Felix woke up the next morning with a pounding headache, one worse than any he remembered experiencing before. He opened his eyes but the light filtering into the room from a gap in Chan's curtains was enough to make him squeeze them shut again. He groaned, turning over and burying his head into the pillow. Chan chuckled beside him and the sound was enough to make Felix clamp his hands over his ears.
"Channie, shush, you're too loud," he complained, hands remaining over his ears as he felt the bed dip beside him and then footsteps on the floorboards. He opened his eyes a few centimetres to see Chan getting up and stretching out his arms. "How drunk was I?" Felix whispered.
"Oh, God. First of all, you started doing those video-game dances on the coffee table in my living room. Then, you started crying and nobody knew why but Minho kept saying it was because you're still a virgin-" Felix rolled his eyes, "then you made fun of him for being practically just as inexperienced as you and he was moody for the rest of the night."
Felix scoffed, "how do you remember so much? Weren't you smashed too?"
"I stopped drinking after never have I ever. You guys continued for hours after that. I don't think you fell asleep until six am."
Felix hummed, rubbing at his eyes, "what time is it now?"
"Just gone twelve."
Felix sighed as he fell back against the pillows. "I'm going back to sleep," he mumbled, pulling the duvet back over his shoulders and letting his eyes fall shut, "wake me up...never, please."
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Minho's head was in his hands as he sat at the dining room table, too nauseous from his hangover to eat the cereal in front of him. Hyunjin was across from him, eating his own bowl of cereal, no way near as wrecked at Minho despite drinking more than him.
"You're not as cool as I thought you were," Hyunjin stated.
Minho looked up with a scowl on his face, "what's that supposed to mean?"
Hyunjin shrugged, "you act like you're experienced and shit but turns out, you're almost as innocent as Felix."
"I am not as innocent as Felix," Minho grumbled, reaching for his glass of water and downing the whole thing in a couple of gulps. "I've done a lot more than him."
Hyunjin chuckled, "I didn't mean it as an insult. It's cute."
Minho glared at Hyunjin again before dropping his head into his hands and groaning loudly. "I wish this fucking headache would go away."
"I can help," Hyunjin grinned as he got up from his chair and moved into the one beside Minho. Minho removed his hands from his head, eyeing him suspiciously. Hyunjin leaned forward and pressed his lips to Minho's forehead, still grinning when he pulled back to see Minho raising an eyebrow.
"That would have been nice but you have a lip ring and all I felt was cold metal," he mumbled, a partial lie to distract from the fact it had been nice. "How do you even kiss with that?" Minho asked before realising what he'd fallen into.
Hyunjin wiggled his eyebrows in a way Minho almost laughed at, but his next words prevented that. "Want to find out?"
For a second, Minho froze. Doubt raced through his head, questions of whether it was a bad idea or not. Then, he shrugged, deciding he didn't have much to lose. "Yeah, fuck it."
Hyunjin moved his chair closer to Minho's, their knees knocking against each other as Hyunjin placed a hand on Minho's cheek. His slender fingers were cold against Minho's skin as he pulled him forwards, into the kiss. Their lips connected in something that started off soft. It wasn't how Minho expected Hyunjin to kiss him. At first, the lip ring was weird. It was in the centre of Hyunjin's bottom lip, not exactly subtle, but once he got over the initial feeling of it, it seemed to disappear. Minho's thoughts kept flowing back to it though. It was one of Minho's favourite things about Hyunjin's physical appearance. Something about a round hoop in the centre of his lips made him so much more attractive.
As Hyunjin deepened the kiss, pressing against Minho's lips with more passion, Minho couldn't stop the temptation to run his tongue over the metal, accidentally chuckling at the feeling of it. Hyunjin pulled away from him with an amused expression. "So, whatcha think?" He asked.
"Weird," Minho admitted, "but I liked it."
"You liked kissing me?" Hyunjin teased, leaning closer so his lips were centimeters away from Minho's, breath warm against them, "want to try it again?"
"Yeah...just to make sure."
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It was easy for Felix to pretend he was ok when he was around his friends. Maybe, for those few hours with them, he really was ok, but as soon as he was left alone, the painful feelings came back. It was Sunday evening when he walked back from Chan, Minho and Hyunjin's house and his earphones were lodged in his ears, blocking everything out with his favourite song, but even that wasn't subduing the feelings much.
The sun set behind him as he walked down the quiet street. When he walked past the park, he couldn't help but look towards it, hoping to see a certain person sitting on the swings or maybe the bench, but both were empty. The whole park was empty and the skatepark too. Felix continued down the road, unable to keep the memories he'd shared with Jeongin out of his mind.
He passed the entrance to the field he'd taken Jeongin to and usually, when his head was a mess like it currently was, he went there to relax, but the field had been tainted so bittersweetly. One of their first few kisses had been shared there and every time he went back it was all he could think of. He wished he could kiss Jeongin again, but that was starting to feel impossible.
He reached his house, pulling out his headphones and kicking off his shoes after accidentally slamming the front door a bit too loud. His mother rushed out of the kitchen and saw the same miserable expressions on Felix's face that he'd been wearing all week. The night at his friend's house hadn't cheered him up like she'd hoped it would.
"You're just in time for dinner," she smiled.
"No, thanks. I'm not hungry."
"Ok, well come and sit with us anyway. You've barely talked to us all week."
Felix groaned, "can I please just go up to my room? I don't want to talk."
"No," his mother shook her head, "you've been distant all week, Lix. I want you to come and spend some time with your father and I."
"Whatever," Felix mumbled, dropping his phone onto the side table beside the door and making his way into the kitchen with his mother, not having the energy to put up a fight. He was so drained. When he entered the kitchen, he saw his father sitting at the long table. Felix remembered kissing Jeongin there for the first time. He huffed as he sat himself down in the chair across from his father, in the one Jeongin had been sitting in when he patched up his knee.
"How was the sleepover?" His father asked as his mother started plating up food for their meal. They'd been waiting for Felix and despite his aversion to wanting to be there, he couldn't help but feel a little grateful.
"A sleepover makes it sound like I'm a kid, dad," Felix mumbled, leaning his chin in his hand and absent-mindedly running his finger over the edge of the rose-gold placemat in front of him.
"Alright, how was your evening then?" His dad corrected himself. Felix's mother placed their plates in front of them and collected her own food, sitting down at the head of the table, in between the two men.
"It was fine," Felix shrugged, picking up his cutlery and starting to dig into his roast dinner. He'd said he wasn't hungry but it was a lie. He was starving. As he ate, too concentrated on his food, he didn't notice the looks of concern his parents were sharing with each other.
"Honey, what's wrong with you this week?" His mother asked, "did something happen?"
Felix looked up from his plate and shrugged, "no, everything's fine."
"Are you sure?" His mother asked, not believing him for a second, "because Jeongin wasn't at church today and he never misses church. Did something happen between you?"
Felix's face paled, "he wasn't at church? Why? Did something happen to him?"
"I don't know, honey. I asked his father about it but he didn't give much of an answer, he just said Jeongin wasn't feeling the best and he'd gone somewhere for a couple of weeks."
Felix's appetite faded and he placed his cutlery down on his plate. His parents watched as his eyes fell to his lap, a miserable look reinstated on his face. "Lixxie," his mother said, placing a hand on his shoulder, "what happened, honey? You can talk to us, you know."
Felix sniffled, swiftly using his hands to wipe his eyes when the tears started to fall. He hoped his parents hadn't seen but it was obvious. Someone a hundred miles away could have seen he was crying. "I- um, it- it's my fault," Felix admitted, "I accidentally told him something he wasn't meant to know and now he's hurt and- and Seungmin is mad at me and won't let me see him." His mother patted his shoulder and a small sob left his lips. "I...I just miss him," he admitted, voice breaking at the end.
His mother wrapped an arm around his shoulder and pulled him into a hug. His father watched with uncertainty as to what he was supposed to say or do. "It's going to be ok, baby. He's going to be fine and you'll see him again before you know it, ok?" She said as she patted Felix's back, his head on her shoulder.
"Ok," Felix whispered, not entirely convinced by the words but his mother being there to assure and support him brought more comfort than he thought it would. It was as if a weight had been lifted off his chest and despite the tears rolling down his cheeks, he was starting to think that maybe everything would be ok. Maybe it wouldn't be the same, but maybe it would be ok.
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Can I get a uhM,, girlfriend plsss. I love girls, I love girls, I love girls,,, I'm so gayyyy. Anyway, this chapter is fitting because I just woke up after a party with my friends 🤪🤘🏻