Minho couldn't stop thinking about it.

The boy had been delivered safely back to his house, courtesy of Chan and his effortlessly speedy driving skills, and had returned to an empty house—thankfully, as he was tired as hell from the last day's excursion.

The trio had driven to the beach house again, found nothing new, as expected, and trudged back to their hometown with a weird sense of defeat lingering in the air. Chan had only muttered a hundred times that there "had to be something we missed," and secretly, Minho agreed.

They had missed something. Or at least, Jisung and Chan had.

It had only taken a second for Minho to swipe that little novel they'd poured over ages ago from one of the beach house's tables, and shove it into his bag without a word.

Pulling it out now, as he sat in his room, all he could do was let out a deep breath.

"August... July..." Minho muttered the names of the months as he swiped through his photos on his phone, in a bid to find what he was looking for far back enough.

And there it was.

Dated from over a year prior, numerous photos of half-full notebook pages and completed worksheets filled his screen. Minho couldn't help but smile as he clicked on one, reading over its hastily written contents.

'An analysis of Jane Eyre by Hwang Hyunjin:
Where do I even begin with how questionable this book was...' Minho snickered as he read the opening lines of that assignment, one he'd a hundred-percent cheated off of and somehow managed to get a better grade on.

But it wasn't time for reminiscing. The novel he'd taken from the beach house now sat on the nightstand next to his bed. He grabbed it, and opened it to a random page, flipping through until he found a page with over a paragraph of writing in its margins.

With the two samples held up next to each other, the answer became glaringly obvious.

The handwriting was exactly the same. Minho had been expecting it, but seeing this fact cemented into reality still left a sick feeling in his chest.

"Hyunjin, you sly bastard..." Minho whispered to himself almost in awe. "What do you think you're doing?"

No offense to his best friend, but Minho had thought the boy to be a little bit smarter than the type to hide out somewhere that his own family quite literally owned. Not to mention the whole Felix situation...

Minho couldn't quite even wrap his head around how that happened yet.

For lack of a better phrase, he'd always known Hyunjin to be the lone wolf type of person. Never letting anyone get too close, trusting no one but themselves...

Then again, that was before last year happened. Before perfect, quiet, well-behaved Hyunjin had gone totally off the rails for the first time. Minho didn't know how many of the traits he'd known in his beloved best friend might even be left, at this point.

To be completely honest, Minho had known that his best friend would leave before he'd even been told.
Hyunjin hadn't exactly been subtle about it. First, it had been weird, paranoid calls and texts. The boy had been citing reasons left and right. He'd been getting sick out of nowhere. His family had been acting tense. His beloved aunt wouldn't look him in the eye and he had no idea why.

By the time he'd come to Minho with a ton of stolen money and expressed a need for help buying a car that no one could track, Minho knew what was going on.
It was only a matter of time.

The little dog sleeping in the corner of his room kicked in its dreams, and Minho sighed, tossing his phone and the book to the side of his mattress.

How the hell was he supposed to tell Jisung about this?

Minho had promised, the last time he ever saw his best friend, that no matter what, he would do what he could to keep him hidden for as long as he needed. If finding Felix meant finding Hyunjin as well... there was no way he could knowingly go along with it.

He had to back out. Otherwise, how could he assist with the others' goal of locating Felix? The only thing stopping him was the idea of disappointing Jisung, who'd seemed so determined.

His phone beeped, a notification from their little group chat.
Minho didn't pick it up. He didn't want to see any of that right now.

In the distance, the sound of his house's front door opening resounded, and Minho almost groaned. He didn't want company yet, and stood up to go lock his bedroom door, lest someone attempt to come in and bother him.

This time of night was best for overthinking, and that's exactly what Minho was about to do.

With the moon high above the horizon, it's easy to lose oneself in the night's air.
The vast darkness of the sky and glittery stars are entrancing, hypnotizing to those willing to sit and watch.

Or, according to a certain Hwang Hyunjin, the night holds a certain sort of safety in its secrecy, shielding those under it from sight.

Such words were said that night, in the dark cabin of his car, driving at a relaxed pace down a side road.

He'd dragged Felix out of bed in the middle of the night, not on an impromptu idea, thankfully, but for something the blonde had agreed to beforehand.

Foods, hot drinks, and blankets were stuffed in the backseat, and as the road veered off towards a little field, Hyunjin pulled the car to the side.

"Here's a good spot," Hyunjin commented as they parked, seeing Felix lean to glance around out the window.

"It's dark," he spoke, but the elder only smiled, and turned off the vehicle to exit.

It really was a nice little picnic spot, although it surely would have been more scenic during the day time. Hyunjin laid out a large blanket over the grass, while Felix gathered their things from the back and rather unceremoniously dumped them onto the blanket.

"Careful," Hyunjin picked up two of the containers—small silver thermoses. "Don't want to spill these."

The elder had proposed the idea of having a cute little picnic date, and Felix had absolutely jumped on the chance, hopeless romantic that he was. Of course, he hadn't expected it to be so late... but since when were they the type to do things traditionally anyway?

"What did you even pack?" Felix asked, small smile permanently settled across his lips just from being around the other. "There's so many containers."

"You'll see," Hyunjin stated rather ominously, and pulled Junhui's laptop out of the car, the boy having lent it to them again. Thank god for Jun, that kind soul...

Once everything was set up, the laptop playing a movie they'd downloaded, and its screen illuminating the space in front of them, both boys settled in, taking their seats excitedly on the blanket.

"Here," Hyunjin handed a thermos to the younger, before busying himself with wrapping a second blanket over both of their shoulders. "Drink it while it's still hot."

Felix unscrewed the lid, and took a hesitant sniff of the drink. "Oh," he realized. "Coffee...?"

"Try it," Hyunjin encouraged, and Felix took a little sip.

His face lit up at the taste. "It's mocha!" he recognized, and the elder gave him a little thumbs up at the correct guess. "This is good! Wait. This isn't—"

"It's not decaf," Hyunjin didn't even have to hear the full question. "I wouldn't do that to you."

"You would," Felix replied immediately, no bite in his tone at all, and the elder boy only grinned. He wrapped an arm around the blonde's shoulder and pulled him close, the movie beginning to play soft music with its intro.

Finally, an actual movie night.

Both were engrossed in the movie's complex plot, each making little observations or side commentary here and there, although they differed strongly. Hyunjin spoke his critiques out loud as if he were annotating a novel, and Felix made fun of how pretentious he sounded whilst loving it on the inside.

The basket of food had turned out to contain a couple boxes of freshly made waffles, with small travel sized bottles of syrup and such on the side.
Felix teased the elder for this choice of food, but was quickly shut up with the reminder that this is what he always ordered for breakfast.

By the time the movie came to an end, Felix had cuddled up to the elder's side, deeper under the blankets, and the sound of crickets softly chirping in the distance overtook the silence.

Hyunjin silently sipped on his thermos of coffee.

"I should get a job," Felix stated out of nowhere, making the elder almost choke on his drink.

"What?" Hyunjin questioned after a moment. "Where's this coming from?"

"I don't know," Felix shrugged. "Ignore me. It was just a thought."

The elder let out a breath at this, before gently squeezing the other's shoulders under his arm. "You're already helping with the shoplifting. You don't need to do anything else."

"I know," Felix fidgeted with the cloth of Hyunjin's shirt. "But don't you still feel like you're doing too much of the work?"

"No?" Hyunjin responded. "When I promised I'd take care of you I meant it."

Felix seemed to give a little happy hum at this, leaning just a bit closer against the elder. "How will you get a job in Australia?"

Australia. Right, shit. Hyunjin had almost forgotten about his nonchalant mentions of getting a plane, leaving the country and disappearing together forever.

Yet he showed no sign of this, and merely have the blonde's shoulder a squeeze. "I can get citizenship by marriage?" he suggested, his tone light-hearted and playful.

A dorky laugh came from Felix. "Right. Because we'll be living there sooo legally."

"Shut up," Hyunjin replied. "Like you've got any better ideas."

"No, no, it will work, definitely," the younger was quite blatantly joking at this point. "You become a citizen by marriage. I become a stay at home dog and cat dad. The dream life."

"The dream life..." Hyunjin echoed with a sigh, still absentmindedly rubbing his thumb across Felix's shoulder. "You have to do the cleaning, though."

"Only if you make the coffee in the mornings," Felix gently bumped their shoulders together, and Hyunjin softly grinned at the gesture.

"The dream life" definitely wasn't an exaggeration. It was a damn near impossible stunt to pull off, but if Felix really wanted it, Hyunjin couldn't stop himself from trying.

He thought back, to ages ago, on a certain night at the Yangs' house. He'd already grown tired of moving from place to place without end by then, due to a certain cheerful blonde whose presence just made one crave home and stability.

Back then, he'd found himself wishing he'd chosen differently. That their arguments would be over trivial things like school and games rather than life or death situations on the run.

Hyunjin had grown more selfish.
He found himself dreaming of utopia. A life where their arguments would be over who had to feed their dog in the morning, or what song would play as they walked down the aisle.

He gazed silently down at the blanket. "Do you miss your home?" he asked, quietly, not knowing why he felt the sudden urge to inquire.

It took a while for Felix to form an answer.

"In some ways," the blonde spoke up softly, after a moment. "Yes. I do. But it's not that simple."

It's not that simple. If that wasn't the truth, Hyunjin didn't know what was. Nothing in life was that simple—an easy question of yes or no without any grey area in between.

His silence seemed to provoke the younger to continue. "You know, I miss my family," Felix's voice was quiet. "I love my family. But I don't miss being a burden on them."

Hyunjin exhaled slowly, knowing that nothing he could say would counter the younger's view of himself at this point. "It's hard for me to imagine," he lightly laughed. "I don't find myself missing my home at all."

"Your family was different than mine," Felix stated, an objective fact more than anything.
"And yet I mostly find myself missing my friends anyway."

Hyunjin didn't know why, but a sort of dull ache seemed to well up in his chest at the words. Felix missed his friends, and his family,  and Hyunjin had only the vaguest idea of what that could be like. Of course, he thought of Minho from time to time, but there wasn't any things left unsaid between them. Where Felix had simply vanished, Minho had known in advance.

"I wish there was a way I could do something for you," Hyunjin mused, letting his hand drift up and bury itself in the soft locks of Felix's hair. "Like taking you to visit them. Taking you home for a bit."

Felix simply hummed at this.
"It's okay," his voice was soft and hesitant, as if convincing himself. "It would just make it worse, I think."

The elder truly found himself at a loss for words this time. He wasn't used to Felix admitting these things so openly, and though he enjoyed the vulnerability, he definitely wasn't the best at comforting.

He let his free hand rest upon Felix's knee. "Well. You have Sookyung now. And Doyeon, and Yoojung, and Jun and Minghao..." he listed off a bunch of names. "And for the record, they seem to like you a hell of a lot more than they like me."

A small smile tugged at the corner of the blonde's mouth. "They like you too. You're only quieter."

"Noo, it's not that. You're just likable," Hyunjin insisted, to which the younger sat up, and turned to face the boy he sat next to.

"Compared to you?" Felix laughed off that idea immediately. "Are you kidding me? No way. You are absolutely better. Yoojung wasn't even close with you and she asked you to help with her vows!"

"Yeah, only because you mentioned me to her."

The blonde crossed his arms. "Nope. It's all because of your vibes."

Hyunjin raised an eyebrow. "My vibes?" he repeated. "Do elaborate on that?"

"I don't know!" Felix struggled to defend his point. "You look... smart. And nice."

"I look smart and nice?" Hyunjin began to grin. "So you're saying that I'm not actually—"

"You are. Shut up. Just... shut up, seriously," the blonde realized he'd dug himself into a hole as Hyunjin cackled from the side. "You are smart and nice. I'm just saying you look that way to strangers too. They see you as approachable."

With this, Hyunjin quietly hummed, fingers still fidgeting with the fabric of the other's shirt collar.

"And how do you see me?"

The question was abrupt, truly, and it seemed to catch the blonde off guard. He stared at Hyunjin for a moment, expression not fully hiding the hundreds of thoughts swimming around beneath the surface.

Felix took a breath.
"I can't answer that," he began, and Hyunjin furrowed his brows. "I can't put it into good enough words. It would be so hard to explain."

"At least try?" Hyunjin urged, a sort of nervous smile across his lips as the gravity of the question he'd asked sunk in slowly.

It felt like ages, watching Felix sit and think, lips pursed, fingers absentmindedly playing with each other, and only the sound of the wind rustling through tree leaves in the air.

Finally, Felix seemed to reach an answer.

"Well..." his voice was hushed. "The word soulmate keeps popping into my head, but I honestly don't think that's good enough."

Hyunjin swore to god his blood ran numb at those words. "Not good enough...?" he asked, mentally willing his tone to be stable. "So you think it should be more than that?"

"It implies that we had no choice in the matter," Felix responded matter-of-factly. "I mean, believing in fate is fun and all, but... I chose to let myself... fall... for you," his voice sounded increasingly embarrassed as he realized what he was saying.

The blonde averted his gaze from the elder. "Anyway. Why am I the only one talking? How do you see me, huh?" he stuttered out. "I think it's your turn to—"

Felix couldn't even finish his jittery attempt at turning the tables; Hyunjin's hands were on the sides of his face the moment he'd spoken, and that familiar warmth greeted him in the form of the elder's soft lips upon his own.

Any last bit of anxiousness melted away with the kiss, and Felix smiled into it, not even caring that his question was still unanswered.

"You're so weird," he mumbled when the other pulled away for but a brief second. "And you taste like mocha."

"You like it," the elder grinned, before leaning back in.

Silence had never been so beautifully comfortable before for either of the two.

Eventually, they sat in a quiet daze, chins rested upon each other's shoulders, thousands of thoughts on their minds. The wind stilled, and the faint rustle of leaves faded alongside it.

Hyunjin lightly brought his nose to the crook of the younger's neck. "I'd do anything for you, you know?" he whispered, affectionately nuzzling the blonde as if to dispel any leftover tension. "Anything, really."

Felix only gave a gentle nod. He didn't know what to say to that, honestly. He hoped there were limits, for Hyunjin's sake. But on the other hand, if what the elder felt was even half of how Felix felt... he completely understood.

"All I need you to do is stay here," Felix gripped the fabric of the elder's shirt. "With me. For a long time."

"I will, my love," Hyunjin promised, the blonde held tightly in his arms.

And he meant every word. He'd been simply surviving for survival's sake until Felix had stumbled into his life, carrying what would become Hyunjin's whole life in those dainty hands.

He would die without Felix—it had become crystal clear. If not for his infectious grin, and smiley dark eyes, and the way that his mere presence could calm the stormiest of seas... Hyunjin couldn't fathom any other way to live on.

Hyunjin understood now, why entire wars were fought over love.

Because Felix was the type of boy to kill for.