Chapter Text
Lilia contented to watch Eden with rapt attention. The girl was not only golden but also entertaining . And! There was a second golden child. Oh, what a year this was shaping out to be! Lilia wondered if the two of them would be mad at being babied.
Lilia heard Cater point his group out, along with one of the freshmen yelping that he looked like a kid. Lilia felt himself become giddy at the feeling of those golden and shiny eyes peering at him, and couldn’t help himself.
He teleported upside down, hovering above the table. “Lilia. Lilia Vanrouge.” He heard the table scream in shock, except for Eden and her brother who were staring at him curiously. Lilia felt his smile stretch. The golden babies were paying attention to him! “Hello again Beasty. Who's that sitting next to you?”
Eden raised an eyebrow. “You mean Al? What about her?”
Al. A nickname, one given in fondness and love. But, why didn’t either of them act surprised when he teleported over? “You don’t seem shocked to see me, Beasty.”
Eden and Al looked at each other. “We heard you. Anyway, what’re you doing over here?”
Lilia grinned. Interesting. “I overheard you talking about my ‘Fresh-face’ in curiosity. I assure all of you, I’m older than I look.”
“Fresh faced, he says.” Trey muttered under his breath.
Lilia continued on, directing this part mainly to the golden siblings. “You need not stare at us from afar. We are schoolmates, are we not? All of us at Diasomnia will welcome you with open arms.”
Al raised a brow. “The green haired one is looking at us weird.”
Lilia looked over to Sebek who was clearly at war between his Fae instincts of a very shiny person and his complex feelings for humans. He looked laughably constipated.
“Oh don’t worry about them….”
****
Riddle saw Trey and Cater sitting with those troublemakers and started approaching. He could hear Ace Trappola complaining about him, and quite loudly too. Tch, typical . Troublemakers never see sense.
“No kidding! He collared me for eating one slice of tart! His rule obsession is out of control.” Ace complained.
Eden locked eyes with him, and Riddle could hear her kick Ace under the table in warning to pay attention. However Riddle would not let this disrespect slide. “My ‘rule obsession’ is ‘outta control’, is it?”
Eden tried gesturing to Riddle with her eyes, but Ace kept going. “You bet it is. Riddle's just a petty tyrant who leans into the whole "rules" schtick as a pretext to keep everyone under his puny thumb!”
The person who looked a lot like Eden was cackling now, and Eden also looked a little amused at the whole situation. “Would you say that to Riddle’s face?”
Ace blinked, not even aware that Riddle was now practically on top of him. “Ehhh? Why?”
“Because you just did.”
****
Ed watched Riddle interact with everyone with rapt attention. The moment Riddle walked over here, Trey and Cater immediately looked more frightened. That was not a normal reaction for friends to have. This guy was a tyrant, plain and simple. Even worse, he was a ‘I’m right, your wrong’ Tyrant. At least Bradley was aware that he was a piece of shit.
‘Those that break the rules should have their heads removed immediately without exception.’ What a joke.
‘ The only time that works is in cases like mine. That doesn't work human to human, correct?’
‘Yeah. Humans are a lot more complex than that. Your rules work because they are so simple and hard to break. Ours don’t.’
Ace scratched their cheek. “So, uh, listen, housewarden, sir... Any chance I could get you to remove this collar?”
Way to read the room Ace. Way to read the room.
The answer of course was a big fat ‘no’ from Riddle. Well, it was longer than that, but Ed had already started to tune him out anyway. However, Riddle shifted attention to her and Al. “And why aren’t you two in uniform? It’s against the rules to-”
“Al ain’t a student.” Ed interrupted blankly.
Riddle huffed, looking slightly embarrassed. “And you?”
“Crewel told me to wear this. And that if anyone objected they could easily talk to her.” Ed said smugly.
Riddle turned slightly red. “I- I will check that later, but you're on my radar!”
Ed smiled, all teeth. “ Sure, let’s see how that goes for you.”
****
Al sighed as the group talked more about ‘magic’. Al couldn’t care less about it because it wasn’t real. Al was more worried about how long it was gonna be until she could kick Ace out of her and Brother's house. Apparently, they were gonna need a tart to do that. Al did not have a tart.
“I could help you make them.” Trey offered Ace.
Oh thank Truth.
“But, I’m gonna need something from you in turn.” Trey continued.
Nevermind, Al forgot almost everyone sucks at this school.
“You're gonna make me pay?! C’mon man!” Ace lamented.
Trey laughed. “No! No, nothing like that, Riddle wants a chestnut tart next so I’m just gonna need you to pick some chestnuts from the garden. Let’s say two or three hundred? They have to be boiled, shelled, and pureed.”
“Alright, I’m out.” Deuce said.
“Same here.” Grim piped up.
“You spineless cowards!” Ace cried.
And while Al didn’t want to help Ace, the sooner Ace gets his dumb tart, the sooner he would leave. So , “I’ll help.”
“Same here.” Brother nodded.
“Woah, really?!” Ace yelled. “That’s a shock!”
Trey nodded. “That’s good. And hey! Tarts are best right out of the oven!”
That seemed to get Grim and Deuce on board.
After class, they were all going to go to the botanical gardens to get some damn chestnuts so this whole thing could
finally
be over.