It didn't took long until Chan came down and took Hyunjin's place next to Felix in kitchen. He hesitated for a moment, but then wrapped his arms around Felix, who had turned to him when he came into the kitchen.

"Good morning. How did you sleep?" Chan asked and his voice sounded a little deeper than usual, but incredibly soft.

"Really good. The hot milk helped," Felix said with a grin and watched Chan bite his lower lip. "Talking to you even more," Felix added quietly, leaning against Chan. "How did you sleep?"

"Really good. For once."

Felix's heart pounded wildly. Similar to earlier when he had stood in front of Hyunjin. The closeness to Chan felt somehow familiar, but also insanely exciting.

He quickly broke away from Chan, turned around and flipped the pancake. Fortunately, it wasn't burned and Felix had a moment to organize his thoughts.

But the moment didn't last long, because shortly after he felt Chan's hand on his shoulder.

"I'll set the table, okay?" Chan's voice sounded so velvety soft that Felix would have liked to snuggle up to him.

Irritated by his thoughts, Felix shook his head barely noticeably. "Yes, of course. Thank you."

Chan collected plates from the cupboard, but then paused in his movement and turned to Felix. "Shouldn't Hyunjin make breakfast?"

"Um.. Well.. he made the coffee?"

Sighing, Chan shook his head and carried the plates to the table. Although he knew that Hyunjin's cooking skills didn't correspond to his or Minho's level, he was somehow frustrated that Hyunjin had just imposed his task on Felix.

Little by little the others came down for breakfast, whereby Chan stopped Hyunjin from going back to the kitchen.

"You should make breakfast. Not Felix," he snapped at him and his gaze clearly showed how pissed off he was.

"You keep complaining that I can't cook! Then why am I even assigned to such tasks and not for, I don't know, shopping or something?!" Hyunjin snorted angrily and wanted to push himself past Chan into the kitchen.

"Nevertheless, you can't just force your tasks on to him!"

"You've whined that you don't want to take care of him! I asked him and he voluntarily agreed to help! Just shut up and take care of yourself!" Hyunjin hissed, pushing Chan aside and went into the kitchen.

Felix stood with his back to him and seemed to take care of the pancakes, but Hyunjin saw the younger tremble all over his body.

Without even thinking about it for a second, Hyunjin went to him, wrapped his arms around him and pressed him against him.

"Everything is good! Don't worry," Hyunjin murmured when he felt Felix leaning against him.

"I didn't even wanted to come here... and now you're arguing because of me..." Felix whispered and just felt miserable.

"I didn't want that! I'm sorry!" murmured Hyunjin and pulled at Felix so he would turn around in his arm.

Some tears ran over Felix cheeks, which somehow shocked Hyunjin, but on the other hand also shook him awake.

He had flirted with Felix because he thought he was cute and hot, without really thinking about how the younger one was feeling about it. And he had accused Chan of all this because he was annoyed that Chan was so bossy.

He hadn't even thought about the fact that Felix was standing in the kitchen and had to listen to everything.

"I'm so sorry!" he whispered again.

Felix took a deep breath and Hyunjin felt the younger one relax a little again.

"Don't worry! We always fight even if you're not here, little one! I'm sorry you got in this now."

Behind them they heard a cough, which caused them to break away from each other and turn around.

Chan stood in the door frame and looked ashamed and also a little dejected.

Hyunjin rolled his eyes with a sigh, but was ready to refrain from further arguments for Felix. He carefully lifted the plate of pancakes and carried it out of the kitchen.

Chan didn't really know how to clarify all this. But since he could see how much Felix was shaken by all this and how sad he seemed to be, he just had to try to fix it.

"Are you really hungry right now?" he asked quietly.

Felix just shook his head, so Chan reached out for his hand and pulled the younger one with him. To the wardrobe, took Felix's jacket and held it out to him.

"Shall we go outside for a moment? Do you think the sweatpants will be enough for a moment?"

After Felix nodded, Chan put on his jacket and shoes and waited briefly until Felix had also dressed before opening the door.

They walked for quite a while in silence, side by side through the snow. Although Chan knew exactly what he wanted to say, it was somehow difficult for him to get started.

"I... I'm sorry... I already told you that I wasn't enthusiastic about the idea of you staying with us. But that was before we met and before I knew what a nice, dear person you are! And I didn't care that you made the food. It was about Hyunjin avoiding his damn tasks."

For quite a while, Felix said nothing. He needed time to think about Chan's words.

The older one was right. He had already confessed that at first he wasn't very thrilled that he was spending the holidays with them. And they had talked much further and more deeply.

Sighing, Felix let his gaze wander over the snow-covered landscape. The sight was beautiful and somehow it made all this seem somehow small and ridiculous to him.

"I... I'm afraid I have a trust problem... or just a terrible self-esteem," he finally said quietly.

"I know you don't really know us... two days are not really enough to get to know someone. But apart from the fact that we sometimes argue a bit, I promise that you can trust us. Even though I know it will probably take quite a while before you really do so." As he spoke, he stepped up to Felix and stretched out his arms to him.

And although Felix still felt somehow a little insecure and also somehow a bit terrible, or maybe because of it, Felix let himself be taken in his arms.

He inhaled Chan's smell and gave in to the desire to lean against him.

"Thank you," he finally said, "thank you for apologizing and explaining your motives!"

"Any time! I find it incredibly important to be able to talk about everything and get rid of problems. The boys know that too, even if we sometimes get angry and argue with each other."

Now a small smile appeared on Felix's lips and he took a deep breath.

"You're kind of a small family, aren't you?" he asked quietly, placing his head against Chan's shoulder.

"We all have our own little package that we carry around. And fortunately we found each other and somehow our family was born," Chan explained, also very quietly and different from usual, relatively seriously.

Again, Felix was silent. Not that he wasn't aware that other people might have it difficult too. But he simply knew the seven too little and had been too busy with his own problems until now.

"It's nice that you found each other and trust each other!" murmured Felix. For a moment, his thoughts were back to Sam and his parents, but Chan caressed his hair at just the right moment and distracted him again.

Chan felt the strong need to tell him that he could also belong to their family. That he would be there for him and catch him if he would fall.

But he only knew Felix for two days and had the feeling that this was absolutely inappropriate.

And yet he would have liked to take away the pain from Felix, which he had perceived very clearly in the eyes of the younger.

When he broke away from Felix, an uncertain smile lay on the younger's lips that broke Chan's heart.

"Shall we go back inside? Otherwise, all the delicious pancakes will have been eaten before we get back," he said, a helpless attempt to cheer up the younger one.

"But only if we go outside again afterwards. The snow is beautiful and I really want to build a snowman, make a snow angel and learn to ski." Felix's eyes began to shine as he spoke of it.

Laughing, Chan let himself fall into the snow, for which Felix looked at him astonished. But when Chan moved his arms up and down and his legs to the sides, Felix understood what the older was doing.

Smiling, he let himself fall into the snow next to him, even though it was cold and the snow melted and the moisture penetrated through his pants.

But at least for this moment he just felt incredible.

7
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