i. Palm to Palm

The first time they held hands, it was Sena who reached out across the short distance between them and clasped Shin's hand in his. There was a lot of work up on Sena's part, his cheeks absolutely burning and eyes trained to the sidewalk.

"Is this okay?" Sena asked, voice quiet, thoughts quiet, grip firm. Everything around him felt blurry and warm, even though it was the middle of winter.

"I like it," Shin replied. He looked at their joined hands with soft curiosity—like he couldn't believe he could do this with Sena or like he couldn't believe they hadn't done it sooner.

"We should… do it more then," Sena told the ground.

"Okay," and Shin squeezed Sena's hand lightly.

ii. Lips to Lips

Sena didn't even know how to talk about this to anyone. He hadn't kissed anyone. Holding hands was the most he'd ever done. The internet was only marginally helpful.

What do countries have to do with kissing? He wondered, closing his browser (and deleting his history just to be sure).

But, they'd been dating for a while, and Sena wanted, embarrassingly enough, more. Sometimes Shin would lean in close to help him on homework. Their faces would be inches apart. He'd be able to get a whiff of Shin's scent (a combination of mint soap and the bite of aftershave), and Sena would go still. His heart beating behind his teeth; he felt scared licking his lips for fear that it would escape. His breathing would be shallow too, and if he turned his head just so, they would be kissing.

Usually Sena would sink his head into his hands and mutter 'nevermind, I can miss one problem on the homework it's fine'.

Did it even affect Shin? Sena liked to think yes. But also, Shin's emotional IQ was… low. Sena decided to buck up, even though it felt like pulling teeth to ask.

"Could we…" Sena was pretending to do homework, working up the nerve to ask. They were in Shin's room, sitting on his futon; Sena was sleeping over for the weekend. Shin looked up from the book he was reading next to Sena. "Could we kiss?"

Shin took a good while processing the request, and Sena sweated the entire time. Finally, Shin leaned in, and cradling Sena's head with his palm, brushed his lips gently against Sena. The kiss was sweet, innocent. When they pulled away a few seconds later, Shin had an awestruck look on his face that Sena, quite frankly, had only seen when they were playing football. Sena thought he probably had a similar expression.

Sena didn't even have to ask for the next kiss.

iii. Eye to Eye

It's quite a bit later in their relationship when a muted tension settled between them. It was eight months since they started dating. Sena's heart still double-timed it when he saw Shin after a long time away. Their faces still had a goofy look when they broke away from a kiss. Sena got playfully teased about the way he looked at Shin, but he'd caught Shin looking at him in the same manner. A small voice in the back of Sena's head told him why there was tension. A louder voice told him he was wrong.

They were in Shin's room again, a few weeks after Sena started to notice that strange atmosphere. Sena was actually doing homework when he felt eyes on him.

"I need to tell you something," Shin said, in the middle of doing sit-ups. Sena forced himself to stay calm as Shin continued talking. His eyes were gentle. "I have been thinking about this a lot, and I have asked some friends for advice. Some have been more helpful than others, but I've reached the conclusion that I love you."

Then, without ceremony, Shin went back to exercising. A pin could be heard in the stunned silence that followed.

"M-Me too," Sena said once he registered the words, all but launching himself towards Shin. "Yes, I… I love you, too." Sena would later be embarrassed about all the kisses that followed, for which Shin was totally unprepared for but very welcoming to.

(The small voice in Sena's head had been right. They were skirting around who would say it first.)