Chapter Text
The rink was crowded tonight. It wasn’t really rare, especially since it was Thursday evening and college students often organised nights out at the rink. But it was a lot more crowded than a regular Thursday night, it looked like a Saturday afternoon during winter break. This meant that this night would be funny, with small fry holding for dear life on the railings. Or it could be bothering as hell, since what Floyd had planned for tonight was to work on one of his tricks on the ice. And, even if there was no children in the way too long queue, he knew for a fact that people didn’t care about the rules of the ice rink, and that there would be people in rental skates in the middle of the rink. And by the Great Seven did it bother not only Floyd, but every regular there.
"Floyd ? Weren’t you supposed to work tonight ?"
The voice coming from the queue made everyone in a small radius turn towards it. Azul was standing in the queue with Jade beside him. Oh right, The whole meds campus had planned a party night here today. Jade had told him earlier this week. That he managed to rope Azul to come with him was something.
"Nah." The slightly taller twin answered with a small grimace. "Wanted to train tonight, someone took my shift." He showed his bag full of his skating supplies - most of them offered to him by his twin and not-best-friend-but-business-partner - with a lazy grin stuck on his face. Azul and Jade eyed him wearily before the smaller one of the group sighed, defeated by the actions of the twins.
Floyd had discovered a passion for ice skating during their third year at Night Raven College after Coach Vargas had organised a P.E class at the local rink on Sage’s Island. Floyd had found the activity interesting at the time and still found it interesting nowadays. There was, like in parcour, always something new and challenging to learn, the exact same way that the danger and fear of an injury was there, exhilarating. So, this new passion had followed him out of NRC, nearly three years after his first discovery of the sport.
The queue moved slowly, so slowly that Floyd, already bothered by it when he first saw the sheer length of it, took his twin and friend by the hand and pulled them out of the queue. Azul emitted a surprised noise, before the taller twin explained himself. "We’ll use my card."
"But we need to pay for the rentals !" Azul cried out as the people queueing around them looked at the three of them suspiciously. "Floyd, I’m not NOT paying for a service I should pay for !"
"They won’t care since it’s me. And you basically pay for it, just through my card. Don’t worry." He pulled them with him towards the gates separating the hall from the ice rink and lockers. Azul continued to protest weakly with Jade smiling beside him. The twins revelled in chaos and skipping a long and boring queue while everyone else watched them with envious eyes was a form of chaos that neither twin - and much less Jade - could let go of. And as Floyd had promised, the starff member let them go without a word other than a salutation to the taller twin, as Floyd gave his card to Jade, who then gave it to Azul. They had saved money with this ordeal and Azul, close to his money as he was, wouldn’t complain more than necessary. The octomer would still try to reimburse Floyd at some point, hating to be indebted, but for now, Azul and Jade went to fetch their skates on the shelves as Floyd pulled his out of his bag.
By the time Floyd had finished lacing his own skates, he looked up from his crouching position on the bench to see Azul struggling with his rental skates.
"Need help ?" The eelmer proposed with a grin on his face. The smaller of the trio blushed, embarrassed by the whole situation, but after a few more seconds stuggling with the buckles on the blue plastic skates, he sighed and lifted his foot towards Floyd, who went to kneel in front of him. "I thought you an’ Jade would be faster than I." As inconsiderate as Floyd usually was, he was quite gentle when fastening the buckles of the skates. "How’s it ? Not too tight ?"
Azul nodded before removing his foot from Floyd’s knee and placing the other foot there. "Why haven’t you tightened the two buckles the same way ?" Azul asked seeing the slightly taller twin do the same thing with his left skate. He could feel the higher buckle be more tight than the lower one, and it seemed like Floyd knew what he was doing because he did the exact same thing with the other skate as well.
"’Cuz these things aren’t comfortable at all." The teal-haired young adult placed his friend’s foot on the ground and showed his own skates. They were the typical glossy black with blue desings on it. Floyd had replaced the white laces with multicoloured ones a few months ago, and stuck some stikers on it. "Usually, when you lace your own skates, the artistic ones, so not like mine, you make sure this part and this part" he showed the lowest and highest parts of the skates, "are as tight as possible to hold your foot and not injure yourself. You leave the middle part not so tight to let your foot move and not hurt yourself as badly if you fall. It’s not really the same with hockey skates, the type I have, cuz we usually don’t do the same things as the artistics." He placed two fingers under the knot of his laces, "the guys that do hockey tend to keep this part not really tightened because they do crazy moves with their cross and all. Since I do figures and all that, I tighten mine a bit more to not hurt myself. But my ankles should move more freely than yours." Azul nodded at that, and beside him, Jade did the same, once again with a smile - albeit softer - on his face. "Anyway," Floyd stood up, "rentals like that are shitty but that’s what they have for artistic skates. I wanna go on the ice."
The trio went out of the lockers area after placing their belongings in a locker. Funnily, Azul and Jade struggled to walk with their skates on, making Floyd snicker. Once they reached the rink, Floyd started to run, jumping over the small step separating the ground from the ice, and started to sprint on the ice. Azul and Jade watched him with an exaperated smile on their face before trying to step on the ice.
Which was a failure. Both of them ending up on their asses the moment their feet left solid ground. Floyd went to them, stopping in a way that made snow fly on them. The hysterical laugh of the eel could be heard clearly, to the great despair of the two other members of the trio. Or maybe just to Azul’s dismay, Jade letting a laugh escape him, probably finding the situation hilarous. Floyd still helped them on their feet, guiding them towards the walls, and trying to help them find their balance by giving them advice here and there. Every time someone with their own skates came onto the ice, the person came to greet Floyd who smiled and bumped fists with each and every one of them.
By the time the trio had made it through half of the rink with Azul and Jade - who stopped smiling sweetly and finding the whole situation amusing once he realised that this was akin to flying - a person came to greet Floyd with a huge smile. Strangely for Azul and Jade, that person didn’t offer a fist bump but a kiss on the cheeks and a small hug to Floyd, who, more surprisingly, accepted the greetings with a smile.
"You brought your brother and friend here ? Thought we would never meet them !" The person smiled brightly while Floyd nodded. "Anyway, Jade and Azul, I presume ? I’m Lycoris, they/them pronouns, nice to meet you two." The person, Lycoris, offered a smile and their hand before retracting it seeing the two gripping the wall with their lives depending on it.
Floyd and Lycoris started to talk a bit of the past few days under the surprised gaze of Azul and Jade. Sure, Floyd had the ability to be friends with a lot of people if he found them interesting, but seeing him be so close to someone was quite surprising. So much that Azul and Jade exchanged a look, making assumptions in their heads.
"Need help to leave this poor wall ? We have the same kind of skates, I should be able to help you better than Floyd." Jade nodded and Azul offered a struggling glance before accepting as well. "Okay, first of all, Floyd, the others are in the lockers putting on their skates." Floyd nodded and skated towards the lockers excitedly. "Okay. Can I touch you ?" They got in front of Jade, who was himself in front of Azul. Once the slightly shorter twin gave his approval, Lycoris took Jade’s hands in theirs, guiding him slowly away from the wall. "Okay, there. First of all, relax your knees. I know it’s hard since it’s not the same centre of gravity, but trust me, I’m not gonna let you fall." They made a small move with their knees, bending them a few times. Once Jade started to do the same, they continued. "Good. Now try to place your feet in a ‘v’, yes, like that. Now push forwards on one foot, yeah, like that. Bring your other foot where the first one is, and repeat with the other foot." Still holding Jade’s hands, Lycoris started to move backwards, leading the eel to do the correct moves. They moved forwards a few metres before Lycoris let go of one of Jade’s hand, and gave him the rest of the instructions.
After a few minutes and wobbly steps, the skater let go of Jade’s other hand, leaving him go on alone.
"And if you feel like you’re going to fall, put your hands on your knees like that." They showed the movement, smiling. "Your centre of gravity will go back to ‘normal’ if you do that, and you will have less chances to fall on your back and hurting yourself." After these words, they came towards Azul who had watched the whole tutorial, trying to do the same while hugging the wall with all his might. Once again, Lycoris asked if they could touch him and gave the exact same help they gave to the twin. After a while, and once both Jade and Azul could stand on their feet without hugging the walls or falling down, Floyd came back on the ice followed by a small group of people, engrossed in a conversation. Once Floyd saw the two other members of his little trio standing by themselves on the ice, with Lycoris by their side helping them if needed, he ran - litterally ran - towards them, stopping abruptly beside them, making snow fly away in their direction. Behind him was a part of the group of people he was with, who introduced themselves to the two in rentals, before skating away to do their own things.
"Thanks for your help Moonjelly." Floyd offered Lycoris a smile, that the young adult gave back with a small ‘v’ of their fingers. Floyd then turned towards his brother and friend. "I met Moonjelly and the rest of the crew here. They’re cool and interestin’. Moonjelly and Salmon," he pointed to one guy that presented himself earlier, a small bald guy with a long beard, having fun on the ice, "helped me when I first started."
Lycoris offered a smile of their own. "Vael also helped me when I first started. The other regulars came afterwards, but he is the one to always come to struggling skaters. I wouldn’t have been there today, he would have been the one to help you two." Azul nodded at those words and pondered a bit.
Floyd wasn’t really someone secretive, especially compared to his twin, but he had kept the identities ofthis group of friends to himslef for nearly three years, and seeing Jade’s reaction to everything, the eel didn’t tell anything to his twin either. Surprising, but, Azul realised that he hadn’t asked a lot of questions either.
The four of them continued to slide on the ice slowly until the question that bothered Azul finally came out. "Lycoris ?" The young adult turned around, skating backwards, offering him a smile to continue. "Why don’t you have the same skates as Floyd ?"
Lycoris smiled, stopped and lifted a foot of the ice, showing their skates. They were white with multicoloured laces and a few stickers on them. "I do figure skating. Floyd does freestyle. So, for my jumps, I need that." They showed the picks at the front of their blade. Azul nodded.
"Can we see a jump ?" Jade chimed in, and the figure skater smiled, before making a sign to Floyd and skating away. "What’s happening ?" Floyd only smiled to his twin and guided him and Azul towards the centre of the rink, where some regulars where doing figures and tricks. Once the two in rentals were safely around the middle circle, Jade realised that the circle wasn’t closed by people, some sort of entry was left.
"Look here." Floyd pointed to someone skating, making circles around the rink. Azul realised that the person skating was Lycoris by the clothes they were wearing, the sort of skirt they were wearing flying around them. After a few turns, the skater started to skate backwards and come close to the centre. Lycoris then turned around once again, once they were in the middle circle, and jumped. Their skirt flew around them, the long pans of cloth circling around them. In a few milliseconds, they were back on the ice, safely landing on one foot, the other parallel to the ground. A few people around the circle clapped and cheered. Once the trick was over, Lycoris came back to the trio with a small smile on their face, leaving the middle circle free for others to do tricks and figures.
"Why did you do a double ?" Floyd looked at the smaller skater, a pout gracing his face. "You’ve been training for a triple for some time now."
Lycoris took a strand of hair in their hand, playing with the coloured tip. "Wanted to do a triple. But I fucked my rotation. And I don’t want to hurt myself on a jump again." Floyd nodded, and Lycoris turned towards Azul and Jade. "So, whaddya think ? It’s one of my favourite jumps to do."
"It was amazing !" Azul congratulated, already trying to think of ways to capitalise on that, probably. "It looked so effortless as well." Beside him, Jade nodded, before complimenting the skater as well. Lycoris only smiled before making a small sign to the trio and skating away to do some circles around the ice, talking here and there with some regulars or going ot help struggling people. Azul followed with his eyes the figure skater for a few seconds before turning his gaze towards the middle circle, where Floyd was doing a trick with two other people that the octomer didn’t recognise at all.
For a few seconds, Floyd and the two other people skated backwards in the circle before lowering their bodies in unison, moving one foot behind the other. The three skaters reached the ice with their bodies, holding their whole weight on one foot, hands grazing the ice, the other foot in the air behind the first one. The three bodies got closer to one another before the three skaters grabbed the hand of the two others, making a perfect circle in that position. After having lost their speed, they stood back up before high-fiving each other. Floyd then came back to his twin and friend, a toothy grin on his face.
"D’ya see that ? It’s called a ‘hydroblade’. We’ve been trying to do one together for a while. That’s the first time we actually manage to do it !" At these words, Jade congratulated his twin and Azul only smiled. Seeing Floyd having so much fun was gratifying, as much as Floyd had been, and still was, bothering with his moods swings and times when he didn’t want to work back when they were at NRC.
The three of them went back to skating, Floyd helping both beginners to not fall and splashing them with snow when they did fall, before the viking-looking guy from before came towards their trio. Without a word, the bearded man started to squat on one foot and made the move of drinking tea while looking at Floyd specifically. Floyd nodded, and the guy went on his way, doing the same movement to every member of his group when he came towards them.
"It’s coffee break." Floyd explained while guiding Jade and Azul out of the ice. "Every time around ten we take a small break in this room," he showed a room well lit with the word ‘The Austral’ written over the door, "for like, ten minutes. Sometimes, the girls stay a lot longer to talk and all. Usually Salmon and I only stay for a short while. Moonjelly says that we got the zoomies, but they like to talk to the girls a lot too." Jade nodded, while Azul looked at his friend, quite lost. If he was used to Floyd’s nicknames, he usually already knew the people he was reffering to, but here, and even with only two people named, the octomer was quite lost. Either way, the trio went to fetch their money back to the lockers before going to the room, where a group of eight people were already sitting, talking between themselves. Azul recognised the group as the people that greeted them at the beginning of their time on the ice, he even saw Lycoris engrossed in a conversation with the viking-looking guy. Once everyone collected their coffee at the coffe machine, they all went to sit, and Floyd was included in one of the conversation going on right after he sat down.
"And so, I get that you’re Sweetie’s brother and friend," a tall young woman with short brown hair exclamed turning her whole body towards Jade and Azul who were content with just listening to the three or four conversations going out at the same time. This got everyone’s attention nonetheless, "but what are you doing in life ?"
"I’m doing medical studies at the city centre’s campus," Jade started, gaining a hum from the young woman that asked, "I’m in my second year, in pharmaceutical studies." She nodded and looked at Azul.
"I study business near the humanities campus," he smiled, proud of himself, "I’m also in my second year." everyone nodded once again. Azul took a sip of his coffee, smiling.
"Wait," someone exclaimed, gaining everyone’s attention. When Azul turned his attention, he could see Floyd grinning beside him and Lycoris making a strange face. "You’re in the bursiness school, like, there ?" They made a move, their finger pointing in the metaphorical position of the humanities campus, and by extend, to the business school where Azul studied. The octomer nodded, not really understanding. Seeing the nod, Lycoris started to laugh. "No, really ? I thought that school was like, shitty as hell ! Everyone in the humanities campus makes fun of you guys for that." They explained, making Azul see red. The octomer started to go on a rant eplaining why the school was good, and that, while, yes, there were rich people that had Daddy’s money to pay for their tuition and diploma, it wasn’t his case. He had studied hard at school to go there, thank you very much !
"What are you doing anyway ?" He exclaimed, looking at Lycoris who had a mocking smile on their face. "I guess you are studying in the humanities campus since you know what they say about us ?"
Lycoris nodded, drank the last bit of their hot chocolate, and then spoke again. "I’m a PhD student in foreign literature. I teach at the Languages campus, the one behind the Library." Azul nodded before the information truly went to his brain.
It was Jade who realised before Azul, when the slightly smaller twin commented, "Wait, how old are you ?" Obtaining a smile from Floyd, who was, it seemed, waiting for that question to come.
"I just turned twenty-four in September." Lycoris smiled, and then started the round of everyone giving their age one after another. Jade and Azul realised that Floyd was the youngest of the group, making them the youngest as well. That was probably why the taller twin didn’t really talked about his skating friends to them. Or not, who knows ?
The conversation continued for a few minutes before a small group stood up, going back to the ice. Seeing the first group leaving, Floyd also stood up, threw away his coffee cup and waited for Jade and Azul by the door of the room. The two of them rejoingned him after also throwing away their cups. Just as Floyd had told them, there was only a small group staying in the heated room, composed mainly of the girls of the group, who directly changed the conversation topic once the others had left.
Once back on the ice, Floyd skated a bit in front of Jade and Azul, forwards, backwards, before making circles around the two struggling young men for a short while before his eyes caught on something. Azul looked up to see Floyd zoom past him and Jade, screaming "Goldfishie !" before understanding what was happening.
A bit further from where they were standing was a group of six people, looking oddly familiar. It took Azul a few more seconds concentration on that group to realise that he was looking at old classmates of his, especially at Riddle Rosehearts, who was hugging the walls for dear life. At this distance, Azul was able to see the group of six stop in their tracks, with Riddle looking startled. It took a few struggling steps for Jade and Azul to come and meet the group, and here they were, the old Heartslabyul group, all standing on rental skates like them, as well as Lycoris, standing near Riddle, as much surprised as the two mer were.
Everyone said their hello’s and started to talk, catching up a bit before the question came.
"Say," Azul started, trying to not sound too curious, "Why are you all here ?"
Cater smiled at them before pointing to Riddle who was surrounded by both Floyd and Lycoris. And while the two clearly didn’t have the same intentions, it was clear to see that the readhead was struggling. "Rid’s had a night out with the other med students. We went with him so that he could go out and have fun ! Oh and Professor Black asked if we needed help with moving on the ice." The Magicam addict explained as if it was evident. Jade nodded before Azul remarqued.
"Wait, ‘Professor Black’ ?" The octomer looked at the group of people, and while it was quite clear who Cater was referencing, it was still surprising to hear that.
"I’m his Foreign Literature Professor." Lycoris explained, moving away from Riddle and Floyd with a strange smile on their face. "Even though I don’t like being called by my surname by anyone, some of my students still do that." They turned towards Cater. "Like, I’m only what, three years older than you ? Something like that." Cater nodded before making a ‘sorry’ move.
"Anyway, what are you doing here ?" Ace exclaimed, sounding quite suspicious. He was followed by a suspicious glance from Riddle who was visibly struggling to ignore, what was clearly, a happy Floyd.
"Azul and I are here for the same reason than you. My class is also present tonight." Jade explained, hand on his heart and usual smile plastered on his face. "Floyd, however, is here to train and see friends. That we are here together is quite the coincidence." He added, receiving a few nods from everyone.
Riddle, still ignoring Floyd as much as he was able to, looked suspiciously at them. "I didn’t know that the pharmaceutical classes were here tonight. It is quite the coincidence indeed." The rest of his words were left unsaid, but both Jade and Azul were able to decrypt the not-so-hidden ’If I knew I wouldn’t have accepted to be here.’.
Their, now larger, group continued to talk, before Floyd started to fidget and zoomed past them all to go in the middle of the rink to do tricks. Lycoris stayed with them, going back to help Riddle once Floyd was definetly out of the way.
"So you guys all know each other ?" It was more stating than questioning, but Lycoris had the decency to not sound too curious.
"Yes," Riddle, holding on the professor’s hands for dear life, managed to let out, "we all went to the same school." Lycoris nodded, before giving the same advice that they gave to both Jade and Azul at the begining of the night. "If I may, how did you meet them, uh..."
"Lycoris. Please, no ‘professor’ or whatnots, I’m not that old. And I met these two at the begining of the night. Floyd is a regular here and a part of the Crew. He’s been coming here for what ? the past two years ? Something like that. Rarely saw someone becoming that good in so little time." Everyone nodded, the old Heartslabyul gang not really understanding the words coming out of the older adult. Noting their incomprehension, Lycoris guided them slowly towards the middle, where Floyd and the two people from before were once again doing their hydroblade. "He talked about his high school days a few times," Lycoris explained while skating between people to guide everyone in the centre, "you all went to Night Raven, right ?" A nod from everyone confirmed their words. "I didn’t really understood of who he was talking about, with the nicknames he uses, but it’s cool to meet people that knew him." The fact that they didn’t use the term ‘friends’ let everyone know that Lycoris might have been in the know of things, but they didn’t really develop. "I was quite surprised to hear him calling to a ‘Goldsihie’. He talked quite a lot about you." Riddle looked at the older person with big eyes, and, as Lycoris was starting to explain the reasons, Floyd came to them with a big smile on his face.
"Hey, Moonjelly, can we try our thing ? I wanna show the small fry what we’ve been training to !" Lycoris smiled, and slowly let go of Riddle’s hands, making sure that the redhead was able to stand on his own. They made a small sign to everyone before skating towards the centre of the circle, with Floyd in tow. Every regular around the circle started to step back a bit, making the middle circle bigger, the few people in rental skates that were watching the tricks also stepped back.
Floyd and Lycoris thanked them, and started to skate in the circle. They turned around, skating backwards, close to one another. Lycoris then slowed a bit, coming in front of Floyd who took their hips in his hands. After a few seconds of simply gliding on the ice on a semi circle, Floyd put more pression of his partner’s hips, and lifted them of the ground. In one swift movement, he made Lycoris fly over his head, the older one spining parallel to the ground before Floyd caught them back in his arms, and guided them back in the ice. The ended up their trick with Lycoris gliding on the ice backwards, one foot in the air, hand in hand with Floyd. Both of them were smiling, and once the movement was totally finished, they both went to someone in the crowd. That person, Azul realised, had been filming them with Floyd’s phone. Once the phone had been taken back, the two went to see their group, both sporting huge grins.
Once they were both close to them, Cater started to applaud, quickly followed by the rest of the group. Lycoris thanked them while Floyd only smiled with his sharp teeth on display. Jade and Azul shared a look, nearly sure of their theory now.
"Damn that was amazing !" Deuce exclaimed, cutting the round of applause with his words. "It was like watching ice skating on TV !"
Lycoris smiled and started to explain the figure. "Floyd came to me because I am the only one not in a relationship or situationship in the group - an probably the only one who could agree to his whims." It made the group smile, imagining the worse. "I mean, it is possible to do those kinds of figures with one of the two in hockey skates, but I felt like it was more dangerous than with artistic skates. That fishhead was way more excited when I explained that and we started to train. That’s like, the third time we manage to do it correctly." They explained calmly before adding, murmuring, "Fucking adrenaline junkie." That made Floyd’s smile grow bigger.
"I didn’t know one of my professors was like, an ice skating champ. That’s like, amazing !" Cater exclaimed, taking out his phone to take a photo of the duo, before showing them the video he took of the figure. "Can I post it ?" The two of them nodded before Lycoris gave their Magicam to Cater for him to tag them.
"I’m not competing. Just doing that for the fun of it. If you want a real champion, go as for Professor O’brian. She’s competing on a national level. I’ve been to one of her competitions and she’s amazing !" The languages student nodded before posting the video he took. The conversation started once again, everyone asking here and there a few question to the two skaters that had fun to answer them. Well, Lycoris had more fun answering them, Floyd giving only half-assed answers, his eyes locked somewhere else.
The night continued like that, the old NRC students staying mostly together, and Floyd going here and there between the two groups. At some points in the night, they all gathered in the middle to watch someone do a trick and receive pieces of advice from the regulars. Once the clock reached eleven thirty in the night, the lights, that had been dimmed for the ambiance, were lit once again, and a voice resonated on the speakers to thank everyone for coming and asking everyone to leave the ice. The regulars started to leave the ice slower than the other skaters, taking advantage of the now nearly empty rink to do one last tricks before everyone finally left the rink. The group took off their skates, giving them back to staff members while Floyd took off his skates, dried the blades and put them back in his bag.
Once everyone was out of the building, Floyd’s skating group bade their goodbyes, leaving only the group of NRC alumni and Lycoris, who stayed back to talk with one staff member.
"You’re all going home I presume ?" The oldest asked, gripping their skating bag tightly. The long coat they wore was hiding their outfit, maybe a good thing considering how dangerous the city could be at that time of the night. Everyone nodded. "You’re in a group, so it shouldn’t be dangerous for you. Good." They smiled at everyone, and started to walk away, waving their hand in the wind. "See ya !" Once they were left alone, everyone looked at the other in silence.
"So, uh..." Cater started, looking at the trio of mermen. "Tonight was fun. It was cool to see y’all." Jade smiled at those words, and started to exchange pleasantries with the languages student. "There’s a bar, not so far away from here, wanna come ?"
"I have classes early tomorrow, it will be without me." Riddle answered his friend, who pouted. The rest of the group agreed to go drink something at the nearby bar, except for Floyd who looked somewhat out of sorts.
"Go have fun. I’m heading home." Everyone nodded and started to head towards the bar, leaving Floyd and Riddle alone in front of the building, now completely closed.
They stayed here in silence, looking at each other before Riddle started to head in the same direction the others went to, probably going to take the tram. "Where’re ya going Goldfishie ?"
"I’m taking the tram. I don’t want to miss the last one." Riddle answered calmly, probably too tired to make a remark on the nickname. Floyd let out a small laugh.
"It’s not even midnight. The trams stop at like, one a.m during the week." He followed the redhead, smiling softly. Riddle nodded and continued to head towards the tram stop. "You’re not going out often, right ? Not knowing that and all..."
"Are you implying that I don’t have a social life ?" Riddle started to see red at those words. How dared Floyd to think that ?
"Nah. I just know that Goldfishie isn’t one for going out at night. ‘Twas fun to see you here tho. It’s been a while." They both stopped walking once they had reached the tram stop. Riddle didn’t answer Floyd’s last words, only humming a bit. The eelmer looked at the timetable. Their tram would be here in a few minutes.
"Oh ? We’re going the same way ?" Riddle lifted his eyes from the ground, Floyd was now seated in front of him in the tram. They, indeed, were apparently going in the same direction. Once again the redhead didn’t give a verbal answer to the eel, only nodding.
It had been a while since their last meeting. The two had last seen each other at graduation two years prior. Riddle hadn’t even known that Floyd was in the same city as him before tonight. Even if the redhead had spent his first year in med school with Jade, the slightly shorter twin hadn’t really talked about his brother. They hadn’t even really exchanged words beyond greetings and mandatory conversations regarding classes. Then, they passed their first year, Riddle going into general practice and Jade into pharmacy. They still bumped into each other every once in a while since they shared a campus, but despite that, Riddle didn’t know a lot. He had been sure that Floyd had gone back to the Coral Sea after graduation, since he never showed any interest in getting a higher education.
"Where do you stop, Goldfishie ?" Floyd asked, watching carefully each and every reaction of the person in front of him. Riddle looked tired as can be, and the city centre had a reputation to be dangerous at this hour, regardless of gender.
"City Centre. I live near it." Floyd nodded, and let silence engulf them once again. The eel had so many questions to ask, but he had realised that it wasn’t the time nor place to ask them. Riddle looked really tired, and something told Floyd that it wasn’t just because it was past the other’s bedtime.
Once they reached the designated stop, they both went out of the tram. Floyd starting to follow Riddle sliently.
"Why are you following me ?" Riddle asked, starting to feel annoyed at the other’s antics. He didn’t have the time to play with him. It was too late for that.
Without a word, Floyd took Riddle’s hand and started to walk faster. "Which direction ?" He asked lowly, nearly murmuring. Riddle looked startled before showing the way. He still tried to take back his hand but the eel had a strong grip on him. When he started to voice his disagreement with the eel’s actions, Floyd stopped and leaned closer to the smaller of the two. "Let me." He leaned in closer, eyes fixed on something in the dark. "Guide us towards your home, but make a detour. Like, turn left two consecutive times." Feeling the danger, Riddle only nodded and took two consecutive turns left.
After walking in silence for a few minutes, Riddle gave Floyd a look, and murmured : "What’s happening, Floyd ?"
Floyd only sped up his steps, still clinging onto the redhead’s hand. "We’re being followed. By someone drunk, or high, or both. I don’t know. But he’s been following us for a while. Where d’ya live Goldfishie ?" Riddle gave the name of the street, and let himself be guided by the taller young man. He knew that technically he was stronger than the person following them, and that if things went down, the police would understand the use of magic towards someone non-magic as self-defense. But he didn’t know if the person was armed, posessed any magic or anything else. They might have been two against one, but no one could predict what would happen. And if his mother learned that he went out during the week - no, that he went out at all ! - she would force him to go back to her. And he refused this idea with all his might.
Ten minutes passed, walking in circles around the street where he lived. At some point, Floyd had stopped nearly running, to take a more relaxed way of walking, but he still held onto Riddle’s hand with all his might. His hand was warm, and, in a strange, convoluted way, reassured the smaller young adult. Whatever would happen, he was safe.
Another few minutes went by, and Floyd started to walk towards the street where Riddle lived. His way of walking had become more and more relaxed with every step they were taking. "He left. Of fell down to throw up somewhere." Once again, Riddle nodded at those words, and started to take the lead towards his apartment. Once they were finally in front of the building, Riddle stopped walking and looked around, to see if that person that had followed them was there. There was only darkness.
"Well, uh..." the smaller of the two started, looking at their still linked hands. "Thank you for that, Floyd. I really appreciate it." Floyd offered him a smile, and let go of his hand. Suddenly, the night was cold. After a few seconds of silence, Floyd gave Riddle his phone. It was unlocked and opened on a new contact page. Riddle looked at the phone, then at Floyd, then back at the phone. "What do you want me to do with that ?"
Floyd scratched the back of his neck, "gimme your number, of course. I’ll send ya a text once I’m home so that someone knows I didn’t die." The eel let out a laugh, but Riddle could hear the strain in Floyd’s voice. He nodded and took the phone and entered his number. He simply named himself ‘Riddle Rosehearts’ in the contact, fully knowing that he would be renamed with his stupid nickname the second Floyd would have his phone back. Once the contact was created, the page disappeared, leaving the full list of Floyd’s contacts on the screen. Riddle couldn’t stop himself from giving a look at it.
He could only see the contacts that had been in the favourite category, but he recognised some names - mainly Azul and Jade’s - but also the nicknames of some people of the ice skating group he had recognised throughout the night at the rink. There was also the phone number of the eel’s parents. All of the starred numbers had a smiley attached to the names or nicknames. It made Riddle smile, recognising Floyd’s antics, even after two years without seeing the other. The eel hadn’t changed a bit.
Riddle bade his goodbyes to the other, that waited for him to be in the safety of the apartment complex’s hall to start to walk away, waving his hand in the air, as if saying goodbye one last time to the redhead, that headed directly towards his apartment, before heading to bed. That day had been as long as humanly possible.
A few streets over, in a dark corner, a bloodied body was laying on the ground. Over him stood a dark and tall figure, craking their fingers. The bloodied person was still conscious, and was apologising incessantly.
"Then I hope that you and your friends will leave us be." The voice of the figure was dark and profound, angry. "Let me be cristal clear, You touch one hair of this guy, you’re dead." The person nodded, scared for his life, before trying to stand up and run away.
Only the figure stayed in that street for a few minutes, before they started to move the opposite way they came from.
An hour later, Riddle’s phone vibrated, with a message from an unknown number.
From : Unknown
Hey Goldfishie, I’m home. T’was cool to see ya.
Sleep well.