That was John. John came out of god knows where and appeared right by their side. It almost gave Leon and Mark a heart attack, they thought they were alone in the bathroom.

“... exactly what he said” Mark breathed out, pointing with his thumb to John.

Leon just looked at them dumbfounded and stuttered “What, are, you..?”

“You are a disgrace, that is what I’m saying” Mark threw his hands up “You are tall, you have a perfect body!”

“You have cat eyes, and a beauty mark right under your eye” John counted on his fingers.

“You’re good at sports” Mark barked.

“You are smart, aren’t you in first place for all the disciplines in our whole year?” John pondered.

“Even your goddamn long hair that has a life of its own looks handsome on you!” Mark yelled. He huffed a few breathes, followed by a minute of silence while the words sank.

Leon opened and closed his mouth like a fish not believing what he just heard.

“Really, you are everything you keep complaining about as “Nick being perfect”, minus the extroversion” John gave the final blow.

“S-shut up! Oh my god!” Leon squeaked, putting his hands in front of his face. He really was not good with compliments. Or being flirted with for that matter. “Aren’t you embarrassed of saying those things?”

“Yes” Said Mark.

“No” Said John at the same time. They looked at each other and cracked a laugh.

“You two are unbelievable” Leon snorted.

“And you are a pit of anxiety” Mark bit back “Now go back there and make use of that whole package, will you?”

“I don’t think he’ll be there anymore, it’s been like fifteen minutes” Leon murmured.

“Then go to the bar and drink a shot, as your punishment.”

—

As expected, the guy who was talking to him was nowhere to be seen. He let out a relieved sigh and walked up to the barman to own up to his imposed punishment. He sat down on the tall stool and asked for a shot that he received and gulped down immediately, not wanting to think about it too much.

He put down his cup and was about to leave when the barman placed a tall blue drink in front of him. It took him some time to realize it was his. He felt troubled, he had not asked for that drink, but he didn’t want to say it out loud, scared of embarrassing the barman. The guy on the other hand saw his conflicted expression and chuckled.

“It was ordered for you” He said.

“For me? By whom?” Leon asked curiously. The man just pointed to a place behind his head. Leon turned around and saw Nick walking up to him. “You ordered this for me?” Leon asked, each word filled with distrust.

“Geez, you welcome” Nick ironized, and sat on the stool by his side maintaining a decent distance between them.

“Is this spiked?” Leon held up his drink looking at it suspiciously.

“Rude!” Nick exasperated, but Leon kept analyzing the drink and angered the older boy “If you don’t want it, I’ll drink it myself!” He tried snatching the drink away. 

Leon was faster though, pulling the drink away, making Nick’s hands grab the air. The black haired boy lost his balance for a second, catching himself before stumbling on Leon.

“That’s called stealing” Leon glared at Nick who snorted as an answer “Fine, I’ll drink it” And he took the tiniest sip of it, his cat eyes went wide with surprise. It was sweet, the alcohol almost not noticeable. But that only made Leon more suspicious of it all. “Why did you order me this?”

Nick stayed silent for a second, staring ahead not wanting to look at the younger’s face “... a peace offering” He blurted.

“A what?” Leon was dumbfounded.

“Just for tonight” Nick completed, giving him a side eye, knowing Leon had heard. “We can’t fight in here, so I’m bribing you”.

“How is this a bribe if I’m the one paying for it?” Leon asked flatly, not having energy left to actually fight anyways. 

Nick stopped for a second, thinking hard about something and then sighing heavily.

“The tab will be on me” He said simply, as if that wasn’t the most absurd thing Leon heard the whole night.

The younger boy spluttered in shock before being able to pull himself together. “But I lost the bet?” He wondered why that came out as a question.

“Two things” Nick held up two fingers right in front of Leon’s face. Leon had not noticed when it happened, but the two of them were facing each other right now. “One: you didn’t actually lose, the result wasn’t fair” He flicked Leon’s forehead and Leon cried out a curse. “Two: There’s no way I’d make a freshman actually pay for the whole first and second years, what the hell do you take me for?” He finished angrily.

“You told everyone to come because I would be the one paying!” Leon bit back.

“I was gonna pay 80% of it behind your back and ask my friend here” He pointed to the barman “to fool you into thinking nobody drank that much” he said flatly. Leon was beyond himself with confusion.

“Oh my gawd” Leon pulled at his face, propping his elbows at the countertop. “I thought I’d have to live here washing the dishes!” Nick barked an unexpected laugh at that “I thought I’d have to sell my body to pay for this”

“As if anyone would buy” Nick said, rolling his eyes despite the little laugh that escaped him.

“People would!” Leon answered as if that was a very flattering discussion.

“Sure” Nick was full of sarcasm.

“Well, I think at least one person would” Leon scrunched up his nose, remembering the guy from earlier. Nick also seemed to remember that.

“Who was that boy anyway?” He asked, taking a sip from a drink that came from nowhere for all Leon cared.

“If you, as the attention whore that you are, don’t know, I sure as hell don’t as well” Leon answered, and took a decent gulp of his drink. It was very sweet. He liked it.

“ATTENT–?!” Nick spluttered, the faintest tint of red on his cheeks “Who was the one getting all giddy from attention earlier today huh, Tarzan?”

That damned Nick. Making up every single stupid nickname he could, at every opportunity ever. It pissed off Leon beyond explanation.

“I was not!” He really wasn’t. “At least I’m not a dog like you, wagging my tail at everyone who passes!” He hissed.

“What did you say?!” Nick stood up, his temper flashing.

But before any of them could say or do anything else, a girl appeared, taking a hold of Nick’s arm.

“You never came back” She pouted.

“I- I–” Nick stuttered. Leon snorted, his eyes growing cold.

“You told me to wait, I was waiting” She whined.

“I-I’m sorry, I… Will go back now?” Nick said, defeat looming over him somehow.

“Yay” She cheered, giving Nick a peck right on the lips and pulling him away.

Leon did not see the surprise in Nick's expression. As a matter of fact, Nick had not promised the girl anything, he had told the whole group he was chatting with to wait a bit. Nick had not really intended to kiss anyone that night. But Leon didn’t know any of that. Nor did the girl, who ended up kissing him a lot, because the damage was already done.

Leon took another sip of his drink. It tasted kinda bitter.