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Once upon a time, there was a small incident between Ae, Pete, Tin, and Can. And while both couples had happily settled it, the gossip mongers did not. It swelled into a war on the forums and lead to war in real life. But it would all come to a head by involving the Engineering program, the IC program, and Pond in the middle somehow.
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Tin was walking ahead, Can trailing behind and rambling at Ae, who was listening with half an ear while texting Pete. The plan had been to meet up for a double date, but Pete was running late.
“So I told Tin I wanted 1000 skewers and then he asked me if he should buy me the whole cart so of course I told him yes and then-”
“Can, are you telling that story again?”
“Oiiii!! It’s a good story!”
“You’ve told it to Ai Ae five times already. I’m sure if he was paying attention he could recite it by heart.”
“But he can’t! So I’m going to tell him until he can!”
“Ai Can, that’s really not necessary,” Ae started.
“Yes, please be quiet, Can,” said Tin.
Can grinned, it was time for his favorite thing. Tin’s wonderfully horrible habit of shutting him up by kissing him. Sometimes Can spoke nonsense until Tin did it multiple times in a day.
“Maaaake meeeee!” Can said in a sing-song voice.
Tin’s head moved in a way that signified he was rolling his eyes, but he reached behind him and pulled.
Ae had been walking ahead of Can, eager to see Pete, and found the front of his shirt in Tin’s grasp before he was pulled into a kiss with Tin. Can let out an indignant screech.
“OI AI AE! YOU HAVE YOUR OWN IC BOYFRIEND GET AWAY FROM MINE!”
Pete ran over from where he was waiting after hearing Can yell. “Ai Can? What’s going- AI TIN! What are you doing!”
Tin and Ae had already pushed themselves away from each other. Tin was scrubbing at his lips and Ae had spit into the bushes.
“Ai Ae! Why do you have to steal my kiss from Tin!” Can complained. “That was my shut up kiss!”
“I didn’t want it!” Ae shouted back. “Whose boyfriend just reaches behind him blindly and kisses the first person he grabs!”
“Ai Tin... Are you trying to break Ae and I up again?” Pete asked softly. “I thought you understood…”
Tin pulled at his hair. “Will you all be quiet? It was an honest mistake. Can’t believe I kissed your dirty Thai Program boyfriend.”
Can howled again. “YOUR BOYFRIEND IS ALSO POOR AND IN A THAI PROGRAM, AI ASSHOLE!”
Tin froze and slowly turned towards Can. “My lovely, obviously hungry, would love it if I bought him two thousand pork skewers and three shaved ices, boyfriend?”
Can paused in his shouting for a moment. “ Five shaved ices. ”
“Done.”
“And I want to be on top tonight.”
“You what?”
Meanwhile Ae was doing his best to reassure Pete. “It was a mistake. He accidentally grabbed me instead of Ai Can, Ai Koon Chai. Don’t cry.”
“I… I just don’t want him to try and manipulate us…” Pete sniffed a little and if he had been practicing crying on demand, Ae didn’t need to know that. “Will you let me…” And then Pete whispered in Ae’s ear, and Ae’s face turned red. “Can we do that tonight?”
“A-Absolutely!”
Pete gave a soft smile. “Then I’m ok, Ae krap.”
“Oi, don’t be so cute. You already know I’m sorry,” Ae said with a smile as he pinched Pete’s cheeks. “Come on, let’s go on our date. Are you coming Ai Tin, Ai Can?”
Can pulled Tin by the wrist, as per usual, while Ae and Pete made eyes at each other, as per usual. Little did they know that the small drama that had just unfolded was not witnessed only by their little group.
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LBC_UNI_usr1001: OMG TROUBLE IN PARADISE
LBC_UNI_usr1001 uploaded a photo.
LBC_UNI_usr1001: Poor N’Pete!
P’$$$: I KNEW THAT AE WAS NO GOOD.
P’$$$: Leaving such a sweetie like N’Pete for that ice queen N’Tin? UNTHINKABLE.
P’$$$: BUT OH MY GOSH. Does this mean N’Pete is available?!
LBC_UNI_usr254: Huh? The angle is weird. Are you sure this happened?
LBC_UNI_usr378: Look! I got a video!
LBC_UNI_usr378 uploaded a video.
Cap-Tno: I don’t know… Maybe we should see what they say.
P’$$$: The proof is right there! You hear that AP-FC members! You have to disband now!
No1AP-Fan: NEVER! We think the TC-FC needs to take the blame for this!
No2TC-Fan: Like hell we will! N’Tin has a bad habit of grabbing N’Can from behind him to kiss him. N’Ae must have gotten in the way!
No1AP-Fan: They hate each other! Why would he do that!
No2TC-Fan: Because Ae is a gold digger!
No1AP-Fan: GO JUMP IN A LAKE
No2TC-Fan: YOU FIRST
Type: Guys, let it go. I heard from them, everything is fine.
No1AP-Fan: NO THIS WILL NOT STAND!
No1AP-Fan: CALLING ALL AP-FC MEMBERS!
No1AP-Fan: CLEARLY THE TC-FC ARE RELEASING PROPAGANDA TO TRY AND BREAK UP OUR FAVES.
No1AP-Fan: DO NOT LET THE ENEMY WIN
Type: This is going to end horribly isn’t it.
Type: @Ping-pong @Pondaddy I feel sorry for you guys.
Pondaddy: Miyabi has a new video out, what happened? I missed the start of the convo.
Ping-pong: Dude, isn’t ChaAim on this chat?
Pondaddy: SHIT!
-----
The weekend had passed without incident for Ae and Pete as well as Tin and Can. But when they came to campus on Monday, clearly battle lines had been drawn.
Several people sitting around Tin and Pete were whispering during class. That in itself was not abnormal. Although the IC program was very prestigious, it was hardly the most riveting of courses. What was surprising were the number of people coming up to Ae and Can at the Engineering building, asking if one needed the other “taken care” of.
Ae had simply said, “Ai Can? He takes care of himself and that’s what Ai Tin is for. No need to worry yourself.”
Can had said, “Taken care of? Like… You’re going to buy him food? Na, P’! Buy me food instead!”
Regardless, a strange aura had settled over the campus, a sort of restlessness.
And then Ae, Pete, Tin, and Can had met up for lunch the next day. Ae found himself sitting next to Tin, but across from Pete. While lunch had been perfectly fine, there were suddenly lots of glances in their direction during class, whispers grew louder, flyers were going up about an AP-FC fighting a TC-FC.
If Pond was around, he was constantly ripping them down, muttering under his breath about how this was eating up his porn time. The others didn’t pay him much mind.
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Pondaddy: ATTN Members of AP-FC and TC-FC
Pondaddy: This is your, ugh, President speaking.
Pondaddy: Please refrain from putting up flyers about this so called “war.”
Pondaddy: There is no war.
Pondaddy: AePete is still going strong. So is TinCan.
Pondaddy: They literally had lunch last week. It’s legit. It’s fine.
LBC_UNI_usr666: BUT I SAW AE SITTING NEXT TO TIN
LBC_UNI_usr666: SCREW YOU DAMN IC KIDS
LBC_UNI_usr666: I BET TIN TEMPTED AE TO CHEAT ON PETE
LBC_UNI_usr999: That… doesn’t make sense? N’Pete is in IC too?
LBC_UNI_usr999: So are you saying that all IC students are home wreckers?
LBC_UNI_usr845: WOW RUDE
LBC_UNI_usr111: Like you IC students are any nicer in what you say about us Engineering students.
LBC_UNI_usr845: I never said anything about an Engineering student that wasn’t true.
LBC_UNI_usr432: You do know that Engineering is one of the most well paid fields in our country…
LBC_UNI_usr1294: Wait, is N’Can even in Engineering?
LBC_UNI_usr1294: He just sort of floats around everywhere?
LBC_UNI_usr666: All the TC-FC members are from IC anyway.
LBC_UNI_usr666: Who needs them anyway.
LBC_UNI_usr666: AP-FC ENGINEERING REPRESENT
Type: Oh boy… @Tharn I wish you were here to see this.
Cap-Tno: Oh. Fuck.
Pondaddy: DID I NOT JUST LITERALLY SAY
-----
The next Monday, there were numerous glares in Pete’s direction at the canteen when Ae brought him there for breakfast. Ae glared back and the judging eyes diverted themselves as if magnets had pulled them elsewhere.
“Ae… Did I do something wrong?”
“Of course not, Ai Koon Chai. Here, you’re getting thin again.”
“Ae!” Pete laughed. “I’ve gained five pounds since I started eating with you.”
“Only five? That’s not healthy enough. Maybe you should start running with me. Build up muscle.”
-----
“Oi Ai Tin, your arms are too long!”
Tin stopped a few feet from his car. “What?”
“Your arms are too long! I can’t even find my hands in this sweater of yours,” Can complained.
Tin walked up and rolled the sleeves up with a soft smile on his face. “You’re such a kid.”
“But you like trying to take care of me, don’t you Mr IC Program.”
“And you like asking me to take care of you, don’t you Mr Thai Program.”
Can laughed. “I like food.”
“That’s unfortunate. I like you.”
Can unfurled his right sleeve with a flick of his arm and patted Tin with a sweater covered hand. “Well, I like you when you buy me food.”
“Tease.”
-----
LBC_UNI_usr7771: AE KEEPS FORCING PETE TO GAIN WEIGHT
LBC_UNI_usr7771: TIN THINKS CAN IS TOO IMMATURE
Pondaddy: Guys, please stop.
LBC_UNI_usr666: Clearly IC Program is full of perfectionists.
P’$$$: N’Pete? Too skinny? BUT I’M JEALOUS OF HIS FIGURE! N’Ae is wrong!
P’$$$: ENGINEERING! STAY IN YOUR LANE
LBC_UNI_usr1288: YOU WANNA MESS, IC PROGRAM?
Pondaddy: NO
Type: I’m getting popcorn.
LBC_UNI_usr666: ENGINEERING IS GOING TO OWN YOUR RICH ASSES
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War had come to the campus.
Water balloons, water guns, huge buckets, hoses with modified sprayers, a walls built out of umbrellas, and everything stained in vibrant colors.
Someone on the IC side had bought a fire truck and filled the tank with colored water to spray back the advancing line of Engineers. The Engineers had countered by building catapults to launch balloons over the attacking lines.
Type watched it all sharing popcorn with Tharn and Techno. “Lovely day for all out war.”
“Shame about that Mercedes. They’re never going to get that stain out of the upholstery,” Tharn chimed in as took a handful of popcorn.
“Uh… Shouldn’t we stop them?” Techno asked.
“Nah, I see N’Pond trying over there. He’ll be fine,” Type insisted. “Tharn, did you bring the sodas?”
“Of course. I even got your favorite,” Tharn said, revealing the can with a flourish.
“Best boyfriend,” Type said as he nuzzled Tharn’s temple. Techno gagged.
“Should I tell Ae, Pete, Tin, and Can to stay inside?” Techno asked, diverting his attention from the couple.
“That might be best. Don’t want them to feel guilty that the campus is trashed,” Type said. “Actually, I’ll text Ae. I promised him some suggestions last time.”
“What are you suggesting?”
“Well Ai No, when two men love each other very much…”
“ARGH NEVER MIND!”