Chapter Text
It had been a long day for Azul Ashengrotto, and it was only lunch time. To start, the report of the previous day’s sales never made it to his desk, so he had to go over the individual sales records and compile it himself. He had tried to do some of it this morning, but Floyd had gotten bored while taking inventory and decided to annoy him instead. Then he had gone to class, done as well as he usually did, until the potion he had been working on was spilled after a restless Grim burst into the sophomore classroom followed closely by an apologetic prefect. They managed to nab him, the prefect apologizing to both Azul and Crewel, promising to pay Azul back. He waved them off dismissively, assuring them they would, and scurried off as Azul started his work from scratch. The rest of the day from there had simply dragged on, feeling like several weeks’ worth of time in just a few hours. He’d already slept poorly last night, but with the day’s taxing progress he was practically exhausted.
Yes, indeed. It had been a mind-gratingly slow day, and it had Azul tired. So, who could blame him for being a tad less observant? Certainly, it was a perfect opportunity to get a good look at him… So now he was sitting in the cafeteria, his small portion of food pushed aside in favor of yesterday’s sales records. He was sitting up straight, sharp eyes gliding across his work, hands moving seamlessly in sync. Sure, he was drowsy, but he wasn’t going to let that make him look bad, and he certainly wasn’t one to leave work undone. Truly it was one of his most admirable qualities, charming enough to split one’s face into a broad and immovable smile or bring a stir to even the coldest heart. Simply adorable.
Azul jumped as two symmetrical students sat down across from him. How odd, he’s not usually so easily startled. Jade grinned lightly at Azul’s shaken up reaction, but Floyd didn’t seem to take any notice, frowning blankly as he looked around the cafeteria. Azul scowled lightly at the two and returned to his records.
“You seem muddled, Azul. Is anything the matter?” Jade asked with a small, innocuous smile. Anyone who knew him could see the devious intent it masked. Azul glanced back up at him with a glare.
“Spare me your patronization. I’m busy.”
And with that, Azul promptly ignored the twins. It seemed something had him on edge. Perhaps he’s more than just tired. Meanwhile, Floyd was off in his own world, still preoccupied with looking around the cafeteria. Though it was slightly strange, this wasn’t completely unusual behavior, at least not lately. Floyd seemed to be in one of his bad moods for the past week and a bit. At first, it seemed like he’d just had a mood swing; he’d switch up again by the end of the day. If Floyd was consistent in anything, it was his easily swaying nature, so surely something would come up and flip his attitude on its head, right? Well, if that was so, the “something” hadn’t appeared yet. He was as irritated and as irritating as ever. Jade guessed there was something external bothering him. That was a commonality when it came to his more depressive episodes. But even still, it was odd that someone as callous and easy-going as his brother would find things that he couldn’t get off his mind.
One of the more interesting things about this particular mood of Floyd’s, Jade found, was that his irritability seemed to worsen when he was around Azul. He would go from silently grumpy to outright angry near instantaneously. His aggression wasn’t specifically targeted at his Housewarden, but he got progressively more restless the longer he was with Azul. But it hadn’t gotten to the point where Floyd would outright avoid Azul, so Jade chose to simply observe his brother and see if he could manage to sort himself out.
They sat in uneasy silence for a while until Azul stood abruptly and gathered his things. He muttered something about seeing them at the lounge and walked swiftly out of the cafeteria. Floyd watched his back until he was out of sight, a blank look on his face. Then he yawned and leaned over the table to snatch Azul’s untouched food. He seemed to get less tense as Azul’s presence faded. What truly curious behavior, Jade thought to himself before his capricious brother spoke up.
“Hey, Jade?”
“Yes, Floyd?”
“Have you noticed anything weird whenever we’re with Azul?” He asked, sounding uncharacteristically bothered. Oh, this was unusual.
“Oh? No, I can’t say I have,” A slight smile curved his lips, “Please do enlighten me; did he do something to set you at unease?” Jade queried. Floyd frowned again, shooting Jade a skeptical look, and shook his head.
“Nah, it’s not ‘zul himself, more like… when I’m around him, I feel like I’m being watched,” he said leaning back. Jade raised his brows. How odd. He had briefly noticed such a thing recently, but he dismissed it as the momentary curiosity of a sturdy-gazed classmate. But Floyd had an particularly keen sense for this sort of thing. If he felt like someone was looking his way, they probably were.
“Oya? By whom?” At that, Floyd clicked his tongue and flung himself down on the table, burrowing into his arms and groaning. He peeked out from beneath his forearms.
“That’s just it. I can’t find them!” He pouted, puffing out his bottom lip and glaring down at the table. “I can’t tell where they’re lookin’ from, but their eyes are all over us.”
“Us?”
“Yeah, us. Probably watchin’ Azul, but they keep looking at us too,” he mumbled grumpily, propping his chin upon his palms. The two sat in the center of the rowdy cafeteria, brief silence between them.
“Are they watching now?” Floyd shook his head.
“Nope, they left a little after Azul walked off, but before that, they were totally starin’ us down for an extra sec.” He straightened slightly and leaned his cheek against his palm.
“And this has been going on for about two weeks now, no?” Jade continued. Floyd stared annoyedly over at his brother, a little pissed that Jade had noticed his discomfort and didn’t choose to bring it up. He clicked his tongue and huffed lightly.
“Of course, you already knew about it… You always know about it.” Jade gave a practiced smile, one Floyd had seen enough times to know whatever he said next was bullshit.
“I assure you, I know nothing but what you’ve told me. That was simply a hunch.” His smile widened and Floyd rolled his eyes.
“Whatever. Yeah, they’ve been watching for a couple weeks and it’s getting on my nerves. It’s one thing if they’re stalking Azul, but why they gotta keep staring at us?”
“Perhaps they see us as a threat,” Jade offered plainly.
“Huh?”
“Perhaps they think of us as obstacles obstructing them from our Housewarden.”
“You’re sayin’ you think someone’s stalking Azul because they have a crush on him?” Floyd cocked his head curiously. Jade paused, considering the suggestion, before speaking again.
“Actually, I pictured it more as someone seeking vengeance for a past business deal turned sour, but now that you bring it up, it’s perfectly possible that they simply have slightly unhealthy obsession with him.”
“But if that is the reason, then why would we get in their way?”
“Well, think about it. It is often that one or both of us are around Azul, and we work very closely with each other, so we likely appear as something akin to best friends to other people. Don’t you think?”
“I guess so,” Floyd said starting to sound mildly disinterested, but still listening.
“As such, it would make sense to an outsider that we’d come to Azul’s aid if he was in danger or defend him should he be spontaneously accosted. So maybe they feel they can’t make any significant moves if we are around him. Or perhaps, they have a better understanding of our relationship and think that if Azul were to ever find out about their stalking, he’d try to send us after them. It’s understandable that they would view us as a threat to them regardless of their degree of knowledge.”
Floyd nodded in concurrence before adding, “I bet they’re jealous, too. They’re not in our dorm, or I woulda figured out who it is by now, so they must not get a lot of time to be round ‘im.” He suddenly perked up a bit. “They always seem to be around the lounge when we’re in business, so it’s gotta be one of our regulars, right?”
“That would be a sensible conclusion to make, however, many students come around the lounge every day, so that doesn’t narrow it down much.” Floyd frowned at his brother’s evaluation.
“Agh! We gotta find this guy! I wanna squeeze him silly!” He glared as he shoveled the last of his food into his mouth. Jade chuckled and stood, preparing to leave. They walked side by side toward the exit in comfortable silence, both still dwelling upon the notion of Azul’s shadowy stalker. But as they left the cafeteria and entered the hallway, they both felt eyes upon them. The gaze was intense, so intense that they could feel it like heat on their skin. Instinctively, both turned in the direction of the feeling but only found a sea of students, none of whom were looking at them. The eyes vanished as quickly as they had appeared. Floyd glared hard at the sudden disappearance, eyes looking wildly around the hall, vainly searching for the creep that had been pestering him for the past few weeks. Jade hardly reacted outwardly, frowning lightly. They didn’t have to say a word to each other to know what they had both just experienced.
“Goodness, I hope this doesn’t become too much of a bother…” Jade murmured as he shook his head. Floyd clicked his tongue. He was borderline fuming. They were both silent. The comfortable atmosphere had evaporated. They broke paths, each going to their respective classes. This was going to be a long week.