Ruggie X Reader - Tumblr Posts

"But you're still pretty..!"

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Somehow I am still alive!! Uhm!! I tried my best for this one! @midnightmah07 requested this randomly on a post so I hope you like it!! Took a while but I think I did well! Enjoy! And for anyone else reading this, requests are still open please check my rules for more info! All my writing works can be found under the "Inky's works" tag if you would like to check them out! Please tell me if I missed a tag susbsjsnsb

Request: Leona, Ruggie and Kalim with a S/O who has pimples

Tw; none that I'm aware of! Mention of bullying (maybe?)

They/them pronouns used!

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Leona Kingscholar

When Leona made (Name) play his pillow for a nap he didn’t sign up for them not paying attention to him at all. Sure he didn’t outright tell them that was what he wanted but should that not be a given so he could relax with them in peace? He watched them through barely opened eyes as the used their phone camera to inspect their face, or more specifically their pimples, he guessed. He let his mind wander for possible reasons, it didn’t take him long to come to the conclusion that perhaps (Name) was insecure. So now he had to think of a way to start working on the issue, to get the insecurity to go away, even if it was only temporary. They were laying on soft earth at the moment and it was calm enough that (Name)‘s guard was down so.. flick!

With a barely there thump the phone landed on the floor, not the slightest bit of damage on it. In barely a moment Leona pulled them down with him, right to his chest, with no chance of escaping.

“Stop looking at yourself like that, you’ll turn into that skincare obsessed Blondie. Besides, there’s nothing to stress over in the first place herbivore. Those things will go away, I’ve seen them enough on those idiots (read; Savanaclaw students) during training. Don’t pick and you’ll be fine.”, he said and paused, taking a deep breath and getting comfortable before continuing “Anyway, you don’t need to think about that right now, considering you should have been busy being a pillow instead, so you have to make up for that now..!” And with that he fell asleep again, well, he pretended to, just to see if his diversion worked and yes, it seemed to work just fine. He stayed awake a little longer.. but once they were napping, he slept a bit too.

Kalim Al-Asim

“Ooooo! What are you looking at? Did you try something new with makeup?” Kalim asked as he came over to their desk in class, wondering why (Name) was inspecting their face, only for them to shake their head no. “You didn’t? Is something about your face bothering you then?” He asked, which was correct. They didn’t exactly want to admit to Kalim that they were feeling insecure about their pimples, especially since there were one or two Pomefiore students eyeing them that day. Still, Kalim was not someone you could just lie to that easily, especially since he already caught them inspecting their face for the nth time that day. So, (Name) decided, they had to be honest. They should be honest, Kalim did not deserve to be lied to anyway. So they told him that they were feeling bad about their pimples and that said pimples were bothering them. It took him a moment to realise what they meant because really he couldn’t think of a reason that they should be insecure. Sure the Pomefiore students really sucked but they didn’t know (Name)! Therefore they were not entitled to have an opinion about their looks!

He furrowed his brows and pouted at (Name).

“Why are they a problem? I don’t get it.. you look pretty anyway!” And after that, he stayed silent. That is until he got an idea.

“I know! How about we get a facial together?? I can ask Vil for recommendations on Salons and we can have a spa date! I heard facials can help with skin problems so if you really want to get rid of them, let’s at least make it a fun date!” Kalim suggested, kissing their forehead immediately after and giving them a hug. Yes, a date like that would surely be wonderful.

Ruggie Bucchi

Silence followed their statement. (Name) was upset that day and when their boyfriend Ruggie noticed and asked, albeit in his usual teasing tone and followed by his signature giggle. Of course once he realised that maybe it was a bit more serious than that he once again repeated his question but more serious this time.

“I mean.. I guess my pimples are really bothering me lately because they’re just so.. you see them yourself, you get it, right?” (Name) said, which Ruggie nodded at, raising a hand to his chin to think.

“Well.. don’t see why they bother ya, cause you’re still good looking with or without them.. but my Grandma’s got a face-mask recipe somewhere, my mom had bad skin growing up I’m told.. won’t be fancy but if you like, we could make that together

once I get the time to call for it.. buuut my service isn’t free, shishishi~” He teased as he ruffled (Name)’s hair, which made them roll their eyes but nod anyway. They knew just the way to repay him after all, so a small favour like this wasn’t a big deal in that way, but it meant a lot to them. And maybe they didn’t hate their pimples as much as they thought, after all, if Ruggie didn’t care, why should they? Soon Ruggie was off with a quick bye bye kiss, leaving (Name) feeling impatient as they waited and prepared for their little date, smiling to themselves as they formed an all too familiar batter into shapes as oil heated up in a big pot behind them.

A Twisted Halloween: Spectral Soiree Book III ✧ Alternate Route Idea

Angsty-ish? Maybe? Hurt/Comfort? IDK what constitutes as angst at this point in my fanfic career honestly. This didn't turn out as angsty as I hoped tbh.

Note: I gotta be real, I've read all through book three of this new event (I'm only on the EN server) and I have no idea what's going on, but based on what I've read this idea came to me and self-indulgence dictates I should write it.

So basically... imagine if Shrimpy (and maybe Grim, or perhaps Grim didn't get possessed at all) got possessed by a super-cowardly ghost or something, and at the first big sound or flash of light the ghost(s) got scared away, leaving MC and Grim to wake up in the spectral realm alone and confused. I'm kinda digging the idea of MC having to put on a brave face and survive on their own until they finally see a friendly face and just... break down.

Later note - I was going to do around half of the boys who are featured in the book - Riddle, Floyd, Leona, Ruggie, Jamil, Sebek - but I ran out of steam and ended up only doing the first four. Still, I want to get it published before the event ends so... much love and I hope you enjoy! ♡

Intro:

"Human... henchhuman! Wake up!"

You've heard Grim's deserate, frightened tone many times in your life, but never with this much urgency.

Your eyes flutter open to the sensation of Grim nuzzling his warm little head into the crook of your neck, and out of instinct you lift your hand to give him a comforting pat. He was already trembling, but upon the contact he jumps in the air and scrambles to get a look at your face.

"Hey, you're awake!"

"Mhm..." you grunt, lifting him and settling him on your lap before sitting up. It's only then that you get a good look at your surroundings. "Woah... where are we?"

"I don't know..."

Grim's ears are flattened against his head, and you're starting to be impressed by how vulnerable he's being with you. Where's his usual bravado? If anything, his uncharacteristic meekness is twice as scary as the ghost town around you.

"You... you were acting weird," he sniffs. "You were crying and screaming and... and I've never seen you act like that before! And then I told you to get it together, and this... this big white thing flew out of you and you passed out! What's going on with you?!"

You what? Well, that sounded a bit out of character. After all, by this point in your NRC therapist career, you had mastered the art of a brave face. Even if you were scared out of your mind, you always found it within yourself to hide it for Grim's sake, since he was basically family at this point--you were his prefect and you took it upon yourself to act like it whether you were scared or not.

Speaking of family, it's thanks to the rest of the Ramshackle crew that you figure out what was going on--the ghosts, to be specific. You'd befriended them enough that you have a strong suspicion as to what's going on, including an explanation for your behavior. You had been possessed.

"Alright sweet pea-"

"Huh? Don't call me that!"

There's his usual fire. You offer him a smile, and he seems to calm down instantly.

"Okay Grim, here's my theory--remember those conversations we had with our ghost friends about the spectral realm?"

"Uh, no? I don't listen to their boring old ghost stories."

"Ah, well... I do. Look, I think that's where we are. I mean, look at the moon..."

You point to the sky. A large white moon--something that seems astrologically impossible--glows in the sky, and yet the environment around you seems dismally dark.

"Not to mention the lack of color here. It's like, the most cliche artistic interpretation of a fantasy underworld ever," you tell him. "Plus, if my theory is right, the reason I was acting so strange is because I had been possessed. Given the time of year... if ghosts are more powerful during Halloween or something, it would make sense. At least, the last thing I remember is getting ready for bed last night after the party, so..."

"So we're dead?!"

"I wouldn't say that. Do I seem like a ghost to you? Whatever possessed me probably brought us here."

Of course, you don't have any certainty behind your statement, but you act like it anyways. Grim seems to find comfort in your confidence, so it's well worth it.

"Fine," he huffs. "Then let's go back. What do we do?"

"I... don't know that," you admit. "But we do have some things to consider. If we encounter ghosts here, they could be mischievous like our Ramshackle crew, or hostile. Perhaps we were brought here for not-so-kind reasons, so we need to treat any potential interaction with caution. We could go find some ghosts and ask around, but who's to say they won't attack us? I won't be much help for you then--they're incorporeal and I'm magicless, so even if I can fight it's not gonna do much. I don't want you to be in that position."

Grim doesn't say anything, but his ears lower--he obviously doesn't want to be in that position either, not that he's gonna admit it.

"We can also try to find a way back ourselves, but the ghosts at Ramshackle never told me anything beyond what things are like here. It's gonna be confusing, probably--illogical, since we're not used to the way reality works here. I can't guarantee we'll have a direction."

"Pfft. Fine. Guess I'll have to be the leader then."

You grin at his attitude. He's clearly putting on a brave face as well.

"Our final option is to lay low and hope our NRC friends come to find us. I'll be honest--I don't like that idea, but I do think it's important to plan for the long term down here. That means if we can find shelter, food, water--we should take it. I don't know if we're the only ones at NRC who have been brought here or if our NRC friends can even follow after us for that matter, but I'll let you decide. Fear is how you get possessed down here, so I want you to be confident in what we do, okay?"

"Psh--why do you sound like a parent? Do you need me to lead you that bad?" Grim huffs dramatically. "Fine--let's just look around I guess. Fear not, henchhuman--you've got me around, so no ones gonna mess with us!"

"Oh, I have no doubt," you amuse him, finally standing up and lifting him in your arms. "Either way sweet pea, you just rest here on my shoulders, okay? If I'm gonna need a knight in shining fur I want you to conserve your energy."

"You don't hear me complaining..."

The spectral realm is just as confusing as it had been described to you. Each step either takes you an inch or a mile, and you have no way of knowing whether it's your sense of direction or the world around you that's constantly being warped. There's a fog in your vision and a pressure in your ears, plus a mysterious heaviness pressing in on every angle as if you're being sealed up in a vaccum bag. It's terrifying.

"Ugh, we're getting nowhere!" Grim complains. "There's no way we're ever getting out of here. I feel like I'm turning into a ghost."

"Oh please--like this is any worse than doing a shift at the Mostro Lounge," you joke. "Actually, compared to that customer service nonsense, I'm kind of enjoying the quiet."

"Well, your enjoyment is dumb. What if I never eat tuna again..."

"Hey..."

You pry Grim off your shoulder and hold him in the air facing you, lion-king style. He gives you an annoyed look, meanwhile you grace him with a huge smirk.

"You know what this means, right? We can talk crap about whoever we want. Say anything--who's gonna hear us, the dead? I'll go first--Leona dresses like a homeless man, don't you think? I mean, what he wore to that camp thing with Vargas..."

"Eep! You're really gonna slander Leona?! Do you want to die?"

"Hey, maybe he'll actually put in the effort to come help us if he senses the insult. Don't worry--I'll be the one who dies, not you. I'm already in the spectral realm and everything."

"Not funny!"

"Oh, I'm hilarious," you say. "Lighten up sweetheart. I'll make sure you eat tuna again, okay?" You place him back on your shoulder, hoping he can't sense your heart pounding in your ears from your own masked fear. "I promise."

"Hmph... fine. Just hurry up."

At some point in your adventure, you find a strange mirror shard on the ground, accompanied by an invitation. You pick up the mirror first, thinking that it might suffice as a weapon if things truly came to a ghostly brawl (not that you know if it would work--still, it's worth a shot).

"What does it say?" Grim asks, pointing to the invitation. You pick that up next and open it up.

"A party invitation..." you deduce upon reading the contents. You pull the mirror shard back out of your pocket. "Looks like we'll need this mirror shard to get in."

"A party?! You think they'll have tuna?!"

"I think they'll also have security, so let's consider this carefully..." you advise. "But still, maybe this has to do with why we were brought here. Think it's worth investigating?"

"Absolutely! I'm always down for a party!"

You laugh. "Alright then. Let's find you a mirror shard too--I don't wanna risk the two of us being separated."

And so you wander even more.

Just when your feet are starting to hurt, you hear voices. There's no where to hide where you are--the gravestones around you are small and scattered, but they are just close enough that you're able to throw Grim behind one before three goofy ghosts appear in front of you.

They're dressed like classical composer stereotypes--part of you wants to ask what business Ghosts Mozart, Bach and Beethoven have with you, but that's probably not the most appropriate question, especially when aforementioned figures are from your world, not Twisted Wonderland.

"What's this?" One laughs, flashing his big ghostly teeth at you. "A living, are you?"

"Oooh, we must bring them to the boss immediately!"

From the corner of your eye, you see Grim ready to jump out from behind the gravestone. You keep your back to him, making sharp gestures behind your back that command him to stay put. With your face, however, you stare down the ghosts, quickly coming up with a lie to avoid what seems to be imminent capture.

"How rude. Don't you know a possession when you see one?"

The three ghosts in front of you look startled.

"Possession?" One asks. You nod, putting a hand on your hip and huffing.

"You won't believe how easily I possessed this living too. For a human wandering around the spectral realm, they were surprisingly cowardly... I swear, they were in tears when I found them. Made taking over this body real easy though."

Your heart was thundering. You muster a grin.

"I gotta admit, it feels nice being back in a body though. So what's this about the boss? Was he looking for this living in particular?"

"The boss has orders to bring all living to them," a ghost replies.

"Sounds like you've got lucky--a lot of the other living have given us a hard time." says another.

Wait a minute...

"Oh wow, other living? How many?"

"I haven't seen them personally, but it sounds like there have been a lot of encounters tonight. You know, through the grapevine."

"They're stealing mirrors!" Another shrills. "All of them! How are we going to get enough for the party if they keep stealing them?! Not to mention the boss is expecting them!"

"You're right... that sounds like a problem..." you pretend to muse. "Well, it sounds like these living are dangerous. I'm guessing no one has been able to give them a proper scare either."

"I know someone who tried to scare one," one of the ghosts laments. "Some obnoxious redhead traveling with two terrifying living... but they beat them out of the body."

"It's terrifying!" One wails.

Ah... redhead? Two terrifying livings? Okay... redheads. Could be Ace or Riddle, or maybe Cater... and you knew way too many NRC students who fit the 'terrifying' profile. Maybe a teacher too? Goodness, you could hope.

You come up with a plan quickly. Of course, you're not going to execute it without Grim, so you walk over to his hiding spot and lift him out.

"I'm glad we've encountered you guys then. This living came to the spectral realm with a familiar--my friend is possessing him right now, isn't that right?" you ask Grim. He gives you a wide-eyed look, but catches on to your act quickly.

"Of course! These stupid living are so easy to possess, haha!"

"You two just got lucky," a ghost pouts sourly.

"I suppose so," you say. "Anyways, we've been looking for mirror shards too. We have the invitation right here." You remove said invitation from your pocket, suddenly thankful for your accidental discovery. "I have an idea--if you guys can find these... living, let me join them. I'll go in undercover, get the mirror shards and then take the living to the boss. They shouldn't be able to tell this body is possessed."

The ghosts seem to consider your idea. Grim--impatient with the tense moment--speaks up.

"Hey! You heard the ghost! Move out! Find the huma--the living! You want mirrors, don't you?"

"I guess so..." one ghost mumbles. "Sheesh, no wonder you were able to possess those bodies... scary..."

You flash Grim a bright grin. He seems to have more hope than he did prior, because he plays right along with your act.

"I'll look too, but I'll stay in the area. If you guys see some humans, come find me," you order the ghosts. They don't suspect a thing--in fact, they give you a mock salute and floated off.

"You got it!"

"Aye-aye!"

"Sure thing!"

You watch them disperse. Once you have a moment with no one else around, you bring Grim close and whisper in his ear.

"Don't quit the act. Once we find out who else is here... sounds like they can handle the ghosts better than we can. If it's someone we know we can join their party. We'll regroup and find a way home from there, okay?"

Grim nods. His smile doesn't leave.

"You're a pretty awesome henchhuman, you know?"

A genuine compliment from Grim? Wow...

"Only as good as my great leader Grim," you reply affectionately. Before you can move on, you hear a ghostly voice shout behind you.

"Hey! We've found some living! Come quick!"

Riddle:

The ghosts lead you to a trio standing in the middle of who-knows-where.

You recognize them immediately. More specifically, you recognize him--the person you most wanted to see, and yet the last person you would want to have to endure this awful experience. Even from a distance, you can see Riddle staring at you with an expression that matches your feelings, both relief in seeing that you're okay and horror at your surroundings (which, at the moment, includes a crew of ghosts hovering behind your back).

"You should go look for more living," you tell the ghosts, refusing to drop your act just yet. "Since these guys are dangerous, it's best that I go undercover alone--well, my friend here and I. Pretend to be scared and run away from me so they're not suspicious, and I'll collect their mirror shards and take them to the boss, okay? You'll find me on the way there. Be sure to let me know if you find more living."

The ghosts--to your relief--listen. They disappear quickly, and with a quickly crumping facade you turn your attention back to the trio, Riddle in particular.

"Oh thank seven, it's the teapot tyrant!" Grim exclaims. You don't have the heart to hush him--you feel the same.

You lift Grim in your arms and approach the trio slowly. Grim immediately gives you a look of confusion, because well... you're shaking. Trembling, honestly, like a leaf in the wind. You feel frozen, and yet seeing Riddle gives you just enough sense to move forward, closing the distance that Riddle, Ruggie and Ortho are already making quick strides to eliminate. Once you're close, you settle Grim on the ground and wrap your arms around yourself, trying to keep yourself together.

You're just so relieved.

"Hey--it's you two!' Ruggie grins. "Glad to have you. What was with the ghost entourage?"

You can't speak. Riddle searches your expression, taking note of the way your lip starts to tremble.

Grim, however, is at no loss for words. "It was genius! We found those ghosts, and the prefect pretended to be possessed--they told the ghosts to find other 'living' and that they'd take you guys to the boss and collect your mirror shards--apparently that's something they're after--and they believed us. So now we have all these ghosts looking for more of us! How... how many of you are there, by the way?"

Ruggie shrugs. "About half the school, probably. Deuce, Cater, Trey, Vil, Epel, Jack, Malleus, Lilia, Jade..."

"M-Malleus?" Grim stammers.

"And then a whole bunch of us came in after you guys. We got separated though--I've been kickin' it with these two since."

Ruggie finally spares you a glance. His grin falters.

"Hey, you... are you okay?"

You choose to be honest--you shake your head. Riddle knits his eyebrows, stepping closer.

"Are you hurt?"

You shake your head again.

"Are you scared?"

You pause, and then slowly, you nod. You're not sure who steps forward first, but suddenly Riddle's holding you in your arms, and you break down into heartwrenching sobs.

"I'm so sick of it..." you whisper shakily, balling his costume in your hands. "This... this surviving without magic and... and Grim and I were all alone..."

Ruggie, Ortho and Grim all exchange wide-eyed glances. Riddle, however, is entirely distracted by the tears he feels seeping into his shirt--he holds you tightly, a little alarmed to see the oh-so-brave Prefect breaking down in front of him.

What's worse? He doesn't know what he can do about it--he can't just give some of his magic to you, nor is he able to erase the trauma of waking up lost and confused in the spectral realm with nothing but a monster-cat with an inflated ego. Still...

"I'm here now," he tells you comfortingly, rubbing your back. "You're safe, okay? Nothing can hurt you now..."

That doesn't stop your tears, but it does provide you a little bit of peace. Riddle holds you for as long as you need without interruption--sometimes whispering whatever comforting nothings he can come up with, otherwise just sitting in silence and tracing random shapes into your back. Ruggie, Ortho and Grim don't bother you either--you can hear Ruggie quietly recapping everything that's happened to Grim, but otherwise, it seems like all five of you are taking a much-needed break.

"Hoho--what do we have here?"

You jump up and spin around to see a large group of ghosts--none that you had deceived earlier, but all of whom seem to recognize Riddle, Ruggie and Ortho.

"We must put a stop to these living!" One declares. From the corner of your eye, you see Riddle, Ruggie, Grim and Ortho preparing to fight--and though you're still weary from your unplanned breakdown, you do what you have to do.

"Wait, friends!"

You jump in the middle. The ghosts eye you with curiosity.

"These living are no longer a cause for concern. They've been possessed. It's the easiest way to get them to the boss," you explain, and then turn to look at your friends, hoping they'd play along. "We're now looking for other living so we can trick them into complying with us as well. Have you heard any news?"

"Are they really possessed?" One of the ghosts asks warily. You nod before you really think about it.

"Of course! See for yourself..."

You step aside. Riddle gives you a look, grins, and steps forward.

"These pathetic living had no idea what hit them!" He proclaims in a grand voice. "Now, if you care so much about what the boss wants, you'll go and find more living for us to wrangle in--do not engage, for those who are wandering the spectral realm are dangerous."

The ghosts hesitate.

"You heard the ghost! Go!" Ruggie barks. The ghosts nod and scatter, leaving the hyena cackling at their fear.

"That was genius, Prefect!" He exclaims.

Ortho tilts his head. "I'm confused. You are not possessed?"

"No, but it's a perfectly placed lie," Riddle smiles. "Now we have the ghosts on our side, and hopefully we can use this lie to meet up with the others." He turns to you. "You're brilliant, you know. I'm glad we found you."

You grin.

"All in the job description, sweetheart. I'm glad you found me too."

Ruggie:

Your first instinct upon seeing Ruggie is to run up to him, latch on and never let go.

After all, who knew survival better than the mischievous hyena himself? Everything about him--from the grin he's giving you know to the witty gleam in his eye--it feels safe.

"Okay," you tell the ghosts, eager to get them out of the way as soon as possible. You're so mentally focused on the familiar faces that you almost don't pay attention to what you're saying. "I'll get the ghos--the um, the mirror shards... I'll get the mirrors and... uh..."

"Are you sure you can do this?"

"What? Of course! I'm just thinking of a strategy," you bluff. "Look--come find me if you see other living. I've got this. Don't follow me so they don't get suspicious, okay? Bye-bye now."

You don't even wait to see if they disappear. Grim hops off to run to Riddle (no doubt finding solace in the unexpected power of the Teapot Tyrant™), leaving you entirely free to run straight into Ruggie's open arms.

"Well would you look at that," Ruggie snickers. "I came here to find treasure, but it looks like the treasure came to me."

You don't say anything. Ruggie holds you tightly, sure, but if it were a competition you'd no-doubt have him beat. You cling to him for dear life, finally feeling free to express the fear that's been suffocating you from the moment you woke up. Ruggie initially dismissed your shivering as a result of the cold Spectral Realm air, but since you've yet to speak he's starting to reconsider.

"Prefect?"

He's met with a soft sniffle. His heart drops.

"Hey... what's wrong?"

Ruggie gently steps away to get a look at you, eyes going wide at the way you immediately hide your face and start to tremble. Unwilling to watch this go on, he pulls you back into a hug, holding you even tighter. "Awe, hey--there there, you're safe now, I've got you. I'm right here..."

"What happened?" Riddle asks Grim. Grim--much like the rest of the group--is staring at you with a stunned expression.

"I don't know..."

"Scanning..." you hear Ortho hovering around you, a sound akin to a laptop fan whirring. "Scan complete. The prefect is experiencing extreme levels of fear accompanied by minor dehydration, an accelerated heart rate, a swelling glottis, acetylcholine production, simulated lachrymal glands..."

"Layman's?" Ruggie asks.

"Judging by the lachrymal glands, the prefect is crying," Riddle suggests. Ruggie scowls at them.

"Buncha know-it-alls..." He grumbles, running his fingers through your hair. He's suddenly aware of the feeling of tears, accompanied by muffled sniffles being muted by his shirt. "Awe, prefect..."

"Could your fear be on account of those ghosts that were following you?" Ortho asks. Upon the question, Riddle brightens.

"Oh yes!" He says, smacking a fist into his open palm. "You were talking with ghosts earlier! Ah... Grim, what happened?"

Obviously you aren't in the mood for questions. Still, upon hearing the chatter of your other two friends, you reluctantly pull away from Ruggie and wrap your arms tightly around yourself.

"I pretended to be possessed so they wouldn't attack us..." You mutter, feeling ashamed for your breakdown. "Grim, uh... Grim's a wonderful, powerful mage but... I didn't want him to have to fight off a bunch of those ghosts. Who knows how many would show up, so... and I... I'm magicless... I would have been useless..."

Ah.

"You must have been so afraid," Riddle sympathizes. You nod meekly.

"But man--who's surprised?" Ruggie says. Both you and Riddle look at him, not sure where he's going with this. "You know Prefect, there are some pretty brave punks back at the Sunset Savana--myself included--but I don't think I've met anyone with the courage and nerve that you have. I mean, you mouth off to Leona Kingscholar of all people! You not only got by, you got those ghosts to work for you!"

"Your point?" Riddle inquires. Ruggie rolls his eyes.

"Look Prefect--now that you're here, we've got your back. We're going to get out of this and we're gonna do it quickly. Sure we can handle a little ghost fight, but frankly I'm probably more relieved to have you here than you are. Not just because I missed you like crazy--though I did--but there's only one person I know who could've pulled a lie like that off, and that's you. You're amazing!"

You give Ruggie a reluctant smile. He pulls you in for one last hug.

"I don't blame you for being afraid--you did good, you got yourself and Grim here without even having to fight. You're amazing like that. But now... relax. We'll keep you safe, whether we have to use magic, violence or some good old-fashioned deceit to do it. Take all the time you need, and then we're gonna get out of here, okay?"

For the first time since you've woke up... everything does seem okay.

Ruggie holds you as long as you need. When you finally pull away he flashes you his signature grin, and you return it with just as much vigor. Finally you had yourself together again.

"Okay," you say. "Thank you Ruggie--thanks all of you. Now let's get the rest of our friends and get out of here. I'm not sure what's going on here, but I've got those ghosts looking for other living around here, so here's my plan..."

Floyd:

"Shrimpy!"

You flinch at the voice--not because Floyd is an unwelcome presence, but because the ghosts around you... they're giving you suspicious looks.

"Looks like they recognize this body..." you bluff. "Look--I'll figure this out. You go and find other living for me to trick. In the meanwhile, I'll lead these guys to the boss."

"You sure? If they recognize you then-"

"-then you better get out of here soon, lest they get suspicious," you tell the ghosts. "Go on--my friend and I got this."

The second the ghosts disappear, you feel long arms wrap around you and lift you in the air, squeezing tight.

"No fair!" Floyd complains. "I was hoping to have a little fun with your ghostie friends, Shrimpy!"

"Prefect!"

You turn your head. Ace runs up to you, looking incredibly relieved. Leona follows nonchalantly behind, grinning.

"Who's surprised the herbivore's still kickin'?" He grins. "What'd you do--annoy the ghosts out of attacking you?"

You feel yourself being placed back on the ground, and suddenly Floyd's spinning you around to face him, smiling brightly.

"I'm so happy you're here! These two suck--they're so boring and don't want to have any fun."

"To be fair," you mutter. "I'm not really wanting to have fun either..."

"What'd you say?"

You avoid eye contact. Floyd may not catch on right away, but your best friend does. Ace steps in front of you and tilts his head.

"Hey, what happened?"

You fully intend to explain everything as quickly and calmly as possible--after all, the last people you'd want to show weakness in front of are Leona and Floyd, the latter especially. As much as you care what they think, you can't help but let a single tear slip down your cheek, and it all comes flooding forward from there.

"Ace!"

You latch onto him, hoping to muffle your sobs from the two intimidating upperclassman. Ace pats you on the back, though to Grim he gives a look that screams 'help'.

"Oi dishrag," Leona nudges Grim with his foot. "What's the meaning of this?"

"What? Why are you asking me?"

"Y-You're not possessed, are you Prefect?" Ace asks, trying to pull you away long enough to look in your eye. Floyd huffs.

"Obviously not. A ghost wouldn't know who we are, Crabby."

As he says it, Floyd wraps his arms around you again, essentially stealing you from Ace and holding you tight.

"Poor little Shrimpy has probably been through sooooo much, haven't you? You poor, tiny, magicless little thing, all alone in the big scary spectral realm..."

"Yeah, maybe don't bring that up." Leona drawles. Floyd ignores the suggestion.

"Why not? They're here with us now. You know what that means, right Shrimpy? No ghost is gonna mess with you anymore, not unless they wanna die twice~"

"Tch. Duh." Leona huffs. Clearly the sight of you loosing your cool is getting to him.

Still... Floyd's right. You doubt any army of ghosts stands a chance against either Floyd or Leona, much less the two of them plus Ace and Grim. You relax a little, holding Floyd back just as tightly.

"I was just so scared..."

"That's a good thing Shrimpy! It means you're not an idiot," says Floyd.

"I wanna go home..."

"Why do that? You have me now--let's have lots of fun while we're here, okay?"

It's not the most sensitive sentence in the world, but... coming from Floyd, it makes a lot of sense. You are pretty safe in this group, and besides, you have one of your best friends and two of the most powerful mages in school right here with you. And a fire-cat.

Speaking of best friends...

"Wait, where's Deuce? Is he okay?" you ask suddenly, looking at Ace. Ace shakes his head, looking exhausted.

"He disappeared in the middle of the night. A lot happened prior to us coming here, you know. Students just vanished, and time froze--you were one of the disappearances too, Prefect. We were all really worried."

"But Deuce?"

"No sign of him so far."

"Well we have to find him!" You say determinedly. "When I woke up here, we figured out I had been possessed--maybe it's the same case for Deuce. Last I remember is getting ready for bed last night, I'm assuming I was possessed during my journey to this... Spectral Realm."

"So you know where we are?" Leona says, sounding impressed. "Shouldn't be surprised you figured it out, herbivore. You'll be a real thorn in the side of whoever decided to mess with us."

"You're right--I will," you decide. Fear dwindling, you're suddenly taken over by a strong sense of leadership--and even though you're surrounded by big personalities, you have no hesitation in telling them what to do. "We're getting Deuce back--and everyone else, for that matter. I'm glad it's you guys that I've found--there's no group that would be more capable of carrying this out. Listen, here's the plan..."

As you spell it out, Leona starts to laugh. You give him a look.

"Oh, don't mind me. The less I have to play the leader the better--there's no controlling Floyd here, he's been a pain since all this started."

"You guys are mean." Floyd says, though he doesn't seem the least bit guilty about his actions. "Why wouldn't I listen to Shrimpy?"

"You don't listen to anyone," Leona scoffs.

"Nah, I'll listen when it's interesting for me." Floyd grins. "Tell me your plan Shrimpy--I've got your back, just don't be boring, m'kay~?"

You feel him lean down and place a kiss on your cheek. You grin, now filled with newfound confidence.

"That's right. Let Operation Ghost Manipulation commence!"

Leona:

"Get away from the herbivore. Now."

There's no point in keeping up the act--the second he sees you, Leona's already among the circle of ghosts, magic blazing in his hands.

To Leona's surprise, the ghosts cackle, wish you luck and disappear. His magic fades away as Floyd and Ace catch up to you, but neither of them get to say hi before you have your arms wrapped around Leona, clinging for dear life.

"You're safe..."

"You were worried about me?" He smirks, running his hands through your hair. "Should I be insulted or flattered?"

"Whatever. I missed you."

Judging by the softness of your voice, something's definitely up with you. Leona doesn't mind holding you for a while, but he does tell Floyd and Ace to go away.

"Shove off. We'll catch up."

"Ha? Aha? No way. That's my best friend. I wanna know what's up," Ace demands. As if on cue, you let out a heartbreaking sob.

Leona raises an eyebrow. "Well Trappola?"

"Fine..." Ace mutters. "I'll give you a minute... C'mon Floyd."

"Nah~ this is more interesting! What's wrong little Shrimpy? You scared?"

You let out another sob, and Leona growls in Floyd's direction. The eel's attitude immediately sours, and he hunches his back as he skulks away.

"Whatever. Sea Lion's no fun..."

"Hmph," Leona huffs Once Floyd and Ace back up, you feel his hand on the top of your head. "Alright herbivore, you wanna talk about it?"

You sniff pitifully. "I wanna stop being thrown into dangerous situations with no magic, no help and no idea what's going on."

"Yeah, that's a drag..." You can hear the smirk in his voice. "You know what though? You're with us now. Most importantly, you're with me. The only 'danger' is the wrath that's gonna be directed at whoever think they can land a hand on you. Just stick with us and don't be scared, alright?"

You sniff again. He pats your head.

"There there herbivore..."

You let it all out. You're almost impressed that Floyd, Grim and Ace don't come back around to disturb you... and yet every time you glance around for them, you find them goofing off in the distance like a basketball club reunion. In the middle of the spectral realm. You're truly in the safest possible group, aren't you? Absolutely no fear...

"I'm impressed you're not taking a nap right now..." you joke pitifully. Leona laughs.

"Now that I've got my pillow back? Don't tempt me."

"It is pretty quiet in the Spectral Realm," you say lightheartedly. "Not too hot here either. I guess the only danger is the fact that all the undead are trying to take us to a mysterious boss."

"I wish they would. I've got a few things to say to the brat that had the audacity to kidnap my herbivore..."

"And Grim?"

He rolls his eyes. "And Grim. I guess."

"And probably others as well?"

"You know what? I can live with that."

"No you can't!" You laugh. Leona's grinning, and suddenly you're forgetting all your initial fear. You come back from your breakdown stronger than ever, and so with a rejuvenated mindset you pry yourself away from Leona and turn to Floyd, Ace and Grim, beckoning them over.

"You're alright!"

Ace pulls you into a hug, and Floyd groans behind you.

"Seriously? The longer Shrimpy's away from me, the harder I'm gonna squeeze 'em."

"Dude..." Ace pulls away, looks at Floyd with wide eyes, then turns to you. "Good luck."

Floyd gives you a hug too. Finally Grim gets comfortable back on your shoulders, and you turn to the three boys in front of you.

"Alright you three, here's my plan..."

"Who elected you leader?" Ace crosses his arms. You grin.

"Me."

Behind you, Leona grins as well. Floyd bounces on his feet, clearly excited by the prospect of you taking leadership. Finally, your best friend caves.

"Fair enough."

"The plan, then?"

"Right. So I was thinking..."

BOY I was reading, right? I was in a very cozy environment of Ruggie's village, the construction of the environment, the beastman children, the love in the air with Ruggie x Reader. I was so immersed that I COMPLETELY FORGOT IT WAS A DARK FIC MY HEART FELL OUT OF MY MOUTH AT THE END I WAS IN SHOCK THAT MY MIND STOPPED FOR A MINUTE Me reading: yayy …. strange …. very strange …. no boy …. no …. I can't believe it …. RUGGIE BOY NO ….. aah was it a trick? BOY WAS NOT REAL?….. BOY WHAT IS GOING ON? ((That's a compliment, it's a very engaging fic and the way it's done and treated in a non-obvious way, congratulations to the author. The way you portrayed Ruggie is so him, few can characterize him in that way)) < 3 < 3 <3

Play Hard Games, Win Soft Prizes

Gonna be absolutely so real with you, I have no idea what that title means. Maybe it'll make sense to someone. This is a request from @whenwewhereyounger. If you'd like me to remove that tag, I can do so, just let me know. Like I do for Leona fics where Farena and his canonically unnamed wife show up, I made up a name for Ruggie's grammy, just like her appearance.

Shoutout to my girlfriend for helping me with a concept that I was struggling with in this fic! Woohoo! I did so much freaking research for this one, scarred myself for life tbh, but hey, I found out a lot. So much. Also: does Ruggie's UM focused on physical or mental control, and, depending on which one, does it matter if the subject(s) are alive? Dividers by @/cafekitsune

This fic is for: Anyone who can handle it! The reader does have hair, but the length is never specified. Reader is Yuu/MC, like usual in my fics, but it is mostly implied more than anything else.

TW for: DEAD DOVE, DO NOT EAT, straight up murder and stalking in this one, everyone. Non-sexual nudity, blood and explicit gore, questionable usage of magic. Also so many words. There are 8763 words in this fic.

Ruggie is a mite conniving. You’d be lying if you said that most of Savanaclaw wasn’t, but Ruggie specifically is a calculating little bastard.

That’s rude. You know that’s rude. Ruggie does what he needs to do in order to survive. It’s something that has been drilled into him from the moment he saw the world, but you just wish he wouldn’t have invited you out here since he knows this area isn’t the safest.

Grim decided to hang out with the Octavinelle guys and you went with Ruggie for spring break. It was kind of nice, the trip there. The Afterglow is beautiful. You enjoyed yourself, it was fun and Ruggie has a wonderful sense of humor, or perhaps his laughter is just contagious. That and the sun on your skin as you traveled made for a wonderful time, actually.

No, your problems started when you got to his hometown. About as soon as you entered, something already felt off, like there were a hundred eyes watching you, waiting for something. Perhaps it was the odd shadow that seemed to be laying over the entire place, or maybe it was the occasional snicker or whisper that you thought you could hear in the eerie breeze. Whatever it was, you kind of felt like an asshole for judging his hometown so swiftly. He was sharing something deeply personal with you by even bringing you here. Ruggie is very emotionally intelligent, though, despite him being a piece of shit, so when he noticed your trepidation, he reached out and squeezed your hand.

“Are you nervous? Shyeheeheehee, don’t worry. I’m right here.” And he smiled, and you felt sort of relaxed. His smile always made you feel relaxed.

Nothing could be as relaxing when he showed you to his little home. It was nice, the walls made of dirt and a few very beautiful rugs on the inside, from what you could see. The roof was thatched, but beyond the light being streamed in by the afternoon sun, you couldn’t see very well inside the place after Ruggie opened the door. He poked his head in and pressed a hand against your belly, a silent “back up.”

You took a step back and sharply turned your head to the sound of a twig snapping. There wasn’t anything there, but you also couldn’t see the twig. For a place called the Afterglow, this area was honestly kind of shadowy. It was pretty unsettling, like a blanket that had a spider hidden in it somewhere, but you didn’t know where. You stared out into the dim distance and a gentle touch on your arm scared you out of your skin.

Ruggie’s hand retracted as he looked at you as though you'd lost it, “What’s wrong?”

“I- Sorry, I thought I heard something.”

“You did? I didn’t hear anything.”

You gave him a wide-eyed stare and he gave you one of those big grins that makes you feel like everything is going to be okay. His hand rested on your arm and he gave your bicep a gentle squeeze.

“Relax, okay? I’m right here.” With that, he led you inside and snapped his fingers, a few lights flickering on, “Grammy doesn’t seem to be home, which means you get to help me with dinner.”

“H-huh?”

“You can cook, I’ve tasted your food before, shyeheehee. C’mon.” He looped his fingers through yours again, leading you deeper into the house. As you walked, the lights behind you turned off so the ones in front of you could turn on. You belatedly realized that the electricity is reacting to Ruggie.

“No, I just- I don’t know what I would make. I mean, what does your grandmother even like?”

Ruggie gave you a sort of odd look and showed you to a kitchen, a basket with some fresh vegetables sitting on the counter. Ruggie opened the fridge and you stiffly approached the veggies.

“Hmmm, oh… Looks like we’re making pasta today. That sound good?” He asked you.

You nodded, still feeling a bit out of your element. Ruggie pointed to the veggies and smiled kindly.

“Do me a favor and start washing those? I can do most of the rest until Grammy shows up.”

You calmly looked around the kitchen for a large bowl and some baking soda, glancing back at Ruggie as he retrieved a pan and a few seasonings, clearly planning to brown the… honestly somewhat suspicious-looking slab of meat on the counter. He carefully cut the striped fur and underlying skin off of the steak and rubbed some seasonings into the meat itself, his ear twitching as he glanced back at you.

You fill your bowl with cool water, salt, and baking soda, then start washing the vegetables, “So… where is your grandmother?”

Ruggie snickers under his breath, “I’m not all-knowing.”

“Well… yeah, but I just figured she would have told you?”

“Nah. She’ll probably be back soon. Make sure you wash that celery twice, okay?”

You nod obediently and diligently tackle your task, only pausing as Ruggie plops the meat into a pan and leans back on his heels, whistling as his arms rest behind his head. He looks way more casual than usual, which is especially funny to you since his uniform is usually in some form of disarray because he moves around so much. You smile to yourself and re-wash the celery, then rinse all of the vegetables.

Ruggie’s whistling cuts off abruptly and his head jerks towards the direction of the entrance. You turn off the water, your blood chilling as you hear soft footsteps headed towards the kitchen. In other words, there was someone walking towards you. Ruggie went back to his lazy grin as he watched the meat, flipping it over a bit as a large, sinewy woman steps into view. 

She looks incredibly serious, and there’s a scar lining her face, from her jaw, straight across her nose and splitting the start of her left eyebrow. She has a pair of fuzzy, round ears, similarly to Ruggie, and freckles along her forearms. In her hair, there’s streaks of gray, but other than that, her hair is a soft, mousy brown. Just like Ruggie, she has those pretty crystal gray eyes, like the sky just after a nice rain. 

She curled her lip in a grin and pinched Ruggie’s side. He yelped, even though it didn’t look that harsh, but it must have surprised him.

Her voice is brusque, like she might smoke or she’s a lot older than she looks, “You didn’t tell me you were bringing your cute buddy along, whelp!” If you didn’t know any better, you’d say you saw Ruggie’s tail wiggle. From what you’ve understood, that tends to be a sign that he wants to remove himself from a situation. The lady, who is very obviously Ruggie’s grandmother, approached you and jerked out a very firm looking hand as Ruggie awkwardly turned back to his cooking meat.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Vittoria Bucchi, though most folks around here call me Vita or Grammy. And you are?”

You stuttered out your name, tentatively grasping Vita’s hand in a handshake. She’s kind of a mountain of a woman. She’s a good handful of inches taller than Ruggie, and if she’s taller than Ruggie, she’s definitely taller than you. She’s got to at least be 6 feet tall.

Vita’s grin grew wider and she turned back to her grandson, scooping him up in what appeared to be a bone-crushing hug and kissing him on the cheek before she placed a small paper sack on the counter and took a step back. Her eyes narrowed as she took in the sight of the two of you, and then she let out a sigh and put her hands on her hips.

“Well done, you two, but you both stink. Ruggie, darling, why don’t you take your little friend out to the showers? Grammy can take over from here.”

Ruggie seemed grateful for the out. If you didn’t know any better, you’d say he was blushing. He grabbed your hand and gave you a very unconvincing grin. Of course you followed him.

As soon as you’re in what you assume is the bedroom (there only seems to be one of those) he let out a little sigh and chuckled, “Uh… heh, sorry. I forgot to warn you that Grammy is kinda…”

“Energetic?” You offered, then shook your head as you watched Ruggie pick out some clothing, “I don’t mind. She seems really sweet. I was pretty scared when she just walked in and stared at me for a moment, but she’s very cool…”

There’s a moment as Ruggie doesn’t say anything. You felt the horrible need to fill the silence, so you continued speaking.

“Uh, I can… I can see where you get it from.” Your voice came out as more of a mumble, but you know Ruggie heard you. He has good ears.

He stood up and grinned, rubbing the back of his neck with two towels and some clothes rolled up inside of them, “Oh, you think so? Shyheehee, my cute underclassman thinks I’m cool!” He was teasing you, but the butterflies in your stomach didn’t account for that. Your mouth went dry and he nudged you with the back of his hand, guiding you to follow him.

The neighborhood kind of grows on you. Several kids ran up to Ruggie, all of them sporting the too-big ears that you often see on wild hyena pups and very shaggy hair. They cheer and dance around him and he takes it in stride, waving them off with the same thing his grandmother told you two, that he stinks and needs to take a shower. The kids all intermittently say that the water is probably going to be cold by now, but Ruggie shrugs.

You’re not mad about that. It’s honestly fine. Ruggie pulls you into a somewhat creepy, kind of large stall, and you can see a rather frightening-looking dead moth underneath the dividing wall. There’s no way that the water reaches all the way to the opposite wall, but it kind of makes sense, since there’s only tile just in front of the two shower heads before it transitions to the same wood that the stall walls are made of. There’s hooks on the wall opposite the shower heads, with nice little baskets underneath them. The heavy wooden stall door is locked securely. It’s a little strange that the wall with the door is a full-length wall, but the walls adjacent to it, other than the shower wall itself, only come down part way. There’s no roof.

When you turn back to Ruggie, he’s already hung up the towels, put the new clothing down, and is buck ass naked and fiddling with the shower controls. You stifle a gasp and his ear swivels towards you.

“Everything okay?” He asks, ever so innocently.

You are the one being weird. What’s a shower with your close friend? Nothing is going to happen. So you stripped down as well, stepping towards Ruggie as the water turned on. 

As soon as the water touched you, you squealed. It was, quite literally, a jet of freezing cold water on your bare ass. Ruggie bursts into raucous laughter and lathers his hair like the cold water doesn’t even bother him.

It took you a moment to get acclimated. There was a rattling at the stall door and Ruggie didn’t even bother turning around as he rinsed his hair, his hands keeping the water out of his ears, “Ocupado!”

Whoever was on the other side didn’t move until Ruggie walked over to get his towel, a kind of unimpressed look on his face aimed towards the door. The shadow under the door retreats and you bring your shower to an end and dry off as well. Ruggie leaned against the door, clad in a pair of loose shorts and a kind of baggy shirt, waiting on you. He’s been very long suffering with you, thus far, but he’s very easygoing, so you’re unsure if you can do much to change that. Not that you want to.

He’s offered you some of his own clothing, to borrow. Most of his stuff is a bit… the wrong size? So you can wear it comfortably enough. He’s not bulked up or incredibly tall like Jack, so it’s a nice, cool change to your school uniform that fits you well enough.

He smiled as you approached him, sighing airily as he grabbed your hand, “Ah, I feel so refreshed after that! Usually I get water in my ears, but I guess you’re my lucky charm today, shyeheehee!”

“I bet that’s even less pleasant when your hearing is so good.” You supplemented, politely making conversation.

Ruggie shrugged, lifting his arm to rest his hand in his wet hair, “Eh, it’s not that bad. Now, a bug flying in there is a completely different story.”

“Oh, I bet. I wish I could wiggle my ears like you can.” You’ve always admired Ruggie’s ears, but not really because you wanted to have your own look like that. You just thought they were a friendly shape. Ruggie’s honestly very cute.

He gave you a pleasant, closed-lipped smirk and opened the door to his home. It smelled amazing in there. Ruggie wandered to the bedroom and you followed the smell. Vita grinned at you as you entered. She’s got a gap in her front teeth, and cute little fangs like Ruggie has.

“You’re just in time, kiddo! Ruggie come back with you?”

“Uh… yes?”

She giggles, much like her grandson, and plates up the creamy-looking pasta, “Well, you better go get ‘em.”

You had no idea where to look, but you obediently went looking regardless. Your search through a dark house was not particularly fruitful. The lights didn’t turn on for you, as you have zero magical ability, so you crept through the house. This house is not particularly large, and as you walked, you made a mental map, of sorts. The main hallway opens into the living area, which is attached to the kitchen. The kitchen has two entrances, one that goes into the hallway and the other that is attached to the living area. In the hallway, there is at least one door. As you feel around for the second one, you stumble blindly into a dark room because there was no door. Your toes hurt from the way you stumbled. You regained your balance, and after taking a step, you heard a soft click, which made your blood freeze. You went stiff, waiting for a second click or some other noise, and then something touched your back and you shrieked.

Ruggie took a couple steps away from you, raising his hands as you shot him a nasty look.

“Where were you?” You frowned.

He simply laughed and grabbed your hand, guiding you back to the kitchen. Vita was waiting, patient as can be. She smiled and took a seat. Ruggie followed suit, and you followed Ruggie.

As you ate- which, by the way, was amazing even though you were certain the meat came from a zebra because it tasted gamey- you listened in on the conversation that Vita and Ruggie shared. You felt like a bystander, but a welcome one. This was a pocket of domesticity, despite how unusual it felt to be here.

“So, how’s school going, whelp?” Vita asks between bites.

Ruggie swallows and tilts his head so he can look at his grammy as he shovels food into his mouth, “It’s going okay. No trouble.”

“Mmm. You’re getting good grades?”

“Of course.”

You quietly ate as Vita’s eyes turned to you. Her eyes narrowed as she smiled, flicking between you and her grandson, “And you scored yourself a nice partner. They’re so polite!”

Ruggie coughed, then sat up a lot straighter than you’ve ever seen him sit up, “Uh, heh- Grammy, we aren’t dating.”

“You aren’t? What a shame. Maybe things’ll change soon.”

It was your turn to cough. You choked and a noodle came out of your nose. Ruggie and Vita just stared as you intensely wished to be anywhere but your seat at the table, and then Ruggie, very gently, incredibly gingerly, pulled the noodle out of your nose. It burned, but not as bad as the embarrassment, but Vita and Ruggie went back to eating as though that didn’t happen at all.

After dinner is over, Ruggie washed the dishes and you dried them. He kept laughing to himself. 

“What’s so funny?” As soon as the words left your mouth, you wished you could take them back.

Ruggie glanced up at you, those pretty sky-after-rain eyes narrowed in mirth, and then he did not mention the noodle incident at all, instead pointing at the little knob of bone that was inside the zebra steak earlier on a single plate. It’s fully cooked.

“Grammy left it out, ‘cause you’re human. I just thought it was funny.”

“I- I mean, I guess I could have eaten the marrow?” You placed the dishes in their places and Ruggie shrugged.

“Do you want the marrow?” Ruggie asked, a sort of sardonic tone to his voice.

“Not really.”

He nodded, then picked the little bone chunk up and popped it in his mouth. He casually grabbed the plate it was on and washed it. For a moment, you thought he was just sucking the marrow out of the bone, but then a horrible crunch resounded from his jaw and you just stared for a moment.

“Are… you okay?” You asked quietly.

Ruggie politely finished chewing, handing off the now-clean plate to you, and turned around so his back was to the counter, “Yeah.”

Okay. So he just… crunched on a bone. Wonderful. You silently made a note to never put your hand in his mouth and put the final plate away.

There was a comfortable silence as Ruggie stared out the window, and then he broke it, “So typically, Grammy takes one cot while I take the other. Do you want your own cot?”

“What?”

“To sleep on.” His lips quirked into a smile and you blinked a couple times.

“I don’t need my own cot. I usually sleep with Grim on my head anyway.”

Ruggie nodded and covered his chin with his knuckles as he snickers, “Shyeheeheehee! Well, I’m not as cute or compact as Grim, but if you want, we can share a cot.”

The two of you already shared a shower. Sharing a cot is honestly something of a step down, “That’s fine.”

Ruggie gives you that soothing grin and grabs your hand, “Promise I’m not a sleep fighter like Grammy. Let’s get to bed. Tomorrow I wanna give you the grand tour.”

So, of course you found yourself lying against Ruggie as he quietly snored. His grammy doesn’t snore, but you actually couldn’t tell if she was asleep or not. Before the two of you laid down to go to sleep, it was mutually and silently agreed that neither of you wanted to be a spoon, so you decided to lie shoulder to shoulder, but Ruggie is apparently a bit of a sleep cuddler, since as soon as he fell asleep, you were bundled against his chest. 

You weren’t really complaining. Ruggie is a piece of shit and emotionally intelligent, so you harbor the belief that he knows. You weren’t really subtle about your affection for him, but you weren’t overt either. You would share your lunch with him. You would forage on your down time, just hoping to catch a glimpse of him but often bumping into Jade. Whenever Crewel decided to have a shadowing class, where you had to look at what your upperclassmen were doing, you’d go to Ruggie’s side as soon as humanly possible. And now, here you were, having decided to stay the whole week of spring break with a guy who probably saw you as some kind of younger sibling.

Oh well. You closed your eyes and heard that clicking noise again. You sat up and Ruggie’s eyes opened, but you didn’t really think he was awake, since they closed after a moment of him staring through where you were. It was that thing that you’ve seen so many animals do. Grim did that too. It’s that protective thing that animals do when something slightly disturbs their rest. You had the thin hope that you didn’t fully wake him up as you stared into the darkness near the doorway. There was nothing there, and you’re not stupid enough to go wandering into the dark and chasing a noise. You laid back down, shutting your eyes as your head rested on Ruggie’s arm and shoulder.

Sleep didn’t come easy. It hadn’t ever since you ended up in Twisted Wonderland. You attributed this to the stress, honestly. You dreamt about the darkness, spreading like ink through cloth. It bleeds into the world around you and you see it crawling up your feet and ankles, as though you’re a ragdoll, something soft and made of cloth and being tainted. When it reaches your elbows, you felt something heavy in your stomach, bringing you to your knees. The ink crawled up your shoulders, to your neck, and your mouth opened, darkness spewing out of the depths of your very being. As you looked up into the dark sky, you had a resounding, loud thought within your dream, “Is this what overblotting feels like?”

You woke up to the sound of sniffling and someone shushing someone else, as well as a soft, rolling massage against the base of your ear. As you woke a bit more, you realize that you were the one crying, and Ruggie’s hand is massaging your neck as he shushed you like he was talking to a distraught child. 

“Shh, shh… It’s okay, you’re alright.” He whispers.

You rolled onto your back and looked up at the sunlight coming through the window, then back at Ruggie’s soft smile. Your head hurt, “What…?”

“You were crying in your sleep. Are you okay?”

“Oh. Yeah. I’m good.”

Ruggie very obviously didn’t believe you, but he moved back and Vita appeared in the doorway, holding a steaming cup. She smiled and passed it down to Ruggie, who passed it to you.

It’s just hot water, but it’s relaxing and your headache eased as you sipped it, offering a sheepish grin to Ruggie and Vita, “Sorry. The… The crying doesn’t usually happen.”

Ruggie tilted his head and Vita’s ears flicked as she sighed. Both of them are wearing different clothing, Vita was wearing a sleeveless shirt and a pair of loose khaki shorts and Ruggie was wearing a sports jersey and a pair of basketball pants. 

Vita mumbled something about getting to work and left the room, and Ruggie placed a hand on your wrist. His hands were warm and he tilted his head, his voice soft, not even above a whisper as he gently squeezed your arm.

“You’re safe. With me, you’re safe.” He let go and stood up, stretching with a little whoop on his tongue, “Well, lemme find you something to wear. We gotta go soon!”

You stood up as well, far more comfortable in the house now that the shadows clung strictly to the corners of the walls and behind the doors, and took your still-warm, empty cup to the kitchen sink. You washed it, drying and putting it away before you returned and Ruggie promptly passed off a bundle of clothing to you and tweaked your nose.

“I’ll be right outside, okay? Shyeheeheehee, don’t have a heart attack without me.” He slumps out of the room.

Ruggie is a chronic sloucher. You thought it was kind of funny, really. He’d look a lot taller if he stood straight, but it was kind of cute. He doesn’t walk, he lopes. It’s cute.

You paused your fuzzy thoughts as you pulled the sweatpant shorts up your legs to shoot a look at the window. You could have sworn that you saw something from the corner of your eye. You stared at the window a moment longer, then quickly finished dressing, putting on the old tank top that Ruggie lent you.

You left the room in a bit of a haste, slamming into Ruggie. The impact knocked both of you down and Ruggie shot back up to help you up.

“Hey, what’s the matter? Are you okay?”

“I, uh, I saw something in the window?” It sounded stupid when you said it. You swallowed and shook your head, “Nevermind, I- it’s stupid, I’m just… seeing things.”

“It’s not stupid.” Ruggie reassured you, a smile on his face as he grabbed your arm to steady you, “You’ve got to trust your eyes and ears, right? What’d you see?”

You shook your head, “I didn’t get a good look.”

Ruggie nodded so understandingly that you almost burst into tears, his hand snaking down your arm so he could grasp your hand, “Alright. That’s fine. C’mon, I gotta show you around. You’re gonna feel something today, shyeheeheehee!”

You followed him around as he showed you the neighborhood. It’s actually rather large, considering. He explained that this section was mostly hyena beastmen, which might have been why you felt so freaked out at first. A lot of the littler neighbors, the kids, were more or less nocturnal. It’s a thing they grow out of as they adjust their schedules to tasks that usually operate during the day. The dim haze in the area persists, despite it being broad daylight out. 

Ruggie showed you to the showers again, then to the somewhat sparse community garden, where Vita happened to be. She waved and Ruggie squeezed your hand as the two of you waved back. A lot of these houses were falling apart, plenty of the neighbors wandering around looking overworked and overtired. You noticed some older kids, the human one looking kind of familiar with shaggy blond hair and green eyes while the other has black-streaked brown hair and hyena features and wide brown eyes, getting into a fist fight. You took a step forward to stop them and Ruggie stopped you with a hand on your belly.

“It’s fine. They’ll figure it out themselves. C’mon.” He led you away.

That didn’t sit well in your stomach, but this was Ruggie’s turf. Who knew? Maybe you’d have gotten stabbed by one of those kids. Anything can happen.

A chill runs up your back and you look around, noticing a man leaning against the shower stalls. You furrowed your brow and Ruggie turned to look at whatever had caught your eye.

“What is it?” He asked.

You shook your head. It wasn’t worth making a big fuss about some dude just minding his business. Ruggie showed you some kind of herb shed next? It was kind of hard to explain, but top to bottom, it was drying racks for herbs and mushrooms. And almost everything else is either houses or someone else’s property.

“What do you think?” He asked you with a kind of lopsided grin. 

“It’s not what I was expecting,” You admitted. This place was a part of Ruggie, of course it was, and even though this place wasn’t perfect, you don’t imagine the guy you have a crush on would be who he is without it, so you tack on, “It’s very home-like. People working together for the community. Plus, those were some really bomb herbs.”

Ruggie’s grin turns into a beaming smile and he tilts his head, his fist coming up to his chin as his shoulders jerk and he contains his giggle, “Shyeheehee, that’s big, coming from you. Well, since we’re up, we better get moving. There’s a nice little spot over there and I’d bet that there’s something worth foraging there.”

“I can forage!” The words spilled out of your mouth, making your cheeks burn, but Ruggie laughed it off, tweaking your nose again.

“I know that. C’mon.”

Ruggie walked off, and you followed him, that prickle on the back of your neck fading as you entered what seemed like an oasis in the middle of the desolate land that everyone lived in. There were a couple little kids napping in the two trees, two to a branch. You didn’t think he had seen them at first, but as he scanned the ground, Ruggie called up to them.

“Your parents wouldn’t be too happy if any of you fell.” He said, his tone rather neutral. 

The kids groaned but filed down the trunks regardless. There were eight of them, six girls and two boys. They’re all skinny and dirty, and a couple of them are tugging on their ears, a couple others sucking on their thumbs, some of them doing both. They’re the cutest little things you’ve ever seen. 

Ruggie spread his hands, “Not in the mood to play today, guys? Shyeheehee, I would think a bunch of active kids like you would be running around like crazy!”

All of the kids shook their heads, one of them, a sort of tall girl with her hair cropped short, spoke up, leaning back and forth with her arms limp in a dramatic display of exasperation, “No. It’s too hot today, Ruggie.”

“Too hot?” Ruggie said, sort of exaggeratedly.

You piped in, “Well, this area doesn’t have any scary crocodiles or whatever. How about hide and seek? Ruggie and I will look while we’re foraging, and you guys can go hide.”

Ruggie shot you an alarmingly pleased smile and nodded, “Shyeheehee, of course. But if we find you, you gotta help us find the rest of you… and help us forage.”

The kids didn’t seem very impressed. You smiled, “It beats doing nothing, doesn’t it?”

They seemed to concede, more or less, and you turned around to face one of the trees and started counting while Ruggie started looking for good forage. 

Once you got to twenty, all of the kids were gone. You walked over to Ruggie, who stood up, holding what appeared to be some kind of onion or leek, and nudged you with a dirt-covered hand. “Quick thinking.”

“Not really.”

Ruggie smirks and hunches back down, “Well, if you wanna go look for kids while I grab these onions, you can go ahead.”

Ruggie didn’t correct you when you said that this area wasn’t dangerous, so you chose to believe the implication. You wandered casually around the bushes, spotting four of the littler kids almost immediately. One of the boys fashioned a sort of breathing tube from a chunk of dried reed, but he seemed to forget that water is see-through, so when you reached in he jumped out of the pond and stomped his foot, shaking the water from his ears as he pouted. 

So, now that you had a troupe of five kids following you like ducklings, you wander towards the edge of the oasis. From where you stood, you could see that one of the boys and another girl had gotten bored and decided to help Ruggie dig up onions, but were mostly just making mud castles, which left just the big girl.

There weren’t really many places for a gangly kid to hide, but you looked up and, sure enough, you spotted her. You grin and point up at her.

“Alright, found you! But you won!”

The big girl doesn’t respond at all. She was staring away from you, into the brush and bramble. She just stares into it, flinching as the sound of a twig snapping crackles through the silent and still air. She quickly dropped down and cowered against your side. Children are familiar little creatures and can make friends as easily as breathing, so you weren’t entirely shocked by that, but her tail wagged once and the other five kids rushed towards where Ruggie was. You hold her as close as you can with mobility and rushed back toward Ruggie again.

Once you’re near Ruggie once more, you bent down and looked into the kid’s eyes, “What’s the matter?”

She looked up at you, her right ear twitching towards the direction she was staring in, and very solemnly whispered, “I heard someone in the leaves, new friend.”

You nodded, just as seriously, and squatted down so you could get more on her level, “I believe you. But I bet it was just someone looking for something good to eat later, like us. Are you still feeling hot?”

She nodded slowly and swiveled her torso side to side.

You smiled at her and tilted your head towards the gaggle of other kids all playing in the mud, “Your family might make you clean up before you go inside, but I bet that mud is nice and cold… And it makes some really nice castles.”

She gave you a sort of blank look and a soft little smile lit her face before she went over to bury her hands in the mud as well. You watched her go, Ruggie’s eyes catching yours in the corner of your vision. Was he watching you?

By the time the sun was high in the sky, Ruggie seemed satisfied with all the forage that you had collected, and the kids were sleepy and ready to go back to their respective homes. Whatever the big girl had seen in the bushes never showed itself.

That didn’t change the uneasiness that settled in your gut as you looked back towards the oasis. The kids ran ahead with Ruggie, who laughed and dodged their filthy little hands, and you cast one last look at the oasis.

You didn’t see anything. It was all greenery against the dim sky, nothing but green and the murky blue of the sky.

The sound of your name pulled you out of your staring, and you turned to see Ruggie standing a little ways away. He gave you a very sweet, concerned look, his eyes wide and ears pointed towards you. 

You shook your head and walked towards him. He was using his shirt as a makeshift basket, humming to himself as he led you back to the neighborhood.

Once the two of you got back, he put you on veggie-washing duty again while he made a quick roux. 

“Ahhh, what a good haul! I told those kids to come by later to get some soup. This is gonna be so good!” Ruggie sighed, very obviously pleased with himself.

“Oh? This is a lot of onions.”

“Yeah. We’re making onion soup. Don’t worry, it won’t be too pungent, shyeheehee!”

You heard the end of your sentence before you managed to register what you said, “Well, just don’t kiss me after you eat this.”

As soon as the sentence is punctuated, you paused, your movements halted entirely as your muscles locked and you glanced at Ruggie from the corner of your eye. The discomfort of stretching your eyes in that direction without turning your head made the whole thing more embarrassing. 

You let out a stilted laugh, “Uh, well, haha, I don’t- I mean-”

“Do you want me to kiss you?” There had to have been a shit eating grin on Ruggie’s face. You weren’t looking at him, but you can hear it in his voice, “Shyeheeheehee, my cute underclassman wants me to kiss them?”

That had you turning to face him, just in time for him to lean up on his toes and plant a kiss on your forehead. And then he laughed and turned back to his roux.

You liked Ruggie. He was a piece of shit, but he was emotionally intelligent, so you were certain he knew. As you carefully chopped up the wild onions and Ruggie stirred in some kind of broth and the other already chopped foraged vegetables, you thought about how you could still feel his lips on your forehead despite him standing several feet away from you. Being around him made you feel like a total space-case, your head floating up in the stars and the clouds, looking at the way the world glitters. Your feet were on the ground, of course, but you felt lighter when you were near him. 

These thoughts carry you as you took a seat next to Ruggie after the soup was done. You sat on a blanket that one of the kids brought over. One of the other kids managed to convince their mom to let them bring some bread out to enjoy the soup with, so in the center of your circle sat a chipped old porcelain plate with a small stack of sliced, white bread on it. The kids all chattered between themselves and Ruggie, but you were stuck, thinking about how soft his lips were on your forehead and how nice he always was to you. Perhaps it was just a habit for him to always be polite, but politeness didn’t usually consist of someone inviting you to stay spring break in their hometown. 

You tapped your fingertips on your forehead and the big girl from earlier tugged on your elbow.

“Friend, can you go get me just a little, itty bitty piece of sage? Please?” She asked, her bottom lip poking out.

You glanced at Ruggie, who shrugged and nodded, so you ruffled her hair and smiled, “Yeah, okay.”

The herb shed isn’t that far away. It’s out of sight of the picnic blanket, which did kind of frighten you, but you weren’t as freaked out as you were the first night. You opened the shed and jumped in fright as someone cleared their throat behind you. 

It’s that guy who you noticed earlier during Ruggie’s tour. He gave you a broad smile, the dim sunlight shining off of his bald head. He’s more ape than hyena. You offered him a polite smile and stepped to the side, holding a shriveled up sage leaf. The man didn’t enter the shed, simply looking at you.

“Hard out here for us.” He said.

You didn’t know what that meant. The way the man’s kind-looking eyes stared through you was disturbing, so you laughed awkwardly, “Uh… yeah. I’ll get out of your way.”

He nodded and you returned to the blanket. You couldn’t see the shed from where you were sitting, but you could almost still feel the strange man’s eyes on you.

You finished eating and helped clean up. You nearly dropped a bowl and Ruggie looked kind of concerned, but didn’t say anything about it. As you just stood there after putting away the last of the dishes and the kids all ran off, Ruggie rested his knuckles on your forehead.

“You’re kind of warm. C’mon, let’s hit the showers.”

“Oh, okay.”

Just like the first night but far more comfortable, you showered with Ruggie. The water was lukewarm this time, so it was a lot nicer, and after you got out, you did feel a lot cooler. The sun was low in the sky, just resting on the horizon. Ruggie grabbed your hand, squeezing it as the two of you walked back to his home.

Vita was back by now, but she had a few other ladies in the living area playing a card game. You stood by, idly, listening as they talked about Ruggie with him right there, asking him about sports but not listening to his answers, really. Vita’s eyes laser-focused on your hand in his and she shot you a grin before going back to scowling at her deck of cards.

About as soon as you got back to the bedroom, you noticed that you forgot your borrowed shorts.

“Ruggie, I forgot something.” You said, stowing the rest of the clothes.

Ruggie gave you a wide-eyed look and turned back to dressing up the cot, “Alright. You should hurry and go get them then. Grammy’s gonna be out tonight, so it’ll just be us.”

You were a bit curious, but you went back out to the showers. The sky was that same pitch black that it was on the first night, and as you walked, you felt those prickles on the back of your neck, like you were being followed. You looked behind you as you got to the showers. The single, weak lamp in front of the stall felt useless in the dark like this. You grabbed the balled-up shorts and stepped out of the safety of the light and into the inky blackness of the night.

Almost immediately, you felt like you were suffocating. It was like your nightmare. You could see a little bit in front of you, the moon affording you just the outline of the buildings. You tripped over your own feet as you stumbled into a run and returned to find Ruggie’s home completely dark.

You took a deep breath and reassured yourself that he had just decided to go to bed before you got back. Your hand presses against the wall as you walk, the only way for you to tell where you’re headed. Something in that room made a soft clicking noise. You froze for a moment.

When your blood stopped roaring in your ears, you whispered, “Ruggie?”

There was no response. A pressure against your back, like a weighted blanket and a harsh grip on your chin prevented you from trying to call out for Ruggie again. Your silent assailant swiveled and turned you so you’re facing the now open door.

You recognized the silhouette, the friendly shaped ears and messy hair, the sort of gangly build with the skinny limbs, but it’s his eyes that made your heart beat faster.

You didn’t know he had these. Tapetum lucidum, the lining in the back of his eyes that gives him a biologic advantage over stupid creatures that can’t see in the dark. It made for an eerie sight, though. He was a shadow standing in the door with two bright green, glowing dots for eyes. You wondered if this is what prey animals felt like when they saw wild dogs. He raised his hands up to put them behind his head, just a shadow in movement, and let out a big sigh.

“Grammy’s gonna be real mad if you get blood and whatever all over her floors. Let’s take this outside.”

The calm tone of Ruggie’s voice paired with his rather jarring appearance set a pit in your stomach. You couldn’t stop the sob that punched out of your chest.

You sounded as betrayed as you felt. “Ruggie? What’s-”

The man holding you clubbed you with something harder than a fist and dragged you out of the house, following Ruggie.

You cried the whole time. You didn’t even know where they were taking you, but this felt worse than a usual betrayal. You thrashed and sobbed and begged, only getting a quiet, “Knock it off,” from Ruggie’s direction.

You knew. You knew Ruggie was a duplicitous little snotbag and that he would eventually crush your heart in one way or another, but this is not the way you wanted. You wanted him to hurt you in a way that meant you could still be friends, where he told you that he didn’t see you the same way, where he tweaked your nose and watched as you cried. Not like this, not being dragged off by some stranger to who knows where. Your bawling was cut short by Ruggie clicking on a light and you being unceremoniously dumped on the floor.

You rolled over and shot the individuals looming above you the dirtiest look you could manage. Of course, one of them is Ruggie, staring down at you with the light above his head almost mockingly making him appear like a heavenly being. One of his eyes looks like it usually does, only a bit more dim, while the other only has that reflective lining in the back of the pupil visible, that eerie green glow pinned onto your face. The other individual is the bald man from earlier. You appeared to be in a sort of shed-like building. There was a shelf, casting the absence of light over you, as though you’d been covered in paint and left to rot.

Two shadowed figures and shadows below. It’s similar enough to your dream, the one where the darkness swallowed you whole.

Ruggie nudged the man with his elbow and held out his palm, his fingers waving back until the man dropped a stack of cash in it.

Your heart pumped so hard you could feel it in your throat and stomach simultaneously, “You sold me?”

“No.” Ruggie responded, flicking through the wad of money, “Just your organs.”

As if it wasn’t crushing enough. Your lips parted and your eyes were dry, but you felt as though a bucket of ice had just been dumped over your head. The bald man’s grin looked silver in this light as he angled his hand to reveal a standard kitchen knife, glinting in the shitty light of this shed and primed to slice into you.

You couldn’t take your eyes off of Ruggie as the man squatted down to sit on your stomach, couldn’t look away as the man crushed your windpipe with his giant hand.

You couldn’t stop looking at Ruggie as he leaned against the wall to watch for a moment, then cleared his throat and stood up straight, as though he was putting on a show for you in your final moments. Your vision was spotting out, considering that the bald guy was strangling you, but Ruggie spread his arms and grinned.

His voice was startlingly loud, overshadowing the sound of your own pulse as you struggled to breathe, “Both kings and hyenas are my friends! Laugh With Me!”

The man on top of you stiffened, then his hand on your neck relaxed as he sat up, his free hand joining the one on his knife as he raised the blade above his head.

As you stared up at the stranger, the creases in his jacket creating splotches of shadow that hid more of his face from your view, you tried to quickly come up with a way to brace yourself for the pain you would soon experience. Betrayal and heartbreak are not the same as getting your ribcage cracked open, not that you had extensive experience with one or the other. You squirmed, trying to get your arms out from under the man atop you, your eyes glued to the light streaked along the knife. The looming figure of the man atop you is stiff, and… you saw Ruggie doing much of the same from the corner of your eye.

For a moment, you thought that this is maybe what you deserve. You play stupid games, you win stupid prizes. You grow a festering affection for someone without integrity, he sells your organs and kills you so he doesn’t have to watch the guy supposed to be doing the job choke you to death. You let another powerful sob punch out of your chest and writhe, shutting your eyes so you don’t get tears in your ears from crying on your back.

You heard a dull noise. Kind of like a slab of meat getting cut, or someone putting their hand into a bag of pudding. Maybe the two of those noises combined. You waited for the pain, because you could feel something warm spreading along the base of your ribs. Maybe it just didn’t really hurt when you got stabbed. You’d be willing to accept that.

There was a moment before you opened your eyes. The first thing you saw was the terror in the bald man’s eyes as he sat on top of you. He sputtered and blood sprayed over your face. It cools on your face as you gape up at him. His knife is buried in his own gut.

In the still moment, you heard a quiet little laugh. It bounced off the walls until you couldn’t hear anything but the laughter. You turned your head and noticed Ruggie, his hands pressed fist to fist to abdomen, his face stretched in a hellish grin as he cackled. You can still only see one of his eyes clearly, the other still that little dot of reflection, a glowing green facet, looking right at you. His laughter calmed as he looked at you, a serene smile replacing the maddened grin he was wearing moments before. He made a quick jerking motion, pulling his hands up so his hands rested at the base of his own ribs, still holding an invisible knife. 

The man atop you spluttered again, pitching forward a bit as his blood gushed over you. It got in your eyes and nose, covered your mouth and ears, tainting your perception with a bitter copper coating. 

Ruggie theatrically threw his invisible knife to one side and tilted to the other. You weren’t sure if it was the motion Ruggie started or if it was the man just being dead, but you attacker hit the ground hard, the knife skittering to a stop on the other side.

The human body is fascinating. It always has been. You, having had a degree of understanding, thanks to being born into such a form, weren’t prepared at all to have a man disembowel himself while sitting on top of you. The sight set you into a hysteria. 

You could hear your own breathing, the reedy gasps for air you sucked in as you stared at the bald man’s organs and blood spreading across the floor. In all the scientific diagrams, they looked so different. The lungs were red, the heart was pink, the intestines were orange and purple. The diagrams lied to you, or perhaps you were too stupid to realize that the very simple vector diagrams that you’d always seen were color coded for your ease. The slick sacks of flesh spilling onto the ground before you with their sheen of blood were all varying shades of flesh. No bright colors, just peaches and reds and pinks, a thick, puss-looking yellow being tainted on the sides of the gash. Adipose resembles lemon curd, sort of. You could hear soft footsteps coming towards you. You had nearly forgotten Ruggie was here, even though he was the very maker of this nightmare. You felt one of his hands turning you over, rolling you so you were looking up at him.

The smile on his face was so sweet and kind, the type of smile you’d expect to see on a kid who had just gotten a kitten for their birthday. He brushed a hand along your hairline, his eyebrows furrowing. It made him look concerned. 

“Did you really think I’d trade you for money?” His smile took on an uncanny, eerie edge, and his eyes narrowed, “Shyeehee, maybe I should become an actor.”

You didn’t respond, staring up at him as he helped you sit up. He pressed a hand against your collarbone, sighing at the sanguine dampness left on his hand afterwards.

“Aw, that guy made such a mess. Don’t worry, we can take another shower.” Ruggie curled one of his arms around your shoulders, the opposite hand tilting your chin so he could look at your face. “I bet you’re pretty mad, huh?”

“Wh-What… why did you…?”

“I didn’t. The man who paid me for your organs has had his sights on you since we got here. Guess he got cursed or something and needed a fresh human heart.” Ruggie wrinkled his nose before smiling at you again, his fangs looking even sharper in this low light, “Grammy even noticed him. So yesterday morning, before you woke up, I tracked him down and made a little deal. He gets you, but I wanted to watch. Of course I was gonna just bleed him dry, shyeheeheehee!”

You had no idea what to say to that. You stared at Ruggie and he leaned close, his lips brushing against yours for a moment. The blood transferred from you to him resembled a kind of sick, clumpy lipgloss. Knowing that it’s blood makes it all far worse.

Ruggie sighed and leaned against you, still crouched beside you as you lay partially sprawled on the dusty floor, trying not to think about the dead body less than a foot away from you. His cheek pressed against your forehead, and he sighed again.

“Of course I couldn’t go through with it.” He almost sounded like he was more so talking to himself than to you, “You’ll always be safe with me.”

May I ask for some spicy headcanons for magishift and/or basketball club members and male reader, who has a lot of piercings all over his body? So, when they changed in the locker room, they saw his nipple piercings and the reader jokingly said, "Hey, I'll let you take a closer look after training, if you don't tell the teachers about it."

Yes you may and since I am an absolute sucker for the sports teams you get both sports teams.

Under cut because implied spice and male pronouns used upon request

Leona Kingscholar

He had seen the facial piercings you had before and while he respected the pain tolerance necessary for them he didn’t think much of them otherwise

Till he saw you in the locker room one day as you yanked your shirt off to show the bars in your nipples

Has a million questions he is too prideful to ask

A small part of his wonders how they would feel to roll around on his tongue but banishes it quickly, for once glad for the chance to run around the field and cool off his head

When you catch him staring and give him a wry smirk, his ears flatten a little in response to his embarrassment

“Easy there Kingscholar, I don’t mind letting you take a closer look after practice as long as you don’t let Vargas hear it.”

He has you pinned to the lockers in seconds, prompting the rest of the Magishift team to scramble out quickly

“Careful there herbavoir,” he taunts with a wicked smile as he grabs your face with one of his large hands. “Prey that doesn’t want to get caught shouldn’t taunt the predator.”

Ruggie Bucchi

For Ruggie, piercings tend to show money and status since it isn’t exactly cheap to get them done and doing them oneself can be dangerous in some of the areas you tend to have them

Needless to say you have his attention, if nothing else then to steal some of your jewelry to see if it was worth anything. But a fun time wouldn’t be something he said no to either

It isn’t until the two of you are the last getting ready for practice he saw them

Ruggie had been running late thanks to running errands for Leona, but you were usually late so he rarely saw you change

That was when he saw the nipple piercings and while Ruggie didn’t have a preference about them he definitely found it hot on you

That is until you catch him staring and smirk

“Hey there cutie don’t be shy, I’ll let you get a closer look after practice if you want. Just don’t tell Vargas ‘Kay?”

Ruggie can only give a signature laugh if response though if he is embarrassed or being cheeky you will never know

“As long as you can pay for my time Tom Cat I’ll meet you where ever you want.”

Epel Felmier

Thinks piercings are hot and no you will not change my mind on this headcanon

Probably wants a few of his own but Vil would kill him first, hence how you ended up on his radar

He had already been observing from a distance due to attraction and envy

Feels his knees go absolutely weak when he sees the nipple piercings

Really wants to know what else you have pierced

“Hey there Cutie Pie, wanna take a closer look after practice? You can get all personal as long as you don’t tell Vargas.”

Something in Epel flips as he saunters up to you, placing a hand on your chest and pushing you against the wall

“Don’t call me Cutie Pie again and I’ll consider it... Doll.”

It was a weak nickname but he is trying

Floyd Leech

Piercings arn’t super common in the coral sea because of how easy metal rusts so it was definitely something that caught his attention

However usually Jade or Azul was there to stop him from going up and getting into people’s personal space

They were not there when you walked into basketball practice and ripped your shirt off, showing off the shiny piercings you had on your nipples

“Hey Shrimpy what’s that doesn’t it hurt?”

He is already in your personal space poking and prodding at the piercings

“Easy there Floyd if you want a closer look you can do it after practice just don’t tell coach ok?” You manage as you stifle moans with heavy breaths

“Is that a promise, cause if it isn’t I’ll squeeze ya good.”

For some reason you hope that is a promise not a threat

Jamil Viper

He had seen them in the hall and barely batted an eyelash. Kalim had piercings after all and all kind of piercings and jewelry was popular and common place in the Land of Hot Sands

But seeing the metal through your nipple, that did something to him and he had no idea why

Maybe it was the rebellious nature of it he found attractive, the freedom of autonomy it represented but even in the locker room he couldn’t help but stare with sharp eyes

When you catch him looking he instantly drops his head in embarrassment and continues to change as quickly as possible

“Awe no need to be shy, I’ll let you take a closer look after practice if you don’t tell the coach.”

He is practically twitching in embarrassment before he has you pinned against the wall—his face caught between embarrassed rage and arousal. No other club members to save you as they had already cleared out.

“Watch that mouth of yours princey or I’ll put it to better use with that tongue piercing you think I didn’t notice.”

Ace Trappola

Also thinks piercings are cool but he personally wouldn’t get one. Would ruin the good boy appearance he uses to get away with everything

Still it won’t stop him from admiring the pieces of jewelry adoring you skin

To the point he is still staring at your nipple piercings as you strip for basketball practice

“You enjoying the view Trappola?” You ask playfully. Leaning against the wall

“How could I not with a view like that,” Ace fires back equally as cheeky

“If you want a closer look after practice as long as you don’t tell the coach,” You continue to play along with a wink

Ace laughs but a flush creeps up his cheeks from embarrassment of the images suddenly flooding his mind of you pinning him down and the feeling of metal against his skin

“Maybe if you can keep up in practice pretty boy,” Is the only taunt he manages to make back in response

For Tuna:Blackmail End

A/N: for those who asked if I was still doing endings to "for tuna"....yes. I know it's been a while, but I'm slow and have depression! I'm sorry 😭

Part One Part Two Part Three Choose another ending

"Congratulations Leona! Don't blow this."

"It's dishonorable," Jack muttered as he listened to Grim and Leona outside the door.

"Heh, yeah," Ruggie said, not really listening. 

So you were going to end up with Leona, huh? He had his suspicions, Leona had to be one of the wealthier students at this school, but it didn't make the sting any less.

Grim was smart. Whatever story he would spin, you'd no doubt fall for.

"I gotta go," Ruggie muttered, walking away from the door.

"Ruggie," Jack called after him, but he didn't want to listen to what the goody two shoes freshman had to say.

He needed to clear his head. He'd never have been able to be with you. He didn't deserve you, and even if he did, he couldn't support you. Not when he was already supporting his granny, and all the kids in his area. You certainly were also capable of working and helping to support him and his family, but legally, you didn't exist in this world. It would be hard.

Especially if Leona rescinded his invitation to continue working for him after graduation. Which he would, if Ruggie "stole you".

Ruggie realized he had wandered himself over to the courtyard. He sat under a tree, leaning back with a groan. He rubbed his tired eyes, trying to get the image of you on Leona's arm out of his head.

"Ruggie!" 

Man, he must be hallucinating. You were burned in his mind, and in his ears, apparently.

He felt someone standing in front of him, and cracked open an eye. You were smiling at him excitedly.

"Can't you see I'm trying to rest?" He snickered.

You rolled your eyes. "You hang out way too often with Leona."

"Well he is my esteemed employer," he laughed. His eyes flicked over to your hands. "Whatcha got there?"

"Oh! They're dandelions. Before you come at me, they're seeding, it's too late to eat them."

"Then why are you holding them? And so gently, may I add."

You gently, slowly, handed him a seeding dandelion. Then you sat down next to him.

"Blow on it. Make a wish."

"Huh?"

"Just trust me! This is one of the only ways we can do magic where I come from!"

He sighed, but you looked so earnest. So he made a silent wish, and blew on the dandelion, just as you did the same.

"So what did you wish for?" You asked sweetly. He opened his mouth, but you grinned wickedly. "Just kidding! You can't tell me, or it won't come true!"

He rolled his eyes. "That's not how magic works. Besides, my wish is never going to come true anyway."

"Not with that attitude!"

"Not with any attitude. It isn't going to happen."

He leaned against the tree again. You sat quietly, scrutinizing him.

"Well, I wished for a man."

Ruggie snorted at your abrupt change in attitude.

"Any particular man? Remember, if you tell me it won't come true. Shi hi hi."

"Oh hush," you snorted. "Let's see, he's kind."

So not Leona, Ruggie thought with an internal, evil snicker.

"Someone who'd help me fix the dorm, even if he's already super busy. Someone who goes out for a snack, and comes back with a dessert that tastes like sardines. Someone who accidentally started my cat son on a pointless quest to find me a wealthy bachelor so that he can earn mine and Grim's love with tuna."

Ruggie blinked a couple times, slowly mulling over the clear description of himself.

"Huh."

"Yeah. Huh. Still not a wish that's gonna come true?"

He bit his lip, looking off into the distance.

"It can't come true," he tried to sound calm, but he couldn't ignore the bitter tint to his words.

You stiffened. "Oh. Any particular reason why?"

"I can't support you, Y/N. You deserve the world. And I can't give it to you."

"Well, you're thinking super far ahead. I won't even graduate until a year after you. Plus, I don't need supported. I'm a big kid. I can work."

"You deserve the world," he repeated, looking over at you with palpable heartbreak in his eyes. "And my one chance to give it to you will go away once we're together."

"Dude, you're completely losing me. What the fuck are you on about?" You raised a brow.

"Leona offered me basically a lifetime gig with him after graduation. But he's as in love with you as I am. And he's not exactly the most reasonable dude on the planet."

"So you love me too?" 

He rolled his eyes. "That's what you got from that? Of course I love you! I wouldn't fix your shoddy building for free, now would I? I'm not that good a person."

"Sure you are," you said softly as you pushed a stray piece of hair off his face.

"You're missing the point! Leona-"

"The Ruggie I know wouldn't be worried about the jealous anger of a kitty cat who isn't even dating me," you said sternly, and his mouth snapped shut. Logically, you were right. But-

"The Ruggie I know, would join me as I take a trip to Savannahclaw with the intention of blackmailing his ridiculously wealthy housewarden, so he can keep his job and date his true love."

He couldn't even remember the trip, or how it got to this specific point, but damn, were you sexy snapping at Leona about this.

"And another thing!"

"Sevens, shut up, herbivore. You're hurting my head," Leona groaned tiredly. "And my heart. Do you really think I'm this cruel?"

"Huh?" You seemed just as startled as Ruggie felt.

"Sevens, you clearly love the guy. Just cause I'd definitely treat you better, doesn't mean that I'm an ass who would punish Ruggie if you both feel the same way about each other."

He gave a pointed glare at Ruggie. "Does he feel the same way about you?"

Ruggie nodded quickly.

"There. I'm not a monster. You're a good worker, it'd be stupid to lose you over something like this. Just be careful," Leona snickered, and leaned in close, his eyes predatory, his smile smug, "you slip up, I'm going to be right there."

"Fair enough, shi hi hi," Ruggie extended a hand to Leona, the both of them participating in a handshake.

"Sevens, you two are so difficult to understand," you muttered. Ruggie turned towards you with a grin.

"Now that I have my future secured, you wanna know my wish?"

"What was it?" You asked, clearly having a guess.

He stepped close to you, nuzzling his nose against yours. "You promise it'll come true?"

You hummed.

"I wished for a box of a dozen donuts."

You turned on your heel, stalking away, and he laughed after you. "Obviously I wished for you!"

"Whatever, Ruggie."

He chased after you gleefully, for once looking forward to the future.

Tag list-@shytastemakerthing @stygianoir @leonia0 @lleoll @eccedentesiast-sapphic @supertmntgirl @cxsmicdustdreams @aethermostbeloved @krystalkiller25 @asmallbean3 @theneurodivergentdummy @candlewitch-cryptic @smilingfox22-blog @phantomgaming1920 @the-dumber-scaramouche @noidonothavetimeforthis @bontensbabygirl @xxoomiii @somany-fandoms-solittle-time @bre99 @stupidsimp @sus0daddy @a-small-tyrant @imlost-sendhelp @mizukiblogs @neech @kazumify @owlisbuffering

Isekai'd Chronicles 3

Intro: Savanaclaw in an isekai AU.

Warnings: bad writing, awful grammar, proofread by quillbot, you get a disc to the head in Leona's part, stuck in a janitor's closet with Ruggie

A/N: I love Leona and Ruggie. Anyways, enjoy!

Prologue

I. Scarabia

II. Heartslabyul

You'd seen lots of movies before with the exact same meet cute, but it didn't really feel cute when a magical spinning disc almost made its way through your skull. Your swordsmanship reflexes are very handy in this situation, and you dodge just enough to not die. It does leave a pretty nasty bruise on the side of your forehead, leaving you to glare grumpily at the figure that was slowly walking closer and closer to you, whom you assume is the one at fault. It's a muscular lion beastman with braids in his mane and a bored look on his annoyingly handsome face that you kind of want to throw the disc at. But you won't, because you're smarter than that. And also because this is Leona Kingscholar, the second prince of the beastmen.

He doesn't apologize until you repeatedly annoy him to do so, and even then, he doesn't do anything to acknowledge his mistake. Now, that's just so rude! You didn't want to deal with the love interests any more than you have to, but there's no way you're going to let this lion roam penalty-free when he left such a big wound on your face. So you get patched up by Jamil (thank you, Jamil) and start on your mission to annoy Leona until he apologizes and actually does something worthwhile for it. You follow him around, studying while he naps, and you've found that he's annoyingly smart too, grumbling out answers you couldn't find on your own. So, hey, you use him as a free tutor while you wait for that heartfelt apology. In the next few days, you spend so much time with him that your friends grow concerned, especially when they hear it's because you're trying to get a sincere apology from Leona, of all people. You can tough it out a bit more, though.

You force him to come with you to the cafeteria instead of getting his food for him, and you pull him towards his classes out of spite. By some miracle, he reluctantly lets you play with his hair, and you decide to cut him some slack. You think you've annoyed him enough, and it doesn't seem like your apology'll ever come, so you give up. It's okay; you weren't supposed to be close again to a male lead anyway. It only takes two days after that for Leona to knock on your door with an apology as well as a bead bracelet like one of his own, and you find it in your dumb little human heart to forgive him. And he says he doesn't like it when you avoid him.

So...are you and Leona friends or...?

"Senpai, you're slacking again!" You complain as you stomp towards his little spot in the garden. He seems asleep, but from the twitch of his fuzzy ears and the sway of his tail, you know better. You huff and sit down next to him, touching the tip of his ear and watching it flatten against his head to avoid you.

"What gives, herbivore?"

"Ha! So you were awake." You smile victoriously. Lifting a hand, you show him the miniature wooden chess set you bought from a bazaar the other day. "I have come to demand a rematch!"

Leona chuckles and pulls you down, using you as a pillow with his tail wrapped around your waist. "You can lose later. Since you're already here, be a good pillow and stay still, alright?"

A certain hyena beastman seems to have come to hate you. Ruggie Bucchi isn't too scary though, as right now, you're still the heir to a dukedom and he's still just Leona's aide. But, to be honest, you don't like the feeling of being hated. Especially since you don't even know what you've done! You've tried asking Leona but one, he tells you to just not care about it, and two, that only makes the glaring worse. You walk in circles in the human dorms' kitchens, almost tripping on air when suddenly, the best idea ever pops up in your mind. You could give Ruggie donuts, it was his favorite in the game. And it really wouldn't do you any favors to have a love interest hate you when you haven't even done anything to him yet (that reminds you, where are the main characters?).

Now, you could buy donuts, but you're already in the kitchen trying out recipes for a party that Kalim's throwing, so why not just make them while you're at it?

The sugary fluffy treats open up the hyena's mouth real quick, and when you reassure him that there was no way that you would ever steal his gig by being Leona's servant, he's good already. And that should be the end of the story. But it's not, because apparently, you make the best donuts ever according to Ruggie, and he trades you a couple chores for a couple donuts every few days. He's a funny guy, so you don't mind too much when he hangs around. Plus, you two get to laugh about gossip and little anecdotes he'd share, and whenever you have free time, you decide to bless him with your presence by helping him cook and clean and do the annoying lion's laundry. And hey, you really can't imagine Ruggie killing you at this point, or where else would he get the best donuts in the whole world?

That's one less male lead to worry about, at least.

Ruggie's eyes are so blue up close. Uh, why are they so close?

"Shishishishi, don't move around too much." He whispers mischievously, shifting around in the tiny space you've both found yourself in. "Ruggie senpai? Why are we in the janitor's closet?" You whisper back, glancing at the small opening on the door.

"Some guys lookin' for me, let 'em pass."

"What did you do?" You chuckle softly under your breath, trying not to be too loud. Ruggie replies with a shrug.

"Traded some items, guess they regretted it."

You know he used his spell to 'trade', and it makes you sigh before gently scolding him. "Senpai, can't you at least not get caught? I know you can handle yourself but it's worrying, you know?"

"Eh? Worried?" His eyes are wide as he repeats your words, before agreeing blankly. "Okay...I'll be more careful since, you're... uh, worried or whatever..."

“I want to buy you something

with Ruggie Bucchi”

(With a crafty? reader)

“It’s not a lot,” he mumbled.

In your hands was a grocery bag that he had just previously handed to you. It was your six month anniversary. Something you’d both been excited for, but he did show some anxiety as the day approached.

When your gaze became fixed on him, he looked away.

“You can open it instead of staring, you know.”

It wasn’t the first time you’d seen him flustered or shy, but it still made you grin when the cocky and sometimes arrogant Ruggie Bucchi would get all red from being watched.

You sat down on your dorm bed, while he didn’t seem to follow you. Though you found it odd, you were just too excited to see what the contents were.

“Just— don’t expect too much, alright?”

You ripped open the bag after struggling a bit with the tightly done knot. And in the bag, he was right. There really wasn’t a lot.

But what you did see, was random items of unknown origin. Keys that lead to who knows where, rocks that you assumed he found from the ruthless chores he completed, and even colored and patterned bookmarks and scraps of paper.

“You mentioned that you liked crafting, so being the generous boyfriend I am, I figured I’d surprise you.”

The longer that you stared at the contents of the bag, the more nervous he got.

“Because I love you. So can you say something?”

I am in physical pain, 10/10 and you all need to see this

— “Can’t remember how to say your name.” with Vice Housewadens

In a freak accident you lose your memory.

"My name's Trey, we were good friends." It takes everything in him to hold his voice steady as the word 'friends' leaves his tongue. He doesn't want to overwhelm you, not in such a fragile state, so he'll shove his feelings down. Afterall, as long as you're happy, he's happy, right?

"That's not funny..." Ruggie refuses to accept you forgot him. You were his favorite part of the day. Someone who'd warn him to not overwork himself too hard, or someone to lean on when he desperately needed it. Now you were gone?

"I see, well then, I'll take my leave." Jade Leech is a man of few words, and a man of even fewer relationships. He would hate to be forced to rebuild everything that's been shattered. Because no matter how desperately he wants it. No matter how much he begs, it'll never be the same.

"I'm no one important, just here for...Kalim." Kalim wasn't even there. He came alone solely to be there as your significant other, but now? He was there for no reason. He didn't want to have to climb his way into your heart when before you let him in with no issue. He just can't do that to himself.

"We were lovers, please, say you remember something." He knows it's idiotic. Stupid. Mornic. And yet, Rook wants to cling to the possibility you're still there somewhere. That you'll wake up from a trance and remember that you both are a happy couple who made plans for the future.

"Ortho! We were best friends!" You both were friends before, why can't you be friends now? Ortho sees no issue behind your memory loss, he's only concerned about your overall well-being. Afterall, you're family to him. An older sibling he values and cares for. Why would that change?

"Oh dear, don't tell me." The fae has seen many things over the course of his life. But never the love of his life lose their memory of him. He wants to be sad, angry, upset, but all he feels is acceptance. All things happen for a reason. Your life is short, so for now, he won't ask for anything more than for you to be safe.

SUMMARY: thanks to two certain idiots, you were yet again landed in detention. As if your luck couldn’t get any worse, of course it has to start raining! But no worries, a certain Hyena has your back.

WARNINGS: mentions of Ace Trappola, Ruggie says D*mn. Other than that it’s just tooth rotting fluff!

COMMENTS: Anndd here’s the Ruggie fic! It’s not very long but I thought it turned out pretty cute. I hope you guys enjoy!

How perfect, you thought dully, staring out into the rain that bucketed down just outside the entrance. As if your day couldn’t get any worse.

Actually, scratch that. Your day hadn’t really been all that bad, come to think of it. Other than those dirtbags Ace and Grim ‘generously’ gifting you a pretty seat in detention from their shenanigans. Granted, it had been pretty funny. Not detention-worthy, but still funny.

“Shishishi, penny for ya thoughts, Prefect?”

You grinned; that adorably contagious laugh could only belong to one person - your crush.

“Hey Rugs.”

Ruggie Bucchi appeared to your left, hands held behind his head and smiling widely, revealing his little fangs. His dirty blond hair was just as messy as usual, and his drooping blue eyes held that usual mischievous glint that never failed to capture your attention and make your heart skip a beat. “Hey yourself. Whatcha doing out here this late in the afternoon?” He crossed his arms, curiosity in his eyes. “Almost never see you out here this late.”

You thought for a moment, then shrugged. “I got detention.”

He let out a low whistle. “Damn, Prefect. Never took you for the type.”

You smiled. “It happens. Still, though…” you looked out at the downpour and cringed. “That rain is coming down fast. Wish I’d had time to grab an umbrella.”

Ruggie raised an eyebrow, genuinely impressed. “You can afford an umbrella?”

“No.”

He laughed and shook his head. “Shoulda guessed. Welp, you’re in luck then, Prefect. I got one in my bag.”

You looked at him curiously. “You own an umbrella?”

He cracked a charmingly crooked smile. “Nah, it’s Leona’s.” He winked and held his finger in front of his mouth. “If you keep that on the down-low for me, I’ll let ya use it if you want.”

“Really?!” Your eyes lit up with hope, and you could’ve sworn his expression softened for a second, before returning to his signature cheeky grin.

“‘Course!” He grabbed his bag and, after digging around for a while, pulled out a black umbrella. “Take it.” He held it out to you, but you hesitated.

“Are you sure? We could both share it. That way we’d both stay dry.”

He looked startled for a moment, an almost unnoticeable pink briefly dusting his cheeks before he recovered and smiled. “Nah, I got errands to run. You should head back to Ramshackle before this rain gets any worse.”

“Alright, if you’re sure… thanks, Ruggie!” You reached to take the umbrella.

As you took the umbrella, your hand brushed his. For a split second, it looked as though Ruggie had been jolted by static electricity. Then, he shakily laughed it off, shrugging off his jacket and lifting it over his head.

“Welp, gotta go, later Prefect!” He smiled, a little nervously, and plunged into the rain.

Warmth spread over your face as you watched him disappear with a smile. Maybe one day you’d be able to have a conversation where he didn’t try to escape before the end.

Not yet, but soon.

♥Thank you for reading!! I hope you enjoyed it!!♥

Can we get a part three of This with riddle and Ruggie?? Thank you! 💜 it's fine if you can't do it btw!

SUMMARY: Someone's picked a fight with Prefect! But he isn't going to let anyone hurt you anymore. Not on his watch. Part 3! Part 1 w/ Cater and Azul can be found here, and part 2 w/ Vil and Silver can be found here.

WARNING: Riddle calls someone a coward. Also the words idiot and jerk are in his part. People get hurt in Ruggie’s part but it isn’t really gory or anything

COMMENTS: I’m so sorry this took so long, my hands have been in a lot of pain the past couple months and are only starting to get better 🥲 I hope you enjoy it! Ruggie and Riddle were super good ideas for this prompt, this was so much fun to write! Thank you for the request! Also, if anyone has any ideas for more characters they’d like for this series, feel free to send in a request!

It must be raining.

You were just out in a storm. That’s all.

That would explain the crack of thunder that collided with your face and gave you a throbbing headache. The warm liquid blurring your vision and dripping out of your mouth and nose was just the rain, not some unholy mix of blood and tears. The chills that froze you where you stood was just humidity and the cold, not adrenaline and raw fear.

And yet, even with your desperate brain trying to come up with some reasonable explanation, the only thunderstorm you could see in front of you was a student you couldn’t recognise. Not with your head pounding like this. Not with the thunder in your ears.

There was something about the boy that scared you. That wasn’t uncommon - this school was full of terrifyingly promising mages. But the scariest thing wasn’t how he wielded his magical pen with deadly accuracy, or how strong he so evidently was.

It was just how much he seemed to be enjoying the mix of horror and pain, of blood and tears, that must have been so evidently and delicately splashed across your face.

His smile twisted as he raised his pen again, something in those cruel eyes of his setting off alarm signals in your aching head.

“This’ll teach you not to meddle where you don’t belong.”

The pen glowed, pure magic surrounding it as he prepared to shoot. His sadistic eyes were alight with entertainment. He knew what he was about to do. He didn’t care.

You squeeze your eyes shut and braced for the lightning.

“OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!”

Your eyes snapped open just in time to see the lightning, arcing gracefully yet violently through the air.

Aiming straight for your assailant’s neck.

“What the- hey! Get this thing off of me!” The boy snapped, tugging at the heart shaped collar that had just appeared around his neck.

“I most certainly will not!”

Spinning around, you saw two boys making their way towards you. One was tall with short green hair, glasses, and a familiar symbol - a club - painted just below his left eye. He looked worried, his gaze flicking from you, to your assailant, to his companion and back again.

The second boy made your heart skip a beat.

His small frame shook with rage. His face, twisted with anger, had become as red as his hair. He marched straight past you, heading towards your assailant, his magical pen gripped tightly in his hand.

Uh oh.

The moment Riddle Rosehearts decides to get involved, heads roll.

“How dare you?!” He yelled. “Using magic in a fight is a clear violation of the rules! Did you think you could just shamelessly flaunt your rule-breaking and expect me not to see it?! And attacking the magic-less prefect of all people! If you really must break the rules, at least fight someone on an equal footing as you, coward!”

The courtyard was dead silent as Riddle verbally ripped into the student, chewing him out for several rule violations and other discourtesies.

“But the prefect started it-!” Your assailant protested.

“I don’t know what history you and the prefect may have, but in this instance you attacked without provocation and without warning!” Riddle huffed. “And don’t try to lie to me. I saw the whole thing.”

The boy visibly deflated. There was no getting out of this for him.

“I want to see your student ID. Now.” Riddle ordered.

The boy sighed, pulled his ID out of his bag and handed it to Riddle.

“Ah, Pomefiore, hm? Be thankful you’re not in Heartslabyul,” he snapped, handing the ID back to the student. “Although,” he added, “Vil Schoenheit is certainly not the most lenient of housewardens. He will deal with you appropriately.”

You felt a hand rest on your shoulder. Looking up, you realised Trey Clover had stopped next to you.

He gave you a small, strained smile. “Are you alright, Prefect?”

Riddle glanced back over at you, a little startled. It appeared he had forgotten you were here.

“I’m alright… I think.” You managed, sending both the dormleader and vice-dormleader a smile.

Riddle’s face somehow got even redder and he looked away. You would’ve thought it almost funny if the world hadn’t started spinning. You quickly grabbed Trey’s arm to steady yourself.

“Maybe not.” You added.

Trey reached over to support you. “Riddle, you know more first aid than I do. I’ll take him to Pomefiore and explain the situation to Vil, but maybe you should take care of the Prefect or something?”

“Very well.” Riddle made his way over to you, reaching out to support you. He gently led you over to a bench and pulled out a handkerchief.

“Please pardon me, I’m going to administer first aid to you now.” He spoke stiffly. You nodded dazedly, and then felt a pang of regret as your headache tripled in intensity. You focused on breathing steadily as he cleaned the blood from your face and examined your injuries.

“You’ll have a couple of bruises, but nothing serious, thankfully.” He sighed in relief and instructed you to apply pressure to your nose and angle your head downwards to stem the bleeding.

Slowly but surely, the bleeding stopped. Riddle sat with you quietly the entire time, silently supporting you. You got the impression that he didn’t quite know what to say or do, and just how close you both were wasn’t helping matters. That was alright, though. Just having him here was enough.

“Prefect…” Riddle spoke so quietly you weren’t even sure he’d spoken. He was looking away from you, his face a light pink colour. He seemed embarrassed.

“What’s up?”

Riddle took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled. “I… apologise for losing my temper back there. And also for not arriving and stopping him sooner. I’m truly sorry.”

You stared at him for a moment, then cracked a smile. “It’s alright. Although it would’ve been nice not to get hurt in the first place, it’s not your fault at all. You aren’t the idiot who tried to hurt me anyway.”

Riddle flinched at your ‘swear’. “Prefect!”

You grinned mischievously. “Wha-at? There’s no rule against calling someone an idiot, is there? Besides, you called him a coward earlier. If I’m going to get in trouble for calling someone an idiot then you should get in trouble for calling someone a coward.”

Riddle smiled and shook his head, his cheeks slightly pink. “Well then, I suppose I’ll have to watch my tongue. As Heartslabyul dorm leader, I simply must set a good example for my dorm members. Which means I must refrain from calling people… jerks.”

You gasped and clapped your hand over your mouth, trying so hard not to burst out laughing. “Riddle!”

His eyes lit up as you said his name. He looked at you so gently, so lovingly as you struggled not to laugh that you felt your face going warm.

Wouldn’t it be nice to stay like this forever….?

A yell of pain shot through the air, wrenching your eyes open in fear. Stumbling backwards, you drank in the scene in front of you before realising in horror what had happened.

Someone had jumped in front of you.

A beastman, to be more specific.

The boy stood protectively in front of you, breathing hard, hackles raised. He had dirty blond hair and an outfit much too big for him. His right hand was gripped tightly around his magical pen, his left was holding his right shoulder. Blood was beginning to fall at his feet.

Wait, blood?

Scanning him again quickly and you saw them: shards of ice crystals stuck out of his shoulder at every angle. Your stomach twisted and you felt the bile rise in the back of your throat.

“Prefect, go!”

“But-“

The boy turned at you and snarled. “Run!”

You stumbled backwards, stunned. A spell - another gift from your assailant - flew by your ear. Scrambling backwards, you cast your eyes around to find a place to hide.

There!

Sprinting over and sliding into the hiding spot, you peaked your head around and watched.

It was brutal.

The boy who saved you - the boy you now recognise as your crush, Ruggie Bucchi - fought viciously, yet his opponent was not the kind to give up easily. For every spell Ruggie had, this boy somehow managed to dodge or deflect almost every single one of them, and fire off a few of his own.

Come on, Ruggie. You thought. Please be okay.

Ripping your gaze from the fight, you pulled a packet of wipes from your bag and forced yourself to clean your wounds. Anything to distract from what was going on.

After all, there was no way you could help. You were magicless after all, so it was probably best to just leave things to those who could fight, right?

…Right?

A yell of pain forced your attention back on the fight. Both boys were now breathing hard, blood strewn across the courtyard. From the looks of things, neither boy could beat the other. Ruggie couldn’t break a hole in his defence and the other boy could barely hit Ruggie, who was sprinting and dodging like his life depended on it.

“Stay still, mutt!” The boy snapped, firing off spell after spell.

Ruggie didn’t even respond. His concentration remained on dodging and finding a weak point, but your assailant didn’t leave him time to cast a spell.

He just needed an opening.

Steeling yourself, you grabbed a rock and snuck around the two of them. You adjusted your grip on the rock.

Please, don’t let this hit anyone. You prayed, then stepped out into the open.

“HEY DIPSTICK, OVER HERE!” You yelled as loud as you could and then hurled the rock in his direction.

The boy whirled around and deflected the rock with magic in an instant. Seeing you, he seized his chance and prepared to fire off another spell. You squeezed your eyes tight and held your hands in front of your face.

“Laugh with me!”

No spell came. Opening your eyes, you saw the boy in front of you, clearly angry. He walked towards you rigidly, as if he was trying to do anything but that. He pulled his student ID out of his bag and handed it to you.

Then he turned around and walked away. Your eyes followed him as he walked a ways off, then stopped.

The boy whirled around, his magical pen aimed directly at you and began to cast-

And then was immediately knocked off his feet from a blast of wind magic.

Someone grabbed your arm. “C’mon Prefect, now’s when we run-“

Ruggie ran hard, tugging you along with him as you dodged through crowds of people, eventually slowing to a stop in front of some empty classrooms.

You gasped for breath and put your hands on your knees, trying to recover from your sprint. Glancing up, you saw Ruggie leaning against the wall, breathing hard.

He looked awful.

His shoulder looked worse, his uniform was singed and he smelled of smoke. He had countless scratches and scrapes. Yet despite all this, he caught your eye and smiled painfully.

“What… whatcha starin’ at, Prefect?” He panted, clearly exhausted.

“Your shoulder…” you managed. His smile fell and he shrugged - then grimaced.

“‘S fine. Don’t need to worry, shishish-“ he cursed and winced.

You walked over to him and looked him over. His face was ever so slightly pink as he looked away. He shook slightly as you tugged off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves.

Pulling out your packet of wipes, you looked up at him. “This okay?”

He glanced at you briefly, his face still pink, his ears flat against his head. He looked away again. “‘S whatever.” He mumbled.

You gently cleaned up his cuts and scrapes. Looking at his shoulder injury, you sighed. “I can’t do anything about that one. I’m taking you to the nurse’s office.”

“But-“ he protested, but fell silent when you cut him off.

“No buts. That’s serious, Ruggie. I’ll buy you doughnuts if you let me take you.” You added, hoping the bribe would work.

He hesitated, then smiled at you. “Fine. Shishishi, if I didn’t know better, I’d guess you’d care for me or somethin’.”

You simply stared at him.

He went red. “P-prefect-? Got somethin’ you wanna say? Haha…”

“Come on,” you said with a smile and a sigh. “Let’s get you to the infirmary.”

“Okay.”

What a dummy. You thought as you pulled him along. I think I love him.

♥Thank you for reading!! I hope you enjoyed it!!♥

ruggie and 7am sleeping in, for the event, please!!! and congrats on 200 followers!!! <3 💖💖💖🎉🎉🎉🎉🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳💗💗💗

WARNINGS: Ruggie is a little gremlin, he totally does this on purpose hehe. We love him though >:3

COMMENTS: Aaa thank you so much Kei!!! Sorry this took a while, I hope you like it!!

If you'd like to request something for my 200 followers event, details can be found here.

You hated your alarm clock. 

Typically, on a day such as this, your alarm clock blaring meant that it was time to get out of the warm comfort of your bed and get ready for school, before beginning the process of dragging Grim out of bed. 

But not today, you thought, slamming the stop button on the clock. It was Saturday. 

And Saturday meant you could sleep in. 

Pulling the covers back over your head, you smiled sleepily and closed your eyes. Everything planned for the day could wait. Right now, it was time for some much needed rest. 

Until someone banged on the door.

You groaned and shoved your pillow over your head. Ace and Deuce could wait. You were not prepared to sacrifice your precious morning just to drag those two out of trouble. 

And yet, the knocking didn’t stop. 

“Oi, Prefect! Open up!”

Wait, that didn’t sound like Ace or Deuce. 

Reluctantly, you dragged yourself out of bed and stumbled to the door. Unlocking it quickly, you threw the door open, planning to deal with whoever it was quickly and go back to sleep. 

However, it seems like fate had other plans for you that day. 

“Hey, Prefect.” Your boyfriend, Ruggie Bucchi leaned against the doorframe, grinning. His grin grew wider as he took in your appearance. “Did I wake you up? Sorry.” 

At least he had the decency to sound contrite, you thought grumpily. “It’s fine, what do you need?”

He chuckled and held up a basket. “I got some food, wanna have a picnic?”

You groaned internally. Why’d Ruggie have to pick today of all days? “You mean right now…?” 

“Yup! This morning’s the only time I have off all day. Figured the best way to spend it would be with my darlin’ Prefect. Shishishi.” He laughed and flashed a mischievous smile.

He’s enjoying this way too much, you thought grumpily. 

You chewed the inside of your mouth, hesitating. On the one hand, you loved your new boyfriend dearly. On the other hand, you’d really been looking forward to this…

You sighed, decision made. “Alright Ruggie, just let me get dressed and I’ll be down.”

He grinned. “Sweet, thanks Prefect. See you in a minute?”

You nodded, smiling. “Yeah, I’ll be back in a sec.”

You turned and made your way up the stairs, leaving the door open in case he wanted to wait inside. You hummed to yourself. This wasn’t the way you’d planned to spend your morning, but you found yourself more energised and excited about the day than you had been before. Maybe that had something to do with the cute boy waiting downstairs that knew just what to say to get your heart to beat faster.

♥Thank you for reading!! I hope you enjoyed it!!♥

Hi! Thank you for doing this event! This is such a cute prompt idea, I love it! Would it be alright if I use it in the future?

And could I request Ruggie at 11:38PM in the Savannaclaw laundry room?

WARNINGS: None! Very cute and wholesome :D COMMENTS: Hello! Thank you so much! I don’t mind at all hehe, these are fun to write :D I hope you enjoy this, sorry it took so long!!

It had been six hours and twenty-seven minutes since Ruggie Bucchi went AWOL. 

Typically, on a busy day like today, he’d send you a short text explaining that he’d be busy for a while and couldn’t chat. He always messaged you as soon as he could after that, so that you knew he was free again. 

Only this time, he hadn’t texted you back. 

For the first little while, you figured whatever he had been doing was just taking longer than he’d thought. But when four hours had come and gone with no sign from him, you started to get a bit nervous. At five hours, you were checking your phone every couple minutes. At six, you’d put on your jacket and rushed out of Ramshackle. 

The night was cold and eerie as you slowly made your way to the Savannaclaw dorm. You kept your eyes peeled for any sign of Ruggie as you got closer and closer, but there was no sign of him.

Upon arriving at Savannaclaw, you carefully made your way to Ruggie’s room, keeping as silent as possible. You figured that in a dorm full of beastmen, they probably knew you were there anyway, but you still didn’t want to disturb them if you could avoid it. 

You finally stood in front of Ruggie’s room, thinking hard. What if he’d just forgotten to text you, and was currently enjoying some much-needed rest? You hesitated.

Well, if he didn’t want to be disturbed, he should’ve remembered to text me.

You knocked on the door.

Silence.

“Ruggie? It’s me.” You kept your voice low and quiet as you knocked again.

Still nothing.

“I’m coming in.” You paused and waited for a protest. Nothing came, so you opened the door.

Ruggie Bucchi was not in his bed, nor in his room.

He was simply gone. 

You felt your heart start to race. Where in twisted wonderland was he?!

You pulled out your phone, scrolling past the slightly embarrassing amount of texts you’d sent to try and get his attention. He hadn’t sent anything to insinuate what exactly he’d be doing.

You thought back on your conversations earlier that day, trying to figure out where he could possibly be. Ruggie had been complaining about all the work that he had to do for Leona. More specifically, he’d been making fun of Leona for not knowing how to even wash his own clothes. 

Wait. Wash his own clothes…

You turned and hastily made your way to the Savannaclaw Laundry room, racking your brains for anywhere else he could be.

Turns out, thinking of other options was entirely unnecessary. 

Curled up on a pile of freshly dried laundry, Ruggie Bucchi lay fast asleep. His hair drooped messily over his eyes, arms still clutching a half-empty laundry basket. He looked eerily peaceful. You weren’t sure you’d ever seen him this relaxed before. You pulled out your phone and snapped a quick photo, before shoving your phone in your back pocket and crouching down beside him, looking through the washing.

You grabbed a clean, lukewarm blanket from the pile and gently draped it over him. He, still asleep, snuggled into it with a cosy smile on his face.

“I love you.” He mumbled. 

You froze, unsure if he was awake or asleep. If he was awake - or at least, half awake - then what he said could’ve been legit, right…? Or maybe it was just him dreaming of someone he loved, like his grandma or something. It didn’t necessarily mean you… did it? You were suddenly very aware of how fast your heart was beating.

You sighed and sat down next to him, adjusting yourself until you were also comfortable. It was late and you were starting to get tired. 

Might as well stay here for the night, you thought. I can give Ruggie an earful tomorrow…

You tossed another blanket over yourself and shifted until you were comfortable. As sleep slowly began to pull you into its warm embrace, you could’ve sworn you felt a calloused but gentle hand take yours.

♥ Thank you for reading!! I hope you enjoyed it! ♥

Ruggie, Jade, Floyd and Lilia Reacting To The Reader Calling Them Beautiful

Ruggie Bucchi🍩

🍩 “….. Come Again?” Ruggie was just minding his own business in one of the fields, scarfing down donuts that he had bought with Leonas money. You had spotted him and decided to sit next to him, as you watched him stuff his face with the sweet treat

🍩His smile was adorable when he was enjoying the donuts, and then you began to study his other features including his cute tail and ears, and while you were doing that you just slipped out that he was beautiful.

🍩Ruggie had choked mid-bite in the donut and started smacking his chest to catch his breath, with you hitting his back to help him from choking. Ruggie was definitely not expecting you to say that to him, he had expected you to call Leona that, but not him.

🍩Once he was able to talk again, he turned towards you with a smirk: “Shyeheehee, trying to sweet talk me, Y/N? You do know I grew up in the slums right? So I am definitely not beautiful.”

🍩Gazing at him with a serious expression, you told him what does it matter if he grew up in the slums or not he was still beautiful according to you. You told him despite his rough upbringing, he was how you say “a diamond in the rough.”

🍩Yelp, that got him blushing and his tail wagging. He wasn’t use to being complimented, so hearing you cal him that, made him super happy. He was still flustered, but he slowly came closer to you, while leaning his head on your shoulder. He muttered a thanks, while he grabbed two more donuts from his bag and handed one to you. Smiling, you grabbed it and placed it in your mouth, enjoying the sugary taste as well as the sweet moment the two of you were having.

Jade Leech🍄

🍄 Jade was attending inside Mostro Lounge, cleaning up after a long day and polishing one of the glasses. You were there as well, helping out as a way to say thanks for the whole Scarabia incident.

🍄After you had finished, you caught yourself staring at Jade, as he was busy finishing off the glasses. Your eyes trailed to his heterochromatic irises, his hair, and his smile. Jade noticed you staring and asked if there was something wrong, and you just out and said that he was beautiful

🍄"Glass-breaking", The glass from Jades hand had fallen from his hand and shattered on the floor. Jade was stayed stiff and his face was neutral as he was processing your words. You ran towards Jade and asked if he was okay, and to be careful stepping as there was glass all over the floor. You had grabbed his arm and pulled him towards you, telling him to walk away from the mess.

🍄As you pulled him away from the shattered pieces on the floor, you told him you would be back with a pan and broom to clean up the mess. Before you could turn away and fetch the cleaning supplies, Jade had grabbed you, placing his hands on your shoulders, keeping you in place.

🍄 "It shouldn't be wise to lie to me, Prefect. I can tell when someone is lying to me. I can always use my signature spell to make you tell the truth." Jade was smiling at you, but it looked sinister as he was contemplating using his spell on you or no. You glared at Jade, and said you have no reason to lie about something like this, and dared him to use his spell.

🍄Jade's eyes widen in shock as he took the brunt of your words. He knew you weren't the type of person to lie about something like that. Heaving a sigh, Jade placed a hand on his forehead: "My apologies, Prefect. I had gotten use to many students here telling me false truths and little white lies that it just becomes a habit now to use my spell. As a way to apologies, I can perform one wish for you." Jade gazed at you with a sad expression, feeling horrible for what he did.

🍄Smiling at Jade, you told him that, first he can help you clean the shattered glass on the floor and second, if he could bring you to where he keeps his terrariums. Chuckling, Jade gave you a polite smile, and a bow saying "As you wish."

Floyd Leech🦐

🦐Gazing up at the night sky, you were floating in the lake near the campsite. After the whole camp vargas experience, you decided you needed a good wash as you were covered in dirt and sweat.

🦐Everyone else was asleep in their tents and were most likely not going to spot you, so this was your only chance to wash up and relax

🦐As you were floating, you heard the sounds of something splashing a few feet from you, but you paid it no mind as it was probably some fish splashing around. You did, however, jump in fright as you felt something touch the back of your leg.

🦐Looking around in the dark water, you didn't see anything moving around, but there was an ache in your stomach telling you there was something else in the water.

🦐 "SPLASH, BOO~", a mysterious figure had popped up from the water in front of you, scaring you half to death. You screamed and moved to swim away until you noticed the yellow glowing eye and eel tail.

🦐 "FLOYD! you scared me to death!" You whispered yelled at Floyd, trying to be quiet as not to alert the other campers, since it was still night out. "Ehe~ Gomenasai Shrimpy-chan~ You were so defenseless and cute, staying in the water like that, so I decided to give you a little spook~ Why you out here all by yourself?"

🦐 You told Floyd that you wanted to take a quick swim and relax especially with how crazy the day was, Floyd laughed and said he would join you, then he poked your cheek saying Tag and started swimming away. Giggling, you swam after him

🦐 Floyd was definitely faster then you, as he swam through the like like butter, while you were doggy paddling, trying to catch up to him. Floyd noticed you struggling, so he showed you some mercy, and stopped swimming. He lifted his head from the water, and slicked his hair back, smiling at you, while calling you a slowpoke.

🦐 Once you caught up, you stopped and stared at Floyd. The moonlight shining down was making his scaly body shine, and his pure smile was making your heart race. "You look beautiful." Realizing what you said out loud, you covered your mouth with your hands, and sank down into the water, embarrassed.

🦐 Floyd heard what you said, and quickly stopped smiling. His brain slowly taking in what you said. Smirking, Floyd swam closer to you, and wrapped his arms and tail around you, locking you in place. "Aww~ You find me beautiful, Shrimpy-chan? Come on~ say it again." Floyd was inching closer and closer to your face, teasing you while he kept squeezing you with his arms and tail.

🦐 You were too flustered to say anything, as you clamped your mouth shut, refusing to say it again, while your face slowly started to turn as red as Riddle's hair. Floyd leaned closer to your ear and whispered "please". Bearing through the embarrassment, you looked up at Floyd and called him beautiful again.

🦐 Floyd looked at you lovingly, satisfied that you called him beautiful again. He placed his hands, on both of your cheeks, lifting your head to capture your lips. His kisses were like a drug, addicting. Slowly, you closed your eyes and wrapped your arms around his back, continuing to kiss under the moonlight.

Lilia Vanrouge🦇

🦇 "Back in my younger days, I was the General of the Land of the Briar. I had swore to protect the land and to serve Meleanor Draconia."

🦇 You were at the Diasomnia dorm, sitting on the bed in Lilia's room. You were struggling with ancient history and Lilia had offered to help tutor you. He had decided to teach you about the history of his hometown, Briar Valley, and went on long tangents, talking about the past rulers and his past as a general.

🦇 As Lilia continued to rant, you had decided to look in one of the history books, to learn a bit more about the history. You flipped through the pages until you came across a picture of Lilia in the book. Surprised, you stopped and studied the picture. Lilia was fully dressed in armor, with a sword attached to his hip. You noticed he looked the exact same, but he had a more serious expression and his dyed hair was flowing down his back.

🦇Talking to yourself, you said he looked beautiful. Lilia had stopped mid rant and turned to look at you, confused as he didn’t catch what you said. “ What was that Y/N? I didn’t hear what you said, do you mind repeating it?”

🦇Blushing, you had grabbed the book and placed it in front of your face, hiding your scarlet cheeks from him. You yelled that you said nothing, while you continued to use the history book as a shield.

🦇Lilia was confused as to why you were acting so odd. He moved closer towards you and placed his hands on the book that was covering your face. You put up some resistance, but you knew that you couldn’t handle the strength of a powerful fae general.

🦇As Lilia pulled the book from you, his eyes were drawn to the picture he saw of himself and then back to you. Putting the dots together, Lilia realized that you were admiring how he looked in the past.

🦇Smirking, Lilia began to inch closer and closer towards you. You didn’t realize what was happening until you found yourself falling against the bed, with Lilia hovering over you.

🦇 “Kufufu, do you find my past self very enchanting?” Lilia was smiling down at you, gazing at you with his ruby colored eyes. You became tongue-tied at what was happening at the moment, as you were trying to find your words while a hot vampire fae was on top of you. Casting your eyes aside, you told Lilia that he looked beautiful.

🦇Chuckling, Lilia placed a hand on your cheek, telling you to look at him. He asked if you found him beautiful right now. Smiling, you reached your hand out and began to trace Lilias face. Your fingers played with strands of his hair, then you moved them over to his ears, then his cheeks, and then his lips.

🦇 “You are beautiful Lilia. Even if you looked a bit different in the past, it’s still you.” Lilia is not a man who gets surprised easily, but you had managed to do that with such sweet words.

🦇Lilia had grabbed your hand from his face and placed a kiss on it, before he descended closer towards your face and began leaving smooches all over it as well as giving you some nips on your neck

🦇Giggling, you told Lilia that this tickles and try to move him off you, but Lilia just laughed and continued his kissing/biting session. He eventually stopped, and laid his head on your chest, cuddling you as you both stayed laying on his bed.

Ruggie Portfest

hes such a guy!

Beastmen Courting Rituals | TWST

Savanaclaw Dorm X Reader

Leona X Reader, Ruggie X Reader, Jack X Reader,

---- BeastFolk typically have instinctual ways they begin 'courting' or a relationship, some even taught from a young age certain courting rituals. (Non-Human courting rituals part 1/3)

Note: Fun fact, I began making Fae courting first but then I posted the future kid thing and didn't want to post two Diasomnia so close together!

Octavinelle Ver | Diasomnia Ver.

Jack:

It started very small, one day he was there, the next he was there again, and the next he was also there.

He was always there.

Then it got a bit... weird? You noticed that when he would approach you, he was making this grumbling, whining sounds? You don't even think he realized it. You chose to ignore this fact for now, maybe it was just because he was a beast man? You didn't want to be rude by saying anything- or make him feel embarrassed.

After that he began to help you with your hair more as well. Well, your general appearance. He'd help you fix your uniform and brush off any dust or anything you'd may want or need help with. In turn you helped him back, it was only fair after all!

Never mind his flushed face while you did this, moving small hairs back in place and picking any particles off his own uniform.

"There's our dynamic pair! beauty and the beast man." Ace teased, a confident grin on his face while you sat down at the table, Jack not too far behind you.

Jack just rolled his eyes, a small blush on his face as he ignored Ace. Aka, while he did the smart thing to do. You, however, have yet to learn that Despite so many months of friendship and raised an eyebrow at the Card boy. "What are you talking about." You rolled your eyes at the boy.

"You don't know? but it's so obvious!" Ace frowned, Grim nodding beside him in agreement, though you doubted he even knew what the boy was talking about. "His tail is always wagging like a fan when he's talking to ya! He's totally in l-" just as Ace was about to finish speaking Jack piped up, his ears straight on his head in an alert manner and his tail stiff behind him.

"I didn't get anything to drink when we got food." He excused himself, you tried to get a look at his face because he wasn't looking at you but he didn't look back and stood up.

Glancing at his tray, you didn't fail to notice the milk carton on it. Plush, Jack was always the prepared, diligent one. That was so odd... You glanced back at Ace only to find him laughing to himself like the funniest thing just happened. "Whatever, where is Deuce?" You rolled your eyes.

"Why should I know? I'm not his mom."

After that, Ace started calling you dense. Maybe you were because you really didn't know what the hell he was talking about.

After that it was like there was a switch in Jack. He began to be touchier, not that you minded of course! Cuddling with friends is always nice, and you liked to think it was because of his more... animalistic features and instincts he was cuddlier.

But somehow it felt more intimate. He'd nuzzle his face into your neck and hang off of you like he was a coat instead of a large man who was... well jacked.

You'd often wrestle him off of you because he had gotten into the habit of, as you said before, hanging off of you! He'd whine and almost instinctually wrestle you back to stay into his place.

You may not be as strong as him, but you also didn't hate the way he'd run with you at P.E. You knew he could easily run laps around everyone, but instead he stuck with you. Smiling at you exhausted look and cheering you on. "I'm sure Coach Vargas wouldn't mind us taking a break?" He laughs a bit awkwardly after you glared at him for suggesting it when he barely even broke a sweat.

It wasn't till after Leona off Handly mentioned something about you smelling like Jack. Even wrinkling his nose and saying that he "didn't have to lay it on that thick." That you started to think, maybe, just maybe, something else was going on here.

So, you went to the library. Got yourself your very own book (that you had to return in two weeks) on Beastfolk Mating rituals.

Suddenly, it made sense why Ace thought you were dense. Apparently, this was commonish knowledge in this world! And maybe you were ignoring pretty obvious signs now that you thought about it.

So, one afternoon when Jack was hanging off of you, that look in his eyes you hadn't noticed till now. You bit his hand. His ears straightened in surprise and he looked at you for a moment. A thick blush on his face.

"Am I dense or are you courting me?" You finally asked now that you had his attention.

"I have been for a while now..." He sheepishly admitted while not looking you in the eye.

____________

Ruggie:

He avoided you like the plague, at first.

Even now, sometimes when he's approaching you, you noticed that he might backtrack and hesitate.

Now he is a lot more relaxed, often hanging off of your shoulder. Now that he knows you won't bite his head off. His tail would wag behind him slightly while he interacted with you. A stark contrast to the stiff, alert eared boy he was just a little while ago!

You will say though, it did take some of your lunches to get here. You'd equate this process to that of getting a scared cat to approach you with treats. Now, you didn't even need the treats to get him around! He'd approach you first now too. Still with hesitance, but once he did come up to you he did seem to enjoy himself.

"He loved hanging off of you and cuddling up to you. He was very handsy, (Like most beast men, you'd later learned) His face often nuzzled into the nook of your neck. "He loved hanging off of you and cuddling up to you. He was very handsy, (Like most beast men, you'd later learned) His face often nuzzled into the nook of your neck.

"It's so weird to see a Ruggie-Senpai hang out with you so much." Deuce said off handedly one afternoon. You two were studying together when he thought of this.

"What do you mean?" You couldn't help but ask the card solider. Putting your pen down as you looked at him curiously.

The boy just shrugged, a odd look on his face. "I don't know, I just thought Hyena beast men were more... You know." he added a bit awkwardly. You decided to drop it there.

"Yeah... Anyway, I think I remember-"

The interaction stood out in your head, however. What exactly did Deuce even mean? After that interaction, you noticed a couple things as well. Beast students would look at you and nodded at you in recognition? Leona's nose would scrunch up a bit when you spoke to him (though he never made any comments on it), and when you walked into Savanaclaw a beast guy once mistook you for Ruggie before he looked at you?

What did any of that even mean?! When you asked Jack, he just said you smelt like Ruggie.

That small interaction you had with Deuce quickly began to send you down a hill of thinking about everything Ruggie ever did! How he hung off of you, and how you two hung out. It got even weirder when Ruggie offered you some food. Like he had been for a while.

This was very out of character for the Hyena boy! How did you not realize it before? So, you asked him about it. "How come you always offer me something when we eat together?"

He blushed a bit looking at you with wide eyes for a moment before shaking his head, "I do that don't I?" he laughed awkwardly, "I mean I bring food home for the neighborhood kids too. We all got to eat; you know?" He shrugged it off. You wondered what that meant, because he didn't do it with anyone else, but you failed to push him on the subject.

Your sad to say, you never fully realized what was happening till someone explained it to you.

He knocked on Ramshackle door with a handful of pretty dandelions and asked you on a date. "Perfect, would you like to um... go out with me?" he asked hesitantly, a nervous smile on his face while he put his head down. Like he was trying to protect his neck...

You said yes and it was after that Leona explained how annoying it was watching you two and basically inadvertently explained everything to you...

"That would have been helpful to know sooner." You grumbled to yourself after talking with the lion.

"Eh? Ignore him shyhehe!~ Ruggie just snickered with his usual sly smile.

____________

Leona:

Leona didn't really have time for games. If he liked, you he'd just come out and say it. At least, that's what you had first thought. Yes, he did use your lap as a pillow and you two did cuddle somewhat regularly. That didn't exactly mean anything. Right?

And yeah, Ruggie did scrunch his nose up and complain that you smelt too much like Leona, but that didn't matter. Leona probably didn't mean to do that; he was probably sleeping.

Did Leona roar at you? Yeah, so what? It was like a yawn; it just came out. No, he wasn't blushing! He couldn't be because you were already looking away in embarrassment.

Leona just didn't like you like that. No matter how many Courting book you read on beast men!

The Lion man in question invited you out to a Spelldrive tournament he had been practicing for. Obviously, you went without a second thought. It would be nice to see the lazy lion not lazing around for once! At least that's how you justified it.

You definitely didn't want to just see your crush play a match.

You couldn't help but notice the whole time, how Leona kept looking at you in your seat. Making sure you had just seen him perform. You'd smile and cheer for him and maybe, just maybe, a sense of pride would build up in his chest.

And maybe it was really nice to hear you cheer, and see you jump up from your seat in excitement. And maybe it was really nice to be able to cheer for him.

So you planned to confess to him after this game. "Leona I really liked you! I have for a while now!" And you did.

"Finally." He yawned and rubbed the back of his neck, you two then went to cuddle in the garden.

Did that mean you two were together now...?

____________

A/N: I know that some dorms aren't like nonhuman, but I can imagine that like Riddle was taught like courting customs in The Queendom of Roses, (Some queen of heart rule) or like the scalding sands have some costumes? Like the world changes because of beastmen/Fae customs and people adapted to that and added it to their own ways of approaching a relationship? Idk lol

Sorry Leona's part was quite short, I was getting tired and just wanted to get this out! But thank you for reading!

The ball at NRC || Vice dorm leaders x reader

It seemed like Night Raven College had moved to Victorian times.

An annual ball was organized for students and their families to commemorate old customs and traditions; even if the whole party was prepared by the school, each and every student was overwhelmingly excited.

There was no way not to try to impress your friends by occupying the dance floor and dancing with the most beautiful girls in the room—all jealous glances were causing huge smiles on dancers’ faces.

However...

Now you were standing there, being just a wallflower.

You stared at your elegant slippers ghosts helped you choose. In your world, that outfit would surely be a sensation, and buying something like this would cost way too much for a dress. Here, however, seeing the Pomefiore students and their partners, as well as the leaders and vice-leaders of the dormitories… you pale in comparison.

You weren't able to talk much either — everyone was so absorbed by preparations and it seemed nearly impossible to talk to anyone, so before you knew it, you couldn't ask anyone to come with you to the party.

The fact that you spent hours preparing for this ball was the only thing that held you back from leaving the room. And also good food. Very good food.

You took another piece of the cake on your fork and for the tenth time that day you reprimanded yourself: “[Name], put it down, you will be fat, a little more and the dress will be too tight... Okay, it will be the last time I will take another piece, this time for real.”

You didn't have time to swallow the pastry when the voice behind you spoke up.

“[Name]?”

‏‏‎ ‎‎

Trey C.

You almost got choked by the cake when Trey appeared next to you.

Dressed in a white suit, light pants, and green shirt, you hardly recognized him. Your heart skipped a beat at the sight of a smartly dressed boy, and it didn't make it any easier for you when he brushed his hair back.

“What do you think of these cakes?” Trey began as you both sat down at one of the tables that were placed along the walls of the room. “I assisted with some of them myself, even if we have enough cooks.”

"They're delicious," you admitted, pushing the cake into your mouth, this time without hesitation. “I will never get tired of your cuisine, Trey.”

“Thank you,” he smiled and for the first time in a long moment, he looked away from you and glanced at the buffet. “Epel gave us a lot of apples for these cakes. We could make a lot of apple cakes in the lead role: chausson aux pommese, tarte normande, tarte tatin, croustade aux pommes...”

You nodded your head uncertainly.

“Let's say I understand.”

There was a gleam of amusement in his eyes.

“You're not going to dance, [Name]?” he said suddenly. “It would be such a waste if the most beautiful woman at this party did not dance even once.”

"You're exaggerating," you laughed heartily, but a strawberry blush bloomed on your cheeks. “I don't know the steps, so there is no reason for me to dance”.

"I will lead," Trey said, and gently grabbed your hand as the first notes of the next song rang out. “Make an exception for me, [Name], and dance with me… I just don't know if I'll be able to give you to another man afterwards.” He added as you two took positions.

…Who knew Trey could dance so well?

Swaying to the rhythm of the melody, you followed the green-haired man whom you tried to keep pace with—to your pleasant surprise, you managed to make even a few turns without stumbling over the air.

Just as there are wolves in sheep's clothing, the same goes for Trey who could be a dancer in the royal court under the mask of a magnificent pastry chef.

‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎

Ruggie B.

“R-Ruggie?” you stammered out as you hardly swallowed another piece of cake.

The boy put a finger on your lips and looked around cautiously.

"Shesh, [Name]," He moved closer, "help me get as much food out of here as possible."

“Ah?”

The rules that had been repeated to you from the beginning of the preparations were remembered in your head, and you were sure that one of them corresponded to the boy's plans.

When Ruggie saw the doubt in your eyes, he folded his hands in a pleading gesture and smiled encouragingly.

“Pretty please..? All you have to do is cover me up; with all this food we will go to the balcony and through the garden, we will take everything to my dorm.”

And you've just fallen into Ruggie's plan again.

Not that you had anything more exciting to do.

Keeping out of the way, so as not to attract much attention, you packed your food into a large wicker basket that was decorated with white flowers from one of the tables—now it looks elegant! Nobody should have suspected that there were chocolate brownies inside, instead of other flowers, right?

You swiftly slipped through the hall, avoiding any people who wanted to invite more students to dance. You quickly refused every suggestion, until you finally opened the balcony door with a thud.

“Haaa, fresh air..!” Ruggie set the basket down and stretched his arms up. “Oh, the garden was also decorated.”

You looked around to see the beautifully decorated park - the nicely trimmed flowers, carefully polished carvings, and the cleared of leaves path majestically melded with the candles flying overhead.

Though the sky was overcast, the flying lights resembled a starry sky with only the moon missing.

"They did a good job," Ruggie muttered, eyeing decorations and magical flowers, slightly shimmering in the dark. “It reminds me of one of the scenes from some movie... Where a girl runs away through such gardens, because the spell has started to disappear, or something like that... Very tragic and romantic...”

“We can," you began,“ recreate this scene.” You chuckled as the boy seemed a little confused. “After all, we can run away with food along these paths to the dormitory, it will be just as dramatic.”

“[Name]. I can't imagine anyone else I would like to run away with like this” theatrically he wiped an invisible tear and grabbed the basket.  “Now, come on, let's go!”

‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎

Jade L.

“O-oh!” You jumped, clearly surprised. You turned around to see Jade with his usual perfect smile. “Hello, Jade...”

"Good evening, [Name]," he replied. “I was just wondering why the most beautiful person in this room doesn't dance. Hmm, why do you think?”

"That is the question," you said. You took the last sip of lemonade and set the cup down on the table. “I think you will find your dancing partner somewhere there” You nodded your head to the corner of the hall, where a dozen beautifully dressed ladies were crowded.

Jade looked at them, but quickly his gaze returned to you, still smiling.

“Unfortunately, another girl already caught my attention.”

“Unfortunately, this young lady does not know how to dance. Not with those monsters on her feet.”

You looked at your high heels. Dancing—walking in such uncomfortable shoes was already a challenge—was out of the question. Even when you walked to the room, you felt that you chose the wrong shoes, because, with every step, the heels were trying to slide off your foot.

"You can always take them off," Jade replied. “The floor is heated here.”

“You don't give up so easily, huh?” You sighed, but somehow you were smiling from ear to ear.

You slipped your uncomfortable shoes to the ground and happily kicked them under the table. The dress was so long that only if someone tried to look under it would you see your beautiful feet, matching Rapunzel's style - barefoot.

“May I have this dance?” Jade bowed. “It is an honor to dance with a princess who has lost not one shoe, but two.”

‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎

Jamil V.

"Ah, um, hello, Jamil," you muttered, still startled by his sudden appearance. “Something happened?”

The boy seemed extremely tired. Out of breath, he leaned lightly against the pillar and was relieved to find it cold.

“Kalim. Ha... he's been trying to get me a dance partner since he found out I missed picking you up from the dorm. I honestly started to doubt that I would find you here...”

As to confirm his words, the people at the table a few meters away from you laughed out loud and some others started shouting over each other to be heard. Only the orchestra with another calm, waltz piece managed to alleviate the situation.

"It looks like Kalim has some sort of radar to detect you," you said softly, and Jamil cleared his throat in confusion. You nodded to the left of the buffet “because he's already coming here.”

Jamil glanced in the direction you were pointing, then grabbed your arm and led you to the center of the room. You understood it was a way to get away from Kalim, but nonetheless ...

When Jamil noticed the confused expression on your face, he smiled warmly and placed his hand on your cheek.

"Let me let you know that you are the only person I want to dance with at this party," he said and smiled at you as the violinists started playing a new tune.

"I hope I won’t disappoint you," you replied with a shy smile as Jamil gently laced your fingers together.

"Don't worry," the corners of his mouth raised a bit. “We will always be able to dance again if you decide you want to try again” and with those words, you and all the other couples went to dance.

"So you already know who you're going to dance with all night," you replied, and Jamil let out a soft laugh.

“I'm not going to complain.”

‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎

Rook H.

"What are you doing here alone, princesse?"

You turned around to see Rook, who stood out from the crowd.

Not only was he tall, but his elegant clothes and the grace with which he moved made a lot of people’s gazes follow him.

"It's my environment," you said. Rook placed two sweet and sour punches in front of you and sat down next to you at the table. “Thank you.”

"Here you go," he smiled. When you looked into his eyes, a grin widened.“How about a little game?”

You blinked your eyes and nodded slowly.

"The rules are," he continued. “Whoever finds the Roi du Poison in this crowd first, wins. If I win, you will agree to dance with me.” He paused here to observe the change in expression on your face. “And if you win...”

“...you will buy me a cake.”

“...I will buy you a cake. Or whatever you want.”

Deal?

It was not a difficult task. Or at least it shouldn't be. Vil was constantly surrounded by a crowd of people who stopped to admire his beauty, so finding more crowded spots in this auditorium was not difficult.

And yet... at the time of the bet, they all seemed to have disappear.

You barely walked halfway across the room, and when you turned to see where Rook was, he didn't move. He only talked to Vil, who was leaning against a column that you couldn't see before... Rook was smiling at you and you were sure that there was a hint of amusement dancing in his eyes...

...he even waved at you.

"It's not fair," you said as he dragged you to the center of the room.

"No rule has been broken, have they not, mon chérie?" He said. “Time for my reward.”

‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎

Ortho S.

*dancing macarena in the middle of the room*

‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎

Lilia V.

“Are these pastries so good that it is better to give up the dancing than to leave these cakes alone?” Said the voice above you, and you almost dropped the plate of cake almost out of surprise.

Lilia chuckled at your reaction, then quickly flew past you.

"There is no sincerer love than the love of food," you quoted, and the boy nodded in agreement.

“Often feelings are expressed through food. Dating takes place in rich restaurants or at cafes with cute cupcakes.”

“See how you know it?” You smiled. “And you, a creature without a cake, why don't you dance?”

“I was just looking for a creature with a cake that would agree to dance.”

“Dance with the creature? Or with a cake?”

"I'm going for the sweeter option~~" He replied and set your plate down on the table as he dragged you to the center of the room. He squeezed through several pairs so that you were closest to the exit to the balcony.

You didn't dance to the music, but doing a few random spins didn't feel out of rhythm either. At least from your perspective.

Right now, you might feel like a princess who had found her promised prince and no one else could have spoiled it. No one.

You almost regretted it when the music was over and most of the couples went to grab a bite to get back to the waltz in half an hour.

"Next time," you said, when you and Lilia were at one of the gaming tables, "when I'm in Diasomnia, instead of eating your cookies, we'll learn a more ambitious dance."

"My baked goods are delicious, too," Lilia replied in a tone of voice as if it were one of the sacred laws. “They are filled with feelings.”

You rolled your eyes and giggled, not too eager to answer sincerely.

“Your feelings are clearly... dangerous.”

Unique Kisses: Savanaclaw!

I'm so sorry for the second notification, but the work didn't show up in the tags... orz

Heartslabyul || Savanaclaw || Octavinelle || Scarabia || Pomefiore || Ignihyde || Diasomnia || Rollo, Che'nya, Neige || Honest Fellow

Leona K. (lazy kisses)

You're not getting out of bed without a proper greeting.

It isn’t even morning, or evening, or any time that could explain why you were resting in Leona's room, away from the building where your next class soon will be held. It is midday, a while after lunch, and you knew you’ll have to walk at a brisk pace to make it in time for Mr Crewel's class.

“We have to get up...~” you say, gently touching Leona's shoulder. He doesn’t react, but you are sure that he is somehow awake (not by the touch, but by your soft complaints) and can hear you perfectly with his outstanding predatory hearing and you at his ear. But he apparently decides to ignore you because he doesn’t react when you start drawing circles on his hand with your finger.

You sigh, rolling over onto your back. You really don’t want to spend another break being lectured about your tardiness (caused by Leona) and hearing complaints alone (Leona is always late for his sermon. He is running off and doesn’t even ask if you’d like to join him).

You’ve already put your feet up on the floor and, for lack of a better idea to fill the moment, tried unsuccessfully to straighten a few unfortunate folds of your uniform.

Somehow, Leona's tail wraps around your waist as you try to get out of bed, and you notice the attentive but slightly lethargic gaze. By that, Leona completely underestimates any reason why you give up extra minutes of lying down.

“Come back here," he says, and you roll your eyes. And yet, you take a place next to him again.

His tail has completely loosened its grip, but now Leona's hands are on you. The fingers trail across your back until they are right next to your head, which Leona supported with his hand and gently forced it to lean towards himself. His distinctive scent mixed with the aroma of grass and flowers becomes more intense. For a moment the last emerald eyes are on you before he closes them just before the distance between you disappears completely.

Disappears—?

His lips fit into yours and his teeth press gently against your lips. Leona seems to be moving steadily closer to you, although it looks and feels more and more impossible with each passing moment.

Or maybe you just aren’t thinking soberly anymore.

Although you can’t taste anything—or did your taste buds finally go crazy?—you begin to get drunk on the very essence of this kiss. However, if it had a taste, you are sure it would have been intense, equally filled with fierceness to eclipse your senses.

...It's just a shame that Leona looks so triumphant while you are losing your mind and heart.

This is also the moment when Leona sighs sleepily, sinks on the cushions and says something about continuing a nap. You look at him reproachfully, beginning to regret that he isn’t going to continue stopping you from going to class. And he smiles involuntarily.

Ruggie (blown kiss)

Ruggie has always been a busy person.

You often pass him in the corridor when he is out running errands for Leona and trying to get his hands on Leona's next whim. Usually, his hands are busy, but the weight of the books doesn't seem to affect him as he walks down another corridor.

When you have time, you are helping him carry more stuff to the dormitory, to Leona, whom you complain about along the way. You really doubt that even if he heard you, he'd care about the opinion of little people like you, but Ruggie warns you anyway when you enter a potential area under his attention.

Between classes, however, most of the breaks are short and the corridors - long, too long when getting from one class to another, located at the end of the building or even outside. You don't have much time for, well, anything to do with a casual, warm encounter with Ruggie between classes.

“Don't you need help with that?” you ask him when, between magic history and alchemy, you bumped into each other in the hallway. He seems to be in a hurry, wriggling dramatically, as if the few volumes he is carrying are more exhausting than Mr Vargas' lessons. But he shakes his head at your offer.

“Nah,” he flips his books under one arm to wave his hand at your words. A dramatic effect. “You have, I think, lessons in the opposite direction, and I for my hard work have a free afternoon,” he smiles with a look that read, *'You know, there are benefits after all!’. “*We can go get something to eat later. Because finally—attention, attention, I repeat!—I have the afternoon off.

The bell fills the corridors and you have to go.

Ruggie smiles goodbye and turns on his heel. He glances in your direction once more and when he saw that you are still staring at him, the corners of his mouth curve upwards even more. He kisses his fingers with his lips and then titles them towards you. He blows on his palm with a quiet "Shu~!", playfully blinking one eye.

You pretend that his indirect kiss had hit you straight in the heart; you put your hand to your chest.

You receive a giggle that was drowned out by other people's conversations and steps.

“Well, I'm off! Wait for a message from me!” He shouts his farewell—with another smile—and disappears around the next corner.

You are already looking forward to it.

Jack (kiss-bite)

The wolf is hungry.

You can easily tell because, despite Jack's best efforts, you can feel the urgent gaze on you, watching your every move. He tries to keep his gaze on the ground, but he prefers to look people in the eye when they are talking to him, and now you’re the one who’s speaking and...

Well, he had a dilemma, but he concluded that ultimately he much more likes to look at you.

A similar idea runs through his kisses—he is always watching. Slow, mindless gestures of love are unlikely ever to be his thing, when he likes to put his ambitions and beliefs, into everything he does. And Jack is sure that a lot of attention had to be put into the act of caring.

That's why he can’t take his eyes off you when every gasp and huff draws his attention.

That happens often because Jack always surprises you with his kisses. You should have gotten used to them by now—maybe, after so long—but you sincerely hope it won’t happen. And if it does, you know it will be later than sooner, because Jack’s kisses are special.

They aren’t perfect, because Jack never had the opportunity (or even the idea or need) to polish this skill. So, even as he is already embracing you—gently but firmly as if he held Life itself in his hands—you wonder what he is about to surprise you with. And then he draws closer until he fully covers your vision.

You can’t remember the last time you guessed what your kiss would look like.

His lips are warm, but you aren’t paying attention to those that much as to his fangs and tongue on your mouth, and although the pleasant sensation tingles in your mouth, you can’t hold back a quiet gasp as Jack closes his mouth slightly and his teeth gently dig into your skin.

“A-auh...”

He notices the twitch and, with some reproach, quickly moved away from you—as far as the reach of his arms, which still embrace you, allow.

“Oh, I- I hurt you, didn't I?” He turns his head slightly and for the first time takes his eyes off you to look into the empty space to his left. “I'm sorry.”

“No, no,” you reply quickly, placing a hand on his forearm. “It didn’t hurt. I'm just surprised… But, did you know it's always a nice surprise?”

“But still...”

...

“Should... we practice?”You suggest quietly. In your mind, this offer looked more dignified and encouraging than the words you present to Jack, who was beginning to look more embarrassed than you. You quickly add: "If you want to learn to kiss 'normally', we can learn to do that..."

”W... What...?” He looks at you, shocked. “It's a... a very strange offer.”

“But I'll admit to you, it's your iconic kisses that I adore," you continue, standing on your tiptoes to get even closer to his face, his lips, "So? What is your decision?”

HIHIHI!! I saw that your rquests are open now, sooo, can i ask for twisted wonderland? Ruggie, Vil and and/or Floyd with a bunny male reader who is from Heartslabyul and is Riddle buttler pratically (like the white bunny and the queen of hearts), and they're only serious by Riddle's side, but when they're with their partner they turn into a flustered mess and get they knees weak, like all head over hell for them!! Nsfw or sfw whatever you want/can do (idk if that's right cause english isn't my native language so yeah, also if you didn't liked it only ignore this) :)

Twisted wonderland x male bunny reader nsfw and sfw head-cannons ~

A/N I decided to give both nsfw and sfw also I decided to do it as headcannons since I didn’t think you wanted it done poly in a fic so I hope you don’t mind!

Sfw

Ruggie

He loves to tease you every chance he gets even when your filling your duty’s to riddle he loves being able to walk up to you and whisper something really teasing in your ear then walking off leaving you standing all stiff and a flustered mess before riddle.

Ruggie also likes to tug on your bunny ears maybe even pull on your tail in public almost to show off he gets to make you flushed and touch your ears unlike anyone else can.

Vil

Vil loves to play with your bunny ears when you two are alone he likes to hold you in his lap playing with them whispering pet names to you doing his best to make you a mess in his lap.

Vil also loves doing your skin care he always compliments you saying how perfect your skin is without anything but he also makes your mental health is cared for just as much as he does with your physical.

Floyd

Very rare does he ever display touches or flirts with you in public but when the two of you are alone he likes conversation and closeness to you the most but he like the others is very happy in his ability to make you all embarrassed often asking you condescending questions when he sees you embarrassed.

Floyd likes to have tea with you and chat after classes enjoying your intelligence finding you the least annoying is what drawed him in to you since you were just the standard heartslabyul student but to his surprise one you two started dating he sees your real personality and it was unlike anything he expected but some how that just draws him in more.

NSFW

Ruggie

He’s very teasing even in bed whispering lewd words into your bunny ears watching your body tremble under him as your cheeks turn a bright red your eyes all wide and mouth agape when he thrusts into you making your pouty lips let out mewls and gasps.

Ruggie is the type to make sure your a blabbering mess by the end of the round, he makes it his goal during sex to ruin you because it brings him pride seeing such a smart and strict bunny boy like yourself all wrecked with your hole stuffed with his cum twitching tight and pink on the inside from him.

Vil

Vil is the type who doesn’t like doing things that bruise he’s all for hickies and kissing but he doesn’t like bruising your skin claiming it to be too perfect to ruin but he will get caught up during sex and get handsy gripping your hips tightly holding them up while he thrusts into you with his hand on your leaking cock rubbing your pre cum in.

Vil also enjoys handjobs, they aren’t as messy and they are enjoyable to sit next to you while you study in your dorm room, slipping his hand inside your uniform stroking you and palming your cock hard til you can’t stand it then making you cockwarm him as you study aloud for your next test with your bunny tail wiggling against his groin.

Floyd

Floyd is very strict he will grip your bunny ears and pull them tight making you gasp shoving his cock Down your throat grunting things like “be a good bunny yeah?” As you drool all over his shaft making a sloppy mess as your eyes roll forward looking up at him as you deep throat him holding his thighs for support sitting on your knees with gurgling noises as your lips wrap around him and your jaw wide open.

Floyd’s favorite position is doggy style because he gets to watch your ears lay flat on your head with the bunny tail right above your ass twitching frantically as your ass takes him stretching your rim widely around his girth as he holds your droopy head up by your bunny ears watching your face contort lewdly into expressions as you drool on yourself pouting to flustered to speak as he whispers humiliating words to you making you arch gripping the bed sheets