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The air felt heavy today. Everywhere Floyd walked by left that awkward, obvious reminder that something was off about the eel, and it wasn’t exactly something new. Everyone who was enrolled in NRC for enough time to know about the Octavinelle twins were already aware of his constant mood swings, and as scary as it was, everyone eventually started getting used to it, even though the sudden change on his tone and posture still scared most of the students.
But the truth was, Floyd was feeling extraordinarily miserable today.
It started with one bad grade, which didn’t upset him at first; wasn’t bothered by it at all—but receiving an annoying lecture from Crewel along with after-school cleaning punishment were enough to sour his mood.
A little later that same day, trying to annoy Azul on a full-house night to somehow cure his boredom, he acidentally made the octoman a little too mad than he planned to; the housewarden, overwhelmed by the amount of work and the upcoming school tests, ended up cutting him off and responding to his antics with a torrent of verbal agression about being useless and difficult for everyone around, which he didn’t notice went too far untill he saw the eel isolating himself with a gloomy frown in his face. Azul apologized the morning after, and Floyd shruged it off by laughing and hugging him in response. Knowing him since their childhood, he knew it was Azul’s nature to get irritated or sad easily—but it doesn’t mean his words didn’t hurt.
It spoiled his mood a little more when he received another lecture, this time from coach Vargas. P.E wasn't so bad—all things considered, Floyd liked it. He could play basketball, fun sports, and most of the time he was able to cure his boredom chasing the other students around when they were forced to run laps. But well, it just wasn't his day, and that's all.
Tired of running laps and doing whatever exercises Vargas wanted them to do, Floyd just decided he wasn't going to do anything. Walking out of the tracks, he found a tree nearby and sat down to rest—only to be awaken by the coach a little less than two minutes after falling asleep, jolting up with the screaming on his ears.
Of all the things he said, Floyd probably listened to a few words before doozing off and ignoring his lecture; and what really got his attention was when he said something about "not being bothered to suceed, wasting potential, being able to be like Jade if he tried harder". Then, things felt different.
It normally wouldn't hit him. All teachers said variations of the same thing everytime he had a bad grade or didn't pay attention to class—but this time, for some reason, hearing it again made him upset.
Well, Floyd was sure of that; Jade and Azul were constantly reminiding him of the same thing. But what if he didn't want to do things that make him bored? What if he doesn’t want to be perfect like Jade? It was his problem, not theirs—so why were people so insistent? He wasn't able to understand, and it was getting on his nerves.
Choosing not to listen, he left Vargas talking to himself and walked all the way back to the dorm, conflicted. It's just not his week, he thought.
Floyd just wasn't expecting today was going to be the worst day from all the bad days he had to endure.
When he dragged himself to class before the bell, Floyd watched as a few students who were talking instantly left the class the moment he sat down. The eel didn't put too much thought into it, only interested in napping for a few minutes more—people already did that, anyway. He was just too tired to be amazed by it.
But when it was time for lunch, things became clear. Feeling too hungry to wait for Jade and Azul, he went alone to the cafeteria, grabbed a few things and walked towards a table with some freshmen who were also from Octavinelle—but at the moment he sat down, without saying a word, they all started to get up and leave, exchanging a few glances at each other.
Oh. So everyone was actively avoiding him.
Yeah, not the first time it happens. People were already scared of him and Jade, and the way he chose to irritate and bother the other students every other day didn't help his situation either. Floyd would usually laugh about it, thinking it was funny how they would react to him eveytime he started to mention 'squeezing' the others—but oh, he didn't think it was funny this time. Not even a little bit.
With everything accumulated, it all just came crashing down.
Floyd drags his body through the school corridors, shoving something inside his pocket while not knowing where to go. He hated feeling like this—so overwhelmed, to the point of feeling numb. It wasn't physical pain, but it left him feeling like fishes when they’re hauled out of the sea and thrown back a few seconds before dying, and it absolutely sucked.
He just needed some time alone. There was this old, warm ache only he knew that could bring his mood back. Or atleast make what was bad a little better.
Moving on autopilot without really paying attention to his surroundings, he passes by two familiar figures, which he didn't even bat an eye untill his name was called. Floyd looked back with unamusement, only to see Jade and Riddle staring at him—when he turned around to force himself to talk to his brother, he saw Riddle moving away in a certain discomfort, already trying to keep distance before he could even say a word.
Hah, of course Riddle was going to avoid him too. He always does; but somehow, it made him upset.
“Oh, Floyd. I was looking for you…” Jade says, but immediately stops himself when he notices he wasn’t on his ‘normal’ temper, studying his brother’s expression for a second. “…What's wrong?"
Normally, Floyd felt comfortable telling Jade what was killing his mood, knowing he would understand and give him space if he wanted to—today was different, though. Talking to him seemed more like being forced to do a boring chore than anything. He was just in kind of a hurry, to say the least.
"...Nothin'. Just gonna catch some z's". The twin forced out in a slurred tone, not keeping eye contact.
Jade's eyebrows jolted up in confusion, but his expression remained calm. "Right now? I wouldn't risk it, considering you might get late for class".
Floyd rolled his eyes, sighing deeply. "Yeah, like I care 'bout that". He yawned, turning his back to them and only looking with the corner of his eyes. "See ya. Bye for you too, Goldfishie".
As they watched him go, a strange feeling rose up on Riddle's chest, slightly conflicted. When he agreed on accompanying Jade on the way to the cafeteria, he knew they'd cross ways with Floyd sooner or later, and the housewarden was already preparing himself to endure the eel's anctics, wheter he wanted it or not—when he was met with him leaving after a few words and not up to his usual buffoonery, he felt relieved it was one of his famous cases of 'mood swings'—but this time, it seemed different. More serious, rushed.
And he... Didn't really like the implications of that.
It's not that he missed the way Floyd bothered him, of course not. But something about the way he moved absolutely didn't sit right with Riddle—he just didn't know how to explain what bothered him so much.
"Could this be one of his mood swing episodes again?" Riddle asked, lifting his head up to make eye contact with Jade.
"It seems like it, yes. But he's acting like that for quite some time now, I must say. It's lasting longer than it normally does". A small scowl appears on his face as he finishes.
Riddle stares at him with curiosity. "Hm, is that true? How is he acting lately?"
"Too reclusive for my own taste. Floyd's been quiet lately, avoiding questions, refusing to do the work he'd normally say it's fun. Me and Azul thought it was something about the teachers, which usually strikes those episodes, but it seems more than that". Jade says, crossing his arms before continuing. "But unfortunately I don't know more than that, as he's not telling me anything".
Yes. Certainly something to be worried for.
“Mm. I wonder… if we should check if he’s up to something, just in case”.
Jade hummed. “This is new coming from you. Have you grown a certain interest for my brother, perhaps?”
“…Huh? What?” His eyes become wide open in his conclusion, cheeks becoming red from the sudden question. “No, that’s not it…”
“I was just kidding with you, Riddle" He said, chuckling. " I share the same idea, but I prefer to give him some space. Maybe he prefers to be alone for now”.
"...I see". He said with uncertainty, still thinking about what to do—but doesn't protest against Jade's decision either. "Let's head to the cafeteria, then".
With the taller teen's nod, they both start to make their way towards the cafeteria. Yet, no matter how much Riddle tried to ignore, the strange feeling from before, and he wasn't able to shake it off no matter how hard he tried—the way Floyd looked at him when he moved away was deeply ingrained inside his mind.
Riddle felt so unbelievably pathetic for being worried about him.
He absolutely didn't miss any of his foolish behaviors, of course not. In fact, he was more than glad today was a calm day, and he could regulate his thoughts without an almost two meters tall eel chasing and squeezing him around—but he just couldn't get it out of his mind now. It just wasn't right.
In case, it's better check. He wasn't able to get it out of his mind now.
"Er, Jade?" The redhead calls, stopping in place again.
"Yes?"
"I believe I forgot something important in class. I'll have to come back to grab it". He said, blatantly lying.
"Oh, of course. See you later, then". He said with a smile on his lips, but the small concern on his eyes didn't leave. "Please, do tell me if you find out something about Floyd".
"I will". He said with a nod, bidding farewells to the taller teenager and parting ways, looking back with the corner of his eyes for a second to make sure Jade wasn't going to follow him.
Great, now, the main problem was finding Floyd.
Not that it was a hard task. The eel was taller than most of the students, only being smaller than a few beastmen from Savanaclaw and the Diasomnia housewarden, and to add up to his size, his presence was always a scandal; chasing the students around, giving high-fives to people he doesn't really know and being loud—but of course, that was him on a normal day, not the Floyd he's concerned about right now.
Well, it's not like he should hurry at all. On the worst case scenario, he's probably going to be napping on an empty classrom to cool down his head for a bit, so it was fine. Riddle just wanted to make this deep ingrained concern go away for now.
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Floyd stands inside the restroom stall, sleeves rolled up to his elbows as he ran a cold, metallic blade agressively on his wrist, scattered cuts appearing on his skin one after another, not giving enough time for them to open up. The ache and stinging feeling left the eel feeling enthusiastic, a satisfacted smile slowly forming on his lips.
Just one of his sessions, the ones he normally did when things got too bothersome. Floyd was used to it.
He liked the feeling the metallic blade left on his skin—it was cold, stinging, completely different from when he was in the sea and used the long nails he has in merform to scratch his skin—in land, it made an euphoric shiver run down his spine, and he liked to cure his boredom this way.
It never lasted for too long, though. No matter how deep he went, the starting ache faded quickly, and he had to continuously open wounds to make it last longer. The way they scattered around his arms, forming keloids and deep open scars that never had time to completely heal were ugly to anyone who saw them, but it's not like people saw it very often. Except for Jade, Azul and probably his parents, people most likely wouldn't be bothered enough to be concerned about it, more focused on seeing him as a menace.
Floyd swiftly moved the blade over some recently opened wounds again, using a certain strenght that made him feel more pain than it normally did, a wave of diziness fogging his mind. He couldn't help but smile at the feeling—but when he decided to take a look at whatever he had done, his teethy smile slowly started to fade, and he went cold.
Ah, shit. No, that's not the fun kind.
He throws himself on the toilet lid, sitting down to examine what he just did, his once empty eyes completely wide now. It went deep, mixed with other smaller scars, and blood gushed out, dripping down his arm. As much as the blood and the lingering ache made the eel feel ecstatic, the image of such a big wound made him panic, in ways he didn't wish it did.
Better clean it up... the best way he could. If the wound was smaller, he could make a quick trip to Sam's shop and buy a few things to take care of it with the money he had, but with how foggy his brain was, Floyd was confused about what he should do. Water should do the trick, maybe.
He tried to stand up, and his long legs instantly tried to fail him, forcing the eel to support himself on the wall with his arm. Godness, had he eaten today? He doesn't remember. Ugh, this is nasty. Jade was going to pull on his leg forever if he found out about this. And Azul... he prefers not to think about him.
...So dizzy.
Finally recomposing himself, the merman leaves the bathroom stall with his sleeves still rolled up and wounds exposed to anyone around, walking towards the sink and moving past two freshmen who were idly talking about something he didn't care about. When the duo saw the blood coming out from such a terrible injury, they instantly gasped.
"O-oh my—" the smaller one managed out, covering his mouth with both hands. "A-are you alright...? Should we call someone, or-"
Floyd, who was putting his wounded arm under the water and caressing it with his other hand in hopes the blood stopped gushing out, moved his head to face them, trying to ignore the nausea it made him feel. "... Huh. Stop starin'. Never saw blood?"
The other student finally gathered enough courage to say something. "But those are bad, man... You're gonna, like, d-die with that or something..."
The eel couldn't help but let a small giggle out, though the ache of the water against the cut made him slightly numb. "Hah. These people, man..." Floyd stopped for a second, frowning when he noticed the blood didn't stop when he moved his arm away from the sink. "Nah, I'm fine. Scram out already, would'ya? Unless yall wanna keep seein' this..."
The students, both conflicted and frightened by the scene, eyed each other and nodded frantically, rushing out of the restroom and leaving the eel completely alone.
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Walking towards the restroom in his search for Floyd, Riddle's attention immediately went to two freshmen from his dorm, walking out of the bathroom with panicked expressions, like they saw a ghost of some sort. When they caught the sight of the redheaded housewarden, they rushed towards him in panic.
"H-housewarden!" said the taller one, with evident worry on his tone. "We need to talk to you!"
Riddle stares at him, eyes full of confusion while he was forced to stand in place. "Hm? What happened for you two to be so desperate?"
"You know Floyd, right? T-that guy from Octavinelle? We were on the restroom talking, and he—" said the teen before being interrupted.
"—he left the stall with a giant cut on his arm! I'm not sure if he did that himself, but man... It was bad!"
With these words, Riddle's body went cold. There goes his hopes on the worst case scenario being something innocent—this, in fact, was the last thing he’d ever expect coming from Floyd, and even though he wanted to understand more about the situation, he couldn’t speak. He tried to swallow the lump in his throat, but no words left his mouth, too stunned to think of how bad it was.
The redhead shook his head, trying to calm himself down. He was a housewarden, and even though Floyd wasn’t a student from his dorm, he had to assure everything was okay, and he couldn’t exactly do that if his mind was racing.
“…What do you mean? Is he still in the restroom?” He asks, trying to keep his usual manners, but the barely hidden concern on the end of his tone made it clear that he wasn’t taking the information very well.
"Yeah! He's washing his arm on the sink, and there's blood everywhere!" the taller student says like he was reciting a scene from an horror movie. "You're somehow closer than him than we'll ever be, so maybe..."
Before the freshman could finish his speech, Riddle immediately rushed past them, hurriedly walking towards the restroom in autopilot mode—the panic-striken fear from being described of such a terrible scene made his steps heavy, tense and scared, and he had to think twice before going past the door—but took a deep breath and entered anyway.
When he saw Floyd, the world around Riddle seemed to freeze at that very moment. The merman leaned half of his body on the wall, hunched over while trying to clean his arm, staining the sink with a bloody mess. Though he could only see the side view of his face, it seemed like all color was drained from his body, already pale skin becoming a sickly shade of white, adding up to his unusual terrified expression. The redhead tried to say something, but words died in his throat when he saw Floyd watching him with the corner of his eyes.
Lifting his head slightly to the side, Floyd's eyes met Riddle's, and still blinded by the diziness making his surroundings foggy, he gave the housewarden a small, lazy smile. "Heeey, Goldfishie. Came to see me bleedin' too....?" he asks in a slurred tone, words leaving his mouth with a certain dificulty.
Frozen in place, Riddle blinks a few times to regulate his own emotions, and he has to swallow twice before managing to get something out of his throat. "Floyd...! Let me see the wound". He said while slowly walking closer to the oversized teen—in fact, he didn't desire to see it any further than he already did, but safety comes first.
Feeling his muscles limp, Floyd slowly takes his arm out of the water and lifts it up on Riddles direction, showing the exposed injury, blood leaking down and dripping on the floor. Riddle gasped with the sight, rushing closer to him.
"Ack! Floyd, how did you—" he interrupted himself, holding the eel's exposed arm with one hand, confirming how bad it was as a shiver ran down his spine as he saw the fat from the taller teen's body, nausea hitting him. “Ugh… we need to go to the infirmary. This is deep and needs proper and immediate care”. He said, trying to sound collected but failing as his voice broke.
“…Nah. Let ‘em be”. The turquoise haired teen said, trying to take his bleeding arm out of the redhead’s hold, struggling a little and feeling his head light. “I’ll clean it later. Been doin’ this for a while, y’know”.
Riddle’s face went red, angered by such self-neglect and refusal of proper care. “Are you expecting me to just let you walk around with an exposed injury and risking an infection? This is ridiculous!”
Before Floyd could react, he felt the smaller teen’s soft but tense hands grabs his wrist again, doing his best to push an eel twice his size. Riddle couldn’t grasp such stupidity coming from the twin, especially with how the blood was soaking under him. Anyone a little smarter would accept proper care immediately—so why would he just torture himself like that? It made absolutely no sense.
Feeling weak against the housewarden’s grip, which was unusual, Floyd just accepted his fate, sluggishy following his rushed pace while diziness flooded his head again, eyes blurrying slightly, only being able to see the small figure in front of him.
Yeah, okay. Maybe some aftercare would do. He felt like a frail seahorse now.
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Floyd sits on the edge of the infirmary’s bed, staring at his own feet with his head down while the nurse bandaged his arm, a miserable position to be put in. Riddle stood still on the other side of the room, giving them privacy while still glancing over the eel, concern obvious in his blue eyes. It was a sight of Floyd he haven’t seen yet. It felt ironic, watching his tall figure becoming reclusive, small, and even… fragile? He didn’t know the right words to describe it, but it seemed almost like it.
This image of him was painful, to say the least—the anger he normally felt for the eel disappeared with this sight, being replaced by some sort of compassion mixed with unsettlement. It didn’t matter how hard he tried, Riddle couldn’t find an exact reason that brought Floyd over the edge so bad like that. His mood swings were normally out of boredom, so why something so serious like that had happened?
Riddle's heart clenched, and he frowned with his own thoughts. This was an habit, it seemed; but it’s not like it was caused only for boredom reasons. He sure had other things… way better than that to entretain himself, so why?
His thoughts are cut off sharp by the nurse's voice talking to Floyd. "There you are, Mr. Leech. To not let it infectionate, I suggest you..."
Then, the eel slowly lifted his head up, but instead of paying attention to the nurse, his eyes glanced over the other side of the room, staring Riddle with an expression so pitiful it almost seemed uncharacteristical coming from him. The redhead looked back, exchanging looks for a couple seconds before Floyd's head went down again, distracting himself by poking on his new bandages.
Huh. Was that him trying to make sure he wasn't alone...?
"... And that's it. You can stay here for the time being, if you prefer. I'll leave you alone for now—"
"Can Goldfishie stay here?"
Riddle's eyes immediately went wide with the question, confusion clear on his expression. Sure, given the situation they're both put in, he doubts the merman is going to do something to mess up with him—but why is he seeking his company, especifically? Is his presence really that comforting?
"Goldfishie...? Oh, I assume you mean Mr. Rosehearts, yes?" Said the man after taking a quick glance around the room, meeting the housewarden's shocked eyes. "Well, if he agrees to stay here with you, of course".
Oh.
Oh well. It's not like he could leave Floyd by himself like nothing had happened, especially after forcing him to get proper care at the infirmary. If it was him on this situation, he'd certainly ask Trey to stay with him for comfort, so why not?
"Sure, I can stay". He said with a small grin on his lips.
"That's great!" The nurse smiled back. "I will be in my desk. Tell me if you need something".
With the redhead's nod, the man walked back to his desk a little further from the beds, leaving both of them pratically alone.
Quietly, Riddle walked towards the eel who was still looking down and toying with his recently done bandages and sat on the edge of the bed in front of him, with enough distance for them to face each other, even though the merman refused to look back at him.
Naturally, he didn't know what to do. As much as he didn't like to admit it, almost all of the time he was on the 'comforted' side due to the stress, always having Trey around to give him solace when things got bad ended up making him feel quite confused when he was on the other side of the coin, and the silence between them proved that. They sat there awkwardly, Riddle waiting for Floyd to say something, anything that he could use in order to give him reassurance—but nothing came out of his mouth.
Ah, he didn’t want to do this—but nothing can be done without someone talking in the first place. Riddle was sure he couldn’t provide the amount of comfort he usually received from his vice-housewarden, but he might as well try and imitate what he’d probably do.
“Floyd?” He called, waiting for the eel to look back. When he didn’t move an inch, he sighed and decided to continue anyway. “Could you tell me what made you do such a thing?”
The taller teen jolted his head up slowly, staring at the redhead with an unreadable expression; which was his way of showing the shame he felt. He couldn't explain. The rejection, being reminded of the same thing everytime, how they compared him to Jade even though indirectly... Didn't feel like something he'd say to someone, especially Riddle; he’d think it’s stupid. He was going to sigh, tell him how the teachers are right about their statements—and he doesn’t feel like hearing it again. He wanted to be taken seriously for once.
He shook his head, avoiding eye contact. “Don’t feel like it”.
Riddle kept staring, upset, but not angry this time. Every aspect of Floyd’s body language showed there were multiple things troubling his mind all at once, and he knew that feeling—trying to hide what stressed him untill it was too much. For the merman, it seemed like it didn’t matter if he was already broken or not, and that was what he should prevent from happening. He wouldn’t forgive himself if something worse happened.
“…I see. Is there something I can do to help you feel better, then?”
Silence. Then, in a couple of seconds, Floyd’s hands started to tremble, his oversized body uncharacteristically frail shaking like a leaf in the process.
“I want a hug”. He says weakly.
Riddle blinked his eyes a few times, trying to process his request—not that it wasn’t expected, but it was the first time Floyd asked for a genuine hug, different from all the times he chased him around and forced a tight embrace between them. It truly took him by surprise for a few seconds.
“A hug? Is that all you need?”
The merman nodded frantically, lifting his head up to finally find the comfort of his wide blue eyes, tearing up slightly. “A tight, big one…”
Upon seeing his sorrowful expression, Riddle softened, slowly getting up from the edge of the bed and standing on front of the eel, opening his arms and inviting him for a hug. His position didn’t last a second before Floyd immediately moved his body closer and tightly held his waist with both arms, pushing the redhead forward with a strenght that was almost unbearable to keep up with—but he didn’t mind this time.
Floyd nuzzled his cheek against his shoulder, body trembling as the tears welled in his eyes started to fall, wetting the housewarden’s uniform blazer. When Riddle noticed the small and surprisingly quiet sobs coming from the older teen, he moved one of his hands out of the embrace and put it on the back of his head, slowly running his fingers through his hair to try and calm the eel down.
“Goldfishie…” He called with a shaky tone, muffled by the way he snuggled his face against the blazer. “Tighter. Don’t leave”.
Riddle had to avoid sighing again—not out of anger, but because of how much the eel pressed him. Yet, he shrugged it off; it wasn’t forced, not the annoying clinginess. He needed that. “I’m not leaving, Floyd. Here, calm down”. He said, tightening the grip.
Floyd smiled with the tension of the smaller teen’s embrace. It was genuine. It didn’t show signs of rejection. He wasn’t trying to go away.
That’s what he needed.