Chapter Text
Felix Lee didn’t want to believe in the supernatural. The thought alone that mystical, unexplained powers could be out there scared the hell out of him when he thought about it. He didn’t want to believe it but there were just so many unexplained phenomena to deny the possibility. When he asked any of his friends if they believed that ghosts, ghouls, werewolves or vampires were real they would usually shake their head and laugh. And to be fair, there wasn’t really any proof these things existed and Felix had never seen something that would confirm it until that night…
He was in his third year studying Dance in Seoul, he had just finished a major assignment and felt like he deserved a break from the stress. It had been a while since he could go out to party. Unfortunately all of his friends were still in Australia but Felix had never had problems making new friends when he was out and it started as a fun night. He danced until his feet hurt and sat down at the bar to order another drink when a guy next to him started talking to him.
“Hey pretty, can I buy you a drink?” He asked, already standing way too close for a stranger.
“Thanks but no, I got it.” Felix answered and scooted slightly away from the man.
“Wow, didn’t expect that voice, gotta say that’s kinda hot.” The guy persisted, leaning in again, which caused Felix to once again shuffle slightly to the other side.
He coughed awkwardly, “uh yeah, I get that a lot. Is that all?”
“Are you alone here, pretty?” The stranger asked, clearly not catching the hint.
The closer he got the better Felix could smell a mix of cheap and heavy cologne and alcohol.
“Actually yeah, I'm here with my friend…” He said, quickly looking around the room in the hopes that he would spot a familiar face to no avail.
“I bet they won't mind if we spend a bit more time together, right?” The guy was invading Felix's personal space again, making him take another step back, which led him to bump into someone behind him.
Felix turned around to apologize.
He was roughly his size but with broader shoulders, a sharp jawline and wavy black hair. He was striking and handsome.
Instead of apologizing Felix had a better idea that was banking on the fact that this guy was not also a creep.
“Hey! There you are. I've been looking for you!” He said, smiling at him and patting his arm awkwardly. He could not help but notice how firm his biceps felt under the leather jacket.
The man seemed confused at first but then seemed to catch on.
“Yeah, sorry you know how it is, but I'm glad you found me again. Is that guy bothering you?” He asked, looking at the guy who's been flirting with Felix.
“We were just talking.” The other man slurred slightly.
“He doesn’t look like he wants to talk to you, so back off.” The guy Felix had bumped into warned him in a determined voice.
“Who do you think you are, asshole?” The man reached out to push the other away but his hand was caught by Felix's handsome looking savior.
“I'm the owner, and you have been a guest here for the longest time. Scram.”
The man who had flirted with him stared at the man behind Felix with a slightly dazed look, simply nodded and left.
His savior made a quick gesture to someone behind the bar and then looked back to Felix.
Felix turned around to look at his defender, “Thank you… and sorry for putting you on the spot…”
“No need to thank me, it was nothing. Can't have my patrons be harrassed, that's bad for business.” He said.
“Still, thank you, I’m Felix by the way.” Felix decided to introduce himself.
“Unusual name… Where are you from?” The handsome man asked, pulled into the conversation by Felix’s charismatic smile.
“Oh, I’m Australian. You can call me Yongbok if it’s easier for you to pronounce.”
The eyes of the stranger widened slightly in recognition as he switched to speaking English, “No way, I’m from Sydney!”
Felix beamed at the familiar accent.
“Really? Me too! Small world, right?” Felix laughed, “So, can I buy you a drink as a thank you?”
“Not necessary, your drinks are on the house as an apology that this happened in my club.”
He looked at the barkeeper, a young man with round cheeks and innocent eyes who stood closeby. The bartender nodded and smiled at Felix.
“You really don't need to do that…” Felix tried but in the end he had to accept the offer.
“Thank you… I don't even know your name.”
“Oh right yeah, you can call me Chan. It's just nice to meet another Aussie. So, what brings you to Korea?”
They continued talking about coming to Korea from Australia, apparently Chan had lived in Korea for a long time but had fond memories of growing up in Australia.
Felix was happy to speak his first language with someone again and was almost worried that he annoyed Chan by the sheer amount he was talking but the other man didn’t seem to tire of listening.
“So, how is owning a club?” He asked to not be the only one talking.
“I’m lucky to have my friends, without them I couldn’t run this place. We founded this place together and one of us had to be the guy whose name is on everything.” Chan laughed.
“But you are still so young, you can’t be much older than I am. It’s impressive that you can run a busy place like that!” Felix insisted.
“I’m really not doing that much, the others could probably do this without me but I need any one of them or this place would go to ruin.” Chan demurred.
“Chan is always like this. He’s probably doing the most compared to us.” Another voice chimed in.
The bartender with the cute, somewhat chubby cheeks stood next to them, leaning over the bar.
“Sorry, I actually wanted to ask if you wanted another drink.” He apologized quickly for interrupting.
“It’s okay, really. Could I get another Strawberry Daiquiri?” Felix requested.
“Coming right up.” The bartender said and went to make Felix’s cocktail.
“Is he one of the friends you talked about?” Felix asked, turning back to Chan.
“Yes, that’s Jisung. He and Jeongin are usually working the bar.”
Felix looked around, spotting another young man with fox-like eyes mixing another drink and chatting with a customer.
“You are all so young…” Felix realized, also noticing how weird that sounded since he wasn’t older than them. It was just baffling to him that a group of guys in their early twenties could pull something like this off while he was still in university.
“I mean, yeah, I guess so.” Chan admitted.
“It’s impressive really! I’m a bit jealous to be honest. You seem to have it all figured out.” Felix emphasized.
“It’s really not tha-” Chan started when Jisung returned with Felix’s drink.
“Hyung? Sorry to interrupt but Innie needs your help with something.”
Chan was on his feet immediately, “Sorry Felix, I’ll have to take care of this. I don’t really know how long it’s going to take… I’d love to see you again here though?”
Felix was a bit taken aback by the sudden change but it seemed serious, “No problem, it sounds like an emergency.”
Chan nodded and left towards a door labeled “Staff Only”.
“Here is your drink.” Jisung said and put the glass down in front of him.
“Is everything all right? That sounded serious.” Felix asked as he took a sip of his drink.
“Don’t worry, it’s umm… a health problem that sometimes flares up. Hyung can take care of it.” Jisung assured him before taking the order of another patron and going back to work.
Felix took a while to finish his drink and wait for Chan to come back but in the end it was getting late and Felix got very tired so he decided to go home and come back another time.
When he was waiting for his taxi, he overheard some girls who were outside getting some fresh air. One of them was complaining loudly, “He’s going to think I’m a freak!”
“You’re not a freak and if he’s not an asshole he’ll see that!” Her friends tried to calm her down.
“My nose started bleeding and it dripped into his drink! That was so disgusting and humiliating!” The first girl cried desperately.
He didn’t overhear more of their conversation because his taxi finally arrived. He really hoped things would turn out well for the girl though.
Felix came back the next day, hoping Chan wouldn’t find him annoying. But Felix had felt something between them yesterday. God, his friends would tease him so much if he told them he fell for a guy after one talk.
He went up to the bar where the host of the club greeted him. He was a taller man with long hair in a messy bun and elegant features.
“Hey, umm, I’m looking for Chan?” He raised his voice slightly over the music.
Recognition flashed in his eyes, “Oh! You must be Felix! You are even cuter than he said!”
Felix’s cheeks flushed red, “Thank you… so, is he here?” He asked, trying to seem not too flustered.
“He’s going to be here soon. Can I get you something to drink while you wait? Wait let me guess, your go-to cocktail is… a Pina Colada?”
“Yeah, sure thank you. How much is-”
“Nope, you’re not paying. Channie-hyung said you’re drinking for free.” He interrupted him.
At the use of the nickname, Felix concluded that the host was another of Chan’s friends and it felt like it was no use to argue.
“You can wait in the vip room, just go up the stairs there. I’ll send someone up with your drink.” The host said, pointing at some stairs in the back.
“Oh, thank you.” Felix smiled and followed the stairs.
The bouncer in front of the vip section seemed to already know about him and just led him through to one of the rooms overseeing the dancefloor.
There was a plush couch Felix took a seat in to wait.
His drink reached him a minute later over a small service lift.
He waited for about fifteen minutes.
As he was humming along the music and sipping his drink the door opened again.
Chan finally walked in, smiling at Felix when he spotted him.
“Hey, you actually came back!” He greeted him as he approached him to sit next to him.
“Hey, yeah, I hope I’m not like intruding or anything by showing up again so soon.” Felix said, scooting over a bit to make more space.
“Not at all, I invited you after all.”
It felt so easy to talk to Chan, he told him about his experiences coming to this country and how he only recently became fluent in Korean and how glad he was talking to someone who could relate.
They talked for a bit until Felix spotted a dot on Chan’s jaw.
“You got something there…” He said, reaching out before stopping himself because it would probably be weird if he touched him. He looked at it more closely, “Is that… blood?”
Chan’s hand flew towards the spot Felix had pointed out.
“What?” He asked, turning away to look at his reflection in his phone.
“Oh, I must have nicked myself shaving…” He said and got up from his seat. “I’ll clean myself up and come back, okay?”
“Uh, yeah okay. I’ll wait here.” Felix said as he looked after him disappearing in the nearest bathroom.
While he was waiting his mind started to wander. Chan was so nice and funny and good-looking. He wanted to talk to him more, get to know him better. He’d never dated anyone, he had been asked by a few girls back in school but always told them he preferred to be just friends. It had taken him embarrassingly long to realize why he wasn’t interested in girls. And now there was this hot guy who seemed to like him and he liked too.
Chan’s return snapped him out of his thoughts.
“Okay, where were we?” He said as he sat down again.
“Actually, I wanted to ask you something. There is this café near my apartment that I’m always passing by and I haven’t been there yet, so I was wondering if you’d want to go there with me?” Felix suggested. He fidgeted with the hem of his top.
Chan smiled at him, “Sure, I’d love to. When do you want to go?”
The nervousness in Felix immediately evaporated at his response.
“So, they are only open until 4pm everyday, so what about next Saturday at 12?”
He saw Chan cringing slightly, but trying to cover it up quickly.
“Everything okay? We can reschedule if that doesn’t work out…”
“No, yes, sorry. I have to be here during the day to set things up and stuff. I can do evenings though, as soon as everything is ready for the night the others can handle it.” Chan explained sheepishly.
“Oh! Why didn’t you say so? That’s not a problem. I mean, we probably can’t go to that café but if you’re up to it we can go somewhere else?”
“There is a restaurant some friends have been recommending to me? I could make a reservation there for Saturday evening?” Chan suggested.
“Sounds great! I can’t wait.”
“Cool, I’m looking forward to it.” Chan smiled.
Afterwards their conversation turned towards other topics.
Felix learned that Chan liked dogs and Felix told him that he always wanted a dog when he was younger but his dad was allergic so they never got one.
Chan asked about his studies and Felix told him about his love for dancing.
In the end, Felix stayed longer than he originally thought and Chan accompanied him outside to wait for his taxi.
When it finally arrived, Felix decided it was time to take a first step.
“I had a lot of fun today. See you Saturday.” He said, leaning forward to hug Chan goodbye.
“See you Saturday.” Chan reciprocated the hug that was ended by Felix giving him a quick peck on the cheek.
He got into the taxi and waved.
“Bye!”
Chan waved back with a small smile.
Felix saw that he kept standing there until the taxi turned a corner.
The whole week Felix could not focus on any of his lessons.
Chan and him had exchanged phone numbers before saying goodbye last time and Felix was constantly waiting for the buzz that signaled a new message.
Chan had texted him Monday morning to ask him if he got home safely, Felix told him he did and he was eating breakfast.
A few hours later, Felix had asked him what he was doing, Chan answered that he tried to keep “Minho” from killing “Hyunjin” for scaring him. Felix had asked for more details and Chan told him that they were his roommates and also part of the club. Felix wanted to answer when he realized that his lecture had ended and everyone was filing out of the room.
It went like that the whole week and Felix never tired of talking to Chan.
When Saturday finally came around, Felix actually video called one of his friends back in Australia to help him decide what to wear and how to do his hair.
He had googled the restaurant and it seemed a bit more high-class than he would usually visit. There was a fine line between being over and under-dressed.
Finally, he decided on tying his hair up into a ponytail and wearing a dress shirt he hadn’t gotten the opportunity to wear yet since coming to Korea.
He was caught up in his excitement, getting ready way too early and then just sat around buzzing with elation.
The sun was already starting to go down when Chan texted him that he was waiting for him in front of the apartment building.
He was wearing an expensive looking black button-down with fitting silver jewelry that he immediately had admitted Jeongin had picked out for him because apparently he was lost when he was supposed to dress himself. The way he talked about his friends helping him was quite endearing to Felix.
Chan drove them to the restaurant and behaved like the perfect gentleman, from opening the car door for Felix to pulling his chair back for him.
When Felix mentioned this, he simply said, “Yeah, I guess you could say I’m a bit old-fashioned,” with a small laugh.
Right at the start, Chan told Felix to just order whatever he wanted because he would pay. It was his idea to come here after all.
It was a perfect evening in Felix’s book, until it wasn’t.