“Sehun-ah,” Jongin says as he’s hanging out on Jeongguk’s bed, petting Monggu’s fuzzy head. “Guk. Did you ever wonder about the rivalry between us and Kappa Gamma?”

Jeongguk looks up from his papers where he’s sitting at his desk. “What?”

Sehun, on the floor with his white dog, Vivi, looks up as well. “The rivalry?”

Jongin nods. “Yeah, I mean how it all started and stuff. Don’t you think it’s weird that Kris or no one ever told us?”

Jeongguk looks hesitant while Sehun just shrugs. “I don’t think so.”

“That’s because you don’t even think,” Jeongguk says, throwing his pencil at the one lounging on the floor.

“Rude,” Sehun snaps, throwing it back. Vivi starts barking, causing Monggu to wriggle and yip as well.

“Guys!” Jongin cries, trying to calm his dog down. He sighs; honestly, his best friends are like children. “I’m serious!”

“Hi, Serious, I’m Dad,” Sehun jokes.

Jongin throws a pillow at his head. “Enough with the dad jokes, Hun!”

“Never!” The younger wails between pillow beatings and puppies nipping at his ears.

Jongin sits back and looks at Jeongguk, who is watching the whole fiasco with a smile. “No, but really.” Jeongguk is much more mature than Sehun, despite being the youngest of the trio, and Jongin knows he'll listen to him. “I was with Kyungsoo the other day and she told me about how the whole thing started. Why hasn't Kris told us?”

Jeongguk shrugs. “Maybe he thought it was for the better. Maybe he thought we wouldn't ask or that we thought it would go back way farther than just two years.”

“I think we should ask him.” Jongin stands and pulls Monggu off of Sehun. “Or Luhan or Mark.”

“Um, no to Luhan,” Sehun says, sitting back up and throwing the pillows back onto Jeongguk’s bed. “He looks like he's ready to kill me every time he sees me because I'm still with Taozi. He's also been really crabby lately.”

“Kris has also been mad because I heard that Yixing lectured him and withdrew for, like, a whole month after she found out it was him who took her key,” Jeongguk adds.

Jongin covers Monggu’s fuzzy ears and the puppy looks up, confused. “Don't say that in front of ears!”

Jeongguk rolls his eyes and starts playing with his phone. “So what did Kyungsoo tell you?” He asks.

Jongin tells them the story he had heard and Sehun scowls.

“I wouldn't do that to Zitao!” He growls angrily. “That's stupid! Kim Junmyeon doesn't know what she's talking about!”

“Jimin said at the Halloween party that Junmyeon was warming up to us,” Jeongguk says. “She wasn't as scared anymore.”

“She's just protective,” Jongin explains to his angry friend. “I mean, she looked up to Lim Eunhee. She doesn't want the same thing to happen to everyone. If Gukkie was hurt a lot, you and I would protect him.”

“Of course! But still!” Sehun protests, as Jeongguk sputters. “That doesn't mean we’ll be like that!”

Jongin sighs. “Look, Hun, I know, okay?”

Sehun nods stiffly. “I won't ever hurt Zitao.”

-

The first thing Jia-Li does when she sees Mark is march up to him, stomp on his right foot, and scream in his face.

The boy stares up at her from where he's nursing his foot and stares, along with the rest of the people who are near them.

“You're stupid!” She shrieks, waving her arms around. “You've taken it too far! If I had my way, you'd be living in the dorms! The Kappa Pi Beta House would be demolished!”

Mark frowns and stands to his full height, towering above her. “That's taking it too far,” he says, but a smile hints on his lips.

Jia-Li stands on her tiptoes and clenches her fists. “You bleached our hair and shrunk our shoes! Nothing has ever been taken that far!”

Mark shrugs, infuriating the younger. He takes a strand of her black hair and twirls it around his finger. “I'm glad you didn't dye yours. I like it this way.”

Jia-Li ignores the way her stomach twists and feels funny; instead, she bares her teeth like an animal and swats his hand away. “Stop that,” she snaps. “I'm trying to be mad at you. I can't be mad if you're acting cute!”

Mark laughs and Jia-Li has to plug her ears and look away so she doesn't freak out about how ing adorable he is. He reaches over and gently takes her hands from her head into his. “Busy tonight? Let's go grab some dinner together.” Jia-Li gapes at him. “And then we'll go have fun. It'll be like our last date.” He grins at her.

Jia-Li blushes as she remembers the date they had in London. They had ridden the London Eye late at night and it had been beautiful to see the city lit up. After, they wandered the streets and grabbed some dessert before Mark escorted Jia-Li back to her hotel.

Mark pouts. “I didn't get a good night kiss either, so now is another chance to get one.”

The other bites her lip unconsciously and Mark swallows at the movement. “Okay,” she finally agrees. “It's like a friend date, though.”

“What,” Mark deadpans. “A friend date? Is this me being friendzoned?”

Jia-Li nods and giggles at Mark's incredulous look. “For now.”

“For now,” Mark mutters, running a hand through his red hair.

“Pick me up at six,” Jia-Li tells him. And with that, she leans up and kisses his cheek before dashing away.

Mark is so surprised he just stands in place for a long time.

Jia-Li purses her lips as she goes through her clothing options. Mark hadn't suggested going to a fancy restaurant so she wasn't going to wear a formal dress.

“Jimin!” She whines, and her best friend comes in at once.

“Li!” Jimin whines back and takes a seat in Jia-Li’s desk chair. “What? Need help?” She spares a look at Jia-Li’s bed.

Jia-Li nods. She points to a short strapless black dress with red flowers along the bottom. “This? Or this?” Then she gestures to jean shorts paired with a long sleeved black crop top.

“How about nothing,” Baekhyun says as she barges in, eating from a tub of cookie dough ice cream. Jimin opens and Baekhyun gives her a spoonful.

Jia-Li rolls her eyes. “That's so you, Baek.”

The eldest goes to Jia-Li’s closest. “What's with all this black? Geez, you and Kyungsoo.”

“It's our color,” Jia-Li whines. Kyungsoo wouldn't hate on black to her, no, they would bond over it.

Baekhyun looks through her clothes while Jimin takes over Baekhyun’s job of eating the ice cream. “What about white or something? Oh!” She dashes out of the room and comes back with a short orange dress with long sleeves. “This would look so cute!” She squeals.

“I'd look like a pumpkin,” Jia-Li says, cringing.

Jimin tuts. “Not all pumpkins are ugly. Jin was the prettiest pumpkin we'd ever seen.” Baekhyun nods in agreement.

Jia-Li sighs and grabs the dress from Baekhyun. “Okay, fine. I'll try it on, but I'm not wearing it.”

An hour later, Jia-Li is waiting in the parlor for Mark, in the orange dress, and long hair piled in a pretty updo thanks to Zitao.

A knock on the door signals his arrival and Jia-Li gets up to answer it. “Hi,” she says after opening one of the doors.

“Hey.” Mark smiles warmly at her and Jia-Li discretely fans herself.

He looks cute, she thinks after closing the door and following him to his car, in dark jeans and a long sleeved white shirt and his hair was styled up away from his face, showing off his handsome features.

“Where are we going?” She asks as she buckles herself in.

“How about JYP?” Mark offers, speaking of the nice restaurant that had recently opened up near the campus. Jia-Li had heard from the first year she tutored in Calculus 2, Kunpimook, that the food was great. She nods and Mark puts the car in drive.

The drive to the restaurant is quiet but comfortable and dinner is nice. Mark is a perfect gentleman, pulling Jia-Li’s chair out for her and complimenting her numerous times, causing Jia-Li to hide her face in embarrassment.

“I had a nice time tonight,” Jia-Li confesses as Mark walks her to the front door of her sorority.

Mark grins. “Me too. Let's do it again sometime, yeah?”

The younger nods and quickly leans towards him before pressing a short kiss on his lips. She giggles and runs inside, leaving Mark, for a second time that day, frozen and speechless.

-

Minseok squeals as she hears the cheers from her teammates and peers roaring around her, celebrating the win with her. She quickly runs up to the net to shake hands with the other team before pumping her fists in the air and yelling victorious shouts.

“Championships!” Seokjin screams, hugging the junior libero, Kim Yerim. “We're going to Nationals!”

Minseok and Sooyoung grab the large cooler filled with ice water and take the lid off before dumping it on their coach, who shouts in surprise. They laugh and share a high five before Sooyoung is whisked away by Sungjae and Minseok is whisked away by a screaming Junmyeon.

“That was so amazing!” She yells over the cheering and music.

“I know!” Minseok yells back giddily. She still can't believe they're going to Nationals the next month.

“Congratulations, unnie!” Jimin grins up at her and the other girls crowd around her and Seokjin to offer their congratulations as well.

A hand lays itself on her shoulder and she turns to see Park Jinyoung smiling down at her. “Congratulations, Minseok. You were really cool out there.”

Minseok laughs, cheeks warm. “Thank you. I'm glad you had fun.” She's happy things between the two of them are better after the awkward one night stand incident at the Halloween party. Jinyoung was very kind and Minseok found they got along easily, much to her delight. They're on their way to becoming friends, and possibly more in the future.

“Nice job, Kim,” a rough voice says behind her and she turns to see Luhan standing behind her, looking embarrassed.

“Luhan!” She blurts out. “Thank you.” He nods and the awkwardness is visible between the trio.

Luhan looks up at Minseok and hesitantly takes a step forward. “Can I maybe, um, talk to you alone for a second?”

Minseok frowns, confused, but nods. She pats Jinyoung’s arm and smiles, telling him to wait here.

Jinyoung smirks at Luhan and the shorter scowls before walking away, Minseok at his side.

Once they're away from Jinyoung, Luhan turns on Minseok, mouth twisted into a snarl. “Are you two together?”

Minseok flinches, then frowns. “What?” She asks incredulously. “What the hell do you mean?”

“I mean are you two dating?”

Minseok scowls. So this is what this is about. “No,” she spits angrily. “We’re not.” Luhan relaxes at that but it just makes Minseok angrier. “If you wanted me to like you like you like me, you shouldn't act all possessive and stupid!” And she storms away, fists clenched at her side.

A snort behind him sounds and he turns to see Jinyoung there, smirking with his arms crossed. “Nice going,” he drawls.

Luhan sneers. “You’re such an idiot if you think you mean anything to her. Stay away, because she's mine.”

“Don't go around like you're the , Xiao,” Jinyoung snarls, staring down at Luhan. “Minseok doesn't belong to you so don't get all possessive and .”

“She doesn't belong to you either!” Luhan growls, hands twitching at his side, waiting to grab Jinyoung’s shirt collar and throttle him.

The other smirks. “Right, but I still got her first.” He leans close to Luhan as if to tell a secret. “Before you.”

“What the do you mean?”

Jinyoung blinks his eyes innocently. “I mean, that night you were dressed up like a kiddy reindeer. Halloween, remember?”

Luhan doesn't really remember much. He drowned his sorrows in alcohol.

“She was screaming and my name all night long,” Jinyoung drawls confidently, leaning back to cross his arms.

Luhan inhales sharply. “You're lying.”

“No, I'm really not. You should've heard, she sounded like an angel. Oh, wait. You didn't hear because she was with me,” Jinyoung spits, sneer on his handsome features.

Luhan can't help himself, hearing about how Minseok spent the night with some other guy.

He punches Jinyoung straight in the jaw.