By Zephyria 
Mo Yeon-hu, who had been frozen as if his brain had stopped working, belatedly panicked and tried to bolt from his seat.
Clatter, thud!
‘…Ugh!’
However, Kwon Mi-eon was holding onto his waist so tightly that he only ended up slamming his poor knee against the desk.
“L-let go.”
He patted the arm gripping his waist, telling him to release it. But instead of letting go, the hand only tightened its grip further.
‘It tickles.’
Sitting on someone else’s lap was a stranger sensation than he had imagined. The fact that what he felt beneath his hips wasn’t stable ground, but the unstable body of another person. And the breath of Kwon Mi-eon that kept brushing against the back of his neck.
“Kwon Mi-eon. I told you to let go, quickly!”
With nothing about the situation being comfortable, Mo Yeon-hu’s face turned frantically red.
“But, Hyung. There’s something I’ve wanted to ask since this morning.”
Because of the way he was hugging him from behind, it felt as if he were whispering directly into his ear, making Mo Yeon-hu flinch and lower his head.
“Why have you been avoiding me since this morning?”
He spoke as if sighing, tightening his hold on the waist.
“Did I really do something wrong?”
Mo Yeon-hu flinched at the tone, which sounded genuinely curious. He suddenly remembered the conversation that had fizzled out because of the Siege Warfare notification from the Alliance.
‘Was that what he was trying to say earlier…?’
Back then, Mo Yeon-hu had desperately tried to avoid the topic, and while Kwon Mi-eon had kept trying to ask, he had failed.
“If I did something wrong, couldn’t you just tell me?”
He poured out his inner thoughts in a sulky voice Mo Yeon-hu had never heard before.
“I felt like we were finally getting close, so I don’t know what I did wrong to make us drift apart….”
His tone was exceptionally subdued, mixed with a sigh. Hearing a voice that sounded so heartbroken to anyone’s ears, Mo Yeon-hu somehow thought of the puppy emojis Kwon Mi-eon often used in DMs.
‘Well, even I think I was acting strange.’
Seeing him look so crestfallen, Mo Yeon-hu’s expression wavered. Come to think of it, Kwon Mi-eon was younger than him, and his heart was…
‘Is he… fragile?’
…A bit fragile.
‘I don’t think so….’
…But thinking that he might be, he started to feel sorry. Because he hesitated over what answer to give, he didn’t see it.
He didn’t see that Kwon Mi-eon, while hugging him, was tracking Mo Yeon-hu’s face reflected in the screen with eyes that were dozens of times further from sulkiness than persistence.
However, Kwon Mi-eon knew how to hide his face quite well. He waited patiently, and eventually, Mo Yeon-hu barely managed to open his mouth.
“Hey, Kwon Mi-eon….”
Mo Yeon-hu eventually let the words slip out in a mumble.
“…It’s because I’m strange.”
“Hyung, are you sick somewhere?”
“That’s…”
“Tell me. Where does it hurt?”
He asked back urgently, but it had the opposite effect. The feeling of Kwon Mi-eon’s breath clinging to his ear and the palms tightening around his waist feeling exceptionally hot made Mo Yeon-hu feel like he was going crazy.
‘It tickles, it tickles so much.’
As if he couldn’t bear it any longer, Mo Yeon-hu let the strength leave his body like a mollusk and tried to slip away somehow, causing Kwon Mi-eon to let out a bewildered laugh.
“Are you an octopus, Hyung? What is this?”
“Let go of this….”
“I’ll let go if you tell me properly.”
When Kwon Mi-eon gripped the slipping Mo Yeon-hu even tighter, his mind went blank.
“So just tell me why you’re suddenly avoiding me.”
No, seriously, what was he supposed to do? Just having Kwon Mi-eon in front of him made his body twist and turn!
“Quickly.”
I don’t even know why I’m like this, so how am I supposed to answer!
Of course, no matter how much he tried to escape, Kwon Mi-eon showed no sign of backing down. Since the grip on his waist only grew stronger with no sign of loosening, Mo Yeon-hu had no choice but to shut his eyes tight and shout.
“When I see you…! I feel…!”
Absolutely.
“…Disgusting!”
He had no intention of saying it like this.
Both Mo Yeon-hu and Kwon Mi-eon fell into a momentary silence. Mo Yeon-hu froze in place, covering his mouth with one hand with a gasp.
‘I only wanted to hide that I was intimidated!’
If he answered that he was scared, wouldn’t that be the same as admitting he was intimidated? In trying to choose a different expression, he had accidentally said that seeing Kwon Mi-eon made him feel disgusting!
“……What did you say?”
After a brief silence, Kwon Mi-eon asked back in a tone that had turned cold. Mo Yeon-hu didn’t dare look back.
“Wow… that’s a very interesting expression.”
He could tell just by the voice.
“Hyung, would you like to explain that in detail? Exactly where and how do you feel disgusting when you see me?”
Goosebumps rose, and a chill ran down his spine… it was obvious that Kwon Mi-eon must be making a face like a grim reaper risen from hell!
“No, I mean, it just slipped out….”
“I don’t think so. Tell me the truth, Hyung.”
Squeeze. He put more strength into the hand gripping the waist, and then effortlessly turned Mo Yeon-hu around with both hands. Now sitting sideways on his lap, Mo Yeon-hu looked miserable and desperately tried not to look at Kwon Mi-eon, who was likely staring at the left side of his face.
“I won’t get angry. Okay?”
Since Kwon Mi-eon tilted his head to follow his face, he couldn’t avoid him. Staring intently at Mo Yeon-hu, he formed a curve with his eyes and the corners of his mouth as if coaxing and soothing him. But what was the point?
‘His eyes aren’t smiling at all….’
Anyone could see that he wasn’t smiling right now, but was clearly enraged!
“It’s…”
“Yes.”
After agonizing, Mo Yeon-hu finally decided to be honest.
“When I see you, it’s, it’s like… the feeling I get when I see something dirty. Like… bugs or something….”
“Bugs? Me?”
At the sound of a short, scoffing laugh, Mo Yeon-hu hurriedly added.
“I mean, you’re clean! By ‘disgusting,’ I don’t mean you, I mean my feelings are like that!”
“Then why do you keep glancing at me? You said it’s disgusting. Shouldn’t you hate even looking at me?”
But what use were words like that? It was visible to Kwon Mi-eon. Even while shutting his eyes tight, Mo Yeon-hu kept glancing at him through a sliver of an opening.
“I don’t know what kind of trick this is, but while I’m speaking nicely, be honest….”
“I said it tickles!!”
Under that pressure, Mo Yeon-hu finally confessed. At the following shout, Kwon Mi-eon’s eyes slowly widened.
“Whenever I’m with you, it’s like an allergy—beyond just tickling, it feels like heat is rising in my face and chest, so I’m trying to avoid you, so why do you keep….”
“…….”
“……But Kwon Mi-eon. Do you have an allergy too?”
Mo Yeon-hu, who had been pouring out words rapidly, suddenly paused and examined his face.
“Why are you like that?”
Kwon Mi-eon’s face was also flushed bright red. As Mo Yeon-hu blinked in confusion at the face that looked like it might explode from redness, he suddenly began to let out a hollow laugh.
“Haha… Hahaha!”
The laughter that started with a ‘ha, huh…’ soon grew louder. Mo Yeon-hu froze, wondering why he was suddenly acting like this.
“Hyung, do you know what you’re saying right now?”
……What is he talking about? As Mo Yeon-hu stared blankly with wide eyes like a cat, unable to understand, Kwon Mi-eon tightened the grip he had momentarily loosened and pulled him in sharply.
“…Eh?”
Mo Yeon-hu flinched at the distance that closed abruptly while he was off guard, but Kwon Mi-eon just looked at him and said something incomprehensible.
“I’m asking if you know what kind of expression you’re making and what words you’re saying to me right now.”
Based on the tone, it sounded like he was arguing, but for that, Kwon Mi-eon’s eyes looked far too joyful. Mo Yeon-hu was momentarily flustered and couldn’t respond to the expression that was more vibrant than any moment since he had come to this house—no, more vibrant than any moment before that.
“Wow… haha. Hahaha!”
Kwon Mi-eon laughed. He laughed and laughed again.
He laughed refreshingly, crinkling the corners of his eyes until the two points between them were very close. Then, suddenly, he hugged Mo Yeon-hu tightly.
As a firm warmth was transmitted through their bodies locked together without a single gap, he felt as if his heart had plummeted to the floor. At the same time, the vibration in his chest that had been fluttering since earlier now intensified as if it would be felt throughout his entire body.
“Hey, let… go.”
He tried to push him away due to the unfamiliar sensation, but Kwon Mi-eon didn’t budge. Instead, he hugged him even tighter, applying deeper pressure, and spoke.
“Hyung, you know I’m a man, right? I’m a man. Right?”
Has Kwon Mi-eon finally gone crazy? It was absurd that he was saying something so obvious.
“What are you talking about, of course you’re a man. Otherwise, what, would you be a woman?”
“No. I am a man. I’m definitely not a woman, right?”
It was truly strange. As if the fact that he was a man was somehow hilarious, Kwon Mi-eon burst into laughter again as if he might choke.
‘Why is he acting like this?’
Just as he was about to say something out of absurdity, he had to keep his mouth shut.
‘Why am I like this…?’
Because of the rough sound of the heartbeat ringing in his ear and the tickling that made his body twist, it was strangely difficult to open his mouth.
‘It’s strange.’
To Mo Yeon-hu, Kwon Mi-eon was an uncomfortable existence. Difficult and awkward. Both the attitude of acting friendly while clinging to a past he couldn’t even remember, and the behavior that was almost too affectionate for a man.
‘It’s really strange.’
But the stranger one was himself. Despite the other being such an awkward opponent, the sound of Kwon Mi-eon’s laughter tickling his ear right now, and this warmth pressing against his body without a gap.
And his gaze, which was slowly approaching as he made eye contact with him now….
‘Why don’t I hate it? Rather than hating it, it’s actually….’
Just as he was blankly watching Kwon Mi-eon’s face draw closer to his own as if possessed.
—Beep…, beep-beep-beep.
Suddenly, the sound of someone pressing a keypad was heard. Soon, along with a rattling sound, a familiar voice rang out.
“Kwon Mi-eon! What are you doing that you’re not answering your phone? Come out!”
……Ms. Mi-yeong?