Lately, It's Winter Season.
Chapter 36 - Playing the role of a fool, dying as a coach.
“Sob… sob…”
“Don’t cry.”
I comforted him, gently rubbing his back while being held tightly on the hospital bed. If it were before, I would have found it difficult to understand why he was crying, but now I understood. He cried because he was happy to be my lover. I turned to look at North when I heard a giggle. Behind me was North's lover, his face full of helplessness.
I understand a little. I also feel sorry for North and his lover, who were woken up at 4:00 a.m. because of this. Who would have thought that Tiger would faint just because he was confessed to? Usually, it would be strange for the person being pursued to be the one confessing, but for the person who was flirting to faint after being accepted as his lover is even stranger. But thinking about it again… It's not strange because it's Tiger.
“Stop crying,” I said, pushing him away to get out of my embrace. I took a tissue from beside the bed and wiped his tears, “Come on, what’s there to cry about?”
“Sob… I-I’m so happy… is this real?”
"YES."
“Am I… your lover?”
"YES."
“Sob…” Damn it, he cried even louder. I heard the sound of a chair moving, turned around and saw North’s lover standing up and walking closer. I reflexively moved to cover Tiger, afraid that he would get punched. But no, the other person just grabbed North’s hand.
"Let's go home."
“Ah, yeah, we’ll go first.”
North also stood up and followed his lover before leaving, not forgetting to turn back and grin at me. I breathed a sigh of relief. Luckily, it was just a helpless expression and not a fist. If Tiger fought now, who would he win against? Look at him, he’s crying like a baby.
“Hey~” He called me, his voice drawling, then hugging me again, “I love you, love you so much! Love you the most! Sob… Thank you for loving me… Do you love me?”
“Y-yes,” I replied, my voice trembling slightly from the sudden hug that almost made it hard to breathe.
“Sob… I'm so happy… I love you too… sob.”
“Stop crying… Oh well, just cry.” I gave up. It would be useless to stop Tiger from crying over this. In the end, I could only sit on the hospital bed, being hugged tightly from behind and constantly given tissues.
“Do you love me very much?”
"Much."
“Really? A lot?” The person behind him seemed surprised, “I thought you only liked me a little.”
“I love you so much,” I said, honestly, without feeling embarrassed at all. I don’t know why I wasn’t ashamed, and the one who blushed was he.
I peeked at him and saw his face was red all the way to his ears, his heart was beating so fast that his blood pressure might have increased. He had just stopped crying, but now he was crying again,
“If you keep crying like this, I won’t say anything anymore.”
“Sob… You… How cruel…”
“You’re so heartless.” I frowned. Just the word ‘you’ alone didn’t suit me; what’s with the word ‘ah’? “No!”
“Don't you want me to call you 'you'?”
“No! Just 'you' is fine, I'm tickled to death.”
“Okay…” It replied with a somewhat unwilling expression, “Young master.”
“…”
"Hey, boy."
"What?"
“Why didn't you answer when I called you?”
“Well…” I fell silent, silently admitting to myself that I was defeated by this damn word, too.
"Hey, boy."
“Nothing. Are you okay?” I changed the subject, hoping he would stop crying.
“Um, I'm fine.”
“I fainted after I confessed to you, you idiot.”
“Ah… I was shocked. Who wouldn’t be shocked? What did I do to make you like me?” He looked confused, “I thought I didn’t act out enough. How much would it take to satisfy you?”
“…Well, it's not about going big.”
I tried to explain: “I like you because you care for me every day.”
“It's no big deal.”
“You also cook for me every day. I know you care a lot. You video call my mom every day. She says you have another precious son-in-law.”
“I just like to do it. It's really not a big deal. And you're not counting on cutting that epic movie trailer for him?”
“Just the level of effort,” I replied. “I told you, I like simplicity, normalcy.”
“But your cuteness is not normal at all!!!” Tiger argued back, his voice getting a bit louder, “Your cuteness is as big as the world, so I have to give this whole world to you!”
“Overdo it.”
“Not at all.”
“Are you blind?” I said helplessly, “Never mind, but next time if you compliment me, can you change it to handsome and cool?”
“But you're cute.”
"I'm the coolest and most handsome."
“Okay, you're both handsome, cool, and cute.”
“Sigh…” I sighed unconsciously. North was right when he said he was crazy about me.
Even though I said it myself, it was a bit narcissistic: “If there’s nothing else, let’s go home.”
“Are you okay? You're sick.” He looked at me worriedly.
“Haizz, I’m really bad. You were sick, and I fainted, and you took me to the hospital.” He held his head, looking very stressed.
“I feel much better,” I said honestly. I can stand up and walk now, probably because of the ‘hospital buff’. I felt much better as soon as I stepped in here.
“I'll sit down with the Norths and wait for you to wake up.” I held out my arms and legs for him to see, and no longer felt as weak as before.
“How did you recover so quickly? You were still lying flat just now, right?”
“Hospital buff.”
“Ah…” It nodded, “Are you sure you’re better? Can you walk?”
“I can probably walk, but I might need some help.”
“Then wouldn’t it be better to stay and rest? There’s no need to rush back.” It suggested, “You can lie down on my bed.”
“No, I want to go back to the dorm.”
“Okay then.” He sighed in resignation, “How did we get here anyway?”
“Johan’s car… But they’re back already. How are we going to get back?” I turned to ask him.
“Uh… I'll call someone to pick you up.”
“Okay.”
A moment later, Tiger's men came to pick them up. As soon as they got out of the car, they all bowed. One of them asked with a worried expression.
“Are you okay? Why are you in the hospital?”
"Nothing."
“Welcome, sister-in-law!!” The group said in unison. I jumped, frowning as I turned to Tiger. I nudged him lightly with my elbow and pulled him closer to whisper in my ear.
“Ger, tell your juniors to stop calling me sister-in-law.”
“No.” He replied seriously and quickly opened the car door for me to sit in, with a sweet smile.
I vaguely heard the others whispering to each other, praising their boss for being both gallant and romantic. Sigh, he really is loved by his subordinates. Doing something small can make them incredibly happy.
Thinking about that, I couldn't help but laugh lightly and was happy for him. Even though I didn't fully understand their work, I at least knew that being loved by my subordinates was a very good thing. Suddenly, someone in the group spoke up.
"Sister-in-law is so beautiful."
"Huh?"
“Yes, I agree! I've only seen you in pictures, but now that I've met you in person, I can see how handsome you really are. You two are a perfect match.”
“…”
I was speechless. Tiger seemed very pleased that I was praised like that.
“You guys have good eyes.”
"The ones who have eyes to see are not us."
“Praise me, but don't stare too long, understand?”
“Yes!”
“…Uh.” I interrupted, “You guys know I'm a man, right?”
“Yes, I know.” The group nodded in unison, “What’s wrong, sister-in-law? Or did we misunderstand something?”
“No, I get it.” But please stop calling me beautiful. Go compliment Nuea. I felt something was wrong from the moment Tiger called me cute. Are you all blind? Or are you just flattering me to please Tiger? “But can you call me handsome and cool?”
“…”
The group was silent, looking at each other in confusion.
“Of course! The most handsome and cool brother-in-law!”
"Thank you."
I accepted the compliment with a little embarrassment. Did someone compliment me on how handsome and cool I am? That looks pretty narcissistic, Nao.
While the car was driving back to the dormitory, I tilted my head and whispered to Tiger, deliberately lowering my voice so the driver wouldn't hear. Besides the car we were in, there was another car following us. Did we need two vehicles to pick up Tiger alone?
“Ger.”
“Hmm?”
"Why do I have to take so many cars to pick you up?"
“They came because they were worried; I didn't order them to.” It also whispered back, “Actually, they want to go even more.”
"Why do they say I'm beautiful?"
“Because you are beautiful.”
“Do they complement to flatter?”
“No, my junior isn't that kind of person. If he were, I wouldn't like him either.”
"So is it weird that I told them to compliment me on how handsome and cool I am?"
“No problem.” Tiger smiled sweetly.
“What's wrong? Don't you think it's a bit narcissistic?”
“No, it makes sense that you're narcissistic. I even like you.”
“…You bastard.”
Luckily, today was a day off. I slept until ten in the morning. As usual, Tiger had prepared food. While I was eating, he spoke.
“This guy.”
"Star?"
“Are you planning to livestream gaming today?”
“Ah… Oh.” I was silent for a moment, pondering whether I should stream or not. I hadn’t streamed anything for a month because I was busy with school, and I was also tired from Tiger’s situation.
“I’m free anyway, so I might as well stream a bit. All my fans must have left.”
“No. At least one person remains.”
“Who? How do you know?”
"People who donate a lot."
“Mr Kan or Mr Guitar?”
“The second guy is probably dead,” Tiger said softly.
I frowned: "What do you mean?"
“Nothing.” He deflected, “I’ll stream with you. Go take a shower, I’ll get the equipment ready.”
“I can take a bath. I told you I'm fine.”
“Um.”
I showered, changed, and went outside. The equipment was already set up; all I had to do was turn on the livestream. I opened the game streaming website, but as soon as I got there, I froze, blinking repeatedly to make sure I wasn’t seeing things.
"…You…"
“Do you like it?”
“…”
As soon as I entered the site, a window popped up—a beautifully decorated photo of a couple, featuring Tiger and me, with the date marked as today. It was accompanied by both of our in-game names as if announcing to the entire community that we had just officially become a couple today. How many tens of thousands of users did this site have?!
“…Oh sh*t.”
“It was a bit difficult to contact urgently, but luckily, the team handled it very quickly.”
“Don't tell me… you're a shareholder of this website?”
“As the owner.”
“…”
“Guitar's ID is also permanently banned,” Tiger said with a laugh.
“What about you, Kan?”
“Oh, that's still there. Just keep livestreaming, he'll come in.”
“Wait, why did you ban Guitar and not Kan?”
Tiger didn't answer, just gave me a sweet smile.
“How do you like it? The staff said thousands of people have seen it already, and it's only been up for a few hours.”
“…”
I was speechless. I really wanted to stand up and hit him on the head with a piece of cardboard, but unfortunately, I didn’t have the strength to stand up anymore. I could only sit down and sigh in resignation… I could really accept my fate.
“That’s okay, you did it with all your heart,” I said in my mind. As I said, the result doesn’t matter; I just need to know that he did it for me.
Wow… I’ve come to this point. I’ve reached the point where I can shave my head and become a monk, abandoning the mundane world. That’s amazing, Nao. You’re truly unparalleled.
“You like to make me happy.”
“Well, let’s just save it,” I mumbled, pressed save and closed the window. But as soon as I closed it, I was immediately hit with the website’s homepage—the place that usually promotes popular streamers. There was a section for my channel, but the promotional video featured me playing a horror game with Tiger. When I jumped up and hugged him, I was so scared that I jumped up.
…Fuck, my livestream lasted for an hour, and when I was sitting there making a cool face, they didn't cut it out. But when I was scared and jumped and hugged him for a few seconds, they took it out to promote it.
“Nearly ten thousand people have seen this. You hugged me, I have to show it off, right?” Tiger said with an innocent expression.
I raised my eyebrows, smiled resignedly again, took a screenshot and scrolled down.
“Anything else?”
“That's it,” he said regretfully. “It's only been a few hours, so that's all I can do.”
“It's okay.” I raised my hand to stroke its head, even imagining its drooping ears, “That's enough.”
Just this much and tens of thousands of people have seen it… The question is, does anyone want to see it? No. But Tiger wants to show off. I shouldn't have livestreamed...
"Okay, I'll continue streaming tomorrow."
“What’s wrong? Or do you not like what I did?” Tiger pouted, looking aggrieved. Seeing that expression, I couldn’t help but pat his head again.
“Okay, I’m going live now,” I said and pressed the start button. Tiger pulled his chair closer and rubbed against me. More and more fans started to arrive, many of them inquiring about the picture on the website. Of course, I didn’t answer. Tiger answered for me. Every time someone asked a question, he would answer it. If ten people asked him, he would repeat ten times: “We’re dating.”
“What game are you going to play today?”
“Um… Probably the same old game.” I said, opening the MOBA game, “You don’t play?”
“It's more fun watching you play.”
"You come in and carry me."
“It's more fun watching you play. Can I be your coach?”
“Go away, I don’t need a coach. North is already nagging enough.” As I said that, I invited North into the game and opened Discord to chat, conveniently letting the fans hear his voice,
“North, you came at the right time. I’m livestreaming.”
(Oh, really? Let me check.)
"Do not…"
(…Hahaha.) North burst out laughing.
(So cute, so grand. As expected of my captain, publicly announcing a relationship is not normal! If you do it publicly, you have to let tens of thousands of people see it!)
“Right?” Tiger laughed, “Now it's public with Nao's fans.”
(That's good. But will my voice be on the livestream?)
“Yes. Someone said your laugh is very pleasant to listen to.” I replied.
I read the comments while livestreaming. Most of them were like: 'Congratulations to you two!', 'I thought you two had been dating for a long time!',
'Tiger is so handsome, you two are so compatible!', 'I'm so jealous!' I could only smile shyly and say thank you.
“What about the other two people pursuing Nao? It's a little sad for them, but I'm still happy for them!”
“That's right! At first, I saw two accounts competing to flirt with Nao, but in the end, they ended up falling in love with Tiger!”
“Ah, if you mean those two accounts…” Tiger spoke up, “The Guitar guy's account no longer exists; he was banned from the channel.”
…I heard it was given by itself.
“And the other account…” Tiger took out his phone and typed something, then Kan’s account commented: ‘Love you!’ and ‘This is my account, I’ve liked Nao for a long time, so I just deposited money using another account.’
“Really!?” I widened my eyes.
“Yeah. I've been flirting with you all along. When you called me 'Mr. Kan' I blushed so hard.”
“…Fuck.” I looked at it helplessly.
“Are you angry?” He frowned.
I waved my hand: “No, I'm not angry. I'm not angry about this. But I'm angry that I call you 'brother' all the time, when I'm supposed to be your brother.”
“But you are my lover.”
“But I'm also your brother.”
“And my lover too.”
“Yeah, yeah, never mind.” I gave up. Why argue over such trivial matters?
(So ​​affectionate~) North teased, (Wait, Ger said it straight out? Not planning to keep it a surprise?)
“My name is Tiger.” Tiger said seriously, “The name 'Ger' is only for Nao to call.”
“Huh, really?”
“Didn't you notice?”
“No.” I shook my head. But thinking about it… It was true. The Fuse sometimes mixed up the calls, referring to “Tiger” and sometimes to “Ger”, probably because they were accustomed to it. At first, I called him “Ger” just because everyone else did, but now I was the only one who got to call him that. “But don’t other people call you ‘Ger’ a lot?”
“The college friends don't call anymore. It's just Mick and Fuse who slip up, and North, needless to say, always does.”
(Because I'm used to it~)
“I told you not to call me from the first time we met.”
(Okay, Tiger is Tiger. I'll try. But haven't you been in the game? Also, Tiger isn't playing? Calling you that feels awkward. Can I call you Ger again?)
"Impossible."
“Come on, Ger, come in. The three of us.”
“…Alright.” Tiger finally agreed to join the three of us. We continued to livestream as usual. I kept talking, while Tiger pulled his chair closer, adjusting the camera to show his face as if to show off that we were a couple. He always got close to me, making the whole chat channel buzz with teasing.
(Oh my god, Nao, you didn't buy what I told you to!)
“Shut up, North. You're dead, so stop preaching.” I said, frustrated.
“When you play, you're stupid. When you die, you become a coach.” Tiger added, making North burst out laughing.
(Haha, not that stupid!)
From then on, the whole department knew we were dating. I have declared an absolute ban on hanging banners or any other similar items. Even though I accepted the truth, I couldn't keep it a secret in the department because I still had to attend school.
“No way, Nao! There must be a banner!” North said seriously, “Didn't you say you've given up the mortal world?”
“I can’t let go, I still have to go to school. And then there’s the lecturer, I’ll definitely be called in for a reprimand.”
“Any lecturer who reprimands you will be fired.”
“That's terrible.” I muttered, “If that's the case, then any lecturer who refuses to give me a certificate, I'll tell Ger to fire him too.”
“Okay, please give me a seat.”
"Your lover can do it too?"
“No.”
“I don't want it either,” I said, “Just kidding. If I did it for real, I would be very evil.”
“We don't have evil intentions, do we?”
“Right.” I nodded.
Tiger is currently in school, and I called North to my room to discuss something. North didn't know why I called him, but he came anyway, conveniently eating two packs of snacks and a bottle of soda from my cupboard.
“Wait, why did you call me here?”
“You took so long to ask. What do you think I called you for?”
"Fuck each other."
“…NORTH! You have a husband!”
“Just kidding! Don't tell Jo!” North laughed out loud, making me laugh too, “And you have a girlfriend!”
"Not yet."
“Using the word 'still', haha, it's exposed!”
“North.” I ignored his teasing and called his name seriously, “I have something to discuss.”
“Speak.”
“Does it hurt?”
“What? Shot? It hurts a lot, the last time I was shot in the chest. Luckily, I didn’t lose all my blood; there’s still a line, but the healing potion is gone. What happened?”
“No, you idiot.” I sighed in frustration, “I mean…”
"To be?"
“Relationships with men.”
“!!!”
North didn’t say anything, just stared and threw the snack bag in his hand. The remaining snacks in the bag fell all over me, “S-sorry!”
“What the hell!” I brushed the food off my body and went into the bathroom to get a towel to wipe the sticky spot. “It’s all over me! Clean it up right now!”
“Okay, okay, sorry! I panicked!”
"What are you panicking about?"
"Because you asked so bluntly!"
“I haven't even asked anything yet! It's just the beginning!” I grumbled.
“See, that's shocking! Who would have thought I'd be tricked into coming here to discuss this! I'm going home!”
“No, no!” I quickly went out, sat down in my old place, watched North finish sweeping, then gestured for him to sit down. “North, I really need advice. You have experience.”
North's face was red. I was no better.
“Okay, okay, calm down. Why are you blushing?”
“You’re red too!” North picked up a snack from the table and threw it at me, “It’s normal! What’s there to be embarrassed about? But wait, what are you asking? I’ve never even discussed this with anyone!”
“Because Mr Johan… has a lot of experience!”
“Johan! You're talking gibberish!”
“Stop throwing snacks at me! Didn't you sweep them all away?”
“New package!”
“Okay! I wanted to ask since neither of us has any experience!” I finally managed to say, trying to swallow my embarrassment. I decided to ask someone since neither of us had. I didn’t have to ask, but I thought it was better to ask. The first and only person that came to mind was North. And the awkward atmosphere between us was exactly as I had imagined.
“Watch a movie! Or look it up online! My friend has no experience, and he looks it up online!”
I started to lower my voice because I was exhausted from arguing: “I saw it.”
“Oh, how is it?”
“This movie is so scary…” I said honestly. I searched for gay adult movies on my usual movie site. Normally, I watch gay movies, but after thinking about me and Tiger, I tried clicking on a gay film… and was horrified, “I mean… what the hell! It hurts like hell! It definitely hurts! I even feel pain for the person in the movie! And is that ‘fuck’ in the movie because of pleasure or pain?”
“What are you looking at that makes you ask so calmly? Okay, I won't hesitate anymore.” North took a deep breath, regaining his composure.
“I’m shy too. But, well, that’s normal, right? And… I love him. I want to be as ready as possible on that day… Well, that’s it. Ger probably wants to… too? I don’t know. But it’s better to be prepared, right?”
“Got it, got it.” It nodded, “So you're ready?”
I nodded in response.
“You accept to be his wife? I remember you once said you wanted to be my husband?”
“Oh my god, you know, it's Ger! No matter how gentle he is… I, I don't know how to describe it, but I give in, I agree.”
"If it's Ger, you'll take it all?"
“Yes,” I replied, my limbs stiff with embarrassment as well.
“For love, right?”
“Yeah, that's right. So how did it go, North? Did it hurt?”
“Hurts.” North sighed, looking down. “It hurts. It hurts like hell. Like my body is falling apart.”
“…Mmm,” I muttered, feeling guilty. Hearing someone with experience confirm it made me worried, “Is it really that bad? Like really disintegrating?”
"YES."
“Is your boyfriend like… really big? Western size? That's why it hurts so much?”
“I hate that word ‘big’.” North laughed, “What about Ger’s?”
“I have never seen it.”
“But I'm sure it's not that bad, right?”
“…If I do it, Ger probably won’t feel much pain. How about we switch roles?” I suggested that since I’m a normal size, it probably won’t cause much harm. If Tiger did it, I might lose my life.
“Wait, did you just say 'for love'?”
“I'm afraid of death.”
“You're not dead, what's wrong with you?” North laughed again.
“But may be hospitalised.”
"What a lie."
“No bullshit.” I said seriously, “I’ll tell you the truth, North. I used to get constipated and had to use suppositories. It hurt.”
“Because you weren’t… Well, prepared. It would have hurt if you weren’t prepared.” North tried to keep his composure, but he could tell by the look on his face that he was both amused and embarrassed. “There’s lube. Or something slippery.”
“Can I have some lube?” I made a sliding motion. North immediately looked bored, “Sorry, keep going.”
“It depends on how you feel. It might hurt at first, but just tell Ger to do it gently. You’ll get used to it gradually. The important thing is to prepare yourself enough before doing it.”
“I read somewhere that the first time, it hurts less if the receiver initiates. Is that right?”
“…Yes. But don't you feel shy?”
“I’m asking for knowledge,” I said, and we continued talking about this for a long time until I had no more questions. It felt like I had a basic understanding of the process.
“Has Ger ever said or shown any signs of wanting to do anything?”
“Yes.” I confessed, “We’ve known each other for a while. And… I love him. I want him too. Why am I telling you this?”
“That’s right, why should I know these things? I only witnessed the previous couples when they were being affectionate, but for you guys, I’ve evolved into a sex consultant. Or when it’s time to do it, tell me to lie under the bed, I’ll whisper instructions like a ghost.”
“What the hell? That's too much.”
“But do you think Ger has experience?”
“What do you think?”
“He never has, has he?” North frowned. “You bet? I bet he's never even seen porn.”
“Why do you think so?” I raised my eyebrows.
"I'm afraid that would be considered betraying you."
“…I didn't think so at first either. But after hearing what you said, it makes sense.”
“Well, then you have to take the initiative, Nao. You may not have practical experience, but you definitely have the theory.”
“How do you know I know theory? I just asked you.”
“Maybe not about gay, but I bet you have a lot of theories about men and women. I saw 18+ movie files on your computer. And I have to say, there are quite a lot.”
“…Fuck.” I cursed, unable to hold back because it was not right at all, “I don’t have any 18+ movies saved on my phone.”
“What? Because you don't watch?”
“I didn't save the file because I was watching it online.”
“Do you have a premium account?”
“Yes.” I smiled smugly.