Strawberry Milk - Jeonglix

15

Felix was beaming as he stood on top of one of the half-pipes, looking down at Minho and Hyunjin who were skating for once instead of smoking or sitting around. Minho was surprisingly great at skating for someone who didn't try very often, but Hyunjin was still learning. Minho teased him as he tried to skate up one of the ramps and failed.

Despite it being Thursday, Chan hadn't been able to make it to the skatepark. Felix was upset at first. He didn't enjoy being alone with Hyunjin and Minho as much as he used to in highschool, but they were still his friends so he tried to appreciate their time together. He skated down the half-pipe, the surface underneath him making a satisfying rolling sound against the wheels before he stopped beside Hyunjin.

"You need more speed and distance," he pointed out, skating over to where Hyunjin was trying to get up a ramp and then rolling back a bit further. After that, he used his left foot to push himself forwards and went rolling up the steep ramp with ease.

Hyunjin nodded, going over to where Felix began his demonstration and following exactly what he did. He managed to roll to the top of the ramp but wasn't so sure what to do once he got there. Instead of stopping his skateboard with his foot, he jumped off and let it keep rolling. It landed on the ground with a clatter and Minho chuckled, picking it up and passing it back to Hyunjin. "Maybe try to improve your stopping skills next time," he suggested.

"Yeah," Hyunjin smiled, placing the skateboard under his arm as he ran down the ramp.

"That was great though, well done!" Felix congratulated, a bright smile on his lips. He missed the side-glance Minho shot him.

"Thanks, Lix," Hyunjin said, placing the board under his feet and pushing himself towards Minho who had stopped skating to light a cigarette. He watched Hyunjin take one of the cigarettes out of the packet until Minho laughed at something behind him, catching his attention.

Felix turned around and saw a retracting figure. Jeongin. His shoulders were sunken as he made his way into the playpark, walking away from the skatepark gate he'd been standing by. Felix wondered why he hadn't walked in until he remembered what Jeongin told him not so long ago, 'your friends scare me...'

"Why did that freak start to come in here?" Minho asked, blowing out smoke from between his lips in a nonchalant manner.

Felix's smile disappeared as he snapped his head in Minho's direction, "what?"

"I asked why that freak was coming in here," Minho repeated, "it's fine though, I think we scared him off."

Felix pressed his lips together, trying to hold back what he wanted to say because if things escalated, Chan wasn't there to protect him. But it was hard for Felix to bite his tongue. He couldn't let someone get away with saying those things about Jeongin, not now that he'd been his first kiss. He felt a responsibility to stick up for him if Jeongin trusted him that much.

"Don't call him that," Felix said, his voice calm and composed for now, but he knew if Minho continued then it wouldn't stay that way for long, "he's not a freak."

"How would you know?" Minho asked, smirking. The implication of more than one use of the word made Felix's stomach twist into knots. Sick and disturbed knots. Minho wasn't allowed to say those things about Jeongin.

"Stop it," Felix shook his head, "leave him alone."

Felix was trying to stay calm. He was trying so hard and he could see Hyunjin looking at him with a begging look in his eyes, asking him to back down but Felix didn't want to anymore. It annoyed him that Hyunjin allowed him to act this way.

"Why do you want me to leave him alone?" Minho continued, making a point to purposely blow smoke in Felix's face, "I thought Chan was your boyfriend?"