I'm Also A We // Hyunlix

Closer

ACT TWO

THEN

F E L I X

Felix doesn't like to remember parts of their tour in the States. Not because of the concerts themselves or the fans, those parts will always be a fond memory. But the messy first days of the bond. The fear. The tears. The fights, before they started understanding what was happening. He doesn't want to think about the moment he realized that he and Hyunjin didn't form the same connection everyone else did. Doesn't want to think about that day at all and the panic that had started then.

Instead, he focuses on after, on the last week overseas when things have calmed down and before he witnessed the crack in Minho's and Jisung's relationship. When he experienced the first moments where the bond actually helped.

It's a Tuesday, a light day with a video shoot scheduled for the afternoon, and they're all encouraged to spend their mornings whichever way they want. Changbin and Chan are in the hotel gym, Hyunjin and Jeongin and two of the managers are out shopping, and Seungmin and Jisung want to go to a coffee shop, just like they do back home, so Felix decides to join them.

They end up going without staff, which somehow feels a little frightening and like they're doing something bold, as if they're children sneaking out of the house. The coffee shop they pick is not far from the hotel so they walk in the summer heat, sharing small talk on the way there, and after the last weeks Felix feels like he's come up for air for the first time in a long time, and the day is bright and the future full of possibilities.

Jisung teases him when he says as much, but he laughs, and Seungmin does too, and there's a lightness about them that makes Felix go up to Jisung and pull him into a hug, Jisung's back to his front, and he squeezes him tightly, laughing, until Jisung squeaks and taps out, and Seungmin rolls his eyes.

Felix orders for the three of them, even though both of the others are good at English, but he feels like it and pays for all their orders. They sit around a table at one of the windows, for once not thinking they might be recognized so they don't pick a hidden spot.

"I haven't felt this happy in days," Seungmin says at some point, not prompted by anything, just stating a thought in his head, and Jisung nods.

"Do you think that's all you?" He chews on his piece of cheesecake, and he said it casually as if he's been thinking about it for a while now, and already has his answer in his head.

Seungmin tilts his head, thinking about it.

"I think we might be amplifying each other's feelings, maybe?"

Jisung nods. "I think it's mostly Lixie's happiness right now, but it's probably picking up on our own and like, increasing it? Bigger than the sum of its parts and all that?"

"Mine?" Felix is surprised, and then guilty for a moment because that's what he's been used to now, the guilt for not being able to keep his emotions to himself.

"I like it," Seungmin says and steals a forkful of Jisung's cake.

"Yeah, it's nice," Jisung assures Felix, even leaning over and rubbing his thigh.

"Help." The word echoes loud and clear in Felix's mind as if the speaker is right next to him. Minho's voice. He sits up straight and catches Jisung's frown before he slips, before he's suddenly no longer in the coffee shop, but in a clothing store and Minho is next to him, looking confused and a little overwhelmed at the guy behind the cash register.

"Help," Minho mumbles again and his eyes flicker over to Felix, and now Felix understands that Minho actually called him here to... translate.

"Look, Sir," the cashier starts again, not unfriendly, but also at the end of his patience. "I can't sell you this one," he holds up a sweater. "It's a display piece that's already been reserved and it's the last we have in store, I'm sorry. Would you like me to order it for you?"