Dusk (BL Light Novel)

After hearing our responses, Solo crinkled the cookie bag in their hands and muttered,
“I always feel awkward the first time I meet someone, no matter how close we were in-game.”

“That’s why I felt awkward too, the first time I met you. If someone else feels awkward, I feel like I’m dying inside.”
“That’s true. She acts like such a clown normally, but when it comes to people like that, she turns all stiff.”
Seonhwa suddenly chimed in, having finished her sausages.
And it was true—if the other person’s awkwardness was obvious, I didn’t know how to act either. I couldn’t behave naturally and just ended up fumbling. Even if it was a bit intense, it was still way easier to deal with someone like Jaegyung, who treated me like an old friend from the get-go.

The reason I didn’t feel awkward at all on our first meeting was, honestly, probably all thanks to him.
“So you’re picky with people.”
Jaegyung mumbled—but it wasn’t really a mumble, since it was loud and clear enough to hit my ears. He was teasing me. Obviously.
And what made it worse was how Seonhwa and Solo reacted.

“Guild leader really said ‘to hell with social skills,’ huh.”
“You’re supposed to reach out to people who are shy, not abandon them. Harsh.”
“If you take this into a second or third verse, I’m gonna rip up both your signed art books.”

“Aiiing~.”
I glared daggers at them instead of landing the punch I wanted to throw.
Seonhwa, spouting cutesy nonsense with her mouth, was meanwhile stuffing Solo’s art books into their eco-bag with her hands.
Solo clutched the bag like it was sacred.
As I glared at the pair’s dramatically “innocent” behavior, I heard Jaegyung chuckle low in his throat beside me.

“What’re you laughing at? I’ll break your wrist so you can’t sign either.”
“…Isn’t that a little harsh compared to what you said to them?”
“Then be good.”

“But I’m always good to you.”
His eyes crinkled as he smiled, head tilting toward me.
Yeah, sure. Good my ass. You cost me several hundred rep points, minimum.
Just as I reached out to shove his stupid pretty head away, music blasted from right nearby, loud enough to make me jump.
Turning toward the sound, I saw Solo hurriedly pulling out their phone and checking the screen.

“It’s 12:40. We really gotta go.”
“Seriously? Already? Damn, that’s rough.”
It must’ve been an alarm they’d set to make sure we headed up in time.
As the two of them hesitated like they wanted to stay five more minutes, I opened my mouth to tell them to get going already and stop trying to # Nоvеlight # tease me—
—when something soft and warm brushed past my outstretched hand.

It felt like hair—warm and silky, but slightly cool.
When I turned my head, Jaegyung was still smiling.
His hair, which had been neatly parted earlier, was now slightly tousled.
Guess I accidentally hit him. But I hadn’t moved my arm…
“What?”
“I thought my hair might’ve hit your hand, wanted to check if you were okay.”

“I’m fine.”
If he was fine, that was that. I reached out and smoothed his hair back down.
He didn’t resist. Just let me.
While I was brushing his hair, Solo called out.

“Guild leader, before we go—”
I paused and turned toward him.
Solo reached into the bundle he’d been clutching to his chest.
The rustle of the bag was loud, and when he pulled his hand out, it was full of small potion-shaped cookies, glazed red and blue.
Strawberry and blueberry jam, from the look of it.

He must’ve been munching these all along.
“Take a bag each.”
Solo handed me and Jaegyung each a bundle. He chattered on, explaining the red ones were health potions (strawberry), and the blue ones were mana potions (blueberry).
The cookies were perfectly baked—not a single one broken—and honestly looked pretty good.

There was no way Solo, with his trash-tier cooking skills, had made all these.
Obviously, this was another one of Seonhwa’s spend-happy projects.
“Thanks.”
If Seonhwa spent money on them, they’d taste good, no doubt.
I accepted them with a short thank-you. Jaegyung, who I knew had a sweet tooth, accepted his with delight and started rotating the bag, examining each cookie like it was a museum piece.

“They’re really good. The cookies are almost sold out now. Before you guys showed up, we gave them to the event staff too, and they all said they were delicious.”
“Of course they’d say that. Who complains about free food?”
“Yah, shut your mouth.”

Solo pretended to slap my lips.
It was the same kind of roughhousing we always did.
But personally, I hated people touching my face.
Frowning slightly, I lightly pushed his arm away.
Fortunately, Solo didn’t notice and simply turned back to chatting with Seonhwa.
Not wanting to get annoyed at him for something he didn’t know, I rubbed the corner of my mouth and tried to distract myself.
I looked around for something else to focus on—then accidentally locked eyes with Jaegyung.

He wasn’t startled. Just calmly staring at me.
It didn’t feel like we just happened to meet eyes.
It felt like he’d been looking at me the whole time.
He smiled lazily when he saw I noticed.
What was he looking at?
Seriously, did he flag me as a designated target?

“Hey, we really gotta go now. God, how long have we even been down here…”
“Because of the entrance line?”
“Yeah. Someone I know upstairs said we should be in line already.”

Seonhwa stood, careful not to let her tail drag.
Solo stood too, both of them clearly reluctant to leave.
Seonhwa pouted. “Hurry up and come up after you eat, okay?”
“Yeah, yeah. Go.”

“If we get a chance to see you again later, I’ll come say hi. Enjoy your meal…”
They waved, but didn’t actually move.
I had to shoo them off like kids, waving my arm toward the escalators until they finally trudged away.
Only once they disappeared behind the packed elevator doors did I lower my arm and pick up my chopsticks again.
And, of course, Jaegyung was still staring at me.

Turning to the right, I found his gaze exactly where I expected it to be.
With the chopsticks still in my mouth, I asked, without moving my lips, “What?”
He hesitated—then asked softly,
“Is she your girlfriend?”

The cautious tone had me bracing for something heavy, but then he just dropped that.
“No. Just a childhood friend.”
I stuffed a spoonful of rice and sausage into my mouth.

We had dated, once.
Didn’t last long. She felt too much like a little sister.
Now she was just family.
But even though I’d said she wasn’t my girlfriend, Jaegyung looked… visibly relieved.
What, did he have a crush on her or something?
“Why? You like her?”

“—Huh? No?”
I’d meant to tease, but Jaegyung stared at me, confused.
If it wasn’t that, then why the relieved face?
“I just thought, if she was, I should’ve treated her better.”

“…?”
She’s my girlfriend, not yours. What does treating her well have to do with you?
“If she were someone’s girlfriend, then I should’ve acted more proper. You know. Some lines you don’t cross.”

“Why?”
“Why”??
If you don’t get it, maybe try stealing someone’s girl and getting cussed out for it.
I gave up trying to explain.
Jaegyung must’ve gotten impatient, because he started poking my thigh with his left index finger.

It tickled, so I ignored it at first. But then he kept doing it, harder, until I switched chopsticks to my left hand and pressed down on his hand with my right.
I could feel the bones in the back of his hand shifting as he squirmed.
“Eat your food. You’ll be late.”

“I will. If you answer me.”
“You’ll learn someday. Firsthand.”
If you keep living like that, I mean.
I swallowed the last of the line along with my rice.

I wasn’t ambidextrous, but I could use chopsticks left-handed just fine, so I had no problem eating.
Jaegyung fell quiet. Maybe he decided to just eat on his own.
Except… he didn’t.
He put his chopsticks down and never picked them up again.

“You’re not eating?”
I finally asked, spoon paused.
Was the food that bad? Should I go buy him something else?
He cut off my thoughts with a casual voice:

“Will you feed me?”
…
“Why would I?”

“Because you’re holding my hand and I can’t eat.”
Oh.
Right. I was still pinning his hand.
I let go. I’d totally forgotten he was left-handed.

He slowly lifted his hand and flexed it open and shut.
It wasn’t like I’d pinned him that hard—he could’ve pulled it free anytime.
Still, I felt kind of guilty for blocking his food.
“Sorry.”

“No, it’s okay. I liked it. Your hand’s really warm.”
He said it so gently, picking his chopsticks back up like it was nothing.
I didn’t usually talk while I ate, and Jaegyung, for whatever reason, had gone deep into thought.
I figured this was the time to shut up and eat as fast as I could.

Apart from the background chatter in the hallway, it was quiet.
But even so, sitting beside someone I’d only just met, eating in silence—it didn’t feel awkward at all.
It was… actually kind of nice.