Rose-Red Loverboy

Xii !

After Riddle's birthday, things were pretty calm. Study sessions every few days, passing history class with a decent grade– he even helped them practice when they struggled with a spell for their practical magic class. He was helpful, and he always made an effort to be as kind as possible with them– ignoring small things that in the past he would usually blow up over.

They even heard Riddle call them his friend when talking to Trey.

It wasn't like he had that many people around him, the other housewardens weren't incredibly fond of him and other than Trey and Cater the whole dorm either avoided him like the plague or only sucked up to him so they could avoid getting into trouble. It was pretty sad to think about.

Currently, {y/n} was sitting across from Riddle in his room this time, a book open on the current subject they were struggling with as he went through each topic they didn't understand that well. He explained it all a lot better than their actual teacher, and so they decided to make a comment about that.

"You know.. You wouldn't be that bad as a teacher. Maybe a college professor," it was a simple one-off comment, something they didn't expect to really get a reaction out of the man. And yet, his pretty gray eyes widened at the comment, as if it had come out of nowhere.

"Well, my parents need me to become a medical mage," his voice was slightly quieter than it usually was, looking up from the textbook to look up at them.

"I figured you would go into the field," they started, looking away a little before over to him again. "Since you do have a lot of textbooks on it."

He nodded slightly, his eyes darting back down to the book, he spoke as if it was some unfortunate fact. As if it was some sort of sad fate– a path he was forced to follow that he had simply accepted.

"..that's what your parents want, but what about what you want?" As they spoke, he looked up clearly surprised at the suggestion. It wasn't like it was something he had never thought about before, but it wasn't like he thought he had much of a choice.

"..Law," his words were hesitant, almost as if it was something he found it hard to admit. It was pretty common knowledge that both of Riddle's parents were renowned medical mages that were excellent in their field, but he didn't want that.

{y/n} nodded at that– it seemed to fit him a lot more than being a medical mage; his obsession with the rules, his stubborn and somewhat argumentative nature, it fit a lot better than working in a hospital. And yet, it wasn't like they could push that much.

Recently, they had been thinking about him. A lot more than they would like to, anyway. It felt childish, thinking about such simple and domestic situations with the man. It felt wrong in a way they couldn't explain, it wasn't as if they liked their housewarden.. He was just kind to them in a way that was unique to him. Azul, Trey, Cater, and their friends outside of NRC were of course friendly to them– even a few other students like Ruggie who they sometimes talked to...

And yet,

With him it felt different. They hated the thought; of blushing like some dumb school girl writing love notes and putting them in their crush's locker. The idea of it felt so very wrong, so they tried their best to push those thoughts to the farthest corners of their mind.

"..Is something wrong? You zoned out," Riddle's voice was laced with concern as he stood up, starting to walk over to where he had so thoughtfully arranged a few items. It was something he did since the last time the two of them tried to study in {y/n}'s room– ever since he found out about their sickness. Just simple over-the-counter medications to help with their throat or other things like specialty teas to help ease some other symptoms as well.