SS Chapter 2.5

Despite it being break time, Dohyeon’s class was quiet. Most students were wearing earphones, solving problems in workbooks, or watching online lectures on their phones. Amidst this, Eunho confidently opened the front door of another class. Students’ eyes turned towards Eunho, who was shouting loudly.

“Hey, Cha Dohyeon! Can I borrow your gym clothes?”

Among the many eyes fixed on his face, Dohyeon’s were particularly sharp. Eunho, who flinched, wondering if he had done something wrong at the chilling gaze, quickly racked his brain, recalling the past few days.

It seemed like this was the first time he had seen Dohyeon since going to the animal hospital with the cat. He had been busy stamping his presence at Kwon Yihyeon’s house for a while, so it had been quite some time since he had seen his face. Eunho, feeling a sense of unexpected familiarity, smiled, but Dohyeon frowned.

Seriously, what’s with the frown as soon as you see someone? What a rude jerk. Eunho quickly wiped the smile off his face and glared at Dohyeon.

He estimated it had been about a week. He thought he had heard that Cha Dohyeon had come to his house over the weekend, but at that time, he was busy playing with Rang at Kwon Yihyeon’s house.

Oh, the cat that Cha Dohyeon rescued from the flowerbed was named ‘Rang’. The surname is Ho. Together, Horang (Tiger). It was Kwon Yihyeon’s eldest sister’s naming sense.

When he first heard it, he scoffed at the name that didn’t suit the small size, but watching it bravely charge towards toys, he wondered if it was true that animals and people follow their names.

Anyway, as he pondered whether there had ever been a time when he hadn’t seen Cha Dohyeon for so long, the sharp gaze didn’t leave his face. It was a look that would make the Grim Reaper step aside.

Eunho started to feel annoyed at Cha Dohyeon, who was just glaring at his friend whom he hadn’t seen in a week with dagger eyes.

It seemed like he was in a bad mood, and it was absurd that he was taking it out on him, getting slapped in the wrong place. Eunho was about to snap back irritably but realized he had come to borrow gym clothes and shut his mouth. It wasn’t the first or second day that Cha Dohyeon’s personality was messed up, so it was wise not to pay too much attention.

Besides, they said that when kids become high school seniors, even the quiet ones throw all sorts of tantrums, complaining that the air conditioner is noisy or the dinner side dishes are bad. Given his temper, he was a gentleman at this level. Looking again, his face seemed a bit rough, perhaps he was very tired from studying.

Going to the back of the classroom and opening Cha Dohyeon’s locker, he saw neatly organized items. On one side, books and notebooks were neatly stacked without being flipped over, and on the other side, toiletries like toothbrushes and cleansing foam were neatly arranged.

Unlike his own locker, where various textbooks and handouts were tangled like laundry in a washing machine, Eunho was amazed at the perfectly aligned arrangement. Cold and meticulous, even the locker resembled its owner.

Eunho playfully flicked the sky-blue cleansing foam and took out the neatly folded gym clothes. Then he went to Dohyeon’s seat in front of the locker and spoke to him.

“Oh right. Hey, I heard Jihyeon noona is coming. Mom said so. Don’t you still have some time until your birthday?”

Cha Jihyeon. She was Cha Dohyeon’s sister, with a considerable age gap. After graduating from high school, she immediately started a shopping mall, which did better than expected and expanded significantly, but he didn’t know the details. Seeing that it was particularly popular in Southeast Asia, it seemed like Cha Dohyeon wouldn’t starve to death. Well, of course, he was the type to earn his own living anyway.

Anyway, Jihyeon noona spent most of the year overseas due to her business and only returned to Korea occasionally like this when something came up.

Originally, around this time, they used to go on a slightly early summer vacation together to coincide with Dohyeon’s birthday, but after Cha Dohyeon’s parents passed away, it changed to just having a simple dinner. As Jihyeon noona’s business expansion and Cha Dohyeon’s start of studying overlapped, summer vacations naturally became distant, but sometimes he couldn’t help but miss those times.

Eunho unbuttoned the few buttons on his summer uniform and crumpled it carelessly into Dohyeon’s locker. He planned to come straight back here after gym class and change back into his school uniform. It would be annoying to stop by twice to return the gym clothes.

Dohyeon, who was solving problems in his workbook, stopped his mechanical pencil and quietly looked at Eunho. When Eunho glared back as if asking what he was looking at, Dohyeon lifted the back of his mechanical pencil and scratched the bottom hem of Eunho’s T-shirt. It seemed the back part had rolled up when he took off his school uniform.

Eunho scratched the area near his waist, which had been poked by the blunt mechanical pencil, and felt awkward, so he raised an eyebrow. As he put on Cha Dohyeon’s gym top over his black T-shirt, a subtle fabric softener scent wafted from the dry gym clothes.

“She said she might not be able to make the date because of a big project. She said she’s coming this week, but she doesn’t know the exact schedule yet.”

Dohyeon, still with a displeased expression, was looking up at him. Eunho sat backward on the empty chair in front of Dohyeon. He rested his crossed arms on Cha Dohyeon’s desk and leaned forward to make eye contact, and the displeased gaze softened a bit.

In that position, Eunho took out his phone and moved his fingers to open the photo album app. The screen changed, and photos were arranged in a grid. Most of them were pictures of yellow and white cats.

Eunho started evaluating the photos he had taken, flipping through them one by one. This one has too stupid an expression. Ah, this one is backlit. This one is blurry. Oh, this one is kind of cute. Eunho caught the corners of his mouth, which were trying to turn up without him realizing it, and chose one particularly cute video to play.

The large screen was filled with the face of a fluffy-whiskered cat. The cat seemed to be looking at the camera quietly, then opened its mouth and came forward. The thin fangs, which looked smaller than a pinky fingernail, and the pink tongue filled the screen, and then it turned black. It was a video about ten-something seconds long.

Eunho turned the screen and held the phone up to Dohyeon’s eyes. Dohyeon, who had been looking at Eunho with a subtle expression, turned his gaze to the phone.

“Hey, look at this. Damn, isn’t it so cute? Its name is Horang (Tiger)? No, at first I wondered why a kitten was named Tiger, but look at what it does. It’s a beast, a beast.”

Eunho continued talking, regardless of Dohyeon’s indifferent reaction. He excitedly recounted things like how it would run from another room when it heard the sound of a bell and snatch the toy, or how it would chew on his hand if he pretended to give it a toy and then stopped.

Dohyeon, who was resting his chin on his left hand and watching Eunho, put his mechanical pencil down on the workbook.

It had been quite some time since he had seen Eunho so enthusiastically explaining things while flipping through photos on his phone. It seemed like this was the first time Yeo Eunho had shown such great interest in something since he excitedly fiddled with the first medal he won at a taekwondo competition in middle school.

He probably gave that medal to Yeo Eunho back then. Yeo Eunho, who didn’t know how much the first match and first medal meant to an athlete, probably just shoved it somewhere in his house, but well, it didn’t matter.

Dohyeon kept his eyes fixed on the phone and quietly watched Eunho, who was chattering away diligently. Watching him with a hint of a smile around his eyes and his lips pursed, he felt a tightness deep in his stomach.

“Ha, look at this. Isn’t this also so cute?”

“Yeah. It’s cute.”

Eunho continued talking, not knowing where Dohyeon’s gaze was directed. The corners of Dohyeon’s mouth turned up significantly for the first time in a while.

Fluffy pollen, resembling down, flew in with the humid wind from outside. One of them stuck to Dohyeon’s hair.

Eunho, who suddenly looked up and noticed it, reached out without thinking and lightly touched Dohyeon’s bangs. Then, feeling the soft texture on his hand, he became playful and messed up Dohyeon’s hair.

Dohyeon let out a bewildered chuckle and stood up, grabbing Eunho’s arms, and Eunho laughed out loud.Seeing them bicker playfully, the students sitting nearby couldn’t help but glance at the two.

Knock.

The sharp sound immediately drew the attention of everyone in the classroom. Kwon Yihyeon was leaning against the open front door.

As Kwon Yihyeon’s hand, lightly held as if knocking, lowered, Cha Dohyeon’s lips quickly dropped. The wind, carrying the warmth of summer, quickly left the classroom.

“Yeo Eunho, the homeroom teacher is looking for you.”

Kwon Yihyeon had an indifferent expression. Even though he must have known everyone’s eyes were on him, the way he frowned annoyedly while looking for Yeo Eunho gave the impression that he didn’t care about other people.

“Ah, damn it, I guess I got caught skipping 5th period yesterday. Didn’t you tell him I went to the nurse’s office?”

“I did.”

Eunho easily shook off the wrist that was caught in Dohyeon’s grip. Dohyeon, unfamiliar with his suddenly empty hand, awkwardly grabbed at the air. There was nothing to hold onto.

The back of the gym uniform with ‘Cha Dohyeon’ written on it slowly moved away. Seeing Yeo Eunho casually rotating his wrist and approaching Kwon Yihyeon, Dohyeon lowered his arm and clenched his fist.

Feeling an unpleasant sensation as if the warmth that had just been in his hand had instantly evaporated, Dohyeon lightly rolled his tongue in his mouth.

Eunho, who had approached Yihyeon standing at the front door, put his arm around his shoulder. The other person pulled his arm down annoyedly, but Yeo Eunho, who was in a good mood today, didn’t give up.

Eunho, grinning and putting his arm around Yihyeon’s shoulder again, leaned his weight on his arm, causing Yihyeon to sway. Seeing the navy gym uniform and white shirt tangled together, Dohyeon turned his head the other way. Green leaves sparkled outside the open window.

“Hey, Cha Dohyeon. I’ll bring your gym uniform later!”

As Eunho turned around and shouted, Yihyeon’s gaze followed him. Dohyeon didn’t look at Yeo Eunho at all, but just stared intently at Kwon Yihyeon’s eyes. His indifferent gaze was still sharp, as if wary of him, and his expressionless face lacked warmth.

Dohyeon momentarily imagined one corner of Yihyeon’s mouth curling up in a sneer. There was no hint of a smile anywhere on Yihyeon’s face, but he could clearly picture Kwon Yihyeon taking Yeo Eunho away after mocking him. Dohyeon tightly closed his eyes.

The sound of laughter and conversation, the music someone was playing on speakerphone, and the low laughter of male students whose voices had broken mixed together in his head before becoming quiet. Like being underwater, all sounds seemed distant.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

The sound of his heart beating just below his jawbone traveled up the front of his earlobes. His hands and feet felt slightly tingly, and his mouth began to feel uncomfortably dry.

Dohyeon, who had been calmly breathing and facing an unknown anxiety, took a deep breath and lifted his eyelids. Everything brightened, and the surrounding noise instantly poured back in.

There was no one at the front door of the classroom. A girl who had shuffled in wearing slippers lightly pushed the door shut with her foot.

Dohyeon turned his head and looked out the window. The pale summer sunlight, devoid of heat, was shining down. He picked up the mechanical pencil he had put down. His jaw was sore from clenching his teeth for who knows how long.

***

Thud.

Dohyeon flipped the light switch in his room, and at the same time, he threw Eunho’s summer uniform shirt and bag onto the bed as if discarding them.

He spun his desk chair around and leaned back casually, and the backrest tilted back, making a strange noise. In that position, Dohyeon stretched out his legs and put them on the bed. The thin uniform fabric touched the tips of his socks, making a rustling sound.

He tilted his head back and closed his eyes, and a hazy light flickered before his eyes. The light from the lamp passing through his eyelids was too bright.

Dohyeon opened his eyes and stared intently at a spot on the white wallpaper, trying to calm the simmering anger.

As he sat still, the feeling of something blocked inside his chest gradually rose. His chest felt tight, and his breathing became heavy. It had been like this since lunchtime. He could barely remember how he had gotten through the afternoon classes.

Reaching behind him while sitting, Dohyeon opened the desk drawer and fumbled inside. His hand brushed against a small box covered in plastic.

He took out the box and shook it up and down once, feeling an excessively light tap. He slowly turned his head to look inside the box and saw that only one slender white stick remained.

Dohyeon frowned slightly, took out the last cigarette, put it in his mouth, and casually threw the empty box into the drawer.

Tilting his head back again and leaning back as if lying down, Dohyeon slowly turned the wheel of the disposable lighter with his thumb. A chilling sensation scraped along his fingertips. His body felt heavy to go open the window, and if he lit it like this, he was worried about the smell lingering in the room. Sensitive Yeo Eunho might immediately notice the acrid smell in the room.

“Fuck…”

Dohyeon chewed on the filter of the cigarette in his mouth.

It was a feeling he had never experienced before. It was too heavy to be discomfort and too sticky to be jealousy.

The unfamiliar emotion he felt when Yeo Eunho left the classroom with his arm around Kwon Yihyeon’s shoulder had been gnawing at him all day.

When he saw the empty front door, he felt a vague anxiety that everything was moving away and something was going to go wrong, or perhaps it already had. Throughout the class, the scene of Yeo Eunho following the transfer student replayed in his mind, and the sound of their playful banter echoed in his ears.

Dohyeon, who had been fiddling with the lighter in one hand, got up and spun the flint. As he inhaled and brought the flame to the tip of the cigarette, white smoke billowed up and then dissipated. A red glow transferred to the end of the cigarette.

Dohyeon walked to the window and opened it with one hand. The heavy summer air pushed into the room. As he exhaled the smoke out the window, the white puff of smoke quickly scattered.

It was an old emotion, but he hadn’t realized it had festered and decayed so much. It was an undoubtedly obvious fact that Yeo Eunho had been by his side since birth and would continue to be by his side.

That’s why he had never been in a hurry. He was a little confused when he first realized his feelings, but Dohyeon was confident that he could stay by Yeo Eunho’s side and gradually seep into his life. Slowly, without Yeo Eunho even knowing.

If he had cut off the people who showed interest in Yeo Eunho, comforted him as a friend when he was going through a tough time, and then shown a vulnerable side at the right opportunity and clung to him, the soft-hearted Yeo Eunho would have stayed by his side, just like he did at the funeral.

All he had to do was linger around Yeo Eunho and gently entice him. Brush his hand as if by mistake, pull him into a hug as a joke. Pretend to satisfy his curiosity by touching him here and there, and then use the excuse of needing warmth to drag him into bed.

Falling grades, the loneliness of entering a dark house alone, worries about his future. No matter what flimsy excuse he used, the gentle and kind Yeo Eunho would have reluctantly given him his side. Ah, using his deceased parents as an excuse would have been good too.

Yeo Eunho would have followed him with an innocent face, not knowing where he was going. Like a duckling following the first person it sees, like following only his footsteps while engrossed in his phone. Everything had been going according to plan until Kwon Yihyeon appeared.

Funnily enough, Yeo Eunho really didn’t know anything.

He didn’t know that he had quit the English academy he was attending just to see Yeo Eunho sweat and started learning Taekwondo with him, and he didn’t know that he started playing as a athlete because he liked the way Yeo Eunho looked up at him proudly when the master praised him.

He didn’t know that he still occasionally smoked the cigarettes he learned from his senior when his competition results weren’t good, and he didn’t know that his Suneung score wasn’t that important to him because there were teachers who strongly pushed for the student comprehensive admission process.

‘And Yeo Eunho, you don’t even know what kind of feelings I have for you.’

Hiding behind the convenient mask of a childhood friend, with what kind of gaze I look at you. I, who get aroused by your round eyes and excited by your indifferent gaze,What I imagine about you every night before falling asleep. Yeo Eunho, you really don’t know anything.

If you knew about that messy desire simmering deep in your heart, that dirty sediment that even Kwon Yihyeon recognized at a glance, if you knew that, you wouldn’t have thrown your school uniform aside like that and left.

Dohyeon pressed the cigarette he was smoking against the outside of the window frame to extinguish it. White smoke scattered with the quickly fading flame. Dohyeon threw the cigarette butt out the window.

When he reached out his hand over the bed, his fingers touched the rustling material unique to school uniforms. It was what Eunho had left in the locker after borrowing his gym clothes. Maybe he was too lazy to change back after gym class, or maybe he just forgot. Eunho, who had taken off his shirt and left it in Dohyeon’s locker, didn’t come back until school ended.

Dohyeon slumped back in the chair, leaning back as if lying down, and covered his face with Eunho’s shirt. The light from the white lamp flickered behind the thin, stiff material.

The smell of Yeo Eunho from the shirt covered his eyes and ears. The faint smell of fabric softener, the dry smell of the dryer, the subtle smell of soap.

Yeo Eunho always smelled like soap soaked in water after a shower. A scent that lingered lightly with a soft feeling and then flew away. A smell that was appropriately like Yeo Eunho, white and bouncy.

The scent of Yeo Eunho wafting from all directions made the inside of his navel feel heavy and warm. Dohyeon lightly stroked the flesh that was starting to show volume over his school uniform pants. Even with a small stimulus, he felt a throbbing sensation inside his abdomen. Dohyeon exhaled a low breath and unbuttoned the top button of his school uniform shirt. The feeling of being choked around his neck loosened.

As he slowly ran his palm over the rough school uniform pants, his fingertips caught on the hard zipper. Dohyeon roughly unbuckled his pants while sitting down. The force that had been tightly constricting his lower body disappeared, and the front of his boxer briefs pushed out.

Dohyeon stroked the freed flesh up and down. Heat began to rise beneath the soft cotton material. As he moved his hand and slowly stroked downwards, the soft yet hard flesh began to stiffen and rise.

“Ha…”

Dohyeon moved his hand slowly while leaning the chair back as far as possible. A low, long sigh escaped Dohyeon’s lips. His neck was stiff from leaning back, but he didn’t remove Eunho’s summer shirt covering his face. Each time he stroked the roughly formed shaft up and down, a loose excitement flowed out of his mouth. The breath that couldn’t escape the shirt became heat and mixed with the smell of Yeo Eunho.

A dark circular stain began to form at the end of the boxer briefs. When he spread the gap in the boxer briefs and stroked the end with his thumb, a slippery liquid came off. Dohyeon spread it thinly, but it wasn’t enough. Heat rose wherever the dry skin touched.

Dohyeon slowly moved his hand up and down, recalling Eunho’s white nape. The back of his neck where his hair, which turned bright in the sunlight, lay neatly. He imagined what it would be like to rub his own against that clear nape, which would quickly turn red even in the early summer sun because the skin was thin, and against the prominent bone at the back of his neck that rose whenever he lowered his head. His hand tightened.

As he leaned back further while sitting, Eunho’s school uniform shirt that was on his face tickled his nose and lips. The stiff white fabric fluttered up and down with each inhale and exhale.

Dohyeon parted his lips and bit down on the smooth shirt, then shook the hand lightly gripping the shaft up and down. The tapping sound of skin rubbing against skin and low, heated breaths filled the room.

Under the faint, flickering lamplight filtered by a thin layer of fabric, Dohyeon imagined Eunho’s hands. His short, pink fingernails and straight fingers without protruding joints. Dohyeon pictured those neat fingers wrapped around his own hand. He visualized the white hand holding his own, the wrist bone bulging with each movement, and kissed the blue veins on Yeo Eunho’s pale arm that rose with each exertion of force. He tasted dry fabric in his mouth.

“Ha, fuck…”

Dohyeon’s waist twitched as he let out a small curse. As the speed of shaking the shaft increased, his abdominal muscles tightened slightly. His heart pounded with each inhale. Yeo Eunho, who was sexy everywhere he looked, even smelled sexy.

“Ha…”

Short breaths and squelching sounds echoed in the room. Each time Dohyeon’s movements became larger, the school uniform covering his face rustled as it rubbed against him. Clenching his jaw as the feeling of climax surged, Dohyeon vigorously shook the hard mass of flesh he was holding up and down.

With one inhale, Yeo Eunho took off his clothes, and with one exhale, Yeo Eunho was in his arms.

With one inhale, Yeo Eunho let out a heated breath, and with one exhale, Yeo Eunho’s face flushed.

With one inhale, Yeo Eunho moaned, and with one exhale, Yeo Eunho clung to him.

The whole world was Yeo Eunho.

Suddenly, his vision blurred, and a vein popped out on Dohyeon’s forehead. All the muscles in his body contracted and then relaxed at once, and a languid pleasure enveloped his entire body. A thick, white, viscous liquid flowed down the shaft. A fishy smell rose, and a slippery feeling seeped between his gripping hands.

Dohyeon snatched the shirt that was about to slide off near his ear and brought it down. As he wrapped the still hard shaft with the thin, stiff cotton, the warm temperature was one layer away. The sticky, milky white liquid stained the white shirt and hid itself. Dohyeon wiped away all the slippery things with Eunho’s school uniform shirt. A languid satisfaction lingered around his temples.

After roughly wiping away the fishy liquid, Dohyeon casually threw Eunho’s shirt on the floor. He lay languidly on the chair and fumbled inside the drawer, feeling an empty cigarette pack.

Ah, that was the last one. Dohyeon frowned and crumpled the light box into the trash can. At that moment, the phone on his desk lit up. Dohyeon lifted his tired arm and checked the screen. It was Yeo Eunho.

-Yeo Eunho: Hey, fuck, I left my school uniform in your drawer earlier.

As expected, my Yeo Eunho. The corners of Dohyeon’s mouth slowly rose.

-I brought it earlier. I’ll wash it, you can take it next time.

-Yeo Eunho: OK, thanks.

-Yeo Eunho: Hey, wanna see this?

Several cat pictures appeared below the white speech bubble. Dohyeon turned off the screen and casually threw the phone onto the bed.

The humid air swept away the fishy smell in the room. Dohyeon, who had relaxed his entire body and was enjoying the pleasant languor, turned his head slightly and looked at Eunho’s white shirt crumpled on the floor. The way it was wet in places with the sticky, spread-out liquid reminded him of discarded plastic waste. The corners of Dohyeon’s mouth curved into an arc.

This garbage-like heart, it won’t rot, so what can you do? Yeo Eunho, you’ll just have to embrace it.