PROLOGUE: BICKER

Many people pray to be kept out of unexpected problems. Some people pray to be able to confront and overcome them.
-Toba Beta

Tobias Prince, the hard-ass flirtatious delinquent who doesn't even believe in God but is one of Oliver's three dorm roommates at their very religious Catholic school, is staring at the shorter boy with a wicked glare and an even meaner mouth, twisted in a thin line -arms crossed over his chest and boots tapping ceaselessly on the floor.

"I didn't do it!"

"Well it wasn't me, and you're the only other person who sleeps in this room!"

Though there are four boys in a dorm, there's two rooms the boys are split between with their bathroom and small living room between them.

Once their bickering led Tobias to climb- -and fall- -from the highest tree on the campus that was just over two sheds the ground's keeper used, because he said he knew how to land well and Oliver said he'd break something or, hopefully as Oliver said, himself.

A broken arm and a bruised ego led to Oliver grinning all while having to carry Tobias's things until he got his cast off.

Which of course his other two best friends, Jason Eaton and Felix Holden, mocked him for relentlessly.

The moment Oliver met Tobias he knew that he should get a bit more patience to deal with the delinquent, but instead he just lost a bit of that as well as dignity.

Hell, Oliver was the most put together person that he knew, and even annoyed as he was, and bothered and angry and-

Well, this was Tobias.

As annoying as he was, he was his best friend, one of three. They were bound at the hip and though their arguments were stupid, and they led to injuries and sometimes tears, they never left each other.

And never argued about anything serious, most importantly.

See, when Tobias first got to Saint Agnes, it was just Oliver, Felix and Jason who had been best friends since first form.

Oliver was just this dorky, five-foot-nothing toothpick with an affinity for flowers and birds, and any delicious hot drink he could get his hands on. His brown hair and light blue eyes always stood out, he always looked annoyingly innocent, in Tobias's opinion.

An innocent, adorable boy who's blush was on his cheeks almost as much as his freckles even now, even after he grew six inches and filled out.

Jason was always tall, even back then, and he had always had this goofy, tired energy about him that none of the others could quite describe other than he acts like someone who's trying too hard to be cool, without the trying too hard part.

His black hair and grey eyes added into his height provided reason for that but that was nothing that he could control either.

With red hair, bright green eyes and thick-framed glasses, Felix stood out in the group and although he wasn't as short as Oliver, he wasn't tall enough to be considered tall either. He was truly the jester of the group.

Their group worked well and they were all best friends at this point, none of them had to argue about that.

Jason was the serious one but also the one who cared the most, the subsequent mom of the group. Felix was the funny and often clumsy one, who had something humorous to say and if he didn't, his confusion was amusement enough. He was like a walking meme.

They all knew he wasn't stupid, and though they joked like he was, at the end of the day they always reminded him he was smarter than most the people they knew.

After an incident in year ten when Tobias was still new, Felix revealed to them he actually thought he was stupid.

None of them liked knowing that.

While Felix was like the cute little brother they would all die for, Tobias and Oliver were the annoying kids.

They bickered incessantly, which made Jason scold them a number of times and Tobias, true to his nature, was the problem child and fought Jason almost as much as he did Oliver.

At this moment they were arguing because when Tobias and Oliver got back to their dorm after gym class, which is their last class of the day, Oliver's space was messed up and his hidden snack box was on his bed and practically empty.

Little did either know it was actually one of their other two best friends who ransacked his space because he knew he had hidden snacks.

Felix just wasn't feeling well and Jason, who shared the room on the other side of the dorm with him, thought that it wasn't anything a little chocolate, missing his first two classes with annoying nuns and building a fort with their beds couldn't fix.

They watched Up and if Jason had to defend himself, he'd say it should be illegal to watch Up without chocolate or popcorn.

Yet there Oliver and Tobias were, staring vehemently into each other's eyes, leaning into each other with arms crossed -both too stubborn to admit anything, especially fault.

"You're being unreasonable, Ollie."

"Well you're being stupid."

The delinquent's glare doubles, "Watch it."

"Or what, Toby?" Oliver rolls his eyes, not worried. "You gonna spank me?"

For Oliver Jordan, this reply came easily as he mimics Tobias's stance, not one to back down until he's forced to, intimidated or yelled at by a superior -which is often the other boy's fault as well.

"You know..." Tobias trails off with a chuckle, hand lifting to take off his family ring off his dominant hand to switch it to his right, as if preparing. "That's pretty tempting."

Seeing the immediate danger he's in the moment Tobias takes a step forward, Oliver makes a noise between a shout and a squeak, making the smile on Tobias's face seem all the more predatory.

Turning sharply on heel but stumbling over his now messed up, half empty shoe rack leaning half-way out of his oddly opened closet, Oliver stumbles through the space before catching himself against the door.

Yanking on the door of their room is useless, as Tobias crosses the space twice as fast without tripping a bit and pins it closed.

"Ah, ah, ah, Ollie," Tobias says, head dipping down so his mouth is right next to his ear. "You can't make a suggestion like that and just run away."

"Fuck you!" Oliver hisses back, pressing himself into the door more to desperately pull himself away from the stimulating heat Tobias's body provides.

"Clearly, that's what I'm trying to accomplish."

Not so much bothered by the idea than bothered that he'd let Tobias push him around while liking it, Oliver instantly jerks on the door and shouts, "Seriously, fuck you!"

Surprised by the suddenness of it, Tobias lets his hold slip and the pounding in his chest as Oliver throws the door open makes him feel like the smaller boy is his real prey just a bit too much.

Nonetheless, Tobias chases after him and catches up almost instantly, wrapping his arms around Oliver's waist and lifting him into the air with a loud shriek.

Almost like it was cosmically planned all for the humor of it, it's this moment that Felix and Jason come into the dorm.

Since the their room is closest to the building entrance and the one all the way on the other side of the dorm was shared by the other boys, Oliver was right in the hallway next to the dorm door when he was caught and his foot, kicked into the air as Tobias lifted him, caught Felix's glasses on the way up and Jason's baseball hat on the way down.

All three boys affected shout out, two cursing protests and Oliver cursing Tobias.

Tobias, with no shame, just says, "Huh. Three for one. That has got to be the best deal I've seen for a while."

Jason looks up and there's clearly murder in his eyes, and since he's on Saint Agnes's lacrosse team as an attacker, Oliver knows getting tackled or hit by him would hurt.

And probably leave more bruises than the suddenly all-too-tight grip Tobias has on him, as the taller boy is preparing to use him as a human shield.

"No, no, Jay, please!" Oliver squawks out, failing his legs as Jason continues to storm them all while Tobias backs up. "Please, I didn't mean to do it! Attack him after he puts me down, please, please! Felix, stop him. Felix! Lex!"

Felix quickly gets between Jason and his other two best friends, but the shake in his shoulders told Oliver he wasn't taking this very seriously at all.

Idiots, Oliver decides. They're all idiots.

"Hey man," Felix says, waving his hands. "If you wait to beat up Toby, I promise I won't eat all your chicken nuggets later, just some of them. Promise. I swear on my mom's life."

"Felix, your mom is dead." Jason deadpans -the redhead not being sensitive to it, as he had never known his mom well and it happened when he was much younger.

"Oh, yeah." He blinks, making a face before turning to Oliver helplessly. "I tried bro."

Jason steps forward again and Oliver kicks out in a panic, foot planting on his chest but it backfires because it makes Tobias's fingers dig into his ribs and Jason just grabs onto his ankle.

Oliver knew he'd take the chance to pull him to fall painfully on the ground if he could. "Dude, please, I won't get in your way at all if you just want to beat him up once he puts me down."

"Fine." He says, grey eyes narrowing at Oliver -only agreeing because Felix's bullshit had distracted him enough that he calmed down. "As soon as he lets you go. No interfering."

Oliver felt like he was getting threatened with one of his mother's long fingernails pressed into his chest all over again.

Yeech.

Tobias snickers, relaxing enough to set Oliver back to the ground but pointedly keeps his arms wrapped around him, albeit not tight enough to leave bruises anymore.

But still tight enough to tell Oliver he's not escaping anytime soon.

"Hey Ollie, guess what's not happening anytime soon?"

"Shut up, Toby."

After a few hours it was dinner time, and like they did most nights the four boys were eating in their dorm.

Felix was on his beanbag in the corner of their small living room, munching away on a bag of Doritos that he substituted for a real dinner while Jason gave him annoyed looks from the other side of the room.

As the one who ordered real food for their dinner, Jason thought he had full right to judge him but had no clue that Felix was feeling superior right back because he had a beanbag all while the lacrosse player was sitting on the carpet.

Much to both Oliver and Jason's annoyance, Tobias kept hold of Oliver the entire time, making a point to always be touching the smaller boy all for the sake of smugness -as it was clear at this point that Jason no longer cared about being kicked.

At the moment both of Oliver's legs are over Tobias's lap, both boys relaxing back on the couch as they ate the Chinese Jason ordered.

The Chinese food that they could get in trouble for ordering, as it was against school rules.

It wasn't Jason's fault he likes egg rolls so much, just the school's for not recognizing his addiction to take-out.

Done with the fried rice and trying to move onto the sesame chicken, Oliver brings his legs down and leans over to reach the table where all the food is but Tobias stops him short by wrapping an arm around his hips and bringing him down this time to sit on his lap.

It was an excuse, at this point, to keep him close

But if Oliver had a problem with that it wasn't nearly as obvious as that fact.

"Who do you think is going to die?" Felix asks, currently behind in everything Marvel but choosing to sit through Infinity War, which is a re-run for the other three boys. "I hope it's no one but like, that's stupid. Thanos, he should die for sure. My top three favorites are Spiderman, Wanda and the Star-Lord guy, but I can't remember his real name but let's ignore that for now."

"Peter Quill?" Jason asks, raising an eyebrow.

Felix snaps and points at him, "Yes! Him!"

Jason shrugs. "I don't think he dies."

"What about Spiderman and Wanda?"

The two boys quickly dissolve into the argument between the 'morals' of spoiling a movie, even though it would only spoil it for Felix, and the good that it does to save someone the heartbreak of getting attached to a character.

This allows Tobias to turn to Oliver with a wide, smug grin. "I'm gonna tell him."

"Don't you dare!" Oliver says, squirming in place but all too aware that Tobias wasn't going to let him go. "We don't have enough time to watch any other movies tonight. He's going to complain about it for the rest of the week."

"Yeah," The delinquent shrugs. "But you and Jay are the ones who have the most classes with him. I only have English Lit and Calc, and Sister Margaret won't let anyone talk in class. I'll be fine."

"I'll make you let me up right now, and let Jason kick your ass if you do." Is the threat Oliver decides to go with, much to Tobias's amusement.

"Wow, I'm shaking at the knees at the prospect of you making me do something I already decided I was going to do. Eventually, anyway." Moving his legs makes Oliver feel like he's about to fall, and makes him clutch at Tobias's shirt -which is pretty much exactly what Tobias wanted his reaction to be. "How about this deal instead, I won't spoil it for Lex and you stay with me for the rest of the night."

Oliver, able to see the suggestive look in his brown eyes from a mile away, scoffs loudly and grabs the pillow from the end of the couch before attempting to suffocate the taller boy not a second later.

Now that Oliver and Tobias are physically fighting one another, Jason and Felix are distracted from their bickering and watch as Tobias is able to wrestle the pillow away.

And throws it.

Right into the tall bookcase that has all of Jason's perfectly organized movies stacked up in the corner of the room.

Felix is just thankful that it wasn't the TV, so much so that he provides Oliver's grasping hand with another pillow, but Jason instantly takes offense to the matter as his two best friends wrestle each other off the couch and onto the floor.

Beating Tobias away with the pillow, Felix and Oliver work together to pull the shorter boy out from under Tobias, both collapsing onto the beanbag.

One deadly look from a pair of cold brown eyes had both boys realizing they had trapped themselves between a wall, the side of the couch and an unruly, very fit delinquent who may- -or may not- -have slight anger issues.

"Jason!" They both shout in sync, trying to scramble up but their combined efforts just ended in them tripping one another.

"Hey, dipshits." Jason growls, just as annoyed with Tobias as he is with Felix and Oliver. "Sit the fuck down and be quiet or go to bed! We're supposed to be watching Lex cry at movies, not fighting each other over throw pillows and Chinese."

"I just want to point out," Felix adds in a small, almost embarrassed voice. "That the Chinese actually had nothing to do with it."

Jason could only sigh, running a hand down his face.

This was going to be a long day...