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Soobin spends the rest of the game segment snuggled up in Yeonjun’s arms, breathing in his peachy smell. He’s never been more content.
Later, he spends their snack break glued to Yeonjun’s side, trying out every type of cookie Yeonjun tries. It’s a good experience, as Yeonjun has good taste.
When they pile into their van after recording, ready for a nap, he squeezes in beside Yeonjun in the backseat and leans his head on Yeonjun’s shoulder. He’s starting to feel a little sheepish.
Soon, the kids all nod off, leaving a slightly giddy Yeonjun and Soobin alone in wakefulness in the back (Americano and strawberry-filled cookies are a lethal combination). Somehow, his arm has found its way across Yeonjun’s waist, and he turns to hide his face in Yeonjun’s neck.
Yeonjun hums a silly little jingle, doot doot doot, and pats Soobin’s head like he’s a puppy. Soobin can’t see anything from where his face is buried in Yeonjun’s jacket collar, but he just knows the boy’s lips are pouted with his cheeks pushed out, cheerful and soft.
“Hyung,” he whines after a second into Yeonjun’s neck. (He tried nestling even further into Yeonjun, wishing that he’d just melt into him and become one of his buttons or something, but failed.) At this point, he’s honestly worried. “Am I too clingy?”
The thing is, Yeonjun is cute. His perfect, shiny, cherry-red lips. His bouncy cheeks. His little nose. The sweet winged corners of his eyes. The way he pouts and sways his head from side to side and makes these sweet little noises. He’s like a wide-eyed kitten happy just existing, and it’s so lovely. All of it makes Soobin want to bundle him up and cuddle him like there’s no tomorrow. But is it too much?
“No, Soobinnie,” Yeonjun responds, lips pouting around his name. He tilts his head and presses a loud strawberry to Soobin’s hair. Maybe Soobin doesn’t need to worry about how he immediately hugs Yeonjun’s waist even tighter. “You’re just sweet. A sweet bunny. Hyung likes it.”
“Mm,” Soobin mumbles, hiding his blush against Yeonjun’s shoulder. (He doesn’t know the tips of his ears are burning red, right in Yeonjun’s line of sight.) “That’s good.”
“Yes, it’s good, Soobinnie,” Yeonjun repeats sagely. Soobin can tell he’s holding his eyebrows flat, eyes sparkling, as he imparts his wisdom to Soobin. “It’s good that you like me and I like you. It makes us a good couple.”
Oh no. Yeonjun’s bluntness is cute. Actually, it’s adorable. Soobin’s feelings are about to turn aggressive. Instead, he stifles a giggle and lifts his head, falling onto the headrest. “You’re right, hyung.” He nods seriously.
Confidently, without even looking down, he reaches for Yeonjun’s hand and laces their fingers together. Yeonjun’s slim fingers curl around his, and Soobin smiles, closing his eyes. He slowly drifts off to Yeonjun’s rendition of Bad Guy in the major key.
~
Back in the dorm, in front of the others, he valiantly avoids kissing Yeonjun’s cheeks until they turn pink. Instead, he helps the maknaes arbitrate their fight over the shower and sits down for a round of Mario Kart with Yeonjun, Beomgyu, and Taehyun (who lost the fight on account of having already taken the first shower three times this week).
“He’s evil.” Beomgyu tosses down the controller, glaring at the bubbly 2 next to his name. “I’m a good, honest player, and this hyung turns to dirty tricks.”
Yeonjun laughs, loud and bright in his throat. By merit of quick thinking and a not-so-secret helper bunny, he’d overtaken Beomgyu at the last instant. “I’m just talented, that’s all. You’re just jealous you threw a hundred banana peels and still couldn’t beat me.”
Beomgyu shrieks and and moves to punch Yeonjun. Before he lands a hit, Soobin, who’s proudly third place, wraps an arm around Yeonjun’s shoulders and pulls him closer. “Come on, admit hyung is the rightful winner. The Yeon-soo alliance can beat even the most devious tactics.” He’d given up winning himself the third time one of Beomgyu’s items hit him, instead focusing on protecting Yeonjun.
Taehyun giggles from Beomgyu’s other side. “Better give up arguing with those two, hyung.” His tone is one of fond mockery, but his words indicate a certain bias. Predictably, Beomgyu catches on.
“I know, right? They’re disgusting.” Beomgyu crawls over and drapes his body over Taehyun’s lap. Soobin doesn’t even bother commenting. He’s too preoccupied by the way Yeonjun’s cheeks have gone rosy with excitement and glee, and how he’s smiling with his teeth and drawing back his jaw in a boyish show of pride. He’s all sharp contours and warm tones, a pretty kitten preening, and here, in the safety of their dorm, Soobin just wants to tell him how much he adores him.
Kai comes out of the bathroom with his Pokémon shirt on, hair reminiscent of a tumbleweed. “Ah, that felt good!” Taking a nice shower and taking the first nice shower are, in fact, two entirely different things. (Soobin used to vie for the chance himself, but stopped after he experienced the life-changing event that is showering with Yeonjun. Nothing, absolutely nothing, could compare with that.)
Taehyun snickers. “I know, I’ve done it three times in the past week.” Evidently, he never actually cared about keeping up his winning streak, or he’s stopped caring because of Beomgyu draped over his lap. Knowing Taehyun, it’s probably both.
Kai lets out one sharp guffaw and heads to his room. A few seconds later, Soobin hears him say something suspiciously like, “Chichi, why is Taehyunnie like this?”
Soobin thumbs at the seam of Yeonjun’s t-shirt. The grey cotton is frayed, forming a small hole on the curve of Yeonjun’s shoulder. The skin peeking through is pale and honey-warm. Soobin thinks it might be on purpose - Yeonjun turns everything into art. “Wanna order bulgogi?” he suggests.
“Obviously, and Yeonjun-hyung’s paying,” Beomgyu responds immediately.
“Oi, shouldn’t the winner get treated?!” Yeonjun retorts, drawing his eyebrows together and pretending to be furious. Beomgyu sticks his tongue out, undeterred.
Soobin doesn’t bother interfering. He read somewhere that play-fighting is a sign of affection between cats. “Here.” He hands his phone to Taehyun so he can order.
Kai comes out after a minute, taking the phone from Taehyun casually as if he wasn’t just complaining about him to a plushie. “Ooh, they have gyeran-mari! Let’s order a set.”
“Make that two, Yeonjun-hyung’s eating,” Taehyun adds on. He pats Beomgyu’s hair absentmindedly (it bounces back satisfyingly).
“Ah, hyung shouldn’t eat that much,” Yeonjun says, pout seeping into his voice. He’s so slim already. Yeonjun’s strong, Soobin knows. When he dances, smooth and controlled, when he stands on stage in front of tens of thousands of people and smiles, when he’s sitting on the floor at home. Yeonjun works so hard to be perfect. Soobin loves that about him. He just wishes, sometimes, selfishly, that Yeonjun would let himself be taken care of.
Forty minutes later, when the food arrives, Soobin (their designated delivery receiver) sets the bags on the floor, then makes his way past Kai and Taehyun to sit beside Yeonjun. Beomgyu breaks open the plastic using sheer force (“Hyung, you can just undo the knot, you know,”) and starts distributing the cutlery.
They’ve been eating for five minutes before Soobin decides it won’t seem suspicious when he picks up the biggest piece of bulgogi he can find. Before he can place it surreptitiously in Yeonjun’s bowl, he looks up and sees the boy looking at him with round eyes. Soobin winces, bracing himself for the inevitable rejection, before Yeonjun opens his mouth and says, “Aah.”
Soobin commends himself for not fainting on the spot and leans closer to feed Yeonjun the piece of meat. He cups his hand under Yeonjun’s jaw in case the spices drip. Instead, Yeonjun takes the bulgogi into his mouth and places his chin on Soobin’s hand, chewing aggressively. Oh God. Is it bad to kiss someone while they’re chewing?
“Delicious, Soobinnie,” Yeonjun says once he’s done. His lips are red from the gochujang and there’s a little bit of grease on the corner of his mouth. Why is he so perfect? “Feed me some more.”
Soobin quickly nods. He feeds Yeonjun a few more pieces of beef before picking up a whole egg roll. Yeonjun giggles and takes it from his chopsticks. “My mouth’s not that big, Soobinnie.”
Kai blinks at them from across the floor. Then he turns, a look of dissatisfaction on his face. “Taehyun-ah, I wanna be fed too.”
Taehyun laughs softly. “Okay, Kai-yah.” He picks up a piece of gyeran-mari from the end, Kai’s favourite, and lifts it toward the boy’s mouth. Kai takes the whole thing into his mouth and starts chewing happily. Beomgyu shoots Soobin an unimpressed look. Wait, what? Why him?
After dinner, they settle in to watch Ant-Man on their TV. Yeonjun keeps dancing his fingers up and down Soobin’s arm, making bzz bzz noises, apparently imitating a flying ant. It’s so cute that eventually Soobin starts doing it back, until they’re having whole conversations in bzz bzz mrr mrr and Beomgyu throws the remote control at their heads. (It gets the empty bulgogi container on the floor instead.)
When the credits roll, Taehyun stretches out his arms and announces that he’s going to go work on his dynamic push-up. Beomgyu and Kai head to their rooms to play Among Us (“You still haven’t proven you actually know how to play, kid.”)
Yeonjun tells Soobin he’ll be waiting in his room.
Standing in the kitchen in the dim light extending from his and Beomgyu’s room, Soobin wonders. Wonders how the universe placed him here, in the middle of this house he shares with his four best friends, paid for by doing what he loves, while the boy he loves - who just happens to be one of the aforementioned friends - waits for him in his room.
He drinks a cup of cold water from the fridge to help him think. It doesn’t work. He heads toward Yeonjun’s room.
When Soobin steps in, the most beautiful boy in the world is lying there, grey cotton bunched up against his pale stomach, idly watching a dance challenge on the phone he’s tossed to the side. His eyes are squinted from the weird angle and his lips are pursed ever so slightly. He looks over when Soobin walks in and smiles.
I love you. Soobin stays still, letting himself stare at Yeonjun. To be honest, falling in love wasn’t a life-changing, Earth-shattering experience for him. No, what’s Earth-shattering was Yeonjun. Meeting him and getting to know him was the most exhilarating, heart-wrenching experience of Soobin’s life. Falling in love was easy. “I love you too,” Yeonjun says.
Soobin feels his face heat up, and he takes the few strides to Yeonjun’s bed. He slides off his slippers and lies down on his side next to Yeonjun. Yeonjun immediately shuts off his phone and pulls Soobin into his chest. “My Soob.”
Soobin lets himself soak in the sweet warmth of Yeonjun’s skin for a few minutes. Finally, he looks up, eyes imploring, frown petulant. He’s reduced to a childish mess in front of Yeonjun. “Wanted to kiss you all day.”
Yeonjun nods seriously. “Yeah, baby?” He leans in and pecks Soobin’s cheek once before pulling back. He seems to know that Soobin has more to say, even if Soobin isn’t aware himself. He’s all sharp lines and sharp eyes and sharp tongue, but he’s always so soft for Soobin, like this is what he deserves.
“Hyung,” he says, the words sticking to the roof of his mouth. “I just. I love you so much.”
Yeonjun purses his full, red lips and kisses him. Soobin wonders if it’s possible to be so in love with someone who isn’t Yeonjun. Sometimes he feels like he’s the only one in the world who gets this feeling, and he wishes he had better words to describe it. Instead he kisses back, capturing the other boy’s lips again and again, knowing Yeonjun understands. He always does.
Yeonjun pulls back after a few minutes, fingertips grazing Soobin’s face. His lips are shiny and look as sweet as they taste. Soobin’s whole world is in the palm of his pretty hand. “What do you want, my lovely bunny?”
Soobin feels himself almost going cross-eyed trying to meet Yeonjun’s cedar gaze from this close. He blinks and focuses on his lips instead. “Wanna cuddle until we fall asleep.”
Yeonjun’s smile widens, and Soobin gets a flash of pointy teeth before Yeonjun wriggles down the mattress and curls up against Soobin, soft hair tickling his jaw. “That’s exactly what I want, Soobinnie. You know me so well.”
Soobin gently rests one hand on the back of Yeonjun’s head and uses the other to rub circles into Yeonjun’s back. Yeonjun lets out a little purr of content and slides his legs between Soobin’s so they’re wrapped fully in each other.
Without a doubt, Yeonjun is the most precious thing Soobin’s ever held. His sunny warmth, his sweet smell, his soft breaths make Soobin fall a little more in love each time. The fact that he gets to have these moments with Yeonjun, the knowledge that he’ll have many, many more of them in the years to come is enough to pave the way for the sweetest dreams.
Soobin tries to keep up the soothing motions of his hand, but he can’t keep it from slowing down and pausing and eventually stopping altogether. He’s still tired from shows and filming and being with Yeonjun is so comfortable. He vaguely registers Yeonjun reaching over and switching off the lamp, whispering, “Good night, sweetheart,” before tucking himself back into Soobin.
Maybe he falls asleep. Maybe he dreams of Yeonjun becoming a supermodel and taking to the runway in a pink catsuit, of himself crying in the audience because it’s so pretty and Beomgyu booing and throwing banana peels on stage while Taehyun and Kai sumo wrestle in the back.
Maybe it’s a dream or maybe it’s not. Maybe he dreams of the way Yeonjun’s eyes find his and curve into fond little crescents, how he blows him a kiss and ends up in his arms. Maybe he dreams of Yeonjun’s laugh and how it’s his whole world, or maybe he’s not dreaming at all.