Xiumin smiled to himself where he was standing behind a bookcase, a few fairly heavy copies of old classics in his hands, as he heard the door open. He immediately grabbed a random book from the shelf in front of him and tossed it with surprising accuracy towards the open door – he hadn’t expected it to hit home, but judging from the thud followed by a loud groan he obviously had.

“Told you to knock Chenchen, told you to knock.” He sung teasingly as he walked out towards the open area, placing the books neatly on the corner of a table. The second-year was glaring at him – not a very unusual occurrence – but soon let out the regular sigh of resignation. Because he himself would never admit to being wrong, and the boy knew that. “So, what’s today’s problem; Luhan steal the office again?” He asked lightly as he made himself comfortable on another table, stretching his arms leisurely before patting the open space next to him – he’d been expecting the other to drop by at the usual time so he was fairly curious as to what the delay had been. “Come on, I’ll even shut up until you’re done talking this time.” This was a generous offer if he could say so himself, even so the other seemed hesitant to take him up on it. Finally however the younger dragged himself over to the table and sat down on the edge, immediately burying his head in his hands.

“This whole thing they call war is killing me hyung – not only did they all take the office but they seem to insist that my help is needed to solve this mess that they got themselves into! My help! I mean what do they think I can do, reprogram the enemy to serve cookies and lemonade?! It’s a miracle I even got out of there I tell you, a miracle!” Xiumin snickered at this but had to admit that he felt a bit bad for the boy, although the other was clearly being quite overdramatic about it all. He could only imagine how frustrated he’d be if people occupied his own space.

”Don’t worry; you’ll have your place back in no time. I mean, it can’t take them too long to deal with a couple of brats acting up, right? For all we know Tao and that Chanyeol guy might be on bad terms or something – they haven’t been in contact since the second-year started high school, right?”

“Tell that to the baboons leading this place.”

“Oh, I will if they stop by. Or you could pass on the message.”

“Kris would kill me, not to mention Luhan. I swear it’s like he’s missing a piece of his brain the way he’s convinced the first-years are going to end up forming some sort of army against us – isn’t it ridiculous? I mean Tao and D.O. are hardly on good enough terms to get along for the time it’d take to form some sort of tactic, and if they would happen to team up I swear it’d just end like last semester where one of them knocks the other out before they’re even up against the top dogs.”

“Aren’t you underestimating them though? That D.O. kid did help the music nerd, and if Tao was the one to approach him I don’t think he’d refuse some sort of cooperation to get rid of their common enemy.” Xiumin was personally never one for taking sides, but in this case he couldn’t deny that if he was in Kris’ position he’d be worried too. He wasn’t sure why Luhan was getting worked up though, since despite the guy’s seemingly advantageous friendship with one of the kings he could very much take care of himself according to both Chen and Baekhyun. Why was that? Could it be that the guy actually had connections to some powerful people? Maybe his family was rich and the school was just a place for him to play around in? Now that’d be interesting…

“Hyung? You’re making weird faces again.” He snapped out of his thoughts to glare at the younger boy, who seemed to have cheered up already. “Be careful so your eyebrows don’t get stuck like that.”

“Like that’d ever happen.”

“Oh but it does. And imagine trying to find yourself a girlfriend with a look like that on your face, I mean you don’t have that much going for you in the first place-”

“Yah!” He snapped at the younger, who was now snickering evilly. “Like you’d have an easier time troll-face.” The other faked a hurt gasp and was just about to retort with what was probably a spot-on comment, or so Xiumin assumed judging from the many previous times they’d ended up picking on each other for no apparent reason, when there were a series of hard knocks on the door. He was a hundred percent sure that it was Luhan on the other side, and lay-ho, when he threw the designated book a second earlier than usual the blond actually didn’t have time to dodge.

“Nice hit.” The boy next to him mumbled, quiet enough for just the two of them to hear, and he gave himself a pat on the back – the other third year had always had a knack for avoiding his welcome gifts, but who knew a split second could make such a difference? Apparently it’d been a pretty good hit as well, seeing as the blonde was rubbing his stomach with a mean glare in their direction. Well now, did it really hurt that much? He doubted it but decided against commenting on it; the guy would hopefully leave faster if they got to the point.

“What is it Luhan? We were pretty busy you know.” He grinned, resting his elbows on his knees as he leaned forward. “I won’t be very happy if you take him away already; it’s no fun winning on a walkover.”

“Shut up chubbs, we still need him up there.” He scoffed at his nickname, glaring at the second-year as something like a snort escaped the boy. “You’ve got nothing to laugh about either; Kris muttered one of his prayers when you didn’t come back.”

“Is he still doing that? Hell, I thought that was just a phase he went through.” Xiumin snickered, taking a moment to bask in the memories of their first year in school.

“Chen, we’re leaving.”

“Are you now?” He asked, turning his head a bit to look at the younger, whose brows were knit together in concentration. Was it really that tough of a choice?

“Sorry hyung… I don’t want to get in trouble.” He could feel his eyes narrow. This wasn’t the answer he’d wanted; he found himself incredibly irked, glaring at the two as they made their way towards the door.

“…They’re not the only ones you should be scared of stupid.” He muttered, but Chen just shot him a small smile before walking out of the room. Alright, now what was he going to do? What did he always do when the kid wasn’t around?

He got on his feet, pacing around the room irritably – he’d gotten too used to the younger, and he probably knew it somewhere deep down earlier on than he’d admit. But the fact that he’d still be pissed at Kris for stealing his company wouldn’t change even if he hadn’t grown so comfortable around the kid – their agreement had never been that Kris was in charge. Yet the other acted like it, and Xiumin wasn’t about to let that slide. Then again it was probably a better idea to wait until things calmed down a bit; it’d lessen the risk of the guy exploding in a fit of anger at another problem popping up…

It was around that thought, when he was just passing by one of the windows facing the schoolyard, that he spotted something interesting out of the corner of his eye. The quartet that were making their way over the concrete wall wasn’t one he’d ever fathomed would get together. It seemed as though his reasoning had been right before, but he hadn’t counted in the last two variables.

“Wow… I wonder if the guys upstairs are seeing this.” He swallowed his surprise at the sudden words and snickered at the person walking up from behind him.

“I’d be surprised if they didn’t; the view from the council room is pretty optimal.”

“True, but the blinds are usually down, right? Besides, they’re busy shouting their heads off anyways.”

“Really? You’d think they were a bit more mature by now, wouldn’t you?”

“Amen to that…”

“…Was that supposed to be a joke?”

“No, I just converted.” Xiumin snorted at the other’s sarcastic remark.

“So Baekhyunnie, do you have anything more interesting to tell me about than what we just saw?” He asked, eyeing the dark-haired boy with a smirk as he made his way back to the table.

“Mm, not really; I think everyone else is busy trying to figure out what’s going to happen from now on. You might need some sort of warning system for the door though – I was surprised that you didn’t hear me coming.” Baekhyun let him know whilst trying to sit comfortably on one of the wooden chairs – to little avail of course. He sensed right away that the younger wasn’t being entirely honest.

“First of all you should stop lying to me; the door clearly wasn’t closed properly, because I’ve never missed anyone coming in before.” He started, earning a slightly nervous chuckle from the other to which he grinned before continuing. “Also, you’re hiding something… tell me.” He demanded, watching with suspicion as the other’s face formed a knowing expression.

“Did you happen to say something to Chen? He was in one hell of a mood, almost knocked Luhan down the stairs when I passed by but he didn’t seem to give a damn – just walked past with a really creepy look on his face, all blank and distant and… stuff.” Xiumin couldn’t help but a brow at this – Chen in a bad mood? And because of something he said?

“What makes you think it’s my fault? Luhan might’ve ed about something, and he wasn’t too happy about the meeting either so-“

“Trust me, it’s something you did.”

“But-“

“Look, he’s never really gotten mad about anything Luhan did before, has he?”

“What, you don’t remember when the retard broke his laptop?”

“That was different, and he forgave him right away anyways. Also, he wasn’t in a bad mood when he first came here today was he?”

“Alright, he wasn’t, but he was annoyed and pretty worked up-“

“Basically that means it’s your fault.”

“And what do you want me to do about it?” He snapped finally as he was tired of being cut off, glaring at the second-year in a way that made the kid freeze where he was sitting. “I would love to go up there and tell Kris and Yongguk the off for making Chen stay up there when he clearly doesn’t want to, but that guy made his choice already, and I have no business with them. If he has anyone to be angry with it’s those jerks anyway.” This was where the other came to life again.

“I didn’t say he was mad at you, I only said he was in a bad mood because of you – there’s no saying who’s the real target for his creepy murderous I’ll-kill-you-if-you-poke-me attitude.” Xiumin expected the guy to be finished there, but the other seemed determined to push his luck. “But I’m still one hundred percent sure that it’s you who caused-“

“Just get the out of here Baekhyun.” He growled, and the boy was quick to scurry off, not without giggling sneakily however. He found himself wondering if he’d be able to get away with beating the guy up as well, like that Chanyeol dude did… of course that might’ve been a special case since someone else got to him before the informant could form a revenge plan. Still, he could hardly deny that at times he was very tempted to throw the guy out of the third story window and see what happened.

Right now however there was a bunch of other people he had issues with. His head started hurting when he so much as tried thinking about how everyone got involved with each other – sure Kris was the center piece of it all in the way he had some sort of connection with pretty much every single one of them, including himself, but what about the opposing team? Because it sure as hell seemed like they’d gotten some troublesome people together. And Yongguk, he had reasons for being involved, but for how long? Baekhyun was probably neutral as usual, unless he decided to get back at the second-year who busted his lip, and Lay would always keep his distance when he wasn’t actually bothered by what was going on…

But the hardest part was no doubt trying to figure out his own place in the whole deal. He might’ve been on good terms with Chen, yet that guy chose the other people over him. He could claim to be neutral, but he did make a deal with the religious two years back – no matter which side won he’d be stuck in a quite uncomfortable position… Then again, he had one more option, which seemed like the most interesting and valuable one at the moment. It would probably be risky though…

It took a few minutes of careful reasoning, but he soon made up his mind and decided to take those risks – it wasn’t like he was planning to get found out after all. He pulled out his phone and started scrolling through the contacts leisurely, a lazy smirk playing on his lips. Hadn’t they agreed last semester to give each other a call if something… unfortunate came up? The guy had turned up for a quiet place to rest once when it was stormy outside, so he might be willing to suggest something in return. He stared at the screen for a couple of seconds before pressing the call button, actually feeling a bit excited about the whole business.

It took almost half a minute before the other picked up, and there was at least another thirty seconds of rustling and arguing in the background before the other finally answered properly. Xiumin couldn’t blame him though, considering whose company the other was supposedly in at the moment.

“Xiumin-hyung? Is it important?” The kid seemed fairly annoyed so he decided to cut to the chase right away.

“It is to me. I need to ask for a small favor Sehun.”

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A/N: Finally another chapter's finished~ I'm not sure why I struggled so much with Xiumin, I really like him after all... mm, oh well. This was quite a busy chapter don't you think? I'm starting to piece things together, so I'm sorry if it's a bit confusing at some points~ *squats in corner and pokes wall* But since this is capitulo diez it means I'm soon done with introducing all the characters' lovely mindsets, which means I might be changing things up a bit from chapter thirteen~ Note the might be, because I'm very indecisive and uncertain about stuffs. 

Anyhow, thank you all for being patient~ I've just got so much on mind mind right now~ *brain melts into pile of sadfdafndafdjafd* 

SO, lots of love to subscribers~ <3333 to all of you sweets, and some more for all y'awesome commentists~<333 

Can anyone guess who's the main for the next chapter~?òwó

~Fi