Chapter Text
It was like everyone in the house had gathered in his room to find him an outfit for his “date” later. The only one missing is Minho, but even he stopped in to ask what Felix was going to wear. He has tried to say it wasn’t a date several times, but the others don’t care, so here they are. Jeongin is digging through his makeup, Seungmin is going through his jewelry, and Hyunjin has just, disappeared into the closet. Seriously, Felix isn’t sure how long it’s been since he’s surfaced from there.
“Guys, it’s not a big deal. We’re just hanging out. I don’t need to dress up. He might even find it weird if I do.”
“Don’t be ridiculous Felix. This is totally a date. I bet he’ll dress nice too!” Jeongin holds up a tube of red lipstick. “How about this?”
“No, that’s too much, even for a date.”
The younger boy gets a glint in his eyes that makes Felix realize his slip-up.
“No, wait-“
“So it is a date?”
“Oh my gods. I can’t stand you.”
Hyunjin finally emerges from his closet with an armful of clothes that he drops on the blondes bed.
“Okay, here’s all your options.”
Felix raises his brow at the mountain of clothes.
“You’re going to put those all back, right?”
“Of course! Right after we decide on your outfit.”
The blonde finally decides to just let them do this. They all look so excited to dress him up for a date, even Seungmin, who is carefully picking out all of Felix’s silver accessories, which Felix appreciates. He knows the faery is aware of how he feels about gold right now. The others don’t understand his sudden change in taste, and he doesn’t know how to tell them why.
He sighs in resignation and joins Hyunjin in sorting the clothes he dragged out, making the taller boy light up. Felix has been on a few dates in the past, and the others boys weren’t nearly this enthusiastic about it. He’s not sure what has them deciding to be this involved this time. Sure, this is the first time in a while he’s had a crush, but still. Does he seem to like Changbin that much to them?
They pick out a very simple outfit, at Felix’s insistence, and sit him down to do his makeup. He’s thankful he’s managed to talk Hyunjin down to something casual. It would be embarrassing if Changbin shows up, and he has overdressed. Even if it was a date, which it probably isn’t, they’re just planning to walk around and go to a café.
“So are you meeting him somewhere, or is Changbin picking you up here?” Jeongin questions him as he adds the finishing touch to Felix’s makeup. It’s a look Felix could have easily done himself, but the youngest rarely gives him a lot of attention, so Felix isn’t going to say anything.
“He said he’s meeting me here.”
As Felix watches the boy’s face light up with delight, an uneasy feeling begins to creep over him. This can’t be good. Before Jeongin can even make whatever comment he thought up, Hyunjin butts into the conversation.
“Oh my gods. We need to act all tough when he gets here. Act like we’re your dads or something!”
“Yes! I’m gonna be all like,” Jeongin puffs up his chest, making a stern face, “You better have him back home before ten. No funny business.”
Felix feels his stomach drop at their words. He’s mortified at just the thought of it. He looks to Seungmin for help, but the faery is laughing along with the other two. Yeah, there’s no way any of them would pass up an opportunity like this. He needs to text Changbin and change their plans.
As his panic becomes more apparent, the boys respond by laughing even louder whenever they catch sight of his face.
“Aw don’t worry, Lixie. We won’t embarrass you in front of your crush”
Felix laughs with them after that, but still pulls out his phone to text Changbin the moment they aren’t looking. Just in case. Even if they don’t go through with it, Minho is for sure going to say something. He’ll mean no harm, but he will probably go mom mode on them the moment Changbin walks in.
They all make their way downstairs and Felix makes a beeline for the door. Changbin responded to his text, saying he could meet him outside. He’s thankful the older boy didn’t even question the sudden change of plans.
“Lix, where are you going?”
Felix stops and turns at Hyunjin’s question.
“I’m going to go meet Changbin Hyung.”
“Wasn’t he picking you up here?”
“Oh, umm.” Felix flushes. He should have known they’d question him. “Something came up, so we’re meeting somewhere else in town.”
Changbin was actually just outside by the alley, but they didn’t need to know that. They all share a look that says they know the truth, but no one calls him out on it. Thankfully.
“Go back to work! You’re leaving poor Hyung to man the shop by himself.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Enjoy your date, Lixie.”
The boys all snicker as a red Felix scurries out the door. When he lived at the orphanage, he had wished for a lot of brothers. Now that he’s got them, they sometimes make him want to go back in time and shake Little Felix by the shoulders and warn them how annoying they could be. He loves them, of course. But damn.
Changbin is, as expected, only a few steps away from the shop, leaning against the wall of the neighboring building. He’s not dressed much differently than when he’s working. The only difference being that he’s wearing a red shirt which stands out in his usual all black outfit.
As soon as Changbin spots him, his face lights up with that warm smile Felix knows so well, and he desperately hopes it means something.
“Hey, Hyung. Thanks for being okay with the last minute change. I just....”
Felix tries to come up with a good excuse for the change of plans, but Changbin is still smiling at him like that, and his mind has gone blank. There has to be something special behind a look so gentle, right?
“....Yeah.”
“It’s okay. I wouldn’t want to get in the way at the shop, anyway.”
When Changbin affectionately ruffles the blonde’s hair, Felix’s attention is drawn to a flash of gold as the older withdraws his hand. It makes his smile fall, and he has to push the visions away from his mind.
“Your nails. They’re gold.”
The gold is back in his sight as Changbin holds his hands up to look at his own nails.
“Yeah. This is the color Jisung picked when we went to Sana noona’s shop the other day. Ironically, I do like the gold.”
Right. He remembers Changbin telling him about that. It doesn’t make him feel any less nervous at the sight of gold on his hands.
“How is it ironic?”
“It’s just...a bit bold for me. I usually go for black. Do you like gold?”
“Not much these days, no.”
“Oh.”
Felix finally peels his eyes away from the color and sees Changbin frowning down at his nails. Oh no. He can’t believe he actually said that out loud.
“It looks good on you, though! Seriously, it suits you.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. It’s pretty.”
Pretty may not be the type of compliment a guy wants to hear, so Felix goes to correct himself, but Changbin beams in response and his words get caught in his throat. Well, that’s a new smile. Felix likes this one. Maybe he should call Changbin pretty sometime?
“Thanks. You ready? I didn’t decide on a place. I figured we could just walk until we saw somewhere we wanted to go.”
“Sounds good to me.”
The two of them start their walk in silence, and Felix racks his brain, trying to come up with something to talk about. It’s not really that the silence is uncomfortable, but he doesn’t want Changbin to find him boring. Finally, he remembers the incident from last time, and the damaged door that came from it.
“Did Jisung ever figure out that Chan hyung broke the door?”
Changbin grimaces at the reminder and shakes his head.
“He noticed immediately. Let’s just say Chan hyung and I aren’t really handymen. We didn’t think to clean up the pieces on the floor either. He got an earful for breaking it and I got reprimanded for attempting to help cover it up.”
The image of the witch telling the two boys off makes Felix laugh. He’s small compared to his two muscular friends. It makes him imagine two big dogs cowering over a little chihuahua. Though, chihuahuas are pretty viscous when they want to be.
“How’s he doing, by the way? Chan hyung? Is he feeling better from not eating, and that knife?”
“Oh, yeah, he’s fine. He got over his hunger pretty quickly after he ate that night. The burn from the knife took a few days to heal, but it’s all good now. He whined about it a lot, but that’s only because he had to wear turtlenecks to hide the wound. Said it was ‘messing with his style’. I told him he could hide it in other ways, but he was too busy complaining.”
Conversation flows easily after that as they make their way through the city. Felix points out all the places he likes to go, and they wander into a few shops, but he can’t bring himself to commit to a specific place to eat. He’s worried that once they eat, Changbin will just walk him home, and that will be the end of their time together. He’s going to continue to say “Maybe, let’s see what else there is.” to every place the older points out until he’s too hungry to keep milking their time together.
The blonde is in the middle of rambling about how good the bakery they just passed is when he realizes that his hand is a heavier than it usually is. He glances down and is shocked to see Changbin’s hand intertwined with his. When did they start holding hands? For how long? Did Felix grab his hand or Changbin his?
Though his words stutter to a stop, Felix manages to not gawk at their hands, so Changbin doesn’t seem to catch onto what exactly stopped him. He’s thankful for that, since he’s afraid if he brings the older boy’s attention to it, he’ll let go of his hand.
“What’s wrong?”
Felix looks over at a confused Changbin.
“Nothing, sorry.”
“Were you wanting to go to that bakery?”
“No, I’m not really in the mood for something sweet. I just, um,” Felix wishes he was better at making up excuses, “remembered something.”
“Are you needing to go back?”
“Oh, no hyung, don’t worry. I just need to remember to text Minho hyung when we stop to eat. He’s probably worrying.”
It’s an excuse for his sudden stop, but it is true. Minho was playfully teasing him this morning, but he’s sure he’s worrying like a mom right now, as he usually does.
“Okay. I’ll remind you if you forget.”
Changbin’s so cute, and his hand is so warm. Maybe this is a date? Felix denied it around the others earlier, but he was really hoping they were right. They’re holding hands and walking around by themselves. That’s a date, right? And he’s pretty sure he wouldn’t have grabbed Changbin’s hand without thinking, so that means Changbin is the one who did it. Was it on purpose?
“Binnie, baby! My love!”
A shout cuts off Felix’s overthinking, making Changbin and him turn in surprise. There’s a young-looking guy waving excitedly as he pulls another guy along with him. Once he gets up to them, he practically throws himself at Changbin.
“Wow! I can’t believe we ran into you. I never see you out during the day unless you’re over helping the gang. How are you?”
He lands a loud kiss onto Changbin’s cheek, who wrinkles his nose at him, but looks amused.
“I’m alright. What about you? What are you two up to?”
Felix can’t help but frown at the way this person is all over Changbin. There’s no space between them, and his hand keeps rubbing up and down Changbin’s arm, and yet he’s holding the hand of the other guy. He wonders if they’re together, but if they are, he doesn’t seem bothered at all by the way his boyfriend is touching someone else. In fact, he’s just looking at them affectionately.
The touchy guy finally takes notice of Felix and his face lights up even more.
“Oh! Who’s this?”
He reaches for the blonde, but Changbin catches his wrist with his free hand to stop him, making him pout at Changbin.
“Awh c’mon baby. You know I don’t take from good people, no matter how sweet they look. I’m part demon, but I’m not evil.”
What he says makes Felix shift nervously, and he moves so he’s more behind the older boy. It also clues him in on who these people might be. They must be some of Changbin’s demon friends. Is this Wooyoung?"
The guy (Wooyoung?) raises his brows pointedly at the hand still holding his wrist. Changbin lets go, but makes a point to push his hand away from Felix as he does so. The action makes Felix feel a little giddy. He hopes it doesn’t show on his face how pleased he is with Changbin’s protectiveness.
“Protective are we?”
The demon(?) smiles at Felix.
“I’m Wooyoung, a friend of Changbin’s.” He gestures to the taller man next to him. “This is San, my boyfriend. I don’t think we’ve met before?”
So Felix had guessed right. This is the demon that was mentioned before.
“I’m Felix.”
“Felix? Oh, I love that name. And you’re so pretty! I love your hair, and are those freckles? Cute!”
Wooyoung tries to reach for Felix again, but Changbin blocks him, making the demon huff in annoyance.
“Tsk, Binnie. You shouldn’t be so possessive when you have no claim on him.”
“I’m not a demon Wooyoung. I don’t claim people.”
Claim people? What the hell are they even talking about right now? Felix finds himself frowning to himself again, but this time in confusion. Wooyoung sighs and leans against Changbin.
“I miss when you would let me mark you.”
Again, what the hell? Felix glances at San to check his reaction, but he looks indifferent to what was happening in front of him. Changbin himself just rolls his eyes and gags, pushing the demon off.
“Don’t be weird.”
Wooyoung laughs, and then lightly shoves Changbin with a wide grin.
“Hey, I owe you a meal, baby! Let me take you two out.”
“That’s okay. We wouldn’t want to intrude.”
“Sannie wouldn’t mind. Would you babe?”
The taller demon shrugs with a smile.
“I don’t care.”
Changbin looks at Felix with a small frown.
“What about you?”
Felix shrugs. Despite his jealousy, he figures being around Changbin’s friends might help him learn more about him. It couldn’t hurt to spend some time with them, even if Wooyoung’s touchiness paired with their history bothered him.
“I don’t mind.”
Changbin looks like he may argue against it, but he doesn’t get the chance because Wooyoung immediately pulls Changbin, and by extension, because of the grip Changbin had on his hand, Felix, into the nearest restaurant.
The restaurant is a small place and they all pile into a booth, Changbin letting go of Felix’s hand so he can make sure the blonde is in the inside of the booth by the wall. The server comes and asks for their order. Since Felix has no idea what to order, they ask the server to come back in a bit and just give their drink order, which is dropped at their table minutes later.
Wooyoung reaches out and grabs Changbin’s wrist, caressing it with his thumb, as he starts to tell the older about something that happened the other day. Changbin doesn’t react at all to the physical affection from the demon and Felix has to try not to frown at their hands and look at the menu instead. Sure, he was saying it wasn’t a date earlier, but it was starting to feel like one, and Changbin had been holding his hand. Did Wooyoung not see that? Did he not care? Or had Felix misunderstood, and Changbin was just affectionate with his friends?
When Felix looks back up at the two, he realizes Changbin isn’t paying attention to Wooyoung at all. Changbin had sat them so that they were facing the entrance, and Felix notices the older boy watching it even as Wooyoung talks to him. He’s been a bit tense since they sat down. Felix is just about to ask why, but Wooyoung speaks up.
“Chill, baby. Stop being on guard dog mode.”
The older boy frowns, finally turning his attention away from the door.
“No.”
“C’mon. How long has it been since we’ve had anything happen? You’re fine.”
His words make Changbin huff, but he relaxes anyway. Wooyoung notices Felix’s clear confusion and jabs his thumb at the older boy.
“He has a habit of being on guard even when he’s not working. You gotta force him to chill out.”
Changbin rolls his eyes at the demon’s words.
“You act like San doesn’t act the same, especially when he’s out with you.”
Wooyoung gasps and lets go of Changbin in favor of grabbing onto San.
“Don’t bring my man into this!”
Felix thinks Changbin is wrong, based on how relaxed San has looked, but as the conversation moves on, he pays a little more attention to San’s behavior and realizes he’s right. He’s been on guard the same way Changbin had been. It’s just more subtle, less noticeable. That or Felix was just too busy watching Changbin before. Doesn’t matter.
Suddenly the possible implications of Changbin comparing his actions to San’s dawns on Felix and he feels his face start to flush. He had pointed out San being on guard around his boyfriend in defense to why he was on guard then. Is he implying he’s on guard for the same reasons? Or is Felix being delusional right now? His mini-spiral is stopped short by Changbin sliding out of the booth to stand.
“I’m going to the bathroom.” He points at Wooyoung. “Behave.”
“Yes, sir!”
Wooyoung watches the older boy until he’s out of sight before turning to Felix and reaching out to grab his hand, surprising the blonde. Wooyoung notices and smiles.
“Relax sunshine. I wouldn’t dare hurt one of Bin’s friends.”
He starts similar motions of tracing circles into Felix’s wrist with his finger like he had done with Changbin and Felix hates to admit it, but it feels really relaxing.
“So, Felix was it? How long have you known Changbin?”
“Not very long. A few months?”
“Oh, really? And you’ve already got him out of the house? That’s impressive. He must really like you.”
Felix tries to stop the blush rising on his cheeks, but the demon’s grin tells him he didn’t succeed at it.
“I don’t know about that.”
“Mhm. Where did you two meet?”
“At his club.”
“Not to judge a book by its cover, but you don’t look like you go clubbing.”
“I go with my friends sometimes. We like to dance. I was out with friends and had a bad migraine that night. He helped me, so that’s how we met.”
A few details are missing from that story, but he doesn’t think he needs to give a long explanation.
“Ah, that sounds like him. He’s so sweet. So, you became friends then?”
“Hm no. I ran into him a couple of times after that before we actually became close. I think Jisung being a regular at our shop helped a bit.”
“Jisung! I love him. He’s so much fun. Makes great drinks and always helps the gang if anyone gets hurt.”
He’s used the word ‘gang’ a few times and Felix isn’t sure if he wants to know whether he means that in a friend group way, or in an actual gang way.
“You said your shop?”
“My friends own a magic shop. We all work and live there.”
“That’s cool! What do you do there? Potions? Spells? Are you a witch? You don’t seem like one.”
“No, I’m not. I just do tarot readings and stuff. Nothing really interesting.”
“Tsk. You’re so cute. Isn’t he adorable, babe? Can we keep him?”
San rolls his eyes playfully at Wooyoung’s antics.
“We have enough on our plate with everyone else. Especially Jongho.”
That reminds Felix that he hasn’t asked how the kid was. He had been so upset before he fell asleep last time.
“How is Jongho? He seemed a bit upset when I last saw him.”
San looks at Wooyoung in surprise, his boyfriend matching the expression.
“You met Jongho?”
“Yeah? Changbin hyung was babysitting him the last time I went over to his place.”
A look of recognition comes across the demon’s face.
“The prince! You’re the pretty prince he came home talking about that morning. It makes so much sense now. He was going on about golden hair and stars on faces. We just assumed Bin had told him stories again, and he was really into it.”
Felix laughs at that, remembering how the boy had called his freckles sparkly.
“Yeah probably. He was saying I was a prince and how he wanted to be ‘pretty’ like me, so I did his makeup.”
“Awww, that’s so cute. Bin must have washed off the makeup before he sent him home. Shame, that would have been adorable to see.”
Changbin appears again and slides back into the booth, eyeing Wooyoung suspiciously, who immediately withdraws the hand that had been holding Felix’s.
“I was well behaved. I swear. You can ask Felix.”
Felix takes his chance to be affectionate and links his arm with Changbin’s, a warm smile spreading across his face.
“We were talking about how Jongho went home talking about a prince, and he just realized it was me.”
The older relaxes and smiles at the mention of the kid.
“Did he?” He looks at Wooyoung. “Jongho decided he didn’t want to be a knight like me anymore because of Felix.”
“Ouch. He had you demoted immediately, huh?”
“Exactly. The traitor.”
“I swear, I thought it was another one of your stories. Especially with the starry face. It sounds like that one faerytale you used to always tell.”
The mention of the story makes Changbin frown and tilt his head in thought for a few seconds.
“Oh, you’re right, it does. No wonder he took to Felix so fast.” He looks at Felix in interest. “He looks like the character from that story.”
Felix wants to ask what the story was about, but the server finally returns to take their orders and the blonde panics, realizing he’d been too busy being jealous earlier to actually look over the menu.
Somehow, he manages to pick something out while the others give their orders, and the meal goes smoothly after that.
He had agreed to this purely out of curiosity, but he’s finding he likes these two. Wooyoung has an infectious energy that San somehow amplifies. They’re fun to be around. He’s also figured out that Wooyoung is just playfully flirty. He’s made just as many sweet comments to Felix as he does with his boyfriend and Changbin.
The only difference is he’s not as touchy, but that may only be because Changbin won’t let him be. Every attempt Wooyoung makes at reaching for the blonde is always blocked by Changbin in some way. It makes Felix wonder if the older boy is jealous. Hopefully of him, not Wooyoung.
Suddenly, while Wooyoung is in the middle of telling him a story about Jongho, Felix feels Changbin tense next to him and shifts his focus away from the demon to the older boy. Changbin reaches across the table and taps San’s hand, nodding his head in the direction of the windows. San looks back at the door, Wooyoung copying the action when he notices, and immediately slides out of the booth and heads towards the door. Wooyoung takes his time getting up and turns to Felix.
“Well, it was nice meeting you, sunshine. If you ever wanna hang or talk, just get my number from Binnie. I’d give it to you now, but San is out the door already.”
He pulls out his wallet and drops some cash in front of Changbin.
“Keep the change, baby. And call me later! Bye~”
The demons speeds out of the restaurant and Felix turns to Changbin.
“Can I ask?”
“Hm? About what?”
“What that was.”
“Oh. I saw someone they’re looking for. Don’t worry about it.”
Felix hums in acknowledgement. Who could they be looking for? And why? He’s less convinced that they aren’t in an actual gang now. He doesn’t think it actually would bother him much if they are, though.
“Are they like, an actual gang?”
“A gang? Who? Wooyoung and San? I guess, yeah, the whole group of demons they’re with is. They aren’t bad people, though. The gang’s pretty chill.”
Yeah, it doesn’t bother him. He may need to keep that information from Minho, though. He has a feeling the older witch would fuss about it.
“Are you in the gang?”
“No. I just help them out with certain things sometimes. They usually just tell me about people they’re looking for because I work at the club and see a lot of people. I think I’m mostly a babysitter, though.”
Changbin laughs a little and shakes his head.
“You offer to watch a kid one time and suddenly you’re the babysitter they have on speed dial.”
The image of Jongho and Changbin sleeping come up and Felix smiles. If that’s how he is with all the kids, then he thinks he understands why they would put him in that role.
“Anyway, are you done eating? Do you want to move on?”
Felix glances down at his empty plate and internally curses himself for not eating slower. Changbin’s plate is clean too, so he’s really got no excuses to stick around. Hopefully Changbin won’t just take him back home after this.
“Yeah. I’m done.”
Changbin uses the cash Wooyoung left to pay for the meal and ushers Felix out of the restaurant. To his relief, Changbin doesn’t start walking in the direction of the shop, but it’s an awkward kind of quiet again.
“I didn’t plan this well. Umm, do you want to just go to my place and watch a movie, or play some games?”
Felix looks over at Changbin in surprise. The older boy has his hands shoved in his pockets and is looking at Felix nervously. The answer is obviously yes in his mind, but he can think of a certain witch that might not like the idea of him going over to Changbin’s place again.
“I’d love to, but I don’t think Hyung would like that much. How about mine?”
“I don’t think he’d like that any better, honestly.”
“Point taken.”
Although Minho said he would tolerate Changbin, Felix has a feeling the older boy will still hover over them the whole time if Changbin comes over. Well. Looks like he’s just got one option then. Felix links his arm with Changbin’s.
“Looks like we’re going to yours then. What movies do you like?”
The duo makes it to the club quickly and Changbin lets them in, announcing his arrival as they enter. Felix hadn’t even considered the other two being home until he hears them respond from another room. They follow their voices to see them sitting on the couch together with a laptop and papers spread out in front of them. Jisung lights up when he sees Felix standing next to Changbin.
“Lixie! I’m surprised to see you came back with him. I thought he’d bore you to death out there.”
Changbin throws his keys at a laughing Jisung with an indignant, “Hey!”, making Felix giggle.
“What are you guys up to?”
“Budgeting. You know, fun shit.”
Chan finally looks up from the laptop he was holding and sniffs the air, wrinkling his nose at Changbin.
“Changbin. Have you started smoking again?”
“What?”
“Around Felix? I can’t believe you.”
“No, I haven’t sta-“
Changbin stops himself to start sniffing his clothes while everyone watches curiously. Changbin used to smoke? Felix guesses it kind of matches his bad-boy look, but he knows he never saw or smelled cigarette smoke off of the older boy today. Changbin sniffs his wrist and groans in annoyance.
“God dammit Wooyoung. That brat.”
To Felix’s surprise, he grabs the blonde’s wrist and smells it as well. Felix has to hold back a gasp at the action. Changbin lifts Felix’s wrist and looks at the witch.
“Jisung.”
“On it.”
Jisung hops off the couch and disappears into another room, leaving Chan staring at Changbin with raised brows.
“So. What the hell?”
Changbin lets go of Felix’s wrist to run his hands through his hair, his face turning red.
“Demons...well, they kind of have some sort of scent marking thing they do. They ‘claim’ people with it. Usually their partners, sometimes their ‘meals’ or others. They all have a particular scent. Wooyoung’s is smoke.”
“So, you’re saying you were around Wooyoung and he ‘scented’ you and Felix?”
“...Yeah. We ran into him while we were out. He took us out to eat.”
“You never smoked, did you?”
“No. I didn’t.”
Okay, so Changbin never smoked. Scratch that bad-boy image away.
Chan sighs. “Damn it. I should have known. I always thought it was odd I never actually saw you smoking.”
“Sorry, hyung.”
Jisung comes back in with a bowl and hands it to Changbin.
“Okay. I have something. Just rub it wherever he scented you.”
Changbin grabs Felix’s wrist to spread the cream across Felix's wrist. It’s cold, but Changbin’s hand on his arm is warm, so he doesn’t really mind.
“How do you always know everything?”
Jisung shrugs at Chan’s question.
“I just do. Did you guys know,”
“There he goes.”
“the scent thing isn’t exclusive to demons? All faeries have it, but it’s not as widely used in the way demons do. Everyone has a particular scent in the Fae Realm. It’s usually related to what kind of Faery you are, and similar to the others, but unique in its own way. For example, Seungmin, he smells like, um,” Jisung looks at Chan. “What did you say it was, hyung?”
“Water lilies.”
Chan looks embarrassed at being exposed for knowing that. Probably because Felix is Seungmin’s friend, and he knows that Chan has an eye for him. Honestly, Felix always thought Seungmin smelled good, but he could never pinpoint what the smell was. Now he knows.
Changbin lets go of him and starts rubbing the cream on his own wrists.
“So, yeah. The scent thing isn’t unique, and all faeries can mark people with their scent. Even in subtle ways like your group at the shop. Demons are just mostly known for it, and tend to be possessive, kind of like vampires.”
Felix nods as Jisung speaks. He always enjoys when the witch goes on tangents like this. Jisung seems to know a lot about other species and is always happy to talk about it to anyone who listens. Felix then finally registers part of what Jisung said.
“Wait. What about my group?”
“Oh. It’s not like he’s marked you all on purpose. I think. You just spend a lot of time around him, so the smell sticks. I’m guessing you share a room with him or something, though, since it’s the strongest on you.”
Chan laughs. “What are you, a dog? I get me being able to smell it, but why can you?”
“I’m just observant!”
Mid eye roll, Jisung’s eyes widen and he smacks Changbin’s arm, who just rubs it in confusion.
“That’s it!”
He takes off out of the room again, making the other three look at each other for answers, but, of course, none of them know what his outburst was about.
“What is he-“
“Your scent!”
Just as the vampire started speaking, Jisung comes running back into the room, clutching a vial in his hand.
“I can change your scent! I can make you smell like a faery.”
Without giving Changbin time to react, Jisung grabs Changbin’s arm, pops the vial open with his mouth, and dumps the contents onto his wrist in one smooth motion. Once he realized what was happening, Changbin yanks his wrist away, looking bewildered.
Chan covers his mouth and nose with scrunched brows.
“Jisung, oh my god. What is that?”
“I didn’t mean to pour that much. It’s like a perfume. Mimics the smell of a faery.”
Felix sniffs the air curiously. He doesn’t think it smells bad, but it’s definitely overpowering.
“Is it Wind Faery? Ugh.”
The vampire gags, and Jisung rolls his eyes.
“They don’t smell that bad.”
Felix may still be confused, but he isn’t going to miss a chance to tease Chan.
“Would you prefer it be Water Faery?”
“Yes!”
Chan catches on to what Felix was implying after he responds, eyes widening at Felix’s grin. The other two pick up what he meant as well, wearing matching mischievous smiles, but Chan’s glare stops any further teasing from them.
“Changbin wouldn’t pass as a Water Faery. Look at him. He’s ugly.”
“Wow. Thanks, Sung.”
“I’m kidding. You could probably pass as an Ocean Faery. They’re usually bulky and rough looking like you.”
“That felt backhanded, but I’ll take it because I like the Ocean Faeries.”
Chan gathers up the papers in front of him and closes his laptop.
“Okay, Jisung, you can discuss all that with him later. Let’s continue this downstairs and give those two some space. We need to check our stock.”
“Yes sir. Bye Felix! I’ll probably see you before you leave. Have fun!”
The two older boys make their way out and Changbin leads Felix to the couch so they can sit down. Felix has to admit he’s a little disappointed he’s not going to get to see Changbin’s room. He shouldn’t be surprised the secretive boy is still keeping his distance, though. He hands Felix the remote with a smile.
“You can pick. I’m going to wash out this bowl real quick.”
Felix opens the first streaming app that pops up and scrolls through the recently watched curiously. There are a lot of Ghibli movies. Jisung likes to talk about those with him when he’s at the shop, so those must be from him. He’s not really sure what kind of movies Changbin likes to watch.
Eventually, he settles on one of the Ghibli movies since that seems like his safest bet. Who doesn’t like a good Ghibli movie?
“Oh, not you too.”
Changbin joins him on the couch with a breathy laugh.
“Jisung watches these all the time.”
“I can change it if you want.”
“No, you’re good. At least it’s not Howls Moving Castle. Jisung had that on repeat the whole time that the other club was closed. He just slept on the couch while it played. I swear I can quote it line by line after that.”
“Maybe I should put that one on instead so we can test that.”
“God, please no.”
Felix giggles and inches closer to Changbin. To his delight, the older boy doesn’t move away. In fact, he leans toward Felix.
“What do you usually like to watch?”
“I don’t really like watching movies or shows.”
“Oh really? What do you do in you spare time then?”
“Spare time? I don’t have a lot of that. I guess I usually just sleep or work out.”
Felix eyes Changbin’s arms. Yeah. That sounds about right to him.
“I see.”
They fall into a comfortable silence after that. Changbin seems focused on the movie, but Felix is focused on him. Every few minutes, he tries to readjust in a way that will get him closer to the older boy. He doesn’t know why he’s bothering to try to be sneaky about it. Can’t he just move once? Gods, how did he cuddle up to him so easily when he was drunk? Date or not, it’s not weird for him to want to be closer. Right?
Changbin moving his arm catches his attention, and he watches from the corner of his eye as Changbin puts his arm behind Felix on the couch. He tries not to perk up at the action. This is his chance, right? Changbin must be trying to get closer to him, too. He should just lean into this before Changbin changes his mind.
Just as he finally musters up the courage to try to curl into Changbin’s side, a phone ringing scares him back. Changbin fumbles around until he finds his phone and stands up. Damn. There goes his chance.
“Oh, hold on. It’s Wooyoung. I need to take this. I’ll be right back”
Felix bitterly watches the older boy walk out of the room to answer the phone. This is the second time today that demon has cock blocked him. He was warming up to him earlier, but he has such bad timing.
While he’s waiting for Changbin to return, he looks around the room from his spot on the couch. He’s been here a couple times before but never really looked closely. He’d get up and wander, but he doesn’t want to be caught snooping.
There’s some art on the walls. It’s mostly modern and seems to have a red theme that matches the other décor in the room. He’s guessing Chan was the one who decorated, though he can’t be for sure. He can see some framed pictures scattered around, but he can’t make out who is in them.
He’s wondering if vampires can even show up in pictures when Changbin finally returns from his call.
“Sorry about that.”
Felix looks up at the older boy.
“It’s okay.”
Changbin returns to his spot on the couch.
“So, did they catch that guy?”
The older boy raises a brow at Felix.
“Why would I tell you that?”
“Oh come on. Who would I tell?”
“How would I know?”
“Boooo. You’re no fun.”
Changbin laughs at Felix’s whining and shakes his head. Felix hasn’t been watching the movie this whole time anyway, so now feels like a good time to pry into Changbin’s life a bit.
“So, how did you and Wooyoung meet?”
“Huh? Oh. At the club.”
“Streetlight?”
“No. The gang doesn’t go there. They try not to meddle in vampire territory, and Chan being the head and owning the club, has kept them out of that area. It was a different club.”
“You go to other clubs?”
Felix gasps in fake offence, making Changbin laugh again.
“Used to.”
The older boy grins slyly at Felix.
“I was going through a bit of a rebellious phase then. It’s no wonder Chan hyung believed I started smoking. But hey, I made some friends during it. Chan would never believe it, but the gang is the reason I got my shit together.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah. By the way, I’m sorry about Wooyoung.”
“Hm? Why?”
“I know he can be a lot and it’s hard to tell him no. Sorry I let him barge in.”
“It’s okay, hyung. Really.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I didn’t mind.” He minded a little bit, actually. “And I know you didn’t intend for it to happen.”
Changbin frowns, unconvinced.
“Still, it didn’t make for a very good date. Not that I could have done better for a date but-“
“Wait. Date?”
“Yeah? This was a date, wasn’t it?”
“It was?”
The color drains from Changbin’s face and panic sets in. Felix is such an idiot. He was so focused on believing it wasn’t a date, so he wasn’t disappointed that he didn’t consider if Changbin actually thought of this as a date. Oh god, what if he had accidentally friend-zoned him somehow?
“Oh my god. Wasn’t it? I thought it was. When I asked, I had phrased it that way, so I thought you knew. I’m sorry! If you didn’t want it to be, then it wasn’t. Oh my god. I’m so stupid.”
“No, no, no, Hyung. It’s okay.”
“I’m so sorry, I didn’t-“
“Hyung!”
Felix cuts a flustered Changbin off, grabbing the older boy’s hand.
“It’s okay. I wanted it to be a date. Really. I just didn’t know it actually was one.”
The older boy is bright red, and Felix feels like he probably looks the same right now.
“You sure?”
“Yeah. To be honest, I wasn’t paying attention when you asked me. I was a little distracted, so you probably asked in a way that was obvious. I was just...oblivious?”
“Oh. Okay. I guess I shouldn’t have asked with a kid around.”
Yeah. It was totally Jongho distracting him. Nothing else.
“Don’t worry about it.”
An awkward silence falls over them, and Felix berates himself for being so stupid. He should have just played along when Changbin called it a date instead of getting confused. Now he’s made it awkward between them. How is he even going to salvage this?
A laugh pulls him out of his thoughts and he raises his brow at Changbin, who waves his hand in front of him in embarrassment.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. It’s just, Jisung was so proud I actually asked you out on a date, and it turns out I didn’t really ask you on one. He’s going to make fun of me for sure.”
Felix laughs. He wants to reassure Changbin again, but the situation really is just so ridiculous.
“You know, I was so sure this wasn’t a date, I kept arguing with my friends about it when they called it one. They’re going to hold this over my head forever when they find out I was wrong.”
“Well, you have my permission to tell them it wasn’t one, so you can hold it over their heads that you were right.”
“Likewise. You can tell Jisung that I knew it was a date the whole time.”
The mention of Jisung reminds him of the fact they’re downstairs and he gasps, looking at a confused Changbin.
“Isn’t Jisung and Chan hyung downstairs? Do you think Chan hyung heard us and told Jisung already?”
Changbin laughs and shakes his head, relaxing back into the couch. The movement makes Felix realize that he’s still holding Changbin’s hand. The older hasn’t pulled his hand away, so Felix doesn’t think he’ll let go just yet. This is a date, after all.
“If he did hear us, he’s definitely going to keep it to himself. He’s going to keep it as blackmail against me, and hold onto it until he can reveal it to Jisung to brag that he knew about it and not him. They’re both petty like that.”
Felix giggles and leans back into the couch as well. Judging by the way Chan has reacted to Jisung knowing something about Changbin that he didn’t, he doesn’t doubt that they can be petty about that type of thing.
They settle back into watching the rest of the movie, the awkward air now gone, and they idly chat as it plays. Felix is somehow still too nervous to curl into Changbin’s side, but he stubbornly holds onto the older boy’s hand, reveling in the fact that Changbin hasn’t pulled away from him yet.
Eventually, he has to let go so they can leave. Changbin has to get to work soon. The older boy, of course, insists on walking Felix home. Felix tries not to pout as they walk out and he watches Changbin lock the door. He thinks he may be addicted to holding Changbin’s hand already. It’s just so warm and comfortable. He could hold it all day if he could.
To his delight, Changbin grabs his hand as they start walking to his house. He doesn’t even bother hiding the smile on his face at the action. If he’s acting like this over hand holding, maybe it’s a good thing he hasn’t had the chance to cuddle with the older boy yet. He can’t imagine the withdraw from that. They aren’t even actually dating. He needs to pull himself together.
Felix looks up at the sky to calm himself down and see if he can spot any stars. He can make out a few, but the lights and clouds block out the rest. He’s surprised he was able to stay until dark without any panicked texts from Minho.
“You know, one thing I miss about the orphanage in Australia was that I could see the stars. You can’t really see the stars here.”
Changbin looks up at the sky as well.
“It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve lived somewhere with no stars.”
He squeezes Felix’s hand and looks back at him with a smile.
“But, you know, they can still see us.”
Felix tilts his head. What does he mean by that? No stars? And they can see them? Before he can question what he meant, Changbin moves on.
“Do you like stars?”
Felix looks back up at the sky. He loves the stars.
“Yeah, I do. They’re beautiful to look at. When I was a kid, I would always sit outside at night and stare at the stars. It made me feel less alone. All those stars in the sky. It’s like they’re with me.”
He looks back at Changbin with a smile.
“Wouldn’t you agree?”
Changbin has an unreadable expression as he looks up at the sky and back to Felix.
“I’ve never really seen the stars.”
Felix’s smile wavers for a moment, but then lights up again.
“Oh. Well, maybe we can go somewhere and stargaze!”
“I’d love that.”
The smile Changbin gives him makes Felix want to wish on the few stars he can see that he can make that come true. It’s that same soft smile from earlier, and now he thinks he can believe there is something more behind it.
“You know, actually, you look like a Star.”
Felix’s face flushes. Was that a compliment?
“A star?”
“Yeah. Remember Wooyoung saying you looked like a character from one of the faerytales?”
The blonde tilts his head curiously. Wouldn’t that mean he looked like a prince, though? That’s what Jongho had called him, after all.
“Yeah?”
“That character was a Star. A literal Star. My noona loved the tales about the Stars. The one he mentioned was her favorite, and she told it so much, I have every bit of it memorized. It’s one of Jongho’s favorites too.”
“Oh, really?”
So it wasn’t really a compliment. Or maybe it was. Felix doesn’t know what these Stars look like. He’s definitely curious now.
“Yeah. I don’t know why she liked it so much, or why Jongho likes it. It’s a bit morbid to tell a kid.”
“Honestly, most faerytales are a little morbid. They’re usually meant to teach a lesson.”
“That’s true I guess. Though this story was more a legend than a fairytale. It’s told like a true story.”
His curiosity is getting to him now, and not just because he allegedly looks like these Stars. He heard a few faerytales when he was at the orphanage. There were some faeries there, so the adults tried to tell them some of the stories they’d learned so the faeries could learn about their own people. He’s not sure how authentic the stories were, though, because none of the adults were Fae. He knows for a fact he never heard any about Stars.
“What’s the story? Can you tell me?”
Changbin looks at him with raised brows.
“You want me to tell you a fairytale?”
“Yes! Pleeeeaaassseeee.”
Felix wraps his arms around Changbin’s and gives him his best puppy eyes. It’s probably not necessary, but he can see the way Changbin blushes even in the dark. The older boy turns his head away in an attempt to hide his smile, but Felix catches it anyway.
“Okay, okay. I’ll tell it to you.”
“Yay!”
“Don’t make fun of me after, though! The others say I get too into telling the stories sometimes.”
“I won’t. I promise.”
Felix removes one hand from Changbin’s arms to stick out his pinky. The older boy smiles and playfully links his pinky with the blondes.
“Okay. Here it is then.”
The older’s expression immediately shifts into focus, but there’s a twinkle in his eyes as he starts to speak. His voice is different than it usually is, and Felix now sees why Jongho must love hearing the stories from the older. It’s mesmerizing.
“Once, before the Stars left our realm, there lived a princess.”