The days after their first kiss were strange mix of euphoria and uncertainty. Gyuvin couldn't help but replay the moment in his mind, the way Ricky's lips had felt against his, the way the world had seemed to stop around them.
But there was also nagging question in the back of his mind: what now?
It wasn't that he regretted it, not in the slightest. But now that they had crossed that line, he wasn't sure where to go from here. Would things go back to normal? Would they go back to being just friends?

The thought of Ricky pulling away, of things becoming awkward between them, gnawed at him.
They didn't speak about it the day after or the day after that. They kept falling into their usual routines—studying together, grabbing coffee, sitting beside each other in class—but there was something new in the air.
Gyuvin tried to ignore it, tried to pretend everything was just as it had been but it wasn't.

One afternoon, as they sat together in the library, a soft silence hung between them. Gyuvin glanced at Ricky over the top of his textbook, noticing how Ricky was fidgeting with his pen, his usual calm composure slipping just slightly.
"Hey," Gyuvin said, breaking the quiet. "About the other night...are we okay?"
Ricky paused, his pen hovering in mid-air, and then lowered it slowly. He looked at Gyuvin with a soft, almost unsure smile. "Yeah. Of course. I just... didn't know if you wanted to talk about it."
Gyuvin's heart fluttered in his chest. He hadn't realized until that moment how much he needed to hear those words. "I didn't know either," he admitted, his voice barely above a whisper. "I don't want things to get weird."
Ricky's smile deepened, though there was a hint of something more in his eyes—something softer, more vulnerable. "They won't. We're still figuring this out, right?"

Gyuvin nodded, relieved. "Yeah. We are."

The tension that had built up between them began to ease but the air still felt charged, like they were standing on the edge of something bigger.

🍑

The weeks that followed were a delicate balance of newness and familiarity. Gyuvin and Ricky began to spend more time together—sometimes just hanging out, sometimes talking late into the night about everything and nothing at all.
Things weren't perfect and they still had navigate the shift in their dynamic. But with each passing day, it felt a little more natural.
One evening, as they walked to the dorms together after another late study session, Gyuvin caught Ricky's eye and smiled. "So, are we going to pretend were not going to talk about it?"
Ricky raised an eyebrow, the corner of his mouth twitching upward. "You mean the kiss?"
Gyuvin bit his lip, trying not to look too nervous. "Yeah."
Ricky let out a small laugh, the sound light and easy. "You're nervous about it, huh?"
"Jus a little." Gyuvin smiled sheepishly. "I mean, it's kind of a big deal, right?"
Ricky shrugged, his hands shoved into his jacket pockets. "It's a big deal if we make it a big deal."

Gyuvin paused, considering that. It was strange how easy it felt when Ricky said things like that—like he wasn't worries about anything. Like they were just two people figuring things out. "So, what do we do now?"
Ricky turned to him, his expression softening. "We keep going. Just like we always have."
Gyuvin's heart skipped a beat. "Yeah?"
"Yeah." Ricky said it with such certainty, such quiet confidence, that Gyuvin couldn't help but believe him.

It wasn't going to be easy and the still had a lot to figure out. But somehow in that moment, everything felt right.

———

A short chapter as im struggling mentally here.

Bye Tokkies