Late at night, Felix lay in bed and couldn't fall asleep.

His thoughts revolved around the seven boys he had known for just one day, but who in the short time had managed to make him feel welcome and as if he had always belonged to them.

Which at the same time led him to question himself and above all his friendship with Sam.

They had been friends since he could remember and since then Sam had always decided what they would do.

Since he had never known it differently, it had always seemed normal to Felix and he had never really questioned it.

But now with the boys he got to know something else. How they treated each other with respect, even though they were trolling and teasing each other. Nevertheless, there was always a loving, appreciative atmosphere.

The clearest proof of this was Chan. Because although Felix had felt bad more because of his parents and Sam and not because of Chan, he had apologized for how he had behaved the first evening.

Neither his parents nor Sam had ever apologized for anything.

Tears gathered in his eyes and although he felt super comfortable with the boys here, he suddenly felt lonely again.

Whining, he pressed his kangaroo against his chest. But even that didn't really help.

Sighing, he wiped away his tears, pushed the blanket aside and stood up. He hid the kangaroo under his blanket, because he was somehow afraid that the others would laugh at him because of it.

As quietly as he could, he sneaked down into the kitchen. He really needed something warm to drink. Preferably a hot milk with honey, like his grandmother had always made him. But he didn't knew if there was honey somewhere in the kitchen. And actually, he wanted to make as little noise as possible so as not to wake up the others.

The bright light from the refrigerator blinded him and for the moment he was more concerned on finding the milk quickly than paying attention to his surroundings.

"Can't you sleep either?"

Frightened, Felix turned around and almost dropped the milk.

Behind him, in the dark kitchen, stood Chan, looking at him tiredly.

"No... not really," Felix muttered and pressed the milk to himself, without knowing exactly why.

"Do you need honey?"

"Uhm... yeah," Felix said quietly, surprised that Chan had apparently came to the kitchen for the same reason as him. "Do you want a cup too?"

Chan nodded with a smile, went to one of the cupboards and took out a glass of honey, while Felix carefully poured the milk into a pot.

Troublesome Chan drilled a whole, because the honey was quite hard. Triumphantly, he finally held the spoon full of honey up and noticed that Felix was watching him.

"Even the small successes want to be celebrated." Grinning, Chan put the spoon in the pot and stirred the milk.

Felix had to smile and leaned against the kitchenette.

Silently they stood next to each other, waiting for the honey to dissolve in the milk.

Contrary to what he had assumed, Felix didn't found the silence between him and Chan uncomfortable at all. Nevertheless, he had many questions in mind that he still didn't dared to ask.

Instead, he watched as Chan carefully poured the hot milk into two cups and then handed him one.

"Thank you," Felix said quietly and wanted to turn around and go back to his room, but Chan grabbed his arm and held him tightly.

"Shall we sit in the living room?"

Felix looked at him in surprise. "Yes, please."

He slowly followed Chan, careful as not to spill the hot milk.

Chan placed his cup on the coffee table, reached for the two fluffy blankets that lay on the couch and held out one towards Felix.

"Oh thank you!" Felix carefully put down his cup, gratefully took the blanket and wrapped himself in it. Because although it wasn't really cold, he only wore a shirt and boxer shorts and he felt much more comfortable with the blanket.

"You are come-"

"Why are you-"

Grinning, they looked at each other and had to laugh.

Waiting, Chan nodded to the younger, so that he asked his question first.

"You're actually from Australia, aren't you?" asked Felix, who couldn't keep his curiosity in check for long.

"Well, I was born in Seoul. But my family moved to Australia when I was a baby. And we went back to Korea when I was about 13," Chan explained, carefully taking a small sip of milk. "How come you spend your holidays here?"

Although the subject still hurt, Felix answered the question truthfully. "Actually, my best friend had invited me to spend the holidays in New York with him and his parents. But my parents don't like him and his family and apparently my mom bragged about it with your mom and your mum offered that I could spend the holidays with you.

"So you were just sent here against your will and I behaved like an absolute ass when I picked you up. I'm really sorry!"

Felix shook his head thoughtfully. "It's okay."

For a while, no one said anything. Silently they drank their milk and each hung his own thoughts.

"I hope it doesn't annoy you too much that I'm here..." Felix finally muttered softly and stared at the bottom of his now empty cup.

"Not at all! I... I may have judged you a little too hastily. Because I don't really get along with my mother and her lifestyle and I know that your mother is exactly like that," Chan said quietly, doing something Felix had never expected in his life. He reached for his hand and gently stroked the back of the younger's hand with his thumb.

Chan's hand felt warm and soft and somehow all this caused Felix's whole body to start tingling.

For a moment it was difficult for him to focus on anything other than Chan's hand.

"I understand that..." he finally said quietly.

They sat next to each other for quite a while. Talked about Australia and Korea, about music and favorite animals, about food and dreams.

Until Felix eventually got tired and it was hard for him to stay awake.

"Maybe we should go to bed now." Yawning, Chan got up, grabbed his and Felix's mug and brought them to the kitchen.

Felix was too tired to have really clear thoughts, but he felt better than before, when he had been lying alone in his room. Much better. And that was mainly thanks to Chan and not the hot milk.

Tired and with sleepy eyes, he followed Chan. Who had just put the cups in the dishwasher and turned to him.

"You look very tired," he said and had to smile.

"I am. Hopefully I can sleep now," Felix muttered and climbed up the stairs.

Chan followed him. "I'd give you my koala, but then I probably won't be able to sleep. And probably he wouldn't necessarily help you either."

"Koala?"

"My plushy. My grandfather gave it to me for my sixth birthday. But don't tell the others," Chan whispered, smiling tiredly.

Felix smiled in surprise. "I won't, cause I also have one with me," he whispered.

And again, Chan did something Felix didn't expect.

Yawning, he pulled the younger one to him and took him in his arms for a moment. Although Felix didn't know how to react at first, he finally wrapped his arms around the older.

Chan's arms were laying warm and strong around his upper body and Felix would've lied if he had claimed that he did not feel safe in the arms of the older.

He smelled of vanilla, with a hint of smoke in it, but that was clearly the smell of his perfume. Chan's own smell was almost covered by it, but Felix perceived a breath of freshly fallen rain and forest.

"Sleep well, Felix," Chan whispered and broke away from him.

"You too."

With clearly completely different feelings and thoughts, Felix returned to his room, crawled into bed and pressed his kangaroo against himself.

This time it helped and luckily it didn't took long for him to fall asleep.

5
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