Archive of Our Own

His heels clack sharply against the stone path, striking fear into every creature in the area.

All but one– the little, vaguely bean-shaped thing bounces at least five feet in front of him far more than it should. Once again, Riddle aims his pen at his alien lookalike, shooting a sparkly line of bubbles that miss the tsum by a stubby little leg. It seems to speed up, veering away from the path and taking a shortcut, making him have to trample the well-tended grass, squishing in between two of the statues of the Great Seven.

Riddle walks around the statue of the Thorn Fairy in time to see his charge jump straight into… the chest of Azul Ashengrotto.

The impact causes the little tsum to bounce off, rolling to a stop. Riddle takes advantage of its stunned state to scoop it up, only for it to wiggle out of his grip and leap on top of the Octavinelle housewarden’s shoulders. Riddle only tries to reach out once, realizing he’s too short to reach the tsum.

“Get down from there this instant, tsum!” His face burns hot with embarrassment, having to crane his neck upwards to stare down the creature now proudly sat atop Azul’s head. Its eyes turn into downturned crescents, and it even seems to puff out its chest with pride at finding a place Riddle couldn’t reach.

Azul winces. “...Hello to you too, Riddle.”

“Ah,” Riddle blinks. “My apologies, Azul.”

“Apology–” Azul attempts to grab the tsum on his head, only for it to shift and scurry away. “Accepted. May I ask why you’re chasing the tsum you’re in charge of this early in the morning? Have you been doing so all morning?”

Riddle sighs, letting his neck rest and crossing his arms. “Yes. I only just finished my breakfast when the tsum broke out of the hedgehog cage I placed it in for the night.”

Azul’s entire hat tilts forward from the weight of the creature on his head when he looks down, blue eyes full of disbelief. “You placed your tsum in a cage?”

Riddle can feel his face flush further.

“Don’t look at me like that! It was the exact size of all the other hedgehogs at the time!”

Azul’s eyes sparkle with mirth, his lips curling into a smarmy smirk pronounced by the hand he places under it. His hat begins to tremble rather violently, and Riddle’s tsum goes flying forward, flipping in the air along with the hat and another object.

Riddle barely has time to catch the round creature before it scurries away again, making sure to squeeze it hard. When he looks up, he sees Azul bent over to pick up both his hat and reaching forward for his own tsum, which was bounding over..?

Riddle grunts from the impact of Azul’s tsum landing on his head, feeling it drop to take a spot on his shoulder. The tsum burrows into the crook of his neck to anchor itself– Whatever it’s made of, it’s soft. Its touch is surprisingly affectionate, as well.

He lets his guard down, but thankfully, his tsum understood the previous message.

“Goodness, now it’s my turn to apologize.”

Azul reaches over to grab his tsum, only for Riddle’s to leap onto the back of his hand, the crescents now upturned.

“Hey! That wasn’t an invite for you!” Riddle scolds it. Azul’s tsum is very warm against his neck, and also very stubborn– try as he might, he can’t pry it off.

When Azul tries to pull Riddle’s tsum off with his other hand, it learns into his touch. Both teens watch in baffled fascination as its little front legs flap in contentment while Azul pets it– and Azul doesn’t stop!

“My, my.” The businessman chuckles. Riddle cannot begin to describe the absolute mortification he feels, watching something that looks so much like him enjoy… being caressed by Azul Ashengrotto.

“It– it’s one more sign away from purring!” He gasps, scandalized. Azul continues to pet Riddle’s tsum, even daring to gently scratch its chin. His eyes move from Riddle’s shoulder, to the alike tsum, and back and forth.

“I believe I have a proposition for you…”

“Absolutely not.” Riddle shuts it down without giving it a single chance.

Azul pretends to look heartbroken, conveniently bringing his tsum hand close to his body and giving Riddle’s tsum a chance to hop onto his shoulder. “But look how good your little troublemaker is with me! And look at mine!”

Riddle tries his best to look, but Azul’s tsum is still against his neck. He can tell it’s still, maybe asleep? Do Tsum Tsums sleep?

“What if I take your tsum and you take mine? Just for a day?”

“The Headmage instructed us to take care of our own lookalikes.” Riddle states dryly. Azul smiles, shrugging and bringing Riddle’s tsum to press against his cheek. He hasn’t ever seen it this content, and today, it appears he’s susceptible to the merman’s charm.

“..Just for today.” Riddle repeats. Azul nods eagerly.

“If it’s worth anything, my tsum happened to stay up late doing some papers I was planning to sort out this morning, so he may even aid you when you least expect it!”

“Hm…” Riddle frowns. “Okay. Meet me here at sundown, will you?”

His tsum jumps into the air, flapping all of its limbs in celebration.

“Great! You know I don’t break promises.” The silver-haired teen winks charmingly. He beckons the tsum back with a finger, humming to himself all the while with the queenly tsum now on his head.

❀

Azul’s tsum has been strangely quiet and still. Even when he changed into his regular school uniform, the bean shaped creature had sat obediently on his pillow and waited for him, eyes half-closed.

Did tsums sleep, then? Was it tired from staying up late?

He dips his pen into his inkpot and turns to the next page of his textbook.

Lost in thought, he doesn’t see it coming when the tsum leaps down from its position to scatter all of his stationery and flop atop his notebooks, causing his inkpot to spin dangerously. Everyone in class, including Professor Trein, is looking at him. How humiliating.

“Why did you do that!?” He whispers, voice wavering with barely concealed rage. He was just like his lookalike! And his tsum! He should have never agreed to this!

In his tiny arms, he holds out another inkpot– one of Riddle’s many colors that were now all over the place, including the open red one that scattered droplets all over the desk. The tsum nudges the tiny glass container forward, blinking.

Riddle looks at his pen in red ink, and back at his textbook.

“Ah…” He mumbles. “Thank you.”

He’d written the last section in the wrong ink color; how could he have made such a mistake?

Azul’s tsum puffs out his chest, shuffling off his notebook so he can resume writing. He even gathers the rest of the stationery and lines it up the same way Riddle had it organized before and peacefully retreats to brush against his free hand.

Repeatedly. The motion is incessant, the tsum’s cheek rubbing back and forth against his knuckles.

When Riddle takes a chance to pause and raise an eyebrow, and the tsum looks up with expectation in its eyes. It wants praise.

Gently, Riddle pats the tsum twice on its little hatted head, tiny eyes morphing into upturned crescents. He tries to lean in, but Riddle is only willing to offer those two pats, leaving it disappointed.

The rubbing resumes, and it’s terribly distracting. He tries to ignore it, but when he glares at it as a warning, all he gets is blank, expectant stares back.

“Good grief,” Riddle sighs. “You are just as greedy as Azul, no doubt.”

If the tsum keeps insisting on bothering him this way, he’d risk falling behind…

Sighing through his nose, he pulls his hand away and places it on top of the tsum, awkwardly patting it. He gets the same flappy-arm reaction Azul did earlier. The tsum is soft yet firm and a tad bit warm.

Just what are these things made of? The mindless motion is rather soothing.

The rest of the class goes by smoothly and without any more trouble. Azul’s tsum even helps him gather his things and hops on his head right after, bouncing with the motion of his steps.

On the way to their next class, he’s intercepted by Jade and his tsum, both round creatures hopping when they recognize each other. Jade bends over to his height and even adjusts his stride to match Riddle's speed, which is annoying. The eel-merman greets the both of them with a polite smile.

“I couldn’t help but notice that you’re accompanied not by your tsum, but Azul’s,” He says, as if everyone hadn’t seen Riddle’s stationary be spread across his desk by the tsum. “Am I permitted to ask why?”

“My tsum was giving me trouble, and I agreed to switch with Azul because it appeared to behave better in his presence.” Riddle sighs. It wasn’t that he was incapable of caring for his own tsum, as rowdy as it was, but—

Jade’s hum shakes him out of thought. “I see, and how are you fairing, Azul-tsum?”

Azul’s tsum hops contentedly on Riddle’s head in reply, unsuspecting of Jade’s sly smile.

“It’s a pity that you had to join us the day we have Physical Education.”

The tsum suddenly stops hopping, nearly falling off Riddle’s head. It makes him ponder just how– or why– the creature would be afraid of flying and falling.

“You fell from a hole in the sky, did you not? What difference does flying with me make?”

The gray-haired creature trembles. When Riddle looks up, he can see that Jade’s tsum shivers in a similar manner. “Could they hail from some sort of ‘sea’ in their world like you do?”

“That would be most interesting to find out. Imagine if they had to take their own little transformation potions.”

They make idle conversation until they arrive at the locker rooms, where he leaves Azul’s tsum in his chosen locker. He doesn’t want to imprison the thing, and he wants to trust it enough that it won’t run away that he doesn’t close it.

“...Where is my pin?”

The locker was still semi-closed, but he couldn’t find it. There’s no way, right? He leaves his locker open once, and someone steals his pin!? Where is Azul’s tsum, anyway? He left it right—!

In the very back of the locker.

Once again, Riddle is left feeling silly– there he is, Azul’s tsum. It blinks, and with the tiniest sliver of light, Riddle’s little crown pin glimmers in between its ‘arms’.

“You scared me.” Riddle snaps. “You can give it back now.”

The tsum does not, in fact, give the pin back. Instead, it smushes its mass further into the back, forcing Riddle to grumble under his breath while inserting his arm into the locker. Curse his short stature! His fingers brush against the tsum’s soft body, but he lacks the proper reach to get a good hold on it.

“Tsum..!”

“Having trouble?”

Riddle jumps, slamming a hand into the corner of the metal. He hisses in pain while glaring up at Jade, who’s tsum was still on his head.

“Oh. That looks like it’s going to bruise.” Jade quips helpfully.

Slowly, he crouches– while still dwarfing Riddle– and peeks into the locker. “How curious. These are not behaviors I expected Azul-tsum to have.”

“Behaviors?”

Jade chuckles, his smile growing just enough to reveal the points of his teeth. “Azul’s quite fond of dark, enclosed spaces, did you know? And he has an impressive array of golden coins– his favorites are framed in his room, as well.”

“Azul collects coins? He has favorites?” Riddle echoes. The idea of Azul enjoying something as simple as a collection of items– albeit valuable ones– sparked an odd sort of curiosity in him. “I suspect he’d be a fan of the beds at Heartslabyul, then. The drapes for our canopy beds are excellent at blocking out light.”

“I’ll be sure to inform Azul post-haste that you are inviting him to visit Heartslabyul, then.”

“Wait, what?” Riddle’s jaw drops, watching Jade pull out his phone. “No! No, no, no– that was not an invitation!”

Jade stops mid-type and feigns an expression of remorse. “I see. I must have misinterpreted it.”

“You absolutely did! Even if it was, Queen of Heart’s rules Seven-Hundred-and-Forty-One to Seven-Hundred-and-Forty-Five have very strict regulations on inviting guests if they are visiting to review furniture or anything related to the dormitory!” The words fly out of his mouth so fast it’s a miracle he didn’t trip over a single one of them, especially with how hot his face was getting. But he was getting worked up for a very valid reason!

Riddle stands up to his full height, propping his hands on his hips. “Fine, fine, keep the pin!” He says aloud.

Azul’s tsum crawls out to peek up at him, and in that moment, Riddle snatches it from its tiny hands triumphantly. He’s ready to give it a lecture of a lifetime, but the way it sags, heartbroken, is distressing. How does something without a mouth emote so much?

Perhaps it’s because it has the face of someone he knew, or that it was built like a hedgehog, but…

A sigh escapes him. This was ridiculous– he had his own tsum, and he didn’t nearly have this much sympathy for it! Who cared if it’s little blue eyes were uncharacteristically droopy, or that it was blinking rapidly, as if trying to dispel tears? Or if.. its little face…

“Argh.” Now the tsum is looking away!

“Do you think… the extra parts of the tsum’s ‘clothing’ are..?”

“Flesh? I do not know.” Jade finishes his question helpfully.

“Hmph. Listen closely, tsum.” The tsum refuses to look at him, even when it’s being spoken to. “You may hold on to my pin for today, and only if you let me pin it to your coat.”

The tsum meets his eyes, felt-like eyes somehow sparkling with hope. “I’m serious. Come here.”

He doesn’t even have a moment to process the tsum flying at his face, falling to his butt as the little creature’s soft face presses to his cheek. He can hear Jade’s camera shutter go off multiple times while Azul’s tsum continues to… snuggle? His face. He sputters, stuck in between prioritizing whether to demand Jade stop in his collection of blackmail and trying to pry off the overexcited tsum.

By the time both are done, they’re late for class, Jade’s assured him the pictures are for ‘personal use’, and the tsum wears a golden crown pin on the very center of his gray flowing trench coat. Jade insists on making them even later by snapping pictures of Azul’s tsum proudly wearing the pin.

Good thing it doesn’t seem to hurt.

Vargas assigns them both laps around the field using brooms. A piece of cake for Riddle, but it’s the principle of the matter that he’s been punished, by fault of Azul. Only just having retrieved his broom, and the tsum is quaking atop his head.

“You feel from the sky, why are you afraid of flying?” Riddle asks again. He can feel the pinch in the roots of his hair where the tsum’s hold tightens, still shaking like a leaf in the wind. “You are aware you can dismount my head any time you want?”

In one smooth motion, he jumps and slides the broom in between his legs, and he takes off. He finds himself going slower than he needs to, just so Azul’s tsum relaxes– even then, when he takes a break, the tsum immediately rolls off his head and flops onto the ground.

Crouched low, Riddle makes sure he didn’t accidentally kill his charge– tsums must have hearts, right? Are they as vulnerable as creatures the same size?

Weakly, Azul’s tsum nuzzles against his hand. He sighs, thankful to see it well, and he pets it encouragingly. Jade slowly passes them, tsum shivering and both holding on for dear life with matching miserable expressions.

He chuckles, feeling vindictive. Azul’s tsum seems to feel the same.

The one downside of caring for the tsums seems to be that it made him late to everything. The cafeteria is full, and he gets the last pick of everything– Cater, though, saves him a seat, greeting Azul’s tsum with visible excitement.

“I kept hearing about little Zuzu~ he’s so cute!” The upperclassman coos at the bean, patting him on the head. Riddle hums, stirring his Fettuccine Alfredo. Mindlessly, he lowers half a forkful of pasta in the direction of Azul’s tsum and he shuffles forward. The table watches in disbelief as the pasta becomes unraveled, slowly disappearing where his mouth should be.

“...” He can’t find the words to describe the… awe? He feels.

Maybe… he thinks Azul’s tsum is cute. Those little cheeks puffing up as if full of food, and the upturned crescent eyes…

Slowly, he offers a folded napkin, and the tsum gently rubs his face clean of sauce. Riddle pets him.

“OMG, look at him! I didn’t even know they even could eat!” Cater props his chin on his hands, and his camera goes off– piloted by his own tsum– silently, unlike Jade’s. Quickly, he offers his own fork at Azul’s tsum, but he shuffles closer to Riddle’s arm, wanting only to be fed by the redhead. Cater’s tsum is happy enough to snap a photo of himself absorbing the food in his stead.

“Ace.” Riddle says. The freshman looks up from teasing Deuce’s tsum, fearing that he’s in trouble. He takes out his wallet and offers a couple dollars. “Get me whatever’s left. And a soup spoon.”

Ace blinks, only now realizing that Azul’s tsum is present and not Riddle’s. He frowns but shrugs and counts the money offered. “Can I keep the change?”

“Yes.”

The underclassman whoops, practically tripping over his chair to do his errand. He comes back with a small plate of lasagna and the wrong spoon. Riddle demands he bring the right one this instant.

Ace, along with the rest of the table, then watches with baffled expressions as Riddle uses his own fork to cut the lasagna into bits and feeds the chunks to the little tsum. He’s not even done with his own food!

Azul’s tsum, at one point, stops chewing, his eyes morphing into little arrows. Riddle is quick to take the soup spoon and dip it into his tea to feed it to him as well, tilting the spoon carefully so it doesn’t choke. It almost sounds like he coughs or clears his throat afterward. How adorable!

Riddle doesn’t even realize he’s smiling, cheek propped on his hand and food going cold. Maybe he isn’t that bad.

❀

Azul had hoped caring for Riddle’s tsum was going to be easier.

He had his own reasons for turning his tsum in– mainly, the situation at Mostro. And the stupid takeover attempt.

Riddle’s tsum was a very opinionated individual. Every time he was to measure ingredients, the tsum trembled rather violently on his shoulder, not helping at all. Then it’d become irritated when the measurements weren’t perfect, and it refused to move from his shoulder to any other place. Seven know how many places he’s offered– his seat, the corner of the table, his head– and the tsum still refused!

It would huff and puff just like the real Riddle, but straight into his ear. It was annoying.

He’d managed to score Jamil as a lab partner today, and the Scarabia student had only raised an eyebrow at seeing the redheaded critter on his shoulder.

The teacher, however, had finally come up to question him.

“We had an agreement.” He wishes he had gotten it in writing.

“Simply make sure the whelp doesn’t cause trouble.” Professor Crewel says. “Do not let it disrupt class.”

“Of course I won’t, professor!” Azul says, placing a hand over his chest. Riddle’s tsum, however, begins to tremble violently, his eyes morphing into little distressed arrows and his eyebrows knitting together. Even his cheeks seem to puff out.

It takes a surprising sense of agility that Azul didn’t even know he had to grab the tsum as it leaps off his shoulder, hands closing in on his little midsection before he can hit the back of the professor’s head. In the process, he knocks into the table with his hip and his elbow hits a rack of ingredients, falling into the cauldron and causing the mixture inside to turn a bright pink, to a noxious green, to frothing purple.

And then, the room shakes as the mixture explodes into a pillar of yellow-green that reaches the ceiling, raining on Azul… and Azul only.

He squeezes the tsum so hard he can hear the air escape it, barely able to keep his smile while he apologizes to the professor. To further humiliate him, Professor Crewel, instead of calling him a bad boy like everyone else and hitting his pointer against his hand, he stares him down and frowns.

Riddle’s tsum is frozen in shock. That is until Azul slowly rotates it to look at it, where it puffs its cheeks as if to say, ‘How dare he insinuate I would disrupt class!’

Well, he did.

At least he seems remorseful. He owes Azul a lot.

Azul’s face burns while he spends the rest of the class cleaning up while Jamil restarts their project. Riddle’s tsum tries to help, but he ends up sitting in Azul’s chair, downtrodden. He remains that way until they make it to Animal Linguistics, where its downturned crescents resume to being regular eyes.

Once again, Riddle’s tsum begins to vibrate and huff and puff on his shoulder as he takes notes– he disapproves of his note taking! Perhaps the tsum needs a calmer environment– but he can’t exactly… place it on his lap when it’s vibrating that way, can he?

While pondering what exactly to do, he gets an idea. He pictures one of Floyd’s stubby pencils and uses a little bit of magic to conjure it into his hand, then carefully tears out a page from his notebook. Look at just how innovative he is! He folds it to a proper size and offers the paper and paper to the tsum.

The tsum scribbles furiously on its paper, fading into the background with everyone else’s notetaking. At the end of class, he checks on the paper– front to back, the page is packed with tiny, nearly illegible text. Azul squints, finding himself amazed.

If he takes off his glasses and stares at it really closely, he can, in fact, read it. A chuckle escapes his lips, realizing he just had a piece of Riddle’s notes in his very hands.

“What a wonderful surprise.” He says, and Riddle’s tsum jumps up and snatches the paper away from his fingers, folding it and sitting on it.

Azul tuts, crossing his arms, uncaring that everyone is leaving. “You are aware that you used Floyd’s pencil and my paper, tsum? You owe me for the incident in alchemy.”

The tsum jumps in shock, but clings to the paper for dear life.

Whatever, it’s time for lunch. Jade materializes behind him in the lunch line, greeting Riddle’s tsum before Azul. If you can call it that.

“I heard about your incident with the cauldron.”

Azul scowls. “I hope your flight class was just splendid.”

Jade wilts, his tsum bowing its head– then, Jade’s head is knocked forward, sending his tsum scrambling for Azul’s shoulders and Riddle’s tsum to the top of his head. Jade, to his credit, doesn’t gasp, but he does choke, eyes blown wide and smile tense.

“Tsummy, silly! You hit Jade square in the head~!” Floyd soon slings his arm around his brother’s shoulders, looking not at all remorseful. “You were supposed to aim for the other tsummy~ like the apple and the arrow!”

“Oh dear, was that your tsum’s strength alone?” Jade carefully pries Floyd’s tsum off his head, smoothing out the ruffled hair. Floyd shakes his head and grins.

“Naaah. I threw ‘im from the back of the line. Everyone was reaaaal nice, they just let me through!”

There’s a growing weight to his shoulders. Azul takes one look to his left and sees that Floyd’s tsum has joined Jade’s and stacked on top of him, propping its little front arms to look at Riddle’s tsum. He must look absolutely ridiculous, with two tsums on his shoulder and one on his head in bright crimson.

The ghosts are kind enough not to comment on it, but Jade and Floyd are snickering, and Jade’s phone is shuttering again.

“What is with your obsession with taking photos lately?” Azul asks, terribly exasperated. Jade smiles.

“I’m not sure what you mean. I have always been a fan of pictures– in fact, not too long ago, I exchanged some with Cater Diamond–”

Azul tunes Jade out while he dumps the tsums onto the table. Riddle’s tsum struggles to stay on his head, little legs kicking his glasses until he can’t hold on to his hair anymore and falls, where he and Floyd’s tsum engage in a staring match.

Floyd’s tsum eventually gets bored, opting to stack on top of Jade’s tsum and bounce idly. That is, until Riddle’s tsum wants to climb onto Azul’s head again, waiting until he’s reached the top to launch himself at them. Azul and his mouthful of food are undisturbed as Riddle’s tsum is bowled over onto the cafeteria floor.

Perhaps he should intervene, following the chase with his eyes. The little redheaded tsum scrambles under their feet, weaves in between the legs of their table, its little face pinched in distress. Floyd’s tsum follows hot on his cape, his bigger lookalike cheering him on.

Riddle’s tsum rounds the corner and takes the chance to leap onto the table, making a beeline for Azul. Does he know that Azul is the one responsible for him?

In an amazing show of bravery, Riddle’s tsum turns around to face Floyd’s tsum head on, holding his ground. The offending tsum doesn’t stop, and Riddle’s tsum knocks it back in a headbutt strong enough to send it rolling. Then, it turns tail and dives to hide under the bottom of Azul’s blazer.

Silently, Azul holds up a finger to his mouth as Floyd’s tsum rolls over and looks around eagerly.

“Riddle-tsum appears to have a lot of trust in you. I wonder if his human counterpart is the same.” Jade comments. Azul huffs, shaking his head. “I wonder what you think of Riddle, hm?”

Then he’s met with a phone screen. Riddle in the P.E uniform in the locker room, judging by the background, on the ground and trying to pull his tsum off of his face. His face is flushed, confused, and Azul slowly turns his head to glare at a grinning Jade.

“What is this.”

Floyd leans on the table to try and peek at the phone. “Whoa. They’re kissin’?”

“That is not what’s going on! It doesn’t even have a mouth!” Azul sputters, feeling warm in the face.

Jade proudly shares more photos of Azul’s tsum wearing Riddle’s pin, and Azul is left sticking a finger in his collar and making excuses. The tsums are only lookalikes! Who said they were exactly them? Who cared if Azul’s tsum also liked being in the dark and has the mind of a businessman, or that Riddle’s tsum was inflexible, and had a pre-existing rivalry with Floyd?

Azul excuses himself early, accidentally dislodging Riddle’s tsum from his side and carrying him in his arms.

Unlike his tsum, he does not put Riddle’s tsum to work… at least, not in the same way. He keeps the tsum on his shoulders as he works as a waiter today.

It took a bit of convincing, but he did get the tsum to sign a contract, consenting to be in the public eye. While people come in for the spectacle of seeing Azul’s tsum serve drinks and food, they meet Azul serving with a tsum that is not his own, spurring gossip– and customers.

“See, I told you, there it is! On his shoulder!”

“Are you sure it’s not a fake?”

“Awe, look at it bounce onto his head!”

“Do you think we’re allowed to touch it?”

Azul hums to himself, serving someone their fish and chips while pretending he can’t see their friend snapping a picture of Riddle’s tsum trying to balance on his head. “Your fisherman's platter will be here shortly, as we had to accommodate your allergies. Thank you for your patronage~”

He pulls out his notepad as he catches sight of someone calling him over; the same person who likes to abuse the friends and family discount. He also liked to order his entire order in one go– from drinks and appetizers to dessert and leftover boxes.

While pulling out a triple chocolate cake from their dessert counter, he notices the way Riddle’s tsum leans in to admire the cakes on the top row. He assumed tsums don’t eat, but if this tsum shared his lookalike’s sweet tooth…

Azul continues with his orders, saving that thought at the back of his mind. There were almost as many patrons visiting as yesterday!

In a good mood, the first thing he does during closing time is grab a sponge cake with strawberries inlaid in between the layers and half a slide decorating the top with cream. He sets it on the table, taking the tsum and putting him in front of the cake.

“Compensation.” Azul simply says, watching the tsum jump into the air in celebration, flapping his tiny little arms and diving in soon after. Cream splatters all over the table as it digs in, hunting mainly for the strawberries.

Bite by bite, the cake is absorbed. Is it magic?

What a wonderful investment. Riddle’s tsum is positively adorable, to boot. He finds himself supervising the tsum eat the entire cake, lending it a handkerchief to wipe his face. Despite its lack of mouth, it seems to smile up at him.

At sundown, Riddle’s tsum jumps off his head before they ever see the statues of main street, bouncing down the street to meet Azul’s tsum midway, where they knock into each other. They roll around until Riddle’s tsum proudly ends up on top.

“Riddle! I hope my tsum didn’t give you much trouble.”

“It did not,” Riddle hums, though he does look more weary than usual. “Though… Jade appeared to be very enthusiastic to inform me that it was my fault that you blew up a cauldron.”

“Ahah.” Azul clears his throat. His eyes trail back to watching the tsums brush against each other affectionately. Maybe a little too affectionately.

“I wonder if his human counterpart is the same.”

Azul finds himself gently cupping Riddle’s cheek, stroking his face with a thumb. The shorter teen relaxes, leaning into the touch for a moment before freezing, the tips of his ears turning pink.

“T– today was certainly an interesting experience.” The redhead quickly pulls away.

“We have to go, tsum.” Riddle calls for his tsum. It stares up at him, shuffling closer to Azul’s tsum. Azul’s tsum suddenly smushes his entire face against his fellow tsum’s face, stunning him so hard he rolls over. Riddle scoops him up, closely observing the swirly-eyed tsum.

Azul’s tsum then bounds over, finding a place on his shoulders.

His eyes lock with Riddle’s, both boys inexplicably turning colors of shame.

“Well! Thank you again!” Azul splutters, turning around and walking away as fast as he can.

“May we run into each other tomorrow.” Riddle calls after him, and his footsteps soon fade away.

What exactly did they feel for each other?