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Riddle then recounted what he said. Did he tell Floyd that he loved him? Riddle’s heart fell. Floyd left him because he didn’t feel the same.
Riddle got up on shaking legs. He heard a knock on his door, and Azul walked in.
“Are you okay?”
His fellow Housewarden and friend had him take a seat on his bed. Azul sat down in Riddle’s desk chair, looking at the younger.
“Floyd had me check up on you to see how you felt. He’s making food right now with Trey.”
Riddle looked at him, shocked. Floyd didn’t leave.
“I-I’m ok, really just a bit sore and weak.”
Azul smiled, nodding his head.
“Yeah, that usually happens when you do something like that. At least you had fun, though, I am assuming.”
Riddle nodded his head. Azul chuckled at his reaction.
“Seems to me that you have things on your mind after what happened. What are you thinking about? I will keep my mouth shut; it doesn’t leave this room. Only if you want, you can tell me.”
Riddle sighed; well, at least Floyd shouldn’t walk in.
“I told Floyd that I loved him…”
Azul nodded his head.
“He did mention that, yes. Is it not true, though? Did you not mean to say it?”
“It is true, but I think my mind was too far gone not to say those words. There were rules to this thing we had going on, but it was broken. I just don’t know how he will react, is all.”
Azul smiled and got up, going over to the shorter. He moved his shirt slightly to show a mark on his neck.
“In Merfolk culture, we have mated. Some people mate for life, while others find love and wait for the right people to come before making that commitment. Jade and I have been mated for five years now. In Eel culture, they mark people they love or want to make them their mates. As for me, since I’m an Octopus, we don’t mate for life because we are being prayed upon. Jade and I did mate for life, though we can decide who we want to be with. Either platonicly or emotionally, Floyd and Jade, as they are Moray eels, do stuff well differently. They have courting or courtship, whatever you want to call it. Which is where they give you gifts, show you affection in general, or do you favors. Jade does favors for me, like ensuring I don’t overwork and giving me massage breaks. On the other hand, Floyd likes to give me food, and as much as I appreciate it, it can be difficult when all he is doing is shoving it into my mouth quite literally. They also do stuff completely different. Jade shows appreciation or affection by doing things while Floyd is giving things. So that’s something about them. Another thing I have noticed is that Jade gives gifts when something special happens, while Floyd makes boxes he wants to give to people he cares about. Do you want to see mine?”
Riddle smiled. He was learning more about the twins, which was fascinating, to say the least, since they seem closed off, but when it comes to Azul, he talks about them as being a proud friend.
Azul summoned a shoe box with his name written in light purple ink with little octopus drawings. There were also shells glued onto it. Azul smiled and opened the box, which contained some random stuff and looked like sentimental items were there, too.
Azul took out a frame of them when they were younger and showed it to Riddle.
“Floyd puts things into the boxes that are of value to him. Usually, when the box is full, he gives it to that person. Mine has been full for a while, and he keeps giving me things in shoe boxes. Floyd has made it for lots of people. His family isn’t included; only those he cares about are included.”
Riddle nodded his head in understanding.
“So you are telling me all of this. Why?”
Azul smiled. He teleported his box away and held Riddle’s hands.
“You remember when I mentioned courting rituals?”
“Yes.”
“Well, Floyd, you would think he wouldn’t be shy to give those away, but he is, but he is also scared to show anything.”
Riddle needed clarification. Floyd being scared about courting someone just didn’t seem like him. Azul laughed slightly and stood up.
“Follow me for a second.”
Riddle sighed and used magic to change clothes; they walked downstairs to see Trey and Floyd cooking pancakes and making dessert. Cater was on his phone recording them. Jade was smiling, watching them cook. Ace and Deuce were sitting down, cutting fruit to help them out.
Riddle then looked around, finding others here as well. Kalim was sitting on the couches with Jamil, playing a card game with Ortho and his brother. Epel, Jack, and Sebek were all playing a video game together. Ruggie and Leona watched them, trying to give them pointers and make fun of them when they lost. Lilia and Malleus were looking at different teas in the cabinet and had Silver explaining some of the flavors and brands of tea. Vil and Rook were talking in the lounge and having a good time watching the video games occasionally.
Riddle was stunned. Why was everyone here?
“Ah, Housewarden, when did you get up?!” Cater said, startled, looking at the younger
Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to them.
“Oh, I thought I could bring him down,” Azul said calmly.
Jade chuckled and walked over.
“It’s all good. Right, you two or not yet?”
Jade turned to Trey and Floyd in the kitchen.
“He’s fine, guys. Seriously, what’s with all the secrecy anyways,” Floyd said, flipping a pancake.
Riddle sat down, and Azul sat beside him, everyone resuming what they were doing. Soon, everyone was given pancakes with fruit. They all ate happily.
After that, everyone went to do their things; some people left while others stood around. Kalim, Jamil, Idia, and Ortho stayed. Soon, though, Riddle was told to sit with them while the rest joined. Floyd then took out his magic pen and teleported seven shoe boxes with different things on them. Floyd handed them out to everyone except Riddle, which confused him. Floyd went over to Riddle’s chair and leaned on it.
“You guys can open them, you know.”
Kalim looked happy and opened his to find a lot of things. Some of them were trinkets that Floyd found. Others were gifts made by hand, including a stuffed otter.
Jamil opened him to find lots of things. He had some basketball stuff in there. One of them was a deflated basketball.
“Oh, I remember that ball; that was where you tried to throw it at Floyd, but it popped from a sharp edge of the bleachers. Man, it was funny seeing Vargas’s face.”
Ace started laughing historically while Jamil sighed.
“It wouldn't have happened if he hadn’t said what he said.”
Jamil then took out an arm cuff. It was a snake with red scales. He then pulled out another item, which was a ring.
“Oh, for goodness' sake, Floyd, what the heck?”
Floyd smiled and laughed.
“Oh wait, that’s the ring you lost at the beach, Floyd. How did you find it?!”
Kalim was amazed.
“I used a location spell to find it. Sea Snake seemed to be down in the dumps about it and wasn’t doing well in our club, so I thought I’d give it to him.”
Floyd stated while Jamil smiled at him.
Idia then opened the box carefully. He was surprised to find keychains and old video games. Idia’s eyes lit up in excitement.
“H-How? T-These games h-haven’t b-been on sale in years?!”
“It’s easy to find them if you know where to look. I had to ask Azul and Jade about it. So then I didn’t get you any copies.”
Idia started to ramble on some of them, super stoked about them. He then pulled out a key chain with an eel, octopus, and a blue flamed skull.
“W-What’s this?”
“I’m sure you can figure it out, firefly squid,”
Floyd said teasingly. Soon, Idia’s hair began to turn pink, and his face flushed too.
“T-Thanks.”
Floyd chuckled at the other's reaction.
Ace opened him to find shoelaces, a chest piece, and some photos.
“Dude, seriously, what the heck. When did you print these, and how did you find them?”
Ace held up the photos.
“Oh, that’s easy~ I got into your phone, sent them to me, erased them from your messages, and printed them since you were holding out on us.”
Ace groaned and showed the photos of all of the club being weird.
He then took out an envelope.
“What is this for?”
“Open it and find out.”
Ace opened it carefully. He then stuttered,
“You did not just get me an autograph from Kieth Charles.”
He was a famous Basketball player that Ace looked up to and admired.
“You welcome Crabby.”
Duece opened him to find a broken net, snow gloves, and collectibles he knew he liked.
Duece was happy.
“Snow gloves, what does that represent?”
Ace looked over at it.
“Oh, that’s when Duece accidentally hit Floyd in the back of the head with a snowball trying to throw it at me. It was completely missed, by the way. Floyd’s reaction was #halarious.”
Cater scrolled on his phone to find the video, and everyone started to laugh as they got into a snowball fight.
“What about this?”
Trey held up the net carefully.
“Oh, that was when we were setting something up, and I threw something, and it broke the net,”
Duece stated, trying to shut down the subject.
“No, it was when you got mad at Crabby for skipping out on your hang-out session, and you went to our club and threw a softball, breaking a net.”
Floyd chuckled at that.
Trey smiled and opened his box to find a notebook, photos, and gift cards for a bakery he’d always wanted to try.
“Thank you, Floyd.”
As Trey looked at the pictures, he couldn’t help but start to laugh.
Cater pulled Trey’s arm down to look and laughed as well.
“When did you try to make a strawberry tart?”
Trey put the pictures on the table in one. Floyd was reading a recipe and had all the ingredients. In another photo, Floyd had flour all over him, and you could see Azul laughing, hunched over in the background. In the next one, Floyd tried to make the glaze, but he burnt it and started to use a towel to fan away the smoke. In the last one, Floyd had his “masterpiece” he was holding, and it looked so bad.
“I tried to do it a few times, though it was complicated. I don’t know how you do it, Sea Turtle.”
“And that’s coming from the Chef of Mostro Lounge. I am devastated.”
Jamil shook his head, trying to hold in his laughter.
Trey took out the notebook and opened it.
“Are these recipes?”
Floyd smiled, nodding his head.
“Yep~ native to the coral sea. I have a bag in my room containing most of the ingredients. You said you always wanted to try to make Merfolk food, so now you can.”
Trey smiled, nodding his head.
Cater opened his gift to find a Polaroid camera, an envelope, and tickets to see a beauty guru.
Cater’s mouth fell open, and he was stunned.
“Floyd, you gotta be kidding with me right now. You got me tickets for Fantasy Guru to do a photoshoot with me. #iminheven.”
Riddle smiled to himself. Cater mentioned her to him before on multiple occasions. He was happy Cater could meet with her and do a photoshoot nonetheless.
Cater then opened the envelope.
“SHUT THE FRONT DOOR!”
Cater jumped up and down excitedly.
“Yes, I wanted these photos for so long. Thank you Floyd-Chan.”
Cater showed the photos of Heartslabyul parties and others from his club activities.
“The camera is so you can take the photos and not need to print them. I also added little frames to it so you can pick and choose what you want,”
Floyd said, smiling at his reaction.
Riddle looked at all their boxes. Kalim had his name in a rose gold color. He had stickers of animals on the sides and fake jewels on them as well.
Jamil’s name was an orange and red color. He had jewels on his, some basketball drawings, and chains.
Idia’s name was made with blue flames fading into orange. His box had flames and hand-drawn video game characters. Idia mentioned they had a lot of details in them.
Ace had Basketball and chess pieces drawn on. His name was in red ink with a Heart next to it mimicking his own.
Deuce’s name had blue on it, as well as his spade. His drawings included track and field stuff, snow, and gloves.
Trey’s name was dark green with his clover next to it. On his box were different kinds of desserts.
Cater’s name was a light orange with a diamond next to it. On his box were a phone and social media icons.
The way Floyd designed them was interesting.
“Why didn’t Riddle get one, Floyd?”
Kalim asked, looking at me.
“Saving the best for last~.”
Floyd teleported a shoe box into my lap. My name was written on it in Gold. It had a Goldfish drawing next to it, as well as roses around the box. He looked at the sides to see a drawing of a tart, hedgehogs, flamingos, and a crown. Riddle noticed immediately his box felt heavy. He looked up at Floyd, who had a smile on his face.
Riddle opened the box to find many things inside, more than what the others had. Floyd had made him a red sea glass rose, which was rare. He also found a handmade crochet hedgehog, which made him smile. He then saw a flower crown and immediately knew what that was from.
Riddle wanted fresh air to escape Floyd, so he worked outside in the Night Raven College’s garden. Floyd had found him and made a flower crown for him.
Riddle then took out a small box that contained small items. Floyd got some of his things, like a pen, bookmark, and little hearts Riddle liked to make in his spare time.
The last thing in his box was an envelope, but it was a folder-sized one and felt extremely heavy. Floyd put his hand on it and shook his head.
“Read that later.”
Soon, everyone put their things away and left. Floyd gave Riddle some medicine to help him after what happened and made meal preparations for Riddle to eat to make him recover after their session.
Riddle placed the rose inside a vase and the hedgehog on his desk, smiling at it. He then took everything from the tiny box, placed it where it was supposed to go, and put his newly made hearts inside. He placed the flower crown next to his Housewarden one and the folder on his desk.
Riddle wanted to open it but didn’t. He got up and went to his bed to start reading. Though his mind wasn’t paying attention, he was nagging to open the folder. It was yellow and sealed shut by some string. He groaned and messaged Floyd.
Can I open it?
Nope,
Why not?
There are reasons.
Which are?
I want your reaction to it first, so just hold off a little longer. I’ll be there after I’m done, alright?
Riddle groaned in annoyance. He did crossword puzzles to occupy his mind instead of reading, which worked out.
Riddle was so focused that he didn’t hear his door open and close.
“Goldfish.”
Riddle jumped slightly, seeing Floyd holding a bag from a local bakery and some food he had prepared earlier that morning.
Floyd handed Riddle the food, and they ate while talking. After they ate, Floyd got the folder and placed it in Riddle’s lap.
“You can open it now.”
Riddle opened the folder carefully, not knowing what was inside. Floyd sat back down next to him, his head leaning against the headrest.
Riddle saw a note and a smaller envelope inside.
“Look inside the envelope first.”
So Riddle did that. He found photos of them inside. Some of them had Floyd taking random photos of Riddle; others were of Riddle when he was younger, and there was no doubt that those were from Trey.
He also saw drawings and sketches of himself inside. Riddle was in Awe of these drawings. They were great.
Riddle put those all on his nightstand to not lose anything. he then took out the folder piece of paper with Goldfish.
He looked at Floyd, who nodded his head. Riddle scooted closer to him and rested his head on his shoulder. Floyd chuckled at this as he continued to do stuff on his phone. Riddle opened the letter to read the contents inside, but he felt something fall in his lap before he could. It was a ring that had a heart-shaped Red Sea glass on top. Swirls surrounded it to keep it in place. Riddle held it and started to read.
Goldfish,
I’m glad you liked all the presents you were given. When we first met, you beat me with your fantastic magic skills. It was impressive, and I think that’s what drew me more towards you. When we fought, I thought I had met an even match, but I was wrong. Goldfish was more substantial than I was; your magic was stronger, but it meant you were a good opponent. I’ve always liked it, though. Seeing you fight to protect yourself and others is mesmerizing. Watching you battle brings a smile to my face. The way you move and attack is coronated; you never second-guess yourself.
Another thing I liked about you is your hair and the way your face gets all red. That’s how I thought of your nickname, Goldfish. In the Coral Sea, we don’t see red things often. That’s why you were always on my mind; how wrong did I think then? When I heard about your overblot, I was shocked and scared out of my mind. I wondered how a strong-minded person like yourself could have such a fate engulfing them. I wanted to make sure you were ok and safe, but the headmage wouldn’t let me. After finding out you were okay, I made it my mission to make you smile genuinely. When Crabby told us what you experienced when you were younger, I thought maybe I could make you think and grow new and better Memories.
I was wrong, though. I can’t change you and what you do, but I can try to make you point your anger at someone other than yourself. So that’s what I did. It never crossed my mind that we would get to a point in our actions, but it happened. When we came up with this idea, I thought that maybe you could smile, maybe I could take away your pain, or maybe you could make your mind pay attention to me more. My heart knew what I wanted in that moment, though I knew in my head I needed to protect you. So I did what you asked of me. The first rule I never crossed was that I wouldn't do anything if you weren’t down to do anything. I wouldn’t lose your trust because I couldn’t keep it in my pants. Our second rule was one where I was wary of what was happening. You like not to say stop when you are overwhelmed, so I stop for you; I don’t want you to push yourself. Our third rule was broken way before we started our thing, though. The reason is because I’ve liked you since that first day. I like to spend time with you even if you get mad at me most of the time.
I know it might be a shock for you, but I didn’t want to play with your feelings or heart any longer, so I’m putting it on paper since I’m not good at speaking my mind. The reason why I’m with you right now is to know your response. The ring that’s in the bag there is a courting gift. I would like to be in a relationship with you and stop the fooling around when I can’t tell you how I feel. If you don’t want to, that’s fine, trust me. I’ve already realized that you probably won’t like me, but a small part of me doesn’t want to give up. I love you. I love how you get mad and excited over those tiny pets and how you laugh. I love how smart and powerful you are; I love the way you make me feel; I love it when I see you, I get butterflies; I love the way you express yourself; I love your beauty; I love your voice; I love it when you say my name I could listen to you say it over and over again, I love the way you look at me. I love everything you have to give me. I have never felt this way about any of my other crushes. You can tell me what you choose afterward. Thank you for being a part of my life.
I love you, Riddle Roseheart, my Goldfish.
Sincerely,
Floyd Leech
Riddle was stunned. He didn’t know Floyd felt that way about him at all. Riddle felt his heart racing in his chest. Floyd liked him, too.
Riddle got off and looked at him, tears rolling down his cheeks. Floyd was shocked.
“Goldfish?”
Riddle put the piece of paper down and took out the courting ring, placing it on his left hand on his ring finger. He grabbed Floyd’s collar and kissed him. Floyd kissed him back, purring, happy and content.
Riddle pulled away and smiled.
“I love you too, Floyd.”
Riddle continued to cry while Floyd kissed his face. Riddle couldn’t stop crying, though, which worried the eel.
“Goldfish, are you alright?”
Riddle nodded his head. He was happy Floyd cared for him and loved him even though he didn’t know he would be so happy about a confession, but he was.
“Thank you, Floyd, for everything.”
Floyd kissed Riddle again, pulling away and looking into his eyes.
“You welcome, beautiful; I love you, dearest.”
Riddle smiled and laughed a little. They cuddled in each other's arms, talking and eating the dessert Floyd brought. Riddle was grateful to have Floyd. They stole kisses from each other when they could.
Riddle couldn’t be happier than he was when he was with Floyd. His mother was wrong about what people would think about him. Riddle knows that if they don’t like you for who you are, they aren’t your friends, but he doesn’t have to worry about that because Floyd loves him for who he is. Riddle couldn’t believe he found the one he loved.
“Oh, by the way, I mated marked you.”
Riddle slapped Floyd’s chest.
“FLOYD!”