𑣲⋆｡˚ OLD HABITS , NEW FEELINGS
synopsis: keonho and y/n have been friends since childhood, and share some habits that some may question. what happens when someone catches feelings?
.ᐟ ᢉ𐭩 lowercase intended, not proof read.
keonho and y/n were best friends since the start of time, or that’s what it felt like. it all started on a random day in kindergarten.
“i like your shoes.” a girl spoke, the little boy raised his head, then stared down at his shoes, then back at the girl as a smile rose on his face.
“wow thank you, i like your hair!” the boy spoke back, and the girl reciprocated the smile.
“thanks! what’s your name?” she asked, to which he responded, “keonho!”
and that’s how the two became friends, it was so simple. but over time, they built a few habits. they were never intentional, it just kind of happened… and neither of them questioned it.
- a kiss on the cheek ; a greeting, a way of saying “thank you”, or giving out reassurance
- holding hands whenever crossing the street
- cuddling during sleepovers
- playing with each others hair
it was always so normal, people questioned them but they never thought it was weird, they’d been doing it since they were so young, why stop now?
one afternoon after school, they were walking home together. their feet reached the crosswalk and y/n immediately reached for his hand out of habit, and without hesitation he laced their fingers like always.
but when they reached the other side, y/n didn’t let go of his hand. in fact, she tightened her grip. continuing to talk as she swung their locked hands lightly.
keonho felt his chest do something weird, almost as if his heart skipped a beat.
“that’s weird… must be the wind.” he thought to himself.
the next day, keonho noticed y/n feeling a bit down in class. she had her arms folded on her desk and her face was tucked in her arms.
he tapped her shoulder, and she slightly rose her head. her eyes softened when they landed on his. “oh it’s you, hey keonho.”
“hey y/n,” he took the seat next to her, “what’s wrong, why’re you so down?” he questioned.
“it’s nothing, i’m just a bit tired and my stomach hurts, i think i’m just hungry!” she let out a slight giggle, the sound so familiar to him yet so lovely.
he nodded his head, knowing she’d probably skipped breakfast like always.
so what did he do during lunch? he went straight to the convenience store. he bought her the drink he knew she loved, as well as her favorite chips and a pack of donuts. not enough to make her full, but enough to hold her down.
it wasn’t a romantic gesture, he always bought her snacks.
when he returned to school, he went straight to their lunch table, and he found y/n sitting there with her head down just like before. he set the snacks down and then tapped her awake.
when her head came up, her eyes brightened, “all of this for me?” her head turned to him quickly as a bright smile hit her face. she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him into a tight embrace.
his heart jumped, he could’ve sworn she’d heard it. she was so close to him, he could feel her breaths on his neck.
“must be ‘cause she startled me, she hugged me so fast!” he thought, refusing to think anything else.
a few days later, they met at the park with some friends. y/n saw keonho sitting while he talked to their friend seonghyeon. she tapped his shoulder, when he turned his head she placed a small kiss on his cheek.
his eyes shut when he noticed her leaning in, yet when she pulled away his eyes stayed shut. he was caught off guard. he quickly gathered himself, waving to her and turning back to seonghyeon, trying to pretend nothing happened.
but his breathing had changed, each exhale felt incredibly shaky. and of course, seonghyeon noticed. when y/n walked away, he turned his head to keonho.
“you’re definitely gonna fall for her if you guys keep greeting each other like that. look at how she has you!” he chuckled, putting a hand on keonho’s chest, feeling how shaky his breathing was.
keonho shook it off, slapping away seonghyeon’s hand in denial, “it’s not like that. there’s no romantic intention behind it. it’s just… habit.”
seonghyeon squinted, “yeah sure, habit. keep telling yourself that, and the rest of us will wait for you to notice you’re catching feelings for her.”
keonho rolled his eyes, shoving his hands in his coat pocket.
the rest of the time at the park was fun, until it came time to bring y/n home.
she immediately reached for keonho’s hand, locking their fingers as they said goodbye to their friends.
suddenly, he could not manage to get seonghyeon’s words out of his head.
“catching feelings for y/n? i could never!”
“shes just a good friend of mine, she would never like me!”
“i would never catch a crush on a childhood friend, that leaves so much room for rejection.”
and of course y/n noticed, she noticed everything.
“what’s on your mind keonho? you’re… strangely quiet.”
when he processed her words, he snapped out of it immediately. “oh it’s nothing really, i’m just tired.”
she looked over at him, “you sure? you can tell me anything.” she spoke.
he nodded, letting go of her hand as they arrived at her house. she turned around and her hand went straight up to his hair.
“get some sleep then keonho, thanks for walking me home. i’ll see you tomorrow?”
he leaned into her touch for a moment before nodding, “see you tomorrow.”
she stood there for a moment, it looked like she was waiting on something. he examined her eyes before noticing what she was waiting on. he leaned in, pressing a light kiss to her cheek. she smiled when he did so, and then went inside.
he turned to walk away, his heart was HAMMERING against his chest. he should’ve known he was in danger, but he still denied any possible feelings.
the end of the week arrived, and y/n had texted him about a sleepover. he found himself more excited than usual, they have sleepovers all the time, why was he so excited?
he arrived at her front door step, and she opened the door for him, immediately giving him a peck on the cheek that managed to steal his breath.
they went straight up to her room, taking a seat in front of her tv. she had two nice bean bags in the corner of her room. however, he noticed in his peripheral that as he was taking a seat, she was pushing her bean bags close to his, he ignored the weird feeling in his stomach as he brushed it off, looking for a movie for them to watch.
when he started the movie, she covered them both with her blanket, and then she held his hand. as if that wasn’t enough, she leaned her head on his shoulder, and it fit just like a puzzle piece.
he was unusually flustered, but why? she always did this every time they hung out, why is it now that it gave him a weird feeling. this was supposed to be normal, their normal.
things didn’t get any better when they were laying down in her bed, talking about life. he was laying on his back and she was laying on her stomach, propped up on her elbows while brushing her hands through his hair.
“he quite literally said that aliens should be removed from area 51 so that they can fall in love with humans!”
he honestly didn’t hear much of anything she was speaking about, he just nodded occasionally and hoped it worked. he was so distracted by how good her fingers felt against his scalp and how she looked down at him when she spoke.
he didn’t want to be anywhere else, he never wanted this moment to go away. he would stay here forever if he could.
“oh, that’s not a normal thought” he realized suddenly. he felt defeated because he knew he was catching feelings for her, it was only a matter of time before he stopped denying it.
“and that’s a prime example of why juhoon should never become a scientist!” she yawned suddenly, she reached up to rub her eyes and sighed after.
“i’m getting tired keonho, wanna head to sleep?” she asked, noticing he was staring up at the ceiling.
“keonhoooo,” she snapped in his face, finally gaining his attention. her expression dropped, “did you hear me at all?”
he panicked, he obviously didn’t but he couldn’t tell her that! “of course i did! you were talking about… juhoon.”
she tilted her head, “but why do you sound so unsure?”
he let out a sigh of relief, at least he guessed who she was talking about correctly. “i’m just sleepy.”
she nodded, not believing him but still reaching up to turn off her fairy lights hung up on the wall next to her bed. she then pulled the covers up and placed it over both of them as her head landed on his chest.
he IMMEDIATELY held his breath, he felt his heart beat pick up and it was beating fast, he tried to calm it down but he knew he couldn’t.
she chuckled against his chest, her hand finding his as she tangled their legs together. “calm down keonho, goodnight.”
his face flushed. she was so close to him, and she could hear his heart beat. he was so grateful that the light were off or else she would also be able to see his crimson face, this was the night he finally accepted it.
he was falling for her, and he was falling hard. he realized at this point there was nothing he could do about it but accept it, because the more he tried to deny it, the stronger his feelings grew.
keonho had a terrible day, he got no sleep at night. it resulted in him flunking his math test and slacking off at swimming practice.
when he left practice, he felt stressed and angry, so he went where he always did when he felt upset, y/n’s house.
y/n opened the door, shocked to see keonho at 10:00 PM on a tuesday night, she tilted her head, taking in his appearance.
he was shivering, hoodie and sweatpants slightly damp, and his hair was dripping onto his clothes. “ahh, swim practice.” she realized.
“yes keonho? it’s late, why aren’t you home getting ready for bed?” she asked him, watching as he walked straight into her house.
“i just had a long day, i’m so stressed out. i don’t know what’s happening to me.” he ranted as he walked right to her room and she followed.
they took a seat on her bedroom floor, sitting face to face as he rambled on. “i just struggled to get any sleep at all last night, and i had zero appetite to eat before school so i didn’t and it was one of the worse decisions ive ever made. i was hungry all day long. then boom, a pop quiz in math. i’m usually good at math, but of course today is just my lucky day! i failed the test with a 62%, that’s going to drag down my grade!” he ran his hand down his face as if he was melting.
she listened attentively while playing with his fingers, then she reached up and began to play in his hair. she immediately felt the tension drain from his body as he leaned into her touch.
he exhaled calmly as he shut his eyes, feeling relaxed already. “you always know how to calm me down.”
she smiled, “that’s what i’m here for. i don’t want you carrying the weight of being stressed all alone.” then suddenly, he felt a pair of lips brush the corner of his mouth. his eyes shot open and they found hers.
she just continued to play in his hair with that innocent smile on her face, but he was breathless.
he felt his heart beat quicken, the butterflies in his stomach, his nerves rose, and he spoke before he could stop himself.
“i think i like you- no, i know i like you. i have tried so hard to neglect these feelings because our friendship is something i value so much and have never wanted to ruin but i couldn’t help it anymore. the small habits we’ve had since we were kids eventually caught up to me and i couldn’t help but fall in love with you. i know this will probably make everything weird and you’re never going to want to talk to me again after this and i completely understand that but i just wanted to get this out so i can act normal again-“
y/n shut him up by grabbing his collar and kissing him, properly.
her hands cupped his face as their lips met, soft and filled with purpose. keonho slightly gasped before kissing back, hands finding her waist immediately and gripping onto it like he was afraid she’d disappear.
their lips moved in a perfect sync and keonho could’ve sworn he was melting into the floor beneath him because of how perfect the moment felt. he held her like she was his lifeline and she kissed him so sweetly.
they finally pulled apart and stared into each others eyes while breathing heavily. y/n had a warm smile on her face.
“i like you too keonho, and i have for a while. i never thought you felt the same though.”
keonho looked dumbfounded, “you have?” she chuckled, “yes dummy, all of those habits we have? those stopped being habits a while ago, at least for me.”
he bursted out laughing, too stunned to speak, before he reached out for her, pulling her closer as he connected their lips once again, leaning back so she hovered over him to elevate the special moment.
guess she beat him to it?
this is my first ever story, i had so much fun writing it and i hope you guys enjoy reading it just as much! i appreciate anyone who stopped by to read it.
published - jul. 3, 2026.
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