{panic(king): changki}

6

I'm awkward around Kihyun for the next few days, although he doesn't seem to notice. At least, if he does, he doesn't say anything. He just seems to think that everything is normal, even when it's far from the truth for me. I mean, how are you supposed to act when you admit you like your best friend and probably have for a long time?

Kihyun's laying on the couch, staring at his phone. His pink hair seems like it's standing on end as he turns his head to hang it over the edge of the couch. I'm sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of him.

"Hyung, all the blood is going to rush to your head if you keep doing that," I tell him. He shifts so his legs are against the back of the couch and he's fully upside down. "Hyung," I repeat.

"Stop taking my job," he says. "I'll be fine. I'm not going to fall, if that's what you're worried about." He flips right side up again, then sits on the floor next to me. He peeks over my shoulder at my phone screen, which I make no attempt to hide. I almost jump when he sets his chin on my shoulder.

"So you're not invested in whatever was on your phone anymore?" I ask. "I promise mine isn't that much more interesting."

"Scrolling through people's posts gets boring after a while," he says with a shrug. "I was seeing if there was anything new and interesting on your end."

As we look back at my screen, a new post notification pops up. Hoseok posted a picture of Hyungwon hiding behind a tea glass, the tips of his red ears the only visible part of his face.

"I thought they weren't dating," Kihyun says, his tone the equivalent of an arched eyebrow.

"That's what I thought too, but those are the kind of pictures a person takes of their camera shy boyfriend," I agree.

"Plus, he called him cute in the caption," Kihyun says, pointing to my screen. Sure enough, Hoseok captioned the photo, "Out with this cutie for lunch today".

"I call Jooheon cute all the time," I tell him, not taking my eyes from the screen.

He turns to look at me after sitting back and I'm forced to look over. "Have you seen the way Hoseok looks at him?" he asks.

"So you think they're..." I pause, hoping he hasn't noticed similarities in Hoseok looking at Hyungwon and me looking at him, "boyfriends?"

Kihyun shrugs. "I'm not sure, but that's definitely what it looks like. Hoseok definitely likes him, anyway." He slinks away from me and heads to the kitchen. I hear the fridge open. "Do you want anything to drink?" he asks.

"No, thank you, I'm okay," I reply. I consider going to talk to Hyungwon after lunch. Since it's the weekend, he's probably heading back to our dorm. I open our messages before Kihyun walks back over with his soda can.

"My company suddenly isn't enough?" he asks, and I jump as I realize he's standing behind me.

"I'm texting Hyungwon to see when he's going to be back. I was going to talk to him after lunch," I tell him.

Kihyun snickers. "Relax, I was just messing with you," he says, sitting down again. "I didn't know you were planning on conducting a little investigation."

I shrug. "I wasn't. I'm just curious," I tell him.

"You're very much a cat, Changkyun," he says. I show visible confusion when I look at him again. "Curiosity is going to kill you one day."

I look back to the message I hadn't yet sent and blinked. Maybe it was a bad idea and I shouldn't be messing in their business. I shut my phone off and look back at Kihyun.

"So you decided not to ask him," he says.

"Yeah, I figured that was probably better." He nods in agreement. I realize that for a few minutes, things had been normal, us just talking like we always did. I wasn't worried about what would happen if he knew, if I let something slip, if I kissed him without being prompted. But it all rushes back as my eyes dart to his lips again.