MONDAY: END OF FIRST CLASS (FELIX)

Felix nearly coughed through the yawn he let out once the lecture was ending. The boy that sat in front of him didn’t bother waiting for their professor to finishing speaking before he was up from his seat and out the door, startling Felix.

He supposed the boy might have a class that was ridiculously far from the science auditorium or a schedule to keep to, but didn’t dwell on it for long.

He began packing up his own books and the various colored pens he used to take meticulous notes with, fishing his phone out from a side pocket on his backpack in the process. He kept it put away during the lecture because he knew if he had it out he would never hear a single word the professor said.

Felix unlocked his phone while he maneuvered his backpack into a semi-comfortable position over his shoulders. The thing was heavy as with all the text books his classes required of him, plus his notebooks and a laptop. He would have to figure out a better system so that he wasn’t carrying everything all at once after today, lest he wanted to have bad back problems by the time he turned nineteen. And with his major, he really couldn’t afford that.

He had three unread messages, all from Minho. Felix smiled as he read them.

FROM: Minnie-hyung
8:34AM
○ hey do you like coffee?
8:45AM
○ i just got you a frappe
8:48AM
○ i’m waiting outside the left exit.
○ let’s walk to the music building together.

The two of them clicked really well once they got over the awkward first meeting. Felix learned that they shared the same major and Minho offered to help show him around when he could. They weren’t able to hang out much before classes began due to Felix’s work and Minho would often be visiting with other friends on campus when Felix was free. But they had gone to dinner together a couple of times, once at the Subway on campus and another time at the dining hall, both times ending with promises from Minho to introduce Felix to his friends as soon as possible.

“’Sure took your sweet time packing up!” Minho snapped playfully the moment Felix stepped outside the left exit of the science auditorium.

“Dude, do you want to feel how heavy my backpack is?! I have too much .” Felix pouted at his hyung, the other smiled back him adoringly and handed him a pretty drink topped with whipped cream and white chocolate shavings.

“For you.” He said cutely.

Felix pocketed his phone and took the drink. “What is it?”

“Well, since you didn’t answer my text, I asked the barista for a sweet drink, because you leave your candy wrappers all over the common area. But I thought since you have long- Mondays I asked for something with coffee in it but didn’t taste too strongly of coffee because I didn’t know if you liked it.” Minho paused to breathe, and Felix took the opportunity to take a sip of the frozen drink.

“And so that,” Minho pointed at Felix’s drink, “is called a white mocha frappuccino with extra whipped cream because I was feeling generous.”

Felix’s eyes widened at the taste, the drink was perfect.

“Oh my god!” He exclaimed in English.

Minho smiled brightly at the reaction and pulled Felix by the sleeve of his hoodie with him toward the direction of the music building, “We should get going if you don’t want to be late.”

Felix hummed around his straw and followed the older. He wanted to make the joke that every route he took on campus seemed to be a ‘scenic route’ with all the beautiful landscaping and perfectly structured buildings and walkways. The sitting area outside the science auditorium was paved with a mixture of brick on the inside with a cobblestone path surrounding it, the benches were cement extensions from the elevated flower beds where a mix of wild flowers and small trees grew together in harmony. The open pathways that cut across the quad were lined with seasonal flowers whereas the covered walkways had blooming shrubs of all sorts changing from building to building. Felix decided that the scenery was his favorite part of being on campus.

They walked in silence for most of the way, it surprised Felix how close the music building was to the science auditorium, but Minho told him it would probably be the only convenient commute of his entire week.

The pair paused outside the door of the classroom number that was written on Felix’s schedule (he made sure to print out a couple of copies in case he was to lose one, not wanting to risk going into the wrong classrooms on the first day of class).

Minho ran a hand through his hair; his nose was scrunched, and eyebrows furrowed as he looked around the busy hallway.

“What? Is something the matter?” Felix asked around his straw. They had reached the door to his classroom with a few minutes left to spare before the next class was to start.

Minho shook his head dismissively and bit at his lip, “No, it’s nothing. Just… Binnie mentioned having a bio lecture on Monday mornings, but I didn’t see him.” He looked everywhere but at Felix, searching the faces of other students passing by in hopes of finding his best friend.

Felix sipped on his drink with an unknowingly cute and thoughtful expression.

Binnie? Felix thought to himself while looking around the hallway, too, eyes searching for a face to put the name to. Ah! He must mean Changbin!

Felix recalled the couple of times he’d come back from work over the week to find Minho sprawled out on their couch with his phone laying on his stomach. The boy only used speaker phone if he was in their shared dorm room, and he was always on the phone with his best friend. Felix only knew the name due to an instance when Minho was in the shower when Changbin called him.

And what an experience that had been.

“Minho-hyung’s phone, his roommate s-speaking… he said to take a message because he’s in the shower.” Felix already hated answering the phone enough as is, so it almost terrified him to answer the phone for someone else.

“Ahh, just tell him Changbin called to ask a question about his schedule this weekend!”

Felix pulled the phone away from his ear and stared at the name on the screen, ‘Binnie Binnie’ with an assortment of cute emojis following the nickname. He was momentarily stunned by the voice on the other end of the line. There was a familiarity to it that he couldn’t quite pinpoint, but he knew one thing was for sure: he absolutely loved the voice.

“Hello?”

“Oh yeah, sorry. I’ll make sure to let him know you called about that!”

“Thank you~!” Changbin had answered so adorably it had thrown Felix for an entirely new loop.

“Y-yeah, no problem.” Felix answered and ended the call in a rush before he tossed the phone back on the couch as if it was going to burn him if he held it any longer.

Minho hummed to himself and faced Felix with one of his adorable smiles, “I guess he’s running late… Which is strange since he’s kind of a perfectionist when it comes to being places on time.”

Felix nodded, understanding. “Well, it’s his first day here, too, right? We’re all a little… frantic on the first day of school.”

“Frantic?” Felix watched, amused as Minho’s brain worked to translate the word and ultimately fail at it in the end.

“Uh… crazy or lost. Crazy and lost?”

Minho smirked, shaking his head at the younger, “Crazy and lost sounds about right. Frantic is me all the time, honestly.”

They laughed together, both in full agreeance that Minho, despite how put together the elder might appear, was the very definition of ‘frantic’ a lot of the time.

The older looked past Felix for a moment before straightening up from his relaxed position against the wall. “Your professor is coming. Get to class.” He smiled at the younger warmly. “I’ll come back after practice and we can go get some real food. Sound good?”

Felix bobbed his head enthusiastically. Getting Minho as a roommate had been a huge blessing, Felix decided as the two of them said goodbye and parted ways.

Felix found himself regretting not walking into the classroom earlier, as there were only a couple of seats left vacant: one in the far back left or one at the very front right end of the room. He opted for the seat in the back and made a bee-line for the desk as his teacher walked into the room behind him, the heels of her shoes clacking loudly against the tiled floor.

Pretty. That was the word that came to mind when Felix looked at the professor’s face. His biology lecture was some older man that liked to make puns that Felix couldn’t yet understand, so he had tried to keep his focus on the PowerPoint slides throughout the lecture. But this professor was stylish; her coppery-red hair was kept in a neat bob, a bright turquoise blazer almost clashed with her chunky yellow jewelry, but she made it work. But of course, the main thing that stuck out to Felix, and probably the rest of the students in the room, was that she was definitely not Korean. Not directly, anyway. She wasn’t as tall as some of the girls Felix had known in Australia, but not as short as most of the women Felix had seen in Korea, and the freckles that adorned her cheeks were spread out, and not as clustered as Felix’s own.

“Ah, wonderful!” The professor exclaimed as she made eye contact with the students around the classroom. “Welcome to Music 1301, or Elements of Music! You may have also heard the name Baby Theory passed around a couple of times.” The woman smiled brightly, and Felix found it contagious, smiling back himself when the professor finally made eye contact with him.

“We’ll begin with introductions first, and then I will talk a little bit about myself and what you can all expect with this course.” She looked around the room with a challenging expression and smiled once more when her eyes landed on Felix. His stomach dropped, he knew what would come next. “How about we start in the back corner of the room then?”

Felix’s eyes widened, and mouth went dry, a nervous panic setting in. He didn’t want to be called upon first.

“Stand as well, so that the rest of the class can get to know your face.” She added, blinking expectantly at Felix.

He slowly rose up from the comfort zone that his desk had provided for him and took two calming breaths in attempt to will himself not to stutter.

“Hello,” he began with a haste bow toward the front of the classroom. All heads were turned to look back at him and he swore there weren’t this many students when he walked in.

“Uhm, my name is Lee Felix. I moved here from Australia over the summer with a modeling contract.” He paused with a shy smile when the other students ooh’d and ahh’d at the news. “My major is dance, but I’m minoring in music.”

“All the way from Australia? That’s wonderful! And you speak Korean so well already! I was going to tell you all in my own introduction, but I’m from Germany, so it’s nice to meet someone else from abroad. Thank you, Felix, you may be seat- “

She was interrupted when the door slammed open, and the occupant for the last remaining desk frantically stormed into the classroom. He bowed toward the classroom and then once more at the professor all the while letting out a string of apologies.

“It’s quite okay, dear. We were just starting introductions.” She assured him with a wide smile.

Felix slowly sank down into his seat, grateful to have the attention off of himself.

CHANGBIN (10 MIN. AGO)

“God damn it all to hell.” Changbin cursed as he tossed around the clothes that were previously folded in a neat pile at the foot of his bed.

“Damn, dude, tell the clothes how you really feel.” Changbin’s roommate, Mark, remarked from the living room area.

Changbin hadn’t expected to get along with Mark from the first time they met on move-in day, but he quickly learned that they had a lot in common. Mark was a really chill dude and Changbin was pleasantly surprised to find out that the other boy was just as OCD as he was when it came to things being neat and tidy.

Changbin tossed a couple of shirts around his dresser drawer before slamming it shut. He could feel sweat beginning to pool around the small of his back and yanked his hoodie off to help cool himself down. He knew he was getting worked up, Changbin hated being late to things, but he would have to risk being late for class this once rather than being late for work which followed directly after the class.

“Dude.” Changbin paused in his doorframe to address his roommate, “Have you seen my apron for work? I’m already late enough for class as is and-“

Mark pointed at the garment folded neatly over the countertop with a tired smile. “Is that what you’re looking for, Princess?”

His roommate twirled a plastic fork between his fingers while he watched his cup ramen finish cooking in the microwave- a weird choice for a mid-morning snack, Changbin thought to himself before remembering that normal eating habits were pretty much nonexistent in college. He supposed there were worse things Mark could have chosen to eat.

“Oh my God, how am I SO blind?!” Changbin scolded himself while stuffing the apron into his backpack. He grabbed his keys off the coffee table and made his way out of the dorm room while trying to shuffle the backpack onto his shoulders.

“Oh, thank you Mark. You’re welcome, sunshine!” The remark came dripping with sarcasm from where Mark still stood by the microwave, the fork hanging cutely from his mouth slurring his speech a little.

Changbin paused halfway out the door and rolled his eyes at Mark, “If you’re free around 2:30-ish, come to the café and I’ll buy you something as thanks.”

“SWEET!” Mark exclaimed with a bright smile. “Later, man!”

Changbin gave a small wave and rushed out the door without pausing to lock it. He knew Mark wouldn’t mind locking it behind him.

Once outside the dormitory building Changbin broke out into a near sprint, cursing all the college gods in the entire universe for putting the music department on the complete opposite side of campus from the dorms. He knew he was sweating and probably looked like death at this point, but ‘twas the life of a college student. Changbin found himself almost laughing at the memory of Minho explaining the concept of ‘College Couture’ and how well he fit such a concept at that moment. So much for good first impressions to the professors and classmates he’d be working with for the next four to six years.

Changbin pulled up the bottom of his t-shirt by the hem to wipe the sweat off his face as the music department came into view. He thanked himself for applying a generous amount of deodorant and cologne this morning and prayed that the products would do their jobs for the rest of his classmate’s sakes.

He remembered just why Minho had advised him to bring his hoodie or a sweater with him wherever he went on campus as he pushed the entrance door open, the freezing air conditioning hitting him like a wave!

“Jesus ing Christ,” he muttered under his breath. He could already feel his sweat down his arms turning an unpleasant icy cold. He slowed his jog into a brisk walk down the hallway and did his best to control his breathing; the rush to get to class had had him nearly panting.

Changbin did not bother to pause outside the classroom, not wanting to make himself any later than he already was! Instead he burst through the door, not bothering to think about the possibility of disrupting the classroom. Too late.

The professor stopped amid her sentence and looked to him with surprised eyes. The look changed into that of an understanding one as Changbin slowly inched his way toward the only remaining seat at the very front of the left-most row. He was thankful that the seat was at least one of the closest ones to the door.

“It’s quite alright, dear.” The professor began, perfectly reading the apology in Changbin’s eyes. “We were just starting introductions,” she said with a wide smile

Changbin saw movement out of the corner of his eye and glanced briefly at the boy who he assumed had just given his own introduction as he sank back into his desk chair. Ashy-blonde hair fell in a fit of messy, but stylish, waves that obscured his face, but Changbin figured the boy was happy to have the attention off him. He envied him in the moment. “But since you are already standing, you may go ahead and take your turn!”

Changbin could feel his cheeks burning, more so than light flush he’d gotten from his run to the building. Still, he complied and slid his backpack from his shoulders until it rested on the seat of his desk before clearing his throat.

“My name is Seo Changbin,” he began to address the professor but turned to address the rest of the class. “I’m not usually late like this… like ever. So, I apologize for this instance.” Changbin paused for a brief bow. “I’m a music major with a focus on vocal training and composition.”

“We’re glad to have you, Changbin-ssi! I’m sure we can all overlook your tardiness this time. You may have a seat, now.”

Changbin nodded and pulled his backpack from the seat so that he could sink himself down to it instead.

“Wonderful! Now, who would like to go next?”

FELIX

Felix’s head snapped up at the name.

Changbin? As in Minho’s Changbin??? He wondered to himself as the boy continued to introduce himself. Felix’s eyes widened as the other talked and the tips of his ears turned red as he recalled the brief phone conversation he’d had with the other last week. There was no mistaking the voices were the same, and with his realization came the same strange sense of familiarity he’d felt over the phone. It was a feeling he couldn’t quite pinpoint but had bothered him endlessly from the moment he’d ended the call with the other.

He stared ahead without really seeing anything, wondering over and over again and wracking his brain to try and figure it out. Whatever it was.

Felix zoned out for the remainder of the class introductions and only paid attention when his professor, Dr. Yonkres, introduced herself and went over the syllabus that Felix had already printed out in the library the week before. He didn’t realize that he zoned out once more until the rest of his classmates are packing their things and making their way out of the classroom together.

Felix slowly packed his belongings away and let his eyes spy the first seat in the left-most row, sighing to himself upon finding it empty. Changbin must have a busy schedule to have packed up and left before Felix could even get a full look around the room.

CHANGBIN: FIRST DAY, LATER HALF

“Water for Felix!”

Changbin turned back to begin on the next drink only to stop short because wait, Felix?! The barista whirled around to see a flash of retreating ashy-blonde waves before other customers stepped up anticipating their orders.

His shift, despite how busy the café remained for the entirety of the afternoon, dragged on at a snail’s pace. It didn’t help that the weather had turned from hot and humid to dark and dreary within the first few hours he was inside the café. Gradually, students began to arrive with rainboots on and their umbrellas in tow, making Changbin wish he would have remembered to pack an umbrella in his backpack. Despite the impending rainstorm, Changbin envied those who weren’t confined to the cramped space behind the counter of the café and able to roam around campus in the dark weather. Overcast days have always been a favorite of Changbin’s, and he was excited to encounter one for the first time in his college career, he just had not expected it to be on the first official class day. He hoped it would last until he had his own time to walk around outside and enjoy it for a few minutes, but the downpour began only fifteen minutes before his shift was scheduled to end.

Poor thing didn’t even get a moment to look out the window until just as his shift ended, Mark’s smug grin meeting him from the other side of the counter as he placed his order, 2:30PM on the dot. Changbin, remembering his promise, pulled his Gold Membership card from the pocket of his apron and slid it through the card-reader over his co-worker’s shoulder.

“On me,” he explained after receiving a confused glance from the cashier. One of the benefits of working at the café was getting free drinks, and usually Changbin would just make a drink, claiming it as his own, before handing it over to one of his friends, but that was only when he didn’t want a drink for himself. Today, he figured that since he was going to make two drinks that he should at least pay for one of them, this time. He wouldn’t have bothered with a drink, but it was only mid-afternoon, and he still had the dreaded three-hour bio lab coming up and his battery had long since started running low as he worked through his shift.

Changbin squinted judgingly at the ticket printed onto Mark’s cup, glancing back and forth from it to his roommate. “You want banana… what, now?” He asked over the counter.

“I’m… lactose-intolerant.” Mark admitted after Changbin gave him the most judgmental look he’d ever received. The barista’s lips formed an ‘o’ as he began to understand the situation better.

“Ah, okay. Noted. Are you allergic to anything?” Changbin asked, as he marked out the order on the ticket and began rewriting his own.

“No.” Mark answered him with a curious look to which the other responded with a brilliant smile.

“Perfect! This will just take a minute to make, you can go find us a table while you wait.”

Mark did a two-finger salute and Changbin watched on as he sauntered over to a two-seater table by the windows. Changbin made quick work and followed the original recipe of the drink he assumed Mark had asked for, adding his own twist on a couple of the steps and hoped for the best, but he was at least seventy-five percent sure that Mark would absolutely love the concoction.

He was met with a skeptical glare as he approached their table, “What is that…?” Mark asked slowly but took the warm cup from Changbin’s hand without hesitation. Changbin took a large swig of his Passion Tea Lemonade before leveling his gaze to meet his roommate’s.

“Just drink it. You will like it.” Changbin paused his finger from where it was tracing patterns in the condensation on his plastic cup. “And the chance you don’t like it I will go remake it as a cold drink. But I’m pretty certain you will like it, so- “

Changbin shut up when Mark put the lid of his cup to his lips. He tested it with just a single small sip at first, and then a bigger sip before scowling at Changbin.

“I hate you. This is so damn good. What the ever-living heck is this?”

The barista smiled around his straw and pulled away to his lips before answering, “It’s what you ordered, but I substituted the disgusting skim milk for almond milk and steamed it instead of leaving it cold, so that’s why it’s kind of foamy instead of creamy and icy. I also used half the sugar it usually calls for because the banana syrup is already pretty sweet.”

“How the do I order this next time? That’s such a mouthful oh my- “

“As long as I’m here just order a banana milk steamer and I’ll know what to do from there. If I’m not here… I dunno fam, that’s on you.”

Marks lips bent into a perfect frown, but with his bottom lip slightly jutted out to make it look just that much more pitiful, causing Changbin to roll his eyes.

“I guess I can write it down in your phone’s notes or text it to you, so you’ll know what to say when I’m not here.”

The other’s frown flipped into a bright grin, eyes brighter than Changbin was used to seeing, too. “Have I ever told you that you’re the best?”

Changbin hummed, “In the week and half that we’ve known each other? No, not really, but I will certainly take it, now.”

“Okay, well, you are the best, but I think I’m even better.” Mark took another sip from his cup, ignored Changbin’s questioning look and pulled his backpack up from the ground so that it sat in his lap.

“You have another class soon, right? I brought this for you!”

Changbin had seen the one umbrella sitting in the side pocket of the backpack, dotted with drops of water that Mark had failed to shake off when he entered the café, but he hadn’t even thought about the possibility of the other thinking to bring an extra one just for him.

“Oh my GOD! You are heaven-sent, you know that?!”

Mark grinned and proceeded to “flip” his hair over his shoulder, “I mean, I don’t want to sound conceited, but…”

“No, seriously, thank you! I was so bummed thinking about having to make a run for it from here to the Biology building.” Changbin glanced at the time on his phone. “Speaking of which, I should get going. My next class starts in fifteen minutes and I still have to figure out my way through this… downpour. God dammit.”

Both boys glanced out the window next to them, though neither of them could clearly see anything on the other side of it. The wind was blowing the rain toward the building they were in hard enough to the point that the droplets were audible against the glass of the window. Changbin thought it was almost as loud as hail hitting the rooftop.

“Okay, well, get there safely. Don’t run on the walkways, you could slip. Especially take your time on the cobblestone paths, those are deathtraps when it rains!”

“Got it, yeesh! You sound like one of my hyungs that goes here!” Changbin complained and made the mental note to text Chan about hanging out with him after his biology lab. He needed a second opinion on the lyrics he wrote before the lecture earlier that morning and since Jisung wasn’t an option at the time, Chan would have to suffice.

“I’m going to head out, now.” Changbin stood, collecting his umbrella and empty cup that he would dispose of on his way out. “Thanks again, Mark. Today has been so wild, it honestly feels like I’m cheating the system by not having to walk through this storm without an umbrella.”

Mark chuckled, understanding. “Nah, man, thank you for the new drink! My body thanks you, too. Lord knows what it would have gone through had I accidentally gotten real milk again.”

-

Changbin made careful, measured steps along the cobblestone paths he came across on his way to the biology building, Mark’s warning replaying over in his head like a broken record. He was extremely grateful for Mark having brought the umbrella to him, but he wished he had thought to wear a different pair of shoes as he felt the water begin to soak through to his socks. To say it was a miserable feeling would be an understatement, he would have to sit through a three-hour class with cold and wet socks the thought alone was enough to make Changbin consider skipping out on the first day.

His body tensed in preparation for the next cobblestone path, knows why the campus was littered with them randomly through the main paths, and managed to remain balanced across it with a few minor slips here and there. His heart jumped for joy when the music building came into view, and eventually the science auditorium, which meant only a little more ways to go until the bio—.

“Oof!” Changbin struggled to keep his grip on the umbrella that had fought the wind in a nonstop battle his entire trek when a figure in a burnt orange, or deep red orange, thanks to the rain, hoodie collided none-to-gently with Changbin.

Spews of apologies in both Korean and English fell a mile a minute from the stranger’s mouth as he struggled against the unforgiving rain to gather all of his belongings that he’d lost hold of when he had barreled face first into Changbin’s chest.

The older quickly held the umbrella over the hunched stranger even though it didn’t look like it really made any sort of difference at that point. The poor thing was already drenched to the bone and Changbin thought he had to be freezing!

“Yah, it’s okay, stop apologizing! And slow down, here just stay for a second and calm down.” Changbin yanked the other into his personal space so that they both fit under the umbrella, save for their backpacks; a minor sacrifice Changbin felt highly necessary in the moment, even if he might come to regret it later on. The force of the pull had the stranger’s hoodie falling off his head and Changbin had to glance up to see the messy half-ponytail the other was sporting and then back down to the prettiest pair of lips he’d ever seen in his life.

“Uh, thank you. I’ll just take a second, I’m looking for a certain building…” The boy murmured distractedly as he looked down to his soaking phone screen. The light that was emitted from the device had cast an ethereal glow against his face and Changbin -though he would swear otherwise if anyone ever asked him- swooned on the spot.

“Are you okay, dude?” A familiar voice came from the stranger’s phone, bringing Changbin out of his trance while simultaneously throwing him into confusion. His eyes widened when he noticed the green bar across the top of the bright phone screen, right above what the older could immediately tell was a map of the campus. Had the stranger been on the phone this entire time? He could be mistaken, but Changbin could swear that it was Minho’s voice he’d heard… just, a slower version of it.

“Yes, I found it, I’m going now!” The blond-haired stranger responded eagerly before nodding a quick thank you to Changbin and turning on his heel to take off toward whatever his destination was.

“W- wait…!” Changbin’s call was drowned out by the storm. He stood with his umbrella still only half covering him, the other half getting considerably soaked to the point that he questioned if it was even worth using the damned thing anymore.

FELIX

Felix’s shoulders slumped as he slowly read the class cancelation notice on the door. He read it once, twice, three times over to make sure he wasn’t seeing wrong. His breathing was unstable due to the running he’d done before, but Felix could feel it spiraling even further out of his control the longer he stared at the notice. The rush of having to find the building in the pouring rain alone with almost no help from Minho had sent Felix into a small panic that was hitting him like a brick wall. Everything had collectively overwhelmed him and now he was at his tipping point because it was all for nothing. 

Felix’s breath caught in his throat as he typed out hurried texts to Hyunjin.

TO: Hyunjinnie
3:19PM
○ hyunjiin
○ I think
○ I’m having a panic attack
○ I got caughht in teh rain adn
○ its ing cold
○ ijust want to go home

He wanted to call Hyunjin, but he knew the other was still in class. Minho wasn’t an option, either. The older had helped guide him over the phone as best as he could from his own class, too.

Felix turned and slid his back down the length of the wall until his bottom made contact with the cold tiled floor. The shock of feeling the cold floor through the legs and bottom of his pants pulled his focus away from his breathing until it slowed some and started coming naturally once more.

Tears fell, unnoticed to Felix, silently down his cheeks at first. Later, he would describe it as the calm before the storm as he analyzed everything that had happened in the short period of time between his last class and now. He stared at shaking hands that wouldn’t keep still no matter how hard he wished and willed them to. He cursed inwardly at the noise of his teeth chattering, the frigid air conditioning in the building was doing its job a little too well. Felix thought he might freeze to death on his spot by the wall, an appealing alternative to having walking back to his arctic dormitory room. A sob finally wracked through his frame at the thought of having to make the trek back through the hell storm outside. Felix pulled his knees to his chest and hid his face in the sleeves of his freezing hoodie on top of his knees. Today had just been too much for him to handle.

Felix vaguely registered the sound of the door to the building opening followed by a pair of footsteps echoing down the hallway. The steps got louder and began to echo less until they came to a complete stop at what Felix thought was right in front of him. He didn’t dare look up, he was far too embarrassed to face anyone in that moment. The stranger was silent for a few moments. Felix began to think the other might be mute until he did speak up, startling Felix enough to make him slightly jump in place.

“Ah, your lab is canceled? I’m envious. But that you came all the way here… in the rain and everything.” Felix’s hiccups and sniffles calmed as he focused on the voice speaking to him. “Here,” there was some shuffling before Felix felt and object being sat next to his feet, but he still refused to look up.

“Just return it next lab, okay?” The stranger paused, probably hoping to receive an answer from Felix that wouldn’t come. “Or don’t, I can just buy a new one. Sorry I couldn’t help more than this.”

He didn’t look up until the stranger’s footsteps were farther away and the door to a laboratory down the hall clicked shut. Felix felt tears welling up in his eyes once more when he saw what the person had sat beside his feet. An umbrella, black with yellow smiley faces dotting the surface, lay neatly closed and secured with a Velcro strap. Felix couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed once more, but this time with gratitude for the simple act of random kindness from a complete stranger.

He wiped a soaked sleeve across his runny red nose before gingerly picking up the object and cradled it between his knees and chest. Felix remembered his phone that he had haphazardly dropped on the floor when he sat down and blindly fished around himself for it with his free hand.

TO: Chris
3:22PM
○ hyung.
○ are you free right now.
3:24PM
○ [IMAGE ATTACHED]

Felix sent what was probably the most pitiful looking selfie of himself he had ever taken and thanked the college gods above for free wi-fi so that the message sent almost instantaneously. Chan’s reply came quickly:

FROM: Chris
3:25PM
○ OH MY GOD YOU POOR THING
○ COME TO MY ROOM I’M
3:26PM
○ I HAVE TOWELS READY
○ WAIT DO I NEED TO COME GET YOU
○ IT’S ING POURING

Felix stared at the messages with a dumb smile on his face, the worst of his hiccups and sniffles having gone down to some shaky breaths. He could feel dried tear streaks on his face as he smiled and dragged a soaking wet sleeve across his nose to keep it from dripping, once more.

FROM: Chris
3:30PM
○ STAY THERE I’M ON MY WAY NOW IN MY CAR.

Felix had been too focused on Chan’s texts to realize his growing inbox of messages from the one other person he’d caused to worry in the last twenty minutes. He was typing out a reply to Hyunjin’s worried texts when the other’s face appeared on his phone screen for an incoming call.

“Hello?”

“, Felix! Are you okay?” Hyunjin’s worried voice filled the speaker along with some other voices and noises of movement in the background. Felix could just make out what sounded like a couple of different people saying their goodbyes to Hyunjin before there was a loud bang that cut out any other background noise.

“I’m okay now… or, I will be soon. One of my friends is driving over to where I am now to pick me up.” He took two calming breaths, cursing himself when they shook on the exhales.

“You don’t sound good at all. I’m so sorry, today has gone so ty for you and we have the shoot tomorrow afternoon, we should just cancel it because you could get sick and—”

“Hyunjin…”

“Hmm?”

“Aren’t you supposed to be in class?”

“No, I’m headed to the company right now. School let out twenty minutes ago, ‘Lix.” Hyunjin’s voice was calmer, softer, and if Felix was hearing right, still full of overwhelming concern. “I can have manager-hyung come pick you up first if you want, though.”

Hyunjin’s voice became distant as if he’d pulled the receiver away from his face, “Hyung, which school is Felix at? Is it close? Can we go there first?”

“Hyunjin… It’s fine. I’ll be fine. I just had a bit of a freak out."

Felix jumped in his position on the floor when the doors at the entrance of the biology building burst open to reveal a disheveled looking Chan, face overcome with worry as his eyes frantically searched the lobby for any sign of Felix. He looked for just a moment until his eyes landed on Felix’s slumped form down the hallway and began making a bee-line for him.

“Thanks, Hyunjinnie, but my ride is here now.” Felix spoke quietly into the receiver as Chan approached, the elder making it to his side before his coworker could respond on the other end.

“I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon, okay? Dry off, warm up, drink some tea. Don’t let yourself get sick! And please rest now, you don’t have any more classes today, right?”

“No, I’m done with classes for the day,” Felix gave Chan an apologetic look and continued, “But I really ought to go now. I will see you tomorrow, Hyunjin. I promise I won’t be sick!”

Chan pulled a bewildered face at the mention of Hyunjin’s name and grabbed Felix’s phone without warning. He glanced at the screen for half a second before putting the phone to his ear. “Hwang Hyunjin.”

“Don’t ‘oh my god’ me!” Chan continued after a short pause. Felix could hear Hyunjin’s voice coming from the phone, but not clearly enough to make out any words or phrases the other was saying. “Yes, Felix is that friend from Australia… No, I didn’t think to tell you. Maybe because I didn’t know he worked with you, either??? ‘Has he met Minho?’ I mean… I would hope so, seeing as he is Minho’s roommate.”

That time Felix could clearly hear the “OH MY GOD!” that came from his phone.

“I’m hanging up now, Jinnie. Don’t worry, Felix is in good hands. Yeah, good bye.”

-

“I didn’t realize how much you’d improved on your Korean. You sound fantastic, man.” Chan complimented the younger once they were in his car and on the way back to the dormitory buildings.

Felix smiled into the warm towel that was wrapped around his shoulders and covered half of his face. Chan had two large towels waiting for him, as promised, in the passenger seat of his car and the heater cranked up so that Felix wouldn’t freeze to death during the short drive to the dorms.

“Thank you.” He mumbled into the towel.

A comfortable silence settled between the two old friends; Chan focused on the traffic light, waiting for it to switch from red to green and Felix watched the raindrops that raced down the length of the window he had been leaning the top of his head against. The roaring water that had been the cause of his breakdown earlier had now become the source of the calming sound that was on the verge of lulling him to sleep.

“Hwang Hyunjin,” Chan’s voice startled Felix out of his almost-sleep. “How small must the world be that you signed with the same company as him?”

“I mean, is it a bad thing that we work at the same place?” Felix questioned, hands absently playing at the wet strings of his hoodie from underneath the towel. Hyunjin was one of his only friends and the other had never done anything that would suggest him being a bad person.

“No, there’s nothing wrong with working with Hyunjin! He’s a great kid... It’s the company I don’t like so much. That boy never has any free time, kid’s going to run until they’ve exhausted him and--“

Felix furrowed his eyebrows and cut the older off when he took a breath.

“Hmm… I see where you’re coming from, hyung. But we have more free time than you think. We only work for a few hours at a time, tops. We get lots of breaks and we are fed well while on the job. We have set times of the week where we’re tutored and do our homework and other times set aside for resting and working out. It’s all planned out ahead of time and we’re made aware of the schedule a week in advance. Hell, our manager even texts us daily schedules just so that we are always in the know of what’s going on.” Felix breathed, and only then did he realize that they were parked in the dormitory parking lot. He didn’t know why he felt so obligated to defend his company, but he knew that Hyunjin would have done the same thing had it been him instead of Felix.

“Points taken.” The older admitted with a bewildered look. “Have I told you that you sound amazing? Because you really sounded natural just now, it was kind of badass.”

Felix rolled his eyes and fought the proud grin that threatened to spread, “Hyunjin helped me a lot over the summer and Minho has been really cool since I meet him, too.”

-

Chan brought Felix to the dorm room that he shared with Woojin and made quick work to find some clothes that would kind of fit him. Felix stared back at his reflection in the mirror; his hair fell in waves around his face, a hoodie that was at least two sizes bigger than necessary swallowed his frame, and a pair of sweatpants pulled up almost to just under his chest were tied as tight as the drawstrings allowed. It wasn’t the prettiest, but it was warm and cozy and that’s all that mattered in that moment to Felix.

He found Chan working at his desk in the A suite. Felix liked the chaotic order the room was in; it wasn’t messy, but it wasn’t as clean as Minho would have liked it to be, either. Endless amounts of sheet music covered just about every surface of the desk Chan worked at, save for the space made for his laptop, and even more of it was tacked on the walls. From unfinished compositions to various etudes Chan might have been practicing for a class, it was almost overwhelming, but Felix loved it.

Chan worked on in silence as Felix roamed around the room. The elder kept a bulletin board on the wall directly between his bed and desk that was covered in photos from over the years. “Oh,” he started when his eyes landed on a group photo. “Hyunjinnie.” He recognized the younger version of his friend with a fond smile.

Chan hummed, eyes still fixated on his laptop, “Keep looking, you might see someone else you recognize.”

Felix slowly scanned the faces in the photo, “Of course I recognize you… and oh, Changbin-ssi is there, too.”

“Anyone else?”

“OH Minho-hyung!!! He looks so much younger here, oh my god!!”

“I guess you haven’t met the others yet.” Chan’s voice came from directly beside Felix’s ear, startling the younger momentarily. Chan brought his hand up to point to a few faces in the photo that Felix hadn’t recognized.

“Woojin, he’s my roommate, we’re the same age.” Chan explained, finger hovering over a boy with strong distinguished facial features. Felix thought he looked handsome all those years ago and wondered how he looked these days.

“Next,” Chan moved his finger to a boy with chestnut hair, plump cheeks, and wide eyes that screamed natural curiosity. “That’s Jisung. He’s your age and he attends the same school as Hyunjin and,” Chan moved his finger again to the last person in the photo, “Seungmin, also your age. He’s super smart, wins a bunch of singing competitions, and is also the president of his class.”

“Hmm,” Felix hummed with a small smile playing at his lips. “That’s how Hyunjinnie described them, too. I was supposed to meet them on several occasions over the summer, but my schedules never ended up matching the dates everyone else was available for. They sound really cool.”

“The younger ones usually make the trip to watch our performances throughout the semester,” Chan smiled warmly at the photos across his bulletin board. “I’m sure there you will be able to meet with them at the shows.”

“Plus,” He added with his finger hovering over a perfectly square photo that captured three silhouettes sitting atop a stone wall. “Jisung randomly drops by here all the time to work on our compositions together with—”

“Wait, hold on!” Felix cut his hyung off with a sense of urgency in his voice. He moved Chan out of the way to get a closer look at the photo the other’s finger had just been on. “You know SpearB?!”

Chan’s mouth audibly snapped shut and remained closed for a moment while the older thought over his answer. He hadn’t thought about the possibility of Felix recognizing any of their stage names since the younger had never expressed any interest in 3RACHA over the years. Still, he found it almost amusing that he knew who Changbin was, but not that he and SpearB were one in the same.

“I… uh… do you know him, then?” He questioned Felix.

The younger’s eyes softened to the point that Chan thought he almost looked sad.

“No, not personally.”

Chan breathed out a sigh of relief.

“But I do like his music.” Chan watched as the light slowly returned in Felix’s eyes as the younger talked. “And it would be amazing to meet him and tell him that personally. His lyrics are so passionate and vulnerable it makes me want to hug him and tell him that everything is going to be okay!”

Changbin would fall in love with this boy, Chan thought to himself as the other continued his declaration of admiration toward the young rapper.

“—anyway, I would love to meet him, Hyung. If you could just do me this solid, I’ll be forever thank—”

“No.” The older snapped, a bit too harshly, at Felix.

Chan hated to be the reason behind the dying light in the younger’s eyes once again.

“Think about it, Felix… Have you ever seen his real name anywhere in his videos or on his channel?”

“No, but—”

Chan cut him off with a look.

“Did you ever put your name anywhere on your channel or in your videos?”

“Not exactly, but the name of my channel is literally two-thirds of my full name!”

“But you’ve never specified which person you are in the videos.”

“I have a solo video to upload I just haven’t had the time to edit it! Oh my god, why is this about me, now?”

“I am trying to prove a point that if SpearB wants to remain an anonymous figure to the general public, then who am I to reveal his identity to a member of the general public, meaning you.” Chan and Felix were of nearly the same height, but Felix had never felt so small as he did in that moment with Chan looming over him.

“I am bound to find out anyway. He’s in my biology lecture.” Felix mumbled, trying his luck one last time.

“Oh?” Chan raised an eyebrow at the news.

Felix sighed before explaining, “I sat behind a random dude this morning and I could hear really loud trap music coming from his earphones and he was tapping on his desk a lot with his pencil, right?”

“And…?”

“And when he leaned back for a second, I could see the name, SpearB, written plain as day on the paper!!!”

Chan dragged a tired hand down the length of his face, sighing.

“Well, for someone who wants to remain anonymous he’s really doing a bang-up job of it, now isn’t he?”

Felix giggled at the irony of the situation before his lips twisted into a pout, “But… I didn’t see his face. And he had his hood up so I don’t even know what his hair looks like or anything because he left class at lightning speed.”

Chan shrugged and sat back down at his desk, “At least you have it narrowed down to one person out of, how many? A hundred or so?”

The younger boy sighed dramatically and fell back onto the pillows of Chan’s bed. He felt the weight of everything that happened throughout the day come crashing down and realized how exhausted it made him. He laid there quietly, the clicking of the keys on Chan’s laptop keyboard filled the silence between them. Felix had not even realized that he was falling asleep until Chan’s voice jolted him awake.

“You know, part of me thinks this is hilarious, but the other part of me is lowkey/highkey offended that this means you haven’t listened to anything from 3RACHA. Because if you had listened to something, you would have realized that he’s in 3RACHA, too.” Chan scratched the back of his head, “Honestly, how did you even find SpearB in the first place and how did you not find 3RACHA through him, the channels are linked for goodness sake.”

“WHY DIDN’T YOU MENTION THIS FROM THE BEGINNING?! Oh my god I have to go listen to those right now.” Felix sat straight up on the bed and moved to grab his phone from where it was charging next to Chan’s laptop on the desk, but Chan had spun around in his desk chair and pushed him back toward the bed before he could reach it.

“Or, you can listen to them later and rest for now. I promised Hyunjin you were in good hands, and you’re obviously exhausted since you almost fell asleep while you were laying down just now.  And don’t think I didn’t notice when you almost dozed off in my car, too.”

Felix wanted to argue back, but his yawn cut off any argument he would have had for the other. Instead he rolled his eyes and laid back down without getting under the blankets. He was still freezing, even in Chan’s too-big hoodie and sweats, but he didn’t want to be anymore of a burden to his hyung than he already was.

“Take a nap. Woojin should be back within the next couple of hours with chicken for dinner and Minho is coming by when he gets done with his classes, too.”

Felix was listening to Chan talk, but he was only just barely registering everything. His body was more exhausted than he imagined, quickly shutting down and succumbing to sleep.

CHANGBIN:

Changbin thanked all the weather gods in existence as he stepped outside the biology building. The sky was still fairly overcast, but the sun was fighting to be seen through them. Honestly, he was just ecstatic that he didn’t need the umbrella he no longer had in his possession.

The pony-tail boy had been on his mind through the majority of the lab. Changbin wondered endlessly how someone could be as pretty as the stranger, but he found it especially unfair that someone looked so pretty when the stranger was clearly in a panicked rush in the middle of a ing torrential downpour.

He managed to pay attention here and there when the lab tech went over their lab manuals and when they would need it and which materials they would cover throughout the semester. The tech announced that the pre-lab at the front of the manuals would need to be completed before their next session in a week’s time and let them go with a couple of minutes left to spare.

Changbin walked through the courtyard with frigid toes and contemplated taking his shoes and socks off and walking barefoot on the warm concrete. He’d nearly forgotten about sending a text to Chan until the phone of a passerby chimed with a notification.

He had walked halfway across campus already, but he figured now would be as good of a head’s up as any other time.

TO: ChannieHyuuung
5:45PM
○ you free right now?
○ class let out early and I wanted to show you some lyrics.
○ :3c
 

FROM: ChannieHyuuung
5:47PM
○ come over
○ minho’s roommate is over rn

Changbin let Chan know that it was fine; he had heard a bit about Minho’s roommate here and there when he and Minho talked on the phone. And there was also the time Minho’s roommate answered the phone in place of him. Changbin was still shaken a bit by the deepness of his voice, and it made him curious as to what the baritone could possibly look like.

a/n: sorry this took so long, but it's a monster of a chapter! don't worry, i will touch on Felix and his water he got at the cafe in the next chapter ^^ 
I hope you enjoy this story so far (: 
twitter: @ash_tin or @changIixxed