ˏˋ°•*⁀ ➷ 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗧𝗪𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗬-𝗦𝗜𝗫
─◌✰್ 𝗌𝗍𝖺𝗋𝖿𝗋𝗎𝗂𝗍
𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗳𝗿𝘂𝗶𝘁（𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗻）/ˈ𝘀𝘁𝗮̈𝗿ˌ𝗳𝗿o͞𝗼𝘁/
❝𝖺 𝗀𝗋𝖾𝖾𝗇 𝗍𝗈 𝗒𝖾𝗅𝗅𝗈𝗐 𝗍𝗋𝗈𝗉𝗂𝖼𝖺𝗅 𝖺𝗌𝗂𝖺𝗇 𝖿𝗋𝗎𝗂𝗍 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝗁𝖺𝗌 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗌𝗁𝖺𝗉𝖾 𝗈𝖿 𝖺 𝟧－𝗉𝗈𝗂𝗇𝗍𝖾𝖽 𝗌𝗍𝖺𝗋 𝗐𝗁𝖾𝗇 𝖼𝗎𝗍 𝖺𝖼𝗋𝗈𝗌𝗌 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗆𝗂𝖽𝖽𝗅𝖾．❞

Thank god you remembered to bring sunscreen.

Or rather, thank god Hyunjin had remembered to bring sunscreen.

What with today hitting record temperatures, even you, who never burned, would have been at risk of a terrible day consisting of sitting inside under a cold towel with Aloe dumped all over your back.

Sometimes - and you stressed sometimes - having an older brother who was obsessed with keeping his skin healthy was a plus. You loved taking care of your skin too, but damn was he a diva when it came to his routine.

"Do you think it's possible for someone to become human jerky?"

JJ leaned back in her beach chair, resting her head on her hands casually, as if she'd just asked everyone something as simple as what they'd like to eat.

"Ewe JJ what the heck?" Mya exclaimed, sitting up so fast she knocked her Barbie-pink sunglasses askew. "Why would you even say something like that?"

JJ smirked, not looking at the girl. "Because I knew you'd react like that."

"Ugh, that's mean," Mya huffed, scooting to the edge of her beach chair and grabbing her sunglasses, before looking ahead at the ocean. "How long have they been out there?"

Lanhua, who sat between the two girls, grinned, shrugging her athletic, slender shoulders. She wore a checkered black and white bikini that had long ties that wrapped around her, accentuating her perfect waist. She somehow had the equally as defined abs as Changbin. How could they both be insanely fit?

"I have no clue, but I don't mind watching," Lanhua said, nodding in approval at what she was seeing.

All eight men were messing around in the water, just deep enough that their waists were covered, but their chests were fully on display, abs out in all their glory.

"Yeahh, I don't mind either," Riley nodded appreciatively. "Can this be their permanent beach uniform from now on?"

"I don't know why they wear clothes at all!" Tessa agreed heartily.

"Or us, for that matter," JJ laughed. "You know I love a clothing optional beach."

"I don't think I could handle that," Renee giggled, covering her cheeks, which had turned bright red.

"That would be pretty fun," Robin agreed. "I wouldn't mind seeing those guys-"

"Okay next topic!" Mya interrupted, her face also flushed. "That's so inappropriate, one of them is Laska's brother!"

"Yeah, but he's not a total uggo," Riley pointed out. "Not my kind of guy, but still."

"Hyunjin would be at the top of my list, that's for sure," JJ shrugged.

Lanhua rolled her eyes. "We know, girl. Why haven't you made a move on him yet??"

"You know I don't do that," JJ said, a little to quickly. "I'm not into relationships, remember?"

"Uh huh, we been knew," Lanhua nudged her friend. "I'm personally over your whole 'feelings are for losers' thing."

"Me too, and you know I have a personal vendetta against men," Tessa piped up, snatching her bright blue cocktail off of the lime green plastic table next to her.

JJ sighed. "You both know how hard relationships are to keep up. I'm not ready for that kind of work!"

"But Hyunjin might be worth it!" Renee exclaimed. "He seems really sweet, and he really likes you."

"He's been following you around the whole fucking week," Tessa pointed out. "You're never gonna find another guy who's that obsessed with you."

"Thanks," JJ said sarcastically. You watched her in silent surprise. You'd never seen JJ get so riled up about something. She was always so calm and collected.

"I get it," Riley assured JJ. "I dunno if I'm really cut out for relationships either."

"Babe, we know you're going to get with Chan," Lanhua replied, her expression deadpan. "Just because the two of you are in denial doesn't change that."

"We are not!" Riley protested. "We're just friends!"

"Friends who call each other hot behind each other's back?" You said mildly. Riley glared poison at you. You just smirked in response.

"You've never heard me say that," Riley grumbled, but it she knew she was caught. She was always staring at him. She'd been doing it for the past as he hung out with his friends in the water, earlier that morning when he ate breakfast outside with Minho, Changbin, Tessa and Lanhua, and hell, for the entire week since the trip had started.

It had also been a week since you and Felix had confessed your feelings on his balcony. It had also been a week since Lanhua had expressed her doubts about Felix's intentions. You'd chosen to ignore her words. Since then, everything had been a whirlwind for you. Every free moment that you weren't day-drinking, gossiping, or eating with your friends, was spent with Felix. However, it was clear that he wanted to keep your newfound relationship very much on the down low, so you would steal private moments when it was just the two of you, or try your best to sneak away from the rest of the group. From subtle brushes of the hands, to swimming in the ocean or spending time cuddling in your room when the girls were downstairs, you finally felt like you didn't have to question where he was with you. It was okay that he wanted a lowkey relationship. He would come around eventually, right?

"Damn I'm hungry!" You groaned. You'd only eaten a couple pieces of gimbap leftover from the previous night, and it was now well past three in the afternoon. That meant it had been six hours since you'd last eaten, and that was unacceptable. Apparently, you'd gotten so distracted by all the tasty morsels that were swimming in the ocean mere feet away from you, you'd forgotten to eat.

"Girl, me too! Should we try and make something?" Lanhua started to get up, but she was interrupted all eight men running up the shore towards them.

"Did I hear you're hungry, Laska?" Felix reached the girls first. Grinning down at you, blond hair wet and framing his face, you couldn't take your eyes off of him. With his bare chest exposed to the sun, your gaze kept flickering back and forth freely between his face and body. Just when you thought you were getting used to seeing him shirtless, he managed to surprise you. How could someone look so effortlessly hot? All while wearing light purple bunny-print swim trunks. He said he wore them because purple was your favorite color. Did he have any normal swimwear?

"Yeah, I'm starving!" You agreed, ignoring the teasing faces of your friends and smiling at Felix instead. It definitely helped that he was easy on the eyes.

"I'll go make you something then," Felix made to lean down and kiss the top of your head, but the rest of the guys arrived behind him, and he pulled away.

"I'll be back," he whispered in your ear, before running up the beach back towards the house.

Trying not to feel a bit hurt that he'd second-guessed a public show of affection, you turned back to your friends, forcing a smile onto your face.

"That was weird," Lanhua, straightforward as ever, commented.

"It looked like he was going to kiss your head or something," Riley agreed.

"Why'd he pull away?" Mya complained. "That would be so cute!"

"What's so cute?" Han, followed by the rest of the guys, approached the girls, glancing around curiously. "I hope it's me!"

"Sure, it's definitely you Han," Robin assured him, patting his arm.

Han puffed out his chest and nodded. "That's what I thought!"

Robin and Han had been hanging out quite a bit over the past week. He seemed to be very smitten by the social media influencer, always making sure she had a drink (alcoholic or not) in her hand, and checking on her when it got really hot outside. You'd even walked out onto the back porch a few days ago and stumbled upon them giggling and holding hands at the wooden dinner table. But no matter how blatantly Robin hinted at it, he still hadn't asked her out. You wondered if he was scared, or just stupid.

"I'm getting sort of hungry too, should we go make something?" Minho sat on the arm of Tessa's chair.

"Hey, watch it would you!" Tessa snapped, shoving at Minho's exposed back. You couldn't help but stare. Even though you weren't interested in Minho persay, you could admire a hot guy. How could Tessa act so cold to someone that looked so good??

Minho turned around to face Tessa, a smirk on his face. He slowly removed the black sunglasses he wore and shook out his hair, looking down at her like she was a field mouse and he an owl, ready to go in for the kill.

"What Tess, you don't like me sitting here, so close to you?" He asked, a grin spreading wide over his face.

"Don't start with me," Tessa warned, standing up.

The chair, now off balance, tilted ninety degrees to the right. Minho, unprepared for the sudden movement, fell sprawling in the sand.

Chan and Jeongin hurried over to his side, lifting him up by both arms. All the girls watched, not sure if they should laugh or feel bad.

"Tessa, what was that for?" Jeongin exclaimed, still holding onto his friend.

"I'd do it again," Tessa continued to glower at Minho, her face akin to a cherry. "I don't need people messing with me."

And with that, she stormed off towards the water, leaving everyone behind, stunned.

Jeongin opened his mouth to respond, but Minho shook his head. His mouth was pulled into a thin line as he bit his lower lip.

"Just leave her," he muttered so quietly you could barely pick up the words. "She's having a hard time."

Lanhua moved over in her beach chair to make space for Changbin, who instantly squeezed in next to her. Lanhua covered her mouth, trying not to be insensitive and giggle, especially after such a tense moment.

Minho sighed, motioning to Tessa, who was kicking at the wet sand with such a vengeance, she sent huge globs flying a few feet in the air before they landed with a loud splat. A mother and her child were watching her with identical concerned expressions on their faces.

"I should go talk to her, right?"

Everyone sat staring at the girl for a few seconds before Chan, who still stood next to his friend, nodded.

"If she won't bite your head off, then yes."

"She cares about you more than she lets on, Minho," Hyunjin observed.

You frowned at him. That was probably the most observant thing he'd ever said in his life.

"I think that's how she acts when she likes someone," Seungmin agreed.

"She doesn't like me Seungmin, she thinks I'm a piece of shit," Minho murmured, already starting to move towards the water.

Seungmin pushed him good-naturedly in the back. Shaking his head, he went to stand next to Chan and Jeongin.

"Since when could you read girl's minds??" You demanded, pointing at your brother.

"She's pretty obvious about it, isn't she?" Hyunjin said defensively. "Tessa's really nice to the rest of us. She constantly looks at Minho like she wants to kill him!"

"Or maybe do something else with him," Changbin grinned. "Anger and passion are basically the same thing, right?"

"You've never been angry at me, have you?" Lanhua exclaimed, giving him a fake-offended look. "Does that mean you don't like me?"

Changbin blushed. "I was talking about Minho and Tessa, not us. We have plenty of passion."

"We don't want to hear about your sex lives!" Han complained, taking a sip of Robin's spiked lemonade.

"As much as I would love to hear about your sex lives," you cut in, smirking at Lanhua, who wiggled her eyebrows, "I'm gonna go check on how the food's coming, my stomach is starting to hurt."

"We'll be in right after you babe," Lanhua called after her.

"Bring me a chicken nugget!" Riley cried.

"A smoothie for me please!" Mya exclaimed.

You rolled your eyes. "Get your own damn food!" You yelled, before making your way up to the house.

You wondered what was taking Felix so long. He had always been a pretty good cook, and he knew all of your favorite foods. He'd been feeding you hot cheetos - which you had to get specially imported from America - out of the bag for hours after dinner last night. Maybe he just got distracted. If so, it might be a nice excuse to spend some alone time with him. You both got so little time away from everyone else, where he was fully comfortable being romantic. You tried not to let it bother you, but you found yourself wishing he would be okay with everyone knowing you were in a relationship. Or whatever this was.

"Heyy, Lix? Are you in here?" You called cautiously, glancing around the entryway. You could hear the faint sound of a knife hitting the cutting board. Since everyone else was at the beach, it could only be one person.

Walking into the kitchen, you found Felix standing at the island, cutting carrots and cucumbers and putting them on a plate. There was also something on a separate plate next to the veggies, but you couldn't see what it was. It smelled incredible.

"Having fun?" You said as you walked around the island to stand next to him.

Felix glanced up, a look of surprise crossing his face. Within moments, it faded, replaced by an expression you could only describe as pure happiness. No one was ever so genuinely excited to see you as Felix was. It was the biggest compliment, having someone take so much joy in spending time with you.

"Hey, I was gonna surprise you!" Felix exclaimed, nudging you gently with a lighthearted grin.

"Do you want me to go back outside?" You pointed at the door, mostly joking.

Felix nearly dropped the knife on his foot in his haste to grab your forearm. "No, of course not!" He gasped. "Now that you're here, you can help me prepare our picnic!"

"Picnic??" You frowned. "What do you mean picnic??"

Felix grinned and pointed at the tray that you couldn't see earlier. It was covered with all kinds of sandwiches, including your favorite, chicken and pesto. No wonder it smelled so good in here.

"You were making us a picnic??" You gazed up at Felix in amazement. No wonder he was taking so long, he was making you guys a whole damn feast! This man was truly amazing.

"I know you love food, so I wanted to do something special for you," he ducked his head sheepishly. "I know it's a little cheesy, but I've never had anyone to be cheesy with before, so-"

He didn't get the chance finish his sentence, because you threw your arms around his neck and hugged him as tight as you could.

"I love cheesy," you mumbled into his chest. You could feel tears threatening to escape your eyes, but you pushed them away. Now wasn't the time to dampen the mood - literally - with your crying. But you had never felt so grateful for someone in your life.

When you finally let go of him, Felix finished cutting up the final carrot and moved on to plating some of the leftover brownies he'd made two nights before.

"What can I do to help?" You looked around the kitchen. You weren't a bad cook by any means, but Felix made you look incompetent in comparison.

"You can stand there and look pretty," Felix replied with a devilish grin, setting two more brownies on the cherry blossom patterned plate.

"Lixxx!" You whined, and he shot you a smirk that turned your legs to marshmallow fluff.

"If that's not hard enough for you, you could try one of the cookies I made this morning!" Felix motioned for you to stand next to him again, and he pulled a plastic tub out of the pantry. "Hyunjin said they're almost as good as my brownies."

"That's high praise coming from him," you said, impressed. "What kind are they?"

"They're s'mores flavored!" He said, taking one out of the container and holding it up to your mouth. "Open up."

"I can feed myself!" You sputtered, feeling your entire body heat up at such a romantic gesture.

"It's more fun this way, isn't it?" Felix waved the cookie in front of your face. "This is the only way you're gonna get a bite, Laska! Take it or leave it!"

You rolled your eyes just for show, before opening your mouth.

Felix pushed the cookie into your mouth, and you took a bite.

Holy shit, it was like if heaven was a food. The melty chocolate chips mixed with the pillowy marshmallow and crumbly graham cracker was the perfect combination, and it was all perfectly finished off with the lucious cookie dough that held it together.

"Oh my gosh!" You exclaimed, snatching the rest of the cookie out of his hand. "How many did you make, because I'm not gonna share any of them! Why didn't you let me try some earlier??"

Felix laughed. "Well, there were a lot of people around last night, and you were upstairs with your friends, and I just didn't want..."

There was a pause as the unspoken words swam between the two of you. Neither of you had mentioned the fact that Felix got squeamish about their relationship around other people. And based off how you felt right now, that might have been the right move.

Felix reached out and grabbed your hand, squeezing it tight before you could pull away. Your heart started thudding so hard it hurt, but not in a pleasant way. You almost wished Felix would let go of you, but he didn't.

He opened his mouth to say something, when the door creaked open and a pair of footsteps pattered across the floor.

Hyunjin and JJ raced inside, giggling like little kids. They stopped short when they saw you and Felix standing next to each other, both of their gazes moving back and forth between you two.

Even though your hands were hidden from view by the kitchen island, Felix immediately dropped your hand, as if you had a disease. Straightening up, he waved at the newcomers.

"Hey, what's up?" Felix said casually, his face slightly flushed.

Hyunjin didn't seem to notice, as his face was a pink shade to match his friends'. "Heyy," he said, continuing to glance between you and Felix, as if he had also been caught doing something he shouldn't, and was wondering if you'd noticed.

Within seconds, the rest of your friends barged through the door and into the kitchen. What was once a quiet, playful atmosphere had turned into a bustling, chaotic one.

You glanced back over at Felix, who had turned his back to you as he put everything on a large tray.

Turning back around, he said, "you ready to go?"

Your heart was still thudding in your chest, hands shaking at your sides. You knotted them together so Felix couldn't see. You weren't hungry anymore, your ravenous appetite having vanished within seconds. All you could do was nod numbly.

Felix led the way back out to the beach, and you followed.

But you couldn't ignore the reality any longer

Lanhua had been right. Felix wasn't ready for a relationship.

laska's note —
there's already trouble brewing once more.... my poor babies, they deserve happiness! do you think they'll get it?? whose side are you on in this? also, there will be even more relationship updates for everyone soon! they're all so cute i love them!
also, a very important note! i published my minho fic called fairytale last week, and the prologue and first chapter are already out! if you love my writing, PLEASE go check it out, it's going to be really good and i'm very excited for it! ily guys who have already read it mwah.

question of the day —
in celebration of felix's new s'mores cookies, what's your favorite kind of cookie??

my answer —
i love any cookie with white chocolate! white chocolate macadamia nut are soooo good omg.

𝖭𝖤𝖷𝖳 𝖴𝖯：
𝟮𝟳 - 𝗺𝗮𝗰 𝗻' 𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗲𝘀𝗲
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