Know that saying, third time's the charm? Yeah, well --

Cough!

Changkyun cringed, feeling dizzy from coughing so much. Why hasn't this cough gone away? It's been weeks, close to two months even! Perhaps he's allergic to something he uses daily? Though he wouldn't know what it was even if he was, considering he hasn't added anything new in his routine in... years!

Randomly, his friends pop up in his thoughts.

'Or,' Changkyun thought, having caught onto what his subconcious must have realized but still vague on details, 'maybe it's something I'm exposed to daily?' It lingered in the back of his mind, as it caused his upper body to flared to an intense pain.

Yet, the longer it lingered, the more he shrugged it off, dismissive of the thought; he's certain he would have known if that was the case!

Surely he would know, right?
 

"Ayyye! Changkyun!"

Jumping a little bit in pure surprise, the startled brunette turned around to see who was calling him out, since the voice wasn't overly familiar with him, he saw that it was a person he usually sees in his Universty classes. It's one of the four foreigners in his year, the blonde with blue eyes. What was his name again, Lucas...?

Lifting a hand in greeting, Changkyun struggled to remember his name, "Hey there, what are you doing out and about? It's rather late."

"Family outing! It's my mother's birthday, so my siblings and I took our parents out to eat to celebrate. How about you? figured you'd be home by now, given how much you tend to focus on studying!" The man (Luke?) laughed, wrapping an arm around Changkyun's shoulder as he begun to make them walk in the direction Changkyun had been going before being stopped. "Those friends of yours, I'm guessing?"

Nodding, Changkyun replied, face straight as he still struggled to place the name (or was it Liam?), "Yeah. Some friends of mine were wanting to hang out, given that it's been about two weeks. Just heading home now to complete anything I forgot to do."

"Oh yeah? Nice, good to relax now and then! Also, that cough getting any better by the way? A lot of us were thinking you dying with how it's been going on, haha!" Possibly Louis laughed again, thinking back and finding all the previous concern for naught.

"It's been getting better the last week," Changkyun hummed, "So I'm just enjoying the outdoors since I've been keeping myself cooped up inside while trying to avoid making it worse, yknow?"

Possibly Louis nodded, "Yeah, totally understand. How far is your house? I can walk with you for a bit, then I can head home myself."

"Oh," Blinking in surprise at the offer, Changkyun tilted his head to look up at Definitely Louis, the back of his head touching the arm still drapped across his shoulders. "Not too far, about twenty minutes? You don't have to though, as much as I appreciate the thought."

"Nah, it's no biggie, plus I want to make sure my dear, sickly classmate makes it home! Can't have you dying right now, there's a bet going on to see how long it'd take you to recover and if you'll drop dead sometime soon," Definitely Louis grinned good naturedly towards the smaller man. "I said about three months for you to get better, and I was pretty close!"

"Well, I can't disappoint, now can I? Not after being walked home by my kind and considerate classemate!" Changkyun snickered at the wink (100% totally) Louis sent him.

As they headed to his home, Changkyun had this one thought in mind, 'It's strange, why doesn't this entire interaction feel awkward?'