“Cookies,” Zhang Yixing mumbled under his breath, causing Minseok to look up from his Sociology worksheet curiously.

    “What?” He asked, and Yixing glanced at him before his eyes quickly darted away.

    “I like cookies,” Yixing mumbled, burying his head in his textbook, though Minseok almost thought he saw him blush.

    “Okay,” Minseok said slowly, sharing a confused look with Luhan.

    It was lucky that Luhan had forgiven him for kissing Kyungsoo back the day before (though Minseok still didn’t know why he’d been mad in the first place, and whenever he brought it up Luhan only pursed his lips and shot him a venomous glare. Needless to say, Minseok only had to ask once.), because their Sociology teacher had called for groups of three, and Minseok couldn’t deal with Yixing in large doses without a solid moral support system in place.

    Not that Minseok didn’t like Yixing - he’d go so far as to call them ‘friends’, even - but he tried not to spend too much time alone with crazy people who thought it was okay to psychoanalyze others because second-hand karma.

    “Do you have cookies?” Luhan asked Yixing, looking hopeful, and Minseok quickly mirrored the expression just in case. Only an idiot would pass up free cookies, after all.

    Well, an idiot or people with yeast allergies.

    “Do cookies have yeast?” Minseok muttered curiously, wondering who he’d need to ask to find that out. Yixing and Luhan stared at him. Minseok shrugged.

    “No,” Yixing finally told Luhan, looking a little lost, “not yet. But soon I’ll have cookies, and then I’ll share them with you, Minseok, I promise, so please don’t be mad.”

    Minseok wondered what he was supposed to be mad about.

    Surely he wouldn’t have told Minseok’s parents about them blowing two hundred bucks on Girl’s Generation tickets. He must’ve learned after last time, right?

    “Why aren’t you sharing your future cookies with me?” Luhan asked, pouting sadly.

    Yixing shot him an offended look. “You don’t deserve the cookies,” he hissed, causing Luhan to flinch away.

    Minseok was pretty sure that Yixing knew better than to talk to Minseok’s parents after the previous fiasco. And that was the only reason he could see himself getting angry.

    “What did I do?” Luhan whined quietly, curling in on himself.

    “You sold your soul to Satan’s Mistress,” Yixing answered darkly, shaking his head in disgust.

    Unless...did Yixing convince their dance instructor to change the new routine?

    “So did you!” Luhan suddenly exclaimed, looking offended.

    “For cookies!” Yixing snapped, crossing his arms over his chest defensively. “I wouldn’t have even considered it if he hadn’t said he’d talk to his grandmother about making me some more!” Luhan gasped.

    “You talk to his grandmother!” He hissed, putting a scandalized hand to his mouth.

    Yixing had better not have messed with the routine. Minseok steadfastedly refused to do a pop-lock instead of a hip , no matter what him and Taemin said about a smoother transition.

    “We’re pen pals,” Yixing replied, straightening up in his seat and giving Luhan a look that dared him to say anything bad about whoever’s grandmother. “She’s a wonderful lady and her cookies are delicious. I would murder someone for those cookies.”

    “I want some damn cookies!” Luhan shouted, slamming his fist on the table.

    “I refuse to pop-lock,” Minseok told Yixing, cutting off their strange argument (Minseok had learned a long time ago that sometimes it was better to ignore instead of question) for something much more important.

    “No one’s asking you to pop-lock,” Yixing told him, looking genuinely confused.

    Minseok gave him a relieved smile. “Good,” he said brightly. “And thanks for offering to give me cookies.”

    “I deserve the cookies!” Luhan whined, bowing his head to pout pitifully at the desk.

    “You deserve a swift punch in the throat,” Yixing scoffed, and Luhan let out a dramatic gasp.

    “What kind of pre-med student says things like that!”

    Minseok sighed and tuned them out, returning to his sociology worksheet and hoping they’d stop soon.

    They didn’t stop soon. Actually, they didn’t stop until after class ended and they were on their way out the door. Minseok ended up spending the last half hour staring up at the ceiling, trying to figure out who ‘The Healer’ was.

    It wasn’t as simple as it might’ve sounded. There were at least fifty pre-med students in Minseok’s class alone, and apparently the ‘knights’ could be from any grade if Kyungsoo was anything to go by.

    And that was assuming that they were being specific to the kids that wanted to be doctors. There were also psychology students, which probably could’ve used some type of mental healing thing, and a few of Minseok’s classmates worked at the college campus coffee shop, which also definitely fit the bill of healing (because coffee).

    “It could be anyone,” Minseok groaned in frustration as he, Luhan, and Yixing followed the wave of students pouring into the halls.

    “What could be what?” Luhan asked, grabbing Minseok’s hand to keep them from being separated as their classmates began shoving past them.

    Minseok pulled Luhan off to the side and motioned for him to come closer. With a raised eyebrow, Luhan leaned in until their faces were mere inches apart, and only then did Minseok think it was safe to explain.

    “I have reason to believe,” he began in a low voice, looking around to make sure that no one was listening, “that someone is going to try and kiss me today.”

    Luhan quickly stepped back, letting go of Minseok’s hand and clearing his throat awkwardly. “Oh,” he mumbled, looking flustered. “Yeah, about that-”

    “Lulu!”

    Minseok had never seen Luhan so relieved to be cutoff mid-sentence before, and he couldn’t help but feel a little put out as they turned to greet the newcomer. Lee Jinki came screeching to a halt between them, notebook clutched to his chest and eyes bright with excitement.

    “Did you hear?” He shouted, practically bouncing on spot and looking ready to squeal. Minseok took a quick step back just in case the squealing became a reality.

    Jinki was a writer for the college newspaper, like Luhan, and Minseok got along with him just a little better than he did most of Luhan’s other friends.

    “Hear...uh...what?” Luhan asked, widening his eyes slightly in what Minseok knew to be fake interest. As Luhan’s resident best friend, it was Minseok’s job to know whenever he was only pretending to care about something.

    Minseok received the exact same look whenever he mentioned anything math related. It wasn’t an expression Minseok was particularly fond of.

    “Guess who gets to interview Kim Minseok about the kissing cards!” Jinki exclaimed, and Luhan’s ‘I’m being polite right now’ expression turned into one of horror. “This guy,” Jinki answered, pointing to himself and looking quite smug.

    Minseok decided it was time to step in. He reached over and tapped Jinki on the shoulder, causing the older boy to spin around and look at him in surprise. “You’re interviewing me about what?” He asked in confusion, and if possible, Jinki’s grin widened.

    “Hey there, stud muffin,” he greeted, and Minseok stared at him (did he just get called a stud muffin? Did Lee Jinki just ing call him a stud muffin? Shouldn’t there be a rule against that or something?). “You don’t mind if I pop by your guys’ room later, right? Joonmyeon thinks we should have you rate each kiss so that the readers have something to look forward to.”

    “Narcissistic much?” Luhan scoffed under his breath.

    “Uh...” Minseok answered intelligently, mind still reeling over the influx of new information that he didn’t know how to deal with (while a tiny voice in the back of his head pointed out that Kyungsoo’s kiss had been a solid eight. He wasn’t sure whether or not the surprise tactic worked for or against him though).

    “Great,” Jinki exclaimed brightly, seeming to take Minseok’s non-answer as an affirmative as he clapped the slack-jawed man on the back. “See you guys later then!” He practically skipped away.

    Minseok watched him go with furrowed eyebrows.

    Did that mean that the Kissing Cards thing was common knowledge? Had Minseok missed an important piece of college gossip (again)? Or was someone on the newspaper just really well-informed?

    Minseok frowned. All of this thinking was becoming tedious.

    “I am so done with this week,” Luhan sighed, giving Minseok what could almost pass as a pitying look, before adding “I’ll see you at lunch” and abandoning Minseok as well.

    Suddenly feeling very alone, Minseok looked around the emptying hallways unhappily.

    Where the hell did Yixing run off to?

----

    It was almost six in the evening and so far no one had tried to attack him yet. Anticipation and worry curled into Minseok’s stomach, making him feel almost sick as he sat alone once again in his and Luhan’s dorm room, homework in front of him though he’d stopped bothering to do it half an hour ago.

    What was the chance that this was all just a really vivid hallucination and Minseok had maybe gone insane?

    But no, Minseok was pretty sure he didn’t have the imagination to come up with something so off the wall ing crazy.

    Still, Minseok found himself nervously reaching over to open his desk drawer just to make sure the the envelope holding the kissing cards were there. He felt like an idiot even as he pulled them out, and just like the day before ‘02. The Healer’ was sitting innocently at the top, just where he’d left it, and ‘01. The Voice’ was still nowhere to be found.

    He was in the middle of wondering whether or not the Healer card would eventually disappear too when there was a quiet knock on the door, and Minseok hurriedly stuffed the cards back in the envelope and shoved his desk drawer closed before calling out a breathless ‘Come in!’

    Minseok had half-expected Jinki to actually show up if their conversation (if it could even be called a conversation) earlier was anything to go by, so he was surprised when the door opened and Kim Joonmyeon entered instead.

    Joonmyeon was the newspaper’s Editor-in-Chief, and, according to Luhan, the devil incarnate. Like Yixing, Joonmyeon was a pre-med student, who apparently had dreams of running a medical blog after a customary ten years as a surgeon.

    Minseok honestly didn’t know why he knew as much about Joonmyeon as he did, but he appreciated anyone willing to write a blog, especially a medical one, because those things were incredibly helpful when one didn’t have the money to go get regular check-ups.

    “Hello, Minseok,” Joonmyeon greeted pleasantly, giving Minseok a disarming smile as if he regularly came to visit Minseok in his dorm.

    He didn’t, but they’d become pretty friendly after that time Minseok hunted him down and yelled at him for making Luhan write an article so close to finals. (Luhan struggled enough with schoolwork as it was, and all of his extra-curricular activities made it difficult for Minseok to prepare him for their tests.)

    At the time, Joonmyeon had looked so shocked and helpless as Minseok tore him a new one that a few minutes in he’d ended up comforting Joonmyeon instead of punching him in the face, which had been his original plan. They’d bonded.

    Luhan still thought Joonmyeon was the devil incarnate, however, so Minseok didn’t go out of his way to hang around the editor.

    “Hey,” Minseok said, straightening up slightly as he was prone to do whenever Joonmyeon was in sight. He didn’t know why (maybe it was because Joonmyeon’s posture was kind of perfect) but he couldn’t help it. “What are you doing here?”

    Joonmyeon allowed a small shrug, smiling a little shyly, and if Minseok didn’t know better he’d think Joonmyeon was about to pull something. But maybe that was just because whenever Minseok’s other friends looked at him like that, chaos ensued.

    “I was kind of hoping you were still up for that interview - Jinki said you’d agreed to it.”

    Minseok hadn’t really agreed to it, but it was incredibly hard to say ‘no’ to Joonmyeon. Since Minseok was still really confused about recent life events, however, he figured he’d give it a shot. “Actually,” he began, feeling a little awkward, “about this, uh, ‘interview’...” Joonmyeon’s hopeful expression was promptly replaced with something akin to rejection. Minseok failed at life. “What I mean is,” Minseok added, back-tracking quickly before Joonmyeon did something truly awful, like frown, “is that, uh, I guess I...can or...whatever.”

    Joonmyeon’s grateful smile seemed to literally light up the room (it was kind of creepy, actually, but Minseok could hardly complain), and before Minseok knew what was happening he was being grabbed by the wrist and hauled out of his dorm room and into the hallway.

    “Thanks a lot, Minseok,” Joonmyeon gushed, letting Minseok go long enough to pull a tape recorder out of his pocket before grabbing onto him again and leading him away. “A lot of readers are really looking forward to hearing your thoughts on -”

    “How many people?” Minseok interrupted, stopping in his tracks and giving Joonmyeon a nervous look.

    “What?”

    “How many people know more about what’s going on my life than I do right now?” Minsoek demanded, pulling himself out of Joonmyeon’s grasp to cross his arms uncomfortably over his chest.

    Joonmyeon arched his eyebrows curiously. “Don’t you read the paper?” He asked, looking genuinely surprised by Minseok’s reluctance. Minseok shook his head - like he had time to care what happened around him, between schoolwork and dance practice and the football team and trying to keep Luhan from being mad at him all of the time. “We’ve been doing articles on it since the Drama Club announced their idea. People have been placing bets. It’s kind of a big deal.”

    Admittedly this didn’t make Minseok feel any better. “Are you serious?” He deadpanned, and Joonmyeon nodded. Minseok let out a low groan of frustration. “So you mean to tell me that I just so happened to accidentally stumble upon this huge random thing and I’ve spent the last two days going crazy and thinking I was hallucinating because I’m so ing confused and Kyungsoo’s a great kisser and all but that blew my mind and does everyone else know who the other cards represent because I’m really curious and-” Minseok was abruptly cut off by a pair of lips pressing against his.

    Joonmyeon pulled away almost immediately after, pink-cheeked and bashful. “Sorry,” he mumbled, stepping back and studiously avoiding Minseok’s eyes. “I wasn’t supposed to do that - well,” he amended quickly, wincing slightly, “I was, but originally it was supposed to go smoother than that. I had it all planned out, actually,” he continued, tacking on a nervous laugh that quickly fell flat. “It’s just that you wouldn’t shut up, and...”

    Minseok stared.

    Of course - of ing course The Healer was Joonmyeon. Except not really ‘of course’ at all, because out of all of the pre-med students (and baristas) running around the school, Joonmyeon was literally the last person Minseok had expected. Except for maybe Luhan, but Luhan was neither pre-med nor a barista, so...

    Joonmyeon kept talking, eyes flitting up from the floor to meet Minseok’s shocked gaze before immediately returning to the linoleum while his fingers tugged nervously at the hem of his school uniform. Minseok realized that Joonmyeon kind of had nice fingers, and equally nice lips, and most importantly, he was a couple of inches shorter than Minseok, which was incredibly uncommon.

    And he remembered Jinki saying something about Joonmyeon wanting him to rate kisses, but it seemed unfair to rate Joonmyeon’s on what had to be the shortest kiss known to man.

    Yeah.

    Just really unfair and stuff.

    And he didn’t want to be unfair to Joonmyeon, cause Joonmyeon was cool.

    “Will you please stop staring at me like that?” Joonmyeon finally asked, looking up at Minseok exasperatedly.

    “That wasn’t half as good as Kyungsoo’s,” Minseok told him, realizing belatedly that that probably wasn’t the best way to go about getting what he wanted.

    As if to prove him right, Joonmyeon eyes narrowed dangerously. “Excuse me?” He asked, obviously offended.

    Oops.

    “I mean,” Minseok continued, sweating a little, “you could’ve done way better - I’m a little disappointed.”

    He really needed to shut up.

    “You’re ‘disappointed’?” Joonmyeon repeated flatly, and Minseok resisted the urge to facepalm.

    “You should try again,” Minseok stated, feeling only slightly relieved when Joonmyeon’s indignant expression turned into one of confusion.

    “Oh,” he muttered, blinking slowly. Minseok waited. “Oh!” Joonmyeon finally exclaimed, eyes lighting up in sudden understanding. Minseok breathed a silent sigh of relief. “Oh, um, okay!”

    Joonmyeon didn’t move, staring wide-eyed at Minseok instead.

    Minseok thought that maybe they’d gone about this the wrong way.

    Finally: “Like...right now?”

    Minseok shrugged. “Whenever you feel up to it,” he answered, and Joonmyeon gave another high-pitched, nervous laugh. Admittedly, Minseok found it kind of adorable.

    “Okay,” Joonmyeon said once again, and once again didn’t move.

    Once it became apparent that Joonmyeon was not going to take the initiative, Minseok let out a quiet sigh and took a step forward, grabbing Joonmyeon by the waist and pressing their lips together softly.

    Joonmyeon let out a squeak (another one of those adorable sounds that Minseok hadn’t known the editor possessed) hands reaching up to clutch onto Minseok’s shoulders and head tilting slightly upward.

    It was much nicer the second time around - Joonmyeon’s lips were soft and pliant, and they were so close that Minseok could feel his heart pounding merrily away in his chest. It made Minseok wonder if maybe he wasn’t the only one to have weird daydreams about his classmates, and the thought made him smile as Joonmyeon let out a quiet, keening moan against his lips.

    After a moment Minseok pulled away, and he could feel Joonmyeon in a gasp, and Minseok’s smile unintentionally widened.

    “We should do that again,” he said, taking a moment to appreciate how Joonmyeon’s lips were slightly swollen and his cheeks were tinged pink.

    “Okay.”

A/N: I feel kind of bad because you guys seemed to have expected Yixing to be The Healer, and, you know, he totally wasn't. I hope I didn't disappoint anyone, but I promise he'll be coming up eventually. As an apology, here's some Suho:

Such a ing dork.