AFTER WHAT FELT LIKE years- but in reality, was only two days -Chan had finally managed to pull himself from the slump that he was thrown into days before.
Felix, just like he had been, was still ignoring what happened days earlier- aside from what Yan An had told him. Which, Chan supposed, was totally fine: considering Chan was now doing the same.
It was weird, really, how fast Chan had forced himself to throw out the thoughts about Felix that intruded his emotions.
Chan was slowly beginning to force his thoughts to hide away from Felix when they were in the same room, as well: hiding them deep into the crevices of his mind. It appeared that Felix did the same.
While borderline avoiding Felix, Chan had learned quickly that Changbin and Hyunjin were a lot closer than they had claimed. Though, unlike Jisung, he never called attention to it.
He carried on with his so called 'training' with Seungmin and Minho, as well- both dodging balls and shooting beads of water consecutively at a metal target that they set up on top of the structure.
The only thing that absolutely unsettled him was: whenever Chan had successfully done something that Minho instructed him to do, Minho would begin purring with a triumphant, close-mouthed smile in his direction.
It was cute. But it was unsettling.
He had also learned from Jeongin, somehow, that the more you empty your mind the better things would work. He only said 'somehow' considering the fact that Jeongin's attention span lasted a full fledged ten seconds before he was chattering on about how cute Seungmin looked in his giant blue hoodie and round, Harry Potter glasses. Or how he saw a squirrel and suddenly became intrigued.
He didn't know how he was getting anything done with them, either: to be quite frank, he was surprised he was getting anywhere.
A thing he had noticed, though, was that Felix was always watching on the sidelines. He was peeking through windows, watching him with soft eyes as he observed what Chan was doing.
The phoenix never let Chan lay eyes on him for too long before disappearing behind the curtains again.
More days of this had passed- training with Seungmin and Minho every morning, only to go back inside and either go down into what Chan assumed was a basement or to go sit with Jisung and Jeongin.
It wasn't until the fifth day of avoiding each other, that Felix finally decided to join them outside while Chan was climbing up to the top of the structure with ease. Felix was watching from the bottom, right beside Seungmin and Minho, as Chan pulled himself to one of the higher bars.
Chan didn't know what he was doing sitting on the bar- he was simply listening to Seungmin's instructions.
He had nearly missed when Minho was surrounded by a light cloud of dust, and in his place was a pile of clothes and a serval- ears perked up in interest. Chan almost cooed.
"Your goal, Chan, is to hit these frisbees from up there. The only thing is, you can't get Minho wet. This is solely about control and aim," Seungmin called, and handed a set of frisbees to Felix.
The brunet let his eyes fall on Felix momentarily, before he forced them to pull away. He just nodded his head, using his hands to help himself stand up on the bar. He wobbled before he got himself set comfortably, slowly inching towards the bar to his left.
Seungmin began to count down, and once he hit one, he threw the first frisbee.
He tried to keep the water flying from his fingers in a straight line- though, he could see a lot of it falling from the line he had shot- even as it grazed past the frisbee.
He sighed, listening to Minho grumble beneath him.
Felix threw the frisbee this time, and Chan had his hand held out in that direction. While the water hit the frisbee and knocked it out of its path, water still dropped on to Minho, who yowled in emphasis that he was hit.
"Control, Chan, it's all about control," Seungmin called, holding up a neon green frisbee, "concentrate on keeping it together. Your mind is too full. Listen to what Jeongin said."
" 'Send your thoughts through your fingers, but don't actually say them. Once they're gone, they're gone,' " Chan echoed, swallowing thickly as he nodded his head.
Same goes for emotions.
Drawing in a deep breath, he rolled his shoulders back and nodded towards Seungmin, who tossed another frisbee out above Minho.
Steaming water flew from his hands in one single ball, sending a chill down his spine as it flew through the air.
Said steaming ball hit the frisbee and knocked it down behind Minho, though Chan wasn't watching as he used the wooden beam beside him as support.
"Damn, dude," Seungmin snickered, "You melted Changbin's frisbee."
Chan just nodded his head wearily, crossing his other leg in front of him to maintain his balance as he kept a grip on the beam.
He shivered again.
'That's not meant to happen,' Felix's voice echoed in his head, and he slowly raised his eyes to meet Felix's.
His teeth chattered briefly. I'm fine.
Felix turned his worried eyes away and tossed up another frisbee, and with a shaky hand Chan shot another string of water towards it- barely grazing it out of the path it was going in. Minho still yowled.
Fuck.
Rubbing his hands together to gain warmth, he nodded for Seungmin to throw another frisbee. With his eyes locked on it, he flexed the muscles in his hands for a moment to hopefully contain the water in a single line.
It hit the frisbee and eventually fell to the ground behind Minho, who hopped forward to avoid getting wet.
Chan's muscles tensed as he shivered again.
He didn't know why he was shaking so badly. It wasn't even cold when he had come out earlier- it was actually warm.
Chan stumbled on the beam slightly, and forced himself to set down and lean against the beam beside him.
The others of the other three lingered on him, especially Felix's. He watched as Seungmin and Felix set the frisbees down and walked towards the structure, motioning for Chan to come down.
Chan obeyed- slowly lowering himself onto the beam beneath him and then dropping to the ground.
"Holy shit, Chan, you look so pale," Minho said, his tail twitching in the air as he walked closer to him. "Pick me up. I'm warm. Do it."
After choking on his saliva briefly, Chan eventually leaned down and picked the serval up. Minho had huffed slightly, a strangled whine-like noise sounding in the back of his throat before he had his paws over Chan's shoulder.
He was right- Minho was warm. Though, it was still weird considering the fact that this was Lee Minho- and he was currently purring right in his ear with little shame.
Felix stepped forward, his eyebrows pinched and his eyes wide with worry. "Are you cold?"
"N-no," he shivered in response, sarcastically.
In response, Minho had slammed his head against the side of Chan's.
Damn, you dumb cat, that hurt.
Felix giggled softly, and then took another step forward, "You need to warm up, and drink some water. I think I know what happened to you."
"Then t-tell me now," Chan ordered.
The phoenix swallowed, nodding his head as he shifted himself. "What happened was, you heated the water a lot. So much so that it was able to melt the frisbee. You used what you were able to do without the effects, but tenfold because your ability stripped you of your body heat."
Minho poked his cold nose against Chan's neck, causing Chan to jolt slightly.
"C-can we just go inside?"
No one spoke, and instead, began to walk towards the house. Minho had adjusted himself in Chan's arms so that his long body was dropped somewhat over Chan's shoulder, and Seungmin had carried the frisbees in his hands while Felix grabbed Minho's clothes.
It still weirded him out that Minho was purring. And currently right in his ear.
Inside the house was just slightly warmer than it was outside, but not by much. Chan still shivered as he was lead towards the couch.
"What's up with Minho?" Jisung muttered, his eyes not even leaving the screen in front of him.
Chan snorted softly.
"It's not Minho, it's Chan. I'm going to take your blanket." Felix's responses were abrupt, but Jisung didn't fight against him snatching the heavy looking blanket off of the male's lap.
Felix gently laid the blanket over Chan, and even Minho, before he walked off down the hallway.
With a sniffle, Chan adjusted Minho off of his shoulder and onto his lap, listening to the now-feline whine before he had contently curled up in his lap.
He had no idea what had him suddenly so cuddly and friendly up against him.
However, Chan didn't miss the way that Jisung stared at the serval in his lap- and then shot a glare at Chan as if he had done something wrong.
Minho's purring returned just as soon as he had stretched himself out and dropped his head off of Chan's lap, and instead, beside him.
Don't pet him, don't pet him, don't pet him-
Chan pulled one of his hands from beneath the blanket and gently placed it over the cat's stomach, stroking the soft fur gingerly. The purr seemed to rumble louder, against his hand as he brought it back up and slowly stroked it down again.
Minho was still strangely warm. And strangely, aggressively purring.
Felix returned with a jacket from his closet (Chan knew this from the two times he had raided it already) and tossed it to him, giving him a small smile. "It's not much but I hope it's warm enough for at least a few hours. I'll get you some warm water."
Eventually, Jeongin joined the few of them in the living room with a beaming smile. The second his gaze fell on Chan and what was in his lap, he jumped back with eyes sparkling in fear.
"What the heck is that and why is it so big."
Chan chuckled tiredly and leaned his head back, shrugging his shoulder as he continued to stroke the feline's stomach.
"It's me, fucker." Minho muttered through his content purring, rolling back onto his side to curl up in a tiny ball.
Changbin chuckled from the other end of the couch, "They're in the middle of one of their couple fights, Jeongin. Minho's just rubbing up on Chan like a sucker."
The serval growled in his lap, an obvious noise of denial, and pinned his ears back.
Chan gulped.
"Chan just fuckered up his body heat," Minho responded angrily, stretching out in Chan's lap again before snorting. "I'm just here to be warm. Don't get things mixed up."
Changbin coughed something with a whisper underneath it, and Chan just shot him a gaze.
Felix returned after a few moments with a a lightly steaming cup in his hand, carefully sitting down beside Chan and holding out the cup for him to take.
He did so, slowly, and tucked his arms against his body. He didn't bring the cup to his lips, and instead tilted his head back.
He shivered again.
Minho- who had been laying perfectly still just seconds earlier, stood up and shifted himself so that his paws were on either side of his neck. Chan's head was then forced to tilt back when Minho rubbed the top of his own head against the underside of his chin.
He could hear Jisung scoffing and walking off. Though, Minho still hadn't moved.
Maybe Changbin was right.
Felix laughed softly beside him, nodding his head as he reached forward and drew his own hand over Minho's back.
'Of course he is,' Felix's voice rang in his head, but Felix was too busy scratching behind Minho's large feline ear to look at him, 'they do this a lot. You get used to it.'
Chan nodded his head, and then shivered again. His hands squeezed around the cup slightly, and he shook his head and propped it on top of Minho's head.
"Drink the water, Chan," Felix urged, motioning towards the cup.
He sighed softly, nodding his head as he slowly brought the cup to his lips. The heat that rolled through his body lasted only for a moment, and then melted away right after.
Minho's purring faded out, as well, into content, tiny feline breaths against his neck.
Chan's muscles tensed again as he shivered, and he closed his eyes and sighed.
Had he known that he was able to strip away the entirety of his body heat in order to boil water, he wouldn't have done it. If he knew he had the ability to do that, he wouldn't have done it.
I don't know what I'm doing, Felix, Chan thought weakly, I really don't.
Felix sighed beside him, leaning back against the couch. 'You don't need to know what you're doing. Because none of us know what we're doing.' He thought in return, turning his head to meet Chan's eyes.
And with the soft gaze Felix had in his eyes, Chan swore he fell down the rabbit hole to in-like with the phoenix all over again.
- x -
[ a/n ] anyway so i want to talk about the spirit stallion of the cimarron soundtrack
also sorry i missed another day 😔