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Epel had arrived a little later than the others to this meeting that Ace had decided to take upon himself to call for reasons that he insisted on keeping a secret. All he revealed was that in order to get in, one needed a password which varied from person to person. Epel went along with it though because what else was he going to do with his evening? Take more etiquette lessons with Vil and Rook? He thinks the fuck not.
So here he was, standing outside the Ramshackle prefect’s dorm that she shared with Grim, giving the door two firm knocks waiting for the door to crack open slightly and for the voice of Ace to ask, “Password?”
Epel sighed and mumbled, “I’m a little teapot shor—”
“Do the moves.” Ace insisted much to Epel’s annoyance.
Epel glared at the redhead but begrudgingly did the movements that went with ‘I’m a little teapot’ to be given access inside Ramshackle where beside Ace and Grim were Deuce, Jack, and Sebek. Upon walking in, Epel saw that there were some pastries as well as tea on the coffee table. “Did the prefect make this?”
“Nah, Trey made the pastries and Sebek made the tea.” Ace explained as he shut the door and watched Epel take a seat on the floor besides Jack. Ace, on the other hand, went to take a seat on the couch next to Deuce while Sebek sat at the head of the coffee table with Grim at the other.
“Do let me know how the tea is. You are all simply my guinea pigs for when I brew a cup for Lord Malleus later.” Sebek informed them because, of course, he couldn’t just do something to be nice. Yet, all of the first years were pretty much used to it by now.
“So, is this everyone?” Epel asked as he grabbed an apple tart that Trey had kindly made this time. He shoved it in his mouth, politeness be damned.
“Yep, Ortho said he was too busy and we can just let him know what happened later.” Deuce informed Epel as he also picked up one of the pastries made by his vice housewarden.
“Okay, though what about the prefect?” Jack asked as it was something that had been bugging him since he had arrived. Usually the prefect was around when they had these hangouts yet he hadn’t seen them at all during his time here.
“That’s why we’re here! My henchman keeps sneaking off somewhere without telling me. I’ve asked them, but they never tell me where they went or with who and apparently it’s not these two idiots!” Grim grumbled with his mouth half full, had you been here you would have likely told him to swallow first but you weren’t so he was going to misbehave a little.
“Hey!”
Of course Ace took offense to being called an idiot, but Deuce decided to keep things moving along as they only had so much time before you came back from your after-school club. You weren’t in any of their clubs so it meant they could hold this meeting in your own dorm behind your back with no problem.
“So we decided to hold this meeting in case any of you happen to know who it is.” Deuce tried to explain, though Jack was confused.
“Who what is?”
“Who the Ramshackle prefect is dating, duh!” It was a no-brainer to Ace.
“I don’t see why that is any of our business and if that’s all this meeting is about then I’ll be taking my leave.” Sebek declared starting to get up from his seat.
“Do you think it’s Malleus Draconia?” Epel chimed in, catching the green haired boy’s attention who sat right back down
“That magicless human?! Don’t be ridiculous!”
“Dude, have you ever heard ‘a volume control!?” Epel yelled at him right back given their close proximity.
“Can the both of you be quiet?” Jack huffed his own ears very much ringing from the sudden rise in volume. “Though I agree with Sebek, I have heard that the two of them are simply just friends.”
“That’s what they want you to think.” Ace added as he picked up one of the cookies amongst the many other pastries.
“Jack speaks the truth, though I will not reveal all. My master would have surely told us if he was in a relationship with the prefect. So I urge you to abandon this line of thinking lest I have you cease by force.”
“Fine, any other ideas?” Ace waved his hand in the air not wanting to hear Sebek’s whining anymore though it seemed he was more willing to stick around longer now in case his dearest lord Malleus gets talked about again.
“Grim, you know her best.” Deuce turned his attention to the small feline that had known the prefect ever since their arrival to Twisted Wonderland. Sure, the two didn’t immediately get off on the right foot but even if Grim denied it, he deeply cared for the prefect and vice versa.
“I’m usually asleep a lot of the time and sometimes I fall asleep in the middle of her going on about dumb things.” Still Grim tried to think about anyone who his henchman could like.
“She gets a lot of messages from Kalim and Cater.”
Ever since she had gotten a phone from Crowley and added people that they knew she had gotten a bit more involved with the device which meant that every so often the phone would ping with messages from people she considers friends. Two of them being those that Grim mentioned.
“Okay what do they say?” Ace asked Grim to keep going and give them more details but he just shrugged.
“Don’t know, Cater likes to use a lot of those small pictures between all the words and Kalim says a whole lot of nothing.”
“You are just so helpful.” Ace rolled his eyes as Grim gave him pretty much nothing, “Should’ve had you steal her phone.”
“If you had done that I would have taken it from you and informed her about it.” Jack crossed his arms and glared at Ace for thinking of stealing from the prefect even if it was only temporary it was still wrong. “You all could just ask her yourselves, you know, instead of speculating.”
“Jack is right.” Deuce had to agree, though Ace still thought that would be a dumb idea and surely you could just lie to them.
“Epel, besides the three of us, she hangs out with you a lot, right?” Ace decided to instead turn his attention back to the lavender boy sitting on the floor in front of him.
“Ya wha’ ‘bout it?” He asked with his hand in front of his mouth as he was still chewing when Ace questioned him. Though he soon swallowed and had a sip of Sebek’s tea which was surprisingly good.
“She tell you anything?”
Did you tell Epel anything? Well, yeah, a fuck ton. He wasn’t sure why but he also didn’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth and just let you. “Well I got no clue who she's seeing right now, but I can tell you who she isn’t.” Epel felt a bit smug as everyone else was practically leaning in just a bit to hear what he had to say.
He took another sip of his tea as everyone was quiet, surprisingly, obviously waiting for him to go on.
“Leona, Vil, Trey, Jade, Lilia, and Silver aren’t it.”
“Shit, that’s a lot of no’s.” Deuce spoke while Ace decided to pull out his phone and was typing away on it, which Grim and Sebek took interest in as they tried to see what he was doing.
“Can you two back off? I’m just narrowing things down!” Ace didn’t need them practically breathing down his neck.
“Leona-senpai huh…” Jack wondered why that was but decided not to ask. Surely the prefect had her reasons.
“Anything else?” Ace believed that there surely had to be more to this! Surely the prefect had told Epel more than he was telling them right now.
The Pomefiore freshman got quiet though at Ace’s insistence glancing down at the food before him for a moment, before looking at Ace. “We’re just trying to figure out who the prefect is dating right?”
“Uh yeah?” Ace questioned a bit perplexed why Epel would ask such a question.
“I thought it was just who they’re seeing?”
“Who they’re seeing is another way of figuring out who they’re dating, Deuce.” Jack sighed.
“What else would we be asking besides that?” Sebek inquired confused as to why Epel would want clarification when it was obvious that everyone, except himself, were curious about who the prefect was courting.
“Oh well it’s not impor—”
“Did you see something Eps?” Ace smirked a bit.
“What did my henchman do this time?” Grim wondered what you got up to this time that made Epel get so red in the face as he did right now.
“It’s not important! It was probably something completely different knowing how Rook is!” Epel blurted out, placing his hands on his head and shaking said head a bit. It was only really your voice he had heard make those noises anyway when he had been out late roaming the Pomefiore halls past bedtime because he had to take a whizz. He was likely just imagining things. Though, much like his initial reaction to hearing those noises, it seems the others had gotten a similar idea as they all too had gotten red in the face, except for Grim who was confused.
“Rook? Is Rook dating my henchman?!” was his small worry instead.
“No!” Epel banged his fists on the table, “Let’s move on!”
“How can you be so sure after you just dropped that on us?!” It was now Ace’s turn to yell while Sebek grumbled something about harlots or another.
“Well, if it was Rook surely he would have made a show of it, right?” Deuce did his best at answering Ace’s question even if he wasn’t sure himself.
“I have to agree. Besides, Vil would have likely told me if that was the case.” Vil didn’t tell Jack everything exactly but, given their recent reconnection, Jack had become somewhat of a second confidant for the influencer when Rook was being just a bit much.
“You know what? I think after that revelation I need to go take a shower. Why don’t we all come back another day to discuss this further?” Ace stood up from his seat taking a stretch as the others proceeded to do the same.
“I hope the shower is just a shower.” Deuce commented as he was gathering up the plates and teacup, he couldn’t leave a mess for you to find. Heck all of them weren’t really supposed to be there anyway. “Oh though speaking of, shouldn’t the prefect be back already?”
While Deuce was putting the dishes and cutlery away, Jack and Sebek were fixing up the living room with the aid of Grim who was eating anything that had fallen on the floor. There wasn’t much though besides a crumb or two.
Epel, all the while, was glancing outside the window. It was slightly cracked open so the cool breeze was helpful in calming him down from the earlier discussion. Though while he was looking out, he could see you walking side by side with another holding hands as you approached your dorm.
…
Oh shit!
“Ya’ll the prefect is comin’ and they got company!” Epel hollered in a hushed tone along with getting out of the way of the window. At the announcement everyone sans Jack panicked. Quickly they made sure the place looked as it did before, but they couldn’t just leave outside the front door you’d surely catch them!
Yet they could hear that you were so close and so without much thought, Deuce opened up a storage closet nearby with Ace urging everyone to hurry up and get in. Even Grim joined them there, using Jack as his perch for the time being. Though with so many people, they couldn’t completely close the closet door but it was too late now as they heard the front door opening. With the slim amount of light that they could see they saw you walk in first followed by another.
“Grim!” you called out first thing and waited for your familiar to come, but Deuce kept a hold of him from going anywhere.
“Don’t.” Ace whispered and watched as you let out a sigh.
“I guess he’s taking a nap or decided to go somewhere with the other guys for once. Could I interest you in tea?” You had always been a rather kind person, yet the way you talked to this currently unknown individual sounded different.
The other party who was with you declined your offer however, “Perhaps another time as I have my duties to attend to, my rose.”
“Wait a damn minute,” Ace recognized that voice, as did Deuce, and in fact everyone within the closet knew that serious and stern voice that for some reason softened when it talked to you.
“Ace, we need to carefully get ou—” while talking, Deuce’s grip on Grim had loosened up a bit and, much like the others, Grim was shocked hearing that voice. It was a voice that could only belong to that person.
“Henchman!” Grim burst out from the closet exposing not just himself but everyone else within, “You’re dating Riddle?!”
At the sudden intrusion, you and Riddle were taken back. The both of you took a moment to process what happened as you tried to make sense of everything and Riddle’s face began to redden in a mixture of anger and being flustered. How long were they there? How much did they hear just now?
Surely Ace and Deuce were likely at fault for all of this and Riddle would be sure to inform the other housewardens about the involvement of the others.
“Ace and Deuce, do you have any idea wh—”
“Ha! Hahaha!” Yet there was you, laughing at all of this which puzzled Riddle. He didn’t quite understand what was funny but allowed you to have your laugh as the others filed out of the closet and waited for you to calm down. Tears pricking in the corner of your eyes from it all that you’d wipe away once you caught your breath. “Oh dear, you all never fail to surprise me in some way.” You let out a dreamy sigh. “Though do explain why you were all in my closet.”
At first everyone was talking at once, but Riddle quickly instructed them to go one at a time which resulted in everyone pointing at Ace.
“Ace wanted to figure out who the prefect was seeing!” Deuce stood up straight eyes looking right at his housewarden while his finger pointed at Ace.
“Even though he could have just messaged you.” That was simply common sense to Jack.
“I was only told that we were to hangout so at Lilia’s insistence I came.” Sebek explained his reasoning.
“Ace invited me but didn’t give me details on what we’d exactly be doing.” Epel shrugged.
“I was just worried about my henchman.” Grim voiced and upon seeing him the prefect would go over and pick him up.
“Were you now? Well, as you can see, I’m fine Grim. Though, as Jack said, you could have just asked me instead of holding some secret meeting.”
“Precisely.” Riddle still had a stern look on his face as he looked at all his underclassmen but more so Ace. “I suggest all of you leave right now except for those within Heartslabyul. Now.” He commanded and not wanting to see the fallout of this, Sebek, Jack and Epel left with the smallest boy mumbling about how this was still better than attending etiquette lessons.
“Riddle, don't collar them, just have them do something else for being nosey.” You suggested as you knew using his UM tended to be Riddle’s go to form of punishment. Though at your insistence he didn’t do that and instead requested that they not only write the both of you a 500 worded apology letter but that they were to also be in charge of the flamingos for two weeks and had to wash the windows for one week.
Deuce was all for it, “Sorry housewarden and Ramshackle prefect.” Going as far as to bow his head in apology. Ace was a bit more hesitant but he followed through soon after.
“Go back to the dorm.” Riddle sighed. “Don’t stray as I’ll be right behind you.”
Once the two of them walked out, Riddle glanced at you with Grim still in your arms as if waiting to be punished next somehow. Though much like Jack, Sebek, and Epel, Grim wasn’t under his command. “I’ll let my rose deal with you. Apologies that things went this way.” Riddle sighed and was about to head out when you let Grim down so you could go ahead and grab his hand. In a swift movement you brought your lips to press a chaste kiss against his cheek.
“It’s fine, we’ll get together again.” You found all of it amusing after all and besides there would always be more days ahead. Letting go of his hand you escorted him out the door, watching him leave with a blush all over his face instead.
“Yes, until then.” Polite as ever Riddle bowed to you before departing after his two soldier cards leaving you and Grim alone for the night.
“Riddle, huh? Didn’t expect that.” Grim spoke once it was just the two of you watching and following as you headed upstairs to your bedroom.
“And why not?” you asked, opening the door to the bedroom and watching as Grim sat at the edge of it with you sitting down on the bed, pulling out your phone and opening up your messages.
“I just thought you had some other type like Kalim!”
“Oh, I do. I have plenty of types, Grim.” You spoke while showing your feline companion what you were looking at. Grim didn’t completely understand as he was shown a group chat that was labeled ‘Prefects Harem’ filled with several people. Though after reading some of the messages that you kindly showed him it clicked.
“You have a whole group of boyfriends and they all know each other?!” The small monster was simply dumbfounded but you couldn’t help yourself from finding his reaction to it as the cutest thing.
“Mhm, but keep this as a secret between us, okay? I want the others to eventually find out, but I think it’s just amusing to let them think it’s just Riddle for a bit longer, kay? There is tuna in it for you, of course.”
“Oh, I heard tuna. I’m in, no problem, henchman. Your secret is safe with me!”