Chapter Text
First, the shiny ka-ching of a cash register.
Then, the music.
Ayyyyyyy!
Money, money, I’m in love with money
Ayyyyyyy!
Hundreds, hundreds, all I want is hundreds
Ayyyyyyy!
Money, money, I’m in love with money
Ayyyyyyy!
Hundreds, hundreds, all I want is hundreds…
“Hey, could you, like, turn that down? Please and thank you.”
Isthmus, however, didn’t turn the music down.
“Why, though?” he questioned. “It’s a good song, you know.”
“It was a good song before they added that annoying-ass rap line from that one girl. Her voice is literally so annoying, too, like you can immediately tell it’s her.”
“Well, she was in the movie. And she did start her career as a rapper, didn’t she? I think it was a pretty sensible choice.”
At this, Sabkha only rolled her eyes.
“Well, you do you, I guess. Just, like… put in some earbuds, or something. Please.”
Money, money, gotta have the money
Ayyyyyyy!
Throw some mo’ in the air
Keep it comin’
“But Sabkha, you know how I hate wearing earbuds in the dorm. It just… feels kinda wrong, you know?”
“Uh, no, I don’t know, actually, ‘cause I’m what you would call a ‘normal dragon.’”
Isthmus gave her a look.
“Okay, rude.”
“You first.”
“I- what? How?”
“Playing music out loud like that is considered rude, dude.”
Isthmus seemed quite indignant at this response.
“Wha- b-but we’re not even in public!”
Sabkha only rolled her eyes again.
“Sure, dude. Whatever. You aren’t gonna listen to me anyway, so…”
The best things in life are free
But you can give them to the birds and bees
I need money
That’s what I want…
“Sabkha, not wearing earbuds at home is literally a normal thing to do,” Isthmus told her. “And plus, there’s also other reasons I do it that way, too.”
Sabkha gave him a look.
“Like what?”
“Well, first of all, they’re just not very comfortable to wear.”
Sabkha apparently didn’t seem too impressed with this rationale.
“Isthmus, your earbuds are uncomfortable to wear because they’re, like, the cheap wired kind you get for free on planes,” she told him like it was the millionth time already. “In fact, aren’t those literally the same ones you got when you flew to move into the Academy?”
“It hasn’t even been that long since then. And, come on, they were free!”
Sabkha rolled her eyes again.
“Says the guy with, like, a fuckin’ multi-million dollar stock portfolio.”
Your love gives me such a thrill
But your lovin’ don’t pay my bills
Now give me money
That’s what I want…
Isthmus immediately had a response ready for that.
“Sabkha, you know that money isn’t realistically mine to spend. Having assets doesn’t always translate to owning that same amount in cash.”
Sabkha, however, was still sceptical.
“I mean, it’s in your name, isn’t it?”
“I told you already that that doesn't actually mean anything. And, besides, that portfolio’s practically all lower-return index funds, anyway — we barely even touch it.”
By “we,” Isthmus, of course, meant his family, the Seventh Associated House of the Advisory Council of the Imperial Royal Court of the Kingdom of the Sea.
Or, as they were more informally known, “some of the absolute richest motherfuckers on the planet.”
That’s what I want
(That’s what I want)
That’s what I want
(That’s what I want)
“‘Lower-return index funds,’ Isthmus? Seriously?” Sabkha asked.
Isthmus seemed slightly defensive.
“What? That’s what they are.”
Sabkha gave him another look.
“Isthmus, my family didn’t even know if I would be able to attend Jade Mountain until it was confirmed that I got almost the highest tier of merit scholarship that they have. And that was even on top of grant aid from both the Sand Kingdom and the Academy itself.”
Isthmus, however, wouldn’t concede his point to her just yet.
“Well, I still don’t see what that has to do with me using my earbuds.”
Another day, another dollar
Got some money, you can holla’
Want the commas, not the drama
Need a…
“Oh my moons, can you turn that off??”
“Alright, alright! Fine!”
At this more vehement request from his clawmate, Isthmus finally hit the pause button on his laptop to stop the song from playing.
Sabkha exclaimed her relief the moment the dorm’s ambient silence blessed her ears once again.
“Thank you. God fuckin’ damn, that was annoying.”
“Mhm.”
…
A pause.
SeaWing and SandWing stared at each other for a moment.
“Wait, what were we talking about again?”
“Um… honestly, I don’t remember.”
“Wait, wait, let me think.”
Isthmus and Sabkha both took a moment to scour their short-term memories.
“Oh! I got it!”
“What is it?”
“We were talking about my tuition, right?”
Isthmus furrowed his brow.
“Why do I remember there being something after that, though… ah, whatever, it doesn’t matter.”
“No, no, I’m pretty sure it was my tuition,” Sabkha told him. “Which, again, my family could, like, barely pay for. We still ended up having to borrow from our extended family, and then that debt basically just got passed onto me, so now I have to pay it off whenever I get a job.”
Isthmus’s response to this, however, seemed less than sympathetic.
“Well, to be fair, it’s… not like you didn’t have options, right?”
The SeaWing spoke with a bit of emphasis in his tone.
“I mean…”
Sabkha, already immediately getting what he was talking about, crossed her arms in preemptive exasperation, but the SeaWing only continued to speak.
“… it was almost like there was a certain someone available, who, I don’t know, was maybe willing to pay everything you would have needed to pay…”
“Dude. Actually just shut up about that.”
Isthmus’s expression was insistent.
“What! I’m being genuinely serious here, you know.”
Sabkha, however, seemed only slightly exasperated with him in her reply.
“Isthmus, my family was sure as hell not gonna accept tens of thousands of Aquatic pounds from some SeaWing royal trust fund to help with my tuition,” the SandWing said pointedly. “And neither was I! It’s just way too much money.”
Isthmus pursed his lips in hesitation for just a moment, clearly thinking of how to reply.
Sabkha, however, spoke again before he could.
“You know, it’s also pretty obvious whenever you have to stop yourself from telling me that ‘it’s not even that much money.’”
“Wha- t-that is not what I was thinking!”
“Don’t lie, Isthmus, it’s also obvious when you do that too.”
Isthmus tried to think up a response to this, too, but having none, he eventually just sighed and shook his head in concession.
“My bad, I guess.”
Sabkha was probably this close to giving her classic reply of “yeah, it was your bad.”
Isthmus’s expression did genuinely look at least a little bit remorseful, though, and the SandWing decided to let up on her clawmate a little bit then.
“Okay, well, I guess that’s sorta an understandable way to feel, given, you know, who you are, and all that,” she began. “But still, we thought it was just too much to take from your family for free.”
“Well, it’s not ‘for free’ — it’s not a loan. It’s more meant to be, like, a gift.”
They’d had this conversation probably every time the topic of tuition came up, but Sabkha was insistent with her position nonetheless.
“I mean, that’s still exactly the same problem, though. A gift like that just isn’t something we could accept.”
“And you’re absolutely sure of that?” Isthmus wasn’t convinced. “Even if I only gave you what you needed after aid and scholarships?”
“Yes, even if that, too, dude! I would never, ever feel right in accepting such a big amount from you.”
Hearing that, Isthmus reached out and clasped one of Sabkha’s claws in between his two own.
“But I would, Sabkha,” his tone suddenly became gentle. “I would. It would feel right for me.”
And moons, since when had Isthmus become so goddamn handsome?
The scales and webs along his claws were smooth and rather soft, as if he’d never had to work with them a day in his life.
Which, obviously, he never had.
“Yeah, well, I still just… I can’t let you do that. Really.”
She expected Isthmus to let go of her claws once she said this, but he didn’t.
Instead, he only stared more intently and with a certain purpose into her eyes, which almost made her want to withdraw her claws for fear of them getting sweaty, or something.
But, then again, she couldn’t bring herself to relinquish this oh-so-intimate contact with her boyfriend.
You would think that after years of dating, it would’ve gotten old, but somehow for Sabkha, it never did.
Nothing about Isthmus ever did.
“… but, I mean, don’t your parents, like, literally hate me, anyway?” the SandWing tried to continue the conversation. “Would they even be willing to help give you all that money you’re offering?”
And it was then that Isthmus finally let go of her claws, as he began to actually laugh.
“Oh, Sabkha, my parents don’t hate you,” the SeaWing said lightheartedly. “Not at all. I mean, sure, they might not exactly approve of our relationship, but, you know, that’s different.”
Sabkha gave him a look.
“Dude. Literally how is that even different?”
“No, no, it is. Really, Sabkha, I’m telling you, my parents do not hate you. It’s just-”
“Well, they wouldn’t exactly be all disapproving of our relationship if they didn’t at least dislike me, now would they, Isthmus?”
This was another one of those conversations that the couple had seemingly had a thousand times before, and accordingly, Isthmus seemed just a little bit exasperated as he replied.
“Sabkha, honey, seriously. It’s nothing you have to worry about. Trust me.”
Sabkha was doubtful, but Isthmus only continued on with his sentence.
“I mean, I’ve told you they know how brilliant of a girl you are, haven’t I? Even that alone already gives you a good bit of esteem in their eyes.”
Sabkha gave a snort.
“What, did you send them my Imperial Examination score report, or something?”
“Well, if you mean telling them that you aced almost every single question, then yes, I did.”
“I mean, I still got one of them wrong.”
“Yeah. One of them.”
Isthmus gave her a look, and Sabkha decided to drop that specific point.
She didn’t want to seem like she was bragging about it, after all.
In spite of the compliment, though, Sabkha still wasn’t completely satisfied by this answer, either.
“But, like, still, though. You’re saying that you could pay for my entire tuition, even without your parents contributing at all?” she asked her boyfriend. “Do you really have that much money under your name alone?”
“Well, first of all, like I just said, the name doesn’t mean anything.”
Sabkha rolled her eyes.
“Okay, fine. Whatever.”
“No, Sabkha, like, I’m serious.”
“Yeah, I know you’re serious.”
“No, you’re not listening. I mean, as in the name of the beneficiary isn’t technically always the legal-”
“Dude, whatever, alright? Just answer the question. Do you have that much money to yourself or not?”
Isthmus paused for a moment to formulate his answer before speaking again.
“Well… no, I guess not exactly, if you wanna get all technical,” he finally conceded. “But, I do know my family, and I know my way around our assets, too. It certainly wouldn’t be hard to get.”
“So, if, let’s say, we hypothetically did wanna get all technical, you’re basically saying you would have to embezzle your own family’s riches to do what you’re promising?”
Isthmus immediately seemed horrified at Sabkha’s words.
“Moons, Sabkha, it’s not embezzlement!”
“I mean, that’s definitely what it sounds like.”
“Oh, come on. I’m a Seventh Houser, just as much as my mother and father and sisters and brothers all are. I mean, morally, getting the money’s a perfectly fine thing to do.”
“And, uh… how about legally, then?” Sabkha asked him dubiously.
Isthmus seemed to genuinely consider the question for a moment, before simply shrugging.
“Well, I dunno, but that part doesn’t really matter as much.”
Now that was a crazy response, not to mention characteristically crazy-rich.
Sometimes, it amazed Sabkha just how out-of-touch her boyfriend could often be.
Okay, well, sure, really it was only to be expected from somebody whose family was so astronomically wealthy, and so who only grew up with that kind of real-world-detached perspective.
In all fairness to Sabkha, though, she hadn’t actually known that about him when they’d first started dating.
Back then, she’d just been nothing more than a clerk at an airport store.
And Isthmus had been nothing more than that handsome tourist who tried to haggle a $4 item down to $3.5.
In Sand dollars, too.
Moons, he’s ridiculous…
Suddenly, Sabkha was snapped out of her short trance of reminiscence by the sound of their front door unlocking.
Although she couldn’t see who it was from where she was sitting, she didn’t even bother craning her neck or anything to try and look.
There was only about one possible dragon who could reasonably be here at this hour, after all.
And indeed, moments later strolled in none other than the third clawmate of the Mercury Winglet’s Sleeping Cave 2.
“Hey, Lawspeaker.”
Since his conversation with Sabkha ended, Isthmus had already gone back to doing whatever it was on his laptop.
Knowing him, it was probably playing that stupid block game, the one where you have to rotate falling pieces so that they fit into layers.
Sabkha forgot what it was called.
“Hi, Isthmus.”
Isthmus waved a short hello to their NightWing clawmate before immediately taking his claw back to his keyboard.
“Hi, Sabkha.”
“Oh, hey, Lawspeaker. How’s your day been?”
“I mean, pretty good. Nothing special.”
“So just the usual, then?”
Lawspeaker was deadpan as he responded.
“I mean, yeah. That’s, like, exactly what I just said.”
…
Sabkha let his comment hang in the air for just a moment before asking another question.
“So did you make dinner yet today, Lawspeaker?”
Hearing this, Lawspeaker gave her a look.
“Uh, no. Was I… supposed to?”
“What? No, no, I didn’t mean it like that. I just want to know whether you were gonna, so I could plan on whether to go to the dining hall or not.”
Lawspeaker continued staring at her with that expression, though Sabkha knew he probably wasn’t actually annoyed with her.
The SandWing continued to speak.
“You know, since, obviously, I wouldn’t want to get cafeteria food if you were making something here.”
And, as she expected, he quickly let up, and returned to his normal resting face.
“Hm. Well, to answer your question, yes, I was thinking I was probably gonna make us something today.”
“Oh, really? And that something would maybe be…”
“… um, I was thinking maybe, like, fried chicken with stewed black beans and cassava?”
Sabkha immediately perked up at this news.
“Oh my moons, I love it when you make fried chicken! You’re gonna add that one spice mixture you always do, right?”
Lawspeaker nodded.
“Yup, and the cheesy powder on the breading, too. I’m, like, free the rest of the night, so I’m gonna make it a little more complex than usual.”
Sabkha clapped her claws together a few times in delight.
“AHHHHH oh my moons I’m so excited now!!” she squealed. “We’re actually, like, so lucky to have you as a clawmate, Lawspeaker, you don’t even know!!”
“I mean, I think I kinda do, actually.”
Sabkha ignored this slight retort to her compliment, and instead nudged Isthmus on the shoulder.
“Isthmus! Did you hear what we’re gonna be having for dinner later tonight?”
Isthmus didn’t look up from his game as he responded.
“Oh, uh, yeah, no, I did.”
Sabkha waited for more of a response from him, but the SeaWing simply continued manoeuvring his talons between his laptop’s three arrow keys.
After a few more seconds of no reply, Sabkha only gave a slight groan as she rolled her eyes.
“Seriously, Isthmus, is that block game really that fun? What do you even like about it? It seems kinda repetitive.”
Again, Isthmus seemed purely concentrated on what was happening on his screen as he responded.
“Well, it’s not like I play it all that regularly, or anything. Right now, I’m just trying to beat Boto’s high score.”
Lawspeaker, who was getting ingredients out of the fridge for his fried chicken, actually turned at that moment, as if the mention of Boto’s name was unexpected for him somehow.
Sabkha didn’t think anything of it, however, as Isthmus continued to speak.
“I mean, I actually had the lead over him until yesterday, but then he beat me while we were sitting together during our algorithm design lecture. So, naturally, I had to sort of… get back at him, if you will.”
Sabkha only stared at her boyfriend for a moment longer before rolling her eyes and turning to Lawspeaker.
“Computer science majors, am I right?”
Lawspeaker still had a somewhat strange look on his face as he gave his reply.
“Oh. Uh, yeah, totally…”
Sensing that the conversation was over, Sabkha was about to just go and retreat back into her bedroom until dinner was ready.
Suddenly, though, Lawspeaker actually began to speak once again.
“Oh, and by the way, Sabkha, can I borrow your chair again tomorrow?”
Sabkha turned back around to face him.
“You mean my bedroom chair?”
“Uh, yeah, like I did last time. I have a friend coming over, so I need it to set up at my desk.”
“Oh, who’s the friend? Changbai again?”
Lawspeaker nodded.
“Yeah, he’s getting discharged from the infirmary today, so I invited him to come at, like, 5 or 6 tomorrow. I’m gonna message him later to confirm the exact time, but it’s around then.”
Sabkha shrugged.
“Well, that’s good to hear that he’s recovered. I mean, Isthmus and I are gonna be going out tomorrow evening, so I’m not even gonna be home to actually use the chair, anyway.”
“Well, yeah, I knew that. That’s, like, kinda why I asked him if we could hang out tomorrow specifically.”
A pause.
Sabkha gave him a look.
“… so that you could use my chair?”
“Okay, well, that’s not the only reason.”
“Well, why else?”
Lawspeaker tried to keep his expression straight as he explained the situation.
“I think something just… happened between him and his clawmates, I guess? Some sort of conflict. I invited him over as an offer to talk to him about it, but obviously that would be kinda awkward if you guys were in the dorm at the same time.”
This hangout wouldn’t be the first time they’d seen each other since the incident of Changbai’s recent attack.
Lawspeaker had actually visited Changbai once or twice in the healing centre ever since he’d woken up from his brief state of unconsciousness.
It had never been anything super significant, though, maybe just saying hi and bringing him a snack from the dining hall.
Mostly because Lawspeaker didn’t want to disturb Changbai’s healing process, but also because he seemed to be in a pretty complex situation with Clairvoyance, somehow.
During the few times he’d tried to talk with Clairvoyance about what happened, the mindreading NightWing had been weirdly avoidant and intent on leaving random gaps in the story of what specifically happened, in particular around what had triggered Changbai’s attack in the first place.
Lawspeaker had so far been able to glean that he’d been pretty upset and probably even yelling or otherwise overusing his voice at the time, though about what, he wasn’t really sure.
In all, he just hadn’t wanted to be a nuisance and add yet more distress to Changbai’s already-stressful situation, but now that Changbai was being officially discharged, he was hoping he could have a good talk with him, both about the clawmate thing and about this, too.
Changbai was definitely one of his closest friends ever since he’d come to the Academy, after all, and he couldn’t help but admit to himself that he cared for that IceWing quite a bit by this point.
Lawspeaker had neither the full context nor the brainpower needed to explain all this stuff to Sabkha, though, so for now, he kept the explanation to his own clawmate pretty vague.
“So it’s just ‘cause we’re, like, talking about something personal to him, you know?”
“Ah. I mean, I guess that makes sense?”
Lawspeaker nodded.
“Yeah, no, I just think it would be better if we were alone. That’s pretty much all.”
Another pause, as Sabkha processed what Lawspeaker had just said.
Slowly, a smile actually began to spread its way across her snout.
“Wait, so it’s like a date?”
Lawspeaker was immediately taken aback by this out-of-the-blue suggestion.
“Wha- n-no! No, no, of course not! Why would you even think that?”
Sabkha’s expression only shifted to become more frustratingly smug and knowing.
“I mean, you just said it yourself that you guys needed to be alone. Isn’t that, like, the biggest key to creating a romantic atmosphere?”
“I- romantic atmosphere? What are you even talking about?”
Lawspeaker’s face was starting to get slightly hot now, in the face of Sabkha continuing her suggestive half-joke.
“Oh, come on, Lawspeaker. You don’t have to be shy about this kind of stuff!” the SandWing insisted. “I mean, Isthmus and I are literally the prime example of a campus relationship.”
“Uh, yeah, you guys are. Me and Changbai don’t even know each other all that well!”
Sabkha only shrugged.
“I mean, that’s why you’re hanging out, right? Isn’t the point of going on dates so that you get to know the other dragon better?”
“It’s not a date!”
Sabkha gave Lawspeaker a look, as if to say “sure it’s not,” but Lawspeaker was frankly set on dispelling any notions of a romance between himself and Changbai from their collective consciousness entirely.
“Sabkha, seriously. I’m not even romantically interested in other males. Even though, you know…”
Lawspeaker was about to continue that sentence with “I do think he’s objectively attractive,” but he quickly realised that would not go over well with his rather unsubtle SandWing clawmate.
“… um… let me think of how to put this…”
Yes, it was probably better to refrain from acknowledging that particular caveat out loud.
Sabkha wasn’t exactly the best with nuances like that, after all, and Lawspeaker didn’t want to have to explain to her the whole difference between “thinking a dragon is attractive” and “being attracted to a dragon.”
After all, females complimented the beauty of other females all the time, didn’t they?
What was the issue with males doing the same?
Regardless, though, Lawspeaker simply continued by shifting the conversation in a slightly different direction.
“… just, there’s no way either of us are interpreting it as anything other than a platonic hangout. Trust me.”
Sabkha didn’t quite seem convinced by the finality of Lawspeaker’s tone or words.
“I mean, you’re speaking for yourself, sure, but how do you know that’s how Changbai thinks of it?” Sabkha pointed out. “He could very well be into guys, and picking up signals from you that you didn’t intend to send him.”
Lawspeaker, however, spoke with an utterly defensive certainty in his reply.
“No, no, he’s definitely also not gay. I mean, he has clipped talons, sure, but that’s because he needs to to play piano. Besides that, he doesn’t really seem like the type to me.”
At that last comment, Sabkha actually furrowed her brow, expression dropping somewhat to be more concerned than anything else.
Lawspeaker shifted uncomfortably a bit as he realised the implications of what he’d said.
“… Lawspeaker, you do know that dragons don’t have to have manicured nails to be gay, right?”
“Okay, well, I know that. I was just saying, like…”
And now, Sabkha’s signature smile returned as quickly as it’d disappeared.
“Dude. Are you, like, homophobic or something?”
“I’m not homophobic! I have absolutely no problem with whatever dragons who are like that, alright? Gay dragons, queer dragons, trans dragons, whatever.”
Sabkha gave him a dubious look at that last part, but Lawspeaker simply continued on.
“It’s just… I really don’t get that impression from him, okay? Like, even if I were somehow into other males, there’s just no way he thinks that I’m attractive, too.”
“Wait, really?” Sabkha seemed genuinely somewhat confused at that statement. “But how would you know? It’s not like you’re even that ugly.”
Lawspeaker made an indignant noise.
“Okay, rude!”
“Fine, fine, sorry, dude. I’m just kidding.”
Sabkha flashed him a smile, and while Lawspeaker wasn’t entirely convinced that the jab was just a joke, he wasn’t about to waste time arguing with her, either.
“But actually, though, Lawspeaker. Didn’t you say that he was always, like, staring at you in chem class, or something? What happened to that?”
“Okay, well, yeah, but that’s different. I don’t think that’s because he’s attracted to me. It’s like…”
Lawspeaker took another slight moment to think, as he attempted to formulate his own notions of how to think of his relationship with Changbai.
“… if I had to guess, the way he was looking at me was more out of, like, suspicion, than anything else. Like, especially before we got to know each other, all he knew about me was that I was the new NightWing, right? Probably he was just trying to monitor me for danger to his tribe, or something like that.”
Sabkha took a moment to process this possible explanation.
“Hmmmm… I mean…”
“I really think that’s the most likely way to explain it, Sabkha.”
“Well, still, though. Either way is still possible. I mean, you guys are friends now, aren’t you?”
Lawspeaker gave a nod, not really sure where this was going.
“So then that should mean he isn’t suspicious of you anymore, right? Does he still stare at you now?”
Oh.
Hm.
Well, actually…
Lawspeaker quickly realised the hole in the logic of his thought process, remembering all the times that Changbai had, in fact, been staring at him, even after they’d seemingly established good relations with each other.
Not to mention that in general, Changbai seemed surprisingly amiable to him in particular, when even Fearless, who was in his winglet, could barely even be considered his friend.
Maybe there really was more to that IceWing’s behaviour that he’d previously thought.
“Um…”
But, of course, he couldn’t let Sabkha know about all that regardless.
“… uh, n-no, no. Totally not now that we’re friends. Definitely.”
…
Sabkha gave Lawspeaker a look.
“So he still does?”
“Okay, Sabkha. Don’t act like you’re some expert on our relationship, alright? I would definitely know better than you would, anyway.”
Hearing this, Sabkha actually considered the point for a good moment, seemingly debating to herself whether this was really a fair assumption.
Eventually, though, she simply shrugged.
“I mean, I guess?”
Lawspeaker nodded, but on the inside he wasn’t so sure of what he’d been telling himself, either.
Was he in the right, really?
Could a gaze like Changbai’s really be platonic?
“If you’re really that sure about it.”
Now that he was thinking about it, there were a lot of other things about their relationship that were worth at least questioning, too.
After all, could the blush that rose to his cheeks whenever Changbai complimented him be platonic, too?
Could the way being around the IceWing made him feel comfortable, and wanted, and jealous all at the same time?
Could the way Lawspeaker’s heart pounded at the thought of his curvy, icy body, the way his back arched and the light glinted off his snowy-white scales?
Could the utter depth in those ever-so-breathtaking eyes?
And suddenly, Lawspeaker was snapped back into reality by a loud, electronic blare.
“Oh, damn. I lost.”
Sabkha looked over at where her boyfriend was sitting.
“Did you beat Boto’s high score?”
At this, Isthmus only gave a short sigh.
He shook his head as he responded to the question.
“No, not this time.”