Pairing: Chan & Felix & Hyunjin

Genre: Non-Idol AU

!!TW!! : angst, loneliness, crying, "rejection"

(requested by extremebackpain)

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As far as Felix could remember, it had always been Chan, Hyunjin, and Felix. The freckled boy had met the pair back when they were children soon after moving to South Korea, because they lived in his new neighborhood and went to the same school. Hyunjin was in his class, and Chan was a little older, but they'd instantly taken a liking to the somewhat shy boy. Plus, Chan was also from Australia, so he definitely helped Felix with settling down in his new home.

They did everything together and, growing up, that fact didn't change. Felix lived as much in their houses as he did in his, all of their families were very close, and not a day passed without the three of them spending at least a few hours together. They were absolutely inseparable, and they liked it that way.

When Chan started college ahead of them and moved into a dorm of his own, the other two had been quick to rearrange their respective schedules so they could still hang out as much as possible. And then, Hyunjin and Felix also started college, and the three of them simply decided to save themselves some trouble and move in together.

It was, most assuredly, one of the best decisions of their lives. They got to see each other every day, walked to and from campus together all the time, shared breakfast, lunch, and dinner, spent their evenings doing homework or watching movies or playing games, more often than not cuddled in one of their beds rather than splitting up in their respective rooms...

It was nice. It was Chan and Hyunjin and Felix, and it was perfect.

And then, without warning, Chan confessed to Hyunjin.

The two almost instantly started dating and, though Felix was happy for his friends, he was a little worried that this new development would change their group's dynamics. He was afraid a distance would create itself between them and, not knowing what else to do, he admitted those fears to the pair.

Chan and Hyunjin had been very adamant about the fact that them dating wouldn't change their relationships with Felix whatsoever – and it didn't. Even if the two were much more affectionate together, and they went on the occasional coffee date together from time to time, they still did they very best to keep Felix included in every single aspect of their lives, and the freckled boy never felt like a third wheel at all.

They went to the movies together, to the parc, to cute restaurants. They invited Felix to tag along every time they planned something, and Felix almost always agreed. They still cuddled on the couch and played games late in the evenings and, even though Felix tried to give them some semblance of privacy when night came and retired to his room, their doors were always opened in case he found himself unable to sleep or just wanted to join them.

Frankly, it felt as if nothing had changed at all, and Felix loved it. It was still Chan and Hyunjin and Felix, and that meant the world to him.

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"—and then Felix tripped on his own feet and ended up falling face-first into the pond! It was hilarious, seriously. Chan, do you still have the picture?"

"Sorry, he bribed me with brownies so I erased it."

"Oh, fair enough."

Changbin and Seungmin exchanged a glance as the pair started ranting about Felix's brownies. While they completely agreed on the fact that the freckled boy's brownies were the best, the two couldn't help but feel like now was probably the best time to bring up their... concerns, so to speak.

"Chan, Hyunjin..." The two glanced at Changbin, who heaved out a sigh. "Don't you think you're spending too much time with Felix?"

"I... what? What do you mean?" asked Hyunjin, confused.

"Well—"

"Every time you guys tell us about your dates, Felix is always there. Don't you ever go out without him?" asked Seungmin.

"Why would we do that? He's our friend," protested Chan, unsure of where they were going with this.

"Exactly, he's your friend – and Hyunjin is your boyfriend. I understand the three of you are very close, but how is the relationship between you two supposed to be nurtured properly if you're always prioritizing the relationship you have with Felix?"

"I don't get it. What are you trying to say, Minnie?" asked Hyunjin, furrowing his brows.

"It's unhealthy, for all three of you," finally admitted Changbin. "You two can't do any normal couple stuff because Felix is always third-wheeling, and Felix is basically emotionally dependent of you two because you've never drawn a line between friendship and... more. It's just—he's always there, guys. You've never told us about a single date where he wasn't with you. Don't you think it's a little much?"

Hyunjin and Chan exchanged a look, unsure of what to say. It was the first time their friends brought up that matter, and they'd never thought about it before. Felix had always been such an important part of their lives; they could hardly imagine what it would be like to just... be the two of them.

Seungmin was right, though – they were boyfriends, not Felix.

Hyunjin looked distinctly troubled by everything that was just said, so Chan reached out and squeezed his hand, offering him a reassuring smile when their eyes met.

"We'll talk later," he mouthed.

With a small nod, Hyunjin then quickly changed the subject and, thankfully, Changbin and Seungmin didn't insist.

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"You want to... what?"

When Felix returned from class that day, the last thing he expected was for his two best friends to sit him down in the living room for a serious talk. He'd been a little scared at first, thinking they were going to announce that they were breaking up or something, but what they told him was... something else, entirely.

"I get that this sounds a little harsh," assured quickly Hyunjin, biting his lower lip. "And I know- I know that we promised us dating wouldn't change anything between the three of us, but we... we'd like for you to give us some space, Lix. You're still our closest friend, and we care a lot about you, but Chan and I need some time to ourselves."

"We'll still see each other," promised Chan, obviously feeling guilty. "We can still grab dinner together and hang out – that won't change. But we'd like to have more time to ourselves, too. You understand, right?"

"Of- of course. Yeah, no, totally, that's absolutely fair," quickly blurted out Felix, swallowing down the bitter taste in his mouth to offer them a smile. "You two are dating, it's only normal to want to have time just the two of you. It's okay." He then jumped to his feet. "A- anyway, I was thinking of making chicken tonight. Does that sound good?"

The pair exchanged a look, before Hyunjin bit his lower lip.

"Actually... we were thinking of going out. Just... you know."

"O- oh, right. Of course, sorry, force of habit," chuckled Felix, trying his best to hide his disappointment. "I'll just put the leftovers in the fridge, you can grab them for lunch tomorrow or something."

The two appeared distinctly relieved at that, obviously glad Felix was taking it so well, and Hyunjin murmured a quick "thank you" before heading to his room to get ready for his dinner date with Chan. While he was gone, his boyfriend patted Felix's shoulder.

"Thanks for understanding, Lix."

The freckled boy simply offered him another smile. "Of course. What are friends for?"

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While a bit hurt, Felix did understand where they were coming from. They were a couple, it was only natural they'd want to go on dates by themselves. Still, while Felix was more than willing to give them the space they wanted, he didn't think they meant all the time.

In a matter of days, they went from spending every single free minute together to barely seeing each other at all. Whenever Felix tried to catch up with them, they only seemed to try and put more distance. They were always eating out and meeting up outside of the dorm and, when they were there, they never spent time with Felix.

They were always busy whenever Felix suggested they do something together. They watched movies and played games just the two of them, never inviting Felix to join. When they cuddled on the couch, there was no longer some space left for Felix and, every time Felix tried to strike up a conversation, the atmosphere was tensed and awkward.

The worst, though, was how the doors to their rooms were closed. Felix was someone who got easily anxious, and it always got worst at night, when his thoughts were free to roam without anything to distract him – so, his friends had always welcomed to spend the night with them, since he slept easier when someone held him.

Not anymore, though. The doors were closed, and Felix was no longer welcomed.

It used to be Chan and Hyunjin and Felix. Now, it was just Chan and Hyunjin.

It took Felix three weeks to realize that their group's dynamics had most definitely changed, and that they were no longer a trio. All he wanted was to spend some time together but, after yet another awkwardly worded rejection with which they obviously tried to spare his feelings, but weren't very good at it, Felix had come to that conclusion.

It took him another week to actually accept it. He spent that entire week grasping at straws, truly trying to mend the gap that only seemed to widen with each passing minute – he cleaned the dorm, made dozens of brownies and cookies, left little notes on the counter to bid them a good day, sent messages in their group chat that had all but been abandoned by the other two...

He spent that entire week crying, too. Alone in his room, his door closed and his bed cold, Felix muffled his cries in his pillow, wondering how everything could go so wrong so quickly. What had he done wrong? Was it his fault? Had he been too clingy? Had they actually been feeling this way for much longer and simply never dared to say anything before in order to spare his feelings?

Did they just... not like Felix at all? Were they even his friends anymore?

He stopped trying after that. Hurt and bitter and most definitely lonely, Felix figured that if Chan and Hyunjin wanted "space", then he'd give them exactly that. It's not like he needed them, anyway – they certainly didn't need him, so why should he keep on suffering in the shadows begging for crumbs of attention from the pair?

No, Felix was better than that. He was worth much more than that. Screw his "friends", he could do just as well without them.

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"Hey. Are these seats taken?"

Felix startled a bit, instinctively pulling out one of his earphones as he looked up from his homework, finding two familiar faces now just in front of him. He recognized them as two guys with whom he shared more of his classes, but he'd never made an effort to befriend them – he'd never made an effort to befriend anybody, really, since he was quite happy with just Chan and Hyunjin.

He instantly pushed down the thought of them and offered the two an awkward smile. "I was just about to leave. You can take the table—"

"Ah, actually, we were hoping to sit with you."

"With me...?"

The two promptly sat down in front of him, offering him matching grins. They were quite cute, really, and looked nice enough.

"We have a lot of classes together, but it's the first time we see you alone," said the one with dark blue hair. "I'm Jisung, and that's Eric. You're Felix, right?"

"Y- yeah."

"We were wondering if you wanted to do the incoming group project together," suggested Eric. "It'll be a lot easier if there's three of us working on it."

"Also, you seem pretty cool. Wanna hang out after class?" added Jisung with a grin.

A tad taken aback, Felix then returned their smiles. "I'd love to – for both, I mean."

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Jisung and Eric were simply amazing. Felix had only known them for a few days, but the freckled boy already considered them good friends. They were charming, and funny, and Felix had a lot of interests in common with them. They hit it off right off the bat, and Felix regretted not having taken the time to get to know them better earlier. Gone were his lonely days. He stopped wallowing in self-pity and started going out, completely giving up on spending time with Chan and Hyunjin in favor of spending time with people who actually wanted him around.

It felt nice, to have new people in his life.

("Hey, Lix? About that group project coming up—"

"Don't worry about me, Hyunjin, I've already found other people to do it with. You can ask Chan for help, I'm sure he'll be happy to lend a hand."

"R- right. That's... what I was going to ask. Thanks, Lix.")

It felt nice, to no longer entirely rely on his childhood friends.

("Oh, Lix, about dinner tonight—"

"It's okay, Chan, I'm going out with some friends. You and Hyunjin can have the dorm to yourselves, no worries. I'll be coming back pretty late, so enjoy your date."

"O- oh. Right. Sure. Exactly what I was going to ask. Thanks, Lix."

"Any time.")

It felt nice, to no longer be treated like the third wheel.

Chan and Hyunjin wanted space? Fine, Felix could give them that. They had each other, and Felix had Jisung and Eric, now. They didn't need Felix? Okay, sure – Felix didn't need them either, and it was about damn time he showed them.

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Hey guys! Just to let you know I've created a twitter account! I'm still unsure of what I'm actually going to do with it, but it'll definitely be linked to my stories. If there's anything you'd like to see (short stories, prompts, requests, story suggestions, etc.) feely free to let me know! I want this to be a platform where I can communicate with my readers better~

You can find me at @TQuill2021 !