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“…”
Riddle furiously fiddled with wrapping paper, which was becoming much more gaudy the longer he had to stare at it. He pulled off a piece of tape and secured the fold down, pressing with more pressure than necessary to emphasize his agitation with the material.
He couldn’t have been missing Trey more than he did at this moment. He’d gone back to see his family for an indefinite amount of time, while Riddle was stuck in Heartslabyul.
Well, maybe stuck wasn’t the correct word. His mother had requested, more so demanded, he come home for at least a week. He told her he had a few more things to perfect before he could leave his role as Housewarden, and he had to wait for Trey to get back now. While anything was better than being back home, this certainly wasn’t ideal.
“Why couldn’t we have bought bags…?” Riddle murmured under his breath. He set the present down with the rest of the growing pile, huffing as he did so. Looking at the ten or so gifts he still had to wrap before he could call it quits, he felt his fingers screaming at him.
Bending them over and over again for this long was starting to catch up, and he felt the cramps he’d been trying to brush past make themselves unable to be ignored any longer.
Rustle, Rustle
Riddle directed his head to the sound coming from behind him. It sounded like someone was in the bushes… Che’nya?
He caught a glimpse of teal hair peeking out and felt the dread seep through his body the moment it clicked.
“Little Goldfish~!”
Floyd popped out from behind the bush, leaves flying as he did. The scowl on Riddle’s face came instantaneously. “What are you doing here?”
“Just wanted to talk to you, it’s been a while, I’ve been pretty booked at the lounge over the break.”
Floyd stepped around the bushes and pulled out one of the chairs, plopping down next to him. He rested his hand on his chin, fidgeting with one of the rolls of wrapping paper. “It’s almost Christmas, y’know?”
Riddles let out a sigh. “I think I’m aware, Floyd.” He motioned to the task he was currently performing. “I just wanted to make sure,” he replied with a smile, knowing exactly how dense he was acting. Riddle turned his attention back to the task at hand, trying to pay him no mind in hopes he’d leave, although it’s never worked before.
“If you wish to converse, you will have to find someone else. I am preoccupied at the moment, if you couldn’t tell.” He said the last part with a certain bite in his words, wishing he’d for once take a hint.
“Nah, that won’t work.”
“And why not?”
“‘Cause I wanna talk to you.” Floyd poked the side of his cheek as he said the last word. Riddle quickly swatted his hand away, earning a snicker from Floyd.
“That wasn’t funny.”
“It kinda was. You’re as red as the wrapping paper!”
Riddle huffed and averted his gaze yet again. This time, he would choose not to speak; maybe that would get him to go bother some other poor, unfortunate soul.
“Soo… who all are you wrapping gifts for?”
Riddle continued his work silently, disregarding the question from the boy next to him. Floyd cocked his head at him. “You can’t ignore me. You don’t have it in you~” Riddle looked up and glared at him. “See! You looked at me, which counts as acknowledging me. Which means you have to respond.”
“No, it doesn’t.”
“Well, you just did, so I guess it does.”
Riddle opened his mouth to speak, but realized he had got him. He let out another sigh, deeper than the last. “How can I get you to leave…?” He muttered, almost as if he was talking to himself, but Floyd responded anyway.
“That’s not really on the table. But, I can help you wrap your gifts.”
Riddle surveyed him, giving him a look of suspicion and doubt. “I have zero faith you could do that.” Floyd almost looked offended; it wasn’t authentic, of course.
“C’mon! I’m actually pretty good at it.” Riddle rolled his eyes, going back to ignoring him.
He heard the sounds of Floyd rummaging in his bag before something was thrown in his direction, landing on the table space in front of him.
“Wha-”
“Merry early Christmas!” Floyd grinned at him cheerfully. The present was wrapped in blueish green paper, adorned with little Christmas trees and miniature depictions of presents. The wrapping job was surprisingly… good. It looked almost robotic, how perfectly aligned each fold was, and the corners were perfectly crisp. He knew Floyd was gifted in some regards; the food at the Lounge was always adequate, and the service was nice, most of the time. Even so, gift-wrapping was the last task he’d expect someone like him would even take the time to do, for anyone, for that matter.
“...Are you going to open it? Or just stare at it?” Floyd said the last part through a laugh. Riddle looked back to him. “Open it, of course.” Despite what he said, he had kind of forgotten he was supposed to do that while he was marveling at the exterior of the gift.
The shorter boy carefully peeled away the tape holding the paper still, trying to rip as little as possible. Floyd opened his mouth to comment on how he wasn’t planning to reuse the paper, but he decided against it. Opting to instead rest a hand on his head to observe the other silently, for once.
Once Riddle was done with his meticulous unwrapping method, he flipped open the box’s flaps and peered inside. The first thing he noticed was that it wasn’t a single gift; it was a few things, really. Almost as if he could no longer bear to be silent, Floyd cheered. “Ta-da~~ It’s that four gift rule thing.” Riddle looked up from the box, peering at him quizzically.
“You were taking too long; I had to spoil it.” Floyd leaned back in his chair, arms crossed.
“...What’s the four gift rule?”
“Oh! It’s like~ one thing you want, one thing you need, one thing to wear, and one thing to read! And it rhymes!”
Riddle bit back a smile at his last remark, tilting his head downwards to conceal fully.
“I’m surprised you didn’t know about it, since you love ‘em so much. Rules, that is.”
Riddle shook his head in annoyance before pulling out the cherry red planner laid on top.
“Ooh! I got that cause you were going on and on about how much you desperately needed a planner for the next year and how you were sooo behind on the stuff you were supposed to have already prepared.”
“You make it sound like I was talking about it all the time,” Riddle cut in, “I only brought it up once. I’m surprised you even took notice.” Floyd stayed silent, staring at Riddle like there wasn’t a thought behind his eyes.
“Well, you have one now, so you can shut up about it.”
“Hey! W-”
“Open the next one! You’re taking way too long for just four measly gifts…” Floyd leaned back in his seat, lolling his head backwards to exemplify his boredom. Riddle pressed his lips together firmly to stop himself from agitating himself any further. Say as little as possible; it’ll be over faster that way.
He set the planner carefully on the table. Disregarding Floyd’s worsening attitude, the gift was rather nice, practical too. He pulled out the next gift, which was a book.
“...Why fish don’t exist?” Riddle looked back at Floyd, who was wearing his biggest grin yet. “Did you just get it because it had fish in the title?”
“That’s why I was drawn to it. But I did look into it a little, and I thought you might like it. It explores the theme of chaos versus order,” he waved his hand through the air, magically, creating far too dramatic an emphasis to his words. “Which I thought you’d be into.”
“Have you read it?” Riddle asked. He spoke about it like he already knew what it was about, so logically, he would assume he had read it.
“No, I just quoted the back of the book.”
Of course.
Riddle gave a polite nod and an “Ah,” before turning back to the box. He picked up the next thing lying on top and pulled it out. It was… some sort of headband, but with some creature’s horns and their face on top, and it appeared to have… a clown nose?
“Is this a… deformed reindeer?”
“Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer. Yuu told me about it.”
Riddle squinted at the garment, turning it around to look at it carefully. “Where did you even find this?”
“Oh, I just bought a regular reindeer one and glued a red nose on it. But he’s just like you, ya know!”
Riddle turned back to Floyd with furrowed brows. “How?”
“Well, for starters,” Floyd scooted up to the table, suddenly becoming much more engaged. “He has a bright red nose,” he tapped on the nose he had glued to the headband, “And you have bright red hair,” he then patted Riddle’s head in the same manner.
“Quit it,” Riddle said, pushing his hand off.
“Also, he was made fun of for having a red nose, unlike the rest of the reindeer, and you’re made fun of for bein’ a munchkin!”
Riddle tossed the headband down on the table with a huff, getting exceedingly more fed up with the other.
“I don’t even know why I entertain you,” he muttered.
“Beats me.” Floyd rested his chin on his hand again, wearing a coy, purposefully oblivious smile. “Next gift!” He shouted, to which Riddle flinched away in aggravation. Nevertheless, he picked the final gift out of the box, happy to be putting an end to this interaction.
This one was wrapped up, further concealing it even after he took it out.
“Oh!” Floyd leaned in even closer. “That’s the best one. I think you’re really going to like it~” The grin plastered on his face made Riddle even more nervous for what was to come when he opened it.
“If I open this thing and any sort of-”
“It’s not even bad!” Floyd cut in and placed a hand on top of the present. “But if you don’t want it… I can just~” He began to slide the object closer to himself. Riddle quickly swatted him away and snatched it back.
“Rule 163, one cannot take back a gift that they have already given to its recipient."
“Well, I’m not a Heartslabyul student~” Floyd placed his hand back on the gift and jerked it towards him.
“You’re on Heartslabyul grounds, are you not?” Riddle placed a hand atop Floyd’s and did the same.
“Aww~ You wanna hold my hand, Goldfishie~?” Floyd cooed, interlocking their hands together properly. “You could’ve just asked.”
Riddle’s face brightened, and he blinked a few times, looking down to their hands now joined together. Once he fully realized what was going he pulled them apart forcefully, even panting a little.
Floyd looked a little taken aback at his reaction. “Calm down~ I was just messing with you.”
Riddle collected himself internally, knowing that even for him the reaction was extreme, but he wouldn’t admit that. “Don’t do that…” He spoke softly, trying to seem as calm as possible despite his outburst.
“Fine, I won’t.” Floyd held up his hands in faux surrender. Riddle looked down back to the present, trying to force his attention towards anything but the unexpected, delicate, fluttery feeling he experienced when their hands were conjoined.
He unwrapped the gift with much less diligence than when he unwrapped the box, too jostled to pay any mind to the wrap job. Once the gift was fully revealed, he registered it as some sort of baked good from the Lounge; the logo stuck onto the dark blue box was the obvious clue. He pushed open the lid of the box, and the sight that appeared in front of him had his mouth hanging agape instantaneously.
“Ta-daa~~!” Floyd framed his hands around the baked good, wiggling his fingers elegantly. “The special edition, Christmas strawberry tart! With gingerbread crust and raspberries as well.”
Riddle was hardly listening, transfixed on what was sitting in front of him. Floyd playfully pushed his mouth closed, catching attention. He didn't glare this time, though.
“H…How did you get this? When I went, they were all sold out…”
“I held one in the back for ya, in case your little legs didn't make it to the Lounge in time. Which they didn't, so you're welcome.”
Riddle looked back down at the treat, ignoring the blatant insult. The weekend he went there were so many people there that it was practically impossible to even get in. When he was finally able to order, Azul broke the news to him that they’d been out for a while, not even Cater was able to get one despite his valiant efforts in hopes of getting a picture. Trey got him a strawberry parfait to make up for it, which, any other day, would’ve been fantastic, but it didn’t do much to cure his disappointment.
He looked back at Floyd, who was shaking the gift box upside down for some reason. Suddenly, a fork dropped out onto the table. “You forgot this!” He held up the fork, which was adorned with a strawberry on the end of the handle. He cut into the tart and held up a piece to Riddle’s mouth.
“Aah~” Floyd spoke, prompting Riddle to open up.
Riddle made a face at the gesture, but reluctantly, he opened his mouth. In any other situation, he wouldn’t even think of complying to this, but Floyd did go out of his way to hold the tart for him, and he got him all the gifts… so he sucked it up. The tart was by far their best one yet; it tasted perfectly tangy and sweet, and the gingerbread crust complemented the fruit well.
“Mm~ Yummy, Goldfishie?" Now it was getting too much.
Riddle swatted him away, not with any real force, though. Floyd laughed in response. “Is it, though?” He asked again, without the tease. Riddle chewed and swallowed before opening his mouth to reply. “Yes, of course.”
“Y’know how hard it was to keep that thing hidden for a week? If anyone saw it, it would've been eaten up before I could blink twice.” Floyd huffed, leaning back in his chair and looking off. “Thank you, Floyd.” Riddle bowed his head politely.
“Mhm,” he responded, quickly diverting the conversation. “I expect you to wear that thing on Christmas, by the way.” He pointed to the ridiculous headband on the table. “Take it as… repaying my very generous presents.” Riddle looked up at him. He was going to ask if he was serious, but he knew that to be a waste of breath when he already knew the answer. He sighed and looked back at the headband. “Fine.” He was already envisioning the stares he’d get; wearing festive gear wasn’t that weird during the holidays, but him doing so? Anyone who saw it would make it a big deal, which he wasn’t looking forward to.
Suddenly, Riddle felt a finger swiping something off his lower lip. When he looked back, Floyd was much closer to him and was licking something off his finger. “Mm, you’re right, it is good.” Riddle's face turned flush yet again when he realized what he had done. Floyd hopped up from his seat and ruffled Riddle’s hair. “Well, see ya later, Little Goldfish! And Merry Christmas!”
Riddle didn’t look back; he hid his face with his hands, despite being in an empty courtyard.