Chapter Text
Just over seven months after being told that he would become a big brother, Chris met his little brother, Yongbok, for the first time. However, he quickly began shortening the English name that Junyoung and Soojin had given him, Felix, to Fee. He also, after watching Peter Pan, began calling him Pixie, a nickname which was soon adopted by the rest of the family.
Contrary to what many outside of the odd family unit would expect upon hearing of their odd family situation, the two brothers became near inseparable as the years passed. They had their fair share of arguments and disagreements, but they were all relatively minor, able to be resolved quickly.
They each always had a “spare” bed in their respective bedrooms, which they, and their parents, knew were not spare beds at all, but belonging to each boy, as they rarely slept in separate rooms. However, they did each have their own room, with Felix, despite not being related to either Jihye or Jungho, having his own room in their apartment, as he had a spot in their hearts that was right next to Chris’, and Chris having his own space in Junyoung and Soojin’s apartment.
Although Chris was originally the figurative glue which held the two parental units together, Felix grew up considering Jihye and Jungho a second set of parents, following his brother’s habit of calling them Mommy and Daddy, while Junyoung and Soojin were Appa and Eomma . As a result, the four adults decided to not only continue to co-parent Chris, but to do the same with Felix.
This decision to co-parent both children in such a way was often frowned upon by those who chose not to take the time to understand. Perhaps the person who was most vocal in expressing this lack of understanding, and somewhat frustration, was Soojin’s younger sister, Minji. One of the biggest arguments the two sisters ever had was regarding Soojin allowing Felix to spend time at Jihye and Jungho’s apartment. It was a little over two years since Felix’s birth, and he and Chris had recently begun sharing a bedroom, despite each having their own room.
Minji had come down from Brisbane for a week, as her husband had just gotten a job transfer to Sydney, and she was looking at various housing options. Throughout the time she was in Sydney, Minji had been mostly successful in hiding her feelings, as long as those around her were unaware of her trait of being able to control electrical currents. While Minji had excellent control under most circumstances, when it came to her family, she would often slip, causing a variety of electrical items to malfunction temporarily. It was near the end of her visit that Soojin confronted her sister regarding her disapproval, resulting in an argument that would leave an irreparable rift in their relationship.
The plan was for Jihye come to get the Felix so that they could pick up Chris from daycare together, so that Felix could spend the night at Jihye and Jungho’s apartment.
However, throughout the day Felix had been acting unusually clingy to both his Eomma and Auntie. When they asked him what was wrong, he would simply say, “No be mad.”
When Jihye came that afternoon to pick up Felix, she could instantly tell something was wrong. As she let herself into the apartment, rather than being flooded by Felix’s usual bright and happy energy, he was somewhat frantic and panicked. Soojin was concerned, and Minji was confused.
“I’m here to pick up a Pixie!” Jihye called into the apartment as she slipped off her shoes. Instantly she noticed Minji’s confusion turning from that of concern, to one of irritation.
“Mommy!” The little boy, who was cuddled on the couch with his Eomma , released his grip on her and ran towards Jihye when he saw the other woman enter the living room.
“Hey there, Felix. What’s wrong?” Jihye’s soft voice asked as she picked up the toddler and hugged him.
The young boy simply whined and hid his head in her neck, and Soojin sighed and said, “I honestly don’t know what’s going on with him today. He just keeps telling Minji and me not to be mad.”
Jihye ran a hand through Felix’s hair, and asked, “Do you think he’s good to spend the night? Or would it be better for him to be with you and Junyoung tonight?”
“I asked him before you came down, and it seems like he wants to spend the night with you. I don’t know, though.”
“Why don’t I take him, and see if him spending some time with us will help? If nothing else, it will give you and Minji a chance to spend some time one-on-one.”
After Jihye made this suggestion, the lights flickered briefly, causing her to look up and frown. “That’s been happening a lot recently. Do you think we should tell the landlord?”
Soojin laughed nervously, and said, “No, I think it should resolve itself. It’s probably just a fluke. And I think you’re right. Minji and I could use some time to just chat.”
There was a brief moment of silence, in which Jihye simply stared into space, continuing to comb her fingers through Felix’s hair, before she said, “Okay. Felix and I will be heading out, then. Are you ready to go, Pixie?”
Felix lifted his head from Jihye’s shoulder and began to wiggle, silently asking to be let down. She complied, and the boy walked over to his aunt and looked at her as seriously as he could, “No be mad. ‘Romise?”
Minji looked at her sister in confusion, before looking at him and responding, “I promise, buddy.”
He nodded, somewhat satisfied, and gave her a hug before turning to his mother and making her promise the same thing. He then returned to Jihye and said, “Get ‘Rissy now?”
She picked him up once more, “Yeah, let’s go pick up Chris.” Then, addressing the other two women, “Have a good night! We’ll see you in the morning.” She then went to the door, picked up Felix’s little backpack, which was filled with both items to keep him busy and his favorite stuffed koala, and left to pick up the elder child.
However, contrary to what the two women had promised the young boy, they did end up losing their tempers. Minji could not understand how Soojin would be comfortable allowing her son to see Soojin as a mother figure; while Soojin was frustrated at her sister’s lack of willingness to understand. As a result, the two had a major argument which resulted in the two sisters cutting off all contact from one another, only seeing each other at family events that could not be avoided.
In the emotional aftermath of cutting ties from one of the closest people in her life, Soojin forgot all about Felix’s odd behavior that day, as did Jihye, who was more concerned with comforting her friend. This would one day prove to be an oversight that would have consequences which would reach much farther than anyone could anticipate.
~*~
As the years passed, many things remained as they were, but others changed. The two family units remained close, but they each moved to different neighborhoods. This made it so that rather than the brothers going between the two households and switching where they slept nearly every night, to where they were forced to sleep in different places for the first time since they began sharing their rooms with one another.
This caused the two children to have trouble sleeping for several months until Jungho had the idea of having each child give the other one of their favorite toys. It was explained to the children that even if they weren’t in the same room, they could hug the stuffed animal, and it would be like they were hugging their brother.
Strangely, though Chris, being a self-described "big boy", knew this wasn’t the case, it did work. Not only him, but for his younger brother as well. He had chosen to give Felix a stuffed Amur leopard, which he had gotten when he had gone to Korea as a baby. He felt that only something that was as fierce as a wild cat would be able to protect his brother as good as he could.
Felix had chosen to give his prized koala to his older brother, separating the marsupial from the stuffed kangaroo he had received around the same time. His explanation was that Chris could jump as high as a kangaroo, and Felix liked to climb on his Daddy and Appa like a koala. He said that he would always have Chris, and Chris would always have him; just like his two friends, as he called the stuffed animals, always had each other.
Life went on without any major changes for several years. Chris was on his way towards becoming a champion swimmer, and Felix started dancing, while they both did taekwondo at the same school. The next major life change came one March afternoon, when Chris was ten, and Felix was six.
Soojin and Junyoung had came to pick up Felix after a weekend at Jihye and Junho’s house. Rather than finding a young boy who was reluctant, but willing, to leave, they found Felix in near hysterics, clinging to his older brother, insisting that he couldn’t leave. Not only was he refusing to leave, but was insisting that Soojin and Junyoung not leave either, as the initial solution to calming Felix down only caused further distress. For, it was thought that he would simply spend another night while his parents left to attend a business dinner, a dinner he had been invited to, as the other family had a son around Felix’s age. Rather than calming down when Jihye asked if he wanted to spend another night with them, while his parents went to the dinner, Felix, whose tears had almost dried, began sobbing in earnest once more, begging that they not leave.
After Felix had begun crying the second time, Soojin and Junyoung, as well as Jihye and Junho, had spent the better part of an hour trying to calm down the child and convince him to leave Chris’ side, but to no avail, and tempers were beginning to fray. However, they were all trying to keep their frustration in check, as Jihye mentioned to the other parents that, although she didn’t know why, Felix was well and truly terrified; this feeling had only been increasing in the boy ever since he had woken up that morning.
“Yongbok, we need to go. Your Dad has an important business dinner tonight that we need to get ready for! Why don’t you just tell us what’s wrong?” Soojin finally exclaimed, exasperated, and resorting to using Felix’s Korean name, something which was only reserved for when he was in trouble.
Sniffling, Felix glanced at his older brother, who nodded at him encouragingly. This confirmed the parents’ suspicions that Felix had confided in his older brother as to what was bothering him. They couldn’t find it in themselves to be upset, though, as the overwhelming emotion they felt was relief at Felix finally showing some willingness to explain his distress, as he had adamantly refused when asked earlier.
Felix hesitated a bit, then said, “We can’t go. If we go, something bad will happen.”
Junyoung let out a noise of disbelief before saying, “Nothing bad is going to happen, Pixie. It’s just a business dinner.”
Felix’s eyes began to well up with tears once more, and he turned to his brother, crying out, “I told you that they wouldn’t listen!”
The elder child hugged the younger, looking up at his parents with eyes that seemed to say, “Help him.”
The adults gave Chris a moment to comfort his brother, and during this time Junho murmured to the other parents, “What if it’s Felix’s trait?”
Soojin considered it for a moment, then said, “But he’s still so young! I didn’t get mine until I was almost thirteen.”
Junyoung nodded and said, “I was fourteen.”
Jihye, who had been staring into space, something she often did when processing the emotions of those around her, said, “Even though traits usually come in around the same age, according to genetics, it’s still very possible. I’ve only felt terror like this from Felix once before.” With that comment, she gave Soojin a meaningful look, not wanting to mention the falling out she had with her sister any more than necessary.
This caused Soojin to pause, and she let out a long sigh, before stepping towards the children, and kneeling down in front of them. “Pixie, honey, can you tell me why you think something bad will happen if we leave?”
He looked up at his mother and said in a strangely calm voice, tears still streaming down his face, “You and Daddy are going to die.”
Soojin looked at him, completely taken aback, and said, “Honey, that’s not going to happen! We’re just going to get ready for dinner. You were excited about dinner, right? About seeing Andrew again?”
Felix hesitantly nodded, wanting to see his friend whom he hadn’t seen in quite a while. “You promise that nothing bad will happen?”
Soojin looked behind her shoulder at Junyoung, not wanting to say something in the off chance that it was Felix’s trait coming out early.
Junyoung stepped forward, and placed a hand on Soojin’s shoulder. “Nothing bad is going to happen to us.” Upon seeing that Felix still wasn’t convinced, he said, “I promise.”
Felix darted forward and hugged his Eomma , reassured from what his father had said. After all, his Appa had never broken a promise before. He pulled back, arms still around his mother’s neck, and murmured shyly, “Sorry for making you mad.”
Soojin hugged the young boy close once more, and explained, “We weren’t mad, we were worried. Just talk to us, okay?” She then released him from the hug and said, “If you’re ok, why don’t you go ahead and get your backpack. Then we can head home and get ready.”
Felix nodded, wiped his face clear of tears, and turned to Chris, saying, “Can you help me?”
Chris looked at Soojin and Junyoung with something close to approval, most likely for taking his brother’s worries seriously, before saying, “Yeah, someone has to make sure you don’t forget your shoes again.”
“Chris, that was one time !” Felix whined as the two left to get his things.
Soojin stood up from the kneeling position she had been in, and looked at Junyoung seriously. “I wish you hadn’t promised him that. What if it is his trait?”
Junyoung brushed her hair away from her face, and said, “I’m sure it’s nothing. Besides, what are the chances that he would have some kind of precognition? You know how rare those traits are.”
She sighed and acknowledged what he said, “That’s very true.”
It was still clear, though, that she was very nervous about the whole situation. Jungho commented, “I think Junyoung’s right. Felix probably just had a nightmare or something like that. He’s gotten in his own head in the past, so maybe it’s the same thing this time.”
“Exactly! Remember how he stressed himself out over his first spelling test?” Junyoung exclaimed, relieved that he wasn’t the only one who felt that there was nothing to worry about.
Both Soojin and Jihye, who had been keeping her skepticism silent, recognized the point that the two men made, and began to relax.
Before the conversation could continue any further, Chris and Felix ran into the room, and any thoughts of Felix having precognition was put on the backburner for another day. Soojin and Junyoung put Felix’s items in the car, said their goodbyes, and headed off to their own house.
It had been about half an hour when the home phone in the Bang home rang. Jihye picked up the phone, expecting it to be a telemarketer, only to drop it in shock after a few moments.
It was the hospital, calling as Jihye and Jungho were listed as the emergency contacts for one of their patients. They were calling to inform them that there had been a car accident, where a semi had run a red light and hit the car that held Soojin, Junyoung, and Felix.
After collecting herself, she picked up the phone once more, apologized, and asked, “Which hospital are they at? We’ll be there as soon as we can to be there for them.”
However, the person on the other end of the line hesitated for a moment, before saying, “I’m sorry to tell you this, but there is no ‘them.’ Only Felix survived. He’s in surgery right now.”
With those words, the world that they had known ended, as one horrifying realization came to Jihye: Felix had been right.