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Ruggie lays sprawled out on Kalim’s chest, his eyes closed while the late afternoon sun warms the back of his school uniform and the tufts of his hair. Kalim had offered for him to come over to his dorm after classes, for no reason in particular - Kalim just asked for him to come, and Ruggie said he’d think about it.
Despite his best efforts to be impartial to Kalim’s begging, trying to weigh it for pros and cons like anything else, he realized he really doesn’t have much better to do - Leona is out for a housewarden meeting he was dragged off to, there’s no spelldrive practice today, and he can’t think of any odd jobs he might’ve agreed to - not to mention, he highly doubts he’d be able to focus on other stuff with the prospect of having Kalim in his company on his mind.
Kalim and Ruggie are…friends? More than that. But not enough to really be considered a thing or technically ‘together’? Ruggie doesn’t know, relationships are confusing as hell.
Yeah, sometimes Kalim and him sit at the far edge of the botanical garden making flower crowns when the weather’s good, taking turns playing music quietly from his phone to listen to so they don’t rile up Leona from his naps. And yeah, Kalim once bought him a box of donuts from some super expensive bakery just cause Ruggie fixed a small hole in his cardigan and they sampled them together.
Ruggie initially was just going to smuggle the donuts back to his room and figure out how to ration them while still enjoying the fancy frostings and fillings, but holding the ornate, gold-laced box in his arms even with Kalim having no intention of asking for any himself still made him want to share. Considering Kalim’s surprise and excitement when he was offered some and bit into a jelly-filled donut with delight, Ruggie would say it was worth it.
Kalim gives him run downs of what he does during pop music club sessions (which isn’t much), and teaches Ruggie some of his favorite dances and songs just cause he can. Ruggie picks up all manner of rocks and pebbles and takes pictures of random things he thinks Kalim will like, always being followed up with dozens of messages in all caps in return for his photo dumps.
Sometimes they have long conversations about life back home. Sometimes they sit outside in the rain huddled under Kalim’s umbrella or have debates over what’s the best color of the rainbow. Sometimes they don’t do anything at all, just laying in the grass together or walking around the school.
Ruggie doesn’t know what they are, but he feels like it’s a little more than friends. Especially considering that today when he finally took Kalim up on his offer to spend time in his dorm room and Kalim flopped onto his back with his cardigan spilling over the bed, Ruggie didn’t think twice about crawling on top of him and folding his arms over his chest.
He supposes that’s the real nice thing about being, well. Whatever he is with Kalim of all people - the cautiousness he has to exhibit so much with everyone else is able to take the slightest bit of a backseat with him. Kalim doesn’t strike him as a threat or someone who will come back later to ask about a debt or a favor he needs to repay. Kalim’s more likely to go out of his way to find Ruggie for no reason at all other than to shove a French cruller in his mouth and ask if he likes it as much as all the other kinds of donuts he’s tried.
Kalim, despite his status and wealth, just sees Ruggie as Ruggie. And after a long school day with even longer exams and lessons, Ruggie’s just fine shutting his brain off and listening to Kalim prattle on about inane things while he soaks in his warmth. At least by doing so he can pretend he’s here to gain something specific.
“…And that’s everything Jamil made me for breakfast! Do you wanna hear about everything that happened during homeroom?” Kalim beams, holding Ruggie’s face up by his cheeks that promptly squish and puff out in his hands. Ruggie feels like a melted marshmallow. “Sure.”
“Okay! So first I-…!”
Ruggie shuts his eyes, ready to zone out to the sound of Kalim’s voice again while he pokes and prods. Kalim’s always seemed to have a fondness for physical affection, at least as long as Ruggie’s known him. Whether it’s holding his palm over his on the umbrella or rolling and unrolling the cuffs of Ruggie’s uniform, Kalim’s just always putting himself in Ruggie’s personal space one way or another.
After being around him so often and studying how he works, thinks, and acts, Ruggie’s come to the conclusion that he does it because he himself likes to learn and study, albeit in a different way. While Ruggie listens for tone changes and preferences, Kalim grabs a sleeve for a show of attention, or brushes an eyelash off his cheek and tells him to make a wish.
Kalim nudges and pries, learning Ruggie’s habits when he tucks a plush blanket over his shoulders or rubs his shoulder when he’s frustrated just so he himself can learn what makes Ruggie happy. What makes Ruggie give in a little. What makes him melt and let his ears bend back a little from just his fingers brushing. A different inflection in someone else’s tone can be a matter of life or death in some scenarios, but a lilt in Kalim’s tone is like listening to honey personified; sweet and smooth and candied with an adoring timbre that makes his bones finally able to relax.
Kalim smooths over the fabric of Ruggie’s worn school uniform while he talks about how the sun was so nice through the window he almost fell asleep, fingertips tracing the lines of his shoulder blades while he mentions another boy in his class that sleeps quite a bit too.
He massages his back in big, comforting waves, his palms flat against either side of his spine while he goes on to mention how he forgot his cardigan behind and was worried he forgot where it was. By the time he gets to the part where Jamil found it for him, an index finger brushes over the base of Ruggie’s tail, and his eyes immediately shoot open, tail going pin straight and his ears stiffening on his head.
Kalim doesn’t seem to notice, too far gone in his animated expressions as one light brush of his fur turns into two, and then into three and four and five. Eventually he’s brushing the barest bits of his hand against Ruggie’s tail, feather light in reality but sending shocks through his system on the inside.
Ruggie’s tail is sensitive. Well no shit, he doesn’t know a single beastman that would take kindly to their tail being pet or pulled or fondled without jumping back and baring their teeth. He does know, however, that his reactions to his tail being touched are a little more severe than other’s. He compares it to someone sliding a hand up and down your waist or running a finger down your spine - it just gives you a shiver that, while not unpleasant, is incredibly mortifying when the right (or wrong) person finds out.
A touch like that from anyone other than Kalim would prompt a quick scolding and hands tightly clamped over his offended tail. But because it’s Kalim, instead it prompts his cheeks to redden and his face to fall softly onto Kalim’s chest.
Kalim doesn’t make any mention of his state - and if he’s aware, he doesn’t say so - just continues to run his fingers through his fur, brushing over from the base to the end.
“And then I-! Hey wait, did you fall asleep on me?” Kalim picks up Ruggie’s face in his hands again, inspecting him before he smiles gratefully. “Oh, good! Cause I was just about to get to the part where a butterfly landed on my nose! Right on my nose!”
“That’s…cute.” Ruggie mumbles while Kalim keeps touching him, not bothering to censor his thoughts. Kalim’s hands travel up to his ears, scratching behind them and making Ruggie lean into his touch against his better judgement, letting out a soft, contented whine.
Ruggie turns into sort of a mess whenever his ears or tail are pet. His thoughts get all mushy and his limbs are reduced to jelly, and it’s rather unfortunate that the person touching him is Kalim, because rather than wanting to pull away, he only wants him to continue.
Kalim giggles, moving one of his palms to the side of his neck and gently scratching under his chin, softening his tone. “Does that feel nice?”
Ruggie tries to say no - sevens, he really tries to - but Kalim’s hands are so soft and warm, like he’s just rubbed the nicest lotion money could buy on them. His nails aren’t too short or too long, a perfect medium length as he scratches under his chin down his throat and makes Ruggie lean in even more.
“Mhm…” He mumbles quietly, titling his head so Kalim can keep scratching him. His hands sift through his hair, sorting through dusty locks and tracing his jaw with his nails, getting the places on his ears that always seem to itch the worst while Ruggie’s ears flick a little from the touch and something like a whine mixed with a purr escapes his throat.
He knows that if Leona saw him, he’d tease the living shit out of him - but thankfully, Leona isn’t here, and so Ruggie doesn’t care. It’s nothing he hasn’t seen Vil do to him anyways when he’s dropped by to pilfer through Leona’s stuff. He supposes maybe all beastmen enjoy this kind of thing when it’s the right person. He’d have to see if Jack has anyone who does it for him too.
“You sound like a cat…!” Kalim says just under his breath, like a suppressed squeal as he keeps scratching him. “A hyena-cat!”
“Hyenas actually aren’t cats.” Ruggie mumbles, inching his body a little further up Kalim’s chest until his face is comfortably situated in the crook of his neck. He has to suppress a loud whine because just the warmth of his skin is good enough. “They’re not dogs either, actually. They’re hyaenidae.”
“You’re so smart Ruggie.” Kalim coos, dragging his fingers up his scalp. “What sorts of other stuff do you know?”
“About what? That’s pretty broad of a question.” Ruggie mumbles, pressing his face a little closer to Kalim’s neck. He can hear Kalim stifle a giggle just as his body squirms a little under him, and he smiles a little to himself because he knows it’s because Kalim is crazy ticklish.
“Like about animals! Or just hyenas - yeah, yeah! Hyena facts! Tell me!”
“Mmm…the scientific name for spotted hyenas - the kind I am - is crocuta crocuta - kinda a mouthul.” Ruggie explains, pressing his nose a little more into the crook between Kalim’s neck and school shirt, sniffing at him with far less shame than he had a bit ago. Kalim smells like coconuts and honey, along with just the general smell of his skin. The longer he smells him, the more different scents he picks up, like spices and jewelry polish and whatever cologne he wears. He might need to remember to steal borrow it when he visits next time.
“Woah. Crocuta crocuta.” Kalim repeats, his hands tightening a little around Ruggie’s ears while he tries not to laugh from the ticklish sensation. “That sounds so cool. I wish I had something like that!”
“Eh, it doesn’t come up much…” Ruggie shrugs, thumbing at Kalim’s button up. The first button is already undone, as per Kalim’s usual, slightly-unkept get up, and Ruggie debates opening more. He fidgets with the ivory buttons between his fingertips of his pointer and thumb, thinking for more facts to satiate Kalim’s endless hunger for new, exciting things. Anything would excite him, really, even if Ruggie was making it up - but he only wants to give him the best he’s got, even if it’s just hyena facts.
“Spots usually get lighter as you age - a lot of older hyenas don’t even have ‘em.” He says, noticing as Kalim frantically looks over his ears and tail with an exaggerated frown. Ruggie nudges into his neck again earning a squeak.
“Wha- you don’t have any!” Kalim pouts, looking down at him. “Did yours go away already?”
“Nah.” Ruggie comments, prodding at button again. “Regular spotted hyena lifespans are different than hyena beastmen’s lifespans. I think I just started developing them, cause I’ve been noticing my fur’s been darkening a little in some spots.”
He chuckles as Kalim frantically searches again, his frown getting more exaggerated. “I don’t see any…”
“Well, it’d be pretty hard for any ordinary person to notice I think. I see my fur every day, so I can see the change better. They’re not very noticeable, but I think they might darken after time.” Ruggie explains, nose brushing his collarbone just as Kalim puts his hand over his, giving him permission to undo the button he’s been messing with. Ruggie opens three.
“Then you gotta tell me when that happens, okay? Promise!” Kalim insists as Ruggie presses his face into his chest. He just lays there for a minute, pausing as he feels the cadence of his heart underneath him. It’s faster than normal and each breath causes his chest to rise a little, and Ruggie wishes he could bury himself in Kalim’s arms for the night and stay there forever.
There’s something about the sound of his heart beating mixed with the comfort of his smell and the already lax energy coursing through his body from Kalim petting him that just makes him feel so safe. Like he can just lay here and listen to Kalim talk on and on about anything while he takes a break for once.
“Well…that might not be for a while. Maybe even a decade.” Ruggie answers back softly, his lips muffled against his skin. “But I’ll try to remind you. If I remember.”
“Good! Cause I wanna see them!” Kalim says happily, going back to running hands through his hair. “I bet they’ll look so cool on you, anyways.”
Ruggie continues to ramble on about any random fact he can think of, listening in delight to Kalim’s reactions. He rubs his cheek against his chest, relishing in the beat of his heart and its safety within his rib cage while his voice gets muffled, words caught between his skin. Ruggie lays as still as possible for a moment, deadset on not disrupting the cacophony of his heart and the instrumental hum of his blood through his veins.
The more he talks, the more Kalim touches him - scratching behind the ears, under his chin, up his scalp. He massages his back and rubs his knuckles into his sides, stroking through his tail with the tips of his fingers.
It only makes Ruggie relax more - he feels like he’s melting into putty from the attention, the praise, the worth. His nuzzling goes from his chest back up his neck and past his jaw until he’s rubbing his cheek into Kalim’s, being able to make out the shadow and form of his nose and lips and eyes even with his own closed.
He thinks if he were in a dark room and had to identify Kalim purely based off of that, he could do it no problem - heightened senses or not.
“An’…an’ spotted hyenas are actually the biggest species of hyena - that’s true for both beastmen and regular hyenas. Brown and spotted are the other two groups - there’s three total I think.” Ruggie recounts. He moves just slightly from his cheek, his nose brushing the gap between Kalim’s mouth and nose and suddenly the contact is enough of a wake up call to get him out of his stupor, pulling back to look at Kalim in alarm and realizing how still Kalim has become.
He assumes his cheeks are flushed red - he knows they must be. His ears and tail sit still, like they always do when he feels like he’s caught. Ruggie doubts Kalim knows that, but it doesn’t really matter. Kalim seems to match him a little in expression, a blush across his cheeks and his eyes a little wider. Ruggie can see how deep and red his irises are, speckles of dark brown and crimson around them lidded by long lashes. Kalim does have really long lashes. Ruggie didn’t know that til now.
He also didn’t know that the tip of his nose was flushed like his cheeks, or that his lips are so pretty and framed by short white hair and his cutely lopsided bandana- Ruggie wants to bash his head against the wall. He’s let himself fall way, way too hard, and the worst part is it’s entirely his fault.
It’s his fault for sharing donuts, and sitting out in the rain with him even though he could’ve been sitting in his dorm. It’s his fault for trying to debate that blue is obviously the best color of the rainbow, but immediately letting Kalim win when he started talking about how much he loved the color yellow and how his favorite crayons growing up were the dandelion yellow ones they stopped making.
It’s his fault for making him flower crowns and swapping favorite songs with him, and not pulling back whenever Kalim touched him. Whenever he traced the divots in Ruggie’s knees outside, or held onto the folds of Ruggie’s jacket when the hallways were crowded. Whenever he fixed Ruggie’s hair with a bobby pin or laid his head on his shoulder just because.
It’s his fault for letting him in, because letting Kalim in is so easy because he doesn’t have ulterior motives. He just politely asks for Ruggie to open up time and time again, and despite the dangers of the outside world, Ruggie always reminds him where the spare key is.
Letting Kalim in is easy when the door is so much nicer open and unlocked. Letting Kalim touch him and talk with him for hours and even see him when he’s a blushing mess is so frustratingly easy, and despite how much Ruggie feels he must be at fault and take some blame for letting him get so far, he knows Kalim would much rather take responsibility for his feelings, because he’s the one that prompted them.
After a while of staring at each other, Ruggie notices that Kalim doesn’t seem to be shocked or surprised. He doesn’t look like a deer in headlights, or like he’s frozen in place. His eyes are just wide, like he’s wondering what Ruggie will do next or why he pulled away in the first place.
A staring contest ensues (one that Ruggie unfortunately doesn’t think he’s winning), before Kalim’s lips quirk into a bit of a smile and he asks, “Do spotted hyenas have mating rituals too?”
Ruggie feels like his entire body must be flushed now. He fingers curl a little into the fabric of Kalim’s cardigan, the knitted fabric soft and warm between his fingers.
Kalim thinks this is like a mating ritual. He thinks that Ruggie is trying to court him or something. Ruggie wants to bash his head against a wall again for extra measure, because clearly he’s not learning his lesson.
“I-um-“ Ruggie stutters, his eyes darting around. “I-in the wild, usually the guys will bow for the girls before they mate, I think.”
Great. Yeah. That’s definitely what Kalim wanted to know. Great going Ruggie.
“What about hyena beastmen?” Kalim asks more specifically, still with the same nonjudgemental look as before. Kalim can’t even be mad, because he can tell that Kalim isn’t asking to tease him.
All the same though, he quickly shakes his head, trying to will the blush taking over his face to go down. “N-not one that I’ve heard of…”
Kalim blinks, then just sort of stares at him for a minute, and then finally he leans forward and plants a short kiss on his lips with a smile. “You’re so cute, Ruggie.”
If it’s possible for his face to get even redder, Ruggie imagines it does. “Wh-What? No I’m not! You’re the one asking me all these questions, and petting my tail and scratching my ears, and-!”
“-Do you like it?” Kalim interjects, poking one of Ruggie’s ears with his index finger. His ear flickers a bit as he does. “When I touch your ears and tail?”
Ruggie frowns, more like a pout as he tries to appear intimidating by staring him down. Kalim doesn’t budge, waiting for him to give an answer, and of course an honest one.
Ruggie sighs over exaggeratedly, taking the opportunity to bury his face back into his chest. “If I say yes will you stop teasing me?”
Kalim gasps in an offended sort of way, his head shaking indicated by the sound of his headband jingling. “I wasn’t teasing you!”
Kalim lifts his hands from Ruggie’s head, the immediate warmth leaving his hair just as Ruggie looks up at his accusatorily. He looks down at Ruggie with all seriousness, hands held firmly in the air. “This is teasing. You said you liked the touching, and I’m not doing it!”
He sticks out his tongue for good measure, and Ruggie can only think of what an absolute goof he is. “Fine, fine, not teasing then.” He widens his eyes a bit, lips furrowed into a pout. He’s not above begging if it’s for his benefit (and not entirely humiliating). “But are you really gonna stop?”
Ruggie’s act barely takes any more convincing than that, Kalim breaking out into a bout of coos and ‘I’m sorry!’s, his hands finding place back in his hair.
After a couple minutes more of him petting his tail and playing with his hair, Ruggie is back to being a puddle. His face is buried in Kalim’s chest, the fabric of his clothes and bed and just everything smelling like him along with the warmth of the sun on his back - Ruggie feels like he’s died and gone to heaven.
Kalim’s palms droop down his cheeks, slipping to tilt his head up and scratch from the base of his jaw back up to his chin. Ruggie whines from the pleasant sensation, his tail subconsciously wagging behind him.
“Do you have any other hyena facts?” Kalim asks in a quieter voice, like he doesn’t want to disturb Ruggie’s rare moment of calm.
Ruggie slowly opens his eyes, little crescents of bluish grey as he peeks at Kalim. His smile isn’t as blinding as usual, but it’s still big and warm and happy. Comforting, he’d say, like Kalim’s trying to prioritize his happiness above all else - above money and wealth and status or hardship. Like a fleeting moment of peace alone is more priceless to him right now than anything else. To Kalim, it always seems to be.
“Well…” Ruggie mumbles sleepily, wracking his brain. “I think I told you pretty much everything I know. You’d probably need to look at a textbook for more.”
“We can go to the library after this?” Kalim offers, his eyes already glittering with the prospect of looking for books on the Sunset Savanna. Ruggie personally thinks looking through dusty books is the kind of thing people like Riddle do, but if it’s with Kalim, it doesn’t sound bad at all.
“Hm…sure. Let’s go to the library after this.” Ruggie says softly, another small sound escaping him as Kalim scratches a nice spot.
Kalim smiles, taking his hand and using one finger to trace up the column of his throat to his chin. He traces his jaw up to his cheek and then down below the sunken curve of his eye, dropping down the bridge of his nose to boop him. “Okay! Library after cuddling.”
Ruggie flushes again as Kalim tightens an arm around him, the opposite hand running up and down his back. “Who said we were cuddling?”
“You, silly.” Kalim says, like the obvious. “You sure look like it, anyways.”
“Do not.” Ruggie huffs, his face being smooshed between Kalim’s hands again at his rebuttal.
“Do too! You don’t have to say it for it to be true.” Kalim insists, his lips slightly pursed as he tries to be serious before he breaks into his typical smile again. He brushes the tip of his nose against his, thumbs squishing into his cheeks. He kisses the corner of his lips, then his cheek, and then his forehead before he pulls back with a satisfied smile. “And I know it’s true.”
Ruggie knows there’s not much he can say to refute that, especially since he’s sprawled out on top of him - and he’s secretly too happy to care. So he relaxes a little, his limbs going limp again while Kalim’s heart pounds restlessly within his chest.
“Whatever.” Ruggie mumbles, planting a quick kiss in place of an apology below his collarbone. “…we’ll go to the library after cuddling, then.”