Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Today was as normal as any day at Night Raven College. Sure, the occasional argument or disagreement, heck even the occasional deal still happened, but today was a bit…. different, if you know what I mean. Let’s see how different, shall we?

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Everything seemed to be going well for Yuu at the moment. Currently, a joint potionology lesson was going on between the Freshman, Sophomore, and Junior classes. Which meant that most if not all of who they knew here were in this current class.

All seemed to be going normally, aside from some of the arguments they’d heard from some others in the lab alongside their own lab partners, Ace and Deuce. Did they ever stop arguing? Nope, and Yuu had learned that the hard way soon after first meeting them, so it’s pretty hopeless there.

The only remotely chaotic thing happened halfway through the class. And it was not pretty. 

Some other group was messing around with their potion, and one of them knocked in a foreign ingredient on pure accident while they were roughhousing. And sure enough, the three boys had a look of oh sh** on their faces, because almost immediately after that, the potion exploded up into the room.

“Everyone, cover your faces and fast!” Professor Crewel shouted, muffled voice sounding panicked. It turned out he had the foresight to quickly cover his face before the messed up potion exploded on the rowdy group.

Sadly, not everyone had quick reaction time, for 7 people hadn’t covered their faces in time, and ended up inhaling the smoke from the failed potion.

What ensued was a multitude of voices coughing through their face coverings (which were really just their shirts or their own masks), and the poof! sound happening immediately after. 

And to Yuu, it was not a good sign. It was evidenced by the fact that 7 lumps of clothing were wriggling and writhing on the floor of the lab. 

“Everyone, stay back! We don’t know what happened yet, so it would be unwise to look just yet.” Professor Crewel warned, a wary look in his eyes.

A multitude of other students looked quite wary as well, and some even a bit put-off.

Suddenly, a tiny, interesting little sound of “Ah!” filtered through the room.

Everyone blinked, wondering where that just came from.

Suddenly, another sound similar to it going “Aghbfhba!” came right after. 

“What in the world…?” Yuu muttered, narrowing their eyes in curiosity and apprehension.

Curious because they wondered what was under those lumps of clothes, and apprehensive because what was under those clothes could be potentially dangerous . Though somehow, they felt it was not the case.

Because as soon as one of those lumps poked their little red head out from underneath a set of Heartslabyul lab wear, Yuu immediately knew who it was.

This little head belonged to Riddle Rosehearts, Housewarden of Heartslabyul. 

A small round of gasps sounded in a ring throughout the room, and Yuu was rubbing their eyes in disbelief, because how in the seven did the Riddle Rosehearts turn into a 2 month old baby?! 

Soon, similar little heads poked out from underneath each type of lab wear.

Leona from some Savanaclaw lab wear.

Azul from Octavinelle lab wear. 

Then it was Jamil, Vil, Idia, and finally, Malleus. All in that order from their respective sets of lab wear.

What ensued in the following was silence for about a good 5 minutes, before it erupted into chaos, causing the current babies aged 2-8 months old to burst into tears and cry their little lungs out.

Immediately after that happened, the occupants of the room winced. 

“Okay, I think that wraps up Potionology for today, and the rest of the school day.” Professor Crewel mumbled tiredly. Even Crowley, who stood tiredly beside him, nodded in agreement and declared school as canceled for the rest of the day.

Students from each of the babies’ respective dorms picked the babies up. 

Trey picked up Riddle, Ruggie picked up Leona, then Jade picked up Azul, followed by Kalim picking up Jamil. As well as Ortho picking up Idia, and finally Lilia picking up Malleus.

Yuu then noticed a pattern with who was picked up in this exact order. It was all of those who had Overblotted this year. From Riddle, all the way to Malleus, it was all of those who had Overblotted.

And despite all of this, Crowley hadn’t found a way to get Yuu to their home world yet, despite Crowley saying that they would. And hooooo boy did they have to hold back their anger at the Headmage not doing anything. 

Soon after the affected were taken back to their respective dorms and everyone else had left, Yuu walked back to Ramshackle with Grim in tow, thinking about everything that happened along the way.

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Soon after that whole fiasco had happened, a few choice groups from each dorm were tasked with taking care of the babies from their own dorms within the 2 weeks that they would be babies. Sure, each group all had their complaints (except for a certain Scarabia Housewarden), but they ended up accepting the job after Crowley persuaded them by saying this would go on their grade, as a sort of cough cough home economics class cough cough.  

Let’s see what lies in store, shall we?

Chapter Text

“Well, that was really interesting.”

That was the first thing Trey Clover heard from the mouth of one Cater Diamond as soon as they got back to Heartslabyul, with a 2-month-old Riddle Rosehearts in Trey’s arms.

“Well, there isn’t much we can do until it wears off, unfortunately. For now, we’ll have to be extra careful with Riddle since he’s very… Little, at the moment.” Trey said, adjusting his hold on the smaller Riddle. 

“Yeah, I guess it makes sense.” Cater mused, before he froze and had a thought. “Wait a minute…. Since lil’ Rids here is a baby, doesn’t that mean you’re in charge of the dorm until he turns back?” 

Trey froze in his tracks as well. Cater was right, after all. And since the ginger was the one to point it out, Trey had a ‘fun’ little idea.

“I guess you’re right.” The greenette chuckled nervously. Though he gained a more devious look in his eyes almost immediately after. “And since you’re the one who pointed it out, you will be helping me as the temporary Vice Housewarden while I’m the temporary Housewarden.” He smiled quite deviously, but not in a very malicious way.

Cater gulped. Whoooo boy, I’m not getting out of this one, am I? The ginger gulped at his thoughts. He laughed nervously with a sheen of anxious sweat running down his face, the ginger scratching the back of his neck. All signs pointed to him being nervous, of course. 

Trey chuckled lightheartedly as he noticed his ginger companion’s anxiety. “Don’t worry, I won’t be making you do anything too complicated. Just some of the easier things I normally do to help you ease into it. ‘That okay with you?”

Cater sighed softly in relief and nodded his head ‘yes’. “Yuppers! That’s a-okay with me! I’m just glad it's not anything too difficult.” The ginger nervously chuckled at that part.

Trey smiled fondly, when suddenly Riddle was wriggling in his arms, as if trying to get out. And when the current baby didn’t get what he wanted, the inevitable came.

Tiny baby Riddle began to cry his little heart out, and it broke both Trey and Cater’s hearts.

“Hey, hey, hey, it’s okay, it’s okay. It’ll all be okay, I’ll help with whatever you need, okay?” Trey whispered kindly into the baby's ear as he bounced from side to side whilst he held the baby boy to his chest, swaying from side to side and bouncing up and down a little.

“Ohhh, he is not happy is he?” Cater winced, looking at the currently 2-month-old Riddle screaming his lungs off. A particularly bad screech from the tyke left Cater and Trey absolutely reeling. 

“Owwwwww! That really hurt! We have got to find out what he needs.” Cater whined as he clutched at his ears. 

“I think I have an idea!” Trey told the ginger over the noise. Some curious dorm members peeked over to see what the noise was, but Cater shooed them away so they wouldn’t see yet. 

The two had planned to announce Riddle’s current status later. So for now, it was not a good idea to reveal it just yet. No one needed to know Riddle was a baby at the moment. 

Trey experimentally put the baby closer to his chest, to see if the little one would start rooting[1] around to find food. Unfortunately, that was not the case, for as soon as Trey had put the baby Riddle closer to his chest, the tiny baby just put his tiny baby hands on his chest and pushed away, crying even more. 

Trey winced at the loud sounds, but then he remembers Riddle wriggling in his arms earlier before, almost as if he wanted to get down, and then had one of both the dumbest and smartest ideas he’d ever had. 

“Cater, do we have any soft rugs or mats laying around?” Trey asked over the noise, looking to the ginger, who was growing increasingly more worried.

“Uh, I think I’ve seen some in storage? I’m not really sure, but I’ll try to find one. Brb!” Cater thought it over for a moment, and then zoomed right out of the space they were in to find one.

Not even 10 minutes later, Cater was back with a fuzzy little rug just right for a baby of Riddle’s size and age at this moment.

Sometime during the very short time Cater was gone, Trey had managed to set himself down on one of the couches of the dorm lounge.

“Okay, got the rug. Now what?” Cater asked, tilting his head. 

“Now, I’m gonna need you to set it down with the fluffy side up on the ground, okay?”  Trey instructed, mimicking what to do one-handed. He had experience doing things one-handed because of helping to care for his little siblings, so it wasn’t that hard to mime it out a little.

Cater nodded with a determined hum-like noise escaping his throat, carefully setting the rug down on the ground with the fluffier side up, just as he was asked. 

Trey nodded approvingly and stood up from the couch, gently laying the baby down on the rug laying on his back. And as soon as he did, the baby stopped his crying. 

“Huh, well I’ll be. Lil’ Rids just stopped crying as soon as he was on the rug!” Cater’s eyes were widened almost comically to the size of dinner plates, nearly bulging right out of his skull. His tone and voice were chock-full of disbelief.

“I had a sort of feeling that he just wanted to be on the floor for some reason. Why? I don’t know, but I guess we’re about to find out.” Trey spoke softly, trying not to disturb Riddle. His own voice had just as much, if not more disbelief than the ginger’s.

Suddenly, a tiny determined grunt came from the baby, and suddenly, baby Riddle had rolled himself over onto his stomach, and was holding himself up with his arms, head wobbling.

It sent a vein of shock running through both junior’s spines and tingling throughout their bodies.

“Wha- But- How?! Babies don’t normally do this stuff at 2 months old! How in the Sevens is he doing this?!” Trey panicked, simultaneously awed and quite worried for Riddle’s safety, being so small at the moment.

Fortunately for everyone involved, Riddle did not lose his balance, despite being a literal 2-month-old baby who can lift half his body up with just his arms. Seriously, how was he doing that?! This was not normal, in any way, shape, or form.

Though, now that Trey thought about it, every detail of Riddle’s life was planned by his mother, down to what meals he ate, what clothes he wore, and who he could be friends with, and much more. It wouldn’t surprise him if Riddle’s mother forced her child to start crawling and walking from an earlier age than was considered normal. 

Suddenly, Trey felt himself feel sick. 

“Ugh, I think I need to lie down…” The green-haired boy groaned, golden eyes suddenly not looking as bright and mischievous as they normally did. “Do you think you could watch Riddle while I have a lie down?”

“Woah, you’re not lookin’ too hot Trey, you feeling okay?” Cater asked, concern painting his normally ‘cheerful’ features. 

“No, I’m just-.” Trey sighed. “Don’t worry too much about it, I just need a break. Today was a lot, and I’m pretty sure we’re both tired.”

Cater nodded in understanding. “Aight, I feel ya. Don’t you worry, baby Riddle is safe with me!” 

Trey smiled gratefully at Cater, a tired look clouding his golden eyes. “Thanks Cater, I really appreciate you. I’ll see you soon. Though if you need any help or it’s an emergency, don’t hesitate to come get me.” And with that, the tired Vice Housewarden of Heartslabyul made his way to his room. 

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Later that night, when the crickets were chirping and the night had come to life, Trey lay there in his bed clothed in his pajamas, staring up at the ceiling in contemplation.

He absolutely hated how he felt right now. Thankfully, the rest of the dorm didn’t know at the moment, besides himself, Cater, Ace, and Deuce, since the ADeuce duo were there at that joint class when it all happened. 

Oh how he wished everything would right itself soon. 

Why….

Why, why, why was he thinking about this, even hours later?!

The way Riddle’s mother treated him was no surprise to him. He just… Hated the fact that it had most likely started from the redhead’s infancy. When he was a baby. 

Was Riddle truly never allowed to be a child?

All of this made Trey want to curl up into a blanket and cry himself to sleep.

In the end, he ended up doing just that, the dried tear stains forming uncanny broken heart shapes on his cheeks, swollen eyes telling of all that he wished to say.

He hoped that maybe, just maybe, both Trey himself, as well as Cater and maybe Ace and Deuce could help Riddle’s infancy not be so bad. 

Hopefully…

He just hoped it would all be alright.

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Definitions:

[1]Rooting = When a baby searches for milk from the mother. Is often characterized by moving the head from side to side, or other directions unless specified.

Chapter Text

When Kalim got back to Scarabia with a 2 or 3-month-old Jamil in his arms, it would be quite accurate of him to say, that everything went to chaos as soon as he walked through that door. 

The members of his dorm ended up yelling and questioning him so loudly, that it ended up waking up a peacefully sleeping Jamil and caused the baby to cry. 

At this point, Kalim was done with trying to hide is exhaustion, and ended up snapping at his dorm unintentionally.

“Everyone shut up!” 

Silence. All except for a baby’s cry.

A multitude of quiet apologies sprang from his dorm, and Kalim felt a tad bit better. 

“Ugh,” He wiped a hand down his face and spoke up. “I’m sorry guys, I’m just really tired, and it’s been a long day. I also need to get Jamil set down in a bassinet and some pjs so both he and I can sleep.” 

A chorus of quiet voices going “Yes Housewarden!” emitted from the group of boys, and they all went back to what they were doing very quietly. 

Kalim soon made it to his room, and closed the door, making sure to lock it tight. 

The young heir sighed as he set Jamil down on his bed, the baby having stopped crying by now after Kalim had calmed him down on the way to his room.

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As soon as Kalim had told his father what was happening, he’d sent over supplies so that he could effectively take care of Jamil while the servant was still a baby. 

And wasn’t that a thought? 

Servant.

Kalim didn’t like that word. Not at all. Not since Jamil’s overblot.

Sure, he’d figured out it wasn’t particularly his fault that Jamil was stuck in this role, it was the social classes they were born into that were at fault. 

And despite what anyone says, Kalim is smarter than most people think. He just kept up the act of being a bit dumber than normal so that everyone, somehow including Jamil, wouldn’t even think to keep secrets in front of him. Because why would the airheaded Asim heir remember the secret? It’s not like he could use it for blackmail or anything, right? 

… right? 

Currently, Kalim was struggling mentally as he put together the bassinet Jamil was to sleep in. 

The moment was blissfully calm, until he heard Jamil crying. Kalim then shot up ramrod straight, and rushed over to the bed where Jamil lay, panic flooding through his system.

“Oh nononono- Shh, shh, it’s ok, it’s ok- You’ll be okay, Jamil, just calm down, I’m here, okay?” Kalim soothed, doing his best to calm down the wailing baby. Jamil as a baby didn’t really have his memories, as shown when Professor Crewel had conducted a minor experiment that didn’t hurt the babies in any way. This meant, that Jamil had absolutely no idea where he was, or even what was going on. 

Kalim ended up doing what is dubbed the “New Parent Dance” while he was trying to figure out what could be wrong. 

As soon as he saw Jamil suck on his fist, Kalim saw what the problem was. The baby was hungry and needed food. 

“Alright, Alright, it’s ok- Shhhh shhshhshhshhhh, you’ll be okay. I’ll get you something to eat, alright?” He murmured to the baby, hurriedly putting on a comfortable, silk baby wrap around himself and gently slotting Jamil inside. 

The baby continued to wail as Kalim searched and searched, and he found the baby formula he’d had delivered to Scarabia. 

Kalim quickly got to work, grabbing one of the durable baby bottles that his father had gotten for him to use for Jamil, and did the necessary steps in order to feed the baby in his arms. 

Once he’d put a drop on his wrist to check the temperature (that an article had told him), and making sure it was the right temperature, he carefully fed it to Jamil after slowly and gently getting the baby out of the baby sling.

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It took about 10-20 minutes for Jamil to finish (since he was so small) and had to be burped. Kalim then got out the burp rag he’d gotten from his father to use for Jamil, and carefully got the baby into position and patted him on the back to get the gas out. 

After a good 10 seconds (which was quite fast), Jamil burped and without any mess to clean up. Kalim had heard that babies could spit up, and he didn’t exactly want to handle that on top of everything that’d happened already. 

He then sighed in relief and got the bottle sterilizer (another gift from his father) ready to clean the bottle and its parts. Kalim then made the trek back to his room with Jamil’s small baby form safely tucked into the silk sling, and safely carried the little one to his bassinet. 

Kalim got the little one ready by getting the baby into some pjs and put himself in his own teenager-sized pjs. 

After Jamil fell asleep, and Kalim had gotten himself fully ready for bed (just because he was tired didn’t mean he could skip some steps), he fell asleep peacefully in the comfort of his own bed, falling asleep near-instantly. 

During the night, he ended up waking up a grand total of 6 times (which really messed up his sleep schedule), but he somehow got enough sleep despite it. 

Kalim could only hope that Jamil would be a generally easy baby to take care of. 

(Yeah right, like babies were ever easy)

Kalim desperately hoped that would be the case.