Gentle Giant Chapter 35
What…?! Dain’s face, which had been dark red, now turned pale. “Crazy”…
Right, that’s it. It’s disgusting to see a grown man with such a large build crying and wailing, and on top of that, he can’t even control his emotions enough to keep his ears from popping out… he deserves to be cursed at.
Of course, logically Dain understood Juho too. If he put himself in his shoes, he was clearly not helpful from one to ten, and now he was even showing his inadequate side.
However, separate from that, his heart felt like it was being torn apart. Just moments ago he was told to take responsibility, and now he was being cursed at just for showing his cat ears. It was so disappointing that his eyes felt hot again.
“You’re mean…”
In the end, words filled with hurt spilled from Dain’s mouth. If only Juho wasn’t holding his wrist, he would have wanted to give him at least a flick on the forehead.
How could a person’s heart change so easily! No matter how much they say there are no beast-men to trust in this world, he didn’t expect even Juho to curse at him like this.
Dain glared at Juho with triangular eyes. But as if he couldn’t even feel that gaze, Juho was staring intently only at Dain’s head area.
Dain puffed out his cheeks and momentarily put strength into his hand. Thanks to Juho loosening his grip on his hand while concentrating on his head, a gap appeared. Dain quickly pulled out his wrist and hurriedly ran into the bathroom and closed the door.
Bang!
“Hey! Hyung!!”
At what happened in an instant, Juho quickly followed Dain to the bathroom, but he was so fast that the door was already firmly locked.
Juho was concerned about what Dain had muttered at the end along with that sharp expression, but that wasn’t the problem right now.
Ears. Cat ears.
Wow, crazy…! Really cute. Wow… what should I do…? Would it be okay to ask to take some photos…? So fucking cute!! These days, can phone cameras take photos with resolution good enough to make posters…?
Even while mechanically knocking on the bathroom door, Juho’s mind was completely filled with Dain’s ears.
He also felt regretful that he couldn’t see them properly because Dain was covering them with his hands. He wanted to see them again quickly and, if possible, touch them.
If he stayed in the bathroom like this, precious time would just pass. He had to get him to come out before then.
“Hyung, please open the door. Okay? What’s wrong? You’re not hurt anywhere, are you?”
“N-no…”
A very small answer came from the bathroom. Anyway, since he wasn’t completely ignoring him, he might be able to persuade him to come out again with a little convincing. Juho felt his motivation burning for the first time in a while and knocked on the door more forcefully.
“Hyung, but why did you hide in the bathroom? Do you hate looking at my face?”
“It’s not that…”
“Then what? Are you angry because I told you to take responsibility? I’m sorry. Right. You like cute, small, delicate people, don’t you? Since I’m just big and only cause trouble… of course you would hate me…”
Juho’s completely deflated voice could be heard from beyond the bathroom door. Dain, who had been crouched in the corner of the bathroom, quickly opened the door and shouted.
“That’s not it!”
Juho, who had been standing blankly outside the bathroom door, looked at Dain with a surprised face.
Gray triangular ears that were fully visible without being covered by hands were perked up on top of Dain’s head. True to being a Maine Coon cat, the soft fluff at the tips of his ears swayed and shook following Dain’s head movements.
At that cute movement, Juho quickly covered his tingling nose with his hand. Interpreting that action somehow, Dain quickly covered his head with his hands again. But soon his wrist was caught by Juho again and his hand was forcibly removed from his head.
“Hyung, then why did you run away to the bathroom?”
“Y-you cursed at me…!”
“Me…? I did? What…”
A flustered expression appeared on Juho’s face. He cursed? How careful he was being with every single word in front of Dain. Juho laughed briefly and said.
“No way. Why would I curse at hyung?”
“…”
“Did I really curse?”
Dain just nodded silently. Moisture was welling up in his eyes again.
“H-hyung! Wait! I really cursed?!”
“Yeah. You looked at my ears and said ‘crazy.’ Definitely.”
Dain’s mouth stuck out in a pout. He felt wronged again thinking that Juho must have hated them so much to unconsciously curse without even remembering.
If only he would let go of this wrist, he thought he should run back into the bathroom and wait until his ears disappeared. He didn’t want to show his ugly and inadequate appearance to anyone else, especially not to Juho.
“Ah, hyung. That. Haha, I said that as an exclamation because it was cute?”
“…What?”
“What did I think you meant. Hyung, you know how it is! When you see something too cute, don’t you say ‘Wow, so cute it’s crazy!’ like that? That’s how I said it.”
Juho laughed loudly while letting go of Dain’s wrist.
After hearing Juho’s words, Dain was so flustered that he froze at the same height where Juho had been holding his wrist. That sight was also so cute that Juho let out a short chuckle and carefully took Dain’s hands one by one to bring them down.
“You’re lying…?”
“Huh? No, really. Completely 100% real.”
“C-cute…? This?”
Dain pointed at his dull gray ears with his finger. No matter how he looked at them, they weren’t a lovely shape or color that ordinary people would find adorable.
“Of course the ears being cute is right, but it’s hyung wearing those ears that’s cute. Since cute hyung is wearing cute ears, it’s double cute so…”
“Wait! Juho! Stop!”
Dain’s face turned red again. The limit of ‘cute’ that he could accept had been exceeded.
Dain fanned his heated face with his hand and returned to sit on the bed.
“Okay. Yeah, then you’re saying it’s o-okay to see these ears?”
“Yes. Completely okay. But hyung.”
“Yeah?”
“Can I take just one photo of hyung’s face right now?”
At Juho’s request, Dain lost his words for a moment and had a blank expression, then quickly shook his head vigorously. He had no desire to preserve this shameful appearance forever.
At Dain’s strong refusal, Juho clicked his tongue regretfully. Even when he looked with desperate eyes, Dain only flinched his ears but continued to shake his head sideways.
“J-Juho. That’s not the problem right now. Let’s finish the conversation we were having.”
“Ah. The story about hyung not wanting to take responsibility for me?”
Juho spoke with an indifferent face.
To be so flustered that cat ears popped out just because he was told to take responsibility. Earlier he was briefly entranced by the cute appearance, but thinking about it now made him feel bad. How could he not take responsibility after making me like this(?)?
Dain was flustered seeing Juho’s sullen face. Juho’s gaze looking at him was like looking at a lover who had devoured him overnight and then ran away.
Having never received such a betrayal-filled look from anyone, Dain broke out in cold sweat.
“It’s not that I don’t want to take responsibility for you…”
“Then what? As soon as I said you should take responsibility, you ran away to the bathroom, and even after coming out, when I asked to take a photo, you said no. Hyung, is your ideal type really someone soft and weak who collapses easily?”
“What…? What do you mean…”
Dain fell into thought at Juho’s words.
Soft and weak and collapsing easily… Could he be talking about the beast-men on the poster he saw on the street before? He only said one word asking if they weren’t cute while looking at the poster.
Dain was newly amazed by Juho’s incredible memory.
“That’s not it, it’s not a problem with me, it’s you…”
“Me? What about me?”
“I was wondering if you’d be okay. Juho, so you do know what it means when you say you want me to take responsibility, right? If it’s because your Korean is still awkward, I’m sorry. I might have misunderstood…”
“It’s not a misunderstanding. I really mean I want you to take responsibility for me.”
Before Dain could finish speaking, an answer burst from Juho’s mouth. Hearing that, Dain’s face turned bright red again.
R-right, I guess. Me taking responsibility for Juho. Th-that’s what it meant!
Dain started fanning his heated face.
“Uh, I’m a male beast-man. And, um… I’m big, and not handsome… but…?”
“Hyung, I really like you in many ways. Of course it’s flustering that this sudden situation happened, but if we two get along well, we might not give other people room to think badly.”
“Yeah. Right. That’s true, but…”
Juho’s handsome face, cool body, and even his kind personality. No matter how many times he looked, Juho was a person who didn’t lack anything anywhere… It was amazing that he would show such favorable feelings toward himself, who fell short of average in every way.
Since it was perhaps natural for him to develop feelings beyond brotherhood toward Juho, he could accept that, but no matter how much he racked his brain, he couldn’t imagine Juho liking him.
Of course, neither of them had feelings as grand as love, but it was certain that they were departing from their previous ordinary hyung-dongsaeng relationship.
“That’s true, but…? Why do you keep dragging out your words? Hyung, do you happen to have someone you like? So you don’t want to take responsibility for me because you want to try things with that person?”
As if he would cause a scene immediately if such a person existed, Juho asked in an ominous voice.
However, Dain was confident that he would never be able to meet someone as attractive as Juho before, now, or in the future, so he shook his head vigorously.
“I-I’m just amazed. Yeah… Right. Th-that you, Juho, had some degree of favorable feelings toward me…”
Dain’s face was burning up. He never dreamed that the day would come when he would utter the ticklish word ‘favorable feelings’ with his own mouth.
Following Dain’s gradually lowering head, the ears that had been perked up on his head also began to droop little by little. Watching the ears wiggle and move, Juho’s mouth filled with saliva.
Squish squish.
Knowing he shouldn’t do this, Juho couldn’t resist the momentary impulse and raised his hand to fidget with Dain’s ears.
“Ngh, Juho!”
A displeased voice flowed from Dain’s mouth at that ticklish feeling, but it didn’t reach Juho’s ears.
After gently touching the warm, soft, fluffy ears and lowering his hand, Juho stared down at his palm that had felt that ecstatic sensation for a long time.
“Hyung. I’m really sorry, but can I touch them one more time…?”
“…N-no!!”
Dain, who showed an embarrassed expression at Juho’s request, once again ran away to the bathroom like lightning.
Juho gazed wistfully at that quick retreating figure, then soon had an expression full of satisfaction.
He had finally taken a step forward. He had succeeded in officially securing that slow Jung Dain first. As they say, starting is half the battle, so what comes next wouldn’t be difficult.
Moreover, since Jung Dain was the first to say he would take responsibility, this level of beginning wasn’t bad.
Juho left his naturally rising corners of his mouth as they were and moved his steps toward the bathroom where Dain had entered. How could he let this opportunity he had gained slip away? He couldn’t let him hide tightly in the bathroom for the remaining time.
Meanwhile, Dain, who had taken refuge in the bathroom to escape Juho’s touch, pressed and fiddled with his own ears. Then he tilted his head.
As expected, it was completely different from the sensation he had felt when Juho touched his ears earlier.
Is it always different when someone else touches them? Dain, who was tilting his head in wonder, gently rubbed his somehow itchy bottom against the floor and fiddled with his ears once more.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
