Chapter Text
If someone had told 16-year old Riddle he would fall in love with Floyd, the literal demonic eel of Octavinelle, in the future he probably would have laughed at them for 20 minutes long or collared whoever uttered the possibility out loud.
In fact, no one in this twisted world would dare make that guess : Riddle Rosehearts the imperfectible, abiding by the rules as if his live depended on it, the one who didn’t know what the word “fun” meant until recently, the caged little hedgehog baring his spines at most just COULDN’T BE associated with Floyd Leech, this chaotic predator, living as he pleased, whose “fun” was anchored in his DNA at the expense of others, the moray lurking freely in abyss shadows.
Yes, that was completely ridiculous. But was it really?
There were some similar traits they shared after all, something they would overlook until now.
As shameful as it was, the “red tyrant" used to abuse his authority and use his power to impose his vision of scholarity on his fellow Heartslabyul students. Weren’t the consequences the same as the tall henchman squeezing out troublemakers in a shady bar just to put an example? Both of them had a tarnished reputation, the difference being, while Riddle had been completely clueless about it until his overblot, Floyd expressedly built his reputation as he wanted it to be, a frightening foe you didn’t want to mess with.
In a sense, it meant both pushed people away, only selecting the few they really trusted, the one who could see beyond the mask.
There was also that stubbornness they both possessed, not wanting to let others have the last words on certain subjects. And when your ideas were so opposed to one another, it could only clash between them.
At the end though, Riddle could tell he had lost that peculiar war, letting Floyd creep into his heart with calculated patience (so he presumed, because patience and Floyd seemed to make two).
It didn’t happen during the Night Raven college years, or well, only the roots of it.
At the time, Riddle couldn’t stand being in the same perimeter as the original mood-swinger, who would pester him almost every day for his own entertainment.
Trey and Jade did tell them there were…signs it wasn’t only pure antagonism.
Why would Riddle, a fast learner, let Floyd get on his nerves each time without finding a parade? Or how would Floyd not get bored to harass the same human over and over, almost seeking toward him for 3 years in a row?
But one would find the idea offensive, while the other just shrugged uninterested.
In the end, they graduated and each chose their paths, seemingly indifferent to the other whereabouts.
Even if Riddle thought of the mer another way, a part of his life was traced anyway : he would try to bend the future but was now conscious of the hands and threads above his head he was struggling against. There was no place for a wild card to be played in his game named “life”.
Except destiny (or some fairy from a far away universe) had other plans in store, determined to make the impossible happen.
To free Riddle from its chains. To make Riddle heal. To give Riddle the love and affection he craved for. To offer what Riddle always looked after the most unconsciously : a true and lively family.
And against all odds, all the aligned stars from distant galaxies, all the predictions of old eminent seers from Briar Valley; that would be Floyd, his teenage bully, who would give him all. And more than he could have ever fathomed.