FELIX: TUESDAY AFTERNOON

“Wow.” Hyunjin carelessly dropped his school bag on the floorboard of the van and shoved his face right up in Felix’s. “I want to touch your hair, but I know Eunhye-noona would absolutely murder me on the spot!”

The older pouted and reached his hand out, his index finger just barely ghosted over the top of Felix’s cheeks.

“I can’t even see the freckles that are usually visible even through your normal foundation…” Hyunjin’s face twisted into a more pitiful pout. “What did they do to you?”

“Airbrush. Shinha-noona did it.” Felix sighed.

“Ah. That explains it.” Hyunjin matched his tired sigh.

Felix grabbed a canvas bag from over the passenger seat and pulled out a giant Zip-Loc bag full of grapes and cherry tomatoes. Hyunjin’s eyes lit up at the sight and shoved his hand into the mouth of the bag once Felix had worked it open.

“Bless up!” The older model said around a mouthful of grapes.

The two of them snacked in silence for a few moments before Hyunjin spoke again, “What on earth are we doing today that they don’t want to see your freckles, though?”

Their manager, who had stayed quiet up until then, spoke up. “The first set is new headshots.”

Both boys snapped their heads up to meet their manager’s eyes in the rear-view mirror. The smile fell from Felix’s lips as a grimace grew on Hyunjin’s. “WHAT?!”

Felix looked out the window as Hyunjin continued.

“No, wait, Hyung… Are you serious? What the HECK?!” His voice filled the otherwise silent van. The shrillness of it bounced off the walls of the car and Felix felt his head spin just slightly.

“Hyunjin. It’s fine.” He mumbled, still watching the traffic pass them by.

“No. No, it’s not fine, Lix.”

“Hyung, do they not realize how many opportunities and offers Felix got in the past three months? He’s beautiful, but his freckles are a natural rarity! An arrangement that can’t be duplicated with some simple makeups. And, don’t take this the wrong way Felix, but they’re a HUGE selling point!”

In any other given situation, Felix would have laughed. There was no reason to take offense to what Hyunjin had implied because, yes, their faces were their money. That’s how they made a living. He knew this well enough and he would be stupid to not be mad, or at least frustrated, at the situation he was facing now.

“I have no control over this, Hyunjin. You know that.”

“Can’t you say some-“

“Hyunjin-ah! That’s enough. I won’t go against company’s orders. And neither will you or Felix while under contract.”

Hyunjin crossed his arms in a fit. “This is so dumb. Not only does Felix lose money and exposure, but the company will take a loss from this as well. I hope they realize this.”

Felix felt the beginning of tears fill his eyes and he quickly grabbed for a tissue in the side pocket of his work bag. He didn’t know if they were tears because every single word Hyunjin said was right, whether he was upset because his friend was getting just as upset, or if he was moved by how far Hyunjin was going in his honor.

He was thankful, if anything, when Hyunjin was whisked away the moment they set foot inside the venue. The feisty model’s own stylists had been waiting to do his own hair and makeup while the director of the shoot pulled Felix in the opposite direction to begin his portion of the headshots. Felix pretended he couldn’t hear Hyunjin’s protests as the two were separated and kept his mouth shut. He would throw away his emotions for now. For work.

Still, as the harsh flash made his vision spotty and the heat of the lamps surrounding him to give the perfect lighting and angles caused his back to sweat under the simple black ensemble, Felix secretly wished that the headshots would turn out ty and that higher management would realize their mistake.

CHANGBIN: TUESDAY MORNING

Changbin’s hands shook ever so slightly when he grabbed for his coffee the following morning. He’d stayed up too late, way too ing late, writing lyrics. Lyrics of the song that was now completely finished and ready to be read over by Chan and Jisung once more. Another song or three had been started and an old composition Changbin had toyed around with in high school pulled back up on his laptop.

Mostly, he had only stared at it. It was something he made in hopes of submitting with his university applications. Sort of like an “Oh, I can compose, too.” bit of side information just to up his chances of receiving a nice sized scholarship.

Except he didn’t.

Instead, he chose a safer option and submitted a video compilation of his singing and excerpts of his writings. He realized a bit too late that maybe he really should have sent in a composition when he was only allowed to be placed in the lowest beginning level of piano and music theory. Both of which he thought he at least to the intermediate level of understanding.

He never showed the composition to Chan or Jisung. It was way too different from his usual, dark-toned style, and he was too scared that the shift wouldn’t be well received by the two people’s whose opinions he valued most. The piece was lighthearted, upbeat, and maybe even a tad uplifting. The minimal instrumentation of acoustic guitar paired with a hint of percussion here and there gave the piece a brighter feel to it than Changbin had ever thought to use before.

It brought hope.

So without messing around with anything in the arrangement, he spat a couple of lines from For You to the first few bars and hated it. Absolutely loathed just how perfect it paired with the messy lyrics etched into cheap notebook paper.

He hated the way the hairs on his arms stood on end when the unfinished instrumental came to an end, but he could clearly hear how it needed to finish.

He hated more than anything just how perfect it all came together.

So, he cursed the very hand that shook when he grabbed the cold plastic cup filled to the brim with his “life juice” has Mark had begun calling it.

The same hand, with help from the other, that refused to rest just hours prior until the damned composition file was marked as complete.

He thanked himself, because at the very least, he hadn’t been stupid enough to take 8AM classes all week long. Instead, his piano lesson wasn’t scheduled until half-past nine in the morning.

Still, he cursed himself, along with his dumb hands, for having to be early to everything, too. Which is how he found himself in the piano lab, dabbling at the keys of an empty keyboard, a whole thirty minutes before his class was even scheduled to begin.

Past the heads of other students, Changbin spied the top of a familiar head of hair. Ash-blonde fell into a mess of slightly frizzy tangles. Changbin smiled, he couldn’t see the person’s face, but he sensed that it belonged to the boy he’d interrupted in theory the morning prior.

He willed himself to focus on the keys in front of him, warming up his unpracticed fingers as they floated across the ivory by memory. He looked to the student at the keyboard directly next to him and noticed how he struggled to keep his left hand a mirror of his right while remembering to move his right pinky at the same time as his left thumb. This class would surely be an easy A.

“Perfect! You catch on fast, dear!” Changbin heard the praise around his headphone set and glanced up to see the piano professor patting Blondie, Changbin’s temporary nickname for the kid, on his back gently. If the student replied, it was too hushed to hear through his headset. It left Changbin wishing that he’d sat at one of the empty keyboards closer to the front of the room. At least then he would have had more of a chance to see Blondie’s face.

With only minutes left in the class, Changbin pulled out his composition book to write down a couple of melodies he’d come up with while warming up and wondered if he’d ever make anything from them.

He looked up just in time to see the familiar sight of Blondie’s waves retreating from the classroom and sighed. He’d pay more attention in their next theory class. Changbin would make the effort to see his face, even if he had no real reason to back up why he needed to see it.

“Whatcha lookin’ at?”

Changbin jumped at the sudden question before he realized he’d still been staring at the empty doorway.

“Or should I ask, who ya looking at?” Yerim questioned him with a sly smile. She slid into the seat of the keyboard across from his and took out her book.

“None of your business.” Changbin rolled his eyes but smiled back at her, glad to have a familiar face in class with him. They’d only met a couple of days prior; Mark having introduced them when she’d appeared at their dorm to borrow Mark’s mini ironing board.

“This seat taken?” A bright voice came to his left.

“It is now!” Yerim chirped up before Changbin had to chance to breathe in the boy’s direction. “By you.”

“Sweet, thanks!” The boy pulled the small piano bench back and lowered himself onto it before pulling his own book from is backpack.

“My name is Yerim! And the lovely ball of sunshine to your right is Changbin.”

“Nice to meet you both,” He nodded to each of them respectively. “My name is Park Minhyuk, and I think we actually share the same theory class, Changbin.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, weren’t you the one who came in late yesterday?”

Changbin’s cheeks heated at the memory. “Y-yeah. That was me.”

“Don’t worry about it much. Our professor seems really chill.”

Changbin nodded but didn’t respond. He felt bad for not recognizing the boy, but he hadn’t paid much attention to the other students’ introductions after his own.

“Are you a music major?” Yerim questioned the newcomer as more students began to fill the empty spots around the piano lab.

“Minor. I major in dance education.”

“Oh, my best friend is a dance major as well!” Changbin spoke up with a smile. He would have to ask Minho if he’d noticed the boy around.

Yerim sighed at the two, “Look at you guys, being so musically inclined and such! It must be nice. I’m just taking piano lessons to get my Arts credit.”

“Couldn’t you have just taken Music Appreciation for that?” Minhyuk asked, he couldn't believe someone would take a required course as an Arts elective.

“I could have. But Wendy-unnie recommended something more hands-on for me since I get bored easily during lecture classes. And it never hurts to learn a new skill.”

“Fair enough,” Minhyuk agreed. Changbin had heard it already, the girl not one for leaving out even the tiniest detail, so he’d been told her entire schedule when they met.

They quieted down when their professor cleared and instructed everyone to place their headsets on because that’s how she would be communicating with everyone as a whole. Changbin’s ears twitched when her voice came out of the speakers on his headset. He shared a look with Yerim that let him know she’d heard it, too and was just as surprised.

Changbin did his best to pay attention and relearn the proper techniques that had been lost due to his own laziness, but his fingers were quick and adapted faster than those around him.

The professor had tapped him on the shoulder not even halfway through the class. The other students had been working independently to fix their finger positions, but Changbin had gone ahead to the five-note scale and arpeggio exercises. He removed his headset and looked up at her expectantly.

“I’ve been observing you since you arrived during the last class. Dear, would you prefer to be moved up a level? It would be an easy switch your advisor can do it right now if you want.”

Changbin coughed a little, surprised at the sudden offer. “Well, it really depends. I checked the times of all the other piano labs, but they conflicted with my schedule for work and other classes.”

“Well, if you’d like to do some switching around and can find the space to squeeze in the intermediate level class, please let me know by next week. I’m afraid you would get too bored in this course, is all.”

Changbin gave the professor a tight smile and thanked her for the offer before she walked away to continue observing the other students. Yerim wiggled her eyebrows at him from where she sat across from him, but he shook his head at her. He already knew he wouldn’t be able to take the offer. While he could just switch around some of his schedule, he decided that he wouldn’t. And it had absolutely nothing to do with a head of messy blonde waves.

a/n: i have started a new stray kids story on ao3 and i was wondering if you guys would like me to upload it here on aff as well? it's called New Boii and it's a private hs text/fic au and it's Felix-centric with changlix as endgame. implied ot9/ot8 poly-tendencies and a few other established ships (minsung, 2jin, and seungin, but there's something for everyone to love.) Let me know ^^