synergy ; yeonbin

8 ;

Soobin was very clearly anxious, and his roommate seemed to notice. Soobin was usually laidback, but he was unusually bothered. It put Seokhwa off, especially since he was studying work he was learning. Eventually, he reached towards Soobin to speak to him about whatever had been bothering him.

"Soobin-ah." Seokhwa walked into their shared room, pressing his lips together as he walked towards Soobin. "Hey. You seem a little off. What's up?"

Soobin looked at him, a week smile on his face. "Oh, nothing much. Just… Ryuhyeon's been on my mind, and Renjun's been ignoring me because he thinks I'm taking away one of the guys he's interested in. I don't even know the guy, so I don't know why he'd think that."

"Oh — so you're going through a lot, huh?" Seokhwa smiled, sitting on the bed beside Soobin and shifting to sit against the wall. "If you want, you can… talk about it to me."

Soobin smiled slightly as he looked down at his hands. "I don't want to bother you, actually. My problems shouldn't concern you, actually. I'll be okay, I swear."

"Soobin doesn't trust you enough to confide in you."

"You… don't trust me?"

"Seokhwa, no, it's not like that," Soobin said quickly. "I'm just saying that this is a problem I have to tackle. Besides, I'm already broken up with Ryuhyeon—"

"Soobin doesn't like being your friend."

"We've been friends for years, though," Seokhwa said, his expression becoming more crestfallen. "W-why is this suddenly a problem? You don't trust me, do you?"

"Seokhwa, what's up with you? I just don't want to talk about it right now," Soobin frowned, turning to fully face the boy. "You seem agitated, you should get some rest."

"He's tired of you always wanting to know everything. He wants to abandon you."

Seokhwa tensed his hands, his eyes somehow filling with tears. "A-am I a bother? Look, I'm sorry if I care too much about you. I just… I want what's best for you, a-and maybe opening up will—"

"I don't want to talk about it! Don't you understand?"

Seokhwa flinched at Soobin's harsh tone. The room became silent. Seokhwa stood up from the bed, his vision filled with red. "I'm just trying to care for you! But you're such an ass, maybe it's useless trying to care about you! We've been friends for six years, and maybe that's a bit too long for you, huh?"

"Seok, it's not like that, listen to me," Soobin said quickly. He widened his eyes as something clicked in his mind. "Seokhwa, if you're hearing whispers, ignore them. It's Vici — he's trying to make you angry."

"Whispers? Vici?" Seokhwa frowned, crossing his arms. His expression softened, realising that Soobin was right. "You weren't lying about meeting the god."

"I've been trying to tell you," Soobin groaned in frustration. "You're being pushed to negativity. It's what he wants. I don't know why he's targeting me, but he already pulled Renjun and Ryuhyeon from me. It seems he tried to pull you away as well. Don't listen to him. I do trust you, okay? You're my best friend — I'm just a little all over the place right now."

Seokhwa's eyes were still teary. "Y-you're not tired of being my friend…? Because you're all I have here."

Soobin stepped forward, pulling the shorter boy into a gentle hug. Seokhwa smiled softly ss he hugged his best friend back, the anger in his heart subsiding for the moment. "Of course I'm not tired of you. You're all I have as well."

Seokhwa pulled from the hug and nodded brightly. "I won't listen to the voice. Is that voice really Vici, though? It seems so strange that a god would want to target everyone in your life. What did you do?"

"I don't know, but he keeps calling me pet names and making implications," Soobin said with a shudder. "If I knew any better, I'd think he wants to be my boyfriend."

"Goodness, and it's a god of the Shyre as well," Seokhwa said with a huff. "They're quite powerful gods. Knowing Vici, he'd probably get what he wants."

"You seem less fascinated by this than I thought you'd be, knowing all the knowledge you have about gods and such."

"I've been studying to Shyre gods since last year — it's part of the syllabus," the other shrugged. "Regardless, I'm not too suprised because the Shyre gods rely on the call of the people in order to serve. Wishing for riches would summon forth Eyr, while wishing for happiness would bring forth Veni — and so on and so forth."

"I remember calling for Vici a few weeks ago back in the library, and we had an argument there," Soobin told, his expression growing more stern. "He enjoyed seeing me angry. He also said I had a beautiful soul, for some reason."

"Gods can read the soul to see if you're fit for a blessing of your desire," Seokhwa explained. "To wish anger onto others, you must have a heart of anger. He can tell what kind of person you are."

"So that's why he kept talking about my soul," Soobin muttered thoughtfully. "He mentioned the sins as he spoke about me. He mentioned rage, envy and l… lust. He also spoke about my fear of loneliness."

"Horny bastard."

"S-shut up, you're not exactly innocent either," Soobin snapped, crossing his arms in embarrassment. "Anyways, he mentioned those. He was reading my soul, I guess."

"It's your negativities," Seokhwa said. "He's going to use those traits to his advantage and tug people from you using those traits. It seems he used your anger and envy to make you lash out towards Lim Jimin and hurt him. He's using fear to manipulate your desire to be with people you're close with."

"He'll eventually take you away as well," he muttered, his face darkening. "Just know that we'll always be friends, okay? Don't listen to the voice that tells you otherwise."

Seokhwa nodded with a smile. "I won't."