“What was that?” Changbin asked confused.

“I see myself… I wish I could see... For once I see myself…” Felix continued to blabber, making Changbin raise his eyebrows. “For once I wish I could see myself! A mirror for myself!” Felix sang, grabbing everyone’s attention. “That’s it! I’ve got a song!” he shouted happily, his eyes sparkling. “Come on! I’ve gotta write this down!” he said, grabbing Changbin’s sleeve before pulling him out of the café.

Felix ran towards his office, bumping into a few strangers as he matched words and ideas in his head. Changbin couldn’t help but follow him, apologizing to the people Felix had bumped into.

Soon after, Felix swung the doors open to his office building, greeting Rose and totally ignoring her as she asked his something about the party. He noticed that someone was using the elevator, so he took the stairs to his floor, turning around a couple of times to check if Changbin was still following him. Once in front of his office, he scrambled for his keys, unlocking it and running inside to sit at his desk. He took out a pen and his notebook and started scribbling down all of the ideas that had popped up into his head on his way there. Changbin slowly made his way inside, watching as Felix aggressively wrote some lines down. He looked over the blonde’s shoulder, reading what he was writing, only to realize that they were lyrics. He curiously kept watching Felix creating his masterpiece. He listened to the younger hum softly as he matched the lyrics to a melody. Changbin couldn’t help but feel intrigued by Felix’s sudden outburst.

About half an hour later Felix placed his pen back down and sighed, looking at Changbin with wide eyes.

“I wrote a song…” he exclaimed.

“Um… good for you?...” Changbin said uncomfortably.

“No, you don’t get it! I’ve been trying to write something for months! I finally got inspiration! I can’t believe I did this! Thank you so much!” he explained, grinning at a weirded out Changbin. “You have no idea how much this means to me…”

“Well, you’re welcome, I guess…”

“Wanna hear it?” Felix asked excitedly.

“Sure!” Changbin agreed, sitting on the armchair in front of Felix’s desk.

He watched as Felix opened his laptop and spent a few minutes searching for a file hidden somewhere on his hard disk. He plugged in some speakers and played a track, looking at the lyrics he’d written and singing quietly to himself in order to find the right key to start. The track was then accompanied by Felix’s deep voice, which surprised Changbin. He never thought that Felix could sound so angelic while he sang.

“So, what do you think?” Felix asked, making Changbin return to reality.

“Wow…” he exclaimed blankly.

“You like it?”

“A lot! Are you a producer?”

“No, I’m just a lyricist. A friend of mine gave me a track to work with. He’s gonna be very proud of me!” Felix chuckled.

Seeing Felix smile made Changbin feel happy as well. Felix had a special aura, the kind that made everyone happy when they were next to him. He was basically radiating positive energy, which was exactly what Changbin needed: a ray of sunshine to penetrate his eternal darkness…

Changbin kept questioning Felix about his life, finally gaining interest in the younger’s unusual nature. He was curious, wanting to know more about the ball of sunshine sitting in front of him, smiling so brightly. He asked him about his family and found out that he had two sisters who were very close to him and his parents were also your average neighborhood parents. He couldn’t believe how easily Felix had opened up to him about his personal life and opinions. He was such a kind and pure soul, which made Changbin grow even closer to him.

After their conversation was over it was already 6 PM and the sun was slowly setting. Felix ignored Changbin as he talked about how school brainwashes children, thinking about his own problem: could he trust Changbin enough to let him stay at his place that night? He had no place to stay and a bench not only sounds uncomfortable, but also unsafe. Changbin seemed like a nice guy and Felix didn’t want to be the reason why something bad happened to him, so he decided to ask him the question.

“Do you wanna stay at my place tonight?” he asked, realizing that he had totally interrupted Changbin’s monologue.

“What? You mean sleep? Are you really gonna trust somebody you’ve just met to stay in your house overnight? I could steal all your stuff or kill you in your sleep for what you know!” Changbin raised his tone.

“I know you’re nice behind that though exterior. You wouldn’t hurt a bug. Now answer me!” Felix said firmly.

“Are you sure? I mean, won’t I bother you?” Changbin asked, looking down at his fingers.

“You won’t! Now come on, let’s buy some ice-cream!” Felix smiled once again as he stood up.

As they left the building, Felix stopped for a fraction of a second to explain what had happened the night before to Rose and apologize for leaving so early. He then returned to Changbin and grabbed his arm, leading him towards a small ice-cream stand at the end of the road. Felix ordered a bubble-gum ice-cream while Changbin got chocolate chip cookies. Felix paid for both of their ice-creams and lead Changbin back to his apartment.

“Honey, I’m home!~” Felix shouted as he entered his apartment.

Changbin stood outside, looking a bit awkward, which meant that Felix’s joke was a success.

“Chill, I live alone.” he laughed, making Changbin smirk.

Changbin entered, placing his bag down and taking his shoes off before looking around for a while.

“You can stay on the couch. It’s not the best, but I figured it’d be better than a park bench. Want some snacks? I don’t feel like cooking.” Felix admitted.

Changbin agreed and sat on the floor, sorting out some of his equipment. As Felix returned with a bowl of Nachos he noticed a bunch of scattered design. He set the bowl down next to Changbin and picked them up, admiring the amount of detail he put into his designs.

“Changbin…” Felix started. “Are tattoos painful?”

“Imagine stabbing yourself with ten needles every second. What do you expect?” Changbin answered, rummaging through his stuff.

“Oh, okay..:” the blond replied a bit bummed out.

“Actually, it usually depends on the person, body part and technique the tattoo artist is using, but lots of factors can influence it.”

“Changbin…”

“You know, you don’t need to call my name every time you want to ask me a question.”

“I know… But, can I get a tattoo?” Felix suddenly asked, making Changbin focus all of his attention on the conversation.

“Are you serious about this?”

“Yeah… I’ve really wanted one since I was like 14 and you seem to be good at what you’re doing. You might as well do that since I let you stay here.”

“Well, if you really insist, I don’t see why not, but you have to remember that these things are permanent.” Changbin tried convincing Felix not do something rash. “People usually spend years planning out designs and stuff. You can’t just randomly decide to get a tattoo.”

“Watch me!” Felix spat out, searching through Changbin’s drawings. “I want this one!” he grabbed a sketch of a skull and shoved it into Changbin’s face.

“That’s too biker for you.”

“What about this one?” the blond asked pointing at a feather tattoo.

“Too girly.”

“This?” it was a cat tattoo.

“Are you serious?”

“Okay, then you pick one for me!” Felix shouted a bit annoyed.

“None of my designs fit. I made these for certain people, so of course they don’t fit you!” Changbin stated.

“Then make something for me!” Felix rolled his eyes.

“Look, I have an idea.” Changbin smirked mischievously. “You trusted me enough to let me stay at your place; do you trust me enough to give you a tattoo without you seeing the design?”

“That’s crazy! What if I hate it?”

“I doubt you will, but if you do, I’ll let you give me a tattoo as well.”

“Sounds fair…”

“Deal?” Changbin asked, extending his hand.

“Deal!” Felix chuckled, shaking his hand.

“Ok, just give me a few minutes to make a stencil.” Changbin said, preparing his stuff. “Meanwhile you can fetch me some alcohol and a few cotton pads.”

Felix did as he was told and ran into the bathroom, grabbing what Changbin had asked him to. He returned and saw Changbin placing a blank piece of paper over his stencil so that Felix wouldn’t see it.

“Sit down and take your shirt off.” Changbin ordered, taking out his tattoo gun and putting on his gloves.

“Wait what?!” Felix asked a bit confused.

“Come on, I’m a guy! I wanna tattoo your shoulder.”

Felix awkwardly sat down and followed Changbin’s instructions, regretting his decisions. Changbin grabbed the alcohol and cotton pads and prepped the back of Felix’s shoulder, while the blond complained about the alcohol being cold. He also applied the stencil, assuring Felix that he choose a less painful part to give him a tattoo.

“Ready?” Changbin asked, turning his tattoo gun on.

The buzzing sound made Felix feel anxious, and even scared him slightly. He didn’t have the highest pain tolerance either, but he nodded and grabbed onto the carpet, taking a deep breath.

The pain was sharp, and it was accompanied by a burning sensation that spread all over his shoulder. He scrunched up his nose and clenched his teeth, trying not to show too much emotion.

“It’s ok, just breathe slowly…” Changbin advised him, concentrating on the tattoo.

Felix took his advice and tried to focus on his breathing. The pain only increased and he could feel his eyes getting teary. He groaned and looked up at the ceiling.

“Relax; tensed up muscles make it worse.” Changbin said in a blank voice. “You can do something to distract yourself: watch TV or play some music.”

Felix reached out to the table and took his phone, trying not to move his shoulder. He unlocked it and opened his playlist, setting it on shuffle: Imagine Dragons – Believer. He slowly mumbled the lyrics as he focused more on the song. The pain was already starting to fade away as his shoulder became numb. As he was singing, he tried figuring out what Changbin was making. He couldn’t figure out a shape, only a squiggly line, but he figured that maybe in was a word.

“We can take a break if it’s too painful.” Changbin informed the younger.

“I can handle it.”

They sat in silence, making some small talk while they listened to music. Changbin listened to Felix’s soft voice, wondering how a kid that was younger than him sounded like a bodyguard you’d find in front of a celebrity packed night club. He was jealous on his voice even though he didn’t want to admit it.

A couple of hours later, Changbin wiped the remaining blood on Felix’s shoulder, examining the result to see if every little detail was perfect. He was proud of his work.

“Done!” he exclaimed happily, showing some emotion for the first time in a few hours.

Felix turned around and quickly got up, running into his bathroom to admire the tattoo in his mirror. He gasped once he saw it: it was a fountain pen with ink leaking out of it, forming the outline of Sydney.

“I figured I could incorporate something related to writing lyrics and also the place we met in it.” Changbin explained. “So, do you like it?”

“I hate it.” Felix admitted, turning around to face Changbin who was standing in the doorway.

“Oh…” Changbin was taken by surprise. “I guess I better clean my gun…”

“Just kidding! I love it! It’s nothing like I’ve imagined. It’s perfect!” Felix grinned.

Changbin smiled back at him. He liked seeing that fluffy ball of sunshine smiling.

They returned to the living room where Changbin wrapped Felix’s tattoo and instructed him on how to properly take care of it until it heals so that it doesn’t fade. He listed carefully to the instructions and wrote down a few things on his phone to make sure that he doesn’t forget them. It was still early, so they decided to watch a movie and order pizza until they were too tired to keep their eyes open anymore. Changbin suggested watching a thriller, but Felix insisted that they don’t since he got scared easily and he wanted to be able to sleep at night, so they watched a romantic comedy that Felix recommended. He found the movie hilarious, but Changbin got bored and fell asleep towards the end of the movie. Once Felix noticed, he covered him with a blanket and went back to his room, changing into an oversized sweater and a pair of shorts. He crawled into bed and checked his phone one last time before placing in on his night-stand to charge. As he struggled to fall asleep due to the annoying pain in his shoulder, he couldn’t help but wonder how he would tell his parents that he had gotten a tattoo.