A few days later…

Mei stared at the quiz in her hand uncomprehendingly, ears whistling as silence rang around her.

Beside her, Sehun and Tiffany were equally shocked, disbelief etched onto their faces.

'You're ting me, right?' Sehun, always the first to crack, muttered, leaning over her shoulder to look at her result again. 'This can't be true!' He poked at the paper as if that would somehow change the damning evidence.

The red B- staring back at her begged to differ.

'No way…' Tiffany sounded far away, like Mei was swimming underwater or something. The feeling of unreality only intensified when she peeked at Sehun's test, the A- mocking her with its presence. Shaking her head to bring it back to earth – it felt like it was floating away – she looked at Tiffany's answer sheet, an A+ glaring back at her.

'But… how?' Tiffany, like Sehun, sounded disbelieving. Which wasn't surprising because she, Mei, was the one they always cheated off, she was the A+ Ms.4GPA in their group, she was the one always scoring best even without studying her off (which she usually did) – not Tiffany and definitely not Sehun.

'I…' she muttered, a little dazed. 'I didn’t study…'

'You went to sleep with Luhan!' Tiffany exclaimed, remembering. 'I thought you'd already studied, though!'

She shook her head slowly. 'He was really tired and wanted to snuggle so…'

Sehun cast Tiffany a dirty look that was thankfully lost on Mei – she was still in shock over her less than spectacular performance – because how insensitive! Sehun pouted but reluctantly backed off, patting Mei's shoulder awkwardly. 'That's okay, snuggling comes first!'

Tiffany clucked her tongue disapprovingly, glaring at Sehun because his tactics were obviously not working – tears had begun pooling in Mei's eyes and his words were obviously salt on fresh wounds.

Just as she thought she had it under control – Mei swallowed as Tiffany continued patting her back comfortingly, Kai came bounding over. 'Hey guys, how was the result?'

As Tiffany went 'Shh' and Sehun gestured frantically over her shoulder, Mei turned to look balefully at Kai. 'I…' she began, breathe hitching before she broke down completely, tears flowing freely.

'MEI!' Kai pushed Tiffany aside, making Sehun growl as he caught her before she could fall but Kai ignored them, leaning over Mei, 'What's wrong?'

'KAI!!!' She wailed, burying her head into his shoulder and sobbing in earnest.

'What happened, Mei, come on, tell me!' He coaxed, gently patting her head as she continued sniffling into his arm. Without a word, Mei pushed her result at him. He stared at it before glancing at Sehun and Tiffany's and understood.

Mei was almost fanatical about her excellent grades. Even in math, which they'd taken in first semester, she'd managed to score an A, with Kai's additional tutoring and everything. And even though she acted like nothing could bother her, he – like all her friends – knew just how much even the littlest thing meant. No wonder she was tearing up.

'Mei…' he began.

'I’m a failure!!!' she wailed, grabbing his arms and shaking him, tears streaking over her face. Kai bit off a smile because she was too cute at times. 'I'm an idiot!! How can I look at Luhan now?!??? KAIIIII!!!'

'Uh…' Come again?

'He's perfect!' She told him fiercely and he had to purse his lips so a laugh wouldn't escape. Behind her, Sehun was guffawing shamelessly and even Tiffany had given up trying to suppress a smile. 'He's so perfect, I can't stay with him if I'm not…'

'MEI!' He grabbed her arms, shaking her a little, 'Look at me!'

She blinked slowly, looking lost.

'You're perfect as you are,' He told her sincerely, ignoring the strange twinge inside his chest. It was almost a constant anyway and besides, she really was perfect. 'Luhan thinks so too, okay? Stop crying, it's just a quiz.'

'But…'

'Mei.'

She sniffed, looking away before slowly nodding. 'Okay.'

'I mean it, it's just a single quiz. You can kick our asses any day, you know you can. Cut yourself some slack!'

Tiffany and Sehun nodded along, patting her head. 'Yeah, have some pity on us – Suho keeps telling me to follow your example, at least now I can say you're not always on top!'

'SEHUN!' Both Tiffany and Kai glared at him.

'What?' Sehun's defensiveness made her giggle.

So maybe she was overreacting but really, her grades meant a lot. Especially because she was studying here on the scholarship as a transfer and keeping her grades meant keeping her scholarship – and being with Luhan. She was not endangering that, ever!

'Of course not,' Tiffany tugged her along, Kai and Sehun falling a step behind. 'Though Kai can always bring you back if they deport you!'

Mei hit her shoulder, giggling a little as Kai chivalrously offered to bring her entire family over so she could just start living here. Mei smiled, glad for the support but secretly decided never to skip on her studies again.

  ……………………………….   

Chanyeol hadn't gone back to the library after his stunt at the basketball court, not in the least because he was sure everyone had seen him when he'd set himself on fire, even though Chen assured him the fire was too bright for it to matter.

'Besides,' Baekhyun tugged on his ear, 'Your is flat so it's not like it matters!'

Chanyeol covered his , feeling the distinctively curvy globes in his hands. 'It's NOT flat!'

'Sure it isn't.' Baekhyun smirked, deliberately patting his really curvy which, he insisted, didn't even need a belt to keep his pants from slipping down. That was curvy.

Before their argument could escalate too much further, someone cleared their throat behind them.

Chen stopped mid swing, hands on his head and hip half raised and Baekhyun, who'd just gone down on his knees, shaking his booty, fell to the floor, rolling around in a fit of laughter. Chen joined him a moment later, smacking his hands on his knees.

The girl giggled, 'I'm not interrupting anything, am I?'

Since Chen and Baekhyun didn't seem to be able to catch enough breath to talk, Chanyeol shook his head, sitting up a little more decently. 'Not at all. How can the Beagles help you?'

They were in the one of the less used corridors of the old music department, the place an unofficial headquarters for their gang. A lot of people came to find them here for their various requests which usually involved getting cats out of trees or finding something lost but also, getting someone beat up. Baekhyun, as the leader, often refused these latter requests, intimidating the requester instead and giving them a lecture about non-violent ways of resolving conflicts.

 The girl, however, didn't seem interested in making a request. She rose on her toes, nervously kicking out a leg before rising on her toes again, putting her hands behind her back. Her fingers twisted with each other nervously.

'Um… Baekhyun?'

Baekhyun glanced up from his place on the floor, sitting up immediately with a bright smile. 'Hey! How are you, Tae?'

Chanyeol observed the interaction with interest.

'Great,' the girl, Tae, replied, offering an equally bright smile in return. 'Just wanted to make sure we're on for tomorrow night!? 

Chanyeol's brow shot up – this was new. A lot of girls approached them, especially Baekhyun but he rarely indulged their requests. But apparently, he'd agreed to date this cutie.

'Of course,' Baekhyun's smile was charming and disarming as he stood up, dusting himself off and climbing up the stairs to close the distance between them. He stopped when he was two steps below her, so that she was face level with him.

'Even earthquakes and storms couldn't stop me from seeing you, m'lady!' He bowed, sweeping his hand out in a grand gesture to take hold of hers and placing a peck on it before he straightened, flashing another smile.

Tae giggled again, the pink in her cheeks more pronounced as she lightly tugged her hand back. 'Okay then… see you. Bye!' She hurried off and Chanyeol could see her flapping her hands wildly as if trying to cool herself down.

'Smooth, Baek,' he commented lightly, curiosity rising inside him. What had he missed? And why the hell hadn't Chen – or even Baekhyun for that matter – updated him about this? The fact that he'd been scouting dates for himself while Chanyeol went through his fever was something he'd address later, right now he needed to know what the hell he was missing out!

'Thanks,' Baekhyun replied, smugness dripping from his tone.

'Ha!' Chen threw a pebble at him, which he avoided by ducking. It hit Chanyeol square on the nose. 'I was the one who made it happen, you wouldn’t have asked her if I hadn't pushed you!'

'Pfff, I can talk to her any time I want.' Baekhyun sniffed, turning away.

'YA!' Chanyeol mock-growled, 'Who is she? When did you two meet? Come on, Baek! Details!!! Cheeen!!!'

The duo snickered ominously, yapping and dropping useless hints which gave nothing away, no matter how Chanyeol pouted and sulked. He'd all but given it up when Baekhyun took pity on him and told him he could come along.

'She's probably bringing her friends over so, it'd be easier if you guys are around as well.'

Chanyeol supposed that made sense, though he wasn't sure if it counted as cheating on the lib- no, Nara, her name was Nara – if it counted as cheating on Nara because she was his mate and everything.

'You're still single, though,' Chen pointed out heartlessly, 'and that's not changing any time soon if you keep going the way you are right now.'

Chanyeol pouted because really, it wasn't his fault.

'How?'

He didn’t know, she just made him lose all brain function – and who knew, maybe his fever would act up again if he went near her – he was simply avoiding the library because he didn't want to set another building on fire.

The smack on his head was unexpected and it hurt.

'Why?' He glared at his friends.

'You're coming with us and that's final!' Baekhyun's tone brooked no argument and Chanyeol sighed, reluctantly giving in.

………………………………

Ken stared at the girl in front him, a quizzical look on his face. 'Come again?'

Tae rolled her eyes, leaning her elbows on the counter more fully. 'Just… can't you arrange for something like this? I mean, it’s the Black Pearl, they're known for their surprise parties!'

Ken was shaking his head before she was done. 'That was when Lily was here, okay?' He glanced around cautiously before leaning close, 'Xiumin's scary. I think he'll skin me alive if I step out of line.'

Tae pouted, eyes widening but Ken looked unaffected. 'Can't do it.'

'It's for Nara…' she began and suppressed a grin when Ken's eyes widened with interest. 'Okay, what's going on?'

Ken, like Tae, was one of Nara's experimental friends – in his case, he was the subject for opposite- platonic relationship and in her more… fanatical research moments, Nara had even considered him for opposite- ual experimentation but thankfully, Tae had stopped her.

And wasn't that a great thing?

Because whether she realized it or not, Nara was definitely interested in Chanyeol and she could hide it behind the pretext of research – or rather, she had no frame of reference to compare her attraction to, no previous romantic experiences to tell her that what she labeled an 'interest in the bass acoustics and its impact on human body' was nothing more than a huge infatuation with how his deep voice made her wet. And who could blame her? Like really?

And this is where Tae, as the best friend – to hell with her titles like same platonic experiment subject, she'd call it as she saw it – with her friend's best interests at heart and an undying determination to see Nara in a successful romantic relationship, came in.

'So… who's the subject this time?' Ken, like her, was well-versed in Nara-speak.

'This guy from our university, Chanyeol…'

Ken, who'd turned around to place something in the cupboard, whirled back around, 'Wait, wait, wait… back up – the Chanyeol? Beagles' right hand man?'

'Oh, you know him?' Tae brightened. Ken was an excellent gossip and she could always fangirl with him.

'Trust Nara to fall for a gangster…' he shook his head despairingly, 'And you're letting her?'

'He's really nice…' Tae defended him.

'Please!' Ken rolled his eyes, 'The guy can apparently crush a man's skull between two fingers and that Baekhyun dude – he beat Rapmon, like literally. I don't know… they sound dangerous.'

'Puh-lease!' Tae rolled her own eyes in response, 'They're practically heroes – they saved us from the fire just a few days ago! Baekhyun literally carried Nara out!'

'You like him, don't you? Baekhyun?' Tae shut up abruptly because Ken's comment landed far too close for comfort.

'Of course not!' She huffed, flipping her hair over her shoulder, 'Not like that – we're trying to help Nara with Chanyeol – who likes her too, by the way.'

'Of course,' Ken nodded with that infuriatingly knowing look on his face. Like he knew something she didn't which was stupid because of course whatever Ken knew, she knew it first.

'So you'll do it?' She asked hopefully.

Ken sighed, 'I'll probably lose my life but okay, I'll figure something out.'

'He can't be that scary…' Tae huffed. She'd hung out at the Black Pearl before, had started frequenting it after one of their wilder parties – Casa de Baek, if she remembered correctly – and she'd interacted with the owners of the prestigious business before. Both Lily and Xiumin were really nice people, individually and as a couple – in fact, Lily seemed more likely to lose her temper than Xiumin. Surely Ken was exaggerating…

There was a loud thump as the door, presumably leading to the apartment upstairs, swung open and temperature seemed to drop in the room, silence spreading through the previously animated room as an ominous figure stepped inside.

Xiumin wasn't that big of a man – in fact, at times, he was positively cute and babyish – but the frowning visage glaring at them at this moment seemed to loom all over them, a distinct aura of coldness surrounding him. His gaze seemed to cut through everything and she stopped herself from flinching, barely, when his eyes landed on her. They flickered behind her and she heard Ken gulp before he put a hand up and waved.

'Hiya boss!' His voice was a little too high-pitched but he continued, 'what can I do for ya?'

Xiumin's glare could've killed him on the spot – without a word, he spun back on his feet and they could hear him stomping back upstairs. It wasn't until the distinct sound of a door banging against its frame sounded that everyone relaxed and the room became warmer, chatter starting up again.

'So… you were saying?' Ken muttered.

'O…kay, just don't get killed!' Tae muttered back, 'I'll figure something out.'

……………………….........

A/N:

this is an interlude of sorts, so this is very tame, I think... anyway, any form of feedback is appreciated, let me know what you guys think, okay? later :3