{panic(king): changki}

5

"Come on, Wonnie, please?" I hear Hoseok's voice as I take my tray to our table.

"Fine," Hyungwon agrees as I sit down. "Only if I get to pick the place."

"Deal," Hoseok agrees, a smile spreading onto his face. I notice a small one curling Hyungwon's lips up as he looks back at the older boy.

Minhyuk is uncharacteristically quiet. He eats his rice soup in silence, not even glancing over at the two boys beside him.

"What is he picking?" I ask, eating my own dumplings.

"Hyungwon and I are going out for lunch today," Hoseok explains, practically beaming.

"So, like... on a date," Jooheon says, picking a dumpling up with his chopsticks before shoving the entire thing in his mouth.

"No," Hyungwon defends immediately, his cheeks growing a bit red. "Just two friends, hanging out." I hear Minhyuk scoff slightly, but I seem to be the only one who hears him.

"Somebody has a date?" Kihyun asks, sitting down with some leftover kimbap.

"Hyungwon and Hoseok," Jooheon mumbles around his mouthful of dumpling. Minhyuk turns his head, and I glance at him to catch him rolling his eyes.

"It's not a date!" Hyungwon repeats, his voice raising a bit as the red creeps up to his ears.

"We're going for lunch together today," Hoseok says calmly. "That's all."

"Suddenly two friends can't have lunch together, Jooheon?" Kihyun asks. "So if I ask you to go get lunch with me, it's a date?"

Jooheon rubs the back of his neck awkwardly. "No, but I mean, they just seem—"

"It doesn't matter, Jooheon," Kihyun interrupts. "Unless they explicitly say it's a date, it's not."

"Kihyun, it's okay," Hyunwoo says, placing a hand on the pink-haired boy's shoulder. "There's no need to get so defensive about it."

"Even though I'm right," Kihyun scoffs. He goes back to eating.

"Of course," Hyunwoo agrees, patting his head. I wonder why he got so defensive about whether it was a date or not. It's not like it's a big deal or anything. Unless he's jealous.

The thought of Kihyun being jealous swims in my head for a moment. Does he like Hoseok? Hyungwon? I look down the table at him again to find him silently eating his food. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe there's another reason.

"Minhyuk, do you think it's a date or not?" Jooheon asks, not ready to drop the conversation.

Minhyuk looks up from stirring his fascinating bowl of rice soup and looks at Jooheon. He doesn't say anything for a moment, then shrugs. "I don't think it matters," he says. I catch a slight hint of bitterness in his words. He goes back to stirring his soup again.

I watch Hyungwon look over at him, a look of something like hurt passing over his face. The boy with the orange hair wouldn't look at him, and I felt like something was off between them, wrong.

"Changkyun," Kihyun asks suddenly from the end of the table. I turn suddenly to meet his eyes as he sits up. "Do you want to have lunch with me today?" he asks.

"Sure," I say, blinking. Was I being used to prove a point again? "Where are we having lunch?"

"I'll make something at my dorm. You can just knock, I'll be there when you get there. Or I should be, anyway." He lets out a soft laugh and I can't help but smile.

"The way you asked didn't sound like a date," Jooheon complains. "The way Hoseok asked did."

"He also asked him about five times before Hyungwon actually said yes," Minhyuk puts in, pausing in his soup stirring again. Hoseok seems too hurt to glare at the younger boy, so he simply turns his face away. "But it takes me at least six times to get him to hang out with me, so he's doing better than I am," he adds under his breath.