i.

“I like you a lot. Would you be my boyfriend?”

The spring had just begun when he asked Ten out. Confessing under the cherry blossom tree might be the most cliché thing he could do, but it wasn’t like he cared about it. Ten looked so beautiful with some pink petals floating down gracefully around him, and Taeyong felt like he would die anytime soon if Ten didn’t answer him right away.

Fortunately, Ten smiled after that, making Taeyong’s heart almost burst into sparkling dust. A soft ‘yes’ followed behind and Taeyong couldn’t think of anything.

If only Ten’s smile could kill him, Taeyong was sure he would’ve been dead repeatedly.

ii.

For most people, holding hands was a normal thing a couple could do. However, Taeyong never thought that way. He and Ten had been dating for nearly two months, but they hadn’t made any physical contacts at all. Ten was usually clingy, but he wasn’t demanding. What he knew was Taeyong wasn’t the type of person who would get comfortable with skinship, thus he never asked Taeyong for a hug, a kiss, or even holding hands.

What Ten didn’t know was Taeyong wanted it so bad. Taeyong desperately craved to touch Ten, holding his hand, hugging him, kissing him—doing all the thing lovers would do. It was just so hard to do it, because even the thoughts of them holding hands had made his heart thump loudly inside its ribs.

Even now, when they were sitting inside the theatre, watching some horror movie, Taeyong still froze on his seat, not able to move an inch even though he only needed to reach for Ten’s hand.

It’s normal to hold hands. He looks scared, Taeyong. He needs you to comfort him because he’s scared. He might want you to hug him, so—

Taeyong’s mind went blank when suddenly the ghost appeared on the screen. No, not because the ghost, but because Ten suddenly grabbed his hand tightly. His eyes never left the screen, but his fingers took a firm grip around Taeyong’s longer ones.

Meanwhile, Taeyong was dying beside him.

iii.

“I’m sorry for holding your hand all of a sudden,” Ten said as they walked to the bus stop. “You might not feel comfortable with that.”

Taeyong mentally screamed a long ‘no’.

“It’s okay.”

He mentally screamed a long ‘no’ again, this time with a visual of him punching on his own face because his tone sounded so cold, as though Ten was the one he hated the most, though the truth was the opposite.

Ten only hummed in return. He had a smile on his face, but it seemed uncomfortable. Taeyong noticed a shade of pink dusting Ten’s cheeks and, oh dear god, Ten looked extremely cute and pretty that Taeyong would throw himself into the ocean of love because he adored this guy so much.

“My bus will arrive soon,” the younger boy said again. “You don’t have to walk me home, Taeyong.”

But, I want to. I should make sure that you’ll get home safely with no harm. No, you can’t say no to me, not after what you did in the theatre—

The sounds of vehicle engine could be heard, making Ten turned around to see that his bus was coming. He turned to face Taeyong once again; he chewed his lower lip, something that Taeyong knew he would do when he was nervous.

“Well,” Ten muttered under his breath before he leaned forward and did something unexpected—again.

Taeyong didn’t know what his face looked like when Ten’s lips landed on his cheek. He hadn’t even had a chance to say anything because Ten quickly backed off and got on the bus—the last thing Taeyong could see was Ten’s flushed face.

The bus was gone, but Taeyong was still there, sitting on the bench with his face drowning on his palms.

He didn’t know how long it would take to calm his heart down.

“… That kid really wants me to die.”

+

It was another Saturday night when they spent together to grab dinner outside—being normal college students, they went to a fast food restaurant, wasting money to eat unhealthy hamburger and large-sized cola.

It would only be another regular Saturday night if Taeyong didn’t insist to drive Ten home—drive, because his brother was out of city due to his college community activity and Taeyong was free to use his car (it was basically their car; their father bought it for them, but mostly it was his brother who used it because Taeyong had just gotten used to driving a couple months ago).

It would only be another regular Saturday night if Taeyong didn’t slap himself and decide to make a move.

By make a move, it could mean taking revenge.

“Thank you for driving me home,” Ten said when the car stopped in front of his apartment complex. “I, umm, I’ll text you later.”

Unbuckling the seat belt, Ten leaned to kiss Taeyong on the cheek again. It was a soft, yet awkward kiss, just like the one he gave on the bus stop. Ten chewed his lower lip—this habit would never die— as he pulled away, muttering a ‘goodnight’, hand reaching to open the door.

But, Taeyong’s fingers around his wrist stopped him from doing so.

“You know,” Taeyong finally said; he moved his face closer to Ten’s, not even caring of how rapid his heart beat right now. “There’s something I really wanted to tell you from the beginning of our relationship.”

Ten blinked. “W-What is that?”

Oh, Taeyong had never known that looking at anxious, blushing Ten would be this satisfying.

“I don’t mind holding hands with you,” Taeyong took Ten’s hand into his; he smiled at how tiny it was compared to his own. “Skinship is okay as long as it’s with you. Next time we watch a horror movie, you can do more than holding hands. I don’t mind being hugged, too.”

“E-Eh,” Ten looked away and even under these minimum lights, Taeyong could see that his cheeks glowing red. “B-But, I thought you hated it.”

“Yeah, but you are my boyfriend,” Taeyong smiled. He let go of Ten’s hand only to the younger’s hair—it felt so soft against his palm and Taeyong loved it. “I can’t hate it if it’s you who do it to me.”

“How about the kiss, then…?” Ten’s face looked redder even more. “Did you—did you like it?”

Taeyong chuckled; Ten was too cute that it made him feel like exploding, but he had to keep cool in front of his boyfriend. “I’d like it more if it was more than a kiss on the cheek.”

The sentence was followed by another kiss.

It wasn’t an awkward kiss on the cheek anymore; it was a gentle kiss on the lips, and what Taeyong wanted to do was deepen the kiss, deeper and deeper because Ten’s lips were as sweet as cotton candies.

“Didn’t it feel nicer this way…?” Whispering against Ten’s lips, Taeyong gave him a final peck before taking a distance from the younger.

“I feel like bursting into dust and instantly dead,” Ten answered after a few seconds of silence; his face was red, as though it was on fire.

Finally Ten knew how Taeyong suffered because of what he did.

Taeyong could only smirk.

Revenge, my love, is always sweet.