Chapter Text
The next few days went… well, Epel wouldn’t say they went quickly, but they definitely went.
Crowley was carted off to Briar Valley to be ‘dealt with’. Epel was decidedly not asking questions. Frankly, he didn’t want to know.
(All he knew was that they had all made sure to get a few swings in before he got dragged off to… whatever jail he had been sent to. Epel’s knuckles had cracked open during one of his punches, and the tiny cuts still ached days later, but he didn’t really mind. It was very cathartic.)
After the initial storm of gossip, everything settled back into place pretty quickly. Trein took on Crowley’s old responsibilities, and – save for the times when Yuu and Sebek were dragged out of class to attend court hearings – class continued as normal.
Unfortunately.
“Has anyone told Crewel that we have other teachers? Because I don’t think he’s realized, yet,” said Deuce.
They sat in a small clearing in the woods in various states of dismay. The beautiful scenery did nothing to quell their hatred of exam season.
“Harry Potter told me exams would be cancelled once the Big Bad was defeated,” Yuu muttered, looking far too upset for someone who was lying in a field of flowers. “And yet. Here I am. Studying again.”
“I understand all of those words individually,” said Jack.
Yuu squinted at his textbook as if he were trying to decipher a foreign language. Or, maybe, the sun was just blinding him, because he shifted the textbook he held high above his head to block it.
“Maybe I should drop out and become a groundskeeper or something. Hagrid was onto something. Gotta release a giant spider into the wild, first, though…”
“I fear he has finally snapped,” said Sebek.
“Maybe I have. Crazy people don’t have to do school.”
“Yes they do,” said Ace.
“Fuck,” said Yuu. And then his eyes flicked to Grim. “I mean. Sorry.”
Grim had decided to stay as a human for a while. Because Yuu, somehow, managed to dote over him even more in this form. They had gotten Grim some new clothes, and he still insisted on wearing Yuu’s shirts wherever he went – nevermind that they didn’t fit, and Yuu barely had enough shirts on hand as it is. Apparently, Yuu only cared about people stealing his clothes when they weren’t his ‘baby’.
Grim glanced up from his coloring book (“It'll help him practice finger dexterity,” Yuu had lied through his teeth, visibly fighting the urge to melt at Grim’s supposed ‘cuteness’). “What?”
“Nothing, baby,” Yuu said, nearly dropping his textbook on his face when he went to pat Grim on the head.
And no one was jealous at all…
But never fear! Epel was about to steal the show!
He sniffed his newest cosmetic item, and then a blanket Yuu had scented during The Incident.
Perfect.
The others were wandering closer, their expressions bright.
Epel suddenly understood mad scientists and alchemists. This was very satisfying. Maybe he would embody Pomefiore’s spirit once Vil was gone.
For now, though, Ortho 3-D printed a spray bottle for him and handed it to Yuu.
Yuu held it aloft.
And then he sent Epel a wry grin. “I can’t believe you just reinvented perfume.”
“What’s a per-foom?”
Yuu waved him off, idly swirling the spray bottle. “So… wrists and neck, right?”
“Yep! You don’t have to wear it all the time or anythin’ –.”
“Yes, you do,” said Ace, leaning halfway inside the cauldron.
Epel shot him a glare. Hey! It’d probably be easier to make him feel guilty enough to wear it all the time if they broached it like something they enjoyed, but wouldn’t burden him with. Nice guys do not, in fact, finish last!
Yuu huffed a laugh. “Fine, sure, if it makes you happy or whatever.”
Wait, really? It was that easy?
Epel cleared his throat, somewhat awkwardly.
“But!” Epel continued. “If – if we do good and you’re happy? Maybe? Try it?”
Yuu sent him a slightly amused look before he sprayed some on one of his wrists. He rubbed his wrists together in a way that looked, weirdly, practiced (maybe it was practiced, because of that per-foom thing he mentioned).
And then he glanced at Epel.
He, hesitantly, lifted his hand to Epel’s neck. “Uh – good job? I think?”
Despite Yuu's blatant awkwardness, love and affection washed over Epel so fast it made his head spin.
Epel would claim until the end of time that his knees did not buckle and that he fully intended to collapse on top of Yuu. He had his pride, thank you very much.
Yuu, to his credit, just huffed a laugh.
“DIBS ON HIS OTHER WRIST,” said Sebek.
Admittedly, someone like Sebek calling dibs, of all things, would have been funny in any other moment.
But it was not any other moment right now. Epel lifted his head just enough to glare at him. And locate Yuu’s other wrist.
He laced their fingers together. His brain went nice and fuzzy.
Even the others’ outrage at Epel’s ‘greediness’ wasn’t enough to ruin it for him.
“Nah. I earned this shit. G’ fuck yerself,” Epel halfway slurred.
Deuce frowned. “It sucks that it isn’t as nice as it is for Yuu as it is for us.”
“Do not try to pressure him into becoming a beta again,” Ortho said.
“I was just saying…” Deuce said, sulking in a way that suggested he wasn’t quite as innocent as he had been trying to come off.
“Don’t worry, I’ll just become an alcoholic,” Yuu said. “It’s basically the same feeling.”
“Don’t,” said Jack.
Yuu pouted.
Epel rolled off of Yuu. Because Grim was beating against his chest and complaining about being ‘squished’ and, as much as Epel wanted to say ‘Good!’ just to spite him, he knew Yuu wouldn’t appreciate it.
Besides, thanks to Epel’s tireless efforts, Yuu’s detergent smelled of Deuce, and that wasn’t who he wanted to smell right now.
He tugged Yuu’s wrist to his nose, breathing deeply.
The bliss he felt didn’t last nearly long enough.
Ortho was the one who broached the question that none of them had been willing to voice. The one that had made Epel redouble his efforts to find a way to replicate Yuu’s scent despite the looming threat that was exam season:
“Now that you have your memories back, are you planning to go back to your home world?”
Yuu tilted his head to the side, thoughtfully.
Grim screeched and dug his fingernails into the fabric of Yuu’s shirt. “You’re not supposed to leave me! You said you’d be there when I became a great mage!”
Yuu opened his mouth, and then he sighed, his expression softening. “I’m not going back. Don’t worry.”
Everyone’s shoulders relaxed.
Ortho nodded as if he had already known this.
It would have been nice to give them some fucking WARNING, then!
Sebek narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “You aren’t lying, are you?”
“I wouldn’t do that, I’m not Ace,” Yuu said, snickering when Ace made a vague sound of mock protest. “And… I dunno. This world and my… original one, I’d be leaving people behind either way. Kinda.”
“‘Kinda’?” repeated Ace, his eyebrows furrowing.
“Mhmm… I’m friends with you guys, there, too. You’re… basically the same, just with some added Magic Bullshit, or whatever. And you’re way clingier here.”
… oh.
Yuu rubbed the back of his neck. “If I can, I’d like to… temporarily drop by to explain that I’m not dead and all, but… I don’t know. There’s not really a ‘right’ answer, I don’t think. Either way, I’m leaving one version of you guys behind. But it wouldn’t feel that way for me? I dunno. What I do know is you freaks need me way more than your alternate selves do. Again, holy fuck are you clingy here.”
There was a beat of silence where they took in this information. It explained why Yuu had been somewhat distracted lately, why he kept sending them weird looks when he thought they weren’t looking. And maybe it explained why he was so much nicer – he had known them far longer than a year, was probably fonder of them than he had been before (the fixed sleep schedule probably helped with this, too, though).
“That being said, you’re also way less easy to understand, my god,” Yuu grumbled, as if an afterthought.
“They aren’t difficult to understand, you simply have no way of processing scents in the way they do, and they don’t know how to accommodate you,” said Ortho.
“Is it really that hard to tell people things directly?”
“Well, again, they already do that, you just can’t process it,” Ortho reminded him.
Yuu grumbled some more.
“So, you… want us to tell you things outright?” Deuce asked, his chin in his hand.
Yuu nodded. “I’d appreciate it, yeah.”
There was a beat.
And then Deuce sighed, pink dusting across his face. “Fine. I… really appreciate you.”
Yuu, for the first time in his goddamn life, went completely silent.
Ortho giggled. “Your vital signs are rising, but I like you best as you are.”
“Damn, the robot’s got game,” Yuu joked, though his voice sounded weird. Different than usual.
Grim wasn't one to be outdone. He announced that, "You're my favorite minion. Don't tell anyone, but you're going to be the only one I ever accept as a full henchman!"
Red started creeping up Yuu’s neck.
Epel hadn’t even known Yuu could get flustered.
He wanted to see more of it.
“Thanks for helping me deal with Vil. You didn’t have to do that. You’re a good guy,” Epel said.
Yuu tugged his hands away from Epel so he could hide his face in them.
Epel pulled them right back down, grinning.
Finally. After all this time. They could get payback.
Sure, it was embarrassing saying all of this out loud, but at least it was getting to Yuu way more.
Jack’s tail wagged up a storm as he said, “I – I hope you know that I get onto you a lot because I don’t like seeing you hurt. Because. I... Care.”
“I never should have said anything,” Yuu realized.
“Can’t take it back now!” said Ace, brightly. “Did you know that omegas only steal the clothes of people we really like?”
Yuu closed his eyes, as if he could just will them all to stop talking if he concentrated hard enough. "I'm never going to live this down, am I?"
“I know it was not easy for you to look past my lineage,” Sebek said. “Thank you for giving me a chance, Yuu.”
Yuu gave a quiet groan.
And then his eyes flew open, as if an idea had struck him.
But he didn’t immediately say anything. He just… looked at them for a moment. Considering.
He took so long that Epel nearly opened his mouth to give him another compliment.
And then.
“Haru,” Yuu said, softly.
There was a beat.
“What?” said Jack, even though he had the best hearing of all of them.
He flashed a smile. It was definitely a nervous smile, but it still felt strangely genuine.
“My – my name is Haruta Watanabe… my friends call me Haru.”