Chapter Text
Love for Hyunjin was complicated, not because he didn't understand it, he actually understood and loved the idea of loving someone else. But just as he wanted to love someone, he didn't see himself as a person someone else could love.
Until that summer came and made everything change.
It was the first time that Hyunjin and his younger brother Seungmin would go to another place with his mother for vacations, all that was quite fast, his mother's best friend invited them to her home in France to spend the summer and they weren't able to refuse.
The flight landed in the warmth of Marseille at 2pm, Hyunjin's mother had a smile he hadn't seen in a while. In fact, his mother was the sweetest person ever, but that smile was different for Hyunjin.
And her smile grew even wider when she spotted her best friend.
Jessica Bang or Mrs. Bang, was almost the most sweetest mom he has ever known, behind his mom of course.
“My god, you two have grown up! " Mrs. Bang didn't take long to approach them and take the two brothers by the cheeks.
Mrs. Bang was his mother's best friend even before he and Seungmin were born, Hyunjin remembers her because she ended up moving to France when he was 7 years old, while Seungmin was 5 years old when that happened.
"Don't bother them," his mother warned to save them from the affectionate touch on their checks and any unnecessary questions, after that both mothers smiled and hugged each other while saying thousands of things that neither of the brothers was willing to understand.
Then Mrs. Bang guided them through the airport till she found her car. Hyunjin was a little sleepy but the environment of the city already felt so warm and summerish. When Seungmin finished arranging the suitcases with his crazy perfectionism, they could already go.
"Do you expect something from this summer?" Hyunjin questioned when they sat in the back, Seungmin denied with an almost lazy smile.
"Have fun." The black haired rolled his eyes at his brother's response. He knew Seungmin's definition of having fun.
Seungmin didn't believe in love, actually, he didn't believe in its fantasy. Hyunjin thought he had never really fallen in love with anyone and Seungmin accepted that, but he didn't long for a fairy tale he knew would never come. Hyunjin told him that he was a pessimist, Seungmin reiterated that he was realistic.
“And you?” He asked back, Hyunjin just shrugged. Because he didn't go along with the idea of finding a person to 'spend the summer', he —actually— no longer knew what to do with his idea of love more than writing and painting about it.
Possibly France is going to give him the romanticism he needed.
He thought, not in that kind of romanticism, but in the romanticism he saw in art and things, a good place where he could sit down to talk, paint or listen to music was more than enough for him.
Especially with the excitement he had to actually go to France. Maybe he couldn't go to the Musée du Louvre or to some art museum in Paris, but he was actually there.
On the way to Mrs. Bang's house, Hyunjin just looked at the marseilles streets finding new places and scenes to paint and capture, Seungmin was just using his phone and the mothers were talking and laughing about stuff. When the car stopped Hyunjin was the first one to get out of it with intentions of going to sleep again, but the house catched his attention.
On the outside, it looked like everything a person could imagine of a summer house in France, not luxurious, but cozy and romantic.
"Feel at home, your rooms are marked upstairs," Mrs. Bang mentioned as the brothers lowered the suitcases, "Oh, Chris..."
Hyunjin immediately looked up and Christopher gave him an immediate smile. "How can you be taller than me? I feel old.” The blond said and Hyunjin laughed accepting the big hug he gave him.
Despite not seeing each other for a long time, both continued maintaining contact as Christopher was his best friend from childhood. It was hard for him as a child to understand why Chan was leaving, as he grew older he understood that it was for the better.
When they broke the hug Chan's gaze was already on the little brother.
"Nice to meet you Seungmin, you may not remember me well." Chan introduced himself, extending his hand for his brother to take it. And it was a surprise for Hyunjin to see Seungmin not rolling his eyes and taking the blond's hand.
“Of course I remember you” the brown haired said with a tone that Hyunjin didn't recognize, Seungmin was the first to broke the contact in their hands and Chan simply looked at Hyunjin again.
"Help them with the bags Chris, I'll give Jun a walk around the house." Mrs. Bang winked at her son and he laughed, then his mother and the bang's looked behind them, Jessica growing a wider smile if that was even possible, “Oh dear come, I must introduce you to our guests…”
The brothers turned around to look at the mysterious person behind them. He was blond but his hair was almost as long as Hyunjin's, he had it in a half ponytail, his eyes were brown with long eyelashes, his nose was small and his lips had a heart shape that now formed a shy smile.
He was breathtakingly beautiful.
But what caught Hyunjin's attention the most was his cheeks, where he had tons of freckles reaching his nose. Hyunjin didn't know how to describe it at the moment, but the blond seemed cozy and familiar, like it was easy to talk with him even though they didn't know each other.
“They are Hyunjin and Seungmin, my best friend’s sons.” Mrs. Bang said, “He’s Felix, he is making an exchange here in France and he is a friend of Chan so we decided to receive him as one more of the family.”
Mrs. Bang was always like that, generous. If there was room at the table, she would let you sit down and make you feel like you were always part of it.
"Hi," the blond greeted with a smile. Hyunjin waved at him like a child and Seungmin just nodded. "Are you busy Lix?" Chris asked and Felix just lifted the plastic bag he had in his hand “Can you help me with the bags?”
“Sure! Let me drop this in the kitchen.” He responded, heading to the house a little bit faster.
Another thing that Hyunjin noticed was the blond's voice, which did not combine at all with how he looked. The boys went ahead, dragging their suitcases to the entrance of the house where Felix caught them up.
Entering the house Hyunjin could not help but see every detail, it was the perfect combination between modern and rural, at least in the first floor. "Here are your rooms, let us know if you need anything," Chan said when they finally arrived.
“Okay” Hyunjin said and then the blondies went down the corridor, speaking something in English.
The house seemed bigger on the second floor and the bedrooms were pretty big too. Hyunjin and Seungmin looked at each other and the last one raised his eyebrows, pointing down the hall with a mischievous smile. Hyunjin gave him a warning look and the minor shrugged before closing the door of his room. Both seemed to have that power to understand each other without saying anything.
Hyunjin could highlight the large window that had a view of the back of the house and the sea in the distance. At the back of the house there was a swimming pool and his mother next to Mrs Bang was drinking something while they were talking.
He was already happy, the difference between that busy life in Korea and the warmth of Marseille was already lifting his mood. That place would be his home for two months, and although he was not a fan of summer, he began to like it in that place.
✦•┈๑⋅⋯ ࿔‧ ☀️ . ࿔ ⋯⋅๑┈•✦
Hyunjin was sitting in the living room with his sketchbook and his headphones on, the night was already replacing the sun. Mrs. Bang was in the kitchen murmuring and moving around.
“Hyunjin,” the black haired lifted his head fast, startled by the call, he looked at Mrs. Bang taking off the headphones. “Do you know where Chan is?”
Hyunjin was about to respond with a negative answer when a deep voice said out of nowhere. “He's not here.”
"God, where did he go?"
Felix appeared, coming down the stairs and Hyunjin would be lying if he said his attention didn't go straight to the freckle guy, he landed on the living room giving him a little smile before heading to the kitchen.
"I think he went to the gym," he added and Mrs. Bang sighed. The blond leaned against the kitchen counter trying hard to not look at Hyunjin's direction meanwhile the latter was trying to concentrate on his sketchbook.
"Could you go buy a few things? You know I don't like to bother you." Jessica said in a defeated voice and the blond nodded.
"Don't worry, Mrs. Bang," he said. The blond boy's gaze fell on the black hair head sitting nearby. "Do you want to come, Hyunjin?"
The dark-haired boy looked up from his sketchbook —again— to meet the freckle boy's eyes.
"That would be great, so Hyunjin can get to know the area," Mrs. Bang said with a bright smile looking at him.
And once Mrs. Bang said it, there was no going back. So Hyunjin nodded and closed his sketchbook, placing it on the table in front of him.
The weather wasn't that cold during the summer in Marseille or that's what he investigated. There was a cool breeze that caressed your skin and didn't require you to cover up. Hyunjin wondered what those streets looked like in winter, though he couldn't really imagine it.
"So…" Hyunjin felt his body tense; he'd momentarily forgotten he wasn't alone. "What do you think of the place?"
"Hmm, we just arrived today, but it's nice, cozy," he replied, his gaze still wandering over every detail of the streets and sometimes on the blond.
"You speak good English," the blond remarked in Korean, making Hyunjin finally turn completely to look at him.
"Do you speak Korean?" the taller man asked in surprise. Felix nodded with a small smile.
"I'm not that good, but I can get by. I also speak French," he mentioned. Hyunjin made a surprised sound that made Felix smile go wider.
"You're good," Hyunjin said. Felix thanked him in a murmur and the silence grew between them again, it was kinda uncomfortable so the tall spoke again. "I'm not very good at talking, sorry."
He was usually like that, shy with new people, especially when the person was stupidly attractive.
"Don't worry!” Felix's face shifted to one of concern, as if he was worried Hyunjin had misunderstood him. “I noticed. If you think I talk too much, don't hesitate to tell me," he said, but Hyunjin wasn't sure if he would say that to him.
"Oh no, no. I'm more of a listener."
They arrived at the store seconds later with less tension between them, Felix called Mrs. Bang and Hyunjin helped him to get some of the things. When they had all the stuff Felix offered to buy Hyunjin an ice cream, he tried to refuse, but Felix didn't pay much attention and ended up buying the ice creams.
Because of that Hyunjin took the bag with all the stuff they bought ignoring the complains from the blond.
"So... why are you here?" Hyunjin finally asked. He thought for a minute that it was a stupid question because Mrs. Bang told them why he was there, so he regretted immediately but Felix responded anyway.
"Well, Mrs. Bang mentioned something about it when you arrived," he said and Hyunjin dropped an airy laugh. "But I'm here on an exchange program. I won a scholarship, and I'm finishing my degree here." Felix added before eating a bit of his ice cream.
“That’s great, I mean you probably had to do a lot for that opportunity,” Hyunjin said and the blond nodded with a little smile. “So, where are you from?” He asked, getting more comfortable.
“Australia,” the blond answered. “I think my accent gives me away.” He added more jokingly.
“Maybe,” Hyunjin said, trying to add some accent in it, they both laughed because of that. “How did you meet Chan?” the tall asked changing the road of the conversation.
Hyunjin actually was not a curious person, he believes that meeting someone and wanting to know more about someone is, in fact, a romantic action. Because, why would you want to know details about someone else if it's not for letting them stay in your life?
“Well, I go to the same university as him. He was the first person who helped me settle in and helped me with the language, too,” he said, the blond’s voice was filled with gratitude and some nostalgia, like he's still very grateful with Chan for everything, and Hyunjin believed every word.
The Bang family was known for that—for making everyone feel welcome, no matter where they came from.
“Chris is possibly one of the kindest person I’ve ever met.” Felix said and Hyunjin nodded with a smile.
“Believe me, I know about that,” he assured and the little smile the blond had grew even bigger. “When we were kids he was like… an angel.” Hyunjin added making Felix laugh, “I mean it! And he was like the crush of the whole school”
“Oh so that hasn't changed” Felix said and Hyunjin pointed at him with a surprise smile.
”It happened to you too, right? Like the puppy eyes every girl make when they're near to him, or like asking for help when they don't need it.” And because of the high laughter that the freckled let out Hyunjin knew he experienced too.
“I see it every day!” He said while still laughing, “Some people even gave me dirty looks when I was with him” Hyunjin laughed and then drew a disgusted expression in his face.
“You're stronger than me, I laughed at a girl's face once” and Felix started laughing again. “You're joking!” The blond exclaimed and Hyunjin started laughing with him.
Without noticing they started walking even slower to keep the conversation about Chan going, Felix shared some of his experience with the black haired and they laughed together. Hyunjin can't even tell when he finished his ice cream or when Felix finished his.
The Chan “fans” theme was finished for now so Hyunjin asked—“How did you learn Korean?”
“Oh, well, my mom is Korean, but she never really taught me the language completely. And I lived in Korea for about three years during my teenage, so yeah” He answered, “but I’ve forgotten some things.”
"But you speak really well.” Hyunjin complimented and the blond denied with his head, “My english is terrible." He added and Felix just smiled while looking at him.
"You're cute."
He really didn't expect that.
They looked at each other, and Hyunjin, despite the dim light outside, could see the freckled boy's cheeks turn red, and he could feel the warmth in his ears too.
"I mean…” Felix said trying to fight his embarrassment, “I mean, it's the way you speak English that I'm talking about..." He added moving his hands and talking faster, Hyunjin could see that he was nervous and embarrassed.
"You're really bad at lying." Hyunjin said and the freckled boy pouted, Hyunjin just laughed. "Cute." He murmured more to himself, but loud enough for the blond to hear.
Felix looked at him with a bright smile and then back at the house, they had arrived.
“You're not that shy” Felix said pointing him out, they walked around the house until they reached the back of it.
“I felt a little bit too confident” he responded, they entered through the back door reaching the living room.
“Didn't you want to take any longer?” Seungmin asked in an ironic way when he saw them.
“Did it take us too long?” The blond asked, Hyunjin put the bags in the counter, Mrs. Bang was not there anymore.
“Oh no honey,” and there she was, Jessica and his mother arrived at the kitchen, “You take the perfect time.” Hyunjin gave his brother a bad look and the latter just rolled his eyes.
Felix gave the dark haired a last look before going up stairs and Hyunjin just sighted, erasing that thought from his mind—that no one ever made him feel that comfortable with that ease.