Still A_Stray: Living With Stray Kids (ot8 fanfic)

Chapter 32

I want more, the Hall of Fame

The next day, I volunteered to drive Minho, Hyunjin and Felix to the dance practice place. Minho's arm was still bothering him, and he didn't want to use it too much before their practice, and neither Hyunjin nor Felix had licenses—though the latter had one in Australia—so I decided to be their chauffeur.

It was more for Felix than anything, mostly because I'd seen the terrified glances he was directing at Hyunjin all morning, of which Hyunjin was obliviously unaware. By the fourth time I caught him making moony eyes at Hyunjin's back as we prepared to leave, I pulled him into the nearest bathroom.

"Stop worrying so much, Felix. It's just a dance practice."

"No, it's not!" He shook my shoulders, voice frantic. "We're going to the private studio this time and Minho-hyung said he might have to leave early if his arm gets any worse and Hyunjin's been giving me weird looks all morning and I just know he's going to realize it and—" he cut off with a groan, head dropping until all I could see was his long blond hair.

I gently pried his hands off my shoulders. "I'll be driving, so you can always come to me—"

"You have to help me, Yeji," Felix said suddenly, his head shooting up, panicking once more. "If anything happens—I won't—I can't—"

I slapped him lightly across the cheek, not hard enough to hurt, but enough to make him stop talking in surprise. "Calm down," I ordered him. "Panicking will make things worse. What do you do when you start panicking?" I lifted his chin, not letting him look down.

"I accidentally duct-tape myself to the ceiling," he said, forcing the words out slowly.

"And?"

"And ... sometimes I hide under Seungmin's bed with an entire tub of ice cream and end up scaring him so badly he hits his head on the nightstand and gets a concussion," he mumbled.

"So is panicking a good thing?"

"Maybe."

"Felix."

"Fine, no it's not."

I nodded. "So you agree to not panic?"

"For the time being," he conceded.

"Alright, then. What are you going to do?"

Felix's eyebrows shot up. "What in the past fifteen minutes has told you in any way, shape or form that I have the answer to that question?"

I let out a half-laugh. "Touché. Let's make a plan, then, right now. So you're prepared. Like we did yesterday, remember?"

"Yeah, and that went perfectly according to plan," Felix muttered.

"It actually did," I pointed out. "It just didn't have the exact desired outcome."

He shook his head. "I don't think I want plans, Yeji. Not anymore."

I let out a sigh, leaning against the bathroom door. "Okay, then." I folded my arms over my chest. "The way I see it, there are two different paths that can come out of this. Number one—" I held up one finger— "You confess."

Felix looked ill. "Oh, fuck no."

I arched a brow, but held up my second finger. "Number two: you stay silent like you did last night, and things either go back to the way they were or just become more awkward for you both."