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“Where’s Hyunjin?” Felix asked, frowning slightly as he looked around the practice room.
Chan shrugged. “He said he was on his way.”
“Yeah, I know, I saw that message in the group chat, but it only takes twenty minutes to get here from the dorms.” Felix shifted his weight anxiously. “What if something happened? What if he’s not feeling well?”
Chan looked up at him from where he was writing an email on his laptop. “If you’re worried, message him. We still have ten minutes until practice starts. If he fell asleep or something, he needs to be woken up so he get his ass over here in time.”
“Right.” Felix pulled out his phone, but his thumbs froze over the screen, hesitant to type out a message.
Surely Hyunjin was fine. He had to be fine.
But if he wasn’t…sending the message would make it real. Maybe he could live in ignorance for ten more minutes. Maybe that would be easier than finding out something was wrong.
The anxiety curling in his stomach made him feel slightly sick, but it was fine.
Only ten more minutes, then Hyunjin would be here.
A hand landed on Felix’s shoulder, making him jump. “You okay?”
Felix nodded, forcing a smile. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Sure?” Changbin’s brow creased, his grip tightening slightly on Felix. “You look…stressed.”
Felix slipped his phone back into his pocket. “Nope. I’m all good.”
“Why is Hyunjin always late?” Seungmin grumbled from his corner of the practice room, scowling at his phone.
"Technically, he’s not late yet,” Chan said mildly. “He’s got ten minutes.”
“His location is telling me he’s still at his dorm, so there’s no way he’s getting here in ten minutes.” Seungmin sighed.
The anxiety in Felix’s stomach dissipated slightly.
If Hyunjin was at home, he couldn’t have been hurt. He couldn’t have been run over or stabbed or kidnapped or shot. He was safe.
Unless he was sad and miserable and sick, but Felix hoped he wasn’t any of those things.
“Did you message him, Felix?” Chan asked, looking over his shoulder.
Felix shook his head silently.
“I’ll do it.” Changbin pulled out his phone and quickly typed out a message.
All the phones in the room buzzed a moment later.
“Not coming, need sleep,” Seungmin read out loud, then pulled a face so annoyed and exhausted that Felix thought he looked about a hundred years old. “I swear to God I’m going to strangle that man one of these days."
Jisung frowned at his phone. “Do you think he’s okay?”
Felix’s anxiety spiked again. Please be okay, Jinnie.
“I’m sure he’s fine.” Minho tossed his phone onto the table, looking annoyed. “I’m half tempted to go over and drag him here.”
“Don’t,” Felix whispered.
Changbin glanced over at him. “Bok-ah…I’m sure he’s fine.”
Felix shrugged and folded his arms over his chest.
“What’s wrong?” Jisung muttered as he typed, then sent the message.
Their phones buzzed.
“Need fluffy blankets. Body isn’t online today.” Chan frowned at his phone. “What?”
“This is ridiculous.” Seungmin muttered.
Their phones buzzed again.
Hyunjin:
> I’m okay
> Tell Felix to stop stressing
> I’m just feeling really cuddly today
Chan:
> Can you be cuddly at practice?
Hyunjin:
> I don’t wanna move 🥺
Seungmin:
> I will drag you here
Minho:
> We literally have a performance soon
Hyunjin:
> I know all the choreo, I promise
Minho:
> Not the point
Changbin:
> Can you just tell us what’s going on?
Jeongin:
> Are you sick?
Jisung:
> Do you have a cold?
> Did I give you my cold?
> Are you feeling cold? I can bring more blankets?
Hyunjin:
> Yessss more blanketssss 😍
Chan turned to Jisung, annoyed. “You can’t get him more blankets without leaving, and we need you for practice. We can’t be missing two members at once. Nothing will work.”
Jisung pouted. “But he seems wrong! I just want to help!”
Minho patted Jisung’s shoulder.
“I’m sure he’s just being dramatic for no reason,” Seungmin said.
“But what if he isn’t?” Felix asked worriedly.
Chan sighed and ran a hand over his face. “Okay, look, we were only going to do a short practice today, anyway. Let’s do two hours, then go check on Hyunjin.”
Two hours. Felix could manage two hours.
He nodded. “Okay.”
Jeongin tilted his head thoughtfully. “Do you think he saw something online that upset him?”
Changbin groaned. “I swear if he’s been watching those goddamn videos where people are rescuing abused dogs again, I’m deleting all the social media apps from his phone.”
“He promised me he stopped doing that.” Felix mumbled.
Minho rolled his shoulder and stepped forward. “Well, whatever. Let’s worry about Hyunjin later. We have to practice now.”
Chan nodded. “Yes, right. Into formation, guys. Come on.”
The other all shuffled into place with muffled groans and a few sleepy yawns, and Felix debated running away to find Hyunjin for a moment before he sighed and slipped into his position.
Two hours. He could manage two hours.
*****
Hyunjin was experimenting.
Did he feel guilty about skipping out on practice? Sure. But there were more important things than practice.
Like experiments.
He hadn’t really slept last night. He’d accidentally stumbled across a strange link on Threads at midnight and had clicked on it, not really paying attention to the English caption that had been written above.
And then he had spiralled, and suddenly it was three a.m. and he was halfway through a very strange, but strangely emotional story about himself, Felix, and Chan.
He’d never imagined reading fan fiction about an ‘Aussie Sandwich’ as the author had put it in their notes had been enjoyable, but here he was. Enjoying it.
…oops.
It wasn’t like it was realistic, so it was fine. Because in what world was Hyunjin working in a bar? Definitely not the real world.
And then there were all these strange things. Like nests. And super-powered ovulations.
Hyunjin didn’t really understand it, but he was weirdly on board with the thought that he could magically get impregnated by Felix. Via the super-powered ovulations. And nests. And the swelling dicks.
Hyunjin was disturbed until he gave up trying to understand what was happening and just went with the vibes instead.
And now it was eight-thirty in the morning and he hadn’t slept. At all. Not that he felt tired, but still.
He had lots of questions, and Google wasn’t helping.
He didn’t want to say that he felt like he was being affected by fictional Omega Hyunjin, but he was totally being affected by fictional Omega Hyunjin.
It was just so cool. He wanted tiny Lixie babies. He wanted an excuse to bury himself in fluffy blankets and sleep all day.
He wanted to blame his being snappy on hormones instead of the fact that he stayed up all night reading inappropriate stories about him and his members.
But he couldn’t. Because - sadly - reality was not as fun as it was in the story.
Unless…unless…
Maybe he couldn’t do everything, but he could totally make himself a little blanket nest.
He felt like that would be cute. And cozy. And really really warm.
He rolled out of bed with a yawn and padded into the main room to collect all the blankets him and Binnie typically left on the couch before stumbling back to his room and dropping them onto his bed.
He frowned. Is this stupid?
He shrugged and started arranging the blankets anyway.
Once he was satisfied, he carefully climbed inside his little nest and settled down, sighing happily.
Sure, maybe he didn’t have the fictional hormones or urges, but he could still appreciate fluffy blankets. They were so cozy and warm…
He was just drifting off to sleep when his phone buzzed, and he groaned, reaching for it, and quickly explained that he wasn’t going to practice before throwing his phone across the room and flopping back down, sighing happily.
He could totally get used to this.
All he needed now was somebody to cuddle him, because his nest was empty, and he felt lonely.
Maybe after practice finishes…
He yawned, his eyes falling closed, and then he drifted off to sleep.
*****
The second practice finished, the others rushed over to Hyunjin’s dorm.
“Jinnie?” Felix called. “Jinnie, are you okay?”
Chan patted Felix’s back. “Wait for Binnie to open the door, Lix.”
Changbin pushed the key into the lock. “Two more seconds, Yongbok.”
“I’m sure he’s fine,” Seungmin said.
Minho nodded, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. “Bet he’s just being dramatic.”
The door opened, and Felix pushed past the others to get inside, tugging his shoes off so fast he almost fell over. “Jinnie!”
“Lix! Lix! Be careful!” Chan grabbed his arm to steady him. “Jesus fuck, calm down, Lixie.”
“Do you really think he’s okay?” Jisung whispered anxiously.
“I’m sure he’s fine.” Minho answered. “It’s Hyunjin. If he wasn’t feeling well, he would’ve sent thirty messages complaining.”
“What are we even doing here, then?” Jeongin asked, grumpy and annoyed. “Can’t we leave Lix to it and go home? I really want to shower.”
“Let’s just make sure everything’s fine, then we can go.” Chan promised. “Just in case.”
Jeongin rolled his eyes and pulled out his phone, slumping onto the couch. Seungmin joined him a moment later.
Jisung shuffled closer to Minho and clung to his arm.
Chan followed Felix to Hyunjin’s room.
Changbin sighed. “Right, well, I’m showering. See you guys in a bit.” He disappeared into the bathroom.
Felix knocked on the door to Hyunjin’s room. “Jinnie?”
A tiny, muffle groan bled through the wood followed by a sleepy, “yeah?”
Felix pushed the door open and peeked inside. “Are you—” His voice trailed off, and Chan frowned at him worriedly.
Felix felt amusement surge in his chest, replacing the anxiety easily, and he almost started laughing. “Oh, Jinnie.”
Hyunjin grumbled and buried his face in a pillow.
Chan tapped Felix’s back. “What’s going on? Is he okay?”
Felix nodded, fighting the smile threatening to take over his face. “Yeah, he’s fine. Give a few minutes, okay?”
Chan nodded and stepped back. “Sure. Call me if you need anything.”
“Will do.” Felix stepped into the room and shut the door behind him, wondering if he was going to be able to wrangle his cuteness aggression into submission or not. Or maybe he could wrangle something else into submission…
“Hyunjin, what the actual fuck are you doing?”
Hyunjin peeked over the top of his pillow. “Sleeping?”
“Uh-huh.” Felix crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, his lips twitching. “Hyunjin, did you make yourself a nest?”
Hyunjin’s ears immediately turned pink. “No.”
“No? Are you sure?” Felix walked closer, running his fingers over one of the fluffy blankets Hyunjin had surrounded himself with. “Because this looks a lot like a nest to me.”
Hyunjin flushed. “I—I—uh—how do you know what a nest looks like?”
Felix shrugged. “I’ve read enough fan fiction to create a picture in my mind.”
Hyunjin’s eyes widened. “You read it, too?”
“Well, duh.” Felix grinned. “Only boring people don’t read fan fiction. I’ve even written a few stories, just for fun.”
Hyunjin stared at him like he was crazy. “You wrote—”
“You skipped practice and scared the shit out of me because you were making a nest.” Felix raised an eyebrow. “One is considerably more crazy than the other.”
Hyunjin dropped his face back into his pillow. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I just…didn’t sleep good last night.”
“Mmm, I wonder why.” Felix teased. “If I open your phone right now, what’s going to be the last thing you had open?”
“Nothing.” Hyunjin muttered.
“Sure.” Felix let it be and sat down on the bed, careful not to disturb the little nest. “Was it your first time reading an Omegaverse fic?”
“It was my first time reading anything, and it was really really good. Like, so good.” Hyunjin sighed wistfully.
Felix really did laugh then. “Jinnie, you know it’s not real. You can’t manifest it into being real. It’s just a story.”
Hyunjin pouted.
Felix sighed. “I’m going to have to block AO3 on your phone, aren't I?”
“No!” Hyunjin squeaked, grabbing onto Felix’s arm. “Can we just—can we just pretend? Just for one day?”
Felix stared at him. “Pretend? Pretend? You want to pretend that—you want—” He shook his head. “Oh, my God. Right. Hyunjin, you are a human being.”
“Please?” Hyunjin looked up at him with the biggest, shiniest boba eyes ever, and Felix felt betrayed.
“You dare use my own spells against me, Potter!” He gasped, then dramatically fell off the bed.
Hyunjin laughed. “Felix!”
Felix grinned at the ceiling, then sat up. “Alright, fine. You want to be babied for a day, you can be babied for a day. But I swear to God if you skip out on practice again without telling me you’re okay, I’m going to beat you up.”
“Okay.” Hyunjin nodded eagerly, eyes bright.
Felix stared at him for a moment, then rolled his eyes. “Alright, well, I’m gonna tell the others to head out. I’ll be back in a second.”
Hyunjin reached out and caught his arm, looking surprised. “Everybody’s here?”
Felix nodded. “They were worried. Well, not really. Most of them just want to go home, but Chan wanted to make sure you were okay first so…yeah. They’re all here.”
Hyunjin blinked. “Wow. Okay. I feel so special.”
Felix snorted. “I’m going to tell them to head home, okay?”
Hyunjin hummed. “Sure. Could you ask Chan if he could stay, though?”
Felix narrowed his eyes.
Hyunjin pouted, boba eyes in full effect once again. “Please? I’m lonely. And clingy. And very hormonal.”
“You don’t have—” Felix cut himself off and shook his head. “Nope, never mind. I’ll ask Chan if he wants to stay. But you’re explaining this to him.” He pointed a finger at Hyunjin in warning, then walked to the door.
Hyunjin giggled. “Yay!”
Felix slipped out of Hyunjin room and padded back into the main room. “Guys?”
“Can we go home yet?” Seungmin asked, bored.
Felix nodded. “Yeah, go. It’s all fine.”
“Knew it.” Minho muttered and took Jisung’s arm. “Come on, Sungie. Let’s go.”
Jisung still looked worried. “Are you sure Hyunjin’s okay, Lix?”
“Yeah, he’s all good, I promise.” Felix assured him. “Go wash up.”
“Cool.” Jeongin stood up and walked to the door. “Chan?”
“I’ll catch you up,” Chan said. “I just want to check on him.”
Seungmin rolled his eyes and put his shoes back on. “Of course you do.”
Changbin emerged from the bathroom, his hair plastered to his forehead. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah, everything’s fine, just like we thought.” Seungmin looked over at Changbin. “Want to come over to my place? Lix is staying here.”
Changbin shrugged. “Sure. Let me go change.”
Seungmin nodded and pulled his phone back out.
Everyone else started chatting and getting ready to leave before waving to Felix and Chan and walking out the door.
A few minutes later, Changbin was back with a small bag, and he and Seungmin left, too.
And then it was just Felix, Chan, and Hyunjin.
Chan looked at Felix, worry still darkening his gaze. “Is he really okay?”
Felix almost laughed again. “He’s really okay. You can go see him.”
Chan hesitated, running a hand through his hair. “Does he want me to see him? Or does he need space? Should I order food? Is he hungry?”
Felix thought about it. “Uhh, yeah, food would be good. He’s cuddly, though, so he’ll definitely want to see you.”
“Okay. Okay, well, I’ll order food, then go through. You go back to him.” Chan pulled out his phone. “Is he sick? Does he need hangover food? Or fever food?”
“He’s not sick, not even a little bit. Maybe order something stodgy. Greasy food. Comfort food. Something like that.” Felix started walking backwards to Hyunjin’s room.
Chan nodded, frowning slightly as he focused on his phone.
Felix gave him a thumbs up, then turned around and slipped back into Hyunjin’s room. “Jinnie? Chan’s still here. He’s ordering food. He said he’ll come through in a minute.”
Hyunjin smiled. “Thank you.”
Felix shrugged and gestured to the nest. “Can I get in?”
Hyunjin nodded eagerly and shifted over.
Felix tugged his hoodie off and climbed in, careful not to disturb anything. “Here, you can cuddle me.”
“Yay yay yay.” Hyunjin smiled brightly and shifted closer, burying his face in Felix’s chest and wrapping his arms around his middle. “Thank you, Felix. I love you.”
Felix hugged him tightly. “Love you, too, Jinnie.”
The door creaked open a few minutes later.
“Okay, I ordered food from the—oh.” Chan paused in the doorway. “Oh.”
Felix felt Hyunjin shift uncomfortably against his chest and held him a little bit tighter. “Hi, Channie.”
“Hey,” Chan said softly. “Are you…okay, this is going to sound like a really strange question if you’re not, but are you—um—are you pretending to be an omega? Because this looks a lot like how I’d imagine nesting to look, so—"
Hyunjin giggled and buried his face in Felix’s chest.
Felix raised his eyebrows at Chan. “How the fuck do you know what an omega is?"
Chan shrugged, smiling slightly. “Same as you do, I’d assume.”
Hyunjin looked over at his shoulder at Chan, looking anxious. “Is it weird? It’s weird, right?”
Chan tilted his head. “I don’t think so. We’re all allowed to have soft days. Just…maybe explain that better when you’re skipping out on practice so you don’t give poor Lix a heart attack.”
Hyunjin lit up. “Really?”
Chan smiled warmly at him. “Yeah, Jinnie. It’s okay. We all need to be looked after sometimes.”
Hyunjin stared across at Chan with is much love Felix almost felt like he was intruding. Then he patted the bed beside him. “Wanna come in?”
Chan pointed back towards the main room. “I’ll wait for the food. That way I won’t risk messing any of the blankets up when I leave to get it. Do you wanna eat in the nest or out of the nest?"
“Out of the nest,” Hyunjin said. “I don’t want to get it all messy.”
Chan nodded. “Good idea.”
The food arrived soon after that, and they all climbed out of the nest and piled back into the main room to curl up on the couch.
Felix offered Hyunjin his hoodie, and Hyunjin beamed and snuggled it to his face as Chan organised the takeout containers on the table.
They all settled down together to eat, so close they were practically on top of each other, and they put something totally stupid on the TV. Some silly rom-com that had them groaning in embarrassment every few minutes.
It was perfect. The whole thing was perfect. It was the best possible outcome to all the panicked theories Felix had come up with in the morning when Hyunjin had said he couldn’t make practice.
When they finished eating and the show ended, the three of them made their way back to Hyunjin’s room and they piled into the nest, cuddling up close to each other so they’d all fit.
It was warm and cozy and actually really nice. Until Chan had the big idea of asking what story Hyunjin had read that had prompted all of this and Hyunjin had turned into an awkward, blushing mess, which then prompted Chan to recall some of the stories he’d read, and soon Felix was laughing so hard he couldn’t breathe.
A little while later, Hyunjin had quietly complained that he was cold, so Felix had got up and disappeared into Changbin’s room to steal as many hoodies as he could, returning to Hyunjin’s room with them carried proudly in his arms like a hunter returning with meat for his family. Or a man on a dating app holding a fish, as Chan put it, which had made them all laugh again.
Felix spent a good five minutes drowning Hyunjin in hoodies until he was wrapped up like a burrito and the nest smelled so much of Changbin Chan started complaining about it, but he didn’t leave, just cuddled closer to Hyunjin.
Felix climbed back inside and wrapped himself around the both of them. “Stop whining, Channie, or I’m kicking you out.”
Chan grumbled, but fell quiet.
Hyunjin giggled. “I love you guys so much.”
“And we love you, too, Jinnie.” Chan kissed the top of his head. “Let us know whenever you need a cuddle day, we’ll be more than happy to help out.”
“Yeah, I’m sure Chan’s built many nests over the years after getting to caught up in the silly stories, right?” Felix teased, tugging at Chan’s ear.
Chan turned bright red, and Hyunjin cackled, burying his face in Chan’s chest.
Chan reached back to slap Felix’s leg. “You say that like you haven’t tried it yourself.”
“I haven’t!” Felix insisted.
“He’s too alpha coded.” Hyunjin said seriously, and Felix groaned, causing them to burst into a fresh round of laughter.
“Fuck you guys, seriously.” Felix muttered, rolling his eyes, but he didn’t mean it, and they knew it.
“Can we get chocolate?” Hyunjin asked suddenly.
Chan chewed on his lower lip, thinking. “I mean…we don’t have a performance for a few weeks so…sure. This is probably our cheat day anyway with all the takeout we ate.”
“Yayyyy.” Hyunjin snuggled even deeper into his pile of hoodies.
Chan slowly worked himself out of the nest and stole a hoodie, earning himself a pout from Hyunjin and a chuckle from Felix. “I’ll be back in twenty minutes, okay?”
“Why?” Hyunjin reached out to make grabby hands at him.
“You want chocolate. I’m getting chocolate. But I’ve got to walk to convenience store for that.” Chan patted Hyunjin’s hand and tucked it back under the hoodies. “Cuddle Lix, I’ll be back soon.”
Felix shifted closer and climbed half on top of Hyunjin. “I got him!”
Chan smiled. “I know. I’ll be quick, I promise.”
Hyunjin sighed dramatically. “Fine. Thank you, Hyung.”
“Sure.” His smile widened, and he jogged out of the apartment.
He returned twenty minutes later, just like he’d said he would, with his arms laden with all different kinds of chocolate and sweets.
They curled back up together and talked about nothing while they gorged themselves on sugar until they got sleepy and passed out.
Hyunjin was the first to go, his eyes drooping mid-sentence, and his body going completely floppy against Felix’s chest.
He tried to hold on a little longer, but he lost the fight quickly which Felix honestly thought was adorable.
Chan cleaned up and moved all the sweets that were left over, then settled down, his eyes already half-closed and tired. “He’s so adorable, I swear.”
Felix nodded, smiling widely. “I know. He’s so…soft.”
Chan hummed. “Yeah, he really is.” He slipped a hand into Hyunjin’s hair and pressed closer, resting his head on his shoulder. “We should do soft get togethers like this more often. It’s really nice.”
“We don’t really have a lot of time to do stuff like this, that’s the only thing.” Felix sighed. “But yeah, we should try. Because this was…it was a really nice reset. To just relax for a day, or at least half a day, feels like such a luxury.”
Chan nodded. “For real. We really need a break. Even just twenty-four hours. I’m so tired.”
“We all know you’d just spend that time working on songs at home, anyway.” Felix pointed out.
“At least it would be on my own time, though.” Chan’s eyes fluttered closed, and Felix smiled as he fought a yawn. “Gosh, I’m going to fall asleep in a minute.”
“Good, you need it, Channie.” Felix reached over to push his hair behind his ear. “Should I put an alarm on for the morning?”
Chan nodded sleepily. “Maybe eight? I need to be in the studio with the others…”
“Okay, sure.” Felix fumbled behind him for his phone, then pulled up the clock app. “Sleep, Chan. I got it.”
“Are you going to sleep?” Chan asked, blinking up at him blearily.
Felix nodded. “Yeah, I’m going to sleep. Right after I put on this alarm. Okay?”
Chan nodded, and his head dropped back down onto his pillow. “Okay. When’s Bin getting home?”
“He’s with Minnie and he left with a bag so…he’ll probably meet you in the studio.” Felix set his phone back on the table and settled down for sleep. “Relax, Channie. It’s okay.”
Chan mumbled, and his eyes fell closed. “Mmm…mmmkay…”
Felix smiled, first at Chan, then at Hyunjin, then took a deep breath and closed his own eyes, letting sleep claim him.