maps and constellations | Stray Kids; Chan/Felix

Chapter 1

***Just a note at the top, it's a little confusing because I had to manipulate their ages, so for ease, here are their ages at the start of the fic. I tried to preserve their current age hierarchy as best as I could, but obviously there are a couple of unavoidable differences. There's some brief explanation as to how this happened near the start of this chapter. Not super important, but I'd rather have a little clarity here so we don't get mixed up down the road, especially because Changbin's birthday will be occurring during the time period that this fic covers:

Chan: 19, almost 20
Minho: 19, almost 20
Changbin: Will turn 19 about a week into the trip
Hyunjin: 18, will be 19 in the following spring
Han: 18, almost 19
Felix: 18, almost 19
Seungmin: 18, almost 19
I.N: 17, will be 18 in the following February

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Something's definitely up. Chan can tell the instant he opens his front door; there's something about the air in the house that tells him he's not alone, even though his whole family is out.

So he tries his next best guess. "Lix?" he calls, closing the door behind him and hanging his keys on the hook.

The intruder pokes his head around the corner, smiling sheepishly. "I forgot you had work," Felix says. "How did you know?"

Chan shrugs, grinning at him. Really, it was the way the door was locked—Chan always locks both locks, and he knew he did this morning, but just now it was only the top one. Felix has his own set of keys to Chan's house, just like Chan has to his—their parents made that decision years ago. Still, Felix always forgets to lock the doorknob. "I dunno," he says instead of explaining. "I could just tell." He ruffles Felix's hair as he passes, heading to the kitchen. "Want a snack? I'm starving."

"Yes, please." Felix takes a seat at the breakfast bar, brushing his hair back into place as he watches Chan survey the contents of the fridge. Chan can feel his eyes on his back even though he can't see him.

"You could've grabbed something, you know," Chan says as he pulls out a couple of cans of Coca-Cola. He slides one across the counter to Felix, and then closes the fridge, going for the cupboard instead. "Like, the only thing in this kitchen that's off-limits is the meat my mom's marinating."

"I wanted to eat with you," Felix says, and Chan shoots him a half-fond, half-exasperated look over his shoulder. Felix just sticks out his tongue as he pops the can open.

It's always been like this, almost as long as Chan can remember. He moved to the States with his parents when he was three, so he has very little recollection of anything before. He had one friend already—Han Jisung, the son of his parents' college friends. But he lived in a different neighborhood, and it wasn't always convenient for their parents to arrange times for them to see each other.

The house they moved into, the house that Chan and his family still live in now, fifteen years later, ended up being across the street from Felix's house. Felix was two at the time, but they were fast friends. Chan's little sister, Hannah, wasn't born until he was seven, so for a few years it was mostly just Felix keeping him company. They went to the same preschool, were constantly over at each other's houses for playdates. Chan, unlike Felix, was born in Korea, so he was held back for ESL reasons even though his English was perfect (racist, really, but unfortunately unavoidable). The upside was that this put Chan and Felix in the same grade.

Throughout their first few years in school, they began gathering a friend group. Some members were immediate—Chan made friends with a boy named Minho who had been held back just like Chan had; Felix appeared at lunch one day with a boy at his side. His name was Changbin and his parents had decided to wait an extra year before sending him to school, even though he just barely made the September 1st cutoff, unlike Felix, who'd missed it by a couple weeks. Age is a big deal when you're little, so they all bonded over being on the older end of their grade (Changbin and Felix freshly six and Chan and Minho nearly seven to their classmates' five years old). Soon their parents were arranging playdates every week.