Pairing: Chan & Felix

Genre: Twisted Wonderland AU

!!TW!! : bullying, mild violence, injuries, emotional distress

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It didn't take long for the word to spread: the magic-less boy from Diasomnia was now dating his Dorm Leader. In a matter of hours, absolutely everyone knew and, needless to say, the bullying incidents miraculously stopped. Of course, Felix was none the wiser and simply assumed that Chan had some kind of reputation, nothing more. Chan thought it amusing, so he never told him otherwise, and Minho was all too happy to play along.

But, of course, that kind of secret couldn't be kept for long, even less when no one knew it was a secret to begin with.

"Do you really have to follow me everywhere I go?" Felix asked, exasperated.

"We're merely following orders," replied simply Changbin, unperturbed by the glare Felix shot his way. After a few weeks of knowing each other, Felix had managed to overcome his shyness and acted normally with his seniors. "If you wish to remediate to the situation, you ought to speak with Chan-hyung himself."

Felix paused in his tracks, confused. "Chan? Why? Didn't you say earlier that those orders came from the Dorm Leader?"

Changbin and Jisung exchanged a look, before the younger boy spoke up. "Yes?"

"Well, then, what does it matter if I ask Chan?" he insisted, even more confused.

"Because he's the one who issued that order...?"

Felix froze, his brain slowly processing the information... until it dawned on him. His eyes went comically wide, and he gaped at them.

"Chan is our dorm leader!?"

...

...

...

"You didn't know?" choked out Jisung.

"He never told me!!!"

Changbin let out an uncharacteristic snort, though he quickly muffled it with a cough, averting his eyes. Jisung covered his mouth with his hand, hoping Felix wouldn't notice him smiling. Mortified, the young boy groaned, hiding his face in his hands.

"This is so embarrassing... I never realized..."

Changbin lightly flicked his forehead. "How Chan-hyung ended up with such an airhead as his soulmate, I'll never understand."

"Hey!"

This time around, Jisung did laugh, and Changbin didn't bother hiding his smile. Glaring for a bit, Felix then relaxed, and chuckled slightly. It's true that he should have noticed earlier, now that he thought about it, and a lot of things suddenly started making a lot more sense.

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Unfortunately enough, barely a month after Chan and him started dating (or he started courting him, in his words), a few people of their dorm who admired their leader still failed to understand why he would waste his time with a magic-less failure, and some started speculating that, maybe, Felix had used a spell or a potion to make him fall in love with him. So, soon enough, the more daring started acting up. Discreetly, of course, but it was the little things.

Stolen homework.

Destroyed books.

Shredded uniforms.

Rotten food in his locker.

Every time, Felix took it in stride and simply moved on. He never bothered telling anything to Chan or the others because, now that he was aware of his status as the Dorm Leader, he knew that he had the necessary power to cause a lot of trouble, but that he also had a certain emotional bias when it came to him.

He'd surely act rashly, and Felix didn't want him to get in trouble because of him, so he simply kept his mouth shut and kept going with his life. Of course, chan often noticed when his mind was elsewhere but, every time, Felix answered the same thing.

"I'm fine, Chan." And Felix smiled, like always.

It was a Felix thing – to always smile, no matter the situation.

It was one of the little things Chan had learned to love about him. Some might say Felix simply faked it in order to cover his pain, but Felix really was just that kind of naively optimistic boy who always saw the best in any sort of situation. His smiles were genuine, and they warmed his heart every time.

They were the proof of a strong, unbreakable spirit.

"C- Chan..."

But today, something was wrong.

"I- I don't know what- what happened..."

Felix's room was a mess. His desk had been overturned, his bed ripped apart, all of his books had been reduced to ashes and his clothes laid around in pieces. Shards of glass were mixed in between because of the broken windows, and the walls were covered in graffiti, each more insulting and revolting than the other.

"Chan..." Tears started streaming down his cheeks as he finally broke. "I- I'm not fine..."

Felix wasn't smiling anymore.

Their bond ached with unprecedented sadness and hurt. Chan always knew when something was wrong because he could feel Felix's stress and worry, but he never pushed him to talk to him because he trusted him with this – he trusted Felix would trust him enough to talk to him when it became too much, when he could no longer rely on only himself.

Now, though, now it was too late: Felix had completely broken down, and Chan couldn't do anything.

"I'm sorry." Felix was always apologizing. Even when he was the one crying in his arms, he was the one apologizing. "I- I shouldn't cry like that. I brought- I brought this upon myself—"

"Don't," Chan growled, his hold tightening around him. "It's not your fault."

"But I—"

"Felix."

It was a warning. Biting his lower lip, Felix stopped talking and simply wrapped his arms even tighter around Chan, letting his tears fall silently.

It had been building up for a while, now, but he never thought they'd go so far as to ransack his room. As silly as it sounded, it was the closest thing to a home that Felix had and, now... now, it had been defiled, sullied, completely turned into his personal hell.

Frankly, he didn't know if it hurt more than the burns he suffered from – because, of course, just utterly destroying his room hadn't been enough. Upon entering, Felix had triggered a magical trap (which he hadn't been able to sense, because he couldn't sense magic) and, next thing he knew, his clothes had caught on fire. He had quickly gotten rid of his clothes, but he still suffered from mild burns on his forearms and his neck and, for one reason or the other, his healing gift wasn't kicking in.

Chan seemed to notice, too, for he gently brushed his finger against one of the burns, and Felix instantly hissed in pain. He quickly retracted his hand, frowning.

"Why aren't you healing yourself?"

"I- I can't," Felix choked out, his tears slowing down. "I don't- I don't know why, but it's not working. It- it hurts, Chan... It- it shouldn't hurt like that...!"

Chan had to agree, he could sense magic in his wounds. Gritting his teeth, he didn't waste any more time and rose to his feet, carefully lifting Felix along. The boy let out a faint whimper as his clothes brushed painfully against his burns, and he casted a glance at his room. Felix was barely wearing anything since he had had to get rid of his clothes, but everything else had already been destroyed. Chan couldn't possibly bring him to the infirmary in such a state and, frankly, he didn't trust the school right now.

So, deeming his room to be the safest option at the moment, he quickly spun on his heels and left the room.

Just as he stepped into the hallway, though, Minho ran up to them, worried.

"Chan, what happened!? You suddenly ran out of the Dorm Leaders' meeting and—" He froze when seeing the injured Felix his prince was carrying bridal style. "Felix? What happened to him!?"

"That's what I'd like to know," growled Chan, definitely pissed. He then breathed in deeply, forcing himself to calm down. "I'm taking him to my room. Go fetch Crewel-sensei so he can take a look at his wounds. Also, send up Changbin and Jisung so they can salvage whatever they can from his room, and then have them get started on finding the culprits."

Minho nodded firmly, his eyes glowing eerily with barely restrained anger. "Right on it. We'll find them before the sun goes down. I swear."

On which he disappeared. Nodding, Chan then glanced at the boy in his arms. In such a state, he appeared even smaller than before. He was curled up on himself, holding tightly to his jacket, and he was shivering – be it from the cold or the pain, Chan couldn't tell.

He could tell that Felix was still hurting, but the boy had stopped crying, and he now kept his gaze fixated onto nothingness, obviously trying to get over his shock. He probably hadn't even noticed Minho, too lost in his own mind.

"Felix," he softly called out. He slightly tilted his head, but didn't say anything. "I'm taking you to my room so I can examine your wounds. Is that alright, or would you prefer the infirmary?"

Felix quickly shook his head in a negative gesture, his grip tightening on his jacket. He was obviously as wary of the infirmary as Chan was right now. Nodding, Chan didn't waste any more time and quickly made his way to the top floor of the castle, where the Dorm Leader's room could be found.

It was the most spacious room and, more importantly, normal students couldn't access it, so Felix would be safe. Carefully placing him down on his bed, Chan closed the door with a flick of his hand and started taking a closer look at his burns. They appeared shallow, but he had a nasty feeling that they were more than what they appeared to be.

Then, noticing how Felix was still shivering, he quickly draped the softest blanket he could find over his shoulders. That seemed to drag him out of whatever daze he had been lost into, and his dulled eyes slowly focused back to reality.

"Chan...?" He looked around in confusion. "Is this... your room?"

He must have been more in shock than I thought. "Felix, how are you feeling?"

He could feel their soul bond thrumming and aching like never before. Felix's emotions were too strong, he wouldn't be able to hide it anymore. He stared at Chan for a moment, visibly struggling to find the right words, before his shoulders slouched and he dropped his head.

"Everything hurts," he murmured, ashamed. He was ashamed of his tears, of his weakness, of always needing help—"I'm- I'm tired, Chan. I don't want to fight anymore. I just- I just want them to stop..."

"They will," he assured firmly, kneeling so he'd be able to look at him in the eyes. "I'm sorry, Felix. I should have acted sooner."

"N- no, I'm the one who should have said something," he replied, tightening the blanket around himself. "I just—I thought I could take it... I thought it'd be fine, that they'd eventually come around..." He slowly looked up, and Chan's heart ached painfully when he saw the hurt in his eyes. "Chan, why are people like this? Why are they so cruel and vicious? Why..." Felix choked a bit, tears brimming his eyes again. "Why am I so scared...?"

Chan didn't have an answer, but he did have a solution. Of course, he couldn't tell him anything yet, but he was done. He was done waiting, he was done hesitating, he was done letting his one and only get hurt over and over again. Gently brushing Felix's tears away, he then pressed a kiss against his forehead. Felix choked out a sob and, without any warning, he latched his arms around Chan's neck, his grip desperately tight.

"Chan... Chan, please, don't leave me..." He was crying again, but Chan had felt how unnaturally warm his forehead was. Felix was clearly starting to become delirious. "I can't take it... If you leave, I won't be able to smile again... So please, please, don't leave me..."

Chan pressed his lips against his, and Felix eagerly answered to his kiss. It was a desperate gesture, but he could sense love thrumming in their bond, which only steeled his resolve. Pulling away, he carefully helped him lay down, and brushed aside a few strands of white hair that had started sticking to his sweat-covered forehead.

"I'm not going anywhere, little one," he swore, stroking his freckled cheek. "From here on out, I won't ever let you out of my sight again. No one will harm you again."

Felix nodded mutely, visibly exhausted. As his eyes started closing by themselves, he pressed one last kiss on the back of his hand, using an old spell to manipulate his mind a bit, so his sleep would be filled with sweet, never-ending dreams.

Felix wouldn't suffer from any nightmare again – not under Chan's watch.