By Zephyria 
Faint light leaked through the gap in the blackout curtains covering the window. Although it was the middle of the day, In-ho’s bedroom, with the lights off, was as dark as night.
Haon stared blankly at the TV screen as the movie’s ending credits rolled. Even after the film ended, the emotion lingered, and he chewed over the plot while listening to the ending music.
“It was good….”
It was a bright musical movie depicting the love story of two dream-filled lovers, a work In-ho had recommended, saying he thought Haon would like it.
Just as he predicted, Haon didn’t take his eyes off the screen once during the two-plus hour runtime. He felt like he could watch movies like this all day.
“It was really great.”
Only after the ending music had completely finished did Haon look at In-ho. With an excited face, he lightly shook In-ho’s arm, which he had been hugging tightly like a cushion.
However, there was no response from In-ho. When he turned his head, he saw that In-ho was asleep.
“In-ho, are you sleeping…?”
Haon lowered his voice as he looked at In-ho, who had his eyes closed. He was confused as to whether he was actually asleep or just pretending again.
In-ho was leaning his back against the headboard, with only his eyes closed. His mouth wasn’t open, nor was his posture slumped. That made Haon even more unsure.
Haon stared intently at In-ho before carefully releasing the arm he had been holding. Then, he leaned closer to In-ho’s face and pressed a quick kiss against his firmly closed lips. Just to check if he was really asleep.
If In-ho had been awake, he would have reacted to the kiss. But In-ho didn’t budge. Even when Haon licked his lower lip with his tongue, he remained still with his eyes closed.
He must really be asleep. Just as Haon thought that, In-ho’s head slid sideways.
“Oh….”
Startled, Haon quickly caught In-ho’s head. He carefully laid In-ho down so as not to wake him. He placed the pillow that had been propped against the headboard underneath and let In-ho’s heavy head rest upon it.
Fortunately, In-ho slept as if he had fainted, without so much as a twitch of an eyebrow.
Haon quickly turned off the TV and meticulously covered In-ho with the blanket. He also turned In-ho’s face, which had been lying on its side, to face the ceiling.
While touching the smooth cheek, he ended up kissing him without realizing it. Not just once, but two or three times.
Haon pressed his lips firmly, then stopped, fearing In-ho might wake up. In his heart, he wanted to leave lip prints every single corner of his face. To mark him as his.
Feeling as though a laugh might burst out, he covered his mouth and rested his cheek against the edge of In-ho’s pillow.
It felt like this was the first time he had seen In-ho’s sleeping face properly. In truth, there wasn’t much difference from when he pretended to sleep. Even in sleep, he was flawlessly perfect.
Haon admired In-ho’s elegant profile, which looked as if it had been painted with a brush, and lightly poked the thin corner of his lips. Deep in sleep, In-ho still didn’t move.
He must have been tired.
He hadn’t shown any signs of drowsiness until the movie started. He hadn’t even nodded off. Because Haon had been so focused on the movie, he hadn’t even noticed In-ho had fallen asleep.
Feeling somewhat sorry for that, he gently stroked his cheek. He thought that if he had been the one to fall asleep, In-ho would have turned off the TV immediately. He surely would have, yet he himself hadn’t even noticed.
Haon blamed his own dull nature while softly touching In-ho’s hair. When he was a child, on nights when he couldn’t sleep, his grandmother used to touch his hair like this. He would fall asleep even if he had been crying.
A shallow smile spread across Haon’s lips as he drifted into old memories. As he continued to touch In-ho’s hair, he suddenly tilted his head.
Looking closely, the roots of In-ho’s hair were black. Black hair was growing out above the light brown hair of pale pigment.
Had he dyed it? Only then did Haon realize that In-ho’s light hair color wasn’t natural.
To think it was dyed hair despite being so fine and soft. To Haon, who had only seen Seong-gu hyung’s hair become like dog fur from cheap dyes, it was simply fascinating.
If he hadn’t discovered the black roots, he would have never known for the rest of his life. That was how well the hair color suited In-ho. It looked so natural, as if it were his original color.
While marveling and observing each strand of In-ho’s hair for a long time, he suddenly opened his mouth. He had thought of In-ho’s mother, who, like a princess in a fairy tale, had black hair and a white face.
Along with his outstanding looks, In-ho had inherited his mother’s jet-black hair. And he had erased it with dye.
“…….”
After stroking In-ho’s hair in silence, Haon lifted his chin and kissed the ends of the light brown hair. His eyes, gazing at the soundly sleeping In-ho, were filled with many thoughts.
After watching In-ho like that for a long time, he suddenly remembered something to do and went downstairs. His footsteps were light, as he tried his best to stifle any sound.
First, Haon went to the kitchen and took out a soy milk to drink. He felt a bit hungry after focusing so hard on the movie. Even though he had eaten lunch, his stomach had emptied quickly. He considered eating fruit, but held back since he had to eat dinner.
Sip, sip. After drinking the soy milk, Haon instinctively tried to put his hand in his pants pocket, then paused. Right, he wasn’t wearing pants.
It felt a bit embarrassing to wander around the living room, not just the bedroom, wearing only a top. Haon went to his room and put on fresh underwear and pajama pants. It felt strange wearing pants after such a long time.
“My phone….”
Fiddling with the empty pants pocket, he debated whether to go look for his phone or not. He hadn’t touched his phone since the one time he called his weekend boss.
Haon had received permission to take this week off from his weekend job. Thankfully, the boss didn’t get angry and only told him to recover well. Haon vowed to work even harder than before when he returned. There were so many people he was grateful to.
In the end, he decided to look for his phone later and took out the bag he had kept in the closet. Opening the old zipper, he picked out several sheets of colored paper he had stored inside. It was to make a new lucky charm for In-ho.
The sea otter-shaped colored paper he had gifted him had become all crumpled and soaked from the rain. Haon had offered to make a new one, but In-ho refused to throw away the shriveled sea otter paper. Even now, it was kept in his pants pocket.
“Should I fold something else?”
Haon shook his head from side to side and lay on his stomach on the bed with the colored paper spread out. He hummed a tune while picking up the sheets one by one. It was a musical song from the movie. He didn’t know the lyrics, but he remembered the melody accurately.
As he pondered what else besides a sea otter he could make, time flew by. He spent so much time thinking that he hadn’t actually folded any paper.
There are many things he could make, but he didn’t know what In-ho liked. Nothing else came to mind besides a sea otter.
Just then, Haon’s door suddenly swung open. Startled by the sound of the door opening violently, Haon dropped the colored paper he was holding.
“Why are you here?”
In-ho, who had flung the door open, asked.
He quickly approached Haon and reached out his hand. Seeing the large hand suddenly approaching his face, Haon reflexively shut his eyes tight. He even hunched his shoulders and lowered his head. Even though he knew In-ho wouldn’t hit him, his body reacted automatically.
Immediately pulling his hand back, In-ho observed Haon’s complexion with only his eyes. For a moment, he thought Haon had collapsed because he was lying face down on the bed. Alone again, where he wasn’t.
“What were you doing?”
“Ah, I, well, I thought of the colored paper….”
Opening his eyes, Haon grabbed In-ho’s hand. It was only for a brief moment, but because he was bothered by the fact that he had avoided his hand, he gripped it more firmly.
“I finished the movie and my hands felt bored.”
“If you were bored, you should have woken me up.”
Holding Haon’s hand, In-ho looked down at the colored paper spread on the bed. He didn’t sit beside Haon but continued the conversation while standing.
“I was worried because I couldn’t see you, Haon.”
Sincerity was contained in the slight furrow of his brow. He hadn’t been gone for hours; he seemed greatly startled simply because Haon wasn’t by his side the moment he opened his eyes.
It was an excessive reaction. That’s how ordinary people would have seen it.
“I’m sorry…. Next time, I’ll be sure to tell you before I go down.”
However, Haon only felt sorry for causing him worry. He regretted going downstairs without telling him just to fold some colored paper.
“No, there’s no need to apologize.”
When Haon apologized sincerely, only then did In-ho soften his expression and sit beside Haon.
“Just… I was a bit surprised.”
Saying that was all, In-ho hugged Haon and rested his jaw against the white line of his neck. He inhaled Haon’s scent like air, tightly embracing the slender body.
“What are you planning to fold?”
Cradled comfortably in In-ho’s arms, Haon replied that he was still thinking. Seeing In-ho’s softened expression, his heart quickly became at ease.
“What else do you like besides sea otters? I’ll make them all for you.”
When he asked while fluttering the colored paper, In-ho answered immediately without hesitation. “Haon,” he said.
“No, I mean among animals.”
Haon chuckled and bragged that he could make almost any animal. Despite that, In-ho repeated the same answer.
“I like Haon the most.”
At the sincere voice, Haon’s laughter deepened. In-ho repeatedly kissed the forehead of the brightly laughing Haon and stood up.
“Let’s do it upstairs.”
Holding Haon with one arm, In-ho gathered the colored paper and put it into the old bag. Then he asked Haon if there was anything else he needed to take.
Haon looked around his spacious room, but since nothing particular came to mind, he shook his head.
“Then you won’t be going down alone anymore, right?”
Hearing the following question, Haon, who had rested his cheek on the firm shoulder, slowly lifted his head.
“…Not for now.”
When he answered ambiguously, In-ho smiled, said he understood, and turned off the light in the room. Holding Haon preciously in his arms, he went back up the long stairs to his bedroom.
Cradled in In-ho’s arms, Haon did nothing but stare up at his pale face.