By Zephyria 
“Ugh, ungh!”
Before the door could even fully close behind him, Yoon Joo-ho lunged at Song Hyun-soo. He crushed him in a tight embrace, mashing their lips together. He acted with a desperate urgency, like an immature young man who didn’t know how to handle his excitement. Unable to withstand the force pushing him back, Song Hyun-soo’s back slammed hard against the wall of the entryway.
“Hah! Ugh.”
Gasping for breath, Yoon Joo-ho pulled his tongue away, and without even pausing to catch his breath, he went for his neck this time. His hand, which had slipped inside his t-shirt, squeezed his side as it moved up to clutch his chest muscle.
As Song Hyun-soo endured the rough onslaught of affection, he grabbed and tugged at Yoon Joo-ho’s shoulder.
“Sunbae, Monroe is…”
Sitting at the point where the hallway ended and the entryway began, it was staring up at them intently. It had a puzzled expression, wondering why he wasn’t coming to hug it as usual, and what they were doing.
Even as Song Hyun-soo was conscious of it, Yoon Joo-ho was caressing Song Hyun-soo’s chest and frantically sucking at his neck. With one hand cupping the back of his head, Song Hyun-soo gestured to the cat.
“Monroe, go, go over there… Okay? Good boy?”
Niyaang.
Perhaps it sensed that Yoon Joo-ho pushing Song Hyun-soo against the wall and attacking him was dangerous. It now began to pace anxiously in the same spot, meowing loudly. Nyaang. Meow.
“Sunbae, j-just a… um, ugh…”
Yoon Joo-ho’s tongue, which had licked up his neck, now blocked Song Hyun-soo’s mouth. He could feel his heat through their tightly pressed lower bodies. His center was hardening. The moment he felt that bulging volume, Song Hyun-soo’s body temperature also seemed to rise.
“What.”
He was in a very displeased mood, having been stopped.
Heaving his broad shoulders and chest, he gasped for breath.
“Get a grip.”
“Why. We’re home. I held back in the car, and I held back in the elevator.”
“I just don’t want to do it roughly today.”
Yoon Joo-ho glanced at Monroe, who was still meowing, and groped with his fingertips to wipe Song Hyun-soo’s wet lips.
“Should we set the mood?”
Nod.
“Should we take a bath together?”
Nod.
He chuckled and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He stared at Song Hyun-soo, who was leaning against the wall, and then gave him another peck on the lips.
Yoon Joo-ho tried to hug the startled Monroe, but it avoided his touch and ran to Song Hyun-soo. Reluctantly, Song Hyun-soo picked it up and calmed it down.
“It’s okay, Monroe. Dad wasn’t bothering him.”
“Far from bothering him, I was showering him with affection, you little rascal.”
At the end of the hallway, Yoon Joo-ho casually placed his hand on the crown of Song Hyun-soo’s head.
“I’ll grab the champagne. Wait for me in the bathroom.”
“Okay… Co-come quickly.”
The words “come quickly” were both cute and sexy, so Yoon Joo-ho gave him another surprise kiss. He got punched by Monroe, who was being held by Song Hyun-soo, but it didn’t wipe the grin off his face.
There was no need to turn on any lights; the city’s night light, streaming in through the large window, was enough to illuminate the kitchen. Standing in front of the wine cellar, Yoon Joo-ho carefully selected a bottle of champagne and took his favorite glasses to the Master Zone. Soft lighting and voices leaked out from inside.
“Yoon Marilyn. Dads need some time to play in the bathroom… Give us some time, okay?”
Niyaang.
“You’re scared of the bathroom.”
Niyaang.
“Then do you want to take a bath with us? Can you go into the bathroom?”
Leaning against the open Master Zone doorframe, Yoon Joo-ho listened to their conversation.
That voice was happiness and relief. After a unique journey different from others, he had finally obtained ordinary happiness as a reward. But it was by no means trivial happiness.
As he passed through the short hallway of the Master Zone, Monroe, who had run out of the dressing room, dashed past Yoon Joo-ho like an arrow. Whatever had scared it so much, it ran right out of the Master Zone.
Song Hyun-soo, who was standing at the entrance to the bathroom, smiled at him.
“It was insisting on playing with us, so I tried to carry it into the bathroom? Then it jumped out and ran away. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen it move so nimbly and cat-like.”
Yoon Joo-ho kissed the tip of Song Hyun-soo’s nose, who seemed happy talking about Monroe. When Yoon Joo-ho’s lips touched him, he transformed from a childlike face to the face of a lover.
Yoon Joo-ho played music through the speakers installed in the bathroom. Instead of turning on the lights, he lit candles. They stood facing each other, sharing kisses as they took off their clothes one by one. They unbuckled each other’s pants and lowered the zippers. They slipped their hands inside their underwear and gently stimulated their already swelling genitals. By the time they had dropped their briefs to the floor and were completely naked, the tub was filled with just the right amount of water and bubbles.
“Be careful not to slip.”
Yoon Joo-ho, who had gotten into the tub first, took Song Hyun-soo’s hand and watched his footing. Seeing himself so worried that the soon-to-be thirty-year-old man might fall made him think he was indeed being overprotective.
Lighting candles, sitting with his lover among the abundant bubbles, drinking champagne, and looking out at the night view. Before he knew it, he had become the kind of guy who did such cheesy things. Without any resistance.
Yoon Joo-ho, sitting close behind Song Hyun-soo, hugged his flat stomach and buried his lips in his wet shoulder.
“Finally opened.”
“I know. But it still doesn’t feel real.”
“Doesn’t feel real even after doing stage greetings all day?”
“I was just so busy and disoriented. I don’t even know what I did.”
“You did great. You did very well.”
“Because… Sunbae helped me a lot from the side.”
Song Hyun-soo’s ear, which was slightly lowered as he muttered those words, was a little red. Does he still need my help after all? Does he feel reassured when I’m by his side? He was now familiar with his own petty self, rejoicing at such calculations.
Pulling him closer, Yoon Joo-ho rested his chin on Song Hyun-soo’s shoulder.
“How do you feel?”
“I feel a little scared, and a little lonely too.”
“Not excited and looking forward to it?”
“Becoming a famous and popular actor has always been my dream, so it’s good that I’ve taken a step closer to that…”
He didn’t rush Song Hyun-soo, who was lost in thought as he searched for the right expression. He quietly waited, stroking his lower abdomen under the water.
“It’s like an era is ending. The unknown actor Song Hyun-soo, who had to work part-time to make a living, will probably never exist again. I feel a little sad about that.”
Yoon Joo-ho, who had lived only as an actor since he could remember, didn’t know exactly what that feeling was like. But he knew well the feeling of sadness that he would soon have to share Song Hyun-soo with the public, that the Song Hyun-soo who belonged only to Yoon Joo-ho would remain only as a memory.
“Sunbae might laugh if I say this… but I didn’t want <Dissolve> to end.”
“……”
“You’re not laughing?”
Splish splash, Song Hyun-soo turned to face Yoon Joo-ho and asked.
“What part of that is funny?”
“I thought you’d laugh and say I’m being immature.”
Yoon Joo-ho’s wet hand swept back Song Hyun-soo’s hair.
“Why would I laugh? It’s proof of how much you poured your affection into the work.”
Song Hyun-soo’s gaze, which had been meeting Yoon Joo-ho’s, slid down. He fidgeted with his champagne glass and muttered in a dejected voice.
“I didn’t want to part with Sunbae, or the other actors, or the director, or the staff. I wanted to keep living as Lee San from <Dissolve>.”
Hmm…
Yoon Joo-ho, who had been resting his arm on the edge of the tub and gazing at Song Hyun-soo, placed his glass on the marble ledge. He scooped up the abundant bubbles floating around and placed them on Song Hyun-soo’s head. He dipped his fingertip in the bubbles and dabbed it lightly on his nose, as if dabbing whipped cream on a cake.
“Shall I make you not feel lonely?”
“This isn’t the time for that.”
Yoon Joo-ho frowned.
“I’m not talking about sex, you know?”
“Oh, really? I thought…”
Yoon Joo-ho took the glass from Song Hyun-soo’s hand, took a sip of the wine, and placed it next to his own. He gazed for a moment at the shining city beyond the two champagne glasses placed side by side, then shifted his gaze to Song Hyun-soo, who was sitting in front of him.
“You said that you would never give up a role that you were more confident in than anyone else.”
Song Hyun-soo blushed and wiped the bubbles from the tip of his nose with the back of his hand.
“Ah… that? That was a bit presumptuous, wasn’t it?”
“It wasn’t presumptuous.”
“……”
“It was cool.”
“……”
“The original me is also that kind of actor. An actor who can’t give up a role I want to anyone. But I was momentarily scared, unlike myself.”
“Scared?”
“The male lead role in <Déjà vu>, it came to me.”
“Oh…”
“I thought there would be a risk if we both appeared in the same work consecutively.”
“So, you gave it up so that I could appear in it?”
“I was going to.”
“……”
“But I changed my mind.”
Surprise flashed in Song Hyun-soo’s eyes. Like when he first discovered the Arc de Triomphe in a taxi in Paris, like when he looked up at the glittering Eiffel Tower, sparks were flying in his eyes.
Without realizing it, Yoon Joo-ho reached out and stroked his cheek with the back of his hand.
He knew that he would do anything to see this star explode.
“It was a role that I was more confident in than any other actor.”
“……”
“And, I wanted to act with the actor Song Hyun-soo again.”
A smile slowly spread across Song Hyun-soo’s face, who had been tense the whole time, wondering what kind of story he would hear. Facing that face, Yoon Joo-ho couldn’t help but smile too. Like a pair linked to smile in a chain reaction when the other smiled.
As his smile grew bigger and bigger, Song Hyun-soo soon bared his teeth and smiled brightly. And he lunged at Yoon Joo-ho, wrapping his arms tightly around his neck.
“You’re not lying, are you?”
“I’m not.”
“We can really act together again?”
“Yes.”
Even after confirming that, he still didn’t seem to believe it, and he just kept holding Yoon Joo-ho tightly for a while. Yoon Joo-ho hugged his lover’s back and slowly stroked it soothingly. If I said that I felt like I had the whole world just by holding you in my arms, would you laugh? Would you dismiss it as a cliché and laugh it off?
“You said it felt like you were only receiving?”
“That’s actually true.”
“You just don’t know it, but I’m already receiving more than enough.”
“……”
“You idiot.”
“Ah…”
A faint exclamation escaped from Song Hyun-soo’s lips. He unwrapped his arms from Yoon Joo-ho’s neck and met his eyes. Judging from that expression, he must have been recalling the conversation they had before.
『“Do you feel like you’re not giving me anything?”
“You’re actually not.”
“You’re only receiving?”
“All I’ve given you is a keychain.”
“You’re an idiot, aren’t you?”
“Why am I?”
“Idiots don’t understand even if you explain it to them.”』
I hope he has realized at least a little why Yoon Joo-ho called him an ‘idiot’ back then.
Song Hyun-soo’s gaze towards Yoon Joo-ho becomes new. Wet hair swept back, long eyelashes clumped together with moisture, water droplets on his cheeks, moist thin lips. A gaze that carefully traces each and every detail.
Song Hyun-soo’s hand touched Yoon Joo-ho’s lips.
As if secretly taking out a treasure hidden in a place where no one could find it, his hand wanted to confirm his name engraved on the inside of Yoon Joo-ho’s lips.
Yoon Joo-ho’s arms wrapped around his lover’s waist and pulled him closer. Their bodies pressed together without any gaps, and their lips naturally overlapped.
Without closing their eyes, they shared a long kiss, gazing into each other’s eyes from the closest distance. The city beyond the window remained a single, large Christmas tree.
<Dissolve Side Story: Déjà vu>
The End