Chapter Text
Felix slurps his ice coffee through a straw, trying to look contrite. He knows he fucked up, but wasn’t it so that there’s no such thing as bad publicity? Besides, it’s his naked ass on that video, so he should be more upset than Jisung. But the truth is, he doesn’t really care all that much. Yes, it was reckless and careless and stupid. He really should be more careful who he hooks up with. But on the bright side, he has seen the full video, and in every single frame Felix looks fucking stunning, so at least that’s good.
Nonetheless, Jisung is lecturing. “I’m telling you this not only as your manager, but as your friend,” he says, tapping his fingers on the desk. “This can’t continue. You will lose endorsements.”
“I know, Sungie, I’m sorry.” Felix is picking at some invisible thread on his sleeve. “The guy’s an asshole. But it’s not my fault. How could I have known he’s gonna leak it?”
Jisung scoffs, incredulous. “Common. Fucking. Sense.” He takes off his glasses and rubs the bridge of his nose with his fingers. “You do not let a random nobody you picked up at a bar make a video of you two fucking. I can’t believe I have to explain this to you.” Jisung sounds tired.
“Can’t we like, use it? People had their whole careers take off after such videos and—”
“Your career has taken off years ago,” Jisung interrupts him. “And this fucking video is likely about to sink it.”
Jisung is right, Felix is probably one of the highest paid models in the world, and definitely one of the top three supermodels in Asia.
He purses his lips and keeps his eyes to the floor, trying to look so very guilty and repentant and poor, hoping that Jisung will remember he’s actually a victim here. “Is it really bad?”
“Yeah it is.” Jisung sighs, then in a softer tone adds, “Look, babe, I did what I could, pulled every fucking trick I know, and the video is gone. But the damage remains. And it’s not even just about the video anymore.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, Lixie, don’t get me wrong, but you’ve been partying a little too hard this last year, and you do know what the press is like…”
He knows. Full well. He knows he’s the gossip magazines’ favourite topic. But that’s just tabloids, they’re always gonna come up with stories of one-night-stands and wild drug-induced parties and exorbitant daytime drinking. Even if they aren’t true. Which in his case they are. But still. It’s just tabloids, and Felix is a young guy with a penchant for fun, not a monk.
“I pulled you out of the fashion week events,” Jisung says.
“You what?” Felix nearly drops his coffee from the shock. “Why would you do such a thing?” He stands up from his chair and starts pacing around the office. “I can’t believe you’re serious. What the fuck? You can’t—”
“I can and I did,” Jisung once more interrupts. “Just the Seoul one, you’re still on for the big four. Tokyo too. Felix, it’s really not a big deal, and it’s for your own good. Trust me.” He gets up as well, walks over to Felix and holds his shoulders gently. “Babe, look at me. You’re taking a break, yeah? A mental health break, or something—we’ll have the publicist work on the wording—to reflect on your lifestyle. Hey, don’t sulk. It’s just for a little while, a month at most. And during that month, you’re gonna stay home, sleep, and rest and do whatever the fuck you want. But you are not to go out. Not to clubs, not to parties, nowhere. And you are not to hook up with anyone. Buy a dildo or whatever, but absolutely no hooking up with anyone.”
“I have a dildo,” Felix grumbles.
“Good,” Jisung says, clapping his shoulders. “Then use it. Buy another one. Or five. And stay the fuck home . Alone.”
“Is this like, a punishment?” Felix asks.
Jisung smiles. “No, babe. It’s just for this whole thing to die down. And what’s wrong with a little rest, huh?” He tucks a strand of hair behind Felix’s ear. “Then, exactly one month from now is Audemars Piguet new collection launch party. That’s when you’ll leave your confinement, cause of course you’re not gonna miss that. I wouldn’t be that cruel.” He taps Felix’s nose softly with his finger. “And you will do exactly what I say, because we shall not be making stupid decisions and doing stupid things from now on. I will make sure you’re number one, not just in Korea or Asia, but in the whole world, just as you deserve. But you have to get it in your beautiful head—what we do is not just about your gorgeous face selling fancy things you wear in photoshoots and on the runway, we’re also selling values, image. That’s why we can’t have you snorting cocaine off some rock star’s abs or whatever people did in the ‘90s or whenever they were wild and reckless. We need to guard your image, babe, okay?”
Felix nods, still pouting. “Okay.”
“Several brands asked for you to wear them for the AP party. I’ll send you the samples, we’ve got some two weeks to decide what you want to wear,” Jisung says, returning to sit in his chair. “You’re gonna be so gorgeous and everyone will be so hungry for you after your little break, and it’s gonna be the perfect time for you to show the world your new boyfriend.”
Felix nearly chokes on his ice coffee. “My what now?”
“I got you a boyfriend, babe.” Jisung grins. “Or I mean, Minho pulled some strings. You have a boyfriend now. He’s super cute.”
“Jisung,” Felix says slowly, as if talking to a child. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
Jisung sighs. “Press calls you promiscuous, and you need to offer a new, different image. Which is why I think you need to settle down.”
“You found me a boyfriend? To settle down with?” Felix repeats, trying to process what on earth is Jisung on about.
“Like I said, Minho pulled some strings. He knows the sports people.” Jisung smiles as if this is not the most insane thing he’s ever told Felix.
“You and your husband…found me a boyfriend…among the sports people?” Felix shakes his head, blinking. “Jisung, I love you, but I’m gonna go have lunch with Jinnie now, and you’re gonna call me in the evening to tell me this was all a joke, or I’m gonna go find myself a new manager.”
“It’s not a joke,” Jisung says. “Or it is, but not a joke joke. It’s fake. You’re not dating him for real. Just a publicity stunt. You know people do those all the time.”
Now it makes sense, but it is still nuts.
“I don’t need publicity, Sungie,” Felix says. “I already have it.”
“Mn, not the good kind though.” Jisung smiles. “And we’re gonna fix that.”
An hour later, Felix is sitting with Hyunjin in the private room of a restaurant watching Hyunjin stuff his mouth with food. Felix toys with the straw, chasing whatever remains of his drink between the ice cubes, thinking how this is his last time to be out for the whole next month because Jisung obviously decided to punish him. He won’t even be able to sneak out, because he will be watched at all times by Minho’s men. Jisung says it’s for protecting his privacy, keeping the press away during his “retreat” but Felix knows the moment he steps out of his house, they’ll ring Minho who will then ring Jisung who will then, well. Felix doesn’t know what. Make sad eyes at him probably.
But it doesn’t matter really, because Jisung is right. He’s been his manager for years and it was his dedication and hard work that contributed to Felix’s success as much as Felix himself did.
When Felix first entered the world of modelling, as a scrawny teenager barely out of puberty, freckled and not tall enough, he was stuck under a less than favourable contract with a shitty agency and when finally, after three years, he signed up for one of the bigger, more respectful modelling agencies, Jisung was working there as an intern. For whatever reason, he saw potential in Felix and tried any way he could to shove him in the face of the big managers and land him more gigs, often risking his own position, first as an intern then as a full time employee, to help him make a name for himself. It was through his dedicated effort and through his belief in them, that both Felix and Hyunjin rose to success. So when, a couple of years later, with the help of his very rich husband, Jisung opened his own modelling agency, Felix and Hyunjin were the first ones to jump ship and go to him. They stayed with him ever since. Jisung is more than just a manager, or even more than just a friend. By this point he’s family. Felix trusts him. But he’s annoyed nonetheless.
“I’ll come visit you,” Hyunjin says, snapping him out of his gloomy thoughts. “We can have sleepovers. Little private parties just the two of us. I’m sure that’s okay. D’you think Jisung will agree?”
“He’s already agreed to that.” Felix pushes his glass to the side. “You can come, as long as nobody sees you leaving my place wasted. I negotiated. Or, I mean, I might have cried a little.”
Hyunjin laughs. “And Jisung fell for it?”
“Not really,” Felix smirks. “But I guess he was worried I won’t agree to any of this other insanity he and Minho cooked up, so he let me have this little thing.” He takes a deep breath, wishing for another drink. “Can you believe it? Tell me this is not the most ridiculous, stupidest, craziest thing you ever heard.”
Hyunjin is still giggling. “D’you know who the guy is?”
Felix puts his face in his hands. His laughter is more helpless exasperation than mirth. “Jisung forgot the name. He’ll text me in the evening when Minho returns home. It was Minho’s connection anyway. He knows the sports people.” Felix does his best Jisung impersonation, gesturing vaguely with his hand, and they continue laughing. “Oh god,” Felix groans. “I need another drink.”
“But Jisung said he was cute, right?”
“It doesn’t matter, Jinnie,” Felix says. “It’s not like I’m dating him for real. But yeah, Jisung said he was cute. Super cute.”
Hyunjin sighs, leaning back in his chair. “I should ask Minho to find me a boyfriend too. He’s got connections everywhere, it shouldn’t be a problem.” Hyunjin frowns. “Amazing how we never found out what exactly he does.”
Felix laughs. “Honestly, I think not even Jisung knows what his husband does either.”
“But what’s the deal with the guy?” Hyunjin asks. “Your super cute sports people boyfriend? Why is he doing this?”
“Jisung says he needs publicity.” Felix shakes the half-melted ice cubes in his glass. “He’s new, so he’s hoping some exposure might land him a brand sponsorship or get him more international attention or something.”
Hyunjin nods, pushing his plate away. He pouts, batting his eyelashes for the effect. “Lixie, let’s go to your place, make margaritas and flirt with the hot bodyguards Minho sent you?”
“Bodyguards is too fancy a word for Minho’s thugs.” Felix laughs. “And I doubt they’re hot. But even if they were, they’d report everything to Jisung. Or they’re probably even wearing a wire or something, and Minho would fucking listen to whatever we do, and then Jisung would lose his shit entirely.” Felix picks up his bag and gets up. “But definitely,” he says, putting on his sunglasses. “Let’s go make margaritas.”
Later in the evening, right around their sixth margarita, Jisung texts.
kim seungmin
hes a snack look him up
minho’s guys say hyunie’s with you drinking, he has to stay the night and only return home when hes sober. Im serious babe, i told them to detain him at yours if he tries to leave drunk
Feeling petty, Felix leaves him on read.
He and Hyunjin right away google his fake boyfriend though. He’s a baseball player. And Jisung wasn’t lying—he is cute. Super cute.
Hyunjin spends the entire weekend. Which is very sweet of him, as Felix would otherwise be miserable thinking of all the fun events around the city that he’s not attending and being promiscuous at. They gossip, paint their nails, nap curled up together, and finish all the alcohol Felix had in his home. On Monday, Hyunjin uses the last bit of vodka to make them bloody marys for breakfast.
“Celery has zero calories,” he informs Felix, then scrunches up his face as he bites on the stalk. “All of this,” he says pointing at the glasses, “is zero calories. We can have as much as we want. Or we could, if we didn’t run out of vodka.”
“But alcohol has calories, you know that, don’t you?” Felix asks, then takes a sip. Hyunjin did a good job with the cocktails.
“I know,” Hyunjin agrees. “But it doesn’t count. Cause it’s liquid. You just pee it out of your body. Zero.” He smiles.
Felix giggles. He’s pretty sure Hyunjin knows full well that’s not true, neither for celery nor for alcohol, but they cling their glasses together, grinning.
“Zero calories,” Felix toasts.
“Pee it all out,” Hyunjin chirps back.
They sip their bloody marys and eat their celery stalks.
“D’you think Minho’s guys might run to the store for us?” Hyunjin asks.
“They might if we need food, or like, medicine,” Felix ponders. “But I don’t think they’d get us drinks. I’m sure Jisung instructed them not to.”
Hyunjin sighs dramatically.
“But Jinnie,” Felix says. “You’re allowed outside. It’s only me under house-arrest. You can go and bring us drinks. Maybe also some coke.”
“I know,” Hyunjin pouts. “But it’s boring to go alone.”
When they finish their zero calories breakfast, Hyunjin puts on sunglasses and Felix’s fur coat, and heads out.
Felix manages a bath and a power nap before Hyunjin is back with six large bags. Felix is not sure how he didn’t fall under the weight. He quickly goes to help him unpack.
“It’s so cold outside, Lixie,” Hyunjin complains, taking what’s probably two kilos of limes out of a bag. “The wind is insane.”
“Oh my god, your hands are freezing,” Felix says, taking a bag from Hyunjin, and starts stacking one carton of energy drinks in the fridge on top of the other. “Oh you got different kinds,” he notices.
“Yes, I get bored with just one flavour,” Hyunjin explains.
He reaches into another bag then starts handing Felix bottles of vodka, two at the time, that Felix dutifully continues to arrange in the fridge.
It’s a proper haul. They’ve got four cartons of different energy drinks, five bottles of vodka, just as many tequilas and three triple secs.
“Yay.” Felix claps his hands, and they giggle.
“How on earth did you carry all this?”
Hyunjin shrugs. “I also picked up some food on the way.” He shivers. “Oh god the taxi driver was so grumpy because my order got mixed up and so we had to wait for the restaurant to sort it out, but then I messed up cause I only ordered enough for one person, so we had to wait again and he kept complaining about not being allowed to park there or something. And for the rest of the ride he was doing that annoying thing where he breaks really hard on purpose and all the bottles were falling and clinging and smashing against one another. I worried they’d break.” Hyunjin keeps on fixing his hair as he rambles. He actually rambles a bit too much and Felix eyes him suspiciously. “And I was literally so nice? Like you cannot imagine how nice, Lixie. I was chatting and being empathic, really tried to, what’s the word, connect with his aura, but he was just so mean.”
Felix hugs him. “What an asshole.”
“He didn’t even help me with the bags, so my hands were occupied and I couldn’t take off my sunglasses, and it’s already getting dark outside and I tripped and nearly fell cause I couldn’t see anything.” His fingers reach for Felix’s still damp hair and he starts braiding a few strands. “Minho’s guys were actually sweet and offered to help. The younger one is kinda hot, by the way. He sort of caught me when I tripped. It was very sexy, the way he held me. I think he likes me. But I didn’t want them to know it’s all these bottles I’m carrying so I just carried it all inside myself.”
“You are the best and bravest friend in the whole world,” Felix kisses his cheek. “I’ll make you a drink.”
“Can you fix me an old-fashioned?” Hyunjin asks, his restless fingers drop to gently tap Felix all over his cheeks. “Your freckles are so pretty, Lixie,” he says, amazed as if he sees them for the first time ever. “Like little stars.”
Felix smiles, amused. He pretty much can guess what’s happening, but he doesn’t voice it yet.
Hyunjin rolls the fur coat off his shoulders. “But yes, please make me one. The kinda hot bodyguard smelled like cigarette smoke and that always makes me crave old-fashioneds. I don’t know why. D’you think I have daddy issues? My dad doesn’t even smoke though. Or maybe it’s just a daddy kink then? D’you think it’s related? Or can you have one without the other?”
“No? Yes? I don’t know,” Felix laughs. “But Jinnie, we don’t have the ingredients for an old-fashioned. You know that. You know what you brought us. So, you can get vodka red bull or whatever energy drink you got to go with it, or you can get a margarita, or a bloody mary. But without celery cause we ate them all. Or we can just do shots.”
“We are so poor.” Hyunjin sighs, then his expression swiftly changes. Excited, he exclaims, “Let’s do shots.”
“Should we eat first?”
“Oh yes, let’s.” Hyunjin sits on the kitchen stool, taking out neatly packed boxes from the sixth bag. “Good idea. Cause I'll forget about food later. Kinda forgot about it already.”
Felix squints at him. “Jinnie,” he starts, his tone knowing and mischievous. “What have you got?”
Hyunjin smirks, looking prim. “A surprise.”
Felix smiles, licking his lips. “Well your surprise seems to be kicking in. And I’d want us to be surprised at the same time. So, out with it. I have to catch up.”
Hyunjin giggles, rummaging through his bag.
“What is it?” Felix asks. “I’m guessing molly.”
Hyunjin hands him a little cellophane bag with several tablets in different colours. “You are so clever, Lixie,” he says. “I love you. Let’s play some music.”
The next morning, Jisung strides in angrily, with Jeongin, his assistant, in tow.
“A fucking kindergarten is what I run, not a modelling agency,” he rages. “You two need a babysitter, not a manager.”
Felix opens his eyes and the light hurts him. He gently shakes Hyunjin by the arm, but Hyunjin usually needs something at least as loud as a cannon fire to wake him up, especially now after being awake for probably over 24 hours, so Felix’s weak slow-motion nudges do absolutely nothing. He lies face-down, with his head in Felix’s lap. There’s a candy wrapper stuck to his ear.
Jisung smacks his butt so hard that both Felix and Jeongin flinch, and Hyunjin stirs, then turns to the side and frowns. He slowly sits up, looking confused.
Leaning against the cushions, they sit in silence, waiting for Jisung to finish his tirade. Jisung being angry is a funny sight. Like something out of a cartoon. With his big round eyes and his soft round cheeks, Jisung looks like a cute little critter, and even when he is fuming, he doesn't seem any scarier than a very agitated squirrel.
While Jisung rants, some bits of last night flash in Felix’s mind. He remembers music, Hyunjin dancing. He thinks they might have broken a window somehow. Hyunjin spilled water all over them. Felix remembers them giggling in the yard outside, their breath foggy in the cold night air. Hyunjin squirming, pressed to the guy he said was kinda hot, whispering in his ear. Felix called a taxi, then it had to be sent back. Hyunjin threw his jacket and Felix’s bag over the fence into the street. Then the other guy was talking on the phone, and Felix and Hyunjin demanded they speak to Minho, but when the guy put him on speaker and they yelled their complaints, Minho only laughed at them.
“Just get them back in the house,” he said to his guys. “They’re off their fucking tits, even a toddler could handle them. The fuck are you doing calling me at three am?”
Then they were back inside, and Felix remembers them watching TV for a while, munching on melatonin gummies, then finally dozing off on the sofa long after the sun had risen.
Felix reaches for his water bottle that he spotted nestled against the armrest and drinks almost half of it in long greedy gulps, then groans. “Innie,” he asks Jeongin. “Could you please make me a coffee?” His voice is raspy and broken. He sounds and feels and probably looks like a zombie.
Jeongin looks at Jisung, as if to ask permission, then walks to the coffee machine when Jisung nods.
“Nnni,” Hyunjin mumbles, clumsily raising his hand before letting it drop. “Mha.” He wants coffee too. He sounds parched and Felix hands him the water bottle, urging him to drink.
“Fucking unbelievable.” Jisung sits on the coffee table in front of the sofa, facing them, and extends his arm, palm open upwards. “Alright, hand it over.”
Felix and Hyunjin only blink.
“Come on,” Jisung urges, impatient. “Whatever it was, whatever drugs you did, I’m sure there’s more. Hand them over.”
Don’t do it, Felix chants inside his mind. Don’t do it.
But Hyunjin, for whatever stupid reason, twists his body to jut out his left hip, obediently digs in his pocket and, as meek as a lamb, without any protest, hands Jisung the cellophane bag. There’s still at least 4 pills inside. Felix closes his eyes. Fucking hell Jinnie.
Jeongin brings them coffee, and Jisung goes to the fridge. He chucks all the remaining alcohol into bags, which he then hands to Jeongin. Confiscates everything except the energy drinks.
“Thank fuck the neighbours didn’t file a noise complaint, or there’d be pics of police cars pulling over to your house in the middle of the night plastered all over internet today,” he tells Felix.
Then Jisung and Jeongin leave, taking Hyunjin with them, and Felix goes to bed and back to sleep.
When he wakes up, the broken window is miraculously replaced and his house is miraculously clean. There’s a text from Jisung.
sorry i shouted
you pissed me off
eat something ill come see you tomorrow or day after
His fridge is also miraculously filled with food. Felix peels an orange, then eats half of it and texts Jisung back.
im sad sungie
Jisung apparently is also petty because now, he leaves Felix on read and the following day he doesn’t show up but sends Jeongin in the evening to check up on him instead. He brings some editorials and a boba for Felix, which is actually rather nice.
Jeongin makes himself a coffee, then sits down to chat. “My dear esteemed Mr Lee,” he says, sounding very official and very insane.
Felix raises his eyebrows, surprised at the exaggerated address—at his most respectful, Jeongin might have called him hyung. They are usually rather chill, so Felix is not sure why he’s taking the piss.
“I met your boyfriend today.” Jeongin stirs his coffee and smiles. “He’s very handsome.”
“Innie baby,” Felix says. “Drop the honorifics act, it doesn’t suit you, and tell me more.”
“I wanted to make it sound formal. Portentous. Okay so. We went to meet him cause, oh my god,” he giggles. “There’s a contract he’s had to sign—I drafted it—and so he signed it, and he’s very handsome.”
Felix laughs. “This has to be the driest account of an event ever.” Felix grabs his hand and shakes it, whining. “Innnniiie . Tell me about him, what’s he like, what was he wearing, what does he sound like, what does he smell like, how handsome is he.”
Felix knows this is ridiculous and pointless because it’s all fake—there’s a contract for fuck’s sake—but he’s bored and his life is sad now that he’s in his confinement, so he takes his fun where he can get it.
“Okay so, he was wearing like, jeans. And a jacket. One of those puffy ones. Black. High street brand, can’t tell you which, not very impressive. But...” Jeongin sips his coffee, making a dramatic pause. “His ass is really nice.”
“Yes, Innie,” Felix cheers him on. “That’s the exact kind of information I need. I’d reward you with a margarita but you and Jisung requisitioned all my liquor. I’ll reward you with an orange. Or a red bull.”
Jeongin lets out a small rueful snicker. “I’ll take the red bull. We have that sustainability in fashion panel meeting early in the morning and I still haven’t finished my presentation for the Swedes—they arrived today by the way, asked about you—and Jisung will kill me if I fuck up, or if I, I don’t know, yawn during the panel. God, it’s so much work, I’ll probably be up until morning.”
“Better still,” Felix says. “Why don’t you pop one of those pills you took from us, you’d nail your presentation then.”
Jeongin almost spills his coffee laughing. “Oh just imagine Jisung if I did.”
Felix laughs as well.
Then Jeongin gets serious. “He’s so angry with you. Do you even remember what you did that night?”
“A bit?”
“You made such a mess here—and I know cause I was the one who had to book a cleanup the next day—you went completely wild, trashed your kitchen. Hyunjin offered to blow one of Minho’s guys to let you go to some party in the harbour. Almost succeeded, by the way. But the other guy rang Minho and told him everything. Jisung was so pissed. Even more so cause Minho didn’t tell him right away as it was the middle of the night, and he didn’t want to wake him up. Only told him in the morning. So yeah, the first guy, the one Hyunjin wanted to blow, has been fired.”
“Right. And then I am called promiscuous.” Felix sighs. “Jinnie gets away with everything.”
“No, Lixie.” Jeongin puts his coffee on the table. “Hyunjin does what Jisung tells him to. He’s very compliant. And even when he’s super wasted he seems too dazed to actually do anything. He just sits there looking pretty. You start taking your clothes off after one drink.”
Felix rolls his eyes. “Oh my god, Innie. Just cause I said to drop the honorifics, doesn’t mean I’ve given you permission to call me a slut.”
Jeongin right away bows, apologetic. “I am sorry, hyung. I never said that.” He smiles, eyeing Felix who is also smiling.
“I know, Innie,” he says. “I’m joking. I’m bored.” Felix pouts, bats his eyelashes, tilts his head a little. “Will you help me break out of here?”
“No?” Jeongin snorts.
“This is basically a kidnapping.” Felix chews on a tapioca ball, his face serious, explaining slowly in a very soft voice, accentuating all the big words, looking up under his eyelashes and keeping his hands on the table in a serene, demure way. “I'm being held prisoner. Against my will. It’s illegal, Innie. You know that, you studied law.”
“I studied communications and fashion brand management. You know that.” Jeongin gets up to take his empty cup to the sink. “Are you…Why are you being Hyunjin suddenly?”
“I thought it might work. Did it?”
“No.”
Felix groans and slumps down in his chair. Hyunjin is in fact one of the smartest people he knows, but most people think there’s not a single thought in his beautiful head. He leans into it heavily to get what he wants, saying any random words that come to his mind, regardless of what they mean or how they relate to reality, simply to confuse people. Then he blinks, acting like a total air-head, and people scramble to do stuff for him. Anything you want, gorgeous. Only Jisung is somewhat immune to his ability to dumb-babygirl his way out of any situation, mostly because he has his own babygirl technique he uses on Minho and can tell Hyunjin’s act for what it is; everyone else caves in in a snap. Or if they don’t, they end up arguing against points that are so nonsensical and so beyond any reason, that they’re actually impossible to even argue against. In the end, everyone admits defeat, exasperated, while Hyunjin, gracious in his victory, only smiles, looking pretty just like Jeongin said.
Felix sighs. “I shall surrender a whole carton of energy drinks and my last three oranges. Please?”
“I have to go,” Jeongin says, picking up his bag. He looks like he’s run out of patience. “It’s late and I’ve work to do. And you’re not forced to stay here.” Jeongin sounds a little irritated. “You can leave and do whatever you want. Nobody’s gonna stop you. It’s just, it would be against Jisung’s advice. And he’s really pissed off. And it’s your fault. And I was the one who’s had to deal with him these last few days.”
With those words, Jeongin walks out, leaving Felix to now also feel guilty on top of everything.
Felix spends over a week either napping, soaking in the bath, masturbating, or talking to Hyunjin. Hyunjin doesn’t visit, but their phone calls last hours, and he listens, full of sympathy, to Felix bitching about Jisung and Minho whenever Felix feels particularly huffy about his imposed seclusion. Then the preparations for fashion week start and their long daily talks stop because Hyunjin is busy. He, unlike Felix, did not have a porn video of himself leaked, and the press doesn’t call him promiscuous, so he gets to do whatever he wants, while Felix has to stay home and mope.
Jisung doesn’t even text him, and that hurts.
Then on Thursday of the second week, Jisung comes with a huge fruit arrangement and the clothes samples for the AP party.
“Sorry I couldn’t come sooner, babe,” he says. “I’ve been crazy busy. Still am.” He gives Felix a kiss, then pulls him in for a hug.
Felix is at first stiff, angry for being ignored for almost ten days, but Jisung holds him for a long time, not letting go, and after about a minute, Felix’s eyes well with tears.
Feeling the way Felix’s shoulders shake, then hearing him softly wail, Jisung holds him tighter. He rubs Felix’s back, and kisses his hair. “Aw babe, don’t cry.”
“I’m fucking miserable,” Felix bawls.
“I know, shh, don’t cry,” Jisung coos. “You’re almost halfway through, though. And you’re doing great. Really, thank you. I know it’s hard, babe. Really, thank you for listening to my advice. You’re being good and I love you. You know I only have your best interests at heart.”
“I know.” Felix sobs, his wet face making a mess of Jisung’s coat. “But I feel like I’ll go insane here alone. I’d sell my soul for, I don’t know, a trip to 7-eleven or something equally drab.”
Jisung laughs. “Aw babe, is it that bad?”
“It really is.”
Jisung leads him to the sofa and pushes him down into the cushions, then he takes his phone and starts typing.
Felix sniffles, chewing on his thumb.
“Don’t do that.” Jisung taps Felix’s hand away from his mouth and resumes typing. “Okay,” he says after a few moments. “I was gonna make you try the clothes now and decide, but this is what we’ll do instead—but only this once because you’re so sad—Minho will be home at around six and make dinner. You’re gonna stop crying, get dressed—please wash your hair too, it’s a little icky—and then I’ll drive you to ours and we shall have a nice dinner together, maybe see a movie if you like, and then I’ll drive you back home. How’s that sound?”
Felix nods, wiping his face.
“Good. Innie will come pick the clothes up on Friday.” Jisung checks his phone. “Which is…tomorrow actually, so please try them all out and decide by tomorrow evening. Okay. Let’s get you ready now.” He checks his phone again. “You’ve got two hours. Start with the hair. Really, babe, how’d you let it get like this…”
By the time they arrive, the dinner is almost ready, and when Minho opens a bottle of wine and pours Felix a glass, Felix wants to weep with gratitude.
“Hyung,” Jisung protests, jutting out his lower lip ever so slightly.
“Ah it’s okay,” Minho says. “He can have a glass every now and then.”
“He could, if he’d be able to stop after one glass.”
“I can stop after one glass,” Felix grumbles, offended.
“No you can’t,” Jisung says.
“Don’t worry, baby.” Minho wraps his arm around Jisung’s waist, handing him a glass too. “It’s just us here, and a glass or two is okay, we won’t let him have more. You have to give him something , or he’ll…I don’t know what he’ll do but I know it’s gonna be stupid. So yeah, let him have a little wine.”
Jisung doesn’t seem convinced, but Felix sips his wine, savouring the taste, trying to restrain himself from gulping the whole glass in one go. Having shown great dignified self-control and prudence, he’s actually given even more than just one glass, and he and Jisung finish a whole bottle over the course of the evening. It’s a fun evening and, in that warm bubble of domesticity, home-made delicious food, Minho’s cats and Jisung’s easy laughter, Felix doesn’t feel like going back to his place to be alone and miserable again. So when Minho picks up his car keys to drive him back, Felix snuggles next to Jisung.
“Sungie,” he asks. “Can I stay here tonight?”
Minho pauses, turning to look at Jisung, his hands almost putting the keys back into the little porcelain jar.
But Jisung sighs. “I’m sorry, babe,” he tells Felix. “We have plans.” Then, as Minho picks up the keys again, heading to fetch his coat, Jisung whispers in Felix’s ear, “And I’m a loud lay.”
Felix laughs. “Okay. Fair.” He gives Jisung a kiss and gets up. “Thanks for this, Sungie. Have a fun night.”
“Innie will come see you tomorrow,” Jisung shouts after him. “Please decide about the clothes until then, cause he needs to return those samples.”
When Minho pulls up the driveway, he gives a brief absent-minded wave to the guys standing at the gate, then turns to Felix.
“Have a good night,” he says. “I’ll come pick you up again on Saturday.”
Felix raises his eyebrows. “Am I being transferred to a low-security cell block? Having my sentence reduced for good behaviour?”
Minho chuckles. “Good behaviour, yeah right,” he scoffs, and Felix giggles.
“I’ll pick you up again on Saturday because I think you could use some proper food. You look like a fucking ghost,” Minho deadpans. “And my husband makes money off your looks.”
“Ow,” Felix winces. “You hurt my poor little feelings.”
“I also think it’s good for you to embrace this idea of having a few glasses and then being able to stop. Like normal people do. So consider this a training.”
“Oh fuck you, Minho,” Felix snaps. “Go train your husband to reply to my fucking texts.”
“Or you can just stay here alone.”
Felix purses his lips, irritated. He loves both of them, he really does, and he misses hanging out with them. He had fun and he’d very much like to repeat this on Saturday, but he’s offended to be treated like a child.
“Aaaaa, come ooonnn.” Minho grips Felix by the shoulder, then starts slowly pulling him and shaking him left and right, moving him this way and that, and Felix at first smirks, then eventually breaks into laughter.
“Look,” Minho tells him. “I know it’s been hard, and I know that that stupid video wasn’t entirely your fault. And I’m sorry you’re now dealing with the consequences. If it’s any consolation, the consequences that asshole faced are much worse, Jisung and I made sure of that. But listen, it’s hard now, I know. But it’s gonna be okay. Just two more weeks.”
“Thanks, Minho.” Felix squeezes his hand. “I’m sorry for that mess that night with Jinnie.”
“Nah, that’s okay, you two were dumb and harmless,” Minho chuckles. “And I loved seeing Sungie all riled up.”
Felix smiles. “He’s funny when he’s angry.”
“I know, he’s adorable.”
“Like a huffy little squirrel.”
Minho nods, cackling. “Yeah.”
Felix kisses him on the cheek, then opens the car door. “Bye.”
“You know, I met Chan the other day,” Minho yells after him. “He asked about you. Give him a call, I know you’re bored.”
Felix waves, and when Minho drives away, he gets inside and does exactly what Minho told him to. He calls Chan.
Chan is Minho’s friend, and he and Felix had a thing. More than a thing really, they actually tried to have a proper relationship. Years ago, when Felix still doubted he’d ever really make it big and pretty much only Jisung believed in him, one of the first gigs Jisung got him was a music video for a debut single of an upcoming artist that was his husband’s friend? protege? associate? That was Chan, with his easy warm smiles, amazing body and full lips that carried promise of something deliciously dirty. Sparks between them flew from the moment they first laid eyes on each other.
The pull was so strong that even before the first hour of shooting ended, they already had a date set up. While, initially, romance was to be only implied in the scenes, with almost no physical contact between them at all, Felix and Chan could hardly keep their hands off each other. Implied became overt, the tone of the video changed, new scenes were scripted, and the shooting staff almost had to physically drag them off one another as they wouldn’t stop kissing and making out even long after the director shouted cut.
The music video ended up being so charged, their chemistry off the charts, scenes between them so suggestive and steamy and sensual that the scandal the video caused contributed to their popularity. Both Chan and Felix became household names overnight.
But if Felix had a busy schedule, and he did, it was nothing compared to Chan’s. He was working on his music non stop. Writing, composing, producing, recording, performing, promoting, all sorts of things Felix doesn’t even know to list. Minho and Jisung were thrilled about the two of them dating. Jisung was all set on launching Felix’s career, and Minho was doing something with Chan’s record label that Jisung didn’t know enough about to explain to Felix properly. But despite the enthusiasm, Chan and Felix hardly had time for each other, meeting maybe twice a month, their interactions reduced to brief texts during the day and late night calls before they both pass out knackered. It couldn’t work and, in time, they shared so much with each other in these calls and gotten so close, and the initial passion they felt gave way to what became a strong friendship.
They tried a couple of times, much later, to rekindle the romance, or just to have sex, but it felt weird, almost incestuous, and they both concluded that just friends it is. Although sometimes, when Felix needs to feel good about himself, he likes to flirt safely, knowing that no matter what he says it won’t lead to anything, and that’s when the two of them can get pretty shameless.
“Channie,” Felix says when Chan picks up. “What does Minho do?”
“Hm? Well. You know. All sorts of stuff. Like, um…business, and—”
“You don’t know either, do you?”
Chan laughs. “Don’t tell him. We’ve been friends for over a decade and I still haven’t a clue. What’s good, Lix, how you been?”
“Oh just swell,” Felix says. “Marvellous really. Have you seen my video? It’s almost as hot as the one you and I made.”
“We never made a porn video,” Chan says, and Felix can hear the smile in his voice.
“No?” Felix asks. “Wasn’t that how we met?”
“That was a music video.”
“Hm. I could have sworn it was porn. Are you sure?”
“Yep. It was on MTV and all.”
“Right…well. My latest video didn’t make it to any TV station unfortunately. Have you seen it? Like I said, it’s nearly as hot as our MTV one.”
“So I heard.” Chan makes a sound in his throat, then exhales through what’s probably a stretch. It’s late. “No, I haven’t seen it. I think Minho might take it badly if he learns I’m getting off to the video that gave his husband a conniption.”
Felix smiles.
“Besides,” Chan continues. “I think it’s gone now.”
“I might have a copy saved…”
“Naughty.” He can hear Chan click his tongue. “Tsk tsk tsk. Whatever do you use it for?”
“I send it to hot rock stars to fish for compliments after Minho insults me telling me I look like a ghost.”
“Is Minho being a meanie?”
“He is. I’m practically grounded.”
“Unfair. I’d have just spanked you instead.”
Felix laughs. “May I snort coke off your abs?”
“Um, say please?”
“Please.”
“You may.” Chan chuckles. “But seriously now, what?”
“Jisung thinks that I should. Or actually he thinks that I definitely shouldn't. But he gave me the idea. How am I even a model if I’m not snorting cocaine off some rock star’s abs?”
“You know my music is not really rock.”
“You’ve got abs though, as I vaguely recall. Remind me… Please?”
Felix hears shuffling, then his phone pings. A text from Chan’s other number. A pic of Chan’s hand scrunching up a t-shirt to reveal his chiselled stomach. Felix can see a thin line of soft fuzz dripping from his navel to disappear inside the hem of his underwear.
“Channie,” Felix says. “Why don’t you, like a true rock star, sit on your motorcycle, bring your fabulous abs here and swoop me away into the sunset? For old times’ sake.”
Chan laughs. “I don’t have a motorcycle.”
“You should get one. Stat.” Felix gives a rueful little smile. If they had met at a different time, they’d have been so good. “Nice talking to you, Channie. You’re a good friend.”
“Take care, Lix.”
Next evening, Jisung texts to say something’s come up. Jeongin will come tomorrow instead to pick up Felix and take him to Jisung and Minho’s. Felix can bet that the thing that came up is just Jisung forgetting something in the office, and he kinda feels bad for Jeongin, who’s obviously been charged with fetching it on a Saturday. Then he thinks how, given his current circumstances, he’d trade places in a snap. Even if it means being Jisung’s little errand boy at his beck and call at all times.
Then on Saturday afternoon, Jeongin pulls up the driveway in a car entirely ridiculous. Felix looks through the window and wonders how he never noticed what Jeongin drives. It’s one of those small compact cars with a front that looks like a dumb and cute face of a cartoon character. It looks like a mint ice-cream cube.
Jeongin steps out of his little toy car, struggling with a large suitcase in one hand, and his phone, sunglasses, car keys, a boba, and a cross-body messenger bag in the other.
Minho’s guys are either utter assholes, or Minho has instilled the fear of god in them after what happened with Hyunjin and they now keep well away from anyone visiting Felix, but for whatever reason, they don’t offer to help. Jeongin huffs and puffs, juggling the items in his hands, then somehow seems to find the best way to hold them all. He is in fact talking on the phone, loudspeaker on, which explains why he doesn’t just chuck it in the bag. Instead he holds it in his hand as car keys dangle attached to his finger, and the boba looks dangerously close to being dropped and spilled all over Felix’s lawn.
Felix opens his front door.
Jeongin nods as he enters, tilting his head to the phone, as if to apologise why he doesn’t greet him properly. “Alright, no worries,” he says. “I’ll do it. Don’t worry. Bye!”
Felix takes the boba and gives Jeongin a little peck on the cheek, then Jeongin drops everything else on the kitchen counter.
“Innie,” Felix asks. “Why are you driving…that?”
“It’s electric? And I like it?”
“Jisung should pay you more,” Felix says. “That car is a joke.”
Jeongin sighs. “I like that car. And I am paid well enough.”
Felix knows that he is, but he likes to tease him.
“Are you ready at all?” Jeongin asks. “Give me those samples, and we can go.”
Oh shit. The samples. That explains the suitcase. Felix kinda forgot about that.
When Jeongin sees his reaction, he sinks into a chair and slowly puts his hand over his mouth. “You didn’t even see them, did you?” He sounds defeated.
“Of course I did,” Felix lies, then instinctively looks behind him to the armchair in the corner, where the clothes, still unwrapped in their protective covers, lie thrown over the side, right where Jisung left them two days ago.
“Oh my god,” Jeongin groans. “I take it back. I am not paid anywhere near enough to handle you. I think not even what Jisung earns would be enough.” He puts his elbow on the table and leans his cheek on his palm. “I need to hand those back first thing on Monday morning, and I’d really love to not have to come here again tomorrow. One day off per week I think is not too much to ask for.”
“Work is good for you, Innie,” Felix brushes Jeongin’s hair with his fingers. “If you work hard, you’ll have more money and be able to buy a better car.”
“Hyung,” Jeongin whines, giggling. “Why do you bully me?”
“Because you’re cute.” Felix stands next to him and cups his face. “Now, Innie, my sweet baby with a dumb car, I didn’t forget about the clothes. I only wanted to give you the honour to pick them for me.”
“You’re lying.”
“Even if I am, this is your chance for vengeance. You can pick whatever you want from that pile, even if it’s as ridiculous as your little toy car out in the driveway, and I shall wear it to the AP party without a word of complaint.”
Jeongin smirks, helpless and cute.
“I’m serious, Innie, pick anything. Do your worst. Make your revenge sweet.”
Jeongin gets up from the chair with a sigh and heads towards the armchair.
“But just so you know,” Felix tells him. “I shall tell Jisung it was you who picked it. So choose wisely.” He gives his most devious smile. “I can get you fired.”
They both start laughing when a voice startles them into shocked silence.
“Felix Yongbok Lee,” Jisung shouts from the kitchen counter somewhere. “I hope you are aware just how incredibly cruel and nasty that was.”
“Oh my god Innie you little shit,” Felix rushes to the counter. “You had him on speaker all along.”
“I didn’t know,” Jeongin laughs, running after him. “My hands were busy so I just dropped it all, I thought he’d hang up.”
“Sungie, you know I didn’t mean it.” Felix says as they both giggle and stand over the phone, elbowing each other like a couple of kids.
“Innie,” Jisung speaks from the phone. “You have my permission to pick the ugliest outfit you can find. He deserves it and I don’t even care anymore. And hurry up, you’re already running late, everyone’s waiting for you.”
As Jeongin rummages through the clothes pile, Felix goes to check himself in the mirror once more. He wonders who is everyone Jisung mentioned. Can’t be just him and Minho. Could it be his new fake boyfriend? First meeting in a casual setup on familiar ground for Felix? His home court, to use a sports term. Felix feels his cheeks fill with some tangy thrill, and he cringes at the stupid joke he made in his head.
“Lixie,” Jeongin snaps him out of his thoughts. “Help me put these in the suitcase please.”
During the drive, Felix allows himself some giddy anticipation. He knows he’s acting like a hair-twirling teenager, but he’s so bored, and he craves company and fun and flirting and sex, oh he really really craves sex. So what if he’s excited at the prospect? He already imagines sexy baseball player Kim Seungmin offering to drive him back home, then the two of them making out in the car in his driveway, stumbling across the lawn kissing, then Felix getting his back blown out. Oh it would be fun. His heart beats faster in an excited frenzy.
But when they arrive it is not Kim Seungmin, but Chan, sitting on the sofa, playing with one of Minho’s cats.
A pang of disappointment bolts through his chest, but then Felix feels bad for his reaction. He loves Chan dearly, and is happy to see him. When they hug, Felix tries, just in case, for the millionth time, to see if his stomach will flutter to Chan’s proximity, but for the millionth time it doesn’t, and for the millionth time, that’s okay.
Jeongin is standing in the entryway, shuffling his feet. “Okay so, I’ll be going now,” he says. “Have a nice evening, everyone.”
“What?” Jisung rushes to him. “Innie my sweet baby, you have to stay.”
Felix, Minho and Chan also call from the living room, “Yes, Innie, stay.”
Jeongin looks at Jisung, then to the living room, then down to his feet, then again to the living room, and agrees, blushing for some reason. He at first refuses a drink, on account that he has to drive back home, but Jisung talks him into it.
“Don’t be silly, Innie,” he says. “Chan is not drinking, and he’ll drop both you and Felix off when he heads home. You leave your car here and I’ll drive it to the office on Monday.”
Felix almost laughs out loud imagining Jisung in Jeongin’s little cartoon car.
The three of them get quite tipsy, slowly riding through the buzz of the wine, chatty and giggly. After they finish eating, Chan offers to help Minho clean up, and Jisung drags Jeongin and Felix out to the balcony.
“I need a smoke,” he huffs.
Felix takes one too and they light up. He doesn’t really smoke, but he likes to keep Jisung company on his little renegade cigarette breaks.
“If Minho comes,” Jisung tells Jeongin, “this is your cigarette.”
“I don’t even smoke,” Jeongin laughs.
“You do now. Anyway, Lixie.” Jisung turns to him now. “This week, we’ll start setting you up with the um, what’s his name, the boyfriend.”
“Kim Seungmin,” Felix supplies a bit too promptly.
“Yes him, good.” Jisung blows out a long puff of smoke. “I was actually about to tell you to learn stuff about him, his name and such, so good job, babe.”
“What do you mean exactly, setting me up?” Felix asks.
“Ah just stuff like social media, you’ll see.” Jisung puts out his cigarette and chucks it in a little box which he then hides behind a potted plant. “I’ll tell you all you need to do, don’t worry. It’s gonna be great. Let’s go inside, it’s fucking freezing.”
It is agreed that Chan will drop Felix off first, as he’s closer, so when they head to the car, Jeongin confidently walks to the front. But Felix pulls him by the arm.
“Nuh-uh, Innie,” he says. “I sucked this man’s dick, so I have the passenger seat privileges. Off you go to the back, and be grateful I don’t strap you in a kiddie booster.”
Jeongin blushes through an embarrassed smile.
“Oh god, Lix,” Chan groans, laughing, and palms his face. “You can’t say stuff like that.”
“Is it not true? Surely my blowjobs aren’t that easy to forget. Is this you hoping for a reminder?”
Chan smirks, shaking his head as he opens the door for Felix. “Get in.”
As Felix fastens the seatbelt, Chan opens the door for Jeongin—that’s the thing Felix always liked about him, how polite and genuinely nice he is, taking care of others—then walks over to the driver seat, gets inside and starts the car.
Later, when Chan pulls over, Felix steps out and keeps the door open. “Now you may switch,” he tells Jeongin graciously.
But Jeongin tucks some hair behind his ear, then scratches his lower lip and bites on it, his fingers sliding down his neck to hook at his scarf. “I don’t think I have the privilege,” he says meekly and stays seated, eyes glued to his lap.
By the way Chan raises his eyebrow, then adjusts the rearview mirror to get a better look at Jeongin, Felix can tell that this little act Jeongin just pulled had affected him.
Felix wheezes with laughter. “Oh my god good night, Innie, you little slut. Well played, I am proud of you.” He looks at Chan, then at Jeongin, then back at Chan again. “It kinda tracks, actually, that the baby whore act would work on you.”
Jeongin stoically blushes in mortified silence and Chan shakes his head through an embarrassed chuckle. “Shut up, Lix. Good night.”
“Good night, Chan. Eyes on the road, get this baby whore home safely.”
Before crashing into bed, Felix orders three new dildos, express next day delivery, then opens the baseball wikipedia page.
The next few days, he spends his time sleeping, masturbating and obsessively exercising. Minho was right, he kinda did start to look like a ghost. He stocks up on veggies and fruit and even tries cooking, but after scorching rice two times in a single day, he gives up culinary attempts and switches to ordering healthy meals online.
He also develops a habit of checking up on his fake boyfriend. Kim Seungmin. Who is super cute. Felix finds out he’s a pitcher. Something called a relieving pitcher, in fact. Felix never cared about sports, but now he reads up on baseball and gets a little familiar with the terminology and the rules. There’s nothing else to do anyway.
He also learns that Kim Seungmin is a nice boy from a nice family from a nice neighbourhood. No famous exes, no problematic history, no scandal in sight. Pretty boring if you think about it. But he is cute, with dark hair, exceptional eyebrows and an honest confident smile. He has an amazing body too, really nice arms. Felix read that pitchers must have a lot of arm strength. That’s hot. Kim Seungmin is hot. But he also seems warm and pleasant and soft, like a puppy. Felix likes him. He names one of his new dildos after him and fucks himself silly on it.
One day, about a week before the party, Jisung texts him.
follow him back!
Instagram. Okay. Apparently, Kim Seungmin followed him, even liked a few of his posts. Felix dutifully follows back, likes a bunch of pics too. Nice.
Then, three days before the party, a large bouquet of white roses is delivered to his door. One of Minho’s guys accepts it and notifies Felix. The note is handwritten. A personal touch.
Han Jisung said I should send these to you. Hi. See you at the party.
Okay this is sweet, if a little forced. Felix smiles.
Jisung texts right away, no doubt notified about the flowers by Minho’s guys.
wear sth cute, ELEGANT pls, selfie with the flowers, add story, make it cheesy like youre in love
Felix rolls his eyes at Jisung’s instructions, but does as he’s told. He wears a soft silken baby-blue robe, hair loose and minimal makeup, then takes a selfie with the bouquet in his kitchen and posts on his insta story. He is not sure what to write, so he just opts for princess treatment and tags Kim Seungmin of course. Who likes it within seconds. Then the post gets like, forty two thousand likes just within the first five minutes.
Jisung sends him clippings—paparazzi pics of Kim Seungmin in the flower shop, then of the bouquet being delivered to the front gate of Felix’s villa, then the speculations in the celebrity gossip columns, theories all over social media. Felix and Kim Seungmin are trending. Nice. Jisung is thrilled.
The day before the party, Felix is tagged in Kim Seungmin’s instagram post. Audemars Piguet is also tagged, which Felix decides is a very ballsy move from the young almost unknown baseball player. Nice. Ballsy is good.
Looking forward to tomorrow ;) is what the post says, and in the pic, Kim Seungmin is wearing a white button up shirt with rolled up sleeves, looking very sexy in it too, and is apparently listing through AP’s new collection catalogue. The one with Felix all over it. The way he holds the catalogue makes it seem that the tip of his finger is caressing Felix’s lips on the page. The way Kim Seungmin gazes at the camera, eyes daring and bold, with the corner of his mouth only slightly curled into something between a provocation, a threat and a promise all at once, makes Felix conclude the finger caress is deliberate. Felix can’t help but smile as a small warm quiver dances inside his stomach.
Around Kim Seungmin’s sexy wrist is, how suitably, an AP watch, one of the Royal Oak models. Felix wonders how much baseball players make. Those watches are insanely expensive, and he is a little surprised that a young guy barely starting his sports career can afford it. Then he does a double take and recognises the watch as Minho’s. It has to be. He knows that watch well because not only has he seen Minho wear it zillion times, but he was also the one who helped Jisung pick it for him two years ago as an anniversary present.
This realisation leaves something embarrassing and bitter in his mouth, reminding him that this is all fake, make believe, directed by Jisung for Kim Seungmin and Felix to act out. That annoys him, and he puts his phone away.
Some five minutes later, it pings with a text from Jisung.
like the fucking post babe wtf is wrong with you
Felix sighs, then does as he’s told. He likes the post, but he can’t resist leaving a snide comment. Beautiful watch, he writes.
Kim Seungmin likes and replies to his comment right away: Not as beautiful as my date for tomorrow ;)
Despite himself, Felix smiles again. Okay so it is all fake, but at least Kim Seungmin is being smooth about it. He is ridiculously sexy, and it’s not his fault Jisung made him embarrass himself with Minho’s watch in front of Felix.
The internet goes crazy about their instagram interactions. Even AP likes the post and shares it to their story. The number of likes is in the millions. Jisung is ecstatic, but he still texts Felix to tell him he’s a bitch.
On the day of the party, Felix spends hours getting ready. He’s pleased to see that Jeongin picked a stunning piece for him to wear. Loafers in soft white leather, pants so tight they could be leggings, a sleeveless top so delicate and thin that it looks like it will disintegrate upon being touched and something that can only be described as a ghost of a blazer. Clothes are soft cream and silver, tight and wet looking, and he looks like some water fairy angel apparition, sexy and expensive. The hair and makeup artist that arrives does absolute magic making sure that every inch of him is perfect. He looks breathtaking.
When he’s ready, there’s nothing to do but wait. He wishes to text Hyunjin, chat with him for a bit, but Hyunjin has been in Tokyo for the last few days, shooting some editorial, and is arriving back later during the night. He most probably won’t even make it to the AP party.
It’s been agreed that Jisung and Minho will pick Felix up, together with Kim Seungmin, which Felix decides is good, because their first meeting might be less awkward if other people are around. He feels a little jittery about the meeting, if he’s being honest. That’s not like him at all, but after a whole month of being inside and alone, and with not even a little sip of drink now to soothe his nerves, Felix feels apprehensive. Excited, sure, but also strangely nervous. Like when he had to walk the runway for the first time ever.
He paces around his living room, then texts Hyunjin.
safe flight back jinnie, i miss you, catch up tomorrow <3
Five minutes of pacing around his home later, he texts Jeongin.
innie baby how is everything
Jeongin actually replies.
Omg i hope you’re not messing something up. I’ve been here with AP people since morning. Can’t sort out any mess you make. Jisung will kill us both. Please tell me all is fine
Felix giggles, wondering if he should reply and assure him all is fine, or leave him panicked, when he hears a car pull up the driveway. He looks out the window to confirm even though he knows it’s them. A limo. It is them. Confirmed. Okay, it’s time.
He gives himself another careful once over in the mirror, and just as he reaches for the door handle, the door bursts open and Jisung stumbles inside.
“I’m plugged full of come,” Jisung blurts out, shutting the door behind him.
“I’m…happy for you, Sungie, I guess?”
“That’s not the worst of it. It’s got app-controlled vibrations and Minho wants me to die.” He walks towards the kitchen, and Felix follows.
“Aren’t those loud?”
Jisung shakes his head. “This one’s very discreet. It’s not super powerful, but it’s big and kinda angled so, oh god aaaggh.” He shudders, squeezing his hands into fists, then takes a deep breath. “If it goes on for long enough, it’s…more than enough. But yeah, you might hear it if there’s no background noise at all. Like, now? If we’re quiet, maybe. Come, bring your head closer.”
Felix bends down, pressing his ear to Jisung’s lower back. First there’s nothing, but then a slight thrum reverberates suddenly.
“Oh fuck,” Jisung groans. “I need a cigarette.”
Felix snorts, laughing.
Jisung throws a look out the window. “Minho’s waiting in the car. I told him I have to pee, so we’ve got like, couple of minutes. Let’s go out in the back. He won’t see us there.”
They step out the back, and Jisung goes through his bag.
“Can I have one too?” Felix asks.
“Sure, babe, here you go,” Jisung says, handing him the pack. “If Minho shows up, it’s only you who’s smoking though. Oh lord, I will die.”
Kim Seungmin looks great. Over a casual black V-neck shirt, he wears a black two-piece. The suit is quite nice, well tailored to show his sexy arms and shoulders, but subtle enough not to take away from Felix’s light. His hands are warm and dry and strong, but he doesn’t crush Felix’s bones like some men do when they want to assert how much bigger and stronger they are. His grip is confident and self-aware, and just by looking at his eyes, deep and smiling under his exceptional eyebrows, and at his knuckles and veiny forearm, Felix is hit by a tidal wave of utter depravity. His mind fills with images of Kim Seungmin slapping his bare bottom, leaving a mark, strong hands grabbing his knees to force them open, fingers digging into the meat of his thighs hips stomach ass, leaving bruises in their wake, palm pressed over his mouth to keep him quiet as Kim Seungmin thrusts hard inside him from behind, fingers wrapping around his throat, pressing just tight enough to make it perfect.
Felix is relieved that when he opens his mouth, he actually manages to say his name, and not whimper like a horny idiot and beg Kim Seungmin out loud in front of everyone to rail him into next week. Yes, this guy is hot, but not to warrant this kind of reaction. And he seems entirely too innocent for any of Felix’s dirty thoughts to make sense. Felix has been locked inside his home for too long. He needs to calm the fuck down.
His fake boyfriend smiles, bright and honest and wide. “I was really looking forward to meeting you,” he says. “I heard a lot about you.”
Warm flush spreads around Felix’s cheeks, and he bites his lip, exhaling through a half swallowed giggle. “I hope you heard only the good things.”
“The best.”
Kim Seungmin has no business being this handsome, and Felix definitely has no business blushing like a flustered mess. He takes a deep breath. “I might have heard some things about you too,” he replies. “Might have also googled some.”
Jisung and Minho are grinning at them from the seat across, and Seungmin—only first names now, boyfriend style! they agreed on it right away—and Felix both chuckle, looking bashful and eager and stupid and cute.
They are silent for the rest of the ride, looking ahead at Jisung and Minho or out the window, but every now and then, they turn to each other and smile. The silence is not awkward though, because it seems like they’re communicating with their eyes each time their gazes lock, and also because Jisung blabbers non stop as Minho’s hand rubs his thigh. Once in a while, Minho takes his phone and checks something, and Jisung’s voice gets higher, more animated, probably in an attempt to be louder than the thrum of vibrations of whatever devilish toy Minho stuffed him with.
When they arrive, Jisung and Minho exit the limo first. They pause for a brief moment to allow a few pics to be taken, but then Minho puts his hand in his pocket where Felix saw him put his phone, and Jisung rushes to enter the club.
Felix and Seungmin exit the car slowly, taking their time, Seungmin first, then extending his hand to Felix, helping him get out. The excited noise of the crowd and the flash of the cameras that hit them make Felix feel like a fish that’s returned to the sea after it’s been out in the air for too long. Oh how he missed this. He smiles, waving, drunk on attention, basking in adoration.
In front of the entrance, they stand to pose and the clicking of the shutters and the blasts of blinding white flash almost smother them.
Seungmin has been coached well, because he stands behind Felix, just one step to the left. He embraces Felix’s waist and places his hand on Felix’s right hip, his thumb brushing the exposed skin of Felix’s midriff. The touch shoots through him, lighting up a fire in the pit of his stomach. It feels very intimate, proprietary even, but that’s how it should be given they’re playing boyfriends, and Felix likes it in a way that almost makes him shiver. They smile for the cameras.
Some of the crowd cheers for them to kiss, and Seungmin brings his head closer to the back of Felix’s neck. Felix expects he might kiss his shoulder, he even hopes he would. Seungmin gets so close, almost pressing into him from behind, his lips gently ghosting over Felix’s bare skin, his warm breath tickly on that sensitive part of flesh where neck and shoulder meet, and Felix goes weak.
Seungmin squeezes his hip tighter. “So,” he whispers. “I hear you’re a total slut.”
Okay. Rude. And unexpected. Not as innocent as Felix thought. A shocked gasp of laughter escapes him. He is perhaps even a bit amused. The puppy barks, apparently. Interesting. But what this Seungmin-pup doesn’t know is that Felix is in his element; this is his world, his kingdom, and he’s gonna teach this boy his place or eat him alive.
He doesn’t lose his cool for a single moment, smiling and waving for the cameras. “And I hear you’re a total loser who can’t even buy a watch,” he whispers back.
Seungmin snorts behind him. “Careful now, princess,” he warns, as his hand leaves Felix’s hip. “Or treatment’s gonna be one fit for a bitch.” Then the hand suddenly lands on Felix’s ass in a small playful smack. It’s a joke of a swat, hardly even deserving to be called a smack, but it’s sharp and quick and utterly unexpected, and it startles Felix. His body jerks as a tiny grunt escapes his mouth. The smile drops from his face, just for a moment, then he somehow composes himself and walks inside, past the frenzied crowd. He’s so thrown off balance that he can’t even act being cool. His smile is so obviously sour and just as fake as his stupid relationship.