hold me 𐦍 yeonbin

017 ᯓᡣ𐭩

Taehyun never taught Yeonjun what it means when a human blinks with one eye at another human, but Bora’s actions before running away have Soobin flustered and nervous, so it is safe to assume it is not a friendly gesture.

Even over the sound of a documentary about wolves and bears of Terra, Yeonjun doesn’t miss a beat of Soobin’s roaring heart. He is feeling too much and too quickly for Yeonjun to get a solid read.

If Yeonjun’s mortality was out of the equation, he would leave Soobin to contemplate his human emotions alone where Yeonjun couldn’t hear it.

But Soobin’s state of mind directly impacts Yeonjun’s wellbeing, and Yeonjun is running out of time. He tries the tactic known as reassurance again.

“I’m sorry,” Yeonjun tries.

“Don’t be! Don’t apologize for asking questions.”

“I’m not apologizing for asking questions. I’m sorry you’re upset.”

“I’m not upset,” Soobin lies.

“But—”

“I know you might think that what I’m feeling is upset, but it’s not. It caught me off guard and I didn’t know how to react. I’m not upset with you.”

A blatant lie, or a incompetent overlook of his own emotions.

“How were you supposed to react?”

“I don’t know,” Soobin shrugs, watching his malt slowly disappear.

“That’s okay.” Yeonjun twirls his straw in his empty cup, pushing the last few drops of hibiscus malt around at the bottom, focusing on the cup so he doesn’t have to look at Soobin. “I don’t know either, so it’s okay.”

Embarrassment. Confusion. Yeonjun hates feeling confusion almost as much as he does shame.

“Let’s get to know each other a bit more,” Soobin says. “I would feel less uncomfortable with the idea of kissing you if I knew, like, what your favorite color was at least,” he laughs.

“White.”

“Your favorite color is white?”

“Yes. Do you know which one white is?”

“Of course. White, just, isn’t a very common answer.”

But white is the most powerful color in all the realms. Snow is white. Unicorn blood is white. Legends of white dust have spread through every realm. The first and last things a living being sees through their mortal eyes is white.

“What’s your answer?” Yeonjun asks.

“I like green. Dark green, specifically. Like a deep forest green,” Soobin says like he would know what a deep forest looks like.

“Deep forests aren’t green.”

Soobin’s fairy grin returns.

“Sometimes forests are green,” he argues.

Yeonjun knows when he is being serious and when he is teasing. It doesn’t make it any less difficult for Yeonjun not to defend himself.

“There is no light to make green in a deep forest.”

“But the leaves are still green even if there’s no light.”

Soobin has already made up his mind that he’s won, and Yeonjun has made up his that Siyeon has to be wrong about Soobin being a scholar.

But debating excites Soobin, so Yeonjun tries to find the appeal.

“Color can’t be observed through the absence of light. It doesn’t exist until it reflects something like your sun.”