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MAY 14

   Today's the day.

   That was the thought at the very front of Changbin's mind from the moment he woke up. Today was his last chance to talk to Felix while he was still only two flights of stairs away. Excitement and anxiety mingled in his stomach to produce a buzz of anticipation in his brain that got him out of bed early enough to sigh and send a disapproving look to Chan when the older boy forced himself down from the upper bunk.

   Hyunjin had snored softly while Changbin shouted quietly, "You're not seriously working today, are you?"

   That was the only time today that he was really thinking about anything else. After Chan had stubbornly insisted he was going to work, and left the room, Changbin shook his head and gave up on pointlessly worrying about him and his mind went back to TV static— today's the day.

   Changbin would've liked to have just gotten it over with, so he could relax and pack his things in peace, whatever Felix's answer ended up being, but it was harder than he thought— he wanted to catch Felix alone. And Felix wasn't often alone.

    To Changbin's dismay, Felix wasn't all that often alone with him either. That held true today, as Felix, who had been making a lot of sad faces at breakfast, knowing that this was their last day all living within a few paces of each other for the next couple months, decided to come upstairs and sit on Hyunjin's bed and run his sweet mouth for them while they packed. 

   At first, he'd thought he was getting his chance, because at the moment when Felix showed up in the room, Hyunjin was still gathering stuff in his actual assigned room— but while Changbin was still looking for the perfect, natural moment to spring the question, of course... he just had to show up and ruin it. Changbin clenched his teeth in efforts to hold back a grimace at the sight of him when he walked in, obliviously, blissfully smiling at Felix.

   It was fine, though. All he needed to do was take his time packing, and then Hyunjin would finish before him and leave, and then he'd be alone with Felix again.

    It was not fine, though, because Hyunjin just would not focus. He'd stop moving entirely every time Felix had something new to say, just looking at him and laughing along when he said something funny instead of folding his damn pants!

   The entire time, Changbin was just waiting for Hyunjin to leave. He may have wanted to forcefully throw him out of the room— which was still techinically his room, not  Hyunjin's room— but it was okay. It was fine. He endured it. 

   (In fact, he accidentally finished packing before Hyunjin, due to too much of passive-aggressively shoving rolled-up jeans and other such things into his suitcase every time watching Hyunjin completely stall got too frustrating for him.)

   But it wasn't fine when, after following Felix to see Hyunjin off once he'd finally gotten all his things together, they walked straight to Felix's room, where Jisung was. And sure, Changbin was alone with Felix while they were walking through the parking lot, or up the stairs, but it felt weird to stop him right there and say it, especially when he was still pouting (very cutely, might I add) over Hyunjin's departure, endearing as it was.

   With Felix finally starting to pack with Jisung, Changbin sighed and decided to vent his frustrations by packing some of Chan's things for him. Changbin knew his roommate: by the time he finished work (if he wasn't already that tired now), he'd be so exhausted that even if he'd wanted his things packed a certain way, it wouldn't happen.

   And when he decided to check on things downstairs, to see if maybe Jisung had finished before Felix and left already, he found that the two of them were carrying boxes out to the parking lot.

   "You guys want some help?" Changbin offered, watching Felix load his arms full of luggage, sharing a smile with him as he leaned against the doorway.

   "Yes, please, big strong man," Jisung grunted— Changbin's eyes flit to him and saw him struggling to lift a hefty box.

   Well, yes, he had said "you guys", but he'd been hoping to help Felix, because he was whipped for Felix. 

   ...But, yeah, Jisung was okay too. He gave a short, one-breath chuckle and took the box from Jisung, grinning when he realized that Felix was looking at his flexed arms.

    With Changbin's help there was only one more trip to the parking lot— during which, Changbin figured out that Felix and Jisung were riding together. So Changbin ran out of chances; Jisung would be sticking around Felix until they left. Sigh. Oh well, looked like he'd just have to suck it up and embarrass himself in front of Jisung. Time was running out. Jisung and Felix were still playing Tetris in Felix's trunk, but after that...

   The TV static that had been in his mind all day spread to his throat, until he cleared it, scratched at the back of his neck and said ah, fuck it.

   He asked, "Hey, Felix, um... you wanna go out for coffee or something once we get home?" As the boy's head turned to him, for good measure, he threw in, "Y'know, to celebrate the end of college." Before Felix could potentially crush his hopes and dreams, he added, "There's that cupcake place that just opened before we went home after break, if you'd like that." Of course he would. Changbin knew he would.

   Giving the last box a determined shove, Felix lit up and pumped a fist into the air. "Yes! Cupcakes!"

   "Aww, I'm not invited, hyung?" Jisung teased. He saw what Changbin was up to. This is exactly what Changbin had hoped to avoid.

   Before Changbin could scramble to cough up an awkward explanation, Felix piped up at the thought of Jisung joining, smiling enthusiastically at him. "Ooh, that'd be fun!"

   Changbin's mouth shut. ...Did Felix not realize what he was asking? Wasn't 'you wanna go out for coffee' the most obvious way to say, 'you wanna go on a date' without actually saying it?

   But Jisung, thank you, bless you, Jisung, gave up his teasing and saved Changbin's plans with a: "Nah, it's okay. You two have fun." He patted Changbin's arm, winking. "I'll be busy hanging out with my mom," he chuckled. He closed the trunk and as it clicked, Changbin realized he'd better get out of there before it turned into an awkward staring contest as Jilix waited for the conversation to officially end so they could get going.

   "Okay... well, text me when you're back, Lix. We can figure out a good time to do it." He nodded promptly.

   "Okay!" 

   Changbin was inclined to walk off and head to his own car before the giddy smile set in, but Felix then stepped forward and caught him in quite the hug— perhaps stopping his heart for a moment.

    He pressed so close to Changbin, making that 'mmmmm' sound that some people do when they squeeze other people, as if he couldn't bear the thought of leaving him, not getting to see him almost all day everyday. (Or maybe Changbin was delusional and Felix was just making sounds, he didn't know.) The giddy smile was all over his face and he couldn't hide it. If it weren't for the fact that Felix was a few inches taller, so Changbin's face fit against his shoulder, Jisung would've seen it. "Bye, Lix," Changbin murmured into his ear.

  "Bye," Felix pouted, as he pulled back, not so quickly.

   Changbin just chuckled as they separated, and oh, there was Jisung again, staring at them.

   "See ya." Jisung smiled. It'd be weird if they didn't hug, now, right? So they pulled each other in for one of those quick, one-arm hugs, and with that, all three waved and split. And the giddy smile lasted hours.

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