Yeonjun was a force to reckon with.

The way he sang confidently, the way he executed the smallest details of the dance, the way he controlled his face expression, everything left Soobin in awe. As the group crammed in around the monitor to check their performance, Soobin could not help but realized how Yeonjun shined brightly even if it was only through a screen.

Soobin called it peer admiration.

After the conversation last time, their daily life had resumed as normal. Both of them did not mention The Incident again, and Soobin did not ask whether Yeonjun had continued to "experiment" some more or not. Yeonjun had already said things like that would not happen again, and Soobin believed him. All in all, The Incident was just a small hiccup that did not affect anything in their relationship, and Soobin was content.

- Soobin hyung, hurry up, we have to go on the stage now!

Oh right, they were nominated for first place on The Show this time for "Blue Hour". With a nervous heart, Soobin hurriedly followed Kai onto the stage, waiting for the final result.

.................- Let's have pizza! To celebrate our first win!_Kai suggested excitedly the moment they returned to their dorm.

The members agreed, since they would not have any schedule the next day. Taehyun turned to Beomgyu, who had just finished unbucking his coat:

- What type do you want?

- As long as there's no pineapple in it, I'm good.

The team lazed around in the living room, laughing and chatting animatedly while eating. Some games were played, as usual. Kai laughed his dolphin laugh when the members found out he was cheating, Beomgyu and Soobin annoyed Yeonjun to no end through the games, and Taehyun used his wit to rise to the final victory. In the end, the younger members retreated to their room after stuffing their stomaches with not only pizza but also cakes and soft drinks. Soobin told them not to worry about cleaning up, as he and Yeonjun were still not tired yet and would go to bed later.

- Can we drink now?_Yeonjun whispered. Soobin stiffled a laugh, his hyung looked so cute with both eyes wide open innocently, trying to be discrete. He nodded, then proceeded to go to the refrigerator, gently pushed some water bottles to the side to reveal three beer cans and two bottle of soju sat behind. They had to hide the alcohol because they did not want the youngers to be tempted and tried drinking. Taehyun and Kai were still underage, and Beomgyu was, well, Beomgyu.

Back to the sofa, Yeonjun was already looking through Netflix for a possible nice movie to watch; in front of him, the table had been cleared up enough space to put the alcohol on. Soobin sat down on the floor with his back leaned on Yeonjun's legs, recommended:

- Let's continue to watch "The end of the F***king world", we stopped at episode 4 last time.

Yeonjun agreed. He lowered down the volumn as to not wake up the others, the two of them enjoyed drinking beers while watching the show. Soobin liked nights like this, spending quality time with a good friend, everything were silence except for the television. The introvert in him sighed happily, satisfied with life.

- Hey,_As they were somewhere through episode six, Yeonjun asked._ Wanna try somaek?

- Somaek? Like beer and soju mixing together? I heard it's pretty strong.

- I've never tried it either. No time like right now. At least if we get drunk and do something stupid, nobody's gonna know.

Soobin hesitated, but he already knew it was a losing battle. When could he refuse when Yeonjun was looking at him like that anyway? And so for the next minutes, he found himself looking through the kitchen cabinet to find the perfect cups for making somaek (which turned out to be two really tall glass cups).

At first, they did not know the right ratio for mixing. Was there a rule? Or whatever was fine as long as beer and soju are mixed together? Yeonjun thought it depends on the person - they could try and find the perfect fit for them, but Soobin were unsure because wouldn't there be a golden ratio or something for the somaek to taste the best? In the end, Soobin actually opened Google and searched for "somaek ratio" which earned a "you're so cute" from Yeonjun.

Soobin smiled, pleased with the compliment as always. He felt Yeonjun snuggled up to him from the side, his arms around Soobin's waist, his nose sniffing Soobin's neck for a little bit. The younger lightly tapped Yeonjun's hand fondly before proceeding to pour soju and beer into their glasses, trying his best to reach the ratio 3:7 that Google had recommended.

The first sip was eye opening. They both looked at each other, lips curled up in delight, Netflix series abandoned as they continued to drink the whole thing. Soobin did not remember when the three beer cans and two soju bottles were finished, but he did remember him and Yeonjun giggling and stumbling downstairs to the 24-hour convenient store to buy more. When they returned, the two settled for the couch, TV running in the background as they talked and talked about whatever was there in their mind, sharing stupid stories as well as their actual feelings and plans for the group. At one point, Soobin was talking about how Kai had been an adorable kid the other day when Yeonjun decided that sitting was a hard job and instead lied down on his back, his head on Soobin's legs. Soobin looked at the person relaxing on his lap, noticed the flush cheeks due to alcohol, the closed fox eyes hiding their sharpness, the full lips pouted slightly as Yeonjun murmured about resting for a little bit.

He was drunk.

And apparently, Soobin was too.

Because what other reason could it be for him to feel this way other than being totally drunk? For his heart to beat so loudly, for his mind to imagine unthinkable acts? It actually hurted, Hurted, to stare at Yeonjun like this, like a wild dangerous animal who had retracted all of his deadly claws, allowing Soobin to tame him. At that moment, Soobin's muddled mind could only think of one solution to soothe the pain.

He leaned down.