SWAP 103

At first, he acted as if he were supporting him so he wouldn’t fall backward, but that was only for a moment. When Seoul, who should have been pushing the arm away and telling him to stop, gave no reaction, Saheon, who had been pretending to sleep, slowly opened his eyes. The sensation of eyelashes fluttering against him should have been ticklish, but it was strangely quiet. Pulling down the hand that had been covering his eyes, Saheon saw Seoul nodding off in the darkness.

Turning off the light had been a bad move.

Due to his sensitive nature, the habit of only being able to fall asleep in a dark place had caught up with him.

Then again, he had been held captive for well over 30 minutes, so he had held out long enough. Watching him intently for a long while, finding it cute how he was hunched over in an uncomfortable posture without even being able to lie down properly, Saheon spoke.

“Lee Seoul.”

“…….”

“Seoul-ah.”

It was closer to a whisper than a call. Whispering so softly that one would have to lean in and focus just to hear it, Saheon looked at Seoul, who—as expected—offered no response, and slily applied strength to the arm wrapped around his waist. As he pulled him gently forward, the body that had barely been maintaining its balance tilted powerlessly toward him. Readily welcoming Seoul as he fell right into his embrace, Saheon murmured affectionately.

“Are you sleepy? Do you want to sleep here?”

There were two question marks attached, but the person he was talking to was half-asleep. Saheon, who threw the questions out knowing full well the state he was in, pretended to listen for a moment and then whispered nonchalantly.

“Okay, let’s sleep together then…”

Heave-ho. Acting exactly like someone who had heard an answer, he instantly pulled up Seoul’s body, which had been awkwardly slumped over by the torso. Even though there was a size difference and the other was an adult male, it was as easy as adjusting a small child.

Saheon, having brought even the legs that were dangling awkwardly onto the bed, snatched the blanket that had been shoved into the corner. It was because of Seoul, who was wearing thin pajamas instead of a hoodie as if to emphasize that he was now using a different room. A surge of irritation rose within him, but fearing Seoul might catch a cold, he pulled the blanket up to his neck. It became stiflingly hot immediately, but he didn’t care.

As the soft and familiar body scent was felt within his arms, the senses that had been on edge and gnawing at his nerves began to crawl away. From the moment the roommate swap was finalized, the impulses that suddenly surged were all dizzying. He didn’t want to be apart anyway, but recalling the events of yesterday at dawn made his mood even more of a mess.

Are they all out of their minds?

Knowing that something might happen to him while I’m not by his side.

He was appalled at what they trusted about Lee Seoul to separate him, but at the same time, he knew. That this itself was his illness. Lee Seoul believed that Seo Saheon’s pathological separation anxiety had improved quite a bit, but in truth, it wasn’t so. He was just pretending to be better; the core inside hadn’t changed at all. To lay bare his hideous inner thoughts, he actually quite liked those days that Seoul had found terrifying. To the point that he still often dreamed of them.

Those were the good times.

Because it felt like everyone but us had died.

Recalling the days when they were shut away entirely by themselves, he slily applied strength to the arm hugging Seoul’s waist. It was dissatisfying that even when pulled tight, he was only a single armful. Is it because I couldn’t feed him properly yesterday? Thinking that he seemed thinner in just one day, he groped his back with a sigh. Quietly tracing the bone structure that could be felt even through the T-shirt, he lowered his wrist without much hesitation and slid his hand inside the shirt.

The moment his palm felt the warm and soft skin, his eyes closed automatically.

Rubbing the vertebrae he hadn’t been able to touch a few days ago one by one with his fingertips, he finally felt like he could breathe. Because the straight, protruding shape was pretty, he toyed with it for a long time before his hand crawled further upward. The thin top was naturally lifted, but since they were covered by the blanket up to their necks, from the outside it simply looked like they were sleeping side-by-side.

“…….”

In reality, however, he was in a situation where his arm was inserted up to the wrist inside his friend’s T-shirt, fiddling with the shoulder blades. As he stroked the concave part of the back, Seoul—perhaps feeling ticklish—shrugged his shoulders and wriggled forward to escape. Finding it cute how he didn’t even realize he was still within his embrace, Saheon swallowed back a sigh. While acting like he knows nothing like this, yesterday…

He still couldn’t believe the fact that someone with such a faithful face, looking like he’d read the Bible despite having no religion, had swelled tightly down there just because he’d poked around in his mouth a bit.

He knew better than anyone that Lee Seoul was the modest type in that regard. Forget dating, he very rarely even did the common act of masturbation. Shoving himself into his bed, locking the door, and groaning under his breath. Even though they lived together for ten years, having witnessed it by chance only once or twice said it all.

He wondered if he had dreamed it, but seeing the lips that were thicker than usual, all the scenes in the bathroom were replayed like an automatic recording. Because of that, how much of a headache had it been trying to keep his distance without being able to cling to him as much as he wanted?

Since he wasn’t exactly an average size to begin with, even a little swelling made it obvious immediately.

If it were a house with just the two of them it might be different, but Saheon didn’t want that kind of broadcast accident either.

So he had gone to all that trouble acting like a monk, but fuck. His head was burning for the first time in a while thanks to the production crew who repaid his grace with enmity. Grinding his teeth inwardly, thinking he should have made them get dragged before the Korea Communications Standards Commission if he’d known this would happen, Saheon pulled the Seoul in his arms even closer.

Then, like magic, sleepiness flooded in.

Insomnia dictated by a single person was both laughable and disgusting, but at the same time, it was unbearably satisfying.

When Seoul, who had been fast asleep, suddenly woke up, it was already the deep, dark hours of dawn. While blinking blankly, he couldn’t properly grasp the situation. When did I fall asleep? His last memory was fuzzy, and as he furrowed his brows, a strange sensation occurred.

What is this?

Before his senses had fully returned, he wriggled slightly and felt a warm body temperature lightly stroking his lower back.

At that, every bit of remaining sleepiness vanished, and Seoul froze in shock. Straining his blurry vision, he saw a face that seemed to glow even in the dark at a close distance. The moment he realized it was Saheon, the events leading up to this flashed through his mind like a kaleidoscope, and he swallowed a small scream. His heart sank, wondering if he had fallen asleep while trying to put him to bed.

What am I supposed to do if I fall asleep after saying I’d help him sleep?

He felt wretched, wondering if he had crawled into the bed himself in his sleep.

The best thing was to sneak away before Saheon woke up, but… the problem was the hand wrapped around his back. Moreover, the palm had dug inside, not over the clothes, making his vision turn distant for a moment. His earlobes turned burning hot at the sensation of being touched openly on his bare skin, but he tried his best not to focus on it. No matter how you looked at it, it was an unintended situation.

Thankful for the presence of the blanket covering his shoulders at least, Seoul took a small breath and moved his arms bit by bit. He planned to remove Saheon’s hand—which was behaving sternly—straighten his T-shirt, and bolt, but he hit a snag from the start. It was because Saheon pulled him even closer the moment he tried to gently pull away.

Thanks to that, he had a hard time calming his heart, which was thumping away thoughtlessly.

Because of the close distance, he could smell a lot of a good scent. Not the familiar perfume scent he habitually sprayed, but just the scent of skin… Realizing that, Seoul felt like a pervert and was horrified, so he shook off Saheon’s arm from his waist with all his might.

“Ugh…”

As a result, Seoul, who ended up doing a heavy workout since early morning, hurriedly pulled his top down and scrambled off the bed. Checking the side with an anxious heart, he saw Ye Juyeol was sleeping, oblivious to the world. He was whimpering with his eyes squeezed tight as if suffering from a nightmare, but Seoul was relieved he hadn’t witnessed them.

If so, all that remained was speed.

Opening the door without making a sound and slipping into the hallway, Seoul headed toward his own room as if running away.

Hurriedly opening the door and entering, he saw Yun Hyeok likewise asleep. Checking the clock, it was 4:30 AM. Letting out a sigh, unable to believe he had been like that for over four hours, Seoul collapsed onto his bed. He closed his eyes, praying that Saheon hadn’t woken up in the middle.

“…….”

However, no matter how much time passed, sleep did not come.

Baffled by the fact that the sleepiness that had been pouring in just a moment ago had vanished like a lie, Seoul tossed and turned for a long time, eventually forced to spend several hours wide awake. Turning off the alarm that rang at 7:00 AM sharp, Seoul stood up unsteadily, unable to hide his bewilderment. He didn’t know what the situation was, but he had a hunch that even if he stayed lying in bed like this, he wouldn’t be able to fall asleep.

What on earth is…

It was the moment he rubbed his gritty eyes and flung the door open.

“Aah…!”

Seoul could not help but scream reflexively at the figure of someone appearing immediately before him.