Work Text:
Epel was late, and it was entirely Rook's fault, though Rook clearly didn't see it that way.
"Just a moment more, Monsieur Pommette! Vil was very specific about the instructions!”
Epel sighed and kept walking, hands shoved in his pockets, while Rook strolled alongside him, laying out the steps for the new SPF routine Vil had formulated for the first year. He'd caught Epel outside the greenhouse ten minutes ago, right as Epel was headed out to meet his friends to hang out and find a way to cool down from the early summer sun.
"He says to use the blue vial only on your nose and cheeks. The grey bottle is for the rest of your body.
"It's Sunscreen, Rook-senpai. It's not that deep."
"Would you say that to Vil?” The Vicewardens' gaze was amused as Epel widened his eyes and he shook his head.
“No thanks, I don’t want another 20-minute lecture on skincare. Vil’s nuts sometimes. Now I gotta go.” Epel picked up the pace, hoping Rook would take the hint and move on. He was late meeting the others as it was, and he was sweating bullets in this heat. He didn’t want to miss them if they decided to go somewhere else.
He heard it before he saw it; a squeal and a curse, splashing, and something that might have been Ace laughing. Epel rounded the corner into the courtyard with Rook half a step behind him, still talking about serums, and realized they’d walked straight into a warzone.
Water balloons were flying left and right, some popping when they hit and some bouncing to roll across the ground.
Ace had one in each hand and was using poor Jack as a shield. Deuce had climbed halfway up a low wall for higher ground and was pelting both of them from above, soaked to the bone with a slightly crazy grin on his face. Sebek was shouting something about retribution, while Ortho was zipping around the edges collecting unbroken balloons and passing them to all parties like the enabling chaos goblin that only the first years knew him as.
“Where in tarnation did they get that many water ballo—”
He didn't even get the rest of the sentence out before a balloon came sailing in from somewhere off to his left, and hit Rook square in the face. Ace froze, arm outstretched as he saw who he’d it.
“Oh, Shit…”
Epel slowly turned; Rook had gone completely still, water dripping steadily off his chin, blinking through his soaked bangs.
"Rook…senpai?"
Rook didn't answer right away. He reached up, slow and deliberate, and pushed back his wet hair and Epel noticed with growing fear that the hunter had a benign smile on his face.
"Senpai, you don't have to—"
"Monsieur Marionette!" Rook called out, already moving. "Might I trouble you for some of those balloons?"
Ortho giggled in a way that was reminiscent of Idia and handed Rook a whole bucket of balloons. Rook used his sash to secure the bucket to his hip and picked up a balloon in each hand.
"Awww, Shit. Run Ace!”
Before he could listen to Epel, Rook had let fly, hitting Ace in the chin; water splashing over his face. At the same time, his other hand flung out without looking; that balloon caught Jack directly in the side before Jack even registered Rook had joined the fight.
“When did he get here?!"
"Just now!" Epel yelled as he was hit by a retaliatory balloon from Ace. “Hey! I didn’t hit you, he did!” He growled and stole a few balloons from Rook's bucket.
“No Rules, Every man for himself!” The redhead yelled as he threw another balloon directly at Rook.
"I would remind you," Rook said, catching Ace's balloon out of the air somehow. "that I have spent a great many years perfecting the art of hitting a moving target."
Ace got hit square in the chest before he could even process what had happened.
"Okay, that's not fair; he wasn’t invited."
"Ahh, but you said no rules, Monseiur Heart," Rook pointed out, already reaching for his next balloon. "I am simply participating."
“Ya did hit him Ace; that’s basically invitin’ him!” Epel called, as he darted along the grass lobbing a balloon at Deuce. A feral grin spread across his face at the direct hit. Then a balloon hit him in the shoulder, and he turned to face his attacker.
"Ortho!"
"Sorry, Epel! You were standing there!" Ortho didn't sound very sorry. He didn’t look very sorry either, golden eyes sparkling with mirth. “Standing still makes you an easy target.”
That settled it. Epel spotted another bucket of balloons—half-full, but that was fine. “No rules means we can team up! I call Rook and Sebek!”
“I am honored, Monsieur Pommette!”
"Hey, Sebek!" Epel called, tossing him a balloon. "Catch!"
The taller boy caught it and spun, throwing it in Jack’s direction.
“For Waka-sama and Team PomSomnia!”
Epel didn't have time to argue the awful team name because Deuce had emerged from behind a tree with a fresh bucket of ammo and was clearly gunning for payback on Ace's behalf.
Ace accepted a handful of balloons from Ortho as he pulled Jack behind a tree.
“Which team are you on, Ortho!”
“I am on my own team.” The android said with an evil little smile.
The fight dissolved into chaos after that, balloons flying in every direction.
Through it all, Rook remained almost unfairly good, picking off targets with the same calm precision he used in archery.
By the time the buckets ran empty and everyone finally called a truce — mostly because Sebek’s stomach had growled audibly and all had suddenly realized they were ravenous- the area was a mess. Matted grass, popped balloon scraps, and puddles lay everywhere.
Epel wrung out the hem of his shirt and glanced over at Rook, who was calmly wiping water off his face with a handkerchief of all things, looking entirely too pleased with himself for someone who'd started the whole thing by getting ambushed.
"Have fun, Rook-senpai?" Epel asked.
"Oui! " Rook clapped his hands gleefully. "I had not expected to be recruited into a water war today, but I find I have no complaints."
“If ya’d waited till I got back to tell me about the sunscreen ya wouldn’t have gotten hit.”
"Ah, but then I would have missed all this." Rook glanced back at the others who were hunting down balloon scraps and cleaning the area. None wanted to get detention for the mess. “It was invigorating, non?”
Epel couldn't really argue with that. He was soaked, his shoes were squelching with every step, and he knew he’d get it from Vil for tracking water into the dorm, but he was cool for the first time all week, and he’d had a great time.
“Perhaps next time you will invite me again?”
Epel grinned as he turned to his Vice-warden. “Only if you're on my team again. You can be scary when you wanna be.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way, Monsieur Pommette!”