Chapter Text
The silence in the Headmage’s office was deafening. The first years, all of whom would like to point out that they did nothing to deserve it, stared at Crowley with slack jaws. Beady eyes stared back at them expectantly.
“Someone hold me back.” That was the only warning they got before Yuu lunged at the Headmage. Ace and Deuce, both of which were on either side of them, rushed to try and stop them. They both failed, immediately getting pushed off. Incredulous looks were exchanged behind Yuu's back.
“Where was that strength during the Overblots?” Muttered Jack from the corner of the room, watching the chaos unfold.
“Yea! Get ‘em, Yuu!” Epel yelled, making no moves to help in the slightest. Ortho just seemed content to observe everyone, probably recording like always.
Sebek and Jack both shared an exasperated look, wondering how they were even friends with these idiots.
“Yuu, think about Grim. What would happen to him if you were arrested?” Jack tried to reason with Yuu. Both him and Sebek were trying their hardest to hold back their friend, but Yuu seemed determined.
“Prefect! I beg of you to not harm the Headmage, think of Grim!” Sebek's sheer volume alone made everyone wince. It made Yuu stop, if only to scold Sebek for his noise level, but it worked!
Crowley cleared his throat, acting as if he wasn't just seconds away from getting beaten by a teenager. “Now dear students, I fear you do not have a choice in this matter,” he paused, beady eyes staring into their souls, “unless you wish for your guardians and Housewardens to figure out the millions in damages you've cost me.” He flashed them a magazine worthy smile, looking like a smug peacock the whole time.
Everyone paled, even Yuu.
“Housewarden's going to kill us if he finds out! Oh, and my mom. She can't find out! I definitely won't be an honour student then.” Deuce already started to panic, clutching onto Jack's shoulder who was trying to console the blue haired boy.
“Nii-san wouldn't be too mad!” No one had the heart to tell Ortho that his brother would rightfully freak out and blame them if this got out.
“Wait Yuu, why are you even panicking?” Ace asked incredulously, turning to face one of his closest friends.
“Crewel took over my guardianship.” That was all it took to have everyone else in the room shudder, including Crowley for some reason.
The first years shared a solemn look, all of them coming to the same conclusion.
“Alright, we'll do it.” Epel, who had just been egging Yuu on earlier, readily agreed for them. The last thing he needed was for his Meemaw to find out, or worse, Vil and Rook.
Crowley clapped his hands together like he'd just won the lottery, his smile positively beaming. “Oh excellent! I'm so glad that we came to this agreement! How truly gracious and magnanimous I am!”
Most, if not everyone, was used to the Headmage’s rambling by now. Once Crowley started, he never stopped. Collectively deciding that they were not dealing with this, one by one they left the room and congregated in Ramshackle.
“We all agree that Crowley has finally lost it, right?” Ace asked, plopping down on one of Ramshackle's old couches, kicking his legs up on the coffee table. Yuu shot him an irritated look that he pointedly ignored.
“Lost it? I doubt he ever had it to begin with.” Scoffed Epel, staring at Ace’s shoes on the coffee table with disgust.
“Maybe it's not that bad though..?” Deuce spoke up out of nowhere. Everyone's attention snapped to him, some curious and others downright murderous. “I mean, with everything that's happened this year don't you think a break would be good?” He hurries to mediate things before a fight breaks out.
“Spade has a point.” Sebek shocked everyone in the room by agreeing, even Deuce himself seemed surprised. “This school year has certainly been…interesting.” His hand ruffled through his gelled hair, a nervous habit.
Ace sighed, dramatically draping himself across Yuu who pushed him off of them. He shot the prefect a wounded look, getting up to dust himself off. “This is RSA we're talking about. No one wants to be around those stuck up princes for too long.”
“They're not that bad. Neige was pretty nice.” Yuu hesitantly spoke up, only to be looked at like they were insane. “What? He was really nice. Too much so…” They muttered the last part to themself, but by the way Jack's ear twitched in their direction he heard it.
“We don't speak of Neige.” Epel spoke so solemnly that you'd assume something terrible happened.
“We're getting off topic!” Sebek snapped at them. Jack winced, ears flattening against his head, he shot Sebek a glare. Sebek at least looked a little guilty for yelling in his friend's ear.
“I mean, I get where you're coming from Deucey,” Ace ignored Deuce yelling at him to not call him that, “I'm tired of dealing with this too. Like, I get that Riddle has chilled out after everything, but he's still so strict!” Frustration leaked into his voice as he rambled on. “You'd think that after his Overblot he'd be less strict, but no! I still get collared for the littlest of things.”
“To be fair, you do purposely cause trouble for Rosehearts-senpai” Jack, ever the observant one pointed out.
Ace scoffed, leaning back on the couch from his position on the floor. “Someone has to do it. It's not like I want him bottling up everything again, we all know how that ended the last time.”
“Ace is right, Housewarden has calmed down, but…” Deuce hesitated, clearly torn about speaking bad about one of his seniors, “anytime something happens we're always the first to get blamed. I get we're the usual suspects, but it kind of hurts getting collared without being able to explain myself. Half of the time it's Ace's fault and I'm just there!” Deuce huffed, letting himself fall back into the couch.
Ace winced, patting his friend's arm. “My bad Deuce.” Deuce shrugged, brushing the apology off.
Silence again enveloped Ramshackle, only to be broken by Jack's deep sigh of resignation. “Ortho, how long until we leave for RSA?” The beast man asked, turning his attention to their robot friend.
“We leave tomorrow morning!”
“What?!” Came the shocked voices of the first years. None of them had been told this. Did Crowley just decide to conveniently leave that out? Yuu was going to kill that bird man.
“Vil's going to kill me if I'm not ready…” Epel muttered to himself, turning his attention to his friends who looked sympathetic.
“Riddle too.” Deuce paled, pulling Ace up with him. “We'll see you guys tomorrow. I have to make sure Ace actually packs.” He ignored Ace's protests as they left.
Slowly, everyone trickled out, leaving only Yuu and Sebek, who cleared his throat and turned to his friend. “Get some rest Yuu.” His hand reached out to squeeze Yuu's shoulder in reassurance. With that, he left, heading back to Diasomnia to pack.