Virus ~ A Stray Kids ff

8

Felix stared, wide-eyed, at the man in front of him that had once been a boy he'd looked up to, as well as his friends - especially Hyunjin. Jinyoung observed closely too as if scared that Felix might do something, but the flash of recognition lit up his eyes slightly and he lowered his hands a little. Still, Felix stared.

Jinyoung was taller with a slightly broader build compared to his teenage years, dressed in dark clothing that matched the deepness of his eyes. The rebellious glint was still there, but it was now streaked with an animalistic fear as if he was ready to pounce at any moment. Where exactly had he been all these years?

Suddenly, Jinyoung's eyes began to dart around awkwardly, obviously not being able to take the dramatic silence that had fallen between them. "Um, hi Felix."

As if his name leaving Jinyoung's lips had switched on a light bulb within him, Felix zoned back into reality with a jolt that made the older guy flinch slightly, hovering between drawing back or stepping forward as Felix rushed towards him. He settled for a tilted smile as the younger and shorter boy grabbed his shoulders excitedly.

"Oh my gosh, Jinyoung, it is you! Where have you been? What are you doing here? Wait, it's a good thing you're here, I-"

"Shh,"Jinyoung fumbled nervously, pushing a finger to Felix's lips to pause the steady flow of words coming from his mouth. "I'm not supposed to be here, so you have to keep it down or I'll be done for!"

"Done for?"Felix frowned once Jinyoung pulled his finger away from his lips and began to glance around them, examining their surroundings. "What, is someone after you?"

"This was all BamBam's idea, he didn't want to risk his wimpy little arse,"Jinyoung muttered, ignoring Felix's question, who's ears perked up at what he just heard.

"BamBam?"Felix exclaimed as quietly as possible, causing the older boy to swing his gaze back to him in alarm. "Are you saying that he's still alive? Are all you guys still alive?"

"Ah, I can't— ah, I wasn't supposed to give away all this information, this wasn't supposed to happen!"

Felix watched as Jinyoung struggled internally, mumbling to himself in obvious agitation. He pulled at his dark locks that Felix remembered had once been streaked with blue - from where the dye had come, he had no idea. Even Minho, who still had green streaks, refused to tell him.

"Ugh!"Jinyoung grunted, a string of curses tumbling from his chapped lips. "You can't say that you saw me, ok? No one was supposed to know about us, I-"

"What about Chan?"

Jinyoung swivelled around as Felix said those words, who stood there, staring at his elder expectantly. The wild look in the eyes of the boy who had been missing for almost a decade didn't cease to surprise him, but Felix didn't back off and waited patiently for an answer.

Eventually, Jinyoung found his voice. "I- what?" His words came out stuttering as he stared at Felix in front of him, who watched with sad eyes. The younger boy became aware of the other's shaking hand, which he then clenched into a fist.

"What about Chan?"Felix repeated in a monotone that he had never heard himself use before. "It wasn't so long ago that he had a mental breakdown about you lot - on the anniversary of your disappearances, actually. He doesn't sleep anymore because his nightmares haunt him, about what he can't help but imagine might have been happening to you guys. The guilt is eating away at him daily, because he has thought that he doesn't deserve to be here when you guys could've been going through god knows, what. Or even worse, dead. Every day, a little more hope leaves him because he thinks that you guys were taken away because of who you are, because of your defiance, and he thinks he is leading the rest of us to our deaths by teaching us the same. He thinks no one notices, but all of us have heard him crying before. He's still a broken little kid who lost those he depended on before he even knew how much he needed you. And he's had to take care of all of us since, even with the burden of your disappearances hanging over him. And now, now you aren't going to give him a chance to get back on his feet, even that little difference of knowing that you're all alive and well?"

The whole time he spoke, Felix's eyes did not stray from Jinyoung's, who was the first to break off the contact after a minute of quiet. He waited for the older to say something, but he only stared at his shoes with downcast eyes, looking as if he was desperate to say something but knew he couldn't.

After another minute or so, Felix pivoted on his heel and turned his back to Jinyoung, stalking off wordlessly in the opposite direction. When his exit was noticed, Jinyoung looked up and watched his white-clothed figure drift off, like a soulless ghoul. As those words reached his mind, he thought of Chan, someone he'd watched grow up for five years, who'd started become the ghost of the boy he had been. He called out.

"Please just...he needs to wait a little longer! I can't tell him or anyone else yet what this is all about, but I promise that his rebellious streak is the key to getting out of here in a way that he wouldn't expect. Just make sure he doesn't lose hope, otherwise any chance of escaping will be gone for him."

Just before he turned into another path, Felix turned around and stared at the figure in the distance, someone he recognised but didn't at the same time. He sighed.

"I am trying to preserve his hope,"he called out. "We all are. But we don't know how many more reasons - excuses - we can give him to hang on because even we don't know what it is that we're hanging on for. And at the moment, Chan is the closest to the edge, and we're not sure how much longer he can hold on."

Then he strode around the corner, remembering in the intensity with which he had stared into Jinyoung's eyes - Jinyoung's eyes, which were a solid yellow they had never been before.