#authorvi

Nonetheless you’ll be the second person she checks up on right after Cloud Haetae Cookie, though preferably she checks up on you both at the same time. Once she knows that you’re alright — not that she cares at all — she’ll leave you be… for the most part.

While the time she spent in the Silver Tree was but a brief moment due to her being unconscious during it, it still affected her somewhat since she starts being clingy to you shortly after her return.

Well, as clingy as Mystic Flour Cookie can be which is just her following you around the Pagoda of Apathy from a distance.

Something about your presence bringing her comfort, even though she denies it.

Unsurprisingly, the first thing Shadow Milk Cookie does with his newfound freedom is to look for you. He missed you so in all his time being sealed away and he has no doubt in his mind that you missed him just as much.

If you didn’t… well he’d simply be so heartbroken that he’d die on the spot and you don’t want that, right?

The first thing he does when he sees you is throw himself at you; either send you both toppling to the ground or wrapping his arms tight around you and twirling you around. The second thing he does is pepper your face in kisses and the third thing, if he’s not interrupted by his minions showing up to reunite with him, is make himself comfortable in your arms and whine about all these mean cookies who prevented him from returning to you the first time around.

Then he’ll drag you back to his spire — if you weren’t there already — so he can continue bothering you in similar ways. He’ll also be extremely clingy to the point he’ll always be touching you in some way and stop you from leaving his sight, though there are rarely times when Shadow Milk Cookie isn’t clingy with you anyway.

At first, Silent Salt Cookie is unsure if he even should meet up with you considering the massacre he committed before sealing the beasts together with himself in the Silver Tree.

Just the act of seeing Elder Faerie Cookie was difficult enough. The only reason he was able to was because of his sense of responsibility and want for revenge. But you… what would he even say? What could he even do? Were you even around after who knows how many years of him being sealed? Would you understand why he did what he did? Would you forgive him for it?

Did you even want to see him again?

The concept of Salt of Solitarity turned Devil of Silence being afraid of something was laughable, yet here he is.

In the end, he can’t bring himself to face you so he returns to the Land of Silence.

What he doesn’t expect is for you to be waiting for him back in the catacombs, nor did he expect you to be surrounded and protected by the Kala Namak knights.

He wants to kneel before you first thing— to apologize for, well, everything; leaving you, killing all those innocent cookies, keeping quiet about far too many things… but he doesn’t get the chance to when you envelop him in yours arms.

Relief floods through him after as he swears to himself once more that he’ll turn this world into a better one for your sake.

<- Back to the masterlist?

He always has to be touching you in some way, not usually kissing but his hands will be somewhere on your body; on your shoulder, waist, holding your hand, the likes. So it’s not too big of a surprise when he starts cuddling you in every opportunity he gets.

Usually he likes to grab you by the wrist and drag you right onto his lap — be it while he’s sitting or lying somewhere or while he’s lazily floating about — but sometimes he’ll be the one coming up to you to cuddle. It happens during times when he wants comfort even though he’ll never admit it out loud.

He’ll nestle into your side; oddly quiet if you’re also silent or keeping up his facade if you dare to even ask him what’s wrong. Physical touch is one thing that comforts him greatly, so he’ll find many different ways to have his dough be pressed against yours as he cuddles you. His favourite positions being ones where he’s sprawled on top of you, mostly because you can’t escape from him easily this way.

MEURSAULT ends up kissing you so long as you don't pull away and lose the game, and unless you pout about losing and ask him to lose once for your sake he'll continue winning or earning kisses from you. He doesn't care much for how this game turns out, but he will prioritize your happiness no matter how small.

HONG LU bites onto his end with an innocent smile like he isn't planning anything. His nibbles are both slow and small to urge you into making a move, be it pulling away and losing or closing the distance between your lips and kissing him. Regardless of what you choose to do, it's a win for him.

HEATHCLIFF thinks it's stupid at first before becoming competetive about it. His bites are hesitant at first but it isn't long until he's impatiently nibbling closer to your end of the pocky stick. If you pull away, he'll gloat about it. If you kiss him, he'll ask for another round until you lose.

ISHMAEL gets flustered early on. She takes bites hesitantly, her embarassment growing the closer your faces get before she pulls away and she mutters about how stupid this is. She tells you to just let her know when you want a kiss next time before cupping your cheeks and pressing her lips against yours.

RODION is more interested in the pocky sticks than she is in kissing you. She happily takes big bites, barely giving you the opportunity to even considering pulling away when she kisses you; both as an additional treat and an attempt to distract you while she steals some pocky sticks for herself.

Since DANTE doesn't have a mouth and can't properly participate in the game, the two of you come up with an alternative of sorts: they'll hold up the pocky stick while you nibble it all the way. Whoever gets flustered first loses and more often than not it will be them.

SINCLAIR wants to kiss you, he really does. The only reason he agreed to play was because of how bad he wants to kiss you and this game was the perfect excuse for him to do so. Unfortunately, just when your lips are about to touch it dawns on him that he's about to kiss you, causing him to chicken out and pull away.

OUTIS is both reluctant and disinterested in playing at first. She thinks that if you want pocky and a kiss then you should just say so and she'll give you both, but eventually agrees to play. The first few rounds she still thinks the game is stupid, but after a couple of kisses she can maybe be convinced to play again.

GREGOR stammers when you first offer, unwilling and unsure of how this would even turn out but eventually accepts it for you. His bites are small and hesitant, and while there are a few rounds here and there where he ends up kissing you, he'll pull away and lose more often than not.

MEURSAULT simply ignores them. Not only is that nickname reserved for you to use only, but you are also the sole person who he allows to call him by a nickname. If that person wants his attention then they can use his name just fine.

HONG LU smiles at them before telling them his name. If they keep calling him by your nickname for him then he’ll ignore them.

HEATHCLIFF immediately picks a fight with them. They’re surely mocking him by using a nickname only you’re allowed to use him.

ISHMAEL stares at the person who calls her by the nickname until they feel uncomfortable, and then some more. If they insist then it will probably end up in a fight.

RODION will look them up and down before calling them a nickname that will trigger an insecurity, before using that as a bargaining chip to get them to stop calling her by your nickname for her. If that doesn’t stop them, well, she has plenty more tricks where that came from.

DANTE tells them that they’re not allowed to call them that nickname.

SINCLAIR is immediately agitated, his cheeks taking on a pink tint both from embarrassment and anger as he yells at the person to not call him by that nickname again… only to immediately quiet down with a small smile the moment you use that nickname instead.

OUTIS will immediately scold them, telling them off about manners and respect and calling them all sorts of names along with it. If you happen to call her by that nickname any time during her mini lecture, she will immediately respond to you with a much gentler and warmer tone to drive the point home that only you are allowed to call her that.

GREGOR is far too timid and non-confrontational to tell them to stop calling him by that nickname — maybe mutter for them to stop it at most — but he’ll be uncomfortable the entire time and dislike that person more and more with every use of that nickname.

RYOSHU lets out a laugh, entertained, before wrapping one arm loosely around you.

MEURSAULT doesn’t react. Though depending on the context, he’ll either adjust his position a bit so you’re more comfortable or move you off his lap and onto his seat.

HONG LU doesn’t bat an eye when you sit on his lap. He simply wraps an arm around you and pulls you close against his chest while continuing on like nothing.

HEATHCLIFF is flustered, he stammers and stutters in a struggle to find something to say before giving up and letting you stay on his lap. He does cuddle you a little though.

ISHMAEL gives you an exasperated look — couldn’t you have asked? — but leaves you be on her lap. She’ll let you know that she’ll push you off the next time you sit on her lap unannounced, though.

RODION practically purrs in delight and pulls you close and tight against her. Whatever she was doing before is completely forgotten about — unless it was food — as she spoils you with her attention instead.

DANTE bluescreens. You aren’t getting them back unless you get off their lap.

SINCLAIR freezes up at first and is extremely awkward about it before letting out a nervous laugh and timidly wrapping his arms around your waist.

OUTIS is smug at the fact that you chose to sit on her lap out of everyone else. She does scold you for doing so, but she doesn’t have any intentions to push you off her lap… yet.

GREGOR doesn’t really mind it but he isn’t exactly comfortable either. He’ll put his hand on your back to make sure you stay on his lap and won’t fall but he’ll be fretting about his bug arm acting out the entire time.

<- Back to the masterlist? Yi Sang | Faust | Don Quixote | Ryoshu | Meursault | Hong Lu Heathcliff | Ishmael | Rodion | Dante | Sinclair | Outis | Gregor

Reuniting with Burning Spice Cookie kind of resembles a horror movie.

He adores you so and would do anything for you, but that doesn't stop him from scaring you to death by destroying whatever landscape or wall stands between you two.

This means that, unless you were standing outside waiting for him, he will wreck through the walls and structures of whatever building you were in and wrap his arms around you the moment he gets close enough; laughing and twirling you around.

To no one's surprise, Eternal Sugar Cookie rushes straight to her garden and throws herself in your arms the moment she has you in her sight.

Aside from the fact that she's happy that you stayed in her garden instead of straying off somewhere dangerous, you welcoming her back swiftly changed her mood from horrible to great. But of course you'd welcome her so readily, you loved her as much as she loved you!

Besides returning to you, there were some matters and cookie's that Eternal Sugar Cookie needed to tend to but for the next week or month or so those could wait. She missed your presence, she missed being so close to you and she missed being wrapped in your arms and having you wrapped up in hers.

That wasn't all though; there were a few more details that made your day worse than it needed to be. Not only did you have history class today, meaning that you'd have to deal with Professor Trein and his hawk-like eyes, but you'd also have to worry about the Housewarden beheading you since you used up your only rule-break pass yesterday; unintentionally, too.

You would've preferred to skip class today, but you already did that yesterday so now you had to attend history class lest you be collared like some kind of pet. You could pretend to be sick, but you vaguely remember there being a silly little rule about pretending to be sick and you weren't going to risk anything today. Plus, the nurse kind of kicked you out of the infirmary the moment you "woke up" and told you not to come back unless you broke something.

Or... maybe you should skip class? A lot of the classes you had, you shared them with the Housewarden because both of you were in the same year and the same dorm; an unfortunate truth that you noticed a while ago. So, in the case that you fell asleep during Professor Trein's lesson, not only would you be facing punishment from him, but one from the Housewarden, too.

Both options were bad, especially in the case that everything went wrong, but you decided on attending class. You were still a student, and you didn't come to this school for no reason.

With a sigh, you made your way to Professor Trein's class. With any luck, you wouldn't share a class with the Housewarden today or he would skip because he had an important matter to attend to, but since when has fortune been on your side?

Your life was nothing but a downhill of misery and pain. The moment you saw the Housewarden walk into the classroom, you knew you were done for. The only thing you could do was suck it up and pretend as if he didn't exist and focus all of your attention on your professor instead.

You were already struggling to stay awake when you were on your way to class, but it was worse now. Aside from not being able to stop yourself from yawning — something that was extremely hard to hide from Professor Trein — you also had to force your eyelids open every time you caught yourself dozing off. Even if you hid your yawns from Professor Trein perfectly well, he must've noticed your efforts in trying to stay awake.

Your grade was on the line here — though, that was assuming that it didn't take an immediate hit the moment Professor Trein caught you yawning — but you couldn't exactly bring yourself to care. All you cared about was placing your head on your notebook, closing your eyes and sleeping. Who cares if you got a nightmare as a result? You felt so, so tired.

But sleeping with a collar wouldn't be comfortable at all, and it'd likely prevent you from sleeping in the first place, so you had to keep your eyes open; just for a little bit longer.

To keep yourself awake for a couple of more minutes, you straightened up and took a quick look around the room; your body freezing up when your eyes landed on the Housewarden.

He was already staring at you; his steely blue eyes scrutinizing you and observing how you were doing so far. When your eyes met, he didn't say anything and continued to stare at you for a moment longer before turning his attention to the Professor.

His expression was stern and he didn't give a single hint as to what he could be thinking, though, you had a feeling that you didn't need to be a mind reader to know what would happen right after class. But, if by chance, his goal was to make that you woke up properly, then he succeeded. Just thinking about the way that he was coldly staring at you until you caught him was enough to keep you wide awake for the rest of the class.

You scribbled furiously on your notebook in hopes that you'd get the way he was looking at you out of your mind but to no avail. You barely got out of losing your head yesterday but it looks like you weren't going to be as lucky today, huh?

"That's all for today," Professor Trein suddenly announced; causing a wave of relief to wash over you as well as one of drowsiness. The relief you felt was gone in an instant when he looked at you and narrowed his eyes. "I hope that those of you who slept through the class won't struggle with the upcoming exam."

There goes your grade, even though you didn't sleep through the class...

As soon as Professor Trein left the classroom, you felt your eyelids become heavy. You wanted to attend the rest of your classes, really, you did, but at this point, it was going to be impossible. You wished that the thought of seeing nightmares was enough to keep you awake, and while it did do that at certain points, it never happened when you were deadly tired such as now. Sometimes you wished that your body didn't care for you and your brain gave you insomnia instead, but alas, you couldn't have a single good thing in your life.

Huh, wait a second... It's been a couple of minutes since the lesson ended and Professor Trein left, so how come you hadn't been beheaded yet? You looked over to the Housewarden's seat and saw that he wasn't there anymore. Actually, he wasn't in the classroom at all. It wasn't odd for him to leave for his next class early, but you figured that he'd behead you before he left. So for him to not do that was... odd, to say the least.

You stood up from your seat and left the empty classroom; you stayed there for longer than you intended to but it worked out in your favour since there would be no one to witness you skipping class and snitching to the Housewarden. Not that anyone needed to snitch to him for him to sniff you out and then behead you for slacking off.

You looked around the hallway and saw that it was relatively empty, too. Just how long did you stay in the classroom by yourself? Did you actually fall asleep as soon as Professor Trein left the classroom? It certainly was a possibility but...

You touched your cheeks and felt around, not feeling any tears on them whatsoever, and your eyes certainly didn't sting like they usually did after crying in your sleep; so you doubted that you fell asleep after Professor Trein's exit.

Now then, where could you hide away for the rest of your time? Not your dormitory, you'd lose your head the moment you stepped foot there, so you had to hide somewhere in the school like you did yesterday. The Housewarden found your previous spot, so you'd have to change where you hid this time around.

Why not hide under the stairs on the lowest floor of the school then? The students didn't like going there from what you could see for some odd reason — maybe it was because of how dirty it was, you didn't know — so you could use that place for a nap. You doubted that the Housewarden would check that place first the moment he noticed that you were skipping class, so you'd have plenty of time to... run for it? You weren't sure how effective it would be, but it certainly was a plan; and a plan you desperately needed with how hard it was becoming to keep your eyes closed at this point.

All you had to do now was to locate the stairs that went all the way down and oh! There it was, tempting you to descend them. You really shouldn't be doing this, but at this point, all you cared about was getting some sleep; even if it meant that you were going to get collared.

You woke up to the feeling of your throat closing up; shutting off a majority of your airway and making it infinitely harder for you to breathe.

You grasped at your neck and clawed at the imaginary hand that was squeezing it tightly. It didn't let up, but it likely wasn't there in the first place; its phantom presence most likely being a leftover gift from your detested nightmare that you saw before waking up.

Not this again...

The phantom presences weren't a common thing for you; only happening now and then when you had an especially bad nightmare, but that didn't change the fact that you hated dealing with them all the same. They used to be few and far between, but with your ailment worsening after each day, it was only natural that their odds of happening increased.

The only good thing about them was the fact that they didn't last long.

You gasped as soon as the phantom presence disappeared, your lungs trying to get as much air as possible while you pulled your hands away from your neck and looked down at them. Your fingertips were covered in blood, meaning that you made cuts on your neck with your nail. The injuries didn't hurt, much to your luck, but you doubted that you'd be as lucky as next time around considering your worsening situation.

"Found you," the voice you were dreading to hear announced as you heard something slam against a wall.

Started, you looked up to see the Housewarden staring down at you with his steely blue eyes and a big frown on his face. One hand was on the stair, likely the cause of the slamming sound you heard while the other was on his hip. He was slightly bending down so that his face was fully in your view.

"H- Housewarden!" You tried to keep your voice calm and cool but it only came out shaky and fearful, likely caused by your recent nightmare and his sudden appearance right after you woke up. "I can explain...!"

"Explain?" he repeated with a scoff. "Didn't I tell you that I'd overlook your action only once? I thought you were a good student, but to keep skipping classes like that... tch."

Before you could protest and give him an excuse — that he would've ignored anyway — he glared at you, causing your whole body to freeze up. "You know what happens to slackers, yes?" he asked, the smile on his face mocking your entire existence.

Then, he silently placed his index finger under his chin and slowly dragged it across his neck. You squeezed your eyes shut.

"Off with your neck."

You awaited the feeling of overwhelming helplessness that would follow right after the Housewarden's collar appeared on your neck. You waited for the tenuous sense of suffocation and the oh-so-familiar taste of bitter bile that you'd feel the moment other people saw you with the dreaded collar around your neck.

But that feeling never came, urging you to open your eyes.

The Housewarden's face was the first thing that came into view. He looked... amused? Was he even capable of feeling that way?

Curiously, you placed your hands on your neck to see if the collar was there, but no, you couldn't find it no matter how much you touched your neck. Was this some kind of dream? No way the infamous Housewarden of Heartslabyul spared you of punishment, right...?

The Housewarden cleared his throat, bringing your attention to him. The small smile that was previously on his face was gone, but his amusement was still there, hidden as a tiny glint in his eyes.

"Honestly, did you really think that I'd punish someone who was obviously struggling with some kind of curse?" he asked curtly. "I expected better from you."

"You aren't going to behead me...?" The words slipped out of your mouth without you realizing it, and when you finally did, you covered your mouth and sent him an apologetic look. "Sorry, I—!"

"Did you think that I wouldn't hear how you were sobbing in your sleep just now?" he cut you off. "Or the way you were mumbling things during class while you were asleep?"

You didn't know what was worse, the Housewarden telling you about what happened during your sleep or the fact that there was a high chance of your classmates having heard you during Professor Trein's class. Oh, how you yearned to crawl into a hole and die right at this moment...

"Obviously, I won't behead you," he went on. "And I talked to Professor Trein about this, too, so you don't have to worry about your grades slipping... yet."

The way he said that reminded you so much of the Headmage, the only thing separating them in your eyes right now being the fact that the Housewarden hadn't gone on a rant about how benevolent and gracious he was for sparing you from a bad grade.

That said... "Yet?"

A couple of books dropped out of thin air, startling you once again. Each one thicker than the previous one as they made a tall pile; one that easily reached your height. The Housewarden placed his elbows on top of it and shifted his weight so that he was leaning on the books; looking down at you with a smug expression on his face.

"I've decided on tutoring you myself. Normally, I would've just given you a few assignments, but your current situation is an interesting one and one that needs special attention at that, is it not?"

"I can take care of it just fine myself."

"Falling asleep in class was you 'taking care' of it?"

Well... He got you there. But that didn't mean that you were just going to let him have his way when it came to something that you were suffering through, not him. "Still, why do you—"

"Not another word," he cut you off again, giving you a warning glare this time before sighing. "This won't be any different from the time I tutored you on potionology, so I don't get why you're so against it."

Maybe because this was a personal issue and potionology wasn't? Still, you think you can let down your guard just a little bit if he thought of this situation as no different than the time he previously tutored you. You didn't want him to trail behind you but you preferred that to him beheading you so you were going to listen for the time being. Besides, it wouldn't hurt to have him be your tutor again since he was a good teacher and you benefitted greatly from it last time.

"Alright then," you weakly agreed and got out from under the stairs as the Housewarden sent the books he placed down back. Where did they come from in the first place? Obviously, he used his magic to bring them here, but what you wanted to know was where the books were from. Probably the library, but you never know.

"Good, I want you to meet me every afternoon in the Heartslabyul garden," he informed you as he dusted off his school uniform.

"Afternoon?" you repeated. "Isn't that your—"

"Do you want me to behead you?"

Along with his words, his glare did a good job of shutting you up instantly. You shook your head and kept your mouth shut.

"Good," his smile returned immediately as if he didn't threaten you just now. This was the Housewarden that you were more familiar with. "You better be on time. You know what happens to rule breakers, correct?"

You nodded.

"Very well, I'll see you tomorrow then."

“It’s not like that,” you replied, hands fidgeting with each other as you tried to not move around so much lest his finger dug deeper into your skin. “I need to use different teams to get the most I can out of the mirror dungeon, so I just haven’t been using bleed teams much which includes you.”

Your words were half truth, half lie. You did need to use different teams so you’d have extra starlight to strengthen your units for the more difficult floors, but you were also avoiding using a bleed team to the best of your capabilities. Even though you were fine with it at first, his overbearing nature got too much too quickly.

He wouldn’t leave you alone, either. It wasn’t bad at first — having a bodyguard and someone so powerful was nice — but that changed when he would overtake your Hong Lu so often that he could barely interact with you. Not to mention how he’d keep the other sinners away from you, too.

“Is that so?” he hummed, his voice oddly cheerful. You nodded.

He moved his hand away from your neck and waist towards your shoulders, turning your around to face him after.

“In that case, I’m sure you won’t mind going through the mirror dungeon with me this one time, hm? Unless you were lying about what you said.”

…Shit.

“Well I— uh, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt this one time…”

He chuckled. “This one time?” He trailed his hand up your neck again, this time not stopping until he was squishing your cheeks together; claws stabbing lightly into your skin as a warning. “Are you merely tolerating my presence? Do you not want me around anymore?”

“That’s not—!”

“Don’t touch them.”

A third hand grabbed the back of your collar and pulled you back until you were hidden behind someone else. Her warning came low yet firm, the three words she spoke being enough to convey her threat; that she’d cut Hong Lu down without hesitation if he didn’t listen.

“Oh?” He took a step back and mockingly put his hands up. “I didn’t know that the two of you were close.”

You weren’t, not really.

“My relationship with them is none of your business,” Ryoshu hissed, “Now leave if you know what’s good for you.”

Hong Lu let out a laugh but surprisingly didn’t protest and did as she demanded him to. Your Hong Lu didn’t linger for long either, he muttered a small “sorry” with an apologetic smile before leaving.

Ryoshu turned to look at you only when he was out of sight. Her glare softened when her eyes landed on you and she let out a sigh. “Bring me with you.”

“Where to?”

“To the mirror dungeon,” she answered a bit impatiently. “If you’re bringing that man with you, then bring me too.”

“Oh, right, sure.” You could definitely use a bodyguard with you if the Ring Nursefather ever tried anything.

“Good.”

<- Back to the masterlists? Hong Lu | Ryoshu