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Georgina had walked him to his room.
She’d hugged him gently before leaving, and Riddle had stood in the doorway long after she'd gone, staring at nothing. Her warmth still clung to his sleeves, he could still smell her expensive perfume as he entered his room and leaned against his closed door.
So much had unraveled today. All the emotions he’d spent years keeping locked in meticulously labeled boxes, now spilled across the floor of his mind, leaving him feeling exposed and impossibly vulnerable.
He needed a shower. He sighed as he pushed himself off the door and made his way into the bathroom.
With each layer of clothing he removed he found himself feeling more flayed. He got in the shower and let the water run hotter than usual. Let it burn and sting his skin. He scrubbed his skin till it turned a blistering red and yet he didn’t feel any cleaner.
Eventually he had to get out.
Knock.
Knock.
The knocking startled him out of his thoughts. Riddle grabbed a robe and wrapped it around himself. He half opened the door not really sure what, or who he was expecting to see.
He wasn’t disappointed when he found Floyd waiting outside.
Floyd beamed when he saw him. “We’re going to the beach!” Floyd announced, already stepping inside like this had been a conversation they'd both agreed to hours ago.
Riddle blinked at him surprised by the suddenness of the declaration. “The beach? Floyd It’s almost midnight.”
“It is midnight,” Floyd corrected cheerfully. “I waited until it was technically morning to ask you. See? I'm plenty patient.” He swung a tote bag off his shoulder. It jingled with the unmistakable promise of snacks and whatever else Floyd managed to stuff in there before making his way to Riddle’s room.
“I’m in my robe,” Riddle replied, a bit amused at the situation.
“And?”
“I just got out of the shower.”
“Aww I should've come earlier so we could shower together.” Floyd teased as he stepped closer, grinning with bright-eyed mischief.
“You're so shameless,” Riddle said, an exasperated smile making its way onto his face. “Alright, at least let me get dressed first.” Riddle relented. Floyd whooped as Riddle turned to get his clothes.
He indulged Floyd far too much these days.
The beach was only a five-minute walk from the Leech family’s summer home. Under the moonlight, it didn’t feel that far at all.
They walked in silence, hand in hand, the night air cool against their skin and the rhythmic hush of the ocean growing louder with every step. The sand was soft, cold underfoot, and the sky stretched wide above them, cloudless and silver-dusted.
By the time they reached the shoreline, Floyd had already started unfolding a blanket he’d stuffed into his tote. He laid it out with surprising care, anchoring the corners with two snack containers and what looked like a polished seashell from a previous visit.
They didn’t talk much.
They didn’t need to.
Riddle sat beside him—close, but not quite touching—until eventually, inevitably, his head drifted against Floyd’s shoulder. He didn’t feel the need to say anything, content to just soak in Floyd’s presence.
Floyd filled the air with mindless chatter, talking about seemingly anything that came to mind. He’d brought out some snacks, but Riddle couldn’t bring himself to eat any of it. The idea of eating made his stomach twist.
Floyd didn’t push him, but he opened a bottle of water and nudged it gently against Riddle’s knee. Riddle knew while Floyd was willing to compromise on him not eating, he wouldn’t let him go dehydrated. With a soft sigh, he took the water and drank.
The water was cold and grounding. When he handed it back, Floyd didn’t draw attention to it, he just accepted the bottle back with a hum and rested his chin lightly atop of Riddle’s hair.
For the first time that day, Riddle let himself finally breathe.
Afterwards they sat in silence for a while, just existing in each other's presence. The crash of waves and distant chirp of night insects filling in the spaces where words didn’t. Floyd eventually got bored of just sitting still. He shifted beside Riddle once, then again. Restless energy coiling beneath his skin until finally—
“You wanna dance?” he blurted out.
Riddle blinked up at him. “Dance?”
Floyd grinned, wild and bright in the moonlight. “Yeah! Like dance-dance.”
“We don’t have any music,” Riddle said, browsing knitting together.
In response, Floyd reached into his bottomless tote and pulled out a small speaker with a theatrical ta-da! gesture, followed by his phone. “Any song you want!” he declared, practically vibrating with excitement as he handed them over.
Riddle stared at the speaker, then the phone, his expression unreadable. He went through the list of music he knew in his head before finally selecting a song Lilia had once played during a club meeting.
It was old, haunting in a way that felt timeless.
The melody drifted out of the speaker like fog. Floyd bounced to his feet immediately and turned to Riddle, holding out a hand with an exaggerated flourish.
“I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream…”
Riddle stared at the offered hand before taking it.
Floyd tugged him gently to his feet, pulling him into a loose rhythm.
“I know you, that look in your eyes is so familiar a gleam…”
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard this one before,” Floyd mused, swaying with him.
“And I know it’s true that visions are seldom all they seem…”
“You wouldn’t have,” Riddle replied, allowing himself to be led despite the slight awkwardness in his stance.
“But if I know you, I know what you’ll do—”
“It’s from Briar Valley,” he added. “About a princess who met her prince while dancing in the forest.”
“You’ll love me at once, the way you did once upon a dream.”
Floyd wiggled his brows. “So, does that make me the prince in this situation?”
Riddle snorted. “You wish.”
Floyd laughed delightedly, like he couldn’t imagine being anywhere else in the world but here, barefoot on a moonlit beach, slow dancing to a fairytale ballad with the boy he loved.
Their feet shifted in the sand, they had long since fallen into rhythm, and Riddle—though he’d never say it aloud—found himself enjoying the closeness.
Riddle hummed softly along with the melody as it faded toward its end, the tune slipping into the night air like a lullaby.
Floyd twirled him and then dipped him low, grinning all the while.
Riddle laughed breathlessly, his arms tightening instinctively around Floyd’s neck as he was pulled back upright. The motion left them chest-to-chest, close enough to feel each other’s warmth, to hear each other’s breathing.
Riddle didn’t pull away.
Instead, he leaned in and rested his head lightly against Floyd’s chest. He could hear the steady rhythm of Floyd’s heart this way. He felt settled at that moment.
Whole.
They stayed like that even as the last note faded, standing in silence beneath the open sky, the tide whispering in the distance.
Floyd’s arms stayed firm around him, and when Riddle finally lifted his head to meet his eyes, he was met with a look so soft, so painfully fond, that it made something in his chest flutter.
Adoration.
Riddle had never known how to handle that kind of expression. It burned through him, leaving him feeling overwhelmed. He never knew what to do when Floyd looked at him like that—like he was something precious, something wanted.
So he stopped thinking, and kissed him.
Because it was the only thing that felt right at that moment.
Floyd melted into it immediately, arms tightening around Riddle’s waist with a low, pleased hum, kissing him back like he’d been waiting for that exact moment to happen all night.
Floyd had packed everything up with surprising efficiency, humming the tune from earlier under his breath as he rolled up the blanket and slung the tote over his shoulder.
They walked barefoot along the place where the sea met shore, the sand cool and wet beneath their feet, the tide brushing against their ankles in rhythmic sighs.
Moonlight danced across the water, and the stars above scattered silver across the sea. Riddle stayed close beside him, lost in thought.
Every now and then, he’d stop to crouch and pluck something from the sand. A shell, a smooth piece of driftwood, a fragment of sea glass glinting like a buried gem.
Floyd tilted his head as Riddle tucked another find into the small pouch at his side.
“Souvenirs?” he asked with a crooked smile.
Riddle glanced at him, cheeks just faintly pink from the cool night air.
“For memory’s sake,” he said simply.
Floyd looked at him for a moment longer than necessary, then nodded. “That’s cute,” he said, voice soft and a little too sincere.
Riddle looked away quickly, but not before Floyd saw the shy smile curling at the corners of his mouth.
They walked a while longer like that, hand in hand. There was no need to rush back. No need to fill the silence. Everything that needed to be said had already been spoken, so they just continued to exist in each other's presence.
And honestly, if this was what the rest of their lives together looked like, Riddle couldn’t wait to spend it with Floyd.