22 days | felix lee

IV | insomnia

━━☆⌒*.

FELIX COULDN'T SLEEP, tossing and turning so loudly that even his little sister could hear him causing such a ruckus. For once, his insomnia had beaten him to a pulp. However, he was determined to not rely on his sleeping pills, laying there in the darkness instead as he stared up at his ceiling pointlessly.

It embarrassed him even more to know that his tutoring session was tomorrow. Felix rolled onto his side, sparing a glance at his alarm clock. Well. . . today. He corrected himself mentally, letting out a small groan as he spun onto his back again. His eyelids felt heavy, but there was no instinctive feeling to go to sleep.

The blond sighed, pulling on a pair of socks before sneaking over to his window, being careful to open it as quietly as possible. He slipped through it, his socks landing firmly on the shingles of the roof before he peered out at the night sky. The cold nipped at his skin and he shivered, letting out a hum as his pale skin turned rosy.

He didn't know how long he sat out there, nearly jumping off the roof when he felt a large cloth get draped over his skin. "You should be more careful doing this," Olivia said, his teeth chattering as he brought the blanket closer to his torso. "Eomma's going to catch you one day." Felix shrugged with a small smile.

"Yeah, but she never does."

"She will one day."

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it, yeah?"

The two laughed softly, talking some more as the stars glittered above them. "Don't you have school tomorrow?" He suddenly cocked his brow at his little sister, watching as she immediately recoiled and slipped through the window. She pressed a finger against her lips, wiggling her brows at him. "You saw nothing."

He chuckled and rolled his eyes, shooing her out before rolling inside his room. He dragged the blanket in with him, carefully folding it. Realizing he didn't have much of a choice, Felix uncapped the bottle full of pills, taking a few of them before setting it down. "Hopefully these kick in soon. . . " He muttered to himself, closing his window before rolling into his bed.

They kicked in.

Oh, they most certainly kicked in; a little too well.

As the hours passed, it grew harder and harder to stay awake. In fact, if it weren't for Minho's insistent childish gestures, he would've fallen asleep walking in the hallway. "I took too many pills last night," Felix said, slumping onto his desk beside Jeongin. The boy looked at him, startled. This time, he had onigiri with him.

He chewed on one of the rice balls, "What pills?" Jeongin was completely unaware of Felix's insomnia and collection of sleeping pills. Out of all of them, only a few were aware: Chan, Minho, and Jisung because the latter had pills for his insomnia and anxiety. "Sleeping pills," Felix elaborated, quickly clearing the younger one's confusion.

Jeongin chewed on his bottom lip, unsure of how to help his hyung. Lamely, he picked up a rice ball with his chopsticks and held them in front of his friend. "Onigiri?" He offered and Felix shook his head, letting his head drop onto his arms all over again. At lunch, it was the same situation, his phone buzzing with a text that he ignored.

"Must've been bad last night, huh?" Jisung mumbled, understanding the feeling.

Felix blinked blearily, groaning. "Tell me about it. I hope I can just get better sleep this weekend." Changbin gave him a reassuring smile despite having no eye-contact with the boy, picking at his own lunch as he shoveled some of the noodles into his mouth. "I'm sure you will," He mumbled in between bites of food.

"Speaking of the weekend," Hyunjin said, finally taking a seat with the rest of them after grabbing a soda. He opened the can swiftly, letting its air hiss. "I'm having a party this weekend." Felix moaned in response and Jeongin looked up curiously, raising a brow at the long-haired boy. "Why?"

"My girl insisted," Hyunjin said.

Hyunjin's girlfriend was known to be a social butterfly and the two had been attached at the hip for what felt like forever. "I'll try to be there then," Jisung smiled, nodding as the others mumbled an agreement. Chan, who was usually busy, even nodded along with the statement. After his phone buzzed again, he looked up to see a text from Y/n.

"Ah, I forgot. I have tutoring today. . . at the library."

Seungmin shrugged, "You'll be fine. Besides, if you really need sleep, you can always cancel."

The rest of the day passed pretty quickly. Maybe it was because he slept through most of his classes? He couldn't tell at this point. Felix grabbed his things, heading straight toward the library, determined to get this over with. He just wanted to go home and sleep in his bed; he considered it rude to cancel suddenly with Y/n.

Unsurprisingly, she was already there, punctual as usual. Y/n gestured to the seat wordlessly and he took the seat, setting his stuff down after. When he brought out his math textbook, her eyes widened and he could tell that she had no clue that they were in the same math class. Maybe this is actually fruitless.

He bit the inside of his cheek, averting his eyes as he listened to her softly speak. His hand reached out, tiredly taking notes as his dark brown orbs followed after her hand motions and fingers towards the textbook. She suddenly clicked her tongue, "You're not paying attention." The girl, although clearly bothered, didn't slam the textbook closed harshly.

Felix snapped awake at the criticism, his brows furrowed. "N-No, I-I am. I'm just. . . I'm just tired." Y/n could hear his words falter, turning her face to get a better look at his own expression. His eyes were glazed over and the skin under his eyes looked dark. "You sure you're okay?" She asked quietly, looking at him concernedly.

"I'm fine," He swallowed, waving her off.

"No," She said, standing up starkly as his heart stopped in his chest. "I'm not going to teach you when you're clearly sleep-deprived. You don't even deserve to be charged." Y/n clicked her tongue, shaking her head as he blinked. I was going to be charged? Her gaze softened as she glanced at him, lips pursing.

"I'll tutor you next time you're free, just let me know the time and address. Make sure to get some proper rest tomorrow though, alright?"

Felix felt blessed, cheeks flushed as he nodded quickly at her.

"Thank you."

Y/n smiled, "No problem, Felix-ssi."