Counting Stars ✓

seventeen

[warning: fluff ahead. Maybe.]

"What do you want to do today?" Rune asked, resting on the bed. He looked at King who was busy typing away on his laptop, a pair of adorable spectacles on his face.

He tried to calm his beating heart and remain as calm as possible despite wanting to smother the boy with kisses. At this point, he wasn't sure how much longer he could go on without flirting openly when the boy presented him with so many opportunities to do so. It was almost as if he was doing it on purpose to rile him up.

King looked up from his laptop. "Not sure," he answered, taking off his glasses and setting it down. "I usually just stay home...Actually, there's this new restaurant I want to go to. Want to go there for lunch?"

Rune nodded excitedly. The suggestion sounded so much like a date he couldn't pass up on it.

"Sure, but what do you want to do before that?" The morning was still fresh, and lunch was pretty far. He didn't want to go right away since they were still both full from the breakfast King and prepared.

"Hmm," King hummed. "Remember where we first met?"

Rune cringed at the mention of their first meeting. "How could I forget?" He muttered, looking at his junior with guilty eyes. "What about it?"

"Well I noticed you seem rather interested in photography. So we can go there to have a photo session. Or maybe we can go see a movie."

"Second option," Rune chose immediately, getting up to get ready. King chuckled, saving his work and closing his laptop. He turned around, finding his breath get caught in his throat at the sight of Rune openly taking his shirt off and revealing his toned body. Seeing King gape at him, Rune smirked, pretending not to care, or noticed.

His actions made King bite down on his lips. He wasn't stupid. Yes, he wasn't very vocal or showed much emotions most of the time due to his strict upbringing about what etiquette was. But it wasn't as though he did everything without a single thought, nor was he completely unaware of his surroundings. He knew Rune held feelings for him that went slightly above that of a friend.

He wasn't sure when the feelings began as the senior had been kind since day one - even if he did hurt him unintentionally.

But he could tell the senior was now growing impatient with him acting oblivious to the flirting, trying to test him to see if King swung for the same gender. And the answer was: yes, he did.

He had only been in one relationship so far, and never ventured into a relationship with another guy. But it didn't mean he didn't have a crush on one before. While the crush was for a short while, it was more than enough for King to understand he liked both genders.

And in terms of liking Rune, he had to admit he found himself attracted to the senior, too. It made him happy to think someone who once looked at him out of guilt now had feelings for him. But he was scared, too. He was scared one day Rune would realize just how boring and troublesome King truly was and leave him. And he knew he wasn't ready to face such a heartbreak.

That being said, he also didn't necessarily want to pursue a relationship with Rune when they still barely knew each other.

The pace they were going at from being somewhat of strangers, to friends, and to roommates had snowballed at a great speed, and still was. So he would much rather give it more time before thinking about pursuing anything further. Though Rune was undoubtedly making it hard for him.

He gulped. Rather than letting his true thoughts show, he himself took off his shirt, alarming Rune. He hid a smile as he walked past the shocked senior, making sure to have their shoulders brush each other, and went through his drawer.

Rune blushed, trying to catch his breath as he stared at King's back. He had not expected him to react in such a way. Quickly, he walked over to the walk-in closet where he kept his belongings - as per the suggestion of King - and pulled out an outfit to wear.

King raised his eyebrows. As they came to a red light, he turned to look at Rune who was blatantly burning holes into the side of his face. "Is everything okay?" He asked, making sure to turn his attention back to the light.

"Nothing," Rune said. "Just admiring your beauty."

King chuckled, seeing what exactly Rune was doing. He couldn't help the tip of his ears turning red at the compliment, nor could he help what came out of his mouth,"Really? I think you're a far greater beauty than me though."

Rune choked in surprised at his response. It was the first time he had heard the younger boy reply in such a way. Usually he'd just laugh it off or completely missed whatever Rune would say.

He flushed at the reply, crossing his arms and turning to look outside the window as he was unable to find a proper response.

Noticing his silence, King quietly chuckled to himself. He wasn't sure what overcame him to say such a thing, but he was somewhat joyful he did so at the unexpected cute reaction he got from his senior.

~

"Are you sure you're okay with this movie?" Rune asked, helping King out by grabbing one of the drinks. They both agreed not to get popcorn as it would fill them up and that was the last thing he wanted when they agreed to go out for lunch after. A lunch he wanted to imagine was a date, just as this movie session.

"Ow, it's the only movie available at this time. And besides you already bought the tickets so might as well."

"Looks really boring though," Rune couldn't help grumble out. King reached out with his free hand, poking Rune's face and offering a toothy smile. "I'm sure it'll be fine, Rune."

At the sound of his name being said by the boy, he couldn't help smiling.

Rune let out a yawn. He slouched slightly in his seat, resting against the palm of his hand at the boring movie playing before him. Noticing his actions from the corner of his eyes, King smiled, he reached out and grabbed Rune's shoulder. He leaned in, his breath tickling Rune's ear, "You sleepy?"

He turned his head, their faces highly close to each other to the point where their noses touched. He gulped and nodded. Getting his answer, King pulled away and patted his shoulder.

Rune furrowed his brows in confusion. Chuckling, King reached out and grabbed the confused boy's head and pushed it down onto his shoulder. "You can sleep for a bit. The movie won't be over for a while," King whispered. Not that it mattered as they were the only one in the they're along with an elderly couple who were a few seats in front of them.

Rune blushed, his heart beating rapidly at the sudden gesture. He hid a grin, enjoying the way King ran his fingers through his hair. Letting out another yawn, and enjoying the soft scent of King's cologne, he closed his eyes.

"-une. Rune."

He opened his eyes, letting out a yawn when he saw the movie was playing the ending credit and the lights were back on. Realizing he still had his head resting on King's shoulder, he quickly moved away.

"What time is it now?" He asked, scrambling to get his phone out and turn off the silent mode.

"Still quite early for lunch. Want to just go around the mall?"

"Sure," Rune stretched his arm. They got up, making sure to grab their drinks and left the theatre. As they walked around the mall, going through several different departments simply to look, a voice called out behind them.

"Rune?"

They both turned back. Looking at them was Fah who was accompanied by her brother as per usual. She gasped when her eyes landed on King. Pointing at them and looking between the two of them, she let out, "What the fuck is going on here?"