"Waaaaahhh…"
Soren didn't know when it started.
One moment he was sitting there, stiff as a board, with Amelia half-asleep on him and Lilliana demanding food like a wronged toddler.
The next moment, his throat tightened for no reason at all.
His eyes burned.
And before he could force it down, a sound tore out of him like his body had decided to embarrass him on purpose.
"Waaaaahhh…"
Esper's head snapped toward him immediately.
"—Huh?"
Felix blinked.
Olivia jolted.
Even Alex's eyes lifted slightly.
Soren tried to inhale and steady himself.
It didn't work.
The alcohol had turned all the walls in his head into wet paper.
Everything he had been holding back all year, fear, stress, guilt, exhaustion, sloshed together and spilt over.
His face twisted.
And then he actually started crying.
Not quiet tears.
Not dignified tears.
Proper, ugly, unstoppable sobbing.
"Waaah… I—hic—" Soren's voice cracked. "I'm so… so—"
Esper's expression went from confusion to dawning realisation to sheer delight in the span of a second.
"Oh my god," she whispered, like she was witnessing a rare mythical creature.
Then she slid around the table and hurried to his side.
"There, there, Cutie," Esper cooed, patting his back with a gentleness that didn't match her usual chaos. "It's okay now."
Soren hiccupped again.
"I'm— I'm so thankful for all of you…" He blurted, voice thick and shaky. "You're the best… you're all so… so—"
He couldn't even finish the sentence.
He just sniffled loudly and wiped at his face with the back of his hand, making it worse.
Esper's eyes sparkled like she had been handed treasure.
"Eheh," she giggled. "He's so cute like this."
Soren made a sound that was probably meant to be an indignant protest.
It came out as another pathetic whine.
"Essyyy~"
"Yes?~" Esper replied instantly, leaning in like she was ready to accept a confession.
Soren's watery eyes stared up at her with complete sincerity.
"I'm glad I met you…"
Esper froze.
For half a second, the smugness slipped, and something softer took its place.
Then she slapped both hands over her mouth, eyes wide.
"Oh my gods, this is insane!" Esper hissed, snapping her head around. "Felix, are you seeing this?"
Felix was staring like a man watching a carriage crash in slow motion.
"Wow… He's worse than me…"
Soren's head drooped forward, and he began mumbling to himself in a miserable, teary haze.
"Lillyyyy…" he sniffled. "Where are you…"
"I'm right here," Lilliana said softly, though she sounded a bit dazed herself.
She leaned closer, still pink-cheeked, eyes gentle.
"Ren…"
But Soren's gaze drifted around like he couldn't focus.
"I can't wait to tell him about this later," Felix snickered under his breath, already enjoying the blackmail potential.
Amelia stirred slightly on Soren's lap, brow knitting as if the noise offended her.
Olivia looked like she was panicking internally.
"S-Soren?" she tried, voice small. "A-Are you… are you okay?"
Soren turned toward her with teary sincerity.
Olivia froze.
Because he looked genuinely wrecked.
Not physically, emotionally.
Like everything he had been carrying had finally found a crack.
"I'm okay," Soren insisted, despite the fact that he was very clearly not okay. "I'm just—hic—happy."
"Happy?" Alex repeated flatly, sounding unconvinced.
Soren nodded hard, tears flinging slightly.
"Yes! Happy!"
Esper patted his back again.
"See? Happy tears."
Felix leaned closer, examining him like a specimen.
"I didn't think he had this in him."
"Shut up," Amelia muttered sleepily, eyes still closed.
Felix blinked.
"...You're awake?"
"No," Amelia said, and then went still again, as if that settled it.
Soren sniffled and leaned closer to Esper, voice dropping into a conspiratorial whisper that was absolutely loud enough for half the table to hear.
"Essy…"
Esper perked up instantly.
"Yes?~"
"You're… you're scary," Soren whispered, as if confessing a deep secret.
Esper's mouth opened.
Then her face twisted into delighted disbelief.
"WHAT?!" she hissed, laughing. "I'm not scary!"
"Yes, you are," Soren insisted, nodding seriously. "But… but it's okay."
Esper stared at him like she didn't know whether to be offended or honoured.
Felix, meanwhile, was shaking with laughter.
"This is gold."
Olivia looked like she wanted to crawl under the table.
Lilliana reached over hesitantly and placed a hand on Soren's arm, grounding.
"Ren," she said softly, voice warm. "I'm here."
Soren's eyes flicked to her.
Then he sniffled, nodded, and, very suddenly, his expression crumpled again.
"I'm so thankful…" he repeated, voice breaking. "I don't deserve you guys…"
Esper's expression softened for real this time.
She rubbed his back more gently.
"Cutie… Stop that."
Soren's lip trembled.
"I— I'm serious…"
Felix made the mistake of speaking again.
"This is—"
Amelia's voice cut through, low and dangerous despite her half-asleep state.
"Felix."
Felix shut up instantly.
Alex stared at the ceiling like he was reevaluating his entire life.
"This is why I don't drink."
Esper glanced at him.
"You're drinking."
Alex stared back.
"And I regret it."
Soren hiccupped again, then finally, slowly, his sobbing began to ease.
The tears didn't stop completely, but they turned from full-on wailing into softer sniffling, his breathing gradually levelling out.
Esper kept patting him like he was a child who had scraped his knee.
"There we go," she whispered. "That's it. Let it out."
Soren slumped against the table, exhausted.
His eyes were puffy.
His face was damp.
His dignity was dead.
And Felix's grin was still dangerously wide.
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
By the time Soren's tears finally slowed into quiet sniffles, the room had shifted into that strange late-night haze where time stopped feeling real.
Empty mugs and half-finished bottles littered the table like casualties.
The earlier shouting had dulled into slurred murmurs, lazy laughter, and the occasional thump of someone setting a drink down too hard.
Soren sat there, blinking slowly, trying to regain control of his face.
His cheeks felt hot.
His eyes felt swollen.
His brain felt… floaty.
'…I'm never living this down.'
Esper was still beside him, watching him with the smug satisfaction of someone who had just witnessed something priceless.
Felix looked like he was five seconds away from carving the memory into stone tablets.
Amelia had not moved from his lap.
Lilliana had gone quiet again, leaning against his shoulder as if her body had decided it was done for the night.
Olivia looked exhausted from second-hand embarrassment alone.
Alex, surprisingly, was still upright, though the way he stared at nothing suggested he was operating purely on spite.
Soren took a slow breath, trying to settle himself.
It didn't help.
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
"Esperrrr…"
Felix's strained voice called out.
Esper perked up instantly, her head still resting against the table.
"...Yeah?"
Her reply came a beat late.
"Let's go somewhere after this…" he said, voice slightly slurred.
Esper blinked.
"Huh?"
"Somewhere… quieter," he added, eyes narrowing as if he was concentrating really hard. "I wanna… talk. Or… I dunno. Just… go."
Esper stared at him for a second.
Then she yawned.
A slow, unstoppable yawn that stretched her mouth wide and made her eyes water.
Her head dipped slightly.
Felix blinked at her, offended.
"Esper?"
No response.
Her eyes had half-closed.
"Esper? Don't ignore me…"
"...Zzz."
"Hahh…" he sighed dramatically, slumping back. "Soren's so unfair…"
Felix leaned forward again, squinting at Esper like his sheer willpower could wake her up.
"Esper…?"
"Zzz…"
His shoulders sagged.
"Ugh…" he muttered.
Felix's head dropped forward onto the table.
Just like that.
Out cold.
So that was it.
Esper. Out.
Felix. Out.
Olivia. Out.
Lilliana. Out.
Amelia. Out.
Soren. Out.
All except one.
Alex sat upright with his beer still in his hand.
He looked… tired.
Not sleepy-tired.
Existentially tired.
His gaze drifted across the wreckage of the room, bodies slumped, heads on tables, bottles everywhere, and Soren stuck with a princess on his lap like a cursed chair.
Alex's expression didn't change much, but the disappointment radiating from him was almost impressive.
He stared for a long moment.
Then he sighed.
"...Should I have just trained instead?"
————「❤︎」————