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“I need to use your kitchen.”
Chan stares at Felix with wide eyes, unable to utter a single coherent word as the blonde man squeezes between his body and the door frame, slipping into Chan’s apartment like he’s been there a hundred times before. He hefts two paper grocery bags filled to the brim with various ingredients onto the counter and Chan flushes in the doorway, unsure of what he’s supposed to do or say.
It’s not every day that Lee Felix knocks on your door and demands to be let in. In fact, this has never happened before. Chan only knows Felix as the pretty boy who lives down the hall, the friendly neighbor who brought Chan homemade chocolate chip cookies when he first moved in, the first and only one to welcome him to the building. They smile and wave at each other when crossing paths in the hall, but the only information he knows about Felix are the things that slip past the lips of the grumpy elderly woman next door.
A strange boy, that one. Always with his head up in the clouds. And he plays his music much too loud.
Chan actually likes the music Felix blasts through the walls, along with the ever-present smell of sweet baked goods wafting from underneath his front door.
He’s still frozen in his doorway, but Felix gives him a quizzical look, head tilted to the side as he unloads his ingredients. “Aren’t you gonna close the door?”
“Uh, okay,” Chan whispers, doing just that. He watches Felix bite his pink bottom lip, tap his chin in thought, and begin to rummage through cabinets. “Why are you…in my kitchen?”
Felix sighs and rises on his tippy-toes to pull a glass mixing bowl from Chan’s top shelf. “My oven kicked the bitch,” he says, voice solemn and melancholy, like he lost his favorite pair of socks or something.
“It kicked the…” Chan wishes he could form proper sentences, but all of the blood in his brain is collecting in his cheeks and neck.
“It died,” Felix pouts, head popping out from behind a cabinet door.
Chan frowns. Okay. That’s fair. Felix just needs to borrow his oven. And his kitchen utensils. He did bring his own ingredients, so that’s nice. No problem.
Feeling thoroughly bamboozled, but not enough to do anything about it, Chan waddles over to his couch and tucks himself into the cushions. Felix clambers around in his kitchen for a good while, occasionally dropping something with a noisy clang followed by hushed curses, but Chan keeps his attention forward and lets Felix do his thing. He can’t help but smile when a rich chocolatey aroma sweeps through his apartment.
After the oven door clicks shut and the sink runs for a few minutes, Felix plops next to Chan with a sigh, causing him to jump in surprise. The blonde rests his head along the back of the couch and swivels his neck to look at Chan, a soft smile on his face.
“Thanks for letting me barge in like that, hyung.”
Chan tries to match Felix’s smile, but his brain is too caught up on being called hyung by the younger. Sure, they both know Chan is older, but they’re certainly not close enough for Felix to be dropping the honorific so casually.
Felix, however, seems completely unbothered, doesn’t even wait for a reply before he’s speaking again. “I wanted to make something for Mrs. Choi on the second floor. Her daughter just had a baby and…”
It’s really difficult to focus on Felix’s words when his lips move like that, shaping each syllable delicately, wrapping around the warm tone of his voice. Chan traces his sharp cupid’s bow with his eyes, following the line of his bottom lip as Felix switches between bright smiles and playful pouts.
A finger pokes Chan in the ribs, pulling him from his peaceful daze and throwing him into panicked awareness with a small squeak. He cringes when he feels a familiar tingle up and down the skin of his back, a feeling he tries so desperately to ignore.
“Are you ticklish, hyung?”
Chan is quick to answer. Admittedly, too quick.
“No, absolutely not.”
Felix’s narrowed eyes and mischievous grin give Chan no reprieve. He’s doomed.
Like a shark jumping out of the water, or a hawk diving in the air for its prey, Felix attacks Chan with waves of tickles all over his neck, his ribs, under his arms, over his back. The man even moves up onto his knees for the high ground, wrapping his arms around Chan’s torso and laughing like a little gremlin, the sound evil and melodic. Chan hears himself laugh too, but it’s a nervous thing, laced with fear and tight with worry.
“Okay, okay! Felix–ah!–Felix, stop. That’s enough. Oh my goodness!” Chan really tries to keep his voice level, even through the tickles, he tries to keep the panic down as it builds up thick in his throat.
Felix is merciless, too caught up in making Chan squirm to notice the way the elder practically shuts down and buries his face into his hands. Only when Chan’s entire body shudders—always so sensitive when the slits along his spine twitch and threaten to peel open—does Felix falter in his spot.
“Chan-ssi?”
It’s too late. Chan whimpers as a few tentacles slither out of hiding, curious little tendrils mapping the expanse of his skin before peeking out from under the hem of his hoodie. Ultramarine blue in color and smooth to the touch, they move innocently, but Chan wants to disappear. He’s had such a good grip on them up until now, determined to keep the most shameful part of himself hidden from judgemental eyes.
Chan can’t believe this is happening. Felix must think he’s disgusting.
A gasp leaves the younger’s lips, causing Chan to peek between his fingers. He’s humiliated to see one of his tentacles, long and as thick as his forearm, has wandered up and over Felix’s leg to wrap around his thigh. Two more tendrils coil around his own wrists, offering comfort that Chan doesn’t deserve. He’s just about to open his mouth and beg for forgiveness, but Felix surprises him for the umpteenth time.
With gentle fingers, Felix trails them along the length of the appendage squeezing his leg and lets out a tiny giggle. “You’re adorable!” he gushes. “Ah, hyung, look at you.”
Chan blinks once, twice, and lowers his hands, allowing the thin tips of his tentacles to weave through his fingers. Did Felix just call him…adorable?
“You...what?” he finds himself saying. “Adorable?”
Felix nods rapidly and continues to lightly touch his tendrils like they’re something precious, not utterly horrific. “Mhm! My best friend has tentacles. So does his boyfriend. I’m around those two all the time and I know it’s a lot more comfortable to let them out. I think they’re just so cool.” He pauses to take in Chan’s tentacles, all eight of them, and smiles. “Who knew it was possible to like you more than I already do?”
Chan can’t help but feel like he’s missing something here. The careful brush of Felix’s fingers over his smooth appendages feel too good to be true. He was taught to hide them away, was told no one wanted to see such an unsettling part of himself, and to hear there are others who keep their tentacles out regularly is like a punch to the gut.
“You’re really not disgusted?” Chan asks, double checking to make sure he understands.
“Of course not,” Felix assures. “Here, I’ll prove it to you.”
And then the blonde is leaning forward and planting the softest kiss Chan has ever felt right on the tip of the tentacle wrapped around his hand. It sends a shiver through his body and waves of pleasure and warmth swirl in his gut.
“See?” Felix whispers, much closer than before. “Adorable.”
They’re practically nose to nose. One swoop forward and Chan would know what it’s like to have Felix’s lips on his own. He feels silly for thinking it, his poor heart thumping wildy in his chest, but is it so far off to think Felix might want to kiss him too? His eyes are scrunched up in a smile and Chan can see the dazzling freckles sprinkled across his skin. Just a little closer…
The oven timer goes off and the moment melts away like a popsicle on hot asphalt.
Felix blinks rapidly and shakes his head. “Oh! My brownies!”
Chan deflates against the couch after Felix gingerly peels the tendril from around his leg and dashes for the kitchen. Well, so much for that.
“Oops, almost forgot.”
Before he can register what’s happening, Felix is back on the couch, cupping Chan’s jaw with one hand and caressing his back with another. Felix leans in swiftly and connects their lips gently in a slow, sweet kiss. When he pulls back, Chan is breathless.
Felix beams at him. “Do you want a brownie?”