LS 143

Around midday, the guild members finally started to come to their senses. Moonhyuk was the first to wake up. He’d barely drunk the night before and was an early riser by nature, so his eyes opened out of habit.

The pension had both a first and second floor with several rooms, so the guild members had spread out and crashed wherever they liked.

Moonhyuk and Dohee had slept together in a small room tucked into a corner on the first floor. Saying they slept together wasn’t quite accurate. Moonhyuk had passed out first, practically knocked out cold, and when he stirred awake in the middle of the night, Dohee was lying beside him. He’d assumed it was a dream and fallen back asleep. But even in the morning, Dohee was still right there, breathing evenly by his side.

Lying on his stomach, Moonhyuk stared at Dohee’s sleeping face with bleary eyes. Then he suddenly swallowed the breath he’d been about to exhale. At the sound, Dohee shifted once in his sleep. Worried he’d wake him, Moonhyuk covered his mouth and held his breath. It wasn’t a dream. And only then did everything finally hit him with weight and clarity.

He was dating now. With someone he’d never even imagined.

How did this happen? He didn’t even know when he’d started liking this person. Maybe it was that very first time he’d seen Dohee’s gameplay videos in the internet cafe and thought he was cool. What had once been admiration and silent support had turned into the person now lying beside him, asleep like an angel. It all felt so surreal that Moonhyuk didn’t know what to do with himself.

He thought back carefully to the events of last night.

God. Baek Dohee really had confessed in the most incredible way. He never knew being asked to date someone could be so thrilling. His heart had pounded so hard, it felt like it might explode. He couldn’t even remember what kind of state he was in when he said yes, or when he hugged Dohee. All he remembered was the heat rushing through his entire body, like every vein had caught fire. That wasn’t even a memory, really – it was more like a lingering sensation.

As they were heading into the pension with the others, Dohee had said to him,

—You’re mine now, hyung.

It was a light, joking comment laced with laughter, but Moonhyuk had loved it. So much that he couldn’t even reply, he just nodded. And quietly, he thought, “Then Baek Dohee must be mine too, right?”

He never imagined how deeply moving it could be, to have someone claim you like that. To be a part of someone’s daily life. He used to think maybe he’d never be in a relationship – never had the emotional, physical, or financial capacity, and never believed anyone would want to love someone like him. But now, that wasn’t true. There was Dohee, someone who liked even his clumsy, awkward self.

Where did someone like that even come from? It was still hard to believe. Moonhyuk was someone who struggled to communicate, someone who often stumbled over his words, someone who wasn’t particularly good at anything. And yet, he was dating. With someone like Baek Dohee, who anyone would agree was amazing. Having someone like that as a boyfriend probably had worse odds than winning the lottery.

Moonhyuk gently pulled the blanket over Dohee. He didn’t seem to toss and turn much in his sleep, but the blanket had shifted. Moonhyuk lay beside him, carefully smoothing the covers wrinkle by wrinkle. His quiet, affectionate gestures made time feel like it had stopped.

In the distance, voices of other guild members just waking up echoed faintly. Worried the light might wake Dohee, Moonhyuk quietly closed the curtains and locked the door. He hoped Dohee could sleep in as long as he wanted. Moving silently, Moonhyuk returned to the bed and lay down again, making sure not to shake it. He stared at Dohee, those long lashes, that sculpted nose, those smooth lips, skin like flawless porcelain. His mouth filled with saliva. He gulped and was startled by his own reaction. Why was his throat so dry?

How long had he been staring, silently gulping? At some point, Dohee’s eyelids fluttered open. Their eyes met, and Moonhyuk flinched. He felt like he’d been caught doing something he shouldn’t have. He was so startled his lips trembled. He’d just started to sit up when Dohee spoke.

“Don’t tell me… you want a kiss?”

Moonhyuk froze. He couldn’t answer. Did he? He probably did.

Yeah. He wanted to kiss him.

After hesitating for a long time, Moonhyuk gave a tiny nod. It had taken all the courage he had. Dohee reached out his arms—Moonhyuk knew what that meant and rushed to embrace him. The warmth of Dohee’s body, still cozy from sleep, washed over him. It felt so good he thought he might die. Dohee gently wrapped his arms around Moonhyuk’s neck, eyes fluttering shut. Even an idiot like Moonhyuk knew what came next.

Their lips met slowly. A ticklish, soft sensation. Dohee’s lips twitched. Their shallow breaths mingled. Even without looking, Moonhyuk could tell he was smiling. He squeezed his eyes shut and pulled him in tighter.

It was the beginning of a day so blissful, he knew he’d never forget it for the rest of his life.

💎

To recover from their near-death states, the guild headed to a nearby Chinese restaurant for lunch. Everyone was hungover and barely functioning, so choosing a place wasn’t hard. Maybe it was the power of youth, PrettyHealerHyung, who’d also woken early like Moonhyuk, had already tidied the pension and found a place to eat. Thankfully, it was a decent Chinese spot nearby.

They had endless stories to tell from just one night, game stuff, real life stuff, no topic was left untouched. To everyone’s surprise, the guild members got along surprisingly well in person. When Dohee mentioned that he’d be going to NGA for an interview soon, the guild immediately turned into a pack of sycophants, begging him to put in a good word for buffs to their own classes. Dohee just snorted at them. These spoiled brats. How dare they queue up in front of a Support?

Eventually, they parted ways with the usual “let’s meet again sometime” lines. Yeojin gave a ride to Yeohoo, and Daeyeong. RiceCake, PrettyHealerHyung, and 4Evil made up one group. Noodle and Tando were another. And finally, Moonhyuk and Dohee returned together.

The drive home took a little over an hour. They’d come in the same car just the day before, but somehow the ride back felt completely different. Like a massive weight had been lifted. Maybe it was because he’d finally gotten what he wanted and had nothing to hide anymore.

Dohee held back a humming tune that kept rising to his throat. He was in too good a mood. If he let it all show, he might actually look like a lunatic.

They stopped at a rest area on the way back. They grabbed coffee, and when Moonhyuk couldn’t stop staring at a cup of seasoned baby potatoes, Dohee bought them too. Watching him stand there agonizing for over a minute about whether or not to buy them had been so cute, he couldn’t resist.

With a bowlful of potatoes the size of his face, Moonhyuk smiled like sunshine. The rich scent of butter and potatoes filled the car. Watching him nibble on the potatoes with such care made Dohee burst into little fits of laughter. A 27-year-old man who smelled like potatoes and butter, what kind of rare species was this?

“Give me one, hyung.”

Dohee opened his mouth slightly as he spoke. Of course, he thought Moonhyuk would feed it to him. But instead, Moonhyuk just held it out on a toothpick, not moving. Apparently, he hadn’t considered putting it directly in his mouth.

It was so Moonhyuk, Dohee could feel the back of his neck twitch.

“You’re supposed to feed me.”

“…Ah!”

Moonhyuk gasped like he’d discovered the meaning of life. Hilarious. Finally, the potato went into Dohee’s mouth. After that, he also helped with the coffee straw and slipped him more potatoes now and then. At least he was a quick learner. Dohee decided to worry about the mountain of things he’d have to teach him later.

The drive back to Seoul was surprisingly slow. Traffic crawled. When the car slowed to a crawl, Dohee reached out and gently held Moonhyuk’s hand. Sometimes he laced their fingers together. Sometimes he stroked his palm. He could finally do this without hesitation, and it made him feel full to bursting. It had taken so long to get here.

Moonhyuk twitched at the contact, but never pulled away. He swallowed, then worked up the courage to hold Dohee’s hand back. That one small gesture filled Dohee with overwhelming emotion. Who could have imagined Kwon Moonhyuk would come this far? His chest tickled with joy.

“Hope we get home soon,” Dohee said.

Moonhyuk nodded.

“Yeah, me too… Ah, I mean, me too!” He’d instinctively used formal speech and quickly corrected himself. Dohee couldn’t help but laugh.¹“네, 저도요…” (Ne, jeo-do-yo…) polite or formal. “나도!” (na-do!) casual 

Dohee usually spoke casually to Moonhyuk, sometimes mixing in polite speech, but mostly informal. Moonhyuk, on the other hand, still mostly used formal language. Once in a while, he’d drop a casual “yeah.” Eventually, Dohee had to ask directly, why did he keep using formal speech?

Moonhyuk’s answer had been absurd.

—Ah, just… out of habit…

Just a habit, he said. Dohee had spent ages wondering: was Moonhyuk still uncomfortable around him? Did he plan to speak formally forever?

So Dohee had made his opinion clear.

—I’d like it if you used casual speech with me. Are you still uncomfortable? I mean, I always use casual speech. I’m younger than you.

—“No, no! It’s really not that I’m uncomfortable!”

Moonhyuk had frantically waved his hands, insisting that wasn’t it at all. He babbled that it was just a habit and he didn’t mean anything by it.

So Dohee tried again, this time more gently.

—I feel closer when we talk casually. Don’t you like that too, hyung?

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  “네, 저도요…” (Ne, jeo-do-yo…) polite or formal. “나도!” (na-do!) casual