Archive of Our Own

“What are you doing if you still aren’t married to anyone in, like, your mid-thirties?”

Felix ponders the question for a minute before answering, “I don’t even know, maybe I should make a marriage pact with someone,”

Jisung sits up from the desk, with raised eyebrows and a joking smirk he answers, “Same. Let’s have one together!” 

“Jisung, I love you with my whole heart, but I physically can’t marry you.” Felix deadpans, sliding his body across his desk to hold Jisung’s hand.

“What’s wrong with marrying me, there are so many benefits!”

Seungmin walks up to sit at the desk in front of them before entering the conversation, “What benefits? Ji, I wouldn’t even marry you even if I would get an early summer break.”

Jisung dramatically sighs, “This is so unfair,” The oldest of the three continues to whine. “Fine! You two can have a marriage pact together then!”

“We will!” Felix grabs the side of Seungmin’s arm, with it lying on the side of his desk, and says in an exaggerated high-pitched voice, “Seungmin, will you make me the happiest person in the world and marry me?”

“Oh my god, be quiet.” Seungmin pulls his arm away with a playful scowl.

Felix leans back into his chair, trying to grab onto Jisung’s shoulder, but getting denied. “Noo! You’re not supposed to reject me too!”

The youngest of them all sighs with a light grin, “I’ll marry you on the condition that we are both confirmed to be thirty or over, and we’re both single with no talking stages or anything.”

“Deal!”

With a pout, Jisung interjects into the conversation, “I’ll try so hard to not let you guys get married! Just watch!”

“Not if we get married right now!” Felix replies enthusiastically with a bright, joking grin.

“We’re not.” Seungmin says with a small smile.

“I regret asking you now,” Felix slouches against the table. “I’ll just force myself to start talking to people at 29 if there’s no luck for me!” 

A brunette sits down, “Who’s talking to what?” 

Jisung brightens with a wide smile, “Hyunjin! Do you wanna marry me, the love of my life, the jelly to my peanut butter, the moon to my sun, the-“ 

“We get it.” Seungmin lightheartedly rolls his eyes, crossing his arms in the process.

Hyunjin turns a crimson red throughout his face, and his voice falters, “What... why do you wanna do that?”

Felix had never seen Hyunjin blush that much, much less a human in general, and he distinctly connects the colour of his face to the red pen he uses for annotating.

He can predict that Hyunjin and Jisung will end up together at some time, eventually, if they do something other than humorously flirt and be embarrassed by each other, Hyunjin had a crush on Jisung just as much as the other did.

They’ve been like that since they were kids, after all, so he’s okay with the marriage, even if the situation is hypothetical in the first place.

“Seungmin and Felix are getting married and leaving me out when I was the one that brought it up in the first place!” Jisung spreads his arms out wide, making a pout at Hyunjin.

“Well it works out, you two can marry each other now.” Felix replies with a light grin.

Both boys start to go red before Seungmin high-fives him.

—

With a black suit and slightly slicked-back black hair, he sits at a table with a large white tablecloth draped over it and a big arrangement of flowers with daisies in the center.

There’s an even bigger group of people around the center surrounding the table exchanging memories and current events.

“No, that didn’t happen and you know it!” A distraught Minho yells from across the table to a grinning Seungmin.

“It did ! You just have a bad memory, are you already getting old?”

A few concerned glances are thrown their way.

“You guys need to calm down, think of the other guests, please,” Chan says, sounding worn out even with a small smile on his face.

“I should’ve moved countries after graduation when I had the chance, every decision I have made up until now has led me here.” Changbin cuts in with a disappointed glance towards Chan, making the older chuckle at him.

“It’s okay, hyung. At least everyone is getting embarrassed together!” Felix replies.

“Felix, I don’t even think you were personally bullied at this table for even a second.”

Jisung inserts himself into the conversation, seemingly coming out of nowhere, “He hasn’t? This is a job for me then!”

“I don’t think Hyunjin would like it very much if he saw me strangle you across the table on your wedding day.”

“This is why your existence is illegal! It should not be allowed for someone so kind-looking to be so…”

“Cunning.” Jeongin finishes.

He looks at the younger, pushed-back blonde hair and a black suit and tie on, has he always been that attractive?

He thinks his eyes are tired for a second and blinks a few times before realizing that Jeongin looks good, oh god.

“Hey, that’s mean! I’m nice most of the time!”

“Sorry Lix, but I’m not gonna allow you to spew lies on my wedding day.”

“I now very heavily regret agreeing to be a part of your wedding.” He says, a playful glare sitting behind the sentence.

“How much sugar did you put in the punch?” Jeongin butts in and makes his disgust clear with a scrunched-up face, “Oh my god, for two people who like Iced Americanos, you two sure love sugar.” 

Hyunjin walks over, “Jeongin-ah, our coffee tastes have nothing to do with the amount of sugar in the punch at our wedding.” 

“You two really won’t stop saying it’s your wedding, huh?” Felix says with a jokingly-annoyed grimace.

“You just mentioned it being a part of the wedding!” Jisung pauses, “Are you jealous?” he continues jokingly.

With a sweet grin on his face, he replies “No, you both are just being annoying about it.”

“You’re the bane of my existence.”

“Good” He yells as Jisung walks away with Hyunjin to greet other guests.

He redirects his focus to a distracted Jeongin talking to Seungmin about something while staring at his halfway-done champagne glass.

“Jeongin-ah, can you even drink that?” He waits until the younger one looks at him, so as not to interrupt the conversation too much. “How old are you now? My brain can’t concentrate enough to calculate it.”

“Twenty-three.”

“Oh my god, you’re old!”

“Hyung, you’re a year older than me.”

“You’re so old now.”

“Hyung.”

Felix grimaces with a sour expression on his face. “Yuck, gross, weird,”

“Hey, the actual ceremony is starting soon you two, let’s stay quiet enough until it ends, remember to practice your speeches,” Chan interjects into the conversation with a fond smile.

They both end their small conversation and focus on separate plans while maintaining small talk with each other for the next few minutes before Jisung stands in front of the table and announces, “Guys, I’m about to hurl all of my guts outside of my body.”

“Ji, how are you even nervous, you’re even seeing Hyunjin before all of the ring stuff!” Felix replies.

“You would also be nervous if you married your high school sweetheart, that is also the love of your life!” Jisung pulls a distressed face.

He pauses for a second to assess the situation, “Hey, you’ll do great.”

Jisung sends him a grateful smile.

“ I better , Hyunjin would kill me on our honeymoon if I ruined his vision for the wedding because I threw up on him.” He jokes.

“He would never even pinch you, you getting murdered by him is probably his absolute worst nightmare,” Jeongin replies to him with a deadpan, instead of Felix.

“You don’t know that!”

“I do, I’ve literally known him since I was born, you’ve known him since you were born too.”

“Fair point,”

“Alright, it’s almost time for you to get yourself a husband,” Felix states, a large grin resting on his face. “You ready?”

“No, Yes, I don’t even know.” Jisung takes in a long breath, his eyebrows furrowing in the process.

“Nah, you’ve basically been in love since day one and Hyunjin’s family is loaded, I’d say go for it,” Jeongin replies.

“Don’t talk about my future—about to be present—family like that!”

“I hope you succeed, have a good marriage and stay wealthy.”

“You’re so annoying!”

“God, let’s just go and get Hyunjin and Jisung married so I can go home without listening to you guys argue ever again.” Minho butts into the conversation.

“There’s a set time, Minho.” Hyunjin finally walks over, sensing Jisung’s fleeting nerves, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine, just really excited, you know?.”

“I am too,” Hyunjin replies with a wide smile, mirroring Jisung.

“You guys are so sappy.” Seungmin reacts.

“You’re just bitter you’re not getting married and still have university to finish!” Jisung points an accusatory finger at Seungmin.

“You have the university thing right, that’s it.”

“You and Chan are the only ones that actually chose to do a master’s degree, you can’t say anything.”

“I wanna be rich,” Seungmin says with a blank face.

“Rich from what, marketing?”

“Sure.”

“You’re torturing yourself for fun,”

“It’s for money .”

“I’m gonna stop you guys there, the ceremony is starting in eight minutes,” Changbin interjects and pushes Seungmin back into his chair lightly.

“Hyung, I can’t let him have the last word!” Jisung whines.

“You absolutely can when it comes to you about to have a very important ring on your finger in a few minutes.” Chan crosses his arms as he replies.

Jisung huffs and responds with a sigh before he walks away to Hyunjin’s side with a wide smile.

“He’s so obnoxious,” Jeongin says to the table but faces Felix after.

“That’s why they’re perfect for each other, they’re cute.” Felix sighs.

“You’re only saying that because it’s their wedding day.”

“Noo, they're actually cute!”

“Lix hyung, you’re blinded by the wedding atmosphere,” Jeongin sighs, “It’s okay, that’s why I’m here to open your eyes.”

“Don’t be bitter like Seungmin,” He points an accusing finger at the younger.

“I’m not bitter,”

He moves closer to the younger and gives his head a pat, “It’s okay Jeongin-ah, I’ll save you from the discontentment inside of your heart.” 

He wipes a fake tear from his eye for dramatic effect, which earns him a panicked glance from Chan who Felix assumes thinks it’s real.

Felix smiles reassuringly, not noticing Jeongin's slightly downward smile at the edges.

Before their conversation derails further, the sound of the wedding officiant and staff beginning an announcement interrupts them.

The ceremony ends up being perfect, as to Hyunjin’s wishes ( probably ).

Their table, of course, gets called up to do wedding speeches after everything is done and it’s entirely jumbled but funny nevertheless.

“I remember when Jisung tripped while we were on the way to Hyunjin’s house once,” A laughing Changbin expresses into the microphone when it’s his turn on stage.

“Hyunjin spent the next two hours fussing over his bleeding nose when we were supposed to be watching a movie!” Chan yells to Changbin from the table, which ends up making the room collectively laugh.

“I remember when everyone thought Hyunjin and Seungmin were dating,” Jeongin starts, “They thought the picture on Hyunjin’s wallpaper wasn’t Jisung but Seungmin,” He laughs a few minutes later into the very microphone, which results in Seungmin groaning and hitting his head on the table.

Multiple other moments of their relationship are shared and the night ends with a few tipsy members of their friend group.

“Guys, we should go on a trip together soon, Changbin and Hyunjin are super rich right?” Felix slurs a little but gets his sentence out after thinking about it.

A large mix of agreeing phrases are thrown out before they plan anything.

“Hey, just because I haven’t seen you guys in a while does not mean I’m gonna bring us on a summer trip for a few days!”

“Yeah, Hyunjin and Jisung need to go on their honeymoon too,” Chan replies.

“C’mon, we haven’t all been together in like five months!” A half-awake Seungmin replies, with a dangling Minho on his arm.

“That justifies nothing!” Changbin yells with a sour face.

“It justifies everything!” Felix yells back.

“Guys calm down, we’re still at a wedding,” Jeongin says, with a disgruntled look on his face.

Felix holds onto Changbin's side and very politely asks for the trip, “Hyung, we should go, it would be a good bonding experience for the group and there’s a lot of conveniences!”

“Give me a few valid reasons why and I’ll think about it.”

“We know you’re gonna agree anyways! Why are you so stubborn when you’re drunk!” Minho points a finger at him and continues, “I’ll even list them off!”

“Okay.” Changbin leans back in his chair with his arms crossed.

"Good bonding experience, you still get to see Chan and Jisung, so your music career isn't jeopardized, we can even go after the honeymoon," He pauses and smiles. "You can eat my home-cooked meals, and you get to see everyone's faces every day because you're such a cling–"

“Okay! Fine, we can go, I’ll get my parents’ beach house available for early next month.”

“No! Wait, that doesn’t work.” Minho falls off Seungmins shoulder even more, causing Seungmin to have to move Minho to his arm with a large push.

“Why? You were the one who just listed all the reasons to go!” Hyunjin replies with a pout.

“Seungmin and I are moving into a new apartment together!” Minho grins with unfocused eyes. “Surprise?” 

Seungmin’s half-awake face turns into a confused one before saying, “You’re telling them now?”

“Yup.”

“Congrats you two!” Felix claps in a euphoric manner.

Seungmin grimaces with an enigmatic-looking face before glancing at Minho briefly, the older now resting his chin on his shoulder. “We’re not dating, also it’s Hyunjin and Jisung's wedding–so it’s morally wrong to congratulate another pair.”

“Why are you so smart when you’re post-drunk? My brain couldn’t process any of that.”

Seungmin glances at him disappointedly, raising an eyebrow. “That wasn’t even smart talk.”

Minho waits a few seconds, “Anyways, since we’re moving in with each other in two weeks, we were just gonna do it alone but you guys can help now!”

“So.” Felix pauses for a moment. “Beach house for the two weeks after Minho and Seungmin move in and Hyunjin and Jisung have their honeymoon?” Felix proposes, earning agreement along the table.

“Okay, the rest of you, clear your schedules then!”

—

“Why do you guys have so many boxes, I thought you were both frugal?” Jeongin makes an appearance through the front door with three boxes stacked in his arms.

“Yeah, this is substituting my workout today, I’m about to pass out.” Jisung follows through the door shortly after.

“Being frugal doesn’t relate to Seungmin’s closet, believe it or not.” Minho states, his voice from the new kitchen.

“I like clothes.” Seungmin replies besides the older with a small smile.

“I know.” 

“Gross,” Hyunjin says with a wince.

“Shut up Hyunjin, you’re lucky I was even a part of your wedding.” Minho blankly stares.

Hyunjin parodies a crying face, “That is so offensive, I’ve known you since forever!”

“I’ve known Jisung longer than you, so technically I was only at your wedding for him.”

“You wound me.”

“I wasn’t even a part of your groomsmen, I was in Jisung’s.”

“You were, mentally.”

“Hyunjin just help me set up this oven before I kill you,”

“Okay, okay, fine!”

Felix groans as he pulls in the final box under his control before settling down on the brand-new couch in the lively living room.

He zones out until he sees a toned figure standing in front of him.

“Hyung, are you done helping?”

Felix has to do a double take when he notices that Jeongin's physique is very different from what he remembers as he examines his arms.

He's done for when he feels his face flush.

He slowly realizes that the younger probably started working out a few months ago and Felix simply never noticed.

“Yeah, I’m done,” He pauses, not even hiding his obvious stare and blush as he looks up at Jeongin, “Have you been working out?”

“Yeah, are you just noticing this now?”

Of course he just noticed, otherwise he wouldn’t be panicking and literally gawking at Jeongin’s arms in the middle of their friends’ living room!

“You look good,” He says with a thumbs up and a crooked smile, earning him a smile and thanks afterward.

He is so awkward, oh my god.

“Hey you two, stop talking while the rest of us are doing everything! Your cuteness isn’t saving you today!” Jisung exclaims with a huff.

“Yeah, get going you two.” Changbin treks behind Jisung with his head covered, arms full of boxes.

“I’m already done bringing in everything, hyung.” Felix responds.

“No excuses! Get up Yongbok!” Minho yells from the kitchen.

“Why did you two even pack so much, I didn’t even know you guys had this much stuff in general!” Hyunjin lies down on the new floor.

“Don’t get your sweat on the floor hyung, Minho hyung’s gonna get mad at you,” Jeongin replies before walking off to help Jisung, who’s holding the front door with one foot, a body mirror in his arms.

Felix decides to move the boxes further away from the front door into the living room for more space to walk while everyone else is doing their job.

Avoiding responsibilities while looking busy, is his favourite pastime.

“Lix! Come here, I need your help!” Chan calls from outside of the house.

He mumbles to himself sarcastically, “What great timing.”

Felix is told to bring in the last two boxes while Chan takes care of the rest, but while he mentally prepares himself to bring them inside, Jeongin already beats him to it and picks the boxes up, acting like they were nothing.

Not great for his mental stability.

“It’s okay hyung, I can take care of it!”

“Okay Jeongin, thanks.” He lightly hugs the other’s side. “I can finally rest,”

“Not yet.” Hyunjin stands by the door right when Felix is about to walk back in, “You have to help Minho and I make food, apparently.”

“I’m being worked to my very death.”

“Jeongin just carried boxes inside for you, you’ll survive.”

Hyunjin and Minho start to decide what to make while Felix stands by the side waiting.

He doesn’t care what he makes, he just can’t see the sight of Jeongin anymore before his body combusts.

The two compromise and agree on making a fruit salad with ramen on the side, disgusting them all at the combination but needing the refreshment for the summer weather and ramen for overall enjoyment.

“Hyung, you don’t understand! That sounds so gross, can you imagine eating a strawberry with ramen?” Hyunjin whines to Minho, which earns him a glare.

“You don’t have to eat both, Hyunjin.” Felix replies with a smile.

“Yongbok is right, be more like him.” Minho says before ordering Hyunjin to start dicing fruit, “Felix, go tell the others what we’re making, if they get grossed out, tell them to starve.”

“Can Hyunjin do it, I’ve been running around all day,”

“I can do it!” Jisung says while leaning on the opening to the kitchen.

“Okay Jisung, go then,” Minho replies with a small smile.

Felix goes to help Hyunjin with the fruit while Minho starts the ramen and soon he hears a slam to the front door and five other boys coming into the kitchen.

“Hi, guys! It looks great!” Chan comes striding through the room and starts to grab the essentials for setting up the table, “Changbin help me with these, please!”

With a grumble, the younger follows and leaves the rest standing and looking at the three making food.

“Who decided to make ramen with fruit salad on the side?” Seungmin asks, sweating from the warm temperature and setting up his new bedroom.

“Me,” Minho raises an eyebrow, “It looks like you needed it anyways, you look like you just took a swim.”

“Gross,” Seungmin comments, reacting with a sarcastic smile.

Jeongin becomes engrossed in what Felix is doing and sticks by his side as a result, forcing Felix to work with a flushed face.

It’s fine, he can blame it on the mid-July weather .

He makes a small conversation with Jeongin while he scoops out watermelon into spheres, adding it to the giant glass bowl of fruit he had on the side.

Felix occasionally steals glances at Jeongin, but it doesn't help with alleviating his flush, so he ends up just staring intently at the watermelon.

“Yongboks, you done?” Minho asks with a small smile.

“Yeah, here,” He empties the rest of the watermelon before giving the bowl to Minho.

“What do you guys think about turning the fruit salad into hwachae ?” Minho announces, “I have all of the ingredients right now.”

Contentment runs through the house and the group of boys agree on the change.

“Hyung, that means we need to scoop more fruit though!” Hyunjin says to Minho in the shape of a whine.

“I can help, I’ve only been staring at Felix hyung doing this anyways, might as well,” Jeongin says with a smile.

“I’m so proud of you, Jeongin-ah, you’ve grown up so well.” Minho says comically with a fake tear and smile.

The next minutes to go by are single-handedly the most difficult minutes of his life with Jeongin standing between him and Hyunjin trying to cut fruit.

It could be worse, to be fair.

It’s not the cutting fruit aspect, it’s the close proximity, each person keeps hitting another with their elbow so much that they decide to move to the island.

With a long sigh from Hyunjin, they finish and tidy up the kitchen while Minho continues to prepare everything next to the three.

“It really shouldn’t have taken you guys this long, what were you even doing?” Minho asks questionably, having been facing the stove the entire time, probably zoning out.

“I don’t even know and I was a part of it,” Felix responds tiredly and sighs, raising his arms over his head, “Glad whatever that was, is over though.”

“Lix-hyung, the whole time I only saw you scoop watermelon.” Jeongin says and only continues when Felix looks at him, “The whole. time.”

“Jeongin-ah, do you know how big that watermelon was?” Felix points at the empty watermelon shell, “Invalidating my feelings!” He whines, crossing his arms.

He huffs with a smile, “I’m just kidding, you can go sit with the others while we take care of this Jeongin, you’ve helped enough.”

The younger shrugged with a straight-lipped smile. “No, I can honestly just stay here to clean,” 

“Well start cleaning then! Here’s a towel.” Minho throws a towel in their general direction, as he’s looking the other way, currently putting ice in the giant fruit bowl.

He hears yelling in the living room while cleaning and feels content when he looks around the corner to see Changbin and Chan laughing at Jisung who (from the look of it) just fell.

“You guys are so mean! You wouldn’t do this to Hyunjin!” Jisung wails.

“Who wouldn't what?” Hyunjin asks the question and faces the trio as Felix is about to turn back, causing them both to slightly collide, with Hyunjin moving to rest his chin on Felix’s shoulder.

Jeongin grimaces on the side and moves to stand beside them, “Hyung, you’re always late when entering conversations,” 

Hyunjin gets mildly offended by this and in return, starts playfully hitting Jeongin on the side.

Felix is happy to watch them while in between, but then Jeongin pulls him into his chest to use as a shield against Hyunjin.

He’s a goner, feeling his face start to warm up while Jeongins arms are around him.

“That’s unfair! You can't use Yongbok as a defence!” Hyunjin says with a gasp, starting to tug on Felix’s shoulder.

“I can and will!”

“I’m done, everyone sit!” Minho yells loudly, and it effectively works for gathering everyone.

Jeongin immediately drops his arms and says to Felix, “Sorry if that made you uncomfortable, hyung.”

“No it's fine,” Felix replies with a dismissive hand gesture while looking down, trying to hide his red face from the younger.

The eight boys sit down and discuss their upcoming summer trip.

“I didn’t think we were serious about this trip, you guys know I can’t swim,” Minho says with a grunt.

“I was totally serious!” Felix replies with a wide grin.

“Well, if you want to, then I guess we have to go, right guys?” Chan announces, beaming brightly as he leans back in his chair.

“Chan we all know you wanna go because it’s a beach anyways, you don’t have to hide behind Felix’s excitement.” Changbin deadpans.

“I am a sucker for beaches, man,” Chan replies.

“It’s okay, I am too!” He replies in laughter.

“Okay well, since Minho is the only one that doesn’t wanna go, we can leave him here.” Seungmin puts on a smile.

“I’m gonna get you evicted.” Minho scowls in return.

“Stop being so loud guys, Minho can go with us and let's just go next week for a two-week duration.” Changbin says, takes a bite of the ramen and continues, “Now let's eat before the food gets cold.

“Wait, that means I need to request two weeks off at my bakery, oh my god.” 

“Felix you own the place,”

“My employees are gonna die!” He lets out a stressed-out noise and puts his head in his hands in a dramatic manner.

“It’s fine, just set up baby cams everywhere,” Jisung replies with a shrug and smile.

“Jisung there’s something called normal surveillance cameras,” Changbin says with a confused eyebrow raise.

“Yeah but, like, baby cams are just different, you know?”

“No, I don’t know.”

“What do I bring, we haven’t all gone on a trip since we were, like, eighteen!” Hyunjin asks the table.

“You’re only twenty-four, Hyunjin, it’s been six years.” Seungmin replies comedically. 

In a sarcastic tone, Minho declares, "I'm only going to carry the essentials. If I had known you were all serious about the trip, I wouldn't have even started packing for the apartment.”

“Too bad.”

“Kim Seungmin I’m going to trash your bedroom.” Minho says before grabbing bites of ramen.

“Okay guys, clear your schedules, if you need help because of unemployment after ,” The eldest glances at Felix. “I can just help,” Chan sighs.

“You’re so confident in us all not losing our jobs, Chan hyung, I appreciate it.” Jisung replies with a joking tone.

“Of course, when am I not?”

“That one time where-”

“Nope, I’m always confident in you guys!”

“Yeah sure, anyways, I’ll send you guys the address.” Changbin stretches before continuing with his announcement. “And if anyone needs a ride then I can drive you there.” He grins at the group.

“Can't we just all drive in the same car like before?” Felix suggests, in genuine confusion.

“Okay, if everyone is okay with that.”

After a final conversation of agreement and the group of eight are set to go on their trip.

—

“You haven’t packed yet?” Felix walks into Jeongin’s apartment, seeing clothes strewn around all rooms of the house.

“We had a movie marathon, we didn’t see the message!” Someone shouts, he has no idea who, when all he can hear are the remnants of the echo.

After Felix recognizes the voice, he pauses for a second before questioning, “Hyunjin? Why are you here?”

“Jisung stayed at Minho and Seungmin’s apartment overnight for a sleepover, I stayed here so I wouldn’t be lonely!”

That explains the timing of the three’s messages in the group chat yesterday.

He stands at the entrance of the house but decides to step in when he realizes the two are not going to be done for a while.

“No one called either of you?”

“They did, I think Seungmin-hyung set a record for the most number of calls to me in ten minutes!” Jeongin yells for the other two to hear.

He walks down the hall, “Are you guys almost done? We’re supposed to leave in an hour and a half,”

“It’s okay, I already texted Chan hyung that we might be late,” Jeongin replies with a head poking out of his room.

“No, I know that, that’s why I’m here in the first place, he sent me to help you pack to leave quicker,” Felix says with a sheepish smile, “Though he didn’t mention Hyunjin was here, I guess I need to help both of you pack now.”

“Then come on!”

He hears an enthusiastic response from Hyunjin as well, deciding to help Jeongin first.

“Wait, Lix, do you know if Jisung is with the group already? I just realized that I might need to bring more than sleepover necessities and a suitcase.” Hyunjin asks from the bedroom he’s in.

Felix sticks his head into the open door, seeing Hyunjin standing and looking inside his suitcase, “He’s not, at least not when I was with Chan, you probably have time to video call him and make him bring your other stuff.” 

“Okay, thanks!”

“Yeah no problem,” He steps out of the room, “Hyunjin, I’m helping Jeongin first because I trust you more by the way,” He quickly calls to the older’s room while he’s leaving.

“You’re so mean hyung, I heard that,” Jeongin says as he sees the black-haired man walk in, getting a shrug following his comment.

The younger is sitting on the floor, a giant pile of clothes in front of him.

“Okay, let’s hurry up the packing a little, the other guys might get impatient.”

“Please, they would never get impatient with us.”

“You’re abusing your cuteness.”

“You might as well too.”

He ignores Jeongin calling him cute and smiles at the younger before questioning what he wants to bring, “You really wanna bring all of this?”

“Yeah, essentials for two weeks!”

“Jeongin, why are you bringing so many clothes?”

“Essentials, hyung.” Jeongin emphasizes his answer and smiles.

Oh, his smile was really cute that day.

It’s too early for this.

He flushes but pulls himself together after a prolonged silence between them. “All right, let's pick one more outfit and get your actual hygiene stuff, yeah?”

“Fine,” Jeongin says with a pout and a disappointed tone, leaning back on his arms.

The two sit on the floor together.

He points to a dark green hoodie, “I like this hoodie, now go to the bathroom while I check your pantry for expiration dates and help Hyunjin.”

“Okay,” Jeongin sticks his tongue out at him.

The older pulls a mildly disgusted face and hurries out of the room to discover Hyunjin in pristine condition.

“You’re done?” Felix asks, staring at Hyunjin from top to bottom.

“You’re not? You guys were in there for, like, twelve minutes!”

“Jeongin has a major difficulty in choosing clothes,” He sighs and gestures to the kitchen. “Help me check for expiration dates, Minho-hyung told me we were donating food later, though mine already is so we just need to worry about Jeongin’s, and yours apparently.”

The older one nods in agreement and they walk to the kitchen, raiding every product in Jeongin’s kitchen, ending up with a small pile.

“Did you call Jisung?”

“Yeah, he was still with Seungmin and Minho, Jisung said he’ll drive to our apartment while everyone is donating their expiring food.”

“Do you not have food that’s expiring?” He says with a confused reply. “Does he even have any of his things yet?”

“Oh my god, I didn’t think about that, I need to call him.” Hyunjin walks out of the kitchen for a few minutes before he comes back.

“Okay, he told Minho and Seungmin, so hopefully they’ll figure something out in time,” He pauses, “I told him that if we had spare time then we would just go to the apartment, by the way,” Hyunjin says, sounding lightly stressed.

“I wouldn’t worry about it now, Seungmin and Minho are both good at time management, perfect even.”

“You’re right,” Hyunjin takes a few breaths and starts analyzing Jeongin’s pantry for the last time.

“Okay, I’m done!” Jeongin says as he walks into the kitchen with a bright smile.

Wearing the green hoodie Felix liked.

“Well then, since we have a bit of extra time now , let’s go to your apartment,” Felix suggests to Hyunjin, avoiding Jeongin a little to not flush his face red.

“Yeah, I’ll just text him to go straight to Chan’s house.” He pulls out his phone and starts tapping immediately.

“What’s happening?” Jeongin asks Felix.

“We need to go to Hyunjin and Jisung’s apartment for some quick errands.” He smiles at the other, avoiding looking at his hoodie.

“Okay, we can go after I double-check everything!” Jeongin announces and starts quickly dashing around his apartment.

“Be quick,” He replies, getting a nod in reply.

As the three make it out of the door, they throw all of their things in the trunk of Felix’s borrowed car from Changbin and they drive to Hyunjin and Jisung’s apartment.

“So, both you and Jisung didn’t think that this would end horribly if neither of you were home?” Jeongin asks Hyunjin with a chuckle.

“Not really, I don’t think either of us even noticed until, an hour ago probably.”

“You guys were always meant for each other, after all.” Felix interjects as he drives.

“Don’t be so bitter because of our grand gesture of romance!” Hyunjin responds.

“What gesture, you guys having the same brain?” Jeongin laughs as he sees Hyunjin’s jaw drop.

“Wow, I never want to call either of you cute ever again, you don’t deserve it!”

“You would be affected more than us, hyung.”

“He’s true.” Felix says before pulling into Hyunjin’s driveway, “We’re here, let’s make it quick.”

“I’m so lucky my apartment is close to yours,” Hyunjin sighs to Jeongin as they all walk up to the elevator.

Felix pauses before he asks, “Do you have a lot of food you think is expiring?” 

“No, we were supposed to go grocery shopping today,” Hyunjin replies, thinking carefully.

“Okay, focus on getting you and Jisung’s important stuff while Jeongin and I deal with your food.”

“Okay.” Hyunjin thanks the pair with a smile and grateful tone.

The left-alone pair moves to the kitchen and smoothly sorts out food, managing to only get two bags of chips to leave with.

“Huh, you rushed me for no reason when we weren’t gonna go to Chan-hyung’s house anyways,” Jeongin faces Felix and puts a hand on his hip, a joking sound in his voice.

“Hey, because of the extra time, Hyunjin isn’t stressed!” Felix replies and knocks the younger’s shoulder with his own, “Think about your elders!”

They both laugh and stay in the seemingly comfortable living room while waiting for Hyunjin to come down.

Felix checks the time, they have a solid thirty minutes before they need to drive to Chan’s house to meet, along with the food donation.

He decides to text Chan a heads up in case they’re late to not stress Hyunjin out to rush his packing, “Hyunjin I texted Chan-hyung so take your time!”

“Thanks!” A disheveled Hyunjin pokes his body out into the hallway.

Chan texts back reassurance to him and separately sends a picture of him with Minho, Seungmin, Jisung, and Changbin in the group chat.

“Huh, looks like we’re the last ones.” Jeongin says while looking at his phone, staring up at Felix when the older looks at him from beside.

“Yeah.” He replies and adverts his eyes in case he starts going red at the sight of the other, cursing his easily red face.

Yet, he never gets sunburnt, how does he manage to get flustered this easily?

The two sit in a comfortable silence texting the group chat until they hear Hyunjin yell. “I’m almost done! Can one of you help me with something?”

They both stand up to the sound of the shout and go upstairs in unison, staring at Hyunjin trying to lift two backpacks and rolling two suitcases behind him.

“Need help?” Felix asks jokingly.

“Yeah, maybe!” Hyunjin replies back in an equally lighthearted sarcastic tone.

Jeongin takes a backpack and suitcase from the oldest and goes to the kitchen to grab the chips quickly and faces back, “Let's just eat these on the way.” 

“Okay,” Felix replies and tries to grab Hyunjin’s backpack but the older one refuses and holds a firm grip on the bag.

“You’ve done enough, now let’s go after I check and lock everything.”

Felix smiles brightly at him, unaware of the sulking male at the kitchen entrance.

“Let’s go!” Felix raises his arms and gestures to the two when he sees Hyunjin done.

They all exit and drive to Chan’s house with Hyunjin driving this time because, “Lix, I think we’d be a mess if you weren’t here so let me drive.”

When they arrive, they see Seungmin and Jisung standing outside beside Changbin’s SUV, staring at them.

He steps out of the car, and hears a loud Jisung, “You guys are here! Hyunjin!”

The newlywed couple dramatically hugs each other while Seungmin goes up to Jeongin and Felix, helping them take everything out of the trunk.

“Do I just leave Changbin’s car here? Or should I drive it back?” Felix asks Seungmin.

“You can drive to Changbin’s house, you know, the giant gate that’s only, like, ten minutes away,”

“Okay, I’ll go inside to ask him.” Jeongin says to the two, but mostly Felix.

“Thank you,” He replies with a long drag, filled with gratitude as he sees Jeongin walk away.

Seungmin and Felix make small talk and see the rest of their friend group stepping out of the house.

“We’re all here!” Chan grins, “We should be going to the donation center soon and then the beach house, finally!” Chan announces as he walks down his front stairs.

Jeongin walks up to them again, similar to Seungmin’s gesture before and faces Felix, “Changbin-hyung says it would be better if we drove it to his house,” He smiles. “We can go right now while the others are donating our food.”

“Hey, why are you going?” Seungmin asks and raises an eyebrow, he sees Jeongin make a wide-eyed stare at the other.

“Are you purposely skipping donating food?” Felix asks him as well, “Jeongin it’s not that boring.”

“Maybe.” The younger flushes a light red.

“Fine, I’m only helping you not get caught, okay?” He groans and Seungmin laughs at him, leaning on the closed trunk lid.

“You two should go now, Chan hyung’s deciding to leave soon.” They all look over to Chan after Seungmin’s comment, laughing with Minho while making hand gestures describing throwing up on a car ride.

“Okay then, we’ll be back, remember to pick us up!” Felix yells to the group while he walks to the car with Jeongin.

“Where are you going?” Minho asks with a raised eyebrow and a skeptical smile.

“Changbin’s house, I’m leaving his car there,” Felix replies with a smile while Jeongin stands on the other side of the car with a bright face and tilted head.

“Okay, be quick, we won’t forget to pick you up!” Chan yells from the front door.

“On purpose,” Seungmin says, with Minho looking weirded out beside him.

“Thanks, hyung, not so thanks Seungmin!” Felix replies in a yell as he steps into the car.

He sees Jeongin’s flushing face and instinctively leans over to check his temperature for a fever and he asks if he’s okay.

“Yeah, I’m fine, we can go right now.” The younger one looks down a bit before lightly smiling at him.

“Okay, just don’t pass out on me.” He replies jokingly to ease the atmosphere.

They arrive at Changbin's home swiftly and strike up a small conversation with the front security they've known since they were teenagers, before being guided to park in an open spot.

“I know Changbin’s rich, but sometimes I forget how much, jeez, I remember getting lost in that place.” Jeongin says to a slightly tired Felix, pointing at the mansion beside them.

“How is he so humble, I wouldn’t be able to do it,” Felix replies while staring at the mansion, drowsiness hitting him in the form of a yawn.

“You’re finally getting tired after the eventful morning?” 

“Yeah, and since Chan made me go to your house to help, I donated my food already on the way, so I’m extra tired.”

“Was it a long process?”

“No, I just put everything in a bag and gave it to a kind lady, I was just half awake and overexerting my body.”

“You’re a dancer,”

“Dance is the only time I’m not tired by waking up at six in the morning.”

The rest of the group shows up later in the SUV, with Chan and Changbin at the front.

Felix walks over to where Seungmin is sitting and lightly taps the window, to which it opens.

“You brought Hyunjin, Jeongin, and I’s stuff right?”

Between a nodding Seungmin and a Jisung who is lying on his neck pillow, a tired Hyunjin speaks. “Just get in the car and sleep!” 

The two climb into the back, where they sit beside a resting Minho.

“All right, is everyone ready and prepared?” Changbin says and looks behind him for confirmation, while Chan counts heads and starts the car.

Jisung and Changbin struggle over the aux cord which results in Chan deciding the entire car to sit quietly, taking in the early morning for consideration before they start blasting music.

“Hyung, that’s unfair, everyone in this car wants music right now!” Jisung replies to Chan’s request and looks behind him.

“I don’t think it’s everyone , Ji.” Changbin laughs as he stares at a half-awake Hyunjin.

“Look away, sleep is my worst enemy.” Hyunjin replies with a light scowl.

“Ah, honey ,” Jisung faces the other beside him, getting a disgusted face from Changbin in front, “Did you bring my music equipment?”

“Yeah, you’re unpacking everything, by the way, I’m exhausted,” Hyunjin says while he curls into his seat and Jisung’s shoulder simultaneously.

Behind them, an asleep Minho lays on the left of the car with Jeongin in the center, staring at a cozy Felix beside him.

“Are you sleeping now?” The younger asks the hoodie-covered man, getting a hum of confirmation in response.

“Hm? Yeah, m’ tired.” He replies in honesty, cradling himself into the car window, resembling Minho on the other side of the car.

A pause of silence drapes over the car before Jeongin replies, “You can lay on my shoulder,” He hesitated a bit, “If you want,”

The older one nods and lays on his shoulder before thanking him and drifting to sleep.

Jeongin is met with Jisung and Hyunjin’s stares before he grows a bright red and starts picking at his green hoodie sleeves to distract himself.

—

“Lix hyung, wake up, we’re almost there.” Jeongin nudges him awake, looking drowsy himself.

He mumbles to himself in confusion before coming to his senses, looking outside of the window to see an open beach.

He’s so excited.

Felix looks to see everyone and it seems some people are more excited than others, he laughs a little. 

“What are you laughing about?” Jeongin looks at him with a puffy, bared face.

“I’m laughing at them.” He gestured to the rest of the car and tilted his head to ask the other, “Did you sleep well?”

“Yeah, better than last night, that’s for sure.”

“That’s good, try to rest a bit on this trip, we all have two weeks off after all.”

“I will, remember to follow your own advice.” Jeongin smiles at him and they both nod at each other.

They all step out of the car one at a time until everyone stands outside of the car, waking themselves up and losing their weariness.

As Felix leaves the car, Jeongin points at the beach beside them with bright eyes and a dimpled smile, he melts a little.

“Look! The view is so nice,” Jeongin says to the older and grins.

They look at the beach for a few seconds before Hyunjin calls them over to help bring their stuff inside.

As everyone finishes bringing their things in, Chan announces to go to the front door when they’re done.

Changbin finished bringing in the last bags and starts, “Okay, there’s four rooms and we can just organize it by people that already live together,” 

“Four of us don’t live with anyone, literally including you, hyung.” Felix says to a thinking Changbin.

“You guys can room together then,” Changbin motions to the space between Jeongin and Felix, “And I can be with Chan,”

The oldest agrees and nods to the two for confirmation, “That works for me, I don’t care who I’m partnered with.”

“Yeah I’m fine with it,” Jeongin says and the rest stare at Felix.

He may be a little dramatic right now, but as he hums in agreement, he realizes that he just signed his life away momentarily.

It’s fine, it’s only two weeks and they almost lived together at one point anyways.

He’ll be fine.

“Okay, let’s unpack right now and we can figure out what to do after, you can all pick your rooms, they’re all relatively the same size anyways,” Changbin starts to grab his belongings and walks upstairs.

He will not be fine.

“Let’s go hyung, I can bring your stuff too.” Jeongin says to a wide-eyed Felix grabbing his stuff.

“No, no it’s fine, I can do it.” He smiles at the younger and drags his suitcase behind him, up the stairs.

“You two are unpacking?” Hyunjin stares at the two, already halfway up the stairs.

“Yeah, are you not?” Jeongin replies.

“You guys follow instructions too easily, we’re just gonna go to the beach first,” Hyunjin gestures to Jisung, Seungmin, and Minho.

“We’ll unpack and get Chan and Changbin hyung and we can meet you there.” Felix interjects into the conversation and goes farther upstairs.

“Okay, see you there!” Jisung yells and makes a heart gesture with his arms, getting one from Felix back.

As they go upstairs, both boys go through every room to find which is the biggest and ultimately choose one near the end of the expensive hall.

They pull their luggage in and Felix jumps on one of the comfortable-looking beds, splayed out in a star shape.

“I'm so glad Changbin is rich, this bed feels so comfortable. I'll congratulate him on successfully making money and growing up rich too.”

Felix's comment is muffled by the bedsheets, but the point gets across when Jeongin hums behind him.

“You should congratulate his family for the growing up part,”

“You know what I mean!”

He hears the younger one sitting on the bed with a tired groan, and he lifts his head to stare at the other.

“Let’s rest here for a bit and then go?” He says when he sees an almost-asleep Jeongin across from him.

The other faces him and declines, “No, the other guys are waiting, we can rest after, and stuff.”

“It’s not for me, it’s for you.” 

“It’s fine, I’ll get some rest after.” Jeongin smiles at him and he sighs back.

“Okay, if that’s what you want,” He stands up and goes through his suitcase for beach clothes and sunscreen.

“You want some?” He asks Jeongin when he sees the other staring at him.

“No, it’s okay, I’ll just get my stuff and we can get Chan and Changbin hyung.”

He smiles and agrees, going to the bathroom to change.

After the two are done, they quickly go through all of the rooms and reach the one the pair they’re looking for is in.

Jeongin knocks and peeks his head in after confirmation and tells the older pair the plan.

“Okay, we’ll be out in a few minutes, just wait a sec!” Chan replies from behind Changbin.

Changbin smiles and closes the door before Chan and him emerge from the room in beach attire.

“Let’s go!” Felix says and the four men start their walk to the beach with a small conversation in tow.

As he steps on the sand under his sandals, he sees a wild Jisung chasing Hyunjin in the water far from where Minho lies on his large beach towel.

The oldest three of the group all sit down together on the towel, with Chan preparing himself to swim and Changbin right behind him.

Jeongin stays beside him, staring at the open body of water before looking at him.

“Are you swimming?” He asks when Jeongin only slightly grins at him.

“I’ll rest beside Minho hyung for a bit and then I’ll be right beside you again,”

He nods and looks for Seungmin, not locating him anywhere.

“He’s getting coffee for us, something about not having a daily dose yet, I don’t really know.” Minho says when he sees the confused male, and continues glancing at the coffee shop not so far from them.

“Understandable.” Jeongin says while walking to the group towel as Chan and Changbin leave it, walking past him with smiles on their faces.

He makes a quick look at Jeongin and Minho on the towel and walks to put his belongings down before catching up to Chan and Changbin.

A focused Jisung and Hyunjin are making a sandcastle near the shore and an intrigued Changbin squats beside them to watch.

Felix feels an endearment for his friends in the sliver of time it takes for him to process the moment.

“Lix! Let’s take a swim!” Chan says, gesturing to him to come closer to the water.

“Okay!” He rushes forward with a smile.

The two race through the water with matching grins and a sense of nostalgia, both grateful for the beach experience.

The two males return to the shore, with Chan going to the ever-growing sandcastle, but Felix, who is still relatively lively, starts to wander around.

As Felix walks back to the nearby towel, he spots Minho gone, now joining most of the group in expanding their collaborative sandcastle.

If you asked him, he’d say it just looks like three separate castles combined into one.

He looks around the secluded beach, appreciating the atmosphere, and continues walking.

He spots Jeongin on the towel, covered in drops of water, “Hyung! Are you done?”

He feels his heart beat faster when he sees that Jeongin didn’t feel the need to wear a shirt and pauses for a few seconds, slowly blinking at the younger man.

“Yeah, for now.” He gives Jeongin a thumbs-up and sits down, “What about you?”

He would never earn an oscar in his life with this acting.

“Hmm, I might swim some more later, I’ll ask the others when they’re done with their giant sandcastle and try to race someone.”

“Oh! I can race you if you want!”

“You just raced with Chan hyung though, I don’t wanna tire you.”

He makes a dismissive hand gesture, “It’s fine, just later though, I’m a little tired.”

“That’s fine with me, thanks by the way.” 

“Yeah, no problem,” He leans his head on Jeongin’s (stiff) shoulder and closes his eyes to rest.

“Are you sleeping on my shoulder for a second time, hyung?” The younger one has a teasing voice and pokes a finger to his cheek.

He rises from the shoulder in a rush, “Nope, not doing that.”

Jeongin has a smile on his face now, “Aw, bummer—Ow!”

A light shove to his arm is deserved after that comment, in Felix’s defense.

“Hey, you two!” Chan calls from the rest of the group joining in on the sandcastle. “Come over here to help us or go grab some food!”

He looks at Jeongin, “You can choose.”

“Let’s go get food, they look like they’re gonna kill each other whenever a new part of the castle is built.” 

“Alright.”

He yells to get Chan’s attention, “We’ll get food! Any preferences?”

“Get me kimbap!” Jisung shouts with a wide smile, stopping Changbin from ruining his part of the gigantic sandcastle.

“Is that it?” Jeongin yells back with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah!” 

“Alright let’s go,” Felix grabs Jeongin’s forearm and starts walking to the convenience store that he saw earlier on his way to the beach.

When they’re done, they walk out with two bags of snacks and essentials their house would need.

Walking back, the finished sandcastle stands as tall as Hyunjin and with some of the boys still making small adjustments, the sandcastle looks complete.

“Jeez, that took them all day.” Jeongin held the two plastic bags from the convenience store and switched them to his left arm before waving. “We’re here! Come get some food!”

Minho races over despite not making any obvious signs of wanting food earlier, “You sound like a sheep hoarder.”

“Does that mean I’m the dog?” Felix grimaces when he notices that he said it in front of the whole group.

“You're what?” Hyunjin glances over at him with a confused face and a raised eyebrow, putting a hand on his hip.

“You are, yeah.” Minho gives him a thumbs-up and deadpanned face.

He quietly nods and starts helping Jeongin take the various snacks out of the bags and distributing them on the towel and folding table they brought, watching as Jisung immediately grabs the kimbap he instructed them to buy.

Felix reached for the things he wanted and went to sit down beside the distracted group on the separate, dusty towel he brought. 

He sighs as he settles himself and groans when he bends to place the snacks in his lap and hears his bones crack.

Maybe he needs to go to the chiropractor after this trip.

He starts eating and spreads his legs forward to stretch.

Jeongin sits beside him.

“You just can’t get enough of me today, can you?” Felix comically asks with a raised eyebrow.

“Maybe.” Jeongin places a pile of more snacks onto the group’s towel. “You okay with swimming in, like, two minutes?”

Felix whines with a smile, “Let me take a bite of my food first, Jeongin-ah!”

“Take your time, but also hurry up.”

“Those completely contradict!”

“Not my problem!” The younger one smiles at him.

He smiles back and turns his head to watch the waves in front of them form.

Opening a pack of candy, Jeongin offers some to him with an open palm, he takes two.

“You two are stuck at the hip today, any reason why?” Seungmin sits down behind them and wraps his arms around their shoulders.

He doesn’t look at Seungmin. “Nope.”

“Lix-hyung hasn’t gotten enough of me today yet,” Jeongin smirks when Felix looks at him with a light gasp. 

“You’ve literally been the one approaching me this whole day, liar.” 

Seungmin stands up. “Ah, Minho-hyung’s calling me over, goodbye.” 

He watches as Minho looks at Seungmin with a blank stare and raised eyebrow.

“Seungmin. Don’t come here.” Minho makes an “X” with his arms and (playfully) scowls.

“Bye guys, Minho-hyung needs me to help him with stuff!” Seungmin grins and walks over to the older male.

“Jeez, they are so weird.” Hyunjin grimaces at Jisung on the side while they try to eat melting ice cream together.

“Yeah.” 

The group takes a combined break until everyone but Jeongin and Felix head over to the nearby cafe across from them to change the setting.

Hyunjin claimed that all the sun was going to make him dizzy with his lack of sleep, so the rest of the boys followed behind him.

“You two aren’t going?” Chan asks with genuine surprise and his mouth agape.

“Yeah, we promised to race each other earlier!” Felix smiles up at the older.

“Okay then, stay safe and if there’s any problem, call one of us right away—though I’d prefer if it was me or Minho.”

“Okay hyung, go to the others.” Jeongin keeps a small grin on his face and gestures to the rest of the group, already ahead and entering the cafe. “We’ll stay out of trouble!”

Chan smiles at them and starts to catch up to the group with a light jog.

The pair left alone face each other and Felix can see Jeongin’s obvious dimple and eyes smiling at him.

“Let’s go?”

“Sure, best out of three.” A laugh is thrown his way.

They go to the shore, leaving their belongings behind and counting down as they’re about to dive through the water.

Jeongin starts, “Three,”

“Two,”

“One!” A large splash is left behind as both boys head to the designated finish line they chose.

Felix beats Jeongin by barely two seconds and grins.

“Hey, I said best out of three!” Jeongin pouts with a questionable smile Felix hasn’t seen on him before.

Before he can think about it, the younger suddenly puts on a serious face. “Hyung, have I ever told you how good-looking you are?”

A pause. “Huh?” 

With that moment of confusion running through the (flustered) older, Jeongin starts swimming with an unfair head start.

Oh my god, what a cheater!

He rushes to dive in after Jeongin but is beaten when they reach the shore again.

“You are such a cheater,” Felix whines and floats on the water with a large and exaggerated pout.

“I had to take the necessary precautions, hyung.”

When did Jeongin start acting like this? He doesn’t think it can get any worse for him than it already is.

He brings his hands up to cover his face, “That was not necessary!” 

“Seemed necessary to me.” Jeongin has the widest smile he’s ever had all day. “Ah. Sorry, hyung.” His smile turns sheepish but remains the same size.

It went from bad to worse.

Felix takes a minute to admire the other’s expression while he is distracted.

“Apology not accepted, as a result of that malicious lie, you have to let me win the last one!”

“Rather than that, let’s just race normally,” Jeongin replies with a smirk, shrugging at the older. “Or are you scared of losing, hyung?”

“Three,” He smiles at the younger.

“We’re starting now?”

“Two,”

“One,” Both boys say in unison before replicating the large dive that happened beforehand.

They tie.

“No, we should have recorded it just in case!” Felix has a distressed expression on his face as he whines.

The pair continue talking in the water, he glances at Jeongin for a moment.

The younger has an indescribable look on his face, with his eyes crinkled at the edges and two dimples appearing.

Oh god, he needs a distraction.

Jeongin speaks up again, “Should we go back to the beach house now? I can text the others on the walk?”

He looks at most of the group’s belongings, before catching his eye on the very group walking out of the cafe.

“I don’t think that’ll be needed,” He points to their friends walking towards the beach and he swims back with Jeongin in tow.

Felix spots Hyunjin waving at them beside a grinning Jisung, both having playful looks on their faces.

“Hey, are you two done?” Seungmin yells with a smile on his face. “We’re planning on going back to the house to settle down and stuff!”

“Yeah, us too!” Jeongin replies with an equally loud yell back, starting to walk beside Felix.

The group of boys collectively gather all of their things and start heading back in a line, Jeongin and Felix in the back with Chan behind them.

“Man, I’m so ready to lie down right now, I’m exhausted,” Jeongin replies before he starts to carry Felix’s bag of supplies wordlessly.

Jeongin gets a drowsy reply in response, “Hm, yeah.” 

“You two spent so much time swimming!” Chan says behind them as he draped his arms around the pair.

“It was only, like, twenty minutes, I think.” Jeongin stares at Chan with an incredulous smile.

“True, what did you two even do?”

“We raced and talked, that’s it.” Felix’s reply is spoken too fast for his liking, feeling his cheeks getting warm when he remembers Jeongin’s lighthearted comment.

“Hmm, is that it?”

“Yes.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Okay then, make sure to get some rest when you reach your room, you two.” He feels Chan shrug as his elbows are being dug into his shoulder for a second or two.

Felix nods and looks forward to zone into what the rest of the group is doing.

Minho and Seungmin were conversing quietly amongst themselves, he couldn't hear them, but he assumed it involved something more intimate than what everyone was used to.

Hyunjin and Jisung were talking about what they were looking forward to the most on the trip, and Jisung saying “You,” to Hyunjin was enough to make Felix jokingly hurl towards Jeongin.

Looking up, he sees Jeongin already looking at him with a soft expression on his face.

Flustered Felix does not make good decisions.

“What, am I that beautiful to you right now?” He says comedically to Jeongin.

Comedically, as in, as a joke, aka expecting a joking reply in return.

“Maybe.”

Chan audibly lets out an extremely large gasp. “You Casanova!”

“What?“ Seungmin and Minho look at the three of them with confused looks.

“Nothing, don’t worry about it!” Chan replies with a big smile.

How did they not hear that?

The group arrives at the beach house with a large scale of reactions and some immediately rush to their bedroom.

With Jeongin and Felix still soaking from their more recent swimming, they sit outside near the fancy outdoor pool’s edge in the front yard.

‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️

“Why couldn’t we just race here earlier?” Jeongin says in the open yet comfortable silence.

“The beach feels freer, you know?”

“Hm, I guess you’re right.”

They watch the sunset from the pool, with it elevated and higher than the beach, providing a good view.

Jisung pokes his head through the glass door behind them, “Guys, Minho-hyung’s planning on having a barbecue in an hour, make sure you’re done looking like that by then,”

They reply in unison while Jisung has a raised eyebrow resting on his face, “Okay.”

He watches as Jisung goes back inside to prepare for the barbecue.

“We should go in soon, we’re both dry enough to not leave a trail of water everywhere.”

“Alright, just ten more minutes,” Jeongin responds and puts his head on Felix’s shoulder.

“Clingy today, huh?”

“Jus’ tired.”

He hums and pauses before speaking again softly, “I think I'll need to borrow some of your clothes for next week, I checked earlier and honestly, I didn't bring enough.”

“That’s fine with me.” He can feel the younger one starting to doze off and coos internally.

“Actually, let’s go in before you fall asleep on me, shall we?”

He gently moves Jeongin’s head and stands up, helping the other to not fall on his face when he walks inside by holding his wrist lightly.

“What’s up with him?” Hyunjin asks and Felix can see his eyes start to focus on his hand.

“He said he was tired, so I brought him in before he passed out on me and drowned or something,” Felix shrugs, Jeongin’s chin now resting on his shoulder. 

“We'll be in our room, but I'll make sure we're there on time for the barbecue.” He continues before starting to lug Jeongin up the stairs.

From a distance, he can hear Hyunjin crack a laugh.

He helps Jeongin up the stairs to their shared room, ignoring Seungmin’s look of concern at his doting.

Felix dispenses the younger one on his bed. “Jeongin, I’m gonna go freshen up and stuff, you can, uh, stay there.”

When he comes back, Jeongin is on his back, splayed across his bed in a starfish position with his eyes closed and a look of tranquility.

Although feeling bad, he shakes the other’s shoulder to wake him up.

I don’t think he’ll like sleeping if he finds a whole pile of sand on his bed later, also it’s justified for everything he’s done today, so his guilt goes down a significant amount.

“Jeongin, Jeongin-ah, wake up, Jeo—”

“Can you give me a few more minutes, please,” The younger man whines as he moves his (toned) forearm across his eyes to hide his face.

“Nope, get up!” He tugs on Jeongin’s arm.

The younger male sits up with a dazed expression, most likely from the effects of waking up early before doing large tasks during the day. “Why do you hate me?”

“I always want the best for you.” He says sarcastically and widely smiles at Jeongin before shoving him into their shared bathroom to put himself together. “Now get moving!”

“Alright, alright, do you know if there’s a dress code?”

“Why would there be a dress code, it’s a barbecue?”

“There’s always a dress code when it comes to me.” Jeongin opens the door with a smirk.

“You weren’t this cocky before.”

“Yeah, I just don’t think you noticed, hyung.” Jeongin smiles at him, but it’s more of an emphasis on the sarcasm in the sentence. “You can make up a dress code for me then.” 

The younger still stares at him through the bathroom doorway, brushing his unkempt hair.

“Comfortable.”

The younger one closes the bathroom door shut. “Okay, be right back hyung.” 

“Where else would you go?”

He can hear Jeongin yell from the bathroom, “I don’t know, this window in the bathroom is very tempting to jump out of!”

“What?” Chan is heard yelling from the room diagonally across from them.

“Nothing!” Felix takes a break to laugh, hearing Jeongin laugh through the door as well. “Don’t worry about it!” He yells back in a dismissive tone.

“Barbecue in thirty minutes!” Minho shouts from downstairs, his voice ringing throughout the large house.

Felix redirects his attention back to the bathroom, “Jeongin-ah, that’s a sign to hurry up,” 

“Two more minutes!” A reply back after an exact minute. “I still need to pick out an outfit too?”

“I’ll choose it, you’re taking too long!”

“You took twenty minutes in the bathroom alone!”

“Justified, my skincare is most important!”

The two continue their back-and-forth, light-hearted bickering filled with mirth as Felix chooses an outfit for Jeongin, a navy blue hoodie from that morning and some black sweatpants.

“You good with a hoodie and sweatpants? I just overheard Changbin say that it’s cold outside!”

“Yeah, choose whatever, I trust your judgement.” Jeongin walks out of the bathroom at that moment, more freshened up compared to any other time he’s seen him today.

His heart flickers.

Seeing the other in one of his most natural states has Felix feeling like his heart just got ripped out of his body to be served on a platter for Jeongin.

Not like Felix would mind.

“Here.” He stutters in embarrassment and drifts his eyes to the laid-out outfit for Jeongin, pointing to it.

“Thanks, hyung, I’ll be changed in two minutes max.”

“That’s a lie.”

“I know,” The younger male steps back into the bathroom similar to before.

By the time they’re both done, the clock shows that it is ten minutes until Minho’s scheduled barbecue, this causes both boys to rush down the stairs to the backyard.

Minho glances over to the pair, “You two are the last ones.” He’s standing at the grill, figuring out how to turn it on with Chan’s help, “You’re both lucky you have cute genes or you’d be dead to me.”

“How did Hyunjin and Jisung get here before us?” Jeongin mumbles to Felix so only he can hear, gaining a small laugh in return.

“Hey, get over here and help us set up the dinner already!” Hyunjin shouts with joy.

A look at the rest shows him why he sounds so happy, all of them sitting down looking unfocused.

“Sleep deprivation kills the most capable people.”

“Agreed.” Hyunjin replies to him and gestures for both Jeongin and him to start helping.

“How are you not half asleep?” Felix asks Hyunjin with a grin and a light elbow to the taller’s forearm.

“Beach.”

“Makes sense!” They hear Chan say from the grill, still fidgeting with the buttons.

How hard is it to turn on that grill? He could’ve gotten more time alone with Jeongin too—if he knew it would take this long.

Not like he would admit that aloud, but it’s a thought!

Felix and Jeongin both ask Chan different variations of asking to help at the same time, Minho busy opening packs of fresh meat.

“Nope! Help Hyunjin, I can see your intentions from a mile away!” 

He tilts his head, and speaks up while glancing at Jeongin, “Huh, I actually wanted to help, did you?” 

“Nope, he knew exactly what I was trying to do,”

“You’re evil.”

“You’re just too nice!” The younger puts a hand on his cheek for a second to emphasize his next statement. “You also look nice.” A polite grin on Jeongin’s face is shown.

Hyunjin gasps aloud, one hand covering his mouth, the other hand pointing at the youngest.

“You’re insufferable!”

“Agreed, and do you want to know what he did earlier?” Chan approaches, having finally started the grill.

Jeongin abruptly speeds away from the trio and goes to help Minho grill meat when he can sense Hyunjin and Chan about to gossip.

Felix zones out and looks at Seungmin on an outdoor beanbag, seemingly comfortable, so he walks over and lays on the other.

“I hate you,”

“You love me!”

“Just let me lie down in peace,” Seungmin whines with a smile at the end of his sentence, wrapping an arm around Felix so he doesn’t ultimately land on the ground if either of them moves.

“Look at you two, you're lucky the two at the grill are there!” Changbin hushedly shouted to the pair, sinking into a bean bag himself.

They both pointedly ignore the older and go back to resting on each other.

“Lix, weren’t you literally tasked to set up the table, like, two seconds ago?”

“Chan and Hyunjin can do it, you know how much I helped Hyunjin this morning?” He exaggerated with a sigh and moved his head to rest on Seungmin’s shoulder. “If they needed help, they would just call me over,”

“Okay then.”

Not even a minute passes.

“You guys make me wanna throw up.” 

“Jisung, why don’t you drag Hyunjin over there then,” Felix can feel Seungmin move his arm to point at the mentioned man.

“I hate you both!”

“Uh-huh.”

“Alright guys, we have, like, a quarter of the meat cooked, start digging in,” Minho announces.

Felix can feel a light glare directly at him without turning around, scary.

He whines with protest as Seungmin pushes him onto the ground.

“Fine! I’m never letting you use my cleanser and toner ever again!”

Seungmin clings to his arm with a (forced) smile, taking back pushing him off the bean bag. “That was for fun, Lix!” Felix retracts his arm from the other. “You’re the bestest friend ever, I love you!”

“Worst apology I’ve ever gotten in my life.” Felix sits down at the table, he’s sat between Chan and Jisung, avoiding Minho for the time being, guessing the older one was the one glaring at him.

The older one is scary when it comes to Seungmin, okay?

Yet, they’re not even together?

Chan pushes his chair closer to the table, “Okay, Jeongin first and then we can eat!” 

Before the rest of the group begins to eat, the youngest takes a bite of steak across the table from him while sitting with a bashful smile.

Jeez, it’s like he knows I’m going to literally fall in love with him if he smiles like that one more time!

When they all start conversing, Felix sits there quietly to eat, with small answers to the group’s never-ending debates about various topics.

He extends his arm toward the dish of perilla leaves across the table, but when he discovers that he can only just reach it, he gives up.

Felix sinks back in his seat after another failed attempt and a lighthearted complaint to Chan, distracting the older from laughing at Hyunjin and Jisung’s antics beside them.

As Chan is about to reach over the table, Jeongin reaches over to give him two perilla leaves, his chopsticks resting on Felix’s plate for a second as he blinks at both Chan and Felix. “Here,”

He jokingly says the younger’s embarrassing past nickname with a smile, giving him a thumbs up afterwards. “Thanks, Innie!”

Well, embarrassing to Jeongin, Felix thinks it’s cute.

Later, Jeongin goes to grill more meat beside Hyunjin, but with Hyunjin leaving to mess around with Changbin and Jisung, he’s left alone.

Felix is bored, so naturally, he walks over to the younger to keep him company, “Hey.”

 “Hi.”

“How’s grilling meat,”

“Extremely fun.” The younger one pulls a deadpan face.

He laughs at Jeongin and rests his head on the other's shoulder, peacefully watching him turn over meat for their friends to enjoy.

How domestic.

The younger waits for a piece of steak before grabbing the scissors beside them and cutting off a small portion to feed the older.

He eats the offering but holds off on coming any closer to the younger until Jeongin moves the tongs in his direction more. 

Felix can already feel his face beginning to turn red.

—

That wasn't the last time the younger made him flustered during their trip.

Felix would be lying if he said most of the mini-vacation didn’t consist of the three oldest ones in the group dragging the rest of the group places.

And with every location the group of boys go to, each one brings Felix and Jeongin closer—he can’t tell if it’s a bad or good thing, because this means he’ll have to confront his feelings sooner or later—though he isn’t complaining.

First, it was when the group went to the nearby shopping center, a thirty-minute drive away.

(“Hyung, look at this!” Jeongin is wearing a dark green ball cap that resembles a frog, with big green eyes resembling a cartoon on top of the hat.

“It’s cute!” He stares at Jeongin for a little longer than necessary. “You should buy it, it totally matches you,” 

Okay, he meant for it to sound a little sarcastic—but the way Jeongin lit up when he told him that, made him consider if it was sarcasm or sincerity.

“I will, since you picked it out, hyung!”

God, when is his heart ever going to stop feeling like it’s going to fall out of his chest whenever he sees that glowing look on Jeongin’s face.)

Then it was the two of them in a photo booth at the beach's public area.

(His cheek is pressed against Jeongin’s with a wide smile as the first snap of the fake camera on the screen is announced loudly through the speakers in front of them.

With the rest of the group swimming at the beach, the two decided that they were bored and walked around until they saw the photo booth they were now sitting in.

The screen is projecting a large message to smile and the pair look at each other before weirdly posing for the camera.

The third photo is of Felix resting his head on Jeongin’s shoulder with a comedic grin, the younger mirroring him.

For the final shot, the older makes a peace sign and right at the last second, the younger puckers his lips and faces him as if to imitate a kiss, resulting in a very red Felix quickly running out of the booth to grab their printed photos.)

The last significant moment consists of Felix and Jeongin going to a local burger joint, to “satisfy the younger’s craving”.

Realistically, Felix just wanted to spend time with Jeongin.

(“Thanks for coming with me, hyung.” Jeongin does that smile again and his heart swoons. “I still can’t believe Seungmin-hyung didn’t go with me, watching a drama with Minho-hyung cannot be that interesting!”

“I don’t know, he seems to be pretty interested whenever I pass by their room and see Minho just staring at him the entire time.”

“Wait.” Jeongin looks at him with a shocked expression, resting his hands on the table in a not-so-peaceful manner. “You don’t think they’re dating, are you?”

“Why, are you jealous?” His heart, in contrast to earlier, stings a little.

“ God no , but can you imagine?” Jeongin leans back in his chair with his hands behind his head. “Seungmin and Minho, frenemies since high school, dating ?”

“Not unlikely,”

“Less likely than us dating, that’s for sure.”

Pause.

Did Felix hear that correctly?

“Mhmm.” He hums quietly, watching Jeongin have a smug look on his face that he isn’t entirely mad at.

In fact, he’s endeared, a lot.)

—

Jeongin and Felix are on their sides, having just awoken from Minho standing in the middle of their room like a stalker, startling Jeongin, who had only just awoken a few seconds before.

Which causes him to yell at Minho in surprise, loudly .

For a whole minute.

A groggy Felix rises from his cocoon-shaped blanket, his head barely peeking out as he speaks up, “Jeongin, you know I love you right, but can you shut up .” He squints as he tries to adjust to the sunlight.

“Well then.” Minho stays standing in the middle of the end of their beds. “Good morning to you two too.”

“What do you want, hyung,” Felix says, a little incoherently.

“I'm just telling you two to get ready because we're leaving for the beach in about forty minutes and I know how long it takes you both to get ready.”

“Can't you just leave us here, we already went two days ago,” He whines a bit to try to make Minho let the duo stay home, garnering all the energy he had to sound desperate.

“Nope, plus, we’re staying in a beach house for a reason!”

“Doesn’t mean we have to do things every day, it’s a vacation trip for a reason, hyung!”

“Get up before I get Changbin in here and we both start yelling,” Minho crosses his arms.

Jeongin breaks first.

Felix goes back into his blanket, trying to ignore Minho.

“Hey, Lee Felix, I have your employees on speed dial, I can tell them that you decided to close your bakery.”

Curse him for being a good human being.

He sits up.

“Alright, I'll be expecting you two downstairs for the barbecue breakfast in the next forty minutes tops, good morning!” Minho says as he walks out the door and leaves.

With a tired groan, he looks to a similarly lethargic Jeongin, watching as the younger stares back at him, shrugs, and quietly walks to the bathroom before saying something he can’t hear.

“What?” Felix slurs a bit from being half awake, sitting up slightly to stare at Jeongin in his morning face glory.

“I’ll go first so you can have some time to rest, I’ll wake you up when I’m done, so in about twenty?”

“I love you.” He sinks back into his bed before realizing what he had just said.

To make matters worse, he doesn't look at the younger for his reaction; instead, Felix sinks into his bed face first to avoid embarrassment, not realizing the extent of his remark until his face is suffocated in the bed.

He hears a quick hum before Jeongin’s steps to the bathroom are reverberated through the room.

God, he’s never interacting with Jeongin after this ever again, much less rooming with him.

It’s fine, Jeongin probably thinks it’s just a joke, because that’s what it is, a joke.

Is it?

“My head hurts so bad,” He whispers into his pillow, talking to himself before feeling his fatigue take over and Felix starts to drift off again.

However, Felix is oblivious to the very flushed red male standing in the bathroom right there, at that exact moment, freaking out over the definition of his comment.

He wakes up when a light shake to his shoulders leaves him awake and confused.

Confused, because Jeongin was supposed to wake him up. Not Seungmin.

“You’re alive!” A sarcastically cheerful smile is on the younger brunette’s face.

“Wha?”

“Minho sent me here, he knew one of you would be sleeping.” Seungmin stares at him with a shrug. “Somehow,”

“Jeongin was supposed to wake me up, not you.” He feels a slight distaste in his voice when he expresses his thoughts.

“I know.” Felix wants to kick Seungmin out of the room for his teasing tone, let alone the smug expression across his face.

“God, just get out of here—I’m up, I’m up!” Felix gets shaken by Seungmin a few more times before the younger leaves and he sighs as he rests on his headboard.

He suddenly remembers throwing his sunscreen on the floor yesterday afternoon after getting annoyed by reapplying.

Standing up, he stretches and talks out loud, “Okay, where’s my sunscreen.” 

“In here!”

Guess he didn’t throw it then?

“Jeongin, check the bottle again! I swear I threw mine on the ground yesterday!”

“You did!” Felix stands up straight, staring at the bathroom door like it’ll do anything. “But I tripped on it when I was getting into bed last night, so I put it in the bathroom!”

“Ah, thanks Jeongin-ah.”

“No problem!” And just then, the door opens.

Oh.

There he is, all puffed face, unruly hair, a small bit of aftershave on the left side of his jaw, and an open cleanser bottle in his hand about to pour out.

Turns out—Felix is in way deeper than he thought.

Okay, he won’t let this sudden—not really sudden—realization deter him, Felix will just save this in his brain for a later time!

“Thanks, Jeongin! As repayment, I’ll give you some of my expensive sunscreen for your face later,” 

Might as well confess his love, that was the worst possible outcome that could’ve happened, what even was that answer?

“Okay?” Jeongin smiles at him with a small lift of one of his eyebrows. “You can get ready now by the way.”

A nervous Felix speaks up with an embarrassing crack in his voice—followed by a cough, “Yeah, sure, sure.” 

Bless the younger, as he only smiles at Felix with a confused grin when he walks into the bathroom and slightly trips when trying to put his phone down.

“You good?”

“Yup!”

“Okay.” Jeongin goes back into the bedroom and starts sifting through his side of their shared closet.

He shuts the door quickly and slides down the sink counter. “Why do I do these things to myself,” A short whisper is let out and he gets up again.

Felix stares at himself in the mirror, a barefaced, pink glowing face staring back at him.

He splashes his face with cold water, which ineffectively makes his face even redder after he dries it. “Jeez.”

When he leaves the bathroom, Jeongin is on his respective bed with a pile of clothes beside him, his back against the headboard with his phone in hand, looking at Felix.

“You look less flushed now, I was scared you had a fever or something.”

Yang Jeongin is his newfound archenemy now, to be honest.

Having to will only his ears turning red seems to be more of a challenge than he thinks and there’s a pause of silence before he starts laughing.

A chuckle is thrown toward Jeongin to reassure him to not be worried. “Please, like I would ever catch a fever when the only people I’m around are you seven.” 

Jeongin scoffs with a smile afterwards, “You could’ve caught it when we went out in public, you know?” 

Felix looks away to pick out clothes and goes to change in the bathroom, grabbing his sunscreen on the way out.

When he is finished, he looks at the pile of clothes beside the younger again, “Couldn’t you have changed here while I was in the bathroom?”

“Too lazy.”

Felix sits on the edge of Jeongin’s bed while he still has the confidence, and displays his sunscreen, “Here then, my repayment.”

Jeongin scoots closer to the older and smiles. “How about you put it on my face?”

A furious blush is planted on his face in an instant. “Okay,” He croaks with a small, tight-lipped grin.

Although the moment between them is oddly intimate yet domestic, he ignores it for now.

While he’s patting Jeongin’s cheek with the sunscreen lightly, he hears approaching footsteps going down the hall.

Then a wild, mildly-awake Jisung is standing at the entrance of their doorframe, successfully scaring Jeongin and Felix enough to jump away from each other.

“Okay, I don’t know what domestic thing you guys were doing, but Lix, guess what I just remembered!”

Having to take a breather, he speaks after a pause of looking at Jisung with a deadpan expression, “What,”

He now regrets every time he’s ever cockblocked Hyunjin and Jisung, so, so much.

“Remember your marriage pact with Seungmin in high school!”

World pause.

“Oh my god.”

“What if you guys end up married—okay don’t look at me like that, I know it’s unlikely!”

“Han Jisung.” Felix starts with a sigh, “We did that in high school. Six years ago.”

“Hey, I’m not the one about to hit thirty and still single!”

“You only got married, like, three weeks ago.” Jeongin stretches and then speaks up again with a small polite smile, “I’m gonna go change, I’ll be right back.”

Felix looks over to Jeongin as he walks away, the younger seems annoyed, but he can’t tell from what.

Okay, don’t blame him for being oblivious! 

But to be fair he would be annoyed too if he was half awake and Jisung barged into his room at nine in the morning!

“Still!” Jisung shouts, referring to the first statement Jeongin said.

“Ji, if I’m about to hit thirty, that means you’re also about to hit thirty, my metaphorical twin.”

“I’m only twenty-four?” Jisung shouts in an even louder tone than before, Felix doesn’t even know how he manages to do that so early in the day.

He puts a smug grin on his face, “Exactly.” Felix moves to sit more comfortably on the bed, “And plus, aren’t Seungmin and Minho um… something anyways?”

“How do you know for sure though, what if how they act is just a way for us to not know they want to kill one another in their sleep?”

“Jisung, I’m oblivious, and if I noticed how they’ve acted and not you, someone who spends the majority of their time with them hasn't,” Felix pauses and shrugs, “Then I don’t know what to tell you.”

“Yeah, but how do you know for sure ?”

“It’s so obvious!”

“Doesn’t matter, I’ll be very much announcing this at the barbecue in, like, nine minutes.”

“For what,” He whines a little, not wanting the group to remember the pact for the sake of saving him from past embarrassment. “I like someone else anyways.”

With a sudden creak, Jeongin stands in front of the bathroom door, with his shirt hanging on his neck. “You like someone?”

He stares at Jeongin’s lack of a shirt because he’s only human, which causes him to ignore Jeongin’s comment accidentally.

“Uh, maybe.” Felix flushes because, well, he’s being presented with Jeongin pulling his shirt down while making direct eye contact.

He needs to turn off his brain.

“I KNOW WHO YOU LIKE.” Jisung is still standing at the door, with a quick glance he can see that the other is with a widened mouth due to realization or shock.

He can’t even really tell because he’s still openly staring at Jeongin.

And he loves his dear best friend, he does, but this is a very bad moment for Jisung to be in his presence right now.

“No, you don’t?”

“I DO.” Jisung winks at him and is about to walk away before continuing, “I’ll tell you later who I think it is!”

He looks to Jeongin after Jisung leaves, who is still standing at the door, unmoved.

“I don’t like Seungmin by the way, I didn't even like him like that in high school either.” He quickly says to defend himself when he sees the younger man open and close his mouth.

“Was actually about to ask if you could finish applying sunscreen to my face, what a weird sentence starter, hyung.” Jeongin beams with the brightest smile.

“Oh! Yeah, I can do that.”

When they’re sitting in silence except for Felix tapping Jeongin’s face slightly aggressively, attempting to not miss any of his face, Jeongin speaks up.

“So, who do you like?”

“Can’t tell you Innie , unfortunately.”

“Why, is i—”

Minho opens his door again when the two are situated on Jeongin’s bed like before, quickly saying “You have two minutes, you two.” before leaving.

Felix looks to the younger again, “What were you saying?”

“Never mind.”

“M’kay, let’s go then?” He stands up and reaches for Jeongin to follow him, with the younger one grabbing his wrist.

He may have freaked out. A little.

They look at each other and start walking down the stairs to reach the front yard, feeling familiar with the steps already.

In Felix’s opinion, the group has had too many barbecues in a week, not like he would ever voice that.

When he sits down beside Seungmin with Jeongin in tow, Minho looks over at them with a subtle smirk.

For what, he doesn’t know.

“Okay hyung, I know you really like barbecuing and stuff, but, like, we’ve had so many.” Hyunjin proclaims with a groan, moving aside for Jisung to sit beside him.

Good, he doesn’t have to be the one to be the sacrificial lamb, he’ll thank Hyunjin somehow.

“Hyunjin-ah, do you want me to send Jisung back to Seoul? Because I can,” Minho threatens with a smile. “He’ll be there for weeks on end in his studio, can you handle that?”

“Why are you bringing me into this situation!” Jisung whines beside the two, dramatically spreading his limbs for emphasis.

“Your husband is complaining about a barbecue , that’s why.

Felix nudges Seungmin’s shoulder beside him with an elbow, laughing, “Do you think I can get away with calling them fiancés for the rest of our lives? I don't think I'll ever get used to them being husbands.”

“Honestly yeah, I don’t even think they’ll notice,” Seungmin pauses to look over at the pair, currently whining to Minho about something. “Both of them are still too used to being boyfriends, there’s nothing different except rings on their fingers.”

The duo laughs loudly which gets the group’s attention for a split second before continuing as before.

Well, most of the group continues like before, because he can see Jisung about to stand upright no—

“Guys! Wanna know what I remembered earlier?”

“Sure.” Chan continues when the rest of the group shakes their heads.

“Seungmin and Felix’s marriage pact!”

Silence.

Then the table goes chaotic .

Before Felix can say anything, most of the group collectively starts laughing and yelling.

Most, being everyone but Seungmin and him, from what he can see looking around the table.

He spared Jeongin because his heart would most likely react weirdly if he saw Jeongin's reaction.

Looking over at Seungmin, they have mixes of embarrassment and distaste on their faces, which earns them another round of laughing from the group.

Minho shouts out, “Guys, guys!” He moves some cooked meat to the center plate they have before he continues. “What if we just locked them inside of a room for six years!”

Seungmin stares at the second oldest of the group with a raised eyebrow and smile. “Minho, we’re literally dating you weirdo.”

“Yeah, and I won’t hesitate to end our relationship before the first anniversary very soon.”

“You would never, you’re too—”

This sends the group into a collective state of confusion before Jisung screams . “YOU TWO ARE DATING? AND YOU DIDN’T THINK TO TELL ME.”

Seungmin speaks up with a sheepish smile, now realizing what he just did. “You never asked.”

“WHY WOULD I?” Jisung yells, his mouth still agape, almost reaching over the table to pretend-strangle Seungmin.

“Well, at least we thought it was obvious,”

“A bit, yeah,” Chan speaks up with a wide grin, laughing at Jisung’s antics.

“We literally moved in together,” Seungmin says, raising both of his eyebrows, “do you think you just move in with your ex-enemy-turned-friend because you want to?”

“Yeah?” Jisung yells at Seungmin in a never-ending voice of disbelief.

“I mean, I did it for cheaper rent.” Minho leans back in his chair, looking disheveled as Jisung was shaking his shoulders aggressively earlier, with Hyunjin helping him.

“Sure you did.”

“Kim Seungmin, stop talking before I make Soonie claw at you when we get home.”

“He would never, Soonie loves me too much.”

“No, now that we know this, it’s so obvious.” Changbin voices out loud while finishing the grilling Hyunjin left behind.

“Well then,” Jisung says and stares directly at Felix, making him slightly nervous. “With the marriage pact off, pick your next victim.”

“Victim?”

“Not a victim, dating Felix would be so cool, you know,” Chan states as if it’s a matter of fact.

“Exactly, I’m a total package!”

“Now you two..” Jisung squints, switching between Felix and Chan. “What’s going on here,”

“Chan and Felix, a very likely yet unlikely pair.” Hyunjin has a hand on Jisung’s shoulder, tilting his head when the statement ends with amusement.

“No, I love Felix and all—but not in that way.”

“Agree.”

"Hm, when Felix mentioned liking someone, I assumed it was Chan, but I guess not." Jisung pouts as he reconsiders who else it could be, unaware of the wave of emotions he had unleashed on the group.

“Felix what ?” Changbin yells with a tone of shock and his mouth hangs open.

With a pause in the air and everyone looking at him, the youngest of the group starts to choke.

What good timing.

After the group freaks out and realizes Felix was the only one with actual medical experience (Though, he only learnt how to do the Heimlich maneuver from a babysitting course he took in high school), he stands up in a panic.

A few whacks on the back from Minho however, works the same and the group relaxes after with slight alertness.

When the situation dies down and the group goes back to focusing on their breakfast barbecue (as Minho called it), Felix notices Chan staring at him with a smile and raised eyebrow, eyes moving back and forth between Jeongin and him.

He shrugs at him and refocuses on his plate.

As the day continues leisurely, he spots the other members crowding around in different areas whenever he leaves Jeongin and his room to do anything, and vice versa apparently, when he mentions it to the younger.

“It probably doesn’t matter, we chose to stay in our room the whole day anyways.” Jeongin smiles after Felix pesters him about the group again.

“You’re right, you don’t think they’re plotting something against us, right?”

“Maybe.” The other shrugged and went back to his phone. “We’ll just have to wait.”

It's not like Felix can tell Jeongin that the reason is because he has the biggest crush on him, but if Chan caught on, the group is totally plotting something.

He cringes with his face, causing him to zone out and earn the attention of Jeongin.

“What is it?” The younger redirects his attention to Felix.

“Nothing, just,” A confused look gets put on his face. “Got a flashback for an embarrassing memory.”

The younger man hums and looks away.

Felix sighs, grateful the younger didn't think anything.

Using the word "crush" is so weird.

He's known Jeongin forever and has no idea how this started or how he even just got himself to admit it.

It could’ve started in high school for all he knows.

(Felix sits in his chair, on his desk is his laptop with eleven tabs open and a can of Sprite with a coaster underneath.

When he quickly glances at the younger to check on him, he notices Jeongin look up from his spot on Felix's bed, currently littered with various types of evidence for the upcoming project that is required for half of their history grade.

“How are you doing?” Felix grabs his mug and takes a sip. “Man, I just want this project to be over already, I can feel my brain about to fall out of my head.”

“Right,” He can hear the younger boy fall onto his back against the bed with a loud creak, his newly dyed blue hair clashing with the white of Felix’s bedsheets. “If I have to look at any of these documents ever again, I’ll break down and cry.”

“This bibliography is going to kill me .”

“Why did I have to choose to do this class early, I should’ve waited for you to finish so I could copy everything next year.” Jeongin slouches against the headboard, above it are pictures of their friends and posters he’s collected over the years.

“Too bad, now we suffer together.”

A look at the younger’s small smile makes his stomach flip a little secretly, but he doesn’t dwell on it for long or think about it whatsoever and mistakes it for nerves about the project.

They get an almost perfect score.)

—

He was right.

Over the next week—their last week, by the way—Jeongin and Felix keep seeing themselves trapped together in different settings, each time being a new member’s doing.

When asked, Changbin pats his back and nudges them into the nearby cafe the group has become accustomed to, saying, "We just want to test something before we leave!" before leaving the two in a small booth.

So Felix agrees to wait for an explanation, going along with the other boys’ plans as long as it doesn’t infringe on an actual group plan—or Jeongin’s well-being.

(“No, you two can stay at home while we go down to the beach, we know you’re probably busy!” Jisung places a hand on his forearm with an exaggerated pout.

“We’re going, and how would we be busy, we’re all on a literal break , Ji.”

He doesn’t get a response as Jisung rushes down the stairs, two at a time.

“I tried! But you know how much of a goner I am for Felix!”

“We shouldn’t have sent you.” Hyunjin sighs and looks up the stairs, making direct eye contact with a confused Jeongin beside Felix, dressed in swim attire.)

“Can you two go to the laundromat, not so far from the house?” Minho peeks into their room with a blank stare and phone in hand, showing them directions. “Our laundry machine is broken.”

He watches as Jeongin sits up from his spot on his bed, “Which, I heard Seungmin-hyung use the washer, like, an hour ago.” 

“He broke both, now go!”

They get up with groans after making eye contact, silently communicating suspicion without Minho seeing.

“Couldn’t you get Chan-hyung and Changbin-hyung?” Felix tilts his head towards the older male leaning on their door frame with an amused smile.

“Nope.”

They walk to the laundromat, sharing their small conspiracies and laughter.

“No, because, I swear Seungmin-hyung would rather let Jisung-hyung beat him in any game known to man rather than not let the house know he broke the washer or dryer!” 

Jeongin makes extravagant hand gestures as he describes his scenario to the best of his ability when he’s holding a giant basket of laundry from most of the boys—most being everyone but Jeongin and Felix.

“I know it was probably—(obviously)—a lie to get us to hang out again, but knowing Minho-hyung, couldn’t he have thought of something better?”

The younger one snaps his fingers and makes a wide-eyed facial expression, “Minho-hyung probably lost a bet to do laundry and made us do it because he was too lazy.”

Felix raises an eyebrow at Jeongin in confusion before saying, “How did you even come up with that?”

“I don’t get it, why can’t they just directly tell us to spend time together, compared to trying to discreetly make us do it.” Felix whispers to himself.

He can handle his feelings without help. Thank you very much.

“No idea,” Jeongin replies and holds the door open for Felix with a small laugh when the older tries to shift his weight to open the very door.

“Whatever, as long as we don’t need to fold the clothes as well, I’m fine with doing this.” The two laugh at the older’s joke and start moving as diligently as they can.

By the fifth day of being trapped together in significantly different scenarios, they decide to confront the group the next day when they’re trapped inside their kitchen. 

Their kitchen.

Why does the kitchen need a lock for the door anyways?

The door is glass, IT’S A GLASS DOOR.

He sighs and slides down the wall, quietly admitting defeat to whoever in their group is responsible for this.

“You think they’re doing this on purpose?” Jeongin leans back into the counter, his arms lightly flexing—not like he noticed, but he definitely noticed.

Okay, not the time for that right now.

“Well, obviously Jeongin-ah.” He stares at the taller with a deadpan face before breaking into a thin smile directly after, to show his lightheartedness. “I just don’t know why.”

He does.

And, while he appreciates Jeongin's presence and is grateful to his friend group for wanting them to spend time together before they return to Seoul, five days in a row is just too much.

“You know what, how about we just forget about this and go outside and swim.” Felix smiles.

“Like, at the beach?”

He lets out a quick sigh of contentment before answering. “Nope, just at the pool in the front yard, the sunset will look great there.” 

“Alright, let’s get ready and go!”

Getting pool supplies is easy when the two decided to not unpack after yesterday’s pool session with the group, so they hurry up the stairs with large grins on their faces, unknowing of the six sets of eyes following them from the highest floor.

“Do you think they’ll get together by the end of this trip?” The tallest of the group walks to the outside railing, the group residing in the guest bedroom closest to the pool.

“I’m so tired of making more plans to shove them in a room to at best , hopefully, hold hands.” Minho grunts as he falls onto the couch.

Hyunjin sighs against the outside railing while responding, “Same, and I’m the giant hopeless romantic.” and starts to spy on the two about to dip into the pool.

“Man, I hate them, get together already,” Changbin rolls onto his back on the floor, Chan sitting beside him.

Felix and Jeongin sit beside each other and silently wait to watch the anticipated sunset, having the perfect view from the pool, as the older had predicted.

“Do you think they’ll keep doing this even after the trip?” Felix asks Jeongin as they sit in the water shoulder-to-shoulder.

“Hyung—my theory was that they would start switching the pairs up, like what if next week it’s you and Chan-hyung?”

“Chan-hyung and me?” He thinks about it, zoning out before staring at Jeongin with his brows drawing together. “Why us?”

“Didn’t you like him in high school?”

He frowns before opening and closing his mouth several times before forming words. “I admired him for being cool and stuff, sure, but the feelings didn’t carry to adulthood or anything.”

“Hm.” Felix sees Jeongin’s eyes widen in uncertainty before he scratches his cheek, “I always thought that you never really stopped liking him.”

“ Please , I still admire his work ethic, you know?—but I couldn’t see myself dating him so I just got over it.”

“ Ah ,”

“Wait, so for the last six years you thought I still liked Chan-hyung?”

“Up until, like, around five months ago, yeah.”

“ Five .” The older nearly yells, before sighing. “Jeongin, you literally could’ve just asked me.”

“I was too scared.”

“Scared of what, it’s not like I was gonna start bawling my eyes out.” 

They laugh together, but Felix detects Jeongin's timidity and quickly changes the subject.

With a comfortable silence that lasted an estimated ten minutes, Jeongin lightly coughs to speak up with a slight quiver to his voice and an indecipherable look in his eyes when Felix looks at him.

“Did you ever know that I liked you in high school?”

“You what ,”

“Why are you surprised?” Jeongin looked at him in what was like a genuine shock and faced his body towards the other. “You were practically an ace student in everything you were in!” 

“Doesn’t mean I expected anyone, or you , to like me,” Felix leans back as casually as he can when he is suddenly terrifyingly curious about Jeongin’s current feelings towards him.

(Hyunjin ends up telling him that he looked extremely stiff and awkward, a month later, when he mentions it to the others.)

“Well, um, do you still kind of have those feelings?” He can feel his fingers start to fidget beneath the water right when the boldness of his statement leaves his mouth. “I'm just curious, but you don’t need to tell me or anything.”

A sheepish smile is thrown his way, “Oh, I would be lying if I said no, so.”

“Oh, really?” He immediately covers his mouth, fearful that the younger will interpret it incorrectly. “You’re not joking?" And that second sentence did nothing to reassure Jeongin when even his ears picked up on the indecipherable tone spread on his tongue.

“Yeah.”

“I like you too, maybe,” Felix beams at Jeongin with the biggest smile he can muster. “Okay, not a maybe and kind of definitely—and I’m not joking by the way, and wow, we shouldn’t let the group trap another pair again and—oh god am I rambling, I’m so—”

“Wait.” Jeongin has his eyebrows raised and his mouth wide open when he continues his sentence, like a lightbulb just lit inside of his head, “Was I the person you were talking about last week?—about liking someone.”

“Maybe?”

“Oh.” The other slides a hand down his face in comedic agony. “I’m oblivious, aren’t I?”

“A bit.”

A wild Changbin appears from a seemingly hidden balcony above them, yelling a quick “YOU ARE, A LOT!” before getting shoved back into the room it was connected to by Chan.

He faintly hears the rest of the group start lightly scolding Changbin and turns to Jeongin with a small grin, the younger returning one in response to their friend group.

Looking up again when Hyunjin whistles loudly, “We’ll be going now! You know—to not disturb your emotional monologues about how you’ve both liked each other for,” Hyunjin puts a hand on his chin. “An estimated two years?”

He ignores the faint blush on his cheekbones—high enough to reach his ears, and hears the rattling and cheers of the group leave the room, leaving Felix and Jeongin alone.

Jeongin looks as flushed as him and he can only focus on the younger averting his gaze and rubbing at his neck lightly.

In an attempt to relieve the heavy tension, Felix moves a bit through the water to float in front of Jeongin and places his forearms onto the other’s shoulders. “Hi.”

“Hey,” He can see the younger hesitate to talk when his mouth opens slightly before he speaks, “Can I kiss you?” 

Felix stays frozen for a moment before letting himself process the situation, “Yeah–yeah, sure.”

Jeongin leans forward to press their lips together, and it may be overdue, or even too quick, but to Felix, it’s perfect.

He can feel the other smile against him, making him smile in return.

Pulling back with large grins on both of them, Felix speaks up. “Well then,”

“Is it too rushed to ask to be your boyfriend?"

He laughs, “Take me on at least one date first, Yang Jeongin!”

The other laughs back with him, “Sure, okay, challenge accepted.”

(The date ends up being going to their room to put on a cheesy romance movie while eating Minho’s “congratulatory dinner” consisting of two slabs of steak and corn cheese on the side.

Minho said they were low on ingredients and Felix would’ve believed him if he didn’t see Seungmin on the island beside them eating a dinner that was way more filling than what he got, but he chooses to not tell Jeongin.

Or Minho, for that manner.)

He makes an act of contemplating for a few more seconds than necessary because his decision was already made when Jeongin uttered the quick sentence. “Okay, maybe I might accept your proposal of dating me, I don’t know, I am quite a package.”

Jeongin smiles at him, behind them, sits a vast sunset with blooming warm colours. “Yeah. You are.”

They both have the biggest smiles on their faces when they stare into the sunset together.

“Do you think they’re still up there?”

“Maybe.”

“We are!” A scream from Jisung echoes. “We just came back though, we weren’t stalking you the whole time!”

“Congratulations!” Chan yells from the balcony as the rest of the group greets them.

“Thanks!” Jeongin shouts back with a thumbs up.

“We’ll leave now!” Changbin waves at them and gestures for the group to go back into the living room. “Come back inside when you’re done!”

He rests his head on Jeongin's shoulder, smiling when the other rests his head on top of his.

“What an interesting way to end the trip.”

“Yeah.”

“How about I make a congratulatory cake for us when we go back,” Felix beams at Jeongin, the other’s blonde hair blending with the background nicely. “You know those snack box ones and we ca–” He gets cut off by another kiss.

“It sounds great.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.”

—

Felix may not know when he first got his infatuation for Jeongin, but he knows how more than ever, especially now, 

With the younger male still in bed and having to wake him up with a quick peck on his forehead and warning to rush to his first class of the day while he himself gets ready to clock in at his bakery, he can’t help but seem complete.