You're the One

-10-

Bang Chan heard a knock on his door that evening. It was so soft, that for a moment he wondered if it was only in his imagination. But soon the sound repeated itself, a little stronger this time. He went to the door, ready to dismiss whoever was coming to bother him. Couldn't they leave him to his misery?

He opened the door and saw Felix standing there with his eyes downcast, looking at Chan's feet. They were big.

"Can I come in? Please, Channie?" Chan nodded and took his seat by the desk, and Felix waddled slowly into the room. "What do you want?" the oldest Australian said with a tired, but not unkind voice. "I would like to talk to you" Felix muttered. "Is something wrong with your schedule? Is Minho bothering you?" The thought made his voice harsher then he intended. Felix turned towards the book shelf and mumbled to himself "No, Minho isn't bothering me."

"What was that? I can't hear you, Lix." The pet name just slipped out, and Chan bit his tongue. The younger turned around holding the yellow rubber duckie in his hands. The sight made Chan stop breathing. He was not ready for this confrontation. "Listen, Channie. Can we just go back to being friendly?"

They looked at each other for a moment. Chan new what the younger was trying to tell him. Friends. Felix wanted to be just friends. He already knew he had to let him go, so why did it feel like his heart was breaking all over again?

"Sure, Felix. Whatever you want." And he meant it. He would do whatever Felix wanted. Whatever made him happy. Looking at the boy standing over by the bookshelf anxiously fiddling with the bath toy, why had he kept that thing, he saw that Felix looked far from happy.

"We can be friendly," Chan relented. "Really?" Felix said hopeful. "Really." Chan forced a smile. "Did you have anything special in mind?" Right after he said it, Chan internally cursed himself. It would still be painful to be around the boy, so why had he asked?

"Well, I was hoping you would join us at the Ateez party this weekend. Everyone is excited, and it wouldn't be the same without the forth generation's best leader." Felix was trying to complement him, not knowing that he was bringing up the very thing that kept Chan from pursuing Felix.

Should he go to the party? There would be alcohol there. He trusted Hongjoong, the leader of Ateez, but I.N could be sneaky about these things. Maybe he should go to keep an eye on things? Felix was a light weight when it came to drinking...

"OK, Felix. You had me at best leader." The words tasted sour in his mouth. Felix started clapping his hands wildly and jumped up and down. "Yes, yes, yes! Thank you, Channie!"

Bang Chan melted in the rays of his sunshine and smiled genuinely this time. How could he resist Felix?