Chapter Text
To put it plainly, Lysander Cavendish was sad. This is a strange way to start a story, I’ll admit, but it is important for the reader to understand the complexity of Lysander’s situation. He was at a time in his life where the only people who loved him were Jesus, The Boiled One, Jay and Yuri Ayato. Even then, Jay was often preoccupied with the fact that he was part of a K-Pop group, and Jesus was busy answering people’s prayers and whatnot. The Boiled One trotted off everyday to terrorize people physiologically, which made him a difficult person to be friends with, and yet he was Lysander’s bestest mate. And Yuri Ayato, well, he spent most of time at the photography club. So despite having friends, a lot of the time, Lysander was lonely.
Lysander always secretly wished for a romantic partner, someone to understand and love him. He only let himself think these thoughts when no one else was around. Nobody in his friend group talked about relationships much, apart from Jesus, who was in a rocky relationship with a boy in their school named Aaron Warner who played the flute. Apart from that, conversations hardly ever got lovey-dovey. Mostly they liked to discuss the complex structure and life of tCavendish.
Perhaps this was why Lysander was so shocked when one day, whilst they were in the cafeteria eating their lunch, Jesus said out of the blue, “Lysander, are you giving anybody a rose for Valentines?”
It was a tradition at Little Boys and Girls School for people to order roses online for their crushes. Lysander’s friends, being the assholes they are, dared Lysander to send a rose to a boy named Florian DuPont.
Florian DuPont and Lysander Cavendish had a complicated relationship. Lysander was part of the badminton team at Little Boys and Girls School, which meant he was perceived to be quite the jock. Florian, in contrast, played piano for the orchestra, which was a deeply nerdy thing to do and solidified his reputation as a total loser. The orchestra kids and sports kids did not interact with one another. They were enemies.
Lysander and Florian, however, had always been perfectly civil with one another, which led their respective friend groups to tease them and say that they were “gay for each other”. Lysander found this deeply upsetting, because he was not to his knowledge gay for anybody.
“Come on Lysander, don’t be a bore,” said Yuri Ayato. “It would be so funny if you sent Florian a rose. Just as a prank. You don’t actually have to like him or anything.”
“But you totally do,” interrupted Jesus.
“I will pay you a hundred dollars if you do it,” said The Boiled One.
Lysander considered. One hundred dollars was a lot of money. One hundred dollars could buy him a new badminton racket. Maybe… No. He definitely was not going to be buying a Valentine's Day rose for Florian. He just couldn’t.
To make matters worse for the longstanding battle between the orchestra kids and the sports kids, this year both groups were travelling to the same place– Yaoiville. The orchestra was going there to perform on stage, while the badminton team was playing a tournament there. The teachers, unaware of the beef between the two groups, set it up so that they would all be staying at the same hotel in Yaoiville for the one week their performances/tournaments lasted.
Lysander’s phone dinged, pulling him out of his train of thought.
You received 1 new email!
From: Donald J Trump
To: All Members of Badminton Team
breathes
Hi all,
Please remember to pack your bags with the appropriate equipment and be on time at the bus bay at 9AM next morning to leave for our trip to Yaoiville. breathes
List of items to pack:
Badminton racket
Enough clothing for 1 week (forecast is sunny)
Water bottle
breathes
Toothpaste & toothbrush
Deodorant
Sunscreen
breathes
Any medication (alert teachers)
Can’t wait to see you all there so we can kick some butts at the tournament! One more notice– please be respectful to our hosts at the hotel we will be staying at. As you know, we will be sharing our living quarters with our school’s orchestra as well. You have been paired up randomly for sleeping arrangements so you may not be with your friends or anybody you know. Be brave and resilient!
breathes
Peace out,
Coach Trump.
Lysander’s friends looked up from their phones where they were undoubtedly reading the same message.
“You never know, Lysander, you might get paired to room with your boyfriend Florian,” said Jesus teasingly. It was a harmless joke but little did he know, his prophecy may just come true…
Lysander sighed. It was going to be a long week away.
┈┈・୨ ✦ ୧・┈┈
The packed suitcase sat on the tidy bed, nothing left to be done. Lysander had finished packing and now he put on his headphones to play some Geometry Dash phonk music while he waited for his Mum to call him for dinner. He did not even consider going to help her because he was a lazy little shit and he wanted to be alone with his thoughts.
Sebby lay by his feet as he tried to get his brain to relax. The tournament would be fine, he was a “pretty good” badminton player. It was more the people that were the issue. There was no doubt there was going to be high tensions in the hotel. There were definitely going to be fights between the orchestra kids and the badminton players. The only thing Lysander could hope for was that he would not be directly involved, and that the person he was assigned to room with wouldn’t be too annoying (Florian?).
The music did little to calm him down. He was still thinking about Florian, about the dare his friends had proposed to him. One valentines day rose for one-hundred dollars. He had to admit, it was a good deal. Maybe he should just stop being so sensitive. If he could push past his difficult emotions, he could earn himself a hundred dollars. But was it worth risking his unspoken alliance with Florian? Would it weird him out?
You’re such a baby, Lysander, he thought to himself, and shook his head at the negative thought. Lysander was not a baby. Lysander was brave. He was well-liked. He was strong. He was a pretty good badminton player. He would not let this destroy him.
And so, Lysander opened his phone and clicked on a message that had been sent out the previous week.
Order your valentines roses!
He clicked the order button and began to fill out the form.
Your name: Lysander Cavendish
Year level: 11
Person you are buying for: Florian DuPont
Their year level: 11
Number of roses: 1
Special message to go with: N/A
Delivery place: Yaoiville Hotel (Badminton and orchestra school trip)
With a shaky breath, he clicked confirm.