Still A_Stray: Living With Stray Kids (ot8 fanfic)

Epilogue

Still astray, astray

"...and Hyunjin dyed his hair again," Felix added, rolling his eyes. "He's more indecisive than Jisung, I swear. For the sake of our friendship, I'm going to pretend it wasn't your coercion that turned him onto this hair-dying spree."

I laughed, shifting on the couch to hold the phone better. It was a tiny couch, like everything in the apartment, and I loved it with every inch of my soul. "That's too bad. I liked the pink. Claire liked it too."

"So did the rest of our fans, I'm pretty sure," Felix added with a snort.

I said tentatively, "So you and Hyunjin...?"

Felix smiled. "It's all sorted out," he said, eyes growing fond. "After JYP gave the news, everything we were arguing about just ... paled in comparison to that. We talked after, anyways, so ... we're good."

"And you?" I asked, lowering my voice.

"I'm ... okay," Felix said, his smile slipping a fraction. "I'm still not sure what I'm going to do. But I think I'm beginning to understand more of what you meant when you were talking about being close. I hadn't spoken to Hyunjin since our fight when we got the news that night, and the whole time I was just thinking ... those could've been some of my last days with him, and had just sat around moping and wasted it." His gaze fell on some spot, far away. "I'm not going to make that mistake again. So right now, just being close—it's enough. More than enough."

Good. I wondered, briefly, what might have happened if I had told him the truth—told him what Hyunjin had revealed to me during that car ride, revealed it to him before JYP made the decision and everything went to hell. Wondered what that might have changed.

It's not that I don't feel that way. It's that I do. I always have.

Maybe one day, Hyunjin would tell Felix, and they would be able to finally sort everything out without any secrets between them. But for now ... for now, I was glad I didn't have to be in the middle of it anymore. I'd gladly take Hyunjin's secret to the grave.

"I'm happy for you, Felix," I said, and it was true. He deserved something like this—something good.

His eyes crinkled. "What about you? How did the video calls go with all your suitors?"

"Don't call it that, and surprisingly ... not as bad as I'd expected," I admitted. "Awkward as hell, but ... I'm actually starting to like one of the guys my father introduced me to, the one in med school. Minyoung. He has a sense of humor, and he's not stuffy or presumptuous like the others."

Felix leaned forward, brows shooting up. "Does he like you?"

"Not at first," I said with a grin. "I'm pretty sure his parents pushed him into this, like mine. He's as romantically interested in me as I am in him. But, if it all works out ... we might end up becoming friends."

Felix snorted. "That's one hell of a way to meet a new bestie."

"Is that Yeji-noona?" someone shouted off-screen, and then Jeongin's face appeared next to Felix's. "Yeji!"

"Hey, Jeongin," I said, laughing.

"Felix, have you been calling Yeji this whole time and you didn't tell us?" Seungmin's voice came, and then the phone was taken from Felix's hands. "Rude."

"How's the dorm, Seungminnie?" I asked, fighting a grin.

"Still a pigsty." He moved the camera, flashing me a glimpse of dirty shoes, clothes on the floor, and Minho emerging from his room, heaving just woken up.

"Hi, Minho," I called.

"Hey, Yeji." He smiled, rubbing his eyes. "You want me to call the others? They'll want to say hi."

"Sure."

"Oh! Yeji, guess what?" Jeongin said, poking his head in again. "Remember how JYP said that our album might have been a flop and our concept sucked? Well, guess how many preorders we got for it?"

"How many?" I asked, smiling at his eagerness.

"Five million," said Minho before Jeongin could.

My jaw dropped. "Holy shit."

"Yeah, holy shit," said Felix with a laugh. "We set a new record in K-pop history."

Those words settled in me, and I grinned. "Good. You all deserve it."

"So does STAY," Seungmin added, eyes shining.

There was a crash, and the sound of the door. "Yeji, the others are here," Minho shouted from off-screen.

"Good. Hold on," I said, and lowered the phone, turning my head. "Claire?" I called.

It was a second before she appeared in the hallway, wearing an oversized gray shirt that brushed her knees, hair pulled up messily, and it occurred to me then that I would be more than okay with spending the rest of my life with this person and no one else. "Yeah?"

Happy. That's what I was, despite what parts of my life I'd lost in my deal with my mother, despite the turmoil that had wrecked on me. Because Claire was here, and Stray Kids were here, on the phone somewhere half a world away---I was happy.

I smiled to her, nodding my head towards the phone as the sounds of the members talking filtered into my ears, boisterous and nostalgic. "There's some people I think you should meet."

~The End~