It was raining outside. Heavy raindrops were mercilessly prattling against the windows, covering the kitchen area in a blanket of white noise. Chanyeol wasn't overly fond of rain but as long as he was sitting inside, surrounded by warm light, blankets and hot tea, the sound was comforting. Next to him, he heard a pen scratch over paper as Yifan took some notes. With none of them being keen on leaving the sanctuary of their dorm, they had cleaned out the large, wooden table and turned it into a temporary study room. Even Zitao hadn't shown himself that day - no doubt unwilling to risk his perfectly styled hair being ruined - which left the rest of dorm three (minus Luhan, who hadn't been back yet) and meant that for once, it was actually quiet. It would be relaxing, even, if not for the complex splatter of numbers he was currently trying to make sense of. He may have a knack for technology and orbs but apparently, those kinds of mathematics didn't translate well to Military Finance.

Throwing a subtle glance towards the others told him that Jongdae was still buried to the nose in his strategy notes while Yifan and Jongin were trying to make sense of a historical timeline. Yixing looked like he was also dealing with something finance-related but his problems were no doubt much more advanced than Chanyeol's. After all, Yixing was one of the best in their year when it came to finance - no doubt a result of him being raised as a noble. Chanyeol bit his lips. Well, as far as he knew, the barony Yixing came from was rather small and humble, so it was probably a matter of Yixing being taught these things by his parents in order to prepare him for the future. Or something. He really didn't know all that much about the actual workings of the nobility and he'd rather be caught dead than asking about them.

The moment he opened his mouth to ask Yixing for help, the door opened rather suddenly. Just like Jongin, Chanyeol jumped. He saw Jongdae flinch, as well, though his eyes remained glued to the pages.

It turned out to be Luhan, looking dripping wet and high strung.

"Sorry for being late," he announced, a little too loud, dropping his bag on the ground next to his chair. It made a soggy sound. Yixing followed it with a look of mild distaste, but didn't say anything.

"Don't you wanna dry off first?" Jongin asked, and Luhan blinked.

"Right. Uh... be right back."

As he turned, he stumbled over his own bag, scattering their contents all over the floor.

"Oh, -" he muttered, and if their study atmosphere had been cracked, it was entirely broken now. In a moment, Chanyeol was on his feet, helping him pick up the documents with Jongin.

"Wow, what's all this?" Jongin inquired as he stacked rather official-looking forms.

"Just some council stuff," Luhan waved him off, taking the papers with a small "Thanks," mumbled under his breath.

"That's more than some," Chanyeol argued, trying not to snoop as he gathered even more papers. "How heavy was that bag?"

"Not any heavier than the academy-issued bayonet they made us practice with a while ago," Luhan shrugged. "It's just some paperwork regarding the Valentine's day event next week."

"Why would you be in charge of that?" Yixing asked. Again, Luhan only shrugged, sending a few stray droplets of water to stain the pages.

"Why not? It's not a big deal."

For once, Yixing didn't simply let it go.

"It might not be, if not for the fact that you're also an active member of the basketball club and the swimming club," he commented, but Luhan only waved him off.

"It's alright, I can handle it."

"It doesn't exactly look that way."

Yixing hadn't sounded accusatory in the slightest, and yet Luhan's voice took on a strained quality.

"Everyone can have a bad day occasionally."

"Don't forget that grades take priority over voluntary tasks," Yixing reminded him, as if he hadn't heard him. "I'm sure no one will think any less of you if you take it easy before the exam-"

"I said," Luhan cut him off, low and tense, "I can handle it. It's just a bad day, okay?"

Chanyeol exchanged a worried glance with Jongin. Sure, they'd heard Luhan get angry before, even at members of their dorm. Never this seriously though.

And Yixing, blissfully ignorant, sighed.

"I'm just worried," he insisted. "We all are-"

"Stop," Luhan cut him off yet again, and now he whirled around to glare at him, "talking for others."

"It's not like we aren't," Jongin threw in, small and careful. Luhan didn't even spare him a glance.

"That's not the point," he insisted. "It's that he always does this. It's not like I would have mentioned it but you really want me to, don't you?"

Yixing only looked confused.

"Mention what?"

"That you kinda think you're above us," Luhan stated firmly.

The room temperature sank at least a couple degrees after that, and Chanyeol cringed.

"Excuse me?" Yixing asked eventually, brows knitted. "Whatever gave you that impression?"

"What would not give me that impression?" Luhan threw right back at him, and now that his anger had found a clear target, there was no stopping him. "You think that because you partake in the chores, you can get away with treating everyone like this?"

"Like what?" Yixing demanded, composure finally cracking as a hue of defensiveness made it into his voice.

"Like you're not part of this dorm," Luhan snapped.

Chanyeol felt Jongdae's eyes burning holes into his skull, and he wanted to do something, but all of this had just come so out of nowhere and was so uncharacteristic that he found himself frozen in place.

The way Yixing looked at him was entirely unreadable. Was he hurt? Angry? It could be anything, really.

"Of course I'm part of this dorm-"

"You treat us like we're your children," Luhan began as he got to his feet, hands balled into fists. "You're watching over us like you're the Instructor. In fact, you talk to the Instructor like you two are on eye-level but if it's us, you're always guiding, always watching from the sidelines. Why do you think you're above us? You're the same age as us, have the same amount of experience, and are a student just like we are. You're no better."

Yixing's posture and expression barely changed, but his voice betrayed him.

"I never said I was," he replied, clearly trying to sound calm, but only ending up sounding passive aggressive.

"You're even doing it right now. Too mature to argue, are we?" Luhan asked. "Sometimes I feel like in a way, you're every bit as prejudiced as Zitao."

He turned and picked up his bag, stuffing the paper inside with little regard to their state before glaring at him one last time.

"Only that Zitao is an insufferable brat who at least says it to our face."

With that, he left the room, leaving behind a silence heavy enough to suffocate a man.

Jongdae looked conflicted, Yifan looked like he'd rather be anywhere else right now, and Chanyeol could sympathize with him. This had clearly ended their study session for good.

Yixing stared at the spot where Luhan had been standing, not really focusing on anything.

"He was probably just on edge," Jongin began, voice still small and gentle. "It was just the stress talking."

"That's nice of you to-" Yixing began, halted, and after a flurry of emotions had flitted over his face, he closed his book.

"Excuse me," he finally murmured, not meeting any of their gazes as he stood up and left with measured steps.

He met their Instructor in the doorway, shooting him a perfectly composed smile.

"Good evening. How did the interviews go?"

Interviews?

Kyungsoo didn't look impressed.

"That's confidential and you know it," he said curtly. Yixing's smile didn't falter, at least not at first glance. He could see his shoulders drop though.

"Of course."

Kyungsoo didn't show any sign of noticing the other's change in demeanour and simply made his way to the kitchen aisle while Yixing closed the door with a soft click.

Chanyeol slumped down, feeling irrationally drained.

What a turn of events.

The division was driven into the highlands, forced to survive on minimal supplies for three months. It is to be noted that the success was in no small part thanks to a twelve-year old civilian who was made acting medic and even temporarily declared Sergeant for his outstanding performance and quick thinking-

"I didn't know you'd touch a book out of your own volition."

Chanyeol's eyes didn't even leave the page.

"Just because I have hobbies other than reading doesn't mean I'm illiterate," he said, only looking up when he’d finished the passage.
Jongdae spent enough time at the library that by now, Chanyeol naturally assumed he'd bump into him most of the time. Back when he'd started at the academy, that had certainly been a reason for him to avoid the library.

"Illiterate," Jongdae echoed, feigning an impressed nod. "Oh, the wonders education does."

"Shut up," Chanyeol snapped, but there was no heat to it. He slipped a piece of paper into the book before closing it and shifting it towards him.

"You should actually give it a read yourself one day."

Jongdae eyed the book cover with suspicion.

"Military records? Why would I wanna study those?"

Chanyeol didn’t bother elaborating beyond a vague shrug, figuring Jongdae would be smart enough to put the pieces together himself. When he didn't say anything else, Jongdae relented and placed it on top of the one he'd been holding already - a familiar book about the science behind orbal weapons. Chanyeol couldn't help humming in approval.

"That's a good one. Pretty obscure though. How did you find it?"

"Yifan recommended it."

"Ah," Chanyeol breathed out and, then, after an awkward pause, "so, have they made up by now?"

Jongdae shook his head, and pulled out one of the empty chairs to take a seat. By now, Chanyeol didn't even question the fact that he left an empty chair between them anymore. It was simply a Jongdae thing to do.

"Didn't exchange a single word this morning. Not like Luhan spends a lot of time at the breakfast table these days."

He didn't sound particularly judgmental or exhausted. There wasn't much of any emotion to be heard or read of his face, but Chanyeol had worked with less.

"He really doesn't. He usually attends practice in the morning," he trailed off, trying to think of the last time Luhan had just crawled out of bed and joined them for breakfast.

"Ever since he picked up swimming, he's been pretty busy," he sighed, resigning himself to just talking out loud until Jongdae felt like taking a conversational bait. "Still, there was no reason to snap at Yixing the way he did. It was completely unwarranted."

"You think so?" Jongdae asked, surprising Chanyeol.

"Well. Obviously? Yixing has never been anything but kind- wait. You're telling me you're on Luhan's side on this?"

Jongdae wasn’t fazed.

"I didn't say that," he replied, completely even and unperturbed. "I’m merely saying that I understand where he's coming from."

"Why?" Chanyeol asked without missing a beat. He wasn't even angry. Just confused.

"He was just worried for Luhan and wanted to help him-"

"Did he, though?" Jongdae cut him off calmly. "As far as I remember he only claimed Luhan to be overworked, and proceeded to remind him that exams take priority over other activities."

"That's," Chanyeol began, realizing that he wasn't quite sure what he wanted to say. Jongdae still shook his head.

"You might think it's ultimately the same, but I wouldn't agree. Offering help is something you would have done, which is why this naturally translates as such to you."

"Still," Chanyeol trailed off, looking around the pleasantly empty library. "I'm sure he would have offered to help, too, if things hadn't escalated like that."

"Maybe," Jongdae said evenly.

"Besides, this felt like it was about more than just this little incident," Chanyeol added. "The stuff he said sounded like he'd been chewing on these feelings for a while now."

Jongdae didn't say anything to that.

"Come on now," Chanyeol whined. "You can't tell me you feel the same as him about Yixing. I've never met a noble as nice as him."

Jongdae shot him a conflicted look, obviously considering whether to answer at all. Eventually, his gaze dropped back down to his books again.

"Being cordial and seeing eye to eye is not the same," he argued. His tone was neutral, holding no judgement still, and Chanyeol couldn't help but feel like Jongdae was treading carefully now. He wasn't sure if he'd ever seen him put in a conscious effort to do so around anyone - except his father, of course. It made him a little uncomfortable.

"After all, you'd be friendly to a child, as well, despite not seeing them as an equal."

"But- I just don't see where you are getting these impressions from," Chanyeol argued helplessly.

"Because he acts like your older brother?" Jongdae asked patiently.

"Well- yes."

"And would he allow you to reverse the roles?"

Chanyeol paused at that. It was an odd question, undoubtedly, but he considered it. Tried to think about the instances in which he and the others had taken on the task of supporting Yixing. But Yixing never needed assistance. Or maybe they hadn't paid enough attention to him.

Chanyeol slumped over the table, coming to rest his head on his arms with a frown.

It felt wrong to blame Yixing for their own shortcomings.

"We're just bad friends, aren't we?" he sighed eventually.

Jongdae shot him a quizzical look.

"I'm not following."

"Well, we never really make an effort to make sure Yixing is doing fine. We just naturally assume he does because it always seems that way."

"That's because he does not want you to think otherwise," Jongdae argued, and it was Chanyeol's turn to look confused.

Jongdae leaned back in his chair, fingers lightly tapping the leather cover of his book.

"Yixing is never putting himself into a position where supporting him would be an option. He very quickly made that clear by taking control of the dorm."

"Taking control," Chanyeol echoed, and Jongdae lightly shook his head.

"I didn't mean it like that. It's..."

He his lips, brows furrowed as he tried to think of a way to word his thoughts.

"It has a lot to do with noble etiquette," he said eventually. "As a noble, you're required to be a leader - at least to everyone with a social rank lower than yours. It's the ideal people want to shape up to be. Yixing is no exception. He may claim to have grown up in a very relaxed household of a lower barony, but that doesn't mean he wasn't raised to be a noble. Quite the opposite."

Chanyeol stared at him dubiously but bit back on a comment. He wanted to hear all of this before judging.

"I'm fairly certain he was always raised with the heirloom in mind," Jongdae added, words starting to flow easier, " which is the responsibility of their barony - and because it is a small barony, many issues are probably handled directly by the Baron himself. Judging by Yixing's general knowledge on these things, I'd guess him to have always been rather involved. He probably grew up surrounded by adults so naturally, he sees himself as one of them. Which also explains why he's been so keen on befriending the Instructor."

Chanyeol thought about it. He had been aware of Yixing’s upbringing - heck, he’d thought about it just a few days ago - but he hadn’t realized how it might affect these things. It did make sense though. In an odd way.

Still...

"But isn't it the same for you?"

Jongdae's gaze dropped down to the table at this, averting Chanyeol's curious eyes.

"It's different with a province of our size. There are a lot more people involved and my studies have not been very hands-on thus far. Besides," Jongdae added, eyes still not meeting his, "If I had wanted to practice my dexterity regarding social games, I would have signed up for the first dorm like everyone else."

Chanyeol hummed, watching Jongdae carefully.

So he really had signed up for the third dorm because he had no interest in playing politics with other kids.

"Either way, I was never planning on putting myself in charge - or anywhere else, really..." he trailed off, looking conflicted.

"...and now you won't get rid of us anymore," Chanyeol finished his sentence, taking pity on him. He succeeded in lifting a bit of the increasingly heavy atmosphere, and Jongdae huffed.

"The only one I even tried to get rid of was you."

"Weren't very successful now, were we?" Chanyeol asked lightly, only to move back to the topic at hand immediately. "I never looked at it that way. I wonder if you're right..."

"Luhan has a keen sense of intuition for social settings," Jongdae only replied. "And his background has a lot of similarities with Yixing's. I'm not surprised he not only noticed, but was angered by it. That being said, I do not think Yixing has any ill intentions behaving the way he does."

The last part came out with perfect certainty, and it felt strangely comforting. Probably because it was an affirmation that Chanyeol had not been wrong in trusting him so unconditionally.

It dimly occurred to him that right now, he was putting the same amount of trust in Jongdae's words.

"For someone who's a walking disaster when it comes to socializing, you're giving quite the analysis here," he quipped, half-jokingly. Jongdae remained perfectly relaxed.

"I merely explained the general workings of etiquette. And if anyone here fits the description of a walking disaster, it would be the person who wore their uniform inside out for an entire day."

Chanyeol felt the tips of his ears grow hot.

"It was a Monday," he grumbled, because in his books, that was an explanation as legit as they came.

"Was it?" Jongdae asked, pretending to think. "Oh, were you referring to the most recent time it happened?"

"You're the worst-"

A stack of books was all but dropped on their table, and Chanyeol flinched so hard, he almost fell out of his chair.

Zitao responded to his glare with an infuriatingly nonchalant, blasé expression, as he gracefully took a seat across him. Clearly, he'd had elegance beaten into him every bit as other nobles, and he just occasionally chose to be loud. Namely when he wanted attention. Which was a lot of the time.

"You do realize a regular ' Hello' also does the job?" Chanyeol grumbled, sitting up straight.

Zitao put on a candid smile.

"Good day to you," he said to Jongdae, before turning back to Chanyeol, the smile already replaced with his trademark scowl. "So, are we starting or not?"

If this was Jongdae, he'd resist the urge to roll his eyes - with Zitao, however, no amount of childish gestures put him at risk of ending up beneath him.

"Next time, I'll definitely pair up with Yifan," he grumbled, reaching for his own folder with project-related notes.

"Well, I'll leave you to it," Jongdae announced as he got to his feet. For a brief moment, his eyes flickered to Zitao, but then returned to Chanyeol.

"Good luck," was all he said, and it was so comically ambiguous that Chanyeol couldn't help staring after him with a frown. It sure had sounded condescending, but not in the usual way, and something about it had just been- weird.

"What was that?" he muttered, more to himself than anything.

"Like this was in any way unusual," Zitao huffed, opening his notes. "Anyway, I gathered everything I found on gunswords in the records and came up with a timeline."

"You know, for someone who used to be painfully eager to kiss Jongdae's feet, you've been quite... dismissive, lately," Chanyeol stated dubiously.

Zitao didn't even look up from where he was rummaging through his exquisite pencil case made of white leather.

"I didn't realize you cared about relationships between different houses."

Chanyeol gave him a long look.

"You're right," he said slowly. "I don't."

"As you shouldn't."

Chanyeol lightly shook his head. He had enough on his mind already, and attempting to decipher Zitao's childish antics would only give him the attention he so clearly craved.

He was better off counting his blessings, though the plural was a bit misplaced here, considering that Zitao only brought one blessing with him - namely that he was working with him, not against him. It still felt like the equivalent of a three-legged run but at least they weren't actively trying to trip each other up anymore.

Chanyeol had quickly realized that Zitao wasn't the smartest guy out there, either - he had no idea why he was even surprised by that - but what he lacked in natural intelligence, he made up for in stubbornness; on one of their first meetings, Chanyeol had made an off-handed comment calling him out on his lack of knowledge on wind-based spells. The next time they met, Zitao had been able to rattle down more wind-based spells than there were in their guidebooks. It was clear that Zitao was mostly motivated by spite and Chanyeol had to begrudgingly respect that. Moreover, his knowledge in swordfighting came in handy; despite being obviously trained to use long swords, Zitao had enough intuition to wield a gunsword with much more ease than he could hope to attain in such a short amount of time. In turn, Chanyeol was a decent enough shooter, making their practical tests easy. It further confirmed that he had made the right choice by choosing this weapon to work with.

All in all, their group work was going well. They were still snapping at each other and Zitao still drove him up the wall on the regular, but at least they would have something to show for it.

Chanyeol steadied his face on his hand, staring down at his notes.

In a way, things were much easier if there were regular open confrontations than if there were none at all. Sure, he sometimes wanted to strangle Zitao (or Jongdae,) but at least he always knew where they were standing. There was no resentment piling up, no thoughts festering into something that's removed from reality. And while Luhan was very much capable of speaking his mind, Yixing was so much... harder to read. Had he ever even gotten angry at anything, really? It always seemed to start and end at disapproval or disappointment-

"You're not working," Zitao stated bluntly.

"I'm thinking."

"About this project?"

Chanyeol followed his gaze that was resting on the array of crosses he had doodled on the border of the page, and gave up.

"Why is every noble such a nag?" he groaned.

"I am not a nag," Zitao protested right away, and Chanyeol gave him a look.

"Just because you're childish doesn't mean you can't also be a nag."

Zitao looked offended, and was probably about to incite another useless argument but halted when Chanyeol slumped over his notes in defeat.

"Luhan and Yixing got into a fight."

Now Zitao looked surprised. Chanyeol couldn't hold it against him - why had he even mentioned that?

"And?" Zitao asked eventually, prompting Chanyeol to roll his eyes. He did that way too often around Zitao.

"And nothing," he said. "Now they're not talking anymore."

Zitao blinked, his fancy pen now uselessly resting on the paper.

"Oh."

"Yeah," Chanyeol trailed off.

"That explains why he was so eager to leave this morning," Zitao commented, receiving a half-hearted glare in response.

"You were at our dorm this morning? Again?"

Zitao looked completely unfazed.

"It's called morning exercises because they ought to be done before breakfast," he stated as if Chanyeol was being silly.

"Why do you even- you know what, never mind," Chanyeol gave in, slightly shaking his head. "Whatever."

It was silent between them after that, and while he felt Zitao's on him, he didn't pay him any heed, still thinking about what Jongdae had said earlier. 

Even if Yixing wasn't innocent in all this, Luhan had been unreasonable as well. They were both at fault and obviously too stubborn to do something about it. Who even knew Yixing was so stubborn when it came to himself? Then again, maybe he really hadn't known him all that well-

"Why are you so concerned about this?"

Chanyeol turned to look at him, still refusing to sit up straight.

"Are you asking why I'm concerned about my friends fighting?"

"It's between them, isn't it?" Zitao asked back, and if he didn’t know any better, he’d call him genuinely puzzled. "Are they demanding you to choose a side?"

"Of course not."

"Then why? It's not like they are mad at you, is it?"

Chanyeol turned enough to be able to properly scrutinize the other. He looked absolutely serious.

"Is it because they ruin the atmosphere?" Zitao asked stubbornly, apparently uncomfortable by the way he was being stared at.

After a long pause, Chanyeol shook his head.

"You actually don't get it, do you?" he asked probingly, surprising himself with how devoid of anger he was.

"Get what?" Zitao demanded, shoulders drawing up ever so slightly.

"That I want my friends to make up because I want them to be happy again? You know. Just because they deserve to be?"

Zitao blinked.

"Isn't that the same thing? You want to see them happy because it's more pleasant that way."

"Actually," Chanyeol trailed off slowly, carefully. "it's... not."

"That makes no sense," Zitao declared firmly, gaze dropping down to his assignment as if their conversation was now officially declared over. It was Chanyeol's time to watch him now, idly observing the way he furrowed his brows while copying something from a book.

He'd never put much thought into it, but now that he did, he couldn't recall seeing Zitao spend time with people outside of his lessons. He was often around people, and Chanyeol hardly paid him attention so he might be completely off but he didn't seem close to anyone.

It then occurred to him that maybe he and Yixing weren't as different as he initially thought.

"Would you say Yixing acts like a noble?"

Again, Zitao looked puzzled to even be addressed again, and while his gaze remained on the paper, the pen stalled in its movement.

"Of course he does. If anything, he acts like more than he is," he grumbled reluctantly.

"Yet you never picked a fight with him after that one time Jongdae hissed at you. That scared of him?"

Zitao huffed, but his expression didn't falter.

"He's simply not given me a reason to, after that."

"I didn't know you needed reasons," Chanyeol deadpanned, but there was no heat to it. "I guess Jongdae was right, then."

"About what?" Zitao asked, cat-like eyes now focusing on him. He sounded almost petulant, ready to disagree with whatever Jongdae might have thought.

Chanyeol only hummed.

"What's so terrible about having friends?" he then asked, more to himself than anything. 

It took on very different forms with Yixing and Zitao - and even Jongdae - but when it came down to it, nobles appeared to be terrible at making friends in general.

"There is nothing wrong with forging alliances," Zitao said immediately. The words didn't sound like his own but he had no trouble reciting them. "They merely have to be chosen carefully and deliberately. It takes time and an unbiased view to pick out the ones who are loyal. You can't just toss your life into the hands of random strangers simply because you're blinded by a gut feeling."

He'd already parted his lips, ready to jab at him for comparing friendships to alliances, but then thought better of it. Friendships were alliances to nobles.

Misinterpreting his silence as judgement, Zitao averted his eyes again, and there was a hint of red dusting his cheeks.

"My mother reminded me of that all the time," he said quietly.

"But it's the same for us."

"Hm?"

"Friendships are risky for commoners as well," Chanyeol stated with calm certainty. "A friend has power over you regardless of their own status, and regardless of yours. It's a risk you just have to take."

For a moment, Zitao looked conflicted. Then he reached for his book.

"Taking too many risks can get you killed," he mumbled before opening it and flipping to one of the notes he'd stuck in between the pages.

"More maternal wisdom?" Chanyeol yawned, finally sitting up straight to stretch out his back. "Sounds like you gave her a lot of trouble."

"None of your business," Zitao snapped, sounding more like a whiny child than anything.

With a chuckle, Chanyeol also reached for his notes.

Alliances ought to be chosen carefully and trusting people too easily can be fatal.

So Zitao had to be constantly reminded of something like this. Somehow, Chanyeol found that it wasn't even that hard to picture it.

"You look frustrated," Yifan commented as they walked back to the dorm. "Did Minseok turn you down?"

Chanyeol groaned.

"That's not it," he replied, and it was the truth. He hadn't told Yifan the details but Minseok had indeed agreed to teaching Chanyeol how to use his Arcus - under the condition that he made sure he and Yixing had the upper floor to himself next Saturday night. Preferably the one below them, too. Chanyeol felt like he was making an immoral deal but he refused to ask for details and promised to do his best.

But no, that wasn't the reason he was moping around on such a sunny morning.

"It feels like everybody's talking about that one noble girl that was caught cheating."

"Oh. I heard that, too," Yifan provided with a frown. "I also heard that happened last year though. I wonder why people found out now."

"Apparently, some commoner confessed to it anonymously."

"Then it might as well be fabricated," Yifan said dismissively.

"Yeah, but then all the other noble kids exposed that it was true 'cause they didn't want to be associated with her anymore,” he rattled down before groaning once more. “I'm just so sick of hearing about this - I'm not entering the engineering club to hear noble gossip..."

"True. Well, people love gossip about nobles."

"They eat it up," Chanyeol agreed.

"At least they weren't incessantly talking about the number of roses they may or may not receive today."

Chanyeol grimaced. Right. The Valentine's Day event Luhan had been helping with. It had been everything people talked about two weeks earlier, when it had been announced that people could anonymously buy roses for their crushes.

"They should be delivered today, right?" Chanyeol asked. "Did you send one?"

Yifan shook his head.

"Nah."

"Me neither."

It wasn't like all roses had to be romantic gestures - he clearly remembered the option of dedicating a red or yellow rose, with the latter being a symbol for friendship. In retrospect, he could have gotten yellow roses but somehow, the entire event had slipped his mind.

"Honestly, I didn't think it was that big of a deal," he admitted, stepping onto the porch and pushing open the door. "There's probably not a lot of people who participated, anyway-"

Whatever else he wanted to say got stuck in his throat when he was hit by the overwhelming scent of roses. And a sea of red and yellow petals.

"Uhm. Okay, then." Chanyeol said out loud, and Yifan shared his blank look.

"Sorry guys," a tired voice called out from the back.

Only now did they see the familiar, honey blonde mop of hair in the corner of the room, followed by a pair of pronounced dark circles, and brown eyes above them.

"I'll be done soon," he assured them with a wave of his hand before tending to the flowers.

Chanyeol and Yifan exchanged a look.

"Done with what?" Yifan asked skeptically as they both approached the table, carefully stepping in between buckets of roses.

"I'm sorting them to make the delivery easier," Luhan trailed off, squinting at the tag on a yellow rose before leaning over the back of the sofa to drop it into another bucket.

"Two questions," Chanyeol began, crossing his arms as Yifan sank into the sofa across Luhan, careful not to topple over any unsuspecting rose.

"One - how many people have told you today that you look like ?"

Luhan half-heartedly glared at him before returning to the roses.

"Why, you wanna add to the count?"

"Just making sure someone did their job already," Chanyeol replied in resignation, before returning to sounding stern. "Second question: did they give you all the roses?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Luhan dismissed him, suppressing a yawn. "Those are just the ones of us first years."

When Chanyeol didn't say anything - a trick he'd learnt from his big sister - Luhan felt compelled to add, "the upper years have way more roses to distribute."

"U-huh," Chanyeol said, not particularly convinced.

Luhan decided to ignore him. For a moment, Chanyeol watched him sort the roses, squinting at the little paper tags as he did.

"I'm almost done, I swear," he muttered to no one in particular.

He didn’t say anything else, if only not to set off his very much overworked friend. What Chanyeol did instead was share a look with Yifan, gesturing for him to stay, before turning to the stairs. 

With determined strides, he walked down the hallway and burst into Jongdae's room without knocking, causing him to almost drop the sabre he'd been holding.

"Put that sword away," Chanyeol demanded, watching shock turn to irritation with lightning speed.

"What now-"

"We're busy now," Chanyeol cut him off. "Get dressed and come downstairs."

"Dressed for what?" he heard Jongdae ask in a mix of confusion and annoyance.

"Not for a fancy ball, that's for sure," Chanyeol remarked, already back in the hallway. He took enough pity to lean into his room one last time.

"Doesn't matter," he said, devoid of any teasing. "Your uniform."

With that, he took the stairs to the second floor, where Jongin's room was located... as well as Yixing's. After a moment of hesitation, he knocked on both doors, telling them to meet him downstairs. He didn't wait for any of them as he returned to the entrance area, where Yifan was currently chatting Luhan up.

"Look, let's talk later, okay?" Luhan was just requesting, sounding regretful. "I really should start on this-"

Before Chanyeol could cut him off, Jongdae did, sounding exasperated as he walked down the stairs, remnants of sweat still resting in his bangs.

"So what's the meaning of-" he began, only to trail off after catching sight of the flowers.

"Wonderful timing," Chanyeol said brightly, nonchalantly taking one of the buckets from Luhan.

"Hey-"

"What club are those for?" Chanyeol asked, casually holding it out of reach as Luhan tried to snatch it back.

"Swimming," he snapped. "Now if you could give that back to me-"

Chanyeol's smile didn't waver.

"Great. Yifan would be perfect for this."

Luhan groaned.

"I know the people of the swimming club-"

"I'm sure you do," Chanyeol hummed, picking up another bucket and inspecting the tag Luhan had stuck to it. "Riding club, huh? Sounds like a job for a noble."

He pushed it into Jongdae's hands, who only blinked in confusion.

"So, where's the one for the engineering folks?" he then asked. Luhan scowled and crossed his arms.

"This isn't funny," he complained, looking like he was battling a headache. "I can do this by myself, Chanyeol."

"I never said you couldn't," Chanyeol replied swiftly, devoid of confrontation. "So, where is it?"

"You're no student council members-"

"Neither were you," Chanyeol stated firmly, "until you decided to help out when you saw the amount of work. Come on now. It'll be faster like this."

"But," Luhan began, grasping for words that refused to come. He sounded tired.

"No buts," Chanyeol cut him off, putting both hands on Luhan's shoulders. "It's no big deal, okay? And if we finish this sooner, we can all grab a bite to eat downtown later."

"You shouldn't drag everyone into this," Luhan sighed, and Chanyeol knew he'd won this one.

"It's not like we were busy, anyway," Jongdae commented, sounding purposefully blank as he picked up another bucket, labeled with 'engineering club'. "Found it."

"You really don't have to," Luhan tried one last time, turning to find Jongin already carrying two buckets and a sunny smile.

"We just have to deliver them, right? Sounds like a great opportunity to put some names to faces."

With a groan, Luhan snatched the nearest bucket.

"Fine. But if you can't find the recipients, just leave them-"

He turned to be faced with none other than Yixing, gaze uncharacteristically lowered as he held out his hand.

For a few seconds, it went silent as the atmosphere shifted.

Despite his straight posture, Yixing seemed smaller than usual, and Chanyeol saw him wet his lips before meeting Luhan's eyes.

"The Fencing club consists of mostly nobles," he said softly. "I know most of them."

For a moment, Chanyeol feared that Luhan would react with anger. After a complex shadow of emotions flitting over his expression, however, he handed over the bucket of roses.

"Let's go together, then."

It sounded less like a suggestion and more like an announcement. Luhan quickly reached for two more buckets and they both left together, not saying another word.

"Do you think they'll be fine?" Jongin asked, looking after them with worry Chanyeol wasn't sharing.

"Yeah, I think so. They'll make up. Otherwise, Luhan wouldn't have left with him at all."

Because Luhan was mature like that.

"I guess you're right," Jongin hummed.

"So we were just pawns in your scheme, weren't we?" Jongdae asked in a deadpan tone, still holding onto the bucket.

"The great Jongdae, admitting to getting played by a commoner? Highly unlikely, if you ask me," Chanyeol quipped, taking one of the left over buckets. "Anyway. Let's go, your highness. Time to play Cupid."

With a thin sigh, Jongdae trailed after him while Jongin took it upon himself to accompany Yifan.

It turned out that sorting the recipients by their clubs had been a smart move since that was exactly where most people were found on a Sunday afternoon. It also turned out that Jongdae had an excellent recollection of every noble's first and last name despite never having spoken to most of them.

"Did you sit down to study this?" Chanyeol asked offhandedly after delivering three red roses to a tiny, intimidating noble girl Chanyeol was half-convinced he'd never even seen before. "Because that's kinda creepy."

"I have outgrown the need to study names and family trees, thanks for asking," Jongdae retorted, but there was no heat to it. If anything, he looked mildly embarrassed. This entire situation clearly made him uncomfortable, resulting in him acting even pricklier than usual. He decided not to push him any further, and changed topics.

"But man, did you see her light up? It's kinda fun to deliver good news."

Jongdae didn't reply to that but Chanyeol didn't let it ruin his mood.

They handed out another bunch of roses to a group of girls next, who were more interested in Jongdae than the roses. Only then did Chanyeol realize that someone of Jongdae's rank handing out roses might come off as weird. Technically, there was nothing dishonourable about being a member of the student council. In reality, however, all the rules seemed to be just slightly different when it came to Jongdae - and his absolute refusal to be sociable surely didn't help his case.

Still, a few shrewd glances aside, most people really did care more about the flowers than the guys delivering them, so Chanyeol wasn't too worried about dragging him around.

They entered the engineering club next. To his surprise, Jongdae fished out a bundle of flowers and approached one of his friends without hesitation.

"These are for you," he said plainly, handing over a few yellow roses with a single red one in between. Mark looked happy and flattered about every single one of them, ignoring the way his friends whistled at him about the red rose.

Chanyeol, however, was impressed for different reasons.

"You even know our club members' names?"

Jongdae remained unperturbed.

"He's around a lot."

At Chanyeol's amused glance, he defensively crossed his arms.

"I told you I'm not studying these things. I merely pay attention."

Instead of admitting to how impressive that was, Chanyeol made a face of faux exasperation.

"Not like you gain anything from it if you don't actually, you know. Talk to them."

"You don't exactly gain anything from being permanently distracted and a danger to yourself, either."

"I didn't think I was included in the group of people to pay attention to."

It was a mindless jab but Jongdae went silent at that. The moment Chanyeol turned to check on him, he used his chance to snatch the bucket from him.

"We'll never finish at this rate," he stated without meeting his eyes, walking off to deliver more flowers. Chanyeol trailed after him, a pout on his lips.

"Hey- I should be the one delivering those-"

"And yet you didn't do it."

"Give them back!"

"They haven't been yours to begin with," Jongdae shot back equanimously.

"They don't belong to you either," Chanyeol replied, but he was biting back on a smile.

And, as Jongdae attempted to hold the bucket out of his reach and Chanyeol pretended to have a hard time retrieving it, he could swear Jongdae was smiling, too. It may be a small, barely there smile, but it felt irrationally warm, anyway. It made for an odd contrast to the expression Zitao wore upon receiving his roses not too long after; and there were quite a few of them, almost a dozen of red, beautiful flowers.

It wasn’t the number of them that caused his reaction though - being the narcissist he was, Zitao was already bragging about simply being this handsome when a single yellow rose caught his eye.

Confused, he plucked it out from the bouquet, in search of the tag.

“Oh,” he then said, sounding no less confused. Chanyeol craned his head to catch a glimpse, with Zitao being too distracted to hiss at him.

Thanks for helping out during the charity event. - Jongin

And, completely uncharacteristically, Zitao went quiet at that. Just like that, all his arrogance and conceit were temporarily exchanged for something that could be dubbed innocent surprise as he carefully turned the yellow rose in his hands. Maybe even wonder.

Chanyeol completed the unlikely reaction trio by smiling to himself at the sight, and Jongdae was considerate enough not to ruin it until after they had left the premises.

"I bet Jongin got us flowers, too."

Chanyeol's eyes widened.

", you're right. And none of us got him one. We're the worst friends."

"It's not like we knew," Jongdae trailed off, but he did sound mildly distressed. For a few moments, they walked towards the school building in silence. Chanyeol stopped in his tracks as a thought hit him.

"No, no, no, there have to be spare roses for such a huge event," he muttered, more to himself than anything. Then he pushed his last bucket into Jongdae's hands.

"I'll go look for Luhan. I’ll be back in five. Meet you in front of the literature club."

Jongdae could have snapped at him for leaving him with this work he clearly hadn't wanted to do, but instead, he only nodded. He didn't try to hold him up, didn't ask questions, didn't doubt him. It was something Chanyeol didn't realize until he returned a while later - definitely later than five minutes - huffing as he rushed up the stairs to find Jongdae waiting in front of the club with a now empty bucket.

Maybe they made for a pretty okay team, after all.

By the time all the flowers were delivered, the sun was already setting and the entirety of dorm three was lounging around the entrance area in various states of exhaustion.

"And to think that you wanted to do this on your own," Chanyeol groaned from where he was sitting on the floor, his back to the sofa.

"Shut up," Luhan moaned. "If you wanna brag, do it when I can actually punch you."

"Not like he's ever not begging to be punched," Jongdae provided, but he sounded tired as well.

"This was really fun," Jongin said from the other end of the sofa, being arguably the most energetic one out of them. "Everyone was so happy when they received their roses."

"I think you checkmated Zitao's brain by sending him one," Chanyeol joked.

"Oh, really? I would have guessed he'd receive a lot of them.”

"Only red ones though," Chanyeol replied, and Luhan huffed from where he was sprawled out over the armrest.

"That's because he's a poser."

"I hope you're not waiting for someone to disagree," Jongdae said flatly, stretching his back a little before sinking back into his plush seat.

"I didn't know nobles were that into the event," Yifan provided, looking about ready to crash for the day. "It feels like they got twice the amount of flowers than the rest did."

"Well, they do hold themselves in a rather elegant manner," Jongin offered, but Chanyeol snorted.

"Please. It's just that they can afford getting roses on a whim. Most of them are probably given for show rather than anything else, anyway."

"You think so?"

"I've seen Byun Baekhyun alone receive a bucket of roses," Luhan deadpanned. "You can't tell me that guy has this many friends. Or admirers."

"He is pretty popular," Yixing only hummed, holding no perceivable judgement. Luhan only half-heartedly swatted at him.

"Most tyrants are."

Yixing chuckled at that.

Chanyeol hadn't really noticed it before but the air between the two had completely cleared up. He was itching to ask them about it, but decided to save it for another time.

"You sent Minseok a rose as well, didn't you?" he asked instead.

Yixing smiled.

"Of course I did."

"Didn't he receive more than one rose though?" Jongdae asked, tone unreadable. Chanyeol shot him a look, but Yixing's smile remained benevolent.

"Of course he did. He's quite popular."

"Aren't you two... a thing? An exclusive thing?" Luhan asked dubiously. Yixing didn't hesitate.

"I would sure say so. We simply haven't been very public about it."

It was true - after their initial first meeting, Chanyeol had hardly ever seen them around each other.

"If he's just toying with you, he's in trouble," Luhan stated firmly, and Chanyeol hummed in agreement. He liked Minseok, and he wouldn't expect him to be a bad person, but if it came down to it, his loyalties were set.

"I don't think that's it," Yixing only said.

"If you say so," Luhan trailed off, only to take a sudden, deceivingly casual turn. "What is he like, then?"

Yixing parted his lips, but didn't answer right away this time.

Chanyeol looked over his shoulder, joining the others in looking at him. Expectantly.

Part of him expected Yixing to brush it off, to say something vague with an enigmatic smile, but another part of him knew that the atmosphere was different now.

When Yixing did speak up, it was in a slow, pensive manner.

"...forward. He's very forward."

As Chanyeol was still doubting his eyes, the red dusting his face seemed to intensify.

"I'm not used to it yet."

"Are you saying he's harassing you?" Yifan asked with a concerned frown, but Yixing only shook his head.

"Not at all. It's- new. Interesting. Flattering."

Chanyeol had never seen Yixing flustered before. It was a curious sight.

Luhan fixed him with a long, probing look, before leaning back against the sofa with a content noise in the back of his throat.

"As long as you're digging it, it's all good. You know where to find us if you need advice. Though I have the lingering suspicion that I'm the only one here with any relationship experience whatsoever."

"I... am. Enjoying it, that is," Yixing admitted, eyes flitting down to the table. He sure was blinking more than usual. "And thank you. I might take you up on that offer."

Chanyeol made a wounded noise.

"You , you know that?" he said, clearly directed at Luhan. "Thanks for all the faith. To your information, I am not a relationship . Or a in general."

"With the way you're acting, you're really not making any point in your favour here, no matter what you say," Luhan said blankly.

"You can't dismiss the point just because you feel like it," Chanyeol began, when the door to their dorm opened, revealing a tall, beautiful girl he recognized as Luhan's project partner.

"Delivery service," she chirped, holding up not one, but two buckets of roses.

To her surprise, she received a collective groan in response.

"No more, please," Luhan actually whined. "We've been handing them out for hours. Please."

For a moment, she looked confused. Then her eyes narrowed.

"They're for you, moron."

"Huh?"

She made an effort to cross her arms despite carrying the buckets.

"Well, for this dorm. You thought we'd make you deliver your own roses?"

Right. Chanyeol had completely forgotten about them, and judging by the other's expressions, he wasn't the only one.

She crossed the room in a few, wide steps, and placed one bucket down. Unlike Luhan, she hadn't sorted and bundled the flowers together, and simply reached for one rose after the other. As expected, Jongin had sent all of them a yellow flower, complete with a handwritten note. Yifan looked troubled upon receiving it, but Chanyeol patted his leg with a reassuring nod.

She then proceeded to hand over an entirety of five yellow roses to Jongin, who was genuinely surprised.

"They're from all of us," Luhan explained with a grin, his exhaustion swept away.

Jongin's smile was bright enough to light up a room.

"Thank you so much! I will treasure them."

"And what do we have next," the girl mumbled, looking over the remaining roses before pushing another yellow one into Yifan's hand, as well as four red roses for Jongin. If he'd looked surprised earlier, he was completely taken off guard now.

"Are you sure those are for me?"

"The fact that you couldn't even picture receiving them somehow only drives home why you got them," Luhan sighed. "How do you do it?"

"Right? It's like he's mocking us," Chanyeol teased, unable to wipe the grin off his face when Jongin turned each flower over in wonder, no doubt looking for a tag. Before they could interrogate him, however, the girl pushed another bundle of red roses into Jongdae's hands, who only reacted with a curt nod, eyeing the flowers with disinterest. Chanyeol wanted to , too, but ended up saying nothing, attributing it to Jongdae’s lukewarm reaction.

"Then there's this one," the girl continued, switching buckets and taking out what had to be twice the amount of red roses Jongdae had received, handing all of them to Yixing, who looked slightly panicked until realizing that every single one of them  was from Minseok. Then the red color returned to his face, crawling up his neck and cheeks and making him slowly rival the roses. 

"I thought you're not allowed to send more than one rose to a person?" Luhan asked dubiously, and the girl shrugged.

"Don't ask me."

"At least you can't claim he's shy," Chanyeol joked, not sure whether he was feeling flustered on Yixing's behalf, or impressed. Maybe a bit of both.

"Alright, and these are for you."

Luhan blinked when he was offered the entirety of the second bucket.

"What?"

"Your roses," she elaborated, rolling her eyes. "Here. Take them. I wanna go home, too, you know?"

Her tone didn't match her harsh words at all. There was something warm to it. Chanyeol could see why, when the disbelief only deepened as Luhan dumbly held on to the bucket filled to the brim with yellow roses and a few red ones sprinkled in.

"Are you pulling my leg now? Because I'm not sure I got it in me to laugh right now."

"Is it that absurd to think you have a lot of friends?" Yixing asked. "You were just teasing Jongin for being oblivious, but look at you now."

He sounded amused, teasing in a way he usually didn't, and Chanyeol was all-too-ready to join in.

"He's right," he proclaimed, sliding a little closer to the table to get a look at the beautiful bouquet. "You're basically in three clubs now and you're always taking the time to help everyone out. Not to mention that you know basically everyone. Of course you're super popular."

"You think so?" Luhan asked, a mix of emotions making his voice shake. Whether he was being proud, flattered, touched, exhausted, or a bit of everything, Chanyeol wasn't sure. There was no time to enough to find out when the girl made a small sound behind him.

"Oh, oops. Forgot one. There you go."

He felt a gentle tap on his shoulder, and then he was looking down at the shiny, thornless stem of a single red rose.

 

Woo, I'm back! ;;
I know you guys told me not to apologize, so I won't! Again, I've written three fics between this chapter and the last. I'll cut it down next time...
Any guesses as to who sent Chanyeol a rose? *haha*

Things are starting to move with purpose, story-wise, but I still have plenty of fun making little twitter polls for this story, as well as post snippets, sneak peeks, or whatever else is on my mind, so if you're interested i that kinda stuff, keep an eye on my twitter account ♡

With that being said, I hope you have a beautiful week. Stay strong and healthy and happy ♡