Romantic Gangster

#66

“……”

“……”

Lee Hyun-joon had a deeply shocked expression. It seemed to be because Ji-woo had put down the bouquet Hyun-joon had given and was only holding flowers of unknown origin. Ji-woo took another step toward the dazed Hyun-joon and suddenly held out the bouquet.

“Congratulations on graduating, Hyun-joon.”

“…Huh?”

“Actually, this isn’t mine – it’s yours. It’s yours from me.”

Hyun-joon’s eyes, which had been looking at Ji-woo in confusion, suddenly wavered greatly. He had finally realized Ji-woo’s true feelings.

“…Mine?”

“Yes. Yours.”

Taking a deep breath, Hyun-joon raised his trembling hands. With eyes fixed on those shaking fingertips, Ji-woo placed the bouquet in Hyun-joon’s arms.

“I’m so happy to graduate with you.”

Something fell from Hyun-joon’s eyes as he stared blankly at the bouquet in disbelief. Startled, Ji-woo quickly moved closer and tilted their head to examine Hyun-joon’s face.

When their eyes met, tears began falling steadily from Hyun-joon’s eyes, his face crumpling. Seemingly embarrassed, he quickly wiped his eyes with his hands and turned away. Ji-woo followed him and began crying too at the sight of his wet eyes.

“…Why are you crying?”

“…Because you’re crying…”

“I’m not crying.”

“You were…”

Hyun-joon gently wiped Ji-woo’s teary eyes and took another deep breath in and out.

“This is my first time. Getting flowers. And attending a graduation ceremony too. I really hated things like graduation ceremonies. Everyone would be carrying these, and they’d have parents or at least grandparents or relatives standing there, but I had absolutely no one to come… That’s why I hated going.”

“I wish we had known each other back then… We went to the same middle school but didn’t even know each other’s faces. It’s such a shame.”

“If we had met then, you probably would have disliked me. I was kind of… possessed by an evil spirit at the time.”

Ji-woo laughed at the ‘evil spirit’ comment and stood on tiptoes to quickly press their lips against Hyun-joon’s jaw.

“I would have ended up liking you anyway. Because it’s you.”

“Thank you. I’ll really do my best. I… I’m going to live for you.”

His low voice trembled slightly, without any trace of playfulness. Sensing Hyun-joon’s deep sincerity in that tremor, Ji-woo smiled brightly and opened both arms. Hyun-joon also spread his arms and tightly embraced Ji-woo who fell into them. When he nuzzled his nose against the soft skin, he could faintly sense the castella scent.

“Did you take suppressants this morning?”

“Yes. Why? Can you smell my pheromones?”

“Yeah. It hasn’t been that many hours since you took them, right?”

“Yeah… I wonder why?”

“Could it be your heat cycle is coming? Remember what the nurse said? Even though I can delay the timing somewhat with my pheromones, it will eventually come.”

Ji-woo looked up at Hyun-joon with a worried face, slightly pulling away. While it was natural to experience heat cycles after becoming an adult, it felt a bit scary since they had never experienced it before. It was even more frightening not knowing when or where it might suddenly start.

“I should be prepared to go to the hospital right away if anything feels strange…”

“Why the hospital?”

“Huh? When heat cycle comes, I need to go. They say it subsides faster if you get a shot there. It’s expensive but… there’s no choice in an emergency.”

“Why go to the hospital when I’m here?”

“…Oh…”

Ji-woo’s face flushed red as they finally realized what Hyun-joon meant. They had only thought about going to the hospital to quickly suppress it, not considering they could spend the heat cycle with Hyun-joon, which made them feel very embarrassed.

“Say it again. Start with ‘If anything feels strange…'”

“…If anything feels strange, I need to be prepared to go to you right away…”

“No. You should call me. If your body feels strange, go somewhere private where no one can enter, lock the door, and call me. I’ll come right away.”

“Okay, I will.”

“Ah, now that we’ve graduated, we should hurry and do the sexy stuff. So we won’t fumble if something suddenly happens.”

Hyun-joon grinned mischievously and sucked on Ji-woo’s lower lip, which was quivering with a reddened face. Then he slipped his tongue into Ji-woo’s slightly parting lips, deeply entwining them. Wet sounds soon emerged from between their tightly pressed lips.

Following Ji-woo who was stepping backward, Hyun-joon carefully placed his precious bouquet next to the one he had given to Ji-woo. He planned to dry it properly and keep it forever, truly forever.

“…mmm…”

A cute moan escaped as he rubbed their tongues together. Hyun-joon grabbed Ji-woo’s waist with both hands and sat them on the music room desk. He captured their lips again and delved into the moist mouth, and Ji-woo’s tongue tapped against his tongue tip. Thinking it might be a signal to rub together, he gently rolled and rubbed, feeling Ji-woo’s body go limp.

Ah, this tastes so fucking good, really.

It was a thought he had whenever kissing Ji-woo – their tongue just tasted too good. Even when he wondered if he should be thinking such things, whenever he rubbed and sucked on their tongue like this, he couldn’t help but think the same thing.

When they kissed, their body temperature would rise warmly, and the hidden castella scent would seep through their skin, making it feel like he was melting castella on his tongue. It was incomparably sweeter and softer than any castella he’d bought from bakeries… and he loved how it didn’t disappear no matter how much he tasted.

“Haah…”

“…ha…”

After keeping their lips pressed together and tongues entwined for a long while, they separated and held-in breaths escaped. Now even their breath seemed to carry the castella scent, making Hyun-joon seek out Ji-woo’s lips again and again.

“Once we leave here, school is really over.”

“Yeah…”

“Are you sad?”

“No, I’m not sad. We can still be together even without school.”

“I can’t graduate, Seo Ji-woo.”

“Hm? Why?”

“Because I feel like I’ll have to stay here forever just kissing you.”

Hyun-joon smiled as he lowered his head again, gently rubbing their tongues together near their lips in light kisses. Ji-woo smiled back, holding Hyun-joon’s face with both hands and giving several quick pecks.

“Ah, right! Your wish! Since we completed the graduation quest, you need to make your wish!”

“Ah, the wish.”

“Have you thought about it?”

“Yeah. You have to grant it. Because only you can.”

“Okay. I’ll grant anything.”

Hyun-joon stood straight in front of Ji-woo and took a deep breath. Ji-woo smiled at Hyun-joon, who seemed somehow nervous.

“What kind of wish makes you so nervous?”

“What do you think I’m going to say? Give me three guesses.”

Hyun-joon held his fist like a microphone in front of Ji-woo’s mouth, waiting for the answer while trying to calm his nervous heart.

“Hmm… Something sexy… doing it tonight?”

“Okay, I see exactly how you view me.”

“…It’s not that?”

“It’s not. But why specifically at night? If we’re going to do it, we should do it as soon as we get home.”

“…Don’t people usually do it at night? Before bed. That’s when people seem to do it…”

Hyun-joon burst out laughing and buried his face in Ji-woo’s shoulder. Ah, how could someone be this cute? Ji-woo was so adorable, having concluded that sex was something done at ‘night’ based on situations they’d seen somewhere.

“Then let’s be the first to do it when it’s bright.”

“…There must be a reason people do it at night.”

“Okay. Then let’s think about it while doing it at night first.”

“Yeah… Huh?”

“Seo Ji-woo is being super proactive.”

Ji-woo, caught up in Hyun-joon’s pace, pushed his shoulder. Of course, Hyun-joon didn’t budge at all. He tilted his head slightly again to give a quick kiss on their lips and met their eyes deeply.

“I’ll tell you my wish.”

“…Okay.”

“Live… with me.”

“……”

“I don’t want to be apart from you. I hate when you say you’re going home, I hate that you have somewhere else to go. I know it might sound scary… but I still hate it. What can I do about hating it? Every time you say you need to go because you’ve left your house empty for too long, I get so sad.”

Ji-woo’s eyes wavered. They hadn’t expected this wish at all – absolutely not at all. They had been very curious about what wish Hyun-joon would make… but to think it would be about living together.

…It felt like receiving an incredible confession. They were so happy and nervous that words wouldn’t come easily.

“For you, I want home to be… just the one house where I am, and when you think of home, I want you to think of me… and come to me. That’s my wish.”

“…Is it really okay for that to be your wish?”

“…Huh?”

“Just… of course I was going to live with you anyway… Isn’t it wasteful to use it as your wish?”

Hyun-joon had felt many emotions watching Ji-woo, who would sometimes say they needed to go back ‘home’ even while staying with him. He wanted to throw a tantrum and tell them not to go, felt hurt when they left him to go to their real home, and spent nights sighing deeply and feeling melancholic in his empty house without Ji-woo.

But unlike him, Ji-woo was composed. Watching them, Hyun-joon realized that Ji-woo’s ‘home’ was still not his rooftop room. From then on, he wanted to erase Ji-woo’s home. He kept having the selfish thought that he wished they had nowhere else to return to.

But… while he had been waiting alone for his wish to come true… to think Ji-woo had the same thoughts… that they had ‘of course’ been planning to live with him… Just thinking about it over and over made him so happy he could barely breathe.

“You can make a different wish.”

“No. It’s not wasteful. I really wanted to live with you. I want you to not go anywhere. Live with me, Ji-woo.”

Watching Hyun-joon firmly repeat his wish instead of changing it, Ji-woo smiled. Ji-woo really liked this side of Hyun-joon. Their heart still fluttered whenever they faced his honesty – how he clearly voiced what he wanted and approached without hesitation until achieving it.

“Yes, let’s live together, Hyun-joon.”

“…Ah, this graduation gift is insane. I love it so much.”

His arms wrapped around them tightly. Ji-woo, pulled strongly into Hyun-joon’s embrace as if being drawn in, smiled softly with their lips pressed against his shoulder. They could feel his pheromones leaking out, as if he was really that happy. Loving that sensation, Ji-woo wrapped both arms around Hyun-joon’s neck and took a deep breath with closed eyes.

Hyun-joon’s hands, which had been pleasantly caressing various parts of Ji-woo’s body, slowly rubbed down their back. Ji-woo felt a slight shiver and tightened their thighs.

Standing between Ji-woo’s spread thighs, Hyun-joon’s body twitched. Ji-woo’s legs… were squeezing his body.