- October 5, 2007 -

"Here, pass me a fork.” 

Gilbert reached across Minho, grabbing his fork and then Martin’s when he handed it to him and passed them to Seb. 

“I still don’t understand the need for the forks,” Travis said as Seb threaded several rolls onto one of them. Seb let out a long sigh, and Travis continued before Seb could say anything. “Like, I get that you need them for like the structure, but otherwise...”

“There is no otherwise! It’s just for the structure!” 

Minho chuckled and took the last of the rolls off of the tray, freezing after he took a bite as Travis and Seb speared him with exasperated glares. “What? There’ll be more in a second.”

Travis scoffed. “Yeah, warm ones!”

“We were waiting until they were cool for a reason!” 

In a puff of steam, more rolls appeared on the tray, the melted butter on their golden tops shining in the candlelight of the Great Hall. Even though his mouth was full, it still watered at the sight of them. “Sorry?” he said around his mouthful and smiled when Gilbert snickered beside him. 

With a shake of his head, Seb stabbed another roll with an empty fork. “So violent,” Eli muttered before he took a sip of his pumpkin juice, his eyes twinkling in amusement when the other’s laughed.

Dinner was over and the other Hufflepuffs were starting to disperse before the rolls were cooled to Seb’s satisfaction. Kibum wandered over -- Gilbert scooted down the bench to make room for him -- just as Travis and Seb were propping the roll-covered forks up against each other. Minho turned to him as he sat down, propping his chin on his hand as he smiled at him. 

“What are you guys building?” 

“A tower. Duh.” 

“Yeah?” Minho snorted at the sarcasm in Kibum’s voice and looked away from him to see if the other’s caught it. His attention shifted back to Kibum when he tapped his knee. “Didn’t you want to study?” 

“Mhm.” 

There was a test in Potions tomorrow, and Minho still didn’t feel ready for it. Luckily, Kibum was more than happy to help him prepare for it. 

“Do you want to go now?” he asked, having switched to Korean. “Or would you rather stay here and watch this for a bit.” 

“Stay here. Just for a few minutes.” 

Kibum sniffed a laugh. “Okay.” 

Seb had finally released the columns of rolls, pulling his hands away slowly from the point to make sure it wouldn’t collapse. For the moment, it seemed to be sturdy enough. Travis grabbed one of the rolls, turning it so the flat underside faced up, and set it gently in the center of the point. 

It didn’t fall apart. 

Yet. 

After two more rolls, however, the whole thing tumbled to the table. Minho caught one of the rolls and set it atop the heap. Kibum patted his shoulder as he stood and Minho followed him away from the table, calling good luck to the others when he saw that they were attempting to reconstruct it.