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Riddle was furrowing his brows for hours now, at this point he was so out of it he thought they’d stay like this forever. Which would be convenient, since most of the time he wears a frown of annoyance or anger anyway.
His vision was blurring every now and then, a reminder that he should either go to sleep or drink another gallon of coffee. Yeah, it was a rough time. Being a dormleader had special privileges, such as having the biggest dorm room, having the biggest authority, making the rules, but it also had certain obligations, add that to having to have straight A-s and being the top student while managing the whole dorm and extra tutoring lessons and club activities.
Riddle was utterly exhausted. The better student he was, the higher were the expectations. Not just his mother’s, but he was a maximalist, which meant he physically cannot bear not being perfect at everything. He was bred and born to excel in everything, it was raised into him.
But sometimes it was too much.
Riddle was a smart boy, the best student in his class, but lately...lately he’s been struggling with certain subjects. Now he has to study more to achieve those grades in those subjects that were so easy to excel in in the past.
In the past two weeks his day was basically waking up, attending classes as well as club activities and housewarden meetings, studying in the library from 5 to 10 then studying in his dorm room and attending his duties as a housewarden. Plus the tutoring sessions, since he refused for anyone in his dorm to fail. He basically lived in the library at this point. One time he fell asleep and was kicked out, because apparently it closes at 10 pm.
And Riddle was walking on eggshells with this routine too, falling asleep during classes, being almost late basically everyday, feeling like fainting and having zero appetite. One time he almsot fell off of Vorpal. He was running on coffee 24/7.
And so here he is, studying for an alchemy test which will be on Monday, two days away. Quizzes are super important, since they are basically a warm-up for the test. If something’s in the quiz, it’ll be in the test too.
Riddle felt a cramp in his stomach, probably because he skipped lunch and dinner. He turned page upon page, words and information blurring together. He listened to some music with his headphones, but he didn’t catch anything of it. His head felt so so heavy, he just wanted to sink into his mattress and enjoying as the freshly washed, crunchy sheets engulfed him, smelling the sweet strawberry scented laundry detergent.
He really liked studying in the library in the past, it was so atmospherie, kind of gothic and dark, like the library in the mansion of a vampire. The thick, old books – that for some reason smelled so good – were floating in the air between the huge bookshelves, really, Riddle had to squint his eyes tight to see he top of the shelves.
But now, he wanted nothing more than going back to his dorm to his queen-sized bed, cuddling his pillows with those cute strawberries on it. He liked strawberries.
As he was hazily thinking about strawberies and begonia potions he almost fell down from his seat when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He flinched so much, the headphone slipped off from his head, and the music continued to play in a quiet sound. The library was quiet, since it was a library, but as Riddle looked around he realized he was the only one still cramming through his notes.
Riddle had to rub his eyes hard for his eyes to finally function again. He looked up at the tall figure, and if he wasn’t so tired he’d probably had a more surprised reaction.
“Malleus senpai. How may I be to your assistance?” - Riddle paused the song, and rubbed his temples as he turned his attention to the fae.
Malleus had a kind of enigmatic, kind of amused expression on his face, which wasn’t an unusual thing. Malleus Draconia was an unsolvable enigma to Riddle, but he knew this much; when Malleus found something amusing, he showed it. Well, Riddle didn’t really know what’s so funny, Malleus might as well tell him that, lest Riddle have fun too.
“What are you doing here Rosehearts? Should you not be sleeping?” - Riddle furrowed his brows.
“I do not believe that is any of your concern, Malleus senpai. Can I help you?” - Malleus didn’t seem to like that answer, so he intertwined his arms and raised one of his brows.
“The library closes in 15 minutes, and, I apologize, but you look like you could faint any second.” - Riddle let out a tired huff, not having the energy to deal with the fae. Malleus surely couldn’t understand him. He was a fae, living for thousands of years, he must already have learnt this curriculum many, many years ago. Riddle was most likely wasn’t even born then. So it quite irritated Riddle that Malleus told him this, like he knew everything. If Riddle wants to be the best, he has to crawl his way to the top since nothing comes for free for his kind, unlike for Malleus.
Of course, Riddle knows it must be hard for Malleus too, since being a prince and the heir to the throne does come with great responsibilities and obligations, but right now Riddle was too tired to think about all this.
But of course his politeness didn’t allow him to say these things, unlike his eyes that told every emotion he was feeling right now.
“I am well aware. I will leave at sharply 10, as I always do. Now if you would excuse me-”
“Actually, there is one thing you might be able to help me with.”
“Which is?” - Malleus hummed, and placed his palm on Riddle’s forehead. The last thing the boy felt was something heavy pulling his eyes down, unabling him to react. If it wasn’t for Malleus, he would’ve collapsed onto the floor, but the fae catched him gently.
He let the younger boy nuzzle his face into his chest, lifting him up bridal-style. Malleus quickly packed up Riddle’s things with simple magic, grabbing his bag as well. He looked around the library. It was dark, the only sources of light were the candles that illuminated the space softly. It was raining cats and dogs outside, but the soft sound of rain just provided some gentle background noise.
Malleus liked to believe that he and Riddle had grown closer to each other in the past few months, maybe he could call them...how do they say it..? Friends. Riddle was not an easy person to approach and neither was Malleus, but for very different reasons. People avoided Malleus because they were afraid of him, and although Riddle’s name was well feared in Night Raven as well, he was much more approachable.
People just didn’t want to be associated with a fae, let alone the prince, which was understandable. Malleus long since accepted the fact that he won’t easily make friends.
But with Rosehearts, it was different. Rosehearts was not an inch afraid of him, he treated him like any other student and Malleus was 99% sure that he would try to collar him without hesitation if it was needed. It was such a fresh breath of air.
But Malleus Draconia quickly learned, that Riddle Rosehearts had self-destructive tendencies. He valued accomplishments and achievements above everything else, including his own health and well-being.
The past few weeks were especially harder for housewardens, since they had to organize the Raven Ball and this year it was Heartslabyul’s turn to set it up. It was an unlucky date really, since exams were up, but they had to hold the Raven Ball on the weekend of the Lupus constellation’s rotate. It usually was around the end of January and the beginnign of February, but this year it was in November.
...And Malleus also noticed how Riddle tended to skip lunch and dinner, having worse focus thus bumping into many student in the hallways, having less energy to scold other students, spending so much time in the library and he heard from Lilia that one time during the dorm-leader meetings – since Mallues never attended those, his only source was Lilia – Rosehearts fell asleep.
As he was carrying the boy he noticed how alarmingly light he was. Sure, Riddle’s always been petite and slim, but at this point it was definitely not healthy. Malleus furrowed his brows in an emotion he couldn’t recognize. Humans were so fragile, and this little one in his hands wouldn’t even take care of himself, even though he overblotted once. After exhausting his body so much, Malleus wouldn’t be surprised if Roseharts would either just snap or faint one day.
Malleus skimmed through the hallways, but eventually he decided it was too much of a hassle, so he just let himself be engulfed by green flames as he skipped all the way to Heartslabyul. He was in the balcony of Rosehearts’ room. The fae easily opened the lock with magic and he went straight to the bed, placing the boy down on the bed, as well as his bag.
He tucked the Riddle into bed, pulling the thick comforter up to his chin. Riddle hummed in satisfaction, nuzzling his face into the sheets. A small smile creeped onto the fae’s face.
Such a sweet scene, is appreciating small everyday things feels like this?
It was raining in Heartslabyul too – a rare occurance, since Heartslabyul’s normal weather was a warm, spring-like one. Like, in Diasomnia there was almost always fog and rain while in Scarabia and Savannaclaw it was always dry and hot.
Malleus usually didn’t like the sound of the rain, it reminded him of the Valley of Thorns. He doesn’t hate his home per se, don’t get him wrong, but it was just so boring having to listen to the sound of raindrops hitting the surface day after day for hundreds of years. That’s precisely why he liked being in Heartslabyul. It was warm and comforting and fresh, but not too warm like in Scarabia for instance.
But now, he didn’t mind the sound of it. The rain sounds provided the perfect background noise for the comforting ambience. There was just something comforting about you being indoors under thick layers of blankets while it was heavily raining outside. And Rosehearts always said roses rejoice when it rains.
When Malleus looked up from the boys face however, a frown made it’s way on his face once again. He had the fortune of going to Rosehearts’ room a few times, and he never seen it as quite messy as this before.
Books, notebooks, papers and clothes littered the floor, the desk was a mess, not having a single inch of free space, on the bedside table there were several empty mugs smelling sour from old coffee.
Malleus knew he should be disgusted, but instead he felt his heart clenching. It would be so cruel to feel that way, after all Riddle was always so organized and neat and he would be ashamed if he knew Malleus saw his room in this state.
The fae just huffed, and motioned with his hands to the clothes, sorting them out.
---
Riddle felt warm.
Warmth surrounded his whole body, he felt as if small balls of sunshine were orbiting around his body. He rolled to his other side, enjoying the faint smell of strawberries, the quiet sound of the blankets and comforters shifting around him. Wait.
Riddle sat up immediately, looking around. He was in his room. His very much messy room in very much messy casual clothes. He cursed under his breath, he’s just most likely violated a tons of rules...
He didn’t remember anything from last day though. Was he studying in his bed and fell asleep? That’s not right, there isn’t any paper on his bed which was to be expected when he falls asleep during studying.
Riddle rubbed his eyes, combing through his messy, rosy locks. He reached for his phone that layed abandoned on his bedside table. It was Sunday, 15:00.
Riddle’s eyes went impossibly wide when his brain processed that he probably slept around 14-15 hours in a row, or even more. But what the fuck happened? Why did his alarm not go off? Why is he wearing a foreign black hoodie that is definitely not his, since it’s many sizes bigger than him? Why did he sleep so soundly, not having one nightmare? Why is there scrambled eggs and a cup of tea on his desk? Why does he feel so warm?