Shin stared at the sign on the collage campus cafeteria door in stunned disbelief. Clutching his plastic baggie of treats, his mind worked overtime as he tried to make sense of the words before him. Was this all a cruel joke? No. If only it had been.  But alas, what lay before him was the work of pure an utter chaos.  A chaos, he was ashamed to admit, he had been a part of. 

"Due to the incident on November 14, Cheez-its are no longer allowed in the cafeteria!  Thank you for your cooperation."

What difference would his delicious, salty snacks make now that the cafeteria was already in ruins? Over seventy percent of the room beyond that door was blackened, burnt and water logged. Most of the windows we're either melted from their frames or shattered among the ash. How had it all come to this? The answer was fresh in his mind. Sangmin. His best friend had ruined the cafeteria and subsequently Shin's most valued snack in the process. With a heavy sigh,  he allowed himself to remember the insanity he had witnessed only the day before.

He had been first to sit at their usual lunch table that afternoon.  The picnic bench style table sat in the most discreet corner of the cafeteria, near windows and a back door. Having gotten weary of sharing his small snack pack of golden-orange squares with his most beloved boyfriend, he placed an industrial sized box on the linoleum and press board table top. Not long after his arrival,  his close group of friends joined him.

"Sweet! Cheez-its!" Takuya beamed that stunning grin that Shin had grow to love as the man reached in to retrieve a few snacks for himself. 

"Thank God. I'm starving." Seyong's hand joined Shin's lover's and Shin found himself grateful that he had the forethought to fill up a private bag for himself.

"Don't any of you pack your own food?" He complained as Yongseok and Casper began to violate the box of crackers as well, quickly decimating the contents among the four of them. 

"Why should we?" Yongseok questioned around a mouthful of neon mush. "You always have us covered."

"Hey, Xiao-xiang." Sangmin prodded at Casper's side, a large white and yellow box in front of him on the table. "I have goldfish crackers."

"Ew." Came Casper's disinterested reply, sending Sangmin into an emotional downward spiral. 

"But... But they're the snack that smiles back..." Sangmin's eyes glistened with unshed tears as he held up a happy little fish shaped treat. Shin found himself wondering if he should step in before the two men had conflict but couldn't bring himself to be bothered enough to stop munching his own cheese flavored snacks to do so. 

"Get out of my face with your nasty trash crackers." Casper rolled his eyes, picking up the puffy cheese fish from Sangmin's hand, throwing it across the cafeteria.

"You filthy, mother touching son of a pig snout!" Sangmin half shrieked as he watched the cracker smash to bits against the lacquered wood floor. 

"Cheez-its are clearly better." shrugging, Casper was clearly not phased by their high strung friend's angst. Shin watched as the two men stared each other down, neither wanting to allow the other to win in their battle of wills. Finally, without blinking or looking away, Sangmin lit the light of Shin's life on fire.

"By all means, Xiao-xiang, enjoy your superior snacks." Leaning backward, Sangmin smiled sweetly as Shin watched the box of Cheez-its burn.

"You deformed walrus taint!" Casper growled, lighting the goldfish crackers on fire in return. Yongseok and Seyoung were already on a quest for the fire extinguisher when Sangmin,  in a fit of burning cracker fueled rage, dove across the table to tackle Casper. The box of Cheez-its went skidding across the table into their pile of surprisingly flammable backpacks. Before Shin himself could react to the situation, Takuya had taken charge and was leading him outside to safety. Not long after, a laughing  Sangmin and Casper joined them, supporting each other as they walked windows exploding from the heat of the fire behind them. 

"Sangmin. You're an idiot." Shin groaned as Seyoung and Yongseok gave up their attempt to stop the blaze and returned to the group. The sound of sirens blaring grew louder. "I just know this is going to my life over." And oh how true that statement had been.

A loud chuckle from close beside him shocked Shin out of his memories. Sangmin stood beside him, chewing as he read the sign, a box of goldfish crackers in his hand. His hands tightened around his own bag of cheese flavored junk food, crushing them under the strength of his resentment for the smiling faux fish his friend was consuming.

"You ruined my entire life..." Shin hissed at his companion.

"Goldfish cracker?" Sangmin offered, cheerfully tipping the box toward him. 

"I hate you." sighing, Shin shook his head, merely receiving a good natured laugh in response. 

"Yeah. I know."