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The potion had apparently been intended to "encourage honesty between classmates."
Which already sounded like a disaster waiting to happen.
Riddle had expected chaos in the emotional sense. Confessions, arguments, embarrassing secrets spilling across the cafeteria like overturned tea. What he had not expected was Floyd Leech becoming progressively stranger over the course of lunch while everyone else merely grew louder.
"You smell like strawberries today, Goldfishie.."
Floyd said it while slumped across the cafeteria table, chin pressed against folded arms. His voice remained lazy and drawn out as usual, but there was something oddly direct about it now, completely lacking his normal teasing edge. His half-lidded eyes tracked Riddle openly without shame, fingers drumming slowly against the wood.
Riddle nearly dropped his teacup.
"...Excuse me?"
His face heated immediately despite the flatness of his tone. Across the table, Kalim made a noise that sounded suspiciously like someone choking to death while trying not to laugh. Ace looked moments away from exploding.
Floyd only blinked slowly. "Your soap changed. Smells nice."
He reached out like he intended to grab one of Riddle's sleeves before abruptly stopping halfway there.
His expression twisted slightly instead. Small. Brief. Almost unnoticeable if one was not already looking directly at him. Then Floyd pulled his hand back.
"This jacket feels bad today too."
"...What?"
"The fabric." Floyd tugged vaguely at the collar of his uniform with visible annoyance. "Scratchy."
Ace snorted immediately. "Since when do you care about clothes textures?"
"Since always?" Floyd replied. "Some of 'em feel gross."
The answer came too quickly. Too honestly.
Riddle frowned faintly over the rim of his teacup. Normally Floyd would have laughed something off like that or turned it into a joke somehow. Instead he just looked irritated, shoulders tense beneath the black Octavinelle jacket as he rubbed absentmindedly at the fabric near his neck again.
The cafeteria around them remained obnoxiously loud.
Silverware clattered, students shouted across tables.
Someone dropped a tray somewhere near the back.
And through it all, Floyd's expression slowly seemed to tighten further and further.
"Can everybody chew quieter?" Floyd muttered suddenly. "Sounds awful."
"That is physically impossible.." Jamil replied pleasantly.
Floyd grimaced.
Across the table, Ace started fidgeting with the zipper of his hoodie while talking to Deuce.
Zip.
Floyd flinched, It was small. Barely there. Just a quick twitch in his shoulders before he went still again, gaze lowering toward the table.
Zip zip.
"Can you stop doing that?"
Ace looked up.
"Huh?"
"The zipper."
Floyd's voice stayed flat this time. Not annoyed in the usual dramatic Floyd way. Just strained. Thin around the edges somehow. His fingers pressed harder against the tabletop now, nails tapping in uneven little rhythms.
Ace blinked once before grinning.
"What, this?"
Zip.
Floyd jerked hard enough for his chair to scrape violently against the floor and the entire table fell silent.
For one awful second, Riddle expected Floyd to snap. To grin sharply and threaten Ace or squeeze him into the nearest wall for being irritating. Everyone else clearly expected the same thing judging by how Deuce immediately sat up straighter.
Instead Floyd just stood there motionless.
His breathing had changed.
Too quick.
One hand pressed suddenly against the side of his head while the other clawed at the collar of his jacket again and again like he could not get comfortable inside it. His eyes looked strangely unfocused now, fixed somewhere beyond the cafeteria instead of at anyone directly.
Then another tray crashed somewhere nearby.
Floyd physically recoiled.
Riddle's stomach churned. "...Leech?"
Floyd didn't answer.
The cafeteria noise suddenly felt enormous now that Riddle was paying attention to it. Voices overlapping each other. Chairs scraping. Silverware clinking against plates. Shoes squeaking across tile floors. It all crashed together into one horrible wall of sound while Floyd stood rigid in the middle of it.
Ace looked genuinely panicked now. "I didn't even do anything-"
"Be quiet." Riddle's voice cracked through the table sharply enough to silence everyone instantly. He stood at once, gaze snapping toward the surrounding students with growing irritation as Floyd visibly shrank further into himself beside them.
"Cater. Clear space immediately." Riddle commanded The boy who was staring at his phone with unimterest for the last 10 minutes.
"Huh? Uh- right." Cater replied.
"Deuce, move those chairs. Ace, stop touching the zipper before I remove it myself."
Riddle turned back toward Floyd quickly then, his expression tightening further at the sight in front of him. Floyd had both hands over his ears now, shoulders drawn up painfully high while his breathing turned increasingly uneven.
And worst of all, he wasn't speaking anymore.
Not even teasing. Not even complaining.
Just straight up silent. Riddle had never seen Floyd silent before.
"Jade." Riddle called. Jade was already standing.
"On it." Jade placed his juice box on the table and moved to help Riddle.
Between the two of them, they managed to guide Floyd out of the cafeteria before the growing crowd could gather properly. Floyd stumbled once during the walk, face tightening sharply when another group of students laughed somewhere down the hall.
Riddle noticed immediately how Floyd kept tugging at his sleeves too, like he wanted out of his own clothes.
By the time they reached an empty classroom, Floyd looked exhausted already.
Jade quietly closed the door for them, muffling the hallway noise almost instantly. The silence that followed felt thick and strange after the overwhelming cafeteria volume. Floyd sagged against the nearest desk the moment the sound pressure disappeared.
Riddle stepped closer carefully.
"Floyd?"He said. No response.
Floyd kept staring downward, fingers digging hard into the fabric at his throat again. His breathing remained uneven, jaw tense in visible discomfort.
Riddle hesitated only briefly before reaching forward. "Hold still."
Floyd twitched when Riddle touched the collar of his uniform, though not away from him specifically. More like the contact startled him. Up close, Riddle could see his hands shaking faintly now.
"This thing is bothering you, isn't it?"
Finally, a tiny nod.
Riddle exhaled slowly through his nose. Honestly, Octavinelle uniforms looked uncomfortable even on good days.
Without another word, he began undoing the jacket properly himself since Floyd's fingers clearly weren't cooperating anymore. The heavy fabric slid off Floyd's shoulders inch by inch until it finally dropped away completely.
The reaction was immediate. Floyd visibly relaxed.
Not fully. Not even close. But enough that his shoulders loosened slightly instead of remaining pulled tight near his ears. His breathing steadied little by little afterward too.
"...Better?" Riddle asked quietly.
Another nod, and for several long moments, neither of them spoke.
The classroom remained dim and still around them while Floyd leaned heavily against the desk beside him, eyes half-hidden behind messy mint hair. Without the jacket, he looked oddly smaller somehow. Less intimidating. The usual sharpness around him dulled down into pure exhaustion.
Just then, Jade who had left the room to retrieve Floyd's Noise-Cancelling Headphones, which Floyd left at the dorm that morning. How he got there so fast, no one knew actually. But Riddle was glad he was here.
Jade crossed the room without hurry, expression calm in that unnerving way he always managed. "I assumed these might be necessary."
Floyd looked up instantly, the reaction was immediate enough to make Riddle pause.
Not dramatic excitement. Not verbal relief. Just the visible collapse of tension from Floyd's shoulders at the mere sight of them. Like someone had cracked open a window in a suffocating room.
Jade crouched beside him carefully. "Can you put them on yourself?"
Floyd hesitated briefly before giving a small frustrated twitch of his fingers. "...Hands feel weird."
"Hmm.. I see." Jade replied.
Without another word, Jade gently settled the headphones over Floyd's ears instead. Floyd physically sagged the second the noise dampened around him, eyes sliding shut almost immediately afterward.
The silence stretched softly. Then Floyd mumbled quietly through the headphones: "Better."
Riddle felt something tight in his chest loosen unexpectedly at the sight, meanwhile Jade rose smoothly back to his feet after adjusting the headphones properly over Floyd's ears.
"He keeps them in his room for particularly difficult days." Jade explained calmly. "The cafeteria became overwhelming faster than usual due to the potion lowering his filtering tolerance."
Riddle looked back toward Floyd instinctively.
Floyd sat curled slightly inward against the desk now, breathing finally evening out beneath the dark headphones resting over his ears. Without the constant twitching and tension, he suddenly looked exhausted more than anything else.
Smaller somehow.
Jade glanced between them once before smiling faintly.
"I'll leave him in your capable hands, Housewarden Rosehearts."
"...Excuse me?" Riddle replied
But Jade had already left before Riddle could argue properly.
The door clicked shut behind Jade, leaving the classroom wrapped in soft quiet once more.
Riddle stared at it for a moment in disbelief. "...He absolutely did that on purpose."
From the floor beside the desk, Floyd gave a small hum that might have been agreement. The noise-cancelling headphones sat slightly crooked over his ears now, turquoise hair sticking out messily beneath the band. Without all the usual noise clawing at him, the sharp strain in his expression had finally eased.
Though he still looked tired. Very tired.
Riddle exhaled quietly before sitting down properly beside him instead of continuing to crouch awkwardly nearby. The movement drew Floyd's attention immediately. His gaze shifted toward Riddle with unusual focus now that everything else had dimmed around him.
For once, Floyd wasn't looking everywhere at once. Just him.
"Better?" Riddle asked after a moment.
"A little." Floyd's voice came out softer than usual beneath the headphones, quieter without the cafeteria noise forcing him louder. He rubbed absently at one sleeve of his uniform before making a face again.
"Still hate this shirt."
Riddle glanced at the dark fabric. "...You wear the same uniform nearly every day."
"Yeah. Doesn't stop it from feeling bad."
There was no dramatic whining attached to the statement. No playful exaggeration. Just tired honesty. Floyd shifted again afterward, fingers twitching faintly against the fabric near his wrists like he could never quite ignore its existence.
Riddle watched the movement for a few seconds, then, carefully: "Would removing the jacket entirely help more?"
Floyd blinked. "...Can I?"
"You are asking me as though I enforce Octavinelle dress code."
"You're scary enough to."
Riddle rolled his eyes immediately, though the response lacked heat. Floyd, meanwhile, slowly peeled the heavy uniform jacket off the rest of the way now that his hands had steadied enough to cooperate properly. The second it disappeared, he visibly relaxed again.
"...Ridiculous," Riddle muttered.
Floyd leaned back against the desk afterward with a long exhale, headphones still muffling the world around him into something manageable. His eyes drifted shut briefly before opening again a few seconds later.
Then Floyd tilted his head slightly while looking at him.
"You smell nice." Floyd said for the second time that day.
Riddle covered his face with one hand immediately. "Good grief."
"You keep doing that."
"Doing what?" Riddle Replied, confused.
"Making that face like you're dying." Floyd argued.
"I am dying." Riddle assured.
Floyd laughed softly at that.
Not the loud barking cackle he usually did around Azul's suffering or Ace getting electrocuted. This one stayed low and tired and warm beneath the headphones, enough to make something strange twist in Riddle's chest.
Then Floyd leaned sideways.
Slowly enough to stop if needed.
His head rested carefully against Riddle's shoulder afterward while his eyes slid shut again. Riddle froze instantly at the sudden weight against him, posture going rigid enough to qualify as structural support.
Floyd cracked one eye open. "Too much?" The question sounded genuinely uncertain.
That more than anything else made Riddle relax slightly. "...No," he admitted quietly.
Floyd hummed softly before settling properly against him afterward, shoulders finally unclenching fully for the first time since the cafeteria. Up close, Riddle could feel the lingering tension still hiding beneath everything though. The exhaustion after too much noise. Too much fabric. Too many people.
Without really thinking about it, Riddle lifted one hand toward Floyd's hair.
His fingers threaded carefully through the soft turquoise strands once.
Floyd inhaled sharply, then he practically melted.
His entire body went loose against Riddle's side immediately, forehead pressing slightly closer against his shoulder while a quiet relieved sound escaped him before he could stop it.
"...That feels really nice."
Riddle swallowed. "I assumed it might."
"Do it again."
The demand came completely muffled against his shoulder. Riddle rolled his eyes automatically, though there was no real annoyance behind it anymore.
"You phrase things terribly."
"Still doing it though."
"...Unfortunately."
So Riddle continued carding slow fingers through Floyd's hair while Floyd leaned heavily against him beneath the quiet buzz of the headphones. After a few minutes, Floyd spoke again, voice softer now with exhaustion dragging at it.
"Think I could fall asleep like this."
"You absolutely cannot." Riddle replied.
"Wanna bet?" Floyd joked softly.
"If you drool on me, I will personally throw you into the ocean."
"You'd miss me. I would go back to my home."
Riddle opened his mouth immediately to deny it. Then stopped.
Because Floyd was already half-asleep against his shoulder with the faintest little smile pulling at his mouth like he already knew the answer anyway.