Chapter Text
Felix
“We don’t want your kind here!”
That was the last thing Felix heard from his landlord right before he kicked him out for being fae.
Felix ran his fingers through his hair for the thousandth time that night. His human friend Eric had been kind enough to let Felix sleep on his couch for a few nights when Felix had vaguely explained his landlord had cut his lease short when Felix couldn’t meet new rent criteria. It wasn’t technically a lie, so he was fine in telling Eric that much without saying the complete truth.
That meant that Felix was frantically searching the internet for places to rent in the middle of the semester when he should be studying for midterms.
The cafe he was sitting in was practically empty, save for the young barista leaning against the counter whose head was propped in his hand and not-so-discreetly falling asleep. Felix couldn’t blame him--it was the middle of the night, and even for a 24-hour cafe this was surely the graveyard shift. He sighed and refreshed the page he was on again. Nothing new--yet, he added mentally, trying to keep positive despite the circumstances.
Felix was young for the fae, only 20, and though his parents hadn’t lived in the human realm at the time, they thought it’d be advantageous for him to learn the same way humans did, and five years ago had enrolled him in a human high school. While it wasn't uncommon for the fae to cross over into the human realm, High Fae rarely, if ever, did. This meant Felix had had no idea what he was getting into when he accepted his parent's proposition. While it wasn't easy- he never gave up and stuck with it to the end. With his success, they moved the rest of the family through a portal in Australia, where supernatural species were more widely accepted, but Felix chose to stay in Korea, where he’d become comfortable with the culture. After his graduation, he’d found a passion for writing, and started university aiming for an English degree. Learning human languages was difficult, but fun, and he’d had help from kind classmates. But not all humans were kind. Most people his age didn’t care if you were human or not, but many from older generations were wary and skeptical of other species. Because of this, Felix tended to keep his species a secret as much as he could. He’d had too many encounters where friends had turned on him, or landlords had kicked him out. There weren’t any laws against species discrimination, so most supernaturals did their best to blend in with human society--of course, for some, it was near impossible. Merfolk, avians, demons, and many of the lesser fae had the hardest time, with traits that were nearly impossible to hide. Some, you would never know they were anything but human the entire time you knew them. Felix had done his best at his last place to blend in, using a special magic called glamour to hide his ears and humanize his more fae-like features, but he’d been careless with his it one too many times and the landlord had caught on.
Felix swore to himself he wouldn’t slip up again, not like that, and especially not at the worst time in the school year to lose your apartment. He sighed again and considered heading back to Eric’s, but it was late, and he would feel bad if he woke up his friend. He tried to sip his coffee but realized too late that it was empty. He slumped down in his chair and closed his eyes, defeated.
Suddenly, a new mug was placed in front of him, making him jump a little. Felix perked up, glancing at the barista that’d been falling asleep behind the counter a few moments ago, and was now sliding into the seat across from Felix. In his exhausted state, all Felix had noticed about the other boy was his cute chubby cheeks. now he noted his warm eyes and friendly, open demeanor.
“Thank you,” Felix said, throwing caution to the wind with his gratitude. Humans didn’t latch on to debt the same way fae did.
His barista grinned at him, mouth curving into a heart shape.
“No problem, bro! We’ve all been there before, you know, burning the midnight oil to get some last-minute studying in. I get you, my midterms are kicking my ass right now.” the barista laughed, plucking another mug from the tray he’d carried over and taking a sip.
“Oh, yeah, don’t remind me,” Felix grumbled, wrapping his fingers around the warm mug, “Studying would actually be better than what I’m doing now, though.”
“Oh?” the barista asked curiously, his dark hair flopping over his eyes, “What do you mean?”
Felix rolled his eyes, “I’m looking for a new place. My landlord implemented some new silly criteria for rent and I couldn’t afford to keep living there.”
He told a similar story to the one he’d told Eric. It made it sound like his landlord had raised the rent when really he’d kicked Felix out after finding out he was fae, despite there being nothing in the contract against it. But because Felix was technically a guest, he had to obey the rules of the contract as per fae culture, meaning his landlord had the final say on whether he could stay or go. And go he did, almost immediately after the scathing encounter.
He took a sip of the liquid in his mug, finding it to be the exact same as what he’d ordered before. His surprise must have been evident on his face, as the barista laughed again.
“Don’t worry, I promise I didn’t creepily remember your order from before. I'm way too tired for that, anyway. It was on the computer from earlier,” he said, but quickly sobered up, eyes full of concern. “Isn’t raising the rent out of nowhere, like, illegal? And you don’t have a place to live right now?”
“Um, probably. I’m staying at a friend’s apartment for now, but it’s just temporary until I find something.” Felix shrugged and took another sip of the warm drink, savouring the hazelnut flavour.
The barista had latched on to the same words Eric had, letting Felix relax a little. For now, his lie of omission would go unnoticed until someone asked him directly if he’d been kicked out for being fae. Then, he’d have a whole new set of worries. Thankfully, High Fae had a bit more wiggle room when it came to fae rules. If he was lesser fae, he'd definitely have a harder time navigating a conversation.
"So, basically you're homeless right now."
Felix winced, but he had to admit the truth. "Yup. pretty much."
The barista slumped down to match Felix. “Damn. That really sucks. Is there nothing posted online?”
Felix shook his head. “No. It’s not a typical time for landlords to be posting for new tenants, so there’s nothing. Especially since this is a student city, everyone’s rents are up in April or May, not the middle of autumn.”
The barista was frowning into his mug. “That doesn’t seem fair,” he said, more to himself than to Felix. Suddenly, he sat up and leaned over the table, eyes bright.
“Okay, what about this? I live in a really big house--like, huge--and I share with seven other guys, and the owner is super young, like our age, and he’s really nice and the rent is really low and I’m sure there’s a spare room. You could move in, even if it was just for a bit until you found a new apartment. What do you think?”
Felix was taken aback, and his first thought was to decline, but, would he have another chance like this? He didn’t know this guy, but he was nice and friendly enough. Felix couldn't detect any hostility or ill intent from him, either. He believed Felix, and wasn’t skeptical of his story, despite the lack of details. he was just a genuinely nice person trying to do something good for someone else, even though the other person was a complete stranger.
Felix wrapped his glamour around himself a little tighter. As long as there wasn’t another High Fae in the house, which was super unlikely, no one would be able to tell he wasn’t anything other than human. The risk of anyone discovering the truth about his species was low as long as he didn't make anyone suspicious. And if no one discovered the truth, he'd be safe. He contemplated for a moment, weighing the pros and cons, and finally looked back up at the barista.
“Are you serious about this?”
The barista’s heart-shaped smile widened and he stuck out his hand for Felix to shake, “Han Jisung. It’s nice to meet you.”
Felix grinned back and took his hand.
“Lee Felix. The pleasure is mine.”