SPM 2.3

‘No… Is it thin ice disguised as peace?’

Ian, who had quietly entered the gymnasium after finishing choir practice, thought that as soon as he saw the scene before his eyes.

Della was offering a neatly folded towel to Terrence, who was sweating and breathing hard from some difficult training.

Because of the sudden heavy downpour, it seemed the football team and cheerleader team were sharing the gymnasium.

Despite many other football players and cheerleaders around them during what seemed to be break time, Ian’s eyes only saw Terrence and Della.

The loud sounds of bouncing balls, the squeaking friction between the gymnasium’s shiny floor and sneakers, and the combination of voices and whistle sounds creating a big noise, but even that couldn’t be heard.

It’s far. Too far to see expressions. But even so, Ian standing in the corner couldn’t stop persistently watching them.

Della offered the towel again to Terrence, who was bent over with his hands on his knees, catching his breath.

“Ah…!”

For a moment, Ian was overcome with the urge to call out to Terrence loudly and took a step forward. But he immediately stopped again. Because Terrence had turned around, rejecting Della while even waving his hand dismissively.

“Hah…”

What burst out from his mouth, was it relief or a bitter sigh?

Long black hair that had grown longer poured over his bowed head amid the inexplicable queasiness. Ian swept it up with his white fingers, then stopped and gripped it tightly.

“What the hell…”

He couldn’t understand why he suddenly felt dizzy. Was it because he got too wet in the rain…

His head was getting hot for some unknown reason, making him want to escape this place immediately, but Ian had to wait for Terrence here. Besides, it had been raining steadily outside since afternoon, so there was nowhere else to go. Ian stared down at his wet school uniform sleeve.

“…”

Like everyone else here, Ian was completely soaked and damp from walking to the gymnasium without an umbrella. If he went out again now, he would obviously become even more like a drowned rat.

So there was only one realistic conclusion. He had no choice but to wait here until Terrence finished training and return together. Ian leaned against the wall weakly.

Even after that, Della approached Terrence several times, taking advantage of the chaos between the two teams. Sometimes they exchanged brief conversations, and sometimes she would secretly wipe Terrence’s sweat from behind and run away.

‘She really still likes him…’

Since she had been quiet ever since the meeting with Olivia, he thought her feelings might have cooled, but she had just not been expressing them… Yes, that’s right. Ian followed the two with vacant eyes, nodding.

Terrence, who waved his hand irritably and went to a corner because of Della’s behavior, and Della following him.

But looking closely, there was one more person. Another football team member who would grab her and play around, then follow along when Della moved.

‘Was he a freshman like Della? No, sophomore?’

D. Arnold. So…, yes. Drake Arnold… Ian barely remembered the name by looking at the initials written on his back. He was a player who was good for a 10th grader and often played as an offensive lineman in games. Ian remembered him as a big player who physically blocked the opposing team’s defense so that quarterback Terrence could move during attacks.

It was a strange sight. Della watching Terrence in the corner, and Drake watching such Della. And himself watching all of them.

“I really don’t know…”

Still, it was fortunate that Della had stopped harassing him.

Even trying to think that way, why did he feel so complicated?

The three people kept catching his eye, making his head dizzy. Ian forcibly crumpled his confused feelings deep into his heart and trudged over to sit curled up in a corner of the tiered bleachers. Then he watched Della go in front of the resting football team and spin around before closing his eyes.

He somehow just wanted to hide from everything visible.

*

Something is pressing down.

No, being pressed down firmly.

Heavy fog like things were settling layer by layer over Ian’s body as he crouched quietly in the darkness.

In his drowsy state, Ian thought of the pea from a fairy tale. The single pea hidden at the bottom of the bed where the princess lay. The fog settling over his body was like a pile of blankets stacked one by one over the pea, mysteriously giving a sense of stability while also being precariously dangerous.

And something was subtly annoying and even unpleasant…

Ian was barely breathing in the darkness, pressed down by things that gradually added weight as they settled. His exhaled breath became slightly warm.

But then light gradually entered over his pressed body and he felt his body becoming lighter. It felt like someone was lifting the blankets that had settled over his body…

“…Who, …did this shit…”

A familiar voice spat out curses mixed with irritation, causing his closed eyelids to gradually open.

“…Damn bastards, I really won’t let this slide.”

It was a familiar face.

No. Was it simply familiar? Wasn’t this the face of the friend he felt closest to? A smile naturally spread across his face.

“…Terrence?”

“…You’re awake?”

Ian blinked and slowly became aware of his reality. Terrence was crouched beside Ian, earnestly throwing something.

Had he fallen asleep while waiting for Terrence in the gymnasium?

“I didn’t even know I fell asleep…”

Ian muttered in a hoarse voice. He thought he was just closing his eyes for a moment, but it became like this. Plus, his left cheek that had been using his bag as a pillow was throbbing, had he even lain on his side to sleep comfortably? How long had he been lying down sleeping? Ian quickly rubbed his eyes and looked around.

The gymnasium now had only a person cleaning with a long mop in the distance and one or two students organizing equipment.

And…

Countless Lloyd Jones football team jackets were piled on top of his body that had been positioned in the corner.

“What is this… No, whose are all these…?”

When Ian asked while picking up one of the football team jackets that had been covering him with his index finger, Terrence, who was already frowning, ground his teeth and muttered curses. F-words that Ian couldn’t even bring himself to say came out continuously.

“…While I was briefly away, damn it… Fucking bastards.”

It seemed the players who found him sleeping had covered him one by one like blankets… Did he look that pitiful? Well, sleeping in a place like this, he must have looked like a homeless person. Ian folded the jacket he was holding neatly with an embarrassed face.

But Terrence suddenly snatched the clothing from Ian’s hands, leaving him empty handed in an instant.

“Don’t even touch these things.”

“Huh?”

“They’re dirty. Contaminated.”

Terrence moved his hands quickly as if really cleaning away something dirty and disgusting. Having instantly thrown all the clothes that had been covering Ian outside, he shuddered. More jackets were piled on top of the clothes that seemed to have already been thrown before Ian woke up.

That was so funny that Ian burst out laughing without realizing it. The slight dizziness that had troubled him before falling asleep was already gone. All his nerves were focused on his friend in front of him, kind and gentle Terrence.

“What are you talking about.”

It was definitely the work of football team friends like David, Tyler, and Mason who always greeted him and often hung out together. The cheerful group who liked being noisy next to Terrence.

Those friends would have covered Ian with clothes as a joke and out of small sympathy. Indeed, Eddie’s initials written on the clothes he had just thrown added certainty to Ian’s guess. He was also one of the group.

“Why would they be dirty?”

Knowing it was an act of goodwill anyway, Ian said with a gentle smile, and Terrence grumbled as if growling.

“Clothes from those sweaty bastards are dirty, of course. They’re contaminants.”

Terrence, still frowning deeply, made Ian stand up abruptly. For a moment, a somewhat suspicious pheromone scent brushed past from one of the clothes thrown to the side.

‘What was that…?’

It seemed like a very sinister and unpleasant scent, but it was too brief to be certain. He was frowning while pondering that smell when Terrence asked with a worried face.

“Were you very tired?”

“Yeah… I guess I was a bit.”

“Let’s go back quickly.”

“Okay.”

Terrence naturally extended his hand, and Ian stared blankly at him for a moment before taking his hand and walking down the stairs. I guess I really do look unwell… Ian nodded at Terrence’s careful leading as if supporting a sick person.

The strange feeling of having smelled an odd scent had already disappeared from Ian’s mind.

Terrence’s car, now familiar, drove on the quiet road.

In the moving rectangular frame blocked from the pouring cold raindrops, they were silent as if proving each other’s familiar existence. However, Ian had to admit this had a somewhat stubborn aspect, because his heart was rather constantly conscious of Terrence.

And because his silence was more excessive than usual to hide such feelings, Ian had to constantly struggle to hide his awkwardness.

Terrence seemed no different.

Unlike his loudness when waking Ian earlier, Terrence was quiet throughout the car ride, yet Ian knew he was a bit tense.

Muscles tense unlike usual, tendons raised over the hands gripping the steering wheel, and blood vessels flowing over them bulging as if they would break through the skin, seeming far from a comfortably relaxed state.

Ian sat in the passenger seat, secretly watching Terrence with sideways glances.

Precisely, things like the muscles flowing seamlessly from arms to shoulders, and the sight of his prominent Adam’s apple bobbing. He persistently observed him while pretending not to look.

Despite the somewhat chilly weather due to rain, Terrence was alone radiating heat like someone in midsummer, wearing only a thin short-sleeved t-shirt, probably because he had just finished exercising. His body heated up from training until just before clearly hadn’t cooled down yet. Otherwise, he couldn’t have been radiating such hot energy.

Was it because they had rarely met at the gymnasium and returned home together immediately like this? He couldn’t know anything, but something was different from usual, and because of that, he couldn’t say anything at all. Maybe it was because he felt a bit dizzy.

‘Am I catching a cold…?’

He had been feeling languid since before starting choir practice, so his physical condition really didn’t seem good.

So it was natural that he couldn’t open his mouth even more. There was no need to speak unnecessarily in this narrow, enclosed air and share cold viruses with Terrence.

With that thought, Ian was breathing quietly while shrinking even more when he suddenly became aware of a fact he hadn’t realized until now.

‘Ah, pheromones…’

He had forgotten the act of hiding pheromones to the limit of limits.

It had been Ian’s habit since starting pheromone training with Harrison last year. Completely hiding pheromones in front of Terrence. ‘Tightly pressing and locking’ even the pheromones remaining on his skin, as his father expressed it, had become as natural and skilled as breathing, just part of daily life.

Though it was only his own speculation, Ian was confident that pheromone training had played a part in their beginning of sitting next to each other and naturally having conversations. From that day on, Terrence had started naturally talking with him without covering his nose, so it was a natural conclusion. It had now become something like a jinx.

So Terrence taking him in his car and asking for reconciliation that wasn’t reconciliation as soon as chemistry class started the next day was connected to Ian’s pheromone training.

If he had continued to feel unpleasant pheromones from him, wouldn’t his attitude have ended with just an apology?

Would it have been possible if disgusting and revolting pheromones had been flowing during that promise to become friends while exchanging basketballs?

‘Absolutely impossible.’

Ian shook his head at that speculation.

That’s why from then until now, he had always tightly locked his pheromones in front of Terrence, but after sleeping and waking up in the gymnasium earlier, his tension seemed to have loosened unknowingly, causing pheromones to leak out.

Even to the extent that any trait-holder nearby would notice, they had flowed out a bit.

‘Ah… Is that why everyone covered me with clothes earlier?’

There are many Alphas on the football team. He had wondered how those training players had come all the way to Ian in the corner to sympathetically cover him with clothes, but it seemed he had unknowingly released pheromones while sleeping and everyone had noticed.

Even remembering his first mistake on the airplane made him dizzy. The reason Terrence was silently conscious of him now was too clear.

‘He must find it unpleasant… This is really driving me crazy…’

Even shrinking while saying sorry seemed to interfere with his driving, so Ian silently controlled his pheromones. Control wasn’t as easy as usual, perhaps due to cold symptoms, but he had to do it. Even though he felt like crying from the combination of sorry feelings, embarrassment, and even some shame, Ian endured with all his might and tightly pressed down his pheromones.

How much time passed while holding his breath like that?

“Phew…”

Finally arriving in front of Ian’s house, Terrence let out a big sigh and stopped the car.

Breathing heavily like an athlete who had reached the finish line after a difficult process made Ian feel even more sorry.

“Th, thanks again today.”

He quickly grabbed the door handle to get out hurriedly, but only rattling sounds were loud.

“…You have to unfasten your seatbelt first, Ian.”

Terrence chuckled and sighed as he reached out his hand. Then he placed his own hand over Ian’s, who was fumbling in the darkness, unable to properly unfasten the buckle.

‘So hot…’

He had thought he was the one with a fever, but had Terrence already caught a cold too?

“Th, thanks.”

Ian, startled as if burned by the heat of Terrence’s palm, tried to pull his hand away immediately, but couldn’t.

“Ian…”

Because Terrence, who had now grasped Ian with his hot, large hand, was staring at him persistently.

Even calling his name, Ian had no choice but to slowly lift his eyelids and face Terrence directly. His gaze, which had been wandering here and there as if embarrassed and uncertain, slowly rose to meet Terrence’s at the same level. Whether his eyes had also heated up, his pupils, which seemed to be an exquisite mix of green and autumn, were blazing toward him.

“Terrence…”

“…Call me Terry.”

“…”

“There’s no one who calls me that anymore.”

Was it a childhood nickname? At the request that seemed almost desperate, Ian slowly nodded.

Caught in those hot eyes and grip, unable to move, carefully nodding was all he could do at this moment. As if bound by invisible chains, he was frozen and couldn’t move.

Perhaps it was because Terrence, speaking with such desperate eyes, was gradually, very gradually coming closer.

His eyelashes are unexpectedly long…

Ah… isn’t this too close, he thought at the same time.

Touch.

Their lips met.

“Terry…”

“Yeah.”

The kiss pressed lightly on his lips like a young boy’s kiss was brief.

But Terrence didn’t return to his place and instead pressed his forehead against Ian’s, breathing heavily. Even that breath seemed hot, making Ian feel like he might get burned.

When their firm foreheads touched and even their cheeks rubbed against each other as if melting.

“…Ian.”

Terrence, who had now wrapped around the back of Ian’s neck and pulled him closer, took his lips again.

Unlike before, the sensation of being deeply covered and interlocked brought a dizzying ecstasy.

Ian still doesn’t know well how he got inside the house after that. It was sporadically dark as if something had cut off his memory.

His heat cycle started that night, and Ian was sick for three days. Since it was the first time he had such a severe estrus, he suffered quite a bit for several days, that was all he knew for certain.

* * *

A feather like touch shook him as he was buried in distant memories.

“Ian, wake up.”

“Ugh…”

“Hurry. If you don’t get up now, you’ll be late.”

The moment he realized who the owner of that heavy, soft voice was, Ian unconsciously threw off the blanket and sat up abruptly.

“What, what?”

As he sprang up like a spring popping out, the person standing in front of him was Terrence.

In the form of a man who had aged and was no longer a boy but an adult.

“Huh?”

What really… His mind, floating between past and present, wouldn’t return to its place, so Ian shook his head vigorously several times.

“Why are you being so dizzy? Does your head hurt?”

“N-No.”

Unable to confess that he had just been vividly recreating their first kiss in his dream, Ian gathered up the blanket and hid his face. His reddened face was probably already obvious, but the cowardly turkey didn’t know such things. He just wanted to hide for now since he felt like dying.

However, Terrence, regardless of what Ian was doing, patted his shoulder and approached the window to raise the blinds.

“Hurry up and get ready. You said you’d go to the hospital today and even took the day off.”

At those words, Ian looked at Terrence again through the gaps in the blanket pile covering him. He was already washed and fully dressed for going out. Looking alternately at his perfectly neat light blue shirt and his own strangely disheveled pajamas, Ian finally burst out with “Ah!”

“My goodness!”

Realizing the situation, Ian grabbed at his hair that must have been sticking out wildly. Along with Terrence’s slightly furrowed brow, today’s schedule came to mind, snapping him awake.

“Sorry, sorry. I’ll get ready quickly.”

Fluttering as he escaped from bed, Ian apologized to Terrence while running into the bathroom.

He seemed to hear a sigh from behind, as if waking up a sleepyhead child was no ordinary task, but right now what mattered wasn’t sighs.

“Ugh… this wasn’t the time to be sleeping so soundly!”

His hands squeezing toothpaste onto the electric toothbrush were extremely busy.

Today was a very important day for them.

It was the day they were scheduled to receive detailed examinations together at Kansas City’s largest general hospital, which also had the largest trait medicine department.

For this day, Ian had gone through a very difficult reservation process, and needless to say, his father Harrison’s help and connections were involved. Without that, it might have taken half a year from making the reservation to receiving the examination.

Fortunately, thanks to the kind Terrence alarm, they weren’t late for their examination appointment time.

After arriving at the hospital, everything was hectic. They were guided to different rooms, had blood drawn multiple times, and spent over 30 minutes in strange machines while wearing examination gowns. Though it wasn’t an MRI, Ian had to lie in a narrow coffin like space that made his non-existent claustrophobia surge, release pheromones as instructed while covered in various attachments, and answer questions while smelling scents emitted from machines.

When Ian asked curiously, the resident who assisted with the examination only briefly and indifferently answered that it was pheromone related testing. Terrence probably underwent the same examination in another room.

After everything was finished, Ian changed back into his original clothes in the changing room. Did everything go well? Anxious feelings and reality pressed down on him heavily.

As he pushed through the thick glass doors at the hospital entrance, cold wind immediately brushed his white cheeks. He knew his pale cheeks would quickly become rough from the cold wind, but he couldn’t stop breathing deeply.

“Hah…”

He had smelled so many strange types of pheromones during the examination that his stomach was churning, making it unbearable to stay inside. Ian fastened his thin coat to cover his neck area and tilted his head back fully. The cold but fresh wind was so satisfying that his eyelids naturally closed.

If Terrence hadn’t suddenly approached, Ian would probably have been enjoying the fresh air like that for quite a while.

“Ian, I’ve been looking for you.”

At his somewhat grumpy tone, Ian slowly opened his eyes and looked at him.

“Sorry. I felt a bit stuffy so I came out first.”

When he added that he thought Terrence would find him quickly since he left a message, Terrence briefly replied “Still…” and grumbled. He seemed displeased that Ian had come out alone even briefly.

Finding his complaining a bit funny, Ian was about to scold him asking what kind of childish talk that was, but quickly shut his mouth. Separation anxiety was one of the natural side effects of one sided imprinting. Instead, Ian took his hand out of his pocket and jingled the car keys.

“Since we worked hard today, shall we go eat something delicious?”

It was an awkward time past mealtime, but both had been fasting since yesterday evening because of the examination. They couldn’t not be hungry.

“Good. It should be the most delicious food in this city.”

His confident demand while puffing out his already broad chest even more made giggles naturally escape from Ian’s mouth.

“Of course, of course. Just trust me.”

When he gestured toward the parking lot saying “This way please” as if escorting a VIP, Terrence made an incredulous face this time. He frowned disapprovingly and extended his hand toward Ian, so Ian had no choice but to hold hands as Terrence wanted.

The touching hand was hot as always.

Afraid his heart might get burned, he wanted to shake off what he was holding like someone who accidentally grabbed coal, but Ian didn’t do that. Today, no matter how confused his feelings were, he had decided to do as Terrence wanted.

The reason was simple. Today’s examination was something Ian had pushed forward alone, regardless of Terrence’s wishes.

‘Living together is fine. But Terry, you have to grant me one request too.’

On the day Terrence completely moved into Ian’s house with only about two large trunks and a few boxes, Ian held him back and made him promise. They would go to the hospital together for detailed examinations and properly face their one sided imprinting problem medically.

Even then, Terrence had a sour face like someone chewing rubber tree, but eventually nodded obediently to Ian’s proposal in a way that said to handle it himself.

So he decided to accommodate everything else except the examination. He knew it wasn’t an easy decision for someone who was both an athlete and a celebrity.

But that’s precisely why Ian couldn’t postpone the medical confirmation. He was afraid something serious might happen to Terrence, whose body was his asset, if they just left it alone. They desperately needed expert opinions and advice about their condition.

‘But I overslept.’

To make up for the morning incident, Ian had grabbed his car keys when leaving the house, telling the superstar to just sit in the passenger seat and rest comfortably today, and had guaranteed that this humble servant would drive and he should just follow along comfortably.

When they reached the hospital parking lot, Terrence got into Ian’s car very familiarly and comfortably, as if it were a daily routine. It was exactly like when they were boys and had ridden in Ian’s car countless times.

After Ian, who used to be driven around in Terrence’s impressive Brabus tuned Mercedes, got his license, he stubbornly insisted on driving his own car once a week, and Terrence would sit in the passenger seat saying to try driving for practice, exactly like back then. Ian’s car hadn’t changed at all and everything was just like before, naturally taking them back to their younger past.

‘Nice car.’

Despite driving around a more impressive German car himself, Terrence had admiringly stroked the body of the Cadillac luxury sedan that Ian’s father had ambitiously chosen.

‘Very safe one.’

Seeing how sturdy the body was, it looked safe even to Ian’s eyes, who didn’t know much about cars. It didn’t seem like it would easily be wrecked even if it crashed into something head on.

Although Terrence often nagged the novice driver Ian, who was a bit nervous about road driving, to always sit up straight and look straight ahead, just like when he persistently taught him basketball, they were generally happy back then.

Eighteen year old Terrence Hunt would click his tongue at Ian, who liked British alternative rock with emotional vocals, and play American rock music by rough bearded rockers, saying he’d show him what real rock was. Thanks to that, Ian had to listen to lots of band music from Metallica to Nirvana and Nickelback…

Not being able to adapt to the passionate music that seemed like it would smash drums was only at first. Listening repeatedly, he really came to like it. His adaptation was quick, as befitting a teenager.

When familiar beats echoed in the car, Ian would wait with Terrence for the flashy guitar riff parts and imitate guitarists, or they even went to a Nickelback concert in Nashville and bought matching black t-shirts with colorful, intense printed graphics that they’d never normally wear, and jumped around excitedly.

As memories of those times came flooding back, Ian chuckled while starting the car, and Terrence looked at him with puzzled eyes.

Ian pretended not to notice his friend and naturally turned up the speaker volume.

‘Burn It to the Ground’, which had made them jump back in those days, flowed out, making the car body rumble.

“A real man’s song.”

Terrence, who immediately understood what Ian had done, crossed his arms and raised one corner of his mouth mischievously, muttering meaningfully.

As if they had planned it together, they sang along to the song, and just like in the old days, they shouted “hey!” after the loudest chorus lyrics exactly the same way, making Ian burst out laughing because it was no different from back then.

“You know, when I look at you, you have similar tastes to my dad.”

The Cadillac, old rock music, football. Stubbornly drinking only Bud Light beer.

“Mr. Harrison Bailey has refined taste.”

“Isn’t he just a typical Tennessee man?”

At that, Terrence shrugged and laughed as if he wouldn’t deny it. His exaggerated expression with eyebrows bouncing was ridiculous.

“Such a person came all the way to Missouri.”

“You never know what life will bring.”

“I agree.”

Ian never imagined he would drift all the way here either.

Just then the music ended and a passionate, sticky love song flowed from the speakers. He didn’t know what algorithm made the app select this as the next song, but it was the worst choice.

At first, he tried to endure it since they were both adults now and this was just a song on the Billboard Hot chart. Shouldn’t an adult be able to casually pass over suggestive melodies mixed with somewhat moaning sounds? But as he listened, the lyrics gradually became outrageous. When sexual metaphors describing certain specific body parts and lewd sounds about having a hot physical conversation tonight came out, Ian couldn’t stand it anymore.

“So, something else…!”

“What’s wrong?”

“Uh… um, well…”

“I think it’s good though.”

Saying that, Terrence very lightly licked the tip of his own lips with his tongue tip, making Ian’s mouth drop open.

Moreover, the way he slowly closed and opened his eyes while slightly lifting his chin was unexpectedly dizzyingly sexy…

‘Thank goodness I didn’t step on the brakes…’

So he more stubbornly pressed the buttons on the steering wheel to skip several songs through Bluetooth, but the algorithmic hell didn’t end. By now he thought the genre would have changed, but the music was even more clueless.

He was so flustered by the passionate parade of lyrics about missing and wanting to reconcile with a past lover that this time Ian stammered while turning off the car’s internal music completely.

“Why did you turn it off?”

“Just… because…”

“It was exactly like my feelings, but you turned it off.”

Look at this mischievous behavior! Wasn’t driving in such a blatant wedge like this a very unfair and impure act that went against reason and propriety? Terrence Hunt had definitely become very direct and merciless, unlike his gentle and delicate past self.

His desire to retort somehow was boiling up furiously, but he was in a servant like position today so he wasn’t in a position to say anything. In the end, Ian had no choice but to glare at the bulk sitting in the passenger seat and focus on driving.

“…”

“…”

Suffocating silence flowed between them.

The memories and playful atmosphere that had been exchanged between them had completely disappeared, leaving only strange tension.

By the time he finally parked in front of a restaurant famous for downtown’s renowned brisket, while ignoring the guy still sending strange glances and steadily watching him from the side seat, Ian was completely drained. It was because he had unconsciously put too much effort into it.

“Hah… we’re here.”

As he turned off the engine with a long breath like a sigh, the engine sound that had been the only noise in the silent air disappeared.

As if time had stopped.

No words.

And the car with no movement felt like a quiet vacuum state.

“…”

“…”

“…Ian.”

Terrence, who had been sitting quietly in the side seat without getting out, moved first.

There was an illusion that a large hand reaching toward him was slowly approaching like very finely chopped scenes. And…

“Ah…”

A moan naturally flowed from lips that touched before his hotly grasped neck could shrink.

Heat bloomed like a flower as he was swallowed by unbelievably soft mucous membranes. Sweet and tickling buds had fully bloomed between him and Terrence.

The lips that had touched as if savoring something sweet lightly sucked Ian’s lower lip, and as Ian was swallowed by Terrence, he naturally closed his already shut eyes tighter and breathed heavily. Hot breath passed between them.

Ian, Terry. And Ian again… While breathlessly tasting and savoring each other, they murmured each other’s names.

They had kept hiding it, but the name they really wanted to call and call again…

As if wanting to confirm that the person in front of them was really them, Ian and Terrence kept calling each other in whispers. They murmured every time a tiny gap between their lips bloomed as they breathed heavily. Even then, like people who couldn’t be separated for even a moment, constantly pressing their foreheads and nose tips together. Like people suffering from an illness where they couldn’t bear not having their skin touching even briefly.

It was unusually heartbreaking. For Ian, it was an inevitable gesture born from remembering that time long ago when he had clumsily kissed, unable to control himself in the heat.

Terrence’s thick fingers dug into Ian’s hair, endlessly stroking the back of his neck and skin to satisfy his greed. As if he wasn’t simply holding him to prevent him from escaping this passionate kiss, he even endlessly circled Ian’s skin with his thumb.

Sensations were bubbling fiercely. The heat that had been gradually warming seemed to want to say it had now reached boiling point, creating foam noisily as if about to burst.

“Open your mouth.”

When Terrence finally said that.

The things he had been holding back finally exploded.

As his lips, which had only been stubbornly moving until now, unknowingly opened to show their hot interior, Terrence didn’t miss that gap. The thick flesh naturally invaded.

Unlike the young and merely sweet past he had been reminiscing about, it was now hot and even sticky.

“Mmm…”

“Damn. You taste sweet.”

Sweet. The tongue that had breathlessly managed to say just that word gently traced over his teeth and slowly invaded inside.

Unlike the past that was full of only clumsy breathing, an adult’s kiss leisurely tasted the inside of his mouth and found Ian’s tongue, which was stiffly frozen in bewilderment, and wrapped around it.

From that moment it began. Starting to suck the shyly entangled tongue with fierce force. Like a starving person who had been waiting only for this moment and was greedily tasting it.

“Hah…, Ian. Ian.”

“Ngh…!”

Pheromones seemed to be leaking from his body regardless of his consciousness.

The control that had been like a precise dam, carefully releasing thin or thick streams of water at the right time, lost its ego. Sweet scent began to overflow violently. It was similar to a collapsed embankment.

Terrence’s two hands, which had boldly crossed over the console box separating the driver’s seat and passenger seat, were now completely holding and trapping Ian’s body. The palm that had been wrapping around his waist and groping raised its blunt fingertips to delicately tickle his back, then rubbed his lower back hard as if unable to bear something.

It felt like being devoured by lips while also being caught in his grip. Terrence at this moment of sharing a kiss was a predator itself.

And when his increasingly greedy fingertips eventually rummaged through his clothes and touched bare skin…

“Te, Terrence!”

Ian was startled and pushed Terrence away. Because he couldn’t bear the gesture of coming closer and pressing against him while gently rubbing his bare waist.

“Wa, wait. Stop.”

It was such violent rejection that one couldn’t imagine he was the same person who had been sharing sweet and sensual kisses with him just moments before. Of course, Terrence’s body was too solid and heavy, so only Ian was pushed back alone. Ian pulled his face back mercilessly, unable to hide his shaking pupils.

“…What’s wrong?”

At his appearance of being horrified like someone burned by fire, Terrence also stepped back slightly with a hardened expression.

“That, well…”

Unable to hide his flustered state with his reddened face, Terrence slowly narrowed his brow. He seemed displeased with this situation. Well, who would like this? It was like having an expression of affection shared because they thought their hearts were connected be rejected.

“Is it because I kissed you?”

His voice contained undisguisable bewilderment and coldness.

Terrence looked at Ian, who still covered his lips with his hand and couldn’t answer due to confusion even to his own question, and tilted his head sideways.

“……”

In the continued silence, he seemed to have found his answer.

Terrence, who had been steadily looking at Ian, laughed helplessly as if he couldn’t understand, saying “Ha…” and returned to his place. Ian couldn’t see because he had buried his face in the steering wheel, unable to bear this awkward and terrible situation, but judging by the sound of his large body slumping into the seat, it was certain.

A voice that seemed a bit distant muttered helplessly.

“Anyone watching would think I assaulted you or something.”

“…No, it, it’s not like that.”

How could he say the embarrassing words that if they had gone just a little further, they might have done something serious in this narrow car? Ian’s face had gone beyond red and was now getting moist around his eyes.

Moreover, they were…

As Ian couldn’t continue his words and crumpled up, Terrence sighed deeply.

“Did I force you?”

“…No.”

“I don’t understand. It’s not our first time. We did it before too.”

“……”

Terrence speaking as if bewildered, as if their relationship hadn’t changed at all from that past until now, was almost fascinating.

But no matter how he was asked, Ian wouldn’t be able to answer with any words.

Because back then I thought you truly liked me, he really could never say that…

Ian struggled to swallow the words he couldn’t say.

Even while watching Terrence’s back as he opened the passenger door and went outside, looking frustrated, Ian remained stuck in that spot for a long time.

The afterimages of the past that had floated up hazily reflected on the stagnant water surface and disappeared like wind along with a sigh that seemed about to fade. Only a throbbing headache remained to torment Ian endlessly.

Today too, the runaway remained silent with his mouth tightly shut.