"Crikey" | Chanlix

Chapter 16 - camping; not glamping (part two)

By the time they had arrived, some of the boys were gathering their things as others looked around in amusement. "Nobody told me there wouldn't be mosquitoes!" Jisung exclaimed, evidently unimpressed as he flopped his arms around in the air; occasionally smacking himself.

Seungmin rolled his eyes at the brunette before speaking. "Honestly, Jisung. What did you expect?"

However, before the whiny boy could respond the youngest chimed in, reminding him. "Yeah, Jisungie! It's not glamping!"

The lively discussions of some of the boys acted as mere white noise for Felix, who chose to collect his stuff - this time without help - as he pleased. Truth be hold, Felix knew he could've done with a hand at carrying the hefty bags he chose to, yet as stubborn as he was he'd rather suffer through it. Despite this, it was fairly obvious to Chan that the younger blond needed help. As he walked over to Felix, the shorter blond spoke first.

"I've got it, thanks," he said in a frank manner. This caused Chan to furrow his eyebrows; he had not once seen Felix smile since they picked him and Hyunjin up that morning, and when Felix removed his hand from Chan's, the older boy certainly knew there was something as Felix was more than often quite an affectionate person. Especially since they were fake-dating.

"Oh... okay, sure," he responded, voice laced with uncertainty. A certain awkwardness surrounded them both, until they were ushered by Hyunjin to hurry up.

Once all of the boys had finally gathered their stuff and were together, Hyunjin stood in front of them; leaving the other eight in a sort of semi-circle formation as he began to speak. "So," he said as he rubbed his nape. "I didn't really have an itinerary... So does anyone have any ideas? We're all here for something, essentially," continued Hyunjin as he made brief eye contact with Felix who nodded in understanding.

"Are we gonna hike?" came from Jisung, asking warily as he raised an eyebrow. "I've had these boots for ages but now I can finally wear them, because, y'know, they've got the whole camping vibe. But I don't wanna get them dirty!" he whined, insisting after it was purely for the aesthetic. (Instagram, too, of course). Once he finished, he leaned into Minho's embrace, blushing at how the older boy grinned at him so sweetly.

"I think first we need to set up our tents," said Changbin as he made his way to stand next to Hyunjin; not noticing at how the younger boy's eyes widened slightly, or at how he tensed when he felt Changbin's fingers brush against his own. "

"It always good to start at the beginning," Seungmin quipped, earning a grumbled 'whatever' from Jisung.

Changbin then continued. "So we need to sort out sleeping arrangements. We have four tents between all nine of us. Three of us can go in the biggest one."

Hearing this, Chan chimed in immediately, with a solid idea, he thought. "Felix and I will have one," he said as he secured his arm around the younger's small waist, ridding off any gap that there was between them.

"Okay," Changbin said, looking at the two as if it were obvious. Felix glanced up at Chan as the older boy listened to the other sleeping arrangements (Changbin and Hyunjin, Seungmin and Jeongin then Jisung, Minho and Woojin), failing at attempting to frown.

Every time he looked at Chan or thought of Chan that morning, Felix was in a bad mood. He was confused and annoyed. Then confused as to why he was annoyed. Then annoyed as to why he was confused then steadily becoming  overwhelmed by it all. He hated that Chan's ex was so touchy-feely with his boyfriend- fake boyfriend, Felix quickly reminded himself. Instead of reciprocating Chan's sudden act of affection Felix merely presented a small smile.

As the day went on, and after several attempts to get their tents sorted out, the boys were exhausted. Yet Jeongin claimed he was 'never too tired for marshmallows, especially roasted marshmallows' and that's how all nine of them ended up around a fire, resting alas as they indulged in the whole camping atmosphere, none of them caring about the amount of mud or bugs. (Except Jisung). "This is nice," Woojin proposed, grinning contentedly as he watched the fire.

"I agree," said Jeongin, however it sounded more like 'I afwee' since his mouth was stuffed with marshmallows. Nonetheless, he received additional choruses of agreement alongside chuckles.

"Y-yeah," spoke Hyunjin lastly as he attempted to subtly shiver, despite the warmth of the fire ahead of him. This did not go unnoticed by Changbin, who, to the surprise of the younger placed a blanket around both of them, urging Hyunjin to nestle into his side - of which Hyunjin happily did, trying to contain his excitement and worry.

The tense air from earlier still surrounded Felix and Chan. It was not hot nor cold, but painful. Felix decided he couldn't rest like the others were doing. He found himself, once again, confused and annoyed. "I think I'm gonna call it a night," he said as he stood up, not even glancing at Chan.

"Oh... goodnight, Lix!" Jisung said, a few others too. Felix simply nodded before heading off to his and Chan's shared tent. From that moment on immediately, Chan felt tense. He had to find out what was going on with Felix, and so, he went back to their tent.

"Lix?" he said as he entered. "Can we talk about today?" he asked.

Felix turned to face Chan, showing no expression. "What about today?" The older boy sighed before rubbing his temple. "You've been... Off with me. You seemed fine yesterday at the party and then today you're annoyed —" Yet, Chan didn't get to finish. Not with Felix's outburst.

"Fine? At the party? What would you know? You were drunk and occupied," he spat. Chan's eyes had widened.

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "But I saw you and you seemed okay --" Felix let out a forced laugh before he heard any more.

"Okay that you were so close and handsy with your ex? Really? It was fake, Chan. Even this," he said, referring to his faked happy mood towards the others, "Is fake. The whole thing is fake and you know it!" he exclaimed, panting afterwards. That was the only noise that flowed through their tent. Felix had looked away in shame, as Chan stared at him in shock.
They were both so caught up in the deafening silence of the moment that they didn't hear the rustling of leaves and sticks being trodden on as footsteps made their way to the Aussie boys' tent.

'The whole thing is fake...' Jeongin thought, as shock plastered his face.

________________________________

oop
drama? yes
finally some angst i guess it's like lowkey tho
hope you enjoyed 😗