#njamil21

Chandra bopped the top of his head, ignoring his yelp as they sighed. That little direbeast was going to get the both of them in trouble one day. Well, more than usual.

“Well, obviously we didn’t come out here to waste time but even if we don’t compete, I do hope someone is able to keep their promises on our reward,” said Vil, shooting the other housewarden a look. 

Leona huffed.

“We’re not dropping out and we definitely aren’t throwing Grim out there, not that he qualifies anyways.” He rolled his eyes. “And relax, Your Majesty, I ain’t one to quit so easily so straighten your eyeliner because we’re gonna win and you’ll get your spa day.”

“Hmph.”

Despite his reassurance though, Leona still looked incredibly frustrated; he had to come up with a backup plan or his hard work to get out of doing extra work would be down the drain.

Kalim’s presence was a pleasant surprise, but the young prince wasn’t exactly fighting material either. Especially not in a hands-on tournament like this one. Plus they’d all have to listen to Jamil’s complaints if his housewarden even stepped foot in the arena.

Still, it was better than nothing, and Chandra could see Leona weighing the pros and cons of enlisting the Scarbia sophomore. 

“Huh, Chandra, guys, what are you doing here?”

The group of students turned around at the familiar voice, one Chandra recognized almost immediately.

“Well, if it isn’t Deuce Spade,” exclaimed Lilia, eyebrows raised even as he smiled at the underclassman. “What a lovely class reunion this is turning out to be.”

“Wow, I didn’t expect to run into so many of my friends here,” remarked Kalim, beaming. “Jamil is going to be so disappointed he missed you!”

“Deuce, what are you doing here?” Chandra asked, shocked. They understood Leona got special permission to bring them all here, and Kalim was an exception to many things, but no ordinary student should have been here. 

The Heartslabyul student chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck.

“My mom surprised me with tickets to the tournament,” he explained. “She said she got lucky, and the headmaster surprisingly said it was fine. I wasn’t gonna question it! But nevermind that, I didn’t expect to see any of my classmates here either!”

Chandra could have sworn they told Deuce and Ace where they were going before they left, but maybe it slipped their minds. 

Grim, always a talker, was happy to give a rundown of why they were all gathered here, and again, Chandra could practically hear the gears turning in the second prince’s head.

“You wanna up your experience?” Leona asked, smirking. The others exchanged looks, Vil humming. “How about instead of just watching a bunch of guys throw around in the ring, you get in there yourself?”

“Huh?”

And so, that was how Deuce ended up training hard with Vil and Lilia, guided by Leona’s coaching, to compete in the tournament he had been lucky enough to attend. Kalim almost seemed disappointed, but the chief chamberlain seemed relieved that a royal guest was not roped into Leona’s schemes.

“Phew, this is definitely more work than our usual gym class,” remarked Deuce, wiping sweat from his brow as he rotated out with Lilia. Approaching the sidelines, he happily took a bottle of juice from Chandra. “I’m glad you’re here to watch me though! It’s like we’re on vacation together.”

Chandra would blame the heat in their cheeks on the climate.

“I’m glad it worked out,” they said simply. “I’ll be cheering you on. And…those clothes suit you really well.”

Really, really well.

Leona had been generous enough to give them all proper clothes for the tournament, pulling together a last minute outfit for Deuce as well. Chandra had just been admiring how nice the others looked when Deuce arrived, and well…

Let’s just say Chandra might have short-circuited a bit seeing their classmate so surprisingly toned. Like, they knew Deuce was fit and strong but it was another thing to actually see the proof of it.

Deuce grinned.

“Thanks, you look pretty good yourself,” he remarked, briefly looking them up and down. They did everything they could to not blush harder. “Definitely keeps you cooler than our uniform, right?”

“Right,” echoed Chandra, taking the half empty bottle back from him. They nearly crushed the bottle in their hands when Deuce stretched one arm over the other, giving them a better view of his toned muscles. God, how was he hiding that beneath their uniforms? “You, uh, feeling okay? Being thrown into the tournament so suddenly I mean.”

Deuce shrugged.

“It was random, sure, but it sounds fun,” he said honestly. “And it’s a one-in-a-lifetime experience too - plus I get to help out my fellow classmates and upperclassmen! What kind of person would I be if I said no? Nevermind the fact I couldn’t look Jack in the eyes if I turned it down. He already feels bad being sick, I bet.”

A light, playful smile formed on his face, reminding Chandra of their ginger-haired friend back at the school.

“Besides, on top of all of that, Ace is gonna be so bummed he missed out on spending the weekend with us! Good thing we got him a couple of souvenirs.”

Chandra chuckled, already picturing Ace’s pout at being left out. He’d definitely try to be nonchalant about it, but they could see him already shrugging it off until Grim poked fun or bragged about a victory he did not take part in.

“Deuce, that’s enough rest,” called Leona from the practice arena. “Come here and spar with Lilia.”

“Coming,” replied Deuce, loud enough for the others to hear. He took back the bottle of juice and chugged the rest of it down, and Chandra shamelessly watched the movements of his neck as he did. “Ah, that really hits the spot. Thanks, Chandra!”

He crushed the bottle in his hands, giving it back to them to toss out, then jogged over to continue practicing.

Chandra, meanwhile, fiddled with the bottle in their hands as they watched the boys tussle. They tried not to be obvious about focusing on one boy in particular, but how could they not stare at his determined gaze and defined muscles, gleaming with sweat under the hot sun?

Grim, who had been surprisingly quiet, yawned as he stretched out his limbs.

“Nyaaaa, I should be out there too! No one would be able to last more than a second if they were facing me!” He plopped down on Chandra’s lap, ignoring their slight grunt; he wasn’t exactly a little kitten. “Isn’t that right, henchhuman?”

Chandra chuckled, scratching the spot under the beastie’s chin.

“Of course, Grim, who could beat you?”

.

The tournament was turning out almost just like Chandra had predicted.

It wasn’t as if they were hoping for their classmates’ downfall or anything, but they had noticed a recurring pattern when it came to these kinds of things - and that was the fact that the students of Night Raven College were pretty unlucky in competitions. One would think they were just destined for hard times.

Lilia got too carried away and, despite having good intentions, ended up using magic to rescue his opponent from crashing into the stands. Frustrating considering he would have won if not.

Vil got injured but managed to play it off enough to throw his opponent off and claim victory. To the model’s frustration though, the injury weakened him enough to remove the chance of him entering the next round.

Deuce was strong and fit, and nothing if not determined, especially if he had others relying on him. He would be a strong opponent for any of the other competitors - the normal ones at least. Unfortunately, luck hadn’t been on his side and the other team pulled out their backup - a rather burly, jacked up athlete who was second to none in strength. Probably would have given even Jack a hard time, nevermind Deuce. He was lucky enough to keep on dodging, nearly sliding across the floor a few times, but rolled just a bit too far out of bounds.

But Leona was no loser - and he looked like he’d rather babysit his nephew and smile sweetly (Chandra shuddered at the image) rather than see Neji’s smug look at his loss.

They scrunched up their nose at the housewarden’s claim of their name, and just did their job of passing out water to their classmates. Vil, Deuce, and Lilia all looked disappointed at themselves, clearly hoping for a clear victory. Alas, despite their hard work, they simply didn’t have the same amount of preparation as these other guys.

“Not that I doubt Leona, but I really hope he wins,” said Deuce, rolling back his shoulders. “I would hate for all our hard work the last few days to go to waste.”

“Oh, I assure you, that will be the least of our problems if we lose,” remarked Vil, massaging his injured leg. “He’ll huff and puff, and make sure we all go down with him.”

“Luckily, Leona is the type to show off and remind us of his strength every now and then,” said Lila, chuckling as they watched the second prince claim victory. 

The NRC students cheered as ‘Chandra’ was declared the winner, and the real Chandra barely had time to join in before they felt themselves being swept off their feet. 

Their eyes grew wide as they realized Deuce, in his excitement, had thrown them on top of his shoulder, cheering with the rest of the crowd. Their face flushed scarlet, immediately grabbing hold of the back of his shirt for leverage as his movements jostled them, essentially bouncing them on his shoulder.

“Wha - Deuce,” they shrieked, not paying attention to the crowd at all. In fact, their eyes were glued on their good close friend’s hand on their thigh, keeping them supported. The knowledge that they apparently weighed little to nothing to Deuce was also burning in the back of their mind. 

“We won, Chandra, isn’t that great?” Deuce exclaimed, doing a bit of a spin in place. “Oh, man, I’m so glad I came here!”

Another shriek passed their lips, their grip on his shirt tightening as their other hand grabbed onto his arm - the one that was holding onto them in the first place. To their mortification, they could see Lilia and Vil smirking at the two of them, and more likely, Chandra’s reaction. Fantastic.

“Congrats on winning, Chandra,” said Lilia. He meant it as teasing Leona, who had made his way back over, but from the gleam in his eyes, he was surely teasing their non-magical classmate as well. “Nice work out there.”

“Hm. Can’t help but notice you stole the spotlight from me.” Vil, ever prideful, could hardly say congratulations to his - whatever. “Hardly seems fair.”

“Couldn’t pass up a chance to put you herbivores in your place, could I?” Leona shot back, that lazy arrogant smirk on his lips. 

It would be annoying if Chandra was paying any attention to their conversation. Then his eyes darted over to them, and their heart plummeted at the amused look on his face. 

“I see the newcomer there already got his victory prize,” drawled Leona, and they wished the ground would swallow them up at that very moment. “Was wondering how we were all gonna fit in the car back, but Deuce here found a solution.”

“Huh?” Deuce tilted his head in confusion, and then glanced up at the classmate they had perched on his shoulder. His eyes went wide and a deep flush reached down to his neck, which in turn made Chandra blush even harder. “O-Oh! Sorry, Chandra, I didn’t even notice - I got carried away, I guess.”

Awkwardly - but carefully - Deuce lowered them to the ground, though Chandra couldn’t help but inhale sharply when his arm wrapped around their middle as leverage. The clothing Leona had provided for them was thinner than their uniform and they could practically feel Deuce’s hand searing into their skin through the clothes.

“It’s fine,” they said, avoiding eye contact. They were all too aware of the others’ knowing looks; the only ones who seemed oblivious were Jack and Grim, who merely watched curiously. 

“Well, don’t laze around,” said Leona, earning a scoff from the blonde housewarden. “Get in the car so we can get the hell out of here already.”

Chandra barely had time to process what was happening before they realized that in everyone’s efforts to cram into the car, they found themself seated (rather comfortably) in Deuce’s lap. (Grim was seated with Lilia up front, insisting on getting the full view.)

“Sorry about this, Chandra,” murmured Deuce, his arm draped over their lap in place of a proper seatbelt. To his credit, his cheeks were also colored pink, more aware of their positions than before.

Chandra had no idea if they managed to say something in response - and if they did, it definitely wasn’t anything intelligent - as they were too focused on the way Deuce’s firm muscles pressed against them any time the car ran over a bump or rock in the road, which was quite frequently. 

They could feel his breathing, warm on the back of their nick, and hear the way his breath hitched every time they went over a bump and Chandra bounced in his lap. They would murmur an apology, and they weren’t sure if it was better or worse they weren’t alone in the backseat, Vil doing a fantastic job of pretending not to notice.