𝚃𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚜 𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚖𝚢 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚞𝚙 - 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚕𝚒𝚡

-𝘛𝘸𝘰 𝘱𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘦

| "Your painting.. it's very beautiful." 
He smiled slightly.

Warmth spread in Chan's chest, replacing the tightening guilt he has felt last time.
Not only was he relieved but seeing Felix give him a small smile again, made him feel better as well. Though he didn't have the words describe it, it was for sure that for Chan having seen Felix not being his "usual" self felt off.
It felt wrong. And him being the cause of it makes this feeling worse. 

Chan couldn't help but respond to Felix with a quick smile as well, before breaking it down again to his natural expression.

"We should go clean up", the older said quickly as he realized he was still clutching onto Felix's small wrist. It's really slim. Is that still considered normal?
Hurriedly letting go of Felix's wrist, he started collecting the utensils they had used in order to wash them.

Both of them fell silent after Chan's words.
Though this time it wasn't such an awkward silence, with almost visible tension in the air. The atmosphere appeared quite peaceful.
Once having picked up all of their brushes, they made their way over to the sink - Felix with his brushes, Chan with his own.

While cleaning, the older couldn't help but notice the small dot on Felix's cheek again.
Believing it was just a splash of paint, he spoke up, "You got something there." He pointed towards the area on the younger's face.
Confused, Felix looked up, his eyes meeting Chan's only to quickly fish for his phone in his pocket and open the camera.
Felix's eyes widened the moment he realized what Chan had pointed at. Shit.

"Oh, ah, thank you - I'll go to the toilets real quick to get it off with some soap, okay?", his words rapidly falling out of his mouth.

"But there's soap right ... here."
However, Chan words didn't reach Felix anymore as he has already passed the door to the hallway.

Weird guy, Chan frowned.

He looked down at his now clean brushes, then over to Felix's. Deciding to clean the last remaining dirty one of the younger, he collected them all. After placing the brushes he didn't own on Felix's desk, he stuffed his own utensils in his backpack, before leaving the now empty classroom. He couldn't care less waiting for Felix to come back.
Today, he had been nice enough to the boy already.

Walking through the crowded hallways, he held his eyes open in hopes to spot his best friend. Just how much earlier did he leave the classroom?
Chan went outside, figuring he's probably somewhere on the school yard.
That's when he finally found Minho, but he was - other than what Chan had expected - not alone waiting for him. He was still talking to...
Jisung?

"There you are! I gotta say I was quite hurt by the fact you didn't wait for me.", Chan acted playfully offended. Once Minho recognized the voice of his best friend, he started grinning, forcing his gaze away from Jisung right into Chan's eyes.
"My bad, I got distracted."

The youngest out of them, turned to face Chan as well. Although the moment their eyes locked, both of their warm expressions vanished in a heartbeat.
"Felix is probably in the classroom. He should be done with cleaning by now.", the Australian boy said coldly.
"Good, I'll go check on him", Jisung replied just as sharp. "I'll see you around, Minho", giving him a warm smile before turning his backs on the two boys.

"What exactly did                    "What exactly did
you do in order for                 you do in order for
him to act so cold               him to act so friendly
towards you?"                                  around you?"

Both of them said in unison, only to end up with a confused expression on each of their faces. Minho grabbed a hold of himself first.
"I don't know about you man, but Jisung is really sweet."
"And another one of Felix's friends - in fact his best friend."

Minho just let out a defeated sigh. Neither did he want to nor did he have the energy to argue with Chan about Felix for the billionth time. His energy got drained by the other's stubbornness every time.
"You're unbelievable..", he whispered under his breath but decided to leave it at that either way. "Other than that, are you-"

"Oh wait, crap!", Chan interrupted Minho's words, "I must have left my headphones back in the Art-room."
"Huh?" Chan guarded these headphones like his life depended on these - which in his case, it most likely did - as he was always putting some scrambled lyrics or song ideas in the headphone case. So for him to leave them somewhere is extremely unusual, since he'd usually already notice by the weight of his bag wether he had them with him or not.

"Man, hurry up to get them then. Next lesson is in like 2 minutes or less."
"Go to our next lecture room, I'll join you there in a sec", were the last words before Chan quickly made his way back into the building, rushing through the hallways only to stop a couple of feet next the open door of the room.

"... okay but he really didn't do anything?"
Jisung's voice.

"I already promised you twice, he was being nice this time, really."
And of course, Felix's voice.

"I'm just worried because you also said you were fine after last lesson - but then ended up calling me crying in the afternoon."

He was crying?
Because of.. me?