It was quite queer to him. Normally, most people in power or leaders would be rather arrogant, tyrannical or even abusive. It was a rare chance to see one that was kind or even lenient.
Though, the idea of a leader being what stood in front of him, a teenager shoving junk food into his mouth like he was a bottomless pit, was far from what Riven had imagined.
I don't get it. He's the president of the most powerful people on campus and yet he looks so…out of character.
Nikolai tilted his head at Riven with a mouthful of fries. "Opf, Yuv loped supresed."
Riven cringed internally. How could someone of such high power and respect act in such a way? It had baffled him to the point he had stopped eating just to look at Nikolai's whole demeanor.
"I still can't wrap my head around this…" Riven finally sighed, forcing himself to face his food.
The upper-class man gave a hard shallow. "About what?" He asked his speech clearer.
"Duh. You obviously!" Riven jabbed a finger at the other. "You're the President of the freakin' Student council and you aren't even acting like one…How are you—what are you— Ugh!"
Riven banged his head dramatically on the table which they sat, the other stared at him for a moment, only to let out yet another stupidly silly grin.
"What I can I say, guilty as charged…" he shrugged sheepishly.
"YOU—!" Riven sat up again, fighting the urge curse and exhaled sharply. "You have no direction…" he said flatly.
"Why would I?" Nikolai asked, his tone taking a playful edge.
"BECAUSE—!" Riven started. "If you don't, then how else do you organize everything in your life?"
"Organized?" Nikolai tilted his head like a kindergarten being asked to pronounce the word 'lackadaisical".
Riven sighed shaking his head, then proceeded to explain on how he tries his possible best to makes sure the world around him stay was orderly as possible even till this moment.
Nikolai placed a hand on his chin, nodding each time Riven would lecture him further.
"So…Do you understand why it's important to have a orderly lifestyle?"
"To be honest…" Nikolai said. The playful edge in his voice gone. "I didn't understand one bit of that whole perfectionist jargon."
At that moment, Riven would kill for a chance to dropkick the sense into his senior, in fact, the strong desire to do so made daydreaming of it even more pleasant.
If only you were a first-year!
"But…" the other continued, unaware of Riven's malicious thoughts. "I doubt that's the real definition of a 'perfect' life."
"Huh?" Riven was stunned by his response. "And what's your opinion?" he asked, giving Nikolai a side eye look.
"Well, if you'd ask me, I'd say a perfect life is when nothing is."
"HUH!?" Riven narrowed his eyes at the upper-class and slightly his mouth ajar.
"I see you're confused…" Nikolai smirk as he leaned back looking at the ceiling, he was leaning so hard one would think he was about to fall. "Have you ever heard the saying 'Variety is the spice of life?"
Riven shook his head, resulting in the other breaking out in a big smile, though this one was softer than most of the ones he'd wore.
"Of course you haven't, you see…If everyone had the same idea of 'perfection' then life won't be worth living.
"Just think about it, if I and you were to think in the same manner would you have enjoyed our meet-up?"
Riven was about to come up with an answer, but it wouldn't come out.
It was true that, even though the nickname and his senior's personality were a bit annoying, their interaction wasn't all that bad.
If anything, meeting the upper-class gave him back a piece of something he really needed: Normalcy.
Noticing that the under-class was quiet to the question, Nikolai continued. "I'm not saying you should change anything about yourself," he added. "I'm just saying that life is better perfect when it's not. Besides…"
The senior grinned as he ruffled Riven hair wildly, "I think you've already grown on me Cubby." The other grinned.
The most reasonable thing to do was swat Nikolai's hand away but instead he just complained, Riven rather enjoyed this, he had been through a lot lately and somehow Nikolai's words seemed to ease the burden a bit.
It almost seemed…brotherly.
Just then Nikolai's pocket buzzed a bit, letting go of the other's hair, he pulled out his phone to read the message he had just received.
"Oh man…Sorry Cubby, but I gotta go.
He pointed at the message on the screen from a Jessa
[1 Unread Message]
[WHERE THE F*CK ARE YOU NIC. THE MEETING STARTED 15 MINUTES AGO! GET OVER HERE. RIGHT. NOW!!!]
It didn't take a genius to figure out that Nikolai was clearly terrified of this person as the upper-class's fingers were a blur on the phone. He hit send and grabbed a handful of fries in his mouth before hurrying off.
"See you later, Cubby." Nikolai said as he dashed out of the cafeteria nearly knocking someone over.
Riven looked at the path where his senior had left, a small thought crossed his mind though.
Why did he keep calling me Cubby though?
Riven pondered for a moment then when it came to him he slapped his forehead so hard that nearby students turned to look at him.
"Of course he knew I was a werewolf, He's the freakin' president…" Riven grumbled as he proceeded thoroughly finish his meal.
But he wouldn't stop thinking about Nikolai's words, they ad sunken too deep for him to forget and they were too heavy for him to fully understand but one thing he was sure of was one of the reasons why he was chosen as the president. It was quite obvious actually, the reason he had been chosen as president.
He had this undeniable warmth that was around him that seemed to melt off even the most burdensome worries, a unique charisma that pulled others like a magnet not of fear but of trust and the feeling of safety.
This, he was sure of, was the one of the main reason why Nikolai Thawn was not only a leader but a brother who others could rely on.
_____
While Riven gone out, there was another student who had also decided to stroll for a bit.
Although, there was no particular place he wanted to head to unlike Riven who had initially wanted to satisfy his appetite.
"Ugh! Nothing interesting ever happens in this crappy school." Lucian complained to himself. It was clear that he hadn't witness or even heard about the fight.
He continued to lazily stroll around campus, reaching the more naturally areas of the park he saw someone who caught his attention.
There in the middle of a clearing, a student with a purple bowl cut and glasses was busy practicing what seemed like sword fighting with a kendo stick.
Seeing his classmate practice, an idea came into Lucian's head, making his lips wide in a smug smirk.
"Oi! Cyrus!"
The mentioned looked to see that Lucian was already striding over, his earring dangling as his red eyes were glinting with anticipation.
"How would you like to be sparring buddies?" Lucian said plainly as the smirk hadn't worn off his face.
Cyrus blinked at him, clearly it was unusual for Lucian to ask of something. Everyone in their dorm had already gotten used to this within the first night together.
"Why are you so interested in me?" The boy asked. "You could have challenged anyone else who was training."
The other wasn't wrong, there were several other students who were practicing but instead Lucian chose to spar with him. He didn't know why but somehow he just wanted to fight his roommate.
Maybe it was his way of bonding or he was just looking to be a pain for his roommates either way, Lucian's behavioral changes was something that no one could explain.
"Just felt like it…" He shrugged getting into a fighting stance, clearly not taking 'no' for an answer.
Cyrus sighed knowing there was no way to escape this already battle hungry person. He readied the kendo stick in front of him.
"Fine then, I'll spar with you."
Lucian smirked even wider "How about we place a little deal then…"
Cyrus raised a brow clearly interested in what the other had just said. "Really? And what might that be."
"Whoever loses..." Lucian smirked. "Becomes the winner's lackey..."