Chapter Text
Adrenaline is rushing through his veins as he climbs through the open window. Felix has been doing this for years now, but he never gets tired of the thrill that comes with every heist.
He looks around the hallway he finds himself in, visualizing the layout of the mansion that he's long committed to memory, down to the smallest detail.
"I'm in," he whispers, as he places a finger on his tiny earpiece. "Everything's clear."
"Same here," Chan says in his ear, already waiting in position, ready to cover for him. "It's time to move out."
Felix slides down the hallway with smooth, soundless steps, the only thing breaking up the complete silence being his shallow breaths and the faint ticking of a probably priceless antique clock. Felix kind of wishes he could take that as well, as a bonus. Unfortunately, he needs to stick to the plan, if he doesn't want to spend the next 15 to 20 years in prison.
Shortly, he reaches his destination, the room at the very end of the hallway. There is no door to it, just a tastefully decorated arch carved into the wall, clearly showing off the goods kept inside. What Felix is here for. His earpiece sizzles to life.
"Are you both in position?" He hears Seungmin's voice, not bothering to keep quiet, as he's waiting outside in the back of their van.
"Yup. It's nice and boring over here," Chan replies.
"I have eyes on the target," Felix says, barely containing his smirk.
"Alright, Brownie Boy, it's your time to shine. You've got exactly one minute, and not a second more," Seungmin says. "Aaand, your time starts...now."
Felix puts a careful foot over the threshold, testing the waters, just in case. Normally, the motion sensing camera in this room would pick up on a single thread of his hair falling over that line and start the emergency shutdown protocol of the building, but thanks to Seungmin's handiwork, nothing happens. The fact that the whole security system of the entire east wing has been mysteriously malfunctioning for the past ten minutes can also be attributed to him.
Felix doesn't waste any more time before darting over to the opposite wall of the nearly empty room, where a single painting hangs in a tasteful gold frame. He flips out his trustworthy pocket knife, and cuts the painting out of the frame – however tasteful it is, it would only get in the way. With practiced ease, he rolls up the canvas and secures it with some rubber bands, before sliding it into his backpack. Exactly 48 seconds after Seungmin's signal, he's outside of the room, still clutching his knife in a sweaty palm.
"I’ve got it," he scream-whispers into his earpiece, already breaking into a sprint towards the window he came in through.
"Fuck yeah, you did," Chan says, barely managing to keep his voice low, while Seungmin just lets out a sharp, menacing chuckle.
Felix climbs out the window, and begins his descent. There is no point, or even a way to hide the damage the glass cutter did to it, but that's going to be the smaller financial loss the owner is suffering tonight. He jumps over to a different windowsill, from where he can climb over to a lower part of the roof. Creeping over to the other side of it, he finds Chan already waiting for him there. Together, they slowly make it to the ground by holding on to various conveniently placed decorations and windowsills on the wall.
Landing on the ground one by one, they run over to where their van is waiting. Seungmin opens the back door for Felix to slide in, while Chan gets behind the wheel, and starts the engine before Felix has the chance to properly shut the door behind himself.
It takes a few moments of panting before it finally hits them. They did it.
***
The next morning, Felix is late to work.
Well, work is an exaggeration, as it is more just Chan's passion project, that his two not so passionate friends have also been dragged into. For some reason, Chan's definition of relaxing after a stressful night of breaking the law is to wake up at five in the morning, work out, and then start serving the world's cheapest (but good quality!) coffee to people on their way to work. And since both Felix and Seungmin practically owe their lives to him, they are also obligated to take part in this freak of a nature pastime activity.
Chan is already there, cleaning the counter when Felix arrives.
"Huh. Ten whole minutes late this time?" Chan greets him with a shit eating grin. "Should I start taking that out of your paycheck?"
"You don't pay me," Felix sighs, rubbing his nose bridge. The coffee shop brings barely enough profit to pay the rent, so all of them are practically doing charity work. "And pretty soon I wouldn't be needing that hypothetical money anyway."
"Well, as long as the deal goes through."
"Hey, hyung," Felix changes to a more serious tone. "Do you, like, actually trust him?"
"Trust?" Chan laughs dryly. "I don't trust anyone. But he's never screwed us over before."
"I know, but this time it's different. It's bigger."
"He's our best option. Our only option, really. Sure, he can be a bit...eccentric, but he wouldn't benefit either from ratting us out, for basically just shits and giggles."
"If you say so. I'll trust you on this, even if the same doesn't go for him," Felix says finally.
After the usual morning rush, the day slows down to just a lone customer every now and then. Felix finds himself dozing off in between them, while Chan keeps busy with whatever he finds, from refilling the pastries in the showcase to watering plants.
Sometime around noon Seungmin shows up, which comes as a surprise, even though the afternoon shift was supposed to be his. Seungmin usually handles these things rather flexibly, and there's no change in sight for his work ethic, as Chan never so much as mentions it to him.
"It's already ten minutes past noon," Felix says to him. "You sure you don't want to take over?"
"Nah," Seungmin says, draped on one of the stools at the counter, long limbs all over the place, and sipping a latte at a comfortable pace.
"That's it, I'm leaving early tomorrow," Felix states with a pout.
"This is no way to treat a paying customer. I want to speak with your manager," Seungmin says without batting an eye. "Where's Chan-hyung anyway?"
"Oh, he went out for milk a while back. We ran out of lactose free." Their bickering comes to a halt there, as the door opens, and a familiar face appears.
Changbin first came in a few months back, and quickly became a regular as he kept showing up at almost exactly the same time nearly every single day. At first, Felix had found him a little intimidating, with the way he walked with so much confidence in his steps, and how he always wore the sharpest suits that only accentuated his handsome features and toned body. However, he had quickly found that under the hard surface was a much softer layer; one that made silly jokes, and always complimented Felix's brownies.
"Hey there," Felix greets him with a smile. "The usual?"
"Yes, please," Changbin says, as he walks up to the counter perching himself up with his arms. Just before turning away to prepare the usual double espresso for him, Felix notices how the muscles tense up under the layers of the suit and shirt over Changbin's arms.
"Sorry, but no brownie today," he says while waiting for the coffee machine. "Ran out of ingredients."
That's a blatant lie. He just didn't feel like getting up an hour early to prepare it after spending the night pulling off the biggest heist of his life.
"That's a pity. Guess I'll just have to get two tomorrow," Changbin muses.
"If you ask nicely, I might even give you one on the house." Felix winks as he places the paper cup in front of Changbin.
"I'll have to take you up on that," Changbin says as he takes a sip from the coffee. "Delicious as always."
"Only the best for our loyal customers."
The second the door closes behind Changbin, Seungmin's head snaps towards Felix.
"What?" Felix puts up his hands.
"I don't know what's worse; that you still keep flirting with him, or that you're still just flirting with him."
"I- I'm not flirting!" Felix objects.
"Right, and I've never done anything illegal."
"What even is your problem?" Felix says, just as Chan arrives back with the milk, so he takes the opportunity to whine. "Hyung, Seungmin is bullying me again instead of doing his job."
Chan snorts. "Do I look like a preschool teacher? Sort it out yourselves. Lix, you always seem to forget about your taekwondo training."
That's good enough motivation for Seungmin to be standing behind the counter with an apron on by the time Chan is back from putting his stuff down in the back. Felix is just as quick with clocking out the moment Seungmin takes over.
"I'm leaving ten minutes early tomorrow!" He waves goodbye from the door.
***
Felix launches himself at his couch the moment he gets home, indulging in a few minutes of absentminded scrolling before his stomach starts complaining. He gets up, slowly, while whining to himself, and goes to the kitchen to reheat some leftover takeout from yesterday. He sits back down with the half-assed meal, and turns on the TV for some background noise.
With his belly full, and the soothing sound of some romcom coming from the TV, Felix's head quickly starts feeling too heavy to hold upright, and he eventually ends up falling asleep while hugging a cushion.
It's already dark outside when he stirs, feeling disoriented for a moment at the sudden change in the environment. His phone is buzzing, the caller ID on the screen saying 'dog'. At the same time, Felix also hears a continuous, rhythmical knocking at his door, so he figures answering the phone is useless. He drags himself over to the door.
"Why are you ignoring me?" Seungmin says en lieu of a greeting.
"I was just sleeping. You should be, too, actually."
"Only one of us had a morning shift, remember?" Seungmin says cheerfully, and pushes Felix aside to get in.
"What do you want?" Felix says, still rubbing sleep out of his eyes.
"I decided that I'm ending both of our sufferings." Seungmin holds for a dramatic pause. "I'm giving you a makeover."
Felix takes a few moments of staring dumbly before he can reply, "What?"
"I'm getting you hot, so you can ask Changbin out tomorrow," Seungmin explains, like it's the most evident thing in the world.
"No, you're not," Felix laughs, although the slightest hint of worry seasons his voice.
"Yes, I am," Seungmin insists. "I've got bleach."
Several hours later, at an ungodly hour of the night, Felix is half lying, half sitting on his bed with freshly bleached roots, and a facemask on. He's watching with the calmness of someone who knows how to pick his fights, as Seungmin rummages through his closet, seemingly still as full of energy as ever.
To be fair, Seungmin is usually the master of putting in as little effort as is humanly possible, but whenever he really puts his mind to something, you can't shoot him before he does it to perfection. Unfortunately for Felix, this matter seems to be of the latter kind.
"You know, just because I now have seven different products in my hair, that doesn't mean Changbin will magically start taking interest in me," he says to Seungmin's back. "And it's not like I even want that, anyway. Just because I maybe occasionally act a little flirtatious towards him, doesn't mean I actually like him or anything."
"Well, yeah." Seungmin turns around. "But you do, though. Like, in an unbelievably down bad for him kind of way."
"Now you're just making things up," Felix disputes.
"It's not my problem that you're in denial. Except that it is, because I have to keep watching that disgusting show you put up every time you see him. So, now I'm fixing it."
Seungmin doesn't let go of this idea of his the whole night, all the way until Felix has to kick him out around three in the morning. It's not that he's entirely wrong, Felix has to admit; Changbin is a good looking guy with a nice personality and a stable job, and that's almost harder to find than a unicorn. Felix can't help but let a few fantasies of a normal, domestic life with someone like that wander through his mind. Unfortunately, he himself barely qualifies for one of those things, and Changbin definitely deserves someone who's more than just a criminal with a pretty face.
Even though he's exhausted by the time he gets to bed, sleep doesn't come easily to him. He keeps tossing around, with all kinds of painfully fluffy and domestic pictures running through his head. It's silly, but now that Seungmin has put all these thoughts he was too afraid to actually form in his head, he can't help but wonder, if maybe somehow it can work out. After the painting is sold, maybe he could quit for good, maybe find a coffee shop where they actually pay him, and the boss isn't also a criminal. Chan would understand, right?
***
The next morning comes as a slap to the face, but Felix still puts on the outfit Seungmin had prepared for him, and goes to work like it's his last day on earth.
The crop top Seungmin had chosen for him is definitely too short for the weather, and also entirely pointless as it will be covered under his apron anyway. His hair is shiny and fluffy, put up in a half-bun that, according to Seungmin, shows off his facial features and elf-like ears, whatever that means, and he smells like a field full of flowers. Felix has to admit, it's not the worst he's ever felt in his skin. For a moment, he almost believes that he's actually a decent person.
His shift goes by in a blink of an eye, and before he has time to catch himself, it's already noon, and Felix finds himself waiting for Changbin's arrival with a knot in his stomach. He knows, rationally, that nothing will happen. They'll just exchange their usual banter, and then Changbin will leave with his coffee and two brownies, none the wiser about everything that went down behind the scenes. But Seungmin's expectant stare from his perch on his usual stool definitely doesn't help with pushing away any unsolicited thoughts about alternative routes he could take.
Felix is nothing more than a puddle of nervous goo by twelve thirty, when Changbin still hasn't shown up.
"Why are you still here?" Chan asks after double checking the clock.
"What, am I bothering you?" Felix bites back with a playful tone that’s mostly just for hiding his nerves.
"Not at all. You just usually clock out the moment your shift is over." His gaze meets Seungmin's, and they must exchange something telepathically, because Chan's face lights up with understanding. "Ah, I see. You're still waiting for him?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Felix deadpans, and turns his head at the sound of the door opening.
For a moment, he almost thinks it's Changbin, but that might just be the product of his delusional state throughout the day. The person coming in is a similar height as Changbin, but Felix quickly notices that he's slimmer, although still very well built. He's sure he's never seen this man before, as he has the kind of uniquely handsome face that one doesn't forget very easily. Especially, when the mouth on that face smiles at you like that.
"Hello, what can I get you?" Chan seems to have stepped behind the counter, gently pushing Felix out of the way, who might've been zoning out for a second too long.
"An iced americano, please." His voice is soft and deep, having the same warmth as the honey tone of his skin.
Felix gets a look from Chan, and quickly gets to work, but not before stealing another glance towards the customer. He finds the man staring straight at him, his eyes doing something that makes Felix's breath hitch when their gazes meet. He busies himself with preparing the coffee.
When the man finally leaves, the tension is still almost tangible in the air. Felix leans back on the counter, feeling the need for some support for his knees not to give out. Both Chan and Seungmin turn to him in perfect synchrony.
"What the fuck was that?" Seungmin asks in his usual polite manner.
"What are you doing, dude?" Chan says at the same time.
"I don't know!" Felix exclaims, burying his face in his hands at an attempt to escape the oncoming conversation.
"He was practically eye-fucking you the whole time," Seungmin states, in a voice that is way too casual for the words that just left his mouth.
"What?! That's not what- no!"
"He does have a point, Lix," Chan says in a bit more sympathetic way, while still sounding annoyingly amused. "Even you’re not as oblivious to not notice that."
"Okay, maybe," Felix admits. "But what does that matter?"
"I don't know, maybe you could've asked for his number?" Chan says.
"Or just ask him to take you home right away," Seungmin adds. "He seemed like he would've been very much willing."
Felix feels heat rushing to his face. "I hate how that's where your mind goes every time my dating life is mentioned."
"It's the same place where yours goes too, isn't it?"
"No!" He cuts Seungmin off. "I just got flustered because he kept looking at me like that."
"Sure," Seungmin says.
"Alright, guys, let's just drop the topic," Chan finally interjects. "We're all adults here, there is no need to discuss Felix's sexual fantasies. We can guess pretty well from just his face."
Felix shrinks to the floor in embarrassment, as Seungmin and Chan cackle at him.
He ends up leaving about an hour later, when he completely abandons any hope of Changbin showing up. He doesn't feel disappointed, and definitely doesn't leave his phone behind on purpose, so he can come back once more to check. Just in case. But there's no sign of Changbin then, or in the following days. Felix decides that he's on a vacation, although the thought that he hadn't mentioned that also stings a little.
The handsome man whose suggestive eyes only seem to bring trouble, however, shows up one more time, two days later. It goes just as well as one would expect.
"Homemade brownie?" He creases his eyebrows in a questioning way as he reads the sign.
"Yeah, um, I usually bake those," Felix says. He's the only one in right now, which saves him from the inevitable teasing that would've come after otherwise, but also leaves him in a weirdly intimate situation with the man, who now seems to be lingering after getting his coffee.
"Really? Then I'll have to try it," the man says.
"Would you like to eat it here, or should I wrap it up for you?" Felix is forced to ask, dreading the answer.
"I would love to eat it here, please." Of course he would.
Felix gives him the driest slice of brownie on a plate, and adds it to the bill. The man pays, and tips generously. He takes the small plate, and instead of sitting down with it like a normal person, he picks up the brownie, and takes a bite right in front of Felix.
"Oh, this is amazing," he says, mouth still half full. "As expected, from the hands of an angel."
Felix resists the urge to snort.
"Thank you, but it's really nothing special," he says instead with a humble smile.
He needs to sit down after the man leaves. Chan and Seungmin are definitely not hearing about this.
***
The days pass, and their meeting with the buyer comes up. They agreed to meet at two in the afternoon, so they have to close early. All three of them gather near the place of the rendezvous, and head there together after a quick briefing.
The location was chosen by the other party, and Felix can't help but feel a little amused by it. It’s an abandoned warehouse out on the edge of town, looking almost as if it's straight out of an action movie. He knows from experience that actual exchanges don't happen at places like this in real life, but he also knows that the man they're about to meet is not one to care about what real life is and isn't like. With the amount of wealth and power he holds, it's not like he has to.
The three of them arrive first, and they quickly spread out, with Felix and Seungmin covering two entrances on opposite sides, and Chan in the middle, right under the lamp that seems to be the only light source in here, holding the briefcase with the painting inside. Felix is pretty sure it's by some French painter, maybe from the 19th century, but he didn’t bother to remember. It's not like it'll stay in their possession much longer.
A door not covered by either of them, opposite of where they had come in, opens, and a tall figure waltzes in, two others trailing behind him.
Hwang Hyunjin is something of a phenomenon in criminal circles. No one knows anything about him, only that he's filthy rich, and has an adoration for the arts. Especially stolen pieces of art.
Felix has met him a few times before, when they managed to pick up some artifacts that were deemed worthy of Hyunjin's attention, but he's never managed to really make anything of him.
Making a deal with him is always like playing Russian roulette. It will most likely be fine, but you're in deep shit if it isn't. Luckily, Felix hasn't had the pleasure of finding out exactly how deep it could be.
"Chan! It's been too long," Hyunjin greets their leader with a smile that has no business being this charmin in a setting like this.
"It really has been," Chan says, also smiling, but Felix can see the tension in the corners of his mouth.
"I see you brought your little mentees, as well. So lovely to see the whole family together," Hyunjin says, then takes a look around. "Well, almost the whole."
Chan's shoulders flex for a moment, but he quickly composes himself. Ignoring the comment, he redirects the conversation.
"Let's get down to business, shall we?" He slightly raises the briefcase in his hand.
"Alright. Still the same, no-nonsense guy as ever," Hyunjin says with a dramatic sigh, and takes a few steps forward, closing the gap between them.
The two others in the back, his bodyguards, also move forward, while still staying a few paces behind Hyunjin. As they come closer to the light, Felix finally has a chance to take a look at their faces. One of them is already familiar, a young man with sharp features and sly, fox-like eyes, who seemed to have followed Hyunjin everywhere each time Felix had seen the man. The other face, Felix is shocked to discover, is also one that he recognizes, though from a very different setting. It's Changbin.
There is absolutely no debate that it's him. Thoughts rush through Felix's head at light's speed, unable to truly grasp any of them. Now that he thinks about it, Changbin has always been a bit cryptic about his work; barely ever mentioning it. Felix had just assumed that he worked in a position that required discretion, or maybe his job was just really boring. He never would've imagined that Changbin could also be involved in the criminal world. Wait, does this mean he already knew about them prior to this meeting?
Felix's eyes linger too long, and their gazes meet, a hint of surprise flashing in Changbin's eyes, as he evidently also recognizes the other man, but it's gone so quickly that it might as well could’ve been just Felix's imagination.
He forces himself to redirect his attention to the exchange that's currently happening. The painting is already out in the open, and Hyunjin is scrutinizing it with expert eyes.
"It's definitely authentic," he mutters, hunched over the painting. "There's no point in asking how you managed to come across this, is there?"
"Ah, I just found it while cleaning out my granny's attic," Chan lies without missing a beat.
"Right," Hyunjin lets out a sharp laugh. "Well, I got what I was promised, so it's time for me to fulfill my end of the deal."
He waves a hand towards Changbin without turning around, and he steps closer with a briefcase in hand. He places it on the table between Chan and Hyunjin, and opening it, he reveals stacks of money inside.
"Feel free to count it." Hyunjin gestures at it.
"I trust you," Chan says, as if lying has become his habit all of a sudden. He snaps the briefcase shut, and turns around to show it off to Seungmin and Felix.
When Felix's gaze meets with the others’, there seems to be some extra message written plainly on both of their faces. Seungmin's eyes even dart briefly towards Changbin before he looks away. Felix holds back a sigh.
Instead, he looks back at Hyunjin, who's still admiring the painting like it's his firstborn child, and maybe he lets his gaze wander off to the person standing next to him, now showing only his back to Felix.
As Felix is blatantly staring at him, Changbin's shoulders suddenly tense up, and he steps up to Hyunjin, the same time as the other bodyguard, whose name Felix has forgotten, or might have never even learned, also moves in. Changbin whispers something to Hyunjin, which makes him quickly start packing up the painting.
Something smells fishy to Felix, and he looks over to Chan, who’s definitely also noticed something being off. Before any of them have the chance to react, Hyunjin is already off to the entrance where he'd come in.
"Pleasure doing business with you," he shouts over his shoulder.
"What the fuck is-" Chan starts, but doesn't get the chance to finish the sentence before two of the doors are knocked down, and a swarm of armed officers pour inside.
"Police! Hands in the air, and get on your knees!" One of them shouts.
Felix has no choice but obeying, his body moving on its own, while his mind has trouble processing the the actual fuck is happening right now. He looks in the direction where Hyunjin and his bodyguards went off to, but they're nowhere to be seen.
"Fuck," he curses under his breath.
***
Spending the night in jail wasn't on Felix's to-do list after finally getting the money that was supposed to put him up for life. The three of them are held in separate cells but near each other, but the guards have made it clear that talking to each other is not on the table, so his only company is his own thoughts. He tosses and turns on the uncomfortable bed until sleep somehow manages to find its way to him through his worries.
Felix wakes up with a sore back and a headache to one of the guards rattling his door.
"Time to get up," he says through the small window. "You have a visitor."
A what now? Felix is still half asleep, and barely processes the words as they open the door for him. He's still utterly confused while getting cuffed, and none the wiser as he gets led down the corridor between the cells.
He's taken to an interrogation room, where they tie his handcuffs to the table, and then he's left alone. He's hungry.
The door opens again after a few minutes, and an officer holds it for a man wearing an obviously expensive suit. A man whose face Felix immediately recognizes.
"Hello," he smiles warmly at Felix. "My name is Han Jisung, and I'll be your attorney from now on.”