𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗦▶𐙚 As the ever loving lover girl that you are, you've had crushes with the NRC students in the past, and you've made love letters of them— now it's burried in your notes app for many months now.
However, what happens when Grim, your ever loving son, accidentally sends all of it to them— all seperate to the receiver of course. And what happens when you eventually find out?
𝗧𝗔𝗚𝗦▶𐙚 friends to lovers, fluff, SMAU, second chances, love letters, confessions, harem, Yuu! reader, yearner! NCR boys, messy drama, lover girl! reader, dandere! reader, gender neutral! reader, confession walls
𝗔/𝗡▶𐙚 My ass was trying to think of an event of yk my 10k likes and I remembered that I once sent my friend a love letter that I wrote to my crush and they said "do you want me to send this to him" ME THINKING SHE WAS JOKIN SAID "sure lol" AND SHE DID SHE ACTUALLY DID- and I thought yk what ima do project this to the twst ccast heheheheh
▶𐙚𝗧𝗪𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗗 𝗪𝗢𝗡𝗗𝗘𝗥𝗟𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗫 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗𝗘𝗥
╰─➤ 𝓟rologue
- it all goes down hill from here. Grim thought it was the right message, you thought you could trust Grim. Now what?
summary: you had your struggles with understanding social cues, which the overblot boys challenge further as a sudden revelation brings to light their adoration of you.
pairings: overblots x gn! reader
cw: none that I can think of?
note: so this is based off of how I suck at reading social cues sometimes and I thought it would be cute to see how that would work with emotionally constipated characters 💀
wc: 4.5k (~600 words per character)
Master List
❥ Riddle Rosehearts
This was a nightmare for any Heartslabyul student. You, who had trouble with social cues, taking jokes too seriously and sarcasm sometimes flying over your head, vs Riddle Rosehearts who was in vehement denial of his feelings for you. It was like watching a terrible rom com for everyone around you two. When Riddle blushed around you, you chalked it up to him being nervous (he was trying to better himself, so being nervous about taking new actions only made sense). When Riddle felt his heart pounding whenever you were around, he swept it as nerves being around a friend without feeling the need to control everything. In fact, you both were so bad, everyone gave up on their initial bet, as they started to believe neither of you would catch on. It wasn’t until nudges from your friends finally opened your eyes to the others behavior.
“Riddle always goes easy on you, it’s not fair,” Ace would whine, falling backwards on your couch.
“No he doesn’t?” You frown, crossing your arms as you recalled the many lectures you have received from the red headed housewarden.
“When was the last time he beheaded you?” Deuce asked, genuinely curious.
“I’m magicless,” You raise an eyebrow. “It would have no effect, so does it really matter?”
“But it’s uncomfortable,” Ace points out, jabbing a finger at your chest as the duo try to break through your inability to connect to seemingly simple dots. “You think he’d still gain some satisfaction from that.”
You open your mouth to further plead your case, but you find yourself pausing, internally agreeing with Ace (not that you’d tell him that). The last time you had been beheaded was around the overblot, and since then it was just scoldings and lectures.
“And when your tie is crooked, he fixes it for you,” Deuce chimes in.
“And when your hair is messy, he smooths it out,” Ace tags along.
A dawning look of realization flashes across your face, and the duo eat it up. Finally, FINALLY you seem to notice that it does seem a bit unusual, that he’s not being his usual intense self, nor does he dote on anyone else like that.
A similar situation goes on with Riddle, Trey and Cater pointing out Riddle’s affection for you, but in more subtle ways.
“You really care for them,” Trey hums, mindlessly finishing his homework.
Riddle pauses his talk of how his day was, unknowingly rambling about you, and how you shaped it. His face flushes, but he does not reprimand his friend (progress), instead he contemplates the meaning.
“Haha, totes,” Cater agrees, focusing more on his phone than the homework on his table. “It’s cute how you both are so oblivious to each other.”
Riddle feels his blood pressure rising, and he’s unsure if it’s because they are talking to him so casually about his feelings that he totally doesn’t have, or if it’s because he’s flustered at how they nailed it right on the head.
“Don’t be presumptuous,” Riddle huffs, double checking his homework to make sure it’s all accounted for and correct. “We are good friends, nothing more and nothing less.”
“You double check their bag to make sure they have all their supplies accounted for,” Trey mumbles mindlessly.
“And you don’t hesitate to give them something if they need it,” Cater points out.
Riddle’s face was bright as a tomato as he clears his throats and excuses himself to his room.
While everyone thinks they finally won, that the torment would finally end, and you both will realize each other's feelings and mushy happiness ensues…it only got worse. Every interaction becomes a guessing game of what the other’s intentions are while trying to balance your own emotions, and the Heartslabyul students continue to suffer.
❥ Leona Kingscholar
Oh boy, if Riddle and you are a nightmare for everyone around you, then Leona is your own personal nightmare. Every insult you took to heart, every swipe of his tail left you feeling like you did something wrong, and it got to the point that you tried to avoid the lion beastman altogether. You couldn’t annoy him if you weren’t around, right? Wrong. In fact, Ruggie had seeked you out because the prince was in a foul mood, and Ruggie swore it was due to your absence. You really couldn’t wrap your head around the hyena’s logic, as Leona had been nothing but indifferent, if not displeased when you were around.
“He’s always like that,” Ruggie waved you off, dragging you to the botanical gardens where the prince laid. You swore he was lying though, as Leona’s tail swished, ear twitching as you approached, and you felt way too overwhelmed. There was no way he wanted you nearby, you just couldn’t wrap your head around how he possibly likes your presence in any way possible. ‘He’s bad at showing affection’ Your inner Ruggie chimed, but you stood tensely anyways, unsure if you should stay or leave.
“What are you doing?” Leona grumbled, one green eye opening lazily. You felt his stare penetrate into your soul, you swore he was glaring you down for intruding in his space.
“S-sorry,” You nervously mumble, hand fidgeting with the hem of your sleeves. “Ruggie dragged me in here saying you wanted…company? But clearly he was wrong, sorry again.” You decided to try and bolt, hoping the apology would satisfy the lion enough to distract him from your escape, only for a hand to grab your ankle.
Your heart beat erratically in your chest, head spinning as adrenaline fills your veins. You felt like you had just stepped into a horror movie called social anxiety and terrible life decisions (though being transported to some weird world was not your decision). Leona’s claws briefly imprinted on your skin as he dragged you closer, nearly causing you to fall.
“Shut up,” He tsked, hand not letting you go (like he knew you were two seconds away from running for dear life). “C’mere, ‘m tired and I don’t wanna deal with this right now.”
You blinked, unsure where exactly he wanted you to go, body tense with stress and uncertainty, head swiveling, like you’d surely find an escape somewhere. Instead of escape, perhaps hiding in your dorm room for the rest of the day to try and recuperate from this intense and scary experience, Leona seemed to have enough of your ‘obliviousness’, reached up, grabbed your shirt, and quite literally drag your standing frame to fall onto his which was laying on the ground. You nearly screamed as you careened towards his chest, your breath nearly leaving your lungs as the lion cushioned your fall, arms wrapping around your back as he closed his eyes.
You did not relax, if anything, your body turned into stone, holding your breath as you wondered who you pissed off in your past life to deal with this. You must’ve killed someone quite important.
“Relax,” Leona sighed, his warm breath caressing your ear. “‘M not gonna bite…unless you want me to.” You did not relax for several more minutes, not until his breathing evened out and you were sure he was unconscious. You laid there, bones feeling like jelly as the adrenaline wore off, mind reeling with what the hell was currently happening.
Leona’s mixed signals were quite literally your worst enemy in a world of magic, constant overblots, and a neglectful headmaster. You were never sure if the lion hated your guts, or if he secretly liked you? Leona hated how you couldn’t decipher his near impossible signs, wishing you could read his mind, not wanting to ruin his ‘image’ in front of his dorm members. The only one having any hoot or holler would be Ruggie as you both awkwardly navigated around the other. Ironically, you both did fill the role of predator and prey perfectly.
❥ Azul Ashengrotto
Ohhhhhhh boy. Azul absolutely has a hate love relationship with your inability to pick up on certain social cues. Some moments, you could read the room well, tell when someone was upset, or sad, or even so happy they were crying, other moments he wanted to slam his head against the wall as you took all his words to heart, even if he was trying to flirt or make a stupid joke. The twins made the situation ten times worse as they liked to mess with you.
“Azul mentioned that he’s quite tired today,” Jade would hum innocently, fixing you a drink at the bar.
“Oh, did something happen?” You would ask, falling straight for the bait Jade laid out perfectly.
“You could say so,” Jade’s grin widened, mischief and amusement swirling in his gaze. “Said you kept him up all night.”
Your brows furrow, unsure what the eel meant. You hadn’t texted (especially not called) anyone last night, too exhausted with all the socializing you had been doing and had some unwind time. So you’re not sure what you had done to keep the merman up the previous night.
“Did I do something?” You asked, genuinely concerned if you had made a mistake. Perhaps you had done something offensive in their culture? Or insulted him unknowingly? (You weren’t proud to admit that you had done that before).
Instead of being helpful, kind, or friendly (things Jade were not known for), he merely shrugged, pushing you a drink and moving on to the next customer, an extra shine of glee in his eyes at your misery.
Floyd wasn’t much better.
“Can you both just get together already?” Floyd whined, slumping in his seat across from you as you tried to focus on homework. Of course he ruined that.
“What?” You questioned, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. “What are you talking about?”
“You and Azul, duh,” He rolled his eyes like it was the most obvious thing. You merely blinked, trying to connect whatever dots that Floyd just created.
“Why would we be together?” You ask, dropping your pencil, completely forgetting the frustrating work that was assigned (it’s not like you had the context to answer it anyways). “You mean like dating?”
“DUH,” He groaned, like this was physically paining him. “What else? You both clearly like each other, just kiss and get over it already.” It felt like your face was on fire as you tried to process whatever the hell he was spewing.
It honestly left you confused. You thought Azul was just being nice, a friend trying to make up for his transgressions against you and your friends (and sometimes you questioned his intentions as he had conned you before). Sure, sometimes he would say something that would fluster you, a compliment here, a light touch to your shoulder there (even you knew that was out of character for the reserved business man), but the twins had opened your mind to a whole other venture you hadn’t even thought about.
Azul noticed a change, not obvious, but you seemed to finally be taking in his advances. Your eyes would widen, like the dots were finally appearing in your head, sometimes it even seemed like you were looking at him in a new light altogether (cus you kind of were…). His fond frustration melted into excitement. Finally, what felt like stagnation started to gain traction, and it even emboldened him to up his moves, to make sure you couldn’t question his intentions. After all, if you struggled understanding what his gestures meant, then that meant he had to make sure that his intentions were obvious (maybe just communicate your feelings properly…).
❥ Jamil Viper
Hahaha…so Jamil is kind of the embodiment of subtle care, especially when he refuses to acknowledge his own feelings. At first it’s in ways you don’t notice. How his eyes trail after you, making sure you’re okay. The way he eyes your meals, always cataloging how unhealthy they are, noting how you shiver during a chilly day only in a short sleeve shirt, or how you always seem exhausted even if you got a full night's sleep (which can be rare with the aduo around).
Jamil tries to shove these mental notes to the side. It’s not like he has the time to take care of anyone else with Kalim running around, you are your own person after all. Yet he strangely found himself with an extra portion of the lunch he prepared, shoving it towards you without thought (too much thought actually), or how he shrugs of his sweater (his safe space really), and tosses it towards you as the chill seeps into him instead, or how he picks up any slack, talking to your friends when you couldn’t keep up, or walking you to your dorm early as he makes up excuses to get you in the comfort of your own place.
At first you didn’t notice, thinking he was being kind, or perhaps even feeling forced to because Kalim asked him to, but that changed when he excused you from Kalim’s party. The people surrounding you had you feeling like a zombie as you tried to hide in a corner, eating some snacks as you held a drink, hoping the walls would encapsulate you. Kalim had begged you to come, which was why you were there, but it ended up just like you expected. Jamil noticed, as he always does, and offered to walk you back to your dorm, a routine you started to expect. Of course, Kalim had blocked your escape, a pout with big watery eyes tugging on your heartstrings. Before you could give in, zone out for another hour and ponder why you hate yourself, Jamil cut in.
“The prefect is tired,” Jamil points out, and you wonder if it’s that obvious.
After this moment, you began to notice the subtleties. Perhaps not all at once, but even you couldn’t deny how Jamil didn’t treat anyone else the way he treated you. You weren’t sure if it was anything beyond friendly, but you noticed that he seemed to care for you in a way that he didn’t for anyone else, and it was something you cherished. In fact, you both fell into a weirdly domestic relationship that never dared to press against the walls of friendship…that was until Jamil himself slipped up (something he never does, mind you…he is quite whipped).
“You’re way too kind to me,” You couldn’t help but grumble as you accepted the week's worth of breakfast and dinners Jamil had prepared for you (you were quite bad at making those).
“It’s nothing,” The vice-housewarden waved off, a faint blush coating his tan cheeks.
“Seriously,” You don’t drop it, too moved by his kindness towards you. “No one has ever done anything like this for me before, you always make sure to make meals with textures I like, altering things to avoid foods I don’t like, and not to mention how you portion them to my exact liking! I feel like I don’t do enough to make up for all the work you put into me.”
Jamil’s brows furrowed, both bashful at your acknowledgement of his work, while also upset at your self admonishment.
“You don’t have to do anything,” Jamil shakes his head. “I do it because I want to. Trust me, I’d go crazy if I didn’t do this, who knows what you’d be eating otherwise.”
Your heart stuttered at his admission, the revelation of how deep his care ran for you striking you somewhere soft and gooey. It was only then when the question of whether Jamil liked you romantically dared to breach your brain.
❥ Vil Schoenheit
Vil wasn’t one to coddle anyone, not that you needed coddling, but this meant that his standoffish attitude would not be diluted. Vil isn’t nearly as bad as Leona, but his actions still managed to confuse you. You thought he wanted nothing to do with you, a notion you could understand. You could be reserved most times, quiet, almost like a shadow. The complete opposite of glitz and glam that was Vil Schoenheit…yet that seems to pull him in all the more. He would critique your uniform, comment on how it was too big in some place, yet somehow too small in others. In fact, you thought he was lowkey bullying you at first, always picking you apart, making you feel small and unwanted…only to piece you back together.
He’d personally tailor your uniform, grumbling about how ‘you can’t trust anyone to do things right these days’. He’d fix your hairstyle, explaining how the few trims, or complete makeover fits your face better, how the framing of a few pieces can make or break your beauty. Beneath the harshness, you learned to decipher that this was his way of caring (even if it could be quite shitty sometimes). And to say Vil didn’t notice how his comments hit you would be an insult to his social training. Of course he noticed the way you seemed to shut down after a particularly harsh comment from him, which made him shift tactics.
Instead of scolding you, or pointing out something he deemed atrocious, he merely fixed it instead, and you let him. You didn’t have time to get dressed properly? It’s fine, he’s fixing the wrinkles and crookedness for you. You didn’t style your hair properly? There’s a few minutes to spare before class, he’s dragging you to the nearest mirror as he styles it himself. You didn’t pack a proper lunch? Don’t worry, prefect, he happened to bring extra.
At first you’re not sure how to take in the change. You feel like it’s some elaborate prank show, the cameras hiding in the corners (there aren’t any, but Rook sure is). Yet the longer this behavior goes on, you learn to accept it, and you even like it (which you find oddly strange yourself). You hadn’t been cared for like this before, and especially not in this world, so you found yourself eating up the affection.
“The love that blooms between Roi du Poison and Trickster is magnifique!” Rook bellows, hand clutched over his heart as he dramatically swoons.
You had grown used to his exclamations of passion and love, so you simply deadpan at the hunter.
“What are you even talking about?” You question, face scrunching at his claims.
It was quite comical actually, as Vil was currently applying a brand new lotion he had helped create himself to your arms, and you had the audacity to be confused (I would be too though so I can’t rag on the reader too much).
“Ignore him,” Vil mumbles, focused intensely on how your skin was much softer with his care and how he was going to keep it that way. “He likes to spout nonsense all the time.”
“But is it nonsense when the Queen deems the Trickster important enough to care for himself?” Rook asks, head tilting as his grin widens. “I have not seen you spoil anyone so, Roi du Poison.”
Vil’s face flattens, his usual humoring of Rook evaporating quickly (he didn’t want to be ratted out like this). Yet it was too late, as your mouth opened in recognition of Rook’s words. He had a point, you had seen Epel get scolded mercilessly and then forced into punishment many times by Vil, yet if you do something similar, you get a light slap on the wrist before he drags you along, your punishment usually pertaining him taking care of you in one way or another. You weren’t sure why it didn’t click before, but now you couldn’t help but second guess all of Vil’s intentions, and what that means for your future.
❥ Idia Shroud
Idia was…hard to get to know. You tried being friendly, yet he would shut you out. You tried to invite him out, but he would deflect. You tried parallel play, yet you couldn’t help but notice how he glanced at you like you were a starved tiger and he was the closest meal available. Bummed that you weren’t getting anywhere, you also didn’t want to make the blue-flammed hair man uncomfortable, which meant leaving him alone. It saddened you, but you knew you couldn’t make friends with everyone.
Little did you know, you had it completely backwards. Idia was drawn to you like a moth to a flame. You were similar to him in a way, which made him rethink his entire life. You tended to be quiet, speaking when you were spoken to and falling into the shadows, yet you weren’t like him at all. You had friends, you smiled and talked freely about topics you were passionate about, and even stood up when needed.
Yet, worst of all…you were terrible at some social cues. He even found it amusing at times, cackling when you took a joke at face value or when you looked confused when someone said something sarcastically, only to get it a few seconds too late. You didn’t know this, of course. He rarely left his room, and he found himself stalking Grim more often than he could count, which meant you were there too.
If it were up to him, you would never know, and things would stay exactly as they were. Him in his room alone and you none the wiser to his stalking, yearning, observations. Of course, his dear little brother would never leave it at that, taking in his brother’s infatuation, liking towards you. Which leads to a various amount of goofy, yet terrifying situations. Such as Ortho inviting you to his room without him knowing, and making the most unsevenly sound ever when he got jumpscared by you. Or how he almost bolted the second he saw you at the board game’s club, only for Ortho to block his exit (he nearly jumped out the window at your smile).
And gosh, he couldn’t get over how oblivious you could be sometimes, your comments making him feel like a warm, gooey mess, and you were completely unaffected! It really wasn’t fair. You made it look so easy, and he wishes he could complement you as easily (little did he know, you struggled with it as well, you were just better at hiding it).
“You have really cool hair,” You compliment, eyes wide with wonder.
Idia could only stare, hair tinting pink along with his pale cheeks as he internally shut down.
“Sorry, was that weird?” You ask as Idia continues to stare at you with the blankest eyes known to man, causing you to second guess yourself. Was that weird of you to say? Perhaps you weren’t supposed to mention his hair at all? Did you make him self conscious?
“N-not at all,” Was all he could stutter, eyes averting to anything but you.
It wasn’t until Idia started to text you that you realized you had things backwards. Sure, in person you both were awkward and unsure, perpetually questioning all your actions, while online things flowed more smoothly. Sure, you would take a few minutes, up to a few hours to respond, but Idia was busy with his games anyways, so he didn’t mind (sometimes he did, but he would do the same thing so he understood). He also talked more freely, rambling about his passions and eager for your approval. It wasn’t till one fatal text, that you realized he may have liked you more than just a friend.
Ugh, you can’t be srs
Ur lit too cute for this world
He deleted it as quickly as he sent it, but it was too late. You were already spiraling.
❥ Malleus Draconia
Ha. Hahahahaha. So, take the ‘you don’t know you’re betrothed’ trope, and multiply it by 10. Jk…kinda. So in reality, you both are kind of bad at social cues. It’s mutual. You both are quite slow to unravel any feelings. In fact, you both bond at how similar your social experiences are. Both used to people tuning out your passionate rants about the topics you loved, so you learned to keep it to yourself (until you met each other). Or how you both can be awkward in social situations, unsure what to say at certain moments and look towards the other for reassurance.
In fact, this was what caused Malleus to cherish you so. Not only were you patient and understanding, but you understood, to a certain degree. It caused the dragon to latch onto you, wishing to show you his gratitude for your friendship. You were in a similar boat. If you were exhausted from existing in the world, you knew Malleus would bring you somewhere quiet, somewhere no one could reach you if you did not wish. He would do things for you that you weren’t used to, and cared for you in ways that warmed you. After feeling alienated, Malleus was a person who showed you you weren’t alone.
Due to it being a relationship you both feared to lose, neither of you thought of anything more. Why should you question something that worked so well? Something that neither of you had to think twice about? Something that came as easily as breathing?
“Another gift?” Lilia chimes, hanging in front of Malleus upside down, amused grin tugging on his lips.
“They mentioned wanting this,” Malleus replies, like the thought of you wanting something was irrevocably wrong, and he himself will fix it.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you’re courting them,” The bat fae hummed, eyes crinkling with joy. Malleus blinked, brain working overtime, because Lilia had a point. Malleus’ love for you was as deep as a never ending void, he would do anything in his power to make you happy, and all he wanted in return was your smile aimed towards him (though he also finds your bashfulness adorable).
It was then that Malleus went from friendship mode, to courting mode. You, on the other hand, were completely unaware. I mean why should you have thought differently? He treated you no differently than before, it was only his intentions that switched. Of course, this only amused Lilia all the more, after all, who doesn’t love to watch young love bloom? (Sebek)
“At this rate, you’re gonna become fae royalty,” Ace grumbles, eyeing yet another gift that appeared in your dorm.
“How in the world would I do that?” You asked, genuinely confused. Malleus was one of your closest friends, sure, but in order to become royalty that would mean marrying him, and you doubt the dragon fae saw you in such a light.
“You’re basically drowning in jewels!” Ace exclaims, pointing out the jewelry that adorned you. Your face flushes at the implication, and the creeping dread of the possibility of Ace having a point.
“Mal said he had extra…” Even your defence sounds pathetic.
“You even have nicknames for each other,” Deuce points out.
“I have nicknames for you too,” You glare. “Dumb and dumber.”
Your deflection does nothing as the two continue to tease you relentlessly for how unaware you were about something so ‘obvious’ (it really wasn’t but okay). The next time Malleus treats you to something, whether it be a fancy dish catered to your liking, an outing you mentioned you wanted to do, or another ‘small’ gift he just stumbled upon, you can’t help but notice the hearts in his eyes as he awaits your reaction, and it’s only then do you realize you’re doomed.
Always missing pilot Vaggie, she was def a tumblr girly who got the pastel goth there. Maybe Melanie Martinez was her icon, the cry baby album match her so well in aesthetic, so-
Its so obvious that i was thinking about her human form with the demon colours, idc anyways, because IM SURE that she bleach her hair and had a mess between scene and a straight cut, its make sense to me.
Also, i forgot the belt and you can tell i don’t know how to colour xd
series synopsis: as a student from another world, your friends are dying to know about your life from your homeworld, especially what school was like for you. after sharing a few unique stories from your old school, like the tales of a certain confessional account, you thought nothing of it. that is, until you get a new follower notification from your magicam account one evening, just like an account from your old school. rumors are running, gossip is spreading, all under an anonymous confessions account. oh, what can of tuna worms did you unleash on the student body of night raven college…
who started the account? who knows, maybe some of these submissions lead to deeper confessions with some of your classmates…
a little raven told me... masterlist
multi! twisted wonderland x reader smau
wordcount -> 2.3k
lunchtime at night raven college, you've come to realize, can be quite a chaotic mess (which can be said to pretty much all aspects of this school, in hindsight). i mean, you think you’ve reached this conclusion a long time ago, considering how long it has been since the magic mirror brought you to twisted wonderland…but, no.
this really is your life now.
it’s always something here at night raven. it could be riddle chasing down the maniacially laughing eel twin, the former’s face truly living up to the ‘rosy-red tyrant’ moniker given to him your first few days here as he chased the slightly taller of the two eel twins, floyd seemingly having the time of his life. it could also be the occasional sass thrown across, most notably whenever vil and leona are involved. while rare that they're both found in the same area during lunch, considering leona is usually napping lunchtime away in the school’s greenhouse, the quippy remarks are always a guarantee. honestly, the list can go on and on…
yeah, you love it here. genuinely. sure there've been a lot of…incidents (name: overblots), but you’ve also made really amazing friendships (as much as everyone involved denies it — night raven college really is filled with prideful students). one group of those friendships are your fellow first years.
ace, deuce, jack, epel, ortho, and sebek…and of course, grim, but you and him are essentially a no-brainer. the ‘first-year squad’, as cater had dutifully named you guys afternoon as him and trey passed by your group in the library once.
‘oh? hey, look there, trey! it’s our adeuce combi! and all the rest of the first-years. oh em gee, it’s the first-year squad! yeah, let’s get a pic for magicam, you all look totes adorbs!’ and of course, he took multiple pictures much to everyone's dismay, posting it with the appropriate hashtags and tagging everyone.
guess the nickname stuck around, as most of your guys’ seniors called your group as such. speaking of…
“prefect,” ace whined, laying his head on the lunchroom table, “please, tell me tonight is still on. riddle’s gonna make us study all night if we stay at heartslabyul…”
a loud snort came from another one of the guys at your table, his arms crossed over his chest, chin held slightly up high, “hah! perhaps it’s for the best tonight gets canceled, knowing you, ace, you need that supervision,” sebek huffed, smugly smirking as ace’s head popped up, “hah? you wanna run that by me again, sebek?”
“ace, cut it out,” deuce said, turning to his friend. “at this rate, she’s going to cancel tonight if you keep acting out like this. and it wouldn’t be a bad idea to get a little studying in…” the heartslabyul first-year with the spade eye makeup said, which just resulted in a snarky comeback from ace, which led to more bickering.
saved by the hypothetical bell at least— the remainder of your friends made their way to the table, having gotten stuck in their respective classes. sometimes you all would sit with different groups at lunch, but the majority of the time you all have taken to sitting together.
grim in usual grim fashion was trying to swipe everyone’s food as ‘payment’ for being late, even if he was also late. jack resulted in lecturing grim, ortho and epel were trying to catch up to whatever chaotic mess they came back to. yep, same old same old…
“say, prefect. is the sleepover at ramshackle tonight still awn?” epel asked, straightening up and glancing around to make sure his housewarden (and vice-housewarden at that) didn’t hear his slip in accent. ortho perked up, the little flame over his heart flicking just a bit, “ouu! i can bring this new multi-player game my brother and i were trying out last night!”
you nodded at your two friends, but it seems like everyone else was distracted. you cleared your throat, fist covering your mouth, “hey, guys. remember, sleepover at ramshackle today if your housewardens said yes.”
“and you have to bring a ten-can-of-tuna-entry-fee!” grim said triumphantly, standing up with one paw in the air. you quickly put your hand in front of him, pulling him down the table, “no, you do not,” you deadpanned.
“you two, cut it out! save it for spelldrive or something!” jack said, turning to the still bickering heartslabyul duo before scratching his head, “actually, that wouldn’t work. you two are in the same dorm…save it for beans day or something, just hope you get put on separate teams…” he trailed off.
“i never really understood some of the events at night raven…” you added, “i mean, from what you guys have told me, beans day sounds a little similar to something the seniors did at my school.” the guys all turned to face you:
“really? that’s pretty cool! what was that like?” ortho asked.
“well, it was this thing called senior assassin. it wasn’t school sponsored, but the seniors would all be assigned random targets either in duos or a free-for-all, depending what rules the seniors chose that year. basically, they had to ‘take out’ their targets with a water gun. there were some places of immunity like school, anywhere else they had to wear like arm floaties or goggles. it would get pretty intense,” you explained, “oh! and there was a betting pool involved from a registration fee, it could get up to three-hundred to four-hundred depending on the senior class size.”
if possible, you could definitely see thaumark signs over ace’s pupils, “heyy, we should totally do that—” he said before sebek cut him off, “no way, human! she just said it was a senior activity. either way, the great malleus would dominate in such a trivial matter if it was conducted in this school!” he boasted.
“prefect, are there any other things they did at your school?” deuce asked as epel nodded his head in agreement, “yeah! please tell us, we’d love to hear more about your world’s customs!”
you scratched your temple, “i mean, there wasn’t really much…i feel like everything is boring compared to the things done here.”
after some insistent nagging encouragement, you told them about a few things you could name off the top of your head: homecoming (the game and the dance), prom, certain club events, anything you could think of, even if much wasn’t coming to mind.
“oh! i completely forgot, this actually happened a little before i was transported here. we had an anonymous confessions account.”
most of the guys tilted their heads, “an anonymous what…?” ace asked, raising his brow.
you clapped your hand, “okay, so, basically, someone made an account on our social media, think of it like magicam. people would send in anything. think confessions, rumors, complaints, dating attempts, shit-talking, you name it, someone probably sent it in. the account would post these, most of the time people chose to stay anonymous but some people would put their names, or frame others.”
“did nobody find out who it was behind the account?” ortho asked, suddenly a lot more invested with the whole mystery.
shaking your head, you responded, “nope. not that i’m aware of, at least. it was the most recent thing happening before the black carriage ran me over on my way home one night.”
“i’ll say…that must’a gotten around real quick,” epel said while deuce nodded his head
“what a bunch of cowards,” jack said, shaking his head and crossing his arms over his chest, “if they had a problem with each other, no better way then to say it straight to the face, why hide behind—”
“I COMPLETELY AGREE, JACK!” sebek shouted, startling not only your table, but alerting most of the lunch area, “WHAT COWARDLY BEHAVIOR, ONLY FOOLS WOULD HIDE BEHIND AN ANONYMOUS ACCOUNT TO SPEW RUMOR AND NONSENSE OF OTHERS.”
…right…
“talk about passionate…” deuce said, his eyes darting around the lunch area. honestly, you could feel a lot of familiar eyes staring right at you guys…“by the seven, sebek, you’re loud as hell.” ace sighed, shaking his head.
“I AM NOT!”
“buddy…” grim shook his head, and some of you laughed it off. lunch wrapped up quick after that and you all planned to see each other later at ramshackle.
sleepovers at ramshackle were…chaotic to say the least. imagine: you’re putting eight of night raven college’s notorious troublemakers unfortunately-involved-in-conflict students in a room for a night, with no ‘true’ housewarden supervision as you’re acting head (and let’s be honest, you enjoy most of it). you can imagine.
except its not that bad. swear on grims tuna!
at least tonight, it’s been pretty chill. grim is obviously swiping all of the snacks the others had brought, ortho true to his word brought a video game for everyone to enjoy along with some board games. there genuinely was an intention to do some studying, but ace said, and quote, ‘we are not doing grandma activities at grandma hour!’
card games was a huge thing for you guys, even the early sleepers jack and sebek would stay wide away for your guys’ tournaments. sometimes it was spoons, other times it was bullshit, occasionally it was a big spit tournament, and recently, uno got banned from the ramshackle household for the foreseeable future as a certain someone broke furniture last time and you were not having it.
tonight, it was a match of spoons. strangely enough, deuce was knocked out of the competition first round, much to his dismay and much to grim’s contentment, as it was usually the little feline that got knocked out first round due to not being able to reach fast enough (even when given the ‘you can sit closer to the spoons’ advantage).
sebek proudly held up a bent metal spoon as he took ace out of the second to last round, leaving him and ortho as the final two. you can add this to the growing pile of ‘spoons that have been bent due to the first-year squad™’ “alright, that’s enough. it’s BYOS—bring your own spoons— next time!” you sighed, quietly mourning your metal spoon.
grim snickered, “hey, deuce, since you lost the first round, you need to bring the replacement spoon. off you go, my little lackey!”
as ace begrudgingly shuffled the deck, everyone looked over at deuce who had…fallen asleep? he was slumped over the coffee table, his phone laid next to him, quietly snoring. “it is not sleeptime! even jack and sebek are still awake.”
epel shrugged, looking at everyone, “he’s prolly just tired. get a picture though.” ortho was quick to snap a few pics at nice angles. he went over to ace, and they shared a look, the look.
“hey, maybe we should move him—” jack said, starting to push up from the floor to move his sleep-ridden friend, but ortho hovered over, silently cackling behind his hand as he blocked jack’s route.
ace straighted up, clearing his throat, “wow guys! i suuuuree am happy we studied for that extra hard exam we have tomorrow for history of magic! i would hate to be sleeping…this exam is worth half our final grade!” ace said, enunciating certain words as he held his phone, the camera pointed towards his friend.
seemingly, some words got through to your dear friend, as deuce shot his head up, hair already in dismay as he frantically looked around the room, “no way! i can’t afford to fail, then i really won’t be an honors student!” he panicked, grabbing the nearest book, frantically skimming through it.
“hey, loosey-deucy~” ace called out, “look over here!”
before deuce could even react, a flash of light blinded him, his eyes wide as he had yet to register what was going on.
“pfft—” grim laughed, covering his mouth with his paw. “deuce, you idiot!”
you sighed, shaking your head. one of your hands reached your temple, rubbing small circles at your friends. you looked around, at least hoping someone was taking this a little more seriously, but you couldn’t help but start laughing alongside everyone. hell, if sebek and jack were stifling laughs, that just told you it was funny.
“awe man, i’m gonna bust a gut!” ace hollered, holding his phone away as he rapidly started tapping his screen, trying to keep it away from his now angered friend. deuce angrily gritted, getting up to go after ace, but ortho came and held him back.
seven phone notifications went off at the same time in the living room as ace happily tossed his phone to the side. his bubble of happiness soon popped as deuce finally got past ortho and was shaking ace by his collar. of course, ortho recorded that. you looked down at the notification you got on your phone, it was from magicam:
ace_trappola_ tagged you in a story.
before you could open the notification, epel elbowed your arm, tears in his eyes from his laughter as he showed you the post:
(please click, it’s a video)
eventually, everyone settled down — kinda. at least there were no more casualties in the form of spoons (for now). as per usual, sebek and jack called it earlier than the rest of you, sebek sitting up every few minutes to lowly, “SHH. CEASE YOUR CHATTER!” which got him a pillowfull from jack the last time around.
everyone finally settled for bed, everyone was accounted for, except for one sneaky heartslabyul first-year that probably went to the bathroom. the living room was dark, except for the moonlight filtering in through the window. nights like these really made being transported to twisted wonderland worth it…
except there was a small led light that turned on, you flipped to the side to see epel on his phone, “you okay, epel…?”
“oh! yeah, everything’s good. i’m just makin’ sure vil doesn’t know how late i‘m stayn’ up. he’ll really have my head,” epel said quietly, locking his screen, giving you a quiet goodnight.
right before you drifted off to sleep, you felt your phone vibrate. you grabbed it from underneath your pillow and dismissed the spam email. however, you noticed you had missed a notification from magicam, when did that come in…?
nrc.confessionz started following you.
previous: promo post <- masterlist -> next: a bald accusation (to be posted).
taglist (open!): @yyuangss @shikiyomizu
note: i’m ngl ive had that smau post of deuce done for a week and i giggle everytime i watch it again i hope you guys find it funny :( first twst writing WOOO im so hype.
check out the promo post to see how you can be involved in the story!
lohen "i'm not like them i'm worse" who insisted on walking you home to make sure you were safe when in reality he wanted to be sure where you lived so he can break in and jerk himself off in your bed with your dirty underwear wrapped around his cock
delinquents always have a bad reputation, but maybe you'll be the one to discover a new side to them...
⟡ content—xiao, wanderer x gn!reader; highschool au; jahoda mention and nahida appearance; complete fluff and slightly humorous (think delinquent shoujo manga hehe); ~1.8k words each
⟡ a/n—i realised afterwards that i wrote xiao's one as a cutesy slice of life, and wanderer's one is kinda like romantic comedy HAHA imagine those two vibes if you will when reading
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
⟡ 𝑿𝑰𝑨𝑶
Gossip from Classroom 3-2: Why is Xiao so gloomy all the time? I heard someone say he sharpened his teeth into fangs so he can bite people and seriously injure them in fights. He can’t smile or laugh, or everyone will see how much of a freak he is!
When the bell rang for lunch, the energy of every student seemed to jumpstart like an engine. They ran out of classrooms to get to the school store first; chairs were pushed together to begin lively conversations with friends. If Jahoda had been here, you would have been the same. However, your best friend had called in sick, which couldn’t be further from the truth. She was so well in fact that she was travelling to the city today to queue for the release of a new line of figurines from the animated series you both loved. I will undergo this valiant task and skip school for the both of us, she had texted you the day before. You didn’t even collect figurines but also didn’t want to dampen her spirit.
You were slowly packing up your materials when you overheard the chatter of two classmates behind you. It was ordinary. First about their gruelling studies (Miss Faruzan’s language class was too tedious and Mr Albedo’s chemistry class had too much content), then about other classmates. Your ears perked up.
“So, what do you make of…” one of the girls said.
She didn’t even have the courage to say the name aloud, only flicking her eyes across the room.
Ah, that’s right.
Everyone tried their best to ignore him, but sitting at the back of the classroom by the window was a dark-greened haired boy. His face was down, folded arms acting as a cushion. Xiao was a classmate of yours whose reputation followed him like stagnant air. He was known to have a violent streak, getting caught up in fights more times than attending school. People began to say that he was a part of an underground ring where people fought to the death. Though that was a while ago, and there was nothing now that would help change people’s opinions. The unusually coloured hair, pierced ears, scarred hands. It was hard for everyone to forget who he once was. Everyone talked about him like he was a ruthless delinquent, but all you had ever seen of him was that he was quiet and did whatever teachers asked of him.
“Can’t believe he was allowed to move up a grade,” the other replied, giving Xiao a side eye.
“Yeah, now that I think about it, I never saw him at school all of last year,” the first girl added. “I heard he threatened Mr Zhongli to let him move up. Pulled a knife on him and everything!”
You glanced at Xiao. They probably assumed he was sleeping and didn’t bother keeping their voices down. Still, it didn’t curb your alarm. Whether he could hear or not didn’t matter. Talking about him like this just felt wrong.
“What? To the principal? He’s crazy!”
She nodded solemnly. That seems a bit outrageous, you only thought. Was anything your classmates were saying even true?
“He should have never bothered coming back here,” the first girl sneered, “everyone’s on edge now. Isn’t our last year of school meant to be fun? Now it’s all ruined because of him! I don’t care, they should expel him before someone ends up–”
“Hey! Could you stop?”
You loomed over them. Both girls looked at you like you had just flipped the table. They slowly closed their hanging jaws.
“Excuse me?” one of them said, clearly offended. She stood up to meet your gaze.
You didn’t back off. “It’s not right to talk about someone like that behind their back. Especially when we don’t know the full story.”
It looked like she was prepared to give you an earful, but she suddenly stopped. The same shocked expression from moments before was painted on her face again. Had your reprimanding really worked on her? You thought it was only this easy in movies and shows. Perhaps it was too effective as she remained utterly stunned.
You blinked and frowned. “What? Did I say something wrong?”
You felt someone place their hand around yours. Scars marked the skin of their knuckles. Their touch was delicate, as if they thought you would shatter with any force. You titled your head. Xiao was standing there, staring down at you. He didn’t spare any attention to your classmates, who were still dumbfounded at what was unfolding before them.
“Let’s go.”
You heard Xiao speak before, but you didn’t realise how gentle his tone could be. His expression was unchanging. It was the same frosty look he had on everywhere he went, causing everyone to shrink away. Though, you didn’t feel that fear at all. Instead, heat rose to your cheeks.
“What? Where?” you spluttered.
“Outside. Let’s eat together.”
He was now tugging on your hand. Did you really want to stay in this classroom? Gossiping and bad-mouthing someone right in front of them? You were planning on eating outside anyway. You let him guide you to the class door. He let go of your hand as you exited to the hallways, the warmth that had enveloped your fingers dissipating. He stuffed both his hands in his pockets, moving quickly in the crowd of students. Trailing behind, you watched everyone’s gaze follow the green-haired boy with a less-than-stellar reputation and his slightly bewildered classmate.
⟡
The school’s field was alive with activity. Students looking to get in extra practice running laps on the track or expending their restless energy playing soccer. Near the quieter edge of the field, beneath a tree just beginning to sprout white blossoms, you and Xiao sat down on a small bench.
“You said you wanted to eat together, but do you have any food?” you asked, tentatively.
Xiao rubbed the back of his neck, eyes darting away from your gaze. “I didn’t really think about that…”
As hard as you tried, you couldn’t stop a chuckle from escaping your lips. At your reaction, Xiao folded his arms. The move would have seemed tougher if he wasn’t pouting at the same time. Was this really the Xiao everyone feared? Now that you were closer to him, you could see how boyish he was. Nothing like the big and scary figure everyone whispered about. His usual stony eyes were brightened in the sunlight, and his unreadable face now was blushed pink, clear with embarrassment.
“Here,” you pulled out a small cup of almond pudding. “You can have it. I already ate one.”
He took it from your hand, muttering a thanks as he tore open the lid and began to eat it. You took a bite of your own rice.
“I’m sorry about before with what they were talking about.”
“You shouldn’t apologise for them,” Xiao responded without missing a beat. “You were the one who tried to stop it.”
You looked down at your lap. Even though you had told them to stop, you still felt guilty. This was probably the first time any of his classmates had had a proper conversation with him. Had no one really tried to get to know him? Sure, he may have been caught up with the wrong sorts of people in the past, but in the last few months he had done nothing but kept to himself.
Xiao saw your downcast eyes. There was a cold edge to his voice as he added, “There’s no need to feel sad for me, I’m used to it.”
That made you feel even sadder. You stuffed your mouth with more rice.
“It still doesn’t make it right,” your voice was muffled by food before you swallowed, “no matter how used to it you get.”
Remembering the words your classmates had said got you riled up again. You huffed, “I wouldn’t want anybody talking like that without me knowing, let alone when you’re only a few meters away! Like, saying you’re ruining this whole year just by being here? How rude can you get– Are you laughing at me?”
Sure enough, Xiao was bent over hand covering his mouth as he tried to hide his amusement. “I’ve just never seen someone get so angry on someone else’s behalf before.”
“Don’t go thinking you’re special or anything now!” you joked. “I’ll stand up for anyone.”
Xiao nodded. “I know. It seems like the type of person you are.”
The soft assurance he gave made your chest tighten. Xiao subtly examined your face. Your small smile creating dimpled cheeks, the flutter of your lashes, your hair tousling in the light breeze. This was the first time anyone had bothered to give him a chance. If this conversation, and you, have shown him anything, perhaps it would be alright to open up a little.
“I took remedial classes,” Xiao mumbled.
“Hm? What did you say?” you shuffled closer to hear him better.
“Why they let me move up a grade,” he said louder. The words fell out of him, as if saying them quicker would make him less humiliated at himself. “I took a lot of remedial classes during school breaks to catch up. The principal gave me a second chance, and I managed to pass to continue.”
To his surprise, your eyes lit up. “Really? That’s great!”
“I just passed, that’s all.” Xiao ran a hand through his hair. “It’s nothing special...”
“Still! It’s a great achievement. Trust me, a lot of our classmates wouldn’t be as studious as you.”
“Y-yeah,” was all Xiao could manage to reply when seeing your beaming face. He needed to change the subject immediately.
“Where is that girl you’re always with?”
You blinked at him. “Oh, you mean Jahoda? She’s actually in the city today. She wanted to get those new figurines for this animated series we watch.”
Xiao cocked his head in recognition. “Rex Incognito you mean?”
You gaped. “You watch Rex Incognito? I didn’t think you were the type to be into it!”
Xiao cleared his throat. This was also the first time anyone had given him such sustained attention and interest. He began to talk about where he was up to in the show, which was quite behind your progress. You offered to give the figurine Jahoda would buy, and he shyly accepted, promising to pay both you and Jahoda back somehow. The wind carried white petals down from the tree, decorating the area around you and Xiao. Marking a blossoming of two sorts for the school year.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
⟡ 𝑾𝑨𝑵𝑫𝑬𝑹𝑬𝑹
Gossip from Classroom 2-1: Did you know, Wanderer was apparently suspended from school for a week once because he sprayed graffiti all over a teacher’s desk in the staffroom? All because the teacher gave him a bad test score!
“I’m begging you! I’ll owe you a favour, just please help me out.”
Your class president was pleading with you. He was about to go on his knees, and you had to drag him up by the arm to stop his dramatics.
“Come on,” you whined. “Why me? It’s meant to be your responsibility!”
“Have you even heard who we’re talking about here? It’s Wanderer, there’s no way I want to see him!”
You gave a long sigh. Wanderer was a classmate of yours who was not very liked by, well, anyone at your school. He had a short temper and a blunt attitude, prone to finding elaborate ways to curse someone out. From students to teachers. You just had to be fortunate that he woke up on the right side of bed that day. His violet eyes were always bored or filled with contempt, and no matter the season he always wore a black turtleneck to school. No one had ever seen his arms or neck bare. Rumours had gone around that he was affiliated with some gang, and the turtleneck was there to cover up all the upper body tattoos he had. They said he dealt in extortion, threatening innocent people to give their money away. That’s why he had such a foul mouth. Today, he had skipped school entirely, claiming he was sick. Which was why your class president was moments from kneeling before you to take today’s notes to him.
“And you’re close to him, right? It’s better you than me to give these to him.”
Your class president was shoving the folder into your arms, but you raised them up.
“Hah! Close is a stretch! I only knew him for a bit when I was what, eight years old?”
“Longer than me!”
You rolled your eyes, turning around and walking down the hallway. There were still a few students mingling, either preparing to go home or staying for extracurricular activities. Thankfully, no one paid attention to the scene your class president was causing. He scurried around you, stopping you in your tracks.
“Please, just this once.”
His eyes were so wide and desperate. It was honestly a sad sight to see how frightened he was. You snatched the folder from him.
“Fine,” you seethed. “You owe me big time.”
Your class president broke down in tears, repeating ‘thank you’ over and over. If you hadn’t stormed out of there quickly, he would have latched onto your leg, still giving his gratitude to you.
How the hell is he the class president again!? You thought to yourself as you put the address of Wanderer’s home in your phone, as the teacher instructed on the note they left. Should’ve made me a class president…
⟡
You reached a small home not too far from your own house. There was nothing alarming about it. No ‘KEEP OUT’ or ‘DANGER’ signs, or any yellow and black crime scene tape. Everyone is being so dramatic. When you were younger, you and Wanderer did hang out together, and he was never cruel to you. Then again, you were only children. A lot can change after you stop talking with someone as you get older.
You approached the front door and rung the doorbell.
One…two…three seconds passed. There was no noise inside. No indication there was someone at home.
This is a bit anti-climatic. You rung the doorbell again.
“Hello?” you called out. “Sorry to disturb. I’m from Class 2-1, I have notes from today’s classes.”
You then heard footsteps. Fast. Heading right towards you. There was a voice too.
“Aunt Nahida, I thought you brought the house keys with–”
The door suddenly swung open.
“–you.”
Standing at the door was Wanderer. The same purple hair and violet eyes as you saw almost every day for the past year. Yet, there was something different about him now. His eyes were softer, and his hair was strangely damp. H-hang on! You almost dropped the folder. Wanderer was half naked. He wore a pair of lounge pants; a towel wrapped around his neck doing nothing to hide in bare chest and toned arms right in front of you. What was most surprising though was that he also had tattoos. Not full body ones as the rumours have said, but around his collarbone and down his bicep. They were simple patterns, swirls resembling the wind. Nothing at all affiliated with any violent crime.
“W-what!?” he stuttered out.
Wanderer immediately grew red in the face, which was incredibly obvious when he had no clothing on.
The door slammed shut. You froze in place. Your brain tried to process those last few seconds, yet it seemed to buffer. The door opened again, and you closed your eyes tight, bracing yourself.
“Idiot, open your eyes.”
You heard Wanderer’s deadpan voice. You warily opened one first and saw that he had thankfully put on a shirt. With his reputation, you thought he’d be a lot angrier. Instead, he had his arms calmly folded, leaning against the door frame.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m not going around opening doors with my upper body uncovered,” you remarked.
He scoffed. “Look, I thought you were someone else, okay? Just what are you doing here?”
“Here,” you held out the folder. “The notes for your classes from today.”
“Isn’t Mr President meant to do?”
You got irritated at the mere mention of that boy and gave a weary sigh. “He decided to outsource this time.”
Wandered smirked, taking the folder from you. You realised you needed to make a hasty escape. You had just seen the tattoos Wanderer had on his body which was strictly prohibited by your school. He would likely want to keep you here to make sure you didn’t do any talking.
“That’s it then!” you said, backing away. “See you! Bye!”
“Stop,” Wanderer lazily called out.
You could have just booked it, but some cowardly part of you still obeyed. You silently cursed at yourself and turned back around, a friendly smiled plastered onto your face. He walked over and grabbed you by your bag strap, dragging you back to the door.
“Hey! We’re not eight years old anymore, you can’t just do that!” you complained, trying to tug his hand away but the grip was too tight.
“Is it wrong of a me to want to invite a fellow classmate and old acquaintance into my house?” he answered, innocently.
“This isn’t an invitation, it’s a kidnapping!”
“Please, I’m barely using any force. Shoes off.”
You kicked off your shoes. Even in these circumstances, you still had to have etiquette. You clumsily entered, and Wanderer closed the door. The interior was homely. A living room and kitchen in the same open space, and stairs that went to a second floor. He sat down on the sofa, leaning comfortably back. He gestured to the space next to him. You groaned, feeling like a baby about to be scolded by a parent. Slipping your bag off your shoulders, you dropped onto the cushion.
“I know what this is about, I’m not going to tell anyone!”
Wanderer was unsurprised that you had figured out why he needed to talk to you. Other people would have been trembling in fear, probably thinking about which finger they liked the least to repay non-existent loans. You were always able to match his tempo, that’s why he liked hanging around you when he was younger. Out of everyone he knew, you could be the most trusted with knowing he had tattoos (which was honestly such a mundane thing that he didn’t believe needed to be kept so secret). So, was he just using this whole exchange as an excuse to have a proper conversation with you again? Maybe, but Wanderer would never admit to that.
“How do I know that? As far as I know, you could use it for fuel to start another ridiculous rumour about me.”
There was a bitterness to his voice. You did feel bad for him. Everyday people would spout the same wild stories about him, not even knowing if they were true or not. Hearing it so often could really wear someone down. He had been rather blunt as a kid, but never to the extreme. You always wondered if his attitude that fanned those flames was developed because of all the rumours.
“Come on, didn’t you say I was an old acquaintance?” you said. “What happened to trust and loyalty?”
“When faced against a collective, people can easily switch sides,” he shrugged, matter-of-factly. He had personally witnessed it plenty of times before.
“So, you want me to rebuild trust?” you offered.
Wanderer hummed in thought. He was wondering what plan he should devise, when someone entered the room. You hadn't heard the door open, too occupied with the discussion you were having. Someone you assumed was Nahida walked in carrying two bags. She also almost dropped them when she saw Wanderer with another person in his school’s uniform.
“Hi Auntie,” he waved. You detected a hint of smugness in his tone that you didn’t like.
“Wanderer!” Nahida said, placing the bags on the kitchen table, “Who is this? It’s nice to meet you.”
She walked towards you and you instinctively bowed in greeting. It was hard to believe Wanderer was close to any classmate to invite them over. Nahida assumed this was maybe a group project partner.
“Hello, I’m in the same class as Wanderer’s. I was just dropping by the class materials for today.”
“Ah! That’s nice, you must be the class president then?”
You shook you head politely, “Oh no, I was just helping. I’ll be heading off now. Thank you for letting me come in.”
Wanderer followed you as well. You kept your exasperation smothered, not wanting to make a bad impression on this much kinder relative of his. Wanderer played the role of a good host and opening the door for you once you wore your shoes.
“Meet me at the corner of the street tomorrow morning at seven,” he suddenly said.
“Oddly specific,” you narrowed your eyes at him.
“It's at the end of both of our streets, so it’ll be easy us meet there,” he replied, looking down at his feet. You didn’t know if usual expressions of emotions could be transferrable to Wanderer, but if they were, you could tell he was being somewhat bashful.
You relaxed a bit. “Why do you want to meet me?”
He looked up at you, eyes gleaming with amusement. This was the same playfulness you remembered from when you were both kids.
“It’ll be the start of our trust building.”
This was definitely going to be an interesting school year.
Wow, it's been a bit, guys! I've been mostly been active on Bluesky and Twitch, but of course I had to show up for this crazy bastard.
I LOVE LOHEN. I am so excited for him. I'm definitely investing in him and cannot wait to draw comics about him. Stay tuned for more Genshin malding over this insane blourbo!!!
I'm seriously considering eating him.
More Lohen fanart that I drew for my stream on TWITCH.
I stream Wednesdays and Saturdays. Come watch, if you'd like! I post up notifications on my BLUESKY.
I will absolutely be drawing more of this baby girl.
