love you later | yeonbin ✓

002

A/N] Heyy I hope you like the story so far and will like it even more in the future<333 I read all your comments and they mean a lot to me, you cutiesss!!  I wrote this story while listening to "Ben Kessler - Love you now, love you later" so I recommend listening to that song while you read! (As you probably noticed, the title is based on the song too hehe.)

Soobin doesn't wake up until noon. Sleep hadn't claimed him until 3 am, and once it finally had, he had tossed and turned all night. The little sleep that he did get was riddled with nightmares; images of him slipping off the edge of a cliff with nothing but the red string on his finger to hold on to; only for a blurred-out person to cut the string. He woke with a start before he hit the bottom. There's a phantom pain lingering on his left pinky, the place where his string was supposed to rest.

He feels like he got hit by a bus and if it weren't for his friends waiting for him to spend the evening with them, he probably wouldn't leave his bed at all. Instead, he drags himself out from under the covers, takes a shower, and passes the time until it is finally late enough for him to leave.

Beomgyu and Taehyun probably wouldn't have cared if he had turned up sooner than planned, especially not given the events of the previous day. But that was exactly why Soobin didn't want to come early, didn't want to worry them more than he probably already did. It's obvious in the way Beomgyu smiles at him when he swings the door open, and in Taehyun's hug that is just a little bit tighter and lasts longer than usual.

When he walks into the living room, the food is already set out. Taehyun made japchae, there is a small mountain of meat in the middle of the table and a bottle of coke next to Soobin's glass. When he asks for a glass of wine instead, Taehyun only raises his eyebrows for a second before he gets another wineglass for him.

Soobin had never been a huge drinker, didn't find many types of alcohol he actually enjoyed, but tonight he wants to indulge a little. Craves that slight buzz underneath his skin, the way the alcohol would spread through his bloodstream and leave a tingling sensation behind. Maybe then he'd finally stop feeling so damn cold.

He's chasing that feeling, and although he knows it's a hopeless race, one glass of wine turns into two turns into three. At some point, he loses count. Despite having a full stomach, he starts to feel lightheaded sometime before he finishes his first refill. Concern flickers in Beomgyu's eyes and he can see Taehyun removing the bottle from the table after filling Soobin's glass one last time.

He wants to protest, wants to grab the bottle and take a big swig from it, but he knows they are only looking out for him, and the fact that they are letting him drink like this already shows how much they care. It was his second bad breakup that had made Soobin pick up the bottle in an attempt to drown his heartache, and when  had found him emptying his stomach into the toilet bowl, crying and snot all over his face, he'd been worried out of his mind.

Soobin didn't try to drown his problems in alcohol often, but with it being the dsy after his birthday, it offered the perfect opportunity. They decided to keep things small with just the three of them, offering Soobin shelter and a place to lose himself. There's a pesky voice at the back of his mind telling him if it weren't for him, his friends could live however they liked without babysitting him. He knows it's not like that and that there's no use in lingering on those thoughts when his friends have never given him any reason to believe he was a burden to them. He tries not to give in, tries to hold on to the satisfying tingling sensation underneath his skin, wants to let the warmth of the alcohol flowing through his body be the only thing he feels. When his tongue starts getting heavy he can hear himself starting to slur a little, speaking suddenly taking a lot more effort. Still, it's fine, and he's actually enjoying the mind-numbing state he's in right now as long as he ignores the worried gazes Taehyun sends in his direction every now and then.