OFF OF THE DEEP END | CHANGLIX ✔️

23. what's wrong?

home // breathe.

Changbin reclined backwards on the cocoon of blankets situated on top of his bed. It was one of those days where he blindly scheduled something on his calendar due to a random feeling of irrational panic late at night, only to discover some amount of weeks later that he'd severely misplaced and chosen the wrong date. Surprisingly, that situation recurred every several months. Changbin wasn't a necessarily busy person in terms of both work and social life, but he had an aversion to unplanned days where he acted like a slob on the couch. While the first couple hours were entertaining, he always quickly felt dissatisfied and shitty the rest of the day.

Jisung had invited him and Seungmin to his family's beach house, and Changbin's sleep-addled brain had planned it months in advance cleared his entire schedule for a week. Now that he was finally discovering his fault, it was too late to pick up extra shifts for a couple days. Extra gym days to make up for the excessive amounts of couch potato-ing and ice cream would have to work to consume his time.

He was midway done with scrolling through the vast chambers that held legions of shows when the familiar tone of his ringtone blared. It wasn't the muffled screaming that he reserved uniquely for Jisung, but a collection of beats he'd grown an affinity for during long sessions of programming. The bass reverberated through the flimsy couch cushions, and Changbin leaned over to fish it out.  

An unexpected contact met his eyes, the sparkling pink icon of the profile that he'd found while scrolling through the internet desperately for a suitable icon momentarily blinding him with its neon flashiness opposed to the dark room he sat in. It came as a shock to him, as he'd expected either Seungmin or Jisung  to continuously call him and complain over how lonely it was without "Momma Changbin" to watch over them.

Instinctively, Changbin clicked on the "accept call" button, a force of habit controlling his movements. Instantly he was hit with regret, both from the age-old rule of not immediately accepting a call to not seem desperate, and not thinking through his choices that could leave him in the flustered mess Felix often generated.

Forcing his voice to seem normal and eradicating the hints of nervousness from his impromptu decisions, Changbin spoke into his phone, "Hello?"

Muffled noises met his ears. Despite the volume turned up and the speaker mode put on, the sounds were indistinguishable in their essence but obviously human-made.

Wondering if perhaps Felix had a faulty speaker or was preoccupied with something, Changbin tried again to politely gain the idol's attention, "Felix? Are you there?"

The same sounds filtered through the speakers of his phone, this time louder and more defined. Through the crackly auto-tuned haze of the noises his phone let out, it was dimly reminiscent of something. The sniffles one made when inflicted by one of nature's most troublesome yet simple ailments, or the small slivers of emotion that escaped one trying to hold in racking sobs. That's what it reminded Changbin of, little breathy noises accompanied by what sounded like a stifled hiccup.

Worried, Changbin attempted once more to communicate with the unresponsive idol, "Are you okay?"

"Changbin?" The familiar voice, accentuated beautifully in its deep tone by the phone's quality. "I- I'm," there it was again, the stifled sob, "Are you free right now?"

"Yeah, absolutely. Are you alright, Felix? Is there anything I can do?"

"You're too sweet." A hiccup, another sniffle, "I'm sorry if I'm overstepping your boundaries, but could I come over if you're available? I just... need someone right now."

"Of course. I'll send you the address. Please... take care of yourself, okay?"

"I'll try. I'll be there as soon as I can okay? Thank you so much, Changbin. I really need this."