22 days | felix lee

IX | tteokbokki

━━☆⌒*.

"OKAY," Jeongin suddenly said, snapping Felix's train of thought as the blond turned his head to the side quickly, meeting the younger boy's eyes. The fox-like boy sighed, taking another rice cake before popping it into his mouth. "You've been staring for too long. Seriously, why don't you just. . . talk to her, hyung?"

The blue-haired boy sounded frustrated, brows twisted as he glanced at his older friend. Felix licked his lips, glancing back at the girl. Her head was set down as she gazed at her notes, her worksheet, and then back at her notes. "You even dragged me to the library, c'mon now." Jeongin whined.

Despite coming due to his own free will, he only agreed after Felix promised to buy him some tteokbokki. Surprisingly, the youngest had managed to sneak it in without a flaw and was now sitting beside his freckled friend, complaining while he ate. "What do I even say? Thanks for driving me home when I was drunk?"

His eyes widened, "I thought you said a cab picked you up."

Felix quickly gave him a look, making Jeongin shut up as he ran his tongue over his lips, getting rid of the reddish-orange sauce that coated them. "Jeongin-ah, can you approach her?" Said male whipped his head in his direction, mouth falling open as he glared. "What? No! She'd confiscate my food." The boy pouted, whispering.

The freckled boy shook his head quickly, "She won't, I promise." Jeongin's eyes narrowed in suspicion as he grabbed another rice cake, shoveling it into his mouth. "She totally will; she's like a teacher's pet, hyung. I'm not taking any chances." Felix chewed on his lower lip, remembering how her eyes had lit up at the sight of food back at the café.

"Just offer her some,"

"What? No! I'm not going to risk my food for some girl you don't have the confidence to talk to."

Jeongin quickly realized he hit too hard, pausing when Felix's head dropped as he pinned his lower lip with his teeth contemplatively. He's right. The sunshine thought to himself, his shoulders slumping. The youngest felt bad, glancing back and forth between his hyung and the girl he adored.

"Fine, but you owe me lunch for the next week."

Feeling his Monday drag on, he sighed and set down his chopsticks, swiftly getting rid of any of the remaining marks near his mouth. Before Felix could object, the blue-haired male grabbed his food before approaching the girl with a sweet smile. "Um, would you like some tteokbokki?" Y/n looked up from her worksheet, beyond confused.

"Ah. . . you're Jeongin-ssi, right? You're in my math class; the one that always eats."

Jeongin flushed, growing embarrassed over how she kept track of him. "A-Ah, yes." He mumbled sheepishly, unsure of how to respond. Y/n softly smiled at him, picking up one rice cake with her fingers daintily. "Honestly, I was hoping you'd offer me some of your food one day." She said with confidence, popping it into her mouth.

After one wipe onto a tissue, her fingers were clean and Jeongin was left with his jaw agape, the words slipping out of his mouth. "Oh, well, Felix can cook; you really wouldn't want my cheap convenience store food. You can always ask him though?" He said, his voice growing higher near the end. Y/n's gaze fell upon the freckled boy who was looking over not-so-smoothly.

"Then I'll ask him about that," She laughed softly, thanking him for the food before turning back to her worksheet. Jeongin returned to the table with pink cheeks, setting down his dish before digging into it again. Felix looked over at him, "So, what did she say?" Jeongin mumbled, shoving a rice cake in between his lips as he took a bite.

"You better learn to cook,"

"What?"

Jeongin glanced at him, "I know you're a good baker, hyung, but you better learn to cook. It looks like Noona loves food more than me, so she could definitely be your taste tester." Felix's brown eyes widened at the realization before his attention turned back to the young boy. "Remember how you said I had to provide you lunch for a week?"

"Mhm," Jeongin said, chewing on a rice cake.

"You never said I had to buy it for you, right?"

"No, but some fancy restaurant stuff would be cool," He said jokingly.

Felix pursed his lips, "Jeongin-ah, I need to learn to cook."

It took a minute for the blue-haired boy's brain to click with what his older friend was saying, his eyes instantly widening as he whipped his head towards him. "Hyung, no," The boy said hopelessly, begging for mercy as he recoiled from his friend. Felix swallowed, "Please, Jeongin-ah," He mumbled.

"You're going to send me to the hospital,"

"I won't."

"You're right, you'll send me to my casket." The youngest hissed, eating faster.

"Jeongin-ah, please," Felix pleaded.

Jeongin licked his lips contemplatively, "How about this? I'm your taste tester for a day. It saves you cooking time and it saves me. . . medical bills." He shivered, imitating Hyunjin's dramatic actions. However, Felix couldn't blame him at the moment. He may have been the baking king, but he was far from immaculate at cooking.

"Okay, that sounds fair."

"If I end up dying. . . you can try Jisung hyung."

"But if Jisung-ah gets sick, Minho hyung is going to kill me."

Jeongin paused, clutching his chopsticks for a moment as he stood up to throw away his empty styrofoam container. "Then, I'll see you in the afterlife, hyung." He smiled sweetly despite the cold and pained look in his eyes, grabbing his other things before quickly scurrying out of the library.

Felix sighed, dropping his head onto his arms. All he had left was twenty-one days and it was nervewracking; how could he ever pull this off? He was already stretching to weird lengths at the idea of cooking for a week (and potentially killing one of his friends in the process). A shiver ran down Felix's spine as he thought back to the number of pans he'd burnt stuff on.

Felix may be the baking king, but he was an absolute peasant in cooking.