“You are smitten” Mark blurted out.

The three musketeers were hanging around inside the dorm room. It was the end of a weekend, about one month after the club's admissions. They had a few drinks during the day (the dorm rules did now allow it, but then again, it’d also not allowed the wheelbarrow outside the door that was being used as a flower vase), they watched series together and were now splattered across the room at night, in all sorts of weird positions, feeling tipsy.

Leon had spent the last fifteen minutes complaining about whatever came to mind about Nick.

About how he was so harsh in dance practice (Does he think we’re made of steel?), about his forever unbuttoned uniform (Had he not known what those were for?), about the cat Leon brought to the club and Nick was vehement about not letting it stay (Why couldn’t we just keep it for a little bit?), about the bets and pranks they still had going on with each other (I never said I wasn’t going to push him into the pool and how dare he put baby powder inside my hairdryer in the locker room), amongst others countless protests towards the elder.

The catch was: he seemed to have said all of that while smiling like an idiot. 

“Oh. my. god. You are SO smitten” Mark repeated again as if to affirm it for his disbelief.

“I am not?? Were you not listening to me cursing at him?”

“Yooou liiike hiiim” John poked Leon’s cheeks and wiggled his feet. He’s had a few too many drinks at this point.

“I. do. not!” Leon slapped away his finger.

“Nick and Leon sitting on a tree~” Mark sang in his tone deafness.

“K I S S I N–”

“SHUT UP!” Leon whipped his hands to cover John’s mouth before the last letter. “I already said we did not kiss that day, that was not why I was happy, and my name should at the very least come first”

“That’s not how it played out in my head” Mark’s eyes trailed off, imagination running wild.

“Stop your fanfics right now!” Leon raged.

“Niick said he beliiieved in mee, he saaid my hair was gooorgeous” John made a high pitched mocking voice.

“Is that supposed to be me?! My voice is lower than yours?? Also that’s NOT how I said it!” Leon cried out, feeling more and more helpless by the moment.

Of course John had found it weird when Leon had come back all smiles and confidence to the audition room. He and Mark also made a face at the smile that the long haired boy couldn’t hide at the end of the day. The two of them did not rest until they coaxed the full story out of him.

“C’mon, he’s all you talk about besides dancing” Mark gave his friend a lopsided smile. “At the very least you think he’s hot”

“Absolutely not!!”

“These say otherwise” Mark tucked Leon’s hair behind his bright red ear. John exploded in little giggles.

“That’s it, I’ll shut you up myself.”

Leon got up, picked up John by the armpits (he was shirtless) and threw him on Mark who was on the bed. Then he proceeded to jump on top of both of them, crushing them under his weight. The two shorter ones yelped, asking for help from someone who was not there.

The next thing he did was hold both of them down with his thighs and tickle the hell out of them. The two following minutes were filled with loud laughs, lots of squirming around, begs for truce and betrayal when they held Leon down to get back at him. The usual.

The alcohol and all the moving around made the three boys dizzy and sleepy. They were flopped against each other, legs tangled and arms knotted to be able to fit on a single sized bed. Their eyelids were heaving down and their breaths were getting softer. A little voice lost inside Leon’s head pondered if that was a smart sleep arrangement, but he did not give it any importance.

Leon was in the middle of the other two, being used as a full body pillow from both sides, but feeling comfy. John fell asleep almost instantly as always, but the long haired boy knew his childhood friend was awake, never letting anything slip by entirely.

“You do know” The softest whisper came from him after a while, he didn’t even open his eyes “I’ve known you my whole life right?” it was mumbled from sleep “You can’t hide it from me” a tiny smile formed on his lips. Still not opening his eyes, Mark pulled his face just enough to leave a little peck on Leon’s cheek, before snuggling on his Neck to sleep.

“... I know” The taller boy whispered after what seemed forever to him, glad his friends did not see his whole face turn red.

—

“Are those bicycles, Senpai?” John asked as he and Mark came up to Henry.

“Sadly, yes” Henry replied and fixed the glasses on his nose.

Henry was Nick's best friend. He was also a second year and was actually the representative of the sophomores. They were normally seen together at the uni, but Henry always maintained a distance from Nick’s and Leon's stupid fights so he could say that he didn't see anything if somebody asked. Corruption at its finest.

“Are those ping pong rackets they're holding ON the bikes?” Mark asked, sounding almost bored. John took out his cell to record it.

“Yes, yes they are” Henry let out an audible sigh.

“Are they using it to–:

“To throw limes around, yes, the farther the lime, the more points they get. If they fall off the bike they lose.”

“...Isn't that dangerous?”

“Beats me” Henry shrugged.

“They are a menace” Mark commented, his eyes following one of the lime's tracks.

“Shouldn't we stop them?” John fidgeted. He did not stop recording.

“How? Do you wanna step up to that?” Mark inquired, signaling the bicycles that just passed by them in the blink of an eye.

“We could throw a stick in their wheels” Henry tried.

“I think they'd die”

“We would be doing society a favor” Henry deadpanned.

“Maybe they'd give us medals” Mark followed.

Really, Mark’s and Henry's feelings and reactions towards their friends stupid bets were as moody as the friends themselves. Some days they got so annoyed that they interfered directly, with teeths and nails if needed. Some other days they were overcome with the utmost feeling of acceptance. There were also days where they straight up pretended to not see anything.

This was an acceptance day.

At the very least the two monkeys chose a place that was devoid of people's presence to monkey around: the track field. It was 12 at noon, so everyone who didn’t have a loose screw was either lunching or hiding from the heat of the sun. It’s up to you what to think about the five of them.

It didn’t take long for a lime to get under the wheel of one of the bicycles. The owner of it flew beautifully (not) and rolled around the floor sometimes before a bush stopped him.

Henry observed sheepishly as Nick crawled out of the bush looking like a sad puppy. Leon was laughing out loud at him, still on his bike, balancing a lime on the racket.

Feeling shame for his friend, Henry facepalmed, tilting his glasses. “I swear to god, I don’t know what your friend did to him” He referred to the other boys at his side “He was never very normal, but it was never this bad”.

“Don’t blame Leon, Henry-senpai, your friend it’s not any better” Mark felt defensive for his best friend despite the fact that he wanted to throw a lime at them himself.

“But that’s what I’m trying to say! Nick’s always been crazy, but not this idiotic” Henry gestured dumbly at the scene in front of them. The first-year was waving off  leaves from the older boy’s hair with his racket as the elder cursed at him. “There’s no pretty face in this world that would make him as popular as he is if he was this immature from the beginning!” 

“I think a lot of hardcore fans around the world would disagree with you, but I see your point” John said blankly. He was satisfied with the video he took and proceeded to send it to the group chat.

“Well, neither was Leon, for that matter” Mark buffed. John eyed him, but said nothing. “What was the bet this time?” 

“Whatever” Henry replied.

“You don’t know?”

“It’s whatever” He repeated “Whatever the winner asks for, that was the bet”.

Mark was taken aback, a knowing expression coming up his face as he watched the sly smile forming on his friend’s face from a distance. Now THAT did sound more like the friend he knew.

—

Leon took pleasure in seeing Nick’s nervous expressions every time he spoke to him on the following days. The younger boy had yet to decide how to make use of this free pass to annoy the second-year, but he would giggle internally at Nick’s little startles on their daily interactions. 

The black haired boy constantly wondered what kind of evil humiliation was awaiting for him inside his Kouhai’s mind, so it came as a surprise when it was nothing of the sort that came out of the first-year’s mouth.

“Tutor? You want me to tutor you?” Nick gapped.

“Actually it’s Mark and John who begged me for this.”  Leon smirked.

Truth be said, Leon was actually glad his friends came up with this idea. He didn’t really know what he wanted from the Senpai yet so when the two boys whined about getting Nick’s help for the next week of uni tests, Leon thought it was a decent plan.

Nick had been one of the top three scores ever since his first year, first place being the most recurrent one. That was the reason why the uni mostly left him alone for his shenanigans, he was actually an exemplary student, bringing his class average up every single time.

Lots of people have tried asking Nick for help in studying but he always refused. There were too many people who would ask for that but use it as an excuse to get close to him, too many people who just wanted to find fault in him, too many people willing to fight each other for it and just… too many people in general, when would he rest if everyone just kept bothering him for it? So he refused every single time.

Maybe that fact made Leon like this idea even more.

Maybe it made him feel a teensy tiny bit special.

And maybe he also smiled brightly after Nick reluctantly accepted it.