Wonho's soft lips gave him a comforting feeling, as if he were at home; his strong arms surrounded him, sticking him to his muscular body, telling him in silence that he was there for him and that he would protect him.

Once inside the apartment, the older boy closed the door clumsily without breaking the kiss. Changkyun leaned against the wall and tangled his fingers in the brown hair of the opposite, trembling each time his lips caressed his, allowing their tongues to meet and savoring his sweet and bitter taste at the same time, leaving him an aftertaste like soju...

Changkyun suddenly opened his eyes and separated from Hoseok, watching him in surprise. Wonho blinked a couple of times and showed a confused expression; it was then that the little boy realized his appearance: his eyes were red and his ears and cheeks were rosy.

Is he drunk?

Wonho seemed to read his thoughts and repeatedly shook his head and hands.

“Ah, Changkyunnie, I-I'm not drunk!” he explained nervously. The black haired boy's eyes wandered to the table in the small living room, where there was two empty soju bottles, several cans of ramen and another of vanilla ice cream. Wonho turned his neck momentarily in that direction and scratched his eyebrow with embarrassment. “Well... I drank a little, but I promise I know what I’m doing!” he insisted with sincerity.

His frustration was kind of funny, and Changkyun couldn’t help but smile quietly: Wonho avoided looking directly at him and ran his fingers through his bangs in an attempt to fix his messy hair. Hoseok looked like he just got out of bed, and seemed embarrassed to look that frumpy in front of him.

But he couldn’t make any comment about it since a chill ran all over his body before sneezing. Wonho looked at him alarmed, and only then he remembered that Changkyun was completely soaked. Almost panicking, he took him by the hand and led him to his bedroom; on their way, the pianist noticed that the romantic movie ‘The Notebook’ was on the television set in the living room and laughed to himself.

Wonho rummaged through his closet for a while until he pulled out a pair of jeans, a green sweatshirt, clean socks, and underwear and offered them to Changkyun in an orderly, folded pile of clothes.

"You're going to catch a cold if you don’t take a hot shower," Hoseok explained as the boy accepted the clothes. Changkyun sniffed as he silently watched the mountain of clothes in his hands: they would surely look huge on him. Wonho pointed to the wooden door next to him, indicating that it was the bathroom and, before leaving, he hesitated for a few seconds and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek with his ears red as tomatoes.

Changkyun stared at the door he had left, raising his fingers to his cheek and smiling tenderly. After leaving the clothes on the bed, he took a moment to study the older boy's bedroom: in front of the bed, there was a dressing table with numerous cosmetic products for skin care and a jewel box containing all of Wonho's favorite accessories, including his chokers. At the foot of the table, there were several bags of expensive clothing stores.

On the bedside table, there were a couple of framed photos: in one of them, a teenager Wonho was hugging his mother in the doorway of her cafeteria. Maybe it was the opening of the establishment. And in the other one, Wonho, Minhyuk and Hyungwon were sitting around a restaurant table smiling and, judging by their reddened cheeks and the amount of soju bottles in the photo, they were probably drunk as well. It was probably taken in their first year of college.

Above the geometrically patterned cushions on the bed rested a cookie monster teedy: his bulging eyes brought back the bad memory of the rejection of the muffins, which Wonho and his mother had put so much effort to make: he still had to apologize for that... and for many other things.

Shaking his head, he finally went into the bathroom and took out his wet clothes and glasses. Once under the hot water of the shower, all his muscles relaxed and he closed his eyes, as if he had just obtained his first moment of tranquility after a long time. Only when he washed his head and a pleasant smell of almonds flooded his nostrils he realized that he was in Wonho's house, showering in his bathroom, using his soap.

His heart began to beat faster, and he decided to ignore the nervousness he was feeling. Once showered and dried, he left the bathroom with his hair still a little wet and began to put on the clothes that Hoseok had lent him; indeed, they were too big.

He looked at himself in the dressing table mirror and sighed: his slim legs looked even more thinner when they were wrapped in the older boy's torn jeans, which supposedly had to fit tight, and the sleeves of the sweatshirt were too long and loose, although Changkyun used to wear clothes as big as those. The only thing of his size were the white socks.

The clothes smelled like Wonho; that sweet, springy smell had become familiar to him, something he never wanted to forget. For the first time, he had to wear glasses to feel himself, so he took them to clean them with the sleeve of the sweatshirt and put them on.

He left the room with his heart beating on his chest, hoping to meet Hoseok, but that wasn’t the case; the TV screen was off, the coffee table in the living room was free of any food can, and its surface was brighter than when he arrived at the apartment: it was obvious that Wonho had taken advantage of the fact that he was showering to clean it. From a half-open door on his right came the sounds of plates and pots, so Changkyun supposed it was the kitchen.

Taking small steps, he took a seat on the black sofa in the living room and waited patiently for Hoseok to return; meanwhile, he played with the sleeves of the dark green sweatshirt, noticing for the first time that the phrase "Life is C between B and D" was embroidered on the fabric.

He was so absorbed in his distraction that he didn’t realize that Wonho had placed a mug of steaming liquid on the coffee table until he caressed his head to get his attention.

Changkyun looked at him a bit startled and Hoseok smiled before sitting down next to him; the younger noticed that his hair was better combed, and that the tracksuit had been replaced by a frayed black pants, a white shirt and a gray cardigan. Seeing him without any cosmetic or makeup on his face made his face look softer.

Changkyun thought he looked attractive in any way.

"Drink it, so you'll get warm." he said while pointing to the cup with his chin. The dark haired boy hesitated a few seconds before taking the warm bowl between his still wrinkled fingers because of the hot bath and took a sip.

Wonho raised his legs to the sofa as he watched Changkyun his lips when he discovered it was milk with honey and gave him another long drink. “I know you like coffee more... but I ran out of it," explained Wonho, a little nervous, taking a flowered cushion from the sofa and hugging it against his chest. When doing this, it was exposed the casing of the romantic film that he was watching before Changkyun arrived and hid it secretly again on the sofa, putting again the cushion in its place to cover it better.

The pianist had seen everything out of the corner of his eye, but he merely smiled discreetly while he continued to drink.

"It's okay, milk is fine," he murmured in response.

The brunette sighed in relief and they remained wrapped in a pleasant silence, interrupted only by the rain that hit the windows; listening to the storm outside was comforting.

"You put on your glasses," Hoseok commented in a soft voice. Changkyun looked at him sideways as he blew the surface of the smoky liquid, finding an expression that caused his heart to shrink with guilt.

His dark eyes watched him with a painful melancholy, silently expressing to him how much he had missed him, and his pink lips were curved into a sad little smile.

Why, after hurting him that much, Hoseok still smiled at him? How could he be so naive and not expect any explanation on his part? Why did he welcome him with open arms and didn’t get angry with him?

Changkyun tightened his lips and looked down, holding the cup tightly in his hands: the love he received from the older was overwhelming, and that was why he corresponded most of the time with feigned indifference, drawing an imaginary line between them.

He always tried not to get involved romantically with anyone, keeping his distance in an attempt to protect himself. That way, nobody would hurt him. And now that he cared about someone, he had tried to protect him at the cost of hurting him even more.

"I'm sorry..." Changkyun muttered almost inaudibly. Wonho didn’t say anything for a long time, until he took the cup from between his numb fingers and placed it on the table; he wrapped his small right hand between his larger ones and caressed it delicately. “I'm so sorry…" he repeated, choking on his own words.

The brunette put an arm around his shoulders, supporting Changkyun's head on his chest while holding his hand. The pianist felt a tremendous desire to cry again, he was terrified that Wonho had got tired of giving so much and receiving so little in return. And the fact that he was happy with the little he gave him hurt too much, it tore him apart.

The warmth of Wonho's body and his familiar scent gave him enough confidence to open up to him and, without being able to control it, all the worries that had gnawed at him in the last weeks and the pain he had brought alone during his high school years came out of his heart, manifesting them in the form of words.

He told him the story of how he wanted to change schools after his awful first year, how to go to school every day had become hell, and how he had no one to talk to. Changkyun didn’t want to tell anyone either, not even his parents; he had isolated himself from the world around him. He was too tired to explain it to anyone, and he was sure that no one was going to make the effort to understand him.

Wonho listened to him silently, hugging him tightly, giving him a gentle kiss on the head from time to time.

"It’s okay," Hoseok whispered against his hair when Changkyun fell silent. “I'm here, I'm with you..." he repeated again and again until the little boy calmed down and his muscles relaxed.

The outdoor storm subsided as time passed, and the dark haired boy straightened slightly so he could look at Wonho, rubbing his tired eyes from under his glasses: his warm embrace had had some kind of somnolent effect.

Hoseok looked at him gratefully for trusting him and telling him about his problems, but the two of them knew that there was still an unresolved issue and that both were afraid to bring to the conversation.

“What happened to you these last two weeks?”

Changkyun tightened his lips and looked away momentarily to gather enough courage and face those angelic eyes that watched him with so much pain.

"I... I was afraid," he revealed in a weak voice.

“Of what?”

"That they would hurt you," he answered with more confidence. Wonho frowned without understanding the reason for his elusive behavior; but he didn’t have time to object, since Changkyun climbed into his lap and looked at him with extreme seriousness. “I wanted to protect you.”

“Protect me?” he repeated, increasingly confused. He was supposed to be the one to protect him, and not the other way around. “Changkyun, what do you mea-?”

He couldn’t keep talking since the dark haired boy placed his hands on his chest and gave him a quick and clumsy kiss on the lips. The determination in his eyes and the blush on his cheeks for what he had just done caused Wonho to forget what he was about to ask.

“I... I just don’t want anything bad to happen to you.”

The shy confession hypnotized Hoseok, who narrowed his eyes softly and watched him while gulping. He rested his hands on Changkyun’s sides and pressed him against him, sliding them down little by little.

His fingers slipped inside the ripped holes of Changkyun’s jeans and touched his warm skin, making him tremble. He his nose with his and brushed his full lips against the thinner ones without breaking eye contact.

“I'm the one who should protect you...” he murmured against his mouth before giving him a lazy kiss. He rejoined their lips in short and slow kisses, giving him slight bites and caressing the lower part of his back.

Changkyun had closed his eyes and was squeezing Wonho's cardigan tightly, enjoying the feeling he had missed so much. When their tongues met, the youngest couldn’t suppress a loud moan that separated them; the brunette looked at him amused and began to give him quick pecks on his cheeks and lips holding a smile.

"Stop," Changkyun complained with little conviction, tremendously ashamed of the sound he had made. But Wonho didn’t pay attention to him and continued to give him kisses until the pianist covered his mouth with both hands.

By the half-moon shape of Hoseok's eyes, he knew he was smiling.

“Changkyunnie...” the eldest called; his breath tickled his fingers, but even so Changkyun didn’t remove them from his mouth, "you look so cute with those clothes," he commented casually, with the intention of teasing him.

"I'm not cute," he argued annoyed.

“Yes you are.”

“I said I’m not…”

After muttering that answer, they contemplated themselves in silence and their pulses inevitably went off. Wonho's warm breath on his hands bristled all over his skin and he pushed his fingers away just to be able to caress his pink lips with delicacy.

His exploration went through his cheeks to stop on his cute ears. He traced the edge of his earrings with his fingertips; in the eyes of Wonho, he was being the adorable, curious little puppy who had played with his piercings in his car the night they went out to dinner and he got drunk.

He took his small and soft hands in his and kissed them only to later join their mouths in a kiss hungrier than the last ones. They were both in need of warmth, the time they were separated, without hugging or kissing, had affected them too much.

Wonho again caressed the younger's tongue with his, and this time Changkyun didn’t hold back, sighing his name as he melted into him. What the little boy needed most was to forget everything and feel that Hoseok was next to him.

In the few seconds they separated to catch their breaths, Wonho took the opportunity to slide his glasses through his pretty nose and set them aside, catching his lips again, first in a torturously slow kiss, and then with more speed and anxiety. He loved being the one who took off his glasses, leaving him vulnerable and exposed to him.

Dexterously, Wonho grabbed him and lifted him off the couch while kissing him; Changkyun wrapped his legs around his waist and hugged his neck, opening his mouth for him and enjoying the warmth and moisture of his lips.

A few seconds later, Changkyun was lying on the bed, with Hoseok on top of his body and placed between his legs. The slight taste of soju that his pink tongue left over his mouth was intoxicating: his spring scent and the strange mixture of alcohol and ice cream were the perfect combination to make him forget all his problems, taking him to a world where it was just the two of them, alone and happy.

Wonho stood up with a ragged breath to take off his cardigan and shirt, exposing his pale and muscular torso. That vision dried Changkyun's mouth, and he felt his heart pop out of his chest.

The older one realized this, and didn’t hesitate to make slow, circular movements with his hips, biting his lip and enjoying seeing Changkyun's reaction. The dark haired boys closed his eyes tightly: the tingling and hotness of his lower belly became so strong that he had to cover his mouth to avoid .

"Don’t hide..." whispered Wonho, bending over him again, slowing the friction between his crotches and giving him a soft little peck on his hands. He gently removed them so that he could leave a trail of kisses from his lips to his ear, "I want to hear your moans," he added in a low voice, talking in his ear.

An electric current ran down Changkyun's spine when he bit his earlobe and let out a whimper; Wonho continued to kiss the moles on his neck that he loved to taste and bite, and after taking off Changkyun’s sweatshirt, he continued on his thin, soft torso. At that point, the puppy had become a mess, tangling his fingers on Wonho’s soft hair, too aware of the wetness and hotness of his crotch, desperately wanting to be touched more.

Changkyun threw his head back and mumbled his boyfriend's name in a trembling voice, too embarrassed to look down and make eye contact with the owner of the mouth who was now leaving moist kisses on his belly. He felt like a fire was born inside of him, and the more he brushed his crotch with Wonho’s, it became hotter and hotter, but he didn’t care to get burned.

Their bodies couldn’t be more different, but maybe, and just maybe, that's why they fit so well.

When he noticed that Wonho was ing his pants, he let out a strangled cry that alarmed him.

“What’s wrong?” he inquired worried, looking him in the eye. Changkyun stared at his beautiful features, slightly illuminated by the timid light that the gray clouds outside allowed to enter the bedroom: his lips were swollen and his dark eyes were peering with concern. With doubt, he raised his inexpert and trembling hand and laid it on Wonho's pale chest.

“I... I just wasn’t prepared.”

Changkyun could feel the frantic pulse of Wonho's heart through his fingers; even so, the latter gave him a calm and gentle smile that managed to reassure him a little.

"We'll go as far as you want," Hoseok said after a few seconds, his cheek delicately with his thumb.

How far did he want to go? That was something Changkyun himself didn’t even know. He was very scared, he never had with anyone, and having his first time was something that frightened him. What if, because of having no experience, Wonho didn’t like it? What if it hurt too much? What if…?

He didn’t have time to continue overthinking everything because the sweet kiss that Hoseok left on his lips and the understanding with which he was watching him made him forget all those thoughts.

Ah... I really love him.

Slowly, a shy smile crossed Changkyun's lips and he lifted his neck to give him a small, meaningful kiss. Wonho smiled at him in response, understanding what he had just expressed in silence.

Changkyun had understood that, as long as it was with Wonho, he would never be afraid again. He wanted to give him his whole heart. Maybe, by doing this, he would be exposing himself to be hurt by him, to feel even more pain than all those people had caused him during his high school years.

But he didn’t care anymore.

That night, Wonho made him change. His screams and moans, the marks of kisses on his body and the indescribable pain and pleasure he felt was something he would never forget.

Shin Hoseok would always be the boy who took his first kiss, his first time, and who had become his first love.

♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫

Some annoying rays of light hit Wonho's face and made him open his eyes. Feeling so sleepy, he was able to see a thick black hair tickling his neck, and he realized that he was hugging Changkyun's small body from behind.

A wide smile decorated his lips as he remembered the night before and he snuggled against him, hugging him tighter and inhaling the sweet smell of shampoo that gave off his hair.

The soft moans that came out of Changkyun’s mouth and how he had clung to his body, begging him for more and screaming his name, was etched into his memory.

When Wonho liked a person, that attraction used to fade after . But with Changkyun it was different, his feelings for him went much further than a simple whim or a temporary attraction.

He wanted to be with him, hug him and take care of him.

Suddenly, the dark haired boy moved in his arms and turned towards him, revealing the pout he was doing while he was sleeping soundly.

Hoseok giggled and brushed a few strands from his forehead tenderly; his heart was filled with a warm feeling, and that was when he knew that what he most wanted was to wake up with Changkyun every day, for the rest of his life.

Ah... I really love him.

That thought got stuck in his mind, and settled into his heart, accepting that it was already a fact that he was irremediably in love with the adorable boy in glasses, and that he couldn’t be without him. Changkyun had become his most precious treasure.

He didn’t know how long he remained watching his peaceful dream, but the vibration of his cell phone took him out of his reverie. He moved carefully away from Changkyun so as not to wake him up and the mattress to pick up the device that rested on the bedside table next to two photo frames. He looked at the screen and saw that it was seven in the morning and that Hyungwon was calling him.

Why is he calling at this hour?

He rubbed his tired eyes to wake up completely and finally slid the green key to answer.

“Hello?” Wonho said with a husky voice, tinged with worry.

“Wonho, we have to talk.”

His seriousness made his whole body tense and Hoseok took a seat on the edge of the bed.

“What’s the matter?” he asked fearfully. It didn’t look like good news, and the fact that Hyungwon took a few seconds to answer didn’t help calm his nerves.

“I'm in the park that’s in front of your apartment. Minhyuk is with me.”

“Minhyuk?” he repeated confused.

“Come here, we're waiting for you.”