#appleel

The air in the Night Raven College botanical garden was thick, humid, and completely silent—exactly how Eri liked it.

Hidden in the deepest, most overgrown corner of the temperate zone, Eri had abandoned her posture of dainty elegance. Her blazer was folded neatly on a nearby rock, her sleeves were rolled up, and her eyes glowed a faint, dangerous lime-green as she meticulously extracted a highly paralytic sap from a rare nightshade plant.

There were no fake smiles, no high-pitched giggles, no pretending to be a helpless princess. Just her, a silver scalpel, and absolute control over a lethal substance.

And then, a long, shadow dropped from the canopy above.

"Whatcha making, Fugu-chan? Poison for the little fishies in your school?"

Eri gasped, her hand jerking. The scalpel narrowly missed the plant's toxic stem. She whipped around, her magical pen instantly sparking with violent green energy, fully prepared to curse whoever had ruined her concentration.

Floyd was hanging upside down from a thick tree branch just a few feet away, his long legs hooked casually over the wood. His uniform was rumpled, his tie was loose, and he was grinning down at her with a lazy, sharp-toothed smile.

"Leech." Eri drops her voice into a flat, venomous hiss. "I have told you a thousand times not to sneak up on me while I am handling volatile extracts. You nearly made me ruin a three-week cultivation process."

Floyd is completely unbothered by her irritation as he starts swinging slightly on the branch.

"Ehh? But you look so cool when you're all focused and scary. Plus, I brought you something. Catch."

He didn't even give her a warning. Floyd unhooked his legs and dropped to the ground with the liquid grace of an eel, landing silently on his feet. As he did, he tossed a small, slightly battered white pastry box directly at her.

Eri caught it out of pure reflex, glaring daggers at him.

"If this is another one of your brother's bizarre mushroom cuisine, I am going to throw it directly at your head." She threatens.

Floyd strolls over to her. His massive height towers her small body like a looming shadow of predatory aura.

"Nope. Sea Turtle made it." Floyd clarifies. "He was baking in the kitchen and it smelled exactly like your weird, sharp perfume, so I stole a piece and ran away before he could yell at me."

Eri paused. Cautiously, she opens the slightly dented cardboard box. Inside, resting on a pristine doily, is a flawlessly baked spiced green apple tart. The sharp, bitter scent of green apples, heavy cinnamon, and cloves immediately hit the air.

It was her favorite snack.

Eri looks up from the tart to Floyd. He was leaning against the table, watching her with that dark, intense stare that always made her carefully constructed scripts completely evaporate. During moments like these, Floyd can be surprisingly tender and observant. Eri can feel the pink dusting her cheeks as her harsh tone falters after seeing the tart in her hands.

"You... stole this from Trey Clover? Just to bring it to me?"

Floyd shrugs his shoulders and reaches out to lazily wrap a strand of her golden-blonde hair around his finger.

"Yeah. I was bored." He admits casually, his mismatched eyes staring at the strings of gold around his index. "And you’ve been doing that gross, fake-sweet princess laugh all week for the teachers. I knew you'd be hiding in here being prickly. You get cranky when you don't get to be mean for too long."

Eri wanted to be offended. She wanted to deliver a cutting remark about how she wasn't "cranky" and didn't need to be managed. But the truth was, her jaw did ache from smiling all week, and she was exhausted from playing the perfect maiden.

Floyd didn't wait for her to overthink it. He reached out, grabbed her by the waist with both hands, and effortlessly lifted her up, depositing her onto the edge of the stone table, right next to her toxic plants. Before she could complain about the dirt or the dust, he stepped right between her knees, completely trapping her against him.

"You are far too large to be this clingy, Floyd." Eri scolds quietly, her small hands clutching the box with great care.

Floyd simply laughs. "I’m the perfect size. Now eat your tart, Fugu-chan. I wanna see your face scrunch up when it's sour."

Eri rolls her eyes, but the defensive neon-green glow completely faded into a softer shade. She carefully broke off a piece of the tart and took a bite. The intense, acidic bite of the apple paired with the bitter spices was perfect on her taste buds. A genuine, entirely unguarded sigh of contentment escapes her lips, her shoulders finally dropping their tense posture.

Floyd watches her with a look of utter adoration. Slowly, he leaned down, pressing his face into the crook of her neck, inhaling the scent of her expensive soap mixed with the dangerous herbs she had been handling. His arms are wrapped fully around her, heavy and warm.

"See? Much better. You don't gotta pretend in here."

Eri stopped eating. She looked down at the massive, chaotic boy currently clinging to her like a giant eel holding onto a rock. With her free hand, she reached up, gently running her fingers through his messy teal hair.

She sighs in a soft whisper, relenting to his whims once again. "It is incredibly frustrating that you know exactly how to disarm me." She complains, though there is no bite to her words.

Floyd laughs in return. The very idea of being the only creature who can make such a wicked girl lower her walls and show her true nature made the deep sea predator in him preen with pride.

"Ahaha. I’m the only one who gets to." He says, his eyes flicking over to the treat in her hand. "Now give me a bite, I'm hungry."

Eri broke off a piece of the tart and fed it to him. Floyd instantly grimaced, sticking his tongue out in disgust. "Ugh! It's too sour! How do you eat that?!"