{panic(king): changki}

15

Kihyun swats my hand down as I try to pull money out of my wallet. It goes sliding across the floor, making him stifle a laugh as he hands the cashier payment for our order.

"Yah, Kihyun-ah!" I whine, going after my wallet. "Why would you do that?"

"I'm not letting you spend any more money on boba," he says firmly. "You're lucky I stopped to get some on the way here."

"Yeah, why exactly is that?" I ask. I pocket my wallet again. After Kihyun dragged me out of the dorm building, away from our friends, he never actually told me where we were going. But he let us stop for boba. Probably as a reward for cutting down my spending when it comes to this.

He shrugs. "Guess you'll just have to find out when we get there," he says.

I sigh and shake my head slightly. I think Kihyun liked to know things I didn't. Especially when it came to surprising me or planning dates. I'd be lying if I said I didn't like it. It's just one of the things that makes him so cute.

Our order gets called and Kihyun hands me my tea, taking a sip of his own. "You ready to go?" he asks. I nod, taking a sip of my drink before following Kihyun out.

"Can you tell me where we're going now?" I ask as soon as our shoes hit the pavement of the sidewalk.

"No," he giggles. "You have to wait until we get there."

I let out an exaggerated sigh, throwing my head back as we walk. I hear Kihyun laugh again and huff. "You're enjoying this at my expense."

"Yeah because it's totally the end of the world," he says with a playful eye roll. "I already have an overdramatic roommate, I don't really need an overdramatic boyfriend too."

"That was part of the contract, wasn't it?" I ask, blinking innocently at him. "When you signed up to be my boyfriend?"

He chuckles and kisses me. "If that's part of the deal, then I'll just have to deal with it," he says. "Not that I'd want to change it anyway."

I smile, slipping my hand into his. I take another sip of my boba as Kihyun leads me along. We pass by the city's shops and restaurants, the lights appearing as the sky darkens. The evening brings the smell of street food and restaurants cooking dinner, accompanied by the friendly neon of shop signs.

The neon brightens Kihyun's hair to a strawberry color. "Ki, have you ever thought about dying your hair red?" I ask. He looks over at me, his cheeks glowing and I'm unsure if it's from the neon or if it's a blush.

His eyes glance over my face. They linger on my hair for a moment. "Have you?" he asks.

"I don't know. I don't really think red would suit me." I quickly run a hand through his hair. "I think you'd look cute with red hair."

He blushes—this time I can tell with the way the color of his face darkens. "Maybe if you went with a darker red," he murmurs. "Then you'd look even prettier than you'd do now."

"Even more distracting?" I ask with a smirk. He turns away from me. I kiss his cheek as we continue walking.

"Thank you for reminding me why I dragged you out here," Kihyun says. He leads me farther toward the city center.

The lights grow brighter as we get closer to the true center. I'm still not sure exactly where we're going, but the way bright lights sparkle in Kihyun's eyes tells me enough. He's happy to be here and he wanted me with him.

A fountain suddenly comes into view as we round the final corner. It's surrounded by white balls of lights, which I know are just light stakes, but they make the scene look magical. They appear to be floating in a protective ring around the fountain itself. There are more lights in the fountain, just below the spouts and in the bottom pool. But my favorite thing about the fountain is the way it bathes Kihyun in white light and makes him seem like an angel wrongfully sent down to earth. I can't stop staring at him and I can tell he notices.

"I didn't bring you here to just stare at me, you know," he says.

"Sorry, you just look so gorgeous," I reply, to which he flushes under the lights. "What did you bring me here for, then?" I ask.

He leads me over to the edge of the fountain and sits before patting the spot next to him. I follow his lead and sit next to him. He looks up, sipping his now mostly empty drink.

"That's why I brought you here," he says, pointing up at the sky. My mouth falls open in awe.

In the royal blue sky, slowly darkening as the night drags on, white flecks are emerging. In the middle of the city, where they should all be drowned out by the neon and blaring light from the fountain, they're shining overhead. I can hardly believe it, even after seeing it for myself.

Kihyun places his hand over mine. I'm afraid if I glance over at him for even a second, the stars will disappear or I'll wake up. I'm still not entirely convinced this isn't a dream.

"Beautiful, aren't they?" he asks softly.

I nod, before risking it and turning to face him. He looks at me, and it's a perfect reflection of the sky we just saw. Kihyun holds the stars themselves in his eyes. They didn't disappear, just moved.

I want to tell him possibly the cheesiest thing I've ever said: that he's prettier than the sky above us. But I don't. Instead, I place my hand on his cheek and gently caress it with my thumb. He leans into the touch and the familiar thump of my heartbeat returns.

I lean in and kiss him, barely even noticing him leaning back before our lips connect. This is more magical than the fountain we're sitting on, or being able to see the stars in the middle of the city through some miracle. It's a moment so perfect, it can only exist for so long before it's gone. It's something I only could have dreamed about when I had become aware of the feelings I had for my best friend. Or maybe even earlier.

"Hey, Kyun," he says once we pull away. "You know something?" he asks.

"Hm?" I tilt my head. "What am I supposed to know?" I ask softly.

"I love you," he whispers before leaning in toward me again.

"I love you too," I whisper just before our lips connect again.

We may have exchanged 'I love you's through whispers, but I could have screamed it. Years ago, in a bought of panicked rambling, or even a month ago in the same kind of scenario, I should have screamed it. But screaming it to the world wouldn't have even mattered if he never heard it.

"I love you, Yoo Kihyun."