Rune and Hyde walked through the forest. Hyde stared out in front of him, resting his hands on the back of his head. Rune had his backpack over one shoulder and hid himself from the sun in his hoodie, despite the shade the trees provided. He couldn’t risk getting burned by the small gaps of sunlight between the leaves.

They hadn’t spoken of the night they kissed, yet. Rune waited for Hyde to bring it up, but it didn’t seem like he would mention it anytime soon.

“Did you enjoy yourself there?” Hyde spoke up, startling Rune.

“Oh, yeah. Your family’s lovely. But speaking of fun, I wanted to talk about that night. When we kissed,” Rune ended in a whisper.

Hyde’s eyes widened as a blush came to his cheeks. “R-right.”

“I’ve been waiting for you to mention it yourself, because I didn’t want to push you and you seemed freaked out. But it’s been over a week, now.”

Hyde let his hands down. “I… I’m sorry I acted like it didn’t happen, I—” He sighed. “I wasn’t sure how to feel about it.”

Rune frowned. “Why?”

“I’ve never kissed someone I actually like before—or a guy, even. And I had known of these feelings for only a couple of days, then. I didn’t know how to deal with such strong and overwhelming feelings.”

“Okay, I get it. How do you feel about it now?”

Hyde took a deep breath and hummed. “I don’t regret it. I wouldn’t mind doing it again.” He smiled a little. “But, let’s maybe take things a little slower.”

Rune smiled and nodded. “Alright.” He reached out to grab Hyde’s hand. “Sorry I escalated it so quickly. I’d been anticipating it for a while, I suppose.”

Hyde chuckled and squeezed his hand. “It’s okay.”

Hyde’s stomach rumbled as they entered the cabin. He groaned and headed to the kitchen. “Lunchtime,” he mumbled.

Rune pulled his hoodie off and threw it on the couch, together with his backpack. He glanced at Hyde rummaging around in the cabinets. He considered what to do. He wanted to go up to him and be flirty and touchy, but would that be too much for Hyde? How slow did he mean, exactly? Maybe he should let Hyde kiss him first, this time. But he might be waiting forever again if he didn’t at least hint that he wanted him to.

Rune went into the kitchen. He raised his eyebrow at Hyde leaning against the counter, munching on dry cornflakes from the box.

“What?” Hyde had felt his judging eyes.

“I told you it wasn’t a suggestion!”

“We were gone for five weeks, everything else has gone bad. We didn’t have much in the first place, when we left.”

“But the cornflakes are still good?”

“Better than everything else.”

“We could go buy some food, you don’t have to eat old cornflakes.”

Hyde shrugged and grabbed another handful. “I’ve already started.” He shoved it in his mouth.

Rune huffed and shook his head. Why did he like this man? Not for his eating habits, that’s for sure. “You could’ve asked your mum to make you something to-go.”

Hyde hummed. “I could have.”

Rune leaned against the counter next to him, leaning his elbows on the edge. Hyde smiled at him. He grabbed Rune’s hand and pulled it up, out of the way, then moved closer, resting their hips against each other.

Rune curled his fingers around Hyde’s hand before he let go. Hyde blushed. He put the cereal box on the counter beside him to give Rune his full attention. Rune leaned closer and pushed their foreheads together. Hyde stared into his eyes. Rune smiled. He caressed Hyde’s hand with his thumb.

Rune didn’t move. He waited. Was Hyde going to do it? Didn’t seem like it. He sighed and moved away. “I have to wee,” Rune excused in a whisper.

“Huh?”

“I’ll be back in a jiffy,” Rune said as he walked off.

Hyde stood there, confused. Why did he leave? Did he get cold feet? No, he wouldn’t. He’s the one that kissed him the first time. So, why did he?

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

He thought about the beach, Hyde had pushed their foreheads together and moved away the same way Rune just did. And Rune wasn’t exactly thrilled about that.

Oh.

Hyde got a grumpy, spiteful look on his face as he glared into the direction Rune disappeared in. So they’d be playing games now, huh? Fine, have it his way. He grabbed another handful of cornflakes and munched on them with a grunt.

Rune came through the door again. He sat on the couch and grabbed a can of blood for himself out of his bag. He opened the can as he looked at Hyde moping in the kitchen. He turned back to his bag and got the book out of it. He opened it to the page he left off, then took a sip.

The air was tense. Hyde seemed to be ignoring him. Rune frowned. Did he upset him? If he wanted to kiss, he could come do so himself. It didn’t always have to be Rune initiating.

As if he read his mind, Hyde threw the cereal box in the garbage and approached the couch. He sat on the armrest beside Rune. Rune smiled at him. “Full enough?”

Hyde hummed and shrugged. “Where did you get that book?”

“Oh.” Rune looked down at the book on his lap. “I took it with me from Enath. It’s one of my grandad’s that Night was borrowing.” He flipped to the first page and showed Hyde a handwritten name.

Thomas B.

Hyde raised his eyebrow. “And you took it without him knowing?”

“He wouldn’t mind. And Night was finished with it. She was going to switch it out for a new one once he came back, anyway.”

“Is your grandpa running a library or something?”

Rune snickered. “I suppose he does have his own private, little library that only we can access.”

“Hm.”

Rune drank some more of his lunch. Hyde ran a couple fingers through Rune’s hair, Rune looked up at him with a slight blush. Hyde stared down at him. He ran his hand down from Rune’s hair, over his cheek, to his chin and lifted his face towards his own.

Rune’s heart sped up. Was he going to do it? Rune breathed out a chuckle. “Kissing me while I’m having lunch might not be the best idea,” he whispered. “Unless you want to know what artificial blood tastes like.”

“Whoever said I was going to kiss you?” Hyde teased in a low voice.

“A hunch.”

“Even if I was, I wasn’t planning on shoving my tongue in your mouth.”

“Aww, too bad.”

Hyde chuckled and kept staring at him, holding his chin.

“Well, get on with it, then. My neck is getting sore at this angle.”

Hyde hummed, he let his chin go. “Nah.” He got off the couch and stepped away to leave the room.

Rune frowned at his back. “Wha- Why not?”

Hyde turned to him with a grumpy look and his arms folded. “You’re the one that started playing games.”

“Games?”

“Yes, games! In the kitchen, you acted like you were going to kiss me, but then you suddenly had to take a piss and you left me there, all confused. I’m only giving you a taste of your own medicine.”

“I—” Rune glanced away. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“Then what did you mean to do?”

“I want to kiss you. But you want to take things slower, and I don’t know how slow you mean exactly. So, I thought it’d be better if you kissed me this time and I wanted to let you know that I wanted it. But you didn’t do it.”

Hyde squinted. “So, you were waiting for me to kiss you, and I was waiting for you to kiss me?”

Rune scratched his cheek. “Apparently.”

Hyde sighed and massaged the bridge of his nose. “You could’ve just asked me.”

“I didn’t want to be too pushy.”

Hyde went back to the couch. “Let’s stop making assumptions, okay?”

Rune nodded. “Yeah. Sorry.”

Hyde shook his head with a little smile. He sat on the armrest again. “Come here, stupid.” He lifted Rune’s chin up, Rune smiled. Hyde softly pressed their lips together, a wave of relief came over Rune.

Hyde pulled away with a hum. “Your lips don’t taste like blood.” Rune chuckled and pushed his face into Hyde’s chest. Hyde ran his fingers through his hair, making Rune close his eyes and relax with a sigh.

----------------------------------------

“You were away longer than I expected,” Selene commented as Hyde walked into her house.

“Yeah, we took a bit of a detour,” Hyde called back while searching for her. He found her in her study again.

She turned her desk chair to him. “Where to?”

“Home. My home.”

Selene’s eyes widened. “Oh. After all this time? Honestly, I thought you’d never go back.”

“I always wanted to, but I was afraid.”

“So, how did it go?”

Hyde let a little smile creep onto his face. “Great. Everything’s okay between us again.”

Selene nodded. “Good. Then why did you come back here?”

Hyde shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe I’m not ready to let this place go, yet.”

She hummed, then smirked. “How are things with you and Rune?”

Hyde’s face warmed, he rubbed the his neck. “Oh, good.”

“Thought so.”

“Huh?”

Selene let out a mischievous chuckle. “When you left, you were almost offended at me calling him your boyfriend—”

“I wasn’t offended, just surprised.”

“—but now, it seems to be becoming a reality.”

Hyde raised his eyebrow. “How do you know that?”

“You’re blushing only at the mention of him.”

Hyde grumpily turned away. “It’s been an eventful five weeks.”

“Also,” Selene began again with a frown. “Raven has been in a terrible mood since you left.”

“Oh no, how terrible.”

Selene squinted at him. “Did you say something to her before you left?”

Hyde sighed. “I guess so.”

“What?”

“She was pissed I was leaving with Rune and she couldn’t understand why I cared about him so much. And then I said I actually like being around him and she was like, ‘Unlike me?’ And I said yes. Then she slammed the door in my face.”

“Jeez, Hyde. That’s harsh.”

“She hasn’t left me alone for longer than a couple days for six years, I’m sick of it! It was about time she knew.”

Selene gave him judging eyes.

Hyde shrugged. “What, should I have lied and strung her along instead?”

“No, but you could’ve been a bit more gentle about it.”

“She’s the one that started yelling at me, I only matched her energy.”

Selene folded her arms. “You know how she feels about you, don’t you?”

“It’s not my fault she fell for a gay dude. I never did anything to give her the impression I liked her.”

Selene sighed. “If that’s how you see it.”

“How else should I see it?”

Selene turned her chair back to her desk. “I don’t know.” She waved him off. “Go smooch your man, or whatever it is that you do.”

Hyde grunted and walked away.