Honbul: Flame of the Soul

“What are you doing?”

Jaegyeom asked, eyes half-lidded with drunkenness.

“You told me to kiss you.”

Yoon Taehee stared up at him in a daze, eyes wide.

Their noses were nearly touching.

“...”

Jaegyeom looked down at him from that impossibly close distance, watching the composure Yoon Taehee always wore crack apart completely.

A sharp thrill crawled down his spine.

“Close your eyes.”

At that moment, Yoon Taehee felt as though he were suffocating.

His heartbeat slammed wildly against his ribs. A violent shiver ran from the tips of his toes all the way up to the crown of his head.

Still staring up at Jaegyeom as though spellbound, he slowly closed his eyes.

Jaegyeom brushed their noses together once more before tilting his head slightly.

Then their lips met.

The instant Jaegyeom’s mouth touched his, the corner of Yoon Taehee’s eye ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) twitched faintly.

Soft lips pressed together perfectly.

Gripping Yoon Taehee’s hair with both hands, Jaegyeom kissed him clumsily. He tried to imitate the way Taehee had kissed him before, but nothing moved quite the way he wanted it to.

Yoon Taehee accepted the awkward kiss quietly, eyes still closed.

Jaegyeom’s uneven breath brushed against his cheek.

Patiently, Taehee followed his rhythm.

Their breathing slowly began to roughen.

At some point, Jaegyeom pulled back little by little.

Their lips separated with a faint wet sound.

Yoon Taehee opened his eyes slowly.

He looked up at Jaegyeom with an almost possessed expression.

Jaegyeom’s own eyes were half-lidded and faintly reddened from alcohol as he stared down at him.

Yoon Taehee’s pale skin had flushed all the way down his neck.

“...”

“...”

Neither of them looked away.

Their gazes held each other tightly, like a snare.

Time itself seemed to stop.

They simply stared at one another without even blinking.

Then suddenly, Jaegyeom’s strength gave out.

Still hovering over him, he dropped his forehead heavily against Yoon Taehee’s cheek like a clumsy headbutt.

“Me too...”

At some point, Jaegyeom murmured faintly:

“I dreamed about you too...”

The moment those words left him, Yoon Taehee shut his eyes involuntarily.

Ah.

Something that made it impossible to remain himself—

A dizzying impact struck him straight through the back of his skull.

His long eyelashes trembled once.

Then Yoon Taehee finally moved.

Still seated beneath him, he abruptly sat upright.

Jaegyeom swayed at the sudden movement, nearly losing his balance. Now, instead of lying over him, he found himself sitting directly in Taehee’s lap, caught fully in his arms.

Jaegyeom paused, trying vaguely to steady himself.

Yoon Taehee lifted both hands and cupped his cheeks.

Then he pulled him closer and tilted his head.

The moment the initiative changed hands, it happened completely.

The interrupted kiss resumed.

This one was nothing like Jaegyeom’s hesitant attempt.

Yoon Taehee guided both of Jaegyeom’s hands up around his neck before drawing him closer.

One hand slid slowly down his narrow back.

Then he kissed him deeply.

Jaegyeom followed instinctively, almost dazed by it.

“Ah... ngh...”

Warm fingers traced slowly along his spine.

The instant Taehee’s hand brushed over his shoulder blades, Jaegyeom tightened his grip unconsciously, tangling his fingers harder in Taehee’s hair.

The kiss deepened further.

Their breathing began to break apart completely.

Hot breaths tangled together until neither of them could tell whose was whose anymore.

Then—

Suddenly, Jaegyeom flinched violently, as though struck by lightning.

He jerked backward and tore his lips away.

Consciousness crashed back over him all at once.

As Jaegyeom scrambled away, Yoon Taehee lowered his gaze slightly.

“Why...?”

Still wrapped around his waist, fingers loosely intertwined behind his back, Taehee asked quietly.

Jaegyeom looked deeply troubled.

Avoiding his eyes, he pushed frantically at Taehee’s shoulders, trying to escape his arms.

His ears had turned bright red before he even realized it.

“W-w-wait a second. L-let go...”

“Why?”

“Move... j-just move for a second...”

Even drunk, this could not possibly be happening.

Jaegyeom was so flustered he no longer knew what to do.

He avoided eye contact desperately while trying to shove Taehee away.

Yoon Taehee watched him silently.

“...”

Then, at some point, he caught Jaegyeom’s arm just as he tried to flee and pushed him backward instead.

Their positions reversed instantly.

Jaegyeom’s head hit the wooden floor with a dull thud, but he barely even noticed.

“Wait... move...”

Pinned between Taehee’s arms, Jaegyeom began kicking at him in panic, trying to force him away before he could come any closer.

Then—

Yoon Taehee caught the ankle pressed against his shoulder and drew it toward his chest.

“Jaegyeom-ah.”

His lowered eyelashes cast shadows across his face.

“...”

Then, without warning, Yoon Taehee pressed a kiss against the top of Jaegyeom’s bare foot.

Jaegyeom froze completely.

Still trapped beneath him, he stared up blankly like prey caught in a snare.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Underneath the sole resting against his chest, Yoon Taehee’s heartbeat pounded violently.

Something like this had happened once before.

There had been another moment when Jaegyeom had felt Yoon Taehee’s existence this directly.

“Jaegyeom-ah.”

His toes twitched faintly.

“Can I keep going?”

Yoon Taehee lifted his eyes slowly.

“Can I kiss you?”

At the same moment, he loosened his grip on Jaegyeom’s ankle.

The leg pressed against his chest slid weakly downward.

“...”

There was no need for an answer.

***

When Jaegyeom opened his eyes again, morning sunlight flooded the room.

“...”

Still dazed, he stared blankly at the ceiling before abruptly jerking upright.

The moment he sat up, his vision spun.

Bright sunlight streamed through the window hard enough to sting his eyes.

Disoriented, Jaegyeom looked around frantically.

What the hell—

Wasn’t he just drinking outside on the porch?

But instead of the hard wooden floor, he had woken up in the main room of the mud house, buried beneath soft bedding.

A bulky television sat against one wall.

Beside it stood a black wardrobe painted with cranes.

As he tried to piece together his memories, a vicious headache suddenly struck.

“Ah... fuck...”

Groaning, Jaegyeom collapsed face-first into the pillow.

The combination of infused liquor and beer had created a monstrous hangover.

It did not feel as overwhelming as the last time he drank whiskey, but somehow the aftermath was even worse.

His throat was dry.

His stomach churned.

His skull felt ready to split open.

Half dead from the hangover, Jaegyeom suddenly remembered the medicinal water Mesan had packed for him.

Immediately, he crawled toward his bag on all fours and dug through it.

The moment he found the bottle, he unscrewed the cap and drank greedily.

The medicinal water Mesan had carefully prepared vanished instantly into a hangover cure.

One mouthful would probably have been enough, but Jaegyeom was too thirsty to stop until he had drained over half the bottle.

Almost immediately, the throbbing pain in his temples faded away.

If he had not brought the medicinal water, this morning would have killed him.

Finally recovering, Jaegyeom slowly came back to his senses.

Then suddenly—

His eyes widened.

He hurriedly looked down at himself.

He was still wearing the same T-shirt and shorts he had changed into after showering the night before.

“...What?”

A strange unease crept over him.

Was that all a dream?

Looking around the room blankly, he noticed another neatly folded blanket and pillow beside him.

Someone else had clearly slept here too.

Yoon Taehee must have gotten up first.

Fragments of memory tangled together in his head until he could no longer distinguish dream from reality.

Did we... sleep together in here?

Last night they drank on the porch, and then—

Jaegyeom’s thoughts cut off abruptly.

His eyes dropped instantly to the waistband of his shorts.

With mounting dread, he tugged them open slightly and checked inside.

“......”

Fortunately, the thing he feared most did not seem to have happened.

After several seconds of stunned silence, Jaegyeom finally reached a conclusion.

It had been a bizarre dream.

A completely insane dream.

He yanked violently at his hair before collapsing face-first onto the bedding again.

“What the fuck...”

The tips of his ears burned red.

He had to be out of his mind.

Seriously insane.

Even if it was just a dream, how could he possibly dream about doing that with a sodomite—

And come to think of it, this was not even the first time.

He had dreamed something similar before too.

Only this time it had been even worse.

This was all alcohol’s fault.

From now on, he should just stop drinking entirely.

Still...

Thank god it was only a dream.

When he first woke up, he genuinely could not tell whether it had really happened or not.

His vision had practically gone black.

He had nearly bitten through his own tongue.

After clutching his head for a while and calming his racing heartbeat, Jaegyeom finally pushed himself upright again.

Anyway.

Where did Yoon Taehee go?

He absolutely did not want to face him right after dreaming something like that, but after scratching through his messy hair several times, he dragged himself toward the next room anyway.

He peeked through the half-open door.

Empty.

Then was he outside?

Jaegyeom stepped onto the porch.

The yard glowed beneath brilliant morning sunlight.

Above the stone walls stretched a clear blue sky and the open sea beyond it.

It was absurdly beautiful.

And right in the middle of that scenery sat Yoon Taehee.

Crossing one leg loosely over the other atop the porch, he was reading a book.

Like Jaegyeom, he was still dressed in the same clothes from the night before: a white T-shirt and soft cotton pants.

He had even put his glasses back on at some point.

Jaegyeom stood there staring at him silently.

Yoon Taehee held the book lazily in one hand while his slippers swung idly from his feet whenever he moved his long legs.

Then, perhaps sensing the stare fixed on him, Yoon Taehee slowly lifted his head.

“...”

Sliding his glasses slightly down the bridge of his nose, he shut the book with a snap.

Then he smiled.

“Morning.”