Archive of Our Own ^beta

His wings are itchy and sore and all he wants to do is go home and rest. His ears, while easier to hide under his long brown-dyed hair, are also a hassle. It’s getting tiring, hiding every day, but he has no choice. Last time his wings weren’t tied up outside the house, he almost lost them. Out of all days to not tie his wings, he chose the day his mom asked him to go out to the market— not realizing it had recently become hunting season.

Faeries— more commonly known as pixies— make up the second majority of Australia as of current, holding 31%, right after humans which make up 34% of the population. Skipping over his morning routine that day was the most careless thing he’s ever done, and now he pays the repercussions. Including the scar in his left wing that took forever to heal.

Why wing hunting isn’t illegal in Australia is beyond Felix. Though it likely has a lot to do with the fact that most of their government council consists of humans.

He’s not risking it again. So if he had to suffer for a couple months after he moved while he learned Korean from his pixie housemate, Chan, then so be it. If it means that the only time he can take his wings down is when he’s alone behind a locked door, then so be it. He doesn’t trust anyone other than direct family within line of sight of his wings. Even if wing hunting is illegal in Korea and the dorm he lives in is 100% occupied by supernaturals. They’re sweet, but he can’t risk losing his wings— or his life. So excuse him and his paranoia, for simply wanting to go home and lay down.

Class is dragging by agonizingly slow as he tries his best to pick up most of what the teacher is saying. He’s taken this class— Supernatural History 2— once already, back in Australia, so it’s fairly easy to understand that the teacher is speaking about how the bridge between the worlds collapsed back in 2076.

“Psst,” Felix looks over at Changbin, who’s leaning slightly to the right to speak to him. “You good?”

He wants to say no, but he mentally slaps himself when he remembers he’s speaking to a demon of all species. A sweet one, nonetheless, but still. “Yeah. I’m okay, just tired I guess. Can’t wait to go home.”

“You humans can get tired so easily, I swear.” He chuckles. “Do you wanna ride home? I got the car from Hyunjin. His classes were cancelled for the day. Beats public transport.” Hyunjin, his vampire boyfriend.

“Sure, why not.”

And so, Felix finds himself walking out of his last class of the day, to Changbin’s car. He’s eager to get home, so he opens the car door, and slams himself down in the seat. Once he’s done that, though, he instantly regrets it. His wings, still tender as ever, hit the back of the seat hard. Pain shoots through his entire back as he lets out a loud hiss and closes the door.

“Shit, Felix, are you okay?” Changbin panics, rushing to sit in the drivers seat and comfort the younger. Felix would love to tell the truth, it would make things so much easier. But, it also wouldn’t. Because one thing he’s just now realizing: his friends would be pissed at him for lying for so long. Who wouldn’t?

“Yeah, just sore from dance class.” And it’s not a lie, he went all out during dance today, hoping to forget about the discomfort he’s in. He waves his hand in the air, “I’m fine,” he lies. “Let’s just go home.”

“Run a hot bath for yourself later, Yunho says it helps when he’s sore.” Yunho, Changbin’s human friend from Economics class.

“Yeah, I might do that, thank you.” Felix slumps carefully against the car door, as to not put more pressure on his back, and Changbin starts the car. “Try not to rear-end anyone this time, yeah?”

Changbin chuckles. “Yeah. Let’s get you home to your beloved pixie. I’m sure he’s probably waiting for you on the couch or some shit.”

Felix flushes when, come to find out, Chan was, in fact, laying on the couch. Shirtless, his large wings draping over the edge of it, as he reads some sort of article while facing the back of the couch. Emphasis on the shirtless bit. No matter how many times he’s seen Chan shirtless, it always leaves him breathless. The fae in him not only admires just how muscular he is, but how absolutely beautiful his wings are.

Chan’s wings, very much like his own, are much larger than the typical fae’s, tending to drape downwards, brushing the floor when he stands. He guesses its a generational thing, considering cross-species breeding. It’s popular now-a-days for pixies to mate with other winged creatures, specifically angels— which are well known for their massive wing-span— leading to bigger, thicker wings than past generations. And though Felix’s parents are both pixies, his paternal grandfather is a purebred angel, with the most massive wings Felix has ever been blessed to see in his life.

Forget the size, Felix could only hope and dream for wings as vibrant as Chan’s. Felix’s, which have a pinkish-orange tint, could never compare to the bright, yet calm, red hue of Chan’s wings. Perks of being related to the leading family of the summer court pixies, Felix guesses. Chan’s the first person Felix thought about telling. But even though Chan is a fae as well, telling him would also mean telling the others. Yeah, sorry, no.

“Oh, hey Bin,” he says, lifting his head from the arm of the couch. He directs his attention to Felix, who tries his best to resist blushing, but finds it difficult when Chan’s eyes drift down to the skirt he’s currently wearing. What? Just because he’s pretending to be a human doesn’t mean he can’t dress cute. He’s always admired the androgyny of the fae, so pardon him for tapping into the one piece of himself he has left.

“Hey, Lix. You look cute,” emphasizing the ‘cute’ by dragging it out in a sing-song tone. This does absolutely nothing to settle the crimson climbing its way up Felix’s face.

“Thank you, Chan-hyung, you look good as well,” the freckled boy says, shutting the door. As he goes to sit by Chan, a squirrel bounds right past his feet, and an upset Minho on his tail chasing him with a broom.

“This house is a supernatural zoo and I love it,” Felix chuckles, laying down and placing his head in Chan’s lap, wincing slightly as he does so. “So much more refreshing and homey than my home ever was.”

Chan, slightly confused, more concerned than anything else, uses his magic to hopefully help with whatever’s hurting Felix. Chan hopes it’s nothing more than sore muscles from dance. He didn’t think he’d ever meet anyone who outdoes Hyunjin in dance, then he met Felix. The boy dances with so much emotion it’s palpable.

“Well you’d be the first human to think so.” Chan carefully cards his fingers through the younger’s hair. “How was class?”

“Boring. I only have two classes on Wednesdays one being dance and I already took History back in Australia so it’s an easy A.” Felix relaxes more as Chan continues combing through his hair.

“How was your day?”

“Same, same. Production class is demanding as ever. Dance is getting easier with your help though.”

“Good, I’m glad.” Felix has been giving Chan pointers in his dance class. Chan’s a good dancer, he just doubts himself too much, so Felix has brought it upon himself to help the older.

Felix reaches up to play with hair at the nape of the other’s neck. He doesn’t know what it is about this moment that makes him want to kiss the older, and call him cliche, but he could stay just like this forever.

“So pretty,” Chan whispers, making Felix go red again. “So, so pretty, Felix.”

They sit there, just looking at eachother for only God knows how long. Felix eventually falls asleep on Chan’s lap, having completely forgotten about his sore back.

If Chan thinks he was slick with hiding his glowing fingertips, then he thought wrong. Felix is thankful, having run out of a significant amount of energy from hiding his wings for so long.

Two days later, Felix still faces the same problems he has been for the past months. Piecing together Korean sentences, sore muscles, anxiety, the usual.

It’s Chan that picks him up for school this time.

[Chan]

yo i’m outside when you get out of potions

Magical potions: his last class on Fridays

[freckles]

okay. thank you again :)

[Chan]

no problem, lix :)

He walks out of the main building and smiles upon seeing Chan, looking down at his phone leaned against the hood of his car. “Hey stranger.”

“Hey. How was it?” Felix shrugs. “I don’t understand why they agreed to put you in that class. I mean zero offense, but the only people in that class are typically witches. I’m pretty sure you’re the first human I’ve met to be interested in potions.”

Felix laughs. “They fascinate me. How just a couple ingredients can change as much as someone’s fate. Tell me you don’t think that’s cool. You can’t.”

“You’re right, I can’t. I’m a pixie it’s in my nature to be fascinated by magic,” the older smiles. They talk a bit more during the short ride back to the house. Speaking about anything that comes up as conversation flows easily.

They get home and Chan, being the gentleman he is, insists on opening all the doors for Felix.

He doesn’t miss how Chan’s eyes follow him as he walks to his room to grab some herbal tea mix his mom gave him before he left home. It’s got everything a pixie needs to restore their energy, and Felix is feeling extra drained due to the constant use of his magic to make his wings easier to hide. “Where you going? I didn’t get a hug yet!”

Felix chuckles. “Give me a sec. I’m grabbing some tea since I’m feeling sore. I’ll give you your hug, hyung. I promise.”

Satisfied with his answer, Chan lays down on the couch. Felix has been complaining about being sore a lot lately, he realizes. Maybe he’s too stressed, not getting enough sleep? Chan’s not very well versed with humans, having left Australia at a young age. And humans aren’t very fond of fae anyways, so it’s not like he talked to them much in school. He figured that out very quickly, during his time in Australia, after a classmate threatened to cut his wings— the boy was promptly given 3 days of detention for that.

He admits he was apprehensive when he heard about the human that applied for the housemate position, but upon meeting him, found that there was nothing to worry about. He was nothing like the humans he’d met before. He even admits he’s grown fond of Felix.

He’s sweet and quiet, with a deep velvet voice. And if he weren’t (practically) immortal already, he’s pretty sure the younger’s freckles alone could probably make Chan immortal just by looking at them. He especially likes the way he looks in those skirts he wears all the time, but that’s irrelevant.

When Felix comes back out of his room, he’s no longer in his school attire, opting for sweats. He’s also holding a moderately sized jar filled with, what Chan realizes, is basically every plant essential to his own diet. Weird for a human to be drinking pixie tea, but he guesses he just likes the taste of it.

“Oooh! Make me a cup, too, please?” Chan can already taste the sweet sunflowers and willow leaves, and it makes him excited.

“Yeah, I figured you’d want some,” Felix chuckles, making his way to the stove to prepare hot water, ruffling Chan’s fiery red hair as he passes. “My grandma’s a fae and she gives me some of this tea every time I visit. Works absolute wonders for my muscles. It’s like magic.”

He fills a small pot with water, puts a lid on it, and sets it on the stove. He turns the stove on and walks away, attempting to remain patient, and goes to go give Chan a hug. For as distant as the pixie can be sometimes, he’s awfully cuddly. He once claimed that Felix gives some of the best hugs he’s ever had and that they make him feel warm. So, Felix made a point to hug Chan at least once every day. Typically more than that, but he’s not complaining.

When he comes back, Chan is in a T-Shirt with roughly cutout holes in the back for his wings to fit through, contrasting to the leather jacket and cropped shirt he was wearing not long ago. “It’s pixie tea, Lix, of course it works. I didn’t know you had fae relatives though, that’s really cool.” And oh how Felix wants to talk for hours about his relatives, how uniquely different they are, the beautiful wings that make up who he is today. But he can’t. It’d be a death wish.

“Yeah, my grandma is super sweet. I think you’d like her a lot.”

“I’m sure I would. But right now I want a hug more than anything.” Chan reaches over and grabs Felix’s arm and pulls him down onto the couch. Maybe a little too harshly, though, judging by the way Felix’s face pinches in pain. “Ah, I’m sorry. Here.” And next thing Felix knows, he’s being lifted into Chan’s lap. Chan, obviously, doesn’t seem to be bothered by the way Felix is straddling his lap, and leans forward to hug him, resting his head against Felix’s chest.

“Is this okay?”

If Felix wasn’t red before, he definitely is now. He can physically feel the burn of his cheeks, and he wouldn’t be surprised if Chan could hear how harshly his heart is beating against his rib cage right now. Felix doesn’t know how to respond. Well he does, just not without sounding either horny or clingy. “Y-Yeah.” He coughs to get rid of the scratch in his voice. “Yeah, this is fine.”

“Your heartbeat says otherwise, Lixie,” Chan sings. Felix flushes impossibly redder.

“Shut up. Do you want tea or not?” Chan perks up immediately at this.

“I want tea.”

“Alright then. Let me get up.” Chan grumbles, but lets go anyway, and Felix gets up to go make the tea. Chan doesn’t miss the beautiful, bright crimson on the others cheeks, and all the pixie can do is stare at the absolute beauty in front of him as he walks away.

The only thing he can think is, “Is Felix sure he’s only a quarter fae?” Boy, oh boy. Man, oh man. If only he knew.

Now, Chan doesn’t know who Felix’s grandma is or what species of fae she is, but she’s fucking magical. Any sense of tiredness or aching he had before the cup of tea was completely gone by the time he finished.

Felix feels it too. His back is feeling much better, though it’s still uncomfy. He grabs Chan’s cup, and his own, and takes them to the sink. When Felix walks back in, Chan’s still sitting on the couch, now occupied by a fan-cam of what looks like a human from one of the pop groups he listens to.

“Hyung, I’m gonna go take a bath,” he says, walking through the living room to the hallway where his room is located.

“Alright. Don’t get hurt, none of us know how humans work.”

Felix chuckles as he gets his clothes and a fresh binding strap. Once he has everything he needs, he walks down the hall to the bathroom and closes the door behind himself.

He starts the water and undresses while he waits for it to warm up. And by God if it isn’t the most relieving thing to unwrap his wings. He lets the bathtub fill up before he gets in, shutting the curtain half way, leaving room for his left wing to hang out of the tub. Sinking down into the water relaxes him instantly, every knot in his back unravelling themselves carefully.

He stays in the water for a while and starts to get sleepy. Before he can get himself up, he’s asleep.

Chan knocks on the door at some point during his mid-bath slumber. “You okay in there Lix?” He’s only checking because last time he didn’t, Felix tripped over the edge of the bathtub and sprained his ankle. How he managed to get himself dressed after that is beyond him.

When Chan doesn’t hear a response, he knocks again. “Lix?” No response. “Felix?” And yet again, no response. Chan contemplates what to do, and settles on the one thing Felix would’ve had a heart attack over.

Carefully, Chan opens the door. “Feli-“ Chan’s cut off by a sight of a pair of the most stunning wings he’s ever seen in his life, attached to a sleeping human— not human, pixie? How is he just now noticing how pointy his ears are? Have his hair roots always been pink? “Lix…” it’s below a whisper but that’s all Chan can manage. He steps inside the bathroom as quiet as he can, and shuts the door. If this boy wasn’t beautiful before, by God he’s gorgeous now. He thinks he just found his new favorite color. One thing he notices, upon closer inspection, is a long, thin, healed scar running through the left wing, not rough enough to be a tear. Probably a cut of some kind, and all he can think is, ‘ouch’. “Oh my God, Lix.” Does he keep these tied up all the time? No wonder he’s sore.

Felix is opening his eyes, very slowly, upon hearing a voice, and when he sees Chan sitting on the floor next to the tub, he panics. First reaction, to sit up and pull the curtain closed. His second reaction, “You weren’t supposed to see this.” It’s a whisper, but it’s loud enough for Chan to hear.

“Felix.” The younger slowly pulls a portion of the curtain back and peeks past it. “There you are.” And Chan pulls the curtain back to its initial, half open position. Felix is thankful for the bubbles sitting atop the water, hiding his lower half. He’s in tears now, doing his best to fight them back, to no avail. “Why are you crying, love?”

Felix sniffles, “You weren’t supposed to see this.”

“You say that, but I don’t understand why, little pixie. You need to help me understand.” Two explanations are through his head right now. 1) he’s scared of what the members of the household will think of them (for what reason he’s unsure) or 2) past trauma. He’s met a fellow pixie a while ago, with this exact problem. Family issues, shame, the like. He just hopes it’s nothing horrible.

Felix sniffles some more, before breaking down into harsher tears, hiding his face in his hands. This wasn’t supposed to happen. He was supposed to keep them hidden. He was sure he locked the door, how did Chan get in? They’ll be pissed— no, livid— that he lied. Only Lord knows what they’ll want from him now. Maybe they’ll kick him out. Maybe someone will get mad enough and he’ll lose his wings. He was destined to, wasn’t he? It doesn’t matter how much he hides them anymore, they’ll be gone in the end anyways.

“Lix, breathe. You need to breathe. I’m not upset.”

Felix stutters in a breath, “You’re not? Why not? Stop, you’re just saying that. You’re- You- My wings- and-“ He hiccups. Chan lifts his hands to cup Felix’s cheeks and wipe the tears away. “Why? Why aren’t you mad at me?”

“I’m just confused as to why you would hide such beautiful wings, Lix.” Chan looks into his eyes for a moment, before remembering that Felix is still in the tub. He takes his hands away, stands up, and grabs the towel off of the counter. “You’ve been in the water for a while, we’ll talk when you’re out, okay?” Chan sets the towel in front of Felix and kisses his forehead, before taking his own shirt off, and leaving it for Felix to wear, taking the shirt he had laid out as well as the wing binding strap, and leaving.

Once Chan’s closed the door, Felix stands up on weak legs, before stepping out and drying himself off, unplugging the drain in the process. He’s still sniffling, attempting to keep the tears at bay as he dries his wings off. Felix starts getting dressed before realizing that Chan replaced the shirt and took his binds. He sighs before putting the shirt on over his head and slowly pulling his wings through the holes. Sometimes he forgets how big his wings are until he hears them trailing along the floor behind him. He sighs again, realizing how hard it’s going to be to hide these on his way to Chan’s room. “Thanks granddad, for the massive ass wings.” He’s pretty sure they’re larger than Chan’s. And Chan’s related to the fucking King of the Pixie Summer Court.

He takes a deep breath before opening the door partially, and looking around, grateful he can see the living room from where he’s at. But ungrateful that Chan’s room is past the living room on the other side of the house.

Changbin’s cuddled up with Hyunjin on the couch, but they’re asleep it seems. So he might be able to sneak past if he picks his wings up. He opens the door, folds his wings as much as he can, and steps out of the bathroom. Carefully, he tip-toe’s through the living room, trying not to wake up the sleeping couple.

Sucks for Felix right now, Hyunjin’s a vampire, he sleeps light. So half way into his trek through the living room, he locks eyes with the older. Who then shoots up into a sitting position upon noticing the wings on Felix’s back, startling his boyfriend awake.

Felix lets out an ‘eep’ with a little jump and sprints the rest of the way to Chan’s room.

“What the fuck?” Changbin groans. “Jagiya, what happened?”

“I don’t really know. I’ll ask Felix about it later.”

“Felix? Is he okay?” Changbin’s worried now. What exactly did Hyunjin see?

“Yeah I think he’s fine, I just thought I saw something weird.”

“Elaborate please?”

“Nothing, just… wings? I thought I saw wings on Felix’s back.” Maybe he was seeing things, but if so, then why did Felix dart away like that? “I don’t know, babe. Let’s just go back to sleep, I’ll check on him later. He was on his way to Chan-hyung’s room anyways. So, whatever it is, Chan’s got it under wraps.” Changbin seems satisfied with this answer, and pulls Hyunjin back down on top of him.

“Sleep, Jagi. Hyung’s got it covered.” And so they do.

Felix steps into Chan’s room, shaking.

“Hey, hey. What’s wrong?” Chan stands up from his place on his bed as soon as he sees the panicked state of the younger male. Chan walks over, grabs Felix’s shaking hand, and carefully pulls him over to the bed.

“Hyunjin saw me, hyung. He- and Changbin. Oh my God, I think Changbin saw me too… Nonono- Hyung, they’ll be so mad. I can’t- Hyung I can’t risk losing my wings again, I-“

“Felix. One, they won’t be mad. Those guys are bigger softies than I am. Two, what do you mean, “again”? Is that what all this is about?” He reaches up to wipe a stray tear from the younger fae’s cheek.

Felix only manages a small nod before breaking into tears again. “Chan..” he whispers.

Chan gently shushes the younger before pulling him into his lap and leaning back against the headboard. “Your wings are bigger than mine, little pixie,” he chuckles, hoping to bring a small smile to Felix’s face, and eventually succeeding.

“Blame my grandfather. His angel wings are fucking massive. Very warm too, ten out of ten.” Felix chuckles and sits up in Chan’s lap and extends one of his wings, reaching his arm out with it to show just how far it extends past his fingertips.

Chan reaches out to touch it lightly, letting out a gasped ‘whoa’, and causing Felix’s wing to shiver. Something in the delicate touch makes the wing come alive with a soft glow, fluttering lightly.

Chan looks nothing short of amazed. If Felix could capture the look on his face and keep it in his mind forever, he would. But, he doesn’t have his phone with him, so he simply blushes and relaxes his wing.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not really, but I need to talk to someone other than family about this and I do owe you an explanation.” Chan stays silent, only nodding his head here and there to let Felix know he’s listening, as Felix tells him everything.

About his plans for the day when he woke up that morning, how he decided not to tie his wings, and stupidly so since it had just turned 1st of August without him realizing. Things are starting to make more sense for Chan as Felix continues. Chan fully understands what he means by this. His mom almost lost her wings once during hunting season. His uncle, too.

Felix continues, telling him about the new ‘family’ that had just moved into town. The cut from when the old man threw a knife at him and it slipped right through his left wing. How the father and eldest son chased him through the woods for the better part of an hour. How he finally managed to catch a breath and make his way back home, draped in cuts and scratches from the tall plants and leaves.

And how his aunt ridiculed about how if he had just kept his wings hidden, no one would have come for them. Leading him to make his final decision to never let anyone know about his wings and ultimately lie about who he is on the housemate request form.

Felix has calmed down from the onslaught of tears by the end of his story. Now only taking deep, stuttered breaths between stray tears.

“I’m so sorry, Chan.” He sniffles and Chan doesn’t dare mention the lack of honorifics. They sit there in silence, Felix still in Chan’s lap and not planning on leaving any time soon as the older rubs soothing lines up and down his back in the space between his wings.

“Hey, l wanna see something, come ‘ere.” He says, standing up and pulling Felix with him.

They stand about half a foot from each other and Chan turns around and stretches his wings out, silently telling Felix to do the same. Felix does, and no words are spoken for a minute.

Felix can feel Chan backing up towards him until their wings are touching. The intimacy of this moment makes Felix slightly dizzy. Their wings so close to each other sends shivers down both their spines.

“I don’t think I believe that your grandmother is the only fae in your family.”

Felix chuckles at this. “She’s not. My mom is a pureblood pixie, my dad is half pixie half angel. My dad’s parents are the only reason my wings are as big as they are. My grandfather is pureblood angel, with close familial ties to the crowned family, so I wasn’t kidding when I said his wings are fucking massive.”

Chan lets out a low whistle. “All I know is that somewhere far down in my bloodline there was huge popularity in mating with angels, so it’s a massive part of my blood.”

Felix is only now, in this moment, realizing how sensitive his wings are to touch. They’re practically buzzing with a vibrant glow now, almost matching the color of his natural hair.

“You know you don’t have to hide these where we are now right?” Chan says, turning around. “This isn’t Australia, the people here are nicer, and there are laws in place.”

“I know. I’m just.. scared.” Felix had yet to turn around, so Chan silently admires the radiant glow of the younger’s wings, running his hands across the length of them and, again, making them flutter lightly.

“So beautiful,” the younger hears him whisper from behind him. He then feels arms— not too muscular, but not weak either— reaching around his mid drift, carefully as to not harm the wings rooted just above.

Felix, flushing, has no idea how to respond, so he cracks a joke. “How am I supposed to put my wings down now?” He chuckles.

“You don’t. You need to stretch them for how much you keep them folded up during the day. You’re lucky enough fae wings have evolved with angel mating so they’re easier to fold. Imagine having to hide them at this size 100 years ago.”

“God, that sounds like a nightmare,” he laughs. He lays his arms atop Chan’s and rests his head back on the older’s shoulder, reveling in the attention. Every time he claims to only do it for Chan’s sake, he’s lying. These hugs make him feel safer than laying in his grandfather’s wings as a young faerie.

Their moment, however, is promptly interrupted by a knock on the door. And before Felix can register that 1) he has his wings out, 2) that means there’s a person on the other side of the door, and 3) he and Chan probably look like mates right now, the door is being opened. Felix only manages to lift his head off of Chan’s shoulder and relax his wings as much as he’s able to before there’s a vampire sticking his head through the door.

“Oh my God, I knew it!” Hyunjin all but throws the door open and excitedly pads over to the young pixie. Felix, still in a state of panic, hides behind Chan.

“Chan-hyung, please do something,” he whispers.

“Pixie, you don’t have to hide, it’s just Jinnie,” the older whispers back. The vampire in question, currently vibrating in the place he stands, trying to remain patient. Felix pops his head out from behind Chan, and upon seeing just how excited the vampire is, decides there’s probably no danger.

“Hey,” the pixie squeaks.

‘Oh my God, you’re a faerie! Chan! Felix is a pixie!

“Yes, Hyunjin,” Chan chuckles, “I know.”

“Oh, he’s adorable!” Felix, as hesitating as ever, peaks slightly more out from behind Chan’s back.

“You’re not upset?” Judging by the way Hyunjin is buzzing with energy, he thinks it’s safe to say the older’s not upset. But, he still wants to be cautious.

“Upset?! Why would I be upset? Now, let me see your wings!” It’s a rushed bunch of sentences that makes Felix let out a low laugh as Hyunjin shuffles the remaining distance over to where he’s standing behind Chan.

“Oh, my God! They’re huge!” He says, making grabby hands as a silent indication that he wants to touch them, so Felix stretches a wing. Chan’s turned slightly around to watch the scene, ‘slightly’ only because of the hands that are gripping to the back of his shirt. Felix still stands very close to Chan, because even though he’s a little less on edge than before, that doesn’t mean he’s not nervous.

Hyunjin reaches out a hesitant hand to brush along the wing, and his face lights up when it flutters and glows. He lets out a giggle and steps closer to get a better look at the wings. Hyunjin may be a vampire, but that doesn’t make him any less of a child when he gets excited about things. They sit down, figuring that it’ll be a while before Hyunjin finally settles.

Not much later, Changbin walks into the room upon hearing his boyfriend’s giggles. “Aish, this boy,” he says as he walks into the room and immediately understands. Felix is sitting on the floor, Chan right next to him, and Hyunjin not far away in front of him, gazing in wonder at a rather large pink wing. A very large pink wing that does not belong to Chan. In fact, it might be larger than Chan’s, he’s also pretty sure the eldest’s wings don’t glow like that. That’s- hold on- that’s a Felix wing. Felix is human though, no?

“Holy shit.” He whispers from his place at the door. Felix’s head whips around and his eyes go wide.

“Ah, how many people are gonna find out in one day? This is making me anxious.” The younger pixie sighs, as he lays his head on Chan’s shoulder. It’s getting late and all this secret revealing is really tiring him out, despite the tea he’d drank only 3 hours ago. Changbin walks over to sit next to Hyunjin, only looking at Felix’s wings, before one is stretched out towards him in as a confirmation that he’s allowed to touch them. He quickly chooses to trust Changbin due to, not only the fact that Chanbin’d be outnumbered if he were to have any resentment towards Felix, but also the fact that he’s never seen the man so close to tears before.

The following hours are filled with laughter, crimson cheeks— totally not because Chan uses every chance he gets to compliment Felix—, teary eyes, and deepened bonds. It’s when Chan points out that it’s almost 10 at night that everyone decides to finally get up and go to bed.

Felix doesn’t know why he agreed to this, because now him and Chan are cuddling on the couch. He normally wouldn’t be so apprehensive about it, but considering everything that went down today, he’s not entirely sure where he and Chan stand. Everything, in terms of the weird couch hug moment earlier, the ‘talk’ as he calls it, and the way Chan’s been looking at him like he’s hung the stars himself for the past 6 hours.

On top of that, the rest should be home soon. And they’re on the couch, wings out and cuddling. He feels like he struck a gold mine with the fact that no one’s seemed to be upset. He lied to them for over 4 months, and no one seemed to be bothered by it? At least, not yet anyways.

“Hyung, why is no one upset?”

Chan chuckles, “Do you want them to be?”

“Heavens, no.” Felix groans. “But, I lied to all of you for so long, and no one’s been upset. Back at home, I would’ve never heard the end of it if I lied to them about something.”

“That’s because we’re not ‘back at home’, Lix. Sure, we might be a little confused, maybe the slightest bit upset that you wouldn’t trust us with something like this, but we’re not gonna drive you into the ground because of it. Most of us have been through some shit because of our supernatural standing, so we understand that your hiding from us was probably for good reason.”

Felix huffs. “It still feels like a cop out.” Chan chuckles.

“Just go to sleep, pixie. We’ll talk it out with the rest tomorrow.” And so, Felix decides not to worry about it more, and falls asleep in the older’s arms.

—> “Chan” has entered the chat.

[Chan]

for the one’s who don’t know, you will when you get home. Felix has a lot to say, but not enough energy to say it right now. when you see, please don’t say anything negative. he’s really beating himself up over it.

—> “Quoka”, “Minph”, and “Witch-Ho” have entered the chat.

[Quoka]

everything okay?

[Chan]

yeah, everything’s fine. you’ll see when you get home, me and Felix are gonna camp out on the couch tonight. that means i would like if y’all didn’t barge through here with a parade. i don’t care how drunk you are.

[Minph]

IT WAS ONCE! you come home drunk ONE time because SOMEone gave you a potion and now it’s all anyone talks about. ugh.

[Witch-Ho]

i regret nothing, Seung. It’s not my fault water nymphs can’t hold their liquor.

[Minph]

you know very well that wasn’t just ‘liquor’ minho-hyung.

[Chan]

can we focus on the topic please? and where’s Jeongin?

[Witch-Ho] yeah, get it together nymph. and ask Min.

[Chan]

minho that means you too. i’m going to assume he’s sleeping in Seungmin’s lap then.

as i was saying, be quiet when you guys come home. you’ll understand more when we talk tomorrow after Felix’s classes.

[Minph]

how you just know that scares me, but yes he is. i swear, for a dragon shifter, he really is tiny.

[Quoka]

….squirrels are cuter.

—> “I_Got_Fangs_Baby” and “Demon” have entered the chat.

[Witch-Ho]

babe, out of every animal you could possibly shift into, i will never understand why you choose to be a squirrel most of the time.

[I_Got_Fangs_Baby]

you guys are gonna live for this, i swear.

[Demon]

babe don’t spoil it. go back to sleep.

[I_Got_Fangs_Baby]

i’m a VAMPIRE… i don’t sleep.

[Demon]

hush hush. and come back to bed, i want cuddles.

—> “Demon” has silenced their notifications for this chat.

[I_Got_Fangs_Baby]

rude.

[Chan]

i’m going to sleep. be quiet.

—> “Chan” has silenced their notifications for this chat.

[Quoka] rude.

Seungmin walks into the house first, a sleeping Jeongin curled around his shoulders and damn, he’s heavy for being so tiny. “Hey, wake up,” he whispers and carefully nudges his nose with a finger.

The dragon purrs before opening his eyes. He shakes his head, looks around, and shifts back to his human form. “God, it’s amazing I can do that and still have clothes on now. Minho’s a blessing.”

“Check the group chat right quick.” And Jeongin does, replying quickly, before snatching Seungmin’s hand and darting to the living room.

—> New message from “fire_breather”:

hey!!! i’m only tiny because i choose to be. it’s not my fault i don’t fit in your lap unless i shift that small.

It’s when they’re halfway into the living room that they realize what it is that Chan made such a big fuss over. And rightfully so, but Felix looks so cuddly that anyone would be a monster to be upset at him after this.

“Oh, he’s beautiful.” Felix shifts in his sleep, causing his wings to drag across the side of the couch and glow lightly.

“Whoa.”

Seungmin’s pretty sure he’s never seen wings that sensitive before. Chan’s wings glow, just not at touches that light; typically only during moments of very heightened emotion. Probably a byproduct of keeping them wrapped up so long, he figures. Or maybe it’s a genetic thing. Regardless, it’s nothing short of beautiful.

When Jisung and Minho walk in, Jisung wastes zero time. He’s shifted to a rabbit and is bounding across the room in record time. But just before he’s right next to Felix, he stops, hesitant to keeping going forward. He turns his tiny head around to look at Minho, who gives him confirmation that it’s okay, he just needs to be quiet.

Jisung hops carefully over to Felix and sniffles at a wing, causing it to shuffle and glow again. Jisung hops slightly away, before realizing what’s happened and jumps in the air excitedly. Minho laughs at him, telling him to be quiet. Next thing he knows, there’s cardinal with the name of Jisung soaring towards him, landing on his shoulder, and pecking him lightly.

“I know, I know. I see it too,” the witch chuckles. “We should probably all go to bed.”

“Yeah, probably.” Jeongin replies, and none of them make a move to walk away.

They all stay, just taking in everything for a while, before finally— finally— heading to their rooms and getting some sleep.

It’s around seven in the morning when Felix is awake again, apparently only the second person to have woken up.

“How’d you sleep, little pixie?”

“Better than I have in a while. I don’t wanna get up, you’re a very comfy pillow,” he speaks sleepily

Chan lets out a silent chuckle, before wrapping his arms tighter around Felix. “I know right? You’re a fantastic blanket.”

“Thank you, thank you. No autographs today, thank you,” he mumbles, making Chan actually laugh this time.

They lay in silence for a while longer, taking in eachother’s presence and watching the morning light leak in through the windows. Their moment, however, is interrupted by a squirrel bounding it’s way through the living room before shifting into a hummingbird. Zooming it’s way over to the pair on the couch, he sits itself upon Felix’s head.

“Hey Sung,” Felix chuckles, earning a peck on the head. “Oh, come on, it’s a one day age difference.” The bird shakes it’s head before hopping carefully down onto the pixies back and jumping excitedly in place. “Ohhhh. Yeah, that’s a thing now.”

“It’s been a thing, Lix. You just never said anything about it.”

“Right.” The bird just cocks his head slightly before lifting himself in the air and carefully nudging his way underneath a wing. Of course, this causes the wing to light up, and Jisung let’s out happy chirps. Felix smiles sleepily at the interaction and lays his head back down on Chan’s chest.

Minho walks in, promptly ending the moment with a, “Babe, stop bothering the poor pixie,” and carefully extracting said bird out from under the wing. Said bird, decides he’s had enough and shifts back into his human form.

“You ruined it! It was so pretty hyung!”

“Yes, yes. You will have plenty of time to fanboy over Felix’s wings when he’s not supposed to be getting ready for a class that he has in 30 minutes.” He says, looking over at Felix, who’s eyes widen before he darts out of the room to go get ready.

Chan groans at the lack of a pixie laying in his arms and Minho chuckles. “This little crush of yours is getting out of hand, hyung.” Chan only groans again before finally sitting up, and walking the short distance to Felix’s room to calm down a probably panicking pixie.

“Lix, open up. It’s just me.” The door flies open, with what Chan assumes is courtesy of the other’s magic, and he steps in shutting the door behind himself.

“Chan what am I gonna do about my wings?”

“Well you have two options. You can bind them for the day but they’re coming down the second you’re home. Or you can walk into the class full pixie style and show people you don’t give a shit what they have to say.”

“I don’t know, hyung. You guys are the only one’s I was actually concerned about telling. But now that I’m facing the reality of it all, I don’t know what to do.” He’s hovering nervously in the air now, pacing back and forth as he attempts to sort his thoughts.

“I personally think you should just rip the bandage off. Undo the little magic in the hair, dress cute, put jewelry in those pointy ears of yours, and don’t explain yourself to anyone.” Chan says, gently grabbing Felix by his shoulders and directing him to his mirror. “You don’t owe anyone an explanation. This is your life, live it how you want.”

“Yeah, I think you’re right.” He stands up straight. “Okay. I got this.” He walks over to his dresser, pulling out a simple light pink skirt and a white collared shirt. “How about this and,” he looks through his closed for a second before pulling out a pair of white Mary Jane platforms, “these?”

“I love it.” Chan says before walking over to Felix’s jewelry collection. He pulls out a couple pairs of earrings for the— surprisingly— numerous holes that are in his ears. How he never noticed the pointy-ness of them with all these earrings adorning them before: beyond him.

There’s a pair or dangly pink butterflies, as well as several decorated with stars and clouds. He also pulls out a thin silver chained necklace.

When Felix is all dressed up, makeup and all, Chan has to resist the massive urge to just kiss him and hold him and never let go. This is a massive step for Felix, and to see him taking it so boldly makes Chan burst with pride.

“How do you feel?”

“Nervous. Definitely nervous, but also, excited? This is a new beginning for me. Another fresh step into the world, and I’m not going to fudge it this time.”

He almost fudged it. Trying to maneuver through the hallways with wings as big as his while carrying a bunch of textbooks is not easy. Because while he does admit he looks fucking amazing, he forgets that his wings aren’t binded anymore and has almost tripped over them multiple times. And if it wasn’t him, then it was other people darting around in a rush.

He keeps having to remind himself to pick his wings up. He’ll have to work on it at home, he thinks. He currently has 4 minutes to get from the building he’s currently in to a building halfway across campus. He could do the most rational things and fly.

He is outside, so it’s not like he’ll hit anything. Plus it doesn’t look like he’ll be the only one in the air. Fuck it, he said he was going all out today, so what better way to do that than by flying.

He realizes, in this moment, how much easier his life would’ve been if he would have just manned up and got over his trauma. He got to his class in record time, sitting silently in his seat next to Changbin.

“How’s it goin? Do I gotta fight anyone yet?”

Felix laughs at his friend’s protectiveness. “No, it’s okay. I honestly think everyone’s too focused on their own issues to notice a different. Which I’m low-key grateful for.”

“Good. I will fight someone if I-“

“Hyung, everything is fine. I can handle myself you know? I look soft but I come from a long line of pureblood pixies.” Felix chuckles.

“Yes, yes. I’ve seen the stretches of your ruthlessness. I’m just making sure, you know? Fulfilling my hyung duties and all.” He puffs out his chest jokingly.

“Right.” Felix shakes his head. “I’ll be sure to let you know if I see any monsters under my bed tonight.”

“Damn right, you will. Monsters have no place in that home. Not with a big strong man like me around.” Changbin laughs.

Despite Changbin not having to use his “big manly muscles”, Felix’s day was stressful. Part two of the ‘talk’ had taken place only shortly after Felix had gotten home. It lasted a total of 4 hours and many, many,— he cannot stress this enough— many questions were answered.

So his day was stressful. As were some of the following days, but it’s university. One of arts, nevertheless, so Felix expects nothing less.

One particular day had Felix knocked out when he got home, despite the tea he had drank not too long ago.

On top of the fact that it was a Tuesday, his most stressful day of the week, his dance teacher asked him to come into a class that day to help another student who was having trouble with one part of her routine. His instructor must not’ve realized just how much this student was struggling, or he downplayed the situation on purpose for some twisted reason, because she was beyond lost on the majority of the dance. So adding onto the amount of Lyricism 1 he had to catch up on since he missed the last lecture, and a very complex Calculus lecture, he had to help a seemingly helpless woman fix more half her dance. He was worn out.

So here he lays, in Chan’s arms on the couch. How he got himself here is beyond him, but he’s not complaining. It had something to do with Chan getting worried upon seeing Felix’s exhausted state when he got home. Hyunjin had been the one to drive him home this time, immediately grabbing Chan to go help the younger pixie once they were home. Chan had been at his side in less than a second, and next thing he knew he had a cup of tea in his hands, and was sitting on the couch attempting not to fall asleep with it in his hands.

“Aish how did you manage to wear yourself out so much, pixie?”

Felix only groans lightly in response as Chan takes the half finished mug from his hands and pulls him down on top of him so the younger can finally get some much needed rest. “Just sleep, Lix.” The older says, earning a small hum in response.

And to say Felix was feeling better a few hours later would be a massive understatement. Between the tea, Chan’s magic,—he’s not slick—and the three hour power nap, Felix was feeling on top of the world. He opens his eyes and reaches for his phone on the coffee table, seeing that its about five in the afternoon.

He pokes Chan in the side, getting a wiggle in response, accompanied by a tight tug around his waist from the older’s arms.

Felix only laughs lightly before finally sitting up on the couch, pulling Chan with him, earning a groan in response.

“Oh, you big baby. Come on, we gotta get up or we won’t be able to sleep tonight,” the younger pixie says as he stands up, and bends down to press a light kiss to Chan’s forehead. “I’m gonna go change out of these clothes.”

Chan can only sit there, propped up on his hands, glitching. He just woke up, and has only half processed what he believes was just a kiss to his forehead. Chan doesn’t know what multiverse he’s in right now, but he doesn’t want to go back home.

“Felix I think you broke your boyfriend!” Minho shouts from his spot in the kitchen.

“My what?!” Felix is silent for a moment, attempting to make sense of what was just said. “I mean- I’m not offended but like- that’s- that’s not- ah fuck.” Felix walks back out of his room, which didn’t help Chan at all, considering he’s topless. When does Felix have the time to go to the gym? Is that what dancing does to the abdominal muscles? Because holy shit, Felix is ripped. Is it hot in here? Felix looks to Chan, who’s currently matching the shade of his own red hair, “I’m sorry. I’m gonna-“ He almost drops the shirt in his hands as he points to his bedroom door. He’s probably not even realizing that he’s quite literally floating right now. “I’m just- Yeah.” And he flies away. Emphasis on the fact that he’s not using his legs. Is Felix… giddy right now? Chan feels lightheaded when he looks down at his wings and thinks he might understand the reason why.

“Oh, my God. Oh boy. Holy, Calypso. His- His wings were glowing.” Felix panics, pacing frantically. Hes currently hiding in the hallway, not having made it to his bedroom quite yet. He decides to take a detour. Hyunjin opens the door to his and Changbin’s room.

“You’re shirtless and floating.” Felix attempts to stand on his feet, ultimately failing and ending up in the air again. “And your wings are bright as fuck might I say. Is that a genetical thi-“ He’s cut off when Felix starts verbally panicking.

“Hyung. His wings- They- Holy Calypso, Jinnie, they were glowing.” Hyunjin’s eyes blow wide as he ushers Felix into his room.

“First, put that shirt on. Then give me a run-down of everything.” So he does, and when he starts talking, he doesn’t stop as he paces in the air.

“I was going to change my clothes, so I kissed Chan on the forehead as a nonverbal ‘goodbye’ without thinking, and from my room I hear Minho-hyung say something like ‘I think you broke your boyfriend’ and- And I walk back out of my room and hyung- His wings. Oh God. My feelings aren’t one sided are they?” Hyunjin’s couldn’t care less that Felix has knocked a couple things over. He’s just happy that his ship is finally sailing.

“Well I’d say no, but I think the answer is obvious. Chan’s wings don’t glow at just anything.” Felix is doing loops in the air at this point.

“Jin, you know what this means right?” He does a twirl and hangs upside down for a moment while he rants to Hyunjin. “I won’t be alone anymore. I can sit next to him and like, hold his hand and all the cheesy shit in those American romance movies. And- and we can- we could go on dates and stuff and-“

He pauses for a moment, positioning himself upright, and gripping the older’s shoulders, looking him in his eyes. Are pixie eyes supposed to shine like that? “Oh, Jinnie wouldn’t that just be amazing?” He rambles on before crashing into Hyunjin with a massive hug. “Oh I’m so happy right now.” Hyunjin can only laugh at the younger’s antics.

“We could do that stuff, yeah.”

Upon hearing Chan’s voice, Felix’s eyes go wide. He immediately puts his feet on the floor and hides his face in his hands. “How much of that did you see?”

“Only the last bit, but it was adorable.”

“You want the recording? I got the whole thing.” Chanbin asks from his spot on the bed, startling Felix. Before Felix can say anything, Chan speaks up with a small ‘Please’, before grabbing Felix’s hand and bounding out of the room.

“Channie, we’re flying in the house. We might hit something.” Felix says softly, not knowing what else to say.

“I don’t really care right now, I can’t really help it anyways,” the older says, nonchalantly, only holding onto Felix’s hand tighter and pulling him into a tight hug. Only before realizing there’s a better option. “Actually, here,” he says as he walks to the front door of the house and leads Felix out by their hands.

They’re soaring— together. They’re touching clouds, diving back down towards the earth, and catching themselves just before impact. It’s repetitive, but it’s so breathtaking. It’s such an energetic flight and to say Chan’s wings are just glowing would be a massive understatement. They’re in the clouds, wings fully extended just coasting for the moment. It’s just Felix and Chan, Chan and Felix, when Chan stops to just look.

Felix having undone the hair color spell the other day, is full pixie. Lengthy pink hair tousled from the wind, pointy ears twitching at the small sounds of the world around them. He looks absolutely surreal and Chan can’t help but surge forward and kiss him stupid. It’s energetic. It’s hungry. It’s impatient. It’s daring. And it’s everything Felix wouldn’t change. Chan’s lips are sweet like honey and he swears he could stay up here in the clouds with him forever.

“Be by boyfriend?” he whispers, their foreheads pressed together lightly.

“Yeah, I could get used to this.” Chan simply chuckles at the response.

They’re free falling right now but Felix doesn’t care. He just stays in this moment feeling every tiny instance and holding it tightly in his mind.

Felix had no need to worry anyways when Chan caught them just before they could crash, and lands them safely. Felix leans forward to catch Chan’s lips again and he’s floating again when Chan doesn’t hesitate to reciprocate. It’s calmer this time. Not patient, but not as urgent as before. Chan swears he tastes sunflower petals on Felix’s lips and he can’t help but smile into the kiss.

“I’m hungry. Are you hungry?” They’re laying in the grass, looking at the clouds. There’s small streaks in them from where they’d pierced them not too long ago.

“Yeah,” Felix laughs loudly at the perfectly timed grumble of his stomach. “That wore me out.”

“Is it bad that I miss Australia? For as unsafe as it’s been for me before, it’s home. You know?”

“Yeah. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t miss my mom’s cookies.”

“Your mom sounds very sweet.” Chan says, looking over at Felix, meeting his eyes and smiling brightly.

“She is. I think you’d really like her.”

“Yeah.” He whispers, combing some stray pieces behind Felix’s ear. “Let’s go get some food, little pixie.”

“You’re littler than me, hyung. You can’t say that.”

“Sure I can,” he says, opening the front door and pulling Felix through by their intertwined fingers.

“Ah, the lovebirds return.” Jisung smiles brightly, “Hahaha, see what I did there?”

“That was a horrible pun, Sung.” Minho snorts.

The shifter sighs at his boyfriend’s comment, “It was worth a shot.” Chan shakes his head, walking to the kitchen.

“Wait hand me your phone I just thought of something cute.”

“Okay?” the younger pixie says, laughing, and hands him his phone after unlocking it.

—> “Chan” has changed their name to “pixie 1”

—> “freckles” has changed their name to “pixie 2”

[Witch-Ho]

very funny. ha. ha.

[Quoka]

for the record: i thought it was hilarious

[pixie 1]

thank you, Sung. finally some respect tsk tsk.

“Cute.” Felix says smiling at Chan.

“I thought so.” He smiles back. “What do you want to eat? Salad sound okay?”

“Ooh, with sunflower petals.”

“Duh.” Chan walks over to the fridge and gets to work and Felix heads back to his room.

“Channie, do you want some tea?” Felix is walking back out of his room, jar in hand.

“Oooh, yes.” And it’s a couple minutes later when Chan remembers something. “Is that actually your grandma’s recipe? Or is it your mom’s or something?”

Felix sets a pot of water on the stove, and turns it on. “Yes and no? My mom comes from a long line of pureblood pixies. Her lineage traces all the way back to realm days, as early as the sixteen hundreds i wanna say. It was initially her “large-amount-of-great’s”-grandmother’s or some shit. Pretty sure she was a merchant. Super cool, if I do say so myself.”

Chan laughs. “I agree. How much of your family tree do you know?”

“Quite a bit of it actually,” the younger says, laughing. “It always fascinated me, how long our family traces back to. My grandma, who’s like a hundred fourty three now I think, tells me stories all the time. She hired a witch that specializes in lineage and stuff for my fifteenth birthday. I learned literally everything as far back as the fifteen hundreds. It was super cool. The witch was super friendly too. I’m not sure how much of it I remember, though.”

“So how much of you is genetics?” Felix thinks he understands what he’s asking.

“The largeness of my wings comes from my grandfather, as you know. The pink actually comes from my father, probably more specifically my paternal grandmother, but my dad’s hair is pink, my mom’s is orange. My magic comes from my mother. Courtesy of her pure blood, I can do pretty much anything, including potions. Anything that doesn’t involve creating things out of nothing. And the rest is pretty much just the way I was raised.” Felix takes the pot of boiling water off the stove, pouring equal amounts into two mugs, and adding one spoonful, to each, of the ’stuff in the jar’, as Jisung calls it.

Just as Felix finishes the tea, Chan sets a bowl of salad in front of him and wraps his around his waist. “It smells delicious. Thank you” the older says with a brief kiss to his cheek.

“Thank you as well.” He smiles at the older, “For everything.”

They sit eating taking and eating for much longer than it actually takes them to eat their food. Bowls and mugs sit empty as a weird sort of decoration as Chan tells him more about his own lineage. Though he doesn’t know as much of his as Felix does his own, it’s enough to intrigue the younger.

Felix learns that Chan’s the second cousin to the crown prince through his mother, his magical boundaries are a little less rigid than Felix’s own, and his red color comes from his dad— surprisingly.

“Weird. I thought the richness of the color was due to the royal blood.”

“That’s what everyone thinks until they see my mom, who’s got purple.”

Felix’s eyes bulge out of his head. “That’s a winter court pigment though.”

“My grandfather is an ex-winter court that married into the family.”

“Can one be an ‘ex’ of something in their blood?” Chan’s bloodline is confusing.

“It was a really long legal process, from what I’ve heard, but on paper my grandpa is summer court.”

“Huh.”

Chan chuckles, “Yeah.”

Felix picks stands up to put the dishes in the sink and Chan helps him, despite Felix’s protests.

“I can do it on my own.”

“I never said you couldn’t. I just want to help.”

Felix sighs reluctantly, puts the washed dishes in the drying rack, and heads back to his own room. Chan, of course, not too far away.

“Channie, I need to take a shower I’m all sweaty

from earlier. You can’t follow me everywhere.” He laughs.

“I know, I know. I’m just gonna wait in here until you’re done so I can take mine and we  can go to bed.” He says, flopping down dramatically onto the younger’s bed.

Felix shakes his head at his boyfriend’s antics, “Okay. I’ll be back in a minute.”

He walks out into the hallway as he hears Chan call from behind him, “Don’t fall asleep this time!”

“I won’t. It was one time, hush.”

Later that night, Felix falls asleep genuinely happy. And Chan has the best sleep he has in a while.

—Bonus—  Three weeks later

“Babe you’re stress baking again.”

“Channie, your mom is going to be here in 4 hours and if it’s not perfect then I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

“Felix everything looks fine, you’re stressing over nothing.” Minho says, walking into the kitchen and grabbing a cookie off the platter on the counter.

“Ya! Minho-hyung those aren’t for you!” Felix swats Minho away with a hand towel.

Minho walks away with a grumble, “It’s not like the woman is going to be upset that one out of 64 cookies is missing.”

Chan can only laugh. “Lix, the place looks better than it did when Seonghwa-hyung visited last week. I can see my reflection in the floors and counters. Take a breath.”

“Chan-ah, at the very least, if your mom doesn’t like me then, I’m praying I can make up for it with cookies.”

“Lix, what are you talking about?”

“I have never been an impressionable person, Chan. Especially not back in Australia, and considering the fact that your mom lived there for several years…” He trails off, making the ending of his statement obvious.

“Babe, put the spoon down and look at me please.” So he does— reluctantly, of course. “You are the sweetest, most beautiful, and hands down the most independent person I have ever met.” He speaks slowly, and sincerely, making sure that Felix processes every word coming out of his mouth.

”My mother would be insane not to like you. So please stop stressing, put the rest of the cookie dough in the freezer for later, and come take a nap with me before Mom gets here. Please.”

“Channie.” The younger is tearing up now. God, is he really that tired? “Did you seriously mean all that?”

“Yes,” he says, wiping the other’s tears. “Now come take a nap with me please?” Felix only nods. “Love, why are you crying?

“I don’t know but I love you.” he says, burying his face into Chan’s chest. “God, you’re so sweet to me. So much nicer than anyone else I’ve ever dated. What did I do to deserve you?”

“I love you too, Lix.” The younger only sobs harder. “Okay, you’re way too stressed. Let’s go take a nap yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay. Hey, Seungmin, can you clean this up right quick please?”

“Yeah I got you, go help your pixie.”

He mouths a ‘thank you’ as he picks Felix up bridal style and carries him back to their room. Yes, ‘their’, Felix moved his stuff to Chan’s room last week. Hence why Seonghwa was here, as everyone else was out of town for that time.

It’s three hours later, and Felix would be lying if he said he didn’t feel better now. Well, better, but not any less panicky. At home, he and his mom would spend several hours preparing for someone to come over. He guesses he inherited his yearn for good impressions from her.

And right now, Felix isn’t sure if its the just the counter, but there’s a faint spot on it that won’t come off.

“Felix-hyung, you’ve been at that one spot for the past seven minutes, what’s wrong?” Jeongin is walking over, attempting to help ease the pixie while Chan is out at the store.

“I don’t know but this spot won’t go away.”

“Hyung, that’s just the counter. These are marble counters, there’s going to be spots on them,” he says, rubbing circles on the older’s back. “I can see my own reflection, hyung, they look fine.”

“Okay, but like, what about the sink? There’s a cup in it.” Felix stands up straight. “Or the pillows on the couch? This place is a mess!”

“Ouch, I spend a lot of time to make this place look decent, you know?” Minho says from his place on the couch.

“I-“

“I’m kidding, Lix. The place looks better than it ever has in the past three years of us all living here.”

“But-“

“Felix. It’s okay.” This time it’s Jisung. “You’re spiraling again. Just take breath and look around. When was the last time you remember being able to see your own reflection in the tiles on the floor?”

“…Never.” He mumbles.

“Exactly. So instead of fussing over a spot on the counter, or the singular cup on the drying rack in the sink, or a pillow that’s out of place, take a breath. Focus on getting yourself together. This is a big thing, meeting your boyfriend’s mom. So naturally, you’re going to be stressed, but I promise you, Chan’s mom is the sweetest woman I’ve ever met. It’ll be fine.”

Felix takes a second to process what Jisung’s just said. “You’re right,” he breathes. “Okay, it’s okay.” And he starts putting the cleaning supplies away. And if he fusses a bit about how disorganized the supply cabinet is, no one says anything. Because at least now, he’s not exhausting himself over a nonexistent spot on the counter.

Felix is sitting on the couch, watching something on TikTok when the door opens. “Babe, I’m back! What can I h-“ He stops when he notices Felix is sitting down and not obsessively cleaning anymore. “-elp… with… Sweet mother of Aphrodite, who got you to take a break?”

“Me.” Jisung says nonchalantly from his place at the table.

“I’m trying not to think about the fact that your mom’s supposed to be here in approximately 13 minutes and 47 seconds.” He says, looking over to Chan, who currently has 4 bags of groceries in his hands and is looking at Felix like someone just told him he’s going to be famous.

Chan looks over to Jisung with possibly the most relieved look on his face ever. “Sung, you’re a genius. Thank you.”

“Eh. It’s no biggie. I was just tired of seeing Lix so exhausted over literally nothing. I swore I was getting dizzy.”

Chan walks over to the couch and kisses Felix on the head before walking into the kitchen to put the groceries away. “I picked up some willow leaves and sunflowers, Lix, if you want some.”

Felix springs up from the couch and is in the kitchen in a second. Before Chan can even process what’s happening, Felix is already chomping down on leaves and a small container of red assorted summer fruits that Chan picked up as well. “You’re a Godsend, babe.” Felix says, mouth stuffed. Chan chuckles lightly before ruffling the younger’s hair.

It’s roughly 5 minutes later, Felix is putting the food away and washing his hands, when the doorbell rings. Felix’s head pops up in a second, eyes blowing wide as he runs around frantically verifying that everything is tidy. Chan walks over, puts a hand on his shoulder, and kisses him on his cheek.

“You can’t open the door with me if you’re fixing something every second, babe. It’s fine, just take a breath. I’ve got you.”

And so, Felix composes himself, takes Chan’s hand, and very hesitantly walks over to the door. Chan opens it, and Felix’s heart is in his throat. Every negative thing ever is running through his head. Every what if, every thing that could possibly go wrong. And yet, he manages to smile.

“Oh, look at you boys! It’s so good to see you.” Felix and Chan step to the side to let her through the door.

“It’s good to see you too, Mom.” He lets go of Felix’s hand to return his mother’s hug.

“Oh, how I’ve missed you. Ah, you look so healthy, have you been sleeping well recently?”

“Yes, Mom.” Chan chuckles.

“Good, good.” She turns to Felix, who promptly stops breathing. “Ah, you must be Felix. I’ve heard many good things about you. Oh, how cute you are.” She says, pulling Felix in for a hug, and the younger lets himself breathe properly for the first time in the last minute. “I see my boy’s chosen a good one,” she sings. She steps back, looking Felix in the eyes, “I assume my son’s treated you well?”

Felix chokes up for a second, not having expected such a question. ‘Uh-hm, yes. Yes Ma’am, he has. He’s the best man a pixie can ask for.” He smiles, albeit awkwardly due to his nervousness, but it’s a smile nonetheless.

“Good, I expect nothing less from him.” She looks over to her son, smiling briefly, before looking around. “Oh, I love what you guy’s have done with the place. It looks so home-y in here.”

Felix let’s out a sigh of relief, looking over to his boyfriend with a smile. Said boyfriend laughs silently mouthing an ‘I told you so’. Felix rolls his eyes in reply.

“Mom, did you want something to drink or eat? We’ve got some water and other stuff I think, and Felix made some cookies earlier.”

“Ooh, cookies, huh? You found yourself a very good one, might I say, Chan.” She laughs, following her son to the kitchen. “Holy Calypso, did that Seonghwa friend of yours come over again? The place is so clean!”

Chan laughs, “No, this was actually all Felix. It took me forever to get him to relax before you arrived. I’m starting to think he’s actually worse than Seonghwa-hyung.” Felix glared playfully, before returning his attention to the woman standing in the middle of the room.

“I might need some of your secrets, Felix. I can see myself in the floors!”

Felix laughs, “Nothing more than a bit of polish and elbow grease, Ma’am.”

“You know, I don’t think I’ll ever get over that voice of your’s. It’s so deep and rich, I think I could listen to you for hours.” She looks around a bit more, noticing the large— massive— platter of cookies. “By Calypso,” she laughs, “How much time did you spend on these cookies, young man? You really sure are something, I’ll tell you.”

“Thank you, Ma’am.”

“Gosh, you’re so respectful too. Please, call me ‘Mom’ or something, it feels awkward.”

“Mom!”

“What? I’m only offering. I just feel the boy is too respectful not to give the offer to. That was no pressure to you, Felix, you’re welcome to address me by whatever’s most comfortable for you.”

“Thank you, sieomeoni.”

Chan chokes on his water. “It seems you’ve got a brave one as well, son.” Chan’s mom smiles. “So, when’s the wedding?”

This time Felix chokes, except he’s not drinking anything so it comes out as more of a rough cough than a choke.

“Mom! First Felix calling you his mother-in-law, now you too? God, what have I gotten myself into?” Chan sighs from his place next to Felix, who he turns his head to look at. “And where was this bravery five minutes ago when you were worrying about the couch cushions?” Felix simply shrugs and smiles. “Aish, what am I going to do with you?”

“Ah, it’s okay. You love me.”

“True.”

“Calypso, you both are so cute. Ah, if only your father was here to see this, he would laugh his wings off.” She reaches over to the platter for one of the cookies and Chan swears he sees Felix tense up again, but he’s relaxed a moment later when he sees the satisfaction on the woman’s face. “Mmh, what did you put in these? They’re absolutely delicious, I could eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.”

“There’s a bit of sunflower honey mixed into the dough. It’s my mother’s recipe. It gives it just that extra bit of pop.”

“I have to agree one-hundred percent, young man. These are scrumptious.”

“Thank you.”

They spend the next hours chatting, Felix learning everything Chan would never tell him about his childhood, leading to many ‘Mom!’s, ‘Oh my gosh!’s, and laughs. At some point, the other six housemates had joined the conversation, leading to a very lively debate over whether or not Chan is an old man because he’s “half 52” according to Seungmin.

“Elysium, it’s getting late. I should head to bed soon.”

“Every time you come over, you never fail to amaze me with your terminology, Ms. Bahng.” Changbin says, causing the woman to laugh.

“Apologies. I believe you youngsters simply say “Heavens” in stead of “Elysium” now, yes?”

“Sure, Mom.” Chan laughs. “Let me show you to your room, yeah?”

She briefly says ‘goodnight’ to everyone, kissing Felix on the forehead on her way out, and follows her son back to what was once Felix’s room.

“Chan, look at me.” They’re outside of the room now, Chan’s hand stopped where it’s sat upon the doorknob.

“Yes, Mom?” He swallows. His mom is being rather serious all of the sudden and Chan’s not sure how to take it.

“If you don’t marry this boy one day, I swear. The only thing ever stopping you should be if one of you passes, you got me? And neither of you will be passing as long as I’m alive. I’ll make sure of it.” Chan swallows. “This boy is perfect, Chan. And you two have got such a chemistry that I haven’t seen in many people your guy’s age. This is a once in a lifetime connection, Chan. You better marry this boy.”

“I know, Mom. I know.” Chan sighs. “It’s just scary, you know? He’s so immeasurably perfect, I’m scared I’ll fuck it up.”

“One, language.” She chuckles. “Two, you won’t mess it up, Chan. Not if you’re the same boy with a heart of gold that I’ve raised all these years. Just don’t overthink it, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright. Goodnight, sweetie.” She leans forward to hug Chan, then standing on her tiptoes to kiss him on his forehead.

“Goodnight, Mom.”

Chan walks back out into the kitchen. “You alright, babe? You look deep in thought.”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just something my mom brought up briefly that I’ve been thinking about for a while.” He leans down and presses a kiss to the younger’s forehead. “It’s nothing, I promise.”

“Alright. If you say so.” Felix smiles. “I’m tired, let’s go to bed.”

“Sounds like a plan.” He smiles back, looking around to the rest of the group. “You all should get some sleep soon too. I can’t guarantee that my mom won’t be up bright and early tomorrow.”

“I swear that woman wakes up before the sun. How does she do it?” Hyunjin fake cries.

“Old people genes. Chan might know a thing about it.” Jeongin laughs.

“Yah! I’m not old.”

“Speak for yourself Mr. Half Fifty-two.” Seungmin replies

Chan grumbles. “Come on, Lix. I’m tired of these children calling me old when most of them are only a year younger than me.” He glares teasingly at the rest.

“Right, let’s get you to bed, old man.”

“Yah! You too? When will I ever get respect in this house?”

The group can only laugh at the pair as they walk away, back to their room.

And if they lay there talking for a while longer, then that’s between them. In the end, they go to bed happily and peacefully in each other’s arms.