“…I was a little disappointed. Not greatly, just a little. But now I’m also worried. Junseo, are you perhaps hiding that you’re not feeling well from me or something? If not, there’s no reason you’d need to visit the lab in Sokcho this often…”
Even though he’d clearly spoken seriously, stimulated by something again, Junseo’s eyes lit up. What is it? What button got pushed again? Pressing down on Dohyuk, who flinched and tried to sit up in bewilderment, Junseo mixed aegyo into his voice.
“Yees, actually Junseo is sick. Please examine everywhere.”
“No! I’m not joking right now… No, your clothes… put them on…!”
Junseo, who had been excitedly unbuttoning the bright-colored pajama top he was wearing as a set with Dohyuk, slightly raised the corners of his mouth.
“Really put them back on?”
“…Put them on.”
With a smack, lips descended.
The one Dohyuk loved endlessly narrowed the distance a bit more and blinked.
“Really?”
Ah, this is driving me crazy.
Dohyuk inwardly chewed on curses at his own reaction speed, which was too fast to even compare to a beast. Even though all they’d done tonight was have sex, his insides tickled again and he felt a pull below. He was half wanting to cry. Since they were touching skin through the thin pajamas, Junseo must have definitely noticed. He let out a sound half in resentment, but the pitch-black eyes he faced only smiled brightly. The face looking down from above was half-dyed in the darkness filling the room, giving off an even more bewitching light.
Dohyuk looked at that appearance as if entranced and predicted that all situations would go as Junseo wished again.
***
Dohyuk sat up at the savory and appetizing smell. Checking the clock, it was already 8:40 AM. Sleeping in again today. When he was busy working, he used to wake up at five or six in the morning every day. Waking up late to the smell of breakfast now was completely a life of leisure compared to the past.
As soon as Dohyuk came to his senses, he started waking up the soundly sleeping Junseo.
“Junseo, you need to wake up. It seems the ahjumma has been here.”
“…Mm.”
Dohyuk laughed softly at the body clinging to him with no intention of waking up at all. In the beginning, he used to stare blankly at the face sleeping sweetly like a child and couldn’t even think of waking him, just going out to the living room.
The now-developed Dohyuk put his lips to Junseo’s forehead as requested. The face that had finished even a third shower at dawn had not a speck of blemish and was only white even in the morning. The familiar scent of skin was sweet.
When he coaxed gently, long arms wrapped around Dohyuk’s neck. Thanks to the face coming close, Junseo’s warm breath caressed Dohyuk’s jawline. Dohyuk lightly sat up while holding him in his arms. When Dohyuk, who had easily lifted up the large man, stepped down from the bed, Junseo, still wrapping his arms around Dohyuk’s neck, rubbed his head against his nape as if acting cute.
“Stop that when you’re fully awake.”
“I’m still tired.”
“That’s why it would have been good if you’d slept early yesterday. You wouldn’t be tired.”
“Junseo wanted to sleep early, but you held on and wouldn’t let go, hyung.”
“…That’s not true.”
Not even giving Dohyuk a chance to express his grievance, Junseo, who had straightened his waist and kissed as he pleased, was instantly transported onto a dining chair.
As expected, money is nice—the dining table was splendid. Looking at the table with not only stew but even grilled fish neatly set out, Dohyuk sat across from Junseo. Because they’d slept in, the rice had cooled down a bit, but not enough to be bothersome.
In fact, at first, Dohyuk had been awkward with the very idea of someone else doing housework. It was uncomfortable to leave housework to others when he wasn’t even doing other work. On the other hand, Junseo understood housework as something naturally outsourced to others. At this point, it was amazing that he’d taken care of Dohyuk one by one when his condition wasn’t good. Because there were times when the man who seemed like he wouldn’t lift a finger, born in a wealthy family, tried to care for Dohyuk.
“At this rate I’ll just laze around. These days I don’t even work, just play.”
A feast from the morning was excessive. When Dohyuk let it slip like a joke, Junseo, who had been eating his portion of clear broth, tilted his head.
“Even just breathing quietly, Espers consume five times the calories of ordinary people. And hyung, you’ve lost weight.”
“What? I don’t think so.”
“You have.”
“How do you know? I don’t even know.”
Junseo, who had silently and neatly put down his spoon, opened his mouth with a clear face.
“Usually when I hold your waist from behind, the space between my thumbs was this wide, but now…”
“…No. Stop…! Eat, eat your food. This is delicious too. Hurry and put your hand down and pick up your spoon.”
Realizing when Junseo meant by ‘when holding the waist from behind,’ Dohyuk hurriedly placed a piece of grilled fish on Junseo’s side plate. Junseo smiled with his eyes and then popped the flesh Dohyuk had picked out into his mouth.
Come to think of it, Junseo, who seemed to have a strange longing for cohabitation, had tried his hand at cooking a few times.
But Junseo’s fingertips weren’t nimble enough to match the face God had meticulously crafted, and cooking was especially what Junseo was worst at. The only thing Dohyuk, who had indifferently chewed and swallowed even combat rations notorious for being tasteless, couldn’t eat was the soup Junseo had lovingly cooked himself. Having experienced the mysterious fishy smell and sweet-and-sour taste in the unknown broth claiming to be kimchi stew, Dohyuk afterward supported without complaint Junseo outsourcing housework.
“You already finished eating?”
Dohyuk, who had been habitually putting bite-sized pieces of rolled omelet into the fully-grown Junseo’s mouth, tilted his head when Junseo put down his utensils.
“Yees, I ate a lot.”
“No you didn’t. You didn’t even eat half of what I ate.”
“Originally you eat a lot for breakfast and I don’t eat much breakfast.”
“You’re not really sick, are you?”
Unlike Dohyuk asking seriously, Junseo narrowed his eyes and smiled.
“Doctor, wasn’t that examination all night yesterday?”
Dohyuk, who was particularly weak to that expression, felt heat rising all the way to his eyes but tried to slide his gaze away.
“…No, don’t try to deflect again. You didn’t answer properly yesterday either. What is it exactly? If you’re not sick, there’s no reason you’d need to go to the Sokcho lab. If you keep deflecting… I’m really going to call Dr. Yu Junwoo.”
For some reason, Junseo hated it terribly when Dohyuk contacted Junwoo. As expected, displeased with Dohyuk’s threat, Junseo tapped on the table with his fingertips.
“You still have his phone number? You don’t even have a reason to contact him.”
“But do you delete someone you know’s phone number for no reason? He’s even your family.”
“Trying to score points with my family? Ah, right. My parents are curious about you, hyung. They said they want to meet you once.”
“…Wha, what? Why? Do they, do they know about me?”
How could they not? They’d made such a fuss trying to save one A-class Esper.
Junseo silently tilted his head obliquely and raised the corners of his mouth. Thanks to that light expression, Dohyuk, who had been flustered, again gloomily narrowed his brow.
“…You deflected again.”
“You have nothing to worry about, hyung. I’m here, so what are you worrying about?”
“You’re really not sick anywhere, right? Lately you keep going to the lab…”
Junseo got up from his chair and approached, then gently embraced Dohyuk’s head as he still sat.
“Please wait just a little. We promised to go together next week, so what are you doing being this cute?”
“I really don’t know what you’re thinking…”
“What’s the problem? Have I ever done anything harmful to you, hyung? I only do pretty things all the time.”
Pulling over Junseo, who was arbitrarily playing around with smacking sounds on top of his head, Dohyuk finally let out a sigh.
“You can do bad things. As long as you’re not sick, that’s enough.”
It was the one remark that caused Dohyuk, who had gotten up to clear the table, to end up on the kitchen floor.
***
Time flowed quickly and it became Monday in an instant.
Even though Junseo said it was fine, Dohyuk, who couldn’t let go of his worry, urged Junseo and departed for Sokcho from the morning.
He’d worried enough to resolve to ask about Junseo’s condition as soon as he met Junwoo, but the first thing Dohyuk did upon visiting the lab was undergo a detailed examination taking nearly 50 minutes. Junseo didn’t even receive any tests except for the guiding examination with Dohyuk.
“Um… Doctor.”
Dohyuk opened his mouth while lying on the large machine as Junwoo instructed.
“Yes?”
“Doesn’t Junseo need to be examined?”
Since Junwoo didn’t seem to doubt Junseo’s health at all, it was awkward to bring up serious questions for no reason. When he vaguely began as if to set the mood, Junwoo already reacted with puzzlement.
“Junseo? The test results from two weeks ago were good too, and he was perfect at his regular checkup. Was there something strange? These days Junseo isn’t even taking medication.”
Originally, Junseo regularly took sleeping pills and stabilizers like an Esper due to his rare and sensitive constitution.
“I’ve never seen him suffer from insomnia or headaches while staying at home, but he goes to the lab so often I thought he was uncomfortable somewhere.”
“Ah, that.”
At the feeling that Junwoo knew something, Dohyuk hurriedly added.
“Is there some kind of issue? Junseo won’t tell me, so I’m asking…”
Looking at Dohyuk’s eyes instantly filled with worry, Junwoo finally laughed softly. It was when Dohyuk frowned, wondering if that reaction was strange.
“Mm… I’ll keep my mouth shut too. If I tell you, it seems like he’ll try to eat me alive. It’s good news for Dohyuk-ssi, so don’t worry.”
“Huh?”
Dohyuk asked back, but without any other answer, Junwoo closed the machine with his characteristic gentle smile.
With a whir, lying alone in the closed machine, Dohyuk thought endlessly even while dutifully holding his breath following the guidance voice from the internal speaker.
‘What on earth is going on? Looking at his expression, it doesn’t seem like a big deal.’
The puzzlement continued even while waiting for Junwoo to finish the examination and inform him of the results.
With a tap, at the feeling of something touching his shoulder, Dohyuk straightened his back with a start.
“Hyung, you weren’t listening to me just now, were you?”
Junseo was blinking with his head leaning on Dohyuk’s shoulder.
“Hm? …Mm. Sorry. What did you say?”
“Since we came all the way out here, should we play a bit before going back—I was saying that, but you didn’t even answer.”
Dohyuk soothed him while gently stroking Junseo’s hair.
“Should we get some air in Gyeonggi-do on the way back?”
“Let’s stay overnight too.”
“You don’t really like staying out.”
“Because there’s not much time left to spend cozily together, just the two of us.”
