A/N: Aaaaand, here's round 3. Without further ado, please ENJOY the treat, Seven Knights obsessed people!

Disclaimer and Warning: See prologue.


A Gift from A Far Away World—a Seven Knights Fan fiction

© lunaryu

Round 2: Ordinary or Not So Ordinary Problem


At the end of the last lecture of the day, Kris was ready to bang his head on the desk surface. He knew that beside theoretical Physics, he had to get credits on Ethical Practice and Law program, but never had he once thought it could be as boringly exhausting as this.

True, all scientist needed to build some conscience and learn ethic so they wouldn't disregard human and animal rights in the pursuing of their goals; and sure, all their intelligence and capability should be used for good reasons and intention. But, you know the saying? A path to hell is mostly built on good intention—thing?

Everything usually started on good purposes and motives, and yet circumstances and occasions every so often twisted them in so many ways that in the end, it just blew up in abuse and malpractice. All for the sake of changing something in life, whether it was in medical field or in physics law. The drive of humanity to do more and better (or worse) was just too overwhelming sometimes to be stopped, no matter what the cost was.

So of course, people like Kris Tenebra that always thought with his head more than with his heart, occasionally would misbehave, especially when there was something bigger and life-changing in front of him, waiting for him to do something about it.

Or, you know, Kris was probably just trying to justify his counterpart's doing in messing around with time and space continuum law, that it ended him with current situation. Despite knowing full well that such kind of experiment was unquestionably illegal to do without supervision or permission from the higher ups, or without any fail-safe plan as the backup. How could he take responsibility for it if what he had done and happened to him happened to other people? Kris could be sanctioned because of this. Heck, Kris would have sanctioned himself if he were one of the higher ups.

Alas, the 'Ethical Practice and Law' was still definitely necessary, so no one as smart as Kris Tenebra would try to do something like he did in the first place. Kris needed to do something, seriously. He feared what would happen to the law of the universe if this went on too long. He could be the reason of the world ending here, and he definitely didn't want any world to end because of him, counterpart or not.

And Kris could absolutely not fail this particular program, damn it! Boringly exhausting wasn't a good enough excuse.

Successfully depressing himself a bit, Kris collected his textbook and notebook and put them inside his bag. He would just go home and start that dinner. Maybe Eileen had brought the grocery home…

Kris blinked when suddenly he was already outside his building, walking on the paved track to the exit of the campus to go home. "I wonder why I mostly didn't recall leaving the classroom…"

A bead of perspiration prickled out on his cheek. Kris should really stop doing something by instinct. He relied too much on body memory. At this rate he would seriously stop thinking himself as original Kris instead of his counterpart.

"Ah, Kris! Wait!"

Upon hearing that very familiar, enticing baritone voice, Kris stopped. He almost jumped actually, because it was Rudy and he was coming towards him and oh man, his heart wasn't prepared and—

What in the world, Kris! Stopped behaving like a teenage girl having a crush, damn it!—Kris scolded his body inwardly for being so over-dramatically responsive to Rudy's presence again. Though, of course Kris couldn't help it. His body was young and his counterpart had such feeling for his best friend. It affected Kris as well personally, because liking it or not, Kris himself had that –not crush—complicated feeling towards his Rudy.

"H-hey," Kris greeted back quietly, deciding to just go along, and tried his hardest to hide the shiver his body produced when Rudy's palm touched his left shoulder.

"Thank god, I could catch you before you left. Let's walk together," Rudy smiled and moved his hand to pat Kris' back in friendly gesture.

"Oh, sure," Kris couldn't help the surge of warmth and happiness filling his heart at Rudy's consideration, and was a bit mortified after that because Rudy's expression turned amazed for a moment as he stared at Kris' face, which informed Kris enough that he had smiled, probably stupidly, in front of Rudy.

"W-what?" Kris once again guarded his expression in his hasty retreat to hide his feelings. Ugh, it was arduous.

"No, well… it always surprises me every time it happens," Rudy turned aside slightly, "Your smile," he continued with a shy look after seeming to realize that he was staring at Kris. "You have such a nice smile, Kris. I feel so… how do you say it, grateful, maybe? Whenever you show that smile to me." Rudy now looked down, scratching his left cheek slowly, looking somewhat nervous.

Kris wondered then. Grateful?

Rudy seemed to notice that Kris was questioning what he meant with his words as he kept silent, so Rudy turned to look at Kris' eyes and softened his expression. "You rarely do it. Smiling…" But then he turned a bit hesitant, like about to say something more, but unsure if it would be accepted with open arms.

Kris was rueful then. "Usually people would add, 'you should smile more often' there." Kris perfectly understood. Smile was an expression that could always put people's feeling at ease. It wasn't like it was actually difficult for Kris to smile, it was just… for Kris, smiling was…

"No, that's not what I want to say," Rudy seemed to have made up his mind as he spoke again. "You smile rarely, so it feels much more precious when you actually do. It shows me that your smile is reserved for people that really matter to you, and I… I feel so lucky that I'm one of those people." His cheeks actually flushed faintly as he said it and Kris couldn't help widening his eyes a bit seeing that because… because Rudy seemed to be more affectionate than usual and there was it. The urge. The urge came out so suddenly, so overwhelmingly, for Kris to say something that this world Kris was probably dying to say.

Kris wanted to say it. That Rudy was special to him.

He could say it. He could. It was at the tip of his tongue. If Kris said it now, then maybe… Maybe…

"Yo, lovebirds!"

Talk about bad timing!—Kris almost bit his tongue in surprise at the sudden voice coming from behind Rudy and the brunet actually jumped a little in reaction, probably very startled as well. He immediately turned around and greeted the upcoming group of people.

"H-hey, Jave! Spike!" Rudy sounded slightly breathless as if he had been holding his breath just before speaking, and his ears that Kris could see from behind, were pinker than usual.

Kris was about to blush himself seeing all that, but he refrained. God, he was holding it down for dear life. Stupid Jave and Spike, and their utter stupid timing!

"Tsk. Who are you calling lovebirds, you-imbecile." Kris grumbled, feigning irritation by clicking his tongue, as he deadpanned at Jave and nodded at Spike in acknowledgement of their presences.

Jave chuckled at his complaint. "Well, you two look chummier together than usual, so… It's kind of a reflex," he grinned slyly and somehow meaningfully as he looked at Kris and then at Rudy, consecutively.

"J-Jave!" Rudy, seemingly alarmed about something, grabbed his friend's neck as a mean to stop him for speaking further, and then gave him a noogie playfully while Jave was laughing at his discomfort cheerily.

"Sorry, Jave's just being mischievous like a child he is," Spike huffed, sounding slightly sarcastic, and shook his head. "We're off to home too. Let's walk together?" He turned his olive colored eyes at Kris, as if surreptitiously asking whether they had interrupted something with his questioning gaze.

"Sure," Kris immediately agreed. He didn't want Spike and Jave to snoop around further in Kris' private matter, especially if they already suspected what was going on between Kris and Rudy. But, judging from Jave's teasing and how Spike behaved, they probably did know about it. His counterpart didn't have Kris' skill to hide his feeling well, apparently, if even the most naïve Jave noticed.

No, wait. In retrospect, Kris had to thank them instead. He had been just rescued from a major blunder. That private matter shouldn't have happened in the first place after all. Kris' guard was slightly down and he almost blew everything up. Rudy was just being the usual Rudy. Friendly, overly caring, Rudy. He wasn't exactly interested in Kris romantically because Rudy did this to everyone. He had too big of a heart that could give everyone special attention whenever they needed him to.

Kris couldn't just confess his counterpart's feeling to his crush like that. It would jeopardize their friendship.

Yes… don't do anything stupid even though this isn't your original world, Kris…

"So, Kris, what are you going to make for dinner tonight?" Jave walked beside Kris, while Rudy and Spike walked behind them slightly as they were on the side of the main road in town.

"I wonder," Kris hadn't really thought of the menu, but… Rudy was looking forward to it, so maybe… Rudy's favorite—

Oi! Stop thinking about Rudy all the time!—Kris felt utter embarrassment for his thought, really.

"I'd like to eat some croquettes, if it's alright," Rudy piped up from behind suddenly.

"Ah, Rudy, that's unfair! I want my favorite for dinner as well!" Jave protested immediately.

"But Eileen is the one that does grocery shopping, so it's mostly up to her what we're going to eat tonight." Spike easily diffused the argument because it was true. They, including including the cook himself, couldn't have known what Kris was going to make without knowing what kind of supplies Eileen bought.

"I hope she brings back some of my favorites…!" Jave sighed dreamily.

"Next time we'll put a list of requests to the grocery shopper, so we can expect what kind of dinner we'll get," Rudy smiled in amusement and rustled Jave's hair affectionately.

The walk home was mostly filled with idle chatter from Jave afterwards, once again bestowing them the tale of 'what Red was doing the other day' and occasional snickers and dry comments from Rudy and Spike. Kris was quietly content in listening to them talking, but then something caught his eyes when they walked past an alley between two tall apartment buildings.

A group of people, surrounding a lone blond. Some of the guys raising their voices and the sardonic chuckle from the encircled blond immediately informed Kris that he had found their troublesome friend. Kris let out a deep sigh as the mob's voices got louder by the second.

"What's wrong Kris?" Rudy seemed to notice his discomfort first before detecting the crowd in the alley as well. "Huh… is that…?" He widened his eyes slightly as the realization dawned.

"Uwaaah, Dellons is about to get pummeled," Jave winced as he saw them as well.

Spike grunted, "Always making trouble whenever he goes." He looked more annoyed than worried, though.

"We should let him get beaten up once in a while. It will teach him a lesson not to be an ass all the time," Jave huffed, but his expression looked guilty after that, and he seemed worried as he kept his eyes at the crowd in the alley.

"No… I'm more worried about those guys, though," Rudy sighed as well, massaging his temples with his thumb and index finger as if he had a headache. "Dellons is exceptional in martial arts. He will kick the shit out of them if they attack first." He probably had one, just like Kris. Dellons induced headache.

Now, one of the guys had their hands fist on Dellons' collar, yanking him forward rather roughly and Dellons' smirk amplified evilly, his cunning playful baby blue eyes glinted more sharply and dangerously. Dellons was probably getting ready for the offensive when Rudy slashed the tense atmosphere with his booming voice.

"Hey, Dellons! Man, what are you doing there?!"

Dellons blinked once, so did his not so friendly friends that were crowding him. Dellons were taller than most of them, so he could easily looked back at Rudy. "Oh," the evil smile he gave his admirer turned downward slightly as he spotted Rudy, Kris, Jave and Spike at the entrance of the alley. "Aww, man," he groaned, looking kind of thwarted for some reason.

"Gentlemen," Rudy smiled at the mob. "Whatever Dellons did to offend you, we're sorry," ("Hey now! Why are you assuming it's my fault?!" Dellons protested in the background, while Rudy was steadfastly ignoring him), "He didn't do it on purpose. Please forgive him," his voice sounded placating and apologetic, and the mob looked restlessly at him for a moment before one of them walked towards Rudy to whine about what an ass Dellons was to them, Kris couldn't clearly hear what those guys were spouting.

Anyway, there were jeers and sneers as well in it and Rudy's mollifying and nice gesture was gradually turning colder by the seconds and at the end, he slipped his hand on his pants pocket to retrieve his cell phone. "Which do you want me to call?" He asked, stony and angry enough to alarm even Spike. "A police car or an ambulance?"

"You guys are ruining my fun!" Dellons complained loudly as they walked out of the alley, leaving behind some terrified, traumatized guys while the others were groaning on the ground with various states of injuries.

"Serve you right," Jave snorted derisively at the blond.

"You probably would leave them all half-dead if I let you ride freely on that adrenaline, you—adrenaline junkie," Rudy huffed, frowning at Dellons while observing his gait not so subtly, most likely assessing whether or not his friend was injured anywhere.

"Stop eyeing me like that! I'm fine!" Dellons slapped his palm on Rudy's eyes to make him stop staring. "Well, weren't you quite My Prince in shining armor there, rescuing me like that, even though everything was under control." The sarcasm was clear in Dellons' tone. He crouched slightly to look down at him since Rudy was slightly shorter than him.

Rudy grabbed on Dellons' wrist to move his palm away from his face. "You purposely baited them to attack you. What is wrong with you? Why did you do such dangerous thing?" Rudy looked righteously angry now, but the shine in his eyes was that of a worry and Dellons huffed and rolled his eyes at him in clear annoyance at his mother-henning again.

"Because I could, duh," Dellons responded haughtily and pulled his wrist off of Rudys grasp. "You had to ask that?"

"Dellons! I'm serious! Quit making trouble all the time! If it had turned into a big fight just now, you could get expelled from the uni!" Rudy shouted at him, sounding completely apprehensive while Dellons just continued his walk with an uncaring harrumph.

"Just let him be, Rudy. You know how he is," Spike spoke tonelessly, probably trying to calm Rudy down, but Dellons seemed to be still in the mood to stir trouble, so he stopped to look back and smirk at Spike.

"Hey, Elsa. Didn't notice you there," Dellons' smirk was super wicked now.

Who in the world is Elsa?—Kris' sweat dropped, utterly confused, and he (and probably the others as well) could almost hear an imaginary string of patience just snap inside Spike.

"Bastard!" Spike's stormy olive-green eyes flashed in fury and promised violence when Jave intervened.

"God, Dellons, you're such an ass!" Jave threw the blond an empty soda can, the one left from his drink earlier.

Dellons dodged it easily, his wicked grin toning down slightly into mischievous one. "Thank you, lizard boy," he said mockingly before he faced ahead again and resumed walking.

Rudy gave out an exasperated sigh, Spike groused in visible infuriation, and Jave thrust his tongue out at Dellons in childish indignation after shouting, "It wasn't a compliment, you asshole! And don't call me that!" The three seemed to be in mutual feeling about Dellons' disagreeable attitude, but for some reason, Kris felt that Dellons didn't exactly refer his thanks to Jave's slight at him.

Did I read his behavior too much again?—Kris couldn't help thinking that deep down, Dellons was probably relieved that they had stopped him from making scandal. So contradictory… Apparently, the Dellons in this universe was very complex.

Maybe the Dellons in my universe also… No. Don't go there, Kris. Just focus on trying to look a way for going back first—Kris decided to put the thought at the back of his head to recall on a later date. Food first, think later.


~A Seven Knights Fan Fiction~


"You guys are so laaaaate!" Eileen, a woman with wavy, shoulder-length strawberry blond hair and violet eyes complained loudly when the guys arrived home. "I was just about to call a pizza parlor if you came in 5 minutes later." She huffed, lazing around on the sofa in the living room, while Rachel, a woman with neck-length straight blond hair and sapphire colored eyes, was surfing the TV channels from the beanbag seat in front of her. Both were already comfortable in their pajamas.

"Took you guys long enough. Where did you wander off to?" Rachel asked as she glanced at the guys.

"Dellons." The guys, sans Dellons who didn't mind them at all and immediately ventured to the bathroom, instantly replied in unison, completed with deep resigned sighs.

"I heard that!" Dellons shouted from inside the restroom in indignation, as both Rachel and Eileen sniggered in understanding.

"Anyway, Kris! Please make something edible fast! I'm starving!" Eileen turned to Kris with whiny voice and expectant gaze.

"That's so unladylike, Eileen," Rachel chided, huffing at her.

"I don't care. My stomach can't take this hunger anymore. Food, please!" Eileen requested louder.

"Alright, calm down. I'll make something immediately." Kris shook his head as he just dropped his bag on the living room and went to the kitchen to start dinner.

Eileen just asked something edible, it didn't have to be extravagant or good. Kris peered inside the grocery bag that Eileen had brought into and put on the kitchen table. Lots of vegetables were in it. Maybe vegetable soup would be alright. Did she buy any meat? …there. Okay, they would have vegetable-meat soup and black pepper stir-fries for dinner tonight. They still had some fruits in the fridge if they wanted some dessert later…

Dinner went okay. Well, everyone, even Dellons, said Kris' cooking was fantastic. Kris himself couldn't really believe that he was such a decent cook. He meant, original Kris really had never cooked in Asgar. He was a noble. Someone was always there to cook for him, even when he was in hiding. Original Dellons provided him with everything, from a place to stay, a change of clothes to full course of fulfilling meals. He treated Kris like a honorable guest even though the rumors about Kris going rouge were milling around in Terra Kingdom.

Kris knew now that original Dellons did that because he needed Kris to antagonize Rudy, so Rudy's attention wouldn't be on him when Dellons did all the bad things, but… even so, Kris couldn't exactly disregard the feeling of companionship he felt with Dellons, because at the time, Kris felt truly alone for the first time, with no comrades and with suspicion of betrayal, and Dellons was willing to listen and talk to him, even helping in hiding him and getting him stronger for his revenge… It had felt a lot like a salvation.

At the time, Kris truly believed that Dellons was on his side.

Kris had felt the anguish of losing something very important when Bane tried to kill him and learned that it was per Dellons' order. That feeling of despair… it was real. What he felt for Dellons at the time was almost the same feeling he had for Rudy before the massacre of his men fiasco.

It had turned into hatred now, though. Well, maybe not as bad as before, but… he would still kill Dellons in the end.

Will there be a time when everything is resolved and peace once again blankets our land?—Kris absentmindedly thought, even though deep down he knew time wouldn't turn back to the time before everything went to shit. Even so… even so, Kris just couldn't abandon his hope. From the bottom of his heart, he always wished that everything could turn back to normal, like the peaceful time before Dellons ruined everything.

"Kris?"

At the call of his name, Kris snapped back from his train of thought. He looked upward and found Rudy's concerned face in front of him. "Ru—?!" he almost jumped backwards because Rudy's face was too freaking close! However, Rudy seemed to be prepared for that, so before Kris could make a fool out of himself by falling down from his chair, he already grabbed Kris' right arm to prevent it.

"Hey, you alright? You spaced out just now," Rudy used his other hand to check Kris' temperature on his forehead, and his handsome face was even closer than before.

Too close!—Kris' heart almost leaped to his throat. He panicked and instantly closed his eyes, his sweaty hands were instinctively planted on Rudy's arm and chest, indecisively wanting to push him away or to hold on.

"Jave said you pulled all-niter again last night. You should stop doing your homework that way. It's not healthy," Rudy, seemingly satisfied that Kris didn't have fever, moved his hand from Kris' forehead to his cheek and then to his neck. His palm was big and warm, and it almost made Kris whimper because his touch felt unbearably good. It took all Kris' will power to hold down his (body shuddering) reaction and he was probably failing miserably, because his cheeks felt hot, his heart beat too hard and fast, and when he opened his eyes slightly, the image of Rudy's wide eyes, staring at Kris' face in full of wonder, greeted him again today.

"T-t-too close!" Now Kris shouted and shoved Rudy away, almost throwing the taller guy down from his seat.

"Whoa!" Rudy exclaimed in surprise and had to release his hands from Kris. Luckily, Spike sat beside him and held the backrest of his chair steadily, so it only rattled slightly.

Kris' heart was still beating a mile per minute as he held his chest while panting slightly. It was hard to breathe like this. Stupid Rudy and his no personal space policy!

"Wow… Rudy. That was almost like a sexual harassment," Jave quipped, his cheeks turning slightly pink, probably embarrassed seeing the almost intimate moment.

"Wha—?! You're wrong!" Now it was Rudy's face that flushed in embarrassment as he protested. "I was just just worried, because Kris seemed out of it just now! I was checking for his temperature!" he tried to defend himself earnestly.

"Well, your hands are always too quick to touch sometimes, Rudy. Mind other people's personal space, man," Eileen giggled, apparently quite entertained by it.

Rudy blushed harder at this remark and Dellons snorted as he walked behind the sitting brunet. "See, what did I say? Mother-hen," and he smirked, poking Rudy's side teasingly.

"B-but, I didn't do that on purpose…" Rudy slapped Dellons' hand away from his side since he was quite ticklish there, smiling sheepishly. "Sorry, Kris, did I surprise you?"

"If even Kris shoved you away, he must have quite troubled by it. You have to fix that bad habit of yours, Rudy," now it was Rachel who nitpicked.

"Yes, I'll try," Rudy sighed, looking rather dejected with cloud of depression hanging above his head after that while Dellons snickered as he put his dishes in the sink.

Kris honestly felt a bit guilty seeing that. He didn't mean to dishearten Rudy. He didn't dislike Rudy's touch. It was actually the opposite. He liked it too much that it was bad for his heart. The problem laid in Kris' self-consciousness after all. But he didn't know how to fix this either, so he just sighed and stood up, collected his dishes and then moved them to the sink.

"Ah, Kris?" Rudy also stood up, but Kris' face still felt hot and he didn't trust himself not to panic and stutter again if he spoke now, so he was resolute to just ignore Rudy for the time being as he walked out of the kitchen. "Kris!" Rudy called once again, but Kris needed to cool off his head (and his face), so he didn't acknowledge it.

It seemed that Rudy was about to follow him, but Kris heard Spike's voice prevent him. "Give him space, Rudy. He'll come around later."

"But what if he's angry…?" Rudy's anxious voice was still slightly heard as Kris climbed the stairs to the second floor. He needed to go out to the veranda. Seeing the night sky and the stars usually calmed him down.

Ah… I ruined the mood at dinner—Kris sighed, self-reflecting, as he opened the door to the veranda. The cool wind caressed his still warm skin. It felt nice. I need to apologize to Rudy later… I wonder what he's thinking when he touches me… Probably nothing. It's never special at all for Rudy. He's used to doing it all the time after all…

"Can't believe that you're that sensitive, Princess."

This time Kris didn't jump even though it was quite unexpected as he heard Dellons' voice. He only gave Dellons an annoyed glare since he disturbed his peace as Dellons stepped out to the veranda as well. "What do you want, Dellons?"

"Man, such hostility… you wound me," Dellons faked his hurt look before he grinned as Kris' frown deepened. "As I thought, even with such grumpy expression you're still quite stunning." Dellons moved nearing Kris before he turned to rest his back on the safety guardrail, his baby blue eyes never straying from Kris even when his left hand fetched a cigarette from his chest pocket and his right one slipped into his pants pocket to retrieve his lighter.

Kris stepped slightly away as Dellons lit his roll-up to avoid the second-hand smoke. He didn't fancy the cancer stick at all. "That thing is going to kill you," he commented reproachfully and Dellons chucked slightly seeing his obvious disgust.

"Yeah well… at least not immediately," Dellons shrugged after he puffed out the smoke away. His posture was visibly relaxed now and he looked like enjoying the cool air as well. Kris kept his distance, but didn't comment anymore since Dellons didn't seem about to cause trouble and just wanted to have his smoke in peace. Kris didn't really mind sharing the space as long as Dellons didn't do anything weird.

Well… he called me Princess again, and that 'stunning' compliment just now was weird, but I'll just ignore that—Kris looked upward at the night sky and was greeted with a lot of twinkling stars and the last quarter moon with its pale light. It was quite beautiful actually.

A few minutes of comfortable silence later, Kris grew curious about the event that occurred on their way home earlier.

"So…" Kris drawled, earning him Dellons' attention. "Why were you harassing them again?" Kris tried to understand the motivation of this Dellons to do such things to other people. Maybe he still wanted to find that excuse behind excuse for Dellons' crazy behavior in his universe, still unable to accept that he betrayed them all without some kind of important reason. Or Kris was only biased because this Dellons didn't seem as villainous as his world Dellons.

"Wow, what a shock! Princess is finally having an interest in me!" Dellons looked mockingly ecstatic and Kris decided to kick the guy on his knee, causing him to yelp and crouch down in pain, "And still as violent as ever…" nursing his abused left kneecap with one hand, while his other one kept holding his ciggy tightly.

"Quit calling me that, you- jackass!" Kris scowled. "I don't even know why I bother. You're just being an ass like your usual self," he huffed angrily after that.

"Man, you and your prissy temper needs rehabilitation…" Dellons stood again, still looking completely regal with his sly smirk, not seeming in pain at all as he drew another smoke.

"And your annoying mug needs makeover," Kris retorted in frustration as Dellons blinked once at him before he barked a laugh and started doubling over. God was he laughing like dying hyena. Kris regretted calling him over earlier to start this foolish conversation. It was really stupid of him, seriously.

"Oh, and you need to do something about your obvious infatuation towards Rudy," Dellons said again suddenly, between his exaggerated laughter and Kris' left eye twitched as he inwardly bemoaned his decision in sharing space with this indelicate piece of shit.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Kris growled.

"Oho… playing denial are we?" Now, after he was calming his cackling, Dellons' smirk was extraordinarily annoying and Kris wanted to kick his ass very much.

"Keep your delusion to yourself, you crazy bastard," Kris turned away from the blond, harrumphing condescendingly.

"The only person who's blind of your affection to Rudy is Rudy himself," Dellons continued, not caring that Kris was resolutely snubbing him. "He's too dense to see romantic feeling whether it's subtle or thrown in his face. An annoyingly too good person with straight, simple mind and lack of greed.. seems like the dream man, but he's ignorant to lust and love, stringing hearts left and right, but neither realizing nor acknowledging it. Isn't he a cruel man?"

Kris bit his lower lip to stop himself for reacting to Dellons provocation. He needed to appear that he wasn't interested in Rudy romantically. He wouldn't give Dellons the satisfaction of revealing his feelings for the brunet by defending Rudy.

"That… coming from a womanizer like you is like a pot calling a kettle black," Kris scoffed, finally unable to keep himself from insulting Dellons instead. He still refused to look at Dellons though, because he knew Dellons were grinning like a Cheshire cat as he spoke.

"Hey, now, I always acknowledge romantic feelings around me, you know? Or else I wouldn't date those women," Dellons' voice turned playful.

"But you're never serious with them," Kris retorted coldly.

"True, I told them I wasn't interested in romantic relationship with them. Isn't that better than not noticing them at all?" Dellons' tone sounded proud, but there was something else in his voice. A hint of something… more peculiar.

"Isn't that just your commitment issue?" Kris griped and Dellons was surprisingly silent after that. Maybe Kris had hit the bull-eye.

"Nah," Dellons responded a few seconds later. "I just like my freedom better," he sounded wistful after that. There was a pregnant silence for a minute before—

"But, if it's with you, Kris… I won't mind being tied down."

Kris's body tensed up as suddenly Dellons' voice was so much closer to his right ear. Kris tried to move away, but Dellons' arms enveloped his body from behind, encircling his side, while his broad chest was on Kris' back, his presence totally enclosing him.

"… Let go," Kris warned slowly, ready to elbow the guy behind him if he refused.

"Hmm… your body reaction to my ministration is really quite different from it to Rudy," Dellons laughed slightly. Kris could feel the deep vibration on Dellons chest through his back. "I await the day you'll react to my presence that way too, Kris," he added in amusement before he bit Kris' earlobe and his free hand and fingers caressed his clothed stomach, and Kris really did launch his elbow attack right after, but Dellons was faster enough to let go and move back, before the upper right quadrant of his own gut received damage from it.

Dellons was still laughing as Kris turned and growled angrily at the blond, while his hand was on his right ear, feeling extra bothered and much more uncomfortable. For a moment there, Kris felt danger to his chastity. Though, apparently Dellons was done with his smoke (and harassment) and put the light out with his thumb and index finger before flinging the filter away, out of the veranda.

"Dellons, you jerk! You could start a fire like that!" Kris shouted, but Dellons just waved at him callously, not stopping his walk at all. "Asshole," Kris grunted once again, looking at underneath the veranda to make sure that the cigarette butt was really out. It wouldn't be funny if their house burned down because of it after all.

Kris didn't really think about what Dellons said when he held him from behind earlier. Thinking about that would only bring unnecessary confusion after all. It was just a joke from Dellons.

"If it's with you, Kris…"

Kris shook his head to shake off Dellons's voice from his remembrance. Yes… it was just a joke. Dellons is a total ass, remember?—then he covered his face with one hand, still refusing to acknowledge how much hotter the skin there compared to the rest of his body.


~A Seven Knights Fan Fiction~


The next blind morning, before everyone else was up, Kris knocked on Rudy's room door to apologize. Rudy still looked half asleep when he opened the door and only blinked twice before he let Kris inside his room.

"I'm sorry for shoving you away last night and ruining the mood at dinner," Kris spoke slowly, a bit tentatively.

"Hey, I'm the one who should apologize," Rudy smiled contritely as he rested his back against the door. "I invaded your personal space without permission. Of course you'd get angry. I wasn't thinking at the time because I was concerned whether you were sick or not. I hope you'd forgive me," he said, reaching his hand above Kris' head, as if he was about to ruffle Kris' hair, but then seemed to remember something and change his mind as he pulled back.

Kris blinked at Rudy rather confusedly.

"Sorry, bad habit. I almost touched you without permission again," Rudy scratched his own left cheek sheepishly instead.

Kris was silent the entire time, looking down at his feet and felt quite saddened that Rudy had to hold himself back when he was dealing with Kris. He didn't mean to make Rudy self conscious to that extent. Kris thought about this carefully before making a daring decision. He nodded slightly and then reached out his left hand to touch Rudy's right one that dangled idly at his side.

Rudy looked surprised. "Kris?"

"It… is not like I hate your touch," Kris spoke lowly, slowly looking up to glance at Rudy's amber eyes. "If I hated it, I wouldn't let you touch me at all before," he continued, squeezing Rudy's hand slightly, trying to be reassuring and encouraging at the same time.

Rudy was speechless for a moment, alternatively looking at his hand that was still in Kris grasp and at Kris' face, before a small soft smile bloomed on his own face. "Permission to hug?" he asked, his smile gradually widening as Kris promptly flushed and poked at his stomach with his other hand.

"I-idiot! Don't just ask about something like that so suddenly!" Kris protested, completely embarrassed, but Rudy didn't seem to really care as he used his right arm to encircled Kris' right shoulder and put his right palm on Kris head as he pulled his body so closely to him, until Kris face rested on Rudy's left shoulder and Rudy turned his left palm up to link his hand and fingers properly with him. "Rudy!" Kris was rather shocked with this turn of event, but he didn't exactly struggle to free himself as well despite his thunderous heart beating. He didn't know how to situate his right hand that was trapped between their bodies though, so he decided to just spread his palm up on Rudy's chest.

Kris could sense the taller tanner man in front of him grinning as Rudy held him tightly, his palm feeling Rudy's heartbeat, steady and strong. "I'm just really glad, Kris," Rudy said, his melodious voice was just an inch from his ear, and then Kris also could feel a tiny kiss on his hair. It was really unfair how Rudy could be so calm when he did such awkward thing. Kris was just glad that the others weren't around to see this too disgustingly sweet display of affection.

After a minute though, Kris' slightly overwrought body was gradually melting in Rudy's embrace. He was still somewhat embarrassed, but it couldn't be helped since he inhaled Rudy's wonderfully comforting scent and felt his pleasant body warmth seeping through his sweat shirt. It was really nice and Kris felt that he could stay like this forever, like being inside a dream.

"I'm so happy…" Rudy spoke again tenderly, tightening his hold slightly, "Because you're my precious family and friend."

Kris bit his lower lip to hold down his flinch at the reminder of reality. That's right. I can't forget this…

For Rudy, it wasn't anything special. He did this to all his friends and family.

The hug lasted for five… maybe ten minutes before Kris grew antsy and forcefully pulled back. "Until when are you going to do this?" He looked away, still feeling warm on his cheeks and Rudy's hands weren't completely off of his own hand and shoulder.

"Until I'm satisfied," Rudy grinned again cheekily.

"Don't be so full of yourself," Kris chided, a bit annoyed, but didn't actually make any further move to disentangle himself from Rudy's hold.

Rudy's grin turned softer as he gazed at Kris' face and Kris felt the stare, so he looked back to him. "What?" he asked inquisitively. Rudy didn't reply immediately, but looking more deeply into Kris' ruby eyes, making Kris raise one of his eyebrows oddly. "What is it?" he repeated his question.

"No, well…" Rudy started, his expression looking a bit self-conscious all of sudden, but neither let go nor strayed his eyes from Kris'. "Kris…" Now he sounded somber and Kris couldn't help feeling that it was important for him to listen carefully. "I… towards you…"

Eh?

However, before Rudy could finalize his words, the sound of repeatedly loud knocking on the door startled both him and Kris that they jumped back, away from each other, followed by—

"Oi, Rudy! Are you up? Come on, man, you said you wanted to jog with me today. You even set my alarm an hour early! If you're still in dream land right now, I'm gonna kick your ass!" It was Dellons' voice and he sounded impatient.

Rudy laughed diffidently at that. "Yeah, I'm up Dell! Give me a minute. Going to change my clothes first and I'll be there!" he responded to the call before he turned back to Kris. "You don't mind, do you?"

Kris shook his head and turned away in courtesy as Rudy pulled his shirt off while walking to his wardrobe.

"By the way," Dellons' voice was heard again. "Do you know where Kris is? I went to his room to catch and stare at his sleeping face, but he wasn't there."

A vein popped up on Kris' head while Rudy choked at that. "W-wait, Dell—!" Rudy apparently tried to stop Dellons from blabbering his crime, but it was too late as the blond continued.

"Kris' sleeping face is like an angel. It's such a shame that he can't maintain that precious expression while he's awake," Dellons sounded contemplative and Kris couldn't hold his twitching eyebrows and annoyance anymore as he walked to the door and opened it.

"I see… aside being a pervert now I know you're a criminal through and through," Kris hissed menacingly at Dellons' widened eyes as he caught Kris' pissed off look behind the door. It lasted only a second before a smirk adorned his face. "I locked my door. You were breaking and entering, you ass!" Kris cracked his knuckles as he was ready to pummel the grinning guy.

"Well, well, look who's here. Princess, are you having an affair when I'm not looking? That makes me sad," Dellons set a mocking unhappy look as a distraction of his crime and more veins popped up on Kris' head at that.

"Who is having an affair, you bastard?!" Kris launched a punch that was expertly dodged by Dellons who sidestepped him and slithered his way into Rudy's room.

"Rudy, how could you? My best friend and my boyfriend!" Apparently, Dellons wasn't finished with his theatrical drama queen's act as he faced the face-palming Rudy.

"Whom are you calling your boyfriend?! Quit joking around, asshole!" Kris shouted more loudly, getting increasingly thwarted and humiliated. It was in front of Rudy for god's sake!

"Ah, what are you talking about? Of course it's you, Kris-baby. Didn't we tie our oath last night?" Now Dellons turned to him and blinked at him in fake innocent gesture. It made Kris want to barf seeing it.

"Why don't you try to die once?" Kris deadpanned and gave him a finger (screw dignity!), and Dellons immediately threw himself at Rudy for some reason.

"That's cruel! That's so cruel, Princess! Rudy, my princess is being cruel to me! Console me please!" He feigned crying as he hugged the resigned, tired-looking brunet.

"Alright, alright," Rudy patted Dellons' back awkwardly, going along with the travesty while smiling and shaking his head in exasperation. Seeing that only made Kris madder.

How dare he touch Rudy so familiarly!

"Dellons!" Kris was about to March there and kicked Dellons away, but Dellons quickly let go off Rudy and hid himself behind the brunet while laughing.

"Now, now, don't be so mad, Kris-honey. It was just a joke," Dellons continued cackling while Kris was snarling and Rudy chided the blond that he deserved it since he broke into Kris' room in the first place. "Nah. That was the joke. I just knocked on his door, but Kris didn't respond, so I knew he wasn't there. Kris is such a light sleeper. There's no way I could break into his room without waking him up." Dellons explained further while he rested his chin on Rudy's right shoulder and both of his hands held onto Rudy's arms.

Well, that was true. Kris was really a light sleeper. He would notice the slightest noise if it didn't belong in his room. Still… Does Dellons really have to be such a jerk?! He's still too freaking close to Rudy!

Kris' killer glare intensified heatedly on Dellons, and the blond chuckled, seeming to notice the jealousy, as he looked at his own position that was quite friendly with his best friend. "Well, why don't you join us in our morning jog, Princess?" he offered to Kris with a knowing smirk, but didn't move away from Rudy's personal space.

"I told you to stop calling me like that!" Kris retorted angrily.

"Your disgruntled face is very cute," Dellons sniggered and Kris seethed at him in total infuriation.

"That's right, Kris. Why don't you join us?" Rudy also offered, apparently thinking it was a great idea to diffuse the argument before it turned into a real fight. Well, it was already a one-sided fight in Kris' perspective, but since it was Rudy who offered this time, Kris thought further about the pro and the contra.

Kris didn't like the idea of leaving Rudy alone with Dellons. Dellons was a womanizer, yes, but the fact that he flirted with Kris all the time opened the possibility that Dellons swung both ways. He wouldn't let Dellons lay a finger on Rudy no matter what.

"Fine," Kris finally agreed, looking the other way. "Just for today…" he flushed slightly because damn it! He was actually jealous of Dellons and Rudy's closeness! That was too embarrassing!

"Whoa! That's a tsundere's* trait right there! So cute! Princess is so adorable!" Dellons chortled some more and Kris's face turned even redder.

"Shut up, Dellons!"

"Where on earth did you learn such word…?" Rudy just couldn't help asking Dellons in bewilderment as the three of them went out of his room to go for that jog.

End of Round 2

Tbc…


Additional Notes:

Tsundere: derived from words tsun-tsun (cold, mean) and dere-dere (caring, loving), a personality that was a mix of both cold and mean (in front of other people or the outside), but totally caring and loving (on the inside)

A/N: Whoa, can't believe it went this far. I had too much fun making the interaction between the Seven Knights in this round. Man, why did I make Dellons such a jerk? *laughs* Out of all the Seven Knights, I actually like Dellons most, both of his ability and his physical feature. True, Kris is beautiful and Rudy is very handsome, but Dellons has this… aura and sexiness that I can't resist *still laughing*. Anyway, my babble aside, what do you guys think of this round? I'd like some feedback… It will make me very happy and more pumped up to update this story.

Teaser:

"Hey, Dellons…"

Dellons turned to face his best friend with a raised eyebrow. "What?" He asked as Rudy looked rather hesitant for some reason. "You know you can always tell me anything, right?" He felt rather weird that Rudy was beings self conscious around him now, since they had been friends since high school.

"No, well…" Rudy looked the other way for a moment, seeming to contemplative how to say whatever he wanted to say. "It's-," he started then, still not looking back at Dellons, "It's about last night… when you were with Kris on the veranda…"

Dellons blinked once before he smirked. "What, you were there? Pervert," and he decided to tease Rudy, because it was so much fun to mess with his best friend as well.