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Changbin was an angry little kid born under an equally as angry storm cloud that hovered over his head like magic.
It never rained, but sometimes it would roll with thunder or crackle with lightning though it didn't seem to do much else apart from that except for send people scurrying away. He didn't really understand it — didn't get why his parents would bring him to doctor after doctor asking 'what was wrong with him', and why the other little kids from his kindergarten didn't also have an angry storm cloud over their heads too, but.
All he knew was that it'd always been there — black when he was upset, white when he laughed, and grey the rest of the time.
____
One day, when Changbin was eleven years old, he met a boy that wouldn't leave him alone. His name was Yongbok, but he introduced himself as Felix, and he was tan, and nosy, and his Korean wasn't great. He picked through Changbin's lunchbox before Changbin could have a look for himself, stole all of Changbin's stuff to use without permission, and always insisted on being next to Changbin whether it was in class, on the way back home from school, or during break times.
At first, Changbin assumed that Felix just had some sort of weird fixation with the storm cloud he was living under. Most people did, but they never stuck around for this long. It irritated him the more he thought about it. Was he some kind of zoo animal for Felix to look at?
"Hey," he said, on a Sunday after Church when it was just the two of them in Changbin's room. Their mothers had gotten close fast, always arranging play-dates for them despite Changbin's adamant protests. "You know there's nothing more to my cloud except that it's always there and it thunders sometimes?"
Felix stopped fiddling around with Changbin's Nintendo DS long enough to raise his head. "Huh?"
"My cloud doesn't do anything," Changbin rephrased, a little frustrated now. Above him, his cloud darkened black. "It's why you hang around, isn't it? You're just waiting for something strange to happen with my cloud."
"No." Felix looked very confused. "I like you," he said simply.
"Right," Changbin said. "Because of my cloud."
"No," Felix said again. He set the very expensive DS down rather recklessly. "I like you because you're my friend."
"Oh," Changbin said, looking at the wall over Felix's shoulder. His cloud started to pale, but his cheeks began to flush. "Okay then. Whatever."
"Yeah," Felix grinned. He picked up the DS again and shoved it into Changbin's hand. "Here," he said. "You play this time."
The DS was light in his hand and Felix's fingers brushed his as he passed it over. "Okay," Changbin agreed.
Felix smiled at him, and he smiled back. And when he looked up to check, his cloud was white.
____
"I like you," Felix said simply. His school shirt was untucked and he was wearing one side of the earphones he never seemed to take out.
They were standing outside of Changbin's apartment after Felix had walked him home from cram-school, and it was dark, the overhead lamplight shining through Changbin's cloud, pale and wispy and near translucent. Felix looked nervous, more so than he sounded, and his lower lip was beaten up from chewing at it too much.
"You what?" Changbin didn't know how else to respond.
Felix had been weird all day.
He'd skipped sitting with Changbin at lunch to whisper nervously with the third years the entire hour. Chan and Minho kept flashing glances at him from across the cafeteria and Changbin almost felt like he'd kicked their grandmothers with how much they were staring. Hyunjin had reassured him that it was nothing to worry about when he mumbled his concerns but even he couldn't look Changbin in the eye when he said it.
"I like you," Felix tried again, but this time there was a tremor in his voice. Changbin almost felt bad for making him say it twice, but he still didn't know how to react.
They'd been best friends for almost six years already. Six years, and Changbin wondered how long Felix had been waiting to say this for.
"You like me," Changbin echoed, feeling like he was underwater with how slow his mind was working. He swore Felix could probably hear his heart beating from how loud and hard it was against the bones of his ribcage, but he curled shaking fingers into fists to fight off the butterflies. Maybe this was what Felix had been talking to Chan and Minho about at lunch, discussing how to confess, how to tell Changbin that he liked him.
He almost couldn't handle the mere thought.
"Hyung," Felix shuffled uncomfortably on the spot. "Please don't make me say it again. Please say something."
"What do you want me to say?"
Felix looked up from underneath his fringe, eyes wide and hopeful. "That you like me too, maybe?"
Changbin exhaled in a breathy laugh at that. Six years, and Felix was still so genuine.
Changbin didn't reply yet, choosing instead to step closer to Felix until the tips of their sneakers touched, snagging the one earbud that wasn't in Felix's ear and raising it to his own. Felix blinked at him in astonishment as he did it, but Changbin ignored him and listened for only a second before smiling.
"Twice?" he said. "Are you serious?"
Felix's face flushed a tone darker in the lamplit night. "Moral support," he mumbled.
"Moral support," Changbin repeated.
"Yeah," said Felix. His cheeks were still red. "I kind of need it right now."
"Really?" Changbin tried not to smile. "How come?"
"I like you," Felix grimaced, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, restless as always, fidgety as if he didn't know how not to be. Changbin had known him for six years. "I really, really like you."
"Oh," Changbin teased. "Because of my cloud?"
"No," Felix said automatically, but then broke out into a grin when he realised what Changbin meant. He took out the bud from his ear, and then the one from Changbin's. His hand twitched as if wanting to do something more. "I like you because — because I want to kiss you. All the time."
Changbin dug his fingernails into his palms. He wondered how many more times he could get Felix to say he liked him. "Kiss me," he said instead, softly, quiet.
"Okay," Felix replied. Then he leaned forward, closing the distance between them, and pressed his mouth to Changbin's, very, very quick. Above them, Changbin's cloud flushed. And when he looked up to check, it was pink, and full, and hovering like it always did over his head, and over Felix's too.