The Marriage Pact // Changlix

十八

Felix felt 18 again. Happy, carefree, alive. As long as Changbin was by his side. Now he was 24 and Changbin was back. Life was good.

"What are you listening to?" Changbin unplugged Felix's earphones and let his music play out loud. They were currently lazing in Felix's room, lying on his bed, as Seungmin and Jisung went out.

It was great how the two could just be with each other not doing anything and be satisfied. They just needed each other, no need for entertainment or talking. Each other's presence was all that mattered.

"You won't know the song, it's in English." Felix replied. Usually, he would get annoyed at someone taking out his earpieces but Changbin was an exception.

He watched his boyfriend stare at the wall, absorbing in the melody. Changbin could make his heart beat fast no matter what he did. Felix smiled faintly, resisting the urge to kiss Changbin right there and then.

"It's good, I don't understand it but I like it." Changbin spoke up right when the song ended. Felix's playlist was on shuffle and he had more than 2000 songs saved in it from listening to all kinds of genres. He hoped that the shuffle would be good to him and not play anything embarrassing.

A familiar melancholic tune made Felix perk up. He scrambled to reach for his phone and skip the song but Changbin grabbed the phone before he could and put it out of his reach.

"Give it back!" Felix begged just as Changbin questioned, "Hey why? This song sounds nice."

Felix groaned, flopping on his bed and turning away from Changbin. He loved this song, it was his favourite song. But it also brought a lot of depressing memories that he didn't want to think about now.

"Translate the lyrics for me." Changbin whispered, hugging the younger. Felix sighed contently, snuggling closer to his boyfriend. As much as he didn't want to, Changbin had a way of making him give in to things he was reluctant to do.

"The playgrounds they get rusty and your heart beats another ten thousand times before I got the chance to say," Felix tried his best to translate the English lyrics to Korean, occasionally stumbling a little and forgetting the Korean word for 'playground'.

Felix sang softly, "I miss you..."

He felt Changbin's arms wrap around him tighter.

"When it gets hard, I get a little stronger now," Felix's chest was tightening and the urge to cry was growing strong. "I get a little braver now."

He continued, "And when it gets dark, I get a little brighter now. I get a little wiser now."

Taking in a deep breath, he whispered out the last sentence, "Before I give my heart away."

The song continued but Felix was silent. Changbin too was quiet.

Felix admitted, "I listened to this song when I was trying to get over you." It was embarrassing to tell Changbin this, he felt weak and dumb.

But Changbin always could make him feel better no matter what the circumstances. "The lyrics are so sad, I'm sorry Felix... for all the crap I put you through. I thought you would be able to move on quickly." Changbin kissed the top of Felix's head and Felix could feel Changbin's breath blowing softly against his hair.

"It's okay, what matters is that you're here now. And that you won't leave me again." Felix crossed his fingers but uncrossed them when Changbin replied with an assuring "Of course love... till death do us part."

Giggling, he smacked Changbin's arm. "Are we married now?" He joked.

"Nope, not till we're 27." Changbin said and Felix widened his eyes.

Changbin remembered?

一

"He remembers!" Was the first thing Seungmin heard when he got back home. Deciding to entertain him, Seungmin gave Felix a quizzical look.

"Our marriage pact!"

Poor Seungmin was still confused. That's when Felix realised he never told his friends about what happened at the airport.

"The day Changbin left, we made a promise to each other. That we would get married when we turn 27 and aren't in love with anyone else."

"So you're getting married?" Seungmin asked and Felix let out an exasperated groan.

He rolled his eyes, "No you dumbass. Changbin still remembers the promise we made. That's so cute oh my god."

Before Felix could drone on about his boyfriend, Seungmin asked, "So is this legit? Are you guys actually going to marry each other at the age of 27?"

"Oh shit..." The reality of the situation suddenly hit the Australian and he began to spazz out. "Marriage? Wow, I mean yeah we love each other but this is... wow."

Seungmin smirked at the latter, "Don't worry about it now. You're only 24 and Changbin is 25. That's still quite a long while to go. And nothing guarantees that you guys will stay together forever for another 2... 3 years?"

Felix gave his friend the most horrified look ever and yelled, "Don't jinx anything!"

After chasing each other with Felix trying to hit Seungmin, Felix suddenly realised that something or someone was missing.

"Wait, where's Jisung?"

Seungmin casually replied, "With Minho hyung. It's a date but Jisung doesn't want to admit it."

Felix's jaw dropped, "Hold up, what? Jisung and Minho? Jungeun's friend? The guy who hosted that party? Since when?"

"Yes, yes. I honestly don't know much details but they hit it off pretty well at the party and the two of them became a thing ever since." Seungmin managed to reply to Felix's bombard of questions.

Felix felt bad. He was so caught up in his own life that he didn't spend enough time with his friends. How could he miss out on such an important thing? It's been years since Jisung showed any interest in anyone, Minho must be special indeed.

"How about you then?" Felix suddenly asked. "Anyone got your eye?"

His smirk made Seungmin look away. "Pfft nah man."

"Bullshit." Felix called him out.

Seungmin admitted, "Fine, maybe there's someone who's kinda cute and I kinda like but it's nothing serious. I don't think it'll last anyway."

Immediately, Felix began bombarding Seungmin with questions again, this time about his own love life. Seungmin sighed, "Go focus on Changbin and how you'll convince him to stay with your annoying ass for another 6 more years before you pry into my love life."

He quickly went to seek shelter in his own room but didn't manage to escape hearing Felix's enraged "I hate you!" and "I'm older than you, rude brat!"

Seungmin sassed back, "Only by 7 days, fight me!" He shut the door as fast as possible and locked it for good measure.

一

the song felix sang here is A Little Braver by New Empire which felix said was his favorite song in their self written profile and i have loved that song ever since. the lyrics fit too so i absolutely had to incorporate it inside. I'm sorry if this is getting kinda boring due to the lack of changlix moments but i swear that's gonna be more drama and cute ass scenes in the next chapters! im just trying to find a way to write fluff without it being too cheesy and having it nicely linked to the whole story hmm. thank you all who stuck by this kinda crappy fic with me till now though!!!