Chapter Text
Riddle stared out the window into the rose maze; he should have been asleep hours ago. Riddle knew that: he was supposed to be asleep by 8:15pm sharp. He had executed his standard nightly routine to ensure that he would be ready for bed on time perfectly. Riddle had his bedtime routine planned out down to the minute; his nightly routine was perfect just like everything he did.
Despite that… Riddle still found himself adverse to getting into his bed and disrupting his neatly made bed just yet.
He was sure if Cater was here, he’d be squealing about how magic-cammable this moment was; Riddle couldn’t help his soft smile as he imagined the carrot-headed boy’s teasing jabs that Cater thought went over Riddle’s head. The moon was particularly beautiful tonight and it was so perfectly framed in his window as it cast its soft silver glow over the Heartslaybul rose maze. Riddle pushed those thoughts to the side for now; he was content to bask in the soft glow of the moonlight as he subtly loosened the black belt off his plaid night robe.
Riddle allowed it to fall open as he let out a long breath. It was a weakness, a concession to the burning pain in his stomach that he very much did not exist thank you very much. Despite what the rest of his dorm mates might insist, he was above his body’s foolish demands of him.That would be if his body was demanding something of him of course.
That was in fact not what was happening because Riddle was in far too much control of his body for it to dare make demands of him. Riddle didn’t have any time for the pathetic bodily functions of one of his supposed presentation so he simply did what he did best: refuse to acknowledge it until Trey forced him to or it blew up in his face.
Riddle only allowed his body one demand: sleep. "Unfortunately" for his body, he would not be giving it what he wanted. He couldn’t sleep even if he wanted to.Riddle just didn’t feel like it. That had nothing to do with the burning ache under his skin of course. Nothing to do at all with how much he wanted to curl into a ball and scream. No relation at all to the instinct in him screaming at him to force his way into the bedroom of everyone he held dear in his thorny heart to steal their clothes and bask in their scent.
He might have felt more like sleeping if he hadn’t been feeling such things which he wasn’t because that would have been utterly ridiculous.
No, Riddle was fine. There was no reason why he was audibly gritting and grinding his teeth together in the way that he knew would send Trey into a conniption. Riddle had no problems whatsoever because he was in complete control of everything regardless of what some of the others (aka Ace Trappola) may say.
Maybe a walk would do him some good…
It was never a good sign when he could start hearing that cocky alpha brat Trappola yelling at him in his head.
Lilia would be furious with him. It wasn’t often that the old fae got angry, but broken promises were a sure fire way to get a very angry Lilia on one’s tail.
Malleus was well aware that he had promised that he would pause his unaccompanied late-night strolling and he had been doing quite a fine job at following through if you asked Malleus.
Just don’t ask Sebek about his opinion on that.…Malleus didn’t know what had drawn him here to Heartslaybul's famous hedge maze. It was rather different than his usual haunts but he had felt pulled there tonight. It was an almost magnetic pull, a gut instinct.Malleus found that his gut rarely steered him wrong.
Whatever the reason, Malleus found himself not particularly caring what had drawn him here to Heartslaybul. For whatever reason he was supposed to be here in this maze, he was going to enjoy the moonlight illuminating the roses that covered every hedge while he was here.The roses’ scent was sweet; it was almost hypnotic.
Malleus couldn’t help but find himself following the cloying scent of the roses. He had never smelt a rose so divine before; not even the briar roses in his grandmother’s gardens had ever left him so enthralled.
They smelt like roses, but somehow strawberries and sugar too. It didn’t make sense for a flower to smell like that, yet it was irresistibly intoxicating. Malleus felt dizzy, the smell so all-consuming he couldn’t tell if it was just his head or if the world truly was spinning all around him. The scent was enchanting. It was like nothing he had ever smelt before.Was that… Rosehearts?
Malleus froze, staring at the sight of the Heartslaybul house warden. Malleus didn’t know why it was so startling to see the Rosehearts; Malleus was in Rosehearts’ dorm after all. Perhaps it had something to do with the current… state of the so-called Crimson Tyrant.
There was no other way to describe Rosehearts’ current state as anything other than awful.Rosehearts was covered in sweat, his entire body drenched in perspiration. His usually well-kept shining hair was stuck to his face in clumps, his face as red as it was now with fever as it often turned in anger. Rosehearts was still seemingly dressed in his pajamas, his red plaid robe hanging open as he trudged forward like a zombie through the maze.
That however wasn't what caught Malleus' attention; what captured his gaze was Rosehearts' scent glands. They were swollen, almost pulsing from how agitated the skin was.If the angry scent glands weren't enough to tip Malleus off, the giant slick stain down the back of Rosehearts’ pajamas was enough to tip Malleus off that Rosehearts’ was in heat. It was a conundrum and one Malleus never expected to find himself in. Malleus hadn't even known Rosehearts’ was an omega; as far as he had been aware the younger was a beta.
Malleus approached with what he hoped came across as respectful hesitancy. Malleus was uncertain what the proper social protocol to follow in this situation was, but his gut instinct pushed him forward.
As Malleus got closer, he finally figured out where the smell had been coming from and it certainly hadn’t been the roses.
As Malleus approached Rosehearts’, the omega turned to him. Rosehearts’ looked half-feral before he seemingly composed himself. While Riddle seemed normal on the surface, the shake in his voice was more than enough to ruin any credibility of his act.
"Good Afternoon, Draconia. What are you doing here in the rose maze? I do not remember any ongoing matters that would necessitate a visit here to Heartslaybul, never mind a visit at such a late hour as this one," Riddle drawled, though any effect of nonchalance was ruined by the neurotic twitching of his eye."I could ask the same of you, Roshearts. You are clearly in heat. You should be in your room with your chosen pack. Why do you wander the hedge maze?" Malleus questioned.
Malleus couldn't help raising his eyebrow as he came to stand in front of Riddle, extending a hand to catch the overheated omega when his legs finally gave out underneath him. "Do you require some assistance Riddle, I would be happy to give it."
Malleus stiffened as Riddle struck him across the face.
"I'M NOT AN OMEGA!!" Riddle snapped with all the venom that someone in his current state could muster.
Malleus found himself even more confused now. He had no idea why Riddle was claiming he was not an omega. The fact was undeniable. Just a look at Riddle was enough for anyone with a working pair of eyes to tell that Riddle was very clearly an omega.
Malleus stared down at Riddle scrutinizingly, still holding Riddle up gently by his arm so he didn’t collapse to his knees. He knew normally he would be furious about someone striking him, but he couldn't bring himself to be angry at Riddle. Perhaps it was Riddle’s scent; it was just so calming that Malleus couldn't feel anything else but want to hold Riddle and never let him go.
Since when was he Riddle and not Rosehearts? "You’re clearly an omega, your scent leaves that an undeniable fact. You are clearly unwell. Let me assist you," Malleus found himself insisting, as his hand reached up to push Riddle's hair out of his face.
The two stared at each other. Neither quite understood why the two of them were in the rose garden, why either of them seemed so pulled to the other, why any of them were even having this conversation.
However, they found they couldn't resist whatever this pull was.
Riddle didn't understand why, but he found himself leaning into Malleus' hand, the words escaping him before he had time to think it through. "I think despite what I would like to tell myself, I can no longer deny that I need some assistance."