After many months later, their relationship was working – not that smoothly, but it was going fine.

It was expected that it was not going to work so perfectly in such a short amount of time, considering how they were – Hyukjae still had his habit of keeping things to himself and accepting things without saying anything and Jongwoon still had his habit of choosing to ignore glaring signals and making himself unaware if someone is hurting or not. Those were things that they were trying to work on slowly, followed by working on many other things they used to do, so that their relationship could work. They were trying – even if it led to some tough or frustrating situations every once in a while.

With the many months that passed and how things between them were going, what had changed the most was how they were leading their lives now. While nothing much had changed for Jongwoon aside from him being able to organize himself better so he had enough time to spend with his friends and his boyfriend, for Hyukjae, things had changed not drastically, but enough to make an impactful difference. It started two weeks after they had started dating officially, when he finally stopped isolating himself and went back to hanging out with Donghee and Donghae and spending time with Leeteuk and Kyuhyun – he had felt embarrassed that it took so long, but they all reassured him that it was fine and they understood he needed his space. One thing that was new, though, was the fact he had actually tried to befriend Ryeowook, something that had been hard and it took even longer because of the spikes of jealousy that would catch up to him the more he saw how Ryeowook cared about Jongwoon just as much as him, but the younger had managed to grow on him as well after a few days – especially after it was clear that he cared about the others as much as he cared about Jongwoon, too.

And that sudden development was what caught their friends’ attention first.

You see, it made them happy that now, Hyukjae was almost back to his old self again. It had been weird to see him so closed off and silent ever since Ryeowook came around, but now, seeing how Hyukjae looked happier and was feeling better, it left them wondering what had changed after Jongwoon and him talked about in the last time they met – because even though some of them were nearly blackout drunk that night, a few of them still remembered the sour mood Jongwoon had been left with for the rest of the night and how Hyukjae had cried and left as if something terrible had happened. But with this sudden change, curiosity was slowly catching up with them, especially when they would observe their behavior every time they would meet – for a drink or to just hang out for a day.

It all started with things that seemed to be normal for Jongwoon and Hyukjae to do had started changing, like the way Hyukjae seemed to be more willing and open to Jongwoon’s affection now, not shying away from his hugs or kisses like he would before. There was also the fact that now, they would hug and kiss openly and neither of them would stutter and struggle with making excuses to explain the scene they just had seen. It got more obvious that something was different when, unlike before, Hyukjae was more clingy to Jongwoon now, holding his hand or just hugging him at random settings, sometimes going as far as to sitting on Jongwoon’s lap and resting his head on his shoulder, dozing off while the others talked about random topics. What solidified it, though, was the way Jongwoon seemed to be leaning to those affections as much as Hyukjae, sneaking a kiss here, a kiss there, a hug here and there, always choosing to stay close to Hyukjae so he could touch him – be it by leaving his hand resting on his lower back or be leaving his hand on his nape, caressing it as if it was something normal to do.

Clearly something had changed in their non existent relationship, it was just hard to pinpoint what and even harder to ask what had happened between them, considering their previous behavior whenever the question would pop up, be it by them or an acquaintance asking. They decided to wait until one of them said something – either to tell them to stop being so curious over something that had nothing to do with them or to admit that yes, they were finally dating after many months of this uncertainty. Curiosity was killing them and that was not surprising, but even though there was the urge to ask, there was also the hesitance when it came to asking if there was something finally going on between them – so the question would always hang in the air every time Jongwoon and Hyukjae did something that friends would not do.

The answer for their question came not that long after, though. During one time where they had met to catch up on a few things that happened in the weeks that passed, they eventually noticed that both Jongwoon and Hyukjae were wearing a new accessory in their hands – a ring, with similar design and pattern that seemed to complete each other if looked carefully and placed side by side. It took them some embarrassing long minutes for them to realize that small detail, but hey, at least they did. It also took them every cell in their body to not scream “ing finally” in front of them when they realized that yes, it meant they were finally dating after so much pinning, but they screamed in their groupchat without the two of them. All in all, they were quietly supporting them in the only way they knew – by embarrassing them with teasing and making jokes about it, but that was expected, so Jongwoon and Hyukjae teased them just as much.

In the end, in Hyukjae’s view, things were much better between them now.

While there were still moments where they messed up and went back to their old habits, they were managing just fine – some fights would inevitably happen and sometimes it was just easier to ignore the issue and pretend everything is fine. What was important, though, is that he was growing more used to opening up to Jongwoon about his feelings and Jongwoon was getting more aware of his feelings, especially of the signals he would unconsciously show if he was upset or hurt by something. Of course, there was still a long way for them to go and more changes to come in the future, but the thought of it did not scare Hyukjae as much as it would in the past anymore – in fact, it had been a long time since he ever felt like hiding and isolating himself again, in fear of the future causing consequences that he was afraid of facing and dealing with. Jongwoon had been very helpful with that and Hyukjae realized he never thought about the future or feared it as long as his boyfriend was around, because Jongwoon always knew how to use his words to ease his worries.

If words were not enough, Jongwoon could kiss those worries away – it was turning common for them to kiss and make out whenever Hyukjae was feeling down because that way, it was easier for them to stop thinking for a second and just enjoy the moment and the pleasures it would bring when it eventually would lead to them retreating to the bedroom – most of the time it being Hyukjae's bedroom – and talk things out later, after the bad feeling had been shaken away and they could talk about it calmly.

But, in Jongwoon’s view, while things were okay, there was still a thin shade of doubt and fear haunting him – not enough for it to be obvious to anyone else, but enough to make him feel insecure and wonder things that had been clear and obvious for a long time already. Inside him there was the need to say, to ask something not really that necessary for him to ask but it was haunting him, yet there was also the fear and the thought of things going terribly wrong if he voiced it out – the scenario where Hyukjae could get hurt by his question, because that could mean he was questioning him and their relationship and he was afraid of what Hyukjae could think. It was a scary feeling, so in his fear he stayed quiet, watching as things developed in front of him while he stayed lagging behind, struggling to keep up as he was slowed down by his own insecurity that was slowly growing and taking advantage of the state of mind he was in. He would have kept