“You don’t understand, Trey. I must get to Mushrooms - Part 7 as quickly as I can.”
“Okay, okay, jeez.” Trey whipped out his magical pen, setting up the DVD player and levitating one of Jade’s discs over. It was, of course, the Mushrooms - Part 1 disc, and though Trey would’ve honestly preferred to watch one of the Dentistry ones, Jade’s excited grin was enough for him to put the DVD in anyway, starting the documentary where they left off the last time they did this.
When he was done setting up, Trey was pulled back onto the bed rather forcefully by Jade, the mer smiling and going on about how happy he was that they added a 7th part to the documentary series. Trey could only laugh, leaning into Jade’s touch, relaxing to the calming voice of his boyfriend discussing his interests with a fervor no other person could match.
It was cute, the way Jade almost shook with excitement once a new mushroom came on, the way Jade nodded along with the narrator, silently enjoying himself and registering the information in his head. Trey had no doubts that he’d be listening to another lecture on mushrooms the very next day, not that there was any day that went by in which Jade didn’t speak of his beloved fungi.
Trey didn’t voice his thoughts, focusing instead on trailing his fingers through Jade’s turquoise hair, stifling a yawn as the two of them lay next to each other finally able to relax.
♣ ♣ ♣
“Finally, we finished the first part.” Jade smiled, watching the screen fade to black, enjoying the comfortable silence between them as the documentary ended. “It’s wonderful how fungi behave. Isn’t that right, Trey?”
There was a silence.
“…Trey?” Jade peered at Trey, his mismatched eyes widening in the darkness. “Ah. So that’s how it is.”
In his arms was a now-sleeping Trey Clover, the green-haired third-year having fallen asleep in the middle of the documentary. With the rise and fall of his chest and the soft and steady breaths that escaped his lips, Trey was out like a light, and Jade couldn’t do anything to wake him, nor did he wish to do anything of the sort.
A light chuckle escaped Jade’s lips, and the mer brushed a finger over the club symbol on Trey’s face that the third-year had yet to remove. He smiled widely, wondering just what Trey would say when the third-year realized he’d fallen asleep without having brushed his teeth. But that would be a moment for later. For after Trey woke up.
Pressing a light kiss to Trey’s cheek, Jade murmured softly in the darkness.
“Happy birthday, Trey.”