✔️ BAD NEIGHBORHOOD | hyunbinlix

XXVII

➳ my face

➳ in the mirror

'he chopped- he chopped down my tree.' SEO CHANGBIN frowned. is that all that had happened? his father chopped down a tree he'd planted and he had to go to hospital, then disappear for a few days, and it was counted as a faerie crime? 'you know, the one dryads have as babies that they have, uh, spiritual connections to.'

oh.

'there are lots of little details, but i won't go into it. basically, he destroyed my soul, i had to go into hospital to be informed of the situation - memory loss is part of the no-soul-thing - and they had to pump me full of painkillers and shit, and then i went to the faerie kingdom. by the way, never be friends with a traditional naiad. they suck. anyway, i went there, signed a few forms, had to wait for a few days, then they put my soul back into me. kind of a casual procedure for something so big. but yeah. i couldn't tell you guys where i was going because i knew you'd follow me,' he laughed.

'i'm glad you're back,' said HWANG HYUNJIN. his words were muffled, probably because he had his face buried in LEE FELIX's shoulder. he had been in that position for about an hour, actually - wrapped around his boyfriend like a "koala" (according to felix, they were tiny grey australian bear things that lived in trees and ate leaves all day).

'me too,' changbin added. he didn't want to be left out. 'so... are you okay?'

'yeah.'

'really.'

'yeah.'

'really?'

'yeah.'

'hyunjin, help.'

the hybrid in question turned to felix and raised his eyebrows, giving him the look. you know, the look that says "spill the tea".

he groaned. 'i guess i'm sort of okay. i don't know, maybe i'm a little bit disoriented. i'm not living with my foster parents anymore? my father is in jail? they weren't good parents, but, i don't know. maybe i got a little bit attached to them? i wouldn't say love.'

'you don't have to figure out all your feelings right away, lix.' a hand slipped into felix's, thumb rubbing against the back of it comfortingly.  'it's okay.'

maybe it would be eventually. he didn't feel it now - there were too many emotions and thoughts running around in his head, too many things he had to figure out about himself and all the people around him, too many truths that he ignored, leaving them to be uncovered another time.

but one day, he would be okay.

[ happy 10K. double update time!! ]