I N S O M N I A { C H A N L I X }

十五

"Welcome back to your favourite Australia Daily News show! I'm Jane Bunn, and here is your news for the day. Today, at 7:49AM, escapee Caleb Lee was finally caught and put back into the hospital. He was the last of the escaped convicts and patients to be captured and returned back to the hospital, but all the escapees will be attending a hearing for attempting to escape."

Felix spat out his coffee, eyes wide. It had been a week since he passed out, starting to get a better sleep pattern with the medication Soyeon gave him that afternoon. 

"Holy shit!" Chris exclaimed, the other six looking to the two Aussies in confusion. They all tried distracting Felix from the fact that his homophobic stabber of a brother was out on the streets, and all of them completely forgot about it as a result. "Guys, Caleb was found this morning!"

Jisung gasped, leaping onto Felix next to him in the big café booth. Jeongin ushered Minho out of his way, the two switching places so Jeongin could hug Felix from behind Jisung.

Felix's eyes slowly shifted from wide and alert to small crescents as Chris hugged him from his left, taking his small hand into his own. Felix's smile only grew as he locked eyes with Chris. "He's back where he can never reach you, baby. You're completely safe from him now," Chris whispered. Felix just giggled and kissed him, cupping his face with his hand that was not being held.

"PDA! PDA!" Hyunjin hollered jokingly to the happy couple. The two pulled apart, giggling and resting their foreheads against each other for a moment before Jisung quite literally e n g u l f e d Felix in a bone-crushing hug.

"Jisung-Hyung, thanks," Felix said, the older only responding by squeezing harder.

"No problem, bro."

"Just one thing."

"Mhm?"

"Y-You're choking me," Felix choked out. Jisung went wide-eyed and loosened his hold on him, laughing at his own intensity. Felix just chuckled, pulling him close, but not with as much force. 

Chris raised an eyebrow, locking eyes with Jisung before smirking. "I thought you liked that, though," Chris said smoothly, making Felix turn around and clamp his hand over his boyfriend's mouth. The latter just chuckled, watching the blood rush to his face. Jisung just widened his eyes at the two, backing away slightly.

"And here I was thinking you two were gonna be the pure couple," Jisung said in fake-surprise.

"Did you really? Because I'm pretty sure that the first time we even did something like that was because of a dare YOU made!" Chris called out, making Jisung lean back against Jeongin and shrug. "And are you studying English or something?"

"I mean, I understood a lot, but the rest I can just assume," Jisung explained, Felix and Chris just nodding and smiling.

"We gotta celebrate somehow." As soon as the words came out of the maknae's mouth, everyone went silent in thought, pondering on what they could do to celebrate. The silence lasted for at least a minute. The only reason it broke was for someone to take a bite of a scone or slurp their drink.

Minho lifted his head up, a half-smile playing on his face. "I mean, I still have some alcohol-"

"Last time that happened Chan-Hyung gave me four hickies, I thought I got a tattoo, and I ended up passing out next to you and Jisung who probably, if not definitely, hooked up right there. Hard pass," Felix ranted, making the others laugh. Minho and Jisung just blushed, both chuckling and scratching their necks as they made eye-contact.

"How about a big sleepover?" Seungmin recommended, shooting a smile to Jeongin after. 'Okay, but the youngests are both so cUTE-'

"I mean, don't we already do that kinda?" Hyunjin questioned, referencing to the fact that they all usually ended up crashing at other dorms depending on who they talked to and for how long. For example, Seungmin ended up crashing at Chris and Felix's place because Jisung kept playing pranks on him that night. "Plus, that'll no doubt lead to alcohol."

"Well, I want all of us to be there and doing something fun," Felix sighed out, everyone looking to him as he looked down to his and Chris's entwined hands.

"Lixie, do you have something in mind..?" Chris asked hesitantly, not disregarding his boyfriend's slightly more melancholy tone.

Felix smiled slightly, glancing to Chris before raising his head fully and looking between everyone in the group. "Okay, well it's something that my friends back in Sydney and I would do in the Summer. Basically, we'd rent out a van for the week and would just go around to our favorite food joints and nature-thingys. We never went far into the outback or anything out of fear of running out of gas, but we'd still tour around."

Everyone looked at Felix with eager eyes now, looking to each other before nodding in silent agreement. Chris gave Felix's hand a tight squeeze, Felix's head resting on his shoulder. 

"So... Everyone's down to rent a van after finals and tour around South Korea?" Chris asked. not even needing the nods in response to know they were all in. Jeongin and Jisung started jumping up and down in their seats, making the other six chuckle at them.

"Okay, so finals end next week. So, therefore, we should be able to rent a large-ass van or tour bus for the whole week following them. Unless we wanna rent two vans, but I think the tour bus or large-ass van would be a shit ton easier because of gas." Changbin calculated, everyone nodding along to the smart student.

"I'll try to find a van or bus online, then I'll get back to tell you guys how much you need to put in," Chris offered, all of them agreeing with the responsible one.

"We don't have to sleep in it, either, so don't waste money on making it have beds or anything. There are tons of hotels and motels we can stay at whether we go to Gwangju or Incheon. But, if it's last resort, it'd be helpful if it's big enough for all of us to comfortably sleep in," Felix said wisely, Chris quickly taking note.

"Okay, so all we have to do is decide on a route, and then we're good?" Hyunjin asked, earning a nod and smiling ear-to-ear.

"Actually, my family used to take weekend trips to see my dad's side in Busan. If we extend that to explore some cities here or there, we can easily use the route," Jisung offered, going on his phone. Everyone else's phones beeped, saying Jisung sent them all an image. They all looked to see a map of South Korea with miles and a key and different landpoints.

"Nice! So... this is the official plan?" Seungmin said, everyone looking to the ones next to them and finally nodding in unison. 

Chris leaned back and threw his arm over Felix's shoulder, pushing him impossibly closer. "We're gonna have so much fun, baby," he whispered, giggling into Felix's orangey hair before sipping his coffee.

Felix simply smiled, remarking back on different memories from Australia: His friend Greyson found a baby koala on the side of the road and they brought it to a vet for Greyson to care for and adopt it; Felix was dared to throw a pen at an Emu and ended up driving a good ten miles away out of fear; and even his friend Marzia found a Tasmanian Devil in the woods and jokingly tried to "tame it." That trip ended with a ride to the nearest hospital, but it was still fun.

Without the Australian outback and animals, though, he didn't know how the cities and nature would compare to his home's. There was one difference, though: He had Chris, and that's all that really mattered this time.

'This may not be home, but I know my heart is both home and with him.'

(A/N Sorry it's shorter than usual, I just didn't want to force y'all to read through them renting a vehicle and all of that, plus I wanted there to be a cutoff for a time skip soooo yeah. Love y'all and hope you're having a good day)