love you later | yeonbin ✓

046

They stay a little longer, kissing and reminiscing at the memories all around them. When they turn off the lights and lock the gallery behind them, they find their way back to Soobin's apartment. They get drenched in the cold September rain, but it's hard to care when they have each other to keep warm. It's all too easy, feels a little too good to be true as they chase each other up the stairs, stumble through the front door, clothes littering the floor leading towards the bedroom.

Everything feels slower this time. It's nothing like their first time, and definitely not like their kitchen adventures from earlier that day. Instead, Soobin drags things out, kisses every inch of Yeonjun's body. He takes him apart slowly, gently, love infused into everything he does. They barely talk, but they don't need to when Soobin can read Yeonjun's face like an open, well-loved book. He sees the desire in his hooded eyes, tastes the love on his lips so sweet it almost hurts. When he loves him for the second time that night, it feels like the entire world has come to a standstill. It's monumental, different than anything they've done before, all warm touches, shy smiles between kisses.

After, when they are both breathing heavily, Soobin still doesn't know how to pull away. He keeps kissing Yeonjun, not giving either of them the chance to catch their breath, scatters the softest whispers of pecks into the bruises he has left behind on Yeonjun's perfect skin. When the world stops spinning a little, Yeonjun cleans them up with a flick of the wrist before he pulls Soobin in to curl up against his chest.

Soobin can hear Yeonjun's heartbeat pressed against his ear, notices the way it slowly calms down into a steady rhythm. He plays with Yeonjun's free hand that isn't wrapped around his shoulders, leans down to press a soft kiss against Yeonjun's pinky, right where his skin is bumpy from his scar. Yeonjun's breath hitches in his throat.

"I used to hate it," he says, voice raspy and still a little out of breath. "I couldn't bear to look at this finger."

He's quiet for a moment and Soobin feels a question bubble up that has been at the back of his mind since Yeonjun arrived.

"How do you think it worked?"

"Honestly?" Yeonjun shrugs. "At this point, I think it might have been a trick. Maybe Chaewon never really burned the string off my finger and only wanted me to believe she did. Maybe she just wanted to make me suffer."

He's quiet for a moment and Soobin is glad for it. It's a lot to take in. It had been when Yeonjun first shared his story with him, but the thought of Yeonjun carrying all that weight when nothing was ever really wrong with his soul string in the first place is almost unbearable.

"Remember when you said nothing about me is hideous?" Yeonjun's voice is laden with emotion, enough to make some spill over and envelop Soobin.

"Yeah."

"This is the first time I feel like I can believe it. Just... I've always hated this part of myself but how can I? How can I hate something that led me to you?"

Soobin pushes up on his elbow so he can get a better look at Yeonjun. There's a frown on his forehead, his eyes fixated on his own hand as if he has never seen it before. Soobin reaches up to cup his cheek, twists his head around until he's facing him. All he can do is place a soft kiss against Yeonjun's forehead, lips staying pressed against his skin until he feels the frown disappear.

"I meant it," he says when he pulls away. "I meant it then, and I mean it now. String or no string, it doesn't make a difference. I feel like-" he takes a shuddering breath, his heart racing in his chest. "I feel like my soul recognized yours long before you showed up today. Long before I even knew what was happening. And I know I ran away because I was scared, but for what it's worth, I would have chosen you either way."