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The arrangement was perfect for both parties involved. After what the two quickly dubbed “the soup incident,” every week around Tuesday or Wednesday, Ruggie would come down to Octonavelle’s kitchen to show Jade a new way or two to prepare any herbs and vegetables he’d find on hiking trips. After that, the two would go to a cafe right off campus the following Friday night, and Jade would get Ruggie any drink he wanted.
At first, it would be a quick meeting where they would meet at the cafe Ruggie would leave immediately afterwards to enjoy his drink. But after a couple weeks of their arrangement, he began to find Jade beforehand, walking around campus to talk to him and subsequently going to the cafe together. At first, it was only venting about Leona. But it quickly became stories about their families, how Ruggie’s grandma was a great cook and what she’d make, or all of the sea life under the ocean Jade was capable of catching. And eventually that led to discussions of what had happened in class that day or the highs and lows of their friendships. It was fascinating how much you could get to know a person in the span of an hour every week.
This particular Friday night, they left the cafe side by side with large hot drinks in their hands, after walking around campus and talking for forty-five minutes or so. Jade sipped it out of the lid the intended way, while Ruggie popped the lid off the top, blowing air onto the hot liquid within. All the while, Ruggie was staring in the area by the register containing savory goods before turning his attention to Jade.
“Could you wrap your head around Professor Trein’s class today,” he sighed before taking a sip. Jade laughed in response.
“Honestly, I think I was spending more energy keeping Floyd awake than anything else.”
“Yeah, I figured. I just hate it. All these stories of princesses being woken up through true love’s kiss … it just doesn’t feel right, you know? And not even just that, but this true love nonsense in general. It seems so… hard to define. Why is it considered a viable thing in the world of magic?”
“I agree. Even when the great Sea Witch cast her spell, it was specified that the kiss had to be given from a prince, not necessarily from true love… perhaps it’s a human thing we don’t understand.”
Ruggie turned his head to the side questioningly before the realization hit him. He popped the lid back onto his cup.
“Oh, right! This isn’t your real form, right? Sometimes, I kinda forget you’re an eel, haha.”
“You are correct. This isn’t my natural form—” He cut himself off when he noticed an orange hue in the sky. “Hm… the sunset sure looks lovely today.”
“Yeah… it does. Leona complains he never gets to see pretty views like this, but of course he can’t while he’s sleeping! I can’t believe that he has the nerve to sleep all day after waking me up in the middle of the night to do something so stupid!”
As Ruggie droned on about his story, Jade’s mouth shifted downwards. It was fun at first watching the smaller boy vent to him, but now, it was becoming… depressing. He didn’t like the way Leona treated him, acting as though he was dirt while he was technically doing him a favor. Not even appreciating the little things he did, like subtly making sure his drawers were all closed or keeping his homework organized or even making his bed. Everything was compensated for, but none of it was ever appreciated.
He didn’t want to accept these thoughts at first, because he wasn’t used to feeling pity for others. The only exceptions were those close to him, like Floyd and Azul, and Ortho because he recognized him as a baby that should be protected at all costs. But for some reason, Ruggie was… different. Maybe it was just a trick of the mind, being that he was spending progressively more time with him on his Friday nights. But the more he hung out with him, the more he thought it was a shame that someone so talented or caring would… waste that.
It was as if his mind wasn’t even working when he brought one hand up, his fingers a few inches away from touching the hyena’s head. He stopped when the ear twitched forward, almost as if it were avoiding his touch. He drew it back. Funnily enough, Ruggie didn’t even realize this motion, still droning on in the background. Jade looked at his hand questioningly. What in the world was he about to do?
His face turned back to a hesitant smile, and he focused once again on his friend’s words. That action right there proved that he should stop his internal monologue. Continuing to do so could prove very… dangerous.
Ruggie pulled the lid off his coffee again, blowing on it before taking a sip.
“So, yeah. Rooming with Leona is so annoying!”
“Hmhmhm… at least you aren’t rooming with Floyd. I had to chain him to the bed a couple weeks ago because he was breaking into rooms in the morning and waking students up by slamming pots and pans together.”
Ruggie chuckled.
“Yeah. I suppose that’s fair. Leona’s just annoying, Floyd would be an absolute nightmare to deal with.”
He put the lid back on his cup.
“Anyways— speaking of Leona, I should go make sure he’s not sleeping in the botanical garden. Again. See ya!”
“Goodbye!”
Jade’s gentle smile faded once the beastman was out of sight. Ruggie had a job to do, and he could appreciate that. A good work ethic was probably one of the best character traits someone could have. But that didn’t change the fact that if he was being completely genuine, he wished they could’ve spent the rest of the night together, not just a mere hour.
It wasn’t like he’d ever voice that sentiment out loud, though.
…
“Dream jewels?” The mere thought of it confused Ruggie. Dreams weren’t all that important, not to him anyways. What about them could possibly be so important that this little team— Deuce, Ace, Floyd, and him— had to be put together? The dark haired first year nodded.
“Correct. See… it turns out that they’re very powerful. If the ghosts were to get a hold of just one…”
He should’ve known. Go figure that his improvised punishment from Azul for helping the opposing side on Beans Day would be spending his Thursday night doing… this to take his place. He normally would’ve told him that he wasn’t gonna buckle down, but Azul threatened to cut their arrangement of working odd jobs for him from time to time if he didn’t. So alas, he was stuck.
“Alright, whatever. But can you explain why he’s here?” His finger pointed squarely at Floyd. He laughed.
“I control every dream I’ve ever had!”
“I’m sure that has to be an exaggeration…”
“Even still,” Deuce sighed, “he does seem to be an exceptional lucid dreamer. There is no better person to lead the charge.”
“Ugh! How did I get roped into this…?”
Dumb question. He knew exactly how he got roped into this.
“Don’t worry too much for now. Go to sleep. We’ll all meet each other in the dreamscape.”
It was easy enough finding everyone. Granted, that was a bit of an overstatement, as it was more like they found him. It was one of his favorite dreams now, one where he was back at home enjoying his grandmother’s cooking. It infuriated him to no end when Floyd came barging in, yelling as loudly as he could.
“Hey, Sharksucker! We have a job to do!”
This was going to be a long night…
…
After about a few hours of searching, and three of the four dream jewels in hand, they came across a pretty odd dream. They were in the school hallways, only they were empty.
Ruggie groaned.
“Finally! This has to be the last one, right?”
“Yeesh,” Ace sighed. “What weirdo could possibly be dreaming about school?”
“Dreams are often a reflection of our subconscious,” Deuce suggested. “Perhaps they’re worried about a test tomorrow or something…”
“Wait. Is that… Jade?”
Sure enough, a tall figure was moving about the halls as if he was lost, or was unsure where he was going at the very least. Floyd smiled.
“Ah. My brother always tells me about this dream… he says he just wanders aimlessly through the hallways. If he’s doing that the whole time, there probably won’t be anything getting in our way. This should be a piece of cake!”
The noise got to the slender eel’s ears, and he turned to the direction of the group. Despite there being four people to look at, he kept his eyes fixated on Ruggie in astonishment. Their eyes made contact, and he stared, unable to look away. The beastman began to get weary, his ears guiding themselves back.
“...what are you looking at?”
“Ruggie…” He smiled sweetly. “You are so cute!”
“E-EHHHH?!”
Jade rushed over and quickly began petting his head with both hands, scratching around his ears. Ruggie was left frozen, completely taken off guard. Jade would never do something in real life that looked so… ridiculous! But in his dreams, was this really something he wanted to do?
“Jade?! W—what the heck’re you doing?!”
“I can’t help it! I just want to pet you!”
“I’m not some puppy! Hands off!”
“I know. You are indeed very strong for your size. That means you are both kawaii and kowai!”
“D—don’t use that word! Kawaii!”
“But it’s true!”
Although he struggled against it, Ruggie had to admit, it did feel a little good. He was internally grateful that the affection Jade chose to display only came in the form of head rubs. He tried his best to pry the long, pointed fingers off his face, but they were determined to stay there, massaging his hair lovingly. He looked to the others for help, only to see Deuce had backed away a considerable distance. Ace and Floyd, meanwhile, had huge smiles plastered across their faces. He sighed.
“Floyd,” he said loudly. “Are you really gonna let your brother make a fool out of himself like this?!”
“I love Jade,” he cackled in response. “But this blackmail is simply too delicious to disrupt!”
“Ugh! Please tell me you’re not gonna lock us in a broom closet after this!”
“Hm… I wasn’t going to. But now that you mention it…”
“I take it back.”
“You’re so cute~” Jade continued to purr as if the others weren’t there. “I just want to pet you, Ruggie.”
He scratched behind his large ears. He did his best to ignore the satisfying sensation, trying to pry himself out of the bizarre headlock. He was unable to get Jade’s fingers to even budge. He looked back and yelled at the group.
“W-why is he acting like this?! Jade would never do this!”
“It is a dream,” Floyd began. “Jade can never control his dreams, no matter how hard he tries.”
“What we’re seeing now may be a reflection of his subconscious,” Deuce wondered aloud.
Ruggie turned his head in surprise.
“So… he’s not really himself right now?”
“You could argue he’s more himself than ever,” Ace snickered. He perked up when he got an amazing idea. “Ruggie, why don’t you keep him preoccupied while we go and get the jewel? It seems like nice bonding time for you two!”
“NO! Don’t leave me like this!”
“I’m sorry, Ruggie,” Deuce sighed. “But I think Ace is right. If Jade follows us around, we may risk waking him up. You should keep him distracted. We’ll be back as soon as we can.”
“But—! BUT—!”
Floyd laughed.
“Have fun with my brother! I’m sure you’ll both have a fun time~!”
He and Ace laughed as the group walked away. What he wouldn’t give to punch just one of them in the face right now.
He probably should’ve been grateful that it was the shorter twin who felt an attachment to him, but that didn’t mean much when the height difference between the brothers was only about the size of someone’s thumb. He did his best to pry the hands off his face, but they stayed firm, rubbing the soft hair on his head. He groaned.
“Is this really what you wanna do all day?!”
“No… we should head to the coffee shop.”
“Huh? We do that all the time!”
“We do… but I wanted to get you something.”
“Ehhhhh?!”
…
Jade held out a white bag to the beastman, smiling.
“I wanted to give this to you.”
“Huh?” Ruggie opened it up to see a chocolate filled croissant. He laughed. “Okay. What’s your asking price?”
“No asking price. Just a gift.”
He couldn’t believe his ears. This didn’t sound like someone from Octavanelle. Those guys were predatory with their favors, always expecting something in return. Then again, he probably shouldn’t argue against being spoiled. At least here, it was a dream, so it wasn’t like he’d be indebted to Jade for this. He grabbed it hesitantly before taking a bite. Go figure— it didn’t taste like anything. He shouldn’t have been surprised. This was a dream after all. But he pretended to enjoy it anyway.
“Um… thank you.”
“Of course. I’ve seen you eyeing it for a while, but you’ve never gotten it. So… I wanted to do something nice for you.”
Wait. What he just said was 100% accurate.
“You… notice stuff like that?!”
“Of course. I notice lots of things about people.”
Did this mean his dream is reflecting something he wanted to do in real life but didn’t have the courage to follow through with? Or was this just taking a strange turn not even Jade was aware of? Ruggie knew he shouldn’t push his luck, but he needed to bite to see if he was being genuine.
“Alright. Prove it. What else do you know about me?”
“Hmm… let’s see. I am well aware that you used to hide the sugar cubes at lunchtime to mess with Riddle, so it would be difficult to put two sugar cubes in his lemon tea after his meal.”
“D—did you remember that for blackmail?”
“I did. But I never planned to say anything unless under extreme circumstances. Not after I saw the time where instead of hiding it, you put every last cube in your own cup of tea instead. It was quite amusing, actually.”
Ruggie chuckled, looking away, proud that someone finally appreciated his handiwork.
“Yeah, I remember that. There had to be, like, twenty of them? It made my tea waaay too sweet! But the look on Riddle’s face when he saw the empty bowl… priceless!”
Jade laughed.
“I’m always sad you have to leave early, Ruggie.” His voice was dreamy, not quite singing, but more rhythmic than his usual tone.
“What do you mean?”
“Leona’s so mean to you. I never want you to leave so soon. Honestly, I wish we could spend the whole night together. Not just an hour or two. I like being with you.”
“Really? That’s…”
How in the world was he supposed to respond to that? That’s not something people just say, and it definitely wasn’t something he’d expect from Jade Leech of all people.
Jade began to pet his head again, both hands scratching underneath his ears.
“You’re so cute~. So cute and strong~.”
Ruggie didn’t fight anymore, the embarrassment slowly becoming hurt. He didn’t blush, nor did he physically react. Slowly, pieces were falling into place. This wasn’t a crush, like he initially thought. This was something else. He sighed, looking away.
“Is this really all you see me as? Some kind of mutt?”
Suddenly, Jade’s face turned serious and his eyes opened wide.
“Hm? What do you mean?”
“Oh, come on! Petting my head, ‘you’re so strong for your size’, saying I’m kawaii …” He shuddered when he said that last word. “This whole time, you’ve treated me like I’m some… animal! And I mean… I am, technically. But I’m also more than that! After hanging out with you, and calling you a friend, I was just… hoping that you saw that.”
The dreamy expression on Jade’s face faded, his eyes appearing less hazy. He still seemed somewhat dazed, but more serious than before.
“I don’t see you as an animal.”
“Really? Because you sure are acting like it.”
“I just want to take care of you…”
“You really think that doesn’t sound like you just want a pet?”
“That’s not how I mean it. I want to do so because I admire you, more than most people.”
“Huh?”
Jade took his hands off of Ruggie’s head, gaining his typical gentleman posture.
“You work so hard for Leona. And everyone else. Nobody works hard for you now, do they? I just want to take care of you the way you take care of others.”
“Don’t get all gushy now!”
“Hahaha. Okay. I won’t.”
Ruggie suddenly realized the eel had become less sing-songy in his demeanor. Was he possibly becoming lucid now? He wasn’t gonna wake him up now… was he? Oh well, it was too far to turn around now. He remained silent when Jade spoke up again.
“I mean it, though. Something about you… I just really want to protect you. I can’t describe it any other way.”
“So, this emotion you feel towards me, or whatever… it isn’t a crush? Just insane amounts of ‘protec’?”
“Crush?”
Ruggie shook his head.
“Nevermind. I guess I just...” got my hopes up. “Misread the situation.”
“No, no. I should answer. You deserve as much. I… I never thought of it as a crush before. I guess I don’t know what this emotion is if I’m being honest. All I really know is, I have this odd desire to protect you at almost all costs. Almost like, I don’t want to see you sad and I just want to make you happy. I suppose that’s an important part of romantic feelings, isn’t it?”
“I guess… but like, isn’t there more to it? It doesn’t feel like it should be that simple.”
“I wonder that too…” Jade pondered for a few moments. “I suppose, now that I think of it, you’re adorable, so I don’t mind looking at you. And I find that you’re extremely talented compared to others in our class.”
“D-don’t just pepper me with compliments cause’ you think you need to!”
“Hmhmhm… kawaii.”
“Stoooop.”
Something was actually kinda playful in that stop. Both laughed, and Jade perked up. It seemed as though he was more mentally there than before.
“I’m dreaming, aren’t I?”
“Um…” Ruggie wasn’t sure how to respond. If he said yes or no, would he risk waking him up? “It depends. Do you think you’re dreaming?”
“It seems as though I am. Now that I’m here analyzing it, I realize I’ve essentially had this very dream many times before.”
“Wait, really?”
“Correct.”
“Is this usually all that happens, you pet me, we go to a coffee shop, we chill out? That’s it?”
“This or some variant of it, correct.”
“There’s never, like, any sort of kiss or anything?”
Jade’s eyes opened wide before a smile came across his face. It was his cocky, predatory smile that he occasionally had in the waking world. His sharp teeth glimmered through the gap in his mouth.
“Not yet .”
Oh no. Bad idea! Very, very bad idea! Stupid mouth!
“...I was just joking! You know that, right?”
“Is that so? Because usually, you smile a lot wider when you joke, and I usually catch you laughing during it.”
Ruggie buried the lower half of his face into the collar of his shirt. He wasn’t getting kissed if he could help it! Thankfully, all he felt was a small tap on his forehead. When it was gone, he breathed a sigh of relief, poking his head up.
“Phew! For a second there, I actually thought you were gonna-”
His words were interrupted when Jade used a hand to lift his chin up and planted his lips onto his. His eyes flew open, but he probably should’ve seen that coming, in all honesty. He held his breath and closed his eyes. He wasn’t going to kiss back. And, he didn’t.
Okay, he moved his mouth a little bit in a puckering motion, but that didn’t count! He had to move at least a little bit in order to try and break away! Unfortunately, Jade kept his other hand planted on his shoulder, limiting movement.
When Jade finally loosened his grip, he pulled away as quickly as he could, face all red.
“Fufufu… your face is so cute when it’s red.”
“Sh—SHUT UP!”
Jade chuckled again.
“I think I rather like this dream. I’m gonna have to have more like it in the future.”
“Uh…”
He didn’t know how to feel about that. Someone having a dream like this about him, that was already a strange enough image in his mind. To know it was Jade was even stranger. But the fact that he liked it enough to want to go out of his way to have it again was…
“Hey, Ruggie! We got the jewel! Let’s get outta here!”
He never thought he’d be saved by Floyd’s voice, of all people. He bolted into the direction of his friends, praying to himself they didn’t see what just happened.
“How was your date,” Ace teased.
“Shut up shut up shut up.”
…
When Jade awoke, he sat up with little problem. His hair was a mess, but he paid no mind to it, a smile spread wide across his face.
“Jade,” Floyd sang. “You’re awake.”
“Good morning,” Jade replied. “I’m surprised you’re awake before me for once.”
“Oh, never mind that! Say, you seem really happy!”
“I just had an excellent dream. I even ended up lucid dreaming for the first time!”
“Oh, did you now?” Jade got out of his bed and walked over to the sink, turning on the water. He started brushing his teeth, and Floyd waited a good ten seconds before finally speaking again. “It didn’t happen to be about Sharksucker , did it?”
Jade immediately stopped brushing and looked over at Floyd, who had an evil smirk on his face. Truth be told, even he couldn’t keep track of all of Floyd’s nicknames, despite making more of an effort to than others. He quickly finished brushing his teeth so he could spit up all the toothpaste remaining in his mouth.
“Um… sharksucker is…”
“The one who works for Sea Lion.”
While he didn’t know all the nicknames on hand, that particular one left little to the imagination as to who it was.
“You’re not saying…”
“Uh huh.”
“So, last night…”
“Yup.”
“ Oh no… ”
…
Ruggie was quiet while he made Leona’s bed. Too quiet. Leona knew he went into the dreamscape as a favor to Azul that night, and while he wasn’t thrilled, he didn’t say anything if it wasn’t gonna get in the way of his job for him. But he wasn’t expecting the young man to have no energy to nag him, or lecture him, or even to not say good morning. As much as he claimed to hate their early morning banter, he couldn’t deny, the silence was beginning to get to him.
“You’re quiet, today,” Leona said, finally letting something be heard other than the dull noise created by the fan. Ruggie didn’t make eye contact.
“Yeah. Dream jewels… getting them is hard.” After those words, he gulped. It was as if the silence got louder, if such a thing were even possible. “Leona?”
“What?”
“A kiss in someone’s dream doesn’t count as your first kiss, does it?”
Leona stared at him for a few moments in bewilderment, before putting a hand on his face.
“Ruggie…”
“Shut up.”
“No, wait. I’m just really confused. What happened? It doesn’t seem like you to sneak away from the group to make out with someone instead of doing what you’re supposed to…”
“I didn’t! Look, one person whose dream we were in, he got really fixated on me, so Floyd, Ace and Deuce forced me to keep him preoccupied so they could do what they needed to. And he was wicked all over me and it just sorta happened!”
“Did you kiss back?”
“NO!” Leona crossed his arms, scrutinizing him. “Okay, kinda… shut up.”
“Who was it? At least tell me it was Jack, or somebody from Savanaclaw…”
“No.”
“That one tall guy from Heartslabyul?”
“No.”
“…one of the guys from Scarabia?”
“…no.”
“…Rook?”
“Heck no.”
Leona stood still for a few brief moments. He was getting slightly more agitated with each question. He didn’t want to ask the final one.
“Don’t tell me it was Jade.”
Ruggie stayed silent, looking away and folding his ears back. He took that as his answer.
“Ruggie…”
“I know.”
“No! Clearly, you don’t know! Jade… I know you think he’s the more sensible one of the Leech twins, but guess what? He’s still one of the Leech twins! You’re playing with fire.”
“Yeah I know that! It’s just…”
He trailed off, unsure what to say next.
“It’s just what?”
“He talked about wanting to take care of me. And protect me. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say something like that to me before.”
Leona raised an eyebrow, his voice a low, serious tone.
“Hmph. Sounds to me like he wants a pet.”
“Yeah, I thought that, too. But then he talked about how he didn’t see me as that, that he wanted to do it because he admired me, and I… believed him?”
“And what made you believe him?”
“He said… that I take care of others… so I should get that amount of care in return.”
Leona looked away for a moment, contemplative.
“Look, I swear that I’m not gonna go blabbing all your personal stuff to him-”
“I know. That’s not what I’m worried about. You know I’m worried for you more than me, right?”
“Wait, really?”
“Yes. There almost certainly isn’t anything about me you can tell that snake that he doesn’t already know.”
“Actually, he’s an eel.”
Leona raised an eyebrow. He certainly knew that, saying it as more of a dig than anything. But the fact that Ruggie cared enough to correct him made him question how the smaller boy actually felt, and if he even realized it himself.
“Right. The point is, you know the risk, right?”
“I do.”
“Fine, then. Listen. You’ve been doing good lately, despite your Beans Day blunder. So, I’ll cut you a deal…”
…
“Hey, Jade.”
Jade’s head perked up, but he didn’t smile or even act gentlemanly initially. Even if last night’s dream wasn’t broadcasted to others, he wouldn’t have been able to stop a little heat from coming on to his face. It would be hard for anyone to ignore something like that as if it never happened, especially when the subject of the dream was right in front of them. He hid it extremely well, however, his skin remaining relatively pale in the split second he noticed. He smiled as friendly as he could.
“Ruggie! I trust I will meet you at the cafe tonight to pay you back for those recipes you taught me on Monday, right?”
“Yeah, about that…” Jade turned his head to the side, smile unfading. “Um, so, like, I don’t know if you knew this, but I took Azul’s place looking for dream jewels last night…”
“Oh?”
“You do realize what that means, right?”
Jade’s cocky smile was immediately wiped away, replaced with horror and dread. It was bad enough it already happened once today, for it to happen twice felt absolutely awful.
“Wait. You entered my dream, too? So that means, the Ruggie in my dream…”
“Yup.”
“Oh.” Jade began to get uncharacteristically flustered. His face turned red immediately. He didn’t even know what to say. Deny it? Overembellish it? Pretend it didn’t even happen? “I…”
His words trailed off into nothing and he didn’t dare to speak again. Ruggie sighed.
“I’m gonna be real, here. I don’t know what to say any more than you do. I just have one question.”
Jade’s heart felt like it was pounding in his throat. This was so humiliating.
“What is it?”
“Everything you said to me… in the dream. You weren’t… lying , were you?”
“No. I wasn’t.”
“Alright, then. So, here’s the deal. I talked to Leona this morning. He promised not to sleep in the botanical garden tonight, and told me I can put some of my other duties on hold so I can stay out as late as I want.”
“Really? Why would he do that?”
“Because he decided to do a favor for me , for once.”
“Oh. Why would you want to take the day off? Is there something going on tonight?”
A smile slowly began to spread on the hyena’s face.
“No. But you said you always wanted me to stick around longer with you when we hang out on Friday nights, didn’t you?”
Jade smiled back, a little bit of relief coming onto his face.
“I believe I did.”
“Then let’s do that. Tonight.”
“Of course.”
He reached a hand up, but stopped himself a few inches above his head. The beastman rolled his eyes.
“Whatever. Just do it.”
Jade smiled, immediately petting his soft hair and laughing in a whisper.
“ Kawaii …”
“ Shut up, ” Ruggie playfully whispered back.