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the bond that hyunjin and felix shared was, to put it gay, weird. it was plain weird, because even though they had known each other ever since high school, they were still kind of awkward with each other, though there was a sense of friendliness between them. you could even say that they were forever stuck in the "getting to know each other" stage.
and the worst part was that they wouldn't even acknowledge it. hyunjin would just say that it was their 'vibe' while felix would brush it off and laugh, saying that that's just how they were. both of them knew better than anyone in their friend circle that their whole friendship was rather strange, but they were also the last ones to admit it.
their so-called friend circle consisted of the aforementioned people; jisung, felix's best friend; seungmin, hyunjin's best friend; and jeongin, the mutual friend who brought everyone together. they had formed this little clique when jeongin was in his first year of high school and the rest of them in their sophomore year.
back then they just hung out together, because that was just how the whole social ladder thing worked, but they had come to grow a strong bond with one another, leading up to the present, a.k.a their second year in college (with the exception being jeongin in his freshman year, obviously.)
and yet, hyunjin and felix had never developed their bond as strong as they had with the others. they had few opportunities to have one-on-one interactions, so when they were together in a group they would simply acknowledge each other silently. it was just the way it was, though their friends had questioned them about it on several occasions.
(said jisung one random day during their third year of high school, “hey lix, mind if i ask a quick question?”
“go right ahead.”
“do you like hyunjin?”
felix did a double take. “well… yeah i guess? i think he's pretty cool.”
jisung shook his head. “no, i mean… do you like-like him? as in, are you interested in him?”
“oh, um, no. i don’t think so, at least…”)
when felix brought this up a few days later, jisung said he thought felix had a thing for hyunjin because he acted “strange” around him. this only aggravated the strangeness, because whenever they interacted from then on, felix would remember these words and take it to heart, and everything grew steadily weirder. jeongin liked to call this the domino effect of jisung's words.( jisung preferred to call it stranger than strange things).
in hyunjin's case, seungmin was more laid back about these things and simply accepted his explanation of it being their 'vibe'. (although he did joke about them getting a 'vibe' check once or twice. he can't be blamed).
but fast forward to the present, and things were growing even weirder. no, they did not have butterflies in their stomachs when around each other, neither did they blush and stumble over their words like the protagonist of some shoujo anime when talking to someone.
they did end up together by themselves on a rainy sunday, after plans were cancelled out of the blue. they ended up being stranded at hyunjin's flat after the rain grew steadily heavier, and things were looking pretty bad. (things referring to the 'stranger than strange things'. tl;dr they had grown even weirder).
"the power's out," remarked felix as the television suddenly switched off and the noisy generator from a nearby apartment complex began running.
"oh shoot, i'd better clear the fridge then, i don't want anything getting spoiled." hyunjin hurried off to the kitchen, but returned with just a singular bottle of sprite.
felix couldn't help but stifle a laugh at this. "don't tell me that's all you had in your fridge."
"ah well, there was some leftover pizza but it had already gotten spoiled so i had to throw it away."
felix glanced at the number of takeaway menus lined up on the dining table, along with prior knowledge of the number of times hyunjin refused to eat takeaway when they hung out (this number equalled to the number of times they had hitherto been alone together for a long period of time. hint hint: it's zero.)
"anyone could take one look around your flat and say that you primarily eat out."
"well, technically that's right."
there was a pause after this. felix started again, though very cautiously, so as to not hurt hyunjin's feelings, "hyunjin… you don't really know how to cook, do you?"
he sighed, defeatedly. "i've never really been able to boil water without starting a gas leak or setting my fingers on fire."
"aw, the poor baby," cooed felix mockingly, and hyunjin pretended to cry.
out of nowhere, he stood up, and started rummaging in a drawer in his living room labelled 'nostalgia stuff'. felix followed him till there, then stood quietly as hyunjin continued his poor attempts at sherlock-ing whatever he was looking for.
"you looking for something?"
hyunjin simply hummed in response. he took out a suspicious looking 8 ball, gave it a little shake, put it back in and resumed searching. "just looking for something to pass the time. this drawer usually has interesting things in it."
he then proceeded to take out an old jar of pickles, but the contents of it were a number of tiny chits. "oh my god," he exclaimed softly, "i don't think i've seen this since that one party in sophomore year."
"what is it?" asked felix excitedly.
"drink or spill questions. you know, the game where you either answer a question or take a shot of something. we played this during that party."
"oh yeah, i remember! the questions we used to make back then…" he trailed off, thinking of the good old days.
"wanna play?"
"huh? now?"
"yeah… i mean. the power's out, we can't go anywhere and there isn't really anything to do except for this."
felix pondered over this. "we don't have any drinks."
"we do have this one bottle of sprite which i happened to save." said hyunjin, pointing at it.
"well… alright then."
both of them sat on the floor, with a candle that had been lit to provide light, with nothing but an old jar of pickled jalapeno filled with memories and a bottle of sprite.
hyunjin was comfortable with this. he had felt more comfortable with felix today than he usually did. maybe, just maybe, they were finally moving on from the awkward phase.
(hyunjin had a knack for jinxing things up for himself. you'll see.)
"first question," said felix, addressing hyunjin, "who was your first crush?"
hyunjin thought about it, and winced slightly, for the memory was quite embarrassing.
"um… minho hyung."
"wait, for real? minho hyung? our minho hyung?"
(their minho hyung happened to be acquainted with the boys since they were in high school. he was one year senior to hyunjin, and was the president of dance club, prom king, and self-proclaimed #1 stan of his cats. currently, he was dating their changbin hyung, a very close friend of jisung's, and was also a junior at their college.)
"yeah… i wanted to join the dance club and when i went to sign up, i saw him dancing and immediately fell for him. i never did confess to him though, and i quickly got over him, so it's fine." hyunjin played with the ends of his hair, obviously feeling embarrassed.
felix smiled, finding the story cute, and passed the ancient jar to him. "alright, it's your turn to ask."
he rummaged through the chits and picked one. it read, "what is your least favourite thing about the last person you texted?"
felix checked his phone, the last person he had texted was jisung. "i honestly don't know what to say. um… okay wait! i know it! whenever he's in the washroom he leaves the toilet seat as it is once he's done. it's so irritating, especially being his roommate."
"he does that? wow." said hyunjin, chuckling as he thought of what jisung would say if he was there at that moment.
it was his turn to answer now. he handed the jar, to felix, who asked, "who's the teacher you find hot… wow, these questions are pretty interesting, huh?" he coughed.
"no comment," said hyunjin, taking a sip of the sprite.
next, hyunjin asked the other boy, "are you a... never mind, this is stupid." felix took a look at the paper and downed a shot of sprite instantly, laughing hard at the question.
it was fun to look back on the things they did and thought of when they were younger. (this sentence makes them sound like a bunch of old men, but old is gold, as they say).
the only chits left in the jar were labelled with a red D on them, which could only mean that they were all dares. "d'you wanna go first this time around?" asked hyunjin.
"yeah, no problem."
"alright… first dare: kiss the person sitting opposite to you on the lips," he said, putting mock emphasis on the last part.
he didn't even fully process the question, his train of thought still stuck at the last conversation, and he was expecting felix to choose the drink for this round. but all of a sudden felix was leaning in, ready to go for the kiss.
oh my god. holy shit.
felix stopped just before hyunjin's face, after he saw his lips part open. hyunjin felt his heart beating loudly, and he stammered, "um… y-you don't have to do this one, y'know? you can just drink, it's only sprite anyway…"
felix sighed softly, and hyunjin felt the hot breath on his lips. he looked at hyunjin, with a very different expression on his face.
"would it be too much of me to say that i want to kiss you this instant?"
oh boy. fuck. okay. hyunjin sucked breath in, obviously shocked. "i didn't know you thought of me in that way, lix…"
felix shook his head, laughing. "neither did i. but right now, suddenly, i feel like kissing you. you have very pretty lips, y'know. fuck it. you're so pretty."
he didn't know about his cheeks, but hyunjin felt his ears turn red, and his heart rate accelerate. if this was anyone else he would have pushed them off without a thought, but because it was felix, he didn't push him away. lee felix, the one who he shared a strange relationship with. the one who made no sense to him. in a way, this situation right here made sense to him. (pretty strange, if you ask me.)
so hyunjin closed his eyes, and said softly, "go ahead. kiss me, felix."
he heard felix gasp for a second. obviously, he wasn't expecting that. but he waited, and the kiss came.
when it came, he didn't feel a thousand fireworks erupt within him, nor did he feel like his lips had reunited with someone. he just felt kind of strange. but that felt so right, when you consider his past with felix.
so when he pulled away, settling for just one kiss like the dare stated, hyunjin wouldn't have any of it. he took the other boy by the face and whispered, "you're happy with only one kiss? you're satisfied?"
"duh, of course not." replied felix. and so, they kissed again. and again. and again and again, 5 times until they felt content. hyunjin sighed heavily, "what the fuck, i've never found you this attractive until now." were all those "strange" feelings simply feelings of attraction? nobody had a clue.
"you've never made sense to me. but that in itself makes sense, you know what i mean?" said felix, stroking hyunjin's cheek.
after a brief pause, felix said, "it's stranger than strange after all, huh? guess jisung was right after all."
"what d'you mean?"
they were both lying next to each other, completely lost in their own world, not bothering about the fact that the electricity had come back or that the rain had stopped. felix stroked hyunjin's hand, and then, looking right at him, said,
"when jisung was talking about how we were stranger than strange… he also said that maybe it was meant to be."
hyunjin smiled back, now holding felix's tiny hand in his.
"now that isn't very strange of us, is it?"
—
nobody saw it coming. no bets placed, no "i knew it's" and "called it's". point blank, all they knew was that felix would be temporarily staying at hyunjin's place until the rain subsided.
the next thing they knew, the two of them were walking hand in hand into the college cafeteria on monday morning, bright smiles on their faces and matching t-shirts that said " strange" and "stranger than strange" on the front.
("jisung, this is all your fault," said jeongin accusingly later on, as hyunjin and felix fed each other lunch.
"well, pardon me for being the only one to remotely call it." jisung shot back, while seungmin simply smiled while typing a new message to minho hyung that read, ‘called it !!’.)