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Deuce doesn’t really do “theorizing.”
He never really had to in the past. It’s not that he never questioned anything ever - of course he did - but when there’s a mystery, he’s simply not good at speculation.
However, as he changes out of his gym clothes and sorts his thoughts, he feels like he’s right in his theory. In fact, he’s so confident in it, that he’d be willing to go tell his findings to his friends, and they’d totally believe him!
Hypothesis: Deuce’s upperclassman, Cater Diamond, is being hypnotized by Malleus Draconia, Diasomnia’s Housewarden.
Evidence #1: Every time someone mentions the fae’s name around Cater, he’ll doze off and his face will turn a slight pinkish color. This obviously indicates the spell’s effects on him.
Evidence #2: They spend an irregular amount of time together. For the past couple of months, Deuce has seen Cater and Malleus walking around in the hallways, eating together at lunch, and whenever they have joint classes, the two always pair together! Clearly, this is how Malleus is keeping Cater underneath his spell.
Evidence #3: Cater only talks about Malleus. On the off chance that they are not spending time together, he’ll go on rants about the fae, ranting about anything from his looks to his hobbies. Since Malleus is the only thing on Cater’s mind, he has to be under some type of spell!
And finally, Evidence #4: Whenever Malleus walks Cater back to Heartslabyul in the evenings, Cater is always blushing and stumbling over his words. This shows that the spell is strong enough to even rid Cater of his powers of speech!
“Well,” Deuce whispers to himself as he makes his way out of the locker rooms, “not if I have anything to say about it. Just you wait, Cater-senpai, I’ll save you from this hypnosis.”
“Oi, Deuce, what’re you whispering about?” Jack asks, sending his friend an odd look.
But Deuce pays him no mind; after all, he knows just who to rely on to help him with his plan to save Cater.
“Deuce…I know you’re stupid, but this is a new low.”
Right before they went to bed, Deuce had pulled Ace aside as their two roommates brushed their teeth and told him his theory about Cater and Malleus.
And yet, Ace had completely rejected his request and laughed about “telling Trey-senpai his stupid theory,” whatever that meant.
Whatever. Whatever!
If Ace isn’t going to help Deuce break Cater out of this spell, then he’ll just have to do it himself! It doesn’t matter that Ace would be a big help, because despite all of his laziness, he’s actually really smart and good at reading social cues, and Deuce really appreciates him sometimes, especially when he acts rude while his pretty red eyes betray the kindness in his actions, and—
Woah. What was that all about? Deuce focuses back on the mission at hand: Cater-senpai.
How should he go about this…?
He mulls over this question for a good part of his morning classes. It isn’t until lunchtime, when he and his friends are all eating together, that an idea pops into his head. “That’s it!” He stands up, triumphantly slamming his right hand onto the table, accidentally spilling his water. “Oh, shoot.”
“…You okay, Deuce?” Yuu asks cautiously, handing over a paper towl. “What’s wrong?”
“Sit down,” Jack huffs, one of his ears flicking in slight annoyance, probably at the sudden loudness of Deuce’s exclamation. “It’s already loud enough out here, since everyone’s going crazy about today.”
“S-sorry!” Deuce scrambles to wipe of the spilt water, not really processing Jack’s words. He then awkwardly swings his legs out from under the cafeteria table and quickly explains, “I need to go talk to Viper-senpai!”
“…A hypnosis spell?” the Scarabia Vice-Housewarden hums thoughtfully. “I guess…a strong enough mage would be able to pull something like that off.”
It had taken Deuce the better part of lunch, but he managed to find Jamil in the school kitchen, making what looks to be…chocolates? Oh well, Deuce isn’t here to judge what Jamil snacks on.
“What would a spell like that do?” Deuce asks desperately. This is the first lead I’ve had—I can’t let this opportunity go to waste!
Jamil makes an expression like he’s thinking hard, bringing his hand up to his chin. “I suppose…it would force the person under the spell to do their Master’s—ah, I mean, to do the spell caster’s bidding.”
But what would the Housewarden of Diasomnia be forcing Diamond-senpai to so? Deuce asks himself, his eyebrows furrowing in his fristration. Nevertheless, he thanks Jamil and continues on his search for answers.
So a spell like that could theoretically exist, he thinks to himself as he speed-walks through the halls. And I guess Malleus Draconia would be strong enough to be able to cast a spell like that…but when? And how?
Deuce sees Cater in the mornings, and he knows that Cater isn’t hypnotized at that point in the day. Granted, they are in different years and have vastly different schedules, so there’s lots of chances for Cater to be hypnotized throughout a school day. But when Deuce sees Cater in the evening, he’s hypnotized; if he’s hypnotized when he goes to sleep, then how does he break himself out of the spell during the night?
Maybe it wears off? Deuce reasons to himself. It fades away at night…which means that the spell needs to be reapplied daily!
Finally, he’s getting somewhere with this! For once, he feels like he’s connecting the pieces of a mental puzzle together, and it feels good; is this how honor students are supposed to feel?
Mood thoroughly lifted, Deuce waltzes right into his next class and happily sits next to Ace, a smirk on his face.
His friend simply gives him a weird look and says, “Dude. What’s up with your creepy smile?”
But not even Ace’s snide remarks could dissuade Deuce’s good mood.
What kind of spell fades away? Deuce thinks to himself as he makes his way to his last class of the day, Potionology. I guess most spells fade away, so it’s hard to really narrow the list down…
As he walks into Professor Crewel’s class, he notices that Ace isn’t in the class. He then spots Epel sitting by himself, waving Deuce over to the seat next to him. Oh, we’re having joint class today.
“Hey, Deuce!” Epel smiles toothily as Deuce sits next to him. “Woah, you look lost in thought. What’s up?” His expression turns into a shit-eating grin. “Wait, don’t tell me…did Ace finally make a move?”
Deuce goes to respond, but at the sight of Epel, his eyes are drawn to one thing: the badge on his left arm. Poison!
“Wait—Epel, you know about different kinds of poisons, right?” Deuce asks quickly, already forgetting what Epel had said as he grabs Epel by the shoulders.
Epel’s first reaction is to smack Deuce’s hands away. “Oi, don’t grab me so harshly! Oh, wait…poisons?” His stern expression turns thoughtful instantly. “Sure, I know about poisons. What kind’re you wondering about?”
“Are there any types of potions that could hypnotize someone?” Deuce continues, letting his friend’s shoulders go. “Like…make them only talk about one person, or make them only pay attention to one person?”
“Like…” Epel narrows his eyes at Deuce suspiciously. “…Like a love potion?”
“That’s it!” Deuce cries, slamming his hands on the table and standing up.
“Deuce…” Epel fixes him with a disappointed look. “I know that you’re probably excited about today, but you can’t just—“ He stops talking suddenly, his eyes widening.
Deuce then suddenly feels the familiar pain of a stick being wacked on his head, and he quickly sits down with a wince. “S-sorry, Crewel-sensei.”
“Hmph,” Professor Crewel looks down at Deuce with displeasure. “You pups are always too noisy. I hope this means that you’re all ready for the exam today.”
Deuce and Epel let out twin groans.
“Aw, shucks, I forgot about the exam!” Epel whisper-groans, his shoulders slumped. “Who schedules an exam on today of all days?”
Deuce sighs, dragging a hand down his face. “If I don’t get a good grade, my Housewarden will have my head…!”
But in his head, Deuce stashes the information that Epel provided him. For now, he’ll focus on his impending doom; but later, he’ll continue his research.
“Well look who we have here! It’s half of the Adeuce combo!”
Deuce’s eyes widen as two hands cover his sight from behind. He’s currently in the Heartslabyul lounge, a book about different types of potions in his hands, as a familiar voice calls out to him.
“Cater-senpai, please don’t sneak up on me,” Deuce says, his voice faint as he reaches a hand up to push away his upperclassman’s from his eyes. He tilts his head back and sees Cater’s face looking down at him, mouth downturned in a slight pout.
“Aww, you’re no fun, Deuce-chan!” Nevertheless, Cater grins and comes around, sitting on the other side of the couch that Deuce has been lounging on. “What’cha reading there?”
“…Potions,” Deuce mumbles, showing him the cover of the book he’s reading. He squints suspicious at Cater as he does so, looking at the different features that the book said affect people under hypnosis potions.
His eyes seem normal, he’s not acting any different than usual, and his limbs aren’t jerking around oddly, Deuce takes note of in his head. Moreover, he hasn’t mentioned Malleus Draconia once in the whole comversation! Maybe he’s not under hypnosis right now…?
“…an? Deuce-chan? Hell-oooo?”
Deuce blinks, snapped out of his train of thought as Cater starts calling out his name.
“There you are!” Cater grins. “I was worried you were hypnotized or something!”
Deuce only has a moment to think about the irony of that statement, because before he can respond, he hears footsteps behind him coming from the entrance of the building.
“Ah? I see that you’re not alone.”
Deuce’s blood runs cold as the smooth, slightly intimidating voice speaks from behind him. As if oblivious to Deuce’s fear, Cater’s expression brightens and he waves, “Oh, Malleus-kun! Hey, you’re here early!”
“I was invited by you after all, Diamond,” Malleus Draconia responds with a low chuckle, walking past Deuce to hold a hand out to Cater. Cater takes the hand gratefully and Malleus helps him stand up. Now that Deuce can see him, he notices a bouquet of…roses in his hand?
Malleus then turns to Deuce and his eyebrows lift marginally. “Spade—apologies for interrupting your conversation with C- Diamond.”
“That’s fine,” Deuce squeaks, praying that Malleus doesn’t notice the slight tremor in his voice.
Luckily, the Seven seem to be on his side, because Malleus simply nods at Deuce and turns back to Cater. “Diamond—shall we get going?”
“Of course!” Cater nods excitedly. He then blinks and snaps, “Oh, wait, let me go grab by phone—I left it in my room!” He hovers by Malleus for a moment, as if about to do something, before deciding against it and running off towards his room.
Deuce is then stuck in an awkward silence with Malleus Draconia himself. He’s long since forgotten the existence of the potions book, his hands instead resting in his lap as he squeezes the fabric of his pants nervously.
A good, model student wouldn’t attack another student based off of a theory with no evidence, Deuce tries to reason with himself. Plus, this is Malleus Draconia…even if I did try to pick a fight, it wouldn’t work out well for me.
The other, delinquent side of his brain argues, So are you just going to watch as your upperclassman gets taken advantage of by him?!
Before Deuce can really come to a decision though, Cater returns with his phone in hand and a small, wrapped box.
“Sorry to cut the convo short, Deuce-kun,” Cater smiles at Deuce apologetically, “but Malleus-kun and I gotta split! I’ll see you later, ‘kay?” And with that, Deuce watches his upperclassman walk hand-in-hand with Malleus out of Heartslabyul.
…That was my chance to try and set things straight, Deuce bemoans in his head, his hands coming up to cover his face.
But then, he starts to think about what Malleus was holding: a bouquet of roses. That’s not a potion, and as far as Deuce could tell, the roses didn’t seem like they were magical in any way.
Furthermore, if Cater wasn’t under hypnosis when he was talking with Deuce a few minutes ago, then why did he bring down what was clearly a present for Malleus?
“Oi, Deuce, why do you look more stupid than usual?”
Deuce flushes as Ace walks out into the lounge. “O-oi, Ace, don’t call me stupid!”
“Then why do you look like that?” Ace raises an eyebrow, walking over towards the couch that Deuce is at, standing behind it. His eyes then widen. “Wait a second…did you confess to someone and they rejected you?”
“Wha- no?!” Deuce frowns at Ace. “Why would you even suggest that?”
Oddly, Ace seems relieved at Deuce’s response, which only sends him into further confusion. “Oh. Then why are you so clearly pissed?”
Deuce sighs. “…Malleus Draconia just came to pick up Cater-senpai.”
Ace raises an eyebrow. “And? I’m not surprised—in fact, I’m surprised that Cater-senpai didn’t just spend all day at Diasomnia.”
“Wh- how could you say that?!” Deuce glares, standing up at facing Ace, who suddenly seems taken aback. “You didn’t believe me when I said that Cater-senpai is being hypnotized, but now that it’s more obvious—“
“You’re still on that?!” Ace cuts him off, his eyes wide. “Deuce…are you actually stupid? I thought you were joking earlier…” He seems seriously concerned, which is only freaking Deuce out.
“What do you mean?!” Deuce replies, his voice raising in pitch. “Why would I joke about that?!”
Ace looks Deuce dead in the eye and says, “Deuce. Cater-senpai is in love with Malleus-senpai. It’s so bad that I’m surprised you haven’t noticed yet.”
“…So he does have Cater-senpai under a love potion!” Deuce gasps.
Ace groans loudly, smacking himself in the face. “I give up. Deuce, you’re hopeless. Why did it have to be you?!” He leaves his hand there, covering his eyes to avoid looking at Deuce.
“Oi, stop insulting me!” Deuce retorts, grabbing Ace by the shoulder. “And what do you mean? Why did what have to be me?”
“Why did you have to be the one that I fell in love with?!” Ace groans, still covering his eyes. “You can’t even see when two people are so obviously in love…what hope do I have?!”
Deuce doesn’t process the words for a moment. But when he does, his face explodes into a red mess. “Y-you—!” he stammers, yanking his hand back as if burned by Ace. “You’re—!”
“And today is Valentine’s Day,” Ace continues, letting his hand drop from his face to reveal a pink tint coloring his cheeks. “Deuce, haven’t you noticed all the couples around school today?! Malleus-senpai picked up Cater-senpai because it’s Valentine’s Day.”
…………
“…Wait, you’re confessing to me?!” Deuce exclaims, his face somehow burning even more.
Ace stares at Deuce for a moment…before bringing his other hand out - which Deuce has just noticed had been hidden behind his back this whole time - and chucks something at Deuce. The item hits him square in the chest, and the force that it was thrown was so strong that it leaves Deuce breathless.
“I need to go,” Ace sighs. “I’ll be back in ten. Just…please, somehow, develop common sense before I come back.” He then turns around and heads back towards the dorms.
Deuce stares blankly at Ace’s back as he walks away. He then mechanically looks down and grabs the item that Ace threw at him: a pastel-pink box wrapped with a ruby-red ribbon. Attached to the ribbon is a note that says, “Will you be my Valentine?”
Deuce recognizes it as Ace’s handwriting; after all, they’ve spent so much time doing homework together that Deuce is pretty sure he could recreate Ace’s handwriting if he wanted to.
“Valentine’s Day…” Deuce mumbles aloud, his mind still trying to process what Ace just said. “Ace…is in love with…?”
And then, he gasps. Cater-senpai is dating Malleus Draconia?!
“I hope you like the flowers,” Malleus says, a touch of anxiety evident in his voice. He and Cater are holding hands as they walk from the Diasomnia dorm towards the mirror. It’s already late enough, and if Cater doesn’t get back in time, Riddle will definitely have his head.
Cater smiles up at Malleus and pecks him in the cheek. “Are you kidding? I love them!” He hugs the bundle to his chest. “I’m so glad you didn’t get me chocolate like a lot of my old Valentines have! It’s like they don’t even get me!”
Malleus’ expression sours and his grip on Cater’s hand tightens. “They were fools, then, to take you for granted,” he says simply, as if it’s a fact of life. He then smiles softly down. “But I suppose…I must be grateful. After all, I’m the only one who gets the pleasure of being with you.”
This guy and his stupidly pretty face! Cater internally screams as his face reddens. But…it’s nice to have someone care for me like this.
Cater had been hesitant, going into this relationship. He had noticed himself becoming closer friends with Malleus, and even then, his brain had tried to slam on the brakes. After all, Malleus is Malleus Draconia, the heir of Briar Valley! And Cater is…well, he’s just Cater. So even when he caught feelings, he didn’t know how he’d confront them.
In the end, it was Malleus himself who ended up telling Cater a couple months back, “Diamond, I would like to court you.”
Of course, Cater’s first response had been along the lines of, “Haha, stop joking, Malleus-kun!”
Malleus, thinking that he’d been rejected, had physically wilted and replied, “Apologies, Diamond. I understand and respect your boundaries.”
So, needless to say, the start of the relationship was pretty rocky! Especially because the next day, Lilia had to approach Cater and tell him during their club meeting that no, Malleus was not, in fact, joking about the courtship.
Cater had dropped everything at that moment and ran to the Diasomnia dorm. Many thoughts had been running through his mind; Should I accept? Should I decline? What about after NRC? Won’t this just end in us going our separate ways, like it always does?
And yet, upon seeing Malleus’ surprised face, all other thoughts in Cater’s mind silenced except for one: I want to try this.
“Diamond,” Malleus says, his voice dragging Cater out of memory lane.
Cater chuckles. “You know that you can call me ‘Cater’ when it’s just us! ‘Diamond’ is for when we’re out in public.”
Cater had, surprisingly, been the one who wanted to keep their relationship under wraps for now. Usually, he’d be ecstatic to update his relationship status on Magicam—but being realistic, this is Malleus Draconia that we’re talking about. His very existence is already known throughout Twisted Wonderland, and while Cater can deal with publicity, the type of publicity that Malleus has is entirely too much!
Of course, he’ll be willing to go public eventually—but Cater needs to warm up to the idea for a little bit first.
“Your underclassman…” Malleus continues, “…the one who you were talking with at Heartslabyul.”
“Oh, Deuce-chan!” Cater nods. “What about him?”
“Does he…dislike me?” Malleus asks, his voice a little quieter than it was previously. “Today, he seemed…nervous around me. Almost angry.”
Cater raises an eyebrow. “Deuce-chan? Scared of you? No way—haven’t you two talked in the past just fine?”
“I suppose,” Malleus hums. “He just seemed…displeased, today.”
Cater snorts. “I promise, it’s probably nothing against you. In fact, I bet it has something to do with Ace-chan.” He giggles, “Those two are just so cute!”
“Mn,” Malleus hums noncommittally, probably just nodding along with what Cater’s saying at this point.
As they arrive at the mirror portal, Cater turns to Malleus and squeezes his hand. “Thank you for today,” he says softly. “I…I really enjoyed it.”
Malleus matches the smile, and then goes a step further by bringing Cater’s hand up to his lips, brushing a soft kiss on his fingers that leave Cater’s hand tingling pleasantly.
“The honor was mine…Cater,” Malleus says charmingly, sounding out Cater’s name slowly in his velvety voice.
Alarms blare in Cater’s head. Warning: attractive man!! Very pretty!! Very handsome and princely!!
“Happy Valentine’s Day, Malleus-kun,” is all Cater can say to that.
“Happy Valentine’s Day, my love,” Malleus responds.
And the warmth that Cater feels in his chest at those words stay with him the rest of that night.