{panic(king): changki}

3

The first classes of my day seem to drag by so slowly. Maybe it's the fact that the weather is dreary and cold, and I'm trying to do math when my head's all muddled up. I lean my head on my arm, wishing Hyunwoo was here. He's better at math than I am. The best out of all of us.

The lunch bell finally rings after what seems like days. I shove my things in my bag, and hurry toward the cafeteria. With any luck, Kihyun and Minhyuk would already be there, bickering about why Minhyuk shouldn't eat the cafeteria food. I smile at the thought, and my feet only pick up speed.

A familiar flash of yellow catches my eye, making me stop. This was not the cafeteria. What was he doing? I notice the girl from the cafe that took Kihyun and I's order talking with him. I can't make out anything they're saying, but I can tell that whatever Minhyuk is saying doesn't rub her the right way. It feels wrong to listen in to their conversation, even though a deadly kind of curiosity makes me want to step forward and find out what they're saying. Minhyuk argues back with the same kind of intensity and I wonder what exactly they're arguing about.

I step forward to find out until I feel someone's hand on my shoulder. The blur of pink focuses into Kihyun, and I smile, tapping his nose with my index finger. He blocks my view of Minhyuk and the girl, but I don't really mind it. The sound of his giggle makes me forget what I would have said anyway.

"Hey," I tell him. "You're not in the cafeteria yet?"

He shakes his head. "I had something else I needed to catch up on with Mr. Yang. I'm heading there now, though, so we might as well walk together." He tilts his head at me and his eyes catch the light with a little glimmer.

"Yeah, that sounds nice." I grab his hand and start toward the cafeteria. We walk together in a comfortable silence over to our table, where Jooheon, Hyungwon, Hoseok and Hyunwoo already are.

"There you are!" Jooheon says. "I was just about to text you guys asking where you were."

"I had something to do after class," Kihyun explains.

"And my class is almost on the other side of campus," I say.

"That's what running is for," Hyungwon says before taking a bite of his food.

"You never run," Hoseok says, raising an eyebrow at him.

"I'm never on the other side of campus." Hyungwon seems more interested in picking at his food now than conversation, so we leave him be. I sit on the other side of Jooheon, Kihyun a few seats down next to Hyunwoo and across from Hoseok. I glance down at him to find he's already pulled out the lunch he made this morning.

"Kihyun, that looks so good," Jooheon says, mouth practically watering. Even Hyungwon stops chewing on his beef long enough to look over at the pink-haired boy's lunch.

"I can make you guys lunch if you want, you know," he says, placing one of the kimbap rolls in his mouth.

"Subtle flex about being a better cook than the rest of us," Hyungwon says with a quick roll of his eyes.

"I guess somebody doesn't want fried shrimp tomorrow..." Hyungwon's chopsticks are practically thrown down to his bowl after hearing that, making Kihyun laugh, which makes me smile. I can't help it. Seeing him happy makes me happy. "That's what I thought."

"So you're bringing us fried shrimp tomorrow?" Hoseok asks.

"What did we do?" Hyunwoo asks.

Kihyun shrugs. "I just felt like making you all something for lunch so you can have a break from cafeteria food and eating out. Even though Minhyuk wolfs it down with no problem." His eyes glance toward the door.