Note: I came back! Yes, I decided to continue this piece of crap. Surprise, right?!
The pairing is starting to show in this chapter. Please enjoy!
Extra Note: And please just skip the first paragraph hahahahahahaa
Dynasty Warriors © Tecmo Koei
DYNASTY HIGH
Chapter 2: Buddies Stick Together
"…In a strict academic sense, the period of the Three Kingdoms refers to the period between the foundation of the state of Wei in 220 AD and the conquest of the state of Wuby the Jin dynasty in 280. The earlier, "unofficial" part of the period, from 184 to 220, was marked by chaotic infighting between warlords in various parts of China. The middle part of the period, from 220 and 263, was marked by a more militarily stable arrangement between three rival states of Wei, Shu, and Wu. The later part of this period was marked by the collapse of the tripartite situation involving the conquest of Shu by Wei, the overthrow of Wei by the Jin dynasty, and the conquest of Wu by Jin…"
I blinked and furiously rubbed my eyes for the hundredth time as I tried to stay awake through the class. Mr. Dong Zhuo, the gonk of a teacher, was infamous for making the whole class doze off the moment he started talking. Staying focused in this class was a real struggle.
It had been a week since I started attending Dynasty High. I managed to survive long enough to remember some characters in my class for a start. There was this guy named Sun Ce, who was the typical teenage dreamboat. Well, none could blame his good looks and him being a basketball idol, definitely a boyfriend material for hormonal teenage girls. His narcissism though, was kind of a big turnoff. Next, there was this hipster called Meng Huo, who always wore fascinatingly colorful clothes like he was going to a strip club. A barbaric girl in our class named Zhu Rong apparently liked him, although her way of showing it was a bit… different. And then there was this maniac called Sima Yi, a weirdo with a chronic maniacal laugh. Also heard that he was an otaku and a hardcore weaboo. Better stay away from him.
By the way, there was supposedly another guy in our class called Lu Bu, though I hadn't seen him at all since the first day of school. Rumors had it that he was a complete mess, not even the mightiest teachers could handle him, and that he failed to pass grades countless times. So much that everyone called him 'The Veteran Monster'.
Other than that were the people I was already familiar with and got quite close the past week. I noticed Ma Chao yawning so big, like a hippopotamus. He was sort of looking at the chalkboard, but his focus was clearly somewhere else. Probably food. Zhang Fei had already sailed away about five minutes after the class started. Guan Yu was… I don't know. His eyes were wide open, but I could hear soft snoring coming from his direction… like, real-men-sleep-with-open-eyes sort of way. Zhao Yun, the pervy nerd, seemed like he listened and actually took notes; although I tried to unsee the tiny doodles of indecent drawings on the edges of every page in his notebook.
Ah, well, to be honest there was actually another person powerful enough to stay awake the whole class and be serious about it.
Yes, you guessed it. That was Liu Bei, the Benevolence Guy.
Apparently, he was not only the superstar of this school, he was also the student council president.
Perfect grades. Excellent behavior. Teachers' favorite.
And it wasn't anything new to see a horde of fangirls fawning over him whenever he passed by the hallways, like such a clichéd perfect anime guy he was.
It felt like an eternity until the bell finally rang, indicating break time and sending students barging out of the class like flies. I saw Zhang Fei snapping out of his slumber and wiped the drool off his chin. He could've created an atlas with that drool swamping on his desk. Ma Chao jumped out of his seat and strolled to Liu Bei's desk while the latter was still diligently taking notes off the dusty chalkboard.
"So, Captain! What are we gonna do after school today?"
Liu Bei paused his writing and rubbed his invisible goatee. "I was thinking about going to the movies with you guys, but sadly there's a meeting today."
"You have meetings everyday!"
"I can't help it," Liu Bei paused and frowned. "It's my duty as the president."
"Yes, we know!" Zhang Fei suddenly appeared behind him and slapped his back so hard Liu Bei's pencil snapped. "But as much as we'd love to support your vision of virtue, you have to tone it down sometimes! Besides, the new guy still needs to adapt to the new surroundings and he needs his buddies to do that, including you!"
Zhang Fei pointed his stubby thumb at me and I noticed Liu Bei flinch. I furrowed my brows and glared back at him. As obvious our dislikes to each other was, no one in the little gang seemed to notice even though we had been hanging together for the past week. That was just how dense they were.
"I'm sure he will be able to adapt just fine even without our help." Liu Bei said without looking at me.
"C'mon, Captain! Enough with the stalling and get your ass off that chair!" Ma Chao pulled Liu Bei's arm and pushed him toward me. I wasn't quick enough to avoid him as he crashed and we bumped our heads together.
"Ow! Watch it!" I pushed him away, rubbing my forehead.
"You were in the way!"
"You were the one flying in my direction!"
"You should've clearly seen that it wasn't my fault!"
"Now, now," Ma Chao hummed, pulling Liu Bei's shoulders. "Enough with the bickering. You two always leave us the fun whenever you get into an argument. Let us join sometimes."
I rolled my eyes.
"Ugh." Liu Bei shook his head and turned away, walking back to his seat to put away his stationeries. "Fine. I'll accompany you to the movies today after the meeting."
"Yay!"
"Now that's our prez!"
I slowly walked away from them, trying to escape getting dragged into their little movie time together.
"You should come this time, new kid." Zhang Fei turned and glared at me. He cracked his fingers. "You might have run away last time, but I shall not forgive you the second time."
I could see fire in his eyes. Shit. I should think of another escape route.
I raised my palms in defense. "Sorry, I really can't today. My mom asked me to go shopping with her."
"Mom again?" Zhao Yun suddenly appeared out of nowhere to circle his arm around my neck. He clicked his tongue and shook his head. "Brother, listen. You need a girlfriend."
Ma Chao gestured a pistol with his fingers and pointed at me. "Bingo!"
"Come with us. Who knows, you might catch yourself a pretty girl." Zhao Yun winked.
"Uh, no… really, I can't—"
"You're totally missing out your youth, young man," Zhang Fei stood face to face with me. He put his hand on his hips angrily. "I thought we were buddies!"
"Yeah, and buddies should stick together!" Ma Chao added.
"Come on, Cao Cao. It will be fun!" Zhao Yun pulled my neck until I choke.
I frowned and looked back at their expectant eyes. I really didn't want to waste time with these idiots… but if I didn't come, they wouldn't ever stop bugging me for the rest of my high school year, and I wouldn't want that.
So I took a deep breath and gave up. "Fine, I'll come with you. But only this once!"
"Now that's our man!" Zhang Fei slapped my back. Again with that monstrous power.
"I'll definitely help you find the perfect girl," Zhao Yun paused and smirked. "Or guy."
Guan Yu, who was just silently watching from his desk, gave his nod of approval, and Ma Chao jumped cheerfully. "Today is going to be fun! I can feel it already!"
Liu Bei took his bag and walked past me. "I'll just let you know that I'd rather you not come."
"It's not like I want to watch movies with you, either," I replied with a roll of my eyes.
"Then might as well stay at home and be a good mama's boy, hmm?" Liu Bei turned around to sneer at me.
Well, what do we have here. Was that supposed to be a challenge? I crossed my arms on my chest and glared at him. "Who are you to order me around? I already said that I will come with all of you. Deal with it."
"Fine, but don't cry if your mama scolds you for not getting her groceries."
"Seriously, what is your problem?!"
Zhang Fei smacked both my and Liu Bei's head and circled his arms around our neck in a manly hug. "Hey, hey, hey! Come on! Spare us the fun and keep your energy for tonight!"
"Ah, the romance of youth," Zhao Yun commented with a sigh.
"You two just really can't wait, huh?" Ma Chao shook his head, completely missing the point.
I saw Liu Bei sending me a glare and I replied with one of the same volume of annoyance.
I wondered if I could ever survive the night.
I went straight home after school and got ready for the movie. Everyone promised to meet at the mall at seven sharp, and Zhang Fei told us he would buy us the tickets first. Since the mall was close from where I live, I walked to get there.
Everyone was already there when I arrived, except Ma Chao. Zhao Yun waved his hand when he spotted me. He put his hands in his pocket. "There you are! We thought you'd never show up!"
I looked around the group and my eyes met Liu Bei's, who was glaring daggers at my direction. He scoffed, "Got permission from your mama?"
I could feel a vein pop on my head, but I decided to ignore him. "By the way, where's Ma Chao?"
"I'm here!" a familiar voice suddenly called out as Ma Chao emerged from the sea of people, panting and drenched in sweat.
"Dear God, brother, where have you been? Were almost late!" Zhao Yun tapped his foot angrily.
"Sorry… My stomach hurt suddenly. I must've eaten something this afternoon…" Ma Chao scratched the back of his head nervously. "So, did you get the tickets?"
"That's because you keep eating your booger all the time!" Zhang Fei snapped. "And yes, I did. Come one, let's get inside! The movie's almost started!"
"Wait, so what movie are we going to watch?" Liu Bei asked curiously.
"A horror movie."
"H-Ho-Ho… Horror?!" unexpectedly, the Benevolent King shouted, earning a glance from the rest of the group and some passerby.
Ooh, what's this? I saw it as an opportunity and shot the bullet. "Oh, so you're scared of some horror movie, Prez?" I asked, mockingly mimicking the title his friends liked to use.
"N-No, of course not! I am not a child!" he fiercefully denied, even though his face clearly stated otherwise.
I smirked. Jackpot.
"Oh, I forgot to mention something!" Zhang Fei suddenly added, turning around to face us. "I came a little too late, and I didn't manage to get a full row seat, so two of us must sit a little bit far away from the rest of us."
"Aww, that sucks!" Ma Chao pouted. "So, who wants to sit away from the rest of us?"
I wanted to volunteer, just to get away from these noisy bunch of idiots, but Zhao Yun interrupted. "Let's decide with Rock, Paper, Scissor!"
"Brilliant!" Zhang Fei exclaimed. "One, two, three… Rock, Paper, Scissor!"
…In the end, I still got to sit away from the rest of them, with one little problem—
"So, Prez and Cao Cao have to sit away from the rest of us tonight," Zhao Yun concluded.
"Wait a second!" I retorted. "I demand a reroll! I'm not sitting with this virtue-reeking-asshole for a whole movie!"
Liu Bei glared at me and crossed his arms in an annoyed manner. "As much as I hate being called a virtue-reeking-asshole, I must agree. I propose a reroll."
"Deal's a deal!" Zhang Fei stated. "Man up and take the challenge! This might also help to get you two to know each other better. Come on, no more wasting time!"
Without even listening to our protests, Zhang Fei pushed us into the theater and handed us our tickets. Me and Liu Bei apparently got to sit on row F while the others were on row E. Life was just that unfair.
I sat down on my seat and made myself comfortable. Liu Bei did the same, until both of us looked at the minimalistic armrest on our adjoined side. He hissed at me, "Touch me and die."
"This chair isn't yours only," I replied with a glare of my own.
"Just stay away from this line," Liu Bei said while drawing an invisible line on the middle of the armrest.
I rolled my eyes and decided to ignore him. The movie started not long after. The room darkened as the lights were slowly turned off, and creepy music started playing. The screen dimmed and cleared into a dark, abandoned room with the protagonist fearfully walking into the scene. I straightened my back and sank into the chair, relaxing myself. Typical horror movie. Hopefully I wouldn't fall asleep in the middle of the film.
On contrary to my indifference, Liu Bei was starting to sweat and shiver on his own seat. I caught his fear from the corner of my eyes and smirked. This could be a very valuable material to mock him later on.
That was what I initially thought until the movie played further and Liu Bei was starting to act like a possessed maniac.
"Eeeekk!" he shrieked so loud and caused other people to look at him with angry glares.
"Ssshh," I shushed. "Dude, can't you tone it down a little?!"
The movie wasn't even that scary in my opinion. Just full of cheap jumpscares that could only scare little kids.
"I shouldn't have come! I should not have come!" he continued panicking. Another scary scene came up and he let out another scream, "Eeeee!"
He looked like he totally would cry if I didn't do something. Was he really that scared?
"God have mercy," I slapped my forehead. With a desperate sigh, I took off my jacket and threw it to his face, hiding his view from the big screen. "Just go to sleep or something if you're that scared."
He peeked out from the side of my jacket and whimpered, which I was definitely not expecting. "T-Thanks…"
Whelp. I didn't see that coming. Did he just thank me?
For a moment Liu Bei was silent. No more screams or gasps, just small movements from behind my jacket. Was he actually sleeping?
Or so I thought until he screamed again.
"Nooooooo, don't go in there, you fool!" Liu Bei shouted, peeking from behind my jacket.
"What the heck, Liu Bei! I thought you were sleeping!" I smacked him. "If you're really that scared then don't watch at all! You're disturbing other people!"
"But I want to know how it ends," he whispered, still half-peeking from behind my jacket. "I need proof that virtue brings justice to all evil."
Seriously this guy.
A particularly scary scene played—which even gave me a little bit of a scare—but it caused a tremendous effect on Liu Bei. He was panicking so hard that he jumped off his seat and grabbed my arm, holding it like his life depended on it.
"H-Hey, let go!" I tried to push him away. "I thought you were so adamant about that no touching policy?!"
"Forget about it! Just let me hold on to you for a moment!" he closed his eyes shut and hid his face behind my back like a child.
I sat uncomfortably as Liu Bei hung onto my arm for dear life. The close proximity was something I wasn't used to and it made me feel awkward. Then again, he was looking genuinely terrified that I couldn't bring myself to even make fun of it. I just let him hide behind me while I watched the movie.
It felt like eternity until the movie finally ended and Liu Bei kept holding onto me for the rest of the film. When everything was over and the credits rolled, I tapped on his shoulder, making him jump in surprise. When he realized that it was just me and the lights were back on, he bounced back with a red face, releasing his hold on my arm.
I smirked at his reaction, though his expression made me feel a bit awkward. "Bad dreams are over, princess. Time to go home."
"Listen!" Liu Bei stood up and glared at me. "I was not scared. I was just… unprepared, is all. So, don't make any weird ideas!" After making that statement, he stomped out of the theater to meet the others outside, leaving me clueless. His character changed so drastically it was impossible for me to process.
I shrugged. Well, it was entertaining at the least.
Zhang Fei, Guan Yu, Zhao Yun, and Ma Chao were already waiting outside when I got out. Liu Bei was standing a bit far from them, looking away when he caught my eyes. Ma Chao waved at me. "Over here!"
"That movie was boooooring," Zhao Yun slurred with a wave of his hand to emphasize.
"Yes, the plot was predictable and the jumpscares were cheap. They could've done better," Ma Chao commented, rubbing his chin.
"You should've picked something else, Zhang Fei," Zhao Yun protested.
"Well, it was crowded and this movie was the one with less watchers. That's probably the reason no one wants to watch it," the short, bulky guy agreed with a shrug. "What do you think, prez?"
"Ah—huh?" Liu Bei snapped out of his trance as he looked at the rest of the group. I noticed him sending me a look as I raised my brow, but there was no way I wouldn't catch that blush on his face. He cleared his throat. "It was fine, I guess."
"Fine?" Zhang Fei asked incredulously. "It was horrible! Look, even Guan Yu agrees!" He pointed at the giant.
Guan Yu just nodded in agreement.
"Well, it's not that bad," Liu Bei added, turning around to walk closer to us. "At least that movie sends us a beautiful moral message that virtue stands above evil."
"Ah, classic Liu Bei. Always looking at things from a different point of view," Zhao Yun praised with an applause.
"That's why he's the best!" Zhang Fei let out a hearty laugh and circled his arm around Liu Bei's shoulder.
I rolled my eyes. What a hypocrite. I was so close to shouting at their faces how terrified he was the whole film, but a deadly glare from Liu Bei stopped me from doing so.
We said goodbye to each other and parted ways to our own homes not long after. I was relieved to know that I would finally find peace after all this chaos, but then I remembered one thing.
I probably had not mention this yet, but Liu Bei's house was close to mine, only a few blocks away. Which means we would walk side by side until we reach that particular cross where our paths would part. Usually I would avoid going home at the same time as him, just so we wouldn't cross paths, but there wasn't any reason now to stay late at the mall just so I could avoid him. That would be too weird.
The walk was surrounded by awkward silence as I tried to keep a fair distance between us so we wouldn't really have to interact with each other. I knew he wanted no less than that like I did, so it was just fair. It was still awkward nonetheless.
The cross where our paths would part finally came closer and I felt so relieved, until Liu Bei made an abrupt stop to look at me. He handed me back my jacket that he was still holding. I even forgot about it. The dim streetlight was enough to deliver the blush to my vision.
"Thanks for this," he said as I took my jacket back. He looked away. "And for that in the movies."
He was being vague, but we both knew what he meant.
"Don't take it for granted," I teased, trying to melt off the weird atmosphere. "I'm going to use it to tease you for the rest of eternity."
"Try it if you dare," his voice was stern, but his eyes wavered. I wondered what it meant. Liu Bei turned around to continue walking towards his home. "Well, goodnight."
I only nodded, even though he couldn't see me from his back.
I continued walking home. Today was definitely weird. I saw something that I normally wouldn't have. But that wouldn't mean a thing, would it? I still didn't like that guy, and he definitely didn't like me either. Nothing changed.
Everything should go back to normal again tomorrow.
That's what's going to happen.
I put my hands in my pocket. Yeah, nothing to worry about.
To be continued…
Note: I know this is not the most in-character fic, so I apologize for that. I do hope you had fun reading it at least haha (tsun Liu Bei is cute)
And yes Liu Bei being scared of horror movies (or anything horror related in that case) is my biggest headcanon ever.
Here's a few hints on what all their characters are based on in my mind XD (please forgive me)
Cao Cao: Snarky rebel
Liu Bei: Perfect student
Zhang Fei: Barbaric best friend
Zhao Yun: Pervy womanizer
Ma Chao: Cheerful country boy
Guan Yu: Gentle giant
Thank you for reading!
Excuse my limited vocabulary and grammatical mistakes.