— Chapter 20 —
"And this one was my favorite." She says, lifting up the giant bunny teddy bear. "I named him princess."
"Princess?" Felix repeats, "That's pretty."
"Thank you Lixie." Nabi says, getting shy and cuddling into the bear that is almost as big as her, if we are speaking realistically.
She turns her attention back to the other gifts, explain what they are and can do as well. Felix isn't fully paying attention, because he is fighting back literal tears. For the first time, he was called something other than 'mister neighbor' by the little girl. He feels like he belongs in heaven.
Hyunjin smiles softly at the two. He is sat with his legs crossed, holding a snowman coffee cup. Nabi bought him this cup with her uncle, and he loves it— even if it is kind of silly looking. He likes the sight of the two getting along, and how Felix cluelessly plays with the toys she keeps handing him.
"Drink the coffee!" She hands him a little teacup, or more so shoves it in his face.
He flinches a little bit, but chuckled and takes the cup as told. He sips it, pretending it's hot as she makes an apologetic face at him. She tells him she is sorry, and holds his hand for emotional support. He smiles at her, taking another sip of the imaginary liquid.
He turns his head to Hyunjin, who giggled at him when their eyes meet. "What?" He giggles out, seeing the other do so.
"Nothing, you guys are just adorable." Hyunjin says.
Felix smiles, turning back to the little girl who is now cooking with her plastic utensils she got this morning. While they are placing, the oven beeps, which causes Felix to snap his head to the kitchen.
"Ahh, I need too—" He turns to Nabi, who is pouting.
"No keep playing," Hyunjin jumps up. "I'll go check on them." He smiles.
Felix smiles at him, tilting his head. "Thanks."
Hyunjin winks at him, to which he blushes at looks away. Hyunjin chuckles to himself as he walks to the kitchen. When he reaches the island, he takes the oven mitt off the counter and slides it on, then opens the oven to check on the cookies.
He pulls them out, 'wow'ing at the perfect golden brown color. He takes his finger at pokes at them, smiling even more with how perfect they turned out.
"Are they good?" Felix yells from the kitchen, leaning back all the way to peek into the room.
Hyunjin smiles at him, giving him a thumbs up with a little nod. They need to cool for a little bit, so he moves the cookies to the other side of the counter and slides the mitt back off. He picks up all the wrappers and loose pieces of garbage, and puts the ingredients back— doing other little things to clean up afterwards.
After everything is set and cleaned up, he makes his way back into the living room. Felix now has an antler headband on, and is holding the bunny as he waits patiently for Nabi to finish making her food.
Hyunjin sits back down on the couch, minding his own business as he starts to flick through the different television channels. He reaches the Disney channel, which causes Nabi to look up at the TV. He notices her peeking, and decides to just keep it on the channel. She seems to be totally fascinated with the cartoons.
Felix takes that as his chance to go, and starts to slowly stand up and put the toys down. He sneaks off to the kitchen, half expecting it to still be messy. Hyunjin notices him leaving, and turns back to Nabi.
He gets off the couch and crouches next to her, poking her in the side. "Hey, Felix and I are going to be in the kitchen. Okay?"
She giggles at the poke, but nods her head. "Okay, can I stay in here?"
"Yeah." He says happily. "If you need us just come get us princess, okay?"
She smiled nods her head. He nods too, and stands back up to follow after Felix. When he exits the room, Nabi turns her attention back to the television. To a little kid, the little mouses and ducks are intriguing. She can't get enough.
Hyunjin walks into the kitchen startling Felix, who was poking at the cookies.
Hyunjin chuckles. "Did I scare you?"
He shakes his head bashfully. "No.."
"What are you doing anyway?" Hyunjin asks, coming closer on Felix's side, looking over his shoulder as he does this thing.
Felix blushes at the close proximity, holding back a smile. "I'm just checking the cookies."
"Ohh." Hyunjin hums. "How do they look?"
Felix nods his head. "They look good, but they are still hot." He says, poking the cookie yet again. "Do we should wait a few more minutes before we decorate them."
"You are gonna stay to decorate them?" Hyunjin asks with a certain tone in his voice.
Felix nods his head, turning around. "Well yeah, Nabi wanted me t—...." his words fade out, because he is now starting to realize how close they are now that he turned around.
Hyunjin smirks, but backs up so he isn't smudged against Felix. "I guess so then." He says, changing the focus to something else before the tension eats them up.
Felix nods his head, not really feeling confident enough to speak. He leans against the counter, and averts his gaze down to his hands. There are a few seconds of silence, as Hyunjin looks at Felix and Felix looks at the floor.
"So.." Hyunjin starts. "How are you holding up? I mean, this morning must have been hard." He says. He has wanted talk about this since he saw Felix, but he couldn't with his young daughter in the same room as them. She doesn't understand, but it's still a better move to keep her away from these things.
Felix finally raises his eyes to Hyunjin, and takes in a long drawn out breath. "I don't know. It's really a hard thing to talk about in general, but I don't think I am allowed to feel bad."
Hyunjin furrows his brows, tilting his head. "Why is that? It isn't selfish to feel bad."
"It kind of is though... given the circumstances." He says.
"What circumstances?" Hyunjin asks.
Felix sighs. "I don't know if I am allowed to talk about it with you." He looks back down to the floor for a quick second.
"I wont tell." Hyunjin says smoothly.
Felix looks back up to him, sighing as he finally gives in. "I just don't know. I don't think I... I can't feel bad." He says. "It's our fault this keeps happening."
"Oh come on." Hyunjin interrupts. "Don't say that. It is definitely not your fault, Felix."
"But it is." Felix emphasizes. "We aren't doing anything. We are doing absolutely nothing. Everything I said this morning about working on it is bullshit. We haven't even spoken about the murders yet."
Hyunjin raises a brow, but shakes it off. "Well that's not on you. You seem like you want to fix this, you just aren't allowed too. If anything, it is whoever is in charge's fault. Okay? You are doing what you're able too, which isn't much and that's not on you."
Felix smiles a bit. He doesn't know how or why, but Hyunjin makes him feel a lot better about this whole situation. Hyunjin just has a sense of empathy, and knows how to help. He gives really good advice, and is smooth with his words. Felix feels like he can believe absolutely everything Hyunjin says.
"Thank you.." he says. "I really—"
"Daddy, Felix!" Nabi comes running into the kitchen, disturbing the gloomy ambiance, and replacing it with a more lively, friendly one.
"Yes Nabs?" Hyunjin turns his body to her.
"Can we decorate now?!" She asks, holding the bunny in a headlock as it drags on the floor. "Pleaseeee."
Felix and Hyunjin both smile, Felix slipping out a few giggles. Hyunjin turns to Felix, looking for approval. When he gets a clear nod, he turns back to the little girl.
"I think we can Nabs." He smiles, swooping her up.
—
"Bye Nabi!" He waves his empty hand, the other holding the flower and Vanilla he brought over. It is almost dark, and he has spent basically the whole day at the Hwang's place. He didn't even realize the time since he was enjoying himself so much.
"And Bye Hyunjin." He smiles.
"Hey before you go." He says, stepping out on the porch in the cold weather.
Felix has rosy checks, from both the cold and his admiration for Hyunjin. Hyunjin comes a bit closer to him, as Nabi runs back into the living room for more warmth.
"I was thinking we could give our dinner another try?" Hyunjin asks. "For real, this time."
Felix shivers a bit, but his stomach feels warm and giddy and he can't help but smile. "You still wanna go out with me?"
"I never stopped wanting too." Hyunjin admits. "But.. would you be okay with going out with me? I can pick you up and look nice, or show up in sweats. Anything you'd like."
Felix giggles. "If you promises to dress nice and buy me flowers, I'll consider letting you pick me up on Tuesday at five?" He tilts his head, looking up at Hyunjin with admiration.
"I promise to buy you the nicest flowers." Hyunjin smiles.
Felix smiles too. "It's a date then."
He looks to his house, before he turns back to Hyunjin. "Goodnight, Hyunjin. Stay warm, I can't have you freeze on me."
"Goodnight Felix, I can say the same for you." He says.
Felix gives him a teasing look before turning on his feet, and starting to walk down the steps. He is halfway down them when Hyunjin speaks up again, making him stop his steps and turn back around.
"I don't get a kiss this time?" He asks slyly.
Felix rolls his eyes. "I'll give you a real one on Tuesday as an apology." He says, starting to walk off again.
Hyunjin can't help but smile like a dork.
I'll look forward to it, but mostly you.