♕Guardian Demon ∥ Yeonbin [✎]

Chapter 21

The car was mostly silent through the ride, safe for the occasional rattle of the boxes in the backseats whenever the wheels went over a particular rocky path. The little vehicle housing the people within weaved through the inky night, the air seemed thick with substance, as if they were pulling out from the murky hold of the darkness from the village. 

The passengers slipped in and out of sleep, except Soobin who had the job of looking over at Yeonjun to shake him awake if he started to show signs of dozing off on the drive. Eventually though, they had to stop at a gas station somewhere halfway through their journey to do their business and get Yeonjun a few cups of coffee to keep him conscious for the rest of the trip. 

"Are you ok?" Yeonjun asked as he gulped down the first swallow of the warm, slightly bitter brown liquid. 

"Why wouldn't i be?" Soobin asked. The two were alone in the front seat of the car, waiting for Taehyun to finish buying his snacks and for Jihan to return from her toilet trip. 

"Isn't this... alot?" 

"what do you mean?"

Yeonjun sighed and turned to face Soobin fully from his seat. "All of this." He gestured around the atmosphere with his hands as if encapsulating the world in his hands. "You literally just fell of a cliff and was unconscious not even a long time ago."

Oh, Soobin thought as he turned his head to watch his friend. How long have i been craving to hear those words laced with concerns for me? 

"Yeah I'm tired from all the fiasco but otherwise, I'm as good as I can ever be." Soobin replied with a smile. Yeonjun seems unconvinced as he flashed his eyes over Soobin's face and body for a few seconds. 

"how about your hand? Your stomach?"

Soobin rubbed his elbow and patted his stomach, slightly wincing when he increased the pressure. 

"Its good. Everything is healing just great. Since when were you the type to worry this much about small things like this?" Soobin joked. 

Yeonjun took a deep breath in and released his warily, turning back and slumping down the drivers seat, posture so bad Soobin would have corrected him if it weren't for his next few words. 

"Because it's you... idiot. How could I not worry when I'm almost the cause of my best friend's death multiple times?" 

The guilt was evident in his voice, thick and constricting. Unfamiliar even to Yeonjun himself. 

Soobin blinked at the new vulnerability presented to him from Yeonjun. Now that they were the same being, the same size, the same form and matter, it felt... different. Every emotion, expression and breath Yeonjun took seemed so etched into Soobin's brain for he had only seen his friend as a small stature perched on his shoulder for years. There were features he's never notice before like the small almost invisible scar under Yeonjun's eyes, his soft red brown hair falling off to the side, the way his eyelids lingered in mid blink from the weight of sleepiness and how his clothes fell back onto his skin as he sank down further in his seat. 

"none of this is your fault. If anything, I'd probably be blaming myself for, erm, killing myself? To follow you here." Soobin reassured his friend, placing his cold hands on his warm shoulder before raising his eyebrows at how weird the later part sounded. He still can't believe his stuck a knife into himself just to be with Yeonjun. Talk about teenage crush. Soobin rolled his eyes to rid himself of that thought. 

Yeonjun chuckled. "What the hell were you thinking man." His usual tone of defiance and cheekiness returning. "Couldn't even stand being away from me for even a day huh?"