Chapter Text
There are a few pros and cons to moving out.
One. There’s more space. A lot of it. The walls stretch to reach the ceiling and it’s amazing. Grand. Luxurious. It reminds Felix a lot of home. He had installed a couple of shelves and now there’s so much space . Gone are the days when their dozens of pairs of shoes would pile in front of the door and give Seungmin an aneurysm. That problem’s Chan’s now. And Felix loves it. Their apartment looks like it belongs on the cover of a home design magazine*.
He has to give Seungmin a lot of credit for the cleanliness, though. The guy’s a clean freak—he enjoys cleaning. Likes to dust the tops of cupboards and vacuum the carpet. Felix undeniably struck gold because literally everyone else (aside from the two oldest, who have to be responsible) has zero to negative sanitisation skills and it’s kind of concerning. He shudders thinking about what Hyunjin and Changbin’s apartment looks like. Sure, they can function, but the definition of ‘functioning’ to the four pairs differ greatly.
He should visit them sometime. He misses them, even if he saw them five hours ago at practice.
That’s Con number one. He barely sees the members anymore. Well, maybe he’s being a little dramatic but the jump is still noticeably big . At least, by his standards as a raging extrovert. Everyone’s busy with the comeback, moving into new homes, the tour practices. It’s a lot. When there was Felix, Seungmin, Innie and Minho, they saw each other for a minimum of fourteen hours a day. And the gym dorm for just a little less, considering they were in the same building. Now the most he gets to see of them is when they’ve got same-scheduled practices. It’s sad and the codependency is real.
Sure, he could walk to their apartments, ranging from five to ten minutes away on foot. That’s totally a viable option. Except Chan’s usually never in there and if Chan’s not in, Jeongin’s not either. Changbin is wherever Chan is and Hyunjin is always bouncing around doing fuck knows what.
He doesn’t really want to walk into whatever Minho and Jisung could be doing.
Which is why Felix spends the majority of his free time online. With his overseas friends, playing games that sort of raise his blood pressure but alleviate pretty much everything else, including his loneliness.
Still, it’s not enough. Felix is a social butterfly being forced back into his cocoon. This is unacceptable. This is outrageous. This is like making a drug addict quit cold turkey. Incomprehensible, and Felix is feeling the drawbacks severely.
That's how he finds himself on the rug of their living room, sprawled in an unflattering position with Seungmin on the couch above him.
Pro Two. Felix has Seungmin all to himself.
Anyone who's met Felix for longer than five hours knows how much he adores Seungmin. And, hey, he’s not shy with it. There’s no reason to be. Seungmin is just lovable. That’s who Seungmin is. Felix is just giving him the love he deserves.
And maybe that love is a little overbearing sometimes. So. What? Let Felix love Seungmin. Seungmin is funny and kind and handsome and overall just perfect. Felix’s mother always told him to hang out with people he can learn from, which is why he hangs out with Seungmin. Someone so effortlessly smart and caring. Ugh. Felix could go on and on about Seungmin’s personality alone . It’s so sexy. Seungmin is so sexy.
“You shouldn’t lie down like that,” Seungmin comments offhandedly from above him. “You just ate. Your digestion will be all off.”
God. See? Seungmin might be the sexiest man alive. So knowledgeable. So caring. So husband-material. So—
“Lix.” Seungmin is frowning down at him. “Sit up.”
Felix sits up. And gives Seungmin a toothy grin. Seungmin rolls his eyes in response and goes back to his phone.
“Who’re you texting?” Felix asks, because he’s nosy like that. He tries to peak by pushing up on Seungmin’s knees but the other just glares at him and pushes him down. Rude. Seungmin is nice but can be really mean sometimes.
“It’s just Jisung,” Seungmin coughs. And oh hoh hoh.
A bouncy ball slides off the coffee table and rolls away, clearly not wanting to be a part of the following massacre that will consist of one Lee Felix and several of Lee Felix’s body parts.
Felix loves Seungmin. Felix is also not afraid of Seungmin.
“Just Jisung?” His lips curl. “Just Jisungie—”
Seungmin whacks him upside the head.
“Stop while you’re ahead,” He warns.
“Well—”
Fortunately for Seungmin, Felix does indeed stop while he is ahead.
Unfortunately for the both of them, he does not stop of his own volition.
Seungmin’s phone starts vibrating. Violently.
Felix smirks. “Wow, had your notifs on for once? Were you waiting for Hannie to call you?”
Seungmin frowns. “No. It’s an earthquake warning.”
Pause.
Huh.
“It’s been a while since one of those,” Felix says, kinda blandly.
“4.4 magnitude.” Seungmin stands. “In our area.”
Huh.
“We’ve never had one of those,” Felix says. He twists around. Their hanging portrait of the eight of them is swinging dangerously to the left.
There are cracks in the ceiling. There were always cracks, but there are more now. Felix is certain.
The world tilts.
“Fuck. Fuck.”
What the fuck.
That shouldn’t be happening.
Seungmin grabs him by the arm and drags them both across the floor. Felix is numbly horrified to discover that his trauma response is freeze and freeze some more . Everything in his body is screaming at him to move—get up you dumb—
“Lix. Breathe. Breathe.”
A mug shatters.
Seungmin has hauled them under their dining table.
Felix breathes as best he can.
“Why.” He near-sobs. “Is everything shaking like that if it’s just a 4.4 fucking magnitude earthquake.”
Felix can feel Seungmin’s forced-levelled breaths against his neck.
“I don’t know. But it’ll probably die down soon.”
Hyunjin’s red vase slips from above them and shatters into pieces. Felix watches the ceramic spread across the room in a matter of seconds, and feels a muted sense of sadness through his blood pumping straight out of his skin.
A light falls out of the ceiling. Felix screams.
“It’ll stop soon,” Seungmin repeats, holding Felix tighter. He digs his nails straight into Seungmin’s arms and prays he’s right.
Then. Felix feels them tilting to the left. Then forward. Then—
They fall through the floor.
“Woah. Changbin-hyung?”
“Mmfgh.”
“Did you feel that?”
“Whuh.”
“Do you hear that? Oh my goodness. The lamp is swaying. I swear it’s swaying.”
“Go back t’sleep. It’s. Like, two in the fuckin’ morning.”
“No, it’s not. And the lamp is swaying. And can you hear that buzzing? If there’s a mosquito in here, I’m going to lose my shit—”
“Sleep, Jinnie. Please. Hyung’s tired.”
“Ugh. Fine. That mosquito better suck off you and not me though.”
Felix wakes up and the first thing he registers is that his thigh is on absolute fire. Like someone forced a meter-long metal rod through it.
Second. It hurts to breathe.
Third. Seungmin is breathing next to him, but he’s not—
Fuck.
“Minnie.” Felix reaches over, nearly passes out from the pain of doing just that, and then tries again. He shakes what he supposes is Seungmin’s shoulder. “Min. Wake up.”
Four seconds pass.
Seungmin groans. Thank the Lord.
“F’lix?” He pauses. Then, pauses again. Felix can faintly make out his head lolling to the side. “Wha’ happened?”
“I don’t know.” Felix can only hold back tears and try to keep his gaze on Seungmin. “I think the building collapsed. Earthquake, remember?”
Silence, again. Seungmin is probably thinking. Felix is glad for that. They need a thinker for the two of them. They need someone who won’t freak out. Who can move. Who isn’t—
Seungmin shuffles. Groans. More shuffles.
The light from his phone makes them both wince. Felix squints anyway. It’s 12:43 a.m. Felix doesn’t ask if there’s signal. Because there probably isn’t. He’s seen enough movies like this, and he’s sure Seungmin has read enough books.
The phone’s flashlight fills the space. Good. Smart. See, Seungmin’s smart.
Seungmin points the flash directly at him.
“Shit!” Felix yelps, “Don’t do that man. I’m in pain here. You’ll make me go blind too.”
“I know.”
Seungmin sits up—or at least, tries to in the cramped space they’re in. He sighs.
“Your leg is bleeding.”
Oh.
Well, that would explain the burn he feels.
“How bad is it?” He honestly doesn’t even want to know. For the sake of the both of them, he must.
“Well,” Seungmin starts, “There’s nothing in it from what I can see. Which is good.”
Yes. That is good. Nothing in it. Okay. Good.
“But it’s bleeding a lot. Like. A lot.”
“Not good, then.” Felix tries to smile.
“I wouldn’t say so, no. But it’s not spurting out like arteries would—y’know. It’s not like those medical dramas. So, not too bad?”
Not good. But not fatal. Maybe. Sure. Depending on how long they’re in here , Felix grimly thinks.
The light is harsh against Seungmin’s frown. He sets the flashlight aside and starts to take his jumper off.
Felix has a vague feeling he isn’t going to like what happens next.
“This is going to hurt.” Seungmin confirms, inching closer with the jumper in his hands.
Felix can’t help but sigh. “Awesome, just what I need.”
“Oh, be quiet. I’m saving your life right now.”
Felix can’t be completely sure of that, since he knows Seungmin has zero medical training whatsoever. But he can’t rely on anyone or anything else right now. And he trusts Seungmin. And he is actively bleeding out. It is what it is, he supposes. If he dies tonight, at least it will be by Seungmin’s hands.
He sharply sucks in air as Seungmin, very carefully, slides the jumper around his thigh. And it hurts to do that.
Then. Seungmin tightens it.
“ Fuck!” He shrieks. Then sobs. Then grabs onto Seungmin’s own leg. “Oh fuck. Oh holy shit . Fuck me.”
He tries to breathe, but his ribcage screams in protest and he ends up coughing violently. Which is even worse.
Seungmin stops pulling. Felix internally begs that it’s because he’s done and not because Felix was screaming bloody murder. Fucking fuck.
Seungmin exhales heavily. “You okay? I’m done now.”
He swallows. It takes a while to form a response. “Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I’m not fine. But. I’m fine. It’s fine.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s fine.”
“Do you think you can move?” He feels Seungmin’s hands on his shoulders. Felix also just feels tired. And hopeless. And terrified.
He can hear their heavy breathing. Can feel it on him in this tiny, cramped, air-pocket of a space and the longer he thinks about it the more he wants to cry or scream and be anywhere fucking else.
He can't think about this anymore.
“Minnie, can I be honest?” He is acutely aware of how small his voice is, but that doesn’t matter since Seungmin always hears him anyway. “I don’t want to test anything right now. I’m just…”
How long will they be stuck down here?
This doesn’t even feel real.
He closes his eyes.
“I just wanna sleep.”
Seungmin is silent. Felix fears he has somehow offended the other, until he hears shuffling. Then feels the warmth of a body pressing against him and pulling him, slowly, closer.
“Okay.” Seungmin’s voice is muffled against Felix’s shirt. “Let’s sleep.”
Felix opens his eyes. It’s pitch black again. Seungmin has turned the flashlight off. Or the phone has died. He sure hopes it’s the former.
“It’s going to be okay,” Seungmin says. “We’re going to be fine.”
Felix blinks. Breathes in. Seungmin smells of dust and metal, but also faintly of blackcurrant shampoo, and Felix holds onto that as he eventually drifts into sleep.
*Well, as magazine-worthy as it can be, anyway. It’s good enough for Felix, but Seungmin had always complained about the small cracks in the ceiling or the exposed beams in the car park. And he was always saying things like, Minho-hyung and Jisungie’s apartment is so much nicer. So well-made. We should’ve fought for their unit instead.
Felix is sure Seungmin is glad they didn’t.