the housewardens crushing on you
characters: riddle, leona, azul, kalim, vil, idia, malleus
notes: gn! reader, descriptions + mentions of food/eating, Idia’s takes direct inspo from the vignette “that party animal from class”
other crushes: first years
riddle rosehearts
Bless him, Riddle is so high-strung around you. He just wants to give off the impression of being someone who is refined, dependable, and put-together, which he is under normal circumstances. But with a crush on you, he's constantly caught off-guard by your praise and compliments and seems to permanently have a red face.
“Are you sure all the roses are red, Trey?” Riddle asked, eyes sweeping the garden for what felt like the hundredth time. And, for the hundredth time, Trey assured him that yes, the roses were red; the mouse in the teapot had a smear of jam on its nose; and, per rule 228, as it was Wednesday, no one picked any flowers.
“Why’s the housewarden so tense today?” Riddle heard one Heartslabyul student ask. His friend responded, “I don’t know, it’s just another Unbirthday party.”
Riddle huffed, the urge to collar them growing, though he refrained. It wasn’t just another Unbirthday party, it was the one he personally invited you to, so it had to be perfect—or at least close to that.
Trey placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. “It looks great, Riddle. This could be the best Unbirthday party that we’ve put on.”
Riddle nodded, silent, still examining the area for anything out of place. Then, he heard Cater’s loud voice, followed by Deuce and Ace’s, and then yours. He straightened and brushed down his uniform just as you entered the garden.
“Merry Unbirthday!” Trey cheered, prompting the other Heartslabyul students to follow suit.
You laughed, “Thanks! This all looks great!”
“Riddle did most of it,” Trey said. “He picked out the tea and pastries and everything.”
Riddle shot a glare at Trey, who just smiled and winked back at him. With a rapidly reddening face, Riddle motioned gracefully to the table at the center of the celebration. “The guest of honor sits there.”
“Aww, this is so awesome, Riddle!” you said as he led you, pulling the chair out for you.
“Thank you. I wanted you to have the merriest Unbirthday.”
“Well, this certainly looks very merry,” you said. “Can I try one?” You pointed at the cookies neatly piled on the tiered tower.
When he nodded, you added, “Actually? Can you pick one out for me?”
“Me?” he asked, his collar feeling too tight and too hot all of a sudden. When you gave an affirmative hum, he paused and thought hard. You often stayed away from super sweet treats and he had seen you go for the carrot cake as your after-dinner dessert… Riddle pulled out one of the spice cookies, holding it out to you.
Cookie still in Riddle’s hand, you leaned forward to take a small bite, flavors bursting immediately. You savored the slight heat of the cookie and enjoyed the way the flavors made you think of autumn. “That’s delicious!” you said. “Did Trey make these?”
Riddle looked away from you to try and hide his blush. “I did, actually… with Trey’s help.”
“Incredible,” you said. You waited until he faced you and said, “I want to thank you for this again. I don’t think anyone’s ever done anything this nice for me before.”
Riddle’s face went bright red.
leona kingscholar
You have to look past Leona’s gruff exterior and scathing sarcasm to figure out that he likes you. To the untrained eye, it’s hard to tell but when you know what to look for, it’s much easier. Ruggie figured it out pretty quickly when he saw Leona going out of his way to help you multiple times even if it inconvenienced him. For Leona, his actions are a lot louder than his words.
For Crewel’s class, you had to get a plant from the botanical garden and study it. You had actually spotted Leona earlier, luxuriating on a bench in a sunny patch of light. You didn’t say anything to him, knowing better than to disturb him during his midday nap.
As you and your friends surveyed the gardens, you stumbled upon a bright red flower with equally vivid green leaves that you had never seen before. You reached for it but before you could touch a petal, a strong hand caught your wrist. “Are you stupid or something?” You looked up to see Leona glowering at you, ears flicking.
“Sorry?”
He motioned to the plant. “That’s a Coccineum Solani. If you touch it, it’ll spit out poisonous liquid,” he said, dropping your wrist.
“Oh.”
“Yeah, maybe you should pay attention in class more, then you wouldn’t need saving.”
“That’s a little rich coming from you.”
“I at least know better than to touch a plant that looks like that.” He continued, “Don’t you know that bright colors in the wild can mean something’s dangerous?”
“I think so.”
He rolled his eyes and said, “You’re lucky I was here or you’d be dead on the floor.”
“You’re right,” you said, grinning at him. “You’re my hero, Leona!”
His ears twitched and he asked, “What were you even going to do with the flower?”
“It’s for Crewel’s class, we need to bring back a plant to research.”
He pointed to your left, at a lilac flower. “That’s a hibiscus flower that’s native to the Sunset Savanna. Go pick that, it’s not poisonous.” He turned, saying over his shoulder, “I’m going back to nap. Try not to make a racket.” He didn’t go back to his original spot, though. Instead, he laid down on a bench near you, telling himself that he was only doing it because it was close and he wanted to get back to sleep fast.
azul ashengrotto
Azul crushing on you is pretty sweet. He’ll get more flustered around you, slipping out of his calm and collected self more frequently. He draws up contracts and makes deals with you as a way to spend time with you, even though it would be a lot easier to just ask you. He also gives you discounts to the Mostro Lounge and makes up some super lame excuse when Floyd and Jade ask about why you’re the only one receiving them.
The week of finals before winter break was always pretty hectic. The library was filled to the brim with students checking out books for classes or trying to find quieter places to study than their dorms. You were no exception, searching for a very specific book on animal linguistics.
You ran your finger over the book spines as you went down the aisle, finally finding the book you were looking for. However, before you could pull it out, you heard a voice from behind you. “If you’re studying for Professor Trein’s Animal Linguistic test, that’s not the best book to use.”
“Hey, Azul,” you said, looking over your shoulder at him with a smile. “Which one would you recommend, then?”
“A Complete and Comprehensive History of the Origins of Animal Linguistics,” he answered. “There’s only one copy in the library and I’ve already checked it out.”
“Oh,” you sighed, shoulders slumping.
Azul quickly added, “I can share it with you, if you’d like.”
“Really?” You eyed him, half-joking, half-serious. “What’s the catch?”
“It’s a small price,” he said. You waited, nodding for him to go on. He fixed his glasses and cleared his throat, saying, “You’ll study with me.”
“That’s your price?” If you had looked a little closer, you could have seen the growing pink on his cheeks. “Isn’t that more of a disadvantage to you?”
He shook his head quickly. “No! I-I’ve read that studying with someone else boosts productivity and success.”
“Where’d you read that? Because studying with Ace and Deuce doesn’t—”
“Somewhere,” he said, a little too hastily. He adjusted his tie and asked, “So, do we have a deal or not?” He summoned a golden contract and a pen. With a small smile and a shrug, you signed your name on the line.
“Excellent,” he said, rolling the contract up. “I’ll see you in Octavinelle tonight? Around five?”
“Yeah, that sounds good!”
As you retreated, Floyd sidled up next to Azul. “Aww, it’s funny to see you get this red, Boss! You look like Goldfishie!”
“I’m not red,” sniffed Azul, though his face said otherwise. He looked at Floyd with narrowed eyes. “Don’t you have a shift at the Mostro Lounge right now?”
“Yes, but it’s so much more fun to see you with a crush! You look so squeezable when you’re with them.”
“Floyd, get back to work.”
kalim al-asim
You have to be very oblivious to not know that Kalim has a crush on you. From the way his cheerfulness grows exponentially when you’re around to the flirty and respectful touches to your shoulder and arm to the extravagant gifts he gets you that come all the way from the Scalding Sands.
As you placed the new necklace that Kalim had given you into your jewelry box, you took a step back and stared into the box. In the past weeks, Kalim had gifted you a bunch of stuff: jewelry made of real gold with real gems, specially handmade pots for your succulents, silk blankets and shirts, finely woven carpets. He had even commissioned the one-of-a-kind jewelry box you were looking at.
There weren’t any special occasions that prompted any of this. Your birthday was months away and the holidays just as far in the future. You appreciated the gifts, but a) they would take over your room soon, b) you didn’t need all this, and c) you sort of felt that you were taking advantage of Kalim in a way, even if he was giving you all this unprompted.
As you walked past the gym, you heard the squeak of shoes and the rhythmic dribbling of the basketball. You peeked in, seeing Floyd, Ace, and the man you had been looking for. “Jamil!” you called, and said man paused his drills, tucking the ball under his arm and walking over.
“Do you need something?” he asked, not unkindly. When you nodded, he said, “I’m guessing it has something to do with Kalim?”
“Yeah.” You shared your concerns with Jamil, and he listened patiently, nodding.
“I’ve tried to tell him to stop,” he said wearily. “Or at least to slow down. But we both know that Kalim isn’t the best listener.”
You opened your mouth to respond, about to say that it was so sweet but so unnecessary of Kalim, when you spotted him out of the corner of your eye, approaching from down the hall. He shouted your name, bounding over. Jamil glanced at you as you shifted your attention.
“Hey!” you said before noting the object in Kalim’s hand. “Is that—?”
“You mentioned that you were looking for a new hand cream,” he said, taking your hand and placing the bottle in your palm. “It’s my mother’s favorite and her hands are always really soft and nice.”
“Oh,” you said. You looked at Jamil, who just used his eyes to point at Kalim. You knew what you had to do, squaring your shoulders. “Kalim, I need to talk to you.”
“Okay… that sounds scary,” he said and you gently grabbed his elbow, leading him away from the basketball club.
You took a deep breath, collecting your thoughts. “All your gifts have been super nice, Kalim, but I think it’s gotten a little excessive.”
“Oh.”
He visibly deflated right in front of you and you hastily added on, “It’s no that I don’t appreciate them, I really, really do. It’s just… I don’t know, I feel like I’m using you? Does that make sense?”
“Not really. I’m giving them to you because…” For once, Kalim seemed almost shy, shifting his weight. “I’m giving them to you because I really care about you, I think as more than a friend.”
vil schoenheit
Vil doesn’t actually act a lot different than before now that he has a crush on you. He really just ups the ante in trying to impress you — taking a lot more time with his makeup and outfits, working constantly to improve himself so he could be worthy of you. He made conscious choices to try and incorporate things he knows you like into his routines. If you like sparkly eyeshadow, he’ll wear more sparkly eyeshadow.
Vil was a little surprised when he heard you had joined the Equestrian Club. It wasn’t that he thought you hated horses or anything, it was just that you never mentioned it before, and while Vil admired horses’ majesty and strength, taking care of them was not the cleanest of things to do.
When you had caught wind that Vil canceled Film Studies for the week, you were shocked, and you were even more shocked when he, instead, showed up at the stables, dressed in the prettiest riding gear you had ever seen.
“Vil! What a nice surprise,” you said, finishing with tacking up your horse. “I didn’t know you were interested in horseback riding.”
“I figured I should try it, it’s quite an elegant sport.”
“Right!” Your horse nudged your face with its snout and you giggled, reaching into a small pouch on your belt and pulling out two sugar cubes, feeding them to her. “Here, I’ll help you set up.”
After you finished tacking up Vil’s horse, the two of you led them to the ring, where Riddle, Sebek, and Silver were already taking some warm-up laps. “Vil,” Riddle said, trotting over to the two of you as you mounted your horses. “This is quite a surprise.”
Vil smiled coolly, replying, “I’ve always had an interest, but I had responsibilities to the Film Studies club before.”
Riddle nodded and said, “Just follow us, we’re not doing anything taxing today, just letting the horses stretch their legs a little and maybe we’ll bring them out.”
Vil nodded and as he got his horse moving, you saw how much of a quick learner Vil truly was, as he eased into riding in no time with bits of advice from you and Riddle.
“I must say,” Silver said as Vil passed his horse, “you’ve gotten this pretty quickly.”
“You look so elegant,” Sebek said. “Of course, not as elegant as the Young Master—”
“Sebek,” Silver sighed out, exasperated.
“Thank you,” Vil said, moving his horse forward to ride next to you.
“They’re right, Vil! I’ve never seen anyone learn so quickly,” you said.
“You’re very sweet,” he said. “I did have a very good teacher, after all.” He gave you a warm smile and walked his horse ahead, and you were glad that he did so he wouldn’t see catch you placing a hand on your rapidly warming cheek.
idia shroud
Please handle Idia with care, he’s very fragile when he has a crush. He doesn’t have the confidence to approach you in-person and often settles for watching you from afar and sometimes from his room through the cameras he set up around school. He doesn’t do it to be creepy, he really is just that helpless.
You were leaving class when you saw the most unlikely quartet of Kalim, Rook, Cater, and — the one that made the group unlikely — Idia. The panic and obvious distress was written very clearly over Idia’s face and you figured that you’d help bail him out of this.
Kalim spotted you and waved. “Hey!” The other three turned around, and Idia looked like he was about to faint. “We were just about to head over to Scarabia!”
“Oh? What’s the occasion?”
“We’re going to get to know Roi de sa Chambre better,” Rook said and Cater nodded along enthusiastically. You glanced back at Idia, who was bright pink with visible beads of sweat on his hairline.
You nodded before turning to Idia, asking, “Isn’t there a new event for that game that you like? I’m surprised you’re choosing dinner over that.”
“I-I—” Idia stuttered before opening his tablet. yeah!! im super excited for the event! i really want to play it asap
“Oh!” Kalim jumped a little. “Why didn’t you say so? We’ll let you do that, but you owe us a meal, yeah?”
“Aww,” Cater said, pouting. “So no Idia?”
Rook clapped a hand on his back. “But we’ll still get delicious food!”
“That’s right!” Kalmi cheered, “Jamil’s still cooking.” He turned to you and asked, “Want to tag along?”
“No, I actually want to check out the game too. But definitely another time.”
As the trio made their way to the Hall of Mirrors, you saw Idia let out a deep breath. He wouldn’t meet you eyes though, keeping them glued to his screen as he tapped away. tysm!! idk what i would’ve done if you hadn’t stepped in!
“You looked like you needed help. But I wasn’t lying, I’m going to check the event out too.”
you play??
You nodded. “Yeah! Actually—” You pulled your phone out. “Give me your ID so we can be friends.”
You saw his face turn a deeper pink. Your phone buzzed and you saw a text from an unknown number with Idia’s player ID. “Cool!” you said, turning to walk back to your dorm. “I’ll add you as soon as I get back!”
If you looked back, you would’ve seen Idia’s hair flare up.
malleus draconia
Malleus has been isolated for most of his life, so he doesn’t have a lot of experience with crushing on someone. At first, when he begins to develop feelings for you, he seriously believes that he just has a stomach ache. Either he figures it out or Lilia tells him, but he eventually does acknowledge his feelings. He’s so, so soft with you when he has a crush; he doesn’t want to scare you away so he’s generally much gentler with you than others.
“Oh, I didn’t know anyone would be out here this late,” you said, walking onto the sports field late at night. Malleus stood in the middle, staring up at the night sky. You approached, stopping to stand beside him. As you breathed out, your breath puffed in the brisk air.
“I didn’t expect anyone this late either,” he said. “What brings you out at this hour?”
“Couldn’t sleep. You?”
“I like the night air,” he said. “And watching the stars reminds me of when Lilia would take me to the roof of the castle in Briar Valley.”
“Ah,” you said, sitting down on the grass and patting the space beside you. “Do you miss Briar Valley often?”
He sat next to you and answered, “I suppose so. It’s not all the time but I get aches for it now and then. It felt simpler then, but it was…”
You waited for him to continue and when he didn’t, you gently prodded, “It was…”
He considered his words carefully. “Solitary,” he finally said. “Even though I had Lilia and Silver and Sebek, it was quite solitary.”
You nodded, not sure how to reply and you don’t think that Malleus expected one from you. The two of you sat in a comfortable silence, listening to the wind rustle the leaves in the trees and the chirps of crickets and other nocturnal creatures in the distance.
You pulled your cardigan tighter around you. You hadn’t anticipated it being this cold nor did you think you would be sitting in one place for so long. Malleus noticed your slight shivering and he slipped his blazer off, placing it on your shoulders. You looked at him. “Won’t you be cold, though?”
He shook his head. “I don’t get cold often.”
There was no room for argument in his reply but you still felt guilty, so slowly and carefully, you scooted closer to him until your arms and legs brushed against each other. You felt him tense a little and then relaxed, not moving away. He leaned into you lightly, and you didn’t move away either.
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