Chapter Text
Lee Felix walks down the street as he normally does, stopping in front of his favorite coffee shop.
He pushes the door to the shop open, smiling as the bell jingles.
The man at the counter smiles at him which Felix returns.
His attention flies up to the numbers above the workers head.
68 years, 11 months, 23 days
Everyone has numbers above their heads, counting down until the day they'll die.
The thing was, only Felix was able to see these numbers. He didn't know why, he just assumed that everyone could see them.
People's numbers were usually counted in years, followed by months, then days. If you were to die in under a month, your time would be counted in days, hours, and minutes.
It was impossible to gain time, but possible to lose time.
The worker, Changbin (according to his nametag), still had many years until his death.
Felix walks up to the counter, ordering the same coffee he gets every day.
"That'll be $3.99," Changbin says, Felix handing him a $5.
Changbin hands Felix his coffee and change before they exchange farewells, Felix heading out of the shop shortly after.
He walks down the street, not knowing where he wants to go yet. Whenever he has free time (which has been a lot recently as his college was out for summer break), he likes to wander around the city.
And while wandering, he can’t help but look at the numbers of the people passing by.
Felix never understood why things were the way they were, why did people die when the time ran out?
He started questioning it when he was a child, but everyone told him he was silly to think that way. Nobody believed that he could actually see when people would die, they all called him a freak, so he stopped mentioning it.
Felix takes a seat on a bench in the park he wandered into, taking a sip of his warm coffee as he watches kids play in the field nearby.
Too engrossed in watching the children, he doesn't notice when somebody sits next to him.
He finishes up the last few sips of coffee and turns his head to look for a trash can, only to jump as he sees the stranger next to him.
The stranger laughs and Felix feels his face heat up, embarrassed.
His eyes scan over the male, instantly enamored the deep dimples in his cheeks and the blonde hair sitting perfectly on top of the strangers head.
"I know I'm hot but you don't need to stare," The male says, making Felix’s cheeks darken as he looks away.
"I-I'm sorry," Felix speaks, looking back up and making awkward eye contact.
"It's fine," The male smiles, "I know I'm irresistible,"
Felix rolls his eyes and smiles, looking at the numbers above the strangers head. His smile instantly drops, and he frowns as he reads the numbers.
6 days, 23 hours, 56 minutes
"Why are you frowning?" The stranger asks, tilting his head at the other.
"Ah- nothing," Felix responds, quickly looking away from the numbers.
"Well, okay," The male responds. "My name is Chan,"
"Nice to meet you, Chan," Felix says. "My name is Felix,"
"Pretty name for a pretty boy," Chan flirts, causing Felix to turn red again.
They sit in silence for a bit before Chan speaks up again.
"You wanna go to the arcade with me?" Chan asks. "I'm bored,"
Felix thinks about it. He doesn't fully trust Chan since he's a stranger, but Chan only has a week left, so why not try to make his week a little better.
"Sure," Felix says with a smile.
The duo stand up and make their way towards the nearby arcade, Felix remembering that he passed one on the way to the park.
He plops his empty coffee cup into a trashcan and follows Chan on the sidewalk.
"You like coffee?" Chan asks, furrowing his eyebrows. He only just now noticed the coffee cup Felix was holding.
"Yeah," Felix answers, "Do you?"
"No," Chan says, scrunching up his nose. "It's too bitter and gross,"
Felix nods and they enter the arcade.
Chan grabs Felix's arm, pulling him towards the back of the arcade where the car racing game is.
"Let's play this!" Chan says excitedly, acting a little like a small child.
Felix laughs but agrees and they both put a token in, starting the race.
Chan ends up in the lead almost as soon as the game starts and he keeps his place for a while. Felix quickly catches up however, right behind Chan in second place.
The game is almost over too quickly, both boys now on their last lap.
And right before the finish line, Felix is able to pass Chan, winning the game.
"Yes!" Felix cheers as the screen flashes 'winner' at him.
"What?!" Chan says, seeing that he lost. "How did I lose?"
The boys get off of the seats of the game and Chan looks at Felix like the younger has just won the lottery.
"I thought for sure that I would win, oh my god," Chan rambles. "You were so good! I didn't expect that at all,"
"You did good too though," Felix says, laughing. "You were in first place for almost the whole game- I barely won,"
After that, Chan drags Felix over to another game, declaring that he’ll definitely win it this time (and spoiler alert: he doesn’t).
The two boys spend the rest of the day playing games and joking around, getting a lot closer to each other.
Even though Felix only planned to do this since Chan would be dying soon, he found himself having more fun than he's had in a while, forgetting all about the numbers above Chan's head.