A/N Hello my lovelies! I'm so sorry for the delay, work has been crazy lately and I have had very little time to write. Either way, I promise I won't just quite writing and I have also been looking to finally update my other two ongoing stories. This story is fiction and is not in any way true, it is my own love of the members of Stray Kids that has me writing fiction about them. This story is very loosely based on my favorite show Sense8. Feedback fuels my writing so please let me know if you like what I write. If you want to be alerted when I update, you can follow me on twitter/ X at _eyes_wideshut. This is cross posted on Wattpad and AO3. I hope you enjoy!
Felix woke up to Changbin dressing and he caught the thoughts. "You are going to the Company to talk to the bosses about Park GinGu?"
Changbin turned and his eyes roved over his lovers. Felix caught the appreciation of the view. Hyunjin still asleep, facing away and the sheet wrapped around his waist and Felix up on his elbow, sheet down low on his waist. {C- Can't wait till you are all healed.} {F- I'm feeling better than I should... }
Changbin came over with a smile and sat on the edge of the bed and kissed Felix sweetly. "If you didn't constantly block your pain from us I would trust that more." He said gently. Felix pouted.
"I don't mean to. I promise I don't but seriously I am feeling way better than I feel like I should." He pouted some at the gentle rebuff.
"That's great, Beautiful. I'm glad. And yes, Chan and I are headed to talk about what happened yesterday."
"Should I come?" Felix asked. In part he wanted to but at the same time, he was nervous to hear anymore hateful comments.
"No baby, stay here and rest some more. Keep Jinnie company. Chan and I have this. Don't worry." Changbin kissed him tenderly. "Besides, the boss has asked to meet us first." His thoughts turned to JYP. Felix nodded.
Chan knocked lightly on the door and stuck his head in. Felix waved at him. "Hey, Lixie. Good morning. Did you sleep ok?" Felix nodded with a grin. "Good. We'll be back soon."
Felix watched them both leave and snuggled down next to Hyunjin and kissed his bare shoulder. He had the most beautiful lovers in the world. The man next to him stirred slightly and rolled, wrapping his arms around Felix. He woke up in the time it took Chan and Binnie to reach the Company. Hyunjin wiped the sleep out of his eyes; which should not look as attractive as it was, Felix thought as they watched Binnie and Chan arrive at an office.
"Good morning." JYP told them with a welcoming smile. The boys both greeted him with a respectful bow. "Thank you for agreeing to meet me first." He looked at Changbin. "I know we haven't always had the smoothest of relationships but I have always respected your professionality and talent."
"I'm sorry about that sir, you have been very kind to Felix..." Changbin said as respectfully as he could but his words cut off as his boss waved him off.
"I wasn't asking for an apology and you owe me none. I did what I did because I understand. What I need now though is your trust. I am going to come into the meeting. I may say a few things that sound counterintuitive, please trust that I have your back, and Felix's." The three men looked at each other and Chan let Changbin make the call. {C- What do you think, Beautiful?} {F- I trust him Bin. I know you have a history that doesn't mean you do automatically but I think we should. He has been nothing but kind to me and about our connection.} Hyunjin who had woken in the meantime also chimed in. {H- I think we should give him the benefit of the doubt until we have a reason not to. He understands what is going on more than the managers will because of his own experience.} Changbin nodded.
"We agree..." He hesitated. "Please don't hurt him." His voice took on a pleading tone.
"Changbin-ssi, I would never hurt connected on purpose. I know what that does." Mr. Park said gently. Changbin nodded.
"Then we agree." Changbin said and gave a nod of approval to Chan.
"Good then my idea is for you to suggest outside security for Felix. If you do that, I will ensure you all are taken care of." Changbin and Chan nodded.
With that the men left and headed into the large conference room.They took seats and several of the bosses filed in, including Park GinGu; the man who had so insulted Felix. Changbin couldn't hold back his snarl at the appearance of the man. The meeting started. One of their favorite managers started things. "Chan-ssi, you called for this meeting. What's going on?"
"As you know, we have brought Changbin and Hyunjin's connected Felix here. Both because they all feel pain at separation as well as the need to keep Felix safe after an attack." Chan paused slightly as Park JinYoung stepped in quietly and took a seat in the corner. He waved for Chan to continue.
Chan turned back to the others, his eyes flashing angrily at Park GinGu. "Last night, Felix came out with us in public for the first time. He was feeling very self conscious about the injuries from his attack in Sydney so Changbin asked...him..." his lips twisted with anger. "To have the makeup people cover his bruises for him. Instead he insulted Felix."
"How so?" One of the managers asked.
"He talked about his freckles being ugly!" Changbin burst out with. "He talked about how he was too tan and called him a slut."
"Bin." Chan said softly and put his hand gently on Changbin's thigh to calm him. "Calm yourself." It was said so softly that no one else could hear. He turned back to the others. "It is very apparent that he didn't believe in connections."
"Many people don't," Another manager said. "We do find this very hard to believe and regardless, it would be a perfect way for someone to worm their way in. I will admit that several of us are suspicious of this...of him."
Changbin's legs tensed to jump up but Chan squeezed his thigh slightly and Felix and Hyunjin worked in tandem to calm him.
"I understand that you don't." Chan said. "In all honesty it was very hard for me to believe as well. I took quite a bit of convincing at first and they had to prove it to me." He leaned forward, eyes hardening. "But either way, whether you believe it or not, we are telling you this is the truth and we also will not tolerate any slurs against Felix. Period." He gave a hard look to all the managers. "Period. " he reiterated. "Consider him one of us."
"Really Chan-ssi I don't think you are in a position to make such demands. Park Gingu is a well respected manager here and he has promised to keep such thoughts to himself from now on." One of the other managers said. "So to us, the problem is resolved. It still doesn't explain why we need this meeting."
Changbin's eyes radiated the rage he felt. "You get that I see, hear and feel everything he does, correct?" He spat out.
"Well that is what you say." The man responded dismissively.
"It's true." Changbin ground out. "Right now he is listening to this whole conversation and HE is actually worried that HE is causing damage. That's what you don't get about Felix. He is the last person who would ever do anything to hurt us. He has willingly taken on pain so that Hyunjin and I don't feel it." Felix could feel Chan's hand tighten on Binnie's leg at that piece of information but his face betrayed nothing. "He tried to stay as in the background as he could but it just wasn't possible. I know you don't understand it or like it but I don't care. You look at him, you see me. That's just the way it is. We are connected."
"Mr. Seo, I understand that your boyfriend is exerting influence..." The man's lips curled at the word boyfriend but he quieted as JYP stood.
"I came just to sit in on the meeting and find out what happened to make such a valued idol of JYPE demand this meeting. You all know my stance on gays." The various men around the table nodded and a few smirked at Chan and Changbin. "I always said none of my idols would be gay and especially not out."
"Exactly." The managers agreed. "Your relationship with this boy is unauthorized and is not approved."
Chan and Changbin shared a look. "Perhaps if our company can't be trusted to protect a beloved person, then we should have outside security hired for him." Changbin said. "To protect him from random people, our fans..." His eyes hardened "and our company apparently."
The managers laughed. "You want us to PAY to protect this random boy?" Park Gingu said incredulously.
JYP spoke up. "We wouldn't pay for a random boy to get protection. We only get protection for our idols."
GinGu smirked again. "Exactly."
"However..." Chan watched the manager's get a wary look except the one who they really liked who hadn't appreciated this whole conversation and suddenly looked like his faith was being restored. "Chan and the kids are our biggest revenue makers at the moment and this appears to be very important to them." JYP looked around the room. "I know that connections are a relatively new phenomenon and hard for us to believe and understand so making financial decisions based on them makes no sense."
He stepped forward and put a hand on Changbin's shoulder. "However, I know for a fact that he, Felix and Hyunjin are connected. I saw the proof of it when I went to Australia to sort all this out. They have proved it to me. I also took some time to get to know the young man they connected to. I know this is not a position any of us expected to be in. We haven't planned for how to protect and treat someone who isn't an idol, isn't under any contracts or NDAs. It makes this extremely hard to deal with. I can understand your frustration for being forced to deal with all this." He told the managers.
He turned to face Changbin and winked. "However, as I said, I know they are telling the truth and we have to find a way to make this work, particularly since we don't want to lose a group this talented. So I propose this. We have only the managers the whole group including Felix is comfortable with and additionally, since he isn't technically part of JYPE we can't have our security protect him so I think we should get him private security. People he is truly comfortable with until such time our security can be trusted to protect him from ALL threats."
"But Boss-nim..." GinGu started but JYP held up his hand.
"I really think YOU are the last person who should be speaking in this meeting. You could have caused the entire group to break contract with the mess you made last night. While I may not like the situation we find ourselves in, I also know these men well. I know what they are capable of and I know what they will do to protect their own. They consider Felix one of their own. We will have to figure out a way to make it work. You will have no more to do with the group." With that order he strolled out as if he had not dropped a bomb.
"Changbin-ssi, you have created a mess..." the manager froze at the raised eyebrow Chan gave and his voice trailed off."
Changbin and Chan had a silent discussion as their eyes moved across the managers in front of them. "Manager Song, Manager Lee and Manager Kim are the only managers we will accept working with going forward." Chan said, his voice allowing no room for discussion. The three men he had named stood and bowed to the duo and they returned the motion. "The rest of you will have nothing further to do with Stray Kids or with Felix. You will not come near him again."
With that they stood and left. Changbin froze as Felix read a text. {C- FOUR?} {H- Holy shit!} "Bin?" Chan asked when he realized Changbin was frozen in the middle of the hallway.
"Lix got a message from Nate. He found a four person connection!" He said excitedly.
Chan's eyes widened. "WOW! That's huge!" He waited as Changbin had a silent conversation as he got in the elevator and followed Chan out to the car.
"Felix is waiting for us before he calls." Changbin finally told him. Chan could tell he was practically jumping out of his skin.
They got to the dorm quickly though for everyone it felt like it took years. They hurriedly joined the others and Changbin kissed Felix's temple and took a seat next to him on the couch. Felix looked around at the others who had gathered as soon as they heard via Hyunjin's blast to their group text.
Felix picked up his phone with a shaky hand and hit the button to call Nate and put it on speaker.
"Felix! Good! You got my message." Nate's voice came through, a tone of happiness at being able to help clearly coming through.
"Four?" Changbin asked in English.
"Is that Changbin?" Nate asked. "Yes four! Can you believe it?"
"Yes it was. You are on speaker and everyone is here." Felix told Nate. "How did it happen?"
"I will let them tell you their story, they have given me permission to give you their contact information. But it is two men and two women. It is a romantic connection and they have had it for 9 years so far. They are raising their children together. They are understandably not out to the public so they do not want their information out there."
"We understand." Felix said. "They are ok with me calling them?"
"Yes. Honestly they were excited about another group larger than two." Nate told him and they could hear his smile. He relayed their contact information and Chan wrote it down.
"And all four are connected?" Changbin asked.
"Yes. All four are connected." Nate told them. "I'll keep looking for more but go ahead and call them. They were very eager to talk to you." The group thanked him and hung up.
Felix looked around at the others in question. One by one they nodded and he dialed the number again putting it on speakerphone. The ringing echoed through the otherwise quiet room and they collectively held their breath. "Hello?" A woman's voice answered. They all froze for a moment. "Hello?" She asked again. {C- Talk to her, beautiful.}
The reminder spurned him to finally speak. "Hello. Is this Jan?" Felix asked, his voice trembling slightly.
"Yes?" Her voice crackled over the line. "Is this Nate's friend?"
"Yes." Felix agreed. "My name is Felix. I'm....We....um...we are..."
"Connected." She said gently. "You are new to this aren't you?"
"Yes." Felix answered sheepishly with a chuckle. "I should tell you that there are additional people listening in right now because of our um...situation."
"Yes, Nate said your circumstances were special ones. It's ok if others hear as long as it isn't published anywhere. We aren't out to our neighbors, they think we are just close friends."
"I understand. Let me introduce myself. I'm Felix. Felix Lee. I met my first connection at a mall in Sydney. He is...he is um...he is famous so I won't say his name if thats ok..."
"It's ok, Felix." She said gently. "You don't have to give any details you don't want to."
"Thank you. Anyway, he and I connected and didn't understand it." He took a deep breath. "Well I guess it really doesn't matter because we did an interview about it so his name is already out there." He looked at the others and they all nodded their agreement. "Yeah so he is in a musical group. They were at the mall to do a meet and greet with their fans and I was there shopping. We locked eyes and connected but we didn't actually talk or anything." He laughed. "At least not out loud." She laughed too.
"I know how that is. My husband Peter and I were at a barbeque with some friends and I met Tina. She and I connected instantly but we didn't understand what was happening and we were afraid to speak up about what was happening. A week or so later I invited her for dinner so we could try to figure it out and talk to Peter about it. She and Peter connected and then when her husband came to get answers he connected to us too. Finally Peter and I connected as well. It has been confusing and wonderful and at times really really hard. We had a duplex built and since Peter is a contractor, after construction was done, He and David installed an interior door between the units so that we can live in one house but appear as if it's two. Our children...well we raised them together so they think of themselves more as siblings."
"Nate said you have been connected for nine years?" Hyunjin said.
"Sorry, that is one of my connected, that is Hyunjin. His group has seven members and two of them are in my connection. The other members are here too since this affects all of them."
"And you Lix, this affects all of us, including you." Changbin said softly. {F- I know. I love you. Thank you for thinking of me.} {H- Always baby.}
"He's right. It affects all of you. I understand them being there. That's ok. They are supportive though, right?" She asked hesitantly.
"Yes!" Felix burst out with. "They have been amazingly supportive!"
"After they finished calling me crazy." Hyunjin said with a laugh and all of them joined in.
"It can be so hard, it's so important to have a support system. I'm glad that they are there for you."
"They are. Would it be ok if I asked you some questions?"
"Of course! We're happy to share information."
By the time they had hung up, they had all spoken to all the connected in Jan's group and had gotten some great information to help them with ideas for moving forward and what they could anticipate. They all were breathing a little easier at knowing their direction and what to expect for the future. The group spent the rest of the day talking and making plans. Knowing that there were other groups like theirs helped them so much. Felix relaxed into Changbin's arms while Hyunjin cuddled against him.
"So does this mean you need to join Stray Kids?" Jeongin asked. "They talked about it becoming more and more difficult to be apart. While Felix can work from anywhere and he can tour with us, there are times when we are split up and it will become really hard. From what they said, harder each time. He can sing and dance and he has already been added into a song."
"It's up to Felix." Changbin answered firmly. "He loves his job. I'm not going to force him to make that decision. And none of you are either."
"We wouldn't do that, Bin." Chan answered before turning to Felix. "But that said, it really is up to you. And you don't have to decide at any time. Just if and when you ever decide, we will make it happen." Felix smiled around the room at his recently found family and his connected. He had never realized how close he could feel to a group of men and how much they would accept and love him for who he was.
Knowing and finally understanding why Felix was healing so much faster than they had expected, definitely had the others relaxing around him. Learning that his empathy enabled him to not just pull pain from the others but also to use the love they had for him to tap into their own healing to heal himself. They had learned that every group of multiple connected; and there were more of them then they had imagined, there was an empath like Felix. Someone who unknowingly absorbed the bad and added to all the good. The way Changbin had pulled Felix into his arms and kissed his temple, made him smile. Felix knew, no matter what, he would be loved and protected for the rest of his life. He couldn't ask for more than that. He knew he would be making some decisions about his career and his life but there was no pressure. For now he could take his time letting Stay get to know him.