The Name Chapter: Yours | YEONBIN

[14]

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The lights are off when Soobin lets himself back into his room with Kai. Whilst Yeonjun agreed that they should go back to their own rooms, he didn't make it easy, dipping his head and kissing Soobin again until he had to physically lift him out of his lap.

Soobin shuts the door carefully and then tiptoes across the room quietly, trying not to make any noise.

"Did you and hyung confess?" Kai asks.

Soobin startles, whirling around and hitting his knee on the edge of the dressing table.

Kai too?

"Um," Soobin says, wincing. There's a bloom of pain across his kneecap, a bruise sure to follow.

"It's about time," Kai says, voice soft with sleep, "You were meant to be."

Soobin's ears burn. "Thanks."

Kai hums, and sleep must take him again as he falls silent, just the quiet rise and fall of his breathing filling the hotel room.

Soobin showers quickly, brushes his teeth and does his most basic skincare routine, the tips of his fingers still tingling, the sensation of Yeonjun's skin under his hands. There's a warm, comforting feeling in his wrist where Yeonjun's name is written, like the heat of another body pressed against his own.

He gets a message from Yeonjun right as he's plugging his phone in to charge for the night.

He lies back in bed, pulling the cover up over his head so the light of his screen won't wake Kai, and opens the message.

It's a photo of Yeonjun in bed, curled up in his covers and hair splayed out against his pillow. There's nothing inherently erotic about it, but it still makes Soobin's heart leap.

Another one for your collection, Yeonjun messages. To tide you over until you're in the bed with me.

Soobin has to take a moment to breathe.

Goodnight, Yeonjun-ah, he sends back.

So cold, Yeonjun messages back. Don't worry, I felt your real reaction through the bond.

Soobin buries his face in the sheets, mortified.

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The next morning Soobin wakes to a world that is at once irrevocably different and completely the same. Kai is quiet and mumbly, as he always is in the mornings, and Taehyun's the first one to message good morning in the group chat. Beomgyu offers to order them coffee, and Yeonjun...

Yeonjun is his soulmate.

Soobin goes through his morning routine in a daze, his mind replaying over and over what happened last night. Grabbing Yeonjun's wrist. His soulband unravelling. Soobin's name, inked across his skin. Yeonjun saying, I want you. Kissing Yeonjun. Holding him close. Soobin's heart clenches as he remembers how, christ, he'd had Yeonjun gasping and needy on his lap.

In the bathroom, Soobin pauses as he's about to put his contacts in, gaze straying across the countertop to where his glasses are resting.

The five of them don't see each other in person until they get to the airport, arriving in three different cars. Soobin and Kai get there first, so Kai has front row seats for the way Yeonjun gets out of his car with Beomgyu and stumbles, when he sees Soobin.

Soobin catches him, hand on Yeonjun's elbow to steady him, and Yeonjun's mouth moves but words don't come out as he stares up at Soobin's face.

"You did this on purpose," Yeonjun says finally, eyes narrowed.