Work Text:
“Felix.” A producer calls out and Felix gets up from the floor to walk down the hall. Half the group have already chosen their mission, going into the room one by one and coming back after hiding the item somewhere in the area of the house they’re filming in. They’ve gone from oldest to youngest, so there are only three cards left on the table when Felix enters the room.
There are cameras filming him from multiple angles and one of their crew members sit behind the table, waiting for him to pick his mission. Behind him in a bag of what Felix assumes is the items they’re doing their missions with.
Felix crouches down in front of the table, hovering his hands over the cards as he thinks of which to pick. He looks at the producer, but he doesn’t give away anything, just looking blankly at Felix. Deciding not to make it a big deal, he just chooses the one in the middle, flipping it over and reading out loud.
“Eat the whole thing.” Felix looks confused at the guy, waiting for the other shoe to drop. If it’s a mission, it’s probably something that’s hard to do. Does he have to eat something loud or spicy or something? He sighs with relief when he is handed a tub of ice cream. It’s probably half a gallon, maybe a little less. On any given day, he’s fine with eating half of that for dessert when he’s already full of dinner, and right now he’s kind of hungry. Maybe it won’t be so bad.
Grinning, he takes the ice cream and spoon and heads out of the room, going to the area of the house they will be filming in to hide it. Going for the obvious spot, he puts it in the freezer of the small kitchen in the corner of the room. He doesn’t really have much of a choice as it is ice cream, it will melt anywhere else.
Then he goes back down the hall to where the guys are waiting, sitting back down on his pillow on the floor. A producer calls out Seungmin’s name, and he jumps up from his spot, leaving the room.
“What did you get?” Jisung asks, trying to trick Felix into revealing his secret mission. The whole point of the game is to complete a task without being stopped. In order to do that, the others can’t know what his mission is.
“Nice try.” Felix says, smiling smugly at Jisung who rolls his eyes before giggling.
“Worth a shot.” He mumbles to himself, and the room falls into silence again. They’re all a little tense, everyone but Jeongin have gotten their mission and are thinking about how they’re going to do it without being too obvious. There is always the option of not trying to hide it and hope you can complete it anyway, but with their group, that will be hard.
Once everyone has their missions, they move into the large area of the living room and kitchen of the house. It’s an open room, making it hard to hide, but Felix already knows how to complete his mission. While the others are wandering around, trying to be inconspicuous, Felix heads for the freezer, sneaking out the ice cream and spoon.
There’s a small gap between the end of the kitchen cabinets and the wall like there used to be another fridge there which means that the gap is quite deep. One of the windows are on the wall beside the counter, in just the right place that the curtains naturally act as a curtain for the gap as well.
Felix throws a quick glance over his shoulder before ducking down into the gap, smiling to himself when he seen how hidden he is in there. His stomach is rumbling in hunger when he opens the tub, digging in with his spoon without hesitation. It has a delicious, rich chocolate flavor with soft brownie pieces that all melt on his tongue in the most amazing way.
He starts feeling full halfway through, but if there’s anything Felix is good at, it is ignoring that feeling. He keeps eating, focusing on how good it tastes rather than how full he is. He tries to memorize the brand so he can buy it again some time. How he has never tried it before is beyond him.
When it’s empty, he leaves it on the floor so no one will find it and sneaks back out from behind the curtain. The room is in utter chaos. Hyunjin is holding a large bottle of something as high as he can while Changbin reaches for it. Changbin claws at his arm to get him to release it, but Hyunjin won’t budge, obviously using his height to his advantage. Jisung is dancing in the middle of the floor, Jeongin and Chan throwing themselves at him before he can finish what looks like the chorus to Venom.
Seungmin is singing Gone Away at the top of his lungs, Jeongin slapping a hand over his mouth to stop him. And Minho is just sitting completely unreactive on the couch. No wonder no one noticed Felix being gone for five minutes, there’s so much going on at once, they don’t even notice that they’re all letting Minho complete his mission in peace.
Felix decides to work on making Minho fail and he knows exactly how to do it. He walks back over to the kitchen to gather his supplies, and thankfully this kitchen has exactly what he needs. He puts it in his pocket, making sure it will be easy to pull out. Then he walks over to the couch, sitting down heavily in Minho’s lap and clasping his hands behind Minho’s neck, looking at him with a mischievous smile. Minho doesn’t even look at him, just keeps staring into the air.
“Minho,” Felix says, intentionally dropping the honorific. “What are you doing?” He searches Minho’s face for a reaction, not even getting a cringe at the closeness and prolonged staring. Felix leans in closer, putting his face directly in front of Minho’s and so close he goes cross-eyed. Minho looks right through him, unwavering.
It’s a risky operation, but Felix goes for it. He discreetly pulls the tissues out of his pocket without moving away from Minho’s face. Then, in a flash, he leans back, pinches Minho in the arm to make him gasp and stuffs the tissue into his mouth.
Minho immediately goes red with pure rage and Felix jumps off his lap, running away from him while squealing in mixed thrill and fear. Like in scary movies, Minho just walks after him while somehow keeping up with Felix’s running. It’s truly terrifying, but Felix won and that’s all that matters.
In his haste, he runs right into Hyunjin who has now given up on teasing Changbin. “Help!” Felix yells right in his face before hiding behind him as if Hyunjin isn’t just as scared of Minho when he gets like this.
“I’ll kill you!” Minho says, stopping right in front of Hyunjin. The tissue is balled up in his fist, knuckles white with how hard it’s clenched. “Hyunjin, give me Felix.” He bites out.
“And if I don’t?” Hyunjin asks, testing Minho more than he normally would. Felix can see Minho tilt his head suspiciously, narrowing his eyes at Hyunjin. He seems to consider for a moment before shaking his head and walking away.
“Thank god.” Felix says, coming out from behind Hyunjin. Minho probably thought Hyunjin was trying to do his mission and decided the safer choice was to walk away. “And sorry, I know you probably wanted to do that.”
“It was glorious to watch from a distance.” Hyunjin says, a satisfied smile on his lips. Now that Felix’s heart is settling back into a normal rhythm, he feels a little sick to his stomach. He probably shouldn’t have done that right after eating so much ice cream on an empty stomach.
Another half hour of chaos goes by and the queasy feeling in Felix’s stomach never goes away. He still throws himself at Jisung to stop him from dancing, holds Jeongin back from doing a headstand and tapes Seungmin’s mouth shut, all while laughing along with the others. It’s clear what their missions are. Changbin’s mission is drinking something from a large bottle and Minho already failed his mission of being unreactive.
Chan and Hyunjin are so secretive, Felix can’t figure it out. He thought Minho was onto something when he hesitated before giving Hyunjin a reaction earlier, but since then Hyunjin has been his normal, sweet self. And with Chan, he has absolutely no clue. Their leader is just being their leader and a part of the group, having fun. Either he already completed his task like Felix, or he is really good at hiding it.
At the moment, Felix is sitting beside Jeongin on the couch, watching the chaos while he catches his breath. Having fun can be really exhausting with this group. Changbin, Jisung and Minho are so loud, pulling the others in with them until everyone is yelling at each other and no one is heard. It’s a miracle that anyone ever wants to work with them.
Felix suddenly remembers that they’re allowed to use the bathroom during filming. He can go in there for a couple of minutes, splash some cold water on his face and let himself relax to make the nausea go away. He just ate too much, and it’s been long enough for it to go away soon anyway, he just needs a moment to himself.
Getting of the couch, he walks over to the door, trying to remember which door in the hallway was the bathroom. Before he can get there, someone stops him in the doorway.
“Where are you going?” Jisung asks, narrowing his eyes at Felix.
“Bathroom?” Felix says it like a question, probably not the best idea because now Jisung zeroes in on him, crossing his arms over his chest.
“And why would you do that?” He asks suspiciously. Seungmin comes up to them, lining up beside Jisung and asking what’s going on. “This one is trying to leave, I bet that’s his mission.”
“Is that where you disappeared to earlier?” Seungmin asks, taking Jisung’s side. Felix didn’t think anyone noticed his absence, but apparently, he was wrong.
“I just need to use the bathroom.” Felix says, only a little embarrassed that this is all being filmed. He would be more embarrassed if he just had to pee, but he’s feeling pukey and that is much worse.
Jisung and Seungmin look him up and down as if they can tell just by looking at him if it’s true. “No, you don’t.” Seungmin decides, Jisung nodding along. They’re like guard dogs, ready to pounce if he takes one step closer, so Felix gives in, going back to the now empty couch.
Beside it, Jeongin is about to launch himself into a handstand, so what can Felix do other than stop him? He grabs Jeongin around the waist, pulling him back and the other yelps in surprise. Felix trips over his own feet in the process, sending both of them tumbling backwards onto the floor. Jeongin lands on top of Felix, his shoulder pressing into Felix’s stomach in the most unpleasant way.
He groans and pushes Jeongin off so he can sit up when the nausea spikes. Thankfully, Felix’s stomach stays in place. Jeongin is laughing, not noticing that Felix isn’t.
“Are you okay?” He laughs. Felix wipes the sweat off his upper lip and smiles reassuringly while nodding, not trusting his voice. Jeongin moves on to something else, probably trying another headstand or throwing himself at another member to stop them. Felix stays on the floor, breathing deeply through the nausea and waiting for it to calm down. He’s getting a bad feeling that this won’t pass on its own.
When it doesn’t pass in another five minutes, he decides to try for the bathroom again. At this point, he feels ready to throw up, he almost wishes he would just so he can feel better. He calmly gets up and walks to the door again, almost making it before a voice stops him.
“Felix!” It’s Chan this time. “Where you going?” He asks, having clearly heard from the others about his earlier attempt.
“Nowhere.” Felix tries to get him to lay off, but it’s futile. With this kind of game, everyone is suspicious of what everyone does, that just comes along with the territory.
“Good, come with me then.” Chan says, grabbing Felix and pulling him over to the couch. Hyunjin is already there, waiting for them. They sit down and Felix takes calm, measured breaths both to calm himself down and to appear fine to the members.
“Are you okay?” Chan asks in a low voice. He doesn’t look worried, but Felix can tell he is by the tone in his voice, it’s a small change. Hyunjin on the other hand, isn’t as good at hiding how he feels. His face is full of worry, his body language tense and unsure.
“Yeah, fine.” Felix tries to reassure them although his voice comes out a little breathily. He probably overdoes it in pretending to act normal, brightening his face up too much, relaxing his shoulders too low.
“Are you sure? You don’t look that great.” Hyunjin asks, also keeping his voice low with the awareness that they are being recorded. They’re all wearing mikes though, so it doesn’t really matter what volume they speak in, everything is captured.
“Hyunjin, honestly. I’m good.” Felix says, but they don’t look like they believe him. He changes tactics to get them to lay off. “So, have you finished your missions or are you just wasting your time on me?”
“I-” Hyunjin starts, stopping himself when he realizes he almost walked into the trap. He points a finger at Felix, brows raising in an ‘you almost got me’ expression.
“Come on, you can tell me.” Felix says, leaning a little closer as if he’s waiting for Hyunjin to tell him a secret. Hyunjin leans in, his mouth hovering by Felix’s ear.
“Fuck off.” He whispers, so quietly that there’s no way the mikes picked it up. Felix is so surprised by Hyunjin cursing that he just sits there, staring after him as him and Chan go back to the chaos.
All the yelling is making Felix’s head hurt, which in turn makes his stomach feel even more unsettled. Every small movement sends waves of nausea rocking through his body. When someone sits down on the couch, the jolt sends Felix’s stomach into his throat. He swallows it down, getting up again to go to the bathroom and hang over the toilet until his body decides to throw up. He’s determined to not let anyone stop him this time, he doesn’t have the time for that, doesn’t want to wait until he has to make a run for it.
“Where are you going?” Minho asks, blocking his way to the door. He looks pleased, probably ready to get his revenge for earlier.
“Bathroom.” His voice is thin, unconvincing. Jisung joins them, and Felix might as well just give up now because the two of them together are impossible. It’s like they feed off of each other’s energy, hyping each other up.
“Felix, you know we can’t let you do that.” Jisung says, lining up beside Minho so the two of them are completely blocking the doorway. Everyone else are obliviously continuing on with whatever they’re doing, not even throwing a glance at the three of them.
“It’s not my mission.” Felix insists, but he doesn’t even convince himself with how weak his voice is.
“No? Then why the need?” Minho asks, being freaking impossible and incredibly annoying. Felix doesn’t want to say it, isn’t sure how much the producers may use in the final cut even if this is a very real, no joke situation.
“Because I need the bathroom?” He’s sweating through his clothes even though it was cold in here earlier. The waist of his pants is too tight, pushing on the nausea that’s already swirling in his stomach, but he can’t exactly open it on camera.
“No, you don’t.” Jisung says. Felix glares at him, Jisung was there an hour ago when he said he had to go to the bathroom, shouldn’t he believe him? At least give him the benefit of the doubt?
“Is your mission to leave?” Jisung asks. Felix’s shirt is buttoned all the way up, feeling too tight all of a sudden so he grabs it, trying to get the top button open so he can breathe. When the top button pops open, he takes a deep breath of air.
“No.” opening the button does nothing to soothe him. He starts to fidget in place, feeling the nausea settle like a heavy weight in his throat whenever he stands still. He’s salivating, he thought he had more time, this is really not good.
“Is it to do something outside of this room?” Jisung asks on, at this point Felix would probably say yes if that was the truth. He can’t think clearly, he’s too sweaty and nauseous. He’s also too aware that this is currently being filmed from at least three angles and the producers are probably, no, definitely going to use this dramatic moment.
“No?” There are waves of nausea so strong he knows he’ll lose the fight soon. It makes him feel like his legs will buckle underneath him, all of his energy going to focus on keeping his stomach down.
“You don’t sound sure about that.” Minho says, pretending to look thoughtful as he looks over at Jisung. Felix swallows thickly, he’s running out of time. Desperately, he looks around the room. If he could find Chan or Hyunjin they might be on his side, at least if their concern was real, it seemed real. But no one looks in his direction, there’s no help to get.
“We both love you Felix, but you’re not a good liar.” Jisung says, laughing with Minho. How do they not see how he feels? Is he that good at pretending for the camera? Or are they just that lost in the game?
“It’s not my mission!” Felix says desperately, voice coming out louder than he intended. He feels like he can’t breathe through the lump in his throat, or he will start gagging, and he can’t do that here. Fuck this game, fuck the missions, fuck the ice cream, fuck Jisung and Minho and everything in between.
“You look nervous. Scared you’re gonna loose?” Jisung says, continuing to tease.
“No, I just need the bathroom!” He snaps. Why they don’t see the desperation in his eyes, he can’t tell. In a last attempt to get through, he launches himself at them, thinking he can fight his way through. He pushes as hard as he can, clawing at their arms to get through the gap opening between them, but it’s no use.
They easily overpower him, two against one isn’t fair. With an annoyed huff, they drag him over to the couch, sitting him down between them. Felix knows he has lost. Even if they let him go at this point, it would be too late.
When he starts retching it’s almost a relief, it’s been building for so long. His body rocks forward with the force of it. Stomach acid and undigested ice cream burns his throat and splashes sickeningly on the hardwood floor.
“Oh my god.” Jisung jumps off of the couch in shock. The smell hits Felix’s nostrils, making him heave up more disgusting sludge. The whole room has gone so silent they could hear a pin drop. Everyone is frozen in place, watching the scene unfold in front of them.
“Hyunjin.” Felix gasps between heaves. He needs Hyunjin. Minho calls Hyunjin over as Felix heaves up more liquid, not even caring that he’s on camera anymore. Hopefully, the crew weren’t too shocked to turn said cameras off. Felix is bent over his thighs, staring down at the puddle between his feet.
“I’m here.” Hyunjin’s words are calming as he sits down beside Felix, rubbing his back and pushing his bangs out of his face. Felix reaches up to hold onto Hyunjin’s arm, needing something to ground him. Another heave twists out of him, loud and violent. He won’t eat ice cream again probably ever, and definitely not this brand.
“You’re okay.” Hyunjin tries comforting him. Felix is too busy turning his stomach inside out to acknowledge him. There isn’t enough time to draw a breath between the retching. He feels like he’s drowning, at any moment his lungs will be forced to expand, drawing vomit into his lungs.
No one is saying anything, getting a bucket or even leaving the room. It seems like everyone are too surprised to think of what they should do. They watch in silence, frozen in place, or in Jeongin and Seungmin’s case, stand turned away with their fingers plugging their ears.
Felix keeps dry heaving after his stomach is empty, like his body didn’t get the memo that there’s nothing else to bring up.
“You have to breathe.” Hyunjin gently coaxes him, rubbing his hand over Felix’s chest. Ironic how Felix would forget to breathe when all he wanted a moment ago was to be able to breathe. He forces his body to take deep breaths, gagging on the out breath a few times before it finally completely stops.
“I’ll talk to the crew.” Chan says, breaking the spell in the room and Felix hears him walk away from them. Jeongin and Seungmin follow him out, intentionally not looking in Hyunjin’s direction.
“I can still-” Felix tries to say but trails off. He can still what? Finish filming and talk about how he completed his mission even though he lost it on the floor during filming? He would be crying in pure shame if he wasn’t so exhausted.
“No, you can’t.” Hyunjin says, pulling Felix into a side hug, carefully so his feet don’t move on the floor.
“But I could-” Felix tries again, he could if they needed him too. He knows there are people depending on them completing the filming. And it’s not as if he’s sick, he just ate something his stomach really didn’t agree with.
“You don’t have to.” Hyunjin says as if he read Felix’s mind. That’s when Felix realizes that they must think he’s sick. Of course, they do, what else is there to think when one of the members suddenly throw up everywhere?
“But I’m not sick.” Felix says, earning confused looks from everyone.
“No, you are not pulling that. You just like, projectile vomited mid recording.” Jisung says, standing a few feet to the side of where he jumped off the couch.
“Because of my mission. I had to eat a lot of ice cream and I was hungry, so I kind of ate the whole thing in five minutes right at the beginning.” Hearing the words out loud, he doesn’t know how he didn’t realize that would be a recipe for disaster. It was bound to end this way, no other possible outcomes.
Jisung starts laughing, throwing his head back and holding his stomach like something is really funny and suddenly the whole room is laughing. Felix swears, they are so freaking weird, no one can compare.
“And you thought that would end well?” Jisung asks between bouts of laughter. It is a relief that they’re just laughing at what just happened, but there is nothing anyone can say or do that will lessen the embarrassment that burns through him.
“You should’ve let me go to the bathroom.” Felix says, not ready to take the whole responsibility on his own shoulders.
“No kidding.” Jisung says, the laughter dying out.
“I’m sorry, Yongbok. We should’ve listened to you.” Minho says, bringing the seriousness back into the room. Felix nods appreciatively at him.
“Do you feel better now?” Hyunjin asks, standing from the couch to help Felix get up without stepping in the puddle.
“A lot.” Felix says truthfully, the nausea is gone. It’s almost as if he was desperate to pee and finally emptied his bladder. His stomach is tired out and a little sore, but he feels okay.
“Okay. We need to get this cleaned up, so how about you rest for a while and then we see how you feel before deciding anything?” Hyunjin suggests and Felix agrees because there’s no point in trying to argue with him.
A while later, the room is cleaned up and Felix has taken a nap. They’re back in the room they started in, sitting in a row on the floor. One by one, they go down the line, revealing their mission and whether they completed it.
It turns out that Chan’s mission was to make the other members say a few phrases which was harder than you’d think so he failed. Minho wasn’t supposed to react to anything, he failed too. Changbin drank his large soda and Jisung completed the dance to the chorus of Venom. Seungmin did not manage to sing the whole Gone Away like he was supposed to and Jeongin did not do a headstand for thirty seconds.
When Hyunjin’s mission is revealed, all of them are shocked. He was supposed to slip a coin into all of their pockets. One by one, they pull out a coin that they have no clue how Hyunjin managed to slip in. He is so pleased with himself; he can’t stop grinning. He managed to trick a group full of tricksters.
“How about you Yongbokkie?” Minho asks with a knowing smile.
“I had to eat a tub of ice cream which I did.” Felix says with a chuckle, holding up the empty container. The producers easily agreed to cut all of it from the episode, the attempts to go to the bathroom and the unfortunate ending to his failed attempts. They have enough content to fill the episode, and the company would never embarrass their Idol like that.
“Your face is going to be so swollen tomorrow.” Changbin comments, and Felix can’t help but snort a laugh.
“Wouldn’t worry about that.”