Chapter Text
“Minhyuk, Jooheon! You have to share the snacks,” the teacher scolds, brushing back Changkyun’s hair to keep it out of the snack he’s eating. Minhyuk and Jooheon stop shoving at each other and turn to nod in agreement and as soon as the teacher turns away they’re back to snatching each other’s snacks from the other.
Kihyun watches the two with a look of disdain. “Teacher said to share! I’m telling!”
“No one likes a snitch, Ki,” Minhyuk snaps.
Kihyun tilts his head, his eyes going wide with confusion. “What’s a snitch?”
Minhyuk shugs. “I ‘unno. My brother said it to me yesterday though and my brother is really smart!”
There’s a sudden uproar of laughter that breaks off Kihyun’s words before they can be heard. Everyone looks over and sees the bigger kids making fun of Hoseok. He’s brought his bunny blanket into class again, and has been sucking his thumb since the afterschool program started.
The teacher sighs and gets up to go break up the bullying. She’s going to have to talk to some parents tonight.
On the other side of the classroom, Hyungwon is silently knotting together the kids’ shoelaces. But Hyungwon is angry, so not only is he tying shoelaces together, he’s mixing everyone’s shoes around. He’s one of the few in the class who knows how to tie laces and he plans to use it to get back at Hoseok’s tormentors. He knows Hyunwoo would disapprove so he’s waited until the eldest left for the bathroom to exact his plan.
Kihyun saunters over and squats nearby. No longer being chaperoned by the teacher, Changkyun had followed close behind, and peers over Kihyun’s shoulder. His deep brown eyes are wide in curiosity.
“What are you doing?” Kihyun asks. There’s milk sticking to his upper lip still, and his nose is starting to run a little.
“Tying shoes,” Hyungwon murmurs. His eyes are half shut in tiredness as he works.
“Why?”
“Because they were mean to Seok hyung.”
Kihyun purses his lips for a moment and then nods. “Okay. I’ll help. Kyunnie, make sure Teacher doesn’t catch us.”
Kihyun then shuffles over and together with Hyungwon they work in silence. Once all the other kids’ shoes are tied together, Hyungwon thanks Kihyun for his help with a yawn and then meanders back to his favorite bean bag, curls up, and promptly falls back asleep.
Kihyun takes Changkyun’s hand and takes him back to the table where Jooheon and Minhyuk are now aggressively scribbling out drawings. Hyunwoo returns from the bathroom and plops down between Minhyuk and Kihyun. Silently, he watches Minhyuk draw but soon his expression turns lost. “Is that a lobster?”
Minhyuk’s face crumples. “It’s a MERMAID!”
He begins to cry and wail, meanwhile Changkyun covers his ears with his hands, his mouth puckering in distaste. Hyunwoo looks on with wide eyes not sure why his friend is suddenly crying. “I like lobster.”
Minhyuk stops suddenly and blinks, lashes damp. The teacher, who had begun to shuffle over at Minhyuk’s cries, pauses and watches hesitantly. Minhyuk sniffles. “You do?”
Hyunwoo nods and grins, a gap where a tooth used to be greets the younger. “It’s yummy.”
“Okay!” Minhyuk beams and pulls over a new paper and grabs a red crayon. “I’ll draw lobster for hyung!”
“Look!” Jooheon exclaims. “I drew me and Kyunnie on the swings!”
He holds up his paper and everyone takes in the messy stick figures and lopsided swing set. Changkyun makes grabby hands at it and Jooheon scoots closer to show his friend. Hoseok suddenly rushes past and Kihyun watches as he drapes his bunny blanket over Hyungwon’s sleeping form before sitting on the floor next to the taller’s bean bag. He rubs at his cheeks with his closed fists and sniffles.
Standing up from his chair, Kihyun makes his way over to the books and takes a few he knows Hoseok likes. From there he moves to where his older friend is sitting and plops down. Hoseok looks up curiously and beams when he notices the books.
Together they quietly work through the words to keep from waking Hyungwon up. Slowly all their other friends start to join them, listening to Kihyun read. At some point Hyungwon wakes up and climbs out of the bean bag while rubbing one of his eyes. He gathers Hoseok’s blanket and wraps it around the older’s shoulders before sitting with the others on the rug.
After Kihyun finishes reading the books, he sets them aside and almost immediately Jooheon and Minhyuk start yelling about playing cowboys. Nearby the teacher looks around the room to make sure everyone’s doing okay. She pauses on the small group of boys, debating if she should break them up as she watches Hyungwon and Kihyun begin to argue about something and Minhyuk loudly laughing at the scene.
However before she can step in, Hyunwoo’s somehow got the situation under control and the seven of them are once more at ease. The teacher sighs in relief, for this little moment, everything is calm in the classroom.
(Until the parents start to show up and notice all their kids’ shoes are tied together. There’s outrage and crying and the teacher is quick to notice Hyungwon’s smug look and how he high-fives Kihyun. As much as she hates to get the kids in trouble, she adds a few more names to the list of parents she’ll be needing to talk to.)