✎ academia ✐

♡ iv ♡

    Baby is quick to observe, quick with the mental notes. "Golden eggs? But the tallest one's got a regular purple badge."

    "That's Hugo, nicest of the three," Kavya explains, "Goody-goody. Can be trusted to walk you home after a night out. Used to have the cutest lisp, then it was tutored the fuck out of him, of course. His mom's some nonmagical. His dad's a Wilde prince, the Duke of Star-land or something. So Hugo's Viscount of something. And could've been an absolute cutie pie, I think, in another life."

    "Could've?"

    "If it wasn't for the other two, yeah. Scarlett's not so bad, she's just shy. Not the sociable type. Her brother though..." Kavya shudders. Rolls her eyes.

    "His name's Byeongho, right?"

    "Just call him Beau. Or Beelzebub, that works just as well."

    "He's in my homeroom."

"Ew."

"Hugo is too, I think, but he wasn't in this morning."

    "Ah, yeah, it's Monday," Kavya nods, though the meaning is still lost on Baby, who watches the boys trade conversation amidst themselves as they come even closer.

    She fights the urge to bring her notebook out again, lest Kavya scold. But she can't resist asking—"So Scarlett and Beau...Why are their badges gold?"

    "Because they're Song-Wildes." Kavya breathes the name with her nose in the air.

    "I didn't get a special badge and I'm a Delgado-Song."

    "But there are plenty of those, plenty of you," Kavya shrugs, "Only two of them."

    Baby quirks a brow. "No way."

    "No, yeah... Whole scandal that was, back in the day... The Wilde Königssohn with a Japanese Song? Very West Side Story." Kavya leans in to whisper, "Rumor has it Beau was conceived in one of the legacy dormitories. Out of wedlock."

    "Ew, I didn't need to know that."

    "Hey, if you're doing the stalking, you've gotta know what you're signing up for...With that doucebag especially."

    "But he seems so nice," Baby says, watching Beau laugh at a joke Hugo's made. His nose crinkles. He clutches at his chest. His hair catches the sunlight and becomes a soft brown instead of almost-bla—

    "Why? Because his eyes sparkle?" Kavya bats her lashes and pouts her lips. Then her face falls. Scrunches up. "Listen— just because a face is pretty doesn't mean the brain behind it is, dumbass."

    "But he was kind to me this morning..."

    Kavya snaps, "He's kind to everybody, that's kind of the point. I once spent both summers and Christmases with the bloke—trust me when I say evil can wear friendly faces." As the trio of Wildes near, Kavya whistles, "Hughie, come over here."

    Surprisingly, Hugo spins, meets Kavya's glare, and breaks into a half-run, grinning, though he scoffs— "Would you quit calling me that?"