Felix had gotten good at pretending.

At school he was all sunshine, quiet and polite, always smiling with that shy curve of his lips. No one ever guessed how tight his chest felt when he walked through his front door at night, or how loudly his parents’ voices echoed in his head long after they stopped yelling. The pain he didn’t know how to talk about had nowhere to go except inward, and some days it showed up on his skin.

But then he met Hyunjin.

Hyunjin was tall and effortlessly cool, someone who wore his heart on his sleeve and looked at Felix like he was something soft and precious. Felix never knew what to do with that kind of gentleness. It scared him a little, maybe because he wanted it so badly.

They started dating quietly, stolen moments between classes, pinkies brushing under desks. Hyunjin was observant, too observant sometimes, and his eyes sometimes lingered a little too long on Felix’s wrists. Felix always tugged his sleeves down before Hyunjin could ask anything. He didn’t want to worry him or feel like a burden, so he hid behind loose clothes and practiced smiles.

When the school announced a three day trip to the mountains, Felix almost didn’t bother asking his parents. He expected another harsh refusal. But whether they were too tired to argue or simply didn’t care, they said yes. Hyunjin lit up when Felix told him.

“You’re really coming?” he whispered, eyes shining.

Felix nodded, his dull eyes looked at hyunjin's . “Yeah. I can go.”