Ten's chest was rising and falling with a wild speed, as if all the air had been sucked out of his lungs. The proud anger in his eyes clashed with the ruthless desire burning in Wee's gaze. Those strong fingers gripping his chin and the warm hand sealing his waist to his own were breaking all of Ten's resistance.
"Let me go..." Ten whispered, but his voice was so helpless and low that even he didn't believe this lie. Wee didn't let go.
Instead, he softened his grip on his delicate chin and gently wiped that warm, burning tear rolling down Ten's cheek with his thumb. The sudden, velvety tenderness beneath this rough and possessive touch was about to melt Ten's heart.
"I would rather die than let you go." Wee said, his voice turnin completely raspy with desire and regret.
"To hell with that guy and to hell with the past. My eyes see no one but you, my mind is about to go crazy with you, don't you get it, grumpy?"
The dangerous, electric tension that had been building up between them for weeks exploded at that exact split second.
Wee couldn't take it anymore; he pressed his lips against Ten's trembling mouth roughly, hungrily, yet almost worshipfully.
Within seconds, Ten felt his whole world turn upside down. Though he clenched his lips at first to not give in, all his defenses turned to dust when Wee slid his hand under his shirt, touching his bare skin.
As those warm fingers climbed up the curve of Ten's waist, a muffled, sensual groan escaped his throat, and his lips parted.
Wee caught this invitation in the air, turning the kiss into a deeper, breathless, and jaw dropping battle.
As their tongues tangled, Ten's hands instinctively climbed Wee's shoulders, wrapping his fingers through his thick hair, pulling him closer as if wanting to melt into him.
The narrow wall space in the hallway was no longer enough for them. With a single move, Wee grabbed Ten by his hips and lifted him slightly higher against the wall.
As Ten wrapped his legs around Wee's waist by reflex, the raw friction between them made both of them lose their minds. Without putting Ten down or breaking the kiss for even a second, Wee carried him toward the bed.
As they crashed onto the soft mattress together, Wee hovered completely over Ten, his large body fully crowding him in.
Wee pulled his lips away from Ten's wet mouth and dragged them down to his chin, and then to that sensitive spot on his neck.
While his hot breath burned Ten's skin, Wee gently bit his collarbone. Ten gripped the bedsheets tightly with his fingers, arching his hips upward as his entire body shivered with pleasure from this intense wave of desire.
"You are not just a partner, you are the boy that I want to see by my side every morning."
Wee whispered, his voice echoing deeply against Ten's neck.
"The feeling I get when I hold you in my arms, I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world."
Ten opened his eyes slightly and looked into Wee's darkened gaze, which was filled with pure love and heavy desire. All the jealousy and the shadows of the past completely vanished with these words.
"You jerk..." Ten muttered, with a sweet, surrendered smile on his face that confessed he had forgotten everything.
He placed his hand on the back of Wee's neck, pulled him back down, and joined their lips once again, this time completely of his own desire, without caring about the rest of the world.
After slowly claiming those lips, Ten suddenly pushed Wee back onto the mattress with a swift reflex. This time, Ten had no intention of letting control slip through his fingers.
Leaning down slowly, letting his warm breath graze Wee's pale skin, he began to test him in a low, husky voice.
"Since I'm the one you want to see next to you every morning, do you want to keep me around badly enough that you won't refuse letting me be on top?"
Following these bold words, he ran his cool fingers through Wee's brown hair, placing soft, lingering kisses right behind his ear.
A quiet groan escaped Wee's lips with every kiss, yet he couldn't help but smirk at Ten's sudden boldness.
He wrapped a firm hand around the back of Ten's neck, pressing his forehead against Ten's, looking deeply into his eyes.
"If you didn't make it so obvious that you've never been a top before, maybe I'd say yes."
Moving quickly, he sat up, wrapped his arms around Ten's waist, and pulled him down securely onto his lap.
"But I'm sure what you really want are two warm hands wandering all over your body. Am I wrong?"
Keeping his gaze locked on Ten's shocked face, Wee slowly slid his hands, which had been tracin patterns along Ten's waist like a paintbrush, up beneath the fabric of his shirt, gently caressing Ten's chest.
He knew exactly how to make Ten give up on his sudden, playful game with just one touch.
Ten bit his lower lip hard with every stroke of Wee's fingers, involuntarily pressing Wee's head closer to his chest to handle the overwhelming sensation.
"You... jerk. Just do what you do best, and don't make me regret letting you drag me into this."
As Wee traced his warm tongue up Ten's neck, those words only added fuel to his fire, making him even more eager.
"You won't regret what I'm about to do to you," Wee whispered against his skin.
"You'll only regret that we waited this long."
~~~
Under the shadow of the palm trees, the tense air behind the wooden equipment shed hadn't completely cleared up yet.
Bank kept his arms tightly crossed over his chest, tapping his foot rhythmically against the dirt while watching First hang his head like a guilty child.
First was doing his best not to break under Bank's sharp, questioning glare, avoiding eye contact by pretending to fix his clothes. Just as Bank was about to start another lecture on how big of a fool Sun was, the sound of light footsteps echoing on the gravel drew both of their attention to that direction.
The two figures stepping out from the shadows and walking toward them were none other than Sun and Moon. However, the previous tense, icy vibe had been replaced by something entirely different.
On Sun's face, there was a boyish, relieved smile that showed the heavy weight he had been carrying for days was finally gone.
Most importantly, his fingers were tightly locked through Moon's delicate ones. Moon, on the other hand, walked with a calm and peaceful expression that contrasted with his slightly blushed cheeks.
When they stood right in front of First and Bank, Sun cleared his throat and looked around.
Completely ignoring the strange storage area interrogation going on between the two, he directly asked the question he was actually curious about:
"Hey... We checked the tournament area, but nobody is left there. Girls said they are going to have a pajama party with the other girls. Have you guys seen where Wee and Ten went?"
Bank narrowed his eyes even more at Sun's relaxed, casual behavior. The whole bed situation and the misunderstanding story he had just heard from First were still fresh in his mind.
Since he knew how fragile Moon could be, he couldn't help but get annoyed by Sun's careless question. In his sudden irritation, he hadn't even noticed that Sun was holding Moon's hand.
Ignoring First tugging at his shirt from behind to stop him, Bank took a protective step forward. Purposely hardening his tone, he looked straight into Sun's eyes:
"Forget about Wee and Ten for a second, Sun. We have a much more important matter to discuss first. Look, Moon..." he said, turning his gaze toward Moon and trying to soften his voice a bit as he continued.
"This idiot next to you doesn't always know how to express his feelings properly, you know that. Sometimes, while trying to protect you, he completely messes things up and turns his back, but believe me, his intention was..."
Bank's rushed and completely misunderstood attempt at playing matchmaker was cut short by a cheerful giggle leaving Moon's lips.
Moon couldn't hold it in anymore, seeing how panicked Bank got just to protect him. Resting his head lightly against Sun's shoulder, he spoke with a bright spark in his eyes:
"Bank, please calm down... Don't worry, we already talked about everything and made up. There's no problem left between us."
Bank stood completely frozen at Moon's words. As his speech got stuck in his throat, his gaze slowly drifted down to their tightly locked hands.
At that moment, he realized the situation was fully solved, even moving way further than he had guessed. He blinked in shock, then turned to First behind him. First just shrugged his shoulders with a smirk, as if saying, 'I told you so.'
Taking a deep breath, Bank dropped his tense detective act. "Alright..." he said, a soft, relieved smile appearing on his face.
"Since the ice between you two has completely melted, we can go back to the real question. You want to know where Wee and Ten are? Well, after getting the prize, Wee was running toward their room while still carrying Ten in his arms. Ten was screaming and cursing at him, but Wee didn't care at all."
First jumped into the conversation with a smirk, putting his hands in his pockets.
"To be honest, after that carrying stunt, Ten's face was as red as a tomato. Wee definitely kept carrying him all the way to the room just to tease him and drive him crazy. They are probably having a huge fight in their room right now, or..."
Before First could finish his sentence, Bank shot him a sharp look, making First shut up instantly.
Sun laughed quietly at what he heard, placing his hand around Moon's waist to pull him a bit closer.
"Let's go take a look then. We need to congratulate the winners of the tournament, don't we?" he said playfully, leaning down toward Moon's ear.
Moon rolled his eyes, but that happy smile never left his face. The four of them started walking with slow steps through the palm trees toward the hallway where the rooms were located.
The sky was slowly getting dark, and the warm breeze of the island brushed against their skin. Both couples were walking with a light feeling that came from finally untying their big knots.
As the four of them approached Wee and Ten's door under the dim lights of the hallway, their steps slowed down on their own.
Just as they were about to reach the door, muffled, rhythmic, and strange cut off sounds rose from inside. Moon narrowed his eyes and brought his ear a bit closer to the wood.
There was a struggle, a scuffle, or a strange breathless situation going on inside. Sun tried to push the doorknob down gently, but the metal didn't move; the door was locked from the inside.
A sudden wave of worry covered Moon. Thinking that Ten was in pain or that Wee was hurting him, he started knocking hard on the door in a panic.
"Wee! Ten! Are you guys inside? Open the door!" he shouted.
Standing a bit behind, First leaned toward Bank with a cheeky, knowing smirk on his face. Nudging him with his elbow, he dropped the joke:
"I told you near the storage shed that 'there might be another possibility' but you didn't believe me. Look at that, those sounds inside don't sound like a fight at all."
Bank widened his eyes at this bold hint and lightly tapped First's chest. "Shut up, First! Not now, don't make them worry." he whispered with a sharp look.
Sun, wanting to calm Moon down from his extreme panic, gently put his hand around Moon's waist and pulled him back from the door. "Calm down Moon, maybe they are just bickering or..."
Just as Sun finished his sentence and they were about to turn around and leave, the lock of the door turned with a loud click, and the door opened suddenly.
Wee appeared at the doorstep. His hair was completely messy, his chest was rising and falling fast, and his face held the desperate panic of a thief caught red handed.
To stop them from completely misunderstanding the moaning sounds inside, he rushed his words out before anyone could even ask:
"Oh, hey guys! Uh... Ten hurt his ankle during the tournament, you know, so we were just putting some ice on it. That's why you heard those sounds, it hurt a bit!"
Just then, Ten appeared from behind. His face was literally burning hot. To support Wee's lie, he leaned one hand against the wall, wrinkling his face as if he were in a lot of pain, and limped toward the door with an acting pained look.
"Ah, yes... It's twisted pretty badly. P'Wee was helping me, thankfully." he muttered, trying to hide the shake in his voice.
Everyone suddenly got surprised, making worried noises like "Oh, get well soon." and "How did that happen?"
When Moon saw Ten's red face and limping state, he got so worried for his friend that he pushed Wee by the shoulder and rushed into the room.
He went straight to Ten, grabbed him by the arm, and gently guided him to sit down on the bed. "Don't stand up, Ten, sit here. Does it hurt a lot?" he started hovering over him with care.
Meanwhile, Wee stood in the middle of the room, not knowing what to do, nervously reaching his hand to the back of his neck and scratching his head out of guilt.
His eyes were spinning wildly around everyone in the room. Bank, First, and Sun also walked inside and took places on the chairs and couches around the bed.
The room became full instantly. To escape this heavy pressure and the fear of getting caught, Ten sat up a bit on the bed. Speaking in a fake, extremely polite, yet rushed tone, he insisted on them leaving:
"Guys, thank you so much for coming, but I really need to rest. You should go back to your rooms and get some sleep, we can handle it."
Just as everyone was about to stand up, Sun suddenly froze right where he was standing.
Narrowing his eyes, he looked first at the shirt Wee was wearing, and then at the shirt Ten was wearing.
That playful, shocked look of a genius detective finding a clue appeared on his face. Raising his hand, his voice echoed in the room: "Wait a minute, wait a minute..." Everyone turned to look at Sun.
Sun pointed his finger at Wee and Ten, trying hard to stop his laughter:
"Why is Ten wearing the shirt Wee wore at the tournament today, and Wee is wearing the shirt Ten wore today? And... Ten... you are wearing it inside out! The seams and the brand tag are completely on the outside!"
A deadly silence fell over the room for a second. At Sun's words, Ten quickly looked down at his collar and saw the white washing instruction tag hanging right over his chest.
At that moment, Ten's brain completely stopped. His face, his neck, and even his ears turned bright red. They were at the peak of embarrassment.
With the giant humiliation and panic he felt, he shoved Wee by the chest with all his strength onto the bed. "This is all your fault! You idiot!" he screamed, his voice cracking. Wee was completely messed up as he tumbled back onto the mattress.
With this move, a laughter bomb exploded in the room. First started laughing so hard he almost threw himself from the couch to the floor, slapping his knees.
"I told you there was another possibility! Putting ice on it, yeah right my ass!" he yelled.
Even Bank couldn't hold it in, covering his face with his hand and laughing out loud, while Moon rested his head against Sun's back, giggling.
Ten covered his face with his hands, turned his back on the bed, and pulled the sheets completely over his head.
"No! I deny it! The shirts got mixed up in the laundry! I wore it inside out because I was in a rush, it was windy!" he shouted nonsense from under the sheets.
Wee, trying to fix his bright red face, stood up quickly. They were completely embarrassed, but to stop the situation from going any further, he immediately moved toward the door. He started grabbing everyone by their arms, pushing them toward the hallway.
"Alright, come on! The comedy show is over, everyone out! The kid is injured, he needs to rest! Go back to your rooms!" he tried to kick everyone out in a huge panic.
However, the sound of laughter rising behind him was loud enough to echo through the whole hallway.
~~~
Wee slammed the door with a sudden fury when the teasing laughter echoing in the hallway just wouldn't stop, turning the lock three times in a row.
As he leaned his back against the wooden door, a deadly silence, heavy as lead, covered the room within seconds.
The previous comedic, embarrassing moments were replaced by a raw, naked, and suffocating emotional tension. While his chest rose and fell with his uneven breaths, Wee slowly turned his gaze toward the bed.
Ten hadn't pulled the sheet completely off his head. Seeing that thin body shaking beneath the covers, his shoulders moving rhythmically, felt like a dagger piercing Wee's heart.
This wasn't just a regular cry of embarrassment it was a total emotional breakdown caused by the jealousy Ten had been building up for weeks.
the crushing pressure he faced when he left the restroom, and finally, being caught so defenselessly in front of everyone.
Wee tiptoed toward the bed.
He knew that even the smallest noise would completely break the fragile glass walls around Ten's heart. He sat down softly on the edge of the bed, right behind Ten.
He held his hand in the air with hesitation he was terrified of touching him, terrified of hurting him even more. Finally, unable to resist, he placed his hand over the sheet on Ten's shaking shoulder.
"Ten..." Wee said, his voice so low, so filled with regret that the whole room shook with this whisper.
"Please don't do this. I told them to leave, nobody saw anything. They were just making jokes, you know that."
Feeling that warm pressure on his shoulder, Ten suddenly threw the sheet away and sat up fast on the bed.
His eyes were bright red from crying, his eyelashes stuck together from the wetness. As the tears rolling down his cheeks ran toward his neck, the shattered pride on his face took Wee's breath away.
"Nobody saw anything?!" Ten screamed, his voice breaking through his sobs.
"Everyone understood, P'Wee! Before we could even solve what is between us, before I could even dare to ask you about that messy past of yours, I turned into just a piece of entertainment in everyone's eyes, someone you just carry from room to room, someone you get easily!
Everyone knows that the man who made me lose my mind enough to wear my shirt inside out actually leaves a huge mess behind him!"
Wee couldn't take this relentless cry anymore. He jumped forward on the bed, and without giving Ten a chance to object or hit him, he wrapped his arms tightly around his waist and pulled him hard against his chest.
When Ten crashed into Wee's chest, he started hitting his shoulders, trying to push him away. "Let me go, don't touch me!" he screamed, but Wee tightened his grip even more.
He wanted to melt him inside his own body, to dissolve all his sadness in his own heart.
"I won't let go." Wee said, burying his head against Ten's wet neck. His voice turned into a tearful, helpless plea.
"I swear I don't see you as entertainment. If I did, why is my heart beating like it's about to break through my chest right now? Ten, for the first time in my life, I am so terrified of losing someone.
The guy in that voice note, that past... none of it matters to me. My world right now is just this shaking body of yours. Please don't lock me out."
When Ten felt Wee's helplessness inside those strong arms, and that warm, honest breath hitting his neck, the hard defense on his shoulders slowly broke. His hands tightly gripped the fabric of Wee's back.
Leaning his head against his shoulder, he kept crying with deep sighs, but this time he wasn't running away. In the middle of this tragic and chaotic night, they had both taken cover in each other's wounds.
~~~
Around midnight, there were eight people this time gathered around the long wooden table set under the weeping willows at the resort's open-air restaurant by the beach.
The life of the group, the inseparable besties Mint and Bee, who couldn't go a second without stirring the gossip pot, had also joined the table.
The cool wind blowing from the sea made the candle flames dance, while the sound of the waves mixed with the loud laughter of the young group.
Ever since Wee and Ten left their room and sat at the table, First's jokes about the "ice treatment" hadn't stopped for a single moment. However, this time he wasn't alone;
Mint and Bee had caught the scent of the drama, whispering and smirking at the end of the table like hyenas waiting for their prey.
Mint set her cocktail glass onto the table, narrowing her eyes as she looked at Ten.
"By the way, Ten, that black sweatshirt looks great on you, but I don't get why you pulled the collar all the way up to your nose like a vampire in this warm weather? Are you hiding something?" she asked in a playful voice.
At Mint's question, Ten started coughing as if a piece of shrimp had gotten stuck in his throat.
While Wee immediately patted his back, Bee jumped into the conversation, tossing her hair back as she dropped the bomb:
"Oh, P'Mint, you believe everything so blindly. The kid didn't leave Wee's arms during the tournament, they went to the room, the doors got locked, moaning sounds rose... and what was the excuse? They were putting ice on his ankle! Yeah, right, as if we bought that!"
Another huge wave of laughter exploded around the table. While Sun and Moon looked at each other and laughed, Ten covered his eyes with his hands to hide his bright red face.
"You guys are truly terrible friends, I curse the day I came here." he muttered in a muffled voice. Wee gripped Ten's hand even tighter under the table, glaring at the two divas.
"Don't talk too much you two, we didn't miss your own paintbrush strokes during the tournament either." he said trying to protect Ten, but the crooked, proud smile on his face gave everything away.
At the other end of the table, separate from this loud shouting, a much deeper and emotional atmosphere was taking place.
Bank sat with his arms crossed over his chest, watching First, who was sitting right next to him, playfully throw words back and forth with that usual reckless, boyish laugh.
First was so caught up in the jokes that, at one point, he had instinctively placed his hand on Bank's knee, leaning on it while teasing Mint.
The moment Bank felt the warm pressure of First's hand on his knee, an indescribable lightness filled his chest.
Normally, Bank was someone who disliked physical contact in public, always keeping a distance and staying serious, but this time, he didn't pull away.
Instead, it felt as if he had slowly dropped the heavy, protective weight from his shoulders.
This vacation had softened the vague tension between them, the tension that always made them bicker but secretly made them desire each other like crazy.
Looking at First's profile under the dim yellow light, Bank thought to himself
'I think we are finally happening.'
He thought that the invisible walls between them were breaking down, and that First was finally feeling the exact same things as him. A rare, deeply affectionate, peaceful, and hopeful smile appeared on his face.
While Sun and Moon whispered between themselves, Moon turned his gaze toward Bank and First. The way the two sat side by side, looking as if they had taken cover in each other, completed the love filled energy of the table.
When First finished throwing his last comment at Mint and leaned back with a huge laugh, Bee suddenly leaned forward.
Resting her elbows on the wooden table, she looked directly at First and Bank with the ruthless, questioning spark of a true gossiping bestie. The other noises at the table dimmed down slightly at that moment.
"Okay, we get P'Wee and Ten, P'Sun and Moon, they are already burning the world down." Bee said, pointing her finger at First and Bank.
"But what about you two? You've been glued to each other since this morning, and even during the tournament, you kept backing each other up constantly.
P'Mint and I have been watching you two for days. What are you guys now anyway? Shouldn't you put a label on it, are you boyfriends?"
The moment this question hit the table, Bank's heart skipped a beat inside his chest. He turned his gaze immediately to First next to him.
Inside him, there was such a huge, boyish hope regarding the answer First would give; maybe under this pressure, First would finally confess the truth, making everything official by saying "Yes, we are together."
With that light smile remaining on his lips, Bank began to wait with excitement for the words that would leave First's mouth.
However First was someone who, more than anything, wanted to protect the special, unlabelled bond between them, which was completely filled with pure emotions.
He didn't want to rush the beautiful days they spent together or the unique attraction slowly growing between him and Bank.
He had no intention of throwing away such a valuable feeling by simplifying it out in the open just because people at a gossip table were putting pressure on them.
In his mind, this relationship was too precious to be reduced to a quick "Yes, we are boyfriends".
he wanted to do it right and crown it with a special moment when he and Bank were completely alone.
Faced with Bee's direct question, he jumped into the conversation quickly, driven by the instinct to protect their fresh magic and because he took the matter seriously.
However, while trying to explain the situation to those at the table and close the topic, he couldn't choose his words properly in his sudden rush.
Wanting only to state the objective truth between them, that they hadn't officially started a relationship yet, his tone came out sharper, faster, and more ice cold than he ever intended:
"Stop talking nonsense! What boyfriends? We are nothing yet. We are just buddies, why do you guys label it so quickly anyway?"
While saying this sentence, First was actually trying to protect their naive process from a rushed label.
In fact, when he quickly pulled his hand away from Bank's knee, his only goal was to lessen the pressure of those intense, questioning eyes at the table and save Bank from that awkwardness.
However, his speed of speaking, the roughness in his choice of words, and that raw, defensive tone in his voice completely reversed the meaning at the table.
These words didn't sound like the product of a deep thought like "We are taking our time, we don't want to rush things"
instead, it echoed as a brutal and clear rejection like "He means nothing to me, I would never have anything to do with him."
At that exact moment, all the laughter and cheerful vibe at the table ended as if cut by a knife. A deadly, deafening silence covered the beach.
The peaceful, hopeful smile on Bank's face froze and shattered into dust within seconds. As his eyes opened wide in shock, his pupils began to shake.
His breath got stuck in his throat as if a concrete block weighing tons had been thrown onto his chest. The sudden coldness left behind by First's hand pulling away from his knee wrapped around Bank's entire body.
First's careless, sharp voice kept echoing in his ears: "We are nothing yet."
Bank couldn't hear the good intention behind this sentence or First's desire to protect the relationship; he only heard that he was tossed aside in a split second in front of everyone, and that he was nothing more than a "buddy" to First.
Mint and Bee froze in absolute shock, not knowing what to do against this sudden dramatic collapse they had caused.
Bee bit her lip, deeply regretting what she had asked. While Ten and Wee looked at each other, the joy on Sun and Moon's faces was completely wiped away.
When First noticed the sudden silence at the table and turned his head toward Bank, he understood how horribly his tone had caused a massive misunderstanding at that exact second.
He saw how Bank's usually strong, straight shoulders had slumped, how he clenched his teeth to push back the sudden, proud and brave tears at the corners of his eyes, and how his jaw clenched.
The pure, impossible to fix heartbreak he saw in Bank's eyes burned through First's chest. While actually wanting to protect him, he had wounded him deeply with his own hands.
Again.
"Bank... Uh, I didn't mean it like that, I mean, I just said it so we wouldn't rush things by saying we are boyfriends right away..."
First stammered, reaching his hands out toward Bank in a panic. Unlike his previous sharpness, his voice was now trembling in total helplessness.
However, Bank didn't let First touch him.
Slowly, with a pain that felt as if all his bones were broken, he stood up from his chair. There was no expression left on his face, his insides were bleeding, but his pride was too big to let those tears fall at the table.
He locked his eyes onto First's guilt ridden gaze, his voice sounding no diferent than a whisper, yet incredibly heavy:
"You're right. We are nothing. And we never will be."
End of Chapter 16.