Charmer // Hyunlix

16 - Coming Out

"Whoa, that's awesome!" Yeji whisper-shouted. 

It was the Monday following the recording, and Hyunjin was telling Yeji about their plan while they waited for their class to end. 

"Yeah, I know! And they had Lixie, ah, er, Felix start the song with a really deep voice. You'll be blown away when you hear it!"

"Lixie? I knew you guys had gotten close but I didn't realize you guys were that close." 

Hyunjin couldn't help but blush. He was embarrassed for letting his nickname for Felix slip while talking to Yeji, whom he hasn't told about his new sexuality or fondness for Felix. 

Yeji could see Hyunjin's ears turn red in real time, and raised a brow at her older classmate. 

"Is there something you're not telling me?" she asked playfully. 

Hyunjin, however, was quite serious when he looked around the room to see if anyone was watching or listening to them, before leaning forward to whisper, "Promise not to tell anyone? Not even the girls?" 

Yeji's eyes widened at Hyunjin's sudden seriousness. She had never seen the older this serious before, and quickly nodded; eager to hear what he had to say. 

Nervous, Hyunjin cupped his hands around his mouth so that only Yeji could see his lips when he mumbled, "I'm gay."

Yeji's eyes slowly widened even more, and she almost screamed when she said, "Really?!"

Hyunjin quickly shushed her while a few of their classmates glanced at them. When every head turned back away from them, Hyunjin continued to whisper, "Yes. I figured it out a couple weeks ago."

"And you didn't tell me?" Yeji whisper-yelled, offended that a friend whom she thought to be close to didn't tell her something so important. 

"I didn't know how you would take it," Hyunjin admitted shyly. 

Yeji's expression softened, saying, "I support you, Hyunjin, truly. I think it's great that you were able to open up about it." 

Hyunjin smiled, relieved that Yeji was accepting of this new side of him. 

However, thinking that she's already connected the dots, Yeji asked, "What does that have to do with Felix, though?"

Hyunjin turned red and checked the room again before answering, "We're kind of, um, s-seeing each other." 

"I knew it," Yeji smirked, mentally patting herself on the back for figuring it out. 

Hyunjin, however, was quick when he clarified, "But we're not official yet!"

"Oh, is he worried since it's a new school?" Yeji asked, assuming that it was Felix who wanted to wait. 

"Um, actually it's...it's me. I'm pretty new to this romance stuff, and I wanna make sure that I'm doing it right," Hyunjin admitted, twittling his thumbs to keep his anxiety down. 

Yeji pouted her bottom lip, cooing, "That's really sweet, actually."

Hyunjin made immediate eye contact with her, saying, "Really?"

"Yeah! You care enough about him that you don't want to hurt him and make him feel uncomfortable. Honestly, that's already boyfriend material right there." 

The butterflies in Hyunjin's stomach stirred in excitement. He was always worried that taking their time could actually be hurting Felix, but if what Yeji said is how other people see it...

Meanwhile, Yeji continued to pout, groaning, "Why are all the good guys gay?"

The bell then finally rang, and Hyunjin and Yeji walked together to their next class. 

::     ::     ::

After school, the boys all gathered in the practice room to begin learning new choreography for their own song. 

However, instead of Seungmin and Jeongin being the last ones to arrive, it was Jisung and Minho. 

When the pair finally walked into the room, Changbin playfully scolded them, "And where have you been?"

"Ah, we purposefully came in late," Jisung smiled, looking at Changbin shyly. 

"Why's that?" Jeongin asked, tilting his head while looking up at his hyungs. 

"W-well..." Jisung started, or tried to, before turning to Minho for help. 

Minho chuckled as he looked at the younger and took Jisung's hand in his. Jisung blushed as Minho answered, "I was inspired by Hyunjin to take a chance and express my feelings, no matter how scary it is. I know Jisung and I have always been heavily flirtacious, but I finally confessed my feelings to him last night. And...he returned them."

"And now we're boyfriends!" Jisung butted in excitedly, swinging their locked hands into the air. 

The other boys clapped and cheered and whistled and danced. They had all known that the two had feelings for each other, and waited ever so patiently for one to finally come out and say it. 

When the hooting and hollering died down, however, Seungmin shouted, "Kiss!" while pointing at his hyungs. 

Jisung's face visibly reddened, quickly shutting it down by saying, "We're not there yet, Minnie." 

Hyunjin turned to look at Felix, whom he was sitting next to on the floor. He always found it hard to take his eyes off such a beautiful boy. 

And then Yeji's words filled his head.

 "You care enough about him that you don't want to hurt him and make him feel uncomfortable. Honestly, that's already boyfriend material right there."

Felix turned to Hyunjin who was still staring at him and smiled. Hyunjin smiled back and nudged the younger with his shoulder. 

It was the first moment in which it was killing Hyunjin to not hold the younger's hand in his. 

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A/N: I got some random motivation to write up this chapter real quick. I know it's kind of short, but I plan for the next one to be longer. And as always...THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL THE LOVE AND SUPPORT. YOU GUYS ARE FUCKING AWESOME. 😭🤧❤️