A/N | I've fixed the italicized parts~ see you guys next update! I hope you enjoy ^^

CHANGBIN


FROM: ChannnnieHyung
5:50PM
○ hey don’t knock when you get here
○ I’m going to leave the door ajar
○ just come in

The messages came just as Changbin entered the elevator that lead up to Chan and Woojin’s floor, yet he still brought his hand up, on instinct, to knock on their door. Luckily, he caught himself just before he could go through with it and pushed the door open instead.

“Hello?” He called into the empty common area after shutting and locking the door behind him. 

“Shh. Keep your voice down.” Chan suddenly poked his head out of his bedroom and disappeared back inside not even two seconds later.

Changbin maneuvered his way around the familiar space and into Chan’s door frame just as the older settled a blanket over a sleeping form in his bed.

Oh, that must be Minho’s roommate. Changbin thought to himself while Chan moved to unplug his laptop and exit his bedroom as quietly as possible.

“That was kind of adorable.” Changbin teased the older when they were finally settled on the couch, lyrics and Chan’s laptop out and displayed on the long coffee table in front of them.

Chan smiled sheepishly and leaned into the back of the couch. “Minho’s roommate is also my old friend from back home. Today was the first my first time seeing him in almost eight years. I feel bad because he’s had a pretty first day.”

“Poor thing.” Changbin sympathized. He could definitely relate with the whole first day being ty aspect.

“So…” The elder moved so that he sat at the edge of the couch and pulled his laptop closer to the both of them.  “Lyrics?”

“Right. Lyrics.” Changbin softly clapped his hands together, not wanting to disturb the boy in the room over, and pulled a fresh spiral-bound notebook from his backpack. “I was able to write a bit this morning before my biology lecture started.”

Changbin sounded thrilled to be able to talk with Chan about his writing process, but Chan struggled to keep his big mouth shut about Felix. Changbin’s next sentence definitely didn’t help Chan’s struggle.

 “But,” He looked up at Chan, face set with a fond smile, but Chan hadn’t missed the sad tone in his voice. Changbin bit at his lip before continuing, “I’m thinking about changing some of the words up, now.”

 Chan spied another small grin Changbin sported when he’d gone silent. 

“Right.” The older dead-panned after a few moments of silence. “Well, would you like to share with the class, Changbin-ssi?”

Changbin’s expression changed into a scowl at Chan’s tone, “Yeah yeah, whatever.”

He made a show of opening up his notebook and flipping through several pages before pausing on one that was only half-filled.

“For You?” Chan questioned the title when Changbin shoved the notebook into his lap.

“It’s a working title… for now.” Changbin pulled at the hem of his shirt. He always became a ball of nerves when someone read over his raw lyrics, straight from his brain and to the page, but this was even more nerve-inducing. He wanted to use these lyrics for a 3RACHA song, but they would have to pass through both Chan and Jisung first.

Chan nodded, understanding as his eyes scanned the page.

“The process of running towards your objective, Only to have your passion just shown in the results…” Chan read out loud and Changbin cringed inwardly at his own words. He couldn’t bear to even look at Chan’s face while he read the rest in his head, so he completely missed the brilliant grin that graced the elder’s face a few moments later. “These are… seriously fantastic lyrics, Binnie.”

Changbin’s face positively lit up at the praise. “Really?”

“Of course! Your lyrics are always brilliant, so I don’t really understand why you always get so nervous and fidgety when someone reads them.” Chan giggled and shook his head at Changbin with a fond smile on his lips.

“I’m curious, though.” Chan picked up the notebook and flicked the top of the paper where the title was scrawled out in English. “Does this mean you thought of someone while writing these?”

Changbin hesitated. Had he thought of someone? Initially, the lyrics had been of his own personal need for comfort through the hardships of his new academic endeavors, but after his encounter with the stranger in the rain he wanted to send the other words of encouragement even if it was through a song the other was likely to never hear.

He nodded his head slowly with a hum, “Not anyone I know personally, but yeah, I thought of someone.”

Chan smiled as he scrolled through possible compositions to offer up, the notebook of lyrics cast aside on the coffee table. “Well… then it will be just that more special once it’s finished, yeah?”

Changbin worried his bottom lip between his teeth without answering Chan; his mind had somehow found its way back to wondering about the ash-blonde boy with the pretty lips. He hoped the other boy had gotten somewhere warm and dry and changed out of his sopping wet clothing. He wondered if this stranger preferred coffee or tea, and whether he liked to drink them hot or cold, though after a day such as the one he’d gone through Changbin hoped he would choose something warm to drink. If-

“Hello? Earth to Binnie…?”

“Sorry. I just—” He had to go. He wanted to write more, he could feel his fingers itching to grab for the damn pen Chan had been twirling about the entire time they were talking and finish off another verse or two. “I have to go now.”

If Changbin was anxious about showing his lyrics to others, then writing them in front of someone on the spot was terrifying to him. As much as he loved and trusted Chan, he wasn’t ready for that.

“Woojin is picking up some chicken for dinner. I think he’s stopping at the new place across campus… You’re welcome to stick around and have a bite, if you want.” Chan offered fruitlessly. He knew Changbin had already made his mind up about leaving.

“Thanks for the offer, really,” Changbin stood up to gather his belongings and carefully place them back into his bag. “But Mark said he was going to buy a pizza in exchange for me looking over his introductory essay for his creative writing class or something of the sort.” It wasn’t a lie, Mark really had asked as much while they were in the café earlier that day, but the essay wasn’t due for a week and he had plenty of time to look over it on any other day. Still, it made for a good excuse to duck out without seeming rude.

He reached for the notebook full of lyrics that still lay open on the coffee table, but Chan swiped it out of his grasp before he could begin to close it.

“Bin…” Chan began, mouth twisted into a questioning pout and eyebrows furrowed together. “Do you always pen your name, well, stage name, at the top like this?” He flicked the top of the paper where SpearB was displayed alone, the harsh graphite lines appearing softer thanks to cheap dormitory lighting.

“I…” Changbin scratched at his cheek absently, expression bewildered. “I mean… I guess it was just out of habit. I didn’t even realize I did that.”

Chan quirked an eyebrow and huffed, “Huh… Not so good at trying to remain anonymous, are we? Did you at least check to make sure no one was sitting behind you this morning when you were writing?”

Changbin’s eyes widened, “Oh my God!”

Both boys blanched at his raised voice. Changbin sent an apologetic glance to Chan who was eyeing his bedroom door in fear of the noise waking their Sleeping Beauty.

“I am actually an idiot.” Changbin continued in an intense whisper.

Chan rolled his eyes and tossed the open notebook back onto the coffee table while Changbin’s breakdown spiraled even further, “I’ll have to switch seats, now. At least I was wearing a hood over my head. That, and I all but sprinted out of class when it was over. There’s no way anyone actually saw me, but… ugh.” He paused to pout, his tense shoulders slumped in defeat. “I’ll just be more careful from now on.”

Chan’s knowing smirk faltered and an uneasy feeling settled in the pit of his stomach. That would have to do for now. At the very least, Felix wouldn’t be able spring up on him through their shared class as long as Changbin really made the effort to be careful from then on out.

“Alright… Well—”

A soft knock interrupted Chan’s speech.

Changbin, already standing, moved to open the door without bothering to check the knocker’s identity through the peep-hole. He smiled brightly at his best friend that stood on the other side of the door, but it quickly fell at the sight of his friend’s worried expression.

“What? Is something wrong, Hyung?” He asked in earnest and moved to lay a hand on the elder’s shoulder. Minho brushed Changbin to the side without much force and spoke to Chan with a sense of urgency.

“Where is he? Is he okay?!”

Chan was on his feet and consoling Minho as soon as the other had begun his rapid-fire speech. Chan shushed him before answering his questions. “He’s fine, he’s asleep. Do you want to see?”

Minho’s head bobbed up and down hastily. Chan directed him from behind while holding on to Minho’s shoulders until they stood together in front of Chan’s bedroom door. Minho opened it just a crack and peered inside at which Changbin saw the older visibly relax, shoulders falling in relief when he saw his younger roommate’s sleeping form.

Changbin ignored the minuscule bite of jealousy that gnawed at his gut and smiled when the two turned to face him again. Minho almost looked apologetic once he saw Changbin’s forced expression.

“Sorry, Binnie… I’m just a little bit protective of my roommate. He really had me worried on the phone earlier. Everything has been so hectic today.” Minho paused his rapid speech to breathe and Changbin took the opportunity to hug his best friend. He smiled as the jealousy melted away with a newfound understanding.

“You’re a great friend, you know that?” Changbin smiled even wider at the pout Minho sported once he was released from the comforting embrace.

“I just… He was probably so scared on his own…” Minho let out a small whine

“It’s okay, hyung. He’s okay. You saw him, didn’t you?”

Minho sighed but nodded his head slowly. Yes, he had seen Felix’s sleeping outline in Chan’s bed. His mind had immediately gone to worrying about Felix’s frozen suite and how he was absolutely not going to let him sleep in it for the night.

“I have to get going now, but you will have to introduce me to him sometime soon. I need to meet whoever was able to snatch your heart up so quickly like this. Oh my, what would Ji make of this?” Changbin teased, snickering when Minho shot him a glare for bringing up his unrequited crush. He glanced at Chan, who had gone back to working on his laptop, “Hyung seems pretty damn smitten as well. He must be pretty cool.”

Chan looked up and raised his eyebrows suggestively. “I have a feeling you are going to love him just as much, Binnie. If not more than any of us.”

Minho spoke up before Changbin could question the eldest in the room.

“Honestly though, he is so precious, Binnie! I will make sure to introduce you to him when he’s feeling up to it.”

“Christ, Minho, he’s taking a nap, not on his deathbed.” Chan retorted with an eye-roll.

“Okay, deal!” Changbin giggled as he stuffed his lyric notebook in his bag. “But for now, I have to go before my own precious roommate begins to worry where I’m at.”

“Okay, I’ll text you later.” Minho smiled as he plopped his bottom on the couch. Chan gave the younger a disproving glance at his actions before turning back to Changbin. “See you later, Bin. Don’t forget about writing your name in the notebook…” He trailed off.

Changbin had one foot out the door, “Ah, right! I got it, I got it! Don’t worry.” And with a half-assed wave behind him, he was gone.

-

Minho hung the upper half of his body upside down over the arm rest of the couch and sighed quietly, but still full of signature Minho-esque dramatics. “How long has he been sleeping for?”

“Hmmm, around two hours or so? He took a shower and tried to dry out some of the stuff he had in his backpack before he fell asleep.”

As if on cue, Minho turned his head to investigate the bathroom where he spied a few textbook and spiral notebooks laying on the counter to dry. On the floor was the bright blue backpack Minho had grown accustom to kicking out of the entryway to his own dormitory. He smiled at the familiarity of if until he saw—“Oh, Felix has the same umbrella as me.”

He huffed when Chan only hummed back in acknowledgement.

“Except I lent mine to Changbin a few weeks ago when he mentioned forgetting to pack one. Small world he has the exact same one.”

Chan’s brows furrowed, only now remembered a few bits of their otherwise silent trip from the biology building to the dorms. “It’s not his.”

Minho sat up, about to question what the he meant by that, but he was speaking before Minho could begin to ask.

“Felix said he needed to thank the guy that lent him the umbrella. Someone gave it to him to use but he was too embarrassed to look up and see who it was… Minho…”

“No way.” Minho whispered.

Chan hugged his legs to his chest. “Changbin… mentioned he was coming here from his biology lab.”

“Oh my god.”

“These two combined… are a piece of god damn work.” Chan sighed and rested his chin in the crease between his knees.

“What a ing coincidence.” Minho breathed out, still cautious of the boy sleeping in the next room over.

“There’s something else.” Chan mumbled before he lifted his head to make eye contact with Minho.

“There’s more?!” He whisper-shouted in response.

“Felix… He knows who SpearB is.”

Minho’s face twisted in confusion. “What do you mean by that, hyung?”

“He recognized Bin’s stage name on one of the 3RACHA mix-tape album arts I have hanging in my room.”

“Well… that should make things easier, right? Changbin will probably be happy to have someone who is enthusiastic about—”

“I don’t think he should know.”

“What?”

“I think Bin should wait it out. He should wait to tell him after Felix has gotten to know him, you know?”

“No,” Minho held a hand up as if it would stop Chan from saying something else stupid. “I’m really not following you right now, hyung.” He lowered his hand but gave the elder a look that said he wasn’t finished speaking. Chan stayed quiet to hear him out.

“Say… say that they meet, which will happen, hyung. Felix is my roommate, and Changbin is my best friend. How on Earth do you expect me to keep quiet about-“ He aimlessly gestured around the air between them. “-all of this?!” Minho was back to whisper-shouting as quietly as he could, but his exaggerated hand movements spoke louder than any of his words.

Chan, in the love-seat across the way, felt each syllable down to his bones, but he was not about to change his mind. “I’m sorry for loading this on you, Min, but I am just looking out for them. They’re both my friends, too.”

They both sat in silence for one, two beats, before the lock on the entrance door turned and the door clicked open. Woojin walked in with an arm full of bags and Chan sighed in hopes that this would signal the end of the conflict for the time being. He jumped up to take a few bags out of his roommate’s hands.

Minho leaned back into the couch and crossed his legs. “I still don’t like it. There’s no possible way this will end well if and when Felix finds out.”

Chan dragged a hand down the length of his face and Woojin made a questioning noise that was directed at Minho.

“Eh? When Felix finds out about what?” He could feel the tense air between the other two occupants in the room.

He looked toward Minho, “Why do you look so mad?” He pointed a finger toward Chan, “And why are you helping me, are you sick or something?”

Chan pursed his lips and gave his roommate an incredulous look.

“Sick in the head, yes, he is.” Minho grumbled to himself and pulled his phone out. He had no intentions whatsoever of helping Chan explain everything over again for Woojin. “Mental, absolutely crazy, he is.” He mumbled once again while he mindlessly scrolled through his Instagram feed.

“Well, yeah, it is definitely one of your dumbest ideas, but I can at least see where you’re coming from as a friend through both of them.” Woojin commented after Chan finished explaining himself.

Minho scoffed and threw his phone down on the unoccupied space beside him.

“Now I just have to figure out how to tell Hyunjin…”

Woojin pulled his eyes away from the syllabus he’d been skimming through and looked up at Chan, eyes questioning.

“Hyunjinnie? Why?”

Minho raised an eyebrow at the Australian boy. He could feel another headache coming on and got up to find the bottle of Aspirin he knew the older two kept in the bathroom cabinet.

“Well, Felix is signed under an agency for his modeling, right?”

“You’re joking.” Minho spoke to his own reflection in the bathroom mirror and made eye contact with Chan’s own reflection from where he stood in the common area outside of it. “Please tell me you’re joking.” He pleaded at Chan when he was back in the common area.

“There’s been too many -all coincidences today, please tell me you are joking about this one, hyung.”

Chan blanched at Woojin’s loud laughter. “This day just keeps getting weirder and weirder, oh my word.”

__________________

Felix’s nose twitched as he regained consciousness. He moved to scratch at his cheek only to be met with a face full of fabric. The sleeves on his hoodie were way too big and his room felt way too stuffy, it was almost suffocating. He kicked at the covers blindly, still not fully awake and aware enough to warrant needing his eyes open, only to be confused when neither of his feet made contact with any of the stuffed animals that took up at least ninety percent of his bed’s surface.

Felix slowly peeled one eye open and used his over-sized sleeve to wipe the sleep out of both of them until he could see properly. He blinked owlishly, suddenly realizing the room he was in was not his own, nor the bed or clothes.

He groaned; memories of the day leading up to his nap hit like a wave. He didn’t have much time to dwell on them before hearing hushed voices outside the bedroom door quickly followed by a booming laugh that scared Felix so much that he flinched.

The brightly lit digits on Chan’s clock glared at Felix from where it sat on his desk. It was only half past six in the evening, but to Felix it felt like the middle of the night.

His nose twitched again as it registered the smell that had woke him in the first place: chicken. His stomach growled, the sound harsh and low, but effective, as the sleepy boy promptly drug himself from the bed and padded across the room to the door.

Upon slowly swinging it open he saw three boys: Minho and Chan stood only a few feet away from where Felix hesitated in the doorway, while one boy he only vaguely recognized sat on the arm rest of the love-seat next to the entryway.

Minho’s heart dropped into his stomach at the sight of his pitiful looking roommate stepped out of Chan’s bedroom. His hair stuck up in every which way, remnants of sleep clung to his freckles and tired eyes.

“MY BABYYYYY” Minho cried out when he’d come back to his senses. He quickly closed the small space between himself and Felix and cupped the younger’s face between his hands. “Are you feeling okay? Did you sleep alright? Are you hungry? I’m sorry if we woke you up!”

He didn’t pass up the moment to glance away from Felix and glare daggers at the boy who still sat on the love-seat armrest, which only then gave the boy a full view of Felix’s face.

A small gasp came from one of the older boys in the room followed by a quiet, “Wow.”

Chan raised an eyebrow at his roommate, “What was that for?”

Woojin only shook his head, “There’s really no question as to why he’s a model along side Hyunjin. Just… Wow, he’s beautiful.”

Felix felt a little loopy, still half-asleep, but the compliment from the older boy quickly sobered him up. A blush crept up the sides of his neck and seeped into his cheeks. Chan, having observed the entire exchange, laughed loudly at the younger’s reaction before he stepped in to introduce the pair to each other.

“Felix, this is my roommate and my best friend, Woojin! He was in the photo you saw in my room, earlier. And Woojin, this is Felix! I’ve known him since I was little and still lived in Australia.”

Felix smiled sheepishly and gave the oldest a small wave from around Minho’s, now koala’d, position across the front of his body.

“Well, are you hungry, Felix?” Woojin asked him with a warm smile and gestured at the bags of food on the coffee table between them.

“Starved, actually.” He replied with a grateful smile as Minho pulled him over to the couch where they would eat.

-

“Hyung. I’m fine. I can sleep in my own ro-“

Felix was hushed with a single finger placed over his lips. He recalled the day he’d first met the older boy and how similar of a situation they were in, yet again. Felix wondered if this would be a frequent occurrence between the two of them.

“You’re sleeping in my room. I won’t be accepting any further argument.” He pulled away his finger and grabbed Felix’s backpack and bag of wet clothes from the younger's hands and nudged the him toward the bathroom. “Go wash up. I’m sure you can just sleep in Chan’s clothes for the night.”

Felix hesitated for a moment before, “And where are you going?” He questioned as the older turned to slip his shoes back on.

“I’m going to throw these in the wash before they begin to smell.” Minho explained and raised up the bag of clothes. He deposited Felix’s backpack on the love-seat next to their door and grabbed one of the small detergent pods from the container that sat next to their kitchenette space before moving to leave. “Hyung should have taken care of it while you were still asleep, but I guess he got too busy with his compositions, again.” Minho shrugged.

“Anyway, I’ll be right back. If you want any specific animal to sleep with I’ll grab it from your room when I get back. Don’t go in there until you get back from work tomorrow.”

Felix rolled his eyes.

“You roll your eyes, now, but you will be thanking me when you don’t have a runny nose and fever in the morning.” Minho smirked and let the door slam shut behind him.

Felix looked back at the closed door to his bedroom and sighed.

As much as he felt like a kid to follow around the orders of his roommate, he knew the elder was right. He made a mental note in that moment to contact maintenance about his broken A/C sooner rather than later.

He was already half asleep when the older boy returned and brought in a random stuffed animal since Felix had not been awake enough to choose one on his own. He weakly protested when he felt the other side of the bed dip under Minho’s weight but the older only shushed him and told him to go to sleep. Half-asleep Felix decided that he didn’t mind the extra body heat and cuddles of someone else beside him and soon drifted back into a deep sleep once again.

TUESDAY:

Felix woke to someone, Minho, lightly shaking him back and forth. He cracked an eye open and wanted to curse when he saw that the room was still dark, meaning the sun hadn’t even come up yet.

“Rise and shine, cutie~!” Minho cooed softly before running his hand over Felix’s hair to tame a few strays here and there. “You have piano lessons at eight, right?”

Felix groaned when the elder’s warm hand abandoned his head. “ me, why on earth did I think a double major was a good idea?”

“In your defense, it’s just a minor, not a double major. They’re only making you do a fraction of the course-load that most music majors have to go through.” Minho rummaged through his wardrobe for a moment before pulling a pair of sweats and a muscle tee from separate drawers. “I dunno if you want to get breakfast at the dining hall or not, but there's a container of strawberry protein powder in the bottom cabinet beside the fridge if you would rather just make yourself a shake.”

Minho walked out of the dark room, leaving Felix to squint at the bright light that shone through the doorway. “Or,” Minho continued from outside his room, “There’s also a couple boxes of cereal. We just need to use up the rest of the milk before it goes bad.”

“Cereal has too many carbs.” Felix mumbled into Minho’s comforter as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He didn’t have any particular plans for breakfast, but a protein shake would probably do him good. He’d been slacking on his diet ever since Minho had moved into the dorm with him and supplied them with endless sugary sweets and snacks that would earn a mighty glare from his manager if he ever found out.

Felix finally crawled out of his roommate’s bed when he heard the shower cut on. He was surprised at the amount of text notifications he’d received, but not surprised that they were all sent from Hyunjin and their manager.

FROM: Manager-hyungnim
5:30AM
○ Good morning, Felix! I will pick you up from the dormitory building immediately following your morning classes. You will have your Korean lesson as soon as we arrive back to the company and then we will head to the shop for your hair appointment after lunch. Free time is from 2:00PM-3:00PM and then we will depart to pick Hyunjin up from school and head to the location for your shoot that is scheduled for 4:00PM.
5:33AM
○ Have a good breakfast and pay attention in class. See you in a bit!

FROM: Hyunjinnie~
6:07AM
○ LIX
○ Hyung said the shoot is at 4 this afternoon.
○ pls make sure he packs snacks
6:08AM
○ i’m always starving after class i beg u
6:12AM
○ see u later. hope ur feeling better today.
○ fighting~!

He smiled at the last few messages, grateful to have a friend like Hyunjin. Felix put his phone back on the bed and grabbed the clothes he figured Minho must have brought in from his bedroom while he was still asleep and began to change. He was grateful for all of his friends, really. He spent the rest of his time getting ready and thinking of ways he could repay Chan and Woojin for their hospitality the day before.

His 8:00AM piano class went fairly well. Felix relearned how to position both of his hands on the piano keys and how to run the five-note scales and arpeggios in half of the major key signatures. His professor was a stout old woman with thin, mousy hair that she kept in a low braid that hung almost past the backs of her knees. He finished the piano class feeling much more confident in his rusty skills, not having so much as looked at a piano in years, and it gave him an overall good feeling about the how his semester in the class would go.

He didn’t notice the glances of a student that belonged to the class directly after his. The student had come early, at least fifteen minutes before Felix’s class was scheduled to end, but the professor let him take a seat at one of the keyboards at the far end of the room and dabble at the keys as long as he kept the headphones plugged in. Felix thanked the professor when his time was up and left the room without realizing he was being watched.

He stopped at the lounge that was located in the middle of the long main hallway of the music building and swiped his card at the vending machine for a bottle of water before he made his way over to the dance annex. It was a farther walk to the dance annex than to the university’s theater, where his other two dance classes took place. Granted, the two studios inside the theater building were small and cramped, and absolutely nothing compared to the beautiful interior of the dance annex. Felix felt at home when he set foot inside the one-room building that consisted of a small seated area for an audience and a very spacious dance studio with mirrors all across the surrounding three walls.

Felix sat his dance bag down in one of the audience seats and made quick work to help set out the ballet barres that were stored in a makeshift storage space in a room under the raised seating area. He was surprised at the size of the class; ten students, including himself! The professor of the Technique class seemed pleasantly surprised as well seeing as dance wasn’t the most common of majors despite the university itself specializing in “Science & Arts.”

He only got the chance to check his phone during his walk back to the dorm. He smiled warmly at the notifications of messages he’d received from Minho and Chan and opened them eagerly.

FROM: Minnie-hyung
9:46AM
○ hey
○ I know you have work right after class and I won’t see you until you get back later
○ but don’t overwork yourself, alright?
○ take frequent breaks and drink lots of water and eat a nice lunch and bring snacks bc snacks are awesome
○ take care I’ll see you later ♥

FROM: Chris
10:07AM
○ hey buddy, how you feeling this morning?
○ Hyunjin bothered me like crazy last night to make sure you were okay
○ he’ll probably be all over you at work
○ but don’t worry it’s just because he cares ok ^^

His manager’s van was parked at the front of his dorm building, the older boy (somewhere still in his 20s, but Felix wasn’t too sure) waved him on when Felix signaled that he would be right back and hurried up the stairs to drop off his dance bag and grab a change of clothes.

-

“So,” His manager began once they were walking into the company building. “Big changes today, huh?”

“I suppose, if I’m scheduled nearly two hours at the shop.”

“I think they’re doing hair and makeup on you while you’re there so that Hyunjin can get his makeup done while you do your solo bits once we get to the venue.”

“Oh.” Felix answered. He supposed it did make a bit more sense to do things like that, so they would have more time once the shoot began.

Felix managed to pay attention well enough throughout his Korean lesson, and he was even able to finish a whole chapter’s worth of vocabulary with the leftover self-study time at the end of the lesson.

His stomach begged for sustenance once the lesson was over. He wondered what his friends were doing for their lunch as he swiped his pass to enter the elevator and pressed the button that would bring him to the company’s top floor restaurant.

He fixed his plate with his usual grilled chicken , salad, a selection of finger fruits, and a dinner roll and seated himself at a table that looked out one of the wide windows facing the busy part of the city. Felix wished Hyunjin was there to eat with him. Any of his friends would have done well enough to keep him company, though. Even Woojin, as little of time as he knew the older, it would be a nice opportunity to get to know him a little better.

Felix sent off a text to Chan asking him to pass his phone number along to the older boy’s roommate and extended the lunch invitation to both of them if they were ever free for it during the times Felix would be on campus. 

He didn’t worry or even begin to wonder about the changes that were going to be made on his hair until he climbed out of the front seat of the van and walked inside the salon. It smelled heavily of product, heated hair, acetone, and some sort of tropical air freshener as a poor attempt to mask the harsh odors. Felix didn’t mind them, though. He found comfort in the familiar sights and smells as he had grown up sitting in salon chairs almost on a daily basis due to the early age at which he’d started modeling.

“Felix-ssi!” A petite girl with a pretty face and long eyelashes called from the reception desk. “Eunhye asks that you wait for her in the chair. She’s going to consult with you about what you’re getting done, first. Okay?”

Felix grinned and nodded. He’d grown attached to his personal cosmetologist, but she wasn’t always available when he had to have something done. He was glad she’d been available today, especially if he was going to be sitting there for two whole hours.

“Heya, ‘Lix. How have you been today?” Eunhye greeted him with a smile before she began to raise the chair up by pumping the lever with her foot. She’d come with a rolling cart with hair dye already mixed in separate bowls and any other tools she might need to work on his hair.

“Good, actually. Classes were earlier than any human being would like them to be, but that’s life.”

Eunhye laughed with him at the last comment and continued small talk with Felix while she draped the salon cape around him. It was lavender, the only one she used on Felix ever since he had pointed out that he loved the color the first time they’d met.

“Alright, remember when we sat here all afternoon getting your hair to that beautiful Barbie platinum blonde?” Felix nodded and Eunhye continued, “Well thank goodness we’re not going to go through that mess again, today!”

She began spritzing his hair with a bottle of water and combing through the long locks with her fingers. “We haven’t had a proper cut since that day, either. Goodness! Your hair is so long!” Felix giggled at her small outbursts and waited for her to finally tell him what they were going to do.

“I hope you weren’t attached to this length, sweetie.”

“I mean, it made for some really nice hair styles, and I really rocked the man bun and a cute half-ponytail.”

“Oh my gosh, please tell me you took selfies with them!”

Snip. The first lock of ash-blonde hair fell, without a sound, to the tiled floor.

“Unfortunately, I did not.”

Snip. Snip. Snip. 

“Ah, well there is always next time. I’m sure with a face like yours, that definitely won’t be the last time they’ll want you to grow it out like that. Anyway, we're taking you back to brown today, as you can see by the lovely smells beside me.” Eunhye nodded her head toward the bowls of dye and Felix smiled, but kept his head still for her. He’d never cared about what color his hair got to be, but he was glad it was a darker one this time around. His blonde hair suited him just fine, but it caused a lot of attention whether he wanted it or not. At least after today he would be able to blend in with the crowd a bit better. He giggled at the thought of his own roommate not being able to recognize him with such a change and suddenly couldn’t wait to see Minho’s reaction when he returned back to their dorm later.

“Alright, love.” Eunhye spun the chair around so that Felix could see himself in the mirror again. He snickered at the sight, “Yeah, you look hella funny right now. But it’s going to stay that way for the next thirty minutes under the dryer, alright?”

“Okay.” Felix followed her to the area where the dryers were and let Eunhye situate a plastic cap over his head to keep the dye from getting on anything before she lowered the dryer over his head.

“Try not to let your head fall around the edge of this thing, okay? Don’t want your pretty forehead or your ears getting burned!” He almost nodded back at her before realizing his head would very easily hit the dryer if he did. “Call for me if you need anything! I’m going to go talk with Shinha about the makeup.”

She put the dryer on a timer and flipped the switch on and left Felix alone while the dye worked its magic.

Thirty minutes passed quickly, all thanks to a few rounds in Battlegrounds here, a full ten aggravating minutes of Flappy Bird there, and a whole lot of scrolling through Instagram and Twitter feeds.

“Alright,” Felix nearly jumped in place when Eunhye appeared out of nowhere. He had been too engrossed in yet another game of Flappy Bird to even notice that the dryer had switched itself off almost five minutes ago. “Let’s go get this junk washed out, shall we?”

The color was a softer brown than the color of the dye that Eunhye had painted onto his head suggested, but he loved it. There were coppery-red tones that were visible when the light caught him just right and Eunhye squealed when she talked about how nice it was going to turn out in the photos from today. “Please make sure to get me a copy of whatever these photos are going into when they’re released, alright? I’m going to display them on my shelf, here!”

Felix told her that he would make sure of it, like he always did. He enjoyed the fact that she liked to proudly display her work at her station. His hairdresser back in Australia did the same thing.

Felix experienced his first feeling of homesickness in that moment. His heart fell when he thought about the friends and coworkers he’d gone ahead of and left behind. They’d all been proud of him and swore up and down they would be cheering him on from afar, but he missed them all so much.

The feeling disappeared almost instantly when the makeup artist, Shinha, rolled a new cart over to Eunhye’s station. He knew what would come next the instant he spied the TEMPTU Pro brand compressor and various bottles of foundation, concealer, bronzer, and blushes.

Airbrushing was one of Felix’s lesser favorite methods of makeup, but he was always amused by how doll-like he looked once Shinha was finished.

Eunhye smiled apologetically when she saw the look Felix had given the cart of makeup and promised to finish up with it as fast as possible and send him on his way. He perked up at the thought of Hyunjin’s reaction to the change in his appearance and tried not to let it bother him too much as his freckles disappeared before his eyes.