{completed} cuties » stray kids

little café » hyunlix

little!felix
caregiver!hyunjin

i really wish there was a little space café like this :(

hyunlix was requested by Stayforever00325 and i hope you enjoy!

~*~

Felix was a regular at the Sunshine Café a few streets down from his apartment block and he didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Normally when he went, he was met with CG/L couples being cute and domestic while sipping on milkshakes, which was what the café was originally designed for.

But when Felix started visiting the small café regularly, the staff realised that he didn't have a caregiver. They'd tried to talk to Felix on multiple occasions to try and learn more about him, but Felix didn't really talk much. He only ordered strawberry milkshakes and coloured when he brought his colouring book and pencils with him.

Because he was the only little who went there without a caregiver, the staff tended to look out for him whenever he was there to make sure he was doing ok and not being approached by any strange people. While there, he had become quite acquainted to Chan, one of the baristas at the café. Chan could tell Felix was Australian even when he spoke in Korean; his dialect was just similar to Chan's. And when Chan went to serve him his usual strawberry milkshake, he decided to ask Felix.

"Are you from Australia, Lix?" He asked, bending down next to Felix's table so he was eye-level with Felix.

The boy looked up at Chan in fright, not expecting him to suddenly ask a question, but when Chan smiled warmly, Felix nodded.

"That's so cool! I'm Australian too!" Chan exclaimed, and Felix put his pencil down slowly.

"Weally?" He asked quietly, and Chan smiled wider.

"Yeah, I'm from Sydney!" He answered. "Here's your milkshake, sweetie."

Chan put the small glass on the table and just as he was about to leave, Felix's small hand reached out and grabbed his forearm.

"S-Stay?" He asked hopefully, and Chan looked behind him at where Changbin was standing behind the counter, silently asking his friend to cover for him for a few minutes. Changbin smiled and nodded, and Chan stood up to sit across from Felix.

"Sure, love," he replied, smiling a dimpled smile at Felix.

And that was how Felix's friendship with Chan started. Chan was pretty much the only member of staff Felix openly talked to, even though he did say hello to Changbin whenever he walked in, realising the beefy man wasn't actually scary at all.

Chan was able to find out a lot of things about Felix; how hard it was for him to move to Korea on his own and that that's the reason why he became interested in little space but hadn't found anyone to look after him yet. From there, Chan asked Felix what his type was, figuring he could help Felix out since he was too busy working three jobs to be a caregiver.

But he did have other friends who were interested in the same things as Felix, only on the other end of the spectrum. Chan knew they were all good guys, so he decided to do some things for Felix and set up a little date for him.

"I actually know a guy who's been looking for a little for a while," Chan said. "He's one of my best friends so he's really nice, I promise. If you want, Lix, I can bring him here one day and you can meet him?"

Felix looked extremely anxious at first, the tips of his ears burning and face beginning to clam up.

"You don't need to, honey, I promise," Chan reassured. "He's around our age - younger than me but older than you - and he's so caring and sweet. And it would all be here and I would be right behind the counter if anything goes wrong. So, what do you say, Lix?"

Felix thought about it for a moment before nodding. There really was no harm in trying since it would be at the café where the staff held a zero tolerance policy to any form of abuse towards the littles and caregivers who went there. Felix knew Chan would be there in a second if this guy tried anything he didn't like.

"I'll let him know then, angel," Chan smiled, ruffling Felix's hair before he got up to put his tray back.

As the days passed, Felix found his anxiety for the 'date' melting away into excitement. He had never met anyone who actually wanted to be a caregiver, and if Chan said this guy was nice then it had to be true! Felix made sure all of his pencils were sharpened and that he had enough sheets in his colouring book to share with his 'date'.

He'd even dressed up in his favourite yellow skirt and matching jumper, and Chan noticed when he walked in.

"Lixie, you look so cute!" He complimented and the younger giggled. "Take a seat, Hyunjin will be here in a bit, he said."

Hyunjin.

Felix thought that sounded like a nice name, so he nodded happily and sat down at his normal table, flicking through his colouring book and finding a really nice picture of a cupcake he wanted to colour.

As he started, he didn't even hear the bell above the door chime or Chan greeting someone until the chair opposite him was being pulled out and a man was sitting in front of him. Felix jumped, covering up his colouring in fear and looking up at the man.

"Lix, this is Hyunjin, don't worry," Chan reassured. "Hyunjin, this is Felix."

"Pleasure to meet you, Felix," Hyunjin stuck his hand out for Felix to shake, which he did so hesitantly, not being able to take his eyes off of how big Hyunjin's hand was compared to his. "Can I see your pretty colouring? You were working really hard on it when I came in."

Felix shyly uncovered his colouring, whining a little when he saw he had creased it in his hurry to hide it from Hyunjin. Tears filled his eyes quickly, but Hyunjin was even quicker to shush him.

"Shh, angel, it's ok," he cooed, cupping Felix's face gently and wiping the tears that had fallen. "We can start a new one together, how does that sound?"

Felix nodded, sniffling as Hyunjin gently took the book from him, flicking through the pages and letting him choose out a colouring.

"What about this one?" He asked, stopping on an image of a field of flowers. "We can both colour our own flowers!"

Felix didn't say anything, but judging by the way he pushed his pack of colouring pencils towards Hyunjin, the elder took that as a yes. Smiling, Hyunjin took a red pencil while Felix took a green one and they both began working on separate parts of the colouring.

"So, what do you do, Felix?" Hyunjin asked, still colouring. He wanted to make the conversation feel casual to Felix and less like an interrogation.

"I study art," the little answered quietly. "My mum helps me pay for my apartment but it's onwy a teeny one. What does Hyunjinnie do?"

Hyunjin smiled at the nickname Felix called him. "Hyunjinnie studies dance. He's been really stressed at the moment but all of his friends have work and icky boyfriends so Hyunjinnie's been alone a lot."

"Fewixie been alone a lot too," Felix replies. "No one but Channie-hyung and the people here know I'm a wittle. And because no one knows I come here."

"Well, I'm really glad you come here and that Channie-hyung told me about you because you're such a cutie," Hyunjin cooed, and Felix giggled in a small voice.

He was beginning to feel less nervous talking to Hyunjin, the elder just being so nice and patient with him that it wasn't hard for Felix's shoulders to relax and his voice to grow louder and more confident.

Maybe meeting up with Hyunjin could be a regular thing and not just a one-off?

~*~

thank you all so much for 400k+ reads!! i hope you all had a very merry christmas and have an amazing new year! what are your new years resolutions?? mine is to take everything at face value and not rely so heavily on the maybes and the what ifs!