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Leona could feel when he was being stared at. When you're royalty, you have to develop good detection skills and senses. He could even tell when he was being stared at in his sleep. That’s why his eyes shot open in the middle of the night.
He was tired from the first official overblot support group meeting. Apparently, all of the vice housewardens minus Jamil had come together and decided to form the group. After that, they convinced their housewardens to attend through lying. Trey was the only one who didn’t; he told Riddle outright. The rest were told it was an emergency housewarden meeting. Kalim even pretended to be sick so Jamil would “go in his place”.
The tricked ones were less than pleased to find Yuu there with a banner. Their moods were slightly raised by the fact that it was a party. It was the party they had been planning. They were also tricked into planning a party for what they thought was a different event. At least they had all the things they liked.
Then the mood was brought down again when Yuu asked the awkward question. “Do you guys want to invite Malleus?”
Everyone froze. Yuu rushed to explain. “I know what he did was awful, and it will be hard to move on. But I think if you all are going to get better and move on, he has to be here. It's still up to you all, though. I'll let you all talk.” They proceeded to step outside.
Riddle led the conversation. “I think we should. We all did bad things during our overblots. While his was magnified in comparison, I believe it is only fair we invite him.”
“I agree.” Vil nodded. “I would like to put this behind me one day, and for that to happen, we all need to be here. If you agree, raise your hand.”
Everyone raised their hand, even Leona. Anybody who was shocked made sure not to comment on it. They called Yuu back in and told them their decision.
Yuu gave them a soft smile and left to supposedly give Malleus the invite.
When finally Malleus arrived, Leona was planning on ignoring him for the rest of the party. That plan was ruined when Malleus started crying. It was the type of crying he recognized. The type of crying he's done himself.
Leona saw himself in that moment. It was jarring, but he put that aside. He gave all the comfort he could handle and returned to the party. The rest of the night went normally.
He returned to his room, got ready for bed, and went to sleep. Now he was here. Awake in his bed with Malleus staring at him from his room's balcony.
“What do you want?” Leona glared at Malleus. “It is at least 2 at night.”
“I wish to talk to you.”
“In the middle of the night?” Leona threw a pillow at Malleus. “Leave.”
Malleus didn’t move. He let the pillow hit him and stood completely still. Leona tried to fall asleep again, but the staring kept him awake. It became painfully clear that Malleus wasn’t going to leave.
“Why?” Leona looked at Malleus again. “What could we possibly have to talk about?”
Malleus was caught off guard by the question. He hadn’t thought that far ahead. “When you comforted me, I felt understood. It was weird. I wish to talk to you again.”
“What?” Leona fully sat up. “I don’t know if I'm the kind of person you want to get comfort from. Shouldn’t you go talk to Yuu or whatever?”
“No. I can only discuss this with you.” Malleus took a step forward. “You were right. I felt numb and…I'm so confused.”
Dammit. Leona got up and walked over to Malleus. “Fine. Talk to me.”
Malleus opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He struggled to properly start a sentence. Leona took pity on him.
“Start with small talk then.”
Malleus seemed to struggle with that too. He looked at Leona to find something to bring up. “What is that on your head?”
“It’s my bonnet.”
“Huh? I thought bonnets were tied under your chin and were way larger.” Malleus had a look of pure confusion on his face.
“What?” Leona was too tired for this. “Those went out of style a while ago. This is to protect my hair.”
“From what?”
Leona pinched the bridge of his nose. “Okay, listen. I have coils, so I need to protect them from breakage and frizz. How out of touch are you?”
“Hmm. I only learnt recently that dragon fruits do not breathe fire.” Malleus spoke in the most serious tone Leona had ever heard.
“I wasn’t actually asking. How did you even think that?” Leona teased. “Your tutors didn’t teach you basic information?”
“They taught me academic information. I learnt all about etiquette and magic, but not much about other things.” Malleus spoke easily. It was like he could speak naturally with Leona. “Lilia calls it being sheltered. He says that’s part of the reason I struggle with others.”
“Okay. And then what?”
Malleus became confused again. “Huh?”
“You grew up sheltered, and then what?” Leona spoke bluntly. “You’ve had three years at this school to learn. You’ve had the chance to learn how to talk to others. Why haven’t you tried?”
“I…” Malleus felt the words die in his throat. He hadn’t tried because… “I thought it wouldn’t matter. Everyone would always be scared of me, so why try? I never thought anything would change.”
It was Leona's turn to be speechless. Why did he have to be so similar to the damn lizard? He cleared his throat. “I get that." He cut it there. He couldn’t risk telling him anymore.
“You do, don’t you?” Malleus turned to look at the moon. “Why must feelings be so complicated?”
“You’re preaching to the choir.” Leona joined Malleus. “It sucks, doesn’t it?”
“It’s terrible and amazing at the same time.” Malleus said with a soft smile. “I thought finally being able to feel without repercussions would be easier. I feel like I haven’t changed.”
“You have changed. Do you think the old you would be on my balcony talking to me about feelings?” Leona snorted at the image. “I can hardly believe I'm doing this.”
“I suppose you’re right.” Malleus looked back at Leona. “You still dislike me, right? Why are you doing this?”
Leona lightly shoved Malleus. “I still can’t stand you. I'm only doing this cause I know what you’re going through. I know all about feeling like there’s no point in trying. That doesn’t mean I can’t dislike you on principle.”
“Wait.” Malleus got an idea. “Do you also hate me on ‘prince-epl'? Do you get it? Because we’re both princes. I came up with that joke just now.”
It was dead silent. Malleus's face slowly began to fall as Leona stood there stone-faced. Then, suddenly, Leona burst out laughing.
He was doubled over clutching his stomach. “You are so irritating! What kind of joke was that!?” He could barely stay standing. “I hate you so much! Ha ha ha ha!”
Malleus felt his cheeks burn in embarrassment before he joined in with Leona’s laughter. It was contagious. The both of them were laughing loudly before they knew it.
Malleus can’t remember the last time he had laughed so hard. He even snorted, and that caused them to laugh even harder. Eventually, they were on the ground cackling.
Malleus struggled to catch his breath. “You are surprisingly easy to talk to about my issues! This is so odd.”
“Oh, shut up!” Leona’s laughter began to die down. “It’s too early for this. We have class tomorrow. You should get going while we’re both still in a good mood.”
“You are probably right.” Malleus stood back up. “This was nice, Kings—” He cut himself off. “Leona. See you tomorrow. The meetings are every Wednesday, right?”
“Yeah. See you tomorrow.” Leona got up and walked to his bed.
Malleus snapped his fingers and teleported. Leona went back to bed. He would probably be mad at himself in the morning. That was for tomorrow.