NHL 24

As Joeon explained to help him, Dylan nodded.

“Then, I have a pair of skates that were a bit small, so I didn’t wear them much—those should be good.”

With that, he got up again and diligently rummaged through the locker. He pulled out a box with sharp edges, opened the lid, and took out the skates, which were tucked neatly inside a pouch. Then, sitting back down in front of Joeon as if he were a clerk at a shoe store, he put the shin guards on Joeon’s legs and helped him put on the skates.

“I’ll do it.”

“It’s fine. It’s your first time, so I’ll do it. Just leave it to me.”

Every time his firm grip brushed against my calves and wrapped around my feet, I wiggled the tips of my fingers inside my fists. The warmth of his body temperature, which I’d been conscious of for a while, was strangely tickling the fine nerves beneath my skin, making me feel hot.

Even though I knew his touch wasn’t motivated by any suspicious intent, my thoughts kept jumping in unhealthy directions because, ever since the day Dylan had given me a puck as a gift, he had been showing signs of having changed somewhere. Like the subtle and explicit gaze that would brush against me from time to time.

Dylan, who had been focused on putting on the skates, suddenly began to untie the laces he had just knotted. When I tilted my head and studied his face, he looked up with a perplexed expression.

“Now that I think about it, it’s going to be uncomfortable to wear those clothes while doing this. Since your ankles will hurt, I’ll give you some thick socks. You should wear those. Why don’t you change into sportswear, too?”

“Huh? No….”

There was no way Joeon, who hadn’t intended to stay long at Maya’s house, would have any sportswear. Sensing this quickly, Dylan darted toward the hallway like a child and soon returned with what looked like a comfortable winter tracksuit.

“Here. They’re my clothes. Change into these. It’ll be much better than your current outfit.”

Joeon looked back and forth between the clothes in his hand and Dylan standing at the doorway.

“Ah! Sorry. Call me when you’re done changing. I’ll help you.”

Realizing his unspoken request a beat late, he hurried out of the room and closed the door. Although someone could have peeked at Joeon through the window that didn’t have curtains drawn, no strangers could enter the backyard, which was on the McClain family’s private property, so Joeon took off his clothes without any sense of danger.

Dylan’s tracksuit, which was surely at least two sizes larger than what he usually wore, smelled cozy and warm, as if it had just come out of the laundry and been dried in the spring sun.

Joeon, who folded the sleeves and straightened his attire, looked around the quiet surroundings and cautiously approached the doorway to grab the doorknob. For some reason, the weight transmitted to the palm gripping and pulling down on the handle felt heavy. Before he could even realize the identity of the shadow that had completely filled the widening gap in the door, Joeon intuitively realized that Dylan had been standing there the whole time.

“Dylan?”

The hallway without windows was incomparably darker than the drawing room. It was difficult even to tell what kind of expression the other person was wearing.

“Are you done changing?”

“Yes.”

“Then I’ll help you with the guards.”

Joeon hesitated and stopped Dylan.

“It’s alright. I’ll do it. You showed me once, so I remember.”

For a moment, as if he had realized his own blunder, a look of disappointment flashed across Dylan’s handsome face. Joeon picked up the guards scattered on the floor and sat on the bench. Then, recalling the sequence Dylan had followed earlier, he diligently put on the shin guards.

Dylan, having lost the excuse to touch Joeon’s body, took out his own skates, sat side-by-side next to Joeon, and watched intently as he did it. If he had seen even a clumsy movement, he seemed ready to snatch the item from Joeon’s hands and rush in to say he would do it for him instead. His gaze, as if he were hoping Joeon would make a mistake, felt very burdensome.

Joeon slowly turned his head, looking slightly annoyed. Their eyes met in the air. Realizing that his ulterior motives were being read, Dylan lowered the corners of his eyes and flashed a flamboyant smile to hide his true intentions.

“Um, Dylan.”

“Yes, Joeon.”

Joeon, who had been lost in thought for a brief moment, lightly stole his lips with the tip of his tongue and made an awkward request.

“It’s not just that I’m changing… I also want to see Dylan wearing his uniform, like when you play hockey.”

It was a strategy Joeon had racked his brain to come up with. He had a premonition that if he didn’t distract Dylan, he might just rush in at any moment and strip off everything clinging to his legs.

However, whether it was the right answer or the wrong one, Dylan’s eyes widened, and soon he lifted one corner of his mouth, biting his lip to suppress a laugh. His reaction was ambiguous.

“Why are you laughing? I’m just curious. You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

“No, no. It’s not that.”

“I just said it for the sake of it.”

“I understand. I know what kind of method this is.”

“Huh?”

As Joeon was bewildered by the somewhat off-base answer, Dylan, who had risen from his seat, muttered.

“…Anything you want, if you want it.”

Then, he began to peel off his top in front of the locker where his most recent uniform hung. A body intricately woven with muscles so firm they looked like they wouldn’t even break was revealed. From his shoulders and back to his abs, there wasn’t a single place where the muscles weren’t well-developed. Even Joeon hadn’t anticipated that such a body would be hidden underneath a loose uniform.

“What are you doing?”

When Joeon asked with his face stiffened, Dylan, with a composed expression, shrugged his shoulders in a sly manner.

“You said you wanted to see me wearing the uniform.”

“…S-should I go outside?”

“Is there any need to go that far?”

Then, he easily pulled down his training pants as well. Joeon overcame his curiosity and turned his head away. It was a ridiculous thing for men to be modest with one another, but once he became conscious of his relationship with Dylan, it wasn’t easy to act as if nothing had happened.

“Why are you shy?”

Before he knew it, Dylan, who had approached Joeon, stood there pulling down his blue uniform over his bare body, which was clad only in shoulder pads and elbow pads.

“We’re both men, anyway.”

On his lower body, where he wore his shin guards, he was wearing pants similar to loose-fitting boxer shorts. Holding thick gloves in his arm alongside a hockey stick, he looked down at Joeon while standing at an angle.

“Are you satisfied?”

“…”

Dylan was a type of man who knew very well how his appearance was reflected in the eyes of others. From a confidence bordering on arrogance to the cleverness of intentionally lifting his uniform to sex appeal while pretending to adjust his fit.

“Shall we go?”

He took Joeon’s hand and pulled him up effortlessly. Since he was already a large person, wearing shoulder pads made him feel an enormous sense of pressure, as if he were facing a giant. Even though he knew they were just protective gear, he became tense as if every one of his movements were loaded with power.

“Why? Do you want to touch?”

“Huh? What…”

As Joeon pulled his hand back, Dylan let it go readily and replied in a light tone.

“My shoulders. You were staring at them.”

“Ah….”

“What were you thinking about? Something dirty?”

“No such thing.”

At his playful voice, Joeon turned his head abruptly and grabbed the gloves and stick Dylan had taken out earlier.

“Let’s go quickly. We just have to go out that way, right?”

Even though he didn’t know the way, Joeon blindly headed toward a small door that seemed to lead to the backyard. As if his guess were correct, when he opened the inner door, a hallway leading straight outside appeared.

When he opened one more door, a path that he could walk on even with skates on lay in a straight line. The end of it was the ice rink he had looked down upon from the drawing room.

Joeon, who was wearing thick gloves that made it difficult even to move his fingers, walked waddling while holding the stick awkwardly. Behind him, Dylan, carrying the helmet, gloves, and stick that Joeon was supposed to use, followed while hiding a laugh between his lips.

Before he knew it, his eyes, which had turned into a dark green color, were fixed persistently on one place. Under the loose-fitting hoodie that had slipped down because the size didn’t fit, a straight, white neckline was revealed.

“Wait a second. It looks like the ice needs grooming.”