Disclaimer: If I owned Dragon Knights, I'd be slapped silly for my irregular updating of the series. Good thing I don't.

Warnings: Swearing, mentions of sex, mentions of a lack thereof.

:n:

Cesia was fuming.

"She just came back here. From what I can tell, she wrote a paper, accidentally set the television into Spanish, and then went to bed. Nothing. Nothing!"

Rune sighed into the receiver, cradling the phone between his shoulder and ear as he finished buttoning up his shirt, the white material almost glowing against the messy room.

"Thats' reaction doesn't seem to have been much better." He looked across the cramped dorm to where his friend's figure was hidden under a thick gray blanket and assorted bits of Rath's laundry. "Perhaps we should give it up."

"Not yet," Cesia frowned, looking up at the cheap purple clock nailed next to their main door. "Tintlett and I were talking last night after we got back, and we think we have it figured out."

'Talking' was stretching the definition some. They had finally returned at one in the morning and neither had been pleased to discover they had apparently been long beaten by Kitchel's solo return. Some complaints later and they had decided (rather more willingly than they would have otherwise been) to give it another shot.

Rune winced, partially in expectation of the next phase of the makeshift plan and partially in sympathy as Rath stumbled blearily out of the bathroom and collapsed back onto his mattress in a fit of coughing.

"How so?"

"We need to get them to think that by at least pretending to hook up, they'll be spiting us. Obviously they're not keen on the idea because they're being pushed into it and are just doing it as a favor. If we get them to think we've reversed the tables, they might actually have a shot at hitting it off."

"That makes sense," Rune agreed, settling down onto the worn sofa. "But how are we going to do that?"

"We don't know yet," Cesia admitted, pacing across the empty room. "Tintlett had a couple half-thought out ideas, but she wanted to sleep on it, and she's not here at the moment."

"What sort of," his eyes widened as a yawn and creak of bedsprings alerted him to Thats' conscious presence, "...things was she going to cook for dinner?" Rune's voice rose noticeably both in volume and pitch, a guilty waver forming at the edges of the words.

Thats, however, didn't notice, a sign Rune took to be lucky.

"What time is it?" He asked instead, scratching the back of his head and shaking a spare sock from his arm. "And why's all of Rath's shit on my bed?"

"Laundry." Rune stated. "There was already stuff on the couch."

Thats shrugged, accepting the explanation with a second yawn. "So what time is it?"

"Almost ten," Rune turned impatiently to his roommate, "Look, Thats, I'm on the phone..."

"Wait a minute, Rune, this is good," Cesia exclaimed. "We can use this to our advantage. Now that he's listening in, just make sure you get him to think we don't want him to date Kitchel in the first place. Play to his pride, or something."

"But why do we want him to..." he caught himself, reddening nervously. "W-want him to bring the salad!"

Thats glanced at him, one eyebrow cocked, but Rune studiously avoided his gaze, watching the rough wooden counter separating him from his brown haired roommate and their crude kitchen.

It took Cesia a moment to realize why the other was speaking so strangely, during which time the metallic tap of a key in the lock of her dorm room was audible.

She turned to the door, informing Rune through a bravely muffled giggle that Tintlett was back.

"And Kitch..." Cesia changed her wording without losing a beat (although, she later confided to Tintlett, several years off her life) as her other, less expected, roommate walked in, "--en work will be good for him."

Rune blinked, almost turning his head to stare at the phone.

"...Excuse me?"

"Kitchen work," Cesia explained, a bit more impatiently, as the 'work' was waiting cheerfully for her to get off the phone. "Hello, Kitchel," she added for his benefit.

"Oh," Rune nodded as the code became suddenly clear, "yes, it would be. But how do I get him to see that?"

"I don't know. But I'll tell Tintlett you wanted to speak with her when she gets back."

Rune laughed dryly. "Thank you." He still wasn't certain how a simple phone call to ask what time his girlfriend wanted to meet evolved into a complex strategic conference.

"Who's that?" Thats asked, pouring a glass of milk. He was relived to see they actually had a carton that wasn't due to expire within the next five minutes or already hardening into a glue-like substance.

"Cesia," Rune explained, watching as his friend rolled his eyes through a long drink.

"Great. Calling to set me up for another evening from hell? Rune, I told you, I've got enough to do. Besides, I can find a girlfriend on my own—"

"No, that wasn't it!" Rune cut him off quickly, forcing himself not to shrink back as Thats eyed him suspiciously. "Actually, we were just saying that maybe we were out of line in making you go through with it."

"Really?" His voice was still untrusting, cautious. If it could take corporal form, it would be a small creature edged into what it couldn't prove to be a trap but that smelled all too strongly of blood and human sweat. His eyebrows raised in disbelief.

"Really." Rune smiled, managing barely to pull off a disarming one, although with much less ease than either of his two roommates. "Well, I originally called for Tintlett, but as she's out at the moment, Cesia and I started talking."

On the other end of the line, Cesia took the opportunity to ease Kitchel into a less excited state.

"I'm on hold," she said, leaving the phone by her ear. "So what did you want to tell me?"

Kitchel grinned smugly. "I got a job."

"Really? Where?"

"Remember where you had us meet last night?" She made a quick distasteful face as if the memory still burned her tongue, "well, I got hired there. The pay's not the best, but it's better than most and I get a discount on food and drink."

"That's great," Cesia said, meaning the words even as she kept a close ear on the faint conversation drifting through the receiver. "When do you start?"

"Later tonight," Kitchel laughed, "so if you want to have Rath over, that's a good time. For once."

"Actually, I was going to go over there in a few minutes," she said, nodding to where her bag already hung around the arm of the worn sofa. "Rath's sick and he can be such a baby…"

"He's asleep again, so you don't have to hurry," Rune added quickly into the phone, startling Cesia on the other line.

"Wait, why is he asleep?" Thats asked, noticing for the first time that Rath was still in the room. "I thought he was with Cesia."

Rune shrugged, glancing briefly at the one occupied bed. "He got sick last night."

This dual conversation was beginning to confuse him.

"…Oh." Thats shook off his momentary guilt over trapping the others into a wild goose chase until, as far as he had been able to tell, the early hours of the morning and changed the subject back to the previous one. "So you were saying?"

Rune nodded, quickly picking up his train of thought. "After all, it's not like she's a good match for you. I mean… she's…"

"Outgoing." Cesia suggested, turning away from Kitchel to pace across the floor again. "Buoyant."

"Outgoing, buoyant," Rune repeated, grateful for the help.

Thats rolled his eyes, crossing his arms defensively. "Stubborn. Tactless."

"Self-reliant…" Cesia floundered for another adjective.

"What are you doing?" Kitchel asked, blankly confused.

"Rune's writing a poem about Tintlett," Cesia quickly lied, mentally gritting her teeth at how common this practice was becoming. "And he needs words that describe her."

"Oh, I see. Does he have beautiful yet?"

She was close enough to the other that her voice clearly carried down the line and Rune continued without thinking.

"Beautiful."

"Hey!" Thats glared, momentarily flustered. "Are you saying I can't get a hot date?"

Cesia snickered as Rune, equally confused, tried to defend himself.

"Oh, he's got it now. Thanks. Good job," she added to Rune.

"I'm not saying that," Rune cried, ignoring Cesia and backtracking desperately, "j-just that… uh… she's more popular than you and now that we look back on it, we really can't see how you two would get along in the first place!"

"Hey!" Thats bristled again, starting to burn red.

Leaving them to their argument, Cesia put the phone down on the rough wooden counter, turning to face her friend. "Tintlett should be back any time now. Are you going to be here?" When Kitchel nodded, she continued. "Good. When she gets here, let her in. I still have her key. I'm going to the boys' now," she snatched up her bag, speaking into the phone above the now sullen silence on the other end.

"How's it going, Rune?"

He winced, rubbing his temples as their front door slammed, a dull muttering receding down the hallway.

"One down, one to go."

:n:

Tintlett shook her head, light blonde hair bouncing in its soft ponytail behind her as she stepped out of the elevator.

Beginning to undo the buttons of her light pink jacket, she glanced at the small phone held to her ear, biting her lip nervously in response to the words it carried.

"I hear what you're saying, but how am I supposed to do that?"

"I don't know." A quarter mile away Cesia sighed into the dirty white receiver of the landline between Rath's bed and the quasi-kitchen. "Rune managed to convince Thats by making him believe we didn't think he'd be able to get a proper date with her on his own. Why don't you try something similar? She's got pride, too."

"About winning or getting what she wants," Tintlett pointed out, blue eyes worried. "But I don't think this is what she wants and I'm not good at manipulating people."

"You do it to Rune all the time!"

Tintlett blushed, her hand jerking back from rapping on the whitewashed door. "I—I do not!"

A clearly skeptical silence greeted her words and she knocked, speaking as she did so.

"Well, not on purpose."

"Sure." Cesia snatched up a stool and sat down on it, switching the phone to her other ear. It was cordless and she didn't have to be staying so near to its cradle, but where else was there to go? Rune was studying on the couch and had hinted that he would like it if he weren't disturbed. The kitchen was still messy with the remnants of the previous night's three o'clock dinner and this morning's brunch. She didn't want to move closer to Rath because he had just fallen asleep again after Thats' noisy exit woke him up and she was rather enjoying her small sliver of peace. Cesia rolled her eyes, privately glad for the break of playing nursemaid.

The only place left to sit was in the midst of it all, unless she camped out in the bathroom.

"Ahh," Rune exhaled loudly, dropping his fist onto the table in frustration over the sheets of paper before him. "Damn it!"

The noise was sufficient to wake the lightly sleeping Rath who rolled over in a jumble of insults and coughing.

Cesia flinched.

The bathroom was beginning to look more appealing.

"What happened?" Tintlett asked as the general chaos grew in volume and filtered down her line. She gave a brief smile and nod to Kitchel as the other girl held open the door and walked in, settling herself down on the edge of her bed.

As Cesia explained, Kitchel picked the television remote up once more, futilely continuing her attempts to change the language back to one they could all understand.

"This would be easier if the options menu wasn't in Spanish as well," she sighed, almost as amused as she was irritated. "Hey," she turned her attention from the rapidly speaking screen to Tintlett, "are you and Rune going to be doing anything tonight?"

Tintlett shook her head, still distracted by Cesia's voice.

"Really? Man, the one time I'm not planning on being here, neither you nor Cesia has a hot date arranged."

"What about two weeks ago when you went to that party?" Tintlett asked, the occasion standing out vividly in her mind.

"Oh," Kitchel scoffed, "that doesn't count. You four were there, too. For some of it, at least." She laughed behind her hand and Tintlett was forced to giggle as well. "I can't believe you still won't tell me how you ended up on the warehouse... Not that I really need the whole scenario spelled out for me."

"I'd prefer to keep some dignity," Tintlett smiled, holding back a blush and second laugh as she flipped her cell shut. "But that reminds me, Kitchel. You two certainly pulled your own vanishing act last night."

She rolled her eyes, arms crossing over her chest. "We were bored and figured that since we had to spend time together, we might as well do something almost fun."

Tintlett pulled her legs up beneath her, the tight denim of her jeans standing out sharply against the light bedspread. "There's no need to be defensive," her smile was nervous and she tucked her light hair out of her face before continuing, blue eyes tracing along the folds in the sheet beneath her.

"There's not going to be a second date anyway."

Tintlett looked up, startled at this sudden shift in the game. Kitchel didn't see her surprise, she noticed, as she was looking blankly back at the television, focusing on ignoring the sure-to-come pleading. Instead, however, Tintlett kept silent, watching curiously.

"...Wait, aren't you going to try to talk me out of it?" Kitchel turned to look at her friend over her shoulder, still standing between the sofa and the bed.

Tintlett blinked, clear blue eyes wide.

"Why would I do that?"

"I don't know," Kitchel shrugged, confusion making her irritable, "because I promised. So that you and Cesia could play dress up."

I forgot about that... Tintlett shook her head, a bemused smile toying with her mouth.

"Don't worry about that. We'll have plenty of other opportunities." As Kitchel bit her lip, toying with her bangs, a thought flickered into light behind Tintlett's eyes.

Maybe...? Could it be that she wanted to be talked into it...?

"Kitchel?" She questioned softly. "Are you sure that's it?"

"Well," the other girl began to speak, then hesitated, considering. "I suppose you can have your fun later. There's a party going on every weekend. How about you two use me as your doll next time we go? Then I won't be breaking my promise to you." She beamed, the matter apparently settled in her mind.

Tintlett, however, had the fleeting mental image of a smaller version of herself doing a faceplant.

...Or maybe not.

"Yes," she allowed with a forced smile, "that would work."

"Great," Kitchel picked up the discarded remote and punched a few more buttons without much hope that anything would change.

Tintlett shook her head now that she was being ignored again and the full realization of what had just happened settled in. It had been her 'job' to make sure there would be a second date at the least, and she had just accidentally agreed there was no need for one.

"Look, Kitchel," she started, reaching out to touch the other girl's shoulder.

"Ten-thirty!" Kitchel yelped, moving quickly out of her friend's startled reach. "Sorry, Tintlett, we can talk later. I'm supposed to be turning in some paperwork now." Grabbing her jacket she headed for the door, pausing only briefly to rub at the streak of dirt across its faded beige material. "Man, remind me to toss this in the next load of laundry we do, okay? Gotta run!"

She darted out of the apartment, the door slowly closing behind her, leaving Tintlett stunned and confused with one hand still partially outstretched.

Sighing dully to the empty air, she picked up her phone once more.

"Hello?" Cesia's greeting filtered into the room, its sound and the hectic noises that accompanied it serving to fill the space. It was a job perhaps too well done, as Tintlett paused to lower the volume of the speakers before continuing. Its jar was making her claustrophobic.

She shook her head, almost tempted to laugh at her defeat.

"One down, none to go."

:n:

Hououza: Sounds like you've had some interesting experiences. x-x But thanks as always for the GL&BWs. n-n

xxDKGurlxx: Are you a super queen of the flying squirrels? Or are you a super and flying squirrel queen? XD;

Azure-chan: …Your name even matches your obsession with Rune… Um… Was this enough yet? Or maybe it was more about Cesia than him, anyway. XD;

Peridot-chan: Hehe. Denial is a fun word, isn't it? I'm too lazy to type, too. :sweatdrop: Short messages, unite:punches fist into the air:

Yume-chan: …Gahhhhhh! So. Many. Chans:sweatdrop: But, um, yes! Carnivals!

Ellabel:heart: I thought you'd never ask. :heart: XDD; Hey, and do you know if the story about Gar-chan (his name just needs the "-chan"…) and the three bears got pulled? I was looking for it the other day, and it doesn't seem to be here anymore… T-T