The humidifier Jion had newly acquired was a high-end model from a brand he’d been coveting for a long time, something he’d scrounged up on Karrot with great determination ahead of the move. In the previous lodging, he hadn’t dared turn on a humidifier even when he caught a cold or his throat condition was poor because of the mold problem. Now that he didn’t have to worry about that, he could run the humidifier to his heart’s content.
“Now I can take good care of my throat.”
It’s not like it was a Bugatti or Ferrari, yet he was this moved by a single humidifier. Jion carefully enshrined the A-grade humidifier without a single scratch on it like a sacred relic and endlessly stroked it. A modest ambitious man who was this happy over just a humidifier and whose entire career goal was just to perform on one year-end stage. That was none other than Seong Jion.
“Does that make you that happy?”
And Seonwoo Jin, an immature kid who knew nothing about Seong Jion’s tear-jerking sacrifices and efforts and felt no emotion about them whatsoever, lay on one bed and listlessly stared at Jion’s back as he stroked the humidifier.
For Seonwoo Jin, whose parts amounted to nothing more than muttering a few words that weren’t even rap-like and who hadn’t received particularly difficult parts that would require much vocal use this time either, the term ‘throat care’ sounded very unfamiliar.
“Of course. If your throat’s dry, you can’t sing.”
Jion answered without even turning around, but it wasn’t an answer that particularly resonated with Seonwoo Jin, who couldn’t sing even with a moist throat. Seonwoo Jin was curious about only one thing.
Whether or not the two of them could sleep together like before.
“……But just because there are two beds, does that mean we absolutely have to sleep separately, one person each?”
Seonwoo Jin trailed off while sneaking a glance at Jion. Even though he recognized that being with Jion brought a strange stimulation to his lower body and that this mustn’t be discovered, Seonwoo Jin still couldn’t imagine a night sleeping apart from Jion.
“Are we really sleeping separately?”
To an observer, it would look like a newlywed couple failing to match each other’s sleeping habits and going through the process of separating beds. However, Seonwoo Jin didn’t think he was showing excessive attachment to Jion or making unreasonable demands……
“Yeah. The bed’s narrow, isn’t it?”
Jion, who gave the same response as an answer, also didn’t recognize that this conversation felt like lovers, or that a sticky relationship had already formed between the two of them, and even subtle tension was being exchanged.
It couldn’t be helped. Jion had zero dating experience, and having read articles about Seonwoo Jin’s continuous scandals as a terrible womanizer before the regression, he was in a state where deep disillusionment, disgust, and repulsion toward the act of dating had been implanted.
To Jion, idol dating was unethical behavior that went against business morals, and it was even more forbidden for nobodies like themselves who were failed idols who hadn’t even received their settlement yet. It was similar to the feeling of a high school senior preparing for college entrance exams dating instead of practicing. It wasn’t illegal, but weren’t there things that couldn’t be accepted in terms of professional ethics and public sentiment?
If you’re going to date, at least do it after getting into college.
Jion ground his teeth as he recalled a cohort from his academy practice room who had locked eyes and all failed their entrance exams.
They’d be about third-graders in elementary school now. They said if they went back to the past they’d absolutely never do arts and physical education, but I’ll find out if they really don’t do it in this life too. If they start preparing for arts and PE entrance exams, I’ll volunteer as a mentor and persuade them to give up.
While Jion was briefly grinding his teeth recalling matters of the past that were like the future, Seonwoo Jin was still pouting beside him.
“Can’t we just sleep together? I don’t think it’ll be narrow if we sleep close.”
“No, we should sleep separately now……”
Jion soothed Seonwoo Jin, who was acting like a 5-year-old child notified of separate sleeping arrangements. Previously, there had been clear reasons why Jion slept with Seonwoo Jin, but hadn’t the situation improved now?
Because it was hard to go up and down to the second level, because seeing condensation and mold marks near the ceiling made it hard to breathe, and to build an attachment relationship with Seonwoo Jin. All three of these factors had been resolved, so there was absolutely no reason to continue lying embraced with Seonwoo Jin on a narrow bed.
“We have two beds now. Let’s sleep comfortably.”
“Ah, but I can’t sleep if I don’t sleep with you.”
“Should I buy you an attachment pillow?”
“Why spend money when I have you?”
Seonwoo Jin whined and approached, standing Jion up.
“Sleep with me.”
“Good grief, really. This is a sickness, a sickness. You need to get counseling for this.”
While secretly feeling fluttered by Seonwoo Jin’s obsession, Jion pretended otherwise and let himself be dragged along. Seonwoo Jin laid Jion down on his bed and personally went to fetch a pillow from Jion’s bed to place under his head. It was a setup for comfortable and satisfying sleep.
They didn’t have much luggage, but they had moved anyway, and had even done several rehearsals of the movement route to film a housewarming vlog. He hadn’t thought he was tired, but once he lay down on the soft new bed, fatigue washed over him, and Jion spread his arms toward Seonwoo Jin, who was coming back after turning off the lights.
“Hurry up. Come lie down.”
For Jion, who still wasn’t aware in many ways, it was an action without any intention. However, Jion’s languid expression bathed in the soft light of the indirect lighting, the lines that could be interpreted suggestively, and the arms spread to welcome Seonwoo Jin made Seonwoo Jin hesitate as he returned to the bed.
Uh. This is dangerous?
Having whined to sleep together and dragged Jion over himself, Seonwoo Jin felt a powerful sense of crisis in his lower body when he actually saw Jion lying on the bed. The new environment and settled mood gave him a different kind of stimulation than before.
In fact, it wasn’t physiologically easy to feel strong sexual tension or create that kind of atmosphere in the corner of an old bunk bed where the window frame rattled at the slightest strong wind, where a musty smell lingered no matter how much you ran the dehumidifier, where the marks from wiping away mold with bleach were vivid, and where creaking sounds came when you tossed and turned in your sleep.
So that shabby, old villa had been a giant libido suppressor for Seonwoo Jin. Seonwoo Jin’s vigorous sexual desire, which had been sealed away by all those pathetic, unsanitary, and uncool elements, was unsealed in the new environment.
“……”
Gulp.
Seonwoo Jin swallowed without realizing it. Of course, it wasn’t that he was trying to do something to Jion, a same-sex member, his emotional supporter and leader who guided his weak soul, his sacred savior. The saliva he just swallowed was a kind of physiological phenomenon. Like the blood rapidly rushing to his lower region.
Seonwoo Jin thought it was fortunate he’d turned off the lights quickly. If the lights had been on brightly, he would have been caught red-handed with his face turned red or the outline showing in his pants. Seonwoo Jin passed by Jion, who was spreading his arms toward him, with an awkward gait.
“……Ah, wait, I don’t think I washed up yet.”
“Huh? You washed earlier.”
“No, no. After that I sweated……”
“What did you do to sweat?”
Fortunately, since he’d always been fastidious, Jion didn’t suspect Seonwoo Jin’s slowed steps or awkward behavior of not showing his face. Rather, Jion laughed and teased him.
“When you come out after washing, can’t you spray that perfume you always spray?”
“At night?”
Jion recalled that perfume scent because of what happened a few days ago. Seonwoo Jin’s back when he saved him from Park Homin. The body scent when he leaned against that reliable back. Jion smiled to himself, feeling fluttered as he recalled that moment.
“It was nice when that scent came when I was holding you. Your smell.”
It was truly a terribly unaware dangerous statement. Seonwoo Jin quickly turned around with his back to Jion, covered his face and thought.
Can I get a consultation with the lawyers who were attached to Eungi’s malicious rumor case? I think I need to add one more case to the current commission. Isn’t it illegal to seduce a member of the same group like this?
This was something that should be held liable in civil and criminal law. Seonwoo Jin really wanted to sue Jion.
“……Wait.”
But right now, overcoming the biological crisis right before his eyes took priority over writing a complaint. Seonwoo Jin threw off his top and took off his pants too. It was an action he took having completely forgotten that Jion was watching him from behind, thinking he needed to quickly jump under the shower.
“Hey! Go inside and take them off!”
Jion was shocked at Seonwoo Jin suddenly starting a striptease while he was just lying there and threw a pillow at him. He threw it carelessly, but why was that back so wide that it hit dead center and fell? Seonwoo Jin picked up the pillow that had fallen to the floor and handed it back to Jion in a posture with only his waist desperately bent.
“Why are you throwing things? Here.”
“Ueok……”
Jion let out a weak scream and covered his eyes with the pillow he received. For Seonwoo Jin, it was a posture taken to avoid showing his bulging lower body, but it unexpectedly became a powerful counterattack.
The back muscles defined without excess fat and the shape of the oblique muscles decorating his ribs, and the manly thick waist and flat lower abdomen where well-shaped abs were located. On top of that, the expression of unconsciously gritting his teeth slightly because of the blood rushing below.
Too, too indecent!
“……Hurry up and wash and come out.”
Jion tried to calm his churning heart with his face buried in the pillow, not knowing that he’d counterattacked even more strangely with his words. They really were kids who did all sorts of things.
