Tae-ha closed the door to Da-woon's room without a sound and stepped out, his head tilting to one side.
“...”
He touched the bloodstain on his chin and gazed quietly down at the reddened front of his shirt.
The instant he'd coughed up blood, his left eardrum had ruptured. Because it was him, it stopped at that. An ordinary Esper would have blacked out from a shock like that. A normal person would have crossed over to the afterlife on the spot.
For Da-woon to inflict pain this excruciating was an extremely rare occurrence. He wasn't some rookie whose rare ability had just manifested, and unless he'd meant to do it, nothing like this had ever happened before.
But judging by his reaction, it didn't seem deliberate. The kid was a god-awful liar, after all.
The only times Da-woon's ability slipped out unbidden were when his mind was unstable or his body was in bad shape. Or when he was in a truly shitty mood.
In all the countless times their bare skin had touched, his ability had never once spilled over by mistake. Even when Tae-ha had mouthed and sucked at his bare hand and bitten it hard enough to leave teeth marks, only the pleasant pheromones had come through.
It was proof that Da-woon found stability in his arms. And not just stability. That sensitive body of his, which leaked pretty little moans at the barest touch, always welcomed Tae-ha.
Over the past two years they'd spent as sex partners, Da-woon had never once turned Tae-ha away. He sulked or pouted now and then, but a little coaxing melted him soft again in no time. Of course, Tae-ha knew well enough that this only happened when the other party was Ryu Tae-ha.
Jung Da-woon's heart was as frail and sensitive as his weak body. Born into a wealthy family and raised like a hothouse flower, he was always on edge.
His naturally sensitive temperament had been honed even sharper after he manifested as an Esper. Saddled with a frail body and forced to endure the side effects of a rare ability on top of it, he had reason enough to be touchy.
The day Ryu Tae-ha, searching for a Healer to recruit into his guild, first laid eyes on Jung Da-woon, the kid was in the middle of a quarrel with another Esper.
Afterward, every time he deliberately sought him out again under the pretense of coincidence, Da-woon was either fighting or being cursed at. More often than not, Jung Da-woon was the cause of the dispute. And Jung Da-woon would rather die than admit it.
To put it coldly, his personality wasn't suited to guild life. Selfish, indifferent to others, interested only in whatever was comfortable and fun.
And honest. For someone like that, he protected his own body to an excessive degree.
Ryu Tae-ha liked that about Jung Da-woon's character. No one would understand it, but he was exactly the ideal guild member Tae-ha had been looking for.
He recruited him into the guild right away, and not long after, they ended up sleeping together by accident.
It was a common enough reason. Their heat cycles had overlapped. With no suppressants and no one else to substitute for each other, it was sex they'd had half out of necessity.
But Jung Da-woon, who had fallen for Ryu Tae-ha at first sight, wanted that day to be the start of something deeper between them. Ryu Tae-ha offered a plain apology and turned him down, but he wouldn't give up, clinging to him for months.
Worn down by the repeated rejections, Jung Da-woon eventually scaled back his wants and made a different demand.
If romance was off the table, then at least let them be sex partners.
“I only want to sleep with you, Leader. Other guys' pheromones just make me sick.”
“That'll change once you meet someone you really like.”
“That someone is you, Leader. I like your body best. And you like sleeping with me too, Leader.”
It was an undeniable fact, so he papered over it with a laugh, for a year. In the end, Ryu Tae-ha accepted the demands of the Jung Da-woon who came crawling into his bedroom every heat.
The two agreed to the sort of sex-partner relationship that's common as dirt between Omegas and Alphas, and Ryu Tae-ha laid down one condition.
Upon hearing that condition, Jung Da-woon burst into tears. Pulling the weeping Jung Da-woon into his arms, Ryu Tae-ha said something cruel, wearing a tender smile as if he were about to confess his love.
“If you don't like it, then refuse. I'm fine never doing it with you.”
Jung Da-woon, who cried until his whole face was soaked, lay sick for two full days, and the very man who'd made him cry, Ryu Tae-ha, nursed him through the night.
After that, too, Jung Da-woon cried at regular intervals. Yet he never once left Ryu Tae-ha's side. Knowing full well he wasn't at the top of Ryu Tae-ha's priorities, he begged for love to the point of sickness, his eyes fixed on him alone.
And so two years' worth of time piled up. Over those two years, Jung Da-woon's feelings for Ryu Tae-ha only deepened. And Ryu Tae-ha, who indulged all his sulks and his love, seemed to be opening his heart little by little.
Maybe they could become something more than sex partners, Jung Da-woon held on to that faint hope.
And every time he did, Ryu Tae-ha, unwavering, drew the line, saying that would never happen.
“Hyung?”
Just then, a soft voice broke the silence and pulled Ryu Tae-ha back to reality.
“What are you doing up there?”
He turned his gaze to find Ryu Jin looking up at him from the first floor. As a Guide, Ryu Jin had the lower floor to himself. From the glass of water in his hand, it seemed he'd just come out for a drink.
“Why are you up and out of bed?”
The moment Ryu Tae-ha saw his younger brother, a tender smile crossed his face. Ryu Jin naturally smiled back at him.
“I got thirsty in my sleep. Why are you standing there, hyung?”
“I came up to change clothes for a moment. I have to head back out.”
Ryu Tae-ha came down the stairs and stood in front of Ryu Jin. As it happened, he'd just thought of something he needed from him.
“Jin, how much guiding did you do with Da-woon today?”
Blinking at the sudden question, Ryu Jin gave the exact figure, an hour and a half, then asked cautiously.
“Why? Did I do something wrong?”
“No, it's not that.”
Ryu Tae-ha stroked Ryu Jin's hair for a moment. After soothing the brother who grew anxious at even the smallest remark, he slowly broached the subject.
“I'm just checking. Was there anything strange when you were guiding Da-woon or Yeo-ul?”
Ryu Jin's round eyes blinked without a word. Ryu Tae-ha stayed silent for a while, not pressing, wanting to give his brother enough time to think.
“...I'm not sure.”
After a long pause Ryu Jin finally answered, watching his hyung's face as he gripped his arm.
“Why? Did they say my guiding wasn't enough? That it was no good?”
“I told you it's nothing like that. They both adore you for working so hard.”
“Really?”
Ryu Tae-ha nodded and ran his thumb over Ryu Jin's drooping cheek.
“If anything seems even a little off, tell me right away. It's fine even if it's just your imagination, all of it. Got it?”
Mm, Ryu Jin answered with a hum in his throat and turned his eyes to the glass. As he sipped at the water, Ryu Tae-ha gently told him to go on back to bed.
“Are you going to work again?”
“I'll be busy for a while. Yeo-ul's still working too.”
“When do you sleep, hyung?”
Worried for him, Ryu Jin pushed out his moist lips in a pout. Tapping them with his fingertip, Ryu Tae-ha answered that Espers were fine staying awake for long stretches.
“Still, take breaks while you work.”
“All right. You hurry off to sleep too.”
Ryu Tae-ha pressed one last kiss to Ryu Jin's forehead, then vanished through teleportation.
“...”
Left alone, Ryu Jin rubbed the forehead where his hyung's lips had touched, then quietly lifted his head toward the upper floor.
As his gaze settled on the door his hyung had been standing in front of, a trace of bitterness gathered in his round eyes.
Da-woon slept like an absolute log and woke up. He'd slept so deeply that he was fooled into thinking all the fatigue had drained from his body. If only for a very brief moment.
“Hngh...”
Da-woon, stretching his arms and legs out spread-eagle, hastily curled himself up. The instant he stretched, the muscle aches that had been lying in wait flared up, announcing here I am.
Were Esper bodies all like this? Or was it because Jung Da-woon's body was in poor shape? Despite a solid sleep, the exhaustion clung to him in thick layers.
Grumbling at the arms and legs that throbbed even though he hadn't exerted himself, he got up from the bed. He started toward the bathroom to wash up first, then suddenly remembered the doll he'd thrown at Ryu Tae-ha right before falling asleep, and scanned the floor.
He was sure Ryu Tae-ha had left the doll behind...
“Did he take it back?”
The doll was nowhere to be seen. Tae-ha had told him to throw it out if he didn't want it, and apparently he'd gone and thrown it out himself. A thing like a doll was useless to receive anyway. Good riddance.
Da-woon, about to head idly to the bathroom, changed direction again. It was because the jacket he'd slept under had fallen to the floor.
Ryu Tae-ha's jacket lay crumpled in the spot where the doll had been. He must have flung it off in his sleep.
“What a piece of work, seriously.”
Taking off his glove in his sleep, and now hurling the jacket too. He'd been damn busy while sleeping. Was that why the fatigue wouldn't lift? Thinking such pointless thoughts, he picked the jacket up off the floor.
“What the, this...”
Lifting the heavy jacket, Da-woon went wide-eyed in bewilderment. The dark-colored jacket was covered all over in white fur.
Long, snow-white fur.
Picking up one of the fine strands, Da-woon abruptly remembered the existence he'd forgotten.
“Ah, the cat.”
He'd completely forgotten about that snow-white little thing.
Had it been hiding in his room? Da-woon quickly grabbed the jacket in one hand and tried to look for the cat again.
“...?”
Then, looking at the jacket clenched in his hand, he tilted his head.
“Why is it... damp...?”
With a surely-not expression, Da-woon spread open the fur-covered jacket. So startled by the fur blanketing the clothing, he'd failed to notice the stain that had soaked it damp.
“This is insane...”
It was a urine stain. And not just a little, either, a whole lot had been let loose.
Meeow.
The very moment Da-woon's face filled with horror, the culprit who'd wrecked the jacket appeared in person. Winding its white tail around Da-woon's ankle.
Da-woon promptly looked down and the scowl smoothed from his face.
“Ha...”
The instant he saw the kitten staring fixedly up at him, his expression softened by reflex. A sigh laced with laughter slipped out too.
Mmeeow.
The cat, the doll in its mouth, cried out in a muffled voice. The very doll Da-woon had thought Tae-ha took away was clamped in the little thing's mouth.
“Hey, you brat. Where'd you go?”
Da-woon bent down toward the cat, which had lifted its head, with a snort of laughter. At the same time, the cat that had been winding its tail around Da-woon's leg flung up both front paws and planted them on his knee.
Da-woon looked down at the cat's front paws, which seemed somehow oddly smaller than he remembered. The paws he'd been certain were a touch too big now looked perfectly ordinary on a second glance.
Ptoo, the cat spat out the doll and pushed its little face up at Da-woon with a cry.
Meow.
In a rather honest pronunciation.
“...”
At the cat's cry, mee-ow, enunciated clearly and with force, Da-woon's eyebrows crept upward.
