Chapter Text
“Lix! Felix! Oh, thank god, you finally made it!”
Hyunjin’s Korean cut through the crowd, and Felix was able to spot him. Well, Hyunjin waving his arms up high helped, too. Felix’s sleep-muddled brain could only think of the wacky inflatable tubes in front of car dealerships. Regardless, he was grateful to sink into Hyunjin’s arms for an embrace.
Felix let go of his bags and wrapped his arms around the taller man. “It’s been a long time,” he replied in English, sounding tired but just as loving. “I’ve missed you, Hyunjin.”
Felix felt safer in Hyunjin’s arms than anywhere else he’d been the past few weeks.
They broke apart from their hug, and Hyunjin grabbed Felix’s larger luggage. Before Felix could protest, Hyunjin smiled and started walking to the parking lot. Felix could only roll his eyes, grab his other bags, and follow along with an exasperated (but fond) smile.
“Your boxes were so heavy, Yongbok-ah. We’re lucky Hannie started going back to the gym. What did you even pack in them?” Hyunjin asked. Felix struggled a bit to keep up with Hyunjin’s Korean when he started speaking rapid-fire. “But it’s been such a long time, my god. How long has it been since we’ve seen each other? I mean like, in person, of course. I know we call all the time, but I don’t even call Hannie that much – oh my god!”
Hyunjin ended his rambling in English and let out a dramatic gasp. Then, he whirled around to face a startled Felix while covering his mouth.
“Um… Hyunjinnie?” Felix offered, a little concerned for his friend. He scooted over to the wall, and Hyunjin followed. It was wiser to stay clear of the walkways once Hyunjin had realised something.
“Lix… I think our last photo was from graduation.” In a show of true dramatism, both of Hyunjin’s hands went up to rest in his dark hair. The action destroyed his effortless styling in a matter of seconds. Though, Felix himself wasn’t doing much better, jaw dropping in surprise. “That’s not right! Wait, hold on–”
Hyunjin whipped out his phone and opened his photo app in a hurry. He scrolled past several albums before finding his ‘La vie à Paris’ album. “Aha!” Hyunjin and Felix were in the centre of one of the photos. They styled themselves to perfection, sitting in a booth with their friends. It was their graduation party. He waved his phone in front of Felix’s face once he pulled up the photo. “See!”
“Oh, shit,” Felix exclaimed as his eyes widened in surprise. He remembered the night in bits and pieces with how plastered he got, but he remembered taking that photo. “Wait, yeah, that’s…” He gasped and furrowed his brows. “Oh, wow. It’s been way too fucking long.”
A disbelieving laugh escaped Hyunjin’s lips. “No way…”
The two of them locked gazes and burst into a fit of giggles. Felix found himself leaning onto the wall to steady himself as he laughed. Hyunjin’s eyes curled up into those eye smiles that Felix adored.
Once Hyunjin calmed himself down, he straightened up and fixed his hair. The amusement and mirth at their realisation were evident in his expression. “Well, at least we get to see each other now. Every day, actually!” he chirped.
He nudged Felix with an elbow, and Felix nudged him back with a teasing grin. “Unless you almost accidentally blow up your oven again.”
“Yah, Lee Yongbok! That was one time!” Hyunjin huffed but he couldn’t glare at Felix for too long. Felix knew this and grinned at his friend. Hyunjin grinned in return and jerked his head in the direction of the parking lot. “Come on, Hannie’s waiting at home. Let’s go before it gets super busy.”
It took a short time to reach Hyunjin’s car in the lot. They loaded most of Felix’s luggage in the trunk. Felix got comfortable in the passenger seat with his purse and backpack. As Hyunjin started the car and drove out of the lot, Felix let his mind wander. His eyes scanned their surroundings as Hyunjin navigated the morning traffic. Los Angeles already looked a lot different from what Felix knew, and he’d only seen so little. At least he knew that his new chapter of his life would be interesting. Maybe it would challenge him, but he knew he’d come out victorious in the end.
As he started drifting off, his mind settled on one of his personal favourite daydreams. He closed his eyes and drew a familiar mental image of his very own fashion boutique. He often dreamt of leasing a cosy retail space. Interested customers would be able to browse his best designs. And then, his works would capture the attention of Los Angeles. After that, he’d be able to take the world by storm, even wear his own pieces for a magazine shoot. If he put in enough effort and love, he could make his dreams a reality.
The corners of Felix’s lips curled up into a smile as he fell into a light sleep. He dreamt of fabrics and stitches and cursory designs.
Felix came to some time later. There was an irritating bright light shining over part of his face. The car’s engine was off, parked in some structure, and someone was gently shaking his shoulder to wake him up. He furrowed his brows and blinked his eyes open once, twice, three times. The first sight he could focus on (well, aside from the harsh fluorescent lighting) was a shy smile. It took him a moment of impolite staring to realise that he’d seen that face before, if only on video calls. “Jisung?”
Jisung’s smile grew wider when Felix recognized him.
Video calls didn’t do Jisung justice; he seemed… softer, in person, cuter and more approachable. Like he was about to be Felix’s brand new cuddle buddy. (Actually, Hyunjin and Jisung were both about to be his new cuddle buddies, but he digressed.)
After a moment, Jisung parted his lips to speak and Felix sat up to hear him. “Wow, you’re even prettier in person.”
…
Silence filled between them. Felix’s ears started turning pink from the sweet words and he offered a bashful smile in return. It was hard to pretend that he wasn’t charmed by Jisung’s straightforwardness.
Jisung, however, was absolutely mortified at himself. He flailed his arms and stuttered before squatting down next to Felix’s open car door and covering his face. Hyunjin wasn’t helping him with the way he was cackling from the trunk.
“Yah, Han-ah, go easy on Yongbok!” Hyunjin teased as he got Felix’s luggage out. “He just got off a flight, in case you forgot.”
“Shut up!” Jisung yelled, lifting his head from his hands to glare at Hyunjin. He scrunched up his nose. Hyunjin laughed again as he closed the trunk. “Leave me alone! What am I supposed to say when both of my roommates are fine as hell, huh? Yah, you tell me, Hyunjin-ah.”
Felix snorted to himself as Hyunjin and Jisung started their rapid-fire bickering. Again. He felt amused that their antics transferred over from video calls to real life, even if he couldn’t keep up with the whole conversation. In the midst of their bickering, Jisung stood back up with flushed cheeks.
Cutting into the conversation, Felix said, “That was really sweet, Jisung-ah. Thank you.” He then rushed to add, “Oh, and nice to meet you in person.”
Jisung looked over at him and Felix smiled. He huffed but looked happier as he moved out of Felix’s way. When Felix got out of the car, though, he extended his arms in a hug. He felt happy when Jisung agreed, and they exchanged a warm embrace.
After letting go of each other, Jisung replied, “It’s great to finally see you, Lix. At least you stopped calling me Jisung-ssi, so I consider this a win! Not one word, Hwang Hyunjin.”
“I didn’t even say anything this time!” Hyunjin cried out as Felix made sure nothing fell out of his pockets while he was asleep.
Letting out an emphatic ‘hmph,’ Jisung stuck his tongue out at Hyunjin. “And it better stay that way.”
“Umm, guys?” Felix cut in again. He closed the car door and had made sure he had all his things. But when he looked at his new roommates, he realised that they were taking care of all his luggage. “You don’t have to get all my bags for me…”
“Don’t be silly, Lix,” Jisung remarked in English as he adjusted Felix’s carry-on backpack on his shoulder. “We want to carry this for you. Right, Hyunjin-ah?”
“That’s right! Don’t worry about it, baby.”
Felix sighed before nodding with a grateful smile. “Only if you’re sure. Thanks, you two.”
The three of them walked to the elevator after Hyunjin locked the car. Hyunjin and Jisung started a new conversation as they walked. As much as Felix wanted to join the conversation, he also felt content to listen.
“Can you believe it?! I finally got to talk to Minnie again for longer than like, fifteen minutes,” Jisung proclaimed with a grin as the elevator doors slid open. “I swear, his schedule is crazy now.” The three of them filed inside the elevator, and Jisung pressed the button for the eighth floor.
Hyunjin replied, “He’s always been super busy, but now he’s in the major leagues. I got to talk to him a few days ago though. So what did he say? Did he say yes to recording for you?”
“No,” Jisung replied, visibly deflating but straightening up a moment later. “But it wasn’t a no either! His voice is the perfect backing vocal for my next project, so I’m asking him again for sure.”
Felix glanced between the two, curious about who ‘Minnie’ was to Hyunjin and Jisung. He tried to remember if he ever saw a ‘Minnie’ on their social media posts, but came up blank. But, he did recall ‘Minnie’ mentioned a few times whenever he and Hyunjin had a video call. Still, he wasn’t able to put a face to the name…
“I bet he wants to do it but his hell schedule isn’t letting him. Maybe his manager, too,” Hyunjin mused as the doors opened on their floor. They all got out and Hyunjin led them towards their flat. “Don’t worry, Hannie, I think he’ll agree to the vocal thing.”
Jisung huffed out a chuckle, set down Felix’s bags next to their door, and fished his keychain out of his pocket. “He better! I need his vocals, Hyunjin-ah.”
Felix picked up his bags off the floor while Jisung unlocked the door to #8-01. Quiet as he was, he grew more curious about Minnie's identity. Whoever Minnie was must be important to both of them.
After a few seconds of struggling, Jisung unlocked their door and swung it open with a triumphant ‘hah!’. He held it open for Hyunjin and Felix. “Okay, Lix, this is it! It’s not much, but welcome home.”
Felix went inside after Jisung, thanking him and toeing off his shoes. He already knew that Hyunjin and Jisung lived a bit messy, but it was a struggle to neatly put his shoes away. The shoe rack looked like ground zero of a tornado. He settled for nudging his shoes to an empty corner with his foot. Stepping over the shoe minefield, Felix made it past the entryway and the kitchen. He set his bags down next to the futon couch, circling back to the kitchen to explore.
“Hyunjin-ah!” Jisung cried as Hyunjin steamrolled past their shoes with Felix’s check-in luggage. Hyunjin kept walking anyway. Jisung groaned as he brought the last piece of luggage inside, then closed and locked the door. “Could you not fucking roll the luggage over my shoes?”
“Could you actually put your shoes away on your shoe rack for once, Hannie?” Hyunjin retorted.
Felix turned around and saw Jisung step into the hallway bathroom. “Yah. You can’t even say that when you’re just as bad as me!” He closed the door and left no room for further comments.
Snorting as he ran his fingers over the laminate countertops, Felix’s eyes flitted around. The kitchen was an open layout, leading into the hallway and living room. The fridge and stove top were opposite the sink, dishwasher, and main counter space. There was a half-covered pot on the stove – Felix felt relieved to see that the stove wasn’t on. The kitchen was much smaller than the kitchen in his sister’s flat back in Sydney. But Hyunjin and Jisung’s kitchen still had a charm to it; their kitchen felt more lived-in. From the instant noodle packs sitting at the corner of the counter (probably Jisung’s) to the countertop wine rack boasting two bottles (definitely Hyunjin’s), the kitchen had a personal feel that was hard to recreate.
“Damn. I’m really here now,” he whispered to himself. It felt a little surreal to move into the flat he saw so often when talking to Hyunjin and Jisung.
Felix’s fingers brushed over a photo booth strip pinned to the fridge with a magnet. Hyunjin and Jisung made silly poses in all the photos. Meanwhile, the third person stared at the camera with a deadpan expression. It was quite the hilarious contrast to Hyunjin and Jisung’s animated faces. In one of the photos, they used two of their fingers to poke the eyes of their bright yellow Homer Simpson hoodie. He was every bit as gorgeous as his other two companions. Was this Minnie?
Jisung emerged from the bathroom at the same time Hyunjin came out of Felix’s room. “I put your bags in your room, Lix! Oh, shit–” Hyunjin shrieked and dove for the futon. Felix watched Hyunjin dive and exchanged curious glances with Jisung.
Felix peered over the countertop bar to see Hyunjin brandishing a keychain with a cute animal charm. “I’ve been looking everywhere for this!”
Jisung raised his eyebrows. “Yah.” He laughed in disbelief, crashed next to Hyunjin on the futon, and slung an arm around his shoulders. “You seriously picked up Lix without your house keys? Don’t you always clip them with your car keys?”
Hyunjin turned his head to pout at Jisung. Felix walked around the counter to perch himself on one of the wooden counter stools. “Yeah…” He paused for a moment, gasped, and fell back into the futon with his hand slapped onto his forehead. “Oh my god. I took it off my car keychain when I got the mail yesterday.”
Jisung let out a disbelieving laugh and pulled Hyunjin closer to himself. “Yah, Hwang Hyunjin. What would you ever do without me?”
Felix’s eyes drifted around the main space. The living room looked spacious. The fact that Hyunjin and Jisung chose a simple rug without a coffee table probably helped with that. The futon sat across from a cube organiser crammed with random personal items that made Felix snort to himself. (A box of condoms out in the open? For shame.)
By the time Felix looked back at the two, Jisung was trying to kiss Hyunjin. Hyunjin had his hand splayed over Jisung’s face to push him away and was trying his best not to smile. “Just admit that you need me in your life, baby,” Jisung said in what Felix could only describe as a ‘suave’ voice.
“Oh my god, forget it!” Hyunjin laughed and tried to shimmy away from Jisung. He turned to look at Felix with a bit of a plea in his eyes. “Felix, help!”
Well. Yes, Felix could help, but his idea of ‘helping’ was honestly a little self-indulgent.
He stood up, walked towards the futon, and manoeuvred in a way that he settled between Jisung and Hyunjin. Hyunjin didn’t miss his chance to scuttle away to the other side of the futon. Not wasting a moment, Felix wrapped his arms around Jisung and smiled at his new roommate’s surprised expression. And, because Felix was feeling a little devious, he lowered his voice to a charming drawl. “Could I steal that kiss, Jisung-ah?”
He slowly moved closer to Jisung with puckered lips. “What the fuck,” Jisung squeaked. He quickly redirected Felix to rest his head on his chest and avoid the kiss. Once again, Hyunjin’s loud cackling filled the space. Felix wasn’t far behind, shoulders shaking with quiet laughter. “Guys! This isn’t funny!” Jisung complained with a whiny tone, even as he pulled Felix closer against himself.
As soon as Jisung pulled him closer, Felix melted into Jisung’s chest with a satisfied hum and closed his eyes. Yeah, he was so right about the both of them being his new cuddle buddies.
Once again, Felix grew quiet as Hyunjin and Jisung discussed their work clients. He felt bad that he wasn’t listening well, though. The words swam around in his head with no way to connect them with each other. In fact, he didn’t realise he was nodding off until Jisung shook him gently.
“Lix, wake up,” Hyunjin called in a soft tone, shaking his other shoulder. “The futon isn’t as comfortable as the bed.”
“It’s plenty comfy,” Felix responded, sounding a bit petulant as he nuzzled into Jisung’s chest.
Jisung cooed in response and stroked Felix’s hair. “Oh, Yongbok. Come on, Hyunie’s mattress is really soft and so is his duvet, you’ll love it.”
After another moment of gentle coaxing, Felix finally sat back up and blinked his eyes open. He pursed his lips into a pout but he didn’t complain as he stood up and followed Hyunjin to his and Jisung’s shared room. But, he stopped them midway. Hyunjin’s warm gaze when he turned around made him melt a little. “Um… I need to change first,” Felix stated. “You don’t like outside clothes on your bed, right?”
If it was at all possible, Hyunjin managed to look even more fond. “You remembered that?”
“Course I did.”
Felix excused himself to his new bedroom. His luggage was left next to a few boxes he’d sent a few weeks ago. The simple bedframe he’d chosen was already built but there was no mattress. Maybe it hadn’t arrived yet. Guess that was why Hyunjin offered his bed. He opened his carry-on luggage and changed into his sweats. He pocketed his phone before shoving his dirty clothes into the luggage. While he tried to tuck his dirty clothes neatly back into his carry-on, it was still a bit of a mess. He’d clean it up after he got some sleep.
Once he exited his bedroom, he saw Jisung shoving his feet into a pair of shoes by the door. Hyunjin emptied whatever was in that half-covered pot into a bowl. He greeted them both, then retired into Hyunjin and Jisung’s room. Once he saw Hyunjin’s bed, he dove onto it like a parched survivor arriving at an oasis. After pulling the duvet back, he flopped onto the bed and drew the covers over himself.
It didn’t take long for Felix to fall into a sweet, dreamless sleep.
–––
The rest of the day was rather uneventful. Felix woke up to get a glass of water, idly scrolling through his new group chat with his roommates. Jisung and Hyunjin were back at work. Hyunjin left his set of house keys on the counter with a sticky note that read, “Use these for now Lix!! Will get your copy soon.” Jisung and Hyunjin also welcomed him to heat up an instant noodle pack if he got hungry, and he thanked them. Glancing at the window, he saw the sky lit up in a pretty pink shade. It was already sunset, then. He needed to plan his sleep better so that he wouldn’t be as jetlagged.
Well. Now that he was starting his new life in the City of Angels, he better start unpacking. He went back into his room, put on his playlist, and started organising his things. Thank goodness Hyunjin had the foresight to buy him some organisers for his closet…
Hours later, Felix’s stomach grumbled, and he figured he should take a break from unpacking. When Felix looked out his window, though, he startled when he saw the sky was darker than he anticipated. He thought he only spent maybe one or two hours organising…
After a quick pantry raid, Felix made cup noodles for himself. His plan was to enjoy the cup noodles on the rooftop. Sure, he wouldn’t be able to see any stars since he was in Los Angeles, but he may as well enjoy the amenities he was paying for. And so, he shuffled out of #8-01 with his cup noodles, chopsticks, keys, and throw blanket.
It was colder on the rooftop than he had expected. Felix wrapped his throw blanket tighter around himself, doing his best to relax on one of the hard metal chairs. Seriously, would it be so hard for their building to invest in some nice sun loungers? He sighed as he fed himself another bite of noodles. But, he didn’t want to go back into their place just yet. Not when he still had the weight of his thoughts keeping him awake.
Jumping half a metre into the air when he heard the rooftop access door open, Felix whipped his head towards the door. But the fear in his body was soon replaced with calm when he saw Jisung emerging with a guitar case.
Jisung jumped, too, when he noticed and looked over at him. “Holy shit– Lix? Oh, thank god– you scared me. I thought you were still asleep.”
Felix shook his head with a bit of a wry smile and pulled out his phone to check the time. 09:22 PM. He looked up at his roommate. “Did you just get home, Jisungie?”
“Yeah, a moment ago. I got a ride from my coworker,” Jisung replied and took a seat across from him, in one of the metal chairs that didn’t have armrests. He gently leaned his guitar case against himself. “But I’ve got a lot on my mind, so I came out here.”
Felix nodded in understanding, unkempt bangs coming to rest in front of his eyes. “That makes two of us.”
A small pout formed on Jisung’s lips and he met Felix’s gaze with a concerned expression. For the first time since he woke up, Felix gave him a genuine smile. “I’ll be okay, Jisungie,” He nodded his head in the direction of his guitar case. “Were you going to play?”
At Felix’s prompting, Jisung nodded with a shy smile of his own. He got his guitar out, threw the guitar strap over his head, and settled the instrument in his lap. “Yeah. It helps me calm down. If you want to talk, we can talk. But if you’d rather just listen to my guitar, that’s cool too.”
Felix’s heart warmed at Jisung’s thoughtfulness. “Thank you. I’d love to hear you play, Jisungie.”
Jisung flashed him a smile and strummed a few times to check his tuning. Then, he started to play. He led Felix through a medley of pop songs, Studio Ghibli songs, songs that Felix didn’t even know but sounded pleasant. It helped lift a weight off of Felix’s chest that had been there since he broke down in his mother’s arms all those weeks ago.
So, Felix started talking between bites of his instant noodles. “Sometimes… I wonder if it was better if I just shut the fuck up.”
Jisung hummed in acknowledgment and started strumming softer so that he could listen to Felix. “Never shut the fuck up, Lix. But what do you mean?”
“I mean like…” Felix gesticulated with his hand that was holding his chopsticks. He looked down at the cup noodle broth with an uneasy expression. “I’m scared. I don’t even know if my designs will take off here. Would it have been safer to not rat out my boss?”
The pleasant guitar strums stopped abruptly. “Yongbok-ah.” Jisung’s tone was the most serious it had been since Felix touched down in Los Angeles. When Felix looked up from his cup noodles, the other’s face was equally as serious. “I’ll stop you there before you talk yourself into a spiral. I don’t know you as well as Hyunjin does, obviously. But I can tell that you’d never play it safe if someone were stealing your designs.”
Felix breathed in sharply and startled a little, dropping his chopsticks into the cup noodles. Yes, he felt comforted with how Jisung stood by his decision, but to hear it and really think about it again still stung. “That’s…” he started, but cleared his throat when his voice sounded quiet. “Yeah, you’re right. I wouldn’t let them get away with it even if it were the safer choice for me.”
Nodding and smiling in encouragement, Jisung started packing his guitar back into his case. “Ah, also. You know that Hyunjin and I are like, your biggest fans, right? We’ll do our best to promote you when you’re ready.”
Jisung closed his case, and Felix took a deep breath to ground himself. “Yeah.” He stood up and walked over to Jisung with his arms out. Chuckling in response, Jisung pulled him into a hug. “I appreciate it, Ji. Thank you.”
“Any time, pretty boy,” Jisung cooed, causing Felix to playfully hit him with a pleased little giggle. “So, you ready to go back inside? It’s cold as fuck.”
Felix laughed and agreed, pulling away from the hug to fetch his cup noodles. “Yeah, let’s go.”
When Felix and Jisung made it back into #8-01, Hyunjin was on the phone talking animatedly with someone. Jisung made a beeline for his and Hyunjin’s room. “Who do you think you’re talking to? Of course we’re watching your debut next week, Minnie!” Felix’s eyebrow raised in curiosity as he tossed his cup noodle broth and threw away the styrofoam. “Oh– save us three tickets, please. Yeah, three. Felix is finally here and I’m taking him with us.”
Felix took a seat on the futon with the throw blanket still wrapped around himself. “Yes, Felix. Meet us after your game? … Boo, that’s no fun. We’re planning for dinner the night after then. I’ll text you. Bye, Min-ah!” Hyunjin dramatically hung up the phone and sighed. “Hotshot athletes,” he muttered good-naturedly before turning his attention to Felix. “Hey, Lix. Where were you and Hannie just now?”
“Rooftop,” Felix replied, and Hyunjin made a noise of acknowledgement. “Who were you talking to, by the way?”
“Oh– that was Minnie! He’s starting in his first game ever in the major league and he said he’d get tickets for us.” Hyunjin hummed again before making a sound of realisation. “Ah! Wait– you’ve talked to Minnie before, right?” Felix slowly shook his head ‘no,’ and Hyunjin’s eyes widened. “Wait, what?! But he was at our grad party!”
Felix didn’t have the heart to tell Hyunjin that he got a little too drunk that night and couldn’t remember much. “Ah… must’ve just missed him.”
Hyunjin fixed him with a Look and he shuddered a bit. “There’s no way you would have missed your chance to talk him up.” Then, Hyunjin shook his head with a laugh and grabbed his phone again. “His real name’s Seungmin but everyone – well. Jisung and I call him Minnie. He plays for the Dodgers.” He typed a few things on his phone while Felix stared at him with wide eyes, then looked back up. “I sent you his Wiki.”
Felix got his phone out, loaded up the link Hyunjin sent, and promptly had to school his reaction at the photo that loaded up. Even as he stared at his phone, though, he could feel Hyunjin’s self-satisfied little smile. “Shut up. You can’t tell me he was at our party and I can’t even remember him.”
“So he is your type!” Hyunjin exclaimed, then ducked after Felix threw a very well-aimed throw pillow at him. He snickered as a blush settled over Felix’s freckles. He stood up straight but still had a self-satisfied grin on his face. “Relax, Lix! You’ll see him in a few days.”
Huffing again, Felix got comfortable and read through Seungmin’s Wiki…
Felix daydreamed about Los Angeles his whole flight. Why wouldn’t he, of course, considering that he was moving there? He’d seen glimpses before, from Hyunjin and Jisung’s adventures and from films and such, but he hadn’t set foot in the city before his move.
He thought of the streetlight forest sculpture that made Hyunjin go semi-viral on SNS. He thought of Universal Studios, where Jisung promised they’d visit the Wizarding World to their hearts’ content once his royalties came in. He thought of the Santa Monica pier, a dream date long-forgotten on his old Pinterest boards. Not even the grime of the city could take away his rose-tinted view yet.
But, as cheesy as it sounded, Felix felt like nothing in the City of Angels captured his attention as easily or as quickly as the man sitting across from him in the diner booth.
“Kim Seungmin,” the man said with a smooth voice that reminded Felix of honey. Or a silk web. Was he a fly? He felt like a fly caught in a silk web. “Some people here call me Sky, though.”
Felix didn’t know what to expect, meeting the baseball player the evening after his game. It was very different from reading all about his accomplishments on his Wiki. They didn’t really interact during the game, because their seats weren’t that close to the field. Still, Hyunjin and Jisung screamed support and love declarations for Seungmin the whole game. None of them understood baseball, but it was worth going to see his roommates light up with pride and joy seeing their friend play.
He just wasn’t expecting Seungmin to be that attractive up close.
“Kim Seungmin,” he tried out, before smiling and offering his hand to shake. “It's nice to meet you, Seungmin. Hyunjin already mentioned it, but I'm Felix.”
Felix and Seungmin laughed together, and Seungmin shook his hand. “Likewise, Felix,” he responded with a twinkle in his eyes. They dropped their hands and settled into a comfortable silence. Felix was just a bit shocked to feel so comfortable in silence with a technical stranger.
Seungmin glanced at where Hyunjin and Jisung waited for their orders before turning his attention back to Felix. The baseball player leaned forward a bit, and Felix did the same, blinking with a gentle smile. He could have sworn he heard Seungmin’s breath hitching, but he couldn’t tell from all the restaurant chatter. He asked, “I feel like I should know this, but how do you know Hyunjin and Jisung?”
“Oh- well, I met Hyunjin when we both studied in Paris.” Seungmin hummed. “And then I met Jisung when Hyunjin video called me one time.” Felix laughed, smile turning a bit nostalgic. “I think they were already living together when I met Jisung.”
Seungmin raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Wow, wait. So you decided you’re okay with living with Jisung just by talking to him on the phone?”
“I swear it’s actually not that bad. We’re pretty good roommates already.” Seungmin laughed, and Felix felt a bit proud of himself for making Seungmin laugh that way. “What about you, Seungmin? How do you know them?”
Seungmin chuckled and took a sip from his cup of water. “I’ve known them both since high school, actually. You wouldn’t believe how much they argued back then.”
Felix let out a low whistle. “Wow, you three go way back.”
“Mm. I wonder why you and I didn’t meet sooner, really. But,” Seungmin’s eyes sparkled again as he smiled a bit wider, “I think we met at just the right time, Felix.”
And there it was. Felix knew he should have expected some cheesy pickup line from a hotshot professional athlete. But instead of scoffing and shooting back another remark, Felix scoffed and maybe blushed a little in his seat without a comeback. What was he doing? Was Hyunjin actually right when he said Seungmin was Felix’s type?
Thank goodness for Jisung, his saving grace, for sliding over to their booth with one of their trays. Jisung started complaining about how Hyunjin almost spilled ketchup on him. Hyunjin followed with their other tray, countering Jisung’s complaints. Felix shared a look with Seungmin before he broke their eye contact and grabbed his food, making more space for Hyunjin next to him. Luckily, Hyunjin and Jisung didn’t notice his flushed cheeks as they ate. Seungmin, however, had his eyes on him almost the whole time they ate their food…
“–Right, Lix?”
Shit.
Felix munched on a few more fries and wiped his mouth to cover the fact that he was lost in his thoughts again. “Sorry, what was the question?”
Jisung sipped his milkshake, then repeated, “You’re okay with me making a group chat on Kakao, right?” He showed his phone screen with the messaging app already open. “I’m going to make a group chat with all of us. We need to plan out some more hangouts, babes! Well, we need to work around Seungminnie’s schedule, but I think we can manage that.”
Oh. “Mhm! You’ve got me in your contacts already.” Felix felt way too giddy over being in a group chat with Seungmin. He was about to take another bite of his burger when he caught Seungmin’s gaze again. As soon as he saw Seungmin’s eyebrow quirk in interest, he flashed his most charming smile and relished at how Seungmin’s eyes widened a little.
At least the scoreboard was even now, he thought.
Felix didn’t know what he'd get up to in his new city, but he was definitely making sure to score a date with Kim Seungmin.