The window in Hyunjin's bedroom was covered by a black-out curtain, so no matter what time it was, the room received the same amount of UV rays. This didn't, however, apply to noise.
Hyunjin whined at the sound of metal clanging and voices loudly conversing. He turned to face the wall and made a ball with his body. His mind faded in and out of reality.
"Changbin give me that!" "Nuuuu! Binnie wants to cook!" "Ack! Changbin! It's hot and you almost spilled it on Felix!" "What is happening?" "Go away, Jisung, no one wants to see you." "Jinjin! That was mean!" "Oh. Yeah. 'Cause you're never mean. I see how it is." "I will dump this boiling water on you." "Changbin! Stop chasing me!" SPLASH
"FELIX!" Hyunjin shouted and sat up, panting, a layer of sweat covering his body and his sheets sticking to his skin. He paused for a second to glance around his room and calm down his heartbeat. He kicked off his blanket and comforter, shivering at the loss of heat.
A second later, his bedroom door eased open, bathing his room in light like someone had cut a slice of pie out of the darkness. His mother stood in the doorway and cocked her head to the side.
"Everything okay, Baby?" Hyunjin sat, heels touching, hands loosely resting in between his legs, and shoulders falling forwards. He turned his head enough to meet her gaze and nodded before staring back at his hands.
"Okay, well I'm glad you're up, you slept in quite a bit."
"What time is it?" Hyunjin croaked out and lazily reached behind him and felt under his pillow for his phone.
"11:30. You have about thirty minutes to get ready then we're leaving for the park." His mother said in an authoritative way.
Finding his phone, he confirmed the time, squinting harshly at the bright light, then pushed the device into his mattress face down.
"Okay, I'll be out in a second." Hyunjin said with closed eyes and a groggy voice.
He waited until he heard his mother close the door and fell back on the bed. He rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands and ruffled his hair. He flopped his arms down and stared at the ceiling, trying to decide whether or not he should get up.
After a few minutes, he rolled onto his side and turned on his side lamp. He let his eyes get used to the new source of light before standing up and trudging over to the floor length mirror on his closet door. He stared into his own eyes, ignoring how his sleeveless t-shirt fell off his left shoulder and the random celebrity on the front of it blended into the black background.
He gave up trying to control the many emotions swirling in his brain and reached for the door handle to his closet. He jerked it open and rustled through his abundance of graphic t-shirts and button ups. He sighed, his hands on two different hangers, looking between the random clothing options.
Giving up, Hyunjin shut the door and walked over to his dresser. He opened the middle drawer on the right, pulled out a black undershirt, and threw it on his bed before slamming the drawer closed. He repeated this process with some black athletic shorts, but this time he kicked the drawer closed.
As he had everything he needed, Hyunjin grabbed the ends of his sleep shirt and pulled it over his head. He threw the shirt in the direction of his hamper, not caring that it fell about two feet short. Then he hooked his thumbs on his grey, terry cloth shorts, pulled them down, and stepped out of them before tossing them in the same direction as his shirt, the shorts landing to the left of the shirt in careless abandon.
Hyunjin pulled on his athletic shorts and threw the undershirt over his head. He slipped on some ribbed, black socks that reached the middle of his shins and grabbed the black hoodie that lay across his desk chair. Once the hoodie was on, he picked up his black bucket hat from a hook on the back of his door and placed it on his head.
Hyunjin stared at his reflection.
"Perfect."
Hyunjin exited his room and entered the bathroom across the hall. He flicked the light on and grabbed his tooth brush. His teeth felt fuzzy after sleeping so long, but that was nothing a little mint couldn't fix. The toothpaste lathered in his mouth as he caught snippets of the adults' conversation down the hall. Nothing too special, just talk about what they were putting in the picnic basket and the random bursts of inspiration when it came to things they should bring.
Hyunjin spit out the toothpaste and rinsed the inside of his mouth and his toothbrush. He doused his face in water and rubbed it aggressively on a towel as a way to wash it for the day. He didn't even touch his hair.
He smirked at his reflection. Slightly red face, messy hair under a hat that practically hid his eyes, and a hoodie emblazoned with the words 'not today.' It was everything Hyunjin could have asked for.
Hyunjin made his way back to his room, flopping on his bed. He didn't want to go out earlier than necessary.
He picked up his phone for the second time that day and noticed Felix had texted him. It was just a 'good morning,' but somehow the extra exclamation points and heart emojis made Hyunjin unable to contain his smile. He typed a 'good morning' back even though it would only be morning for about fifteen more minutes. The reply was almost instantaneous, and if the amount of capital letters and smiley faces was any indication, Felix was having a good day.
They texted for about ten minutes, sharing what they were doing that day and passing jokes back and forth. Hyunjin's brain was fully pulled into another world where only Felix and his memes existed. It created an inextinguishable smile on his face.
Well, almost inextinguishable.
"Baby? Are you ready?" His mother called down the hall. Hyunjin sighed as he was torn from his Felix induced daze, his arms melting into the bed as he wished to be swallowed whole so he didn't have to participate in this so called 'family outing.'
"Baby?" She was closer this time.
"Give me a minute!" Hyunjin answered, not bothering to move from his comfy position.
He texted Felix one last time, getting a cute goodbye in response. He smiled for the last time that day before putting on a bratty expression and rolling himself off the bed.
Hyunjin exited his room and walked right past Taehyuk and his mother. They tried to strike up a conversation, but he didn't respond and instead stalked to the door to put on his shoes. The black and white sneakers he slid on almost made him smile at how well they matched the rest of his outfit, but he couldn't be caught smiling. That would imply he was okay with this and he definitely was not.
The adults seemed okay with the attitude for now, and silently grabbed the necessary items for the picnic and met Hyunjin at the door.
"Babe, can you grab Kkami?" Kkami was coming? Hyunjin wanted to bounce, but refrained by simply nodding and running back to the living room.
He had to chase Kkami for a few minutes, but eventually Hyunjin scooped the dog up and carried him to the car where the adults waited.
During the car ride, Hyunjin looked out the window at the passing houses and various buildings while Kkami squirmed on his lap.
His eyes glazed over, letting Kkami absently chew on his left hand as he held the dog in place with his right. The passing buildings created a blur of colors and shapes that were enough to pull Hyunjin into an almost hypnotic state. He kept his mouth in a thin line and didn't look at the adults once during the ride.
Hyunjin could tell his behavior was worrying his mother. She kept leaning over and talking to Taehyuk in hushed tones. Hyunjin didn't give any indication that he noticed, but inside he was feeling satisfied.
Once they got into a neighborhood, Taehyuk slowed down enough for Hyunjin to start making out details again. This side of town was obviously richer. Multi-story houses with grand driveways and well maintained yards. Hyunjin could see the tracks from the lawn mowers and marveled at the few fountains they drove by.
They pulled into a parking lot, the name of the park on a sign surrounded by pink and white flowers.
Haysworth Public Park.
Hyunjin's eyes widened slightly before he reverted to his newly adopted stoic expression.
To the left were a set of tennis courts, green and lined with fresh white paint that seemed to shine right through the tall metal gate surrounding them. A colorful playground sat right in front of them with grass sprawling out around it, making it the perfect play space. There was even a lake nestled up to the right with picnic tables.
It would have been exciting in other circumstances.
Kkami wriggled around in Hyunjin's lap as soon as they stopped, and Hyunjin clipped on his leash.
"You ready, Baby?" Hyunjin shrugged. He didn't even look at her long enough to see her reaction. It wasn't important.
The adults exited the car while Hyunjin took his sweet time. He slowly opened the door, practically threw his leg out, and slumped over before Kkami got impatient and he had to drag himself from the car to let the wild dog run.
Hyunjin followed the adults to a random picnic table by the lake, not bothering to ask if they needed help carrying anything. Instead, he kept his head down and his hands in his hoodie pockets despite the heat. Once they got to the table, Hyunjin tied Kkami's leash to the table and watched the food get unpacked.
Their lunch was meat and cheese sandwiches. Typical picnic food. His mother had also packed a container of watermelon that Hyunjin immediately snatched and ate with the toothpick that was conveniently already in the container. He cast his eyes to the lake, getting lost in his head for the millionth time that day.
The adults carried on a conversation, addressing Hyunjin at random intervals, but all they got in response was something nonverbal or at the most a grunt.
After Hyunjin was done with his lunch, he balled up the plastic bag his sandwich came in, put it in the empty watermelon container, and put the lid back on the container. He stood up and grabbed a tennis ball from the bag his mother had brought full of play things.
"Where are you going?" Taehyuk asked.
"Play with Kkami." Hyunjin said in a disinterested voice, unlatching Kkami's leash.
Taehyuk nodded, giving off a bit of disappointment.
Hyunjin ignored him and led Kkami towards the open space behind the playground. He sat down on the wood barrier that separated the playground mulch from the grass and threw the ball. As he watched Kkami run after it, Hyunjin's shoulders slumped forward. He placed his elbows on his knees and stared at his dog's small silhouette. Kkami brought the ball back, and Hyunjin wrestled it out of his mouth before throwing it again.
The two played for quite a while, the adults looking on from the picnic table. Hyunjin attempted to keep his face consistently cool and unbothered, but it was hard with Kkami constantly running around him.
It wasn't long before they were packing up the car and heading back home. Hyunjin was back to staring out the window, not responding to any questions thrown at him.
When they got back, Hyunjin waited for the door to be unlocked before setting Kkami down and walking to his room. He shut the door rather harshly to prove a point and collapsed on his bed. He balled up his blanket and pulled it close to him.
He laid there the rest of the afternoon, only exiting his room for dinner, which he ate in a hurry before running back to his safe space.
He had texted Felix a couple of times since the morning, but by nine o'clock Felix had stopped responding. Hyunjin figured he had fallen asleep, and despite doing nothing all day, Hyunjin was starting to feel sleepy as well. He plugged his phone up to his charger and slid it under his pillow before changing into a new hoodie and pair of shorts and curling up in bed.
Hyunjin was jolted awake by a crash. He sat up and looked around his room, but nothing seemed out of place, so he laid back down and shut his eyes. That's when a different sound further awoke his brain. Someone was knocking frantically on their door.
Not wanting to wake his mother, Hyunjin dragged himself up to a seated position and threw his legs off the bed. He ran both hands through his hair before the knocking started up again.
"Wait a second, gosh." He mumbled to the unknown person. If it even was a person.
Hyunjin stumbled out of his room and to the door, eyes only open enough to not run into the wall. He leaned over to look out the side window. No one was there. Hyunjin's eyes opened a little more as he could feel the fear build and that's when he heard it.
Whimpering.
Hyunjin put his ear to the door. The sound was soft and familiar. He unlocked the door as quietly as possible, but the sound of turning metal alerted whatever was outside, and Hyunjin heard a mild gasp. Keeping himself hidden behind the door, Hyunjin wrapped his fingers around the doorknob and turned it slowly. The door creaked as he opened it about a foot and peeked around the edge.
Hyunjin's eyes trailed from his normal line of sight down to a shivering, whiny, dark ball. Hyunjin stepped out from behind the door and kneeled down, trying to get a glimpse of the person on the ground without turning on a light and alerting his mom.
Then the person looked up.
"Felix?"
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We are at 2k reads! Thank you guys so much! I love you all!
I know the character development is slow, but you've stuck around and that makes me so happy!
Also, this gif kills me...