The three boys sat down in their seats, near the back of the room so the teacher wouldn’t notice and yell at them for whispering. Tao was in the middle, both Baekhyun and Chanyeol trying to advise him about what to do.

“You should tell him,” Chanyeol breathed, glancing over at Mr. Lee to make sure he wasn’t looking at them.

Tao shook his head, hair whipping around his face.

“No way,” he said, fear in his eyes, “He’ll hate me.”

“He won’t hate you,” Baekhyun spoke softly, patting Tao’s shoulder.

“How do you know?” Tao turned to the shorter boy.

Baekhyun shrugged, “He doesn’t seem the type to freak out over something like that.”

Tao sighed, turning back to face the front of the classroom. Baekhyun was quick to add another piece of advice.

“But, if you really don’t want to tell him, you could always just throw him some hints.”

“Hints?” asked Tao, confused.

“Yeah, you know, like make it obvious you like him without saying it directly,” Chanyeol explained, folding his arms atop the table.

“How am I supposed to do that?”

“Easy,” Baekhyun started, “You get closer to him. Touch his arm; hug him; sit right next to him whenever you can. Stuff like that.”

Tao frowned, “That would just look weird. He’d know something was up.”

“Yeah, but that’s the whole point. You’re meant to make it obvious!” Chanyeol said, his voice a little too loud this time.

“Is there a problem back there, Chanyeol?” Mr. Lee asked, turning his attention away from the class for a moment to focus on the tall, hyperactive male at the back.

“Uh, no sir,” Chanyeol laughed.

“Good,” Mr. Lee went to sit down at his desk, “Keep the volume down then.”

“Fine,” the tallest of the three began again, “If you’re too scared about being touchy-feely with Kris, why not try something on the residential?”

“Such as…?” Tao probed, curious as to what crazy ideas Chanyeol could come up with.

“Well,” he paused, thinking for a second, “You could share a room with him and then, at night, you could be all like, ‘Kris, it’s so cold in here. Could I please share your bed? I love you, Kris~’ and then you’d !”

Baekhyun reached behind Tao, smacking the back of Chanyeol’s head with his palm.

“Jesus Christ, Baekhyun!” Chanyeol screamed, clutching his head, “What the was that for?”

“Park Chanyeol! I said to keep the noise down,” Mr. Lee called from the front, “And watch your language.”

Chanyeol groaned and mumbled something along the lines of ‘everybody hates me’ before turning and hissing at Baekhyun.

“Why did you hit me? I was giving Tao a perfectly valid idea,” he whisper-yelled.

“Yeah, if by ‘perfectly valid’ you mean perfectly retarded,” Baekhyun snarled, “Besides, , we don’t get to choose our own rooms. The teachers choose for us and we get put into rooms based on form group. There’s no way Tao could be put with Kris because they’re in different forms.”

Chanyeol held his hands up in defeat, “Okay, I didn’t know that.”

“However,” Baekhyun tapped his fingers against the table, thinking hard, “I guess the idea of you and Kris sharing a bed isn’t completely impossible.”

“See?” Chanyeol grinned, “My idea wasn’t totally dumb.”

“But Kris wouldn’t want to share a bed with me,” Tao interrupted.

“Nonsense. Of course he would,” Baekhyun smiled, “Anyway, I think we can make it happen. So, are you up for it, Tao? Sharing a bed with Mr. y Dragon?”

“Don’t call him that, please,” Tao frowned.

“Aww~” Chanyeol cooed, “Look how protective he is over Kris already~”

“Yes or no, Tao?” Baekhyun pushed for an answer, the gears in his mind whirring away as he concocted a plan for the following night.

After a moment, Tao sighed and nodded slightly. It wasn’t like he had any choice now that the troublesome pair knew about his crush. When they got a plan into their heads, they didn’t stop until it was carried out to the end.

Meanwhile, in the dance studio, Kris was lying on his stomach, watching Sehun colour in part of the poster they’d be assigned to make. The class was asked to design an advertisement for their favourite subject. It could be a leaflet, a newspaper article or a poster. Kris, Luhan and Sehun had chosen the last option. Sehun was almost done colouring the title when Kris spoke up.

“Can I draw?” he asked, resting his chin in his palms.

“Uh,” Sehun looked up from the large piece of paper, “Sure, I guess. What do you want to draw?”

“Not sure yet,” Kris replied, “Maybe some animals? I’m good at drawing animals.”

“How do animals relate to dancing?” Sehun raised an eyebrow, amused at how child-like the older boy was appearing.

Kris shrugged, “I could draw dancing animals?”

“Okay, that works,” Sehun smiled and passed the paper to Kris, pushing the little tub of pencils and felt-tip pens over as well.

Kris thanked Sehun briefly before grabbing a black pen, not even bothering to sketch in pencil first. He began to draw what was meant to be a panda street dancing but it was looking a bit weird to Sehun. Maybe it was because he could only see it upside down from where he was sitting. He tried to turn his head, getting a better look at Kris’s ‘artwork’, when Luhan came back into the room, three bottles of water, some gummy bears and a couple of chocolate bars in his arms. Miss Liu allowed the students to eat in the form room, as long as they didn’t leave any crumbs or packets when they left. As long as they cleaned up after themselves, it was fine.

“Oh my God,” he ran over to the other two boys, practically dropping the items on the floor and skidding to a stop before them, “Kris what are you doing?”

Kris looked up, pausing his artistic flow, to look at the older male, “Drawing. Why?”

Sehun crawled behind Luhan and reached out to gather the food, catching the bottles before they rolled away.

Luhan groaned, “Who said you could draw?”

Kris pointed to Sehun, who was currently shuffling back to his original position.

The eldest of the three turned to Sehun, sitting down next to him. He leaned in and whispered to the younger boy.

“Kris can’t draw to save his life. He’s going to ruin the poster,” he breathed, sending a little shiver down Sehun’s spine as his hot breath ghosted against his ear.

Sehun whispered back, “It doesn’t matter. He’s having fun. Plus, it’s not a real piece of work. Just let him doodle.”

Luhan looked sceptical but gave in when he saw Sehun’s smiling face, telling him it was alright. Even though he was a perfectionist, Luhan allowed himself to let this one go. He muttered a quick ‘okay’ and turned around to see Kris finishing the lines, grabbing some colours and making the panda rainbow-coloured. It was strange how the guy could go from utterly cool and mysterious around strangers to an adorable dork around his closest friends.

“Want some?”

“Hmm? What?” Luhan turned around.

Sehun was holding one of the chocolate bars out to him, that same sweet smile still on his lips.

Luhan took the bar from Sehun’s hand, “Thanks.”

The two watched at Kris coloured in his masterpiece, adding a little bow-tie to the panda in black pen when the colours were done. He smiled triumphantly and put his materials back into their tub, sitting up properly and stretching. It was rather uncomfortable lying on the floor for so long. He scooted over to the other two, grabbing a water bottle and drinking from it. The three boys spent the remaining time chatting about the residential, pondering what it could consist of, what they were expected to bring and what would be happening with the dorm rooms. They were in the middle of stressing about what sort of food they’d have to eat when the bell rang to mark the start of lunch. The class gathered their belongings, pushed their posters and art materials to the side of the room and left, heading out to get food.