The Art of Cheating | changlix

Question 8

Different Equations
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Felix and Changbin were currently sat on Changbin's floor, large books of different topics sprawled in front of them. They were studying as much as they could, the exams started the upcoming Monday and the two didn't want Felix to solely rely on Changbin's answers.

Felix was scrolling through his social feed before seeing a picture of Jisung and Minho sitting on what looked like a bed, text books scattered around. The caption was, "Helping Sungie study for his exams." With a smiley face emoji. This caused Felix to start panicking, and search for every single thing he could use to study with.

Then he asked Changbin for his address and ran all the way to his house to study. Changbin looked completely shocked, seeing an out of breath Felix in his doorway. He let him in anyway, and now they were on his uncomfortable floor.

Today, they were studying math, one of the hardest subjects for Felix, but easiest for Changbin. Math exams were on Monday, so they figured it would be best to study for it first. As they were working on the problems, Changbin laughed when Felix just couldn't grasp that concept of the equation.

"I thought it was supposed to be like the Pythagorean theorem?" Felix cried, throwing himself backwards, his back hitting the foot of Changbin's bed, in frustration. Changbin laughed, rubbing Felix's arm in hopes it comforts him a little. "You said this was easy!"

"Because it is!" Changbin retorted, holding Felix's paper to read the work he'd done. Revealing a small smirk on his lips, Changbin reached for Felix's eraser. The annoyed boy reluctantly handed it to him, and Changbin erased what Felix had worked so hard on. "C'mere Felix. Let me show how to work on this."

Felix got up, though very slowly because he did not want to work on that stupid math problem anymore. If anything, he wanted to make a campfire with all the math papers around the bed. It was perfect weather for a campfire, the season being early winter.

"Okay, so, this is how you work out this.." was the only part of Changbin's explanation that Felix heard, completely zoning out. He couldn't help it. Changbin had just looked so breathtaking as he happily expressed his level of knowledge he knew about the topic. He was showing his beautiful smile, and his eyes looked pleased with the work he was doing.

Felix hadn't seen that look in his eyes since the mall. His eyes had a bright light, a light that grew when he showed something he was proud of. The light had been gone all week, ever since Hyunjin attacked him.

Felix knew it wasn't the first time they had gotten to each others throats, but he didn't know if was the first Hyunjin tried to get him. He wasn't sure whether or not he should ask if Changbin was okay. He didn't know whether or not he should tell Changbin he could talk to him. Felix was so confused. He was barely able to handle his own feelings, much less someone else's.

"Felix. Felix? Felix!" He was broken from his trance, staring at Changbin's hand in front of his face. He assumed Changbin was snapping his fingers to gather his attention.

"Y-Yeah?" Felix mumbled, rubbing his eyes after he lightly pushed Changbin's hands away from his face. Changbin looked confused, staring at Felix expectantly.

Changbin sighed after Felix just stared back at him. He flicked Felix's forehead, and then laughed because Felix's facial features contorted into a look of mock offense. "Have you been listening? I did the whole problem."