Changkyun smiled as he walked to the cafeteria with his lunch in hand.

It had been two weeks since he’d been introduced to Monsta X and while things weren’t perfect between him and all of the older boys, he felt that if he kept trying to reach out things would get better.

Shownu and Kihyun had warmed up to him a lot and he really enjoyed talking to them during lunch; he’d discovered that Shownu was actually really funny, especially when he answered a question with a really straight face.

Things with Hyungwon were pretty much the same.

Changkyun had admitted to himself that he had a huge crush on the older boy but he was determined not to be obvious about it. Hyungwon was the only one aside from Shownu and Kihyun that talked to him at length at lunch and he even talked to him in the hallway occasionally.

Hyungwon was being so friendly and Changkyun didn’t want to ruin that by revealing his feelings for the blonde. He was certain that the handsome boy wouldn’t return his feelings anyway, he could have anyone he wanted so why would he settle for someone as ordinary as Changkyun?

The situation with Jooheon and Wonho was getting better he supposed.

Jooheon still didn’t talk to him much but Wonho had been making small attempts at conversation over the past couple of weeks. Just a question here or there that he would respond to with a nod or a short comment on Changkyun’s answer before going to back to looking at his phone or eating his lunch.

Nothing had changed with Minhyuk whatsoever.

Despite Shownu and Kihyun’s repeated attempts to get Minhyuk to talk to Changkyun, the blonde wouldn’t say a word to the younger boy. The silence was always accompanied by the glare that Changkyun was, unfortunately, becoming accustomed to at this point.

Sighing, Changkyun shook himself from his thoughts as he approached the table he was now at regular at.

Hyungwon grinned and slung an arm over Changkyun’s shoulders when he sat down, “Hey Changkyunnie! How were your classes this morning?”

This was also a new change at Monsta X’s table.

Since Changkyun had become an unofficial member of their lunch group Hyungwon had started to stay awake long enough to talk to the youngest for a while before he eventually settled down to sleep.

He’d also taken to doing a lot of skinship with the brunette. Small ruffles of his hair or an arm around his shoulders were daily occurrences by now and those little bits of affection forced Changkyun to clamp down tighter on his growing feelings so the older boy wouldn’t notice.

The casual touches made his stomach flutter and his cheeks burn bright red (he could swear that Hyungwon actually enjoyed making him blush, he’d lost count of how many times he’d caught the blonde grinning every time his cheeks flushed).

He shrugged, “Classes were alright, I guess. My second period teacher just told me that I have to do a test tomorrow that he forgot to give me during my first week.”

Kihyun was curious and asked, “And he only just remembered now?”

Changkyun nodded, “Apparently.”

“What’s it on?”

“It’s mostly Algebra with a few problem-solving questions. Or at least that’s what my teacher told me.”

Shownu winced sympathetically, “Are you ready for it?”

The younger boy smiled confidently, “Yup! We’d just finished the Algebra unit at my old school before I moved here and my teacher gave me some review work to do tonight just in case.”

Hyungwon ruffled his hair playfully, “Aigoo! Our Changkyunnie’s gonna ace that test for sure.”

Shownu and Kihyun laughed as the red-faced maknae squirmed at the compliment and even Wonho smiled a little bit when Changkyun broke into peals of laughter as well.

When they finally settled down Wonho struck up a conversation with Changkyun.

“So Changkyun-ah, I noticed that you always bring your lunch from home. Does your mom make it for you?”

The brunette shook his head, “My mom taught me how to cook when I was younger so I make it all myself. ...Would you like to try some?”

Wonho’s eyes widened in surprise at the offer but he nodded, “S- Sure!”

Changkyun held out his lunchbox and watched as the older boy mulled over its contents before taking one of the many rice balls inside. He waited anxiously for Wonho’s response and was crestfallen when the older boy stopped after one bite with an unreadable expression.

“I’m sorry, hyung! I should’ve known it was no good, I mean-“

Wonho cut him off, “Changkyun-ah, this is delicious! Seriously, I didn’t expect the kimchi filling in the middle. Can I have another one?”

The maknae was stunned by the sheer happiness in Wonho’s eyes and could only nod dazedly in response.

The oldest member groaned in pleasure when he took another bite, “Wah... so good! You guys have to try this!”

Shownu glanced over at Changkyun, “Is that okay Changkyun-ah?”

Still in shock, but incredibly pleased by the positive response to his cooking, Changkyun nodded frantically, “O- Of course hyung! I made extra this morning because I wanted to offer some to everyone anyways.”

With that Shownu, Kihyun and Hyungwon all grabbed a rice ball and they all reacted in a similar fashion to Wonho. They all glowingly complimented the younger’s cooking and praised him for a job well done.

After two more rice balls Hyungwon moaned and leaned into Changkyun, “I think I might have to marry you, Changkyunnie.”

Changkyun blushed, “W- Why do you say that hyung?”

“Because I’ll never be able to eat another rice ball again and you have to take responsibility for that!”

Wonho suddenly butted in, “You can’t keep Changkyun’s food all to yourself! I was the first one who liked it so it’s only fair that he makes food for me!”

Hyungwon growled, “Like hell! If you think I’m gonna let you steal food from me-“

Changkyun laughed as Hyungwon and Wonho continued to argue about the rights to future rice balls from him (his heart was still pounding from Hyungwon saying he wanted to marry him) and he noticed Jooheon looking at his lunchbox with interest.

Tentatively he picked it up and held it out towards the older boy, “You can have one too if you’d like, Jooheon-hyung.”

For a minute Changkyun was sure Jooheon would refuse but he was pleasantly surprised when he picked one up and took a bite.

He chewed thoroughly before sending Changkyun a small smile, “It’s good.”

Changkyun beamed and offered him another, which Jooheon took much more eagerly this time, before turning to the last member of their table.

“Minhyuk-hyung, would you like one too?”

Minhyuk’s eyes widened, seemingly surprised by the offer, and for a long minute he just stared at Changkyun, his eyes darting down once to look at the offered food.

And even though Changkyun had expected it, it still hurt when Minhyuk turned away from him without a word.

Forcing a small smile he turned back to the others who were all chatting happily, except for Hyungwon who had by now fallen asleep after eating his fill of rice balls. Even Wonho and Jooheon were actively participating in the conversation which was much more than Changkyun had seen in the past two weeks.

He felt warm and happy, knowing that his food had contributed to the newfound easy atmosphere.

He sent one last look over his shoulder at Minhyuk, silently wishing for things to get better with him soon.

Minhyuk clenched his fists in his lap as he listened to Wonho praise the new kid (“Changkyun”, his mind supplied) about the rice balls he’d made.

First Shownu and Kihyun. Then Hyungwon. And now Wonho! He could even hear Jooheon quietly complimenting the younger boy.

He was so pissed off that he could-

“Minhyuk-hyung, would you like one too?”

Caught off guard, he looked up to see Changkyun holding out his black lunchbox towards him with a sheepish, if a bit hopeful, look on his face.

He flicked his gaze down to the food. The rice balls did look good...

He looked away quickly, not saying a word to the younger boy.

“No! Remember: you don’t like him!”

As one part of him vehemently agreed with this thought, the other, food-loving part of him whined at denying himself delicious-looking food.

He risked a glance back up and was relieved to find that Changkyun had turned back to the others.

However, he noticed that Changkyun’s smile looked forced and something heavy settled in the pit of his stomach because he knew that he had been the one to put that look on his face.

He mentally shook himself and tried to brush it off, “Who cares if his feelings are hurt?”

But the subtle sadness he saw in Changkyun’s gaze when the boy looked over his shoulder at him once more made the feeling worse despite Minhyuk desperately trying to ignore it.

He didn’t like Changkyun.

He didn’t.

...He wouldn’t.

As per usual I'd like to thank everyone who's subscribed and commented so far and to anyone who's just discovered this fic: welcome! I'd love to hear what you guys thought about this chapter. See you guys next update (as per usual, it should be up within a week)!