Stuck Like Glue

            Neither of them could bear the idea of walking away after running into each other again, so they agreed to wander around the park together.  They walked around the lake, hand in hand, as slow as humanly possible.  They stopped to take pictures of ducks playing in the water.  They paused to pick up colorful rocks or to skip a flat one across the water.  Kyuhyun is particularly good at this.  They headed onto the beach to look for frogs and caught one, but then let it go again.  When they reached the end, they went down a side path and talked in detail about family vacations they took as children, pets they’ve had, and places they still wanted to travel.  At the end of this, they still weren’t ready to leave each other, so they walked over to the nearby market and walked through there as well, commenting on the goods and the other customers as they leisurely made their way through the crowd.

            “Perhaps we should have dinner together,” Kyuhyun finally suggested, “since we don’t appear to be in any hurry to leave one another.”

            Ryeowook smiled.  “Probably, but don’t you have a story to finish?”

            “It can wait one more day,” Kyuhyun said, threading his fingers through Ryeowook’s and leading him out of the market.  “Besides, I know I good place near here.”

            “What if I still don’t want to say good-bye at the end of dinner?” Ryeowook asked, voicing what he’d already been considering throughout their walk.  He wasn’t ready to let go of Kyuhyun, now that they’d met.  Just the other day, it had been so easy to run away from Kyuhyun and postpone their first real meeting, but now that it had happened, there was no going back.  Ryeowook was completely smitten with him.  He’d already fallen in love with him over the phone in the course of the last couple weeks, talking to him for hours on end several times and realizing just how much they had in common, how alike they were in temperament and interests.  He already knew he was attracted to the man, after meeting him by accident a number of times and not realizing who he was at first.  Kyuhyun attracted him even then.  But now that they’d actually met—now that they’d kissed and spent the whole afternoon holding hands and playfully touching each other—he could not fathom walking away as easily.  His heart grew sick at the thought.

            Kyuhyun looked over at him and squeezed his hand.  “Then take me home with you,” he simply told Ryeowook, leading the way to the restaurant.

            Ryeowook could feel his face burning.  Normally, he wasn’t the type of person who took someone home after the first date, but this was different.  Wasn’t it?  He’d known Kyuhyun a bit longer.  They’d been talking for a couple weeks already.  They’d met a few times.  They were both already in love.  Was that still so forbidden under those circumstances?  He could hardly believe that they could be judged the same.  Still, although Kyuhyun wasn’t a stranger, this was the first time they were spending real time together.  Ryeowook wasn’t sure if he was ready.

            “Does that make you nervous?  You’re blushing,” Kyuhyun said, giving him a sly smile.

            “Yes,” Ryeowook confessed.

            “We don’t have to sleep together, even if I do stay overnight.  That isn’t necessarily what I meant,” he said, reaching over to poke Ryeowook’s side.  “I just want to be with you longer.  I can’t kiss you as much as I want with so many people around.”

            That admission hardly made Ryeowook feel less embarrassed.  He possibly turned even redder, but he felt more at ease knowing that Kyuhyun didn’t have specific expectations.  “Then you should come home with me afterwards,” Ryeowook said.  “But I should warn you that my brother Heechul might be home.”

            “Would he get upset if your new boyfriend spent the night?”

            “Is that what you are?  My new boyfriend?” Ryeowook asked.

            “Don’t you think I ought to be if I’m spending the night?” questioned Kyuhyun.

            “Probably,” agreed Ryeowook.  “But he won’t get upset because he’ll assume I’m getting laid then and he thinks that would do me some good.”

            Kyuhyun laughed at this and leaned over to kiss Ryeowook’s cheek.  They were on a side road and there was no traffic at the moment, so it was relatively private.  Ryeowook turned his head and gave his new boyfriend a questioning look.  “What was that for?”

            “That’s because you’re adorable and I couldn’t help myself.”

            Ryeowook smiled and swung their arms back and forth.  “Would you really be okay sleeping over if we didn’t…sleep together?” he asked.

            “Yes,” Kyuhyun said, laughing. 

            “You won’t be tempted?” Ryeowook asked.

            “I never said I wouldn’t be tempted,” Kyuhyun said.  “But I’ll act like a gentleman if you want me to.  All bets are off if you change your mind though.  But I won’t touch you until you decide for yourself.  Promise.”

            “Okay,” Ryeowook said, nodding.

            Kyuhyun stopped him and turned Ryeowook to face him.  “Come here.  We’re almost to the restaurant and I need to kiss you again before we go in.”

            “You need to?” Ryeowook asked, laughing.

            “Yes, I need to,” Kyuhyun insisted, lightly grasping his hips and drawing him closer.

            “Then you’d better do it,” Ryeowook said, wrapping his arms around Kyuhyun’s neck and closing his eyes. 

            Kyuhyun bent his head down and kissed Ryeowook again.  He kissed Ryeowook for a long time and then finally broke his lips away and kissed his cheek as well.  “I love you.”

            “I love you, too,” Ryeowook said, holding onto Kyuhyun tight, wondering how he was ever going to let go of him again.

            “The cat’s out of the bag,” Sungmin informed Yesung, walking into his apartment.

            “What do you mean?” Yesung asked, closing the door behind him.

            “Donghae was just on the phone with Ryeowook and let it slip that we’re together,” Sungmin informed him.  “So now the world is going to come to an end, like you predicted.”

            Yesung shook his head.  “You’re exaggerating.  I was just trying to prevent Ryeowook from feeling like he had to pick sides if things didn’t go well between us.”

            “Are you sure that’s it?” Sungmin asked.  “Or were you worried he’d find out about us because you still had feelings for him.”

            “I don’t have feelings for him,” he told Sungmin. 

            “But you’re so careful about making sure no one finds out a