sleepingdeath

a z u l a s h e n g r o t t o

now azul is very insistent of the fact that he is ‘above’ jealousy — that he’s more than comfortable and confident enough in his place as your boyfriend (and, naturally, future husband) to ever give into the influence of such a petty emotion — but if you’ve known him for longer than a few short minutes you’ll know that he’s lying through his teeth. and it’s such a blatant and bold faced lie, even compared to the tales he spins to get a good deal out of the poor unfortunate souls he works with on a daily basis, that you can bet every thaumark you have to your name that the twins would be giving him the worst ribbing of his life if they ever heard those words leave his lips… which is precisely why azul is careful to never broach the subject when either of them could be in earshot

because not only is azul very much so not above jealousy, but he has the most prominent jealous streak of anyone either of the tweels know. of course he is rational enough to recognise that his jealousy isn’t your fault and he never takes it out on you if he can help it, but after the severe bullying and ostracisation he faced in his youth and all the lingering insecurities he has as a result he can’t help but feel a bit antsy and uncomfortable with the idea of you spending more time with others. especially those that could offer you more than he can… even if he would sooner let floyd squeeze him until he literally popped than ever admit as much to you

and no matter how long you two have been together, no matter how secure he otherwise feels in your relationship, that little voice in his head insisting that you can do better and that he doesn’t deserve you will always be there. and it will be that much louder whenever you give him even the slightest of signs that the student he’s jealous of is something that you actually like, even if you’re not doing it intentionally and truly do just feel platonically for the other person. of course that little voice does get quieter and more easy to ignore as he gets older and starts to actually address his personal issues, but growth isn’t easy or linear and it will take him a long time to truly make any progress — years, even… but that’s beside the point

the main way that his jealousy shows is through his very personal and intentional targeting of whichever person he’s jealous of, with azul using every single means he has at his disposal to get them under his thumb so he can keep them away from you. and the methods he utelises to do this vary from obvious to subtle enough to make the sea witch herself proud, including:

having jade snoop around to find out what they want and what they need so he can entrap them into a contract where they get their heart’s desire (or the closest possible equivalent he can get his hands on; resourceful as he is, azul is still only a student) and he gets the peace of mind that they will not be going anywhere near you for the rest of their life. a true win-win situation, as well as an excuse to show off the true benevolence of octavinelle’s housewarden… and thus his preferred method of dealing with his jealousy because it’s just so simple and unassuming, but unfortunately for him this isn’t always an option so he does have to resort to some less elegant solutions every now and again

rearranging their entire work schedule, if they work at the mostro lounge, to ensure that they either never cross paths with you at all or that they’re too exhausted to even properly acknowledge you when you do stumble across each other — thus causing a rift in your bond with the other person that he is all too happy to watch grow and worsen. though he is convincing enough with the reasons he provides for swapping their shifts and duties around (e.g. the lounge is short staffed on those days and need the extra hands, the previous person that performed those exhausting/undesirable duties quit and he will compensate them fairly for picking up the slack, etc.) that there’s every chance that they, and thus you, never catch onto what he’s actually pulling

enlisting the twins to… talk to the individual in question and politely advise them to never speak to you again, unless they want another visit of course. it’s a messy solution and one he will only ever use as a last resort as it involves both letting the twins know that he’s jealous (as he can’t exactly excuse these requests for being in the interest of the lounge as he might a brief research request) which will result in him getting teased to hell and back, and running the risk of you finding out what happened as the leech boys don’t exactly scream subtle when they do dorm visits… especially not floyd who is somehow both the best and worst option for this particular assignment. but if things get to this point he likely doesn’t have the option to be picky anymore so… yeah

yeah… there’s pretty much nothing that he will not do if it means keeping you by his side, even if he knows that his jealousy is completely unfounded, because he’s a problem solver to his core and he can’t help himself but try and correct what he perceives as a disaster waiting to happen. and if he can do all of that while keeping you mostly in the dark about his insecurities flaring up then that’s a bonus

granted, for as sneaky as he can be when it comes to working out ways to keep the other person away from you he is also tremendously unsubtle about his jealousy in other ways that are clear as crystal to you. like how physically clingy he gets with you, his clear displays of anxious body language like pacing and nail biting and averting his eyes, and how much he questions you about the people in your life and your own relationship while trying (and failing) to be completely nonchalant about your answers. so, really, you’d almost have to be trying to remain oblivious whenever his jealousy spikes

so… maybe don’t let him fester in his negative thoughts for too long and drag him into a cuddle pile and start kissing him senseless the second you start to notice the signs, lest he end up ruining some poor student’s life out of jealousy. unless that’s something you want to see him do for whatever reason? but even then, be sure to assure him that you’re not going anywhere because sevens know he needs to hear it

j a m i l v i p e r

after a lifetime of servitude and learning to bottle up all of his emotions in favour of performing a carefully honed neutrality to the world and people around him, it almost goes without saying that jamil has a pretty solid poker face. one that you are unlikely to be able to see through if he’s actively trying to keep it up, unless you’re exceptionally observant or he opens up to you about whatever he’s actually feeling on his own terms. and even after his overblot and his embracing his new freedom as much as he has, it’s still gonna take him a while to actually let himself open up to you like that. don’t take it personally, old habits just die hard for him… even when he really doesn’t want them to

all that to say that while he does have quite the prominent jealous streak, he also knows better than to act irrationally because of it. after all, not only does he have his family’s reputation on his shoulders but he also has to consider how his actions will impact you as his partner, and as a result he is very careful about how he acts around whoever he’s jealous of. not to say that he’s above being petty with them, because he’s not, just that he’s going to be a lot more thoughtful and intentional in how he goes about being petty — he has to have plausible deniability, after all

though his first instinct for a while, before he even considers messing with the other party at all, is to try and work through these uncomfortable emotions on his own. like he does for most things in his life and has been doing pretty much for as long as he can remember. of course this isn’t exactly a successful strategy and he will pivot eventually, but it’s effective enough and he’s stubborn enough to try and stick with it for as long as he can… which, in hindsight, is perhaps a while longer than he should have

eventually though he will end up caving and broaching the topic with you himself, hinting at it over several days to test the waters before actually setting aside a chunk of time one day for the two of you to actually sit down so he can tell you about what he’s been dealing with. because for as much as he hates showing off his vulnerabilities and insecurities to you in such a clear way, he does also want to make this relationship work in the long term and understands well enough that this is very much so a necessary step in ensuring the two of you don’t end up drifting apart or growing resentful (you may be his first real partner, but having spent a lot of time blending into the background he’s been privy to watching many couples implode over one person’s jealousy and he does not want the two of you to end like that. or at all, actually… but that’s beside the point)

and after that conversation, difficult and awkward and uncomfortable though it may have been for the both of you, you’ll come out the other side much more confident and assured in the stability and openness of your relationship. and you, in particular, will have your eyes open to all of the signs you likely missed that pointed towards just how jealous jamil was… which you now can hardly believe you didn’t find as blatantly obvious before he confessed his discomfort to you

like how he would glare at them whenever they were near you, or whenever he saw them around school in general, his eyes observant and judgemental and burning holes into their skull only to return to a more neutral, almost bored, expression the second they looked in his direction. a clear sign of his dislike for the other person to those who were close to him in the moment, namely ace and floyd, but one that was easily missed as he excelled at quickly masking his hatred and blending back into the background before they realised he was the one staring them down

and the way that he’d almost habitually position himself in front of you whenever the two of you bumped into the other person, placing a physical boundary between you and wordlessly but irrefutably cementing his role as your boyfriend to them in a single, outwardly inconspicuous gesture. even inserting himself silently into your interactions with them just to reassert his place and the fact that they really ought to back off, even if he never actually said as much to them

and then there were all the times that he would actively interrupt your conversations with whoever he was jealous of, though he always came to you with a believable excuse so you never really thought to question it. after all, it really wasn’t so out of sorts to think that kalim had thrown another last minute party and your boyfriend desperately needed someone to keep him sane while he did all the prep, or that you had promised to study with him during your free period and it had slipped your mind because of all the chaos you experience on a daily basis, so you’d always bid your farewells and follow jamil without complaint (much to his unspoken relief, and smugness — because once again you chose him and not them)

and the way he’d become more publicly tactile with you whenever they wandered over to you both… though he always kept his gestures on the more appropriate side (e.g. fixing your uniform, kissing you on your hands or cheeks, offering you his arm to hold onto while walking between classes, etc.) so you didn’t necessarily pick up on the more possessive and intentional undertones to why he was suddenly being so physical in those moments. but, saying that, you can’t exactly bring yourself to complain about it as it was nice having your boyfriend be so openly tactile for a change…

… but, hey, hindsight is fifty-fifty and jamil can hardly blame you for not really picking up on his jealousy since he was otherwise going to such lengths to keep it under wraps. though now you know what to look out for moving forward, so do whatever you will with that newly acquired knowledge

l e o n a k i n g s c h o l a r

despite leona’s claims that he ‘isn’t the jealous type’ and that ‘it’s just called being territorial, herbivore. all beastmen are like this’, he is, in fact, a very jealous person. mainly because of his own insecurities and that lifelong fear of coming in second once again, this time in his own relationship with the one person in his life that has actively and consistently chosen him over anyone else. and while he will not take that jealousy out on you — unless, for whatever sevens forsaken reason, you decided to actively try to make him jealous and he knows that’s what you were doing — and while he does do his best to try and hide his jealousy as best as he can, he is also tremendously unsubtle about the whole thing, especially so if you happen to know him well (like, say, ruggie who is usually the first to call him out on being jealous whenever he’s around)

the first sign that you’re likely to notice that gives away just how unhappy he is with the amount of attention you’re giving to or receiving from another person is just how much he’ll be glaring at them. over your shoulder, behind your back, his entire expression cold and calculating and threatening, only to become noticeably neutral and unbothered the second your attention returns to him — an unspoken challenge and threat that is usually enough to force any savanaclaw student to get the picture, and to at least unsettle other students into leaving after a while

(though, granted, his resting face isn’t entirely dissimilar to his expression when he’s jealous and starting to get pissed off — especially if the other party doesn’t know him all that well beyond what little they may have seen/heard of him from his dorm mates — so it’s entirely possible that they’ll just not notice what’s going on and continue on as usual. but, eventually, even the most oblivious of individuals is sure to start feeling unsettled by how intensely leona is staring at them, so it’s a matter of whether he gets tired of inaction and moves to make a more obvious show of possession or whether they finally take the hint and leave first…)

then, if that fails to ward them off at all, he’ll escalate to practically draping himself over your body — making his presence impossible to ignore and really showing off the fact that you’re taken and the other person needs to take the hint and back off. of course he’s careful not to put his full body weight on you because for as funny as he finds it to bother you like that he doesn’t want to crush you and this is solely a matter of staking a public claim on you as your mate, but nonetheless the very blatant gesture is usually clear enough of a sign to get most students to clue in on the fact that you’re his and scamper off with their tails between their legs

he may even go so far as to start growling and threatening them if he feels it’s necessary. though really he’d rather not have to lower himself to that level and it takes a lot more than you’d think for leona to feel truly compelled to start acting so aggressive with another student — granted instincts are instincts and if it’s another beastman that’s trying to infringe on your relationship he has no qualms reestablishing the pecking order in the dorm if he needs to, but if he can get away with it he’d much rather take the easy way out and have them leave before any actual verbal or physical confrontation takes place

and if the passes start to become a bit too blatant and bold for his taste — i.e. they cross the line from excusable or mildly complimentary in tone and turn obviously flirty and disrespectful to you and to your relationship — then leona will just straight up pick you up or drag you away by the arm to go and nap somewhere private. both so he can properly scent you again and remove you from the offending party’s presence, and so he can slowly sleep off his frustration before he does something that gets you annoyed with him

(you’re not even safe from this when he’s not there in the moment to see this all going down either, because his sense of smell is so strong that he’s very quick to pick up on the fact that you ‘stink’ of someone else — which then immediately puts him in a sour mood and results in him pretty much holding you captive in his arms while he naps to rid you of the stench)

he may — emphasis on may — even start attending his usual classes if you and the person in question are part of his cohort, if only to ensure that you don’t end up having to work with them (after all, why pair up with them for a project when your boyfriend is right here?) and thus that they have absolutely zero chances to get close to you in any sense of the word during class hours. not physically, as leona will be setting up shop right next to you and glaring anyone who tries to sit in his seat (no he doesn’t care that they were assigned that seat, it’s his now), or through bonding as he makes it very clear that he’s gonna be your default class partner for every class you have together. no he’s not being obvious… shut up

he will also go out of his way to make sure that you smell like him afterwards, usually by all but forcing one of his jackets on you and insisting on you wearing it for the rest of the day — partially as a very clear visual indicator that you’ve been claimed by him even when he’s not there to literally drape himself on top of you, and partially because the jacket smells like him and if you have his scent clinging to you there’s no denying that you’re his person. his mate. and that usually is enough to ward off pretty much any other beastman that you may cross paths with, and most other students too (aside from the bold or oblivious, but he has his ways of dealing with those too if he needs to do so)

while this isn’t something he particularly wants to do, or that he’ll default to unless he’s exhausted all of his other options, leona can and will fight anyone who simply refuses to take the hint that you’re his mate. and he will win, so don’t worry about that. though, again, this is very much so a last ditch effort from him to really send a message and the vast majority of the time the most you’ll see of his jealousy is what’s listed in the above points instead

r i d d l e r o s e h e a r t s

to say that riddle wears his heart on his sleeve sometimes may very well just be the understatement of the century — after all, anyone who has ever crossed paths with the former rose red tyrant is surely all too familiar with just how quick he has been to anger in the past, as well as just how visibly obvious it was whenever his temper was even just starting to rise. and that very much so extends to how his jealousy tends to manifest now that the two of you are in a relationship

of course he does usually try and rationalise his way out of this headspace when he can (he trusts you dearly, after all, and would very much so like to believe that he’s made some progress towards anger management since his mortifying overblot at the start of the semester), but even so there will be many instances in which you, or whoever is nearby at the time, will be treated to the sight and sound of a positively fuming riddle whenever his jealousy happens to get the best of him. which is more often than not because someone is getting way too close to you for it to be innocent in his presence

riddle has absolutely zero poker face when it comes to how he feels about you, and even if he manages to keep his mouth shut and his temper (mostly) contained all it will take from you is a single look in his direction to realise just how jealous your poor boyfriend is. because, well, there’s really no missing the frightening shade of red his skin flushes from the neck upwards, nor the sour look on his face, nor the way his hands tighten around whatever he’s holding in a way that very clearly indicate just how hard he’s trying not to lash out — like you’d have to be trying not to notice at that point

he will make a point of positioning himself between you and whoever he’s jealous of in the moment, or failing that he’ll just stand by your side and make it abundantly clear through that prolonged proximity that you’re very clearly taken and they ought to back off — or, at the very least, knock off whatever offending behaviour they were engaging in before he moved to intervene… after all, with his reputation being as widely spread as it is its rare that riddle actually has to go so far as to escalate beyond this little show before the other student politely backs down and makes an excuse to leave. especially so if said student happens to be a member of his dorm (and, thus, very familiar with just how bad his temper can get) or if they are close to another student who is (and are consequently keenly aware of how bad of an idea it might be to test his patience and his boundaries when it comes to you, his lover)

and, because riddle is riddle and old habits die hard, he also has a nasty habit of lecturing the hell out of whoever he’s jealous of — systematically scolding them for every tiny infraction that he can think to apply, no matter how niche or unimportant, until they finally break and leave with their tail between their legs… and an apology on their lips too, ideally, but being a housewarden has taught him that accountability to that level is very rare at night raven so he doesn’t really expect that. frankly, as long as they leave he couldn’t care less about what they have to say

he may even try and find an excuse to collar them if he felt their offence was severe enough — though, unfortunately, riddle isn’t so keen to fall back on the same bad habits that led to his overblot so he does actually make an effort to not just collar people because they made him jealous… however if he finds them guilty of breaking a rule at the same time and that warrants being collared, well, that’s fair game in his eyes

the second the two of you leave, or he finally gets the other person to leave, he will be complaining about them for the rest of the day… or until you manage to get him to move onto another topic, but even then he will be quietly stewing on the whole interaction for hours after the fact. and his complaints vary from understandable (e.g. they were rude, they interrupted you too much, they were mishandling their pen and could have hurt someone, etc.) to downright petty in a way that somehow manages to be both deeply amusing and bewildering in the most riddle way possible

in the hours, days, and sometimes even weeks, following a particularly rough experience in regard to his jealousy, riddle will make a point of keeping you even closer than usual. partially to make it even more abundantly clear to those around you that the two of you are an item, but mostly to soothe his own insecurities and upset without him having to ask outright for that comfort. and that involves everything from walking you to and from your classes and sitting beside you during lunch, to personally inviting you to the dorm for sleepovers and unbirthday parties and study sessions — which both gives the two of you plenty of chances to spend time together and grow closer as a couple, and makes it much more difficult for anyone else to try and capitalise on your time in that way that sets his teeth on edge

and sevens help him if the person he’s jealous of happens to be someone that you’re naturally very close to independent of your relationship with him. doubly so if that person is more traditionally likeable than riddle is. because that will only make his insecurities that much worse to contend with as he spirals in ways that are clear as day to everyone around him…

courtesy of his naturally enhanced sense of smell and hearing as a lion beastman, leona is perhaps one of the students at night raven college who is the most able to understand your particular phobia and aversion — as well as one of the best equipped to help you either avoid encountering the source of your fear entirely or to work your way out of your phobia, depending on your preference. he also excels at making the ways he accommodates your emetophobia so seamless and casual that you may not even realise that he’s going out of his way for you at all

the only sign you may notice before he steers you away from an area with the most believable excuse he can muster — usually something about it being ‘too loud to nap’ or him wanting to go back to his dorm room so you two won’t be disturbed — is the slight scrunching up of his face as the sound or smell hits him, and sometimes the twitching of his ears and tail if it’s bad enough, before he masks it with a yawn and redirects you away from the area

so, in other words, being with leona and him knowing about your fear will make your chances of ever encountering anything that could upset or frighten or otherwise give you a strong negative reaction (at least in the context of your emetophobia) substantially lower than they ever were before you met and fell for him. which is quite the miraculous change, even if he would just brush it all off as him just doing the bare minimum as your mate

leona rarely ever gets sick these days, but on the rare occasion that he does it tends to hit him hard. and for as much as he’d love to just brush it all under the rug and spend the day napping away with you, he’s also aware enough of your phobia to realise and accept that perhaps confining you to a room with your sick boyfriend isn’t the best of decisions. so instead he usually just texts you a heads up, asks (pays) ruggie to act as the go-between for anything you want to pass on to him, and promises to let you know when he’s recovered

(though be warned that he will be way clingier and way more demanding of your attention than usual afterwards, just to make up for your absence — because for as much as he does understand that it was a necessary evil, so to speak, he also really didn’t like being left without your presence while feeling the worst he’s felt in a while)

if you happen to regularly suffer from nausea on top of your emetophobia for whatever reason — e.g. a chronic health issue, intolerance to a common ingredient, side effects to a medication you have to take, a symptom of something else, etc. — leona gets into the habit of keeping nausea relief medication and potions handy. he also goes out of his way to learn more natural relief methods from back home just in case the medical stuff stops working for one reason or another

he never makes a big deal out of the fact that he carries these things with him and you won’t know until he can see you looking ill and all but shoves a bottle or whatever into your hands, but it is endearing to know just how much he worries about you and thinks of you even when he himself would never admit as much outloud

circling back to the nausea for a moment, but for as much as he won’t hesitate to help you out leona will absolutely point out the tragic (and mildly funny in an unfortunate way) irony of your situation if it’s a regular thing you suffer from. because for as much as he looks out for you, leona is still leona and bullying is his love language — and in his defence this is prime material for him to rib you for… plus he will only ever bully you about it when you’re not actively suffering, because he’s not that much of an asshole (to you, anyway)

if your emetophobia brings with it anxieties around certain foods or how food is prepared — or, well, perhaps more specifically an intense fear of contracting food poisoning — leona will do what he can to try and help you relax. be that by only taking you out to eat at places with the best ratings and the best reputations (though frankly he’d do that anyway, can’t have a prince’s mate getting anything less than the best), or if you’re eating at the dorm or his home back in the sunset savanna by having whoever is cooking walk you through what’s happening and where everything is being made so you don’t have to go into a meal fretting yourself into a spiral

an introverted gamer who regularly falls asleep at his desk and hasn’t had a consistent, healthy sleep schedule since his age was in the single digits — though not without several attempted interventions by his younger brother — and a guy who goes from sleeping more hours than he’s awake one day to staying awake for a few nights in a row… talk about a match made in (sleepless) heaven!

being with idia means that you never have to worry about facing those sleepless nights alone because no matter the hour, chances are he’s also wide awake and more than happy to keep you company — either over the phone (or, well, tablet) or in person if you’re willing to go out after curfew and sneak your way into his room (because no matter how much he loves you, sevens know he is not leaving his room unless it’s an actual emergency)

late night gaming sessions are an absolute staple of your relationship from the first night you two end up staying up together — sometimes joined by his online friend, muscle red, but usually not as he’s mindful enough to not intrude on your dates (despite how much he bullies you both over it) — and between his all nighters and your late nights the two of you have 100% completed so many different games. games from all different genres, even, some great and replayable… others only fun in how good they are to shit on… but all a good enough way of passing the time until your brain finally let you fall asleep

as are movie binges… or premo album and concert binges, depending on how you’re both feeling that day (night). and with the high level of sound dampening in idia’s room and the low foottraffic in and around ignihyde the two of you are free to grab as many snacks as you need from the kitchens without being judged, and to be as loud as you want to be while singing your lungs out to your favourite songs, shitting on whatever film is on screen, or joking around with each other about whatever you’re watching. it’s a completely judgement-free zone and aside from some minor ribbing (the sort you’ll come to expect from your boyfriend if you’ve been together long enough) you can feel free to tire yourself out or waste the hours away however you feel… just so long as you’re prepared to get lectured by ortho in the morning, anyway

and sleepovers too! if you can even call them that as the two of you don’t end up sleeping at all until the absolute weirdest hours of the morning, and usually not for very long because you both have classes to attend to. granted idia is fortunate enough to be able to attend most of his sessions online and thus doesn’t have much to lose by staying up late or falling asleep for odd hours… you, however, have no such luxury and will be suffering the next day. ah well, not like it can be helped

ortho, eager to help out his future brother-in-law, is quick to offer up his help with sorting out your sleep schedule — and given his nature as a technomantic entity with all of s.t.y.x’s established and experimental resources at his fingertips you can rest assured that you’re in the absolute best of hands. granted he’s no genie and he can’t exactly fix everything overnight (sevens how he’s tried to do that with idia… to no success, as you can clearly tell), but his eagerness to help out is endearing enough that you’ll surely end up giving in eventually

idia also tries his hand at helping and does start keeping track of your vitals as such as a way to monitor what might be causing your sleeping problems and what sorts of treatments may better your chances of getting into a healthier schedule. the hypocracy and ‘blind leading the blind’-ness of it all isn’t lost on him, certainly not with how much ortho points it out, but he gets so into the science of it that he kind of just stops caring about that. after all, he has his ssr pull boyfriend to help out (and show off his superior skills to) so everything else can wait!

and while all of his bragging and ego-tripping is a bit much — in a very endearing sort of way, as you’ve found the longer you two have been together — the lengths he goes to, even when it involves participating in things that he has openly laughed at and called ‘normie cringe’, is really sweet. or at least sweet enough, and surprisingly effective enough, for you to go along with it all with only some minimal teasing

like the time when he listened to one of ortho’s endless suggestions — this one apparently based on a romance anime he’d watched a few months ago, or that’s what he claimed anyway — and offered to talk to you about one of his more recent projects until you drifted off to the sound of his voice, which he made a conscious effort to keep at a low volume from start to finish. and while his words were a bit stilted and awkward in their delivery at first, as he was much too in his head about not messing up or embarrassing himself, the longer he went on and the more his confidence grew the more you found yourself relaxing until… well… you were out like a light. the best sleep you had in months happened because of that, and you can bet every thaumark in your account that idia bragged about that for weeks afterwards to anyone who would listen

back when the two of you first met, jamil had (in hindsight, regrettably) just dismissed you as yet another one of kalim’s over the top friends. and, in fact, there was even a short period of time in which he’d almost dread your visits to scarabia because he knew that meant there would be way more work for him to do during and after your time at the dorm — because kalim, being kalim, would almost always take one look at your outfit and all of the carefully curated accessories covering you from head to toe and decide, without so much as a moment of hesitation, that he had to wear something to match you… which jamil was then, naturally, responsible for fetching the accessories for, and cleaning up after the two of you were done. of course now he recognises that his ire was more so at kalim than you, but still you can hardly blame him for brushing you off at first given everything he was dealing with at the time

mind you, even back then he was able to appreciate the amount of effort and time you clearly put into curating your personal aesthetic and putting together each individual outfit — something that he may have passively envied you for having the personal freedom to do, but he didn’t even have the free time to do that much — but that appreciation remained entirely unspoken and passive up until the two of you actually got close and started dating for obvious familial-duty-related reasons…

now that you’re an item, though, jamil has come to really appreciate everything that goes into the deco-lolita aesthetic in general as well as (or, rather, especially) how you make the style work for you. and, after all, how could he not when he gets to see every step of your morning routine whenever you stay overnight at his dorm? and every step really does mean every step because he finds it almost fascinating to watch you fully and painstakingly build up your specific look from the ground up — everything from the skincare, to the outfit selection, to sorting through your extensive collection of ribbons and pins and bows and other accessories just to find the perfect ones to go with the look you’re wanting that day… and while his intense attention may be a bit much at first, once you get used to it you’ll learn to find it more charming or flattering than anything else (after all, you’re his partner and he truly doesn’t mean ill or anything!)

and after you’ve stayed over enough times, because of how closely he watches you as you put together your outfits for the day, you’ll be pleased to know that jamil will be more than capable of helping you get ready to the exact same standard that you do on your own. of course he won’t ever offer this unprovoked unless you’ve been together for a while and it’s clear that you’re way too tired to go through all the usual steps on your own, but if you ask him nicely enough he will oblige with only a small amount of token complaining — and he always puts together the best outfit-accessory combinations too despite him not at all being into the aesthetic…

having been raised to be as observant as possible, it’s pretty much second nature for jamil to keep track of all your accessories and clothing items, which makes him an even better boyfriend for two reasons. firstly, because he keeps such good track of things you’re unlikely to ever lose anything for long as once he catches wind of you losing a bracelet or ribbon or pin he will be searching your usual spots and routes and (nine times out of ten) will return your lost item to you by the end of the day. and secondly because he pays such close attention to your personal style he always gets you the best accessories and outfits as gifts, and yes before you ask he is very mindful of where he sources the base outfits for your lolita looks and is very particular about getting the best quality outfits and items from the most ethical and reputable (within the community) sources

he also may or may not have gone down a bit of a research rabbit hole into the history of the lolita aesthetic, and the deco-lolita subaesthetic, one night when he just couldn’t sleep. and he now may or may not know a whole lot more about it than you do… not that he’d ever bring it up to you, of course, but the signs are definitely there once you get into how much he actually seems to know whenever you two go out clothes shopping together…

(do not ask him how many arguments, online and in real life, he’s gotten into over the clear difference between the lolita and nymphette aesthetics. he may be utterly unrepentant about them and fully believe he’s in the right, but he still won’t give you a clear answer)

between his well-worn resting irritated face and stylish-yet-practical clothes, and your very over-the-top and colourful aesthetic it almost goes without saying that the two of you tend to attract a lot of attention whenever you go out and about together. but having spent a lifetime as kalim’s bodyguard jamil is usually able to just tune out everyone else and focus entirely on you — or, well, focus most of his attention on you anyway… he’s been trained much too well throughout his life to ever fully let his guard down when in public no matter who he’s with — and he’ll only ever actually speak up and draw more attention to you both if it’s clear that whoever is staring is about to start bothering you. or already has started bothering you. because, put simply, jamil does not play around when it comes to your mental and physical wellbeing and he excels at verbally thrashing and humiliating people into backing down and running away with their tails between their legs, and will gladly do so for your sake (and his own amusement, but that’s secondary to your safety… duh)

he’s never been especially keen on the idea of matching anything with anyone else — especially not before overblotting, back when he couldn’t really afford to stand out at all — but now that you’re an item he may eventually relent to your pleading and agree to exchange or match something small and unobtrusive with you. like bracelets, for example. but only if you ask him nicely and pick something out from your collection that at least somewhat matches his own aesthetic

current reigning housewarden of heartslabyul, one of the strongest mages amongst night raven college’s current student body, and a man so dedicated to upholding rules and order that it literally led him down a path to madness that he was just barely able to recover from, riddle rosehearts is the type of partner who is as difficult to get close to as he is impossible not to fall for once you get past his more intimidating exterior and break through to see the more playful side of him. the side that that a lifetime of studying, and his mother’s unyieldingly harsh hand, forced him to lock away in the name of good grades. he’s devoted, loyal, sweet, and maybe a bit too traditional and by-the-books about it all, but he gives you no room to doubt his feelings for you once he’s accepted them himself and decided to take the leap and start courting you properly — fully and unabashedly devoted to treating you precisely like the queen of hearts did her beloved king… just, perhaps a bit to the left of that to account for the fact that you are very different people to the historical figures he grew up idolising, of course

officially speaking, amongst the 810 rules left behind by the queen of hearts there isn’t one specific rule that outlines how one is supposed to address their beloved. of course there are a handful that propose punishments for inappropriately timed displays of verbal affection, and a plethora that explain what does and does not constitute an attempt at verbal mockery, and a sparse few in the mid-600s that hint towards what she may have preferred as far as actual terms of endearments go, but nothing concrete enough for riddle to latch onto as he did all the other rules he memorised. so he was kind of forced to improvise a little bit towards the beginning of your relationship in this area. and there were, naturally, a few bumps in the road as a result of that improvisation. however despite the lack of direct guidance, he did still mostly stick to the sorts of pet names he strongly believed she would approve of — with those being the more traditional sort (like ‘my dear’, ‘beloved’, and ‘darling’) and those themed around her majesty’s legacy (like ‘my heart’, ‘my king/queen’, and ‘my rose’) — with little to no variation from that formula unless you explicitly ask him to do so. predictable, perhaps, but he smiles so softly when he calls you those terms of endearment so you can hardly bring yourself to complain about them…

having been raised to be a traditional gentleman, despite his intense isolation in his formative years, riddle usually defaults to kissing you on your knuckles or the backs of your hands — especially in the earliest days of your relationship when it would be improper to even consider anything more traditionally romantic, back when he had a mental checklist and timer going to ensure every gesture of affection he offered was appropriately chaste, because he’s just that particular. but even now that the two of you have been together for a while your hands are still one of his favourite places to kiss you, along with your lips and cheeks of course, and he’ll often greet you with a warm peck on the knuckles or palms. and in return he quite enjoys being kissed on the cheeks, lips, and on his knuckles… but no funny business, he does have an image to uphold after all!

he’s admittedly not the most tactile person in the world, so he much prefers to show his love for you through other ways that come far more naturally to him. mainly acts of service like taking over your care when you’re sick (and putting all of the medical knowledge he absorbed from his parents’ teachings as a kid to good use in the process), helping you wake up and get to your classes on time whenever the two of you have an overnight stay at his dorm or yours just to make sure you don’t run late, lending you his own notes when you’ve missed class due to illness or injury, and so on. but he’s also very big on quality time — even going so far as to block out as much time as he can afford in his daily schedule so you two can go on dates and such — and words of affirmation, which he’s noticeably more generous about giving to you than he is literally anyone else even long after his overblot

that does also mean that any and all physical affection is going to be saved for when the two of you are alone, or at the very least kept to the bare minimum for propriety’s sake whenever you’re out in public. partially in accordance with the traditional mindset he was raised with, partially to comply with the queen of hearts’ rules about p.d.a, and partially to avoid heckling from his more troublesome dorm mates for both of your sakes. of course he’s not entirely opposed to being showered in your affection every now and again, but do be warned that he’s really not used to that kind of thing, isn’t the most tactile anyway, and doesn’t really know how to respond to you when you do that… he’ll learn eventually, obviously, but for a while it will be a bit awkward from his end

devoted to his schedule as he is, there are very few things in this world that can get between riddle and him arriving to your date precisely on time — or, even better, a few minutes early. like, hell would freeze over before he consciously allowed himself to run late without good reason. and the only times he’s ever actually run behind have been because of some full scale disaster back at the dorm that he personally needed to sort out, more often than not a direct result of adeuce’s shenanigans… oh and that one time an entire year group got together for a joke and decided to completely block every single hallway in the school… but those situations are entirely out of his control so you can’t really blame him for that. plus he does always make sure to reach out to you the second he feels like he could be late just so you’re kept in the loop, so you’re never left wondering if he stood you up for one reason or another

given that you’re his partner, riddle is more than happy to provide you with as much academic guidance and help as you need — all you have to do is ask nicely and show a real desire to learn and he’s already reaching for his notes and putting on his best ‘teacher’ voice then and there. of course that also means he will not be letting you slack off when it comes to classwork, homework, revision, or exams, because he absolutely will be on your ass to make sure you’re keeping on top of your schoolwork, but at least you’ll never have to worry about falling behind. be sure to thank him nicely for his help, okay?

he does admittedly have a bit of a jealous streak and when combined with his already poor temper, he can be prone to lashing out at others as a result. rarely ever at you, though. not unless you’re actively going out of your way to upset him, because for as awful as his anger can get he is usually aware enough to not go out of his way to ruin your relationship. instead he takes his anger out on whoever he was upset at or, failing to find an infraction to actually punish or lecture them for, the next unfortunate soul who happens to break a rule in his presence… so probably ace

if you ever decided to join the equestrian club he would be more than happy to show you the ropes, as it were — even better if you’re a skilled rider in your own right as sharing a hobby with someone on his level is something he’s certain to love, but still he will have a shocking amount of patience with you even if you’re a complete novice

despite all the terrors and traumas he faced at his mother’s hand growing up, riddle does still massively value tradition and believes that it’s important for the two of you to at least meet each other’s parents. though he is definitely putting off your meeting his mother as much as he possibly can for your own benefit… goodness knows the woman never has a good word to say and he’d hate for her to get into your head like she has his own. and as for meeting your family, he’s absolutely terrified in his own right but that’s mostly because he really wants to earn their approval and is painfully aware of how his reputation and behaviour could use a lot of work before he gets to the point of warranting such a positive opinion

he never has a bad word to say about you, even if he catches you breaking a rule or engaging in typically ‘uncouth’ behaviour, which was one of the earliest signs any of his dorm mates noticed that he had feelings for you. and while he’s not one to go on a rant unprovoked, it takes very little prompting from those around him for riddle to start politely gushing about your latest accomplishment or proudly boasting about your better qualities… one such rant may or may not have been recorded and privately saved by cater, and sent to trey who now has every intention of playing it back to you both down the line. maybe at your wedding, because he’s a menace like that

as well as the standard unbirthday party and study date invitations, riddle will also regularly invite you over to heartslabyul to tend to the hedgehogs with him. and despite the fact that you’re pretty much just going over to help him with his chores, those visits always end up being really fun — and the hedgehogs make for really adorable company, so you never turn him down unless you have to

he would be more than happy to help you learn how to dance or to play croquet if ever you asked, as both are skilled he learned and (for the most part) perfected growing up. you two can even make a date out of it if you want!

public speaking anxiety has never been something that riddle has had to deal with, and having been a student representative for pretty much every school he’s attended he’s had plenty of time to perfect the art. so if you’re someone who does happen to struggle with public speaking then you can at least be assured that your boyfriend is only one pleading look away from stepping in and taking over for you — after all, he does hate to see you uncomfortable and he’d have to be an awful boyfriend to just leave you to suffer through it…

while rules are rules and meant to be followed, you are the only person that riddle would ever consider sharing his tarts with — even the incredible strawberry ones trey always makes for his birthday. and, in fact, if the two of you ever find yourselves in a situation that’s not entirely governed by the queen of hearts’ rules, riddle would happily even allow you to take the first slice… but those situations are few and far between, so be sure to make the most of them when they happen!

there is a solid portion of his dorm mates that have gotten into the habit of reaching out to you whenever something happens that has a solid chance of setting riddle off because you’re pretty much the only person who is consistently able to talk him down — to convince him to hold off on beheading someone in favour of having at least a teeny tiny trial first. and that particular talent is invaluable to the students of heartslabyul… and especially so to two particular troublemakers that have recently joined the dorm

if you’re ever in need of an embarrassing story from riddle’s youth, you needn’t look any further than che’nya or trey as they’re both more than happy to regale you with everything they can recall from the short time they got to spend with riddle back when they were all kids. and despite the short time frame there is a lot of good stories to share, so don’t worry about that… just maybe worry about riddle having a mild aneurism from embarassment, as he always gets so very red and makes the most peculiar sounds whenever one of those two starts telling one of their (mildly embellished, of course) stories of baby riddle

he’s far from the most online person in his dorm, sevens know cater more than has that side of things covered, but after getting together with you he does make more of an effort to keep up with things — namely your posts on magicam (which he makes an actual account to keep track of, anonymised and private for family reasons), and the texts you send him throughout the day as those are the only things he actually cares enough to keep on top of as far as the online world goes. just be warned that he will scold you if he notices you messaging him or posting online when you should be asleep, because this is riddle we’re talking about

he has an incredible memory and puts that particular skill of his to good use within your relationship, meaning that you’ll never have to worry about him forgetting anything important to or about you (e.g. anniversaries, appointments, exams, allergies, food preferences, fragrances, family members’ names, and so on and so forth). of course his immaculate note keeping helps, but its mostly due to his memory that he’s able to be such an attentive boyfriend with you