Beyond the rising bubbles, jewel-like blue eyes were too vivid. Because of that, Leonardo—his gaze caught in the other’s—took a moment to understand what was happening.
It felt as if the world had stopped. If the bubbles hadn’t brushed his skin, he might have truly believed it.
Only hair fluttering in the currents slowly traced across his hazy vision. At the same time, the sensation of noses brushing at an angle ran from the bridge of his nose to his forehead and up to the tips of his hair. As his scalp prickled with gooseflesh, Leonardo finally registered the reality in front of him.
‘...!’
His golden eyes, swallowed by confusion, shook violently as he took it in. His hunched lower back, forearms, shoulders—everything trembled almost at once.
The first thing he recognized was the indecently close distance between them. The next was his own lips, awkwardly pressed by that person’s.
The blurred sensations sharpened. The strangeness of the kiss that followed blew away the reason he’d barely been clinging to.
Leonardo reflexively squeezed his eyes shut and tensed his unsteady neck and arms. But even though it was his own body, nothing moved the way he wanted. He was bound from head to toe, wrapped tight in water.
“Ugh, mmm—”
Meanwhile, his head was tilted toward the other as if begging, and the short sound he barely managed was swallowed by the water, as if meant for him alone. When he cracked his eyes open to look, narrowed blue eyes were staring down at him, intent.
As that heavy gaze slowly tangled with his, his already meager breath was cut off.
‘What kind of situation is this?’
He couldn’t make sense of it at all. He could only try to ignore his own reflection in those blue eyes while, confused, clutching at the arms that held him.
Was it a response to how tightly he’d clenched his hand? The lips on his carefully rubbed over his lower lip. The motion was slow and persistent, as if trying to coax apart his clenched teeth.
That spot felt hotter than any other part of his overheated body, making it hard to believe the person pressed against him was ice. And it was so strange—so stimulating—that Leonardo’s eyelids trembled on their own. The particularly sensitive, delicate skin responded faithfully, against his will.
“...”
“...”
His jaw locked and the corners of his lips quivered. His reason, refusing to leave an opening, ground his teeth. Even that seemed pointless as cool fingertips continued to rub at his mouth. It was probably meant to soothe him, but the touch only made Leonardo more bewildered. He didn’t know what this act wanted from him.
Because of that, when he kept his mouth sealed and continued to resist, Hugo—after several gentle tries—changed his approach.
A large hand caught Leonardo’s chin and tried to force his mouth open. It had probably been about three minutes since he’d stopped breathing, which meant he was nearing his limit. Even if Hugo was fine, Leonardo might drown right in front of him at this rate.
Staring at the golden lashes trembling even underwater, Hugo persistently worked at the gap between Leonardo’s closed lips. He tried to wedge anything between the soft membranes and blow air in, but Leonardo wouldn’t open his mouth, as if determined to ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) resist even if his jaw broke. That insistence—this half-forced kiss—stirred emotions in him beyond mere confusion.
‘Leo.’
A voice other than the one before him called his name. With it, his furrowed brow smoothed at once, and memories he’d buried far away surged up in vivid clarity.
Hugo, pressed close, had no choice but to cover Leonardo’s lips completely. He managed to create a gap by firmly pinching both cheeks. Then he began to blow cold energy into it, like artificial respiration—but each time Leonardo’s mouth filled with air, his spine went colder.
‘Leo.’
What came next wasn’t relief.
It was an indescribable fear.
“...Ugh, mm!”
Leonardo jerked his head away and, without meaning to, released explosive heat. In an instant, the lake water around them boiled from it.
Amid the chaotic surge of bubbles, the water molecules binding Leonardo’s limbs dispersed for a moment. Hugo, holding him, faltered at the heat. In that brief opening, Leonardo felt his body free and shoved hard at Hugo’s shoulders with both arms.
Caught off guard, Hugo was pushed back a little, but the water cushioned him and he didn’t go far. He regained his balance quickly and, after a blink of disbelief, surged toward Leonardo again, riding the currents.
But Leonardo thrashed and flailed, trying to get away from him. Seeing how frantic he was, Hugo first snatched one arm flashing in front of his eyes, trying to calm him. Then he tried to pull him back in front of himself, to face him properly.
But in an instant, Leonardo’s wildly swinging fist slammed into Hugo’s chin.
“...!”
Even underwater, a dull impact carried. He probably couldn’t use even half his usual strength through the resistance, but it felt as if Hugo’s jawbone had nearly shattered.
Pain Hugo had never known shot through his lower jaw, and his expression crumpled out of control for a moment.
A heartbeat later, with an iron taste and fishy tang in his mouth, he stared at the struggling Leonardo, stunned. But the one who had struck looked just as shocked—Leonardo froze, face drained pale. Maybe it was lack of breath, but seeing the chance, Hugo bound his entire body again with water streams.
As Hugo closed in, Leonardo twisted his head, trying to escape once more. But a large hand clamped down hard on the back of his head, fixing him in place so he couldn’t avoid it. The lips that had separated crashed together again, rough and abrupt.
“...”
Leonardo’s broken moans, leaking through his crushed lips, were swallowed whole. Instead, their breaths churned together, and bubbles slipped out now and then between their mouths.
Leonardo’s twisted golden eyes glared up at him, defiant. Not to be outdone, cool blue eyes met him head-on, hard and overbearing.
Hugo’s hands, locked around Leonardo’s waist and the back of his head, gave him no room to flee. Hugging him tighter and pressing their bodies together, he let cold spill out as if to freeze everything solid.
Held like this in Hugo’s arms, Leonardo shivered at the ice-cold water brushing his skin. At the same time, familiar mana came through their mingled breaths and poured into his airway like a flood.
That mana, mixed with a fishy taste, filled his mouth, sloshing like real water. With his breath blocked and no room to refuse, Leonardo instinctively lifted his chin and tried to swallow it down. As his Adam’s apple bobbed like he was drinking, his heart and stomach cooled with an aching clarity.
At that cool, uncanny sensation, Leonardo squeezed his eyes shut again.
But something felt wrong, and soon his lids twitched and opened a fraction.
Beyond the rising bubbles, deep-sea blue eyes were too vivid.
And then, when he realized the heat inside him had stabilized, strangely enough, the tightness in his chest began to ease, his blocked breath slowly opening up.
