| District 9 | STRAY KIDS SHIPS

Oil Under My Nails// Chanlix

Oil Under My Nails

Chanlix (Chan x Felix)

Genre: Fluffish

Status: Strangers

Words: 38,160

I'm back~I know I haven't been around that much since about July but I think I'm ready to slowly start getting back into my chaotic writing ways. I tried to be slow with this story once I realized it would not, in fact, be 7k like I planned, because I wanted to fall in love with rather than let this just be another story. I hope all of you enjoy and I'll try to be more active <3

Living in a tiny ass town in the middle of fucking nowhere came with its very awful perks. Considering Chan preferred the sweat on his brow, the residue coating his skin making him feel both dirty and muggy, and the permanent oil stains saturated into his calloused palms over basic social interaction, living in Hillreach really felt like a nightmare.

Here in Hillreach, a small town just over the mountains near the big city settled a town with no more than 1500 people and many lifetimes of deep-rooted family history, everyone knew each other in ways Chan considered incredibly unhealthy. Parents know exactly who their kids would marry before they even reached the age of 4, kids knew what jobs they would have when they grew up, and knew exactly who to stay away from and who to build relationships with before they even learned their ABCs.

Chan hated living here. He didn't enjoy the way the townsfolk treated him because of his mother who flew off the rails and got herself killed in the middle of town and left her remains for poor eight-year-old Chan to find when he went to school the next morning. Chan's family wasn't even allowed to mourn in peace either considering Chan's dad was the only car mechanic in town so every time someone brought a car in for work, they just had to bring up Chan's mother. It certainly didn't end when Chan's dad died either and the curly-haired brunette was forced to take over the shop. In fact, it just got worse.

If Chan had a nickel for every time he heard "Chris, I am so very sorry that you have to live all on your own... such a shame to lose both of your parents at such a young age." from someone who cried too many tears at their funerals and then talked shit about them the next day, Chan would be rich enough to leave this shitty town. But instead, Chan was stuck in Hillreach hearing about dumb gossip from people he wished he could spit on if it wouldn't ruin his family's business.

"Say, Christopher did you hear about that new man that moved in next door?" Mrs. Kemp questioned from her spot on in the chair out from the harsh heat of the sun beaming down on them. Mrs. Kemp was the richest white woman in town, and Chan hated her for reasons perfectly valid. She always had something to say, something homophobic, racist, and just downright awful about almost everyone living in town, and always insisted on staying with Chan until he finished working on her car. He never really understood why she insisted as if she didn't have six kids and 13 grandkids to drive her around. Nonetheless, Chan kept his mouth shut because she paid incredibly well.

"I did, Mrs. Kemp," Chan grunted from underneath the car, tightening a pipe underneath as the woman began having oil leaks early in the week. His voice came out muffled considering he was laying in a very dark and stuffy area underneath her 1950 Chrysler DeSoto DeLuxe, but Mrs. Kemp either heard him just fine or predicted what he was saying and kept on speaking.

Chan was predictable that way.

"He looks far too young for him to be living on his own. I heard that dirty man, Henry Neal down at the sandwich shop offered the young man a job but he declined! I knew that colored hair meant trouble! My granddaughter said she saw him at the pool the other day and he had tattoos on his back and arms! Can you believe that?" She sounded scandalized as she spoke but Chan tuned her out for the most part. He really only began listening again when he heard about the different hair color and tattoos because they didn't get folk like that anymore. They didn't really get any new folk anymore. They always get run out.