87
* * *
Until the new bed arrived, Samin decided to share Doun’s bed while keeping his luggage in the small room. After roughly unpacking his things in the empty room and washing up, he came out to the living room carrying a game console from his suitcase, apparently not planning to sleep right away.
“I brought a game console from home to play with hyung. Want to play a round?”
“Wait, what were you going to do if I hadn’t suggested we live together?”
Doun muttered as he sat down next to Samin. Since he had just washed up not long ago, every time Doun moved, the fragrant scent of shampoo and his skin wafted over.
‘Crazy… Did I make a mistake suggesting we live together?’
Samin swallowed while chewing on some regret. His foolish heart began beating like crazy. It was beating so fast that he could hear the thudding pulse very clearly in his ears.
He was struggling not to pounce on him from the first day of cohabitation, but oblivious Doun poked his side when Samin didn’t answer and grumbled.
“Hey. Why aren’t you answering me?”
“Hmm, I was choosing what game to play. If I hadn’t lived with hyung, I would have just…”
“Just?”
Doun tilted his head and waited for an answer. His face was too close. Close enough to count his eyelashes directly.
‘I’m really going crazy. Is hyung doing this on purpose? Why is he in soft tofu mode again! Wait, is this a test to see how much I can restrain myself before we start dating?’
Come to think of it, Doun had given him points at the office today. It was the first memorable point during Doun’s prospective boyfriend life that had been marred by deductions. This meant Doun’s evaluation was still ongoing.
Samin thought this was the perfect opportunity to score points.
“I would have just gotten by. Hyung, I found a game for two people, let’s play together. Okay?”
“Sounds good.”
Doun readily took the controller Samin handed him. Samin quickly connected the game console to the TV and finished setting it up before Doun’s interest waned.
Playing games sitting side by side with Samin on the sofa where he had always been curled up alone was quite fun. When Doun quickly became absorbed in the game, Samin boldly suggested making bets.
And when he beat Samin and got to flick his forehead, he was able to laugh heartily without worries for the first time in a while. He had intended to spend a moderately cozy time with Doun, but somehow Samin ended up unable to control his competitive spirit and was burning with passion. He glared with flashing eyes and huffed.
‘Lee Doun, you look like you’d be terrible at games, so why are you good at them? Your finger flicks are fucking strong too! I thought you were going to drill a hole in my forehead…’
Samin grumbled internally while rubbing his forehead. At times like this, he was reminded again of Doun’s true identity. The fact that the gentle, pushover-looking man in front of him was hunter Magnetic, who slaughtered monsters without batting an eye.
Whenever Doun conquered towers, he showed tremendous concentration and overwhelming prowess, but as soon as battles ended or it was time to rest for maintenance, he quickly became soft tofu mode. Not knowing that this difference drove people crazy.
“Damn, let’s play one more round. I lost by mistake earlier.”
“With the same rule where the winner gets to flick the loser?”
Doun grinned and provoked Samin. When it came to competitive spirit, Doun was no less than Samin.
“Just wait and see, Lee Doun. I’m going to win this time.”
When Samin narrowed his eyes and muttered something like a declaration of war, Doun raised his eyebrows.
“How rude to your hyung.”
“…yo.”
At Doun’s point, Samin belatedly added an awkward and utterly wrong honorific ending. Hearing the cute-like response, Doun squeezed his eyes shut and burst into laughter.
‘Why am I starting to like Samin’s nonsense more and more?’
A few months ago, if he had ignored the texts that persistently arrived, he wouldn’t be sitting face to face with Samin like this. Even though it was a natural result, thinking about it made his heart flutter a little.
Himself without Samin? He would definitely have been looking half-dead and sunk down as if all the world’s misfortunes were his own. Sometimes he laughed and spent his days normally, but as depression typically goes, he would eventually be dominated by lethargy and indescribable emotions, slowly sinking.
But after impulsively replying to Samin and meeting him, changes occurred. He laughed more often than usual and began imagining the future instead of staying in the past.
‘…It’s all thanks to Samin.’
Was it because his mind became unsettled and he couldn’t concentrate on the game? Doun easily lost to Samin.
“I won, right? Hyung, hurry up and put your forehead out.”
“…”
“Quickly.”
The world of competition was cold. Doun humbly accepted defeat and slowly brought his face close to Samin. Samin lightly loosened his fingers and rubbed Doun’s bangs.
“The spot where I got flicked by hyung still stings. I’m going to get revenge.”
“…Be quiet and hurry up and hit me.”
Doun brushed his bangs to the side for easy targeting and urged Samin, who was taking his time. The bet was for the winner to flick the loser’s forehead. From the moment Doun acknowledged defeat, all he could think about was getting his forehead hit by Samin’s thick finger.
What touched Doun’s forehead as he squeezed his eyes shut and braced for impact, thinking it would hurt quite a bit, wasn’t a finger but soft lips.
Along with a smacking sound, warm and gentle warmth left only subtle heat on his forehead before moving away. Doun belatedly opened his eyes and stammered.
“Wh-what? Why didn’t you hit me and suddenly kissed me?”
Apparently not having expected it at all, his flustered face was completely red.
“How could I hit hyung? Even cherishing you isn’t enough.”
Samin said while rubbing Doun’s cheek with his thumb.
“…Be honest with me. You suggested living together all this time for this, didn’t you?”
“I can’t say no, can I? I told you I like you, hyung. Of course I had plenty of thoughts about making moves.”
When Samin confidently agreed, Doun was left speechless and gaped. He needed to say something, but he couldn’t scold him at all. Because he knew that if they lived together, Samin would act like this.
Doun had proposed cohabitation even while expecting this behavior from Samin. To feel Samin’s warmth even a little closer. So he couldn’t blame only Samin.
“Samin.”
“Yes.”
When he called his name in a low voice, Samin looked at Doun without avoiding his gaze. Just having Samin in a roomy-looking t-shirt and sweatpants at home changed the atmosphere of the house.
Should he say it felt like people were living here? Should he say it was lively?
The house that had been as quiet as a mouse except for the noise of appliances running and his occasional sobbing was now filled with the sounds of their bickering conversation. The thumping of his heart was a bonus.
Instead of urging himself for taking his time after just calling his name, Doun blurted out to Samin, who was quietly waiting.
“To be honest, I might be a really boring type once we actually start dating.”
When he put down the game controller he had been holding, Samin raised an eyebrow.
“I’d have to date hyung to know that.”
“If we dated and then you dumped me, things between us in the guild could become awkward…”
When Doun muttered while slightly avoiding his gaze, Samin quickly answered.
“Wait. Why are you thinking about breaking up before we even start dating?”
“What can I do about being like this?”
“Hyung being like this is a blessing from heaven. Anyway, hyung’s personality is just too future-oriented. In a negative way.”
At Samin’s rebuttal, Doun felt choked up but asked with slightly moist eyes.
“So… you don’t like it?”
“No, I mean let’s not think about everything in binary terms. Until we both have white hair, hm? Until we become hoho grandfathers, why don’t you think about dating that long and instead only think about me dumping you? Isn’t that biased?”
“You might dump me when we’re old.”
Samin’s eyes narrowed as he quietly listened to Doun’s words. His cheeks twitched and his gaze swept over Doun’s face as if measuring something. Then he looked like he had realized something.
“Hyung. But listening to you, do you realize you’ve only been talking about what if I dump you?”
“…So what about it?”
“Don’t tell me hyung… You never thought about dumping me?”
Samin smiled, pulling at the corners of his mouth. His well-shaped lips drew an arc. It was a confident attitude as if he had seen right through Doun’s heart.
At that moment, Doun’s eyes grew wider and wider, and finally his face turned bright red.
‘…Come to think of it, why haven’t I ever thought about breaking up with Samin first?’
All this time, Doun had only fantasized that he would ultimately be dumped, making up all sorts of pointless and baseless reasons like Samin getting tired and giving up, losing interest, or finding someone else. He didn’t know the reason, but he was just convinced that he would be dumped first.
“I just… I mean…”
When Doun mumbled and stammered, Samin quietly leaned forward and looked into Doun’s sparkling eyes.
‘How flustered must he be for both eyes to be blue? Anyway, what does Lee Doun eat to be this cute?’
His face looking at Doun was unmistakably that of a man in love. The kind of love where just watching the other person sit still and breathe made him feel good and strangely made his chest ache.
Samin slowly made eye contact with Doun and spoke in a gentle voice.
“Doun hyung. I’m going to ask you just one thing, and I really hope you’ll answer this.”
“…Yeah.”
“Hyung, do you like me?”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
