His fumbling hands mistyped the code several times. All he had to do was pull away, but Haejeong absolutely refused to let go. Like someone for whom separation would be a catastrophe, he stayed pressed against him, greedily rubbing his lips against Munyeong’s mouth, cheeks, nose, everywhere.
“Ha… Haejeong…, calm, calm down…….”
“Calm down my a—”
Haejeong frowned at the breezy words.
“Th, then… at least once we’re inside…….”
A soft, coaxing voice reached him. Munyeong continued in a flustered stammer, his face flushed a deep red. At the look of someone dying of embarrassment, Haejeong let out a small laugh and shuffled his feet. Damn, he’s so freaking cute….
“If we go inside, I’m going to do all sorts of things.”
Haejeong declared it with relish, savoring the reaction. Munyeong’s eyes went as wide as they could possibly go. At the look of someone who had just received a terminal diagnosis, Haejeong let out a startled breath of laughter.
“More than kissing.”
“…….”
“More than rubbing against each other like kids.”
“…….”
“Everything.”
Haejeong continued spelling it out word by word, keeping Munyeong locked in his arms. With each word added, the color of Munyeong’s face ran wild. He’d go red with embarrassment, then narrow his brow with what looked like resolve, then tremble with something like apprehension again. Haejeong watched each reaction one by one and drew out the most important words.
Haejeong tucked away the smile on his face and continued with complete seriousness.
“Because we’re allowed to now.”
No teasing in it, no playful lilt. Just plain words. The flustered Munyeong also stilled. At Haejeong’s face — which was almost solemn — Munyeong, who had been tensing up, suddenly let out a soft, helpless laugh. At the sight of him covering his mouth with one hand as he laughed, Haejeong’s face crumpled.
“What are you laughing at. Does it seem like a joke?”
“…No.”
As though it was a reaction he hadn’t anticipated, Haejeong glared at him with a sulky expression.
“It’s just… seeing you nervous is so surprising.”
“I, I’m not nervous. What the hell, when did I ever.”
“…Well, then…. Forget it.”
“Just answer me.”
“…….”
“Are you okay with it.”
“…….”
“…Me going inside and….”
Before Haejeong could finish, Munyeong turned his body slightly and slowly pressed the door lock code, one digit at a time. Beep, beep — with each mechanical tone that rang out, Haejeong’s face went momentarily distant. Munyeong’s profile as he entered the code was quite stiff. Munyeong too was visibly tense.
And then — click. The lock released. Munyeong swallowed a dry lump in his throat and met Haejeong’s gaze with steady resolve, as Haejeong stood there unable to move.
“…Sh, shall we…”
“…….”
“…go in…?”
Unable to bring himself to say let’s go in outright, he turned it into a question instead, and dipped his head low in embarrassment, avoiding his eyes. It was as good as saying he knew exactly what his own gesture meant.
At the wordless consent, Haejeong stood briefly speechless, then let out a low laugh that sounded half like a sigh, as if he couldn’t believe it. There’s just no winning against him. No winning at all.
The fact that he did it with that guileless face made it all the more maddening. Haejeong wiped a hand over his face through his laugh and then pressed the bridge of his nose. The emotions that had already been ablaze flared up like something about to explode.
As though a leash had been cut loose, Haejeong grabbed Munyeong’s arm in urgent haste and stepped inside. The moment the door slammed shut behind them, he pushed Munyeong against the door and pinned him there, kissing him more fervently than before. He slipped his tongue out and into Munyeong’s mouth, dragging it slowly and heavily against his teeth and the inside of his cheek. At the deep, overwhelming sensation, Munyeong’s body convulsed in a small shudder. Delighted by the reaction, Haejeong pushed his tongue in deeper. Like a piston driving in and out, he thrust his tongue all the way to the roof of Munyeong’s mouth and withdrew it, over and over again. The wet, slick sounds of saliva rose thickly right there at the front door.
“Ha…. Damn.”
“Mm… ugh.”
“Damn……, damn.”
He swallowed Munyeong’s saliva and chewed out curses under his breath again and again. Every whispered profanity breathed into him as he kissed him hungrily felt obscene in a way that made Munyeong’s face burn bright red, like it might burst.
“…God, how much have I….”
“…….”
“…How much, damn it….”
Haejeong’s voice trembled as he spoke, like someone finally getting what they’d longed for. Between the raw honesty of his words and the shameless drag of his tongue, Munyeong couldn’t find his head. But Haejeong showed no mercy and reached out immediately to start undressing Munyeong. Then something caught his attention — Haejeong scrunched his face and ran a brief look over Munyeong’s attire.
“…I noticed this earlier.”
“…Yeah?”
“What on earth are these clothes?”
He asked in a dissatisfied voice at the outfit that looked like some bar uniform, and Munyeong answered, panting with parted lips.
“…Th, these… I was working and…… I came straight from work….”
“Work? Ha…. That damn job.”
While he had spent an entire month living like a wreck, the other person had been diligently living his life through all of it.
“You were out there working through all this? Damn, while some, some people…….”
He knew it already, but at the polar-opposite lifestyle gap, Haejeong asked again in a tone of pure grievance, and Munyeong shook his head side to side.
“…I, I had no choice…”
“No choice, sure. I probably never even crossed your mind. What would someone like me even matter.”
Haejeong grumbled as he took Munyeong’s lips between his, nipping and releasing them in short repeated bursts, and began undressing him starting with the vest. His hands moved with fluid, effortless ease.
“That’s not true…. I too…….”
Munyeong stuck out the tip of his red tongue and began to protest. His expression was genuinely aggrieved as he continued.
“I too… because of you…….”
“Because of me?”
“…Because of you…… you kept coming to mind…….”
At the honest words tumbling out with eyes darting around in disarray, Haejeong tangled his tongue with his again, fierce and immediate. Every word that came from that maddening mouth was something that played him completely. Same as now. All it did was make the fire in him burn hotter.
“…That’s the best thing I’ve heard in a while.”
Haejeong let out a small laugh and stripped off his own top in one smooth motion. The living room was just a few steps away, and the bedroom a little further beyond that — but Haejeong, as if he couldn’t hold on even a moment longer, stripped off the rest of the other person’s clothes and his own remaining ones right then and there.
“Aren’t you curious about me?”
“…Ha…. Hm…?”
Still overwhelmed by nothing more than the kissing, Munyeong looked up at him with hazy eyes. Haejeong ran his hand across Munyeong’s chest, and with his fingertips grazed the pink nipples that had stiffened from the eerie cold and stimulation.
“Ha…, mm….”
“Aren’t you curious about how I’ve been…. ha.”
Haejeong pressed a deep mark into the nape of Munyeong’s neck and slowly began trailing his lips downward. He pecked along the Adam’s apple, then each collarbone, one by one, as he spoke.
“All day long…. damn it, all day long…… I only thought about how to bring you back.”
“Mm… Hae, Haejeong… this is strange…….”
“All day long… for an entire month…… all I thought about was how I could get you to stay with me.”
Haejeong flicked his tongue between the flat expanse of his chest and with both hands, pinched and pulled both nipples at the same time, stretching them. Munyeong, his face stricken with embarrassment, gripped Haejeong’s shoulders as he bent all the way down to his chest.
“My, my chest… you don’t have to…….”
“Why. Damn, your nipples are pretty too.”
At the blunt words, Munyeong’s face went slack. In all his years he had never heard anything so shameless directed at him. And the unguarded, unfiltered version of Haejeong was something he wasn’t used to — and something that made him even more embarrassed.
