A few days later, Felix sat completely motionless by the edge of the fountain, his fingers clutching an open book whose pages were nothing more than a blur of white noise to his fried brain.
A shadow suddenly fell across the print, eclipsing the words. Without even lifting his head, his voice scraped out thin and hollow, "Hey."
Taehyung stepped closer, a quiet, melancholic smile pulling at the corners of his lips as he slid onto the bench right beside him,"How's it going?"
"Fine, I suppose. You?"
"Okay." Taehyung swallowed hard, his throat clicking as he forced the words past a sudden tightness. "Felix... can I ask you something?"
Felix finally dragged his gaze away from the unread pages, his eyes heavy and almost bloodshot as they met Taehyung's. "Yeah. Go ahead."
"That night..." Taehyung paused, his tongue sweeping over his lower lip as if weighing the glass shards of the memory,"When you kissed me... did you actually mean it?"
Felix blinked, a sharp crease of utter, paralyzing confusion slicing between his brows. "Who kissed who?"
"You. You kissed me."
Felix's eyes flew wide, breath catching hard in his throat. "I kissed you?!"
"Yes," Taehyung murmured, offering a slow, crushing nod.
"Are you completely sure about that?"
"Positive. The night we went out—you were completely gone, and you kissed me right outside your apartment."
The last trace of color violently drained from Felix's face. His hands flew up, palms slamming over his face as if he could physically block out the shame crashing down on him. "Oh, God. I actually did that? Tae, I am so, so sorry."
Taehyung offered a soft, almost painful smile, reaching out to give his shoulder a grounding squeeze. "It's fine, really."
"No, it's definitely not fine," Felix groaned, his voice cracking as he violently shook his head, burying his fingers deep into his hair. "I must have completely blanked out and mistaken you for someone else. That was so reckless of me."
"It's alright. You were wasted. I shouldn't have taken it as anything serious." Taehyung offered a small, sad smile, rising to his feet. "Come on. Let's go get lunch together."
.
.
.
"Hyung, our maknae hasn't been attending classes for days now, and you're just sitting there unbothered?" Jisung snapped, slamming his hand down on the table while Changbin mindlessly munched on a piece of cake.
"What do you expect me to do? Call a search party?" Changbin mumbled with a mouthful, his eyes dead and entirely unreadable,"He's an adult. He'll show up when he feels like it. I'm not being paid to babysit him."
Jisung stared at him, his chest heaving with disbelief. "Is that seriously all you have to say? Because the last time I checked, you were his boyfriend."
Changbin sneered, his fork scraping harshly against the ceramic plate. "I'm not his boyfriend, neither am I his caretaker."
Jisung shook his head, a dark scowl twisting his features. "You kissed, hit it off smooth, and even slept together. Explain to me how you are not his boyfriend."
"You don't have to date someone to kiss them," Changbin shrugged, shoulders dropping into careless indifference.
"Real smooth. You hear me? Really smooth," Jisung hissed, his eyes narrowing to slits.
"Don't tell me you have no idea what FWB is."
"What the fuck is that?" Jisung demanded.
"If you don't get it—"
"Don't you dare start that 'if you don't get it, forget about it' scheme with me again," Jisung warned, leaning across the table with bared teeth. "We have to do something about him."
"You do that. I'm not cut out for it. Exams are coming up, and I've gotta study." Changbin shoved his chair back with a loud screech against the floor, scooping up his books.
"That's literally the exact reason we should check up on him!" Jisung shouted, crossing his arms tightly over his chest.
"If he misses class, doesn't study, and fails? That's his cup of tea, not mine. He's acting like a big baby." Changbin turned his back, walking away with a finality that made Jisung's blood boil.
Jisung dropped his head into his hands, whispering into the emptiness, "What has gotten into everyone?"
_____
"Don't tell me you're still single, Chan." Minho shook his head, leaning fluidly against the counter with a sharp, knowing smirk.
Chan let out a soft, low chuckle, turning a mug over in his hands. "Yes. Surprised?"
"Obviously. I mean, look at you. You're—One hundred percent walking boyfriend material," Minho praised, tilting his head.
"Well, let me break it to you. I actually do have someone I love. And I'm going to confess when the right time comes."
Minho's eyes instantly sharpened, his posture shifting as he leaned forward across the counter,"Oh?! A guy or a lady?"
"It's a guy."
"Oh, it's Felix's younger brother, isn't it? Come on, Chan, it's so bloody obvious." Minho chuckled, a triumphant glint in his eye.
Chan froze, "How on earth is it obvious?"
"You talk about him every single chance you get, Chan," Minho exposed mercilessly, reaching out to tap the back of Chan's hand with a teasing laugh.
"I do?"
Minho nodded, his smile widening. "You do. You're completely obsessed."
Chan let out a breathless, defeated laugh, shaking his head. "Your words, not mine."
.
.
.
Jeongin lay sprawled across the sofa like a broken doll, the television blaring at full volume, drowning out the suffocating silence inside his head.
A sharp, demanding knock echoed through the door.
Jeongin stiffened instantly, his breath hitching. In a blind panic, he scrambled forward, frantically crushing the volume buttons on the remote until the room went dead quiet, holding his breath as if stillness could make him invisible.
"Innie, I know you're in there," Jisung's voice filtered through the wood, laced with raw, trembling anxiety. "You can't just keep hiding indoors. You're all scaring me. All of this is seriously messing with my mental and emotional health." Jisung sighed heavily, his forehead resting against the cool surface of the door. "Just tell me what's going on. You're isolating yourself, and it's tearing us apart."
Silence stretched heavy and thick from the other side.
"Fine. Don't talk to me. But don't you dare skip classes, or I swear I'm going to kick this door in and personally drag your ass out into the sunlight," Jisung threatened, his voice thick with a desperate, protective edge before his footsteps slowly retreated down the stairs.
Inside, Jeongin curled inward, pulling his knees violently up to his chest, hunching his shoulders as if he could physically cave in on himself and vanish from the world entirely.
____
"You know, they're all driving me out of my mind. I'm completely drained." Jisung buried his face deeper into the fabric, his voice muffled.
He and Minho were tangled tightly together beneath a heavy fleece blanket in the quiet dimness of Minho's apartment.
"Oh?" Minho murmured softly, his thumb tracing slow, soothing circles against Jisung's flushed cheek. "What's getting my Hannie so stressed?"
"It's the guys. They're all... they're completely emotionally absent."
"What happened?" Minho asked, his voice a low, tender anchor in the dark.
"Felix and Hyunjin are at war with each other, refusing to even look in the same direction. Jeongin won't attend classes, won't speak to me, and shut me out completely when I went to his place. And Changbin..." Jisung let out a ragged, frustrated breath. "Changbin is entirely nonchalant. He doesn't care about Jeongin at all, casually claiming they aren't boyfriends—that they're just 'FWB.' I don't even know what the hell that's supposed to mean! It's just Changbin-hyung and I at the restaurant now, and he doesn't even give a damn. I get that Hyunjin is drowning in modeling classes, but Felix and Jeongin? Hell no."
Minho gave a slow, understanding nod, pulling Jisung flush against his chest. "I get it, baby."
"You do? Thank God," Jisung whispered, a shuddering sigh rattling his frame as he burrowed closer, resting his ear directly over the steady thrum of Minho's heartbeat,"It's so warm here."
"Just rest your pretty little head. We'll figure something out, I promise," Minho whispered, pressing a lingering, tender kiss right into the crown of Jisung's hair.
"That reminds me... your friend Chan—he's usually really good with this kind of stuff, right?" Jisung murmured sleepily.
Minho nodded against his hair, a faint smile touching his lips. "If we can't untangle this mess on our own, we'll rope him in to help."
The room faded into a heavy, comforting quiet, broken only by the synchronized rhythm of their breathing in the dark.