Work Text:
Yuu is done with classes for the day. Deciding they don't want to head back to Ramshackle just yet, Yuu and Grim sit in the courtyard to chat and people watch. Grim and Yuu see Ace, Deuce and Jack carrying books. Ace sees them and rushes towards them.
“Please Yuu! You gotta help me!”
Deuce comes scurrying behind Ace with the same panicked expression. Ace tells Yuu that Riddle is expecting them to be at Heartslabyul right after classes to paint roses and set up the unbirthday party. They skipped prepping yesterday, so they have to get it done before Riddle finds the party unfinished.
“It's all Ace's fault! He kept insisting that I play his stupid card game!” Deuce barks back in annoyance.
“It's not my fault you kept going! You’d get mad every time you lost and you kept demanding a retry! “ Ace rebuttals.
Ace was probably cheating Deuce…
“Yuu and Grim!” Ace pleads. “Please, you gotta do this for me. Please return these books to the library! Ugh, Crewel wouldn't listen to us when we tried to explain we couldn't…”
“He probably would have listened if not for that stunt you pulled during class.”
Yuu sees Jack standing behind the two boys, with books in hand as well.
“I can take care of it.” Yuu assures.
“Well, if you need the Great Grim’s help so much… Get on your knees and beg!” Grim boasts.
“UuuuggggghhhhhHHHHHHHH!” Ace and Deuces drop to their knees. “Please GRIM!!!”
“Ow…! My ass….. I hate that smug look on your face…. “ Ace groans.
“Don't listen to him! Get up and hurry before it's too late!” Yuu ushers.
“AHHH! Pray for us Yuu!!” Both Ace and Deuce dash towards the Hall of Mirrors.
Jack and Yuu are left in silence as they watch the two boys try not to trip and break their necks. Yuu turns towards Jack.
“I guess we better go then. Come on Grim, grab your share.”
...
Jack is quiet for the most part, leading Yuu and Grim towards the library. Yuu feels a little awkward in the silence, so they speak up and ask,” What exactly did Ace and Deuce do in Crewel's class?”
Jack's ears twitch slightly and looks down to make eye contact with Yuu, but only for a second. “Well, it started with Deuce doing the math wrong and adding too much of something. Then to fix it, Ace thought it would be a good idea to DOUBLE the recipe. Pretty much turned out how'd you expect it, the whole cauldron blew up with Ace and Deuces rears on fire.
“Their REARS? On FIRE?” Yuu was smiling just picturing it.
“They knew that they had screwed up bad, so at the last minute they turned their backs towards the cauldron to run away, but it exploded before they could get anywhere.”
“So THAT'S why Ace was groaning about his butt? That's hilarious.” Yuu was smiling ear to ear.
Jack notices this and smiles slightly before turning his head forward with a deadpan expression.
“Wait though, just carrying books back to the library seems too nice of a punishment, especially from Crewel.”
“Crewel seemed so exhausted, mentally and physically, that all he did was wave around his whip and told them he'd have something “more fit as punishment” tomorrow.”
“Really? I feel kinda bad for Crewel.”
“He does deal with a lot of punks.”
Silence falls on them again, but is saved by the library coming up. Yuu takes note that Jack has more books than they do. Yuu takes a couple of quick steps to get in front of Jack and holds open the door for him.
“Uh …Thank you.” Jack mumbles.
“You're welcome.”
The group of book returners set the books down in their correct location. Yuu helps Grim set his books on the table.
“Mrah! I could do that if I used magic…” Grim grumbles.
“Grim… let's not forget that your control of items is iffy at best.” Yuu says.
Jack is confirming with the librarian that all is set. After he's done Yuu comes up to him.
“What are you planning on doing now?”
Jack stares at Yuu with a slightly questioning look on his face.
“I'm going to stay here and get some studying in. And you? Well… not that I really care.”
Yuu stares at Jack for a weird couple of seconds.
“What? I AM literate, y’know.” Jack says.
I didn't doubt it…
“Anyway, Grim and I were also going to stay and study.”
“MRAH? Can’t we do that tomorrow…?” Grim whines.
“Grim, you and I share grades. My grades are just barely keeping us at passing level. It's well due.”
“Mrowwww… fine.”
Grims face lights up with a sneaky expression.
“I’ve got it! Say, Jack! How about we study all together?”
Oh, that would be nice!
Jack seems surprised and not very happy about the suggestion.
“I've got a feeling that you'll only be a distraction. I’m not pairing up with anyone who will drag me down.” Jack shoots back.
Yuu was surprised. They knew that Jack was talking about Grim, but they couldn't help but feel hurt at his response. Jack caught that moment of hurt on Yuu’s face. His mind wavered.
Grim shakes his fists. “Hey! I won't be a distraction or a burden! I'll be out-studying you! I swear on the Great Seven!”
“Grim, that's not helping. Sorry Jack, we’ll let you be.” Yuu says.
“Wait, uh, it's fine.”
“What?”
Jack speaks louder.
“I said it's fine! I mean… that uh, we study together.”
Yuu’s face lights up.
“Really? That sounds great.”
Grim gloats. “Yeah it does! Mrah ha ha…”
Jack and Yuu find a spot to sit in the library. It's a quiet corner of the library, a perfect place to study. Jack and Yuu sit across from each other. Yuu perkily takes out their study supplies; pencil, notebooks, textbooks, etc and sets up their studying work space. Grim on the other hand, was taking his sweet old time taking out his notes (if he even had any at all) and was discreetly watching Jack. Jack was silent as he opened his text book and started going over the great seven and their histories.
This got Yuu thinking. Because Yuu was from a different world, where magic didn’t exist, they couldn't help but be interested in the history of Twisted Wonderland and its making. To think that their old times was filled with wizards and witches, Yuu still couldn't believe they were really in a different world. Every so often Yuu would be hit with this realization and weight that this was their reality. Not that it was bad, but just the unexplainable bizarreness of the situation. In this state of mind, dozens of questions race Yuus mind, and none are answered. Getting caught up in this mindset would not help on the next test, so Yuu regained focus and continued to work.
About a half hour later, Yuu again starts to daze. Not because the work is boring, but because they work better if they take little breaks every now and then. (At least that's what they tell themselves.) In this little break Yuu is having, they find themselves staring at Jack's ears. Wolf ears, is what he claims. Dog ears would also not surprise them. How did beastmen/people come to be? Yuu could take a guess, but would rather not think about it. Yuu wondered if they had a book about the history of beastmen, but would probably not look at it now. They would feel a little weird to read about beastmen in front of Jack.
Jack looks up and notices Yuu staring at his ears. “Quit starin’.” he says, his eyes back on the book. Yuu is a little startled and apologizes. “Sorry. I'm not used to it, a human having a tail and wolf ears, y’know?”
Jack looks up. “I guess it would be crazy, coming from a different world and all. … Is that the actual story? You're from somewhere the headmage doesn't even know?”
“Yeah, it's true. The headmage is supposedly looking for a way for me to go back, but for some reason, I get the feeling it's not his first priority…”
Jack stares at Yuu with a curious but composed face.
“There must be a reason you came. The black carriage wouldn’t just get anyone.”
“Y'know the headmage said the same thing, that the black carriage and the talking mirror haven't made a mistake in hundreds of years.”
“The Dark Mirror?” Jack corrects.
“Yes, that one, in the mirror chamber.”
Jack seems to be intrigued by Yuu’s mysterious and unexplained arrival.
Yuu looked a little uneasy but then spoke up,” Want to know something Jack? When I first woke up in the coffin, and Grim broke off the lid, when I was running around campus, I could swear that I was hearing a language that was unfamiliar and I couldn't comprehend. Then, when the headmage came up to me, I could suddenly understand the language, and what he was saying… It was freaky.”
Jack has a bewildered look on his face. “Really? You're serious?”
“I kid you not.”
Grim suddenly interrupts. “HEY! We’re getting distracted aren’t we?”
Yuu looks at Grim curtly. “Since when do you care about studying? …But I suppose you're right, we’ve chatted about it long enough.”
Jack straightens and gets up. “I'm going to get another book.”
Jack walks off with his notes and homework open. In Grim’s mind he thinks “this is what i've been waiting for…!”
Grim ‘accidentally’ knocks over Yuu’s pencil case.
“Grim! What on earth??” (Wait… what is this planet called?)
“Hey it's not my fault you had it so close to the edge!” Grim rebuttals.
“Ugh Grim… you prick.”
Yuu gets down on the ground collecting their scattered supplies. Grim takes this time to hop to the other side of the table and begins quickly writing down Jack's notes and homework answers. Grim is about halfway through copying when he is abruptly yanked up by his ribbon.
“MRAH!! H-hey! Cut it out!”
Yuu looks up to see what all the cat yowls were for. Jack has Grim by his ribbon in a tight hold, glaring with a resentful scowl on his face.
“What are you doing?” Jack snapped.
Jack now brought Grim face to face with him, and Grim can see his fangs sticking out.
“Mrah… I was just…. Checking my answers…? COME ON lemme go!!”
Grim attempts to free himself by throwing his body around every which way, which only seems to make Jack's grip tighter.
“MRAHH! I can’t get loose…I’ll do whatever! Just let me go…”
Grim body goes limp in his grasp as he pouts a defeated look. Jack lowered Grim from his face.
“How about this? You gotta carry all of Yuus supplies back to ramshackle. You hardly carried any books too, so I think it's fair.”
Yuu got up from the ground and stared at Jack. “Me? Why are you having him do something for me? What about you?”
Jack looked away.
“I don't want the furball carrying my stuff. I don't need anything from him, so I'll have him do something for you.”
Yuu stared at his face, or what they could see of it. Was he embarrassed? Is this his way of being nice?
Yuu smiled.
“Thanks Jack, I'll take you up on that.”
Still looking away, Jack dropped Grim, who landed on all fours.
“Ughh.. this sucks..”
“It's your own fault. Learn from it.”
“Mrahh whatever….I should’ve been quicker…dang it”
“I guess our study session is over then?” Yuu asks.
“I’m not getting any more work done here, so I’m calling it a day.”
...
Yuu, Jack and Grim walk out of the library and make their way towards the Hall of Mirrors and Ramshackle Dorm.
“Did you ever get that book? The one you left the table for?” Asks Yuu.
“I did, I’ll look over it either tonight or tomorrow, I’d just like to have it on hand.”
While Yuu and Jack were talking Grim was a couple feet behind them barely balancing what he was holding. “Grrrr I can hardly see where I’m going!! H-hey, wait up for me!!”
...
After a while of talking Jack suddenly started doing stretches with his arms.
Yuu watches.
“Are you sore?”
“Nah, it's just after picking Grim up, I realized when I lift my arms my uniform feels tight around my abs. Is it ‘cause of all the weight training I do?” He says that with a genuine smile and keeps stretching.
Yuu: Huh… maybe.
...
Eventually they start to come up to the Hall of Mirrors and Yuu is getting ready to say goodbyes. However, Jack keeps walking and they start to pass it.
“Uh Jack, don't you need to go to the Hall of Mirrors? To get to Savanaclaw?” Says Yuu.
Jack seems to realize that they had started to walk past it.
“Oh well… I can walk with you to Ramshackle…only because it's good exercise and I uh, haven't seen this part of campus much.”
Yuu smiles and continues walking.
“Let's keep going then.”
...
They eventually reach Ramshackle Dorm, and it lives up to its name. It's only been a couple of months since Yuu and Grim moved in, and after everything that had been happening they haven't had much time to make improvements. Yuu did what they could, placed buckets where there were leaks, blocked off holes with makeshift materials, and moved the furniture out of the way of rotting areas. Jack stood at the front of the building's lawn and looked at all of the shoddy repairs that had been done in the past.
“This place is something else… can't imagine what it looks like on the inside.”
Yuu rolls their eyes sarcastically.
“Well, wanna take a peek?”
Jack couldn't deny that he wasn't at least a little bit intrigued to see what the building might look like on the inside.
“Sure, I’ll take a quick look.”
Yuu unlocked the heavy old door and walked in, leaving the door open for Jack. Jack took a cautious step inside and was almost immediately bombarded by dust.
“EEUGGH! Ugh, my nose…”
Jack knew he couldn't stay for long, the dust was going to get to him quick.
“Listen, my nose is getting seriously irritated right now, I can't stay long.”
Yuu watched Jack's panicked expression with a humorous grin.
“I’ll catch you later, Yuu!”
Jack basically ran out of the house and down the path, opened the gate and started sneezing uncontrollably. Yuu saw this, of course, while they watched from the porch.
“He’s a funny guy, isn’t he, Grim?” “...Grim? Where are you?”
Grim laid out cold on the floor, absolutely winded from carrying all their supplies.
The next day, after class…
Class comes to an end, Yuu and Grim walk out of History. As Yuu walks, they see Jack leaning up against the wall looking at them.
“What? It's not like I was waiting around for you.”
Today is going to be a fun day.