By Zephyria 
However, Min-ho’s expression and that slightly sunken voice kept popping up at all times. When he moved the medicine to a visible drawer, when he hid the alcohol filling the refrigerator on the balcony, when he changed the lukewarm wet towel…
‘Unless you’re going to sleep with me… just… stop being a nuisance.’
“Agh!”
Splat, he threw the wet towel as if slapping the sink. Water splashed everywhere, soaking the front of his shirt, and droplets clung to the ends of his sleeves, dripping down.
The imaginations filling his head gradually added their own flesh and turned strange. It reached a crazy scene where Min-ho, pulling down his gown to expose his shoulders, trailed off saying, ‘I think it would be okay if it were you…’
“…The one who’s crazy isn’t Hyung, it’s you, you.”
He scolded himself and shut his eyes tight. Only after shaking his head enough to feel dizzy did he grit his teeth and wring the damp towel tightly. After squeezing it until not a single drop of water flowed, he headed back to the bedroom.
In the space where Min-ho slept, a silence flowed, detached from Gyu-oh’s frantic heart. Soft music and darkness wrapped around his whole body warmly. Gyu-oh removed the lukewarm wet towel and placed a freshly wrung new towel on the straight forehead. While he had been frowning occasionally before, he now seemed comfortable.
Muffling his footsteps, he quietly left the room. He lay down on the sofa and closed his eyes. Inevitably, Min-ho, wearing his gown, pushed into his mind. This time, he said nothing and simply looked up at him quietly.
“…Ha.”
Cheeks flushed from alcohol, lips slightly parted and red and chapped, eyelids faintly sunken with fatigue. That image felt quite sensual. Unconsciously, he focused on the shape of his imagination. Because the lips of the Min-ho in his delusion were moving soundlessly, he had no choice but to pour all his attention there.
Parting, a bright red tongue appeared and disappeared through the gap of the lips, curving into a circle to draw a certain message.
You, sleep with…
Having read up to that point, Gyu-oh bolted upright, his eyes wide open and bloodshot like a spiderweb.
“No, seriously, am I crazy?”
His resentful gaze turned toward the bedroom where the quiet music was flowing. Thinking about it, it was absurd. What if it hadn’t been me who came to the house, but someone else? What if it had been some strange bum?
“Would he have said that in front of someone else…?”
Would he have spoken like that? Since Gyu-oh had never once considered Hyung as that kind of existence, he could let it slide. But what if some perverted guy who had his eye on him heard that? Could it be that Hyung had been sleeping with other men like this all along? While drunk, or in a hazy state of mind?
“Haa.”
Heavy sighs continued to leak out. Only after barely composing himself could he enter the darkened bedroom again.
He removed the wet towel from Min-ho’s forehead and lightly placed his palm there. The fever had definitely dropped, and the breath spreading through the gap of the lips wasn’t as hot as before. Still, he couldn’t be relieved.
“I really don’t know who the idiot is here.”
Muttering a soliloquy that wouldn’t be heard, he lay flat on one side of the bed. Then, he flopped the lukewarm wet towel onto his own forehead.
“My head hurts.”
He focused all his attention on the breath of the other person audible within reach. True to Cha Min-ho, it was calm and quiet. But soon, the sound of feverish breathing began to pierce his ears like an auditory hallucination. Gyu-oh started in surprise and leaped up.
“….”
Covering one ear, he quickly looked down at Min-ho, but he was simply sleeping with his eyes closed quite comfortably. No moans mixed with excitement could be heard. Now auditory hallucinations too? The back of his head felt stiff and numb.
“Won Gyu-oh, it’s because your body is too comfortable right now, isn’t it? You won’t have these idle thoughts once you’ve been rolled through the dirt, right?”
Flicking away the blanket, Gyu-oh headed to the dressing room, muttering to himself continuously. Since it was around the time the short autumn was passing, the air was chilly once the sun set, but he didn’t deserve to dress warmly.
Rummaging through his suitcase, he put on light shorts that one would wear in midsummer and a windbreaker so thin that his skin showed through. He had to be cold for his mind to return to its proper state. He put on sneakers and ran outside.
Deep into the dawn. He sprinted along the empty promenade, hearing only the sound of his own breathing. He didn’t know how much time had passed.
“Huff, whew…”
His breath reached the bottom of his throat, and sweat gathered at the tip of his chin, dripping down. Stopping in a secluded alley lit by streetlamps, Gyu-oh bent his upper body and rested both hands on his knees. Staring silently at the ground, he continuously steadied his breathing. The stray thoughts that had continued to branch out were on the verge of breaking, yet they wouldn’t.
“Phew…”
Wiping away the sweat with the back of his hand, he flopped down onto the bench. A cold breeze swept over the spots where the sweat had cooled. Following that, goosebumps raced down his spine. Thump, thump—his racing pulse hammered against his eardrums. Gyu-oh tried to focus on that sound. Despite his efforts, the image of Min-ho suffering from heat and intoxication had been so intense that it wouldn’t easily fade.
“Is my brain rotting, seriously?”
Leaning back against the bench as if collapsing, he slapped his cheek hard. Since his skin had cooled down, it stung quite a bit, but it wasn’t enough to snap him back to his senses. Whether the weather was actually getting colder or not, a long, hazy breath of white mist spread before him. Gyu-oh’s subconscious drifted along, following that blurred movement.
Was hearing those words from Min-ho hyung really that shocking? Was it because it was his first time hearing something like that directly from a man? Because it was something he had never once considered?
“…….”
Just as the white breath dissolved into the pitch-black darkness, a single thought surfaced as the lingering distractions faintly blurred.
Maybe if they actually slept together once, he could forget it all cleanly.
“……Ah! Seriously!”
Sleep? What sleep? Am I crazy? It wouldn’t even get hard, so what the hell am I thinking?
Gyu-oh sprang up from his seat, letting out a loud shout and shaking his head violently from side to side. The heat in his face, which had barely subsided, seemed to surge back intensely.
“Won Gyu-oh, you’re hopeless. Just go work your ass off. That’s what you’re built for.”
Muttering incessantly to the point where anyone watching would have pointed and called him a lunatic, he ripped off his windbreaker. Although it was a thin coat, there was a significant temperature difference between wearing it and taking it off. Since he was wearing nothing but a sleeveless shirt, it was cold enough to give him goosebumps, but he tied the coat tightly around his waist.
Then, he sprinted down the walking trail so quickly that there was no room for further thoughts. The lingering distractions clung to Gyu-oh’s shadow for a long time.
Exactly two hours passed from then. The red handprint on his cheek had completely vanished. Gyu-oh found an open restaurant and picked up two servings of hangover soup. Just as he was about to transfer them into bowls, he saw a silhouette stumbling out from the bedroom.
“Guess you’ve got a knack for food.”
“…….”
Seeing him scratch his forehead vigorously, it was clear he hadn’t properly understood what was being said. Perhaps because a wet towel had been resting on his forehead for a while, Min-ho’s bangs were damp. The eyes that had glared at him with such sharpness were now merely blinking slowly. No trace of that irritable energy remained on his vacant face.
“Sit down. I bought hangover soup.”
“Hangover soup? People will laugh if you say you cure a hangover by drinking that.”
Adjusting the loose front of his gown and tying the belt securely, he stretched. The hem of the gown fluttered slightly as it slid up above his knees. Captivated by that minute movement, Gyu-oh paused while putting down the utensils and stole a glance at Min-ho.
A calm expression and lethargic movements. That indifferent attitude, as if he remembered nothing. It felt like he had finally returned to the Cha Min-ho he knew. An inexplicable sense of relief swept through Gyu-oh’s chest.
“Still. It feels hearty to sleep after eating something hot.”
“What time is it?”
“Almost 3 AM.”
It was an awkward hour to eat anything, but Min-ho must have poured straight soju down his throat while skipping dinner. When Gyu-oh urged him to sit quickly, Min-ho sluggishly pulled out a chair and sat down.
“Hyung, you said you’re off until today.”
“Today? Ah, you said it’s past midnight.”
Every time he nodded slowly, his damp bangs shifted. Suppressing the urge to suddenly reach out and fix them, Gyu-oh gripped his spoon tightly. Normally, it would have been an action he did without thinking. For some reason, he couldn’t do it now.
“…….”
Hyung probably didn’t mean those words in his heart anyway. Look at him now; he doesn’t even remember. I could just pretend I didn’t hear it and act oblivious. But why the hell am I so bothered by this?
While blaming himself, he stole glances at the man opposite him. Whether it suited his taste or not, Min-ho steadily emptied his bowl. Whenever Min-ho brought up work, Gyu-oh responded appropriately to keep the conversation going, taking care not to let any awkwardness show.
“I heard Jaegwang Construction is preparing too. There was a lot of noise about the Chairman being summoned for investigation. Well, there’s no way they’d be left out.”
“…….”
But does Hyung really not remember saying those things to me? Since he was in bad condition and drank so much, did he black out? Or is he pretending to be fine because it’s embarrassing? Cha Min-ho, the one who actually said those shocking words, seems perfectly fine, so am I the only one agonizing over this?
Staring blankly while stirring the half-finished soup, Gyu-oh accidentally let his thoughts slip out.
“I guess it’s true that the one who does the hitting sleeps soundly.”
“……Suddenly?”
Min-ho, who had just taken a spoonful of soup, paused and looked over. Closing his slightly parted lips, he set down his utensils. He rolled his bloodshot eyes, inhaled through his teeth as if pondering something, and then asked tentatively.
“Because of what I said?”
Gyu-oh’s jaw nearly dropped. He set down his spoon and leaned his upper body toward Min-ho.
“……You remember?”
“Yeah. I told you I wasn’t that drunk.”
“Then how? How can you be so nonchalant?”
From the looks of it, he wasn’t pretending not to know out of embarrassment. Someone had been miserable for hours, and Min-ho’s indifferent attitude and tone made Gyu-oh’s head throb.