I'll Take My Cheer in Advance

“Hyung, you’re not a baby. You can’t just sit on any old ground. You’ll get dirt all over you.”

Yu-gyeong said this, then tossed his white PE top onto the ground like a mat and seated Cha-heon on top of it.

“Hey, isn’t this your jacket?”

No matter what Cha-heon said, Yu-gyeong crumpled himself down onto the spread-out clothes without a care and pressed right up against Cha-heon’s side.

Cha-heon’s expression hardened as he looked at him. Baek Yu-gyeong, as if simply sitting close weren’t enough, casually slid an arm around his waist and rested his head on Cha-heon’s shoulder.

Bullshit. He’s just making a move. How does he never miss an opening? Persistent bastard.

He thought about scooting away out of pure spite, but one glance at Yu-gyeong’s PE top—already filthy with dirt—made him just sigh instead.

…More than that, this kid.

A strange feeling made Cha-heon study the boy glued to his side.

Why is this bastard breathing like that?

Yu-gyeong had thrown his PE top down and was left in only a thin short-sleeved shirt, yet his chest barely rose and fell. Those broad, solid pecs were completely still, as if he were holding his breath.

“……?”

Sensing Cha-heon’s gaze, Yu-gyeong’s eyes lifted to his face. He seemed to notice the small split at the corner of Cha-heon’s mouth; his gaze fixed there, and he pressed a finger to it.

“Ah!”

“Sorry. But hyung… who’d you fight?”

Saying he’d just fallen didn’t feel worth it, so Cha-heon answered honestly.

“…Just, between brothers.”

“…Hmm. I see. Your older brother must have that kind of personality?”

“Brothers are like that.”

“…Aww~”

Before Yu-gyeong could dig further, Cha-heon struck first.

“Baek Yu-gyeong.”

“What? You like me that much? Yeah, I like hyung too.”

“…I won’t say anything about you sitting stuck to me, so stop throwing your clothes around like that.”

“…….”

“Do you have a spare? It’s still cold for just short sleeves.”

Cha-heon eyed Yu-gyeong’s bare arms with genuine concern, wondering if the kid even had a change of clothes inside.

Beside him, the corner of Yu-gyeong’s mouth twitched upward, almost smiling.

“Hyung likes me that much? I can stick to you whenever I want?”

“…For fuck’s sake…”

“Proposing is supposed to be my job—what am I supposed to do if hyung does it first? I’m upset.”

While he complained, he sneakily wrapped both arms around Cha-heon’s waist and clung even tighter, whining. Cha-heon wanted nothing more than to smack him once. He tried every trick to peel the kid off, but strength alone wasn’t enough; finally he asked in a drained voice,

“Were you always this picky about cleanliness?”

“Well, other people walk all over this place—who knows what’s stuck to the ground? Sitting down like that is weird. So you shouldn’t just plop down either, hyung.”

“…True enough. …You.”

“Hm?”

“I already knew, but you really do scream ‘young master,’ don’t you.”

When he thought about how other high-school boys his age would roll around on the ground without a second thought, the fact that Yu-gyeong wouldn’t even put his ass down made him seem like some fastidious cat. Cha-heon stared at him as if looking at a rare animal, then let out a hollow laugh.

“Mm, hyung would rather have rich me than broke me, right?”

The unexpected remark left Cha-heon speechless for a moment.

“Hey.”

“Ah, hyung—I’m going for jokgu. Watch me carefully, okay? If you look at other guys I’ll get jealous.”

“…And what’ll you do if you get jealous?”

At worst you’ll just be a nuisance.

“If I get jealous I’ll come get comforted by hyung. In your classroom…”

“…….”

Cha-heon felt a flicker of unease. Stick to him all day? Come find him in class?

That would be a little too annoying.

Until now Baek Yu-gyeong had at least pretended to be obedient and never entered the classroom… The thought that one careless provocation might make him a real headache made Cha-heon narrow his eyes.

“I’ll crouch right outside your classroom and cry.”

“…….”

So when I told him not to come in, he was at least pretending to listen.

…Funny bastard.

Imagining that big frame crouched down and sobbing actually pulled a dry laugh out of him. Cha-heon chuckled emptily, then—because the kid was still unfairly pretty—reached out and ruffled his hair. The fine, wheat-colored strands mussed slightly under his fingers.

“Whether you’ve got money or not, I’m not planning on dating you. But regardless of the money, you are a decent guy. Anyway…”

“…….”

“Unfortunately we’re on different teams so I can’t cheer properly, but I’ll be watching you. Do your best.”

Baek Yu-gyeong lost his words and simply stared. Those deep cream-colored eyes fixed on him with an intensity that was almost uncomfortable.

“…Baek Yu-gyeong?”

Even when called, he only blinked and kept looking, cat-like. Maybe it was the upward tilt of his outer eye corners.

……?

Before Cha-heon could stop him, Yu-gyeong planted one hand on the ground beside his leg and closed the distance in a single smooth motion. Something soft and damp brushed Cha-heon’s cheek.

“Since hyung said he won’t cheer, I decided to collect in advance.”

Baek Yu-gyeong’s handsome face remained right there. He soon crinkled his eyes into crescent moons and lifted the corners of his mouth.

“I’m off. If I win, I’ll do it on the lips.”

What the hell just happened?

Cha-heon sat frozen like an idiot; only after Yu-gyeong had already started walking toward the stairs did the situation sink in. He shot to his feet.

“Baek Yu-gyeong!!”

“Hyung! If you yell that loud Yu-gyeong gets embarrassed!”

Cha-heon grabbed the back of his own neck.

…His insides burned.

I’m certain of it. That bastard definitely has an older brother or sister—and a pretty big age gap too.

There was no other explanation for a fully grown high-school boy referring to himself in the third person.

Cha-heon tried hard to think of it in a positive light, but the fact that he had just been kissed on the cheek by a male high-school student was still so unbelievable that he had to scrub at his cheek with his palm.

…The stares were prickling.

…What is this?

Cha-heon rolled his eyes sideways at the bundle of gazes so obvious he couldn’t possibly miss them.

…Girls? Second-years?

A cluster of students sat together on the spectator stairs nearby. They weren’t staring outright, but the sidelong glances aimed this way were sharp enough to sting. The self-centered thinking of that age—assuming no one would notice—was almost cute, yet he still found himself wondering what those looks actually meant.

…What? Are they looking because there’s a guy sitting around not even playing jokgu?

While Cha-heon was seriously considering it, a near-scream from the girls snapped his attention forward.

Ah. Baek Yu-gyeong.

Only then did Cha-heon start focusing on the jokgu match already underway.

Apparently they had settled on four representatives each and were pitting second-years against third-years; Baek Yu-gyeong, one of the four, had just scored again.

He scored earlier too, and now again. Is he playing this game by himself?

His body was long and cleanly built, and he’d apparently taken second place in a kendo tournament once—maybe he was simply good at anything physical.

…Weird. I was decent at judo, but jokgu was always…

…He still had memories of getting beaten up by the guys he played with in university. It had been a cold spring MT, and after three consecutive trolls by Cha-heon the entire team had ended up in the freezing spring ocean. He’d caught a cold after that and never looked at jokgu again.

But damn, that kid is actually good.

The others were skilled too, yet Baek Yu-gyeong stood out. If you wanted the textbook example of a guy who was good at everything and knew it, it was him.

Must be nice.

How long had he been watching Yu-gyeong’s one-man show from afar? The fact that he was still sitting on the kid’s PE top started to bother him, so Cha-heon quietly stood, shook the jacket out, and folded it.

…I’ll have to wash it for him.

He figured Yu-gyeong would come running the moment the game ended and tried to put a little distance between them—but when the match finished and he saw the boy surrounded by girls, Cha-heon simply took the PE top and headed back toward the classroom.

“You’re not even wearing a jacket underneath. That’s another point.”

“…….”

Caught at the school gate, Cha-heon watched the guidance officer dig all the way down to his undershirt and thought, vicious little bastard, while carefully keeping his face blank. On the way to school he’d already collected three demerits from that huge kendo-club student.

Meticulous and cold. Does this guy do both kendo and guidance? Ruthless kid.

He could have let it slide, yet he stubbornly handed out two points, then went so far as to peel off the cardigan to confirm there was no jacket underneath. Cha-heon was thoroughly disgusted.

Oversleeping that morning had made him forget his tie and, half-asleep, slip into familiar slippers instead of sneakers. Unfortunately the person inside the body was a full-grown adult, not a student, so he still wasn’t used to this kind of rule-bound life.

But they usually don’t catch third-years this hard…

He’d shown up in a similar state before, and that day’s guidance officers had only glanced at his name tag and told him to be more careful next time. There seemed to be an unspoken understanding that the mostly second-year guidance team went easy on seniors—yet this particular student showed zero mercy.

Feeling a little wronged, Cha-heon looked him over from head to toe to see just how perfectly dressed the guy was… and then lost the ability to speak. How could a student be that immaculate from hair to shoes?

Impressive. And exhausting…

He knew a man who’d already passed the teacher certification exams shouldn’t be thinking this way, but the boy really was exhausting.

Probably a rule-obsessed, thoroughly rational type…

…Grow up and become a doctor or a judge or something. Good kid.

Cha-heon trudged into the school grounds, trying to remember exactly how many points it took before you had to start serving community-service hours.