NHL 28

“Working hard?”

Joeon let out a small, self-deprecating laugh. He couldn’t believe that he could be perceived that way by others. Otherwise, it was clearly the characteristic Canadian flattery or sweet-talking designed to make the listener feel good.

“I’m just complying with the given conditions and setting my own limits. Just like people who have grown old and timid usually do. Isn’t ‘prudent’ or ‘mature’ just a form of self-glorification in the end? I’m not living this stable life now because I’ve matured. It’s because I’m a coward.”

“Even just worrying about yourself as much as you do now seems impressive and meaningful enough. Some people live their whole lives with their brains empty, without a single thought. Like me.”

Joeon, who had lowered his gaze and dropped his eyelids, muttered while looking at the treetops carrying the sunset in the distance.

“I’m actually envious of you, Dylan. I covet your innate talent, your environment, the spark that never dies, and the tenacity to see things through to the end. So, doesn’t that mean you don’t even need to worry about life? If I had been born like you…”

“…”

“Well, I probably wouldn’t have lived like you, even then…”

Dylan, who had been leaning in close and listening to the barely audible confession, whispered back. The distance closed slowly even while they were speaking.

“Everyone says that. Even if I had been born as you, I wouldn’t have become like you. Such a smart and charming person.”

“Huh? What are you…”

“Besides, you also drive people crazy.”

The voice was so low that it was hard to hear unless their bodies were touching, so Joeon tilted his head slightly to see Dylan’s lips, trying to read them.

“Dylan…”

They had become so close in the meantime that their noses brushed against each other. Unlike the surprised Joeon, Dylan didn’t avoid him and met his eyes steadily.

Dylan’s arm hugged and secured the helmet Joeon was wearing, making it difficult for him to move.

“I’m so glad you were born as Joeon. Because if you hadn’t been, we wouldn’t have met that day.”

Joeon parted his lips slightly, intending to say something. However, nothing came out but a short sigh. Dylan, quietly aware of the dark, damp, and reddish inside of his mouth, muttered.

“Don’t try to find meaning in it. The reason you are who you are, the reason you can’t be someone else. Don’t let your heart wither away with impossible hypotheticals; acknowledge and accept your own charm. What’s important isn’t the unchangeable past, but now, this moment.”

Every time he whispered as if sharing a secret, his hot breath brushed against the edges of Joeon’s lips without permission.

It was too close.

“…But, Dylan. The distance… I think it’s a little too close.”

“It’s just right.”

“No, it’s very close. At this rate…”

Joeon swallowed the rest of his sentence. A subtle current flowed, just as intense as when they had shared breaths over the sweet scent wafting from a warm citron tea.

“Oh. Did you realize it just now?”

“What…”

“Why didn’t you pretend not to know for at least 3 seconds?”

“3 seconds?”

While he blinked with eyes full of bewilderment, 3 seconds—which felt like 3 minutes—passed. Dylan remained motionless, sporting a faint, eye-smiling look, like someone hoping Joeon would ask for the meaning.

“If you don’t have any feelings for me, say it now.”

It didn’t take long to realize that the idea of it being a misunderstanding was wrong. Dylan wasn’t hoping Joeon would ask; he was giving him time to refuse.

As soon as 3 seconds passed, Dylan had already closed the gap entirely, his nose pressing firmly against Joeon’s.

For a brief moment, their lips touched and parted. Joeon’s breath hitched. The light scattered and reflected off the ice shattered like starlight within Joeon’s light blue irises.

“Maybe it was from the day I first saw you. I kept observing you because you were cute, wandering around like a penguin.”

“…”

“I only vaguely realized it when you said you’d buy me dinner. I think I’ve wanted to do this with you ever since then.”

Joeon, staring at Dylan, who was sending another hot gaze as if asking for his intentions again, stopped breathing and squeezed his eyes shut. This time, it was a clear consent.

Dylan, having lowered his face slowly, devoured the red lips that had been letting out the breath that had been making Joeon’s chest tickle since earlier.

Unlike the first brush of their lips, the second kiss was hot and heavy.

Just as he had warned several times, Dylan pressed down hard and tightened his grip with his lips, fearing Joeon might be too scared and run away, and swept the surface with the tip of his tongue. Feeling Joeon’s shrunken shoulders, Dylan wrapped his hands around them to comfort him gently and caressed his cheeks affectionately.

Joeon’s hand, which had been fumbling over the uniform to reach Dylan’s chest, gripped the fabric tightly, creating crumpled wrinkles.

“Hold onto this.”

Dylan whispered, carefully wrapping his hand around Joeon’s trembling hand and guiding it to his own waist. Naturally, they fell into an embracing position.

Joeon’s hand settled onto Dylan’s bare skin below the hem of the pulled-up uniform, where angry muscles were twitching, and Dylan pressed Joeon’s palm firmly against himself so he could feel his heated body temperature.

“Wait…”

Joeon, his lips twitching, tried to call Dylan’s name. But it dissolved and vanished without a trace under the tip of the tongue that was voraciously digging into him.

“Shh, just a little more.”

Whispering so softly it was barely audible, Dylan breathed into him again. Soon, he shifted his body from lying on its side, wedged Joeon’s thighs between his knees, and climbed on top. His weight pinned Joeon down, leaving him breathless.

As Dylan gently wiggled his hips, rubbing his hardened crotch against Joeon, the bulging fabric rubbed against him roughly. His breathing grew even hotter at the hip movements, as skillful as if they were having sex.

The space between his legs began to dampen rapidly. Joeon’s fingernails dug into Dylan’s side. The stimulation was so intense that his head spun dizzily.

The tongue that had been teasing his dry lips broke through, traced his teeth, found the hidden tongue, and teased it. He sucked greedily, like a child tasting candy for the first time.

When the cowardly Joeon—who acted as if he would run away at any moment—writhed in his arms, Dylan pressed his thighs firmly to pin down the body that had frozen like a statue, as if not wanting to let go of his prey.

Then, he pinned down Joeon’s twitching shoulders with both arms and grabbed his face, attacking him as wildly as a beast. He bit and devoured Joeon’s lips until they were swollen and rummaged through his mouth.

Joeon felt dizzy from the kiss that felt like a sexual act. Joeon, panting for breath through his nose, clawed viciously at Dylan’s stiff waist, which seemed as if it wouldn’t even permit a single scratch.

“W-wait, ugh, wait a minute!”

“Hm? Why?”

Dylan asked, pulling his head back for a moment. The breath that had been sucked away into Dylan entirely was finally able to draw in a difficult gulp of clear air. A long, sticky thread of saliva stretched out from the corner of Joeon’s lips, gasping to fill his oxygen-starved lungs. It had started from Dylan’s wet lips.

“Here… we’re on the lake right now.”

“So what?”

“…‘So what’ is not an answer. The ice… the lake is underneath…”

Joeon’s soul, curled up tightly, looked up at Dylan tentatively. Dylan’s eyes, which were always clear and blue, were submerged in deep darkness. The shadow of lust lurking in silence shimmered eerily within them.

“Aha, then should we go inside and continue?”

“No, I… it’s cold, and…”

Joeon avoided answering Dylan’s question and brought up something else.

“Do you like fireplaces? Should we do it in front of one?”

“Huh? No…”

The low voice whispering nose-to-nose sounded obscene. Having a premonition that it wouldn’t end at this level, Joeon shook his head from side to side urgently. It was a desperate attempt at a refusal.

Dylan, who slowly wiped his wet lips with the tip of his tongue to tidy them, hid his bitterness and twisted his lips slightly.

“I’d like that. Can’t be helped, then. Actually, you’re right, Joeon—it is cold right now.”

He changed his tone to a light one, cracking a joke as if trying to appease the frozen Joeon belatedly.