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Dating is supposed to be difficult. Shin knows this well. He’s noticed this everywhere, from his mother’s relationships to his classmates’, dating takes patience, effort and compromise.
Dating your best friend however, seems to be the exact opposite.
Saint munches on salted chips as he glues his gaze to the screen, watching with rapt attention at the action movie playing on the TV. Dating Saint has been easy, the two of them have been inseparable for a reason. Nobody understands Shin the way Saint does, reading his emotions by the flicker of his eyelashes. And consequently, Shin knows Saint the way nobody else knows him. A part of the reason why the patience and compromise does not take effort in their relationship is that they’ve known each other since forever. The good, the bad, the ugly. Now that there’s no misunderstandings between them, with the past bad blood out of the way, there’s simply nothing more they have left to know about each other.
Dating Saint had been too easy , you see. Especially when they both realized that they had essentially been in love with each other since way before their reunion. Before Saint promised to buy him the cleats, before Shin joined in on whatever gang wars Saint wanted to fight. Shin had loved him enough to defy all advice from the adults around him, and Saint had loved him enough to break his delinquent ways.
But the single downside to knowing you loved your best friend since forever, is that your relationship JUST. DOESN’T. MOVE.
Third month of their relationship, nearly every single day of them staying alone in Shin’s house for extended periods of time, and not one time did either of them initiate anything that could be more than just friends.
Shin glares at the movie as Saint laughs at something happening on screen, scowling as he wonders how long it’ll take them to even hold hands romantically. And he’s tried, okay. He’s tried to initiate things. Except Saint is an absolute obtuse moron and never understands his intentions.
He tries again, snaking his hand across the sofa to reach Saint’s. Saint notices the slight movement beside him, and he turns to face the crawling hand, “Hm? Oh you want a chip?” He chuckles as he leans over the table to grab a piece of overly salted potato chips, dutifully placing it on Shin’s now open palm.
See? Saint makes it extremely difficult. Shin cracks the chip in his mouth as he averts his eyes from the movie, his attention on it long lost. Saint rambles about a part of the action sequence, breaking his sentences by soda or the chips, and Shin absentmindedly nods along, plotting to corner Eve and Airy after class to ask for more relationship advice.
You should try holding his hands as you watch a sappy romcom! Airy had chirped, It’s honestly the simplest way to establish that you are, in fact, in a relationship. As if on cue, Eve’s hands had sought out Airy’s, lacing their fingers as if on instinct. Shin hadn’t voiced the disappointment he’d felt.
Well, to Airy’s defense, this movie was far from a romcom. And to Shin’s defense, Saint wasn’t really paying attention to him. And perhaps three months was finally enough to draw the string to Shin’s patience taut, because the moment Saint jumps into another tangential yap over the action sequence, the string snaps.
“Are we friends or are we dating?” Shin blurts, the words registering in his head only after he watches the expression on Saint’s face freeze.
He turns to Shin slowly, lips quivering in the annoyingly adorable puppy-like way, “What do you mean?” He places a hand between them and leans towards Shin, “Of course we are dating.”
“But we never do anything as if we are.” Shin whispers, ears heating up under Saint’s gaze. Now that the words are out of his mouth, the embarrassment settles in. Oh god he must look so desperate now!
Yet the words make something click in place in Saint’s head, and his eyes widen in a way Shin knows he’s understood what he wants. Shin smiles, the innate understanding of each other hasn’t been lost to them, the way Saint knows without the need for words what Shin wants.
He lifts his hand out again, mission hold-Saint’s-hand-while-watching-a-movie finally getting cleared. At the same time Saint opts to shift his hand from between them to the back of the couch, filling in the space between them with himself. Before Shin can register the lack of Saint’s hand on his palm, he’s forced to acknowledge Saint’s nose close to touching his own, Saint’s breath fanning against his lips as his blurry view enhances the flush on Saint’s cheeks.
What.
Then his heart speeds up, pulse throbbing in his throat as he takes in a shaky breath. Saint whispers, “Sorry, I don’t know what to do next.”
Except he doesn’t wait for an answer before he leans in, sealing their lips in a chaste kiss as Shin’s nerves tremble all throughout. It’s over before he knows it, the warmth of Saint’s breath disappearing as he leans his body away.
“Was that okay?” Saint asks, voice hurried and anxious.
“Yeah.” Shin responds, dazed. It takes him a couple of seconds to regain his thoughts, “Although people do it differently in the movies.”
“Do you want to try?” Saint asks, sheepish, “I don’t know how they do it, so I don’t know how it’ll feel.”
Shin grabs the opportunity to tease, “Aww, the powerful Tsunami is scared of being a bad kisser?”
“Shut up!” Saint laughs, “You know what I mean.”
And Saint is right, he does. Neither of them have had any experiences with dating, much less kissing or anything else. But although the silly shyness gives rise to the butterflies in their stomach, the comfort they have around each other far outweighs the awkwardness. As such, it takes them just a little push to get the relationship going.
Shin smiles as he leans in again, Saint meeting him halfway with the same grin. The tacit understanding between them finally back online as they wordlessly slot their lips together, unfamiliar and new but exciting and pleasant. Shin tilts his head as they do in the movies, the new angle aiding him on as he sucks on Saint’s lower lip. Saint takes in a sharp breath before he pushes into him with the same fervour, catching hold of Shin’s lips. It takes them a little trial and error to figure out the pace, pushing and pulling until they reach a comfortable rhythm, lips brushing past each other as their hearts leap in their chests.
It’s warm, Shin thinks as he pulls back from the kiss, watching with amusement as Saint’s lips chase his before he realises Shin has pulled back, eyes unfocused and dazed. Shin giggles as Saint sits back properly, face flushed and thoughts still in the early stages of formation in his head. Although he probably doesn’t look much better himself.
“How was it?” Saint asks after he finally processes the kiss.
“Could be better.” Shin says, just to be a piece of shit.
“Oh yeah?” Saint challenges, leaning forward yet again.
Shin answers him with his hands cupping Saint’s face as he pulls him closer, slotting their lips together for the third time the evening, and this time they are quicker to figure out what they like, Saint’s arms snaking around Shin’s waist as Shin’s wrap around Saint’s shoulders.
The movie runs on forgotten, and the soda cans remain half drunk. Shin pulls Saint’s face towards him each time he starts focusing on the movie more than him, and each time Saint makes Shin forget the loud movie in the background for as long as Shin holds him in his arms.
Dating is easy when it comes to them, but Shin reckons that a little effort charms their relationship either way.