off limits ✧ zb1 applyfic

✧ seventy seven

If there was one thing Ricky had learned in the past week, it was that summer school was downright useless. No matter how many of the classes he attended, he still didn't seem to be able to grasp any of the concepts easier. Worse, the professors barely cared about tutoring students one on one when they faced difficulties, even though the classes had been halved in size. Somehow, his algebra had gotten even worse, by virtue of how much of a drag it was to be here in the middle of summer break. That was how, today, he found himself staying behind after school, to try and finally understand a lick of algebra.

At least, Ricky wasn’t alone to go through this ordeal. Vicky, who faced similar problems with the subject, had offered to stay with him, so they could study together. Of course, she wouldn’t actually tutor him, given that her level of understanding was much the same. But she'd hoped that being in the company of a friend would help the both of them power through their workload.

That couldn’t have been more wrong. Well, Vicky hadn’t lifted her nose from her textbook once, furiously scribbling notes in a beaten up notebook. But Ricky had been completely unable to focus. Ever since he'd realized the nature of his feelings for her, Ricky had found it hard to think about anything else — maybe that had had an effect on his brain's capacity to solve equations, not that he would blame her. How could he concentrate on anything, when the girl he liked was sitting right next to him? His textbook long abandoned, all he could do was stare at her.

Before that, he hadn’t realized just how pretty she was. Maybe he'd been blind, maybe he'd noticed but the information had never reached his brain, but it seemed her beauty had blossomed tenfold since he'd come to realize he liked her. He saw it in the way she constantly tucked her hair behind her ear, loose strands of washed out pink constantly falling into her eyes. He saw it in the way she pursed her rosy, slightly glossy lips whenever she encountered a difficult question, tapping the end of her pen against her chin. Most of all, he saw it in her long, fluttery lashes, veiling beautiful eyes filled with a warmth that filled his heart with peace. How he had missed that before, Ricky couldn’t understand. He was known to miss a lot of things, but never things so beautiful.

It seemed his gaze had grown a bit too heavy, for Vicky diverted her attention from her textbook, and turned her face towards him. As their gazes met, her eyes widened.

"Um," was all she could muster for a second, as her cheeks gained in color. "Are you okay?"

"Vicky," he blurted out, letting his tongue run ahead of his mind. "What kind of guy do you like?"

His question, far from related to algebra, ripped a squeak out of her throat. She almost jumped back ten miles, her mouth opening and closing over and over again like that of a fish. By now, her cheeks were as red as a ripe strawberry, and Ricky almost got lost in poetry before she stammered, her voice high and strained.

"What?! Why... Why are you asking that?"

Ah, that. That was a good question. To be honest, the words had simply slipped out of his mouth, betraying the thoughts of longing he'd been entertaining while looking at her. Faced with such beauty, such gentleness, he couldn’t help but wonder who would ever be worthy of her.

But he couldn’t say something so uncool. "Just curious," was what he settled for, trying to sound as relaxed as he possibly could. "I mean, I've heard you talk a lot about 'fairy tale guys', but there aren't a lot of those out there."

It was a concept he'd heard her mention many times, but he still couldn’t quite grasp what made someone a "fairy tale guy". The person that fit the closest to this in his mind was Hanbin, who was as gallant and gentlemanly as the typical princes that would rescue princesses from dragons. And yet, he felt a bit more like a fairy godmother at times, didn’t he? Well, fairy godmothers were from fairy tales too, so...