Strawberry Milk - Jeonglix

5

Felix went to the park after college on Monday evening but nobody else was there. Chan was revising for his music exam and Minho and Hyunjin were apparently busy with other things. Felix hoped Jeongin would turn up but after an hour of attempting to laser flip and failing alone, he decided to go home.

He couldn't make it to the park on Tuesday or Wednesday due to an upcoming biology test, but Thursday evening was what Felix had been looking forward to all week. Thursday was the day Felix and his friends met up on every week without fail, but this time he was particularly excited to see them. After getting home from college, he'd spent an hour in his garden practising the laser flip and finally, he'd managed it. He was eager to show Chan his achievement as he raced down the streets to the park.

"On time this week, I see," Hyunjin said as Felix reached him. He was stood by the gate like the previous week but instead of smoking, he was pushing it open, about to enter. Something about him caught Felix's attention though, something metal and circular in the centre of his bottom lip.

"Holy fuck, you got a lip ring!" Felix exclaimed.

"Yup, why are you so excited? Do you want one too?"

"No, no! My mum would kill me, but it looks cool on you," Felix answered, following Hyunjin through the gates after hearing him chuckle.

"Thanks, little guy," Hyunjin teased, making Felix scrunch his nose up until he noticed Chan skating a few feet away. He started skating towards him with a beaming smile, repeatedly calling his name.

"Why are you so excited?" Chan asked, his own face starting to lighten up. The excitement was practically radiating off of Felix.

"Chan, I did it! I did the laser flip!"

"Let me see," Chan said and Felix nodded, skating away from Chan so he had enough distance before racing forward. After gaining enough speed, he pressed his foot onto the back of the board and successfully flipped it up, completing all of the steps he'd previously found so difficult with ease. He landed back on it, wobbling slightly but managing to maintain his balance as he skated on. "Holy shit, you actually did it!" Chan exclaimed, skating over to Felix and holding up both his hands to high-five him.

"That's great, Lix," Minho said from where he stood by a rail, not standing on his skateboard but rather blowing out smoke from his cigarette. His voice didn't sound sincere at all and Felix rolled his eyes.

"It is actually. He's been working on that for months," Chan defended.

"Yeah, whatever. You're going to be even more excited now though, Lixie. Your freakshow boyfriend has turned up!" Minho snickered, nodding in the direction of the park where Jeongin was approaching one of the benches. Felix scoffed.

"His name is Jeongin and he's not a 'freakshow.' Leave him alone."

"Ooh, you learned his name, did you?" Minho inquired, a smug smirk displayed on his lips.

"Yeah, I learned his name because I'm not like you and I don't go around calling strangers freaks or weirdos," Felix said and before he could stop himself, the next sentence fell from his lips, "God, you weren't like this before Jisung left you. He's lucky to be away from here."

Minho's smirk was dropped and replaced by a clenched jaw, fist tightening at his side. "What the fuck did you say?" He asked, taking a step closer to Felix who had frozen.

"Hey, stop-" Chan held his arm out to block Minho but the latter shoved him away.

"No, what the fuck did you say, Felix?"

"I, um...I-I said you weren't like this before Jisung left you," he mumbled, voice small as he took a step backwards. A lump lodged itself in his throat as Minho took another step forward. Why did he have to bring up Jisung? He should have known that was going to make Minho angry.

"He didn't fucking leave me. We're still together, he just moved abroad to study so don't bring him up like that. And why the fuck did you say he's lucky to be away from here, huh? What did you mean by that?" Minho spat, pointing a finger in Felix's direction. Felix was shaking now, his bottom lip starting to quiver as he backed up against the half-pipe.

"That's enough!" Chan said, stepping between the two and placing a hand on Minho's shoulder. Minho tried to shove him away but it didn't work this time. "Felix is right, ok? You need to stop treating everyone the way you do. I know he shouldn't have brought up Jisung like that but he didn't mean it so let it go, yeah?"

Minho finally knocked Chan off him, scoffing. "It's so obvious you prefer Felix. Why don't you just go and fuck each other or something?" He mumbled the last part but both of them heard it. He walked over to Hyunjin who had been watching from afar and grabbed his hand, pulling him out of the skatepark. They left both of their skateboards behind and Chan knew he would have to carry them home later.

Chan rolled his eyes, muttering a "very mature," as he sunk down onto a nearby ramp, his head in his hands.

"I'm-I'm sorry," Felix apologised, walking over to where Chan was sitting with hesitancy, "I didn't mean to make him angry, I was just-"

"It's fine, Lix, really," Chan looked up to meet Felix's watery eyes and pulled him down onto the space beside him.

"I don't know why he's acting like this recently. I guess it's because Jisung's been gone for a while now and it's all sinking in that he won't be coming back for a very long time...he shouldn't be such a dickhead though."

"I shouldn't have said what I did," Felix admitted, his eyes fixed on his grazed knees and he brushed a finger along the broken skin.

"Maybe he deserved it that once. Besides, I've never seen you stick up for yourself like that."

"Oh," Felix chuckled, "Yeah, um...I was standing up for the boy from the park actually."

"Ah," Chan realised, looking across the road to see the mentioned boy sitting on one of the benches, almost hidden by a large bush but just about visible. "Well, either way, maybe don't say it again but I'm proud of you," he said.

Felix grinned, "Thanks."

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Felix and Chan were sat on the top of one of the half-pipes, Felix's notebook open in the middle of them as Chan read over the lyrics he'd written for his music assessment. While he read over them, Felix's attention drifted elsewhere, onto Jeongin who had moved to one of the park swings, lost in his own little world as he rocked himself backwards and forwards ever so slightly.

"It's a love song," Chan realised, looking up at Felix's who turned his head away towards him, "who's it about?"

"What? It's not about anyone! I was just writing, I don't know," Felix mumbled, a light blush dusting over his cheeks as he tried to close the notebook but Chan pushed it back open. When Felix groaned and looked back at Jeongin on the swing, Chan followed his line of vision and grinned.

"What's his name again?"

Felix quickly shook his head, "no, no it's not about Jeongin! I was just writing anything, really. I made it all up."

"I didn't say it was about him. You're the one that just insinuated that."

"N-no I didn't."

Chan chuckled, "so his name is Jeongin? He finally talked to you?"

"Yeah, a little. He's very quiet but I think I made some progress. I don't know, I just don't want him to be alone. I'd like to be his friend."

"I'm sure he'll be happy to be your friend if you keep talking to him. I mean, you've probably talked to him more than a lot of other people have managed to, right?"

"Yeah," Felix realised, "yeah, I guess I have."

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Question of the chapter!! What TV shows are you watching at the moment? This has no relation to the chapter what so ever, I'm just curious sbsbbabs.

I don't actually watch a lot of TV because I mostly just...write for all of my free time but I'm currently watching Sons of Anarchy because biker gangs are cooooool and an interest of mine for some reason.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!!