Work Text:
This is it. The day Idia feared most. He thinks he’s about to end it all.
He’s touch starved.
He wants to punch his near surroundings and himself for it. What is he doing, feeling something as pointless as this? He’s definitely not the type to get close to others, let alone physically. He doesn’t even like being suddenly touched, normally. Despite that, he can’t stop rolling around in his bed and squirming until he’s wrapped in someone’s arms like some… he can’t even describe it.
Who can Idia even ask? He knows Ortho would be more than willing to give his big brother a hug, but his robotic body isn’t exactly ideal for solving Idia’s predicament.
Azul… Nope. Absolutely not. He knows both of them would rather die than do something like that. Cater would be open to it, but is Idia open to hugging the number 1 extrovert in the school? Nope. Anything but that. Leona— Idia quickly shoots down that thought. They’re not attached at the hip, but they’re not distant enough to consider each other as just some other dormleader. Basically, Idia doesn’t know where he stands with Leona. He doesn’t think he wants to know.
Idia groans as he realizes that he has to get out of bed soon. He takes Ortho out of sleep mode, who quickly greets him good morning.
“Morning, Ortho…”
“Nii-san? Is something wrong? You seem more upset than usual. Not only that, your body temperature is cold despite the warm weather today.”
Great, now he’s abnormally cold? The last thing he needs is another reason to be held by someone.
“Nah, it’s probably nothing important,” Idia partially lies. He doesn’t exactly consider being touch starved urgent, but it sure does suck.
“Well, if you say so… But! If this is you getting sick, I’ll be sure to take care of you, Nii-san!”
“Thanks…” How soothing it is to have a little brother, Idia thinks. He can feel his HP regenerating by the second.
Idia makes his way to class, and when he gets there, he notices that Leona’s already in his seat. Although he’s asleep, he doesn’t usually get to class on time, let alone early. Idia wonders if something happened.
He takes his seat in the row behind Leona and watches as his ears slightly twitch in his sleep. Is he dreaming?
Idia fixates on his ears for a bit, each second between each movement feeling longer than it should. It’s cute. It’s incredibly cute, and Idia doesn’t know what to do with himself. He can’t believe he’s made it to a point in his life where he can catch himself thinking that Leona Kingscholar is cute. He distantly wonders if his ears are as soft as they look. Leona’s snores softly drift through the room, and Idia starts to feel his own eyelids droop a little. The scene is relaxing and makes for a great CG, if you ask Idia. He rests his head on his arms in a similar manner to Leona, and silently watches his body slowly move up and down in a rhythm with each breath he takes. Idia could watch this for hours.
“Hey-yo~! Cay-kun’s here!” Cater suddenly disturbs the silence, bursting through the doorway. Idia almost falls out of his seat, the sudden sound startling him. “Oh, looks like you two beat me! Did you come together~?”
Idia answers as Cater takes his own seat. “As if… He got here before me, for some reason.”
“Woah, seriously? Leona-always sleeping in-kun, early? First in the classroom, even? This has gotta go on Magicam!” Cater snaps a picture of Leona with his phone, and it’s a miracle that he isn’t awake yet.
“#Leonakun, #FirstInTheClassroom, #SurprisinglyEarly, #WithIdiakun. There!”
“Wh— Hey, don’t put me in there. People will get the wrong idea like you did.” This is why he can’t deal with extroverts.
“Hey, hey! Don’t worry about it, hehe. It won’t be that big of a deal, pinky promise.” Cater holds up his pinky to Idia, as if Idia can reach it, and despite himself, Idia holds up his own and they lock pinkies in the air.
“‘Kay! Pretty sure one of the Queen’s rules is to not break a promise, so if stuff does come up, you can do whatever to me! Tell Riddle-kun, even!” Cater pauses. “Okay, maybe don’t do that.”
“Yeah, okay fine,” Idia replies as if he even thought of doing that in the first place.
The conversation ends there as the rest of the students start piling into the classroom. Leona starts to slowly wake and he lets out a big yawn fitting of a lion. It finishes with another twitch of his ears and he settles with his chin on his hand. Idia stares for another few seconds, believing he’s in the clear, before he’s suddenly met with Leona’s gaze on him. It takes a split second for Idia to look away, and he prays to the Great Seven that Leona didn’t catch him staring. He probably did, Idia reasons with his heart about to burst out of his chest, but he hopes regardless. When he faces forward again, Leona isn’t looking at him anymore. Maybe I imagined it, but he knows that, that too, is wishful thinking. Idia inwardly sighs and tries to get through the rest of the class free of any more Leona-thoughts.
—
Really, if Idia could get rid of anything in the world, it would be PE class. He gets pointlessly sweaty and tired, when he could be doing literally anything else that is way more productive. Comfortably sitting in his bed and playing through an event, for example. Unfortunately, the world is out to get Idia, so thoughts like these run through his mind in the middle of a dodgeball match.
Idia’s a little confused as to how he’s managed to survive this long without getting hit, since all he’s been doing is dodging and throwing balls that fall his way, albeit a little poorly. He doesn’t even know why they’re playing dodgeball in the first place, actually. The coach said something about developing teamwork skills, but that’s a little hard to believe when the other team is practically getting carried by a certain beastman.
It’s just Idia’s luck to end up on a different team than Leona, the captain of the Magift club, but it’s not as irritating to play against him as he thought it would be. Sure, he plays a little too hard for Idia’s tastes, but that’s all he does. He doesn’t make constant and excessive taunts at the other team like some of the other Savanaclaw kids do; he just plays straightforwardly, completely focused on winning. Idia would be lying if he said that the sharp look in Leona’s eyes wasn’t captivating, and— He stops himself there. Lately, Idia has found himself finding Leona a little too attractive.
Idia snaps out of his maze of thoughts and is now suddenly more aware of the feeling of sweat trailing down his body. It makes him shudder in disgust. He really hates how it feels against his skin, and he wants nothing more than to go back inside and change into clean clothes.
“Idia-senpai! Duck!” A voice Idia hardly recognizes calls out to him, he thinks it’s the first year from Heartslabyul with a heart mark on his face, but his body follows the command before his brain can process it. A ball shoots past him and grazes the tip of his hair.
He shakily stands up straight again. “Phew… That was cl-–” Idia doesn’t even get his relief out before something slams into his face and he passes out, his head hitting the ground with a thump.
—
“Ah, Idia-kun! There you are!”
Idia recognizes that wonderful, bright, dazzling voice anywhere. But what is Yui, his number one oshi, doing here? More importantly, how good was his luck to end up like this?
Idia groans as he opens his eyes to see Yui standing over him with her smile as cute as always, and he realizes he’s not on the field anymore. Instead, all of his surroundings are covered in a blinding white.
He sits up and says the first thing that comes to mind. “Did I die? Am I in heaven?”
Yui giggles with a hand over her mouth. “Of course not, silly! What makes you think that?”
“W-Well, you’re here, so…” Idia feels a blush creep up his neck as he attempts a terribly cheesy line that sounds like it came straight out of a manga, but he thinks it lands well, judging by the louder laugh Yui lets out.
“You’re always so sweet, Idia-kun. Actually… I’ve been feeling pretty down lately. I know you always want to see a smile on my face, so…!” Yui wrings her hands together, and Idia’s never seen her like this before. “If you wouldn’t mind, could I… have a hug from you?”
Well, now Idia does believe that he’s dead and in heaven, even after what Yui said, because really, what other place could he be in for this to be happening to him?
“A-A hug?” he barely manages to get out. “Are you sure you want it from me? This isn’t some kinda trick or anything, is it?”
“No, of course not! I’d never try to trick you…”
That’s true, Idia thinks. How could he ever think for even a second that Yui would do something so cruel? Even if the way he sees himself isn’t the best, Yui’s the nicest, kindest, and most caring person Idia can think of.
“R-Right, sorry… Then…” Idia slowly opens his arms, and Yui hugs him without hesitation. She quickly relaxes as Idia’s arms wrap around her, and he still can’t believe this is happening.
“So… How is it?” Idia asks, but he can barely think straight with Yui’s warmth spreading to him. She buries her face into his neck, and he thinks he’s about to die a second time, right here and now.
Yui slightly lightens her embrace, but it’s still tight enough for Idia to realize that she doesn’t want to let go. “This is the best I’ve ever felt… Thank you, Idia-kun.”
If letting go is the one thing Yui doesn't want, then it’s the one thing that Idia won’t do. The silence is long and comfortable, and Idia’s ailment of being touch starved is absolutely being cured. Though, he can’t help but feel like something’s a little off. While Idia’s happy that Yui’s so affectionate, she’s never acted this warm and bubbly in the first place…
He suddenly hears a pop noise next to him, and both him and Yui turn their heads towards the source.
“Is that… a radish sprout?”
What?
The little sprout grows into a full radish in a split second, and another sprout pops out of the ground, which does the same thing. Then another, and then another, and before either of them realize, they’re surrounded by hundreds of sprouts budding and growing into radishes.
“W-What’s going on?!”
Yui lets out a gasp. “I-Idia-kun…! Your forehead!”
Idia feels around until his fingers run into one of the sprouts.
“Wh—” Just like the others, the sprout immediately grows into a radish, and the sudden force knocks Idia over.
“Idia-kun!” Yui reaches over and tries to pry the radish off of his face, but she fails to and instead also falls over. The radishes continue to grow as rapidly on Idia’s face as the others have, and he has no clue what to do.
This is it, he thinks. This is how he’s going to die a second time, and not in Yui’s arms like he should have been. The radishes completely infest his face and cover up what little he had left of his vision, so now all he can see is black.
“Radish sprout, radish sprout, radish sprout,” he faintly hears Yui repeating, as if she’s been suddenly coded like an NPC to say the same things over and over again. The voice also now sounds suspiciously like Leona’s, but that the last thing he thinks before he blacks out.
—
“Radish sprout. Oi.” A hand shakes Idia’s shoulder. “Wake up.”
Idia grumbles. “Urgh… Huh…?” He opens his eyes again, but this time, he can actually tell where he is. He sits up, and Leona is standing up on his left with his arms crossed.
“Why am I in the nurse’s office? Why are you here and not Yui-chan?”
“Who the hell are you talking about… The teacher made me bring you here since…” Leona trails off and looks away from Idia, which lights up a lightbulb in his head.
“Ah. You were the one who threw that dodgeball straight to my face.” Idia’s brows are now furrowed and all Leona does is click his tongue and shrug.
“It was a good shot.”
“You were aiming for me?!”
“Of course I was,” and when Idia’s face turns to something even more bewildered, Leona sits down in the chair next to Idia’s bed he was using earlier and speaks again. “No, dumbass. I was aiming for some guy running past you, but you getting hit is on you for being distracted. And for looking like a beanstalk.”
“You are two centimeters taller than me,” Idia deadpans.
“So you were distracted.”
“Kh—” Idia would be thinking something along the lines of how Leona’s a lot more attractive when he isn’t opening his mouth, but that would be a lie too. The smirk on Leona’s face, the one that screams that he knows he’s right, absolutely infuriates Idia, but he’s even more upset at himself when he realizes his heart is beating a little bit faster because of it.
“So? Spit it out. What were you thinking about that got you so spaced out?”
“You know, I don’t think that’s any of your business,” Idia says as he turns away to get Leona’s face out of his sight.
“It wouldn’t be if I wasn’t the one who had to bring you here. Take responsibility.”
“Look who’s talking… You’re the one who hit me and made me realize that all that was just a dream…” Idia reluctantly looks at Leona again to see his tail slowly swaying from left to right and the soft looking ears on the top of his head. Damn it, there he goes again. Idia can’t help but stare at them some more, but he doesn’t realize he is until Leona speaks with one eyebrow raised.
“I still have no clue what the hell you’re going on about. Also…” Leona narrows his eyes, “you’ve been staring at my ears a whole damn lot lately. What’s with that?”
Shit.
“I dunno what you’re talking about,” Idia mumbles, making sure to look away from Leona’s ears in order to strengthen his weak lie.
“Ha, you thought I didn’t realize? I saw it this morning, earlier during PE, and now too. Got me curious about what you find so fascinating about ‘em.”
Ugh, so he did see all of that.
“D-Does it matter?” Idia hates how his voice sounds much more unsure than it did earlier.
“No.”
“So then why—”
“‘Cause I wanna know,” Leona says, as if it’s the most obvious thing ever. All Idia can do is groan in response as the ends of his hair start to turn pink.
“You’ll laugh if I tell you.”
“Yeah, I probably will. I’ve been giving you the benefit of the doubt in believing that it’s not because you want to touch them or some stupid shit like that, but…” Idia accidentally lets out a little noise at that, and that’s all Leona needs to figure it out.
“Pfft… Haha! Gahahaha!” Leona cackles, loud enough where the entire school can probably hear it, and Idia buries his face into his hands.
“Oh my god. Shut up. Shut uppp. I told you that you would laugh.”
“Can’t believe this is what had you all hung up all day,” Leona says when he finally calms down. “You really are damn interesting, huh?”
“… And what’s that supposed to mean?”
Leona doesn’t bother to answer his question. Instead, he tells Idia, “Move over.” He starts throwing the covers of the bed to the side, climbing in and taking up Idia’s space. The bed can barely fit the both of them, but he settles below Idia regardless and wraps his arms around Idia’s torso. Meanwhile, Idia's heart instantly jumps straight to his throat, and the faint pink starts to spread like wildfire throughout his hair.
“W-W-What are you doing?!” Idia shrieks.
“You’re so damn loud… I’m in a good mood so shut up before I change my mind.”
“Says the one who— Wait, change your mind about what?”
Leona looks up at him with a frown on his face. “Tch, and here I thought you were good at picking up a hint.” Leona’s ears do another one of its infamous little twitches (Idia can’t tell if that was intentional or not), and Idia finally catches on.
“You’re… You’re letting me…?” Idia doesn’t get a response, as Leona is already fast asleep. It almost amazes Idia how quickly he was able to fall asleep, especially in his arms on a nurse’s office bed, but it’s not like it’s that big of a surprise to him. His chest slowly rising and falling is oddly calming to Idia, and it relaxes him enough to move his hands to Leona’s ears. Idia starts by warily scratching the back, which draws out a quiet hum from Leona, who also unconsciously leans into the touch. Embarrassingly, Idia’s heart swells and he continues his movements, petting Leona like he would to a cat.
It takes a few moments for Idia to actually realize the weight of his situation. He is cuddling with Leona Kingscholar. Leona is holding on to him, and Idia has no means of escaping, unless he wants to wake a sleeping lion. Except the problem is, Idia doesn’t actually want to. He realizes this as he pulls Leona slightly closer to his body and slowly tangles their legs together. They fit together like puzzle pieces, as cheesy as it sounds, and the warmth is both too much and perfect at the same time. Forget class this morning, this is the CG Idia would absolutely whale for.
Seconds, then minutes pass, with Idia slowly starting to drift off as he listens to Leona’s light snoring. Forgetting the fact that they still have classes later, he finally closes his eyes and falls asleep.
Mission cleared: Cure your need for touch.
—
(Bonus)
Lately, there’s been a new addition in Ruggie’s afternoon cleaning routine. (By that, he means his afternoon cleaning of Leona’s room.)
Leona is starting to fall asleep as per usual, but now there’s also someone sharing his space. Another one of his seniors, the one who seems like the type to fall over after one sneeze but is actually pretty strong (according to Leona), Idia.
Ruggie’s not surprised, not at all. It was just a matter of time before Leona got over himself and finally said something about the feelings that have been swirling inside him since the beginning of this year. Ruggie doesn’t doubt that Idia also had his own issues, but he had front row seats to Leona’s and could tell when it was starting to burst past the cap Leona tried to put on it. He figures that both of them just had a good day that day. Plus, he got to cash out of a bet he and Jack made, so it was a win for everyone. Well, everyone except for Jack-kun, he thinks and snickers to himself.
“Leona-shi,” Ruggie overhears Idia while he’s sorting things out on top of one of Leona’s drawers.
“Nn.”
“Why’d you start going to class early in the first place?”
Ruggie’s curious as to how Leona will respond. Not because he doesn’t know the reason why, but because he doesn’t know if Leona will tell the truth or not. It takes a beat for him to speak.
“… ‘s quiet there. I’ll still get to sleep without any noisy idiots around and if I’m already in class then Ruggie won’t nag at me to get up and go.”
Idia doesn’t look up from his phone as he answers. “Oh, huh. Makes sense. Bet sleeping on your arms is uncomfortable though.”
“Eh.”
Ruggie tries not to laugh. Leona absolutely prefers to sleep in a comfortable place, so Idia not seeing through Leona’s blatant lie is comical. Sure, it’s only a half lie since that was also part of the reason, but Idia was definitely the main motivator. He knows he shouldn’t say anything, lest he face Leona’s wrath later but… That’s a problem for future Ruggie and he’s always been one for mischief.
“Oh, really Leona-san?” Ruggie doesn’t look at Leona, but he’s sure he’s reacted in some way. “I remember telling you that you’d get to see Idia-san some more if you were the first in the classroom. Plus, why would you sleep in an uncomfortable position like that anyway?” he adds on, just to make it sting a little more.
A growl starts to rise in Leona’s throat. “Ruggie…”
And that’s his cue to leave. “Well, wouldja look at that, I just finished cleaning! I’m really tired from doing all this tidying up, so I’ll see you two later!”
With that, Ruggie dashes out of Leona’s room without another word and immediately bolts to his room, not sparing a single glance back.