wilted flower ─ changlix ✓

two

felix gazed longingly at the sky through the spindly branches of the trees above them. leaves decorated them in patches, the vivid reds and yellows looking out of place in the dreary weather.

sometimes he wished he could take changbin's hand and they could just... fly away. fly away from all of this. away from this stupid disease. away from all their troubles.

he almost scoffed to himself, wishful thinking. another forceful wind whisked past him, making his eyes water. the leaves on the trees tried desperately to hang on to their branches against the onslaught of wind, but lost the fight, falling around him like droplets of gold and amber. a frown made it's way onto his face as he saw something furling up into the sky.

"hey binnie?" he said, pointing up at it and turning to where the elder was crouched. changbin seemed to be in his own little world, but looked up as soon as he heard felix, "there's smoke up there, is that the direction we're supposed to be going?"

changbin seemed to snap out of a daze as his eyes followed the direction of felix's pointing. he saw the same steady stream of smoke disappearing into the dull grey clouds and moved to unzip their backpack and pull out their map.

felix quickly moved and crouched next to him, although his gaze was drawn to changbin's side profile rather than the map.

changbin had been growing thinner, whether from stress or lack of food, felix didn't know. maybe it was both. felix had been letting him eat more, and yet it hadn't seemed to help at all.

he placed his hand on changbin's shoulder comfortingly, causing the boy to look at him. felix noticed changbin's red eyes and tilted his head, "hey, your eyes are red. are you okay?"

"yeah yeah, i'm fine. just tired." changbin didn't look him in the eyes, instead he looked somewhere over felix's shoulder.

he did this a lot, something felix never understood. changbin had stopped making eye contact with him. he could always feel him looking at him, but would avert his eyes as soon as felix tried to catch him. he wished changbin didn't do that, because it only gave him false hopes.

it was clear changbin was lying, but felix didn't push it. he knew that changbin would only speak to him when he felt like it, so the only thing he could do was be there for him.

he squeezed changbin's shoulder softly before gesturing back at the map, "so, does the smoke have any importance to us?"

"uh, well," changbin jabbed his finger at a spot on the fragile paper. sure enough, there was a small village located on the map, falling on their path toward the bunker, "there's a village a day or two journeys away. i think that's where the smoke is coming from."

"does it fall in our way?"

"yeah, we could either go around it, which would add a few days to our journey, or we could take the shortcut through. then from there it's only maybe a day to the bunker."

"i'd say we go around," felix replied immediately, "there could be the 'infected' in the village, it's too risky."

"yeah, but we have a serious shortage on food and water, they might not last us those extra days," changbin countered, opening his backpack wider to show felix the insufficient supply of canned food and bottled water they had, "going through the village will give us the chance to loot for any extra food, maybe even weapons."

"but we don't even have weapons to defend ourselves in the first place."

"which is exactly why we need to go through the village, so that we can look for weapons."

felix sighed, trying to remain patient. he knew changbin didn't react well to annoyance, and so he tried to clear his head. once he had regained his composure, he tried again, "binnie, i still don't think it's a good idea to walk headfirst into such a dangerous situation."

"okay, how about this," changbin finally relented, "we travel up to the village and when we get there, we'll see if we have enough food to last us the journey around. if we don't have enough, we'll go through. how does that sound?"

"i really don't think right now is the time to be making bargains," felix rolled his eyes, but hesitantly agreed anyways, "fine. it's deal."

"good," changbin grinned. they fell silent as changbin packed the map back into the bag. felix watched him, a little concerned by the deal he had just made. however, a mischievous smile made its way onto his face,

"hey binnie?"

"hm?"

"you know how they seal deals right?"

"uh, by spitting on your hand...?" both changbin and felix grimaced. "lix i am not spitting on my hand."

"no no no, that's disgusting," felix shook his head, and changbin tilted his head curiously, "you seal a deal with a kiss."

changbin nearly choked on his saliva, "what?"

"a kiss, binnie," felix tapped his cheek with a teasing smile, "just one would be sufficient."

"oh shut up, lix."

"make me."

"i hate you."