Gentle Giant 36

Gentle Giant Chapter 36

Knock, knock. Knock, knock.

Because of Juho repeatedly knocking on the bathroom door since earlier, Dain couldn’t stay at ease. His protruding ears would go back in quickly if he could feel peaceful, but Juho wasn’t giving him any chance for that at all.

His itchy bottom had fortunately gotten better, but his risen ears still showed no signs of going back in.

“Hyung, I really won’t touch them. I’ll just look. Okay?”

“J-just wait a little longer and I’ll come out. Wait!”

“Why, why do you need to wait a little longer? Hyung, hyung, I really won’t touch them.”

“No! That’s not why!”

“Then what? Hyuuung, how long are you going to leave me like this? You said you’d give me food if I washed up. I’m hungry. Okay?”

At Juho’s voice coming from beyond the door, Dain’s drooping head suddenly shot up. Right! Juho’s dinner! Remembering the stir-fried pork he had taken out to the dining table while waiting for Juho to finish washing up earlier, Dain straightened his crouched body.

Bursting out through the door, Dain had already forgotten that he had been upset with Juho and grabbed his hand.

“S-sorry. Juho, you’re hungry, right? I just need to stir-fry the pork. Sit here! Okay?”

“What’s there to be sorry about, it’s fine.”

“No. You came to my house today because work was tough, but I forgot about that and just kept getting angry. Sorry.”

Dain apologized while putting the moderately thawed stir-fried pork into the frying pan. Juho, who had been quietly listening to that apology, let out a short sigh and firmly grasped Dain’s shoulder. Of course, he applied only the slightest pressure. Dain’s shoulders were precious.

“I wasn’t trying to get an apology from hyung. And in the first place, it was my fault for touching hyung’s ears without permission, so why would it be hyung’s fault? Don’t say things like that. I was wrong.”

“Juhooo…”

At Juho’s apology, Dain stopped stir-frying the pork and turned around. Then he placed Juho’s hand that had been on his shoulder onto his ear.

He felt insanely embarrassed and ashamed and strange, but it wasn’t that he disliked this kind Juho touching him.

“Ahem. It’s, it’s fine. Now um… I mean… you’re my, my boyfriend… so what’s wrong with touching my ears a bit? Juho, touch them all you want!”

Dain shouted loudly while rubbing his head and ears all over Juho’s palm. The force was so strong it made squeaking sounds, enough to make Juho step back.

“Hyung.”

Watching Dain’s efforts to somehow release his feelings while blushing all the way to his ear tips, Juho instead felt a corner of his heart sting. How starved must he be for people, for affection… to try so hard to respond with all his strength to every single word he says.

Juho lowered his hand from the shoulder and hugged Dain’s back tightly. He was small enough to fit snugly into his embrace. The more he thought about it, the more sorry he felt for Dain.

“That’s right. Now that I’m hyung’s boyfriend, you don’t need to accept everything you dislike and apologize. If you think I’m crossing the line, you can curse at me or get annoyed with me.”

“I, I didn’t dislike it though.”

“I know. I know you didn’t dislike it. Still.”

Juho gently moved left and right while hugging Dain’s back. At that cozy and swaying movement, Dain kept breaking into laughter. Juho was just being kind as usual, but perhaps because their relationship had changed? That kindness seemed to have affection added to it.

Dain carefully raised his hands and hugged Juho’s back in return. His solid, broad back filled his arms completely.

Now this person is my ‘boyfriend’. Boyfriend, the person I’m responsible for, at least for now. Dain patted Juho’s back.

When Dain not only hugged back but even patted him, Juho burst into laughter. Not bothering to hide his laughter, Juho lowered his head and buried his nose in Dain’s hair and ears. Juho couldn’t hide the rising sense of fulfillment from Dain’s scent filling his nose.

“Hyung, I’ll really do well.”

“I, I’ll do well too.”

“How could you do any better than this? You’re already enough.”

At Juho’s answer mixed with laughter, Dain’s ears turned red again.

Juho, who had been observing the real-time changes in Dain’s skin color, lifted Dain up and carefully set him down on the bed.

“Hyung, I’ll make dinner today. Rest here for a bit. I just need to stir-fry that, right?”

“Huh? No, I’ll do it. The fire is dangerous!”

“I know how to turn on a gas stove too. Sit down. You’re the one who had a hard day today.”

Juho stopped Dain from getting up and spoke while turning on the gas.

As he said, from school this afternoon until now had indeed been eventful. Dain decided to listen to Juho.

Actually, just watching the handsome Juho standing in the kitchen was healing in itself. Dain grinned and wiggled his feet. It was so unfamiliar and delightful to have someone else prepare something for him.

* * *

“Umm…?”

It was supposed to be healing… Dain quietly looked down at what had been stir-fried pork, now burned black beyond recognition. Every time Dain’s head moved, the ears sticking up from his head twitched along with it. Juho forgot about his own mistake and rolled his golden eyes following that movement.

“Juho…?”

“Yes?”

“Is this… um, stir-fried pork…?”

“Uh, um. I burned it a bit. Controlling the fire isn’t as easy as it looks.”

Juho awkwardly touched his nose. Dain smiled at that cute sight even while looking at the lumps that had been stir-fried pork.

“We probably can’t eat this. The only thing at home right now is ramen, want to eat ramen?”

“…Ramen.”

“Mm, you don’t like it? Then should we order something even now?”

“N-no. I’ll eat ramen.”

“Okay. I’ll really make this one.”

Dain cleaned up the pork lumps and put water on for ramen. He took out ramen from the cupboard and cooked it quickly. After calculating even the cooling time, chewy ramen was completed.

“Juho, sit down.”

“Yees, hyung.”

Juho obediently answered Dain’s words and sat down. Blowing on the pot with steam rising from it, Dain swallowed his saliva. And Juho, watching such a Dain, also swallowed his saliva.

Of course it probably wasn’t the case, but the meaning of “want to eat ramen?” in Korea is… Hmm. Summoning a joke he’d seen on the internet, Juho swallowed his saliva for no reason. Along with that, improper thoughts gradually filled his head.

Juho couldn’t see the ramen placed right in front of him. Right, hyung wouldn’t be like that. But… what if…?

“Hyung, ahem. D-do you like ramen?”

“Hm? Oh, I like it. It’s delicious! Juho, do you dislike ramen?”

“No! I really love ramen! Hyung, let’s eat ramen often, us.”

“Mm. Yeah! There are so many types of ramen at the mart, let’s try them all!”

So he likes ramen besides meat too! Dain nodded his head, feeling proud that he had discovered Juho’s favorite food.

At that innocent reaction, Juho inwardly let out a short bitter laugh. Of course. What ramen would Jung Dain mean.

“Juho. Here, it’s all cooled down! I’ve made a lot of ramen so I know the exact timing to eat it so the noodles don’t get soggy! I’ll make you different ramen next time.”

“Yes, sounds good.”

While eating the properly cooled ramen, Juho thought of Dain making different types of ramen for him in the future. Well, that wouldn’t be bad either. Uh…?

“Hyung, your ears went back in?”

“Huh? Really??”

At Juho’s words, Dain put down his chopsticks and felt around his head. Only soft hair could be felt, the round furry cat ears had disappeared at some point.

“Thank goodness. I was worried because they didn’t seem to disappear quickly today.”

“Why? They were so cute, I should have secretly taken a photo.”

“Cu-cute! They’re gross. A grown adult showing ears…”

“Gross, no way!”

“Th-then Juho, you show me your ears too!”

Dain said while puffing out his cheeks. He seemed embarrassed that only he had shown his ears. At that timid complaint, Juho shook his head.

“Hyung, I haven’t had my ears come out even once since I was 8.”

“…What?”

“So I don’t really remember what my ears look like either.”

At Juho’s answer, Dain’s mouth fell open. Even though he’s a tiger beast-man, how…! He had thought it was natural for most beast-men to occasionally show their ears until their teens. But to not have shown ears since elementary school age…?

In contrast, Dain’s face, who had been showing his ears until just 5 minutes ago, turned bright red. Of course, it was a situation where emotional turbulence was inevitable, but being in front of Juho who was fine even in the same situation made him feel really pathetic.

Just from Dain’s facial color and eye movements, it was obvious what he was thinking. Juho quickly continued speaking.

“I really dislike mixing with people anyway, so there weren’t situations that would cause that. In America, unlike Korea, it’s often okay not to do group activities. If I had stayed in Korea continuously, my ears probably would have popped out a few times too.”

“D-do you think so…?”

“Of course. Korean teenagers’ stress is well-known.”

Juho smiled while placing chopsticks in Dain’s still-stopped hands. It was a smile that seemed to shine just by looking at it.

Dain lightly touched his cheeks that were about to heat up again, then focused on eating ramen. The more he looked at Juho’s smile, the more it tickled his heart.

* * *

A purring sound could be heard regularly. Juho stared intently once more at Dain’s face as he slept peacefully beside him.

No matter how much he thought about it, it was fascinating. Two eyes, one nose, one mouth. He’s the same as other people, so why does he become more and more crazy just looking at Jung Dain? Still, he doesn’t dislike that… Even things he normally wouldn’t care about, he’s being this careful trying to do them without Dain knowing.

Juho carefully got out of bed so as not to wake Dain and accessed the community on his phone. He could see new posts being uploaded in full swing. After briefly skimming the titles of the posts, he soon wrote rapidly with an expressionless face.

[Hello, this is Lee Juho.]

[This is Lee Juho, currently enrolled as an exchange student this semester.

The reason I’m writing is that I’ve learned that posts about me and my boyfriend have been appearing on this community recently.

Since I am not a public figure or celebrity, I find it quite unpleasant that posts related to me are being uploaded without my consent.

I would like you to refrain from all posts and photos about me that are uploaded without my consent in the future.

I plan to sue all posts and comments that especially crossed the line within a short period of time. There will be no leniency.

Once again, I ask that you not post anything about me at all.]

It would be good if people read this post and really stopped writing, and it didn’t matter if they kept writing anyway. As he wrote in the post, he would sue them all.

After Juho posted and some time passed, dozens of comments started appearing. From asking if it was really Lee Juho, to saying lawsuits were too much, the comment section instantly became a muddy battlefield.

However, what drew the most heated response was the shocking fact that the gray-haired cat beast-man they thought was just a close friend turned out to be Ho-nim’s ‘boyfriend’.

The post that had been in the popular posts section all night was deleted in the morning when the original poster never appeared and the truth couldn’t be determined.

This all happened until 10 minutes before Dain woke up.