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⇒ Levanter Apartments
5:30pm

"Felix! Felix, Felix, Felix," Seungmin chanted childishly, a hand cupped over his mouth while his cellphone stayed in a firm grip in the other as he trotted shakily to the studying boy at the table. "Felix I can't fucking breath."

"What is your problem," the older arched a brow, glancing up from the bright screen with a confused, slightly irritable look on his face, fingers still positioned along the keys of the keyboard. "Do you need an ambulance or something?"

"Look. Felix look," Seungmin inhaled dramatically as he shoved the device into the older's chest, fanning the hand that previously covered his mouth in front of his face. "3racha had a fucking photoshoot and I'm not okay," he took another deep breath, scoffing when he felt the phone being snatched annoyingly from his hand. "So much for not being interested..."

With a grimaced expression plastered on his face, Felix zoomed in on the picture, the original priorities claimed by the incomplete schoolwork sitting in front of him not able to compare with that of the way the familiar face in his recent memory matched with the features of the one spread out on the screen in his hold, the uncanny features sending pebbles and potholes along the track that his heart had started running so enthusiastically not too long back. "That's 3racha?" He questioned lowly, throat dry and heart stopping in its one-man race to love to get its own clear view of the picture. "What- what are their names again?"

Chuckling sarcastically, Seungmin snatched back his phone from the older's grip, narrowing his eyes while switching gazes between the device and his friend. "Since when do you care?" He tried to joke, but that smile quickly faded when Felix only glared in response. "What is your problem?"

Mind once again retracing the fact that it had been thoroughly registering for what had to be the past three weeks, Felix opened his mouth to speak again, fists clenching against the table as he closed his eyes. "Seungmin, I asked, what the fuck are their names?"

"Cb97, J.one, and Spearb," Seungmin muttered, smacking his tongue against the roof of his mouth and running a hand idly through his hair. "What really is your problem though? I mean, I thought you found them hot as well, but then you made that face," he pointed to the latter's freckles, circling his index in the air to emphasize the width of the boy's unwelcoming expression; eyebrows scrunched with his nose, eyes narrowed and dark, and lips pouted with puffed cheeks. "Do you want me to go, or?"

"No- I mean their real names, Min. What are their real names?" Felix asked again, this time with a bit more noticeable gloss in his eyes as well a subtle crack in his voice. Gulping and nipping at his lower lip, he spoke again, "The names that they go by off stage, as well as their ages, if you know all of that information."

"Uhm..." Seungmin tilted his head to the side, eyebrows arched and lips pursed, a hand scratching the back of his neck as he observed his friend's unusual interest in the boy band. "I think Chris is twenty-three. Chris is Cb97 by the way... Spearb is Changbin, and he's twenty-one..."

"Wait, Changbin?" Felix quickly sat uprightly against the back of the chair, eyes trailing around the room as his sleepy head fought to connect the still dim, scattered dots. "Chan... Changbin..." he mouthed inaudibly, cupping his chin with one hand. "Let me see who Changbin is please," he spoke up this time, motioning his arm for the younger to stroll up closer to his side.

Zooming in on the artiste of interest's face, Seungmin handed the phone to the shorter, confused blonde, a befuddled look still resting on his own face. "That's Changbin," he spoke lowly, scoffing when Felix once again shook his head at the phone with no verbal explanation. "What is wrong with you?"

"Who is this one?" Felix asked again with more surety in his tone, pointing carefully to the man with the more prominent dimples that he had gotten so used to- so used to their depth and movements whenever "Chan" would make a move on him during his shifts at the corner store. "This guy... with the dimples..."

"Oh, Chris? That's Chris." Seungmin smiled as he looked and pointed at the picture, chuckling teasingly at how flushed his friend's face had become, but shaking his head as the same level of blankness and unexplained confusion lingered in his gaze. "Is something wrong, Felix? The other one is Jisung, if you were wondering."

"Nothing's wrong, I promise," Felix forced up a lie, faking a smile to contradict his previous, bewildered expressions. "I was just... curious, I promise. Thanks for sharing, I guess..."

"Okay?"

"Yeah. I'm just going to try to finish this up," he pointed to the paragraphs on his laptop before speaking again, sighing deeply with his gestures. "And then I'll go freshen up for work."

"Alright then," Seungmin thinned his lips into a smile before turning on his heels to head for the living room, the decision to leave the older alone without inquiring about his unusual attitude settling comfortably in his head. "I guess I'll just leave whenever you do..."

-

⇒ N/S Corner Store
10:25pm

Wiping off another escaped tear from underneath his eye, Felix mumbled a swear before checking the time on his computer. "Please, don't come tonight," he spoke lowly, voice raspy and eyes dry from his session of silent sobs that night. "This is pathetic," he repeated for what had to be the twentieth time since he got to the shop, inhaling deeply after the phrase.

But it really was pathetic, wasn't it? Spending an entire three and a half weeks becoming "friends" with one of the most famous people in his country, or the entire music industry at that- one of the most famous people that never failed to say or do the very things that he hated, and not recognizing them? It really was, pathetic.

Yet still, the clash of Felix's distaste in the idol and his growing interest, or crush rather, on his new secret friend was sort of like an equal battle in the boy's mind. It's as if both of those strongly fueled feelings had finally met their match when he unwillingly recognized the familiarity in that photo on his friend's phone. His heart that had started running that path was still pushing, trying its best to dodge the potholes and skip over the pebbles as if they were hurdles, no matter how many obstacles the rational part of his mind had sent down to just halt that journey for the protection of them both.

It was stubborn. A type of stubbornness that had no reasoning or justifiable background. It was just arbitrary, like a young child who had just gotten freedom and thought that they could face any and everything- like an untrained dog that saw and stole the opportunity to run off through just the slightest opening in its owner's front door, or slackening on its leash. That was how the boy's heart was acting, and it felt good, honestly, so he still could not fight it.

It felt good to have that slight sting in his chest whenever he'd think about "Chan". It was a beautiful feeling, those butterflies that'd populate his stomach when the older mumbled one of his cringe-worthy pick up lines over the counter. And it sure was magnificent having a friend that didn't base every conversation on the popular boy band- a friend that expressed that it was okay for people to love who and how they wanted.

"What if he's just using me," Felix muttered with a hiccup, shifting his computer to the side to fold his arms against the wooden surface of the counter, soon hiding his face between them. "I'm so stupid-"

"Felix?" The frustratingly familiar voice startled the sulking cashier behind the counter, the welcoming smile on the older's face inverting when his gaze locked with the threatening one of the latter. "Are you crying? Is everything okay?"

Poking at the inside of his cheek with his tongue, Felix sniffled before standing, only the tear stains on his cheeks indicating some form of emotion in his face. "Good night," he said, leaning tiredly against the counter. "How can I help you?"

"What do you mean," the male narrowed his eyes, a questioning yet teasing smirk curved up from his lip. "I came to see you as usual... why are you being so weird. Did something happen?"

"Nothing happened," Felix lied for the second time that night before taking back his seat, not even sparing Chan another glance as he redrew all focus to his laptop and business textbooks. "I just don't feel for company tonight... so you can leave if that's all you came for."

Strolling up closer to the counter, Chan tilted his head sideways, reaching a hand to poke the other's but flinching when Felix didn't hesitate to slap the finger out of the way. "Okay now I know something's up," he spoke lowly, tone holding some form of genuine concern. "Did I do something to you?"

"Chan," Felix nipped at his lower lip before continuing, the multiplication of beats against his chest indicating the increasing speed in his heart's steps along that risky, one-lane race track.

"You telling him off does not mean that I'll stop running," the same heart muttered up breathlessly, guilt-tripping the logical part of the blonde's mind, and dissolving all of those accusing words that were already lined up on his tongue, prepared to cut off friendship with the customer completely. So taking a deep breath, Felix ordered a new trend of speech, and though the syllables felt rather uncomfortable on the unwelcoming surface of his tongue, a few deep breaths were enough to make them flow out sensibly.

"Is there a piece of information that you're not telling me?" He started calmly, shifting his school items to the side to get a clearer view of the male in front. "And if there really is, I'd like to know when you planned on telling me that information."

Chan took a few seconds to register the depth of the question asked, throat going dry when the obvious explanation for the inquiry was found by his reasoning. Running a hand over his face and leaving it over his mouth for a few seconds, the boy's eyes trailed to all corners of the room before finding the younger's glossy ones again, his words unable to flow clearly as neither of them was prepared for such explanation.

"Felix," he gulped, stooping in front of the counter so that only his head would be visible to the younger. "I swear, I was going to tell you. But I even thought you already knew, because it's been a couple of weeks since we've known each other- I thought you'd figure it out- but promise that you won't tell anyone... please."

Felix could only shake his head, spreading a sarcastic smile, another exaggerated tear making its way over his freckles. "I'm not even- I don't even know what to fucking say. I'm the dumb one, and I let my guard down too easily. I knew I saw you somewhere before, but I'd never think that the guy who keeps flirting with me is a member- the leader, of the very boy band that I hate. The very group that makes things so fucking difficult for me," he coughed after that short rant, more tears streaming down his flushed cheeks, cracked lips still parted and boasting the strings of saliva in his mouth.

Glancing to the outside to ensure that no one was lingering around the building, Chan made his way around the counter, hesitantly resting a hand against the boy's back. "Felix, I'm sorry," he said, drawing soft circles along the clothed skin. "I was gonna tell you, but I didn't want you to stop talking to me," he whispered near Felix's ear, the warm breath achieving the manipulative intention of Chan's actions with shivers down his spine.

"I'm famous, yes. And it sucks sometimes. The fanbase, is toxic. But there's only so much I can do. I'm not proud of them, or myself. But I can't change everything just like that. This is why I have a private life, and I want you in my private life." Chan smirked, proud at the way his words flowed with hardly any mental review, and how such skill was having the wanted effect on the blond. "Please don't stop talking to me," he pleaded, nuzzling his face into the younger's neck; Felix too submerged into the instructions of his hormones to savor the moment to have an opposing reaction. "I genuinely like being around you, Felix. That's why I did tell you. I wanted our friendship to last."

With senses completely clogged and crippled from the butterfly kisses tickling his neck and cheeks, Felix sighed before speaking up, rubbing a fist tenderly over his eyes. "Well it's not safe..." he spoke lowly, the manipulative words and actions of the older fueling the ignorance of his heart's running.

"What's not safe?"

"You... coming to see me here... it's not safe," Felix pouted subtly, fiddling with his fingers childishly against the counter. "If someone sees you here so often... or talking to me... scandals could spark..."

"So... what are you proposing?"

"Chan what I mean is that if you really wanna continue talking to me... then we can't be meeting here," he spoke skeptically, the logical section of his mind raging a war in his head, yet still the sensation of the warm breaths hitting his skin every few seconds masked their pleas and warnings into "go aheads" and "okays" to flow with the new line up of his words.

"So where do you wanna go? You can't come to my place because the other members are there..." Chan spoke sensually, the way that the needs for his experiment kept ticking their own selves off so easily spreading the largest smile on his face. "You wanna meet up at your place sometimes? I can bring board games~"

"I- I guess," Felix huffed out a breath, blushing profusely when another peck found his cheek. "I- I could show you where I live tomorrow? I have to make sure that my friend isn't around whenever you're there."

"No problem there," Chan spoke satisfactorily, hugging the boy softly from behind before making his way back to the front of the counter. "And again, I'm sorry for not telling you earlier... that was very poor on my part. But I'll make it up to you, okay?"

"Mhm..." Felix thinned a smile as he nodded, still fiddling idly with his fingers. "Just promise... to never make homophobic remarks... around me at least..."

"Of course not, Felix. Just because the fanbase is homophobic, it does not mean that all of the members are like them- or straight..."

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| Lee Minho | 25 years old |
❝My wife is pregnant... she needs me... my family needs me...❞