By Zephyria 
The distance was close enough to feel each other’s breath. Haon was about to nod but stopped awkwardly, worried it might seem like permission. Cha Jeong-won didn’t wait for that brief hesitation.
His hand moved first.
He lightly brushed the back of Haon’s hand, then grasped his wrist, his gaze drifting down toward his waist before meeting his eyes again. The pace was slow, but his face closed the distance in an instant.
Their lips collided firmly.
It wasn’t a light touch; the moment Cha Jeong-won pushed forward, their lips overlapped as if swallowing each other whole. Breath hitched in Haon’s throat, and a searing heat surged up from his chest.
Haon’s eyes flew open in surprise, then fluttered shut as he couldn’t hold the gaze. Right in front of him, Cha Jeong-won’s hot breath settled. His lips pressed down as if crushing, then pulled back only to meet again.
This time, slower and more deliberate than before, he pried open the gap. Through the slightly parted lips, a wet tongue tip slipped in.
The tongue that briefly swept the inside of the upper lip nudged the inside of the lower lip before pushing deeper inward. The tip explored this space, rising and falling, then carefully enveloped Haon’s tongue in a single stroke before retreating.
“Mmm…”
It was Haon who followed. He flinched, yet his tongue unconsciously chased that movement.
Then, from inside, the tongue pushed up slightly again. It swept across the roof of his mouth, then trailed down along the inner cheek. The sensation was so vivid that the hand gripping his shoulder tightened.
‘My mind… I can’t get a hold of it.’
Even with his eyes closed, everything felt bright; even though he wasn’t doing anything, his whole body felt captured.
His hand moved on its own, crumpling Jeong-won’s shirt. It was a hand that couldn’t push away nor pull closer, just holding on, fingertips trembling faintly.
As their tongues tangled once more and Jeong-won stroked the inside with a short, pulling motion, a low breath escaped from deep within Haon’s mouth. The moment he realized the sound came from his own throat, his face grew even hotter.
The sound of his heartbeat shot up to his ears. As the kiss lengthened, the thought, ‘Shouldn’t we stop around here?’ gradually faded from his mind. Instead, he focused on the sensation filling his mouth more and more.
‘I can’t… escape.’
After what felt like an eternal moment passed, when their lips parted, their breaths collided first between them.
Cha Jeong-won caught his breath first. At the sound mixed with a very small laugh, Haon’s frozen face flushed bright red.
If they stayed like this, it seemed like it would happen again. And then, he felt he wouldn’t be able to refuse…
Haon cleared his throat unnecessarily and pointed to the nightstand blueprint.
“Then, should we draw tonight’s plan here too? Maybe write down a timeline.”
Cha Jeong-won blinked.
“Timeline?”
“Yeah. Since we’ve kissed up to now, the next page could be watching a movie, eating, making the nightstand…”
He trailed off, feeling embarrassed.
Cha Jeong-won chuckled softly and brought his pencil to the right margin of the blueprint.
“Then I’ll write the plan.”
“What are you going to write?”
He pretended to think briefly before writing down.
Haon, curious, leaned in sharply, and once again, the distance became close enough to feel each other’s breath.
The words written by the pencil tip were simple.
[Tonight’s Plan: Design 1 nightstand, Kiss at least 1 time]
“At least?”
Haon finally burst out laughing.
“The nightstand is one, but kisses are ‘at least’?”
“If we make two nightstands, the room will get cramped,” Cha Jeong-won said calmly. “Kisses don’t matter even if it’s cramped.”
His heart pounded, yet the air in the workshop lightened a bit again.
Haon fidgeted with his gloves.
Even though they were just making plans for furniture, he somehow felt like he and Cha Jeong-won were building something together.
“But,” Haon asked cautiously, “don’t you think we might be the only couple who starts making furniture together the day after deciding to date?”
Jeong-won, who had been twirling his pencil, looked up.
“Don’t you like it?”
“No,” Haon immediately shook his head. “It just feels a bit like you, sunbae.”
“What do you mean, ‘like me’?”
“Well, if it were like a drama, we’d probably go to an amusement park or the beach for a date course, but you dragged me to the workshop and started drawing nightstand blueprints,” Haon said with a laugh. “But I don’t dislike it, is what I’m saying.”
Cha Jeong-won’s gaze softened slightly.
He looked a bit awkward, yet also mixed with a sense of relief somewhere.
“If you had said you disliked it, I would have put down the tape measure and left right away.”
“That would be a shame too,” Haon said, tapping the edge of the workbench with his gloved hand. “This atmosphere is nice, you’re nice, the nightstand is nice.”
“The order is a bit odd.”
“Then I’ll revise it. You’re the best, then the nightstand, then the atmosphere.”
As if he had said something unnecessarily embarrassing, Haon made an awkward expression. Cha Jeong-won pulled him into an embrace and sat him on his lap.
Only then were their eye levels aligned.
He tilted his head and whispered lowly, eyes lowered as if ready to kiss at any moment, “Make sure to put your name tag on the nightstand. Otherwise, it’s mine.”
“Ah, that won’t do…” Haon tilted his head in the same direction as Cha Jeong-won. “I’m really greedy, you know.”
“That sounds like something you said yesterday too.”
“Wanting to create my own space is really important, but what’s mine is just as important, right?” Haon narrowed his eyes and glanced at Cha Jeong-won’s face. “And putting on name tags is my specialty.”
“What kind of specialty is that?”
Here it is. Having raised his siblings, name tag stickers were always essential, and since he had to protect his own things too, he diligently put them on his belongings as well.
“Should I engrave a name here too? Or maybe use a removable sticker?” He muttered seriously, as if he really intended to do so.
“Think carefully about where and how many to put.”
Cha Jeong-won even slightly lifted his chin so Haon could see his face better.
Meanwhile, his arms were tightly wrapped around Haon’s body. Haon gazed steadily at Cha Jeong-won like that.
Though drawn in by the atmosphere, this was actually the situation he had wanted.
“You’re going to give me your face so carelessly like that? You might get into big trouble if you let your guard down.”
“Rather than feeling nervous, I’m curious about what you’ll do.”
Cha Jeong-won looked truly at ease. And as he closed his eyes, Haon, wondering how far he would go, lightly placed his fingers on his face.
“Then I’ll deliberately search.”
As Cha Jeong-won closed his eyes, his breath drew a little closer.
Haon concentrated on his fingertips.
Though thrown out like a joke, it was half-serious.
Haon gently bit Cha Jeong-won’s middle finger.
He only lightly bit the tip of the glove and pulled, and it slipped off smoothly.
He wanted to touch him barehanded.
Haon very lightly brushed Cha Jeong-won’s forehead.
After caressing the smooth skin without sweat or blemishes a few times, he could feel the subtly moving muscles beneath. Even with his eyes closed, the slight furrowing of his brow was transmitted to his fingertips.
“You’re not managing your expression,” Haon muttered as if for Cha Jeong-won to hear, while stroking his eyebrows. Just above the eyelids where the black eyelashes rested, he brushed over the arch of the brows with the back of his hand.
Compared to the kiss, it wasn’t anything special, yet strangely, his heart seemed to beat even faster.
“You’re touching there for a long time,” Cha Jeong-won said lowly, eyes still closed.
It didn’t sound like a request to stop. He seemed a bit ticklish.
Haon wiggled the corner of his mouth unnecessarily.
“Ticklish?”
“A little.”
“Then I’ll move over here.”
He moved his fingers toward the outer corner of the eye, then swept around under the eye as if encircling it.
He said he slept well, but it’s strange.
‘He looks tired…’
Is he tired even after sleeping? His fingertips descended along the cheekbone and swept over the cheek.
The soft texture was unbelievable for someone who had just been pressing his lips so firmly.
“Sunbae’s cheek, more than I thought…”
Trailing off, he lightly pinched and released.
He couldn’t think of what to say next, so he didn’t continue.
Cha Jeong-won didn’t open his eyes, but a very faint smile spread at the corner of his mouth.
“More than you thought, what?”
“Just… it’s nice to touch.”
Even as he said it, his own face grew hot.
‘What kind of talk is ‘nice to touch’?’
But once it was out, he couldn’t take it back.
Haon’s fingers moved again.