LUNCHBOX FRIENDS | changlix

.13

"so, what did he say?" changbin laid down languidly in felix's bed as if he'd owned it. the egg rolled dangerously close to smashing on the ground with the commotion, but before felix could've cried out like a mother losing her firstborn, changbin blocked the fall with his hand. the egg rolled back to rest on his side.

once the egg was safe, felix had to confront the question. goosebumps ran up and down his arms from the ghost of the wind that had lacerated his skin and made him shiver, but then he was reminded of all the dominance he'd maneuvered with the way he'd made taehyung run his mouth and confess all his sins, and the boost to his ego made him puff out his chest proudly.

"i didn't ask him about... that. i'm sorry," he grimaced.

changbin's reaction was exactly how felix had expected: he let the egg go so his hands would cup his face, groaning in frustration. felix tried really hard not to judge him. he figured that if it was him on changbin's skin, he'd also be clawing it off his face.

changbin gripped at his cheeks, then let them go. the red imprints of his fingers were highlighted on his pale skin.

"what did you ask him about, then?" there was no spite to his words, just disappointment. felix wanted to cry.

"about his dad," felix admitted after mentally beating his past self for not making one right decision.

changbin's hand went back to the egg to absentmindedly play with it. "what about his dad?" he asked, uninterested.

"he's a wanted criminal. i have to prove it." felix's eyes focused on how changbin fondled the egg as if it was a pet animal.

changbin merely hummed dismissively as if felix hadn't just revealed an evil master plot.

"we'll have plenty of time to investigate him," felix assured, trying to uplift his spirit a bit.

"you don't have how to know," changbin whined. he turned his face to bury it on the pillow. felix's pillow, the one he rested his head on every night. he wondered if changbin liked his shampoo.

"yes, i do have how to know," felix retorted, finally getting changbin's attention.

rising to his elbows, changbin's body language completely shifted to a more cheerful demeanor. his eyes widened in hope and the corners of his mouth pulled slightly, containing himself from a full smile. "how?"

felix couldn't contain a smug grin. the effect he had on people was exhilarating! if things continued like this, he'd begin to become intoxicated with power.

he gazed at the hopeful boy in his bed through his eyelashes, "he wants something in return," felix revealed.

changbin's wide eyes changed from hope to shock, bringing a hand to his chest as if in an unconscious tentative of concealing himself. "does he want more photos?"

"what? no," felix would not allow it. he paused, letting changbin relax with the long sigh he'd milked out of his lungs. "he wants to be set up with jungkook."

changbin could've just about faint at that.

"that's waaaay worse! oh my god!" he threw himself back on the bed. "oh no, oh god."

felix frowned. that wasn't exactly the reaction felix had hoped to wring out of changbin. he felt as if he'd missed something, like he didn't have the whole town archived in files inside his flip-up phone. also, if changbin kept squirming in felix's bed, he would lay on top of their bab– egg. egg baby. egg. "why?"

"felix, we can't go sticking our noses in people's businesss," changbin stated as if he'd never suggested that felix tried to draw out a blackmail confession from taehyung.

but, instead of pointing it out and throw on changbin's face, felix could just force himself to not demonstrate how enamored he was, trying to conceal the outlines of the butterflies' wings dancing inside his stomach. they looked like an old couple squabbling, like they've been married for 40 years and felix was asking whether or not they should visit their grandchild abroad.

"but it's for a greater good!" felix insisted.

"felix!" changbin explained, "it's an impossible task."

"why?"

changbin sighed, frustrated, as if he was dealing with a child. he raised himself to sit on the bed. he talked slowly, as if felix was now an eighty-year-old retired military veteran with a faulty hearing aid piece. "you can't tell anyone but..."

felix leaned closer. he loved secrets. perhaps he'd leaned a bit too close, because changbin went red and backed slightly away.

felix pretended he wasn't hurt by that.

"chan told me there's this... drama," he started, "around the team, at least. i don't know how you haven't noticed yet."

felix definitely hadn't noticed anything.

changbin shifted on the mattress and made the egg roll and descend to the side of his thigh. he grabbed it and juggled it from hand to hand. felix was going to have a heart attack.

"it's this sort of love triangle." changbin paused, then added, "well, a love triangle where one part doesn't know yet."

felix raised an eyebrow.

"they're like the holy trinity: unbreakable," he continued, "so, the catch, you ask? jungkook is already leashed to them, unknowingly. everyone in school knows to steer away from him. well, you are, apparently, an exception."

"so i can get close to him?" felix asked, puzzled by his words.

"no," he chuckled, "you're the only one who didn't know."

that was definitely wrong, because felix knew everything about anyone in the whole town, and he would've known if such unspeakable acts were being performed. so, naturally, felix decided to check on his phone and... yep.

jjk #02731: pjm's object of pursuit (ps: pjm is in a 2-year-long committed relationship with fellow student myg)

"geez," felix exclaimed. changbin was actually right.

changbin, who was busy perusing the egg, was startled by felix's sudden change of tone and almost let the egg escape from hands and into eternal doom on a yellow-white puddle on felix's carpet.

felix read the information out loud so changbin could hear.

once he finished, changbin just waved at him in an i-told-you-so gesture, "see?" he reached for the egg again. felix watched as he wiped a finger around its shell and frowned.

"oh, but there's a solution! not all is lost!" felix tried to think positively.

changbin was still frowning and holding the egg on eye level: "felix, did you draw a mustache on it?"

felix pretended he didn't listen, "all we have to do..."

"felix, this is serious!" changbin demanded, "our grades could be reduced!"

"all we have to do is just—"

"felix! we might fail this class if you don't—"

"god! it's a sharpie drawing, changbin! it'll clean off with water!" he sighed heavily. his momentum was broken. "we just need to break them up!"