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Tomorrow is a Friday. It's also Valentine's Day, and the day Ricky will finally be back from his month-long work trip. So, to say that Gyuvin is excited is an understatement.
He'd called a really fancy restaurant three weeks in advance to secure them a dinner reservation, travelled to a local chocolatier a few cities away to get a box filled with Ricky’s favourite chocolates, and just spent the past hour digging around the apartment for their picnic blanket, finally finding it buried deep in a drawer after the last time they'd used it. Gyuvin sets it on the other end of the table, away from all the other stuff he’d pulled out just now.
They should be all set. By the time Gyuvin gets off work tomorrow, Ricky will already be back from the airport. They’ll have a nice dinner, and then go to the Han River to stargaze while eating their chocolate.
Gyuvin grabs his phone to check the time. 11:25pm. Ricky should be boarding his flight soon.
Anticipating the selfie Ricky normally sends him when he's on the plane, Gyuvin keeps his phone within his line of sight as he starts putting everything back into the drawer.
Ten minutes later, instead of his phone lighting up with a KakaoTalk message, it starts ringing. Gyuvin recognises the string of numbers and answers the call right away. “Hello?”
“Gyuvin,” Ricky says, “my flight got cancelled. I just switched to another one in about six hours.”
“Oh.” Gyuvin frowns. Six hours… “So… not going to make it back in time for our dinner, are you?”
“Yeah, sorry…”
Gyuvin can tell Ricky feels bad about it, and he doesn’t like it. “Don’t apologise, it’s not your fault,” he says. “At least it's only six hours.”
“Yeah. Don’t waste the reservation, maybe you can get a friend or someone to have dinner with you. We can go again another time if you like it.”
“Okay, I’ll ask my family,” Gyuvin says, but his gut still twists. After all the effort he’d put into preparing for a nice evening for the two of them, it feels wrong to spend it with someone else. “How about we just go to the Han River when you get here? It’s a Friday, so we can stay out a bit late and still have the second part of our date.”
“Sounds good.”
“Do you want me to pick you up from the airport?”
“It’s fine, don’t waste your time. Let’s meet at the Han River directly.” There’s a pause, and then some muffled words that Gyuvin can’t make out, before Ricky says, “Sorry, I have to go now.”
If this had happened back when they’d just started dating, Gyuvin would feel annoyed at whatever it is that had to cut their conversation short. Now, he takes it in stride. When Ricky gets back, they can talk for as long as they want without interruptions. “Okay, text me when you get on the plane.”
“Of course. Don’t sleep too late.”
Gyuvin thinks back to the time when he’d stayed up for hours worried that something had happened to Ricky because he hadn’t texted him that he’d arrived home after a date, only to find out the next day that he had collapsed in bed as soon as he got home. “I’ll try not to,” he teases. He can imagine Ricky rolling his eyes. “See you tomorrow then, Ricky.”
“Mm, goodnight. Love you.”
Gyuvin beams. “Love you too.”
When he hangs up, he sends a message in his family’s group chat, asking if anyone would be interested in joining him for dinner. His parents say they already have their own plans, but then one of his brothers says he’s free, and Gyuvin’s plans are patched up just as quickly as they’d fallen apart. He texts Ricky to let him know, and gets a thumbs up in response.
By some miracle, Gyuvin wakes up before his alarm rings. The moment he opens his eyes, he grabs his phone to check his KakaoTalk messages. There are four from Ricky, sent an hour ago.
My Idiot
(6:14am) [image]
(6:15am) 😘
(6:40am) taking off now
(6:40am) see u
Ricky’s on his way back to him now. A grin breaks out on Gyuvin’s face as he sends a bunch of heart eyes emojis back. He spreads his limbs on the bed in a stretch, as if he were making a snow angel. Tonight, he won’t be the only one sleeping here, since he’ll finally have Ricky next to him again. Tomorrow, the first thing he’ll do when he wakes up won’t be checking his phone, it’ll be waking Ricky up. His heart does a flip at the thought. He can picture it so clearly, the image of Ricky lying next to him, hair framing his features angelically. Just imagining it is enough to energise Gyuvin for the busy work day ahead of him.
Thanks to Gyuvin’s good mood, the hectic day passes quickly and before he knows it, he’s leaving work and heading to the restaurant to meet his brother.
Gyuvin and his brother have a long overdue catch up over dinner, and Gyuvin makes sure to take nice pictures of the food to show Ricky later.
After Gyuvin insists on paying for the meal and they leave the restaurant, Gyuvin’s brother says he needs to buy something. There’s still another hour before Ricky should be landing, so Gyuvin follows him to the mall. As they go up a few escalators, he can see that a number of stores have put up decorations for Valentine’s Day, and many have put up signs advertising special offers too. It’s been a while since he and Ricky last went shopping, so Gyuvin thinks back to the last time they were here.
It was in October, wasn’t it? He vaguely remembers seeing pumpkins and little ghosts around. There’s something about walking around shops together and seeing Ricky light up every time he finds something he likes that Gyuvin loves.
Unfortunately, by the time Ricky gets out of the airport, most of these stores will already be closed. Gyuvin hopes at least some of the offers will still be on tomorrow so he has an excuse to go shopping with Ricky (not that he really needs one, Ricky rarely says no to shopping).
“Why are you still standing there?” Gyuvin’s brother asks, snapping Gyuvin out of his thoughts. He’s holding a box in his arms. Gyuvin doesn’t even remember seeing him go to the cashier.
“Oh, that was fast.”
“Were you falling asleep or something?” His brother heads to the escalator, leaving Gyuvin to catch up with him.
“No, I was just thinking about taking Ricky shopping tomorrow.”
His brother snorts. “You really like spoiling him, huh?”
Gyuvin flashes him a grin. “Yeah, haven’t you realised that yet?”
As they walk out of the mall, Gyuvin checks his phone. It’s 9:18pm, and he hasn’t received any messages from Ricky. He should be landing soon then. After bidding farewell to his brother at the bus station, Gyuvin goes to take the subway.
At 9:42pm, when Gyuvin is stepping off the train, three messages from Ricky come in.
My Idiot
(9:42pm) landed
(9:42pm) be there in an hour
(9:42pm) phone’s dying, i forgot to charge it on the plane
Chuckling, Gyuvin simply sends a thumbs up back as he heads to the exit. He spots a bubble tea store nearby and goes to order drinks for the two of them.
With the drinks in a plastic bag, he makes his way to their usual spot by the Han River. When he gets there, there are already a number of couples cuddled up in front of him. Going to the Han River is by no means an original date idea, let alone an original Valentine’s Day date idea, but it’s been their thing for the last few years and that’s all that matters. Luckily, there are still spaces around. Getting the picnic blanket out of his bag, Gyuvin spreads it out on the grass and sits down.
He grabs his drink and takes a sip, looking up at the night sky. The stars twinkle back at him, as if they’re saying hello. Gyuvin starts trying to connect them to see what kinds of shapes they form. He doesn’t know a thing about constellations, so when they aren’t talking about something else, this is the best he can do to entertain (if it can even be called that) Ricky, pointing out random things he can vaguely make out while Ricky squints and furrows his brows until he finally sees it.
Today there are some stars that are aligned so well they could be the four corners of a small square, and on the right there’s a letter y, and a bit further away he can sort of see a…
Gyuvin doesn’t know how long he was asleep for, but when he doesn’t see Ricky next to him he wishes he hadn’t woken up. He closes his eyes again, trying to go back to that nice dream he was having about Ricky. The sleep doesn’t come, probably because there are some people laughing like hyenas nearby. Gyuvin reaches into his pocket to take his phone out. 10:38pm. No texts or missed calls from Ricky. He puts his phone down beside him, and goes back to looking up at the sky. This is the sky that had looked down on them when they were in high school, and then when they graduated and entered university, and then when they graduated from university too and started working. Gyuvin wonders how many of these stars he’s seen before and how many he’s looking at for the first time.
As he’s scrutinising the stars, trying to dig through his memories of his science lessons for anything he might have learnt about them, something suddenly blocks them all from view. Gyuvin blinks. Two pretty eyes, a sharp nose… “Ricky!” Gyuvin jumps to his feet instantly, throwing his arms around Ricky and burying his face in his shoulder. He breathes in the familiar woody scent of Ricky’s perfume and lets his eyes shut for a moment. “I missed you so much,” he murmurs.
“Me too.” Ricky holds Gyuvin just as tightly, pressing a soft kiss on his cheek before pulling away quickly. Gyuvin’s eyes widen in surprise, and his smile spreads even further across his face.
Releasing Ricky from the hug, Gyuvin pulls him down to sit on the picnic blanket and passes him the strawberry milkshake he’d bought earlier.
“Oh, thanks.” Ricky puts the straw in the corner of his mouth and takes a sip. When he notices Gyuvin staring at him, he raises an eyebrow. “What?”
“Nothing,” Gyuvin says. “Just glad you’re back and I can see you properly again.”
“Well, I’m glad too.” Their video calls had never been enough, always leaving both of them wanting more. Ricky’s free hand slides onto Gyuvin’s thigh, resting on his palm.
Gyuvin intertwines their fingers right away. It’s second nature to him after all these years. “Did you sleep through the entire flight?”
“Most of it. I only woke up for the food.”
Gyuvin snickers. “Thought so.” Ricky would’ve charged his phone if he was awake. Remembering this, Gyuvin opens his bag to find his power bank, offering it to Ricky wordlessly.
“Thanks.” Ricky puts his drink down to take it from him, plugging it into his phone.
“Was the food good?” Gyuvin asks.
“The food on the plane?” Ricky scrunches up his face. It’s as adorable as ever. Gyuvin resists the urge to pinch his cheeks. “Could’ve been better.”
Gyuvin chuckles. “Let’s have something nice tomorrow.”
“Sure.” The glint in Ricky’s eye tells Gyuvin that he already has a place in mind. “How was the restaurant?”
“Everything was really good, we ate so much.” Gyuvin passes Ricky his phone so he can see the photos.
“They do look good,” Ricky says, nodding.
“We have to go together next time. I was so full that I even fell asleep for a while before you got here.”
“Likely thing for you to do.”
Gyuvin rolls his eyes and continues talking. “I had a dream at some point too. I can’t remember what happened but I know I was with you. So when I woke up and you weren’t next to me, I was so disappointed. I even tried to go back to sleep but I just couldn’t.”
Ricky laughs. “Too bad. I actually dreamt about you too, when I was on the plane.”
“Really? What happened?” Gyuvin feels his heart beat a little faster in anticipation. He can’t help it, he loves it when he appears in Ricky’s dreams.
“Not much, you were just being a nuisance as usual.” Ricky dodges Gyuvin’s elbow before it can hit him in the stomach.
“Right, of course I was,” Gyuvin scoffs, but he’s still squeezing Ricky’s hand gently. “Are you hungry now?”
“Yeah, a bit.” Before Gyuvin can reach for the box of chocolates, Ricky grabs a large paper bag from behind him, placing it in between them.
“Woah, what’s this?” Gyuvin asks. He hadn’t noticed this earlier.
“I bought a lot of snacks at the airport,” Ricky says proudly, tilting it to the side so Gyuvin can get a better look. Even in the dim lighting, Gyuvin can see an assortment of food inside.
Gyuvin whistles. “Damn, this is going to last us at least two months.”
The little smirk on Ricky’s face is to die for. “I have more in my suitcase that I bought before going to the airport. You’ll love them.” He pulls out a pack of chocolates. “Since it’s Valentine’s, let’s have some of this one tonight.” Ripping it open, he tears the wrapper off a piece and pops the chocolate into Gyuvin’s mouth.
It’s flavourful without being overwhelming, and the sweetness is just right. “Wow, this is really good,” Gyuvin says. He unwraps a piece for Ricky, who nods in agreement as he chews.
“Top sense?” Ricky asks.
“Top sense,” Gyuvin affirms. “Do you want to eat the chocolate I got for you now?”
“Sure, why not.” Gyuvin takes the box out, and Ricky’s eyes go wide. “No way. I haven’t seen this in years.”
Gyuvin giggles, tearing the wrapping off and opening the box. He picks up a piece and feeds it to Ricky. “How is it?”
“Mm, it’s as good as I remember.” Ricky reaches for another piece, bringing it to Gyuvin’s lips.
They spend nearly an hour like this, chatting and feeding one another chocolates. Gyuvin’s missed this terribly, talking into the night face to face with all the little touches. He never wants to be apart from Ricky for a month again.
Just as they finish off the chocolates in the box, something lights up next to Ricky. He turns to take a look, and suddenly snorts loudly.
“What?” Gyuvin asks.
“Why the fuck do you still have this?” Ricky holds Gyuvin’s phone up for him to see. Gyuvin blinks, trying to adjust to the bright light.
It’s midnight, and the notification at the top of his screen reads, “3000 days with Ricky ♥️”. Gyuvin blinks again, feeling his cheeks warm. He’d downloaded one of those day counter apps back when they were in high school because all his friends were doing it, and never ended up deleting it. “I don’t know, it’s nice to get little reminders of how far we’ve come.”
Ricky looks amused, his eyebrows raised and corners of his lips curled upwards. He puts the phone down and takes Gyuvin’s hand, lacing their fingers together again. “Happy 3000 days,” he says with a smile.
“Happy 3000 days,” Gyuvin echoes, beaming. With his lips puckered, he leans closer, but Ricky moves away before he can kiss him. Gyuvin quickly feigns a hurt expression. “I don’t even get a celebratory kiss?” he teases. He knows Ricky doesn’t like being too affectionate when there are other people around. The kiss on the cheek earlier was already more than he was expecting.
Ricky scowls at him. “Later.”
“I know,” Gyuvin snickers, “I’m just kidding.”
“I’ll give you as many as you want when we get back home.”
Gyuvin raises an eyebrow. “Oh, really? How about 300? One for every ten days.”
Ricky ignores him. “We should get going now, before the trains stop running for the night.” Dusting the crumbs off his pants, he stands up, offering his hand to Gyuvin.
“Yeah.” Gyuvin grabs Ricky’s hand, letting him pull him to his feet. “Let’s go.”
They pack everything away. Gyuvin folds the picnic blanket and puts it back into his bag while Ricky goes to dispose of their trash. When he returns, he extends the handle of his huge suitcase and picks up the paper bag in his other hand.
Gyuvin frowns. “How am I going to hold your hand like this?”
Ricky gives him the most deadpan expression. “Really? Can’t go fifteen minutes without holding my hand?”
“I went a month without holding it, come on,” Gyuvin protests. “Let me hold that bag for you. It must’ve been tiring bringing all of that from the airport.”
“Should’ve started with that,” Ricky says, finally letting Gyuvin pry the paper bag from his fingers.
They head to the subway station, Gyuvin swinging their hands the whole fifteen minute walk.
On the train, Gyuvin looks over at Ricky, who’s scrolling through Instagram on his no longer dying phone. This is the guy he’s looked at for more than 3000 days, and will look at for another 3000 days and beyond. The guy he waited a month just to get to wake up next to again. The guy he’s promised forever to because he wants to spend the rest of his days with him, doing all the mundane and exciting things alike, no matter what happens.
Ricky glances up and catches Gyuvin staring again. He doesn’t say anything this time, only returns the fond gaze that Gyuvin must be wearing himself.
The best part of all of this, which Gyuvin will never take for granted, is that this is the guy who loves him back just as much as he does. The guy who’s looked back at him for 3000 days, and will look back at him for another 3000 days and beyond. The guy who waited a month just to get to wake up next to him again. The guy who asked him for his forever because he wants to spend the rest of his days with him too, no matter where life takes them.
Normally, after having thoughts like these, one would tell their lover they love them, right? But that’s not what Gyuvin does. Instead, he finds himself saying, “Ricky, let’s go shopping tomorrow.”
Ricky blinks, lowering his phone. “Sure, but where’d this come from?”
“I saw a lot of stores doing Valentine’s Day offers earlier. Maybe some of them will still be going on tomorrow. We can see if there’s anything nice.”
“Okay, we can take a look.” Ricky goes back to scrolling. A minute later, he nudges Gyuvin excitedly, showing him an ad for a Valentine’s Day limited edition flavour at their favourite ice cream parlour. “Let’s go try this too.”
Gyuvin fights back a giggle. It’s little things like this that he loves the most.
When he’s finally at home with Ricky sitting on his lap, about to kiss him for the 32nd time (Gyuvin insisted on counting, much to Ricky’s chagrin), Gyuvin suddenly remembers something. “Oh shit,” he mumbles against Ricky’s lips.
“What?” Ricky pulls away to look at him. “Did you leave something there?”
“No, I just realised we forgot to stargaze together.”
Ricky shrugs. “It’s fine, we can make up for it another time. We can even go tomorrow.”
Gyuvin beams. “Sure,” he says, as Ricky pulls him back in for the 33rd kiss. “Tomorrow.”