Shining Star//Dimming Light (VOL.2) (Felix X SKZ ONE-SHOTS)

Icarus (ChangMinHyunLix)

Pairing: Changbin & Minho & Hyunjin & Felix

Genre: College AU

!!TW!! : mild angst, bullying, minor violence, minor injuries, this whole setup is cliché as hell but still pretty sweet overall, language, slurs

(requested by aydenhazel)

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Felix had always loved dressing up differently than his peers. He identified as a boy, but he never associated clothes with gender, finding it just as weird as associating colors or toys or even foods with someone's gender identity. As such, he never felt the need to follow society's unwritten rules regarding dress codes, and completely indulged in his love for wearing more "feminine" clothing.

His family had always been supportive, and so were his close friends. They always encouraged him to dress the way he liked and look the way he wanted to and simply enjoy what made him happy. His mom had bought him his first skirt, and his dad – albeit a little confused at first – bought him cute hairpins and headbands every Christmas, and his sisters constantly sent him links for different websites that sold more feminine shoe designs that had been adapted to a male body's proportions.

Unfortunately, with Felix being accepted in the college of his dream, he was forced to leave behind the family nest and the comfort and security it provided him. Moving to Seoul on his own wasn't easy and, while he knew enough Korean to get around, it was obvious to anyone that even if he looked like a native, he certainly wasn't one. 

With his darker complexion, his freckled skin, his heavily accented and scarily deep voice, and his favored type of clothes, Felix undoubtedly stood out. And, though he'd grown used to being bullied for how he looked, he no longer had people to rely on or comfort him when those incidents happened, which made them that much harder to deal with.

On the outside, Felix tried to express strength and determination – he kept on dressing the way he liked because he refused to cave into some bullies' ignorance, and he had too great a pride to simply give up what he believed him. On the inside, however, Felix was fragile and hurting and incredibly alone, and he genuinely didn't know for how long he'd be able to stand it.

Barely a month into his freshman year and he was already the target of slurs, harassment, and cyberbullying. Most didn't want to associate with him by principle and simply ignored his very existence, but a few outright lashed out at him for being different and made it their life's mission to make his existence miserable.

They insulted him in class, shoved and tripped him in the hallways, posted cruel comments on his Instagram pictures. They came to his workplace and kept on harassing him until his employer (a kind old man who thankfully had no issue with the way Felix dressed) literally kicked them out. They cornered him on campus, stole his food money, runed his notebooks, and even vandalized the door of his room back in the dorms.

Felix had tried to go to a counselor to seek an intervention, of course, but the woman had merely scoffed and told him that he'd brought it upon himself and that if he wanted them to stop, then he should just dress normally – after that, Felix stopped seeking help entirely and simply decided to keep to himself.

He knew his parents were worried about him, and he knew they'd welcome him back with open arms if he ever decided to give up and return to Australia – but he didn't want to give up. He'd made it this far and giving up simply because things weren't going his way wasn't his style. No, he fully intended of finishing what he'd started, and that meant getting through college, even if it wasn't going to be easy.