feel me | yeonbin

011

Soobin can pick out Hwang Minhyuk in a second, even without hearing him speak. He has a sour face, a permanent sneer that wrinkles his nose, and a suit as stiff as his upper lip. Seems like a delight.

The meeting room is a circus, a long table filled with people that Soobin doesn't recognize all staring at him, waiting for him to utter a single word. Management, legal team, and PR too, he assumes. Vultures, all waiting for him to slip up and say something they can use to dig themselves out of this hole.

Soobin sits at the far end, with Yeonjun diagonal from him on the right side of the table. It's a little surprising they let them sit so close, honestly. Soobin had expected to be on opposite ends of the table, as far from Yeonjun as possible, considering they essentially threatened Yeonjun for even dating him back in the day.

"We just need to know-"

"Lawyer," Soobin says as he lounges in his chair, tipping it onto its back legs. He crosses his arms and meets Lee Jaejoong's eyes-the only other name in the room that he knows-and lifts his brows in a casual challenge.

"How much longer before he gets here?" Minhyuk asks with an irritated huff, but Soobin just stares at him. "We don't have time to waste. We need to begin taking steps to mitigate the impact on both public and personal-"

"Lawyer, please," Soobin repeats, then shrugs a shoulder when Minhyuk sighs. He's said it enough times by now for them to know he's not talking.

"We just need to know where you were last night when the tape was leaked," Jaejoong says, though Minhyuk actually tries to shut him up this time with a wave of his hand.

Soobin fights back a smirk when his eyes flick from Minhyuk to Jaejoong, his chair landing on all fours again. Before he even speaks, Jaejoong rolls his eyes, knowing what's coming.

"I'll answer with my lawyer here," Soobin says. "Thanks for your patience."

His eyes drag across the table of exasperated faces, landing on Yeonjun's slightly hunched form. Yeonjun hasn't stopped staring at his hands where they lace together on the table. His right thumb slides over his left and pauses, a slight twitch in his hand. A surefire sign that he's trying to hold himself back from his habit of picking at his fingernails.

Looks like he hasn't managed well today. His fingers are red, nails jagged, hands clenched to hide them however he can. Soobin can still remember how often Yeonjun would do that when anxious or nervously waiting to hear back about a role, and Soobin would take his hands and kiss each finger and tell Yeonjun not to worry. If it's not this role, it will be another. That's what Soobin would tell him, and then they would find a distraction for the rest of the night.

Yeonjun had eventually asked Soobin to help him break the habit, fearful that the sight of his hands might lose him an important role someday, and Soobin had agreed, more out of concern for Yeonjun's health, though. Whenever Yeonjun would start, Soobin would let out a slight whistle. Low, quiet, and airy, but just enough to get Yeonjun's attention.

So when Yeonjun's thumb curls against the other, nails scraping together, Soobin hears that whistle in the room before he realizes what he's doing. Yeonjun freezes, throat bobbing as he swallows, and then he clasps his wrist instead.

Fuck. Yeonjun isn't the only one with habits to break, it seems.

Soobin can feel every eye in the room on him now, but he keeps his on Yeonjun, one corner of his lips curling slightly when Yeonjun looks up at him. For the first time-with tired, puffy eyes circled in black- Yeonjun actually looks at him.

There's no fight in him. None at all. Almost no life, either. This place, these people, have drained him. And now this. Soobin can't blame him for looking like he's ready to throw in the towel.