Chapter Text
One week. It was one week until it. Yep. It. The most important celebration of their lives.
Well, not really, if they ever got married or had a kid then surely that would be more important, but for now, it was the most important celebration of their lives!
What was this fabled it, you ask? Why, what else could it be but their anniversary!
~~~
Vil slammed his hand down on his desk as he stood up, his grip growing so tight around his phone that it let out a strained creak. “What do you mean it’s not going to get here until Sunday?”
The poor man on the other end of the line let out a squeak. “I-I’m sorry, sir! But the material is very delicate, and we must be very careful when packaging it, so-”
“I know that!” Vil put his fingers to his temple. For his and Leona’s anniversary, he’d bought a carved wooden statue made from the discarded wood of an ancient tree in the royal family of Sunset Savanna’s garden, a tree that Leona apparently spent a good amount of his youth climbing to hide from his servants and brother.
The branches of the tree were once used as staffs for high-ranking officials that served under the royal family. It was still used for that, but nowadays the wood was carefully harvested bi-yearly and could be carved into small sculptures, which was given out to the citizens of the kingdom as a token of good luck.
Leona was the one who suggested doing this, arguing that it made no sense not to use the surplus of wood that they had. For once, the higher-ups of his kingdom listened to him and he’d spent the next couple of days on a complete and total high, relishing in his victory.
It was a nice memory, one that Vil wanted to remind his boyfriend of with the gift. And to do that, he needed the damn gift, which should not have been difficult but apparently it was.
The blond’s eye twitched. “When I first made my order, you said that it would be no problem to get it to me by now!”
“I’m sorry sir.” The man’s voice was meek. “But the wood that we use to make this is very fragile, and on top of that the design is rather complicated-”
“Complicated?” Vil narrowed his eyes. “I asked you to carve a two-dimensional symbol of a lion. I sent you a picture of what I wanted. Many pictures, actually.” The design was an exact replica of Leona’s own tattoo, Vil had even taken reference photos of Leona’s arm under the false pretense of posting them to his account. “How is that complicated? When I asked you to make it you said it would be no problem!”
The person on the other end of the line coughed. “I… Realize this. Ahem, so having them travel long distances can always be a bit of a trifle, you understand?”
“Then send me your company’s address. I’ll go get it myself.” Provided Crowley let him use the mirrors, which he probably wouldn’t.
“We… are a mailing only company.” The man’s voice was so quiet that Vil had to strain to hear it.
The blond put his hand to his temple. “So not only are you unable to get me the thing despite telling me that you would, but you also won’t let me get it myself.”
After a moment of silence, the man spoke. “We can offer you a discount for your next purchase as an apology?”
“Next purchase? As if I’m ever going to buy anything again from…” Vil trailed off with a sigh, knowing that he wasn’t going to get anywhere with this. “Forget it. Just get it to me by Sunday.”
The man let out a squeak of affirmation. “Yes, sir!”
Vil hung up on him then and shook his head. “Unbelievable.” He sat down on the edge of his bed, placing his head atop his hands. “That carving better be the greatest piece of art ever created, I swear.”
He looked down at the floor, his heeled shoe kicking lightly at the wood. “But what am I supposed to do now?”
As ashamed as he was to admit it, he didn’t have a backup plan for this. Things had been quite a bit hectic, what with his work and schooling, and he’d been so certain that the wood company wouldn’t fail him. And besides that, he’d been looking forward to a quiet date night with his boyfriend’s smiling face as he presented him with his gift.
Sure, Leona would be smiling regardless as he would be happy enough to just have a quiet evening alone together, but it was the principle of the matter.
Vil sighed and stood up. “No use dwelling in the past, I suppose.” The only thing he could do was move forward if he wanted to get his boyfriend the perfect gift for their anniversary.
The perfect gift… Vil clicked his tongue as he looked around his room, trying to find any source of inspiration. There was a set of weights by his bed, maybe he could get Leona something athletic?
Oh, but what could he even get him that he didn’t already have?
Vil looked at his vanity, spotting his organized bottles of ointments and perfumes. He’d gotten Leona a haircare kit once, before they’d started dating. It ended up sitting at the bottom of Leona’s closet for months until they’d actually started dating and Vil forced him to try it. Vil couldn’t get him something like that again, he wanted Leona to actually use this gift.
He put his fingers to his temple once more and took a couple of steps away from his vanity.
’I’m stressed out, that’s what it is.’ The blond massaged his temple. ’What I wouldn’t give for a spa date.’ He smiled, picturing a relaxing day filled with face masks, couples massages and hot tubs. Sighing, he shook his head. ’No, we’re getting gifts for Leona, not you, Schoenheit.’
He pulled his fingers away from his temple. ’Staying here won’t do me any good. Walking around and getting my blood flowing surely will help.’
Mind set, he exited the room, his determined eyes scouring every single nook and cranny of his campus in search of a gift idea for his precious prince.
~~~
“What do you mean the place is closed indefinitely?” Leona shot up from where he had been lounging on his bed with a low growl. He’d been checking up on his reservation at the Elephant Legacy hot springs, one he had booked months in advance, only a couple of days after he and Vil returned from their visit for the Bead Brawl.
Their trip to the springs was nice, but when accompanied by a bratty cat, an indescribable herbivore, a somehow-not-wrinkled old man, and a Kalim, there wasn’t a lot of time to properly spend one-on-one time with his boyfriend.
Which is what he’d been planning on doing for the weekend of their anniversary, but now he couldn’t for some reason.
“Uh…” The man on the other end of the line spoke with a trembling voice. “I mean that it is closed indefinitely. I’m very sorry!”
“How?” Leona ran his fingers through his hair, pulling at his scalp. “The place I reserved isn’t even open to the public, only royals can use it.”
Leona could hear the man on the other end of the line gulp. “Ah. Yes… You see, Prince Cheka was playing at the springs with the younger children of his attendants, and there was… ah…” His voice was quieter and a whisper. “An incident in the waters.”
He then spoke quickly. “Of course, we will be cleaning the springs diligently to prepare for your visit, but I’m afraid that it will not be wise to come on the date you originally planned. I’m very-”
Leona hung up the phone, throwing the device across his room. He let out a groan and covered his eyes with his arm. “Fuck.”
He then stood up. “Okay. New gift time.”
It wasn’t like there was nothing else he could scrounge up for his boyfriend, perks of being a prince and all, but the thing was, Vil was a very difficult man to give gifts to.
Jewelry? He’d already banned Leona from getting him any due to an overabundance of them (though Leona did ignore that ban from time to time but that was neither here nor there).
Makeup? Why bother when Vil preferred to make it himself?
Clothes? No. Vil got mean when it came to clothes, and while it was cute to see him get so worked up about something, Leona would rather have him smiling than scowling during their anniversary.
Any other physical items were a no-go too, as there wasn’t much that Leona could get him that Vil wouldn’t be able to get himself. That’s why the hot springs trip was so perfect, it was one of the few things that only Leona could have gotten him.
The prince sighed and stood up from his bed. He wanted to make Vil happy more than anything else, just as Vil had made him happier than he ever had been since they’d first gotten together.
But right now he was completely blanking on what to get him. His gaze wandered over to his closet, where one of Vil’s jackets was hanging up neatly. He’d left it there during the winter months after Leona complained one-too-many times about the cold.
Barely fit him, but it was a nice gesture. Glancing at the white fur (“faux fur”, he could imagine Vil huffing in the back of his mind) that lined the coat, an idea popped into the prince’s head.
Leona’s ears flicked as he exited his room, intent on asking Jack for his opinion on what to do, seeing as the freshman knew Vil better than anyone else.
Well, not anyone else. Rook had that honor, but Leona would rather tear his own esophagus out than ask for Rook’s opinion on anything.
~~~
“What are you two doing?” Vil crossed his arms as he made his way towards Jack and Epel. The two of them had been taking turns throwing a Magift disc at a moving target on the outer grounds of Pomefiore’s dorm, one of them using far more force than the other.
Epel startled at his voice, and Jack simply looked up, bowing his head in slight greeting upon seeing his childhood friend. “We’re practicing our aim. Hunt let us borrow his targets.”
“Oh?” Vil raised an eyebrow. He gestured for Epel to come closer, and once the purple haired boy was within arm’s length, he began to adjust his crooked collar. “Magift season is quite a ways away, kudos to the two of you for your diligence.” He took a handkerchief out and wiped some dirt off of Epel’s face. “If only you’d be this diligent with our lessons.”
“I’m diligent enough!” Epel narrowed his eyes at Vil before lowering his gaze after the blond gave him a look. “I mean… Thank you for your generous words of wisdom, oh beautiful goddess.”
“Hm.” Vil put the handkerchief into Epel’s pocket, and as he did so, the shorter freshman gave Jack a pleading look.
Jack shrugged at Epel before speaking to Vil. “We both take practice seriously year-round.” He rubbed the back of his neck as his tail wagged slightly. “But I’ll admit we’ve been a bit more excited to play because of the-”
“THE PLAYOFFS ARE THIS WEEKEND!!!” Epel cheered right in Vil’s ear.
“Indoor voice, Epel.” Vil put his hand to his chin and let out a thoughtful hum. As he continued to do so, Epel waved his hands in the air in frustration, mouthing ‘WE’RE OUTSIDE’ to Jack.
Before the white haired boy could mouth anything back to Epel, Vil slowly smiled. “Yes. They are this weekend, aren’t they?” Leona mentioned that at one point, but when Vil had brought up going, his boyfriend had said that getting the tickets was too much of an effort.
Vil hadn’t planned on getting them despite Leona’s interest, as he’d assumed that his carving would be coming in soon and the two of them agreed on only getting one gift.
But, well, plans had changed. And besides, Magift was something special for the both of them. One of the first conversations they’d had was when Vil had been auditioning -ah, “trying out”- for Pomefiore’s team before he’d been a housewarden. Leona had been napping nearby and had gotten all whiney about being woken up. He’d complained about Vil’s form, and the two of them had gotten into an argument.
One argument led to another, then they started spotting each other in the halls to continue arguing, and eventually, well…
They hadn’t stopped arguing, but everything else changed.
Vil smiled at Jack. “Do you know if there are still tickets available?”
The younger boy shook his head. “They’ve been completely sold out for months.”
Epel huffed. “Almost sold out.”
Vil narrowed his eyes at his underclassman. “What do you mean by that?”
“Azul bought, like, a bunch of tickets as soon as they came on sale and has been selling them to students.” The purple haired boy shared a nod with Jack. “He said that if I gave him my UM for a week, he’d give me a ticket for free, but Jack talked me out of it.”
Vil patted Jack’s shoulder. “Thank you for saving the school from that.” He then reached out to flick Epel’s forehead. “And you! Don’t ever negotiate with Azul, he’d only ever end up ruining you.”
He pulled his hand away. “Now, if you excuse me, I need to go negotiate with Azul.”
Epel opened his mouth, but Vil called out to him as he walked away. “I’m allowed to do it because I can hold my own against him. When you can do the same, I’ll happily let you do it.”
Vil went back inside and Jack patted Epel’s shoulder as the purple haired boy grumbled. “Unfair.”
~~~
“Jack, there you are.” Leona made his way over to Jack. The younger man looked up at him in mild surprise, turning away from where he had put his hand atop Epel’s shoulder to bow his head slightly to the prince. “Hello to you too, do you need anything?”
His white ear twitched. “If you’re looking for Vil, he just left.”
Leona huffed, rolling his eyes. “Why is it that you’re always assuming I’m looking for Vil?”
Jack tilted his head. “Because you usually are?” He nodded to Epel. “When you’re at Pomefiore, at least.”
“Nah, I’m not looking for him.” ’This time’ went unspoken. Leona put a hand on his hip. “I’m looking for you. So that I can ask you a question about Vil.” He ignored Epel’s snort and continued. “Do you have any ideas about what would be a good gift for him?”
Jack tilted his head. “A good gift for Vil?” He looked at Epel, who crossed his arms and muttered. “A doll that he can order around instead of me would be nice.”
Leona shook his head. “No, Vil doesn’t like dolls, they freak him out.” Ever since the Playful Land incident, Vil swore off all creatures that acted as a simulacrum of human beauty. Dolls, puppets, Tsums, you name it. His tail swayed side to side. “Any other ideas?”
“What’s the gift for?”
“Our anniversary, it’s this weekend.”
Jack narrowed his eyes at his housewarden. “You’re only getting the gift for him now?”
Leona held his hands up in defense. “I got his gift months ago, but there were some complications and now I need to find a new one as soon as possible.” He gestured to both of the freshmen. “So, any ideas?”
Jack let out a hum. “I took him to see an aurora once, he liked that.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Granted, we were kids back then so his tastes might have changed…”
“No, I don’t think so.” Epel had his hand on his chin. “Vil likes doing things, so I’m sure he’d rather be given an experience instead of like, a gift gift, yaknow?” his eyes suddenly shone and he let out a gasp. “Oh!”
The shorter boy grinned. “Vil was telling me about this musical he wanted to see!”
He put his hand on his hip. “It’s a sequel to this musical that’s based on this book, but the sequel isn’t based on the book that the original musical is based on, but is instead based on a different book based off the musical. The book was commissioned by the guy who wrote the musical based on the original book, who later went on to write this musical, which is based on the book based on the musical based on the original book!”
Leona blinked. He reached out and patted Epel’s shoulder. “You used a lot of words there, bud.”
Jack smiled. “That musical sounds interesting.”
“It’s not, it’s boring. There’s a seven minute long song where the leads talk about how they had a one-night stand.” Epel glowered. “Vil couldn’t get tickets before they sold out, so lucky me because I know he would have dragged me to it.” He rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath. “But then he whined about it for days…”
Leona frowned. “They sold out? Completely?”
Jack shrugged. “Maybe Azul has some tickets, since he apparently does that now.”
“Huh.” Leona clicked his tongue. Contrary to what most people thought about him, he enjoyed musicals. Maybe not to the extent of his boyfriend, but the two of them had plenty of good dates watching them.
A smile formed on his face. “You said that Cephalo-punk might have them?”
Epel and Jack shared a shrug, which wasn’t the most positive response, but Leona was grasping for straws here. “Good enough for me.” He nodded to the target that the boys had been aiming at earlier. “Put more force into the push of your legs when you throw, that’ll give you more time to aim.”
He waved at them as he walked off. “See ya.”
~~~
Azul held up a finger. “One week working here, that’s all I ask and the tickets are yours!” He pushed the twin tickets to the Magift playoffs across the table, right where Vil could see them.
“Three days.”
“Five.”
“Two.” Vil laced his fingers over each other. “And I give you three redeemable coupons that you can turn in to get me to do your makeup for you for a day.” He held his hand up as Azul opened his mouth. “Trust me, you want me to do your makeup for you.”
Azul chuckled, moving his hand to cover his mouth (covering his lipstick, more like). “Is that an insult?”
Vil chuckled as well. “It is simply a statement of a fact.” He held his hand out. “Do we have a deal?”
“The two days you’ll work will be on a weekend, of course. Our busiest days.”
“Naturally.”
“And you’ll make a post praising the Mostro Lounge and stating that you’ll be working here?” Azul grinned, bringing his hand back down.
Vil shrugged. “I will praise whatever I deem worthy of praise, and I will make my whereabouts known. Do we have a deal, Azul?”
The silver haired merman gave Vil a grin. “But of course~!”
~~~
Vil smiled at the two tickets nestled within the envelope in his hand as he exited the Mostro Lounge. As he opened the door, however, he bumped into someone. Rolling his eyes, he raised his gaze to admonish them for their carelessness, only to pause as he saw his boyfriend right before him. “Leona?”
The prince blinked at him in surprise. “Vil?” He raised an eyebrow. “What are you doing here?”
The blond blinked. “I… Should be asking you the same thing!” He slid the envelope into his back pocket before wrapping his arms around his boyfriend’s neck in an attempt at distracting him. “I thought you hated seafood?”
Leona had noticed Vil hiding the envelope, but chose to ignore it in favor of pressing a kiss to the inside of his boyfriend’s wrist. “I don’t hate seafood, I just hate this place.”
“All the more reason as to why you’re here.”
“I have my secrets.” Leona winked. “I assume you have them as well?”
Vil nodded. “Naturally.” He dotted a couple of kisses along his boyfriend’s cheek. “Be careful when negotiating, okay? Azul’s being himself.”
Leona raised his hand up in a lazy salute. “Yes, your highness. If you’d let me go in?” He smirked as Vil released him from his hold. “Don’t worry about me. See you later.”
“I’m always worrying about you.” Vil huffed. He then smiled and patted Leona’s cheek. “But I trust you. See you later.”
Leona watched him walk off far longer than he should have before turning around and staring up at the doors of the Mostro Lounge, steeling himself to make a deal with the octo-devil.
He sighed. “Let’s do this.”
~~~
“Three million thaumarks, and a promise to allow me to stay at your castle whenever my men and I are in the Sunset Savanna.”
Leona’s ear flicked. “My left shoe, and a promise to not destroy this entire building with my magic in ten seconds.”
Azul pouted. “Are these tickets only worth that much?” He sighed and shared a sad look with Jade. “If I’d known that, I never would have spent fourteen hundred thaumarks on them.” His eyes widened as he emphasized his words. “Each.”
Leona leaned back in his chair. “Ten.”
Azul’s eye twitched. “I deserve twenty eight thousand thaumarks for two at least! And an extra ten thousand for my trouble!”
“Nine.”
“A promise to sponsor the Sunrise City branch of the Mostro Lounge!”
“Eight.”
Azul stood up, a droplet of sweat forming on his brow. “A-An offer to work here for a week?”
“Seven.”
“Two days!” Azul clapped his hands together, which caught the attention of Jade and the eel made his way over. “You can work the same weekend as your boyfriend, how about that?”
Leona shook his head. “Vil and I working together would be absolutely awful for your customers. Six.”
“You realize that you’ll have to pay for the damages, right?”
Leona gave Azul an ‘I’m a prince with an infinite amount of money’ kind of look. “Five.” Azul glowered. “Both shoes?”
“I need one to walk back to my dorm in. Four.”
Azul stood up, a panicked look etched into his face. “Is a gift for your boyfriend really only worth the value of one of your shoes?”
Leona raised an eyebrow. “What makes you think this is for Vil?”
“Why else would you be getting two tickets to a musical?”
The prince shrugged. “Maybe I just like musicals and wanted an extra seat so that nobody could sit next to me.” He then smirked, bringing his hand up. “What number was I on again? Ah, yes. Three.”
Azul narrowed his eyes. “My stepfather is a lawyer.”
“My father-father is a king.” Leona gave Azul a shiteating grin. He wiggled his fingers in the air, which was far more threatening than it had any right to be. “Two~!”
“Oh, just TAKE them!” Azul cried, shoving the tickets Leona’s way and the prince grabbed them with a grin. “Pleasure doing business with you, Cephalo-punk~!”
“Just get out of my restaurant, you monster.”
Leona took his left sandal off and threw it, aiming for and hitting Azul’s face. “Gladly.” He waved to Jade. “See ya.”
Azul pulled the shoe away from him and handed it to Jade, who was waving at Leona with a smile on his face as he closed the door to the lounge.
With Leona gone, Azul sighed and reached into his pocket to wipe away any marks that the shoe left on his face. “It’s high enough quality that we could sell it for over a hundred thousand thaumarks. Or to some freak who wants a prince’s shoe.” He shrugged. “Either way, we’ve profited enough from this.”
He smirked, pulling his arms behind him. “In more ways than one.”
“Sir.” Jade spoke, his smile giving away nothing as he held the sandal carefully. “Did you make sure to check the dates of those tickets which you gave to the happy couple?”
Azul grinned. “Why, yes. I did~!”
Jade chuckled, placing his hand atop his friend’s shoulder. “You are quite devious, aren’t you?”
“Devious? Who, me~?” Azul clasped his hands together and batted his eyes, painting the perfect picture of a saint. “I could never be devious~!” He then narrowed his eyes as his grin grew completely, utterly, and truly devious. “However, I do believe in payback~!”
~~~
Vil blinked.
Leona blinked.
The tickets were for the same day. The same time. At venues that were continents apart.
Vil looked at Leona.
Leona looked at Vil.
“So.” The blond leaned his head against his boyfriend’s shoulder. “Your other gift is coming… eventually. Just not today.”
Leona wrapped his arm around Vil’s shoulders. “Your other gift is waiting for you the second they clean it up.”
Vil let out a hum. “You got me tickets to a musical, too.”
“And you got me tickets to Magift playoffs.” Leona smiled, bumping his forehead against Vil’s. “I love you.”
Vil pressed his lips against his boyfriend’s sweetly. “I love you too.” As he pulled away, he sighed. “Which one should we go to?”
“Stay for halftime, use a mirror, watch post-intermission?”
Vil laughed. “It should be the other way around, honestly. The first act of the show is far better than the second.” He put his hand atop Leona’s cheek. “Either way, we’ll make it work.”
In the end, it was a happy anniversary indeed.