TWST Dorm Leaders and Their Love Language
Riddle - Quality Time
Of course, people talked.
Seeing Riddle escort the Ramshackle Prefect into his room was prime fuel for the rumor mill, and he knew for a fact that Cater wasn’t doing to stop it. But, frankly, Riddle couldn’t bring himself to care all that much.
Well, now, anyway.
He had been a nervous wreck the first time they came into his room. The voice in the back of his head that sounded an awful lot like his mother told him that there was definitely some rule he was breaking. But, by sheer force of will, he had managed to stomp down the trepidation, and now found himself in the lovely routine of having tea with his partner once a week.
“And then,” they laughed behind the rim of their tea cup. “Grim got so mad at Ace that he spat fire at him. But he totally missed and caught the back of Deuce’s jacket on fire. So if you hear Ace tell Deuce that something ‘lit a fire under his ass,’ now you know the story.”
Riddle sighed, but there was an amused smile playing across his lips. “Can you four go one day without causing trouble?”
“Hey, I wasn’t involved!”
Riddle raised an eyebrow in disbelief, taking a drink from his cup. Both of them were drinking strawberry tea this time, and the sweet aroma wafting around the room reminded him of them. It was to the point where he couldn’t drink strawberry tea without thinking of them. Not that this was a bad thing, of course.
“And anyway,” they continued, setting their cup down. “You and I both know that nothing short of brute force stops Grim from doing what he wants.”
“Then maybe you should consider carrying around a fire extinguisher.”
“My school bag is heavy enough, thank you,” they laughed. “Maybe a squirt bottle.”
Riddle couldn’t help but notice how adorable they looked when they smiled. The corners of their eyes scrunched up, and they had a beautiful laugh, even if they didn’t agree with him on that. He felt truly fortunate that they had these little moments to themselves.
Yes, tea time really was his favorite.
Leona - Physical Touch
“What took you so long, herbivore?”
Leona couldn’t help but smirk a little when he saw the Ramshackle Prefect jump. Really, they were going to have to work on that if they were going to be a lion’s mate.
“Hi, Leona, how are you?” they replied sarcastically, rolling their eyes as they made their way over to him. He had planted himself against the wall outside of their classroom, waiting not-so-patiently for them to finish.
“Bored. I thought your class ended at three.”
They shrugged. “You know how Trein is. He doesn’t stop talking until we all start packing our stuff up.”
“Hm. He does like the sound of his own voice.” Leona pushed himself off of the wall, shaking out his mane that had been pressed flat against his back. “Let’s go, I’m hungry.”
“When aren’t you hungry?” they teased, jogging to catch up with him. As soon as they were within reach, he slung an arm around their shoulders, tugging them closer to his side.
Nobody would have pegged Leona as the PDA type, but the lion was surprisingly affectionate. It didn’t necessarily have to be a big gesture, either. A hand on their lower back to guide them a certain way. Standing close so that their shoulders touched. Placing a hand on their shoulder to get their attention. The lion was unexpectedly touchy.
Suddenly, Leona stopped, forcing the Prefect to stop with him. His keen sense of hearing picked up on the voices down the hallway before they could.
“...can’t believe they’re actually together.”
“Me either. I mean, he’s a prince!”
Gossip about them was nothing new, but it still made the Prefect shrink into themself a little bit. Sometimes they couldn’t believe they were together either.
Before they could spiral too deep, Leona growled softly. He pulled them against him, tucking their head beneath his chin in what they now knew was the lion equivalent of a hug. “Those lowly opinions don’t matter. Ignore them.”
Azul - Words of Affirmation
“I don’t know, Azul, I just can’t understand any of this.”
Azul had hoped offering to help the Ramshackle Prefect study would lift some of their anxiety, but it appeared to make everything worse.
Their textbooks were spread out over his desk in his office, marked all over the place with color-coded sticky notes with annotations scribbled on them in an attempt to help the Prefect retain some of the information. But they were letting themself get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of knowledge and all of the students at Night Raven College took for basic.
“Hey, it’s alright.” He dipped his head to catch their gaze, which had been fixated on the miniscule print in their potions textbook. “You’ll get it, you just need time.”
“But I feel so stupid,” they sighed, slumping back in their chair. “If I can’t get the basics, how am I supposed to do the fancy stuff?”
“Now, come on,” Azul chided gently. “You’re one of the smartest people I know. And you’re dealing with a major handicap, don’t forget. The material is considered basic because we’ve already learned it. You haven’t.”
“I know…”
“So don’t be so hard on yourself.” He tapped the back end of his pen on their notebook with an air of finality. “Now, shall we try again? This time without discouraging yourself if you don’t know the answer.”
They sent him a small, wavering smile. “I’ll try.”
“That’s all you can do,” Azul. “I’m not nearly as strict a teacher as Crewel, you know. When you get the answers right, I’ll give you a reward.”
They perked up at that. “What kind of reward?”
“I believe there are still some sweets in the Lounge, if Floyd hasn’t devoured them all yet.”
Kalim - Gift Giving
“Come on, come on, open it!”
Kalim was practically bouncing with excitement. Not that this was unusual, of course, but it still brought a smile to the Ramshackle Prefect’s lips as they accepted the present.
They could tell he had been waiting anxiously to give them the gift. He and Jamil had taken a brief trip back to the Land of Hot Sands, and they couldn’t say they were surprised that Kalim had brought them something back. He had even wrapped it himself, if the clumsy tape job was anything to go by.
“You know it’s not my birthday or anything, right?” they asked jokingly.
“I know! I just saw it and thought of you.” he grinned. “Hurry up, I want to see your reaction!”
They had made him wait long enough. Laughing softly, they dug through the wrapping paper that covered most of the little box. He was getting better at wrapping.
After tossing the wrapping in a nearby wastebasket, they took the lid off of the box. Inside was a beautiful gold bangle, with an intricately designed tiger charm hanging off of it. The tiger’s eyes were made of small bits of emerald, and the detail was so fine that they could see each individual stripe on the body.
“Wow, Kalim, where did you find this?” they breathed, holding it up to examine it closely.
“The bazaar!” he grinned, sitting down on the couch next to them. “Jamil and I were going souvenir shopping, and there was a jeweler who set up his stall there. I remembered you saying that you wanted to see the tigers we have at home, and Jamil said I can’t just bring you to see them. So I bought you a tiger bracelet instead!”
They smiled at him, slipping the bangle on their wrist. “I love it, Kalim, thank you so much. I can’t believe you remembered the thing about the tigers.”
“One day I’ll bring you to see them, promise!” Kalim reached over and gave them a hug. “The cubs will love you.”
Vil - Acts of Service
It wasn’t often that Vil spent the night at Ramshackle. Usually it was the other way around, considering Pomfiore had all of the necessary amenities for basic living. But, occasionally, the planets aligned and the situation called for him to stay at the other dorm. It had been raining heavily the night before, and the Ramshackle Prefect insisted that he stay.
They were only slightly surprised to find the bed empty when they woke. Vil had a routine and not even a change of location could disrupt his schedule. He likely had opted not to wake them and headed back to Pomfiore.
At least, that’s what they thought.
Halfway through a very intense stretch, they realized they smelled something cooking. And it wasn’t burning, so that ruled out Grim. Confused, they slipped out of bed and made their way down the main staircase.
As they rounded the corner, they saw Vil standing at their stove with a tea towel tossed over his shoulder. He had one earbud in and was humming along to whatever song he had playing while he scrambled some eggs. There was already sausage and toast waiting on a plate on the counter.
The floorboard creaked as they stepped into the kitchen, and Vil turned. “I thought I heard you up and about.”
“What are you doing?” they asked, still groggy.
“I’m making breakfast. It shouldn’t be much longer, go ahead and sit down.”
They obeyed, gratefully taking the cup of coffee he placed in front of them. He prepared it exactly how they liked it, too. “What’s all this for?”
“For letting me stay the night,” he replied simply, shutting the burner off. “I would have gotten sick if I had attempted to go home during that storm.”
“Should I be cooking you breakfast every time I stay at Pomfiore?” they asked, only half jokingly. Vil chuckled softly, scooping some eggs onto the plate and placing it in front of them before getting his own helping.
“There’s no need. This is just my way of showing appreciation.”
“Well, thank you,” they smiled. “This looks and smells great. I didn’t know you could cook.”
Vil raised an eyebrow. “Did you think I had a personal chef that cooks all of my meals?”
“Kind of.”
Idia - Quality Time
It was quiet.
But not in a bad way. Actually, Idia was kind of enjoying it. Neither of them were speaking, each focused on their own thing. The only sounds were the inhumanly-fast clicking of keys as Idia reworked some code and the BGM of the game they had decided to play on his Switch.
They were still in the same position they were in when he had last glanced over at them. Sitting cross-legged on his bed staring intently at the screen, burrowed into one of his hoodies. The image was so adorable that Idia thought his heart was going to burst out of his chest.
"Yes!! I got it!!"
Idia almost flung his mouse across the room when they yelled. And he definitely pressed a few keys he hadn't meant to.
"Oh, sorry, I didn't mess you up, did I?" they grinned sheepishly.
He tapped on the backspace key a few times. "Problem solved. What did you get?"
"I got the shiny!"
Idia's yellow eyes widened as he spun around in his chair. "No way."
"For real!" They held up the console to reveal the index entry. Sure enough, the color swapped version stood proudly on the screen.
"Did you cheat?" he asked.
"Excuse you!" They stuck their tongue out at him. "I don't cheat. I used almost all of my balls, and, like, three-fourths of my team are down because I was worried the time matchup would kill it. And…"
Idia had completely forgotten his code. Seeing them go on passionately, about anything, really, was such a precious sight that he could stare at them forever. They looked so proud of themself too.
"I propose snacks as a celebration," he grinned.
"Do you have pocky?"
"Of course I have pocky, what kind of otaku would I be if I didn't?"
Malleus - Physical Touch
“Your hands are cold.”
The Ramshackle Prefect glanced up bemusedly at Malleus. “That’s what happens to humans when it’s cold out.”
“You really are such fragile creatures.” The glint in his eye told the Prefect that he was joking, and they rolled their eyes playfully.
“We can’t all be immortal dragon Fae,” they squeezed his hand a little tighter, savoring the warmth of his palm against theirs. “Who have disturbingly high body temperatures.”
“That’s what happens to dragons when we breathe fire.”
“Alright,” they nudged him with their shoulder, laughing.
These nightly walks had long since become a routine for the two of them. The Prefect, with all of their natural human curiosity, would grill Malleus with questions regarding what he knew about Night Raven College, the headmaster, Ramshackle dorm, all kinds of things. The hand-holding had started out simply so they wouldn’t get lost when they ventured into the forest. It had thrown him through a loop when they had continued the practice even along the well-lit paths.
Not that he was complaining.
Dragons were naturally very tactile creatures. They liked the physicality of things and the touch of another brought them comfort. When the Prefect and he had first gotten involved - “dating” seemed far too insignificant a word, but he would keep that notion to himself - he had to consciously tell himself that the human very likely would not find being groomed an appropriate sign of affection.
However, just like everything involving the Child of Man, they surprised him.
“There’s no right or wrong way to love someone,” they had said, grasping his hand tightly. “You don’t have to think of it like a chess game where you have to make the right moves.”
So now, he didn’t hesitate when he felt the urge to lightly drag his claws against the sensitive skin on the back of their neck, tucking flyaway strands of their hair back in place and plucking debris from their jacket.
They would accept his affection in the form he chose to give it in.
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