Other than Changbin, the hideout was completely empty. Jeongin and Seungmin had been designated to do the grocery shopping for the week, much to their displeasure. Red was off doing something that she wouldn't let any of the other members in on, which led to speculations from the majority of the members; like always. Woojin, Chan, Jisung, Minho, and Hyunjin were up in the higher parts of the mountains getting fresh air, something that Changbin was only a fan of when he felt he really needed it. The raven haired boy felt completely relieved to be alone. That meant that he could sit down at the table and eat his dinner in peace. No matter how often he chose to do it, Changbin wasn't a fan of eating in his room. It felt stuffy in there, window open or closed, and he didn't like the way he could hear the others talking and laughing in the kitchen. It made him feel left out, though he'd never admit it. He did his very best to convince himself that he was just fine being alone. He'd been that way for as long as he could possibly remember, and he didn't plan on changing that up anytime soon.

Changbin decided on just heating up pizza rolls in the microwave. Obviously it wasn't the healthiest of options, but he couldn't have cared less. He spread the frozen pizza rolls out on the plate, quickly closing the door of the microwave and hitting the button that would start the one minute timer. Other than the subtle humming of the microwave, the hideout was completely silent. But, for the first time in a while, the silence didn't seem to comfort him the way it always did. It felt wrong, and he couldn't understand why. Before his thoughts got too dark or too deep, the microwave beeped, alerting him of the fact that his food was ready. Shaking the bad thoughts from his head, he decided to focus solely on his food. He sat down at the kitchen table, something he rarely ever did, and carefully took a bite of the newly heated pizza rolls.

Unbeknownst to Changbin, Felix was asleep in their shared room. Was being the key word. The Australian rolled out of bed, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He was unbelievably tired after the fiasco that morning. Add all his training on top of that, and it was a recipe for wiping someone out quicker than any sleeping pill in the entire world. The brunette had only meant to rest his eyes for a few minutes, but he ended up taking a three hour nap. Interestingly enough, Felix still felt like he could sleep for another twelve full hours. He planned on going back to sleep after getting a drink, because his throat felt like the Sahara Desert. With tired limbs and a heavy body, he made his way to the kitchen, feeling like a block of pure lead. Felix entered the kitchen, simply assuming that nobody else was in there. He rubbed his eyes again, stumbling towards the cabinet like a zombie. He grabbed a glass and turned on the faucet, letting it fill to the tip top with cold water. In the blink of an eye, he tilted the cup back and drained it of all the liquid. He wiped his mouth and sat the glass in the sink, only to turn around and notice Changbin's presence in the kitchen. The older boy regarded him wearily.

"Oh...Sorry," Felix apologized, even though he wasn't even sure what he was apologizing for.

Changbin's gaze just made him break into a frequent state of "I'm sorry". He felt the need to apologize over every little thing. He also felt the need to do it when there was no viable reason for one to be in order. After saying that, Felix started to head back to the room. He stopped only when Changbin said his name.

"Y-Yeah?" The Australian stuttered out, suddenly feeling flustered by the older boy's abrupt call.

"Did you eat dinner?"

Felix paused for a moment or so. He knew the answer, which was a no, but he didn't understand why Changbin was asking. He thought that the raven haired boy hated him.

"No...I've been asleep," Felix admitted, a light blush creeping onto his cheeks.

Changbin was having an internal war with himself. He hadn't really meant to ask Felix if he'd eaten. It was just something that spilled out of his mouth. The younger boy confused Changbin and made him feel things that he didn't like at all.

"If you don't eat, your health won't be good. You'll be even more trouble," Changbin said bluntly.

Yes, Changbin reminded himself, I'm only saying these things because it impacts me. I'm doing it for selfish measures.

"Sorry," Felix mumbled again.

"I'll do better."

But he wasn't just talking about the eating aspect of things. No, Felix was vowing to do better at eating as well as in training, in their partnership, and as a member of Supernova. Though he'd only been there a day, he knew that he'd have to work a hell of a lot harder if he wanted to hold his own among the other members; especially Changbin. Felix had watched the older boy train, and he was incredible. He had complete and utter control over his powers. There was never any doubt radiating from him when he was using telekinesis. There was only confidence. Changbin knew exactly what he was doing, and that was obvious to Felix. It also intimidated him.

"Do you like pizza rolls?" The older boy inquired.

Felix cocked his head to one side slightly.

"Yeah, sure, they're good," he answered, feeling unsure as to where the situation was going.

"Then sit down. I think I made too many anyway," Changbin stated.

Felix was nervous, but he knew better than to disregard something that Changbin said to him. He'd purposefully ignored one of the older boy's commands during training, only to get snapped at harshly for not following directions. He sat in the chair that was opposite Changbin as the shorter boy pushed the plate more towards Felix so that it was directly between the both of them. Reaching out, Felix took one, although he was very hesitant.

"Thank you," he mumbled, doing his best to avoid the shorter boy's gaze.

They ate in silence, and for Felix it was one of the most awkward moments of his entire life. Changbin didn't really notice the tension between the two of them. He was oblivious to the awkwardness that was lingering in the air so thick that it could be sliced with a butter knife. Changbin, after all, wasn't exactly in tune with the world around him; especially not in a social manner. He wasn't good at picking up on signs of obvious discomfort. The number of pizza rolls dwindled down to three, and outside the door, the other guys were helping Seungmin and Jeongin to carry the grocery bags into the hideout. When he heard the sound of voices, Changbin stood up from his chair and promptly left the kitchen, leaving behind a very confused Felix.

Is he embarrassed to be seen eating with me? Felix wondered.

The door opened and all the other members came in. Their voices filled the air, and Felix immediately recognized that there wouldn't ever be a dull moment with them around.

"Oh, hey Felix!" Woojin said, dropping his three bags onto the kitchen floor.

"We didn't see you after training ended. You skipped dinner, too," Minho commented.

"You're okay, right?" Hyunjin questioned.

The fact that they were worried about him even though they'd only just met really warmed Felix's heart.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I was sleeping," he laughed.

"No wonder, after all the stuff Changbin had you do," Jisung stated, pulling a can of soda from the fridge.

"Yeah, that was pretty excessive," Chan agreed.

"Speaking of Changbin, are you guys getting along?" Jeongin asked.

Were they? The Australian really didn't know. Changbin was very hard to read, so Felix couldn't ever tell what he was thinking. Just as well, his words of praise sounded just like his scoldings, so it was hard to decipher between the two. In their shared room, Changbin's head snapped in the direction of the kitchen as he heard the question Jeongin asked.

"I...Don't know," Felix admitted.

He wanted so badly to say yes, but he just couldn't lie to himself like that.

"I mean, he's kind of standoffish sometimes, but other times he's a really nice person," the brunette explained.

The seven all stared at him with blank expressions.

"Nice...?" Hyunjin inquired, spitting out the word like it didn't sound quite right.

And in regards to Changbin; it didn't.

"Yeah. He might have yelled at me a lot today, but it's just because he's trying to help me learn. He tried really hard, and even when I was frustrating him, he didn't make me feel stupid or anything. He never called me names; he just told me to do better. Plus, he let me eat dinner with him," Felix explained.

All of them were shocked. Changbin hadn't ever bothered to even associate with any of them. Not really, anyway. And yet, for some reason, he was being kind to Felix.

"It may be safe to assume that the hypothesis we concluded earlier this morning was indeed flawed," Seungmin said.

"What the hell did you just say?" Minho questioned.

"In layman's terms, please," Jeongin requested, remembering the term that Seungmin had used hours before.

The redhead sighed.

"We all said that we thought the new member would be treated worse than us, remember? Adding in the facts that we know now, it's safe to assume that the guess we made was wrong," Seungmin dumbed his words down.

"You could've just said that from the beginning," Minho sighed.

"I did," the redhead argued.

"It was just in terms that were too far beyond your mental capacity for you to comprehend."

Minho didn't quite pick up on the subtle insult that Seungmin had made about his intelligence. Felix plucked the last pizza roll off the plate, promptly shoving it into his mouth. He put the plate in the sink, right beside the cup he'd used earlier, and then said goodnight to the rest of the guys. Retreating to his own room, he crawled into bed, hoping he hadn't woken Changbin up. Only problem was, the older boy wasn't asleep. He was busy turning things over in his head. Felix had called him nice. That was an adjective that had never before been used to describe Changbin, and he seriously didn't have a clue as to how he was supposed to feel about it. Growing up, he was referred to as "it". He remembered nothing about his parents. He'd never met them. He was raised under strange circumstances, ones that he would much rather forget, and nobody had ever bothered to treat him like a human being.

He'd been called lots of things over the years; a monster, worthless, pathetic, a freak, a weakling, and many, many more. All of the labels that had ever been stuck on him were negative. But, nice wasn't a negative word. Nice wasn't a bad thing to be. Felix had called him nice, and he didn't quite understand why just that simple fact made his chest feel all warm and fuzzy.

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That night was just like any other. Changbin fought sleep for as long as he could possibly manage. It was just past one in the morning when his eyelids began to droop and he found it hard to stay awake. His messed up sleeping schedule finally got the better of him, and he crashed at four minutes past one, only to have his dreams plagued with horrible images from his past. Blinding white walls, needles that were unimaginably long, and light blue latex gloves covering the hands of men that would inflict unmeasurable amounts of pain on him. The haunting images were burned into his eyelids, and as hard as he tried to push them away, they always ended up right where they had always been. Crimson liquid spilling from the mosaic of cuts that painted his arms, legs, and torso. Unknown substances that were forced into his bloodstream time and time again, often resulting in unrelenting symptoms that could last for days, or even weeks. Skin rubbed raw, hooks scraping against his bones, and restraints keeping him tied to a hospital bed. Changbin tossed and turned, quietly enough to not alert any of the others in the hideout, but not quietly enough to avoid Felix hearing it all. In his sleep, Changbin mumbled, pleading with the men in his dreams to stop; not that they ever listened. They never did in real life, either.

Felix opened his eyes, quietly sitting up in his bed. Up until Felix's arrival, the other bed in Changbin's room had always been empty. But now, there was no hiding the constant nightmares. There was no avoiding the truth. The Australian's eyes adjusted to the darkness. His gaze fell upon the other bed; the one in which Changbin was moving around erratically, mumbling words that Felix couldn't quite make out. Slipping out of his bed, the younger boy quietly made his way across the room. He could see that Changbin was in distress, and he debated on whether or not he should wake him up. Just when he decided that it would be best to wake Changbin up, the older boy's eyes shot open. Felix immediately pulled his hand away, jumping back away from Changbin's bed in surprise.

"What the hell?" Changbin asked in a low voice.

Though he was speaking quietly, he could tell that the older boy was angry with him. He could hear it in his tone.

"I-I just...You were...I'm sorry," the taller boy stuttered out, stumbling over his words time and time again.

Changbin braced himself for hurtful words or name calling. He had no doubt that Felix thought that he was an absolute freak.

"Are you um..."

A freak? A monster? A psycho?

"...okay?"

The older boy had predicted anything but that. In the darkness, he stared blankly at Felix, who had a concerned expression on his face. Changbin recognized those worried eyes; the same ones that had regarded him intently that very morning when he was caught on his hands and knees by the younger boy. He felt like Felix was pitying him, and he didn't like that. Not one bit.

"I'm not weak," Changbin stated.

It was like a reflex to guard himself. He needed to defend himself against anyone who thought that he was weak, because he wasn't weak and he never would be. Not ever again. Felix was confused by the abrupt statement.

"I know you're not," the Australian replied.

Again, Felix had an answer that the shorter boy would never have expected. The only thing Changbin knew how to do in terms of conversation was defend himself...He didn't know how to react to any of the taller boy's words. Not a single one of them. It was safe to say that Felix confused Changbin beyond belief. The raven haired boy didn't think he'd ever be able to understand Felix. The brunette was simply too complex.

"I don't think you're weak," Felix assured the older boy.

Changbin didn't know what to say or how to react. He was so accustomed to always defending himself and keeping his guard up eight miles high. He didn't understand Felix at all, and not being able to figure the younger boy out really frustrated him. The older boy kept his mouth shut as Felix's blinking eyes regarded him with kindness. That was another thing that Changbin just didn't understand.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Felix asked hesitantly.

The shorter boy said nothing. He didn't want to talk about anything that had happened in his dream or his past. He wanted to bury those memories within the deepest, darkest recesses of his mind and never have to think of them again. He didn't want anyone else to know about how much of a freak he truly was. Figuring that the older boy wasn't in the mood for talking, Felix fiddled with his fingers.

"How about I sing you a lullaby or something?" The Australian suggested.

Changbin cocked his head to one side in confusion.

"Why would you do that?" He asked.

"Oh, um, well, when I was younger, I had nightmares a lot. My mom would sing me a lullaby to put me back to sleep, and I wouldn't have any other bad dreams for the rest of the night," Felix explained.

It was a bit of a different situation. After all, Felix's mother hadn't sung him a lullaby since he was seven or eight. A moments pause, and then Changbin spoke up again.

"...so it really worked?" He asked.

Felix nodded.

"Yep! It always worked," he said confidently.

Changbin was weary of letting the younger boy sing him to sleep. After all, that would show vulnerability that the older boy wasn't a fan of revealing to anyone. However, Changbin would do just about anything to keep the horrid nightmares away. Taking the initiative, Felix walked closer to Changbin and grasped the covers on his bed. He pulled them up, making sure Changbin would stay warm. The older boy always left the window open, allowing cold air to enter the room. Felix didn't want to impose on anything, so he just left it open. Changbin rested his head on his pillow, closing his eyes. Felix sang a gentle song in a quiet voice; just for the older boy's ears only. It wasn't long before Changbin began to drift off into dreamland once more. But, this time, it felt much more pleasant than it ever had before. As the last of Felix's voice faded from earshot, Changbin calmly let sleep take him under. For the first time in his entire life, he didn't fight it.

And Felix was right. Changbin didn't have anymore nightmares after that. Instead, he had pleasant dreams of softly sung words, kind eyes, baby soft skin, and strands of soft brunette hair.

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