Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Yuu stands at the entrance to Pomefiore and, taking care to stay out of sight of the windows, carefully pulls out her prize from where she’s had it tucked inside her hoodie since she picked it up from Sam. The hoodie, like most of the clothes she’s cobbled together, is much too big. It’s also stolen right off Leona’s floor. (In front of him. While she’d helped Ruggie fold laundry and Leona had pretended to sleep. She’d swiped two old t-shirts for good measure and he’d only huffed in pretend annoyance, so she knew it was fine.)

She holds her prize tightly behind her back and nods at Jack to get the door. He presses the doorbell, hefting a duffle bag higher up his shoulder as he does so.

Epel answers, and his eyes blow wide when he takes them in. Yuu gets it. She’s dressed like she just crawled out of the lost and found, and Jack is blowing his…hair (coat?). The patchwork of long and short strands looks like someone attacked him with a weed whacker. If either of them had any sense at all, they wouldn’t be anywhere near the Pomefiore dorm and its notoriously picky housewarden.

Yuu pushes past Epel before he can panic and slam the door in their faces. “Is Rook here?” she asks as she strides down the hall with Jack at her side. Epel squawks at their heels, but can’t seem to form words before they reach the lounge. Jack pats his shoulder sympathetically on the way by. As he does so, a tuft of white gently wafts from his head to the ground. Epel stares at it in horror. Yuu ignores them and continues.

Inside the lounge, Vil has folded himself artfully into a chair, a textbook across his lap and a circle of students around him. He looks perfect, as always, and has somehow managed to make what is probably a study group look like a scene from a professional photo shoot.

He glances up when they enter, and goes absolutely still when he sees them. Yuu beams at him.

“Good morning, Vil,” she says. “Is Rook in today?”

“I’m going to smother you in your sleep, Yuu,” Vil informs her flatly. The students around him ease away, but Yuu doesn’t flinch. Everyone in this school can kill her, including her cat, and the novelty of it has long worn off. She’s immune to threats. Besides, she just has to wait for Jack to enter and—

“What is happening to your hair?” Vil hisses at Jack, absolutely outraged. Jack blinks at Vil with the serenity of someone who knew Vil before he was cool and opens his mouth to say god knows what, when a familiar voice interrupts them.

“Mon cheri!” Rook cries, swanning in, “and Monsieur Tough Guy! To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?” Yuu doesn’t miss the way his eyes narrow at her hands held behind her.

She grins sharply. Pulls a high-powered nerf gun out with one smooth motion and fires. The dart hits him in the dead center of his chest and sticks there with just a hint of magic.

“Happy belated birthday, Rook,” she says into the ringing silence. Jack reaches into his duffle and tosses a second gun to Rook, then pulls out his own.

“Congratulations,” Jack says, teeth too large and gleaming. “You’re it.”

Rook’s smile turns lethal and they run.

Chapter Text

Four hours later, Yuu sprawls across the grass in the courtyard, exhausted and resembling a human pincushion. She’d been separated from Jack hours ago, when he'd peeled away from her to try and lure Rook into the relative safety of the woods. It didn’t work, judging by the way Rook is grinning like an absolute lunatic when he returns. He folds himself gracefully down beside her with a happy sigh, and very gently plucks a dart from her forehead. The magic holding it in place releases with a soft pop.

She glances at him. He’s spotless except for her dart tucked in the pocket of his PE jumsuit like a boutonniere. 

“Where’s Jack?” she pants.

Rook hums and helpfully pulls another dart from the cluster on her stomach that looks suspiciously like a heart. Yuu hadn’t had time to find a mirror. “Monsieur Wolf foolishly retreated to Pomefiore. I believe my lovely housewarden has introduced him to the wonders of a deshedding comb.”

Yuu squints at him. “Why does Vil have…never mind, it was for Grim, wasn’t it?”

“Indeed.” He plucks another dart. Sets it carefully in the line he’s forming next to her shoulder like an art display. Yuu lets him work. Ignores the way his fingers occasionally brush over the pulse at her wrists and throat, feeling it slow. She isn’t afraid of Rook, although she probably should be. Most people are. Everyone at Night Raven College is powerful, but Rook is dangerous in a way that threatens to make her hair stand on end, obsessive and skilled and absolutely batshit crazy.

Still, he’s never been anything but kind to her and that means something in this world where everyone seems out for themselves. Where people solve their arguments with fistfights and magic spells, and where a temper tantrum can blow up a building. Rook is kind to her, and she trusts him.

----

Epel finds them a short time later and gives her a look when he sees the neat lines of darts artistically framing her head and shoulders. Yuu shrugs. Epel flicks his gaze nervously to the nutcase beside her, but Rook just smiles beatifically, looking completely at one with the universe.

Epel sighs. “Our housewarden wants you both back at the dorm.”

Yuu raises an eyebrow at him. “He’s not my housewarden.”

“You’re welcome to tell him that. I’m certainly not gonna.”

Rook laughs and summons the darts back into his pockets with a wave of his hand. He pulls her to her feet, then tucks her hand into the crook of his arm instead of letting her go. His hold is firm enough that she doesn’t try to pull free.

“Come, mon cheri!” he says. “Our lovely leader awaits!”

Chapter Text

Vil is waiting at the door when they return like a worried parent after their kid’s first sleepover. Yuu privately resolves never to make this comparison out loud, which means she’ll probably last a week before whispering it to Grim some late night. Ace, at least, will find it hilarious.

Vil does look surprisingly calm, which probably has something to do with Jack standing next to him, looking sleek, clean, and a bit shell-shocked. Jack visibly perks up at the sight of her. He waves at her. She waves back with the hand not commandeered by Rook. Behind her, Epel wheezes in horror.

Unsurprisingly, Vil locks onto her mud and grass-stained self like a dirt-seeking missile. He slaps a hand across Jack’s chest before Jack can step toward her. His glare softens, though, when he catches Rook’s utterly satisfied expression, like a cat who’s gotten an entire barrel full of cream.

“Rook,” he says. “You have duties.”

Rook turns to her and kisses her hand, bowing like a knight from a fairy tale. “Merci, mon cheri,” he says simply, before bounding through the door and vanishing. How he still has so much energy after chasing them back and forth across campus is a mystery for the ages.

Then she’s left standing in front of the full force of Vil’s Displeasure™. She knows better than to crack first. Vil gives her a full 10 seconds before he sighs, “Spudling, if you’d care to change, dinner is in two hours. It’d be our pleasure to have you.”

Yuu narrows her eyes, sensing a trap. But if she ever turns down free food in this realm, it will be because she has been possessed. She and Grim have an understanding. So she takes hold of the hem of Leona’s sweatshirt and gives Vil a curtsy worthy of a princess. “I would be delighted, Your Majesty.”

-----------------

Still, Yuu figures she’s poked Vil enough for one day and quickly retreats to Ramshackle to shower and put on her best-fitting uniform. She takes the time to carefully tame her curls as best she can and put on some of the makeup Vil has taken to leaving in the guest lounge. (She isn’t complaining. Makeup is expensive and she can barely afford food at the moment.)

With half an hour left before she’s expected at Pomefiore, she retreats to the cemetery and cuts some of the lilies growing wild by the gates. She trims the ends carefully and ties them with a beautiful silk ribbon she’d found while cleaning Ramshackle. The final bouquet is simple but nice. Then she picks up a box of the peppermint tea that Riddle pretends he doesn’t drink, but has gotten their entire study group hooked on, and heads to Pomefiore.

(She does take a few seconds to look for Grim, but he’s apparently still taking refuge in Heartslaybul, having heard “Rook” and “tag” and bolted out the door screaming. Like a baby.)

Jack meets her just past the mirror. He’s practically vibrating, having been banned from escorting her home lest he come within a 10-foot radius of the dirt flaking out of her hair. Which, looking over him now, was probably a wise decision on Vil’s part. Jack looks nice, his uniform is pressed and his hair looks glossy with significantly less shedding. He may even have been bullied into eyeliner. His eyes look suspiciously vivid in the evening light.

He slots back into his usual place at her side, and she inhales in relief, then pauses. She turns to him, delighted. “Are you wearing cologne??”

Jack goes bright red. “Maybe a little,” he admits. Then mumbles, “Vil insisted.”

She laughs, then threads her arm through his to remove the sting. “It suits you,” she says and affectionately bumps his arm with her shoulder. Jack whuffs back softly, pleased.

Vil greets them at the front door, arms folded. He would never be so crass as to shut the door in her face, but his expression says he will absolutely send her back home to change if she fails to meet his minimum standards of appearance again.

She puts on her sweetest smile and holds out the flowers and tea. “For you,” she says. “Thank you for the invitation, Vil.”

For a second, Vil looks startled before his expression melts into the most genuinely pleased expression she’s ever seen him make. He takes the items and touches the flowers gently, inspecting them for a long time. “May we come in?” she finally says.

Vil doesn’t jump, but it’s a near thing. He waves them inside, handing off her gifts to a passing first year with strict instructions to find a vase for the flowers. It’s sweet, if a little heartbreaking. Vil must have gotten thousands of bouquets in his life, and yet he’s still so hungry for signs of her regard. For everyone’s regard. It’s why she makes a point to tease him as often as she can get away with it. Vil is at his most real when he’s being a bit of a bitch, and so that’s her favorite version of him.

He leads them into the dining room and to his seat at the head of the table. Then he pulls out the chair directly to his right for her. The position is very flattering, so he of course offsets the honor with a magnanimous, “Here you are, spudling.”

She swallows a grin. There you are. “Thank you, Your Majesty,” she says, and settles herself he pushes in her seat, crossing her legs neatly at the ankle just the way her grandmother says a lady should. Farther down the table, someone chokes.

Jack takes the chair next to her and they both jump as Rook swoops in from absolutely nowhere with Epel in tow. He takes the seat across from her and beams at the entire room.

“Quelle beauté!” he cries. “How stunning you all look this evening!” Epel looks like he wants to crawl under the table. She understands his frustration, she does, but her choices this evening were a fancy dinner here or a stale cup noodle at Ramshackle Dorm. It’s hard to be sympathetic.

Meanwhile, Jack’s face has not shifted from his usual stoic expression, but he’s gone even more quiet than usual in the way that suggests he’s a little overwhelmed by the finery. She waits for Vil to get distracted shepherding the rest of his dormmates to their seats, then softly kicks Jack’s ankle under the table to get his attention. When he glances over, she unfolds her napkin and sets in primly in her lap. Jack copies her, relieved at the clear instruction.

Unfortunately, Rook misses nothing. He picks his moment, though, and the second Jack mimics her selection of appetizer fork and Vil’s laser focus leaves poor Epel, he exclaims curiously, “Mon cheri! I had no idea you were so sophisticated! Wherever did you learn it?”

Yuu freezes as everyone’s attention snaps to her. She thinks, sometimes, that the boys forget that she didn’t fall fully formed out of a dusty closet in Ramshackle Dorm. She encourages it. She avoids talking about her life before Night Raven College, and about her family, lest her grief at the loss of them swallow her whole.

Still, Rook has never met a wound he wouldn’t pick apart. And so she offers, “My mother made sure we all knew our manners,” just loud enough for the five of them to hear. She hopes it’s enough.

It isn’t, and Rook instantly opens his mouth to question her further, when Vil swoops in to ask Jack about his latest dietary program, and whether it’s easy to find food in the cafeteria to meet it. Jack, bless him, immediately leaps to her defense.

Yuu ignores their conversation, tries to breathe past the tightness in her chest. Blinks away tears as a rush of homesickness threatens to overwhelm her. Despite Crowley’s assurances, she knows in her bones she will never go home again.   

Vil catches her hand under the table and squeezes, hard and grounding. She thinks of him, standing bruised and bloody on a stage on the worst day of his life, and smiling, smiling, smiling at his greatest rival, at another loss, another humiliation. She thinks he might be the strongest person she knows. She grips his hand like a lifeline.

Chapter Text

Three days later, she’s revising her opinion on Vil. He’s the worst person she knows, and his vengeance for running off with his second in command without notice is swift and terrible. She’s going to strangle him with his perfect hair. Maybe. If she lives that long.

It’s just after dawn on campus, and she’s bent over with her hands on her knees, trying not to die as she jogs around the Coliseum after Vil and Jack. She isn’t sure how she got here.

Okay, that’s a lie. She knows exactly how she got here. She’d been so grateful when Vil had rescued her from an emotional meltdown at dinner that she’d missed it when his conversation with Jack had shifted from diet to jogging and oh Yuu, the campus is so beautiful in the morning, you should come with us. Jack had lit up like it was Christmas morning and she is weak.

Grim had laughed so hard that he’d spilled his soda and refused to get out of bed to come with her, so here she is alone, flailing along after two lunatics as they intentionally add even more exercise to the already unreasonable amount of college-mandated exercise.

Vil smirks at her as they lap her again. I hate you, she mouths, after checking that Jack isn’t looking. Jack is oblivious, having the time of his life as he keeps running ahead then dashing back to her to give her some water or fix her stride or offer suggestions about the cool places they can check out when they run tomorrow. Yuu doesn’t have the heart or the oxygen to correct him.

Vil magnanimously ignores her and tosses his bangs out of his face, looking effortlessly cool and windswept. She is covered in sweat, but he is somehow managing just to glisten lightly in a way that she used to think was just a figure of speech. Fucker.

She makes it a few more steps before a glint of blue-green catches her eye and she looks up to see Floyd leaning up against the bleachers with a cup of coffee in hand. It smells amazing. God, she’s tired.

He’s grinning at her like a gargoyle and Yuu briefly weighs her options before she hisses, “Help me!”

Floyd merely cocks his head, smile widening, and normally she adores the twins and their weirdness, but Jack is circling back around again and she’s out of time.

“Get me out of here and I’ll do your homework for a week!” she whisper-yells at Floyd, who looks far too amused at her suffering.

“Two weeks,” he says immediately. And damn those Octavinelle boys, but—

“Done.”

She’s expecting Floyd to approach her with some sort of excuse about why he needs to speak with her. Because that is what Jade would do. That is what Azul would do. That is what a sane person would do.

That is not what Floyd does. Floyd sets his coffee down, screams, “SHRIMPYYYYY!” at the top of his lungs, and tosses her over one shoulder before dashing out of the coliseum like a mad man. She isn’t sure why she’s so surprised. It’s probably a character flaw.

She makes a “what can you do?” gesture at poor Jack, who just blinks, and studiously avoids eye contact with Vil. She can feel his judgment from all the way across the field.

Then they’re gone, and Floyd is cackling all the way to the Mostro Lounge.

------

Floyd only sets her down once they’re inside and he’s locked the door behind them. Yuu decides she’s too tired to find that intimidating and collapses face first into the nearest booth.

She must doze off or black out or something because the next thing she’s aware of is a loud bang as Floyd drops a giant piles of papers on the table in front of her.

“Due today, Shrimpy!” he says cheerfully, and she groans, but a deal is a deal, especially here. She grudgingly pulls herself to a sitting position, digs a pen out of one of her pockets, and starts in on the pile. His homework is above her grade level, but she studies with Riddle on a regular basis and finds she can bluff her way through most of it. If Floyd wants a perfect score, he is welcome to do it himself.

Floyd doesn’t leave, but instead folds himself into the bench next to her and watches her work.

“Ahem,” she hears after only a few minutes. She glances up. Azul is sitting at the bar in front of several neat stacks of paperwork, staring at her in clear confusion. Oops. She didn’t notice him when she came in. On some level, she assumed he wouldn’t be awake yet, as classes didn’t start until 9 and the Lounge didn’t open until lunch. But nope, here he is at dawn with another cup of that heavenly smelling coffee at his elbow.

Which…that reminds her. Yuu squints at him, then sets down her pen. “Azul,” she starts slowly, “did you still want to start that branch café?”

Azul’s face goes blank and Floyd wraps a long arm around her shoulder in warning, but she isn’t worried. Not yet, at least.

“Why?” Azul asks her after a moment.

She shrugs. “Grim and I talked about it. If you can get Crowley to agree, we don’t see why you can’t rent out part of Ramshackle.”

Azul’s slow smile is a dangerous thing. “Let’s talk terms.”

Chapter Text

It’s probably the worst idea she’s ever had, but less than a week later, she’s watching Azul run around Ramshackle with blueprints in hand like a kid in a candy store, and she can’t bring herself to regret it. His contract, on regular paper only, had been surprisingly fair. He’d even agreed to let Riddle read over it before she and Grim signed.

She has no idea what Azul had said to Crowley to get him to agree, but he’d looked spooked as he’d told them to “do whatever you want” and all but shoved them out of his office. She figures plausible deniability is the way to go there.

She stands in the foyer as Azul practically floats in and out of rooms (not hers, not with that mirror), a deeply amused Jade following behind him. Floyd, for his part, has wrapped himself around her with his chin resting on the top of her head. She’s short enough that he’s practically folded in half, but the awkwardness doesn’t seem to bother him. Which will probably be written on his tombstone one day.

Speaking of…she feels a brief pang of guilt. Floyd must feel her tense, because he hums a question into the crown of her head.

“Malleus,” she tells him quietly. “He likes to visit the graveyard. I hope he isn’t upset at all the people.”

Floyd tightens his grip. Sharp nails dig very gently into her shoulders. “His problem, Little Shrimpy,” he says. “No reason you should live in a ruin just because Sea Slug thinks it’s pretty.”

And…yeah. She likes Malleus. Values their budding friendship and will forever be grateful to him for fixing the stage at the SDC, but Yuu has spent the better part of a year patching holes in the walls and scrimping for every basic necessity. She’s tired of it.

Malleus will either understand, or he won’t. This will scare him away, or it won’t. She needs this change. Grim needs this change.

“You’re right,” she says. Floyd just hums again and sways with her lazily back and forth, like they’re on a ship at sea. It’s strangely reassuring.

-----

Azul has Ramshackle Café (her name for it, not his, although it’s catching on, much to his annoyance) up and running in a matter of weeks. He’s taken over the entirety of the first floor and a portion of the second, as well as completely redecorated the outside of the building. The effect is a gorgeous two-story café accessible to the rest of campus via a short walkway or a trip through the mirror chamber. (And hadn’t that been annoying, the realization that Crowley could have easily shortened her walk home months ago.)

In return she gets a modest monthly rent, free room and board, and the additional free time that comes from not having to clean an entire building by herself. That, along with her portion of Vil’s SDC donation, means she and Grim are more financially secure than they have ever been. The freedom is heady.

Which means she’s ready for it the first time Azul tries to negotiate his way out of his monthly payment.

“No,” Yuu says. “Absolutely not.” She doesn’t look up from her book. Nothing good can come of it.

She’s sitting on the sofa in Ramshackle’s new VIP Lounge, going through her potions textbook. Now that her own guest room has been repurposed, the twins have taken to luring her here after closing with the promise of coffee and Azul’s absurdly comfortable taste in furniture. The twins are currently on either side of her, pressed against her like bookends, though not quite tightly enough to be uncomfortable.

She ignores them, and the pointed silence across from her, until Floyd leans closer and jostles the arm holding her book open. She retaliates by shifting her elbow into his ribs, but it’s like pressing into a brick wall. He barely seems to notice.

She sighs and looks up. Azul is leaning forward in his chair like a predator about to lunge, shark-smile firmly in place. She would be nervous except for the crinkles at the corners of his eyes that tells her he isn’t serious.

Azul manipulates people as easily as he breathes, and he argues just for the fun of it. He’s mostly playing with her right now, amusing himself and testing what he can get away with.

The answer is nothing, not today. She pastes on a thoughtful expression that has his lips twitching, though his faux-earnest mask doesn’t crack. “Our bathroom could use some new tile,” she muses. “In return, I’d give you…hmm.” She taps her chin, pretending to think.

“Yes?”

“…My singing voice.”

Azul barks out a laugh before he can stop himself. “You’re tone deaf, Yuu.”

“That sounds like your problem.”

Azul grins at her and settles back in his chair. Yuu smiles back and shoulders Jade to move over and give her some room. He obliges (there’s no way she’d be able to move him otherwise) and shifts over exactly one inch. She pats his knee in thanks and does not roll her eyes.

“Besides,” she says, “I actually need rent this month. Vil says my uniform is going to give him an eye twitch, and now that I’m less poor I have no excuse not to buy one that fits.”

Azul eyes her blazer, one on permanent loan from Kalim since he can’t be bothered to ever wear it. Azul nods seriously, “I see.”

“Rude.”

-----

Out of all the people to confront her about her newfound arrangement with Azul, she doesn’t expect it to be Leona who brings it up while they’re eating lunch together. By “eating lunch together,” she means he is deigning to tolerate her presence and she is scooping vegetables off of his plate before they can contaminate his roast chicken.

“Herbivore,” he rumbles suddenly and she freezes. He makes an annoyed sound and gestures to a broccoli floret that lurks a mere half a centimeter away from his bread roll. Yuu dutifully spears it with her fork and stuffs it into her mouth. He continues, “You really make a deal with Ashengrotto?”

She eyes him warily and swallows. “Yes?”

Leona makes a noise in his throat that rattles the silverware. Across from them, Jack pins his ears flat to his skull in warning. Leona shoots him an unimpressed look.

“Thought he was just making noise to yank Crowley’s chain, but that’s not it, is it? He’s actually built the damn thing. What’s he got on you, herbivore? You in some kind of trouble?”

It takes her a second to process, then…aww. She feels her cheeks turn warm. Ruggie starts laughing. Leona lobs a carrot at him, but he just catches it in his teeth and sniggers.  

“It’s not like that,” she rushes to assure Leona before the food war can escalate. “It’s just a rental agreement. Riddle looked over it and everything.”

Leona looks her over, then nods, apparently satisfied. He turns back to his chicken.

“You’re such a softie, Kingscholar,” Ruggie giggles.

“Shut up, Bucchi,” Leona snarls back. There’s no real venom to it.

“Thank you, Leona,” she dares.

“You shut up too, herbivore.” He points to another piece of broccoli. “You missed one.”

Yuu beams.

Chapter Text

She’s flipping through bolts of fabric at Sam’s for less than a minute before the hair on the back of her neck prickles.

“I’m thinking dark green for Ramshackle Dorm, maybe some browns,” she says holding up a sample just as Rook slides around a display case. He doesn’t look at all disappointed to be caught, but, then again, if he hadn’t wanted her to notice him, she wouldn’t have. Simple as that.

He grabs his chest in a delighted swoon, “Magnifique, mon cheri! Although—”

“That shade is too dark,” Vil finishes, plucking the swatch from her fingers. “It washes out your color.”

She jumps at his voice, and Vil raises an eyebrow. She blushes. “I didn’t know you were on campus today,” she defends. “Weren’t you shooting a commercial?”

“It was rescheduled,” he says, and gracefully inserts himself between her and the shelves, idly scanning them. “The power went out in the building.”

She reaches for another sample as Vil just happens to shift over enough to block her hand. He makes the movement look natural, but she knows better. He’s probably afraid she’ll grab something horrible and run off with it if he doesn’t stop her. Rook watches Vil fondly. He knows that Vil adores shopping and his love language is personal criticism. Moreover, there’s no deterring him once he gets going.

Yuu knows this too. She retreats to Rook’s side. “What would you recommend?” she asks Vil, conceding defeat as Rook catches her hand and tucks it into the crook of his arm. He pats her hand in thanks.

Vil is much too composed to look gleeful, but when he turns back to her, there’s a pleased tic in the corner of his mouth. He holds a sample toward her, a beautiful emerald green. “This one, I think,” he says, and holds it up to her face.

 Rook coos, and Vil smiles at his antics. “I seem to have the afternoon off, spudling. Would you care to go shopping with me in the village?

“I’ll let you carry my bags,” he adds with a wink and the million-watt smile that has put him on magazine covers. 

She snorts. “Don’t be ridiculous,” she says, and his face falls ever-so-slightly before she adds, “We’ll get Jack to carry them.”

---

Jack does, in fact, agree to go shopping with them because he is an angel and because one of the shops they’re going to has some new moisture-wicking fabric he’s been itching to try. He even carries their bags because of course he does. Yuu makes a note to do something especially nice for him in the near future.

She’s having a great time. The weather is sunny and bright, and Vil has assisted (bullied) her into buying a small wardrobe that actually fits and is somehow, impossibly, within the budget she has given him. (He’s inhuman, she swears he is.) Vil himself is in fine form, genuinely smiling at them as he follows Rook out of a shoe store.

Then Rook skids to a halt with a delighted gasp as Neige LeBlanche looks over and beams at them from the other side of the street. Vil’s smile goes rigid and he freezes in place like he’s been spelled there. Jack nearly crashes into him. Neige waves at them excitedly and trots over.

“Yuu, I need you to knock me out immediately,” Vil says from behind his teeth.

“You’re a wizard. Can’t you teleport us out of here?” she hisses back, as she cheerfully waves back at Neige. Then it’s too late, and Neige is throwing himself at Vil in a hug, chattering like a squirrel.

“Vil! My friend!” he gushes. “It’s so good to see you here!” He turns to Rook. “And you too, Rook! Thank you for the latest poem! It was lovely!”

Rook clutches his throat like a maiden clutching her pearls and squeaks something unintelligible back. Yuu eyes him warily, worried he might actually pass out this time. Neige spins to her.

“Oh!” he says, “It’s so nice to see you again, Ms. –”

“Yuu,” she fills in, when he pauses. Neige lights up even more.

“Yes, the team manager! Your show was amazing!”

“Yours too,” she lies. It wasn’t. It was an uncoordinated disaster inside a children’s nightmare, and she completely understands why Vil blew up a building after he saw it. But Neige is so honestly joyful to see them that it feels impossible to be anything but nice to him. It’s infuriating.

Neige greets Jack with the same enthusiasm, and Jack answers warmly enough, but keeps glancing between them all with increasing bafflement, nostrils flaring slightly as he tries to smell what’s going on. Poor bastard. He has no idea.

Neige is blissfully ignorant to the tension and proceeds to chat with Vil about some movie script or another. Vil’s cheerful mask doesn’t slip, but after several excruciating minutes he casually slips an arm behind her back and taps lightly on one of her shoulder blades. Yuu very carefully doesn’t react when she realizes it’s a pattern—

Quick quick quick slow slow slow quick quick quick

--Vil is tapping SOS on her shoulder.

Ah. She’s on it. She obediently slumps into his side and holds a hand to her head. Neige, the sweetheart (damn him), immediately stops talking. Vil looks down at her, an expression of deep concern painted on his face. She frowns. “I’m so sorry, I think the heat is getting to me. Do you mind if we go back to campus?”

“Of course,” Vil assures her. “It was good to catch up, Neige. See you later?”

“Oh, of course! Bye, Yuu! Feel better! Bye, everyone!” Neige twitches as if to hug Vil again, but Vil smoothly tucks her closer into his side and avoids it without appearing to notice. Neige obligingly throws his arms around Rook and Jack instead. Rook looks like he might cry. Jack is still confused.

Vil keeps his arm around her shoulders until they’re well on their way back to campus, at which point he abruptly lets her go and they both nearly collapse in relief.

“He is the nicest person I’ve ever met,” she confesses to Vil. “It’s the worst.”

Vil nods solemnly. “I know.”

“Okay, what the hell is going on?” Jack finally snaps, exasperated.

Rook sighs in despair. 

Chapter Text

“Here you go, dear! I saved one for you!” the ghost says as he pops through the wall right in front of her. Yuu yelps, and nearly starts shouting, before a heavenly smell makes its way to her and she realizes that the ghost is holding out a sandwich in neatly wrapped parchment paper. It’s even got a little bow of twine. 

It’s the sandwich. The cheese sandwich. The entire school’s favorite sandwich and one that Ace had informed her only a few minutes ago was already sold out. 

Yuu takes it with a smile and thanks the ghost profusely. He beams back at her. She holds her expression until the ghost floats merrily off down the hallway. Then she throws open her bag and tries to stuff the sandwich inside before anyone notices. 

She’s not fast enough. 

“Yuu!” Ruggie calls. She looks up. He’s coming from the direction of the greenhouse. Oh dear Great Seven above. 

“Nope!” she says and gives up trying to hide the sandwich in favor of backing away as quickly as she can while still keeping the manic hyena in sight. 

Ruggie follows. “Please? Leona’s in a mood.”

“When is he not in a mood?” That’s not the point. She needs to focus. “The answer is still no.”

Ruggie’s expression turns desperate. “We have an agreement!”

They do. She brings him leftovers and edible experiments from the Mostro Lounge and he makes sure Leona always has an extra side dish within easy grabbing distance. Between the two of them, she and Grim almost eat a balanced diet. Still, “That doesn’t apply to cheese sandwiches!” 

Ruggie’s fingers twitch and she knows he’s debating whether he can use his unique magic on her without one or more of her friends coming after him later. (The answer is no, thank you very much. At a minimum, Deuce is always willing to throw down and Epel is feral.).

“I’ll make it up to you,” he finally says, looking apologetic. “Laugh with--hey, ow!” 

Ruggie ducks as Yuu yanks the large, plastic clip from her hair and lobs it at his face. She bolts for the cafeteria door. She doesn’t have a prayer of outrunning a beastman, but Lady Luck must truly be on her side this day because when she bursts into the room, she sees Malleus Draconia sitting in a corner with Lilia.

Yuu throws herself into the chair across from them and is treated to a very satisfying yelp as Ruggie clocks the dragon and skids to a halt just a few feet behind her.

Malleus looks up from his salad in alarm. “Is everything alright, Yuu?” He glances behind her, sees the panicking hyena, and must draw some (probably correct) conclusion because his expression turns thunderous and he straightens up to his full height. Yuu feels the hair on her arms stand on end.

Ruggie dives for cover under a nearby table. Smart man. She’s always liked him, even if he is a sandwich thief. Yuu watches him try to hide behind Deuce’s legs, and turns back to Malleus. From the expression on his face, she may have made a tactical error. 

“Just a minor disagreement,” she assures him before he decides to vaporize his fellow student (or possibly the entire room). Malleus does not look assured. The air has begun to smell like ozone. She turns to Lilia, but he’s currently sitting back and watching the entire scene with the overly bright eyes of a hunting jungle cat. No help will be coming from that corner.

Yuu thinks fast, then unwraps her sandwich. She holds out half to Malleus. “Prince Malleus, I beg you to please assist me by taking this sandwich.”

Malleus turns very slowly to look at her. “What?” he finally asks, a confused furrow appearing between his brows.

“It’s for vengeance,” she says.

“Oh?”

She nods. “This is a very valuable sandwich. Certain people ,” she stresses and Ruggie hisses before Malleus looks back over and he goes radio silent, “want it very much. Would you help me get petty revenge by eating it in front of him?”

“Petty revenge?” Lilia asks, amused.

“The best kind,” she confirms. 

Malleus considers her request, then smiles, just a little, at the corner of his mouth. He tears his piece in half and offers one side to Lilia. “I would be honored, Child of Man,” he tells Yuu, as gentle and serious as a king giving a boon.

She holds up her piece, “Then cheers, Hornton.”

Cheese bread doesn’t make a very satisfying noise when you clink it together, but Ruggie’s groan of despair more than makes up for it.

-----------

Running into Malleus at lunch reminds Yuu that she hasn’t spent nearly enough time lately with the guy who used to haunt her garden at night. Which is a tragedy.

Epel visibly panics when he shows up to her room that evening and finds a dragon prince sitting stiffly next to her on her bed. Yuu isn’t worried. Anyone who spends more than five minutes around Malleus realizes he’s actually a huge nerd. A ludicrously powerful nerd, but still. Epel will come around.

She takes the box of nail polish out of Epel’s hands and ushers him toward the loveseat. Rook darts around them to turn on the game system connected to her giant TV. 

“Hurry up so we can get to snacking!” Grim yells to the room at large, true to form. He scoops up an entire plate of cookies and flops into the nest of pillows he’s piled in a corner of the room. Since it’s the plate that had appeared from nowhere and is almost certainly a Tweel experiment, she doesn’t protest. (Grim has an iron stomach and eats blot rocks for fun. He’ll be fine.)

“I hope I am not intruding on your plans, Felmier,” Malleus says to Epel, as Yuu passes out cups of tea. “I must admit I do not understand the purpose of this gathering.”

“Oh, Roi du Dragons, you are in for a treat! This is a most exciting event!” Rook exclaims from where he’s staring intently at the TV. Yuu doesn’t think he’s blinked in the entire time he’s been here, which is slightly concerning. She sets a mug on the floor next to him. Maybe the steam will help moisten his eyeballs.

“Neige Leblanc made it into a dancing competition reality show,” she clarifies to Malleus. “It’s fun to watch, but Vil will blow a gasket if he sees us.”

“We told him we were visiting Yuu to practice makeup,” Epel says shyly. Malleus smiles back at him. 

Rook just hums. Yuu agrees with the sentiment. Vil absolutely knows what they’re doing and has decided to pick his battles. More importantly, and to everyone’s horror, Neige got it into his precious little brain to personally message Rook Hunt about the upcoming show. Therefore, Rook will watch this television program every single week without fail or he will die. No force in this universe will stop him. 

Vil knows this and is staying out of it. Yuu also knows this and has elected to help keep Rook from barricading himself in his room or fusing himself to the screen. She pets his dear, crazy head fondly. He smiles but doesn’t look away from where he’s tweaking the contrast. She can’t tell any difference, but leaves him to it. 

She holds up a bottle of neon pink polish for Malleus’ inspection. “What do you think, Hornton? You could match Lilia.”

“I find that agreeable,” he says.

“Excellent.” She sits next to him and reaches for his claws.

------/

Of course, the downside of watching Dancing with the Enemy in Yuu’s room is that merpeople have infested the entire ground floor of Yuu’s building. The five of them have just finished the episode, and Rook is regaling a supremely patient Malleus with tales from the Neige Leblanc greater cinematic universe. Grim is passed out in a food coma. (It’s not a real coma. She did check.)

Yuu is debating whether her thumb needs another coat of polish when Jade Leech appears without warning in the doorway. He doesn’t say a single word, just nods pleasantly to Yuu and slides under her bed.

The smart thing to do would be to ignore him, but Epel is staring in shock and horror at the eerily small space into which Jade has disappeared. It should be too narrow for Jade to fit. He’s there anyway. 

Yuu sighs and flops onto her belly to peer under the bed. “Can I help you, Jade?”

He smiles placidly, “No, Prefect, I’m quite alright. Thank you for asking.”

 “What are you doing?”

“I’d rather not say.” There’s a beat of silence before she hears Azul’s distinct tread on the stairs. Jade’s eyes widen for a split second before he gets himself back under control.

“Yuu?” Azul calls. “I hate to interrupt, but have you seen Jade?”

Jade grabs Yuu’s shirt, viper-quick but gentle, before she can pull herself back up. She hears Malleus shift next to her and waves a hand to show she’s fine. “We’ve just gotten a new shipment of espresso,” Jade whispers. “It’s exceptional.”

Yuu narrows her eyes, then nods. “Deal.”

She pulls herself back to sitting. “Haven’t seen him!” she calls down to Azul, who sighs.

“There’s nothing for it. I’ll have to use Floyd again,” she can hear him mutter as he heads back to his part of the building.

“What the heck was that about?” Epel demands after Azul’s footsteps trail off.

“Trade secrets,” comes from under the bed. “Did I hear you say Neige is to be in a new stage play, Rook?”

Rook gasps in delight.

-------/

The next morning, Jade’s nails glitter electric blue when he hands her the most beautiful latte she’s ever seen. Azul takes one look and throws the orange slice he’s eating at Yuu’s head. Jade helpfully bats it out of the way.