LS 147

They came to do the grocery shopping. Moonhyuk eagerly grabbed the cart. They had definitely gone shopping together before, but he looked far more excited this time. Seeing Moonhyuk standing ahead with both hands on the cart, waiting for him, Dohee couldn’t help but chuckle. It was so cute it left him speechless.

It had been Moonhyuk’s idea to go shopping. When Dohee asked if there was anything he wanted to do, he said he wanted to go grocery shopping. When Dohee asked why all of a sudden, Moonhyuk had replied:

— It was my first time going grocery shopping with someone… I just really liked it. And, um, I also want to cook you a nice dinner…”

Watching him fumble and glance nervously at him while he spoke made Dohee feel a burst of affection again. In the end, what Moonhyuk wanted was to cook him a delicious dinner. Dohee readily agreed. They ate lunch and then headed to the department store together.

“What are you going to make?” Dohee asked as they entered the food section. Moonhyuk replied shyly.

“Pasta…”

“The pasta you made last time? The one with a ton of garlic?”

“N-no! You said it was good that time, so… I actually looked up some other pasta recipes yesterday.”

God. Too cute. He was going to die from how cute he was. Is kissing in public allowed?

Dohee squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again, forcing himself to stay sane. He wanted to slap his own forehead. Just because he said it was good last time, he went and looked up new recipes? That kind of thoughtfulness was killing him. How could a twenty-seven-year-old man be this adorable? With that face and that build? It had to be cheating.

“That’s really sweet.”

“Huh?”

“Looking up pasta recipes and all.”

Moonhyuk smiled, his face turning red from the praise. Kwon Moonhyuk, smiling bashfully, blushing, that Kwon Moonhyuk was going to cook pasta for him. Not even ten million gold could make him give that up.

“I’ll make it really good.”

“Okay.”

Dohee followed behind as Moonhyuk pushed the cart and filled it with ingredients. At some point, Dohee realized this was the first time he’d ever gone grocery shopping with someone else, too. Usually, he’d just get delivery sent to his place or zip through the store alone and get it over with. Shopping was just another task to him. But with Moonhyuk, it was different. Just watching him frown in concentration while comparing identical bags of clams made every second feel precious. He liked him so much it was overwhelming.

Amazingly, he found himself falling more in love with Moonhyuk every single day. He hadn’t even known he was capable of liking someone this much.

As they walked, Dohee kept slipping samples from the tasting booths into Moonhyuk’s mouth whenever there was a chance. They had eaten lunch not long ago, but Moonhyuk eagerly ate whatever was offered. Eventually, a sausage and a new instant noodle flavor got added to the cart. They weren’t on the list, so Moonhyuk hesitated, but Dohee didn’t care and tossed them in. They were the ones Moonhyuk reacted best to, after all.

Moonhyuk was surprisingly thorough, too. After Dohee agreed to go shopping, he made a list of everything they needed. He wrote it down one by one in a tiny notebook with neat handwriting. When he even had time to prepare that, Dohee didn’t know, probably while Dohee was off doing daily quests in the game room. Of course, he’d also had to do knockoff character’s dailies for him while Moonhyuk sat at the table scribbling, saying he had “something to do.” No need to even say it.

When Dohee finished Moonhyuk’s dailies and returned, Moonhyuk had apologized profusely. But Dohee just raised an eyebrow. What was so hard about that?

Anyway, after carefully going through the entire shopping list, Moonhyuk turned to Dohee with a satisfied look.

“I think that’s everything.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah!”

His answer was full of energy. As he said it, Dohee quietly added two packs of Moonhyuk’s favorite chocolate milk to the cart.

“Uh…”

“What?”

“N-nothing.”

Moonhyuk’s ears turned a little red when he saw the chocolate milk. And now, Dohee knew. Kwon Moonhyuk was happy. Probably because he hadn’t expected Dohee to remember what he liked. Seeing him blush and smile over something so small made Dohee feel a little proud. So this is what it feels like to enjoy taking care of someone, he thought.

“D-Dohee…”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t you need anything?”

He rolled his eyes nervously. Dohee paused before heading to the checkout and thought for a moment. There wasn’t really anything he needed or wanted, but since Moonhyuk asked, a bunch of impulse buys suddenly started floating through his mind.

“Since we’re living together now.”

“Huh?”

“Should we pick up some things we’ll both use?”

“Like what?”

“Just, you know… stuff.”

Dohee casually placed a hand on the cart beside Moonhyuk and gave it a push, changing its direction. They left the food section. Now that the floodgates of thought had opened, the list of things he wanted to buy exploded.

“Do you like anything in particular?”

“Huh? Like what?”

Moonhyuk blinked at the sudden question. Dohee had been thinking so much in his head that he blurted it out without warning. Realizing he’d jumped ahead too fast, he slowed down and asked again.

“Like favorite colors, materials… your taste in things?”

Baek Dohee had very defined preferences. He liked monochrome colors. A few accent colors were fine, but not too many. He didn’t like pastels. He preferred warm tones over cool ones. He liked things that felt warm and soft, and favored powdery scents. For design, he liked either sharp-edged or round shapes, he didn’t like ambiguous or mixed-line styles.

He preferred rice to bread, and rice over flour. Bitter over sweet, spicy over sour. He was bad at taking care of plants, so he didn’t like them much, though flowers were okay. But he wouldn’t gift them to anyone. They weren’t practical.

He liked winter more than summer, long sleeves over short. The ocean over mountains, night over day. He liked dogs but loved cats more. For coffee, he didn’t like acidic beans.

Because he had such clear preferences, he was picky. But even with all that, he was curious about Moonhyuk’s taste. Despite his fussiness, he was willing to compromise if it was for Moonhyuk. But Moonhyuk’s answer completely made all of Dohee’s pondering pointless.

“I don’t really… have anything like that.”

“Huh?”

“I mean… like, a ‘preference’? I don’t really have any. I’m okay with anything. Really! I’m not just saying that because I can’t be bothered, I mean it. I don’t have a favorite color or anything… I don’t know much about materials either… What are we buying?”

“We’re not buying anything specific. I was just asking what you like. You don’t have a favorite color?”

“Uhh… black?”

“Why?”

“Um… doesn’t show dirt easily?”

Dohee rubbed his forehead. He hadn’t done that in a while. Was he getting lightheaded?

“Do you like rice or noodles more?”

“I like both…”

“Favorite scent?”

“…Dohee’s smell?”

Moonhyuk said it with a blush. Dohee stared at his flushed cheeks, red like ripe peaches, and gave up on his “Exploring Kwon Moonhyuk’s Preferences” mission. Maybe he really didn’t have any strong preferences. Dohee nodded slightly. Yeah. Not everyone in the world has to be super particular. In fact, maybe it was a good thing.

“Then can I just buy what I want?”

“Yeah, yeah. It’s really okay. If Dohee likes it, I’ll like it too.”

Dohee gave a small snort of laughter. He wondered if Moonhyuk had been secretly attending some “cute speech lessons” somewhere. Still, even just sounding cute was something, wasn’t it?

They had arrived at the home goods section. Dohee began tossing things into the cart without hesitation. Two new toothbrushes, two cups for brushing, two pairs of slippers, two pillowcases, two bathrobes, two cushions… Everything was the same product, just in different colors. Moonhyuk didn’t even have time to stop him and could only stare blankly at Dohee’s swift hands.

“Let’s check out first, and then go get pajamas and shampoo. There’s a brand I like on the first floor, I always buy from there. Now that we live together, it’d be good to stock up in advance.”

“Oh… okay.”

“We can share body lotion and stuff too, unless there’s a scent you don’t like.”

“Nope, I’m fine. But is it okay to just buy all this…?”

Dohee, turning to head toward the pajamas, looked back at Moonhyuk. He had a fidgety, uncertain expression. Maybe the suddenly overflowing cart felt overwhelming. Dohee asked,

“What’s wrong? Is it too much?”