10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpcEHvCz04k
It was 7:13 AM.
The sun hadn’t fully decided to rise yet, caught somewhere between burnt peach and silver grey, like a sleepy promise Ren barely wanted to believe in. The curtains were drawn halfway open. The apartment was still. Still in that kind of hush that only exists when two people are deeply in love and know they don’t have to say anything just to be close.
The bedsheets were tangled, warm, and smelled like Ric’s shampoo.
Ren shifted a little beneath the blanket, pressing his cheek into the pillow. It smelled like cinnamon and the faint echo of yesterday’s kisses. And like always, just before he opened his eyes, he felt it: the weight of a hand sliding around his waist, the slow dip of the mattress behind him.
“...You’re awake?” came Ric’s voice, soft and raspy with sleep. A little hoarse, a little golden.
“No,” Ren whispered, not moving.
A breath of laughter tickled his nape. Ric tucked his face into the crook of Ren’s neck like he always did when he didn’t want to let the world start yet.
Ren felt his heart thud—not loud, but sure. Still ridiculous how just this much could undo him. A touch, a breath, a closeness.
“You smell like vanilla,” Ric mumbled. “Did you steal my body wash again?”
“Mm.” Ren didn’t deny it.
Silence.
Then Ric shifted again, pulling the blanket higher over both of them, wrapping an arm tight around Ren’s stomach from behind. He pressed a kiss there. Just a kiss. No expectation. No heat. Just love.
Ren closed his eyes again.
“I dreamt about you,” Ric said quietly.
Ren turned a little, finally facing him, barely opening his eyes. “What was I doing in it?”
“You kissed me in a bookstore,” Ric grinned. “You dragged me into the poetry aisle and—”
“I’d never do that,” Ren said flatly, cheeks pink.
“Not yet,” Ric winked, brushing hair from Ren’s forehead. “But someday. When you’re braver.”
Ren bit his lower lip, embarrassed. But instead of responding, he leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Ric’s jaw. Quick. Shy. But real.
Ric blinked.
“Oh. So this is real life,” he murmured. “Not a dream.”
Ren buried his face in Ric’s chest after that.
---
☕ 8:12 AM
They were in the kitchen now.
Ren stood barefoot in Ric’s oversized t-shirt, flipping pancakes while Ric made coffee. The sunlight slanted through the window in soft ribbons, wrapping around their ankles like lazy cats.
Ric slid behind him and wrapped his arms around Ren’s waist again. “You’re spoiling me.”
“You deserve it,” Ren said softly.
“You say that like it’s obvious.”
“It is,” Ren answered, flipping the pancake with a tiny smile.
Ric kissed his shoulder. “God, I love you.”
Ren paused, spatula mid-air. He looked down, cheeks red, heart stupidly loud in his ears.
“You always say that when I make you pancakes,” he whispered.
Ric turned him around gently, hands still warm from the coffee pot. “No,” he said seriously, looking straight into Ren’s eyes. “I say that when I feel the luck hit me all over again.”
Ren melted.
He didn’t know how long they stood like that—foreheads together, breathing in sync, hearts stupidly loud and happy.
---
🌇 Evening came.
They curled up on the couch, a warm blanket around them, a movie forgotten in the background.
Ploy had video-called earlier and told Ric to “take care of her Rennie or else.” Ren’s mom sent them homemade bread. Mint messaged to say she and Natee were coming to visit soon.
Ren leaned into Ric’s side. “It’s like the apartment smells like you now,”
he whispered.
Ric smiled, resting his cheek on Ren’s head. “It smells like us.”
ns216.73.216.213da2
