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shi~shi~shi~shi~shi~
Leona rolls over onto his back in his enormous bed with an annoyed little grumble, the particular sound of Ruggie’s laughter reaching his ears long before his footsteps.
“Better have a damn good reason for waking me from my nap with that hyena laughter of yours,” he glares at Ruggie, folding his arms behind his head and waiting for an explanation.
“Cake has arrived!” Ruggie crows, plopping the box down on Leona’s desk and immediately setting to work on removing the cake from it.
Leona’s ears twitch with interest, but he knows Ruggie far too well to believe that’s the only reason for his laughter. “And?” he prods, holding out a hand for the delivery of a slice of cake.
Ruggie turns back with a smirk, a small golden plate with an enormous slice of equally golden cake, iced in red, in one hand, and mischief in his blue eyes. Crossing the room in three quick steps, he leaps nimbly onto the bed, walking across it until he can sink to his knees, seating himself directly on Leona’s lap. “I sent Jack to pick it up. Because of that damn mistletoe.”
“Oh~?” Leona drawls, but he’s smirking now too as Ruggie picks up the slice of cake with his other hand. “I take it you didn’t warn him?”
“Noooope!” Snickering again, Ruggie leans back, pretending for a moment that he’s going to steal the first bite away.
Laughing soft and low, Leona wraps a hand around Ruggie’s wrist and settles the other on his hip. “This oughtta be good.”
Dragging the slice of Cake closer, he bites the end right out of Ruggie’s hand and waits to be regaled with the gossip.
~
“Come in.”
Vil knows the distinct (soft, yet sharp) knock of his vice enough by heart to have no need to look over his shoulder.
“Good evening, Roi de Poison~,” Rook chimes warmly.
“I heard that door slam earlier,” Vil intones lightly. He’s seated at his vanity, unbraiding his hair for the evening. “Epel, again?”
“Forgive him the slightest deviation from proper manners today,” Rook smiles into the mirror over Vil’s shoulder as he sets a thin sliver of almond cake down on the vanity. “He took on one of my tasks unrequested and picked up our dorm’s cakes.”
Vil’s lips curl into the slightest little smirk as he gazes at their reflections, Rook’s fingers carding gently through his unbound hair. “Oh, do tell.”
“It would appear that your wolfish childhood friend was also present,” Rook leans over Vil just enough to grasp the hair brush, moving to run it carefully through his dorm head’s golden and lilac hair.
Vil’s eyes drift over to the unopened bag of his favorite candies from their hometown, which Jack had bashfully bestowed upon him during their last joint run, and laughs softly. “There must be a picture on Magicam by now?”
Rook catches Vil’s eyes in the mirror and can’t help but laugh in return. “And certainly a like from you would catapult that image into the stratosphere.”
Spinning on his seat, Vil looks up at Rook directly with pure amusement in his eyes. “Come now, I’m not that heartless.”
Rook takes a moment to simply appreciate having Vil’s full attention focused on him before snatching up his hand and pressing a kiss to the back of it. “Then I only need ask you – which indulgence shall we partake of first?”
~
There is one cake mysteriously missing from the order.
There are two twins mysteriously missing from the end of the night’s clean-up.
This cannot be a coincidence.
Azul finds them in the VIP room, the box of cake already open… two mirror images, sprawled on the black leather sofa, feeding each other fistfuls of cake filled with rainbow sprinkles.
“…I hope you’re aware that Mostro Lounge will be charging you for that,” he informs them, locking the door behind him.
“Understood~” Jade smiles at their dorm head and holds out the hand not covered with frosting. “Won’t you join us?”
“Yeah, we saved you some!” Floyd grins, a mouthful of sharp teeth and a genuinely joyful gleam in his mismatched eyes.
Azul looks from one twin to the other and sighs heavily. “And making yourself ill on that much sugar will not be an acceptable excuse out of your next shift.”
“I could eat at least three cakes all on my own before hitting that point, Azuuuu~ul,” Floyd complains, holding out a sticky hand with a pout. “Hurry up and get over here so we can feed you cake too~!”
Shrugging off his jacket and hanging up his hat first, Azul slowly crosses the room to look down at his two favorites, a slow grin rising on his face. “Is that what we’re calling it now?”
~
Idia could spend time being horrified by the number of kissy pictures drowning his Magicam dash this evening, but it hardly seems worth the effort. Tossing his phone onto the mess that serves as a floor, he pats the space beside him on the bed.
Ortho has already returned with their bag of two dozen cupcakes and a delighted ramble about how excited he is for their research into every flavor combination possible. “It was very kind for Trey to be willing to make us this many individual cakes instead of one huge cake!”
“How did you convince him?” Idia queries Ortho as he loads up the first game of the night.
Ortho’s gear hides half of his face, but his smile makes his eyes twinkle. “Apparently traditions are as important to Heartslabyul as they are to us! And cupcakes are tradition.”
Idia thinks of another holiday, a long time ago, but then the snowy mountain they’re about to snowboard down together appears on the screen and only the now has room to exist in his mind. “Cakes and games until the sun comes up, then sleep on the whole ride home tomorrow!”
~
“I cannot believe a human could coerce you into such a display! What powerful magic this mistletoe must hold!” Sebek’s voice echoes around Malleus’ bedroom as stares at Lilia’s phone with a blend of shock, awe and confusion.
Silver leans over Sebek to glance at the video, one eyebrow slowly lifting. “...I, uh... don’t think it works quite like that, Sebek.”
“There was no coercion involved at all,” Lilia laughs merrily, slipping the phone back into his pocket and sliding until his back is against the headboard of the bed. The other two dutifully shift to sit opposite him, awaiting their master. “Only adding a bit of fae magic to an enchantment for luck in gratitude for the delicious bounty we are about to feast upon!”
Malleus’ magic floats the plates of cake – a blood red velvet so dark it’s nearly black, iced in green and detailed in gold – over their heads as he joins them on the bed, the four of them creating a comfortable circle in a place they’ve long held court together.
“An enchantment for luck?” Sebek turns his gaze towards Malleus. “Is this a tradition that Diasomnia could incorporate into the Longest Night celebration next year?”
“Luck magic sows chaos,” Malleus answers, holding out a forkful of his cake to Sebek, who chomps it dutifully before turning to hold his own fork out to Silver. “The rules of Heartslabyul are a magical counter-balance.”
“Wufdoethaffmean?”
“Don’t speak with your mouth full,” Lilia reminds Sebek before accepting a forkful of cake from Silver.
“What does that mean?” Silver dutifully translates for Sebek, despite all of them having understood him, and despite already guessing at what the answer will be.
Lilia winks at his family as holds out his fork for Malleus to taste their holiday cake. “It means... one sprig of Enchanted Mistletoe is more than enough trouble!”
Malleus closes his eyes with a smile as the sugar of the icing melts on his tongue. “But the cake is always entirely worth it.”