Luhan refused to open his eyes after the fluffy dream ended; knowing full and well that once he did he’d have no choice but to get up. His alarm went off again, and he reached for his phone to hit snooze, only to realize it was too far for him to reach. With a displeased groan he allowed his eyes to open slightly – just enough to take a peek around the bright room. He finally spotted it at the edge of his desk. Whose bright idea had it been to put it there? His arm dropped down off the edge of the bed, and he swung it lightly a few times, letting his fingertips glide across the cool floor. Sometimes he just knew he was too clever for his own good. He practically fell out of bed when the noise started up again, dragging his body over to the desk, grabbing the phone and turning the alarm off before he settled his head on his chair, ready to dose off again. A text message stopped him, and he blinked his eyes open and scratched his head. Did Lay always text him in the mornings? If so it seemed to have slipped his mind over the summer vacation.

“Hm?” He yawned widely before re-reading the short lines out loud. “Something happened… come to school?” What time was it? Nine? It was a bit on the early side but since it was Lay it couldn’t be helped.

Luhan yawned again as he got off the floor, lazily moving himself to the bathroom to wash his face and then back to his room to change into the uniform. He smiled at his reflection in the mirror – he looked good in most things, but for some reason there was just something about school uniforms that he liked.

“I’ll be there in ten…” He mumbled while he wrote, sending his answer to Lay with a determined smile as he made his way downstairs. “Bye mom!” There was no answer, but Luhan figured she was still sleeping after her long night shift… maybe he shouldn’t have raised his voice? Locking the door behind him he practically skipped into the sunlight, in the relatively fresh city air.

The walk to school was something he normally enjoyed by slowing his steps, but today he picked up the pace, curious to see what was interesting enough for Lay to actually contact him so early in the morning. What met him when he arrived was indeed fascinating – the place hadn’t been so lively since the big face-off last semester.

“Luhan!” He grinned as he hurried over to Lay, who’d apparently been waiting for him by the entrance. The loud chatter that was going on around them caused even Luhan to feel excited, despite him not having a single clue as to what was going on. His friend huffed at their fellow students that were waving their limbs carelessly and gestured for him to follow him inside.

“War’s on the horizon.” Lay said suddenly in a sing-song sort of voice, as though it was just what he’d been wishing for. Luhan couldn’t disagree though, a sneaky smirk replacing his previous grin.

“Who messed up?” He chirped as they walked up a set of stairs side by side.

“You know that guy in the music room?” The other asked with an amused glance in his direction as they climbed up another story. He shook his head at this – he only vaguely remembered there even being a room like that. “He’s this weird second-year, from class C I think, who’s been holed up there since he started pretty much. Anyways, he beat some guys up yesterday afternoon, and apparently they got back at him last night when he was leaving the grounds.” Luhan wrinkled his nose; how did this have anything to do with a ‘war’?

“So?” His friend snickered evilly at his question, and gestured for him to come a bit closer. “Come on, what?”

“Guess whose guys were in on it?” Lay sighed when he didn’t come up with the answer. “You’ll understand soon enough.” Despite Luhan pouting and nudging him, asking him as nicely as he could to continue the brat refused to say another word about the matter and simply kept walking. When they reached the fourth floor landing however it dawned on him where they were headed, and his imagination started running crazy as he considered the possible scenarios. If Kris was involved it had to be something good.

“… you thinking?! Huh?! What the hell were you idiots trying to pull?!” He giggled as his classmate’s voice carried all the way to them from the other side of the metal door that lead to the rooftop. When Lay opened it and they stepped outside they weren’t greeted with a snide comment or a bored wave like usual; hell, they were pretty much ignored as they went to join another row of observers by the sideline. The sight of Kris’ and Yongguk’s members sitting on their knees in front of the two kings brought a mean grin to Luhan’s lips.

“Haven’t I told you to think before you act?” Yongguk asked unsmiling. Kris clicked his tongue as they received no answer.

“We’re listening so you’d damn well better explain yourselves while you still can!”

“Kris, that’s not helping.”

“And your tactic’s working then?” The giant turned back to the boys in front of them. “Well, why the hell didn’t you back off when that little er decided to join in?! Huh?!”

As much as Luhan was enjoying the drama it was utterly frustrating to not know what was going on. He nudged Lay in the ribs without looking away from the scene, perhaps a bit too violently judging by the hiss that sounded from his right, but he ignored whatever pain the younger might be feeling.

“What really happened for them to be all riled up like this?” He whispered so quietly that he was positive no one could hear but his friend.

“Those guys were helping their classmates beat up the guy from the music room, but apparently a couple of first-years got mixed up in the middle of it all. D.O. was one of them.” Lay murmured back. “But that’s not all; the brat actually left some sort of message saying that he officially refused taking any more crap from them.”

“Baekhyun!” Both of their attention turned to the heated situation before them. Kris had called out the second-year who’d been sitting by the fence, and the boy seemed extremely annoyed at being forced into it all. “What do you know about it?”

“Nothing more than you all; that Chanyeol had it coming to him anyways…”

“That’s not the problem, what do you know about his relation with D.O.?”

“There isn’t one.” Baekhyun snapped, and Luhan stifled a laugh at the boy’s expression that was something between pain and anger, only noticing a few seconds later that it was probably the swollen lip that had caused the poor guy to make such a weird face. “D.O. was bored and found something to do, that’s all. As for Kai-“

“Who?”

“The other first year.”

“Right, go on...” Kris looked completely out of it, his face all scrunched up in a displeased grimace, and Luhan had to make a mental note to not annoy him so much later – he knew better than to push the guy over the edge.

“Kai was one of the transfer students that came yesterday. I had a short chat with him, but there’s not much to say. From the rumors it seems that Tao has taken an interest in him, but he should’ve had no connection to anyone in this place before he arrived. I get the feeling he did it because he’d the curious kind of guy with a strong sense of justice – seeing several people going after one person probably didn’t sit well with him.”

“So he has no ties to Tao or D.O.?”

“Not that I know of.” The informant spat, rubbing his temples sourly. “Can I leave now? I have some people to talk to.”

“Fine, go. Let me know if you find out anything useful.”

Luhan nodded to the boy as he passed by, getting just a slight smile in return. Lay scoffed from next to him and he shot said boy a questioning look.

“This is pointless, once it’s gotten this far and the entire school knows about it there’s nothing they can do but take him up on the challenge. If they don’t they lose face, and D.O. will have won his place next to them.” He pondered quietly, and Luhan nodded in slight understanding. But was it really that simple?

They watched in silence for a few more minutes, but Luhan found he didn’t find it at all interesting anymore. He signaled to Lay that he was leaving, and slipped back inside the building without a word. Something was telling him that the kings were missing an important detail, but he had no idea what it could be – at the time he wished he’d paid closer attention to what his underclassman had been telling him randomly during the hours he’d spent in the student council’s office. Maybe he ought to consult the guy about it – there was nothing the kid couldn’t find out after all.

“To Chenchen it is…” He mumbled and hurried down the stairs, humming a quiet tune as he walked the short distance down the corridor. The door to the office was locked like always, but since he had the key that wasn’t an issue. “Chen-” He started, but knew as soon as he noticed the lights were off that the other wasn’t there. With a frown he closed the door, not forgetting to lock it again. This was weird; Chen was always there. Always – if he didn’t know better Luhan would go so far as to claim the boy lived in the office. Equally frustrated as he was disappointed he headed for the library; it was the only place he could imagine the other disappearing to. He never got over the first book the third-year in there hit his head with the first time he went to visit, but he supposed he would have to deal with it this time, seeing as the situation was just screaming for him to help.

The first floor was complete chaos when he reached it again, even more so than the rest of the building and it seemed to have gotten worse since he got to school himself – it was almost as though everyone who had anything to say or do had gone down to the first-years’ corridor to do it.

As much as he wanted to go on a search for the transfer student to find out what had really happened he convinced himself that he’d have plenty of time to do that later, turning to march off towards the east wing. To his surprise something was blocking his way when he turned the corner, and he took a few unsteady steps to balance himself after the impact.

“You shouldn’t run in the hallways.” He glared up at the boy, who to his great annoyance was a few centimeters taller than him.

“And you shouldn’t be hiding behind the corners stupid.” He retorted grumpily, just about to push the guy aside when he noticed the clip on his collar. He was a first year? Well now. “Say, you don’t happen to know this Kai fellow?” Luhan snickered as he started putting his slapdash plan to work – why run around himself when he can get a nice little lackey to do it for him? Said plan however came to an abrupt end.

“I’m not going to get him for you if that’s what you want.” The first-year said with a detached expression, not even sparing him a glance before sauntering past him. What the hell was this? He turned back to look around the corner.

“Yah! Kid!” The guy just waved a hand at him as he disappeared behind a group of other students, going off somewhere down the corridor. Luhan pursed his lips and with narrowed eyes turned to stalk off towards the library. Right now as hardly the time to take action, but he wasn’t going to let that er get away with ignoring him. People do not ignore his orders. Ever.

After a quick knock he ripped the library door open without a second’s hesitation, taking a step to the side just in time to dodge the hefty classic that came flying over the threshold. He thought he heard someone curse but decided to let it slip. The lord of the library was sitting in front of him on his usual table, snacking on a chocolate bar and exchanging hushed sentences with the younger boy to his side. Luhan cleared his throat sourly, the second-year immediately straightening his back and turning to him with a smile.

“Luhan-hyung, what can I help you with?” Chen’s smile seemed a bit hesitant, but Luhan ignored this as he pulled out a chair and sat down by the far end of the table from the other third-year.

“I need you to check a few things for me. Can you do it here or do I need to walk up the stairs again?” He asked sharply, feeling his bad mood take over.

“I’ll… just do it here then. I brought my laptop anyways…” Chen was obviously a bit taken aback by his attitude, but he couldn’t be bothered to apologize for it.

“So, did something bad happen?” Luhan’s eyes snapped to the round-faced guy again, clicking his tongue at the other’s annoyingly knowing smirk. He was hardly in the mood to talk about it, and so simply scoffed at the boy and turned his attention back to the younger instead. Chen was busily typing away on the computer, but finally raised his head to lock eyes with him.

“What do you want me to look for?”

“Any connection between D.O. and-“

“Park Chanyeol? I did that as soon as I heard – came out clean; they probably haven’t even spoken to each other before.” Luhan assumed it was the name of the guy from the music room, wrinkling  his nose at the disappointing news and continued thinking for a few seconds. Before he could even open his mouth again however he was interrupted. “Nothing between him and the new kid either.” Well there had to be something that could be useful to know?

“Didn’t you find something interesting earlier?” For once Luhan was glad to hear the third-year speak, but judging by the younger’s expression said boy most likely didn’t feel the same.

“Xiumin-hyung…” Chen whined, clearly not happy about the revelation at all. Luhan on the other hand felt his face twist into an evil grin as he leaned forward over the table, gesturing for the second-year to show him. “…Just a second...” Said boy mumbled grouchily to the clicking sound of the keyboard and frowned uncomfortably when he turned the laptop around for Luhan to see. It seemed like nothing but a list of students, but when he glanced between the two open windows he noticed something that made his heart skip a beat before starting up again at an erratic pace. The information on the screen had made him realize one unfortunate thing, and he dropped back in his seat with a groan.

“Luhan-hyung? Does this-“

“Mean we’re ed? Yeah, it does.” Luhan grumbled before the other had time to ask, and now that his mind was working again searched his pockets for his phone. If knowing was going to help any then he was sure as hell going to let the others know about this. He was on it the minute the call got through. “Lay, are you still up there? Mhm, yeah, I found something important; listen to this…”

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A/N: Well now... another one out... *deep sigh* I thought I had Luhan's character engraved deeply in my extraordinary brain, but I confused myself with some parts of this. *apologizes in advance for possible mistakes* Mm, so, some things were revealed in this chapter... like Luhan's mother working night. I bet you all wish I'd tell you where huh? *clears throat awkwardly*

Thank you my dear subbies~ and sweet commentists<-----this is a word beacause I say so! Lovely hugs and kisses to yous~ <3<3<333

Thanks for reading~! ôAô

~Fi