This type of situation was more common than Nick would like to admit.

Being well known all around the college was something that people always considered to be great. Everyone loves him, everyone wants to talk to him, everyone wants to be him. But life is balanced whether people see or not.

As much as he was loved, he was hated. People were jealous of him, they sneered, lied and gossiped. A playboy, egoistic, self-centered, full of himself and all sorts of stuff. He also stole partners and faked tests of course.

It had been this way his whole life, but people normally kept to themselves, they just talked behind his back and maybe they’d tried to sabotage him. Once or twice he actually had to physically fight someone for stuff like this, but never had people ganged up on him. He didn’t know if it was luck or what, but it seemed to have run out.

Only two of the boys in front of him looked actually strong, but still, there were five people. He cursed inside his head, if there were only three… maybe he could’ve dealt with it. Maybe.

But why were they ganging up on him like this, you may ask. Apparently, Nick had “stolen” their girlfriends and boyfriends. All five of them. It would be hilarious if it wasn’t dreadful. Nick had done no such thing, he had no idea who those people were.

“What do you mean you don’t know what we’re talking about, you asshole!” One of them yelled, one of the bigger ones. Nick did not flinch, he was too pissed for that.

“They are following you around!” Another one barked.

“They said they were going to dedicate their attention to you and broke up with us!” Another one punched a tree that was on his side.

Nick didn’t know if he wanted to throw punches or laugh. Said people were probably part of his fanclub at this exact moment. Why he had a fanclub was beyond him. “I have nothing to do with that” He answered calmly as if the anger wasn’t bubbling inside, he felt so wronged.

“You think you are so great don’t you?! You seduce people and then pretend to not know them!” the fifth one of them spoke up, a vein popping on his arm.

“I didn’t seduce anyone, you jackasses!” Nick snapped. He was so done with this bullshit, if they wanted to fight he would fight, even if he lost. “If you are all so incompetent as a lover for them to have time to fall for me just from existing, is none of my fucking business!!”

“YOU MOTHERFUC–”

As one of the guys was bursting with rage, raising his fist, a figure dropped to the floor, with a very loud THUD, right between the gang and Nick. Baffled, they all took a step back, looking at the perfect superhero landing in front of them.

“Don’t you guys think…” Leon said as he raised up to his feet “... You are a bit old to gang up on someone like this?” He finished, glaring at the five guys with a side eye, not bothering to turn directly to them. They all stayed quiet, not understanding what just happened. The long haired boy patted his clothes as if to dust away the dirt. “What? Never seen someone fall from the sky?” The smirk on his face was chilling to say the least. What kind of person would appear like that?!

“Talk about a cheesy entrance” The voice of his senpai sounded from the other side. “Is your hobby getting in trouble, freshman?”

Nick's whole demeanor had changed. If before he looked nervous and unsure, right now he looked confident and relaxed. An evil smile played on his lips as he looked from his kouhai to the other men, his mind registering unconsciously that: he and Leon were enough for these suckers.

“And who the fuck are you?!” One of the guys finally broke out of his shock.

“I’m his most beloved enemy” Leon answered as he cracked his knuckles “But I’m not a coward, I fight him one on one. Let’s balance this out, shall we?” He finally turned to them, the look on his face being enough to mark some doubt in two of the guys’ heads.

“I do not remember giving that title to you” Nick joked and placed himself at Leon’s side, looking all the more frightening.

“Step away first-year” the boy on the left said, sounding unsure “Our beef is with that playboy, not you”.

“For the last time! I didn’t seduce anyone!” Nick warned, his patience running low.

Leon blinked, he looked from the older boy to the five guys, understanding immediately what the fight was about. As he was thinking how ridiculous this was, he made eye contact with one of the men in front of him, who looked away so fast the boy thought his neck would snap.

Leon’s face grew darker even as he smiled and said “Bullies AND hypocrites, who would have thought?” And when Nick gave him a questioning look he gestured with his chin “That’s the guy who hit on me in the bar”. And he saw recognition on the elders face “I call dibs on him”.

“All yours, beloved enemy”. Nick’s expression was now pure rage.

And then the fight broke out.

The first punch came from the man in front of the other four and what came after was a blur to a watcher's eye. Heads were knocked against each other, fingers were broken, kicks were given, backs were hitted on the tree trunks, punches were evaded, faces and arms were scratched, knees were dropped.

But even as they also got beaten up, Leon and Nick were able to hold their own against the other guys. When Mark and John arrived with security, three of the five guys were already knocked out, the guy Leon called dibs on being one of them.

The guards held down the remaining two of the bunch and the shorter boys pulled their friends away as they were too enraged to stop.

—

Turns out that when a fight like that gets to the faculty's principal ears, no amount of good grades could protect them from getting punished. Mark and John were called as witnesses to explain that they were technically defending themselves, but the two taller one's had beaten the other guys so badly that it didn't matter much. At least they were not expelled like the other five.

The two of them were suspended from club activities for two weeks and assigned to a bunch of tiresome tasks: from cleaning toilets, to helping out in the canteen, to fixing classroom desks. They also got an earful of “...also if I catch you two fighting around between yourselves again, you're expelled, no more overlooking it.”

After all the lecture, they were finally allowed to go to the infirmary to treat their wounds. They quietly went together to the same one instead of splitting up like they usually did.

As they got there, the nurse gave them one look before rolling her eyes and getting up for her coffee break. She left all the things they needed upfront on her desk so the boys took it and walked up to a bed in defeat.

They were silent the whole time. After their anger died down, there was something about getting in a fight together instead of against each other that made them feel… weird.

“... give me your arm” Leon was the one that broke the silence, his voice soft.

They were sitting on the bed, doing their best to tend to their own bruises. The friends who normally helped them, were in class, so it was up to the two of them. After some minutes the younger boy noticed that Nick couldn't see the back of his arm that was bleeding from a wood cut, so he spoke up.

Nick looked up to him. Their eyes met and for a moment, the older boy seemed to be deciding whether to say something, but he ended up just turning to the side so Leon could see the cut.

He was gentle when cleaning and wrapping it up, afraid of making it worse. The other boy winced a bit in the process, but made no sound.

It was only when he turned back and looked over again at Leon that he spoke.

“You are an idiot.”

“... excuse me?!” A vein popped on Leon’s temple.

Nick didn’t answer immediately, instead he grabbed the first-year’s chin and pulled it up closer to his own face. Leon’s heart jumped at that, betraying his annoyed expression. The elder's eyes darted all over him before he breathed out a sigh.

“You're all messed up. Honestly, what were you thinking?” He reached out to some meds and poured an antiseptic on a cotton ball.

“Don't act like you weren't glad” Leon bickered, his heart was pounding hard, but it did now show on his expression.

“That–... that is besides the point” Nick stuttered, pressing the cotton ball on the cut on the younger’s lips.

Leon hissed at the burn, but tried to stay still under the stare of the other one. “I couldn't just leave it be, could I?” He confessed when the cotton was pulled away. “I hate bullies. Five against one was too much even for a gorilla like you”.

“Gorilla, huh?!” Nick smiled with annoyance and pressed the next cotton ball a lot harder on the cut on Leon’s eyebrows. He yelped and cursed. “Did you even see yourself? You knocked their heads together and threw a guy on floor over your head” 

“Details” The first-year waved a hand as if to shoo a fly.

“And so? You hate bullies and decided that you'd like your butt kicked as well?”

“W-well, I…” Leon felt his ears burn. “I mean, the club would be in trouble if I let you get your ass be given to you, you are the main character”.

Nick laughed in complete disbelief at that. “Leon, the play is at the end of the year, I think I'd be fine by then”.

Leon’s face fell. And then he felt his whole being burn with embarrassment at the realization that the second-year was right. Was he stupid? He was going to kill Mark, it was definitely on purpose.

“...please give me a moment to mentally strangle myself” The long haired boy said as he facepalmed, his other hand signaling for Nick to stop.

The elder laughed out loud, scrunching up his nose and holding his stomach. Leon was mortified, wondering to himself why he was so impulsive sometimes. He risked a look to the side to see Nick's expression and his heart squeezed with fondness.

“Well, I would've done the same anyways” He looked away as he said softly.

“Hm?” Nick flicked away a tear on the corner of his eye, but did not stop smiling “Really?”

“Yeah” Leon couldn’t help himself, he looked back, straight into his crush's eyes. It wouldn't hurt him to be honest at least once.

“W..hy?” The black haired boy stammered, distracted by the new expression on his kouhai's face. The younger boy's eyes darted from one eye to another filling up the silence with a tension that made the elder’s heart inexplicably miss a beat.

“You're my Senpai, aren't you?” He whispered, still making eye contact.

He might as well have screamed that.

Nick felt a shiver take over his body that he could not contain and his stomach filled with butterflies. He opened and closed his mouth like a fish, suddenly very aware of how close together their faces were and also very aware of just how red he must be looking. His eyes blinked multiple times, his brain trying to make sense of the storm of feelings that washed over him. But there was just one thing that kept echoing over and over.

Leon had called him Senpai.

Completely overwhelmed by just how happy that made him, Nick broke eye contact and jumped off the bed. He turned his back to Leon, not daring to look over.

“Y-y-you’re such a sap!!” He stuttered, his shoulders trembled with embarrassment.

Leon on the other side, did not miss any of that. He saw every bit of nervousness that he was able to cause and his expression turned smug. Maybe. Just maybe… It was not hopeless after all.

When some time passed and the first-year said nothing, Nick peeked back. Leon was fumbling around with the meds to finish up tending to the wounds. He cursed himself for getting up and sat back down.

“I’ll do it” He said, taking the stuff away from the other’s hands.

“... Okay” The younger boy obeyed.

“Close your eyes, I can’t concentrate with you staring at me” Nick blurted. Leon's eyes widened at that, but then he giggled and closed them, obeying again. The elder didn’t know what to do with himself, he felt restless as he treated the other’s bruises, and he had no idea why.

The silence that extended afterwards was a little different from the ones before. It was filled with shyness and clumsiness as they helped each other with the rest of their wounds. When the younger boy was patching up a particular large scratch on his back Nick spoke up again.

“Leon?” The first-year hummed as a reply. “Thank you.” He whispered.

In another fit of embarrassment, Leon slapped the scratch as he finished it, making the elder scream and curse.

“You’re welcome.”