Romantic Gangster

#60

Lee Hyun-joon entered the winding alley, mentally tracing the familiar path home. After turning left and walking a bit further, they’d be home – even Ji-woo could run that distance.

“You know once we turn here, we’re home, right?”

“Yes.”

“Can you run? Or want a piggyback ride? I could carry you in my arms if you don’t want that.”

“I can run.”

“Shame about that choice.”

Hyun-joon grinned and nodded once as if signaling they’d run now, then took off. What would’ve taken a couple of walking steps was covered quickly, and soon the stairs leading to the rooftop room appeared. Hyun-joon held Ji-woo’s hand tightly as he climbed the stairs first. Though eager, he didn’t rush too much while climbing.

“Ah…”

After reaching the top, they saw several plastic bags, a lantern, and a lantern holder box on the wooden deck. Though he’d heard the delivery would come soon, he was amazed it had arrived this quickly.

“The delivery’s already here. We should put it in the fridge…”

“Wait a moment first.”

Hyun-joon, still holding Ji-woo’s hand, unlocked the door and went inside. Ji-woo followed, not knowing what was happening.

“What’s going- mmph…”

As soon as they entered the narrow entrance barely big enough for two people, Hyun-joon surged forward. As their lips met and a tongue slipped between them, Ji-woo clutched Hyun-joon’s track top. He’d acted so urgently just to kiss, it seemed.

Upon realizing this, Ji-woo’s feelings for Hyun-joon flared up again. He loved how Hyun-joon’s focus was solely on him, and his somewhat rough way of expressing his overwhelming emotions.

“…mmm…”

Ji-woo stumbled backward as the larger body suddenly pressed against him. Trying to keep from stepping into the house with shoes on made him lose his balance. Ji-woo squeezed his eyes shut as he felt himself tilting.

“Ah…”

Though he fell on his bottom, it didn’t hurt. Hyun-joon had fallen with him, shielding him as much as possible. Ji-woo, now sitting with his body inside the house and legs stretched into the entryway, smiled at Hyun-joon who was half-covering him. It was strange how falling could feel so pleasant.

“Are you okay? Not hurt?”

“Yeah… you caught me so I’m fine. What about you? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. But…”

Hyun-joon, kneeling on the entryway floor, slowly crept closer. Ji-woo closed his eyes as Hyun-joon’s lips approached again. This time their lips locked deeply from the start, tongues meeting more deeply.

“…mm…”

Ji-woo’s back touched the wall as he leaned backward while sitting. He felt a strange sense of security. He liked how he had nowhere else to retreat while Hyun-joon kept getting closer. As Hyun-joon continued approaching, their bodies would touch, then overlap, until finally pressing together without any space between them.

Actually, having such thoughts was a bit embarrassing. Though it wasn’t exactly sexual… somehow it felt that way, and it seemed like thoughts too advanced for just one day of dating.

“You’re thinking… ha… about something else.”

Hyun-joon broke the kiss and asked with slight displeasure. Ji-woo watched Hyun-joon’s face, slightly furrowed brows, as he caught his breath. Even such an expression looked too handsome and cute.

“What are you thinking about? In the middle of kissing.”

“That it’s possible to feel good even after falling… that’s what I was thinking.”

“…”

“And I realized that at some point, I wanted to kiss you too… and also…”

As he spoke, he could see Hyun-joon’s furrowed brows gradually relaxing. Could even that look cute? When with Hyun-joon, even small things he usually wouldn’t notice made him smile and feel good.

“I was thinking that I really like you.”

Hyun-joon’s expression changed from dissatisfaction to something almost entranced as he looked at Ji-woo, leaning in close again. Despite contorting his large body, he showed no signs of discomfort.

*chu* Hyun-joon gave Ji-woo’s lips a loud peck before tilting his head to press their lips together.

“Even your thoughts are so damn pretty.”

With those words, their lips met again. Though worried about the ice cream in the plastic bags on the deck, the pleasant sensation of their tongues meeting made that concern melt away easily.

It was a moment worth melting faster than ice cream.

* * *

The sound of meat sizzling filled the air as it hit the hot frying pan. Though he hadn’t felt particularly hungry before, seeing the cooking meat suddenly made him ravenous.

“I didn’t realize I was hungry after waking up, but seeing this makes me want to eat right away.”

“Me too. Suddenly really hungry.”

Ji-woo laughed watching Hyun-joon rubbing his stomach while grilling the meat, then squeezed his eyes shut before opening them again, still feeling slightly dazed. He had slept so deeply that he hadn’t stirred until Hyun-joon woke him with kisses for dinner.

“You should have woken me up instead of doing it alone.”

“I barely did anything. Just took stuff out of the fridge and brought it here.”

“Still, you must have gone back and forth, but I was sleeping so deeply I didn’t hear a thing.”

“Maybe you were tired from too many kisses?”

Hyun-joon laughed playfully, recalling their long kissing session in the entryway. After all that kissing, they’d hurriedly put away the groceries that had been left on the deck.

Fortunately, there were several ice packs included, so both the ice cream and meat were saved. After organizing everything, they lay on the mattress reading manga while eating unmelted ice cream, then kept sneaking kisses using the excuse of cold lips, until they fell asleep.

When Ji-woo woke up feeling slightly chilly, it was past 6 PM, and Hyun-joon had quietly gone out to set up the lantern on the deck. After securing the lantern holder to the deck and hanging the lantern, it looked quite nice, better than expected.

Thinking Ji-woo would like it, Hyun-joon quietly went back and forth preparing dinner. Since there wasn’t an electric grill, he put a frying pan on the gas burner and washed the lettuce from the mart, arranging it on plates.

He also prepared side dishes using seasonings bought from the supermarket and portioned out dipping sauces into large plates. Living alone, he’d never noticed, but preparing to eat “together” made him realize how much his home lacked.

He regretted not having two proper rice bowls, missed having small sauce dishes for oil sauce, and most of all, hated that they had to use wooden chopsticks due to lack of proper silverware. He must have thought at least ten times while setting the table that next time he should go to a proper mart instead of the supermarket to buy dishes, silverware, and cups.

Until now, such things had never mattered, but liking Ji-woo had changed what was important to him in such an amazing way.

“This is cooked well. Try it. Ah…”

Hyun-joon cut the well-cooked pork belly into bite-sized pieces, blew on it to cool it down, dipped it in oil sauce, and held it up to Ji-woo’s mouth. Ji-woo leaned halfway across the table and opened his mouth with an “ah” sound, following Hyun-joon’s lead.

“How is it?”

“Really delicious. The best meat I’ve ever had.”

Seeing Ji-woo give two thumbs up, Hyun-joon felt proud and enthusiastically flipped more meat. Though he’d eaten meat grilled by others before, this was his first time grilling for someone else. It amazed him how something he’d considered bothersome could become so enjoyable and happy. Even oil splattering on his arm felt thrilling.

“Eat lots.”

After cutting plenty of well-cooked meat onto Ji-woo’s plate, Hyun-joon wiped the oil from the pan and put on new meat. Though he hadn’t eaten a single piece himself yet, just watching Ji-woo eat made him feel satisfied.

“You can’t give it all to me.”

“I can grill more for myself.”

“It’s more delicious when we eat together.”

Ji-woo picked up a large piece of meat and copied exactly what Hyun-joon had done earlier. Hyun-joon chuckled watching Ji-woo blow on the meat to cool it before feeding it to him. He wasn’t sure why he kept grinning like this, breaking his usual cool image, but he couldn’t help it. Ever since hearing Ji-woo say he liked him, since becoming close enough to kiss, he just kept smiling at random moments.

“Delicious, right?”

“Yeah, it’s amazing. Was it always this delicious?”

“Right? I don’t think it was this good before.”

Ji-woo blew on another piece of meat and fed it to Hyun-joon, then put a piece in his own mouth, nodding. It was an unconscious movement born from how delicious it was and how good he felt.

Watching Ji-woo, Hyun-joon laughed again. Without even intending to, laughter mixed with breath escaped between his lips. Though it was similar to his earlier laugh, this time he thought he knew why he was laughing.

“Hyun-joon, try it with this next. Ah…”

“Ah.”

He loved it.

Every scene before his eyes.

Ji-woo constantly feeding him different combinations of food worried he might only end up grilling without eating, the world’s most delicious pork belly sizzling in the pan, the perfect evening weather that was neither hot nor cold, the lantern light beautifully illuminating the deck, Ji-woo’s bright smile that made his eyes disappear.

Everything was perfect.

The first warmth spreading through his rooftop room where he’d always lived alone bloomed before his eyes. Hyun-joon didn’t want to lose this warmth. When he didn’t know warmth, he might have lived without knowing what he was missing, but not anymore. He never wanted to go back.

He never wanted to be alone again.