LUNCHBOX FRIENDS | changlix

.20

after shooing hyunjin back to his own house, felix reached his with incredible difficulty. today's practice had him tired to the bone, and having to explain jeongin likes bad boys. you know, eyeliner, leather, motorcycle... to hyunjin, and still witnessing as the gears turned inside hyunjin's head as he had slowly said, thoughtfully, "my cousin has a motorbike," drained the remains of felix's mental energy supply.

he opened the doors with shaky hands, climbed the stairs with dragging feet, and when he dropped onto the mattress, the fabric felt like clouds.

---

me

yupp

my parents are out of town

if u want to make progress on the project...

u can just drop by :)

"i just realized," changbin mentioned, when felix closed the door behind him. "i've never seen your parents."

felix chuckled awkwardly. "well, sometimes it feels like i live alone."

"lucky," changbin said, and they walked to felix's room.

it was of extreme importance that felix and changbin spent the beginning of saturday making the report so they could restore their grade and not completely fail. but they couldn't be too caught up with it. felix had spent the whole week working for seungmin and was still on bc: year 10. he felt like dying. at least the dead rested in peace.

they needed to get extra early to the senior campfire party, before jimin got too drunk and couldn't remember the ouija board scheme.

once changbin had sighted the egg, he made a beeline toward it and sat on the desk, eyeing felix's new egg design: a hitler moustache, paired with the shaky sketch of a beanie around the narrowest part.

he took it in his hand, examining it like a scientist discovering a new species. "felix," he began, carefully. "do you want me to bring it home with me? like, from time to time?"

felix unzipped his untouched backpack to fish out his notebook and pencil case. "you want to share custody?"

it took a moment for changbin to agree: "yes..." he drawled. "you know, is this assignment really that important? i mean, everyone hates mr kim. not only the students. we can always ask to change classes, the principal will probably understand."

"but- but we can't!" what other excuse would they have to meet at felix's place... in his room? they could still meet for the sake of changbin's blackmail, but that could be done by janet wilson's old room, dusty and public, instead of felix's private, loving home. "don't you wanna know if mr kim is responsible? i mean, it's really convenient you've gotten blackmailed since he moved here."

still analyzing the egg, changbin frowned. "yeah. it's very suspicious. but, well, still, is it worth--"

felix snatched the egg off his hand. "so, the party tonight, are you going?"

"yes?" changbin inclined against the desk chair. "i don't know, i'm not exactly in the mood, you know? i'm tense all the time..."

"the party will take the edge off, for sure!" felix hurried next to him, massaging his strong shoulders over the fabric. it made no sense that changbin didn't play any school sport. "look, i've got a lead."

"you have?" changbin's tone was suspicious. felix felt a bit challenged.

"of course i do!" he insisted. "it's a long story, but we need to take jimin to that cabin in the woods."

suddenly, changbin got up, "no way!" he said, "i'm never going there. are you crazy, felix? they say whoever lived in that place had a pact with the devil or something."

"exactly!" felix beamed. "so, we take him there, set up the ouija board, and make it seem like the spirit of his aunt is telling him to stop hitting on jungkook."

"and how would that benefit us? what even is this jimin person?"

"it's a long story," felix said, trying to take his shoulders on his hands again, "but trust me, it's taking us somewhere. i can feel it. you know who also wants jungkook? kim taehyung, mr kim's son!"

changbin's face lit like a christmas tree. "so it isn't just... what'd you call it? 'seungmin-duties?"

partly. "it'll all turn out just fine," he said. "as long as we go to the campfire party."

changbin bit his lower lip, thinking. felix could detect just the smallest traces of makeup, as though he'd rushedly wiped it off before coming here. "so, is that all there is to the plan?"

"what?" felix had trouble connecting back to reality.

"i mean, we take him into the woods, somehow break into the cabin, and then, what, you expect to have an ouija board just lying around?" changbin seemed to have fallen into the start of a rambling. "we have to plan things more thoroughly, felix, it's serious stuff. this is not a game."

"i know it isn't, that's why i need you to plant the ouija board in there," felix pointed to where the package leaned against the wall. earlier that same day, felix had to move heaven and hell to find an occult store in town that actually sold magical items, not just herbs and spices. he paid good money for it, but well, who was there to tell on him? "and that'll be half the work."

changbin's bulky shoulders, under felix's palms, shook with the heavy exhale he gave. "well, okay, that explains it."

felix massaged the muscle of his arms absent-mindedly, trying to disconnect from seungmin's words and instructions. all that came to his mind from yesterday was how changbin stood up for his defense. even just to defend his athletic honor, changbin had challenged seungmin for him.

he ran his palms over the fabric of changbin's shirt, feeling every ridge and smooth decline, like a hiker mapping out a mountain.

"you know, i really appreciate how you stood up for me yesterday," felix said.

changbin merely answered with a questioning sound.

"when seungmin was bad-mouthing me. well, starting to," he cleared up.

changbin's mouth shaped into an o of understanding.

"no one..." felix choked out, "no one has ever done that for me. like, you know, defend me and stuff."

changbin shook his head, "i... i, i was just doing what's right," he said. "i mean, who he thinks he is, ordering you around like sheep? he's lucky i don't go to the gym to beat up people like him, it's all for... aesthetic purposes."

as changbin assertively uttered those words, felix's head, as though automatically, attracted by the magnetic pull of changbin's face, had come closer and closer. felix only noticed this once their eyelashes were almost touching, and changbin's rambling ceased to a halt.

but just like breaking from a spell, as soon as felix felt the whisper of changbin's lips against his, felix also felt hands on his own shoulders, pulling him away. "but what if jimin doesn't believe in it? or, like, he just doesn't listen to this aunt of his? what are we going to do? have you thought about that?"

felix let go of changbin's shoulders, defeated. he could barely keep his professional life above the water. how did he ever think that he could keep his personal life, too?