"I swear, if one more professor gives me a group project, I'm dropping out and becoming a rice farmer," Marcus declared, dramatically flopping onto Liam's bed like it owed him money.
"You failed your gardening elective last semester," Josh pointed out.
"I forgot to water the plants for one week—ONE WEEK—and suddenly I'm 'a danger to botany.'"
Kenji grinned from the floor, controller in hand, eyes glued to the TV as the character on screen double-jumped into lava. "You also named your cactus Blade the Destroyer."
"Respect the name," Marcus said, pointing at him. "He had a personality."
It was Friday night, and Liam's dorm room had once again become the unofficial hangout spot. Empty pizza boxes sat stacked like a leaning tower of regret on the desk, and the air was filled with the scent of pepperoni, soda, and boyhood chaos.
"Where's Ivy?" Kenji asked without looking up.
Marcus answered while rifling through Liam's snack drawer. "She said she'd be late. Something about getting 'revenge' on Josh."
Josh blinked. "On me? What did I do?"
"You used her laptop and changed her wallpaper to your face, but with a mustache edited on."
"That's art," Josh said with a smug smile.
"Terrifying art," Liam added.
"Look," Josh defended, "if someone leaves their laptop unattended around me, that's on them. I'm like digital karma."
There was a knock at the door.
Liam got up to answer—and found Ivy standing there holding a giant glittery poster that read in obnoxious bubble letters:"WARNING: FLIRT DANGER ZONE"Below it, a photo of Josh from last year's sports fest, mid-sneeze, mid-run, with the world's worst facial expression.
She slapped it onto the wall behind him.
"Payback," she said sweetly.
The entire room lost it.
Josh stared in horror. "You kept that photo?!"
"Kept it? I made backups," Ivy said, tossing him a USB labeled The Sneeze Chronicles.
Kenji nearly choked on his soda.
Marcus pulled out his phone. "This is going on the group chat banner. No arguments."
As the laughter died down, they all relaxed into the kind of comfort only long-standing friendships offer—no pressure, just relentless teasing, shared inside jokes, and memories that could be weaponized at any time.
"By the way," Marcus said, "Liam, spill. You met with Cara, didn't you?"
The room went silent. Five sets of eyes turned to Liam, who was mid-sip of his soda.
He choked.
"Oh my god," Josh said. "You did. You totally did."
"Ivy, plug in the heart monitor—we're about to watch a romance anime in real life," Kenji said, already grinning.
Liam sighed. "It wasn't like that."
Marcus gasped dramatically. "She kissed you?!"
"No!"
"Almost kissed?"
"No!"
"She said she's always loved you?"
Liam groaned. "Can you all shut up for one second?"
Everyone stared. Then Ivy leaned forward. "Well?"
He hesitated… then smiled slightly. "We talked. Like... really talked."
Marcus held up a finger. "So, emotionally productive, romantically ambiguous. Got it."
"She said she didn't want me to be the rebound," Liam said. "And I told her I didn't want to be."
Ivy raised her brows. "Wow. That's... surprisingly mature for you."
"I can be mature."
"You once ate five packs of Pop Rocks to see if you could burp the alphabet."
Liam muttered.
The night wore on with more games, more jokes, and more chaos. Marcus tried to beat Kenji in Smash Bros. and failed miserably. Josh kept updating Ivy's poster with glittery additions like "Drama King" and "Certified Menace." Liam caught Ivy and Josh exchanging subtle glances, and quietly filed it away for future teasing ammo.
But more than anything, it was laughter. Real, unfiltered laughter. The kind that came from being around people who knew your worst stories and still chose to sit beside you.
Later, when most of the group had passed out or left, Liam sat with Ivy on the steps outside the dorms, enjoying the breeze.
"So," she said, sipping from a cup of melted soda, "you still crushing on her?"
Liam shrugged. "Yeah. But I'm trying not to rush anything."
"Good." She paused. "You deserve something real."
He glanced at her. "You and Josh...?"
Ivy smirked. "What about us?"
"Come on. We've all seen the banter. The glances. The weird amount of insults exchanged with flirty undertones."
She rolled her eyes. "Please. If I wanted to flirt, I'd do it properly."
"You named a cockroach after him in Bio class."
"And it lived longer than our lab team expected, thank you very much."
They both laughed.
Then Ivy said, "But... maybe."
Liam nodded.
Things were changing.
Feelings were shifting.
But for now, under the night sky with leftover pizza in the fridge and glitter posters on the wall, everything felt just right.