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The problem with hosting a slumber party became apparent very quickly: where do we host it?
The obvious answer was Diasomnia, because Malleus was the one planning the party. But Lilia was a bit too excited at the prospect. And don’t get Malleus wrong, he loved Silver and Sebek, but he didn’t want his little brothers ruining his party. Silver would surely fall asleep immediately, and Sebek would make the whole night about him. Malleus didn’t want that.
Any other dorm seemed to invalidate Malleus’ say in the matter. Also, there were so many people in most dorms, where would they find space to sleep. The housewarden rooms weren’t that big.
Malleus eventually decided on Ramshackle dorm, with Yuu’s approval. There was only one caveat—Yuu wanted to be involved, as did Grim. Of course no one objected. What was one more chaotic person in this hoard of chaotic boys?
Malleus helped Yuu set up the TV, and covered the flooring in comfy rugs. The couches were covered in blankets and pillows. Malleus smiled, making the finishing touches on their table of snacks.
He was dressed in a black turtle neck, gray pajama pants, and a green robe overtop. Yuu themselves dressed in plain black sleepset with white lining—short sleeved shirt and shorts—and bunny slippers.
“They should be here any moment,” Malleus said excitedly.
Yuu smirked, looking at Grim. “You know, you can always go hang out with Ace and Deuce.”
“But they make me sleep on the floor!” Grim complained.
“We’re all sleeping on the floor!” Yuu pointed out.
“Yeah, but when we sleep over together we make Ace sleep in Deuce’s bed and we get his bed.”
“Why do you tease Trappola so?” Malleus asked
“Cuz it’s hilarious,” Grim smirked.
At exactly six o’clock, there was a knock at the door. Yuu opened it.
“Riddle!”
Riddle had a patching set of red pajamas, with tiny black hearts dotted all over. He also had bunny slippers on. In his arms was a bag with his pillow and blanket in it, as well as general sleep stuff and—
“It’s good to see you,” Riddle smiled. “I hope you don’t mind Bartholemew. I’ve found I sleep much more soundly with him.”
“Of course not!” Yuu welcomed Riddle inside, letting the teapot tyrant unpack his stuff.
Azul and Vil joined shortly after. Azul was wearing a matching lavender and white pin striped set with short sleeves and shorts. Vil was dressed in a deep purple velvet set, button up, short sleeves, long pant legs. His hair was tied back. They too had bags, but Ollie the Octopus that Azul won at the arcade had not made an appearance.
What had made an appearance? The Dratini Malleus was forced to take home. He’d given it to Yuu, less as a friendly gift and more so to just get rid of it. He hoped it would become Grim’s new chew toy. Instead, there it was, sitting on the couch. Mocking him.
Stupid worm.
Right after them was Jamil. His braids were undone, which was rare for him but not unheard of. He wore a cream colored sweater over yoga pants, and sandals.
“Jamil!” Azul smirked. “You look lovely.”
Jamil ignored him.
Yuu placed a tray of lemonade on the table. “Please, help yourself.”
Leona and Idia were the last to arrive. Leona was dressed in a beige tanktop and gray sweatpants. Idia wore a blue fleece onesie.
“Welcome!” Yuu smiled. Leona and Idia joined everyone else around the coffee table.
“Is this all we have?” Leona asked. “A bag of chips and…oreos?”
“We could order pizza,” Jamil offered.
“Pizza sounds lovely,” Malleus said.
Leona pulled out his phone. “We’re getting Domino’s.”
“Why Domino’s?” Vil complained.
“Cuz I have rewards points built up,” Leona smirked. “Ruggie’s favorite.”
“You’re a prince! You can pay full price for pizza!”
“Be honored I’m paying for it at all, Mister Celebrity.”
“Fine,” Vil allowed, crossing his arms and pouting.
Leona tapped away. “So meatlovers pizza?”
“Are you crazy?!” Riddle asked. “That’s so many calories.”
“Who cares?” Leona asked. “I can order something else.”
“Just plain cheese,” Idia suggested. “Actually, can you get a thin crust?”
Azul looked at Idia suspiciously, but Leona added it to the order.
“Do you want garlic bits?”
“Yes please,” Idia smiled.
“Is there a Domino’s on the Island of Woe?” Riddle asked.
“No!” Idia insisted. “I just…like it.” He hid behind his pillow.
Yuu helped Leona place the rest of the order.
“Thirty minutes,” Leona said. “What do you wanna do?”
Yuu pulled out a big glass bowl. “We’re making a trauma candy salad.”
“A what?”
“Oh, I’ve seen these!” Idia said. “You take turns dumping candy into it and describing your trauma.”
“That’s so stupid,” Leona moaned. “Is that why you asked to bring candy?”
Yuu smiled. “It is. Why don’t I start?” They placed the bowl in front of themselves, and opened a bag of starbursts. “My name is Yuu, and I have dealt with seven overblots this year, and I brought snickers!” They dumped it into the bowl.
“Me next! Me next!” Grim dragged the bag with his teeth. “My name is Grim, and I was kidnapped and taken away from my henchhuman by a bunch of robots, and I brought jolly rancher gummies!” He knocked the bag, but it failed, knocking the entire bowl onto the floor.
“Good thing those are wrapped,” Vil muttered.
They cleaned the mess and properly dumped the jolly rancher gummies into the bowl.
“Who’s next?” Yuu asked.
“Oh!” Grim remembered. “You can’t use your overblot!”
“What?!” Leona shouted.
“Dude, this is impossible!” Idia moaned.
“You’ll manage,” Yuu chastised.
“You got to use the overblots!” Jamil complained.
“Can I also say I was kidnapped by robots?” Vil asked.
“No!”
“I guess I’ll go,” Azul managed. “My name is Azul, my parents got divorced, and now sometimes I see my dad around the ocean with his dates, and I have to pretend I don’t know him…and I brought Sweet-ish Fish.”
“Yikes,” Leona groaned.
“I’ll go,” Vil said. “My name is Vil, and I never knew my birth mother, and I brought chocolate kisses.” He dumped it in.
“I’ll go just to get it over with,” Idia shuffled in front of the bowl. “My name is Idia, I once saw a man lose a limb in an automatic door, and I brought gummy worms.”
“How do people survive at that site?” Malleus asked.
“Hmm…it’s hard to think of something…”
Riddle took the next spot. “My name is Riddle, and I almost got disintegrated by a lion because I told him not to cheat in a game, and I brought strawberry starbursts!”
“I feel like that’s cheating,” Leona grumbled.
“Techincally, it wasn’t his overblot,” Yuu let it slide, just this once.
“Oh! I have one!” Malleus realized. “May I go?”
“The floor is yours.”
“My name is Malleus, and one time I thought I lost a young Silver and scoured the cottage for him…only to realize he was asleep on the couch…and I have these candies of Michael and Isaac.” Malleus dumped in his box of Mike and Ikes.
The other two nodded. “You got something, Snake boy?”
“Yes,” Jamil approached the bowl. “My name is Jamil, I once set a food stall on fire because I saw a bug, and I brought M&Ms.”
Leona thought for a moment. “My name is Leona…and…uh…”
“You have second place syndrome?” Jamil asked.
“You never win at anything?” Malleus teased.
“You’re ugly?” Vil smirked.
“You’re making me regret this…” Leona sighed. “I…almost drowned once when I was five because my brother fell asleep in the deck chair…and I brought KitKats.”
Idia snickered. “Cuz you’re a kitty cat?”
“I will hit you!”
After Yuu managed to calm the lion down, Grim made a brilliant suggestion. They should watch a movie.
“What kind of movie do you want to watch?” Grim said, sitting on the remote. “We got Wicked, Frozen, Princess and the Frog, Princess and the Pauper—”
“Oh!” Malleus cheered. “This is one of those Barbie films you mentioned, yes?”
“Oh!” Vil smiled. “Yes! Let’s watch that one! Oh, I loved that one as a kid.”
Grim used his little paws to navigate to the movie and pressed play. He walked back over and snuggled in Yuu’s lap.
Jamil was already mad after the first meeting of Anneliese and Erika.
“So, the girl who’s had to work her entire life is supposed to relate to the girl who’s had everything handed to her on a silver platter?”
“Yes, that is the point of the movie, it seems,” Riddle nodded.
“That’s stupid,” Jamil groaned.
“Oh, but I don’t find the princess’ plight stupid,” Malleus said. “She feels sheltered. She needs to be perfect all the time. It is quite stressful.”
“I mean, I guess,” Leona said, not really paying attention. His phone buzzed, and suddenly he got excited. “Yo! The pizza’s here!”
He and Jamil left to grab the pizza. Vil rolled his eyes, continuing to drink lemonade. “Yuu, you haven’t had any lemonade yet?”
“Oh, it’s too sour for me,” Yuu smiled weakly. “I’m just drinking water.”
“It doesn’t feel very sour to me,” Idia said. “If anything, I’d like it sweeter.”
“It’s a perfect balance of sweet and sour,” Riddle complimented. “You made a very nice lemonade.”
“Thank you,” the prefect smiled.
The prefect turned back to the TV. Erika was singing to her weird dog-cat thing. Yuu couldn’t help but look at Grim. Grim cuddled back.
“There is not one hair of you that I would rearrange.”
Leona and Jamil returned with the pizzas. Two pizzas—one thin crust plain cheese, one meatlovers, a box of fried chicken, mac and cheese, and mini bites of garlic bread.
“So, who’s getting how much?” Malleus asked.
“Well,” Leona thought, his head aching at the concept of math, “there’s sixteen slices and eight of us.”
“Nine!” Grim corrected.
“Well Yuu’s eating mac and cheese so we’re back down to eight.”
Jamil pulled out the fried chicken wings and handed them to Azul. The octopus refused.
“But it’s your favorite!” Jamil begged. “And Leona spent so much money on it. Do you want that money to go to waste?”
Azul reluctantly, wordlessly, took the chicken.
“So two of us get three?” Mallues asked.
“Dibs!” Leona and Grim said.
“But I’m hungry!” Malleus complained like a child.
“How about we start with one?” Yuu suggested.
“Fine by me,” Idia smiled. “I’m probably only eating one anyway.”
“Same,” Riddle said, resisting the urge to get another plastic cup full of candy.
Leona and Malleus took a slice of meatlovers while Idia, Riddle, Jamil and Vil took the thin crust plain.
“Which pizza do you want, Grim?” Yuu asked.
“I can get my own pizza!” Grim insisted. He put his paws around a slice of meatlovers pizza and pulled. The slice did not separate from the large pizza. He pulled harder, and the slice came off—the toppings did not. He looked up at Yuu pitifully, who cut the cheese and toppings and placed them precariously onto the pizza.
“Grim,” Riddle encouraged, “what do we say?”
“Thank you, hench human,” Grim smiled. And then he dug into his pizza.
After about a minute or so of silent eating, Riddle suggested a game they could play.
“Never have I ever,” Riddle said. “Cater explained it to me. Just hold up five fingers and try to get as many people out with things they’ve done.”
“Do I have to play?” Grim asked. “My paws don’t point.”
“No Grim, you can keep eating.”
Grim smiled.
“I’ll play though,” Yuu smiled mischievously. “It’ll be fun.”
The eight of them held out a hand with five fingers fully displayed.
“I’ll go first,” Vil said. “Never have I ever fallen off a broomstick and landed flat on my face?”
Leona and Azul both put a finger down.
“I thought cats always landed on their feet,” Malleus teased.
“It was one time!” Leona groaned. “All right…never have I ever gotten a zit right on my nose.”
Vil, Idia and Yuu put a finger down.
Idia took his turn. “Never have I ever towed the binary so hard people thought I was a girl.”
Vil, Riddle and Yuu put a finger down. Reluctantly, Malleus and Azul put their fingers down.
“Really?” Idia asked.
“You wear a dress one time!” Azul complained.
“I enjoyed it,” Malleus smiled. “I was so pretty.”
“Never have I ever been rich,” Jamil said, groaning. He looked back at the TV which was paused on a horrible frame of Anneliese.
Malleus, Idia, Vil, Leona and Riddle put down fingers. Azul stubbornly refused.
“My mother is a restaurateur and my stepfather is a lawyer.”
“What tax bracket are you in?” Jamil asked.
Azul put his finger down. “Never have I ever been an indentured servant?”
Jamil and Yuu put their fingers down.
“Low blow,” Jamil muttered.
“You were at five and I’m at two,” Azul smiled. “It’s only fair.”
“Are we just ignoring the fact that Yuu also put their finger down?” Leona asked.
“Crowley certainly isn’t paying me!” Yuu argued. Grim nuzzled up in Yuu’s lap. “Okay…never have I ever overblotted.”
“Motherfucker!” Leona shouted.
Yuu kept smiling. “Put the finger down, you bitch.”
At this point, Vil and Azul were both down to one. Riddle, Leona, Malleus, Idia and Yuu had two and Jamil had three.
“Put a finger down if you have a negative relationship with your parents,” Vil said.
“Okay…” Malleus had to consider this. “My parents are dead. Does that count?”
“I haven’t talked to my bio dad in like five years,” Azul asked. “Does that count?”
“I haven’t talked to my dad in ten years,” Riddle one upped. “Does that count?”
“I regret this…”
“How about we ignore that one?” Leona said.
“Y’all are just saying that cuz you hate your parents,” Idia smirked.
“And you don’t?” Jamil asked.
“I mean, like, I’m a bit resentful they gave birth to me knowing I’d be cursed, but they’re so kind and loving and…when Ortho died they did the best they could to help me. It’s my fault for shutting them out.” Idia’s eyes widened. “Why did I say that out loud?”
“No, please, pour your heart out to us,” Malleus comforted. “We understand your feelings. And it’s nice to know what it’s like to have parents.”
Leona laughed so hard lemonade came out his nose.
“I mean…I didn’t want to tell you so much information about my family.”
“Oh, that’s the truth potion,” Yuu said.
“Excuse me?!” Azul shouted. “Truth potion?!”
“Oh yeah. It was Ace’s idea,” Yuu said. “I wanted you to be honest with each other. It’s not supposed to be very strong.”
“Oh…” Azul smiled. “That’s too much power…”
“Nononono,” Idia shouted.
“What ingredients are in this?” Vil asked. “It should be diluted by the lemon juice and water too.”
Yuu gave Vil a piece of paper. Vil nodded, remembering it. “Oh, it’s supposed to be for emotional truths.”
“Damnit!” Azul groaned, his plan of stealing their financial information foiled. “Wait, no, I can still use this.”
Unfortunately for Azul, Vil mixed an antidote.
Yuu sighed. “Was fun while it lasted, ay Grim?”
Grim nodded.
Jamil also made new pink lemonade, this time with no potions in it. In the time all of taht had taken, they’d finished their movie.
“What else do you want to do?” Leona asked.
“Oo!” Azul stood up. He searched through his bag and pulled out a mini speaker. “I have showtunes!”
The first song that played was “Mean Green Mother” from Little Shop of Horrors. Leona immediately started bobbing along.
Azul didn’t have the heart to tell him the song was being sung by a talking plant.
“The singer sounds a bit like you,” Vil remarked.
“No he doesn’t,” Leona insisted.
As Leona did his little dance and tried not to show he was enjoying it, Malleus smiled, opened the freezer and pulled out a few small pints of ice cream. One was chocolate with brownie bits, one was plain vanilla, one was strawberry, and one was coffee flavored. Yuu took out an ice cream scoop and some bowls.
“Help yourself!” Malleus cheered.
“Hmph,” was all Jamil could muster, taking a scoop of chocolate and coffee and serving himself.
“I was going to bring mint chocolate chip,” Malleus explained, “but Idia said he didn’t like it.”
“Oh, it’s fine,” Idia said. “I’m probably just gonna have vanilla.”
Malleus gave Idia a scoop of vanilla. Idia turned to Yuu.
“Do we still have that bowl of candy?”
Yuu placed the bowl on the table. Idia used his spoon to scoop the candy on top as toppings. By the time he was done, the ice cream was drowned in gummy worms and chocolate candy.
There was more ice cream and showtunes. Since they were still recovering from being truth potioned, they weren’t exactly open to talk.
Now full of candy, ice cream and pizza, the boys slumped on the floor.
“You wanna tell ghost stories or something?” Idia asked.
Azul paused “Candy Store.” “What?”
“Like…ghost stories?” Idia asked. “Do you not know what that is?”
“No! I know what ghost stories are! I have plenty!” Azul sat up offended. “Hit the lights! Let’s do this!”
“Oh well, here’s the thing—”
Malleus waved his hand and the light switch flipped. The chandelier went out, and the room went out…except for Idia’s hair, which gave off a faint blue glow. Malleus’ eyes also shone in the dark, and Grim’s ears emitted a dim light, but they were much less visible than the hair.
“Yeah….” Idia sighed.
Jamil flicked on a flashlight. “Doesn’t the onesie have a hood?”
Idia struggled to stuff his hair into the hood of his onesie. But when he did, the room got a lot darker. Perfect for telling scary stories.
“Okay,” Jamil smiled. “Who’s going first?”
“It was my idea…” Idia took the flashlight, placing it under his chin to illuminate his face. “There’s a story of a man, tall and faceless, who steals children—”
“Is this just Slenderman?” Vil asked.
Idia frowned. “Yes…”
“Can someone else take a turn?” Vil asked.
Azul took the flashlight. “There was a boat adrift over the Coral Sea. It has long been without a crew. But where is the crew? Heh. No one knows. Some say mutiny. Others say madness. I say the sea itself swallowed them up!”
There was a metallic clang. Riddle jumped and squealed, jumping on Vil for support. Azul turned the flashlight to the source of the noise. Malleus stood over the ice cream pints, scoop in hand.
“I just wanted more ice cream.”
Riddle breathed a sigh of relief.
“So…” Vil looked at him. “That’s it?”
“What do you mean that’s it? Riddle was terrified!”
“Cuz of Malleus,” Vil scoffed. “That wasn’t scary. Ghost ships happen all the time.”
“Exactly,” Azul said. “Many creatures roam the deep sea.”
“But deep sea fish are adapted to deep sea pressure,” Riddle explained, slightly confused. “If they rose to the surface, they’d die of decompression. Not to mention temperature change. You’re a merfolk, shouldn’t you know this?”
Azul groaned. “You suck.”
“I have one,” Jamil smiled. Azul was too giddy to give the flashlight to him.
“There was a woman,” Jamil began, “who was alone in her home. She laid in bed. Her dog rested on the floor below her—”
“Why a dog?” Idia asked.
“Because I said so.”
“Can’t it be a cat?”
Jamil paused. “Fine. Her cat was on the floor. The woman reached down, and the cat licked her.”
“That’s not very cat-like,” Idia muttered.
“Because it was supposed to be a dog.”
“Just let Jamil finish the story!” Vil complained.
“The next day, she found her dog had been killed!”
“AH!” Idia jumped. “Thank goodness it wasn’t a kitty.”
“And written on the wall, in the dog’s blood were these words—” Jamil leaned towards Riddle— “Humans can lick too.”
Riddle and Idia shivered.
“That one…” Vil managed. “Hmph.”
“Hmph?” Jamil asked.
“It’s a tad morbid don’t you think?” Malleus said, finishing his second serving of ice cream.
“You wanted a ghost story,” Jamil scoffed.
“My turn!” Yuu called.
“Everyone be quiet! It’s my hench human’s turn!” Grim said.
Yuu shone the light on their face. “A man once found a picture of a beautiful woman holding up a peace sign. He became obsessed with the woman. She was beautiful, radiant. He simply had to find her. He scoured his small down for anyone who had seen or met this woman. But he couldn’t scrounge up even a name. But he knew she was watching. She tapped on his window, and giggled in the night. One night, he followed the giggle, hoping it was her…”
Yuu paused. The boys around them looked in suspense.
Yuu’s voice was just above a whisper. “And as he followed the noise…CRASH!”
The boys jumped in surprise.
“He was hit by a car!” Yuu said. “The driver, terrified, hopped out to check on the man. But he was already dead. And in his hand was a photo of a woman…holding up three fingers.”
“Oh,” Vil cooed. “That was good. I like that one.”
“Does anyone else have one?” Malleus asked. “Leona?”
No response.
“Leona?”
Yuu redirected the flashlight. Leona had fallen asleep on the floor.
Malleus sighed. He flicked his hand and a few lights turned on. Azul got a terrible look in his eyes. He pulled out a black market and approached Leona’s sleeping form. Vil saw what he was doing and resisted the urge to laugh.
Azul uncapped the marker and drew it slowly closer to Leona’s face.
Leona’s hand grabbed Azul’s wrist. The lion slowly opened his eyes.
“What’s that?” Leona asked.
“Oh, nothing,” Azul smiled like nothing was wrong. He quickly broke free and capped the marker.
“Oh really?” Leona sat up. His hands moved over to his pillow. In one swift motion he hit the octopus with the stuffed, feathery pillow.
Azul laughed. He scrambled for his own pillow and hit back.
“What are they doing?” Riddle asked. “This is barbaric!”
“Hit him in the dick, Azul!” Vil cheered.
Azul and Leona continued fencing with their pillows as their blades. Soon, Vil joined in, grabbing his soft, satin pillow and attacking the lion back. Never missing a chance to beat a dead horse, Jamil grabbed his own pillow and started attacking too. The others watched for a minute before Yuu grabbed a pillow in an attempt to distract them and get them off Leona.
Leona was surrounded. His feline instincts took over as he used his pillow to hit Jamil away. He just needed space to move.
Thud!
The laughing stopped as Jamil hit his head against the coffee table.
“Jamil!” Azul shouted, dropping his pillow and rushing to Jamil’s side. Riddle pulled him up. Jamil was awake. He rubbed the back of his head where he’d hit the table.
Riddle checked for blood, for a concussion, for everything. Jamil seemed all good. Malleus brought him a bag of Frozen peas to use as an ice pack.
“Jamil…” Leona managed. “I…I didn’t mean to…”
“Are you having trouble?” Vil teased. “Just tell Jamil you’re sorry.”
“I didn’t think you’d hit your head, stupid.”
“Leona!”
Jamil groaned, holding the peas up to his head. Vil shot Leona with a glare that could assassinate monarchs.
“Fine!” Leona relinquished. “Jamil, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to give you a concussion. I’m sorry.”
“I…it’s fine,” Jamil said. “I’ll need a minute.”
“I think it would be best if we calmed down for the night,” Malleus said. “It is late, and we all seem a bit exhausted.”
“I support that decision,” Riddle stood up, helping Jamil get onto his feet.
“Riddle, I’m fine. I just need a minute.”
“Don’t rush yourself,” Riddle assured. “Just rest a bit while we clean up.”
Malleus, Yuu and Azul packed up the ice cream and pizza, putting it all in the fridge. Yuu suggested they reheat the leftovers in the morning for breakfast. Shortly after, the boys went their separate ways to complete their nightly routine.
Vil wiped off his makeup and tied his hair into a bonnet. He lit a lilac scented candle (one he’d purchased during his most recent trip to the Bath and Bodyworks) and did some basic yoga in the living room. Leona joined him, having washed his hair and brushed his teeth.
Azul took a soothing bath. His skin was naturally smooth and shiny, but he did need to regularly rehydrate. Jamil was separated from him by a wall, more so trying to relax than he was trying to get clean.
After redressing himself, Azul joined Idia and Riddle on the couch. Riddle was reading a book. Leona got sick of yoga, tying his hair into a ponytail. Vil finished it in its entirety, and cleaned up his yoga mat.
Malleus and Jamil joined them shortly after, Jamil’s hair still soaking wet, and a new bag of frozen carrots pressed against his head.
“Are you feeling better?” Malleus asked.
“I’m fine, really,” Jamil said. “I just want to go to bed.”
“I understand,” Malleus said. “What is the sleeping plan, Child of Man?”
“Well, I could give you guys some spare rooms…but I’ll be so real with you, those haven’t been cleaned. I think the dust bunnies are alive. So instead, why don’t we pull out some inflatable mattresses and just sleep here?”
Vil really didn’t want to sleep on the floor, but he was outvoted. There was of course the option to sleep on one of the couches, but Jamil had been given the spot due to his injury, and Vil had lost rock-paper-scissors to Leona for the other couch.
Malleus, Azul and Leona puffed up some mattresses (mostly with magic), and everyone took their places. Azul placed his mattress right next to Jamil’s couch spot. The others filled in a circle around the lit candle, now the only light in the room.
“May I say something?” Malleus asked.
“The floor is yours,” Riddle managed.
“I have greatly valued our friendship,” he said. “You have all been wonderful friends, and I have greatly enjoyed our adventures.”
Jamil smiled. “It’s been nice to be away from Kalim for a few hours.”
“Yeah,” Leona managed. “Even if I have to pay for everything, it’s nice hanging out with you guys.”
Azul yawned. “Yup. It’s nice to get a day to not worry about profits and returns and just…hang.”
“I agree,” Riddle said, Azul’s yawn spreading to him. “No rules, no chaos, just…fun. I’ve never gotten to just have fun before.”
Idia laughed. “I never thought I’d ever willingly go outside, much less to a mall. But with you guys…I don’t know, it feels so much easier.”
“I can’t wait to do so much more with you all,” Vil smiled. “Think of how much more beautiful I could make you!”
“Of course that’s what you’re thinking of,” Idia groaned. “Azul, back me—”
He turned. Both Jamil and Azul had fallen asleep. Leona seemed to be half way to sleepsville as well.
“I suppose that’s our cue,” Yuu chuckled. “Goodnight everyone.”
“Goodnight, Child of Man.” Malleus snuggled into his blanket.
Grim curled up next to Yuu, already snoring. “Goodnight, Yuu.”
“Goodnight, Grim.”
Leona was asleep by then. The rest of the group followed suit. Idia was the last to drift off into slumber, with Riddle having taken his phone before he fell asleep.
“Give me my phone back or I’ll drown that plush hedgehog of yours.” He didn’t actually mean it. He’d never dream of harming Bartholomew.
“Hegdehogs are actually great swimmers,” Riddle said.
“Then what was with that music in Sonic…”
Riddle didn’t stay awake to answer. The remaining wakeful boy put out the still burning candle. And soon, Idia drifted off to sleep.
SPLASH
Malleus shot awake. His clothes were drenched in water, his hair stuck to his face.
Leona pounced and hissed like a startled cat, hissing just at everything in general.
Malleus looked up. Two eels and two of Riddle’s card soldiers towered over them, holding four now empty buckets of water. Yuu and Grim were in the back, holding Bartholomew to keep him safe.
“You bastards!” Azul shouted, he stood and tried to jump at Jade and Floyd. Floyd just laughed as he dodged.
“You should have seen the looks on your faces!” he laughed. “Priceless.”
Idia hid under his soaking wet blanket. Vil tried his best to calm himself, but the anger on his face was clearly visible.
“At least Epel is too smart to be here,” he managed through gritted teeth, tucking a piece of damp blonde hair behind his ear.
“I’m sorry Housewarden,” Deuce said. “Ace pulled me into it.”
“Don’t lie! You joined of your own free will!” Ace scolded.
Before Deuce could argue, he was collared. So were Ace, Floyd and Jade.
“Such a shame,” Jade sighed. “Anyway, good morning everyone.”
Yuu watched the chaos unfold with an excited flame in their eyes, sitting in a chair like a supervillain. Grim fell back asleep in their lap.