baby, you're my angel | chan/felix; stray kids

Chapter 5

The week passes slowly. Felix gets his essay done, turns it in, gets an A-minus. For the most part, things are the same. He does his work, he spends too much time procrastinating, he stays up too late fucking around with his friends. But in small, crucial ways, things are completely different. Felix mutes Chan's texts, just in case. He rarely replies if he's around people. He guards his words, fearful that he'll let something slip if he doesn't pay close enough attention.

They can't all fit in Chan's car, so they take a bus across the city on Friday afternoon. Felix has his bag packed, since he and Chan are (truthfully, this time) planning to go to the studio tomorrow morning to work on new music. His friends accepted this explanation easily; it's more convenient to go straight there instead of making Chan take a twenty-minute detour to campus, when his studio is only a five minute drive from his apartment.

The good news is they both found time during the week to get tested, and both came back clean, so Felix is looking forward to this weekend a little extra. He packs one outfit only—he can't afford to stay an extra night, especially not two weeks in a row—but he does pack a little silver plug. The flat end is shaped like a heart, which Felix hopes Chan finds cute.

"7pm release, right?" Seungmin asks, checking the time.

"We'll get there with plenty of time to spare," Felix says, glancing at his phone, too. It's only 5:30, and Chan said he already started cooking. They should be done with eating before they need to do a quick countdown live.

It is a Friday afternoon, so traffic isn't great, but soon they're standing in the lobby of Chan's building, and Chan is walking out of the elevator with a smile.

"Hi everybody," he says. "You're right on time. I just finished cooking."

Felix wondered if it might be odd to see him again after what happened last weekend. Chatting via text is one thing; being close enough to touch is quite another. But when Chan's eyes land on him, Felix doesn't feel strange or awkward. It's close to relief, he thinks, to be near to him. He ends up on the opposite side of the elevator when they all pile in, and he tries his best not to stare the whole ride up.

Like Felix, Chan had a little bit of makeup on. It's for the camera, strictly speaking, but Felix has a feeling it's a little bit for him, too. At least, he chose his own makeup by thinking about what Chan might like. In any case, he looks beautiful as ever, in a crisp white button down tucked into royal blue dress pants, with his hair straightened and styled. They'd agreed on semi-formal attire, so Felix is in a similar shirt with grey pants. He even wore his black ankle boots that have a little heel—which probably won't be seen by the camera, but will definitely be seen—and appreciated—by Chan.

Chan's apartment smells like food. He's made fried chicken and japchae ("You made this yourself?" Jeongin gasps. "Like, all of it from scratch?"), and he also had a collection of banchan laid out on the table.

"I always liked banchan," he says quietly to Felix as he reaches past him to get the bowls. "Because it sounds like my name!"

"You're a dork," Felix says drily, but he knows Chan sees his smile.

There's something disorienting, yet nonetheless sweet, about seeing his friends in Chan's kitchen. Though he flushes at the memory of what they did the last time he was here, Felix can't help but fall into the fantasy just a little—him and Chan, hosting a dinner together. Chan pulls alcohol out of the fridge for them after double-checking that Jeongin is, in fact, an adult. Felix grabs utensils, Jisung gets napkins, Seungmin helps Chan carry bottles to the table, and Hyunjin uses his spectacular height to reach the nice water glasses with ease.