#and the lover box means someone they are actually DATING/ married to | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

romewritingshop · 1 year ago

Text

Main Tera Pt. 1

Fandom: Jujutsu Kaisen

Pairing: Kento Nanami x Brown Indian Female Reader

Tropes: Childhood lovers, Exes-to-lovers, Fake dating, co-workers-to-lovers, wedding

Warning: Toxic family members, talks of death, weddings, fake dating, swear words, aggressive behaviour, talks of abandonment and grief

MASTERLIST

A/N: Hey so this is inspired by my own culture. I wanted to write this fic and I hope it's good. The next part will be up soon. Thanks and I hope you enjoy. Let me know what you think! Follow, comment or reblog, IDC because I enjoy writing this fic. Please pay attention before reading.

"What the fuck do I do 'Bara?"

(Y/N) couldn't believe her eyes as she stared at the white box. Red and gold confetti was strewn across her work desk but her eyes focused on a gold bordered invitation with the names:

‘Tina Singhania weds Harpreet Singh’

The box was an over the top gesture her cousin did to embarrass her but that was not her main concern. Her main concern was the fact that the invitation was addressed to her and her boyfriend. She didn't even have a boyfriend, not even a casual partner.

(Y/N) rubbed her forehead from the impending headache. Haibara smiled nervously as he patted his friend on the shoulder, looking at the open box. She only had about two weeks to find someone before she would then have to fly out to India for the wedding.

"I mean, you just have to find someone to be your boyfriend. Not an actual one, just pretend."

(Y/N) grimaced as she slumped down right in her chair. To make matters worse came the most annoying human being in the world.

"(Y/N)! What's that on your desk?"

The man with the blue circle rimmed glasses and shaggy silverish hair: Satoru Gojo. He came around and sat on the corner of his co-worker's desk, looking into the box and gasping at the red cupcake inside. He reached in and plucked it out, opening his mouth to take a bite when it was snatched away.

"Suguru, what the hell?"

Suguru rolled his eyes and returned the cupcake back on (Y/N)'s desk.

"Satoru, you don't take things that aren't yours." Suguru turned to his co-worker with a smirk. "You ask: Pretty Woman, can I have the cupcake?"

(Y/N)'s scrunched up with disgust as she brought a hand up to turn Suguru's face away.

"Don't show me your creepy ass face. And don't call me Pretty Woman!"

Right behind Satoru was his best friend, Suguru Geto, the inseparable duo that often liked to fan flames and cause mischief. Suguru had a scary face most of the time but he was calmer and nicer than Satoru. The two of them came over to see this mysterious package that had arrived on (Y/N)'s table.

"So your sister is getting married?"

Third person to arrive was the brown haired and half-tired Shoko Ierie. She had pried out the invitation from (Y/N)'s hand and read all the information. The box was drawing too much unwanted attention as (Y/N) lifted the box and shoved it under her desk.

Everyone seemed to have gathered around her desk as Satoru leaned over and picked the invitation out of Shoko's hands.

"You had a sister? And didn't even think to tell us."

"Only you Satoru."

Satoru stuck his tongue out at Shoko, his hand reaching out to grab the cupcake but Suguru snatched it and held it close to his chest. (Y/N) reached over and snatched the cupcake to give it to Haibara, folding her arms.

"I don't divulge my personal life to you, Satoru."

"And to think I considered you my best friend."

(Y/N) refrained from scoffing before retaining her composure. She may as well tell them the whole story seeing as they will continually bother her.

"She's a cousin and off limits Satoru."

Satoru scrunched up his face and folded his arms like a petulant child that was just refused their favourite candy. (Y/N) pinched at her forehead, her forehead creasing.

"Only there's one problem."

Suguru raised a curious eyebrow as (Y/N) sat at the edge of her desk.

"What is it?"

"I have to take a boyfriend with me."

Suguru and Satoru shared a confused look with one another. They didn't know their work friend had a boyfriend as Satoru exhaled. There went their chance.

"Ah shame. I'm sure you and this boyfriend you-didn't-tell-us-about are gonna have a great time at your cousin's wedding."

(Y/N)'s face scrunched up as she shoved Satoru's shoulder.

"I don't have a boyfriend, you idiot!"

Satoru whistled with relief and sent a secret thumbs up to Suguru who rolled his eyes. Shoko was confused as she asked.

"Well can't you go without a boyfriend?"

"My cousin will kill and embarrass me. She's done it in the past so I'd rather avoid that."

Haibara patted your shoulder with comfort, having known and met your cousin once before. As Shoko scratched her head, understanding how dire the circumstances were, Satoru had a big grin on his face as he brushed his fingers in his white locks.

"You know if you need someone to pretend-"

Suguru smiled smugly whilst cutting in.

"No offence Satoru, you are the last person she should pick as a fake boyfriend."

"What are you talking about? I'd make a great boyfriend."

Shoko piqued in as she snatched Satoru's goggles off his face and put them on her face.

"Hi! I'm Satoru Gojo and I'm a wannabe model! Bet you never met a person with silky grey hair and bright ocean-like blue eyes!"

Suguru snickered while Satoru's face grew red. He took his glasses and returned them to his face whereas (Y/N) patted his shoulder to apologise.

"I'm sorry 'Toru but she would see right through you."

"She's right. That's why I'm the better choice, Satoru. Isn't that right, Pretty Woman?"

Suguru grinned smugly as he took (Y/N)'s hand and kissed the back of it. As if to persuade her that he was the better man to take on the role. (Y/N) awkwardly bared her teeth as she pulled her hand away to wipe off his kiss.

"I'm sorry Sugu but you're not even a better choice. You would scare half my family with those gauges and tattoos."

This made a sad pout appear on Suguru's face as he exhaled.

"That's hurtful. But wouldn't that also be a big fuck you to your cousin? I'd treat you so well."

"It would and you might but let's also not forget last year's party where your quote-unquote girlfriends dropped by to accuse you of being a slut."

This time Satoru and Shoko snickered whereas Suguru raised an unimpressed eyebrow. Haibara had a constipated expression on his face as he listened to this conversation.

"Your point?"

"I don't want to have to run into another set of girls who claim you were the best night of their lives."

"I'm not that big of a slut."

At that moment they all deadpanned at Suguru's words and Satoru flailed his hands to gesture.

"Says the one who was the most popular one in high school."

Suguru glared at Satoru before huffing with reluctant agreement. Then his eyes furrowed and snapped to Haibara, almost accusatory. Even Shoko raised an eyebrow at Haibara.

"Don't tell me that Haibara is your choice!"

(Y/N) rolled her eyes before resting her hands on her hips. Haibara nervously shook his head.

"I've already met her family so they're not gonna believe I'm her boyfriend."

Which leads everyone to think and ask themselves, who? At that moment a weary face and blonde hair walked up to the group, his eyes narrowed and arms crossed tight across his blue buttoned chest. He cleared his throat which made everyone stand up attentively.

"What's going on here and why is it a mess?"

Satoru, Suguru and Shoko quickly scuttled away from (Y/N) leaving her to face their grumpy team leader, Kento Nanami. Only a few months older than her and was brought onto the company as the team leader. She didn't even want to talk to Nanami as she sent a glare to her other co-workers that abandoned her.

"Nothing, Mr. Nanami. Just received a package."

Nanami exhaled as he watched his co-worker clear the rubbish on her table and toss the box underneath her desk. Haibara returned to his cubicle as Nanami took a safe step close to (Y/N), hoping that she would just take a look at him.

"(Y/N)?"

"What Mr. Nanami?"

The glare she gave him was a mixture of hot and cold, both scalding Nanami's heart. He had a pained expression on his face as she glared. Ever since he started working in the company for over a year now, she had been nothing but hostile. He tried to give a soft smile before he quietly spoke.

"What time are you meant to finish today?"

"What's it to you?"

If it were anyone else, Nanami would have taken managerial action and ensured that the person received a disciplinary warning, for their behaviour. His heart was always weak against (Y/N) as he let her talk harshly to him. He didn't know how to say his next words because she was going to flip. He let out a short puff of breath before going ahead with his words.

"Daadi invited me for dinner. Said she had something important to discuss."

At that moment, (Y/N) stopped typing before slowly craning her head to thoroughly examine Nanami's face for a joke. It wasn't and she almost shivered in grief. Why? Her Daadi (Grandma) loved Nanami for many reasons and it irked her whenever Daadi would mention the man. But today seemed to have crossed the limit as she frowned.

Right now she needed to get rid of Nanami so she creased her face into an awkward smile. For now she'll have to engage in a short conversation that will drive him away.

"Ah. Well you can go ahead and have dinner with her. I got a lot of work to finish off -"

"I didn't set any deadlines. You can push that off for tomorrow. She insists that I get you to come on time for dinner."

"As if…"

Her words died in her throat as Nanami pulled out his phone to show the messages that Daadi had sent. It was true. Daadi had invited Nanami and she had stressed the fact that (Y/N) needed to come home on time. She couldn't believe that Daadi had gotten Nanami's phone number and he had hers saved.

At that moment, a loud ring sounded from the cubicle next to them as Haibara answered the phone. Nanami and (Y/N)'s ears perked up as they leaned around the cubicle. The first words that caught their attention was 'Hello Daadi!' They silently watched Haibara have a conversation before hanging up the phone and nervously smiling at the two people in front of him.

"Erm … you heard that huh? Looks like I'm joining you guys for dinner as well."

(Y/N) scoffed as she folded her arms muttering.

"Funny how she didn't call-"

As if the comedic timing wasn't enough, her own phone rang to which her face scrunched up in agony before answering her phone, in Hindi.

"Hi Daadi. How are you?"

"I'm doing good. You're coming home today for dinner?"

She glared at Nanami as she feigned her whining.

"I'm really sorry Daadi but-"

"If you finish that sentence, I will come to your office and drag you by the ear. Are you asking to get smacked?"

"Daadi!"

"I don't want any excuses. You have to come home for dinner. And bring Kento and Haibara with you."

Before (Y/N) could get a word in, Daadi had cut the call. All (Y/N) could do was angrily pout before massaging her forehead and muttering.

"Did she tell you what time we have to get there?"

"By six thirty."

~~~~

After a gruelling two hours, it was time for everyone to go home. (Y/N) was rushing to pack her things which surprised Haibara as he watched her scrambling to get paperwork together.

"Why are you in a rush? I thought you didn't want to go to dinner?"

"I still don't. But I also don't want to get a lift with Nanami."

Haibara's smile was askew as he watched her leaned down to pick up her parcel, before she shoved it in his hands for him to hold. She sat down on her chair to take off her nude heels and switch them for some black trainers.

(Y/N) rushed up and grabbed Haibara's wrist to yank him away from their cubicles and to the lift. It was just about to close but before her hand could cut in to prevent the doors from closing, Nanami's hand cut in. He had reached the doors the same time as them which was unfortunate for (Y/N) as she gritted her teeth before gesturing for Nanami to get in.

The blond man didn't budge and stood firm where he was which irked (Y/N) even more. Decidedly, she stomps into the lift, followed by Haibara and Nanami. There was silence in the lift, the two men didn't say a word out of fear that they might make their co-worker explode.

The lift finally arrived on the ground floor, the lift doors were slowly opening but (Y/N) didn't hesitate in pushing through the doors. Haibara gave Nanami a torn sheepish smile before following after her. She was about to swipe her card to open the gate when a loud thunderstorm echoed before a sudden heavy shower began to downpour.

She screeched rather angrily, unable to believe her rotten luck as she huffed at Haibara.

"We are gonna have to run to the bus stop."

"Or you can just take a lift with me."

Nanami stood there with an unimpressed expression on his face and arms folded. His dark waterproof long coat made him look much more bulky and taller. (Y/N) was about to open her mouth to refuse when Haibara beamed with a happy smile.

"Yep I'm good with that. Let's go!"

Holding her parcel in one hand, Haibara grabbed onto (Y/N)'s wrist, almost dragging her to the car. What should have been a quick five minute walk felt like a ten minute stretch as (Y/N) grumbled utter aggressive nonsense to herself all the way until they got into the car.

~~~~

The table was finally set as Daadi laid out plates for four people. The dishes were still hot in a hotpot, and she finally got to take a look at the clock. They were ten minutes late which made Daadi frown and take her phone out to see if there were any messages. There were none which made Daadi worry, her fingers ready to dial them.

A pair of keys jingled in the lock which made Daadi sigh with relief, rushing to the door to see a slightly soaked (Y/N) carrying a box and a completely dry Haibara and Nanami. She was confused, unsure of whether to greet or comment but (Y/N) simply greeted first.

"Hey Daadi. Sorry we're late."

"Why are you wet?"

"I forgot to take an umbrella and I didn't want to share with Nanami. Also Haibara and your precious Nanami are the reason we're late."

Nanami stepped forward with a warm smile, presenting her with a bouquet of violet dahlias. Daadi's heart swelled with love as she took the flowers to smell, a deep rich scent enveloped her nose as she gave Nanami a hug and a pull on his cheek.

"You didn't have to bring anything, you silly boy."

Nanami grinned as he held Daadi's hand close to his heart, squeezing it to show his adoration.

"I wanted to, Daadi. It's always a delight to come see you and I knew you'd want a new bouquet for your kitchen windowsill."

"Ah you know me very well Kento."

(Y/N) rolled her eyes as she toed off her shoes, dropping her parcel on a small side table. Nanami had taken off his jacket and hung it on the stair pole. Going into the kitchen to put the flowers in a vase for Daadi. Haibara grinned widely as he presented Daadi with a box of her favourite pastries.

"Haibara! You also didn't have to-"

"Nonsense Daadi! This is nothing compared to the amount of times you've given me birthday money and gifts. They're your favourite: almond croissants."

Daadi also pulled Haibara's cheek before Haibara took the pastry box to put in the fridge. (Y/N) wasn't surprised that Daadi walked after them to get their dinner served, specifically Nanami. She hated the fact that Daadi and Nanami had grown closer.

When Nanami first started working in the company, (Y/N) tried her hardest to make sure that Daadi would never find out but the old woman was smart to know something was up. She popped into the office one day and bumped into Nanami. They reconnected instantly and (Y/N) was left watching this friendship bloom.

Taking off her wet clothes, rinsing them and putting them in the washing machine. She started the cycle and went to her room to put on a dark grey long sleeve and light grey tracksuit bottoms. She took a small towel and dried her jet black hair before tossing the towel in a hamper in the bathroom.

She came downstairs to see Nanami, Daadi and Haibara sitting in seats, their plates empty in front of them, waiting for her to sit and eat with them. Daadi smiled before standing up to serve all of them. She lifted the lids to show the three dishes made: potato spinach curry and butter chicken. Nanami and Haibara's respective favourites as their mouths salivate.

Once their plates were made, everyone began to eat, Nanami and Haibara had a naan next to them, breaking off a piece and scooping some of the curry onto the bread. Nanami and Haibara had eaten Daadi's food many times and they knew the proper way to eat.

Opting for a light option, (Y/N) served herself some rice and poured a serving spoon of butter chicken. She grabbed a tablespoon and mixed it together, taking the first bite. There was nothing that Daadi wasn't good at as (Y/N) hummed happily at her meal. Relaxing and glad to be home, until Nanami opened his mouth.

"Daadi, it is incredible as always."

"I took extra special care in the potato and spinach curry, since it's your favourite."

Haibara hummed as well as he licked the sauce with his fingers.

"And this butter chicken is creamier and nuttier than last time?"

"Yes, I'm glad you noticed Haibara."

(Y/N) cleared her throat before taking a large sip of water. Taking advantage of the silence she decided to talk about the first important thing which was her cousin, Tina's wedding.

"So Daadi, I received an interesting package today. A wedding invitation."

"I know. I received the same this morning."

"Did you know that Tina was getting married?"

Daadi hummed mindlessly, continuously eating her food.

"Not really, no. But when I called Payal this morning, she said that the boy's in a rush to get married as he has to return to America. That's why the wedding invite is so sudden."

(Y/N) rolled her eyes as she continued to eat. However her Daadi's next words made her drop her spoon on her plate, her anger bubbling and slowly rising up.

"They want us to come as soon as possible to help out with the wedding prep. Said that she could use your help to negotiate with vendors."

Haibara and Nanami shared an apprehensive expression, feeling a little awkward that they were hearing this conversation. Daadi trusted them whereas (Y/N) was panicking at the sudden change in plans. Mainly how she was going to find a boyfriend this sudden.

"Daadi I'm not going to be able to get my holidays approved so soon."

Daadi rolled her eyes as she gestured to the blonde haired man sitting on her right.

"It's partly the reason why I called Kento." She turned to Nanami with a pleading smile. "Please Kento. I'm sorry but I hope you understand that she needs these days off."

Kento gave a polite nod as he grabbed a napkin to clean his mouth and hands, taking a sip of water and answering.

"Don't worry Daadi, I understand. I'll have someone cover her work for however much time she needs off."

It was no surprise to (Y/N) that Nanami said yes. Whatever Daadi says, he does. Though he might have done the same with (Y/N), he lets her get away with murder. Daadi had a big grin on her face, glad that she was able to sort that out before she snapped her fingers as if remembering something else.

"Ah, also for Haibara and yourself."

(Y/N) felt like she lost all feeling in her body. Did she just say for Haibara and Nanami? What the fuck was going on? An almost fire-like rage burned in her eyes as her words forcefully pushed through her teeth.

"What do you mean Daadi?"

Daadi remained cool, having been used to her granddaughter's tantrums as she turned to Haibara.

"Well, I'm sorry it seems last minute but you are invited to the wedding. You are family and we simply cannot have a wedding without you."

Haibara smiled and bowed graciously before his smile dropped.

"Are you sure that's okay Daadi?"

"Yes, don't worry! Payal won't mind."

(Y/N) flared in anger as she spoke a bit louder, more pissed off at the fact that Daadi was ignoring her.

"Daadi! What do you mean?"

Even Nanami was confused as to why he needed to get holidays as he opened his mouth, also asking the same questions but softly and calmly. Daadi exhaled, knowing her next words will set off (Y/N).

"Before I cut the call, Tina came on and said that she couldn’t wait to meet you and your boyfriend too."

Nanami's eye twitched and furrowed suspiciously as he sat up straighter, which took (Y/N) by surprise because he was often aloof, wearing his heart on a sleeve whenever (Y/N) was around. Haibara was munching on his food, savouring the taste and not putting much input because he would be the next target for (Y/N)'s wrath.

"Now, I know you don't have a boyfriend-"

"You don't know that-"

Daadi scoffed and raised an eyebrow which made (Y/N) be quiet. There was no getting past the old woman.

"I know Tina has put you in a bind but the solution is right opposite you (Y/N)."

Just now she felt an icy chill crawl up her spine and freeze her every single movement. Her brain simply shut down as her eyes narrowed in on the brown eyes and ugly leopard print tie. Haibara finished off his plate and hid behind his naan, not wanting to be caught in the crosshairs.

Daadi's face remained stoically cool, almost alert because the minute her granddaughter was going to act up, she was going to shut the attitude down. But Nanami was shocked the most, by far this was the most eccentric thing that Daadi has ever done.

"Why Nanami?"

"Because you have history. He knows you well and I trust him to look after you."

One minute. Two minutes. Five minutes passed as (Y/N) exhaled, mulling over what Daadi had said. It's true, they had history, but that was almost thirteen years ago, when they both were 14. They only dated for a few months before … that happened. She shuddered at the memory before coming back to the present, unable to comprehend what Daadi had just proposed.

She abruptly stood up and took her plate to the kitchen, having lost the appetite and feeling numb. It was like her life was out of her hands as she scraped off the uneaten rice and curry into the bin.

She felt a hand on her shoulder as she tried so hard to pinch her eyes, preventing her tear ducts from welling up and then came Daadi's soft voice.

"(Y/N), I suggested him because I know he will be there for you in ways I might not be able to."

"If you say you're gonna die, Daadi-"

Her grandmother rolled her eyes and slapped (Y/N)'s shoulder, scolding.

"I'm not dying you silly girl. I just know Kento will help you keep a level head."

Her fists clenched tight as she took shaky breaths before going over to the sink to splash cool water on her face. If they didn't have that awkward past, Nanami was the perfect choice. But the way she treated him, she wouldn't be surprised if he refused.

Her eyes widened in shock and her face twitched at the thought of already accepting Nanami as a choice. As much as she wanted to say she was at a crossroads, the truth was, deep down she felt obliged to follow Daadi's request. If she didn't, she would have had this nagging feeling of regret.

Finally shaking off her depressed disposition, she straightened her back and spun around to face her Daadi.

"Fine. I'll take Nanami. But will he even agree?"

~~~~

"I hope we're not too late."

(Y/N) pushed the bridge of her sunglasses down her nose as Nanami and Haibara reached the two of them. Nanami had a more dressed down look with a navy polo shirt and grey slacks. Haibara had gone with jeans and a print t-shirt which had a dragon on the front.

Daadi waved her hand as if to brush off their excuse before she greeted the two men. They were in the airport arrivals lounge, just getting ready to board the plane. The weather in Japan was slightly warm so they could relax without jackets and coats.

Nanami took a minute to admire (Y/N), the woman was staring down her phone, texting something whilst holding onto her hand carry. Looking pretty in a tweed print quarter length trousers and white t-shirt. He was glad that her sunglasses were on her nose because he could see her eyes that he got lost in for the first time they met.

It was nearly thirteen to fourteen years ago when they first met. She was a new student joining their class, the last year of junior high. Her eyes darted around like an alert panicked deer, nervous to see how everyone else would perceive her.

Her big brown eyes which reminded him of the crackling camp fires, felt like a warm heater heating his face on a cold day. It was just Nanami's luck that the seat next to him was empty as she waddled down the line and sat down next to him.

Since she had just started, he shuffled his desk closer to share his history textbook with her. He looked down to hide his eyes behind his fringe, softly muttering.

"'M Kento Nanami."

"(Y/N) Aggarwal."

The youthful hue in her cheeks made her radiant in the cold day, she felt like a warm cosy fireplace as the two of them shuffled closer to read the textbook. Their fingers brushed and that was the moment they fell for each other.

From then on they spent most of the break times together, getting to know one another and connecting on a basic level. They were 14, the most they could do was hang out. Sometimes they went bowling or to an arcade, even Haibara would join them as well.

(Y/N) had brought Nanami to the house to meet Daadi and her mother. Nanami was instantly welcomed as the two women fed and cared for him as if he were their own child. They surprisingly approved of the relationship, especially seeing how Nanami took care of her. Then again, they were modern thinking women.

What was a lit match, became a spark and now a gentle warming fire as Nanami held (Y/N)'s hand. The two of them were sitting next to a tree in the school courtyard, their faces naturally drew close. Whilst (Y/N)'s eyes fluttered close to feel his kiss, he kept his eyes slightly open, so that he could cherish the memory of sharing their first kiss together.

~~~~

This was only the start to what would be a long nightmare as (Y/N) took a sip of water. Her Bua (Aunt) Payal, held a small dinner party to introduce the boy that was going to marry Tina. Everyone was seated at the dinner table: her Bua Payal, cousins Karan, Tina, Jhanvi, Tina's fiancee Harpreet, Nanami, Haibara and Daadi.

A mixture of curries and chutneys were served on the table as everyone helped themselves. Harpreet was in the middle of conversing in English with Nanami and Haibara.

"So … have you ever been to America?"

Nanami politely shook his head.

"Can't say that I have, no."

"Well if you'd ever like a visit, come to New York City. I have good contacts to get you a job there. They pay six figures and provide accommodation as well. If you want, I can hook you up with someone. I'm sure you'd do way better than where you are now."

Nanami smiled as he took a bite of food.

"I appreciate the offer but will have to kindly decline. I have loved ones close by that I'd like to stay close with."

When saying 'loved ones' his eyes briefly darted over to (Y/N) which made her blink blankly. Daadi smirked behind her glass while Payal and Tina smiled as Tina spoke.

"But seriously like … how did this happen? I thought you would turn up here without a boyfriend. Don't tell me you hired him!"

(Y/N) pursed her lips as her head grew hot in anger. Daadi frowned and put her glass down to scold her other granddaughter.

"Tina. Is this how you talk to your cousin?"

"Daadi, I'm only joking. Right (Y/N)?"

(Y/N) widened her smile but it had no mirth or joy, only bitterness.

"Yes of course. And to answer your question, no I did not hire him. We met at work."

Tina scoffed, almost carelessly waving her glass around. Everyone else was eating and listening to the conversation carefully.

"Met at work? That's such a basic answer."

(Y/N) opened her mouth to rebut but Nanami stepped in, his gaze focused on (Y/N). Like he somehow knew he needed to bring her back.

"Sometimes the most basic things can mean so much. When I first walked into work, I noticed her working in her cubicle. My heart had stopped. Like I had found the person I'd been searching my whole life for.

"But I needed to do whatever I could to be with her the moment I saw her eyes."

(Y/N) felt herself get drawn into Nanami's eyes, a similar shade to her own. She felt like she had travelled back in time as Nanami's face morphed into his younger self. She hadn't realised it but Nanami had grown up in so many years. His face had matured a lot but his eyes were still the same.

His usual cool stoic demeanour had shattered before her and she was seeing the Nanami she knew when she was young. Or had he always been like this but she only noticed now. The side of his hand brushed against hers slightly but she took the leap to interlace her fingers with his.

She heard someone clear their throat which made her snap out of her daydream, snatching her hand away as she straightened her posture. Tina's eyes narrowed as she was unable to believe the chemistry between her cousin and her 'boyfriend'.

Haibara and Daadi shared a knowing, almost scheming look. Payal grinned as she clapped her hands.

"Oh that is romantic. Then maybe we'll have another marriage to plan soon."

(Y/N) almost choked on her food at her aunt's words but Nanami quietly took a sip of his drink, grinning at the joke.

~~~~

The wedding prep was done and now she could finally relax. If she had the energy, she would have throttled her cousin and ran her over with a car. Twice. Everything was down to (Y/N), from organising decorations to outfits and colours, haggling with fat Indian men and negotiating to her wits end.

Even her poor Daadi was put to work as she helped with the venue and catering organisation. (Y/N) would be up at six am in the morning, coming home at two am. With only four, sometimes three and half hours of sleep.

The only highlight of the day was that she'd come home to a steaming cup of spiced tea that would rejuvenate her, making her feel warm and alive. Daadi got home earlier than she did, so she was endeared by the fact that her Grandmother took time to make her tea.

Being busy didn't give her a chance to connect with Nanami. Apparently Tina boasted about the fact that she got to show Nanami around Mumbai, which made her blood boil at the audacity of her cousin. After five days of gruelling work, she was able to come home early, and she completed everything just in time for the Mehndi ceremony tomorrow.

She was desperate for a nice shower and that hot cup of spiced tea. It was about 11pm and surprisingly the house was quiet. Everyone had probably slept early because of the Mehndi. There was some rustling in the kitchen as she crept in, stunned to see the familiar blond shaggy hair.

"Nanami?"

He turned around, a little surprised as he stirred a cup of tea, placing it on a saucer and pushing it in front of (Y/N).

"Hey. Finished early?"

Her eyes dropped down to the cup of tea in front of her, wisps of steam floated in the air and in the direction of her nostrils. It had the strong notes of cinnamon and ginger. She gave a nod and a hum, for once being too tired to even be bitter and angry.

"I did. Everything is set for the next two days."

A smile came on his lips as he came around to lead (Y/N) to the dining table, before placing the saucer in front of her. He took a seat opposite her, speaking softly.

"You did well."

Her lips twitched at the soft praise he was giving her before her eyes zoomed into the cup in front of her. Feeling parched, she brought her palms around the cup, blowing at the top before taking a sip. It was the same tea she had been having for five days, her eyes lifted up to Nanami.

"Did … you make this?" He gave a nod which prompted her to ask another question. "Have you been making tea for me the last few days?"

Once again he gave a nod, almost nervous to see how she would react. But to his surprise, her face cracked to show a smile, her eyes fluttered to connect with him for the first time, softly murmuring. "Thank you."

She was beyond touched by his gesture as she finished her cup of tea. Her hands pushed forward to give him the cup and his fingers brushed with hers when grabbing the cup. For once, she let her anger dissipate as her index finger stroked his.

Maybe she was too tired but she felt soft at this moment, warmed by Nanami. He waited patiently to let her take her time, to come forward and he was rewarded with her holding his hand. Whilst last time was emotionless, just a show in front of the family. This one was intimate and sacred.

Somehow he could feel her genuineness which made this moment all the more special. The years of walls she had built with Nanami in mind, began to crumble slowly. The slightly older man exhaled softly as he decided to go a baby step further to ask.

"If we get a chance, maybe after the wedding, we could go sightseeing around the city."

She flinched slightly as she recalled her cousin's words, incredulous she couldn't help but ask.

"Didn't Tina show you around?"

"No. She was stubborn and tried to force me to go but I stood my ground. I made myself a promise, years ago, that if I were to go to India. I would only go with you. I will always wait for you."

In that moment the walls collapsed as his words echoed, not missing the double meaning in his last sentence she gave a nod promising to take him around the city.

~~~~

"Kento, can you check on (Y/N) and see if she's okay? We need to leave now."

Nanami gave a nod to Daadi before trudging up the stairs to the bedroom that (Y/N) was getting ready in. Daadi fixed the sleeves of her blouse, straightening the pleats of her sari. Haibara raised an eyebrow, his hand up to point in the direction that Nanami went in.

"I just checked on her when I went to the bathroom. She said that she was just putting her outfit on."

Daadi gave a steady grin and Haibara noticed this. His eyes went up the stairs before going back to Daadi, his brain worked a bit before he finally put two and two together. He shook his head in a small laugh, giving an impressed grin but curious what the move is.

"I think I see where you're going with this but what will Nanami help with?"

Daadi shrugs. "Maybe an anklet, an earring or her blouse."

Haibara let out a scandalised gasp which made the older woman throw her head back in laughter before tugging his cheek. Meanwhile Nanami had just reached the bedroom door, knocking and asking.

"Are you ready?"

"Just a minute, just stuck with this blouse."

Nanami scratched his head nervously as he was about to turn to call for Daadi when he heard her yelp. Immediately his eyes widened as he knocked on the door harder. After a few minutes of silence, he heard the lock unclick, the door opened to reveal an embarrassed looking (Y/N).

Last night was a fluke. She had let her walls down in front of Nanami because she was exhausted. This time she put them back up so tightly that he couldn't even try to wiggle his way into her heart. She stepped aside to let Nanami in, taking in the fact that there was a bedspread on the floor and one on a slightly elevated bed. The room he shared with Haibara was nothing like this as he pointed out to the spread on the floor.

"Who's sleeping there?"

"That's me. Daadi's got a bad back so she's sleeping on the charpai."

After tonight he was going to swap rooms with her so that both she and Daadi could get a better night's rest. For now, he began to examine her for a wound.

"I heard you squeal."

She narrowed her eyes as she corrected Nanami about the fact that she yelped. Her eyes then darted around the floor as she whispered.

"Look, I thought I saw a cockroach."

The man stilled for a minute, looking from the floor to (Y/N) then the floor again. Surprised that she was the kind to get scared by an insect as he almost deadpanned.

"A cockroach."

"Indian cockroaches are different. These are huge dickheads that can fly."

"Right. How long are you gonna take to get dressed?"

"I'm done, just stuck with trying to tie the blouse up tightly."

Nanami's eyes almost popped out of their sockets as he finally took in the fact that she was wearing a traditional Indian dress, a lehenga. The skirt was a lemony yellow with silver sequins and embroidery and it contrasted nicely with her sea blue full sleeve blouse.

She needed to dress more like this as Nanami tried to block out the indecent thoughts. (Y/N) went to her vanity mirror and turned around to see her back in the mirror. He almost lost his mind at the large expanse of her back. Sure enough the back of the blouse undone as he watched her struggle for a few good minutes before he huffed.

Strutting over and ordering her to turn around. She's about to refuse but her mouth zips tight when he pivots her body round, bringing his fingers up to lace up the blouse, pulling and tugging slightly before tying a tight little bow at the bottom.

"There. Now we can -"

"Can you get the cockroach before we go? I don't want to come back and it's still there."

Nanami shook his head as he brought an arm around her shoulder, silently urging her to get a move on as they were now running late for the mehndi ceremony.

"Don't bother. Haibara and I will swap rooms with you and Daadi."

"But-"

"Please. You shouldn't sleep on the floor anyways."

(Y/N) shut her mouth which was a silent indication that she agreed with Nanami's request. He dropped her arm and gave her space to walk forward. She subconsciously brought her hand to her shoulder, already missing the slight warmth that emanated from his hand.

Finally, they got into the car and drove to the venue, where the party was still having a few guests trickle in. It was a huge hall with cream curtains covering the walls, ambient blue and yellow flood lights were dotted across the room giving it a sort of cloudy glow.

The stage was set with ornate gold sofa chaises and embroidered deep lime green cushioning. There was a backdrop arch with vines lopping around it, and lily flowers drooping off. The tables and chairs had matching shades of green. It seemed like everything went well and she was glad that her aunt was happy to take on maintaining the beauty and event.

Nanami's eyes dazzled at the intricate beautiful decorations, leaning into (Y/N)'s ear.

"Your hard work has paid off. Everything looks stunning."

(Y/N)'s lips twitched with a threat of a smile before she cleared her throat, spotting Tina and Harpreet on stage, with her Bua Payal. She turned to Daadi, gently placing a hand on her arm.

"Daadi, should we go on stage?"

"Yes, let's go. Kento, Haibara come with."

The two women walked forward followed by Nanami and Haibara, they went up the three steps before Harpreet and Tina acknowledged Daadi and (Y/N). Tina looked lovely in her bright yellow garara, its stole was draped over her head. Harpreet had on a matching shade sherwani kurta and turban.

Nanami and Haibara shook Harpreet's hand to congratulate him while Daadi and (Y/N) embraced Tina. A photographer approached them and requested they get into position, the to-be-weds took centre stage with Nanami and (Y/N) to their right and Daadi and Haibara to the left.

Nanami's hand wavered, unsure of where to put his hand but a frustrated (Y/N) grabbed his hand and placed it on her hip. His fingers brushed against her bare side and waist of the lehenga. The picture was quick and Nanami was surprised when (Y/N) stomped away, once again confused about what he did to annoy her.

(Y/N) needed to stay away from Nanami as her heart panged with an unknown feeling. Whatever it was, it always happened with him and it was best if she was away from him. But it wasn't the best idea because it made her bump into different relatives, all of whom were shocked by the news that she was dating.

Maasi (Aunty) Khirron and Ganga were two gossips with tightly banaras red and blue saris. Looking more like wedding crashers than actual wedding guests. As if her day wasn't bad enough, she plastered a happy fake grin.

"Maasi! It's so nice to see you."

"It's nice to see you too! How long has it been, nearly thirteen years ago? At your mum's funeral right?"

(Y/N) flinched but bared it because she knew that these women didn't have any well wishes. They just spoke out of their ass most of the time so she gave a simple nod, which encouraged the women to natter away.

"Yes that's it. My dear (Y/N), your mother was a wonderful woman."

"Truly wonderful."

"She was taken too early."

"Too early! And it's such a shame she didn't get to see her daughter grow up."

It was coming, their snide backhanded comments.

"Yes! She didn't get to see her daughter grow up to be beautiful."

"And the biggest thing is that she didn't even get to see (Y/N) get married and have children."

There it was, she exhaled rather loudly, readying to take a step away before Maasi Ganga latched onto her arm like a constrictor snake. The two women were nattering away as they went further with their comments. Oblivious to the fact that (Y/N) was trying to get away quickly.

"But I wonder what she would say if she found out that her daughter was dating?"

"And that a white man?"

They were looking for a reaction, anything just to prod at the slow burning ire but she took a deep exhale and exhale. She knew how best to respond as she smirked whilst staring dead straight at Nanami.

"Well she would be proud of me because I found a man that takes good care of me. Especially in bed."

The aunties dramatically gasped, making their talkative traps open as (Y/N) found a way to move away from them. She rubbed circles at her temple as she stomped away only to bump into a younger boy with an afro and toothy grin.

It was her cousin's ridiculous neighbour's son, Mahesh took in her outfit and catcalled.

"I knew it was you (Y/N). You look beautiful."

"What do you want Mahesh? I got to go."

"Hey please. Can't I admire my future bride?"

(Y/N) scoffed as she dropped her hands to her waist. This boy was asking to be ripped a new one as she quirked an eyebrow.

"I don't date prepubescent boys."

"But I'm 18 now so technically a legal adult now."

Mahesh wiggled his eyebrows which did not impress (Y/N). She rolled her eyes and was about to strut away from him when he grabbed her wrist.

"Where are you going, gorgeous? Dance with me a little."

There was only one way to deal with this and this was being direct. She snapped to him, stepping close and leaning over him like a giant. (There was only a few inches difference in height but (Y/N) was taller).

"Get three things through your thick skull: one, you are not my type, two you are way too young and an idiot and three, I have a boyfriend. Do not approach me again or I'll break your hand."

Yanking her hand out of his grip and shoving him as a way to drill the message in. It didn't take long for her to weave through the crowd and finally approach the bar where most of the uncles had gathered. Big mistake, she rolled her eyes to order a coke when two older men approached her. One was Chacha (Uncle) Satish, her father and Bua Payal’s younger brother, the other was a rather young bearded man with a turban. Chacha Satish raised a glass of whiskey to her.

“(Y/N)! It is good to see you! How goes in China?”

Chacha Satish was an idiot with a lack of cultural awareness and terrible English. That seemed to be a running theme in her family as she bit her bottom lip before widening her smile.

“Chacha Satish! It’s good to see you too! And I don’t know how it’s going in China because I don’t live there.”

Chacha Satish tapped his forehead as if he was being silly.

“Ah yes, I forget. Where you live?”

“Japan.”

Chacha Satish and the turban man gave a nod as Chacha Satish gestured at the man next to him.

“This my good friend's son, Dheeraj Chaddha Singh. He own big business and has degree in engineering."

Chacha Satish leaned into her ear and it was difficult to repress a gag at the stench of his breath. It was onions and whiskey which was a vile combination. "He no married and he will be good husband."

It was like someone had crushed her mind with a heavy weight as Chacha Satish stepped back with a smug grin. His maroon sherwani buttons were struggling to hold on near his stomach which made her want to punch him in the gut. Just so she could embarrass him the way he just did now.

"Chacha. I have a boyfriend."

But Chacha barked a laugh as his head reared back. His drink sloshed and he stumbled slightly which made Dheeraj immediately hold on to his arm to balance him. It was a mistake being here and she might have been better off with Nanami.

"Who? That English man? Tina told me that's your boss and the other one is your friend from college."

"Chacha he is not English. He is mostly Japanese and a little bit Danish. And Tina is wrong."

Chacha frowned in confusion, raising a hand as if to ask what kind of combination this was. Though he then waved his hand to wave away her words as if she sidetracked the conversation.

"Anyways, Dheeraj is best guy. Big family. And What do you call a car dealership in English?”

“A car dealership?”

Chacha Satish blinked before giving a nod and blindly agreeing.

“Yes that. He want to open one in Japan. You two get married and you can open shop in Japan.”

“Chacha, I-”

“You give him money from your job. He open shop then you leave your job. Anyways, you will have to leave your job to raise your kids.”

(Y/N) had an incredulous expression on her face as she scoffed, tilting her head and folding her arms. What exactly did her uncle think she does for work? And how dare he offer up a stranger for her to marry? And further suggest that she leave her job and raise kids? She was gonna approach this tactfully.

“Chacha? What do you think I do for work?”

“You give money to people who want to open a business. Ah now I remember the name: an investor!”

“Chacha, I work for investors. I help manage their customers and their problems. I don’t give money to customers.”

This statement made Dheeraj Chaddha huff angrily as he jabbed an elbow into Chacha Satish’s side. Yanking him and almost loudly whispering into his ear.

"You told me she was rich."

"Forgive me, Dheeraj. I thought she was an investor not an … assistant."

Her nails dug into her palm, refraining from physically reacting.

"I'm not an assistant. I'm a client manager. I look after customers and company clients. And I earn extremely well for myself so even if I were an investor … I wouldn't invest in a disrespectful greedy lowlife."

Chacha Satish and Dheeraj gasped at her cruel words. Her uncle's nose flared up which was an ugly sight because he looked a lot like a pig. Only now she began to notice that whiskey was dribbling from the corner of his lip like a baby. Her uncle was not only mentally disgusting but physically as well.

"(Y/N), is this how you talk to guests? Ask for forgiveness right now."

"For what? I just said the truth. You're lucky I'm not asking you for forgiveness because you disrespected me."

"Me? Disrespect." Suddenly the argument took a turn as something dawned on his face. "You know what. You're right. I should ask for forgiveness."

He slapped his hands together and thrust them in her face, asking for 'forgiveness'.

"It's my fault. I didn't stop your father from giving you to your Daadi. You wouldn't have turned into a disrespectful dishonourable woman like-"

"Like who?"

Their conversation cut off at the sound of a new voice, (Y/N)'s facial expressions stuttered as the tall blonde man had cut in between them. His posture loomed over them, their skin began to ripple with goosebumps. His face drilled holes into Chacha Satish and Dheeraj, eyes narrowed and voice rather hoarse and menacing.

"Who were you going to compare her to?"

Dheeraj's eyes furrowed as he downed his drink and stumbled to shove Nanami at the shoulder.

"You're not involved in this conversation so stay out."

"Exactly my point. Who the fuck do you think you are?"

Chacha Satish frowned as he cleared his throat.

"I'm talking to my niece. I have a right to teach her right from wrong."

"Is that what it was? I heard you clearly admonish and disrespect her. Not only that but you were going to insult Daadi as well? Your own mother? Or … was it her mother? How revolting either way."

(Y/N) tugged Nanami's shoulder to avoid attention but the man barely budged as he raised an eyebrow and stepped closer, leaning into Satish’s ear to further threaten him.

"It is taking every cell in my body to refrain from killing you but I value my girlfriend and her grandmother's familial relationship. Consider yourself lucky."

Her uncle’s jaw dropped, opened and shut before he then scoffed, carelessly tossing his glass onto the bartop before shoving Dheeraj to move away from the blonde tall imposing man. Nanami’s eyes narrowed as he watched (Y/N)’s uncle and the other man walk away from them. His heart pumped vigorously as he glanced over his shoulder to see if (Y/N) was okay. It was the wrong move because he could feel the burn of anger radiating from her.

"Why the fuck did you do that?"

"Damage control."

Her mouth opened to scold him when instead the sudden heat flushed away, eyes widened in shock as her vision narrowed on an older man in the distance. The man with the same nose and face shape, his hair completely grey and dressed in a dark green sherwani and a white stole around his shoulders. Amongst the wedding planning, she had no time to recall the dark part of her past. The man who gave her up.

Her eyes darted around and almost immediately she spotted Daadi, the woman seemed to sense the same thing as she excused herself from the conversation she was having with a guest before immediately darting to where Nanami and (Y/N) were. Daadi grasped (Y/N)’s elbow as (Y/N) hissed.

“Daadi, what is he doing here?”

“It seemed that Tina invited him and neglected to tell us that.”

Nanami frowned in confusion before (Y/N) moved away from them to get Haibara. Daadi tapped her foot nervously which worried Nanami as he held onto her hand.

“Daadi? What happened? What’s going on?”

Daadi exhaled, rubbing her forehead.

“(Y/N)’s father is here. He … and (Y/N) are not on good terms.”

(Y/N) and Haibara reached them, all four of them were about to shift and leave the venue when Tina strutted up to them with (Y/N)’s father in tow. There was a smug expression on her face as she dramatically exclaimed.

“Arjun Maama! I’m so happy you agreed to come. Thank you! Oh, (Y/N)! Did you meet with Maama? How long has it been since you saw each other?”

Daadi, (Y/N) and Arjun blankly blinked, trying to look anywhere but at each other as Tina squealed.

“Ah! I’m so glad you guys get to reunite. Unfortunately I have to go and cut my cake.”

Tina walked off, having succeeded in creating an awkward atmosphere. While all the party guests were enjoying and conversing with one another, the people surrounding (Y/N) were silent. Nanami and Haibara shared apprehensive glances, unsure what to say and do. (Y/N)’s eyes narrowed at Arjun and Daadi was looking anywhere and everywhere..

Arjun rocked back and forth on his heels before swallowing the frog in his throat, pathetically smiling as he turned to Daadi.

"How … are you Mum?"

Daadi looked down, unable to look at anyone in the awkward situation. Arjun switched the conversation to Haibara.

"And Haibara. You … look just like your father."

Haibara frowned and folded his arms, not bothering to answer him. No one was responding to Arjun as he scratched at his head before noticing Nanami. He put a hand out to introduce himself.

"Hello. Tina told me that you're (Y/N)'s boss. I'm Arjun Aggarwal. Her father."

This triggered (Y/N) as she spat through gritted teeth.

"You're not my father. He died thirteen years ago."

Daadi and Arjun flinched from her violent words, he decided to pocket his hands. Nanami exhaled softly, unsure of how to go about this situation. Arjun's face softened as he gave a solemn nod.

"(Y/N), I … am so glad to see you."

"Are you really? Because the minute you were here, you ignored me and went straight to talking to Haibara, Daadi and Nanami."

His ears perked up at the sound of Nanami's name, looking at the tall blond man. Strangely his eyes watered before he returned to (Y/N).

"(Y/N) … I wish I could turn back time and fix my mistake. You don't know how much I regret leaving you."

"No you don't because if you did. You would have approached me a long time ago and taken me back home. Instead you dumped me into Daadi's hands."

People were slowly starting to get intrigued by the conversation that was brewing as Daadi tapped (Y/N) on the shoulder.

"Dear, I feel we should move this somewhere-"

"You don't get to say your regrets! You gave me up the moment when I needed you the most! Daadi was stuck taking care of me like her child when you should have done that."

Daadi dropped her hands and stepped back, deciding maybe it was best if her granddaughter let it all out. Haibara wrapped a comforting arm around her. Meanwhile Nanami cupped her shoulder to take her away from what was a brewing argument.

"(Y/N), this isn't the place-"

Arjun's heart pinched as he confessed.

"You are right but after your mother's death … I lost everything. I … lost half of myself. Seeing you everyday just reminded me of her. I … didn't want to lose you too, that's why I asked Daadi to take care of you."

"You weren't the only one who lost her. I lost my mother!"

(Y/N) was downright close to shouting and she was attracting more attention to herself. Unbeknownst to her, her face flushed with heat and her body trembled with anger. Everything was starting to bubble over as she stepped right into her father's face. Nanami looked around to see people looking over and he knew that it was time to cut off the conversation.

Nanami wrapped his arms around (Y/N) and began to drag her out of the event hall. This pissed her off more as she tried to escape Nanami's grasp to go back and argue with her father. Everyone had stopped what they were doing and stared straight ahead at the commotion.

Arjun was dejected and heartbroken as his eyes began to fill with tears, turning to face Daadi and Haibara.

"Ma. Please."

In that moment, Daadi could see the deep pools of regret and sorrow and soon the man in front of her morphed into her child. As much as she wanted to be angry for her grandchild, she couldn't. Seeing her son so vulnerable made her realise that he genuinely did regret his decision and it took a lot of difficulty to face his daughter. It was a decision he made with great difficulty.

Arjun stepped forward and placed his hands on Daadi's shoulder, sniffling and pleading.

"Ma, please. Please believe me. I truly want to say sorry. I … want to make things right."

Her heart lurched and weakened at her son, as she placed a tentative hand on his cheek. As quickly as she placed it, she pulled it away and went to follow Nanami and (Y/N). It was just Haibara and Arjun left as Arjun tried a one last attempt to get through.

"Haibara, please."

"Please what, Mr. Aggarwal?"

"I had to leave her with Daadi. I wouldn't have been able to take care of her in the state I was in. I would have lost her."

"You lost her the moment you gave her away. And she ended up losing herself because you weren't there to heal her. Who knows? She could have been there to take care of you too, Mr. Aggarwal."

And with that final nail in the coffin, Haibara stalked off to go after his friend. Leaving Arjun to stew in these final words.

#au #jujutsu kaisen #jjk #nanami kento #kento nanami #nanami kento x reader #kento x reader #nanami x reader #jjk nanami #jujutsu nanami #jujustu kaisen #nanami kento x y/n #nanami kento smut #nanami smut

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enb-y · 2 years ago

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↬ ROTTMNT BOYS PROPOSAL HEADCANON.

rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles.

request: ❝ Hey! How do you think the rise turtles would propose to their partner? ❞ — anonymous.

warnings: none. tying the knot.

characters: raphael, leonardo, donatello, michelangelo.

writers note: hey, thank you for requesting! this been sitting in the drafts since it’s been requested and now finally finished, sorry if it’s dookie, wrote this faster than a car almost slamming into me.

readers pronouns are not mentioned nor included.

*◌ೃ࿔ ┆RAPHAEL.

✶ raphael would make it really special, taking you somewhere to eat for dinner, having a small, yet meaningful conversation with you, then finally building up the courage to propose to you in hopes that he’ll have you in a old, almost-going-blind-and-deaf age, a long time marriage. raphael doesn’t like the attention that much, said previously, he wants this to be a special moment, no interruptions from his younger brothers and father, he wants you alone. that’s when you started to notice the nervousness in raph’s body language, going to the stench to the fiddling of something captivated within his palm.

✶ that’s when he gets down on one knee, like in the movies, saying a sentence in meaningful quotes, your full name and finally saying the four words he’s been meaning to say all day. “will you marry me?”

*◌ೃ࿔ ┆LEONARDO.

✶ If you have been dating leonardo since his teenage years, there’s a lot of marriage jokes, or how he often, yet playfully proposes to you at the worst moment possible. however now doing the real thing, best believe he’s nervous than ever, he’s pretty unnatural. he’ll propose to you on your birthday, he thinks that’s a perfect opportunity for him, though april and michelangelo gave him that push. chance of him getting on one knee somewhere in lair, away from his brothers, or getting on knee after they sang ‘happy birthday’ to you.

✶ he’s always seen a life with you, and he always feared rejection, even when he first asked you to be his partner. whatever answer you give him, he respects your decision. if you agreed, he’s overjoyed, and the celebration doesn’t end there. expect him to cry during that moment of happiness, splinter even cried for his son.

*◌ೃ࿔ ┆DONATELLO.

✶ donatello fears commitment. he doesn’t know when is the perfect time to actually ask you to spend a long life time with him. the movies made it simple to ask their lovers to be theirs forever, he also fears of being divorced somewhere in life. his teen years, he never believed he’ll find himself with a beautiful small velvet box in hand, just waiting to ask his soon-to-be-spouse. hopefully. he wants this moment to between you and him, somewhere that doesn’t have his siblings or father involved. to be honest, he had bought the ring awhile back, afraid of asking you at the moment, now he’s ready to put it on your finger and has the perfect place to ask you too.

✶ he talks to you, meaningfully. asking you what you see in your future and if he is in it… data collection calms him down, that’s a sign to ask him what’s on his mind. he’s trying not to hyperventilate right then and there, however he’s got the sentences out and now waiting for an answer.

*◌ೃ࿔ ┆MICHELANGELO.

✶ michelangelo is positive that he’ll find someone that he’ll someday marry. he never expected for himself to blink and suddenly buy a ring in your finger size. and he went to his brothers for help, april being the only one to help him. being nervous, he started to cry. michelangelo was terrified of the outcome, yet a bit excited? If you were already with him in his teens, he already talked about marrying you, you know, average teenage junk. so, this is a very special moment for him, and taking advice from leo it’ll be interesting. he doesn’t want to propose to you at the lair, he takes you to a place, yours and his secret hideout. It was a place that was once abandoned now covered in his art.

✶ that’s where he wants to propose to you. he even decorated the room, baked also. he’s just waiting for the perfect moment to ask you to marry him. and when he does, he’ll only feel his heart beat stop and waiting for your answer, he could hope that you’ll say yes and spend your days with him.

end - this was pretty much mindlessly written, I really needed to throw this out there. my wifi got shut off and I ended up getting sick 😔 (lmao bozo). I’m also trying to finish up the headcanons and scenarios before finishing up the oneshots. (Idek if you call this a headcanon..)

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butterfluffy · 3 years ago

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“marry me?”

⠀⠀ੈ♡˳· proposal hcs with the supernovas, ft. trafalgar law, eustass kid and killer | pt. 1, pt. 2

⠀⠀➧ fluff | supernovas (law, kid, killer) × gn!reader | headcanons + scenarios

⠀⠀➧ warnings — none! swearing and mistakes may be present, though.. so do ignore them, thanks!

⠀⠀➧ requests are open! do send some requests for me to write!

⠀⠀꒰ 🍨 ꒱ notes : finally, here's part two (last part) after a century, AHSHASHSHA. 🤩🤩

TRAFALGAR LAW

mhhhmmm... i really don't see him as the type who gets into relationships, more of get married.

i mean, law just doesn't seem like the someone who's interested in that.

but of course, this is a hc for that topic so let's get into it.

he's the type of guy to take things slow and not rush it.

so you've gotta be in a relationship with him for at least 5 years, preferably more than that bcs—

law wants to know almost everything abt you before leveling up your relationship into marriage with him.

“..captain, how long have you been dating y/n?” penguin suddenly asks out of nowhere to his captain who raised his brows by the question he gave him, thinking for a moment before he answered.

“for 7 years now, going at the 8th year, actually. why do you ask?” law answered, giving a question in return to penguin who's eyes popped out of his sockets, in deep shock upon hearing his answer.

“you two have been dating for almost a decade, and you two aren't even married yet!? most couples don't last that long because they either get tired or are already married!” he exclaims, slamming his hand on law's desk—though his action and words didn't faze the surgeon.

“you really gotta marry y/n, dude. who knows, maybe they're tired of you being their boyfriend, and already wants you to be their hus—band~?” penguin cooes, hitting law's side as he spelled out the husband part, catching the doctor smirk.

“mhm, sure. marrying them does sound good..” law hums, spacing out for a moment to think how it'd be like in a married life with you as he also thought of how he'd propose.

insert shocked pikachu face but make it peng instead.

honestly thought that law would decline and say that you and him are fine with the dating status.

but nOoOOoo, because to his surprise, law actually agreed with him and is now willing to propose to you after so long!

penguin low-key proud of himself too for getting law into wanting a married life with u.

ah, yeah, it's proposal time!

and did you know that, within the years of you being together with him, law knows everything about you.

even things you don't know about yourself, lolololollll.

and that includes your ring size, so buying a ring for you is no problem for him.

and finally, ring check, all that's left is for him to propose, to you..~!

he is pretty chill about proposing.

knows that you'll say ‘yes’ anyway, i mean, who won't????

nothing so fancy, so his proposal will just be you and him in somewhere private.

“oh wow, law. it's strange of you to suddenly ask me to walk with you here on the beach!” you point out as you walked in the sand with your lover beside you, hands in his pockets as he watched you.

“well, am i not allowed to ask you, my lover to walk with me on a beach to get some fresh air?” he says with a light chuckle, removing one of his hand from his pocket to hold yours, his small action causing you to blush.

“mhm, well it is peaceful here. a perfect place to spend the day, right?” flashing him a smile, law agreed, letting you of your hand to pull his hat down to cover his face that showed such a happy expression just by seeing you smile.

“yeah, and...” trailing his words, law then cleared his throat before taking out what he was holding with his other hand in his pocket—a small box.

“..it's a perfect place to propose too, am i right?”

HE BE SO SMOOTH AS FUCK HERE, AXJSFKKFEMD SNSDKDKSN.

upon hearing his words, you were then left stunned, eyes moving from him and to the now exposed ring in his hand, a gasp escaping your mouth—out of words.

“you know what i'll say now, so—you wanna get married, to me?” finally asking the question that you've long waited for, you immediately nodded, happy exclaims of ‘yes’ leaving your mouth as your lover took your hand to slip the ring in your finger.

it may not seem like it, but law is happy, very happy to level up your relationship with him, going from dating to engaged, and soon, married...

EUSTASS KID

marriage? kid?? FUCK YEAH LET'S GO!!

you see here, my friend, kid is someone who values loyalty and relationships very much.

so obviously, he has marriage in mind, especially with you!

just prove your loyalty and love to him, kid will immediately think of marrying you.

nah jk, not immediately because he has trust issues, ahshahsahah.

might want to take his time in a dating status with you before bringing marriage into his mind.

“hey kid, when're ya gonna marry y/n, huh?” killer asks with a big grin under his mask, knowing that his friend had his mind set into marrying his lover which is you for some time now.

yes, that's right folks, kid has been thinking of proposing to you!

“if i could marry them now, i'd do it.” the red haired man answers, snickering at his own response as he thought of when will the perfect time actually come so he can propose to you..

“then why don't you do it now? tonight? no one's stopping you, kid, ffaffaffa!” killer ‘jokes,’ his advice lighting the bulb in kid's mind.

kid will take his joke seriously, thinking that it's an advice and will actually prepare to propose to you.

“damn right killer, i'll do it tonight. i'll fucking get married to y/n no matter what!” the man with flaming red hair exclaims, immediately getting up from his seat, going in his workshop because—

before we go on to why he went inside his workshop, let us please have...

killer panicking because of his dumb captain who took him seriously.

tried to stop him and tells him to think about it for a while. keyword, tried.

he can't do anything about it because kid had already made his mind up because he can and he will propose to you tonight.

killer soon gave up and just supported his friend.

and yeah, kid went inside his workshop BECAUSE!! he's gonna make a customized ring for youuuu!

will pick the most beautiful jewel and the finest metal out there just to make the ring he'll use to propose to you~

TIME TO PROPOSE!

is surprisingly romantic, well, kinda?

kid waits 'til the beautiful midnight sky shows, moon lighting the dark sea up.

he's holding the ring he had made in his hand, carefully clutching it in his palms, not wanting to break the product he had worked hard for.

but as time ticked, kid slowly grows nervous as he waits for you to show up.

“kid, why'd you wake me up? it's getting late, we should just sleep..“ you muttered, scratching your hair as your half lidded eyes stared at your lover who stood underneath the moonlight that shone on him, bringing a smile on your face.

“look, darlin', the sky's pretty, almost like you, right?” he commented, looking up the sky and to you, a smile that is somewhat tame on his face, an unusual sight for you.

“mhm..” standing beside him, you then admired the night, getting caught up in its beauty, not noticing the red head revealing the ring as he stood behind you with his heart loudly thumping.

“don't you think the moon is beautiful—kid!!?” you suddenly exclaim with a loud gasp, covering your mouth to hide the shock you felt upon turning around to see your lover with the ring, cheeks red as his hair.

“don't shout, damn it! it'll be embarrassing if someone sees us so romantic, so just answer me if you agree on us getting married!!” he shouts, biting his lower lip, falling embarassed as you chuckle, a big, dumb smile appearing on your face.

“fuck yeah! i'll marry you, dumbass!” launching yourself on kid, you two then fell on the ground, cursing each other out with smiles on your faces, knowing that the ring that kid had slip into your finger will bind you two together as lovers..

couldn't sleep the whole night because of happiness, not believing that you are now engaged with him.

will brag about your proposal the next day to his crew who knew about it because of the shouting.

KILLER

quick answer; yes. he is in for marriage.

like kid, he too values relationships built, especially when it comes to romantic ones.

though he is the same as law, too.

he prefers to propose when he knows you enough.

would also prefer to built up great trust between him and you first before marriage is bought up.

trust issues goes brrtttt, ahshahssa.

yk, when the right time comes? that's what he is thinking of when it's abt proposing to you.

surprise surprise, the ‘right time’ came one fateful night..~

it's getting late now and you've been needing sleep, so you immediately headed to your shared room with your lover, expecting him to be in bed already, but no.

killer stood there frozen upon seeing you enter. he is bare. his face is. the mask he had always worn is off, so you were given the chance to see his face that he has never shown you.

“ah, kil! you getting ready to sleep?” you casually asked with a small chuckle, now sitting on the edge of the bed as you looked at your lover who stood still like a stone. you are admiring him, his face, his body, his everything.

“by the way, kil.. you look beautiful, my love.” you complimented, looking at his face that he had always been insecure of dreamily, your reaction and comment catching him off guard. and from that point—he knew.

he knew that you were the one for him by that encounter.

he knew that it is you who he should marry, the one he should be with for the rest of his life.

you showed him love and adoration, something that he hasn't felt.

he's an insecure bby, pls love him.

“fuck, kid. i told you that i'm gonna propose to y/n when the right time comes, right?” he bought up to his friend who nodded, feeling kinda off by the tone killer used.

“mh-mhm, why? you gonna propose to them already?” kid inquired to the blonde who chuckled,

“yeah, i am. they're definitely the one for me, and i'm ready to spend my whole life with them.”

kid defo is cringing out with killer being so fucking in love with you.

but still—

he supports his friend, #bffgoals.

offers to make a ring for u two. what a guy. i love him sm and killer will probably take the offer up cuz why naurt coconut??

trusts his menace of a friend with the rings. kid surprisingly does it nicely though..

just a reminder from kid; REJECT MY BESTIE'S PROPOSAL AND I'LL HUNT YOU DOWN.

PROPOSAL TIME! killer is a romantic guy, no one changing my mind, period.

slightly nervous to propose, but gets over it.

“ah, love, i'm here now. sorry for the wait, i was fixing up, ehe.” you snickered, arriving a bit late for your date with the man who's already in the table, not wearing his mask, revealis his handsome face.

“it's fine, my love. why don't we eat now? i was the one who cooked the meal.” helping you sit, you and killer then began to eat, having small chats here and there until the food finished...

“my love, y/n, i love you, and i thank you for doing the same for me, thank you for loving me so...” getting down on one knee as he spoke, killer pulled the ring out of its case, shocking you by this. “k-killer..!?”

“..so i'm asking you this—will you marry me?” smiling as he asked the question that you immediately asnwered with a loud “yes!” killer then had you wear the ring before kissing you with all his love..

over the moon knowing that he's gonna be your husband soon.

#ੈ♡˳· butterfluffy #trafalgar law x reader #eustass kid x reader #killer x reader #killer one piece x reader #one piece killer x reader #trafalgar d. water law x reader #trafalgar d. law x reader #eustass captain kid x reader #one piece #one piece x reader #one piece fanfiction #one piece oneshot #one piece headcanons #one piece scenario

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the-insomniac-emporium · 3 years ago

Text

Marriage HCs (RE8 Ladies)

{When do they realize they want to marry you? How do they propose? What do their vows entail? Any specific honeymoon ideas? All this and more, for the (main) Ladies of Resident Evil: Village!} {Notes: Mother Miranda's section is extra long, as it includes a not-exactly-marriage ceremony as well as actual marriage HCs} {Under read more for length, at 6,200~ words}

Alcina Dimitrescu:

When she realizes she wants to marry you: Having been born in a time where she thought she may never be able to marry the love of her life, marriage is not something that quickly comes to mind for Alcina. For a long, long time she has been content with the idea of simply being with her lover. In order for her to consider proposing, a few things must happen: First, you must make at least one (1) comment about marriage, even if you don’t suggest that the two of you get married. For example, you could comment about a lovely ceremony you witnessed last time you went to the central village. Second, at least two of her children must ask her if she intends to marry you.

After all, family is everything to Alcina. She could never spend her (eternal) life with someone that her daughters didn’t approve of, and while by this point you will have earned their respect, it is another question entirely if they want you around permanently. But when they see just how happy you make their mother? And when you show them the same love that she does? Well, they cannot help but encourage their mother to ensure that you stay in their little family. With their motivation, Alcina finally decides to take things one step further. She had been content to spend the rest of her life with you already, but now your bond will be legally recognized, with no one able to misinterpret the nature of your engagement (pun intended) with one another.

How she proposes: Overall, it’s a fairly typical proposal. Every once in a while the two of you have a special date night, and it’s on one of these that Alcina pops the question. You’ll be curled up against her side on the balcony (on one of the warmer nights, no worries), gazing out at all the stars. To your surprise, Alcina will sing softly for you, an old jazzy love song on a record player as her accompaniment. Once the song is over, she’ll give a little speech.

“In all my years, I never thought that I would meet someone who means as much to me as you do. Yet here I am, love spilling forth from my chest like a mountain spring, in awe of the feelings which you give me. There is nothing I want more than to spend the rest of my endless days with you by my side… will you do me the honor of marrying me?” Then she’ll pull the ring box from where she hid it earlier, popping it open for you to admire. When you say yes, she’ll smile wider than she normally does, as she very carefully slides the ring onto your finger. The next morning, she will announce the engagement to her family and senior staff members. Be ready for your step-children to surround you in a very nice hug.

What the wedding is like: Technically the Village has its own marriage traditions, but for the most part inhabitants are welcome to adhere to their personal desires (without any judgment). In the case of your wedding to Alcina, there is only one truly important local tradition, due to your soon-to-be wife’s status as nobility: When the two of you sign the marriage certificate, you will use a quill fashioned from one of Mother Miranda’s feathers. Miranda herself will attend the wedding, but only part of it, to officially recognize you as a member of House Dimitrescu.

The main portion of the wedding will primarily be a family affair, inside the castle itself. Only your closest friends from the village, as well as Donna Beneviento, will get to be guests. Decorations will be at least somewhat traditional (flower centerpieces on every table, two-toned banners hung across windows, an ornate chandelier in the center of the room), with a strong dose of Dimitrescu flair (napkins with the house crest embroidered on the fabric, blood-red candles spread around the room, drinks supplied by the family business, at least a hint of a gothic aesthetic, etc), with plenty of opportunity for anything you’ve always wanted. Alcina herself has very little in mind, having gone so long without expecting to get married. What matters most to her is ensuring that her daughters each get to play a part.

Daniela will want to be the flower girl, Cassandra may very well be involved in making the rings (and will want to bear them), and Bela will want to officiate the wedding (because she knows Mother Miranda won’t). It may be more traditional to have a priest play that role, but the Village isn’t exactly normal enough for that.

The second half of the wedding is a (semi) public reception. Considering Alcina’s status in the village, just about all of the citizens will want to help celebrate. Few are actually considered important enough to get into the venue (the castle courtyard). Those that are may add their gifts to the table, or speak to Alcina and you in an attempt to curry favor, or they may simply partake in the festivities with mostly genuine smiles. Anyone who tries too hard to get your wife’s attention will likely find themselves being “shooed” away by your daughters. Further into the village, the less important members of society will still have their own ways to celebrate. Merchants might put on sales, artists may dedicate new works to the lovely couple, and the clergymen may sing praises to the Mother and the Four Lords (may they all find love as endearing as Lady Dimitrescu).

What her vows entail: “In all my years, I never expected anyone to warm my heart the way that you have. Eternity seemed to be a lonely prospect, in regards to love, with none at my side. But you have spared me that greet aching. I promise to love you, cherish you, and protect you. I promise to stay by your side through whatever comes our way, my devotion unending, my affection unwavering, and my attention unfettered. For all of time, from now until the end of the world, for nothing but total annihilation could ever separate you from me.”

Honeymoon ideas: Due to her, ahem, “stature”, Lady Dimitrescu is regrettably unable to leave the village itself. However, the two of you are delighted to receive an invitation from Donna Beneviento, who offers to let you spend a weekend in her guest house (which is larger than one would expect). The view of the waterfall is breathtaking, and there’s enough room for a couple servants to accompany you, if you so wish.

Bela Dimitrescu:

When she realizes she wants to marry you: Although she does not take as much time as her mother, Bela does take a fair amount of time to decide to propose. It’s something that she thinks about fairly often, however, as part of her way of “checking in” on herself. Essentially, she periodically goes over a mental list of her relationships with others, her current projects, and her emotions in general, to see if there’s anything she needs to work on. For the most part the goal is to help her manage her anxiety, but it also ensures that she’s very in tune with the state of her relationship with you. It’s during one of these check-ins that she realizes she wants to marry you, and she’s instantly filled with a sense of warmth. Still, she’ll subtly try to make sure that you’re on the same page before she actually proposes. The last thing she’d want is to make you feel pressured.

How she proposes: Prior to her proposal, Bela will start hinting at the idea of marriage, both gauging your interest and revealing her own. She’ll mention that you’ve been together for a long time, that she’s got an incredibly long life ahead of her, and that there’s no one she’d rather spend that life with than you. Assuming that you respond positively, she’ll begin to plan out the perfect day to spend with you. Chances are she’ll also talk to each member of her family, both getting their approval (which they give without any hesitation) and asking for their advice (which they give perhaps too eagerly, considering that none of them are married), wanting their assistance with setting up the proposal. Or at least her mother’s help. Honestly, Bela mainly just wants to make sure that her siblings agree to keep any shenanigans to a minimum (preferably suspending them for the entire day).

As for her actual plan, that depends a bit on your personal preferences. Over the years that the two of you have been together, you’ve come to enjoy certain hobbies together, as one of your favorite ways to spend time with one another. There will be at least one hobby that you didn’t pick up at all until after you started dating Bela. That will be what she’ll start your “perfect day” with. Just the two of you enjoying an activity that your relationship grew around, somewhere nice and quiet (where Daniela won’t accidentally spoil the surprise with her excitement). Then she’ll take you up to the castle’s observatory, where you can gaze out at pretty much the entirety of her family’s property, and the endless night sky. Bela will guide you over to a telescope she set up earlier, which for once won’t be pointed towards the heavens. Instead it’s focused on the gardens (illuminated by hanging lanterns) that the two of you have spent so much time in. Specifically, in the center will be a new feature that makes your heart skip a beat: A wedding arch. As soon as you pull yourself away from the telescope, you’ll turn to see Bela already down on one knee, holding out an engagement ring.

“There is no one else I could ever walk the world with, no one who I would overcome any obstacle for, none whose company lights such a roaring fire within my chest. My mouth goes dry, and my heart races so fast that the beats blend together into an endless hum, and my hands shake, and I tremble before the unshakeable force that is your love. All my life I have thought myself to be a whole person- that I am enough, on my own. But with you… I am more than whole. I never want to be just whole again. Will you promise to sync your heart with my own, from now until forever? Will you be my muse, my lover, the one who gives me faith? Will you marry me?”

What the wedding is like: Late Spring/early Summer wedding, no negotiation. She’s worked damn hard on her garden (even if technically the castle’s servants did most of the dirty work), and she wants to make sure that as many of the flowers are in bloom as possible when the two of you get married. Sure, that might mean that some of the attendees will need to make sure they’ve taken their allergy meds (damn pollen), but it’ll be more than worth it, especially considering what Bela uses as inspiration for her vows.

What her vows entail: “Our love is a garden we have sown together and nurtured for years. It has grown, and spread, and bloomed, and in turn it has nurtured us. It has given us air to breathe, a place to rest our heads, it has fed us and sustained us. No one can stand among the flowers and say that we have not toiled. We have worked, but we have not suffered, everything we do for each other is an act of love. I promise to water our roots before they know true thirst, to accommodate our changing needs through every season, and to cherish every bloom, every moment we have together. I promise that our garden will never wither, that I will love you forever, as enduring as nature itself.”

Honeymoon ideas: Out of all the Village’s bachelorettes (well, former bachelorette, now that she’s marrying you), Bela is the most willing to actually leave the village (at least temporarily). There are dozens of places she’s read about that she’d love to go to, but the two of you do have an eternity ahead of you, so she knows you’ll have plenty of opportunities for future vacations. Still, it’ll probably take the two of you a long while to decide on a destination. In the end, she’ll suggest a nice, semi-secluded cabin near a lake, somewhere out in the countryside. Nice and private, with rolling fields of flowers for the two of you to admire together. Thankfully, she requires blood less frequently than her mother, and won’t need to hunt down any “snacks” during your honeymoon. Nothing would ruin the mood quite like having to evade the police (even Cassandra would be worried about the potential fallback, and how her mother might react). If you happen to have a fondness for letting Bela bite you, well, she might not even need to pack any blood bags. She still will, though, because it’s better to be safe than sorry, and she’d hate for you to be too loopy (from blood loss, obvs) to actually enjoy your honeymoon.

Cassandra Dimitrescu:

When she realizes she wants to marry you: It’s a very sudden, unexpected thing for her. Compared to her family, she’ll have thought about it the least prior to deciding she wants to propose, and will be the most caught off guard by that realization. Chances are the two of you will be having a perfectly normal day, and then you’ll give her the same loving look you’ve sent her way thousands of times. But somehow it’ll make everything ‘click’ into place for her. All the sudden she’ll be pulling you even closer than usual, refusing to voice her rush of affection, silently determined to make your commitment to each other as eternal as her life.

How she proposes: Not exactly one for extensive planning, Cassandra is likely to propose not long after her realization, even if she’s not entirely prepared (by conventional standards). Still, she does try to make it romantic. There might not be a terribly long speech, but she’ll make it clear just how strong her feelings for you are.

“You’re my everything, and I want the whole world to know it,” she’ll say, a finger tucked under your chin as she stares into your eyes. “Marry me?” As soon as you say ‘yes’ she’s kissing you hard, sweeping you into her arms like you don’t weigh a thing. It takes her awhile to make herself let you go, but it’s more than worth it when she slips the engagement ring onto your finger. There are no words to describe how happy she feels in that moment… which is why she settles for giving you as many kisses as she can manage, eagerly covering your face and neck with evidence of her love.

Alternate Proposal: Though she takes forever to realize that she wants to marry you, there’s quite a bit of time leading up to her discovery where she would absolutely say yes if you asked her. Just gently take her hand, and softly ask her if she wants to get married. Before you even have a chance to take a breath she’ll be adamantly agreeing, grinning wide, already asking if you want to take her last name, or if you want to hyphenate it with your own (not becoming a Dimitrescu is not an option).

What the wedding is like: Cassandra isn’t exactly what someone would call “socially inclined”, and finds herself stressing out considerably over the idea of a typical wedding. It’s not exactly anxiety, rather an odd manifestation of her desire to keep her business private. But that doesn’t mean she’s not willing to budge for you, should you wish for more than the 2 guest limit she suggests. She will, however, request that the main part of the ceremony remain as small as possible. Ideally, you’ll exchange vows in front of a “crowd” made up of only family members. The ceremony will likely take place in the redecorated main hall of the castle.

There is a distinct possibility that a blood oath will take place. It may be almost impossible to get Cassandra to bleed, but the symbolic nature is significant enough that she’ll be very intent on making it happen. At the very least, she’ll want a small sample of your blood (prior to the wedding) to use when she makes your wedding rings.

What her vows entail: “You are everything I want, and everything I need. The taste of your blood on my tongue has bound us together, our hearts beat in sync, and now our hearts will be strung together for the rest of time. I will be both your blade and your shield, the fire to drive back the cold and the shade to thwart the chill. Nothing will separate us, nothing will hurt us. With this, we are two halves, reunited as one.”

Honeymoon ideas: There are two main ideas for your honeymoon, with the end result being determined by your personal preference. First off: A week spent in the woods surrounding Castle Dimitrescu, staying in the cabin of a local steward. Together you’ll hunt the monsters of the land, working perfectly in sync. Blood will be shed, trophies will be taken, and the two of you will satisfy each other’s every need- if that’s the sort of thing you’re into, at least.

Option two is perfect if you’re less interested in bloodshed, more interested in Cassandra’s artistic side (Lord knows you have to care about at least one to end up with her). Leaving the village may feel quite strange for the both of you, but there are many wonders to be found outside the boundaries of your shared home, all better when experienced together. While Cassandra’s “medical condition” limits how long she can travel the outside world, a week is plenty of time for you to make treasured memories. You’ll visit museums, galleries, a couple antique stores (mainly to get souvenirs for your in-laws), and the most highly rated scenic parks. It’ll be oddly relaxed for an outing with Cassandra, but even she wouldn’t risk bringing unwanted attention to the village.

Daniela Dimitrescu:

When she realizes she wants to marry you: It’s not entirely inaccurate to say that Daniela has always wanted to marry you, but it’s certainly not the way she would phrase it. Despite her questionable understanding of romance, heavily blurred by the persuading of novels, she is quite aware that relationships ultimately lead to one of two outcomes: Either the couple splits up, or they spend the rest of their lives together. Of course, not all couples in the latter category decide to get married. But Daniela has always fantasized about such things, and has been planning her dream wedding for as long as she can remember (longer, actually, considering how short her memory tends to be).

So, it was fairly early into your relationship with her that she first imagined what it might be like to marry you. There’s not much for her to imagine, at first, yet the thought brings her warmth nonetheless. As time passes, she periodically checks in with both herself and you, not-so-subtly “joking” about proposing. She’ll make sure to joke around her family, too, waiting for the point where they seem more accepting/amused than judgmental. Eventually it’s clear to everyone that she’s 100% serious. Except you aren’t entirely sure whether she intends to propose herself, or if she wants you to propose. That leads to you asking her sisters for advice, much to their amusement.

In the end, both of you start to get nervous, paranoid about who is plotting what. Which leads to an awkward “confrontation”, where both of you try and fail to be low-key. “Do you want to get married?” Both of you ask, at the same time, blushing like mad. “Yes, of course, I love you-” the two of you say, before exchanging a tender kiss.

“I want to get married, I do,” you explain,”but there was a delay with the rings I ordered.” Daniela giggles at that, overwhelmed with joy. Then she pauses, glancing away, as if suddenly remembering something. “There’s a, er, chance… that I also ordered rings. Rings that may or may not also be delayed?... We’ll see whose order gets here first, I guess?” With that said, the ‘race’ is on.

How the proposal happens: By the time the rings you ordered arrive, alongside a sincere apology from the Duke for the delay, you’re as excited as can be. While you’ve been waiting, you’ve worked on planning a special date night with Daniela. Understandably, it’ll be obvious that you’re building up to a proposal, with your girlfriend knowing perfectly well how the night will end. Part of you worries that she’ll end up blurting out her answer before you even pop the question. Luckily, she plays along all day. Pretends to be oblivious during family lunch, even when Cassandra starts teasing her about her “plans for the day”, acts casual when you pull her in close in her personal study. By your private dinner, she is acting giddier than usual, but refrains from spoiling the fun. When you start your proposal speech, you face away from her, gazing off the balcony. Something tells you that meeting Daniela’s gaze would mark the breaking point of her self control.

“We’ve been together for over a year now, but it feels like I’ve known you my entire life. Maybe it’s more accurate to say that you’re everything I’ve needed- that before we met, I felt your absence, a gap in my existence, waiting to be filled. And that as soon as we got together… that void disappeared. I love you, Dani, and I yearn to make you just as happy as you make me. As such,” you say, at last turning to face her, pulling the ring box from your back pocket… only to see Daniela is already kneeling on one knee, holding out a box of her own.

“Will you marry me?” She asks, grinning as wide as physically possible. In response, you hold out your ring box for her to take, and the two of you quickly exchange rings. Before long the two of you are holding each other incredibly close, sharing soft kisses and loving looks.

What the wedding is like: Planning the wedding takes about as little time as you would expect, considering how long Daniela has been preparing for this. She already knew what kind of dress she wanted (she’s breathtaking, unbelievably gorgeous, in her both very-much and very-not cliche gothic princess mix), the way the castle should be decorated (not that the castle needed much to meet her gothic standards), who should handle catering (Ava makes a wonderful cake), and who she wants to invite (almost nobody, but she approves all your recommendations without hesitation).

What her vows entail: “There was a time when I lived my life with my nose stuck in novel after novel, vicariously chasing fictional romance. All those years I waited for the right person to come along, someone who could be an equal to those stories. But when I found you… I learned that sometimes reality is far, far better than fantasy. A million lovers across a million books could never compare to the love I have forged with you.”

Honeymoon ideas: Daniela is more hesitant to leave the village than either of her sisters, feeling unsure about being away from her home (and family) for even a few days. Preferably, the two of you would find somewhere within the village boundaries to stay, with just enough privacy to “properly celebrate” your marriage.

Donna Beneviento:

When she realizes she wants to marry you: The moment that Angie suggests marriage, in her iconic shrill voice, is the moment that Donna realizes just how close the two of you have become. When the two of you cook together, and you don’t break the pasta before putting it in the pot, she knows that the two of you can last. But the real moment that seals the deal is when Mother Miranda comes to visit her favorite Lord (Donna, obvs), and not only remembers your name, but actively involves you in the conversation. Even though Donna may have only had a couple lovers in the past, you are the first that Miranda has ever shown any respect. With her approval secured… Donna knows what she wants to do.

How she proposes: In the privacy of her garden, protected by a wall of illusions, she pulls back her mourning veil, gently pulling you in for a kiss. Once you part, she gives you a knowing look. “You are more than a partner, more than a lover. I need you. I offer you immortality, shelter, happiness guaranteed, in exchange for your hand in marriage,” she says, no question to her voice, presenting her statement with the confidence that she knew your answer. Many people have the wrong idea about Donna, falling for her ‘innocent’ and ‘naive’ persona. Even Mother Miranda underestimates her adopted daughter.

But you know the truth- and as such, the severity of Donna’s tone, the sheer conviction in her demeanor, does not faze you in the slightest. If anything, it only endears you to her further. To see her approach your union with the same assuredness that she uses for her most sacred duties… it fills your heart with love. There’s no hesitation in your response, nor any doubt in your answer. Warmth sparks in your chest as you accept the offered ring, as stalwart in your affections as your soft-spoken lover.

What the wedding is like: Private. Very, very private. As well as short, simply, to the point. Despite being one of the Four Lords, Donna is not willing to allow her wedding to become a public spectacle, even for a few measly minutes. Somewhat to your surprise, Mother Miranda seems very understanding of this fact. While Lady Dimitrescu or Lord Heisenberg getting married would require public celebration, Lady Beneviento is allowed to have a private event, with all village revelry being constrained to the town center. The most that regular civilians will be allowed to do is send wedding gifts- but even those will be sorted through before they reach you, to ensure that they are of reasonable quality.

The wedding itself will be held in Donna’s garden, with Mother Miranda officiating the ceremony. Just as with any important marriage in the village, the certificate will be signed using a quill fashioned from one of Miranda’s feathers. Decorations will be sparse, but colorful. After vows have been exchanged, a couple guests may be allowed to mingle, as well as enjoy a lovingly cooked (and fairly traditional) meal, with plenty of baked goods available for dessert. Expect to do most of the talking during this part of the wedding, because Donna will slip back into her reserved persona as soon as others arrive.

What her vows entail: “As I have crafted dolls, as I have pulled needle with thread and sculpted clay, so too has the universe created us. Molded us into corresponding shapes, designed by the divine to fit together, your hand in mine. With these rings, we sew our hearts together, binding us in law just as fate has bound us in love. I promise to protect, to cherish, and to hold, throughout thick and thin, in sickness and in health, for all of time.”

Honeymoon ideas: Well, if getting to live in a beautiful mansion by a gorgeous waterfall isn’t scenic enough for you, Donna is surprisingly willing to leave the village for a honeymoon. As long as she styles her hair correctly, or chooses her wardrobe strategically, it’s easy for her to “blend in” with the outside world. On top of that, leaving the village means being able to drop her act. You’ll get to see her being her open, honest self, without having to worry about maintaining her reputation among the Lords. Donna wouldn’t be terribly picky about where the two of you go, but she would suggest Italy. One of her earliest memories is spending a weekend in Vieste with her parents. It’s also one of her only intact memories of her family, and she’d love to tell you all about it when you visit, maybe ending the night with a toast to lost loved ones as the two of you gaze off at the beautiful coastline.

Mother Miranda:

When she realizes she wants to marry you: That’s… complicated. To be fair, most things about Miranda are. She’s the leader of a cult, a (moderately) mad scientist, an immortal, and at least a tad bit socially inept. Figuring out relationships is rarely easy for anyone, but Miranda has it even harder than most. It was quite difficult for the two of you to even officially start dating. Even after that point, she rarely had time to sit and reflect on things, marriage being one of the farthest things from the forefront of her mind. But there does come a time where wishes to express the immense amount of affection and trust she feels towards you.

It takes a lot for her to reach that point, however, considering how closely she guards her heart. Not only will you have to show her that your love has no alternative motives, you’ll have to show absolute dedication to her cause. Admittedly, her standards are far from fair. Loving Miranda is easy- but being with her, being loved by her, earning her full commitment? Not many would consider the reward to be worth the effort, regardless of how incredible she is, or what sort of powers she could grant someone. Maybe there will be moments where even you have your doubts. These moments will be fleeting, forgotten as soon as they appear.

Your love for Miranda is enough to conquer all, in the end. There’s nothing you wouldn’t do for her. Reviving her daughter may be her first priority, but you understand, you accept that fact, and you work by her side without complaint. Even if science isn’t your forte, you put whatever knowledge and effort you can into her endless project. Time after time, you sacrifice your own happiness for hers, knowing that someday her goal will be accomplished. It’s after an important milestone in her work that she realizes just how important you have become to her. More than that, it’s the first time in years that she really feels like she’s earned a break. With that in mind, she decides to set something up for the two of you, though it takes a while for her to figure out what exactly she wants.

A display of devotion- that’s what she wants to do. It won’t be marriage, though, because her last one ended in tragedy, and she is not yet ready to take that step once more (though she will be, eventually). What she does for you is arguably deeper than marriage, the sort of thing that only Miranda can offer, that cements your relationship for eternity. She connects you to her very heart, the source of her power: The megamycete. The fungal root at the center of the village.

The “Not-Marriage” Ceremony: The day starts with you waking up in her arms, one of her wings tucked over you for warmth, her breath ghosting the side of your neck. Not exactly uncommon for the two of you. What does feel different is the way Miranda greets you, being oddly forward with her affection, telling you she loves you in a reverent whisper. Then she’s pulling you in for a kiss, stealing your breath away. Chances are you’ll spend a fair amount of time pressed against her, lips locked, hands perhaps wandering to familiar places. After the two of you have satisfied yourselves, she’ll tug you towards the kitchen for an easy meal.

There’s an energy surrounding her that sparks a fire in your chest, excitement and curiosity dancing inside you. Only some of your interest shifts into anxiety when she starts leading you into the village caverns. As far as you’re aware, nobody other than Miranda herself has been allowed down here in generations. The two of you have to pass through a dozen locked doors before coming across a barrier that she has to shapeshift to get past, unlocking it from the other side. Finally you reach the fungal root, and you’re frozen in awe. You’ve heard about it, understanding far more than the average villager, but actually seeing it in person is, well, indescribable. It takes Miranda placing a hand on your shoulder and speaking to bring you back into the moment.

“No one has worked as hard, as consistently, or as directly with me as you have. You have proven that you understand the necessity of my actions, and that you have taken on my goals as your own. Without you, I would be alone, no matter how many of my servants might claim to be in my company. You are the only person to ever earn a place at my side- now you may reap the rewards, and claim your position as my partner.” Holding a hand out, she offers you everything. Just as she has led you in life, and as she led you here, she now leads you directly to the fungal root, guiding your hand to the strange growth. As soon as you touch it… everything changes. In an instant your mind is flooded with information, over a century of memories collected from hundreds of long-dead villagers, limitless knowledge overwhelming every fiber of your being.

When you regain your senses, Miranda is gently cradling you in her arms, lovingly caressing your cheek, gazing down at you with pure adoration. The two of you have never been closer.

When she’s ready for marriage: Realistically, Mother Miranda will have zero interest in marriage until she’s been reunited with her daughter. Once she can finally hold her child in her arms again, an overwhelming feeling of relief in her chest, old mental scars finally start to fade. Her newest goal does not take long to form in her mind: Secure the best environment for Eva to grow up in. For the most part that means protecting the village from outside threats, as well as (finally) helping the four Lords heal, so that their squabbling won’t interfere with her family. But those alone fail to satisfy her. When she allows you to hold baby Eva for the first time, and your eyes overflow with love, everything falls into place in her mind. You’re the missing piece. Even after the past ceremony, Miranda wants more. She wants to marry you, at last, like part of her had always subconsciously wanted.

How she proposes: Although Eva is not exactly a normal child (and might quite possibly grow up faster than a normal human baby), she still requires near constant attention, and most nights she refuses to go to bed quietly without both her parents present. It’s after one of these occasions that Miranda and you end up curled together on the couch, exhausted as can be. Nonetheless, you’re both happy beyond words, smiling softly at each other. “I had planned something more… spectacular, something more worthy of your status, but I find myself unable to wait any longer,” Miranda muses, stifling a tired chuckle. “Will you marry me?”

What the wedding is like: Years from now, Miranda may wish to have a more traditional wedding, or a renewal of vows to be more accurate, with an older Eva serving as an enthusiastic flower girl (and Donna supplying the flowers, of course). But for now, she’d prefer something simple, knowing that you might be overwhelmed by the village’s reaction and post ceremony celebrations. Everyone will want to participate in your wedding, from providing tribute to decorating the entire town. Thankfully, Miranda will limit the main festivities to very close guests, such as the Four Lords (and their families). Afterwards, the two of you will make a few mandatory appearances among the more important village groups, as well as others, if you feel so inclined.

What her vows entail: “Few things in life are set in stone, unmovable in its place in the universe, so correct that it becomes unchangeable. I have been lucky enough to witness several such things: My rule over the village, my bond with my child, and my love for you. With this ceremony, we may not bind ourselves any closer- for we are already one- but we acknowledge our union, and celebrate it for all to see. You are mine, and I am yours, as we have always been meant to be.”

Honeymoon ideas: It’s been almost a century since Miranda left the village for non-business reasons. Wherever you want to go, she’ll take you, as long as it’s safe for Eva to accompany you. She’ll be happy to spend private time with you, regardless of the destination.

#alcina dimitrescu x reader #bela dimitrescu x reader #cassandra dimitrescu x reader #daniela dimitrescu x reader #mother miranda x reader #donna beneviento x reader #lady dimitrescu x reader #re8 village #resident evil: village #fucking finally got this done

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btsqualityy · 3 years ago

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Fools Rush In: Chapter 6

Jungkook x Reader

Genre/Rate: 18+, Strangers-to-lovers, age gap!AU (reader is 30, Jungkook is 23), Angst, smut, fluff

Summary: You catch up with your friends and Jungkook shows you that he’s serious about the baby.

Warnings: None to note.

WC: 1.3K

“So, how are things going with you and Jungkook?” Yumi asked as she settled herself down on the couch next to Jimin in your living room. Since you had decided to stay in Korea for the next few months, Yumi and your other best friend Jimin came to see you and catch up.

“Good, good,” you nodded as you looked over at her. “We’re uh, kind of seeing each other now.”

“Really?” Jimin gasped. “From what you had told me, you were insistent on raising the baby alone.”

“That was if she had to,” Yumi interjected.

“Exactly. And after I told him about the baby and he had a few days to think it over, he realized that he didn’t want me to have to do it alone,” you explained. “If he’s willing to step up, I don’t see why I shouldn’t give him a chance.”

“That’s all well and good but you don’t have to necessarily have to be with him just because he’s stepping up and literally doing what he should,” Jimin cautioned.

“I get that Jimin,” you rolled your eyes. “But I actually like him too. I mean, there is a reason why I slept with him almost four months ago.”

“It wasn’t just the good sex?” Yumi teased.

“No,” you giggled. “He’s just so...sure of himself and what he wants in life. Sure, he’s young and still trying to figure his shit out but he has a much better outlook on things than I did at 23, and I arguably had the world at my fingertips by that age. He’s funny and kind hearted and sweet, not to even mention how attractive he is.”

“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever heard you talk about someone that you’ve dated that way,” Yumi pointed out but before you could reply, there was a knock on your front door. Excusing yourself, you got up from the couch and jogged over to your front door to pull it open.

“Hi,” you smiled when you saw Jungkook standing there, two bags in each of his hands. “What are you doing here?”

“Brought you lunch,” he replied, holding up the bags. “You busy?”

“I’m just hanging out with some friends but come in, come in,” you waved your hand and he nodded before stepping inside, watching as you shut the door behind him.

“Come here,” he said and you stepped closer to him, setting your hands on his cheeks as you kissed him firmly. The two of you kissed for a few seconds before you pulled away, taking a second to wipe a little spit from the side of his mouth.

“Come meet my friends,” you told him and he followed behind you as you led the way back into the living room.

“Who is this?” Yumi smirked knowingly and you just huffed before you began the introductions.

“Jungkook, these are my best friends Sato Yumi and Park Jimin,” you said. “Yumi, Jimin, this is Jeon Jungkook.”

“Your baby daddy,” Jimin added.

“Yeah, my baby daddy,” you laughed, making Jungkook do the same.

“It’s nice to meet you both,” Jungkook smiled, bowing a little towards the both of them.

“Mm, cute and polite,” Yumi hummed in approval. “We love to see it.”

“I didn’t know that you guys were here, otherwise I would’ve brought more food,” Jungkook apologized sheepishly as he gestured to the bags in his hands.

“Oh, don’t worry about us, we were just leaving,” Jimin replied, motioning to Yumi who nodded before they both stood up.

“We’ll call you later Y/N,” Yumi whispered.

“Alright, see you guys later,” you said.

“Nice meeting you Jungkook!” Both Yumi and Jimin yelled out as they walked out of the door.

“You too!” Jungkook shouted back and once the door shut behind them, he turned to look at you. “Hungry?”

“Starving,” you grinned. The two of you decided to settle in the living room, and Jungkook emptied the bags that he had brought with him and placed them onto the small table that was placed in front of the couch.

“Wow, did you buy the entire restaurant out?” You joked as you sat down on the floor.

“I’m kind of a big eater,” Jungkook chuckled sheepishly. “Truthfully, I could easily eat all of this by myself so I bought extra to make sure that there would be enough for the three of us.”

“Three?” You echoed, breaking apart the chopsticks that had come with the meal.

“You, me, and the baby,” he smiled shyly. “I know that with pregnancy, sometimes your appetite can change.”

“That’s sweet that you thought of that Jungkook,” you smiled. “It’s true, your appetite can change during pregnancy and I just got mines back after all that morning sickness.”

“I was right on time then huh?”

“Definitely,” you giggled and that was the last thing that was said before you both dug into the food.

“How was your day?” Jungkook asked as he slurped up some noodles and you chuckled before answering him.

“It was ok,” you shrugged. “I’m still a little sore from the tournament last week so I’ve kind of been laying around and then Yumi and Jimin came to see me. What about you? How was yours?”

“Good, good,” he nodded enthusiastically. “I did the photography for an event this morning and then I decided to get lunch for us.”

“Sounds entertaining,” you chuckled as you took a bite of samgyeopsal.

“Eh,” he muttered. “Oh, I uh...also talked to my parents today, and I told them about the baby.”

“Really?” You wondered with a raised eyebrow.

“Are you upset?”

“Of course not,” you shook your head instantly. “How did they take it?”

“Considering the situation, pretty well I think,” he explained. “They’re pretty modern given their age though, so I didn’t think they were going to be super upset. They did say that they would like to meet you soon though.”

“Ok, we can do that,” you agreed easily.

“What about your parents?” He questioned. “Have you told them yet?”

“No,” you huffed. “They’re extremely traditional and I know that they won’t react well to me not being married.”

“Are they married?” He asked.

“They just celebrated their 32nd anniversary in January,” you replied. “My mom is super religious and my dad is a stickler for tradition so if I tell them that their unmarried daughter is having a baby with a man seven years younger, they’ll have a heart attack, so I’ll tell them eventually but just not yet.”

“That’s understandable,” Jungkook murmured and the two of you continued your meal with small talk passing in between.

Once the two of you were finished and had cleaned up, Jungkook opened up his bag and pulled out a small box.

“I got something today,” he said as he passed the box over to it and you didn’t hesitate to pull the top off of it and inside were the smallest pair of green Nike’s sneakers that you had ever seen in your life.

“Jungkook, these are so cute!” You gushed as you reached inside and pulled out one of the shoes, examining it.

“I noticed that you prefer wearing Nike’s when you play and after I got the food, I saw these in a shop window and just had to get them,” Jungkook told you. “They had a few different colors but since we don’t know what you’re having, I thought green was a good unisex color.”

“It is,” you nodded, tears welling up in your eyes as you looked up at him. “They’re amazing.”

“Then why are you crying?” He wondered as he reached out and wiped away the tears that had fallen down your cheeks.

“Hormones,” you blurted, making him laugh. “Seriously, I love them.”

“I’m glad. I wanted to show you that I’m serious about this,” he muttered.

“I see that, and I appreciate it so much,” you assured him. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” he smirked, leaning forward and kissing you gently.

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#bts #bangtanarmynet #bangtanbathhouse #bts reactions #bts jungkook #jungkook x reader #jungkook angst #jungkook fluff #jungkook smut #bts x reader #bts smut #bts angst #bts fluff #bts scenarios #bts imagines

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boldlyvoid · 4 years ago

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36 Questions to Fall in Love

Summary: When Derek bets Spencer that he cant make someone fall in love with him in a week, he doesn’t expect Spencer to marry the girl the next day

warnings: strangers to lovers, blind dates, betting, talks of: drug use, drug addiction, abusive marriages, rape, sexual assault, abuse, attempted murder, mass shootings, parental death, love confessions, elopements, opposite of slow burn

word count: 8K

A/N: this is based on a request I received a while back about this article

Derek was a betting man, to say the least. He knew Spencer was from Vegas, he also knew Emily couldn’t say no to a challenge and that Rossi had enough money to burn. Betting at work was the best way to have fun when he worked there, and now he can’t stop.

“I’m not saying con a woman into loving you, I’m saying let us find a girl and let’s see if she can fall in love with you, take a week off from work and just spend time wooing her, and in a week, me or Emily will hit on her, if she turns us down for you, then you’ve won.”

Derek explained it like it was simple, and yet the mere thought of being set up with someone was horrifyingly nerve-wracking. But he got Spencer to agree… unbeknown to him that he had another bet going on the side.

You see earlier that day he was invited to Penelope’s apartment, her younger sister was moving in for a little while and they needed a big strong man to help move the boxes. And like Penelope, Y/N was really chatty and overly friendly really fast. It was like he’s always known Y/N Garcia.

She explained to Derek how hard it was in California to find good men who want someone to love them, she’s tired of guys thinking she comes on too fast, she wants someone who wants to settle and have kids and be a dad. Not a Vain narcissist who only cares about what the city can offer him.

“The last guy I went on a date with literally ran when I mentioned I read a New York Times article about 36 questions to make you fall in love… I just want a person to love? Is that really so hard?”

A lightbulb goes off in Derek’s mind, and Penelope almost reads it.

“Spencer.” They both reply with the same cheeky grin.

“I bet you, you could be as insane as you say you are and he’d still be in love with you by the end of the week.” Derek teases, and the way she smiles shows just how interested she is.

—

Woo her.

The words have rattled around in his brain every second of every moment since Derek said he found a girl for him.

She was free on Saturday, all Spencer had to do was tell Derek where she should meet him and all Penelope had to do was not mention to Spencer that she had a sister, it was up to Y/N when Spencer learned that fact.

She’s already there at the restaurant when he arrives, he’s not sure what he was expecting when Derek said he found the perfect girl but it wasn’t this. He was thinking it was going to be a joke, that either no one would show or Derek was hooking him up with some hot blonde who was way out of his league.

She was beautiful in a nice dress, her makeup was stunning and she looked so content sitting there, waiting for him. Starring her ice water with a straw, she wasn’t paying any attention to the room, she barely knew he was there.

“Hi?” He said softly, not wanting to startle her.

“Hi,” she beamed up at him, that same unsure look on her face. Neither of them was expecting anything from the other, but they were pleasantly surprised.

“Spencer Reid,” he says, actually extending a hand to shake her’s because it’s the chivalrous thing to do.

She reaches out her hand, watching him take it and kiss her knuckle softly, she’s so surprised. “Oh, um, Y/N Garcia,” she whispers the name and his eyes go wide.

“Garcia?” He panics a little, sitting down in the booth and facing her as her face drops at his reaction.

“Did he not tell you I’m Penelope’s sister? I knew Derek was up to something,” she looked like it was all too good to be true, upset almost.

“He didn’t, he probably wanted you to tell me, I mean this all so we can get to know each other,” Spencer shrugs it off, interested in seeing why Derek picked her of all people.

“I guess,” she smiled again, “so what do you do?”

“I work with Penelope, I specialize more in psycho-linguistics and geographical profiling.”

She nods in approval, “I’m a high school English teacher.”

Spencer laughs lightly, “what’s that like?”

“Interesting to say the least, especially in California. Every kid there wants to be on TikTok, no one cares about reading any of the books I ask them too,” she just shakes her head. “I’m worried about the next generation.”

“Me too, it’s almost alarming how many kids are unsubs,” he agrees. She’s so easy to talk to, he’s suddenly not nervous anymore and the waiter is coming to take their order.

He never even opened the menu, “what looks good?” He asks Y/N, nervous and she can tell.

“I think I’m going to have the lobster, let’s go all out?” She shrugged again, both of them feeling more adventurous than normal.

“I’ll have that as well,” Spencer smiled, keeping eye contact with only her as she handed the menus back to him.

They ordered sides and appetizers, stuffed mushrooms and fresh bread, it was amazing. They traded small facts about each other, Spencer noticed a lot of Penelope’s quirks in her, she was very friendly and kind and funny. She loved to tease him and make him laugh, his stomach hurt by the time their lobsters came out.

“I’ve never done this before,” she admits, putting on her bib and holding the claw cracker in one hand.

“Neither have I, but I think it’s fairly simple you just need to apply the correct amount of pressure,” he demonstrates by picking up the crustacean and cracking it at its weakest point before twisting it open.

He’s surprised he did it, so is she as she copies is movements and struggles a bit. “You got it, come on,” he encourages her as she squeezed so hard her hands shake but the shell does eventually crack.

She smiles like she just won the science fair, overly proud as they stare at each other. Enamoured already by just how cute the other was.

“So, what do you do for fun outside being a fed?” She teases between bites.

“I like to spend my time finding new things, I tend to go to the same spots often but I’m always looking for new places. I like the theatre, the old cemetery is nice, I’m excited for the new phantasmagoria to open this fall,” he explains all his interests as he cracks away at his dinner. “I just like to try and appreciate what’s out there, after everything I see.”

“That’s really nice, I’ve always wanted to go to a phantasmagoria actually, science magic is the best kind of magic,” she says it like it’s nothing, almost embarrassed by the interest.

“Me too, I love magic,” Spencer lights up, “I can actually do some magic, hold on.”

He digs his NA chip out of his pocket, showing it to her quickly before making it disappear and reappear behind her ear and she was so smitten, “how the heck?” She asked as she reached for her own ear, shocked at the fact he could do it.

“Do you always keep a coin on you for that?”

He thinks about it for a second, not knowing if he should tell her or not. “No, I keep this on me for support.”

He places it on the table, she picks it up instead and inspects it carefully, “2 years is a really long time, I’m really proud of you.”

He feels like he falls in love with her in that moment, she places the chip back in his hand and smiles, “it’s not easy to admit nor recover from, it’s something you should be really proud of Spencer.”

“Thank you,” he blushes, “um, is there anything else you want to know about me?”

She bites the inside of her lip as she thinks, “actually I was reading an article the other day that said there are a list of personal questions you can ask someone and by the end of all of them you should be in love with the person.”

He thought it was a good opportunity to take a sip of water, upon hearing the word love he realizes it was a mistake. He chokes lightly, coughing as he puts the glass back down and apologizes.

“Love?” He repeats the word.

“I’m going to be real honest here Spencer, I don’t date to get my heartbroken, I date to find my life partner so if you’re not interested in marriage or kids one day tell me now,” she’s very stern about it and he can tell she’s gotten her hopes up and heart broken before.

“I want that too, I just didn’t expect you to be so upfront about it,” he’s honest, because clearly that’s what she wants from him. “What was on the question list?”

“Given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want as a dinner guest?” She asks, remembering the questions easily.

“Wow,” he takes a moment to think about it, “alive or dead?”

“Sure, why not,” she shrugs.

“Probably biological Eve,” he comes to the decision rather quickly. “I’ve always been fascinated with the fact all humans can be traced back to one single women. I’m sure she was amazing, it must have been so interesting being the first women on earth.”

“That is the coolest answer anyone has ever given me,” she smiles, “I think I’d be boring and have dinner with Julia Roberts.”

“She’s a very talented actress,” he smiles, recognizing the name from Penelope’s movie nights. “Um, I have an eidetic memory, do you have the list I can just read it once and then we can spit it back and forth easily.”

She looks at him with wide eyes and a growing smile, “yeah hold on.” She takes out her cellphone and pulls up the article before handing it to him.

He reads it quickly and then hands it right back, she was amazed, surely it was a joke? “Would I like to be famous?” He repeats the next question to himself.

“No,” he’s very certain. “I’ve had some encounters with psychopaths who think they are my biggest fans, perfect match or my only rival, and it’s not fun. I’m sure being adored is lovely, but I don’t like the attention if it’s not from a good place.”

“So you want praise but you don’t want a stalker?” She dumbs it down slightly with a smile, “I definitely don’t want to be famous because I don’t like other peoples opinions about me.”

“That’s incredibly fair.”

“Before making a telephone call, do you ever rehearse what you are going to say?” She asks the next one.

“If it’s for work or my mother, yes,” he answers it completely honestly. “I prefer not to make phone calls, so when I have to make them I typically spend the day before panicking.”

She smiles, “well, if you ever need someone to call tech support and pretend to be you, I am really good on the phone.”

“Like Penelope?”

She nods, “we spent a lot of time talking on the phone when she moved to Virginia for your team.”

“That must have been really hard, I’m surprised she hasn’t mentioned you yet?”

“I’m not really her sister,” she smiles, “I wish I was. I met her during a really abusive relationship and I didn’t feel close to my parents anymore, so my old name didn’t feel right either. Penelope and her brothers were the closest thing I had to family, so I took their name after my divorce.”

“That’s beautiful,” his smile is so soft, she wonders if he feels the same about Penelope.

“What do you consider a perfect day?” She moves on before she can pry into his personal life further, just to pry into his personal life further— in another direction.

“Nobody dies.”

“Even the bad guys?” She squints as she asks it, wondering if that was an appropriate topic for the first date.

“I’m not a fan of the prison system, and I’m really not a very big fan of suicide by cop, let alone lethal injection,” he explained. “Just because you’re a murderer or a psychopath doesn’t mean you have to die too, there is rehabilitation and a way to keep them sane and alive while keeping people safe. I just hate when people die.”

“Me too,” her smile is sad, “my perfect day would be having my parents back, I’d like to show them my degree and go out for ice cream and give them another hug.”

“We should have our perfect days back to back,” his voice is low, he was nervous to say it. “Cause then once you bring them back, I stop people from dying and they can stay forever.”

He sees her heartbreak as the tears well in her eyes, “that would be nice.”

“Um,” he clears his throat and then takes a sip of water. “When was the last time you sang to yourself, or someone else?”

“I was singing in the car on the way here,” she smiles with a sniffle, “I sing a lot actually. I’m always humming or tapping as well, if my mind is wandering then it has to make some kind of noise.”

“What is your favourite thing to hum?” He can’t stop himself from asking it, “I personally do the muppets, duh duh nanana, manamanah.”

She laughs again, and a tear slips out as her eyes close. She hurries to wipe it away, “I often find myself doing the teletubbies song, you know; ‘Tinky-Winky, Dipsy,’” she sings the words before humming the tune to match.

“That’s a good one too,” Spencer is really enthusiastic suddenly, the way he would be with Penelope. He was really comfortable. “If you were able to live to the age of 90 and retain either the mind or body of a 30-year-old for the last 60 years of your life, which would you want?”

“Mind, because that’s how you keep a good body. If I can keep the strength and willpower to get up in the mornings and go to work and remember why I love being alive, I’ll be young forever,” she answers like it’s rehearsed.

“I was going to say I’d want my mind too, but the way you said it is a lot more elegant,” he teases. “My mom has Alzheimer's, you were honest about wanting kids and you should know that's genetic. I can also pass on schizophrenia and any other mental illness, like depression, bipolar disorder and most definitely anxiety—

“Spencer,” she reaches across the table for his hand, “breathe, that’s not scary to me. My grandma had it too, I’m not optimal gene-wise either.”

He takes a deep breath, “Sorry.”

“It makes you real to react like that, I don’t mind seeing that side of you. Fake strong men and men who compensate are the worst, in my opinion.”

“Mine too,” he agrees. “I am an anxious worrier, I barely sleep, I’m terrified of the dark, I have PTSD nightmares about my short stay in prison, and I cry a lot when I’m alone.”

“It was a mistake clearly? The prison stay, that is.”

“Yeah,” he nods, moving to the next question. “Do you have a secret hunch about how you will die?”

She laughs through her nose at the switch topic change, “well until I was 19 I thought my husband was going to kill me, then I thought maybe it would be myself, now I’m content dying in my sleep when I'm old.”

“It is ever-changing,” he agrees. “I have died before.”

“What did it feel like?”

She doesn’t ask how, she knows he was sober, she knows he’s been to prison, she knows he’s an agent. It wasn’t a surprise. Penelope even almost died once before, it was an unfortunate part of the job.

“Warm.”

“Like soothing warm, like drinking a hot chocolate, or that uncomfortable warm like being in a hot car?”

“Like a hug.”

Her lips purse, she hums a bit. “Yeah, my answer stays the same.”

“Name three things you and your partner appear to have in common.”

“You like to learn,” she smiles again. “You enjoy the mysteries and the horribleness of the world because it keeps you grounded. You love your mom.”

“We love Penelope, our hearts have similar scars, life has been mean to us for no reason,” he adds 3 more for good measure.

“What are you grateful for in life?” She asks the next question.

“I’ve never said this before,” he prefaces, “but found family. If it wasn’t for my team, no matter who was coming and going over the years, anyone who has had my back. Anyone who loves me in any capacity. That’s what I’m grateful for.”

“We’re not even through the first set of questions and I can see why everyone loves you,” she admits. Moving far too fast, doing exactly what Derek wanted from her.

To scare him and see if he still stays.

“Can I tell you a secret?” Spencer stops the questions, “I can’t continue if I can’t tell you this.”

“Yeah, what’s wrong?”

“Derek and Emily bet me $20 that I couldn’t get someone to fall in love with me, he wanted to set this up and then hit on you in a week and see if you picked me over him, and it feels like a really shitty thing to do to you. It’s making me feel like you’re an object more than a person and I feel really bad about it.”

She just laughs and he has no idea why. “He bet me that I could be as insane as I am with most of my dates and you’d still want to stay with me after a week.”

“You’re not mad?” He worries, by passing her words and the implications of it all.

“No, did you truly mean how you feel?”

“Yes…”

“Then I accept your apology, you’re really kind Spencer. I believe you when you speak, I trust you,” she explains her reasoning and he settles once more. “You’re the most real man I’ve ever met, I think.”

“Thank you,” he smiles again, reaching out for her hand once more, “do you want to finish these questions?”

“Not really,” she smirks, “I think they were wrong about all 35 of them making you fall in love with someone.”

“How so?”

“It only took me 9.”

It’s so absurd they start to laugh, making eye contact, they feel delirious. His hand in hers, she squeezes it lightly and he never wants to let it go.

“Do you want to get out of here?”

“Sure, did you drive?” She asks.

“No, I walked over.”

She gets up from the table and takes his hand once more, “well, are we going to mine or yours?”

“Are you living with Penelope?”

“Yours it is then,” she teases, bumping his shoulder. This was going to be fun.

Spencer pays for their meal and meets her out front, he gets in her passenger seat and gives her the directions. “Do you want to finish the questions on the drive?” He asks.

“Hmm, well, 11 is a long one, if you want to start telling me your life story in graphic detail? Or we can jump to 12 and you can tell me what super ability you’d like to wake up with?”

“Have you ever watched star trek?”

She’s not expecting that, it makes her take a double-take, she laughs lightly, “Yeah, why?”

“Deanna Troi can sense peoples emotions, I think that would really help with my job,” he explains it easily. “And in times like this.”

“I can just tell you,” she offers, pulling into his apartment complex, she can tell why he walked.

“You don’t have to yet, let it simmer,” he smiles softly, he’s not ready for her to make a decision like loving him when she really doesn’t know everything yet. “Come inside?”

She nods, getting out and taking his hand again for the walk inside. His house is green, and it makes sense. There are door wooden bookshelves and the distant smell of old books and spilled coffee, it’s dusty and old and very Spencer.

“Can I tell you some of my story?” She asks as she kicks her shoes off.

“Absolutely,” he follows her lead, “do you want anything, wine, water?”

“Wine would be nice,” she smiles, following him to the kitchen, “you know my favourite place to talk to someone is in the kitchen.”

“Why?”

“It's the heart of the house,” she smiles slightly, “that's what my mom used to say. This is where all the love happens.”

He loves her and he knows it already, she makes him happy and calm and if she’s in the heart of his house she might as well know all of his own heart.

“I was born in Vegas,” Spencer admits, pushing his life story past his lips before she can stop him or else he wouldn’t.

“My mom was a professor, my dad is an attorney, I have always been really smart and not so athletic, I enjoy chess and reading and I had big thick glasses as a child. My mom participated in a murder and my dad covered it up and that ruined their marriage but they blamed it on her schizophrenia when he left. And then I was left to raise her when she was supposed to be raising me. I cared for her until I turned 13, I left her during the weeks and my aunt would make sure she was okay and I would travel back and forth from CalTech and Vegas on the weekends.”

She can see the exhaustion on his face at just remembering it.

“I got my licence at 16, and then I took her car and it was easier. When I was 18 I put her in a sanatarium and sold her house and took a road trip with my friend to Virginia to go to the academy. He didn’t like it after a week and asked me to go with him to New Orleans and I didn’t— I met my mentor and joined the BAU instead. I was kidnapped and drugged by a man with DID… I died and then his personality switched and Tobias brought me back. I had an addiction to Dilaudid for a few months after, then I got sober after visiting Ethan in New Orleans.”

“Was he good to you?”

“Wonderful,” he smiles, “he was my shoulder to cry on for a long time and I didn’t realize how much I needed him in my recovery until we got a case and I had a reason to see him. I missed a plane and ignored my friends to just be with him. He’s the reason I got clean, not anything else… he told me that I was too special to hate myself, and he was right.”

“He was,” she smiles. “He sounds lovely.”

“And then, the first time I saw my mom after putting her in the sanatarium was because she told parts of our case to a man who lost his daughter, and he did a lot of messed up stuff… like he shot my co-worker. She was another special person to me—“

“I’m so sorry.”

He smiles, “she lived, don’t worry. I loved Elle, she was amazing but the bureau didn’t see that. She was a broken toy to them, we all become one eventually. I miss her a lot.”

She walks into his space and wraps her arms around him, giving him a hug as he rests against the counter, she makes no attempt to move back. Holding him in the heart of the house, close to her own. He holds her back just as tight.

“Maeve, she was another person I loved who got shot, she died. I see her sometimes when I sleep, she visits me when I’m in the most need. I’ll always love her, but she’s gone. The only other woman who claims to have loved me was a psychopath who is dead now too, she framed me for murder, had me drugged, kidnapped my mother and the list goes on and it’s not pretty. In prison she had a lot of bad things happen to me, I have scars that will never heal and a part of me was lost but I’m okay now.”

They have a moment of silence in the middle of their stories, she absorbs it while preparing her own, rubbing his back as her cheek stays pressed to his chest.

“I was born in California, my parents were high school sweethearts, they made me at prom. Learned that from the scrapbooks,” she laughs against his chest, “they were great and then they died when I was 14, it was a mass shooting at a mall, and I went to a foster home. I married the oldest son in the home after he groomed me for a few years… I met Penelope when I was 20 and she helped me get divorced and back on my feet and her brothers protected me.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“I’m sorry you relate to loss.”

“It's the one thing that unites us all, really,” Spencer’s voice is barely a whisper. “When you think about it, we’re all born and we all die, the only difference is how we fill the middle.”

They never get to that bottle of wine he mentioned, she pulls back and asks the next question as she drags him to his bedroom. “If a crystal ball could tell you the truth about yourself, your life, the future, or anything else, what would you want to know?”

“If I get to have kids.”

She drags him into the room and closes the door, “that was going to be my answer.”

“Is there something that you've dreamed of doing for a long time? Why haven't you done it?” He asks as she starts to take her clothes off.

“Sleep beside the love of my life.”

“I’ve never woken up beside the love of my life,” he replies with a soft smile and follows suit, getting undressed down to their underwear before climbing in bed.

“Greatest accomplishment?” She asks as they settle in, laying her cheek on his chest once more.

He takes a moment to think of everything he’s done that has been good, and one really stands out. “there was a case a few years back, we found a bunch of kids who went missing and returned them to their families and gave answers to the families of children who didn’t make it. Days like that feel like a reward.”

“Getting divorced,” she pushes the words out quickly.

“Most valued friendship?” He asks, knowing she doesn’t need to explain herself.

“Penelope.”

“Derek.”

“Most treasured memory?”

“When JJ placed her son in my arms and told me I was his godfather,” his voice is hushed and she knows it’s because he doesn’t want to cry. “It's the closest I’ve gotten to being a father so far.”

“I got an end of the year present when I was first starting out, this girl told me that I was the reason she enjoyed reading again and it was the reason I started teaching, I’ll never forget her. Tammy Brownlee, she graduated in 2009 and we’ve been Facebook friends ever since.”

“Most terrible memory?”

“My parents dying.”

“You’d think mine would be dying right?” He asked, she nodded against his chest, “it was actually being held down by 3 men, getting a sock shoved in my mouth while they beat me.”

She kissed his chest softly, “I’m sorry, I know that feeling. Mind you, he was only 1 man, it’s not a good feeling.”

“If you knew that in one year you would die suddenly, would you change anything about the way you are now living?”

“If it’s definite; not like a chance or a cancer statistic, if it’s like this is the day you die no ifs and's or butts, then I’d just continue as normal and have 1 really awesome day right before,” she smiles against him. “Make the most of it all.”

“If I was dying a year today, I’d ask you to marry me.”

“Already?” She laughs, thinking he’s kidding.

“You want a nice husband and a kid? I will be good for you as long as I know you, and I’ll have as many kids as you want me to help you make.”

She’s silent as she thinks about it. “What does friendship mean to you?”

“Someone who is there for you even when they don’t want to be, even when it’s hard,” Spencer whispers, thinking about his friends.

“It means hacking the government and voiding a marriage and changing someone's name so they can escape,” Y/N whispers. “don’t tell the feds she did that too.”

“What roles do love and affection play in your life?”

“I crave it and hardly receive it, but I give it out like it’s a sample at costco,” she snickers at the example she gave. “It’s something that people have always admired about me and yet it’s also the thing that scares people away. When I love, I love hard and it’s full and annoying and you will feel suffocated sometimes, but just tell me when and I’ll back off.”

“I don’t know how to ask for what I need,” Spencer whispers. “But I need someone to love me like that.”

“The next one is to alternate 5 good things about each other,” she rests her chin on her hand as she looks up at his face in the darkness, “soft.”

He pauses for a moment, bypassing the easiest one and saying pretty, instead, he says; “you’re honest.”

“You’re very caring,” she replies.

“You see beauty in the world still.”

She smiles at that one, “you make the world beautiful.”

“You are beautiful.”

“And you’re handsome, that’s my 4th,” she keeps track in her head.

“You’re true, to your heart, your promises, everything.”

“And you’re real, you see the world for what it is and you don’t try to change it for the better. You want to make it manageable,” her explanation is the longest one yet. “Was your childhood happy, and do you feel close with your family still?”

“I write to my mom every single day and I drop the notes off weekly, and no,” he doesn’t want to cry, but he feels like he might again. “It was liveable, I made it.”

“Mine was happy until I was 14, then I was alone, I have 1 living aunt and she is strange but I get a card from her every Christmas,” Y/N adds. “I’d like to think your lack of love and my need to fill the world with what I miss from my parents will make a really good family dynamic.”

“Me too.”

“How do you feel about your relationship with your mother?” She asks, “I think I know already, but it’s the next one.”

“She hit me a few years ago because I made her take some medicine, she hit me once when I was a kid too…” he whispers them so that they stay a secret, if they can’t be heard else where then they don’t exist in his mind. “She was a wonderful mother but the worst memories stick out the most now. She’s forgetting everything and all I can remember is how hard it’s been on me, like a bad son.”

“My mom was my best friend, and I still talk to her every day, I bring her and my dad around with me in my necklace,” she pulls the chain on her neck and shows him the little jar. “Mom, Dad, this is Spencer. Spencer, this is my mom and dad.”

He holds it in his hand and tips it gently, “nice to meet you.”

“The next one is weird,” she changed the topic again.

“Make three true "we" statements each. For instance, "We are both in this room feeling…" Spencer says it verbatim. “We are both feeling understood.”

“We are both hopeful.”

“We are both falling in love,” Spencer ends the feelings with the most prominent one.

“We are,” she agrees with another smile.

“Finish this,” he insists on moving forward, “I wish I had someone I could share…”

“The rest of my life with,” she whispers this time. “If we become besties, what’s something I should know?”

“I think I’ve told you all the important stuff so far,” Spencer thinks hard, pausing for a moment. “My butt is ticklish?”

It makes her giggle, “that is a good one. My sides and the bottom of my feet are ticklish too.”

“Tell your partner what you like about them; be very honest this time, saying things that you might not say to someone you've just met,” Spencer reads the question back from memory, “don’t be afraid to be too honest.”

“I like that you know how I feel but I hate that you’ve been hurt. I like how you listen to me, and I really like how comfortable you make me feel. I’m almost naked in your bed right now and I know you’d never, ever hurt me, and I haven’t felt that in a really long time.”

“I like that you are indulging me in the dream of becoming a husband and a dad one day… most people say it’ll happen but they never picture it. No one has ever said yeah id have your kids. I like that you know what you want and you’re actively looking for it.”

She moves up so she can hold his face in her hands, “only 7 more. Is it working?”

He nods, “my most embarrassing moment is the time I had a wet dream on the work jet.”

She laughs and then covers her mouth in panic, “I’m sorry that’s not funny.”

“It is, it’s fine,” he smiles. “I was dreaming about kissing this actress we helped, she actually did kiss me in the pool, so I guess it was bound to happen.”

She leans in and presses her lips against his, holding his cheeks in her hands his wrap around her waist as he holds her there. She peppers smaller kisses to his lips before pulling back, “we both cried in front of each other already today, so next question.”

“Tell me what you like about me already?”

Her hands trail his chest and down towards his boxers, he’s hard again from just kissing and she smirks, “this is promising.”

His hand on her back unclips her bra, “I love boobs, not even going to lie. They are my weakness.”

She pushes the straps down and tosses her bra aside, pressing her naked chest against his, she moves on. “What, if anything, is too serious to be joked about?”

“Being called insane, saying I'm seeing things, or acting crazy, those are things I don’t like to be told because they make my anxiety worse.”

“Noted,” she smiles. “I talk to myself a lot so get ready for that.”

“Okay,” he smiles, she’s way too easy to be real.

“I don’t want to mention my last husband from here on out, I think if I get married again I will never tell anyone I have a first husband,” she’s firm in her words.

“Technically, Y/N Garcia has never had a husband,” he reminds her.

Her face lights up at the realization, “you’re right.”

“If you were to die this evening with no opportunity to communicate with anyone, what would you most regret not having told someone? Why haven't you told them yet?” Spencer asks.

“I regret not screaming at my ex before I disappeared but I wanted to live.”

He hums, understanding how it feels. “There isn’t anyone in specific I’ve wanted to tell this to, but I wanted to kill people when I was in prison. It made me really angry being in there and I let myself dream about killing people who hurt me and then I almost did kill someone.”

“Remember what you said about bad guys?” She whispers a helpful tip, “even the worst people deserve to have a chance at life. And you’re not hardly as bad as the worst people you’ve met.”

“You’re right,” he agrees. “Thank you.”

“This place burns down, what’s one thing you’d run back inside for? Outside of people and animals…” she asks the 3rd last question.

“The book Maeve gave me.”

“The girlfriend who died?” She confirms, and he nods. “If my place with Penelope burned down, I just want my necklace and I don’t take it off that often.”

“The next question is interesting,” Spencer thinks about it, “Of all the people in your family, whose death would you find most disturbing, and why?”

“I’m glad I wasn’t at the mall with my parents, if I saw them get shot it would hurt more,” she whispers. “I’m sorry you had to see Maeve die like that.”

“In a way, I’m glad I saw Maeve get shot, otherwise I wouldn’t have believed it. She never felt real to me and then she was dead…”

She just hums, “Share a personal problem and ask your partner's advice on how he or she might handle it,” she whispers the last question.

“Also, ask your partner to reflect to you how you seem to be feeling about the problem you have chosen,” Spencer adds in the second half.

“I need to find a place to stay now that I’m here, I don’t want to keep living with Penelope. As much as I love her, I want my own place,” Y/N admits.

“I think I’m in love with this girl that I just met and I don’t know if it’s too soon to ask her to look for a house with me?” Spencer pretends to sigh, “she’s super cool and I think we’d make some nice kids. I would love some advice.”

“Has she told you she loves you yet?” She teases.

Spencer shakes his head. “I love you, Y/N.”

“I love you, too, Spencer,” she replies, leaning in one more time to kiss him.

It’s deeper this time, she breathes him in and rests her forehead against his as she breathes between them.

“How did that work?” She whispers, truly amazed at how easy it was.

He shrugs, “it’s a good questionnaire.”

“You were really honest, your heart is really pure and I would like to get to know you more, but I feel like I know everything?” She shakes her head while she talks, overthinking all the things she has learned, “I don’t even know what could be left?”

“My birthday is October 28th?” He whispers, “we have a lot to discover yet.”

—

When she doesn’t come home in the morning, Penelope knows she’s at Reid’s house. She just doesn’t expect to walk in and find them naked in Reid’s bed, out cold and cuddled together with their clothes all over the room.

It looks like something happened. If only she knew the truth.

“Oh my god?” Penelope’s voice wakes them up and Spencer scrambles to make sure they are covered by his blankets.

“What are you doing here?” Y/N shouts as she wakes up.

“I came to see if you were okay. I expected one of you to be on the couch, I didn’t think it went this good?”

“We just slept in the same bed, I promise,” Spencer turned bright red as he panicked, “we just got to know each other and talked all night, in what we normally sleep in.”

“Uh-huh,” Penelope smirks, “so I take it the 36 questions worked?”

“Perhaps,” Y/N smirks back at her sister.

“Do you use it on many people?”

“No one has made it past the first question,” she smiles at him instead, kissing his cheek as Penelope watches.

“That’s my queue to go, um… yeah, wow, I didn’t see this happening so fast,” Penelope is shocked but in the best way.

She leaves just as fast as she arrived and Y/N settles back into Spencer the second she closes the bedroom door. “You know, if she’s not going to believe us we might as well do it? If you accidentally get me pregnant then we can move fast and no one will question it.”

He laughs, “accidentally, is the key word there.”

“My parents made me at prom after crushing on each other for 2 years… I think knowing each other for 2 days isn’t the weirdest way to start a family?”

“Honestly,” Spencer lets out a sigh and her happy mood drops to a more serious one. “I was a little worried that we’d wake up this morning and you’d change your mind.”

“Why?”

“In the heat of the moment, learning everything about each other and saying I love you was really exhilarating, but I have a hard time believing it,” he admits, “not many people mean it, or stay around after they tell me they love me.”

She cuddles back into the crook of his neck and holds him as tightly as possible, wrapping a leg around him for optimal coverage, “I am staying right here, because I love you, Spencer.”

“Okay,” he whispers. Sounding like he still doesn’t believe it.

“I love you because you’re honest, you want what I want and you’re truly kind. You’re friends with my sister, you’re smart, you would make a great dad, you won't hurt me, you are really nice to cuddle with, and I know you mean it when you say you love me because it’s not a word you use lightly.”

“Are you my girlfriend now?” He wonders aloud, “cause if you really want to have a kid, I have my mom's old wedding ring in my closet, and I would rather be married to you before we do that?”

“Okay,” she whispers, tears welling in her eyes as she hides her face in his neck, “the courthouse is literally just down the road?”

“We can get breakfast together after?” Spencer adds, rubbing her back as they plan, he wasn’t scared anymore.

“Penelope will kill me if she’s not there, can we have her as our witness?” Y/N finally sits up to look at him, pulling away to sit on the bed, still shirtless.

His smile while he tries to keep eye contact with her is so funny, she giggles a little as she hides her nipples behind her palms and cups her boobs.

“I’m pretty sure she’s still in my living room,” Spencer giggles, “Penelope!?”

She comes back in then, “yes?”

“We’re going to the courthouse to get married, wanna come?” Y/N asks with an embarrassed smile.

“Yes!” She cheers, “I’ll go get you a dress!”

And then she’s off again, this time actually leaving Spencer’s apartment. “What if we don’t tell Derek, and let him hit on me next week anyway?

“Then you can say ‘sorry I have a husband,’ and he’ll body slam me to the floor,” Spencer laughs nervously, “the whole team is going to be so pissed they missed my wedding…”

She frowns, “send out a mass text, tell them to meet us at the court house, it’s their day off right?”

“You’re right,” he smiles.

This was going to be interesting.

—

Walking out of the courthouse, hand in hand, she’s in a white dress, he’s in a suit he’d probably wear to work, Penelope is crying and the whole team is waiting outside for them.

At the bottom of the courthouse steps, they all clap and cheer, throwing rice at them like an old movie, Spencer’s smiling so hard his cheeks are burning. Y/N introduces herself to everyone, hugged over and over by everyone she should have met 15 years ago.

Derek is tapping his foot, waiting for Spencer to come and hug him, “what the fuck?” He asks as Spencer steps into his space, wrapping his arms around him and shaking his back and forth.

“Nice try, I’ll give you $20 as a thank you,” Spencer teases as he pulls away. “She is perfect.”

JJ and Will are busy talking to Y/N when he turns around, Mike and Henry not far behind them. Spencer walks over and wraps Henry up in his arms, the kid was growing way too fast, Spencer loved him so much it hurt sometimes.

“Y/N, this is my godson,” Spencer introduces them, “Henry, this is Y/N.”

She gives him a big hug too, “do you have any cousins, Henry?”

“No, but I was 8 when Michael was born,” he smiles, “and I’m getting old enough to be a good babysitter?”

Spencer laughed, messing up Henry’s hair quickly with a smile, “I’m sure by the time you’re a cousin you’ll be great.”

They take a group photo outside, Spencer and Y/N in the middle, everyone was smiling. It was the first time all of them had been in a photo together, the entirety of Spencer’s found family. Now they were Y/N’s too.

She hyphenated her last name, Y/N Garcia-Reid, and their kids would share the same one. He was not only about became a father thanks to Y/N, but Penelope would also become an Aunt once more. It was like a gift that kept on giving, seeing Spencer and Y/N create a little family of their own.

—

She cried her eyes out when she met Diana. She wasn’t expecting to be so emotional, but then Diana was lucid and very welcoming and sweet.

“It’s going to be a pleasure having you as my daughter,” Diana smiles, thinking it was just a nice thing to say.

Y/N cries and holds her so tight Diana almost can’t breathe but she lets her hold her as long as she needs to, “thank you.”

“You’re welcome?”

“I haven’t had someone to call mom since I was 14,” Y/N whispers, “if that’s okay?”

Diana hugs her just a little too tight in response, “you can call me mom whenever you want.”

“Just until you become a grandma,” she whispers again as she pulls back and Diana’s attention snaps to Spencer.

“Are you trying?”

He nods, “we want kids, we’re not getting any younger.”

Diana wraps him up in a hug and he almost falls off his chair at the sheer force of it, she was so happy for him. She knew this was all he’s ever wanted; because he would be good at it, he had all this love in his heart, and he wanted to show his father how easy it is to stay.

“You’re going to be a great dad, Spencer,” she holds his cheeks as she pulls away, “I’m proud of you.”

He cried. It’s all he’s wanted from her, and now he has everything right here in this room.

—

When they find out they’re pregnant after the first try, it’s really funny to them. It was all working so well, it was a little too much for them at first. They were looking for a house, she was looking for a permanent teaching job but Spencer convinced her to wait until after the baby is born to go back.

They name her Morgan Garcia-Reid as a thank you for Derek’s little bet, and before she’s even 6 months old they’re pregnant again. By the time they have 4 kids under 5 they take a break and just enjoy their little family.

To think Derek gave them 7 days to fall in love… and then they lived happily ever after.

taglist: @g0lden-cth @doctorspenceryeet @samuel-de-champagne-problems @reiding-recs @ssavanessa22 @spookyspence @shemarmooresfedora @spencers-dria@reidsfish @manuosorioh @mochionly @jswessie187 @k-k0129 @calm-and-doctor @blanchardsbk

#spencer reid #spencer reid smut #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid fanfic #spencer reid imagine #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid x y/n #spencer reid x you #spencer reid self insert #spencer reid request #criminal minds smut #criminal minds imagine

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formulawonu · 3 years ago

Note

Hi! I have a request for you if you can, can a request based on “champagne problems” by taylor swift where either daniel, lando, lewis or carlos are dating the reader and think it’s time to propose, and they do it in front of their families or the whole grid but the reader says no, and they broke up, and years later they run into each other again and talk. you can choose the ending between fluff or keep it angst.

champagne problems / lewis hamilton

(gif is not mine! credits to the owner)

warnings: angsty :'(

a/n: i fell in love with this request, thank you so much for it. i got immensely sad writing the last few lines of this :/ taylor swift knows what she is doing. i hope my writing did justice to this beautifully sad song <//3 tried doing smth different and wrote in third person/more of lewis' pov. big cheers to lewis getting 100 wins — what an incredible feat!!! hope you guys enjoy this one :D

He thinks he sees her from across the room but an extra glance tells him it’s not her. She wouldn’t show up here. That isn’t her — something he’s had to learn ever since she left his life two years ago. He is here with someone new and she reminds him of the stars that never fail to show up in the night sky every night. She is constant and he doesn’t need to second guess with her. She understands who he is and knows what he thinks. He is genuinely happy. But she is not her.

“I would like to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?” He says, looking up at the love of his life from where he is kneeling. They are surrounded by his family and their friends. The most important people in their lives that have become an extension of who they are and know how perfect the two of them are for each other. He planned it all out — the intimate dinner full of all the things she loved. Her favorite food, her favorite people. He wanted to make sure everything was perfect. Everyone in this room knew it was only a matter of time until they both took the next step forward in the relationship. In this moment, however, he only sees her. That is how it is whenever she is around. It feels like tunnel vision: all roads lead simply to her.

He has always believed that love was unique to different people. He is, no doubt, in love with his current girlfriend and he is so sure of that. She is the calm before and after every storm. He also knows that despite this, a piece of him and the love he is capable of giving will always remain with Y/N. He will never forget how it felt to love her, just as he knows she won’t ever forget loving him.

Something is wrong. All he sees is her and yet she looks terrified. Tears are forming in her eyes and there is an emotion that he can’t quite place yet. It is an emotion he doesn’t see often. “Y/N?” He whispers, trying to read her. At this moment, he doesn’t care that everyone is standing around the both of them. He just wants to make sure she is okay. She looks away from him and looks around the room. He squeezes her hand, trying to get her to just focus on him. He is trying to reassure her that everything is okay. She looks back at him then at the open small box in his other hand. She starts shaking her head, the tears now falling from her eyes. Everything seems to be going wrong.

“I love you, Lewis.” His girlfriend whispers as he sways her back and forth on the makeshift dance floor. It is his friend’s wedding. “I love you more.” He is satisfied with the way his life has turned out. It was difficult the first few months she had left his life and he honestly thought life wouldn’t be okay again. Everything reminded him of her. There were pieces of her in his apartment and pieces of her everywhere he went. Time passed by so slowly as if it wanted him to sink in the emptiness that came when he lost her. But he met her — she made everything bright again and allowed him to see colors in the world that turned grey. She was patient with him. She took the time to understand him and let him find himself again. He is happy. He is in love.

“I- I can’t.” She whispers, still shaking her head. The tears won’t stop falling from her eyes. He understands the emotion in her eyes now. She is overwhelmed. It is regret. He can feel tears building up in his own. Everything begins to spin around the two of them. “Lewis, I… I can’t.” He tries to remain holding her hand, but she forces hers out of his hold. He looks up at her, speechless. There are so many things he wants to tell her. He wants to tell her to forget about everyone around the two of them. He wants to tell her it doesn’t matter how it happens or that they don’t need to get married right away. He would be happy being engaged forever if it meant she would be by his side. He wants to tell her that they could ditch the party and just lock themselves up in their apartment if that was what she wanted. But he doesn’t. He can’t because she is long gone now. She has run outside of the room and has left him in the center of everyone’s gaze. He cannot move. He is stuck on one knee, with his mother’s ring in his hand. Everything feels like it’s in slow motion. The first thing he does is close the box and drop it in his suit pocket. He slowly stands up, refusing to look at anyone else. He doesn’t know how to react or how to be. Everything is wrong.

While he is leading his girlfriend back to their table, something catches his attention in the corner of his eye. He has to blink a couple of times, trying to register that it is actually her. There, standing by the bar, is the girl who had left him two years ago. She is standing on her own, her body language still very familiar to him. She does not want to be seen and is trying to simply be a faceless stranger in the crowd. She would not be here if she didn’t need to, but his friends are her friends too and the bride is a good friend of hers. “That’s her, isn’t it?” His girlfriend says, following his gaze. “She’s beautiful.” He flashes a smile at her, nodding. “Yeah. I didn’t think she was going to be here, actually. None of us have actually seen her since it happened.” “Do you want to say hi to her?” He fully focuses on his girlfriend now, trying to understand if she is challenging him or simply curious. All he sees is genuine questioning. “I think you should speak to her, Lewis.” He is unsure if that is the right decision. He does not know what he wants to say to her anyway. “Go. It will make you feel better, even if you don’t know what to say.” She gently nudges him towards her and he is left reluctantly walking towards the woman he has not spoken to since she left him kneeling.

“Hi.” Words escape the both of them, the casualness of a greeting seeming so unfitting for the two. “Hi.” She replies. “How ironic that we’re seeing each other here.” He offers, trying to break the ice. He is not used to this, the awkwardness enveloping the two of them when once in the past he felt he could talk about absolutely anything with her. She visibly draws back at the reminder of the last time they had seen each other too. “Why are you here, Lewis?” She asks with a smile on her face. She was never the type to beat around the bush, that much he knew. She always went straight to the point, never afraid to hear things she might not want to. Like ripping off a bandaid, she once said. “I honestly don’t know why either.” There was no point in lying to her. He doesn’t know what to say, neither does she, and yet it felt right that he could speak frankly to her about the events of the past. “You look happy,” She starts, looking genuinely pleased for him. “You deserve to be happy.” Two emotions bubble up inside of him, one he has not felt in ages. Frustration and defeat. It is all coming back to him.

“We could’ve been happy too.”

She sighs, refusing to meet his eyes. She is still surveying the room, taking in everyone celebrating the union of two lovers. He did not like that about her; she always knew how to hide her emotions. Better put, he did not like how he could not read her anymore. “I don’t want to fight you, Lewis. I didn’t come here to do that.” She picks up her glass of champagne that she has left on the counter of the bar, sipping at it. “Dom Pérignon.” She adds. The champagne she is drinking is her favorite and it is the same one that everyone was drinking the night it happened. Or should’ve happened. A wry smile forms on his face. “I know you don’t owe me an explanation nor should you have ever felt you owed me a marriage, but I just wish you talked to me about it. That was our thing. We always talked about it.” She finally meets his eyes, studying him.

“I just didn’t have anything to say.”

“How could you have nothing to say?”

“I did not know what to say.”

“Then you should’ve said that.”

“I did not have a reason, Lewis. Is that what you want to hear? When you got down on one knee, a thousand thoughts were in my head and none of them told me to say yes. I’m so sorry and you know I loved you immensely—I still do—but I could not for the life of me come up with a reason to know for sure I wanted to say yes.” Just like ripping off a bandaid.

He does not know what to say and he wants to laugh at how she is still able to leave him speechless after all this time. “Well, I’m sorry you felt that way.” That is all he is able to say in reply. “I’m sorry I couldn’t say yes.” She finally meets his eyes, the familiar gaze of the woman he once swore he would give everything up for. “My mom wants a sorry too.” He finally says after a while, trying to lighten up the mood. “I miss her.” She replies, a small smile forming on her face. His mom absolutely loved her and held a special place in her heart for her. She was just as crestfallen as he was when she saw what had taken place two years ago. “She misses you too. Everyone kind of misses you too. I don’t understand why you had to disappear.” She shakes her head. “It wasn’t me, Lewis. All of this,” She says, gesturing around the grand ballroom. “Is not me.” “Then why are you here?” He doesn’t mean it as an insult, he just wants to know. She frowns at him. “Because Joe and Louise are my good friends, Lew. I wasn’t planning to stay long, though. I just promised Louise I was going to come by and I keep my promises.” He knows she does. He shakes his head at her. “I didn’t mean it that way. It’s nice to see you again, honestly. Nice to know you’re still alive.” “I know you didn’t. But I just don’t know who I am when I’m here. It’s all so….” She pauses, trying to think of the right word. “Intense? Overwhelming? Heavy? I don’t know. It just makes you feel so small.” He nods but he still can’t grasp that she had felt this way all this time. Maybe he didn’t know her as well as he thought he did. “Don’t blame yourself, Lewis. I can see you doing that now. It was just me.” There is amusement in her eyes and he can’t understand how she is so candid about all of this. “I just don’t understand how I feel like I didn’t- don’t know who you are. I don’t know where it all went wrong.”

She studies him, noting how the creases in his forehead have formed. Something he always does when he is deep in thought. “Lewis, you knew me better than anyone else in this world and I don’t want you to ever feel like you didn’t. What we shared was good, right? It was brilliant.” She offers him a small smile, a consolation for all that has gone on between them. “I will always love you. I don’t think I need to tell you that. You will always be special to me. But what was screaming at me when you got down on one knee was that whatever was happening… It wasn’t right. And I wouldn’t forgive myself if I ever let you go into something so wholeheartedly with me in it half-heartedly. That wouldn’t be fair to you. You deserve someone who would jump into darkness headfirst with you. I hope she is that for you.” She glances around the room again, probably noticing the eyes of spectators that have now noticed the both of you together again. She is beginning to get conscious. The emotions that were beginning to reveal themselves through her eyes are disappearing once again. She is withdrawing. He nods, trying to internalize everything she has just said.

“I’m sorry I lost you. I know you don't want me to apologize, but I’m sorry we ended like that. There are times I wish you were still in my life and there are times I still think about what it would be like if it was us in this position.” His words hang in the air, the both of them looking around the room. “But I’m doing okay. She’s great - I think you two would get along, actually. I honestly hope you’re doing okay. It sucks that I don’t know what you’re doing. I hope you know that you’re still always welcome to just hang out or whatever. Have a chat to update me on your life, Y/N. Don’t be a stranger.” She nods, smiling at him. She drinks the rest of her champagne before setting the glass back on the bar counter. “That is great to hear, Lewis. I still keep up with your races, you know? A hundred wins, you’ve finally done it. No matter what, I am always going to be proud.” She places a hand on his shoulder, a fleeting squeeze on it, then she drops it. “I’ll try not to be one. But either way, just know I’ll always be rooting for you.” She straightens out her dress then tucks her hair behind her ear. “I’ve gotta go.” She says, looking up at him. He tries to remember how she looks in this moment because he knows he doesn’t know the next time their paths will ever cross again. She is in a floor-length dress and her hair falls in waves just by her shoulders. Her eyes alight with assuredness and confidence, something that he now realizes he barely saw back then. She is happy too. That is all that matters. He nods, giving her a small smile. “Goodbye, Y/N.” She smiles back at him too. “Goodbye, Lewis.” She begins to walk away, not once looking back. Just like how it was two years ago.

“Hey, Y/N.” He calls out to her. She is not far enough for him to draw attention. She turns around, her head tiled to the side. “We almost had it all, didn’t we?” She chuckles and he can feel the sadness in it. She nods, still chuckling. “We really did. Cheers.”

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kireimarkeu · 4 years ago

Text

We got Married!; mk.l

[johnny]

character: oc x husband!mark lee

summary; where you and mark join a television show as husband and wife.

genre; fluff!

word count: 5.6k

a/n; i wasn’t really planning to write a wgm ver for mark, but i had so much ideas suddenly come to me so here it is :) i think i’ve grown and has written different kinds of fics, and i feel really confident in this one! i think you can see the difference if you read the johnny one compared to this hehe :) i really hope you guys like this because i reallyyyy did!!!

also, thank you guys for 500 followers! i havent done much but repost old works, but still got followers lmfaooo

also a little note: bold + italic means mark is in the studio watching the show together

italic means questions are being asked to y/n and mark in the interview area

enjoy you guys :)

Episode 22

“Hello, I am NCT Mark and I am 22 years old,” a smile adorns his lips as the boy next to you bow at the camera.

“Hello, I am Mark’s wife, Y/N, and I am 21 years old,” you greet, bowing politely at the camera.

“This is the first time we have very young guests coming to our show,” one of them said.

“I think many fans are wondering why you had gotten married at such a young age?” one asked.

Another continued, “yeah, I don’t think it’s common in Korea,” they said, “I heard that Mark used to live in Canada for some time, is it common to get married at such a young age, there?”

Mark chuckles, shaking his head, “No, no, we both decided to get married young because we have always talked about spending our 20s together.”

“How long have the both of you been married?”

Mark looks at you before answering, “We got married just a few months ago, actually.”

“To be exact, it has been about 4 months now,” you continued.

“How long did you guys date?”

“We dated for about 3 years, before we both decided that we wanted to get married straight away,” your husband answers.

“Wait, 3 years? But the news of you guys dating came out a year ago, though?”

“We dated secretly~” Mark replied shyly.

“You guys are the youngest couple to be on our show, has anyone been opposed to the idea of you guys getting married at such a young age?”

Your hand lands on your husbands shoulders, “to start, of course we received a lot of hate comments online when the news came out, but we knew this was what we wanted, so we never really doubted for a second.”

Mark agrees with your words, “yeah, our parents were also a little skeptical by our plans but we were adults and had explained clearly why we wanted to get married at such a young age.”

You hum along with Mark’s words.

“Tell us honestly, was it hard dating someone when you are one of the biggest boy group in Korea?” one of them asked Mark.

Mark though for a moment, he wasn’t sure if he should spill out the truth or just butter everything up. “Well, of course it was. I knew what I was getting into and so did Y/N,” he says, “and as expected we knew that if we get caught, there would be tons of comments about us.”

“How did you overcome the mean comments?”

“Of course, we had both shared tears because of those comments, but we promised to never leave each other because of what others think.”

The scene started with the both of you eating breakfast at the dinner table.

The casts of We Got Married started laughing at the sight of Mark’s bed head.

“You know, we really need to go grocery shopping,” you tell your husband who was sitting before you.

He hums, “we’ll go this afternoon, I need to get some things too,”

You swallow your food, “what things, babe?”

“Doyoungie’s birthday is just around the corner, and I wanna bake him a cake,” he tells you.

You squint your eyes at the boy, “bake? Are you sure you won’t burn down our kitchen?”

He rolls his eyes at your words, “I’m a grown up, babe, I definitely know how to bake,”

“Didn’t Mark went trending for a while when he cooked eggs?” the members laugh.

“I remember that!”

.•° ✿ °•.

The scene changed to the both of you in the grocery store. You were searching for ingredients that you had written down in your phone.

You would often forget items, so before you leave the house, you would type down all the things you would need in your phone.

Mark on the other hand, would get food on impulse- mostly snacks and instant food. You don’t mind, but space is limited, every time your husband joins you, he would overspend and in the end, you wouldn’t have space to keep all the extra food.

“Baby, you know we don’t need all these,” you sigh tiredly, your hand gesturing to the different types of chips laying in the cart. “Just pick one, honey, we can’t have everything from the store,” you say exasperatedly.

Mark pouts at you but quickly removes most of the chips until there was 2 left. You decided to close an eye since you saw one of the new chips that you had been dying to try out.

“Have you gotten the ingredients for the cake?”

Mark raises his eyebrows at your words, his hands digging through the pile of food in the cart before pulling out a box of cake mix.

Episode 27

“Let’s welcome the couple who has received good remarks after coming to our show!” one of them said, followed by a series of claps.

“Wah~ I really did not expect to receive so much nice comments,” Mark says with his hands placed on his chest, “Thank you so much everyone, y/n and I spent the whole night reading all of your comments.”

“Actually, I’m curious,” one of them quickly adds in, “how did the baking go for your member’s birthday?”

“I ended up burning the cake, so Y/N helped me from scratch,” he says sheepishly.

The casts laugh in unison.

“Did Doyoung know?”

Mark shakes his head, “I lied and told him that I was the one who made the cake, but he didn’t believed me, so I ended up telling him the truth,” Mark says, flustered.

The scene started with the both of you walking in the park. Strings of coos left the casts lips when they saw you wearing a dress with your hair braided to one side.

With squinted eyes, the both of you tried to find a good shaded spot in the park before putting down a disposable picnic mat, placing each of your shoes on each corner to prevent it from flying around.

You place the picnic basket in the middle of the mat while Mark took a seat, enjoying the view. You took out all the food that you had prepared a few hours prior.

“Do you need help, babe?” you hear your husband ask from beside you.

You shake your head, “I’m good,”

After you had settled all the food down, you finally let your legs stretch before you, leaning your head on your husband’s shoulder.

Mark’s hand that was previously resting on the plastic picnic mat, finds yours, lacing his fingers with you, “this is nice isn’t it?”

You nod, letting out a satisfied hum. You point towards his phone, “I think you have some songs prepared for this particular moment, am I right?”

“Oh, Mark do you actually have multiple playlists for different occasion?” one of the cast asks.

Mark nods sheepishly, “I think it just became a habit of mine,”

“I’m not surprised though- he is in the music industry after all, I think it is pretty common, right?”

“I suppose so? It just doesn’t feel right to me if the music doesn’t match with the vibes.”

Mark reaches out for his phone, clicking on a particular playlist called ‘when the sun’s out’. Soon, the first song started playing softly in the background.

A content sigh leaves your lips, “you know, if I had to choose one thing I’m grateful for you, it has to be your taste in music,” you tell him, quickly pressing your lips against his cheeks softly.

Mark turns red at your gesture, his hand clutching yours tighter.

“Now I’m curious, what is your favourite song at the moment,” one of them asks, turning to face Mark.

“I really like Justin Bieber a lot,” he answers, “But right now, I can’t stop listening to Good Days by SZA.”

An hour has past by, most of the food already gobbled up by you two.

“Babe,” Mark calls, poking you on the arm.

“Hm?”

“Aren’t you tired?” he asks you, “you woke up super early to make food.”

A soft smile spreads across your lips, “a little, why?”

Your husband softly pats his lap, “come lie down and nap a little. The wind feels really good right now,”

You cleaned everything up and made space for yourself. You comfortably laid your head on Mark’s lap.

“You know,” you started, “I really wish I could look at you right now, but the sun’s too bright.”

Mark rolls his eyes, “don’t be annoying and go to sleep,” he says, his finger softly flicking your cheek.

A soft laughter left you before you finally shut your eyes, dozing off quietly while laying in your lover’s lap.

Once Mark realises that you were asleep, he quietly raises his hands to cover your face from the sun.

“Awww! You are such a romantic, Mark!”

When you realise the bright light was gone, you open an eye to look at your lover who was looking at his phone, with his hand still high up to cover you from the bright sun.

A smirk adorns your lips, your eyes shutting close. You grab his hands, startling your husband. Lacing your fingers with his, you bring them down to your chest.

“I don’t want your arms to be in pain,” you mumble, stroking his hands with your thumb.

You hear Mark scoff at your statement, “I think I can handle it, babe. But, whatever you say.”

A few moments later, you feel his sculpted hands playing with your hair. He would occasionally massage your scalp or tangle your hair between his fingers.

You didn’t say a word, feeling comfortable.

The episode ended with Mark pressing a long kiss on your forehead, before pulling away.

“This couple is too cute!”

“It’s really unfair that I’m still single, this couple makes me want to get married so bad!” one of them agrees.

Episode 35

“After a long time, the couple is finally back again for another episode!” the cast says excitedly, “the last time they were here, the couple went on a romantic picnic date, leaving us all with envy!”

Mark laughs at their comment.

The scene started with the both of you entering the SM building. You had a cap and a mask on, hopefully to cover your identity from the fans waiting outside.

Although the news of you guys being a married couple had came out a few months ago, there were times where you did not feel like getting your pictures taken. Which, to be honest, was a rare moment for you and Mark since he is one of the biggest boy group.

You held onto your husband’s hands who was leading the way to the practice room.

Once he finds an available room, Mark quickly puts his things down on an empty table.

“Okay, so first we need to do some stretching so we don’t hurt ourselves when we dance later,” Mark tells you.

“Why did you want to dance?”

“To be honest, I really hate working out,” you tell them truthfully, “so I asked Mark if he could teach me some dance choreography,”

“Are you good at dancing?”

You laugh, “absolutely not! I have never danced in my life, so this is my first time.”

“She’s too adorable!”

“Babe, can we do something super easy?” you request, taking off your cap since it was covering your vision.

Your husband nods, “yeah, we’re gonna do Kick It today.”

You wince at that. Kick It is the easiest he could think of? You didn’t say anything, following whatever your husband says.

“Okay, so, we won’t do like- the whole choreography,” your husband enunciate. Just as you were about to let out a relieved sigh, Mark continues, “we’ll do from the first chorus onwards.”

Your mouth went wide.

The casts laugh at your reaction.

“Okay, so the chorus kinda goes like this-” he shows you, looking at you through the mirror, “you know it right? you’ve done it before,”

You were at a loss of words, “I mean- I guess? But it’s not perfect so you still have to teach me!” you whine.

Why is he going so fast? you though to yourself.

“Okay, okay,” he chuckles.

For the next few hours, Mark teaches you the choreography step by step.

Your husband was standing behind you, his hands resting on yours, positioning your hands at the right position.

However, you ruined the romantic moment by stepping away from the male and turning to face him with furrowed eyebrows.

The casts let out a series of grumbled sighs.

“Why did Y/N step out? It was such a romantic moment!”

“Exactly!” the other adds on.

“Can we please take a break?” you whine, wiping the sweat that was rolling down your forehead, “I’m so tired,” you huff out, throwing yourself at your husband as he captures you in his arms.

Mark chuckles, agreeing. He grabs your hand, pulling you to sit down on the empty chair. He quickly runs to the other side of the room to grab two bottles of water, opening one of them and passing it to you.

He opens one for himself before gulping half of the bottle down his throat.

After you had gulped the whole bottle down, you tried to catch your breath. “I didn’t know it would be this tiring,” you confess, “is this what you go through everyday?”

The boy chuckles, “yeah, but a shorter period.”

You roll your eyes at his statement, “Okay, show-off,” you joke.

Meanwhile, in the background, Kick It was playing on repeat. An idea pop in your head.

“Wanna know something?” you asked your boyfriend.

He nods.

“I’ve been practicing your rap part of this song,” you tell him, “I can rap your part word for word without any mistakes,” you say arrogantly, a smirk forming on your lips.

“Oh yeah?” he challenges, “my part is coming up, I would love to see you try, babe.”

You stand up from your sitting position with your bottle of water in hand. Getting ready for the verse, you bring your hand that was holding the bottle to your mouth- pretending it was a mic.

“I’m really excited to see Y/N rap,”

“Me too, she seems so confident,” the other adds on.

When the verse started playing, you rapped your husband’s part.

Mark started laughing hysterically when you started mumbling random words. “Dude!” your husband laughs, his hand slapping his knee multiple times when you rap incoherently.

His laughter only ceased when the music stopped. “Oh my god,” he says breathlessly, his fingers wiping the tears from his eyes. “I think you should replace me in NCT,” he jokes.

Just as you were about to reply, you heard a group come in. You turn around swiftly, your eyes widening when you see the familiar girls walk in.

“Oh, oh,” Wendy cheers, “what’s the couple doing in the practice room alone?”

“Oh my god, is that Red Velvet?” one of them asks, looking over at Mark with widened eyes.

Mark laughs and nods his head.

“Oh.. perhaps, you could ask them for their autograph the next time you see them,” they ask sheepishly, “my bias is Seulgi,” they quickly add on.

Mark laughs harder at that, “sure, if I see them around, I’ll make sure to ask for their autograph,”

“Oh hello,” you greet the girls, they bow politely back at you.

Your husband chuckles awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck as he greets the girls. “I’m just practicing with Y/N”

Mark never got the chance to properly meet them in private- it was either with his members or never. Hence, he felt a little nervous seeing them in private.

Irene raises her eyebrows, “are you guys performing for something?” she asks, pointing at the both of you.

You shake your head, “I just wanted to learn for fun,”

Wendy nods, “are you guys going to practice some more?” she asks, looking at the both you expectantly, “cause’, if you guys want to, go ahead. Our choreographer is going to be late so we have time to spare.”

Mark checks the time on his watch before shaking his head, realising it was already pretty late and didn’t want to disturb the girls with their schedule.

“No, it’s fine, we have to go anyway. I don’t want to steal your hour,” he says politely.

Ever since Mark had debut years ago, it was very hard for this group to book the practice room. So, whenever they managed to get the room, they would often use the room until the next person comes in.

You and Mark start packing up your things as the girls settle down and starts stretching.

The girls bid the both of you goodbyes as you quickly left the room.

“Oh my god,” you gasped, your hands clutching onto your husband’s arm as he looks at you in astonishment. “I just met Red Velvet,” you say to the boy next to you.

You hit his arm multiple times, “I literally met Red Velvet! I even talked to them, babe!” you squealed, hitting his arms harder. That was until Mark grabbed your hands for you to stop hitting his poor arm.

“Y/N hasn’t met Red Velvet?” they ask. Mark shakes his head, no. “Why not?”

“I knew she liked Red Velvet but she never really asked me if she could meet them,” Mark explains, “and we had this conversation before- meeting the other people in my company,”

“What about?”

“Y/N told me that she didn’t want to take advantage of my privilege, even though when I told her it was fine,” Mark explains. “So she never really asked about wanting to meet Red Velvet, or any of the other people in my company.”

“Jeez- babe,” he chuckles, putting your hand down and instead wrapping his arm around your shoulder, tugging you closer to him. “You were never that excited when you see me,” he jokes.

The both of you reach the ground floor, stepping out of the elevator.

“That’s because you’re not the prettiest girl group in the world!” you reply cheekily, a smirk playing on your lips.

“How long have you been a fan of Red Velvet?”

You hum, thinking back all the years you have been listening to their songs and collecting their PC Cards.

“I think it was a few months after debut?” you doubtfully reply. “It was when I had just came to Korea for school and one of their music was playing in a store, and I really liked it!”

Episode 43

“Ah, our Mark Lee! Where did you go?” the cast whined, tugging on his arms.

Mark cackle shyly, hiding his face slightly, “I’ve been very busy these days~” he says shyly, “my group had just finished promoting our recent full album,” he explains.

The casts cheers.

“I heard you guys won first for many awards!” one of them says, “congratulations to NCT! As expected, our talented group with many talents and visuals,” they compliment.

“Thank you,” Mark gives his signature grin, “actually, I felt bad for not being able to come on here for so long, so I actually brought our albums to gift it to you guys,” Mark says, reaching for the stacks of albums in the bag.

He hands each one of them the signed and personalised albums to the casts.

“I can’t wait to listen to this!”

“Is Y/N featuring in any of the songs?” they joke.

This time, the show started with you in the kitchen. You were cooking dinner since some of his members were coming over.

Mark on the other hand was sitting in the living room. He was seated on the floor, with papers spread all over the table. He had one of his hand holding a pen, swirling it around, while the other was pressed against his cheek.

“I wanted to produce a song with my own lyrics for this upcoming album,” Mark explains to the cast since they seemed to be a little confused.

“Have you produced a song with your own lyrics before?”

He nods, “I have, but I received help from others. This time I want to make a song that only has my own lyrics,” Mark explains.

“I never really got to ask an idol this question- but, is it hard to have your songs to be featured in an album?” one of them asks.

The spotlight was on Mark.

Mark nods, “it really depends. They usually focus on the music itself- since lyrics can be changed, but if the lyrics are too personal, most of the time they don’t really let you put it in a group album.”

“Did your song manage to be in the album?” one asks.

“Nope,” mark chuckles.

The casts laughs with Mark.

“Because it was too personal?”

Mark simply shrugs, and points at the screen to continue watching.

A heavy sigh leaves past the boy’s lips. He was staring blankly at the piece of paper.

The camera manages to capture everything that was written on the piece of paper. Messy scribbles was the only thing that could be seen.

“Babe,” you called. Mark quickly looks up at you, a pout on his lips. “Make sure you clean the table before the guys come,” you tell him, pointing to the mess on the coffee table.

This morning, Johnny had contacted Mark saying that he misses him and wants to visit. You quickly agreed, since you haven’t seen the boys in so long.

He hums, slamming his head softly on the coffee table, a groan coming out of him when he hit his forehead a little too hard.

A small chuckle left your lips when you heard his groans, “inspiration will come, babe,” you advise as you wipe the plates, “be patient.”

Mark turns his head so his cheek was pressed against the table as he stares at you.

“You look so pretty,” Mark mumbles, but you hear him clearly.

“Does Mark compliment you often?”

You nod slightly, “I wouldn’t say, all the time,” you exaggerate, “but it was definitely enough for me to know he loves me,” you giggle.

Mark continues to stare at you as you work on the food you were making. He was so deeply in love with you that sometimes he wonders what life would be like if he never met you.

He lays his eyes on you for the next 15 minutes. It definitely didn’t go unnoticed by you- but you had forgotten about it once you were properly focused on cutting the onions.

With heart eyes, a sweet smile spreads across your husbands lips.

The casts all coo at the romantic scene.

Mark finally sits up straight. With a grin plastered on his face, he grabs a clean sheet of paper and starts writing his feelings down. Surprisingly, he didn’t need a break, he continued writing for the next 30 minutes, satisfied with the lyrics.

“Did you write a song about Y/N?”

Mark nods, “I did, it was mostly how I felt about being with her.”

“Earlier you said that the song didn’t manage to be in the album, will you be posting the song on another platform?”

Mark scratches his head, uncertain, “I’ll have to ask my company about that,” he jokes.

Episode 47

“We’re finally back with our favourite couple! How are you, Mark?”

“Just fine, I’m preparing some things with my group, so I have been a little busy now a days,” Mark replies.

The casts sighs, “you’ve been working really hard, Mark.”

Mark simply chuckles awkwardly, unsure of what to say.

The show started with you sitting on the familiar chair in the building.

“Oh? The chair seems familiar?”

You had one of your legs crossed over the other with your right hand, holding your phone. You were scrolling through Instagram, hoping it would lessen your boredom.

After a few minutes, you put your phone down when you realised you’ve been scrolling for minutes now, but nothing had caught your eye on your feed. You let out an exhausted sigh, resting the palm of your hand against your cheek.

15 minutes later, your eyes widen when you see the familiar boys step out of the elevator.

You quickly stand up, walking up to the boys.

“Y/N!” they called, “oh my god, it has been forever since I last saw you!”

You giggle. Your eyes search for your husband but he was no where to be seen.

“He’s still upstairs, talking to the producer,” Johnny says when he notices you looking around.

You send him a smile, “I see. Are you guys going back home now?”

The rest of the boys were already walking away after tapping your shoulder to bid you goodbye without interrupting your conversation with Johnny.

“Jungwoo and Yuta are going to get dinner, the rest of us are heading home- it has been a long day, we’re all exhausted,” Johnny says dramatically.

The boy never fails to make you smile, “I know, Mark told me about your schedule.”

Johnny smiles, “also, Mark had a rough day,” he tells you. Your eyebrows raised in curiosity. You wondered what had happen.

“Did you know that Johnny had told Y/N about your day?”

He shakes his head, “I didn’t know, but I am thankful for him for always looking out for me.”

It was only 30 minutes later when you saw your husband step out of the elevator. Instead of his usual jog, he was stomping towards your direction. With the way he was walking and the all black outfit- it made him look even more intimidating then he already was.

Johnny was right, he definitely had a bad day today.

“Hi, baby,” you say softly, when he finally stands in front of you. You softly rub his arm, hoping it would calm him down a little, “you okay?”

Mark only hums, tugging on his bag when you attempt to take it from him. “i’ll carry it,” he says. You kept quiet, not wanting to worsen his temper.

The both of you quietly walk out of the building.

“Can we take a walk?” you ask, looking up at your husband.

He looks down at you and raises his eyebrows. Truthfully, he was already exhausted, but he would do anything you wanted. Mark shrugs, going with the flow.

The both of you started your walk in silence. Your husband had both hands tucked in his pockets with his lips pursed. You took multiple glances at the boy, wondering how you should comfort him.

After hesitating for a while, you wait until he has his hands out of his pockets. When you notice that he finally has his warm hands untucked, you instantly grab it in yours.

A smile form on your lips, when you hold on tightly onto his hands.

“Aw, she was trying to comfort you!”

“Wanna talk about it?” you speak up, tightening your grip on his hands.

Mark smiles, “not really, just thankful that I have you,” he says. You feel his thumb softly stroke the back of your hand, “you’re too good to me, Y/N.”

You scoff, “what do you mean? You are literally my soulmate, whenever you fall, I go down with you,” you reassure him. You nudge his shoulder with yours, “I’ll always be the shoulder you can lean on. No matter how bad it is, I’ll always be by your side.”

“How do you usually comfort Mark during his bad days?”

“He doesn’t talk about his feelings often,” you say, letting out a short chuckle. “But it’s pretty obvious, he isn’t very discreet with his emotions,” you laugh, nudging the boy next to you.

“Depending on how bad it is, I would try to leave him alone until he calls out for me.”

“Why won’t you talk about how you feel?”

“I have always grown up with this mindset- never give off negative energy to anyone who hasn’t done anything wrong,” he blurts out. “I feel like a burden whenever I would talk about my problems to anyone- not just Y/N.”

“I feel very thankful whenever he talks about his problems,” you say to the camera. “I feel proud that I am the one he could lean on.”

Episode 50

“Mark Lee is back!”

Series of claps could be heard from the room.

“I heard you had received multiple awards from MAMA!”

Another agrees, “that’s right! NCT won Favourite Male Group and Worldwide Fans' Choice Top 10! Congratulations to NCT!”

Another series of claps filled the room.

“Thank you so much! My group wouldn’t have received the award without all the loving support from all my fans,” Mark expresses his gratitude.

The show started with you sitting on the couch comfortably. You were deeply concentrated on watching something in front of you.

“What is she watching?”

The camera zooms out until the casts takes notice the television planted on the wall. The casts recognizes the ceremony playing on the television.

You were waiting for your husband’s group to start performing so you can take videos and pictures.

After watching the ceremony, you recognize the introduction to one of your husband’s songs. You sit up straight in excitement, fishing out your phone, ready to film his performance.

You had purposely took bad photos of your husband so you could laugh at them later with him.

15 minutes later, the performance ended. Even though you’re backstage, you still softly clapped at the end of his performance.

“Everytime I see Mark perform, I feel so shocked that we have such a talented guy on our show,” one of them says, making Mark chuckle.

“He was born to be a star,” another comments.

After a few more performances by other groups, it was time for the award ceremony.

You were extremely anxious for this. You hoped all the times that Mark had came home in the middle of the night only to leave again early in the morning or how he would injure himself but would still perform with full energy for his fans would be worth it.

You bit your lip anxiously, your palms had turned sweaty from the long wait of the awaited name.

“The Best Male Group of 2020 goes to...” the announcer trails off, opening the card that held the winner.

“Congratulations to BTS for being the Best Male Group of the year!”

You let out a huff, throwing your head back tiredly.

“You seemed really stressed,”

You nod, agreeing with them, “truthfully, I have seen Mark work really hard this year. It pained me to see him suffer so much and not being able to tell anyone.”

“Next, let’s see the nominated groups for Favourite Male Group!” says the announcer. The screen fills with different groups with their names.

You take a deep breath, sitting up again to watch the ceremony. Your lips purse in concentration.

“The Favourite Male Group of 2020 goes to...” the announcer trails off, opening the golden card.

A smile forms on their lips, “Congratulations to NCT for being the Favourite Male Group of 2020!”

You let out a gasp, looking at the stylists who was also watching the ceremony.

“Oh my god!” you squeal, “they said NCT, right? I didn’t hear it wrongly, right?” you ask everyone in the room.

The stylists nods, “its NCT!”

Your hand goes over your mouth in shock.

“Her reaction is so adorable,”

You watch the boys walk up on stage. Taeyong is the one to step forward to give his speech, followed by Johnny in english.

Finally your husband steps up.

“Wow,” he starts, his fans starts to scream louder. “this is so crazy. I want to start by thanking Lee Sooman for giving me the opportunity to be part of NCT. Next, thank you to our stylist and coordinator for the awesome outfits- we would never be able to win this award without the unique outfits and make up!”

He takes a deep breathe, “and of course, our dearest fans. Thank you for always supporting us, and giving us the opportunity to be on stage with this award,” he smiles when he hears his fans cheers. “Lastly, my wife who has always been by my side even during my ugliest side. Thank you for never giving up on me always bringing the best out of me.”

A grin forms on your lips, you soon became flustered from the coos coming from around you.

“I can’t wait to meet our little one soon. I love you, Y/N. Thank you,” he ends his speech, stepping off stage.

“Wait! What do you mean little one?!”

“I have been pregnant for 15 weeks now,” you say happily. “We have been trying for a baby for a while now, and we are officially having a kid soon!”

The whole casts starts freaking out.

“Why didn’t you tell us?!” they scolded Mark.

“We would like to ask the fans for the upmost support,” Mark adds. “With that, this would be our last episode as a We Got Married Couple.”

“This is a huge surprise!”

“We had so much memories on the show,” Mark admits.

“I had such a fun time on here, but for now, Mark and I had agreed that we want to put all of our focus on our baby,” you added.

“Wow... this is a happy ending,” the casts says.

“We would like to thank Mark Lee and Y/N for their contribution to the show,” they added.

“We really enjoyed watching you and Y/N being cute!”

“Thank you so much,” Mark bow, “it was an honour to come on this show,” Mark says, “I had so much fun, thank you so much for everything.”

“Thank you so much Mark. We hope you have a wonderful journey from now on and congratulations to your first child!”

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e-prentiss · 4 years ago

Text

HOTCHNISS FIC RECS (no one asked for)

and their short plot descriptions. Said description is solely based on what I can remember of the story and mostly just my reactions. I’m sure the authors provided a better summary so go read that instead.

Intolerable Me, Despicable You by Blythechild

Slowburn, enemies to lovers Hotchniss. This fic basically screams angst.

Recovery Series by Kavi Leighanna

Series order: Endgame, Rise and Forward

Post s6 - Lauren arc. This could have been season 7 but CM writers really decided to rob us of Hotchniss. Anyway, this one is a good read. Kind of Emily centric but also just pure Hotchniss goodness.

Bonus: kind of team fic as well since it explores their relationship with Emily after the whole she faked her death thing.

Reckoning by Tigereye77

Post s6. Lauren arc (we love Lauren arc fics. Best arc in the whole series if you ask me). Badass Prentiss, Emily centric, protective Hotch. Again, this could have been s7 but we were robbed.

Small Favors by Doodle19

Emily centric. Mommy Emily! + slowburn hotchniss all rolled into one. Also, Ambassador Prentiss really be redeeming herself in this fic.

Untold Truths by Doodle19

Hotchniss secret child. Mom Emily. Slowburn, angsty Hotchniss. Really, you’ll fall in love with Emily’s child here you wouldn’t stop reading it.

Family Dynamics by DreamGoddesses’92

Sequel: Days Go By

Jack + Emily goodness. After Foyet arc. Basically, how season 5 should have been.

Glittering Mica Series by SequinSmile

Post S15. Bawled my eyes out after reading this series. Probably my favorite Hotchniss fic. Coffees and slow dances will never be the same again after reading this.

Whatever Tomorrow Brings by SequinSmile

Established/Married Hotchniss. AU where Haley and Hotch never got married. Instead she left him, he met Emily and married her instead. But here comes the kicker, Jack still exists!

A sequel entitled, If Tomorrow Starts Without You, is still ongoing.

Midnight Blue Velvet by SSA_Sparks

Established Hotchniss. Pure fluff. Hotch being a good boyfriend and seriously making me want to have a Hotch of my own.

Goddess of the Hunt and the Never Do Again List by FotobridgeT2

Emily centric. Team dynamics and Hotch lowkey pining over Emily.

Some Chicken Soup, a Box of Tissues and Little TLC by Sienna27

Established Hotchniss. Sick fic. Hotch taking care of sick Emily and basically being the best boyfriend anyone could ask for.

Falling in Love with a Girl by Sienna27

You know those platonic friendships — having that connection with someone and then said friendship blossoms into so much more. Platonic friendship turns into platonic soulmates to actual endgame!! If you love that trope, well this fic is for you. Oh and Hotch getting all alpha male and protective of Emily, then getting all soft and calling her sweetheart. I mean —

Behind the Scene Series by Luli27

Season 5 + Foyet arc and how Hotchniss was so dating and developing during that whole season (and yes you can’t change my mind).

Part 1: All She Could Do

Part 2: Break Me Out

Part 3: Coming Out to the Other Side

Part 4: Drinks and Conversation

Part 5: Evaluations, Explanations and Expectations

Part 6: First Obstacle

Part 7: Gossip at 3,000 Feet

Part 8: Hunted Hotch

Part 9: Interlude’s End

Part 10: Journey’s New Beginning

Jake and Amy by Microwavebubbles

B99 parallel and an honest to god fluff goodness.

I Was Enchanted to Meet You by Purpleplasticpurse

Again, if fluff is your cup of tea, then this one is for you.

The Wonder of You by by PrentissInRed

Forgot the premise but set around s7. One of the first fics I’ve read.

Case fics:

If you are looking for a good case fic with a side of Hotchniss (bonus: the whole team is included!) then this trilogy by Sarramaks is the one.

Calverville Point, South Dakota

Humanity

When the Blue of the Night

NCIS x Criminal Minds crossover:

A Rose by Any Other Name by Tigereye77

Set after Demonology. NCIS team dynamics + Emily Prentiss goodness + 2 team leaders butting heads over Emily Prentiss — need I say more? Or Gibbs being Gibbs and Hotch trying to repress his feelings for Emily, therefore messing everything up when really he should just man up and tell the woman.

Perfect by Tigereye77

Unfinished sequel but still just as good.

Christmas fics:

Hurry Down the Chimney Tonight by Kavi Leighanna

Christmas goodness. Fluffy/domestic Hotchniss with a dash of our favorite little g-man, Jack Hotchner.

His Christmas Wish by Kavi Leighanna

Another Christmas fic. Forgot the whole premise but this one is also just as good as the other Christmas fic written by the same writer. It made me feel all tingly and soft. Again, pure Hotchniss fluff with a sprinkle of Jack.

Seriously though, if you feel like starting your holidays early, scroll through Kavi Leighanna's page and get your Hotchniss holiday fix.

Honorary mention since this is staple Hotchniss fics:

We See No End, We Don’t Know How by Purpleplasticpurse

Casual Arrangement by Microwavebubbles

Ongoing fics:

How Far We’ll Go by likingandloving

Season 7. In this universe Beth does not exist and Emily is Hotch's training partner for the triathlon.

Someone You Love by Prentissinred

First Time’s Butterflies by SSA_Sparks

Brief Encounters by Microwavebubbles

#hotchniss #criminal minds #bau #emily prentiss #aaron hotchner #hotch #prentiss #paget brewster #thomas gibson

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cupofteaguk · 4 years ago

Text

on the road (to you)

summary: as a young adult, one of the strangest revelations is the discovery that peers of yours from past fragile college years are getting married. so imagine your shock and excitement upon receiving a wedding invitation. there are, however, two problems: (1) you are a poor early-20s recently employed adult just beginning to adjust to your 401k plan, and (2) the only available ride to the wedding comes in the form of Jeon Jungkook—friend of a friend, attendee to that aforementioned wedding, and your old college crush.

pairing: jungkook x fem!reader

genre: roadtrip au, strangers to lovers au | fluff/angst

warnings: recreational alcoholic consumption, definitely not an accurate representation of how a road trip might actually be, mentions of anxiety + insecurities, very minor book reference to: The Night Circus, equally minor movie references to: Mission Impossible and The Princess Bride because I have a problem, light makeout sessions, talks of DTR (define the relationship), some angst but this is me so there’s a happy ending.

word count: 27k

a/n: a birthday present for the one and only Jeon Jungkook, whom I love and respect so much and only wish the bestest of days for. Partly inspired by Taylor Swift’s song “invisible string” + a love letter of sorts to my own old high school crush for whom my memory of him helped build Jungkook’s character. This also turned out way longer than I ever wanted it to be lol oops!

update: i was actually able to do a writer’s audio tag on this fic!!! check it out if you want to hear about the behind the scenes process that went into writing this fic <3

When you land a job in the months following your college graduation, you feel as if you are on top of the world. How could you not? After all, the norm that follows post-college is one of disappointment and constant hunts online to find job openings for any position that could suit your background and previous work experiences. It’s a fear that plagues lots of your friends, both those in college and out. It’s the same paranoia you had in the months leading up to graduation and the few months after graduation—in which your days were measured by the boxes you packed to move out of your tiny college apartment and into an equally tiny new apartment you currently share with an old roommate of yours, as well as the days you spent hunched over your computer and scrolling through job postings.

You had gone through more than a handful of cover letters, resume submissions, and in person interviews before finally landing the job you currently have and have been working under for a month now.

Throughout the course of the recent month, you’ve continued to secure certain moments that solidify the confidence that you’re finally becoming an adult. Sure, a barely functioning adult who mostly still uses the microwave to heat up your frozen Mac and Cheese—but an adult nonetheless. From learning how to pay your bills online, to realizing that grocery shopping was something you needed to make a conscious effort to do, along with going to and from your nine to five job with your coffee order in hand.

All of those things have helped you feel like you were, perhaps, finally getting your life together.

And then you receive the invitation in the mailbox.

It happens when you unlock your box on a bright March morning, taking out the usual round of bills and fashion magazines until your fingers lock around an envelope bigger than the normal letter size. It’s much sturdier too.

You don’t know what to think of the letter, until you bring the damn thing back into your apartment and rip the opening. The mere sight of the content inside makes you feel like the hand of life has just taken your figurine and moved you back a good twenty squares.

The post in your hand reads:

WITH GREAT JOY, IRENE AND SEOKJIN REQUEST THE HONOR OF YOUR PRESENCE FOR THEIR WEDDING CELEBRATION ON THE DAY OF MAY 25TH. COCKTAILS, DINNER, AND DANCING TO FOLLOW.

There’s a date at the bottom of the invitation. As you line the date up with your calendar, you realize that you have a week to RSVP to the event.

You toss the envelope onto the counter in the kitchen just to glare at the cardstock, maybe to convince yourself this is a dream or at least convince yourself that it’s normal for your friend from college to be getting married even when you have yet to land a successful relationship of your own.

You aren’t as close with Irene as you used to be, but the memory of your friendship is still at the forefront of your mind. The pair of you met during your final year of university, when you were assigned to work together for one of your many senior projects and immediately clicked. The months you spent in her apartment and vice versa pulling out all-nighters in desperate attempts to finish your project definitely earns you an invitation. At the very least, you are happy to see that Irene: bright and smart and funny, is getting married.

Not only that, but getting married to Seokjin. He’s a year older than you and Irene, but those two met when he was still enrolled and have been inseparable ever since. You don’t know relationships that well, but you know them enough to recognize that Seokjin and Irene were what everyone called the ‘endgame’. In truth, it was only a matter of time before you were to receive one of these from them.

But did she really have to one-up you like this? Not that it’s a competition. However, it does leave a funny feeling to see someone the same age as you display a much more put together handle on life. You groan at the thought.

“What’s got your panties in a twist?” Karly asks.

You turn to your roommate. She’s seated at the kitchen table, books out and everywhere as she looks over at you. Karly: fellow alumni, graduated from her undergrad program early to go straight into pursuing her master’s degree. She’s a busy bee. You wave the envelope. “Irene is getting married.”

Her eyes widen. “Ah shit, no way?” She takes the paper that you offer to her and looks over the invitation. “Damn, I knew it was only a matter of time before we started getting this stuff, but to actually see it happening…”

You groan. “I know right!” You take the cardstock back from your friend. “It’s only been six months since we graduated, how could she be getting married already?”

“Well, Irene did have a job lined up for her right after graduation,” Karly points out thoughtfully. She sees the look of bewilderment you give her. “What? It was on her Instagram.”

You pout. “Of course Irene would have a job lined up like that.” You run a hand through your hair. “I mean, that’s good for her. Really good, actually…”

Karly jerks her chin towards the envelope still in your hand. “So, are you planning to go?”

“I don’t know, do you have plans that day?” You wave the paper. “I’m allowed a plus one.”

Your roommate cracks a smile. “Are you asking me out? A little forward of you, we’ve been friends for so long…”

You whine, shaking the paper and little more frantically. “Karly, this is important! I don’t want to go alone, I won’t know anyone!”

She laughs. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry. What was the date again?”

You provide the date to her. You approach Karly’s place at the kitchen table and watch as she opens the calendar on her laptop. Immediately, you are overwhelmed by all the deadlines she’s got under practicality every date on the screen. Yet, a “wow” is the only thing you can say at the sight.

Karly smiles, sparing you a glance over her shoulder. “One of the joys of being a grad student slash T.A. slash research assistant.” She scrolls down into May, and narrows her eyes upon May 25th. Underneath the date is an event—color coated to bright orange and typed out in all caps. CONFERENCE WITH PROFESSOR WONG. “Oh crap, I have a conference that day.”

“No…” You whine some more, trailing off as you grab Karly by the shoulders and begin shaking. “Karly! You’ve left me out for the bears! What am I supposed to do?”

Karly laughs as she lets herself be manhandled in this way. “I don’t know! Go and deepen your social life or something.”

You stop shaking her and glare instead. “Is that a joke?”

“What do you expect me to say?” She retorts, appalled by your answer. “Then don’t go.”

You whine again. “But this is Irene, and I’ll feel bad for not going and congratulating her!”

“Then go!”

“But I don’t have a plus one!”

Karly places her hands at her temples. “Oh my god, this is like the circle of stupidity with you. Then find a plus one! Or just don’t go!” She whirls around to face you. “I will help you find a dress if you decide to go. I will also sit with you on the couch and eat popcorn with you if you decide not to go.”

You continue to pout, knowing that you deserve that gentle attempt at a lecture but still not liking the reason why you needed such a talking to.

“Fine,” You eventually decide to say, sliding into the seat next to Karly and leaning forward to plant your entire upper body on the table.

Karly laughs at your defeated posture. “Well, you have the rest of the week to make your decision.”

She has a point. That doesn’t mean you have to like it.

For the rest of the week the decision of whether or not you should attend the wedding becomes a weight in your mind. You spend the next few days pondering it, thinking over the pros and the cons.

As overdramatic as it is, you think about it during work, when you’re partaking in your home workout routines, and even when you’re about to fall asleep. You do want to go, you really do. It’ll be the first time you attend a wedding that didn’t involve a relative, which feels like a big deal in your adult agenda mindset. And Irene is someone you wouldn’t mind spending an evening with to catch up.

However, you wouldn’t get to spend the evening with Irene—after all, a wedding implies that she would likely be mingling with all of her guests and you would just be another attendee forced to find other means of entertainment. That’s where the plus one comes in handy. Except you don’t have a plus one. A slight problem.

You sigh. Work is a little slow today, as you are also experiencing the afternoon slump in which your mind drifts away more often than usual. You find yourself with a small laundry list of tasks (such as emailing companies, working on drafts for releases, and trying to set up different appointments) but without the motivation to do those things right away. Because of that, your afternoon slump takes the form of opening airline services to find information and prices about flying to Irene’s wedding. It’s in her hometown, about a five hour flight time from here to there.

You click on the various boxes that require information, finally allowing a search. As the search goes through, your eyes take in all the prices—both the amount to get there and to get back—and your lips part slightly at the totaling numbers.

“Five hundred dollars?” You mutter to yourself. You’re not sure how this would work with budgeting, but you’re still trying to figure out how to balance the cost of AC, the internet, and how to eat appropriate meals at least once a day. You don’t have five hundred dollars to spend on an airplane ticket. A slightly bigger problem.

You sigh again, resting your elbow on the desk and your chin in the palm as your eyes continue to scroll through the website.

Behind you, fingers curl around the top of your cubicle. There is a silence between the two of you: him, merely observing, and you, completely oblivious, until he clears his throat.

You jump, having not expected to be interrupted like this. A squeak leaves the back of your throat as you whirl around to see who is visiting you. “Jimin!” You exclaim, taking in the boy now perched along the wall of your cubicle. This is before you narrow your eyes. “Asshole, you scared me!”

If you just started working here and learned that you’d be cursing out Park Jimin for startling you, that past version of yourself might have turned red, shocked, and nervous at the thought. A month ago, Jimin was that coworker—as friendly as friendly people come by. With his pretty eyes, perfectly soft pink lips, and freshly dyed brown hair, you had been immediately taken by his charm and helpful nature.

Then the month went by, and you realized there were no romantic intentions on either end. Jimin then became your first friend in your new job. Albeit, he’s a nosy friend who enjoys asking questions and dragging you out to nearby bars and coming over occasionally with take-out, but a friend nonetheless.

“Sorry!” Jimin says back, then he glares at you. “What are you doing over here anyways?”

You shake your head. “What do you mean?”

“What do you mean what do I mean? You’ve been sighing all afternoon.” Jimin pulls out a slip of paper from behind his back. “Fifty times in the last hour, I swear to god.”

You straighten out of your seat to get a better look at the paper, unamused to find fifty tally marks across the surface. “You’re lying, there’s no way that I sighed fifty times in an hour.”

“Of course you wouldn’t know, you’re the one doing all the sighing!” Jimin retorts, lowering his hand with the paper. “Is something up with you? Did something happen?” His eyes flicker to the monitor screen behind you and he frowns. “What the fuck? Are you moving away already?”

You blink. “What?”

He jerks his chin towards the computer. “You’re looking at flight prices.”

“Huh?” You turn around, having completely forgotten about your previous predicament in light of discovering that Jimin counts your sighs. “Oh! No…”

Jimin raises an eyebrow. “No, you’re not looking at flight prices?”

You slide back into your chair, a silent invitation for Jimin to step further into your cubicle. You sigh again, and he holds the paper back up. Taking a pencil out of his pocket, he makes another mark. You look over at him upon hearing the pencil scratch and scowl. “Give me that!” You grab the paper from his hand. “I’m dealing with a crisis right now, don’t count my sighs!”

“Alright! Alright!” Jimin slides behind you and leans forward to get a better look at your computer screen. “So where are you moving to this time?”

You press your lips together. “I’m not moving away. A friend of mine from college is getting married. I’m just trying to see how expensive it would be to fly over there.”

He whistles at the five hundred dollar price in your cart. “That’s pretty expensive.”

“I know!” You groan, throwing yourself further back into your chair. “I wouldn’t mind going, but I don’t have a plus one. And as you can see, flying there would be a challenge on my wallet.”

Jimin hums at that. “Well, regarding your plus one problem, I wouldn’t mind going with you.”

You turn to look at him. “Really? You’d go across the country and endure an entire evening with your coworker and her old college classmates?”

He shrugs. “If you’re desperate, I’ll keep my offer around.” He actually pouts this time. “Are you implying that you see me more as a coworker than a friend? After all the times we’ve hung out outside of work!”

Your eyes widen slightly, having not thought of that. “No, no, Jimin, I mean—yes, I do see you as a friend now but we met as coworkers so I just think of you as a coworker first—!” You’re rambling.

Jimin interrupts by patting your shoulder, the corner of his lips quirked up into a smile. “I’m just messing with you.”

You shake your head again. “Asshole,” You grumble, returning your attention back to your computer.

Jimin is still mid-laughter behind you. “Anyways, yeah, like I said. If you’re desperate to go, I wouldn’t mind going with you. But deciding how to get there is a different question entirely.”

You turn to glare at your friend for a moment. “I’ll let you know.”

He nods, before his lips part and he’s snapping his fingers. “Oh yeah! I wanted to ask you something.”

He backs up, allowing you enough space to turn around fully and face him. “Okay, what’s up?”

Jimin grins, lifting his leg up to nudge your chair slightly. “I’m going out tonight—you should come with.”

You don’t even give this a second thought. Your lips turn into a downwards curl as you shake your head. “Nope.”

Jimin looks appalled. “Why not? Didn’t you have fun the last time we went out?”

“If ‘fun’ to you is trying to drag your drunk ass home and staying the night to make sure you wouldn’t choke on your vomit…” You grumble, trying not to shudder at the memory. It has only been a few days since that ‘fun’ time.

“I told you that sometimes I overestimate my abilities, and I already apologized for that,” Jimin points out, although he does have the decency to look guilty for that mess. He perks up again. “But this’ll be different, I promise. I’m meeting up with some friends and we’re just gonna catch up. It’s at one of the quieter bars uptown: no loud DJ, no bright lights, no bottomless rum and coke. Promise. It’ll just be a lot of socializing.” He watches you hesitantly. Socializing has never been your strong suit. “And finger food.”

The mention of food does make you look up towards him—your first sign of interest towards something. However, another thought weighs you down. “Are you sure you even want me to go?” You ask after a moment. “I mean, this is a catch up with friends. Wouldn’t I be intruding?”

“Not at all!” Jimin brushes off, waving away your concern with his hand. “I told you, it’s a socializing thing. Besides, my friends are always bringing someone along. They were asking me when I’d have a friend tag along, so I thought you’d be a good selection.” He notices you still frowning. “C’mon! It’ll be fun. When I’m not vomiting over your shoes, I’m good company. And I promise I won’t be vomiting this time.”

You stare at Jimin for a moment longer, contemplating his words. This is very true. Jimin is an ideal friend to have during social gatherings—he’s good at keeping a conversation going so you don’t have to shoulder the weight alone, he’s good at reading when you’re in a good mood and when you’re ready to go home, and he’s excellent at keeping unwanted attention away. You know this. Jimin knows that you know this.

It takes one curl of your lips for Jimin to grin, knowing that he has convinced you. “Okay!” He says, finalizing the decision without having to hear the actual answer from you. He pats your knee. “We’ll take the subway after work, it’s just a few stops down.”

If your mind conjures up any second thoughts, Jimin leaves before you are able to express them.

True to Jimin’s word, the pair of you step into a subway heading westbound as soon as you’re finished with work. It’s much later in the day now, the afternoon sun has changed into a night sky with a chill spring breeze to match. The carts are filled with the evening crowd of adults, all done with another day of work and finding enjoyment for the rest of today by returning home or seeing friends. It’s a rarity that you would fall under that latter category, but the thought makes you excited nonetheless.

“Alright, so you wanna tell me a little bit about these friends that I’m seeing tonight?” You ask, gripping the handlebar above you but leaning towards Jimin so he can hear what you’re saying over the noise of the subway speeding down the tracks.

Jimin grins. “They’re just some friends I grew up with. We like to get together once a month to catch up and hang out, since everyone is so busy with their own lives.”

You smile back. “That’s actually really sweet of you guys, to plan hangouts once a month.”

He lightly flicks your forehead. “Hey, are you saying I’m normally not very sweet?”

“Well, not right now!” You protest, hand over your forehead. “That hurt.”

“You’re being a baby!” Jimin retorts back.

The pair of you continue to bicker like this until your stop is announced over the intercom. Jimin halts the further insults being thrown at each other as he gestures towards the approaching station, as seen through the window of the subway.

“This is our stop,” Jimin says to you, allowing you to step out onto the platform first. He joins behind you right after, leading the way as the subway’s three chimes signal the closing of the doors. There’s a breeze that follows, running through your hair and clothes as the subway zooms away to its next stop. The station itself is crowded, filled with groups of friends and individuals carrying on with the rest of their evening, overall looking so lively and you can feel yourself feeding off their energy.

With a gesture pointing up the stairs that’ll take the pair of you to ground level, Jimin leads the way. You make your way through people, following Jimin’s guide until you’re both exiting the station and entering the world of your new stop. It’s another area of the city you work in, so the change in scenery isn’t too dramatic—but it’s a place more catered towards restaurants, shopping areas, and hang-out sections. The bright neon signs protrude out from the building, flashing the various products or services the specific building offered: from manicure care to corner ramen shops.

“C’mon, let’s hurry!” Jimin calls back to you, picking his pace up slightly. He’s not running, but his long legs make it harder for you to keep up. “Everyone is already there.”

The pair of you continue to pace down the sidewalk, past the crowds of people waiting to eat, people lingering outside of clothing stores. Finally, Jimin slows down near a restaurant. He looks over his shoulder to make sure you’re still behind him, before entering the establishment. He mentions something about knowing where their seats are, before continuing deeper into the restaurant.

As you look around, the place does look like a restaurant slash bar—not as crazy as some of the bars Jimin takes you with the intention of actually getting drunk, but there’s still a bar here and there’s still alcohol being shared heavily. It’s the same demographic of early 20s, young adults with friends, but there are actual tables and chairs and booths set up like a restaurant. So you suppose Jimin hadn’t been lying to you about this.

“There they are!” Jimin says to you, as you look up and follow Jimin’s finger to the table in the far corner that is completely filled with the exception of two seats. You vaguely make out the back of some heads, most belonging to boys, before your eyes land on one of the boys facing you and Jimin. He’s sitting at the far end of the table, currently laughing brightly at something one of the boys at the table has said. For all intents and purposes, the boy is cute. Extremely cute. When he laughs, his eyes and nose crinkle and his lips spread into a wild smile—and brings out the dimple on his cheek. He looks like the embodiment of all your ideal types mashed into a singular being.

All of those things. Yet, that is not the reason why you are staring. None of those things come close to why you stop dead in your tracks, why your heart drops in your chest, why your eyes widen. Even with the shitty lighting in this restaurant, you are one hundred percent positive. “Jimin!” You manage to choke out, having enough well power to grab onto his hand seconds before he is able to make himself and yourself known to his friends.

He whirls around, wide-eyed and curious and worried. “What? Is everything okay?”

You shake your head. The room feels too small. “I think there’s something I should tell you—!”

“Hey, is that Jimin? Jimin!” Your voice is very easily drowned out by the sound of another, much louder voice that seems to boom through the restaurant.

Jimin turns back around in time to face one of the boys from the table who has gotten out of his seat. You are able to see him from over Jimin’s shoulder—a tall boy with messy unkempt hair and a boxy smile. Jimin greets him with a “Taehyung!” before the boys embrace. “Taehyungie,” Jimin continues afterwards, turning around so both are able to face you. “This is Y/N, she’s a coworker of mine.”

Taehyung grins, a friendly gesture that makes you relax. But only slightly. “Y/N! It’s nice to meet you, I’ve heard a bit about you from Jimin. All good things, I promise.”

“W-Well, that’s good to hear,” You manage shakily, eyes nervously darting to the boy at the end of the table, who has stopped his conversation and is now looking at you and Jimin.

“Let me introduce you,” Jimin says, breaking your concentration as he rests a hand on your shoulder. He points right at the boy at the end of the table, who is still staring at you. His eyebrows are furrowed together. You want to bury yourself alive. “That one over there is—!”

A lightbulb seems to go off in the boy’s head. His face breaks out into a smile as he points at you. “Hey, Y/N!”

Jimin looks taken aback at the fact you are being recognized by someone at the table. His hand lowers as he looks over at you.

You, however, cannot focus on Jimin. You can only focus on the boy at the end of the table, the boy currently smiling over at you with all the light in his eyes, the boy who makes the memories flash through your mind. From that, the best you can manage is a tiny smile. “Jungkook!”

Jungkook. Jeon Jungkook. Where do you even begin with him?

You met Jungkook during your second year of university. He had been an arts major (you were not) and yet, your paths crossed multiple times throughout the quarter as a result of sharing many general education classes together. You even were forced to pair up on a project for one of those aforementioned G.E. classes. Neither of you ran in the same social circle, but that didn’t change how sweet, funny, charming, endearing, easy-going, friendly, smart, and nice Jungkook was. It was very easy for him to make friends, very easy for him to go out of his way to say hi to you in the library or in class or in the cafeteria, and very easy for him to strike up a basic conversation with you.

Because of that, it was very easy for you to fall for him—to develop a deep-rooted crush that went on for the rest of your university experience. You would use the term ‘friends’ very loosely when describing what your relationship with Jungkook had been. You had never hung out with him outside the context of school, never went out to eat with him, and never saw him again after graduation. Until now.

Actually, ‘acquaintances’ would probably be a much more fitting term.

“Hey, I haven’t seen you since graduation!” Jungkook is saying as he stands up from his chair and approaches you. As if on autopilot, you return the one armed hug he gives you. His smile, while still pleasant, holds a surprising tinge of shyness to it.

“Woah, hold on a second,” Jimin interrupts, immediately pointing between Jungkook and you. “You guys know each other?”

“Y/N and I went to university together!” Jungkook provides.

Jimin looks like his eyes are about to fall out of his sockets.

“We’ve known each other since second year,” Jungkook continues. He looks over at you. “I didn’t know you know Jimin.”

“Uh…” You forget how to speak. You’re too busy looking at Jungkook as if you haven’t seen him for years. In a way, it feels like that. Seeing people from college outside of college after a graduation ceremony is like meeting them again for the first time—most of them develop a more independent look. Some look like their life is seconds from falling apart. Some look much happier without the institutional pressure to secure classes and grades and internships. Sadly for you, Jungkook falls under the latter category. Did he always have that twinkle of starlight in his eyes?

“Y/N and I work together,” Jimin provides, seeming to realize that you weren’t going to answer Jungkook’s question. “She started working about a month ago.”

“Oh, that’s cool,” Jungkook replies, still looking at you. It is then he seems to notice that the three of you are standing in the middle of the restaurant. Although you are not distracting any patrons, the workers probably don’t appreciate it. “How about we sit down? We’ll be able to catch up more!”

Jimin seems to regain control of the situation quicker than you do, because he nods at Jungkook. “Let me introduce her to everyone, then we’ll join you.” You look over to where Jungkook had been sitting and immediately notice the previously empty two chairs right across from him—like fate, or something terrible like that.

So you watch as Jungkook makes his way back to his seat, and Jimin starts to guide you around the table. He only drops a name. Surprisingly, he doesn’t linger, he merely takes you to the next person. It only takes you a second to figure out why.

“You didn’t tell me you know Jungkook,” Jimin hisses in between the time it takes to travel in between people.

“I didn’t know you knew Jungkook!” You hiss back. You smile and nod politely at the person Jimin introduces as Yoongi. “Seriously, you never mentioned him once!”

Jimin only keeps his frustration for a moment before he’s introducing you to someone named Hoseok, a boy with a bright smile, the one who was making Jungkook laugh earlier. “Okay, fine,” He relents, the pair of you finally move to take your seats. “But what was that earlier?”

“What was what?”

“You were just staring at him! What, did you have a huge crush on him or something—?” Jimin accuses, but he stops. Just as the pair of you are about to sit down, Jimin parts his lips in realization. “Oh.” Then, he sends you an absolutely wicked grin. “Oh, okay.”

Your eyes widen at him, murder in your eyes. “Jimin!”

“So, Y/N,” Jungkook’s voice cuts through your little biting banter with Jimin.

You whirl around to face Jungkook, eyes completely devoid of murder and voice several pitches higher. “Hi, Jungkook!”

He smiles, such a wonderful little thing that makes your heart flutter in your chest. “Hi.”

Jimin ducks his head to hide the fact that he wants nothing more than to burst into fits of laughter.

“So how have you been?” Jungkook starts up. “I haven’t seen you since graduation. Since you landed a job, you seem to be doing well.”

“I am!” You manage, only continuing to try and keep a handle on your heart and managing well enough this time. “There were a few months of just scrolling through job postings and writing cover letter after cover letter though.”

Jungkook laughs, another beautiful gesture that makes you mirror his smile. “I definitely feel that.”

“Well, what about you? What have you been up to?” You ask. “I think I saw on your Instagram and you were traveling around for a little?”

His eyes light up at that. “Oh yeah! I don’t know if you remember Kim Mingyu from school?” You do. “Well, he and a friend of his got into some freelancing and had to do some traveling around to work on some filming. He asked me to come along because I actually have some photography experience. So that was a thing I did for a few months.”

You nod, smiling. “No way! That’s so cool.”

You do relax after a few conversational exchanges with Jungkook. He’s just as relaxed and mellow, yet friendly and polite as ever, and it’s easy to make conversation with him as it always has been. Eventually, you join in on the larger conversations with the whole table—touching on topics from your university experiences to tales from your new job. A lot of your role, however, falls to listening. Jimin’s friends are rowdy, funny, and out-going. They invite you in like you have been in this group for years—and are able to provide context on older memories they are revisiting.

Most of your evening, however, is engaging in conversation with Jungkook. Occasionally, Jimin will join in, but he does spend most of his time laughing along to something his other friends are saying. Since you and Jungkook have always been friendly with each other, long conversations aren’t out of the ordinary. You just never considered how well you and Jungkook got along, how easy it would be to transition from topic to topic.

“I am really glad that Jimin invited you along,” Jungkook explains brightly after the pair of you are done laughing following Jungkook’s tale of another fuck-ups with Kim Mingyu. “Makes you realize how small the world is.”

“Oh, you should have seen her moping around earlier today,” Jimin interjects, choosing now of all times to insert himself back into your conversation with Jungkook. “She was sighing all afternoon—so maybe we should thank her misery that I decided to invite her along tonight.”

Jungkook turns to you, a sympathetic look across his face. “Did you have a bad day today?”

You try for a laugh, waving away Jimin’s words. “Jimin’s just overreacting. Actually, I found out a friend of mine from college is getting married, so I was trying to figure out my plan…” You start, trailing off as you look at Jungkook. “Wait, you didn’t know Irene, did you?”

“I did.” His eyes widen as his lips part in realization. “Oh my god, you were invited to Irene’s wedding too?”

“I was!” You exclaim, unsure whether you should be excited or even more nervous at the prospect of potentially seeing Jungkook at the wedding event. “Holy shit, this makes it an even smaller world. How did you know Irene?”

Jungkook is still mid-giggle at the pure coincidence of everything. “We both knew Mingyu! This is so crazy. Are you planning to go?”

You shrug. Jimin chooses to interject once more. “That’s what Y/N over here was sighing all afternoon over.”

You whine as you look at Jimin. “No need to sell me out! Listen, Jungkook.” You turn back to the boy opposite of you, who is still gazing at you. “I’m sure you understand my current predicament.”

“Sure.”

“You know how expensive flights can be.”

“Of course.”

You fold your arms over each other and rest them on the table. “So, are you planning to go to the wedding?”

He nods. “Most likely, yeah. I actually knew that the wedding was going to be happening soon, since Mingyu told me about it as soon as Irene got the ring. I ran into the flight problem pretty quickly too, so I decided to just drive to the event.”

Jimin whistles. “Drive across the country, huh, JK? That must be a four day trip, or something.”

“It was coming out to be,” Jungkook acknowledges with a nod. “But it’s okay.” He’s grinning, looking excited at the prospect. “I’ve never done a cross country drive before, so it was actually kind of exciting to plan the route. There are a few places I want to stop by and visit. I’m sure it’ll be fun.” Then, Jungkook turns back to you. “If you decide that flying would be too expensive, then you’re more than welcome to come along. It’ll be nice to have some company and not spend four days by myself.”

Entirely on instinct, you start to laugh. You think he’s joking—how could you not? This is probably one of the longest conversations you’ve ever had with Jungkook. Like you’ve mentioned before, you wouldn’t consider him a friend. Why would he seriously try to invite you on a road trip? “Yeah, I’m not too sure—I’ve never done a cross country trip before…”

The conversation shifts pretty quickly as soon as you reply back to Jungkook. Hoseok asks you a question that drags your attention away, simultaneously allowing you to forget about Jungkook’s request.

The end of the dinner happens soon after, when the bill has been paid and you suspect the long line of people outside waiting for a table are waiting for your party to be done. So venmo exchanges and money debts go around until each member of the table starts standing up one by one to make their move to exit the restaurant.

You and Jimin are one of the first to leave. Goodbyes are exchanged along with the polite ‘it was nice to meet you’ phrase thrown around. Jungkook is mid-conversation with Yoongi, but he still gives you a quick hug of parting before you and Jimin exit the restaurant.

The pair of you only make it out a few steps before there is a familiar voice calling your name. “Hey, Y/N! Y/N, wait up!” You stop and turn around, surprised to see Jungkook dashing out of the restaurant. He rests himself for a moment before he’s straightening back up to look at you.

You try for a smile. “Hey Jungkook, what’s up?”

He takes in a few more deep breaths to calm himself—either from the dashing he just did or to steel himself for the next question, you don’t know. “It’s about me inviting you to drive up to Irene’s wedding—I just thought I’d let you know it was a serious invitation. Having the company would be nice, and you wouldn’t be a burden to me, seriously. Besides, it’ll be fun to spend some time together.”

“O-Oh,” You stammer, wringing your hands together. “I’m not too sure… I still have to think about it.”

“Of course, of course,” Jungkook dismisses good naturedly. “Just thought I’d let you know, so you know that you do have options.”

Although the offer makes you nervous, you cannot dismiss Jungkook’s thoughtfulness. You give him a more relaxed smile. “I really appreciate that Jungkook, thank you.”

He smiles at your smile. “No problem! Actually…” He digs around for the wallet in his pocket and produces a little card. “Here’s my business card—my cell phone number is on here so just text or call if you decide to join me. Or,” He presses his lips into a more bashful smile. “You can just text me whenever for whatever reason. I just thought I’d let you know that it was good to see you again.”

You take the card slowly, unable to look away from Jungkook’s face. He looks so genuine and shy that it doesn’t help your own racing heart. “It was good to see you too, Jungkook…” You return, albeit a little breathlessly.

He smiles again, dimples pressing in his cheek (and your heart). He turns to Jimin “Oh yeah, nice seeing you too Park.”

“Hey.” Jimin hits him on the shoulder. “I’m your hyung, you should show me more respect!”

“My bad, my bad.” Jungkook doesn’t apologize though. His gaze flickers to yours one more time, gaze looking strangely hopeful. “I’ll see you guys around.” He walks backwards a few paces before turning around and returning to the restaurant. Maybe to see his other friends.

Either way, it doesn’t matter. You are still screaming internally regardless—as shown through your red cheeks, widened eyes, and singing heart. Jimin will certainly never let you live this moment down.

Now, you are screaming externally. You don’t even give a thought or an explanation. You simply walk into your apartment, nosedive for the couch, and start yelling into one of the throw pillows.

There’s a rapid movement of footsteps coming from down the hallway almost immediately, one that grows gradually louder until the owner of the steps starts speaking. “Who the fuck is out there? I’ve played softball my entire life and therefore will not hesitate to drive this bat so far up your ass—oh, Y/N.” The voice lowers significantly, as does the threat level it emits into the air. “It’s just you.”

You lift your face from the throw pillow, and immediately brush away at the hair that falls in your face. “What the fuck!” You croak, pushing yourself into a sitting position and pointing at the bat in Karly’s hands. “What are you doing threatening me with a bat? You’ve never played a game of softball in your life!”

“Oh, this isn’t mine. It’s Soonyoung’s.” Soonyoung is Karly’s boyfriend from high school, who used to play baseball on the high school team. How Karly has her boyfriend’s baseball bat is a mystery, but it’s something you think you are better off not asking about. She places the bat down on the carpet next to the coffee table. “But I should be asking you the questions, you bitch! You scared the shit out of me!”

You sigh, throwing your head to rest on the back of the couch. “Sorry, sorry. Had a crazy day.”

Karly ponders this as she moves to take a seat next to you. “You seemed fine when you texted me about you getting drinks with Jimin. Did something happen during the dinner?”

You straighten up again and grip Karly by the arm. “Okay, don’t scream.”

“You mean like you did?” Karly retorts dryly.

You shake her. “I’m serious!” When Karly doesn’t say anything, you take it as a sign to continue with your story. “I saw Jungkook.”

Karly blinks, then grabs your arm right back. “Wait, Jeon Jungkook, as in the guy you’ve been crushing on since second year?”

“Yes!” You whine, throwing yourself onto the couch all over again.

“The one you had to work together on a project with and nearly cried even though you guys just had to submit a paper?”

“Yes!”

“The one who said hi to you in the library that one time and you tried to put your elbow on the table afterwards but you missed and hit your head instead?”

You pause, scowling. “Okay, now you’re just being mean. Are you done?”

Karly is laughing. “Oh my god. What are the chances of you seeing him now?”

“There’s more,” You groan out.

“Really? Honestly that yell could have been just for seeing him again and that would have made sense—!”

You ignore her. “He’s friends with Jimin. He’s friends with Irene, too. He was invited to her wedding.”

“Wait, Jimin is friends with Irene or Jungkook is friends with Irene—?”

“He won’t pay for the flight though. It’s too expensive. I can attest to that.”

Karly holds a finger up, trying to connect the dots. “When did you look up flight prices—?”

“So he invited me on a cross country road trip to Irene’s wedding.”

Karly frowns.

You sigh. “Jungkook invited me on a cross country road trip to Irene’s wedding.”

“Oh! Oh!” Karly’s eyes widen. “Oh my god, that’s huge. Are you gonna go?”

“I don’t know!” You whine. “Jungkook mentioned it would be a four day drive to get there. I don’t know if I can survive four days in a car with him! We’ve never been that close, what if it gets awkward?”

Karly ponders this. “I really don’t think it’s in Jungkook’s nature to be awkward with someone—especially someone he’s had a history with.” She sees the look of disbelief you give her. “Well, even if that history was really limited. What makes you think it’ll be awkward? Was it awful seeing him tonight?”

“No!” You cry, straightening into a sitting position so your legs drape over the side of the couch. You force yourself to calm down. “It… it was pretty good actually.”

Karly raises an eyebrow, amusement dancing in her eyes. “Really now.”

“Yeah…” You reply, trailing off. “We sat across from each other during the dinner and we talked most of the night, surprisingly. I guess because we were sort of acquaintances we’ve always known about each other, so it wasn’t like we didn’t know how to ask questions to each other. And Jungkook… he’s easy to talk to as he’s always been and he’s so nice and positive and he has a dimple on his cheek when he smiles…” You finish slowly, noticing your racing heart that has come up as a result of this conversation and of your memory. You realize the predicament you’re in, further emphasized by Karly’s growing grin. You groan. “Shut up.”

Karly looks like a Cheshire cat. “I didn’t say anything.”

You grab onto one of the throw pillows and properly hit her in the face. “You’re saying many things right now, you bitch!”

Karly takes the pillow from you and proceeds to whack you in the shoulder. “Not outloud!”

“So you admit it!” You accuse, pointing at her.

Karly yells. “Just admit you still have a crush on him!”

Your groan turns into a cry. “Don’t say it outloud! Now I have to deal with it!”

Your roommate sighs. “Bitch, I can tell you exactly how to deal with this. You’re gonna go on this road trip with Jungkook and see if you guys vibe—you honestly will not find a better way to discover your compatibility with him. If it works out, then you get more than a plus one to the wedding. If it doesn’t work out, just skip the wedding and take the first flight back home. Cut off your friendship with Jimin while you’re at it—it’s the only way to ensure you’ll never have to run into Jungkook again.”

You pout. “That seems a little dramatic.”

Karly thinks for a second, then she nudges you. “Remind me again about that quote your high school English teacher used to always parade around.”

You stare at her for a moment, because you know exactly what point she’s trying to make. Still, you decide to humor her. And yourself. “‘You’ll never know if you’ll sink, swim, or float, until you’re willing to take the plunge’.” You level Karly with another gaze. Your friend has a point. You missed any chance to hang out with Jungkook during your college years—partly because your friend groups never intersected, but mostly because of your internalized fear of fucking up. But now that you are just a little older and just a little more versed in the art of conversing and befriending—maybe Karly is right. Maybe this is your chance to see if a different set of timing could make a difference.

So you sigh.

“I guess I should text Jungkook, huh.”

Karly pats you on the shoulder. “Take the plunge, my dude.”

You do take the plunge. You take Jungkook’s business card out from the pocket of your dress and dial the number. He expresses excitement—and also relief.

These things lead up to the current moment. Eight o’clock in the morning: you lingering in the kitchen with a cup of coffee, your suitcase by the door, and a roommate keeping you company.

You don’t realize how nervous you are until you get a text from Jungkook.

Jungkook (8:03am): i’m here! u can buzz me up so i can help u with your stuff :)

You (8:03am): it’s ok jungkook it’s just a suitcase. i’ll be down in a second!

You pocket your phone, and Karly can read the expression across your face before you realize what is going on. She straightens up. “He’s here?”

“Yeah.” You rinse your coffee cup and make your way towards the door. “Did you want to come down with me?”

Karly stops and gives you a look. “I thought that was already implied.”

“Well, thanks, that’s really nice—!”

��Someone has to give you an embarrassing goodbye.”

“There it is.” You sigh. You don’t say anything as you and Karly exit the apartment and make your way down the hall into the elevator. It only takes a few seconds for the elevator to lower down to the ground floor, where you and Karly exit and make your way to the front of the apartment complex.

You swear your heart beats just a little faster as soon as you see Jungkook near the front entrance of the building. He’s wearing a pair of black jackets with an oversized denim jacket and currently looking down at his phone—overall appearing so tall and pretty and otherworldly. For a brief second, you are taken by the fact that for the next four days, he’ll be yours.

Jungkook looks up as soon as he hears the door opening and he smiles. “Hey you.”

You smile, albeit a little lopsided and dreamy. “Hi.”

Jungkook walks towards you immediately. “Here, let me help you with that.” He reaches a hand out and gently takes the handle of your suitcase before you can say anything. Just as he’s taking the suitcase from you, Karly emerges from the building. “Oh, sorry about that.”

Karly waves him off. “Don’t be. I’m Y/N’s roommate—I’m just here to see her off.”

Jungkook stares at her for a moment, then he snaps his fingers. “Wait, I remember you. You went to college with us too.” He jerks his chin towards you. “You hung out with Y/N a lot, right?”

“Yeah, I’m Karly.” She holds out her hand for Jungkook to shake. “And you’re right, she and I hung out a lot. We were roommates back then too.”

Jungkook nods in understanding, before shoving his hand into his pocket. His other hand is still holding onto your suitcase. “Well, I promise to take good care of Y/N.”

Karly smacks her teeth against the side of her mouth as she points at him. “You’re a good man, Jungkook.” She pauses for a moment, seeming to contemplate a new thought. You recognize the look immediately, and your fingers twitch as if you want to strangle her. Or at least let her know you’re throwing her a look of murderous intent. But of course, Karly doesn’t see it. And even if she had, you doubt she’d care. “But no funny business, alright.”

You gape at her. “Karly!”

Jungkook coughs at that. “I-It’s just a drive—y-you don’t need to worry about that.” He does, however, turn away to hide the red that dusts his cheeks.

As soon as Jungkook’s back is facing you, you whirl around to shoot Karly with a glare. “Karly, you’re lucky I’m leaving for the next four days or I would not hesitate to figure out how to make stuffocation look like an accident!” You hiss out between teeth without taking a breath.

Karly glares right back. “You’re really dumb, aren’t you? The fact that he recognizes me because he saw you hanging out with me on campus doesn’t strike any chords? Even though, like you said, you guys weren’t really friends?”

You blink. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

Karly widens her eyes. “What the fuck do you mean? Are you dumb with all the boys or just Jungkook?”

“What do you mean!” You snap back.

“So, Y/N, ready to go?”

You whirl back around to find Jungkook now standing in front of you and Karly. He must have finished packing your suitcase in the trunk of his car and is now looking over at you with a tilt in his head.

So you force a smile. “Of course,” You say, turning to Karly. “I was just saying bye to my roommate.”

He nods in understanding, sparing one more glance at Karly before seeming to decide against it because he looks away. He’s still a little red at Karly’s previous comment. “We should get going then.”

“Sure.” You look over at your roommate. “See you, bitch.”

Karly waves back, grinning wildly. You just know she has several other thoughts she’d like to share with you, but has probably deemed you embarrassed enough. Lucky for you, she keeps her mouth shut.

Unlucky for you, without Karly to be a barrier of distraction, this leaves you alone with Jungkook. You slide into the passenger seat of his car, still not yet processing the weight of what you’ve just agreed to. You fiddle alone for a second before Jungkook is opening the driver’s side and shifting into his seat.

There is a silence as Jungkook is starting the car, and a part of you wants to die. Or at least have the ground swallow you whole. Holy fuck, what did you just sign up for?

Your mind somehow takes five seconds to turn into complete shambles that you almost miss Jungkook’s question.

“Here, I’m giving you an important mission,” Jungkook says, rummaging through the various chords that lay over the center console before producing an aux cord. “Should you choose to accept.”

He’s got on such a serious expression you momentarily forget about your anxiety. His usage of the iconic line from Mission Impossible makes you laugh—a breathy sort of noise that escapes when your mind is too full. You still take the aux cord. “Oh my god—ever heard of bluetooth?”

He pouts. “It hasn’t even been five minutes and you’re already insulting my beautiful Celia!”

You raise both your eyebrows. “Celia?”

“Yeah, that’s the name of my car.” He catches the bewildered look you give him before angling himself back to face the steering wheel, where he shifts his console into drive and makes a turn onto the main street. “If you’re already weirded out by the fact I have a name for my baby, then you’re in for a very long four days, Miss. Y/N.”

You giggle, feeling that distraction of nerves start to come off your shoulders. “Not weird at all.” You pause. “Ryan is the name of my car.”

“Ah!” He holds one arm out in a grand gesture. “You see, not so strange after all.” He steals a glance at you, watching as you’re about to connect your phone to the aux cord. “Wait!” He says, pointing a finger at you.

You look up at him, wide eyes.

He’s still holding an arm up. “How’s your music taste?”

You’re still giving him your surprised expression. “You scared me!”

He laughs, returning his hand back to the steering wheel. “Sorry, sorry. I have to ask though—I’d rather know now than later, so I can kick you out and not feel as bad about it.”

Your laughter seems to melt away the last of your nervous energy. “Nice to know you’re putting all your cards out now.” You look down at your phone. “Regarding my music taste… it’s whatever you want dude! I have some lo-fi on here, some pop, alternative, Broadway, anime openings… an ‘everything’ playlist. Honestly, the world is your oyster.”

“How about we start with your ‘everything’ playlist,” Jungkook suggests. “That way I can judge you immediately.”

“Were you always this charming, Jeon Jungkook?” You retort. “Or has graduation changed you?”

“Oh, I’ve always been this charming—you just never noticed.”

That comment, however, goes over your head as you focus down on your playlist. You look over, selecting the shuffle option as Taylor Swift’s soft music from her newest album fills the air. Another silence fills the car, but it’s much more peaceful and comfortable. You allow yourself to settle further into the passenger seat of Jungkook’s car.

“So,” You start after a moment. Jungkook hums to let you know he’s paying attention. “What inspired the name Celia?”

Jungkook brightens at the question. “She was this character from a book I read when I was younger. The Night Circus? Anyways, the book is about these two illusionists who try to one up each other with their skills of magic, but they end up falling in love. Celia is the name of one of those illusionists.”

You grin. “Sounds like a very cute crush.”

Jungkook grins back.

The drive out of the city continues like this. The pair of you cover the topic of books, of music, of your favorite animes. Jungkook just has this magical power of ensuring the tension dissipates from your mind and stays gone—whether it’s through his relaxed nature or easy-going teasing or his ability to ease the conversation from one topic to the next. It feels like every conversation you and Jungkook had in college, whether vague or circling around classes, all have led up to this moment. It seems like everytime you or Jungkook run out of things to talk about pertaining to a certain topic, you would bring up memories from college and just continue from there. Everything feels natural.

It continues to feel natural even as you and Jungkook slowly start to see the edges of the city landscape fade away. The high rises fade into shorter buildings and smaller business areas that surround the bustling city scene. You watch as those buildings and business areas become rows of houses. Residential areas in the suburbs, passing by the occasional school or corner restaurants.

“Before we enter the wide unknown,” Jungkook starts up, breaking the quiet that has enveloped the car. “You want to pick up lunch? You hungry?”

You haven’t even realized how much time has gone by until you look at the clock on Jungkook’s dashboard and notice that it’s past noon. You widen your eyes at the sight. “Wow, I didn’t even realize so much time had passed.”

“Yeah, we drove through a few cities. Time flies when you’re having fun, huh?”

“You wish,” You tease, sticking your tongue out. “So, what, do we stop at a Cheesecake factory or something?”

Jungkook blinks. “I thought you were poor—why would we stop at the Cheesecake factory? And why is that the first restaurant that comes to your mind?”

You wave your hands. “It was just a suggestion!”

“Well, I’m realizing that I should probably let you know that the motel I picked for us to drive to tonight is pretty far out—Google Maps says we probably won’t get there until midnight, and that’s with us driving straight through.”

“Midnight? Fuck, Jungkook. Will we make it to the wedding a day early or something?”

“Ha, ha, no. I’ll go over the schedule I planned out tomorrow. Basically, I want to try and cover most of our ground on the first day so we can take the rest of the trip easy. But I thought I’d let you know now that sitting in a restaurant probably won’t be the most time responsible idea.”

“That’s true.” You look out the window again and see the golden arches of McDonalds appear within your line of sight. “Let’s just stop at McDonalds.”

Jungkook follows your gaze. “Alright, down. Let’s do it.”

He exits off the freeway, following down a route that takes him almost immediately towards the McDonalds parking lot. Since this restaurant is still within the lines of the city, it’s not completely deserted. There are a few cars in the parking lot, even fewer cars in the drive-through line. Because of this, ordering the food only takes a few minutes. Both of you get chicken nuggets, sodas, and large orders of french fries.

“You know, we’re really living like kings,” You comment as Jungkook drives out and makes his way back onto the freeway. “College graduates, both somehow able to secure a job, and still ordering chicken mcnuggets.”

Jungkook shrugs. “I wasn’t told this is what adulthood would be like. But I’m not complaining. My 10-year-old self is singing in so much joy right now.” He says this as he’s stuffing a handful of fries into your mouth. You laugh, and hand him a napkin.

You turn the music back on. The pair of you silently munch on your chicken nuggets, as you angle your head towards the side window once again. As Jungkook drives, the numbers of structural spaces become more scattered the longer you both continue down the freeway.

The anime opening to Haikyuu starts playing when you turn back to Jungkook and realize that he’s trying to close the box of his chicken nuggets. You move right away, taking the cardboard from him and closing it yourself. “Let me know if you need anything, Jungkook. Think of me as your co-pilot.”

He laughs gently. “Is that the rule of the passenger seat?”

You shrug, putting the empty box into the McDonalds bag near your feet. “For me at least. Everytime I do one of these drives with family, the person in the passenger seat has to open the snacks, make conversation, and always stay awake with the driver. It’s just courtesy.”

Jungkook is smiling softly now, mostly to himself, but it lights the corners of his eyes that makes you momentarily unable to look away. “You wanna tell me about your family?”

So you do. Your voice becomes softer as you continue, but Jungkook listens to every single word you say.

True to his observation, it’s not long before the pair of you are surrounded by the wide unknown. Houses in the suburbs become farmhouses and farms. Conversations fade from your family to another comfortable silence as you continue gazing out the window. Jungkook requests your lo-fi playlist at some point, filling the car with the soft and distorted hums. It allows your mind to wander as you stare out the window. The empty stretches of land around you are filled with greenery, with mountains, cutting right through the perfect blue of the sky above you.

By 4:00PM, your entire body is starting to feel the ache of having been seated for long hours on end. You feel the tightness in the muscles of your thigh, the bones in your knees.

Jungkook must be feeling the same, because as soon as a sign for a rest stop comes on, he exits the freeway and pulls into a large parking lot. There’s a restroom on the side, but the area is surrounded by trees with mountains standing in the background.

Jungkook stops the car. “We should get out for a bit to move our legs.”

You’re already tugging on the latch that’ll open the car door. “I’m already feeling it in my knees.” You open the door and immediately extend your legs out onto the solid ground beneath you. You let out a sigh of satisfaction, and Jungkook laughs from next to you.

He’s opening his own car door soon after, but he straightens up into a standing position pretty quickly and stretches upwards. He closes the car door behind him, watching as you eventually pull yourself together to do the same.

You turn to face Jungkook. “I’m gonna use the restroom.” You gesture towards the building and earn a nod from Jungkook, who mentions something about doing the same thing. You meet back at the car a few minutes later.

Jungkook gestures to the trees surrounding the parking lot. “Want to take a walk around the area? Keep the blood flowing to our legs.”

You nod. “That sounds like a good idea.”

“Why don’t you get started. I’ll catch up.” Jungkook watches you leave, before opening the trunk of his car and rummaging around.

He does catch up with you, quickly enough that you hardly notice that he had sent you out first. You hear his footsteps, and the call of your name. You turn around. “Jungkook!”

The sight before you makes you waver slightly, as bouts of shyness overtake you. Standing before you is Jungkook, with his camera in hand. The lens is pointed right at you. As soon as you’re staring straight into the camera, Jungkook grins. “Say hi!”

You whine, whirling back around and covering your face. “Are you filming me right now?”

“I’m a photographer at heart, what did you expect?” Jungkook teases back. “Besides, it’s really pretty around here. You think I won’t film it?”

You snort, starting your walk around the parking lot. “Oh yeah, because there aren’t any parking lots and trees and bathroom stops at home.”

Jungkook is quiet for a second. “That’s not what I meant.”

You turn to stare right into the lens of his camera. “Then the mountains, right?”

He’s quiet for another second. “Sure.” He does, however, sound a little disappointed. You do not notice this.

The pair of you stay quiet as you make your round around the parking lot, taking in the mountains from different angles. The walk around is mostly just to rid of the sensation of your legs falling off, but it’s still a nice view to admire. As soon as you finish a complete round, you and Jungkook return back to the car. You watch as he carefully places his camera into his camera bag before you’re both back in your seats.

Jungkook turns to you. “Ready to get going again?” He looks at the control panel behind his steering wheel. “We’ll probably have to stop for gas in a few hours. But after that, it’s straight to the hotel.”

You settle back into the passenger seat. “I guess we already have our dinner plans then.” You’re referring to the gas station.

Jungkook grins. “I’m down for that.”

And so, the trip continues back on the freeway. With the lo-fi playing in the background, you watch as the sun tears through the blue sky, as the sun finally begins it’s dip to the other side. The singular color once spread across the pane of atmosphere now conjugates around the sun crawling behind the mountain—creating a diffusion of new colors. The corner of the mountain emits an explosion of oranges, pinks, and purples.

You lift your head from the window, eyes taking in the rainbow of pastels around the now fading sun. “Wow, Jungkook, look at that sunset.”

He snorts. “You wanna talk about things that you can’t see back in the city?”

You pout. “But it looks so pretty, see!” You keep gesturing towards the sunset.

Jungkook relents just enough to spare a glance in the direction. He hums. “Yeah, it’s pretty.” He looks back at the road. “Can’t really find a view like that in the city.”

You spend a little more time admiring the sunset than Jungkook does, for obvious reasons. You’ve seen a sunset plenty of times before in the past, but the context of this whole situation makes you unable to look away from it. You’re really out here, stuck in a car with someone you have never hung out with for longer than a few minutes. But you are enjoying yourself. There's peace in that.

So you watch until the sun dips below the mountain, momentarily leaving the sky in a navy color.

The next time Jungkook speaks, the area around you is much darker, and the sky is nearly black. “You hungry now?”

You lift your head from the seat, not even realizing you were drifting off. You’re thinking about Irene, wondering if you should have texted her directly congratulating her on the wedding rather than just simply sending in the RSVP. “Sure. We eat as the car eats, right?”

Jungkook smiles, a gesture you can barely make out from the headlines. “Of course.”

This goes on for a few more miles until the sign for a gas station comes up. A few other cars linger near the dispensers. Jungkook parks near his choice and gets out of the car. You follow behind him. He’s already sliding his credit card into the machine, and the sight makes you reach over to grab his wrist.

“I should pay, you’ve been driving all day!”

He shakes his head, waving you off. “We’ll take turns, okay?” He looks at you. “Buy me dinner tonight too, that sound fair?”

You pout, leaning back as you cross your arms. “Not really, but I guess I’ll have to accept it.”

He grins. “You are correct.”

As soon as the gas pump alerts you of the filled tank, Jungkook returns the pump back to the machine and locks his car. Together, the two of you make your way towards the convenience store, where the bell above rings to alert the workers of your presence. Nods are exchanged as you and Jungkook tear through the aisles to find anything that could satisfy your cravings. You return back with family size bags of hot cheetos and beef jerky, while Jungkook holds his selection of roasted seaweed and Doritos. You select your drinks together before returning to the cashier.

It’s nearing 9:00PM as you and Jungkook return back to his car, where you slide back into your seats and immediately tear into your bags of salt and sodium.

“How are you doing?” You ask as Jungkook finishes his first bag of roasted seaweed.

Jungkook pulls out his phone, scrolling through the final stretch needed to reach the hotel. “Yeah, about four more hours to the motel.” He looks over at you. “I’m good. The salt in this seaweed really helps. How are you doing?”

You nod immediately. “Great. Perfect.”

He smiles, shifting his console to drive and pulling out of the gas station. “I’m used to these weird hours. Remember how I told you I traveled around a bit with Mingyu and Wonwoo? There was this one day we only slept for an hour or something? It sucked, I think I almost passed out that day. But yeah, this is honestly not even that bad.” He turns to look at you. “I think the good company helps, too.”

You roll your eyes, grinning. “You flatter me, Jeon.”

Slowly, 8PM turns into 10PM. One glance at Google maps tells you that you’re still two hours from the hotel. Even though you’re not the one driving, and although you haven’t endured any physical activity that could result in this exhaustion, you still find yourself growing tired. Something about sitting under the sun, sitting in a vehicle that rocks side to side with a consistent hum—it makes your mind work slowly and therefore brings out the sleepiness quicker.

You settle deeper into your seat.

Jungkook giggles from next to you. “You tired already?”

You pout slowly, eyes closed just enough. “I’m not a morning person and you made me wake up at 8!”

“Sure, sure, of course.”

There’s a pause.

You ponder a question for a moment. It’s something that you would never dare ask Jungkook if you had been more awake and more alert. But you’re tired, and your defenses are lowered, and it means you are more prone to asking questions. “Hey, Jungkook? Did you have any girlfriends when we were in college?”

Jungkook doesn’t answer immediately. “Where’s this coming from?” He asks instead.

You shrug, making a dismissive noise as your shoulders rise up. “Curiosity.”

A pause. “I went on a few dates, but I never had a serious relationship.”

“No way.” You lift your head up from the seat. “But I remember seeing you hang out with the occasional girl in the quad, or at some restaurants around the school.”

Jungkook smiles. It’s hard to read the look in his eyes. They’re focused on the road in front of him, but they seem almost hazy and faraway. “Like I said, I went on a few dates. I did really want to get into a long term relationship in college. A lot of my friends had them, that’s where my parents met, so I was really open to the idea of at least experimenting. There were a lot of girls that I thought were nice, easy-going, or just really pretty, so I tried my hand in the whole dating thing.”

“And it didn’t work out?” You coax out gently.

“Not really,” He continues. He steals a glance at you. “We’d go on a few dates, but none of them ever felt substantial. I think girls see me and have a certain expectation—an expectation I couldn’t meet. So I never could picture myself in a long term relationship with any of them.”

You tilt your head towards him. “There must have been someone…”

“Well… there was one girl.” Jungkook starts after a moment. He’s not looking at you this time. “We had a few classes together earlier—we weren’t in the same major program. I don’t even know if I’d say we were close or anything. We just had a few classes and saw each other around on occasion. But the conversations we did have during class or outside of class just felt more real. Honestly, I could have been totally wrong about her. I could have just been blinded by all these expectations I was putting on her, which is ironic. But she was the only person I could actually see myself being in a long term relationship with. Or at least try.”

You hum, still facing towards him in your seat. “Why didn’t you try anything then? You’re a good guy, Jungkook. I’m sure she would have wanted to try with you too.”

“I guess I was just afraid of pushing it and scaring her off. I thought it was better to stay friends with her than try to pursue something. She never gave me an indication that she felt the same.”

“And how do you feel now?”

There’s a pause this time. “I don’t know honestly. We remained friends up until graduation but, uh, never saw her again. I do wonder from time to time how she’s doing.”

“You should reach out to her,” You advise softly. “Since you guys were friends before, I’m sure asking her out just to catch up won’t seem so weird.” You grin at him. “You need to make your move.”

It is then that Jungkook turns to look at you. He looks for a little longer this time, eyes focused entirely on you. Underneath the small crescent of the moon above, you are still able to make out his facial features. His cheeks, his nose, his eyes—the latter is glimmering, like he knows something that you don’t.

“I’m working on that,” He mumbles softly. You turn your head back towards the road.

You wake up the next morning feeling groggy, dirty, and messy. Your head lifts up from a pillow you can only vaguely remember falling on, laying on top of a bed you only vaguely remember throwing yourself in. There’s sunlight pouring into the room, but it feels like early morning sun. There’s a crisp in the air that you can feel, that you see out of the window. Right outside is the gathering of bushes and trees, a bright blue sky.

You are in the motel.

Slowly, you push yourself into a sitting position, until you’re resting atop the white linen of your bed. Across the room, snuggled in his own twin bed, is Jungkook. His lashes are fanning across his cheekbones, his lips are parted, and his breathing is slow and soft.

It isn’t until Jungkook shifts in bed that you realize you’ve been watching him like a creep. Hastily, you tear your gaze away and decide to focus your gaze down. You notice immediately that you are not underneath the blankets. Instead, you are lying underneath Jungkook’s jacket.

You roll the jacket off your frame, discovering that you are still in last night’s clothes—which explains why you were feeling so groggy and discombobulated. You look across the floor of the hotel room. Your suitcase is near the foot of your bed, and your phone sits on your nightstand connected to your charger.

Vaguely, you recall what had happened the previous night—how Jungkook drove into the hotel room nearing midnight and the exhaustion was so overpowering that you and Jungkook blindly asked for any room with two twin beds before following through and practically collapsing into your respected beds.

You definitely did that, which explains why you were on top of the bed, why you’re still in yesterday’s clothes, and why Jungkook’s jacket was your blanket. Stealing another glance at Jungkook: underneath the blankets and in a different t-shirt—you can assume that he was able to take a shower before lying down.

With a sigh, you push off Jungkook’s jacket and lay it down on the bed next to you. Hoping not to disturb Jungkook, you slide out of bed and lower your suitcase to the ground. After fishing out a new set of clothes, you decide to take a shower.

The warmth from the shower is the best breath of fresh air you’ve gotten since hitting the road with Jungkook. It feels like your body is going through a battery recharge, and it’s one you take your time with. You step out of the shower, running the towel through your hair and drying yourself enough to slip on your outfit for the day. The towel is thrown around your neck as you step out of the shower, letting the steam follow you out of the bathroom.

Jungkook is still sleeping as you step out, which is good otherwise you’d feel bad for having disturbed his sleep time. After all the driving he did yesterday, you figure he deserves a few extra hours regardless of what the schedule calls for.

You continue running the towel through your hair as you pick up your phone. Strangely, you do not remember connecting it to a charger before knocking out, but you pick it up regardless to see the 9:00AM time across your screen.

There’s a quiet that takes over, in which you’re sitting perched comfortably on your bed and scrolling through your phone as Jungkook continues to drift a few feet away from you.

About thirty minutes seem to pass before Jungkook is moaning softly to himself, letting out a puff of air as he slowly opens his eyes. His arms extend above him, knocking into the headboard and making him curse softly to himself. His eyes open as he lowers his hands to inspect the damage before immediately looking over towards you.

He blinks, a tired smile overtaking his lips as he arches his back into a stretch. “Hey,” He greets, voice rough and scratchy and making your heart clench. Damn thing. “You’re awake. You knocked out pretty quickly as soon as we got the room.”

You laugh. “Yeah, I honestly figured that.” You pick up his jacket, as if he hadn’t been the one to lay it on you those hours ago. “Thanks for trying to help me get comfortable.” You gesture towards the nightstand. “Did you find my charger too?”

Jungkook sits up as he continues a small round of stretches and yawns. “I did,” He says. “You were barely coherent, but made enough sense to tell me where it was in your bag. Sorry for going through it, by the way.”

You shake your head, waving him off. “No worries. Thank you again, Jungkook.”

The pair of you stare at each other for a few moments, before that silence is broken by Jungkook’s phone going off. You look down as Jungkook snatches his own phone off the nightstand. He scrolls through something, before placing it back.

“So, what’s the plan for today?” You ask, bringing your fingers through your hair to comb and give you a distraction.

“Oh! Right.” Jungkook swings his legs off the side of the bed. “We have a slower day today. The hotel I picked is only about five hours away? We’re driving through the mountains today, so there’s this place I want to visit that has a little restaurant and everything. It’ll be a cute pit stop.”

You nod. “Awesome, okay.” You curl your fingers around the strands of now loose strands of hair.

It takes another hour until you and Jungkook are packed up again and ready to leave. A quick stop to the lobby provides both of you with a bagel and cup of coffee each as your breakfast. All before you’re once again sliding into the passenger seat of Jungkook’s car.

You roll your shoulders before clicking your seatbelt in. “Ready for another long day?”

“Of course.” He digs through his center console, producing his aux cord. “Your mission,” He says dramatically, not unlike yesterday. “Should you choose to accept.”

You laugh gently, taking the cord. “You in love with Mission Impossible or something? This is the second time in two days you’re quoting it to me.”

And this is how your day starts off—talks of Mission Impossible films that bleed into conversations about movies.

The day at 10 o’clock in the morning is bright and blue as Jungkook drives back onto the freeway and continues down the road. The first few hours consist of the surrounding flatland, of green grass and high mountains all around. Conversations between you and Jungkook are a little more scattered today, but there’s a new level of comfort about the situation. With both of you well rested, it invites a more relaxed atmosphere as you pass the occasional joke or story time between the pair of you.

As the sun continues to travel higher in the sky, Jungkook’s car starts it’s approach up the mountain. The trees start enveloping the pair of you into a newer, higher world. Not only that, but whenever you and Jungkook reach a clearing, it exposes a dip of lakes, grass, and mountains. And you, always having enjoyed the views of nature, keep an open eye for every single thing.

You see Jungkook’s choice of destination before he does, and you gasp excitedly.

Up ahead is a cloud of pink, white, and red flowers covering an entire mountain side. There is an occasional pop of cedar trees amongst the covering of pink, white, and red, but the colors are so poignant that it captures your attention immediately.

You point to it. “Is that where we’re going?”

Jungkook grins. “Surprise!” He’s selected this spot before offering the invitation to let you come along, but you’re not complaining. You’ve never been to a flower farm before, despite having heard about them and seen pictures of them for most of your childhood. You continue to watch with wide eyes and bright smiles as Jungkook drives closer and closer to the destination, finally parking in the appropriate lot after paying the fee.

You’re practically vibrating in your seat with excitement. “Jungkook, Jungkook, c’mon let’s go, let’s go!” You push on the latch and nearly tumble out onto the ground. You straighten to stand on your feet, before meeting Jungkook near the trunk of his car. Surprise, surprise, he pulls out his camera and loops the strap over his head.

He’s grinning as he closes the trunk. “You’re a little excited, aren’t you?”

“A little?” You echo, clapping your hands, seemingly unable to wipe the grin off your face. “Jungkook, this is a flower farm! It’s so exciting!”

So you dart off with Jungkook following closely behind you. The parking lot is located at the top of the flower farm, so the tour around the fields is a downwards one towards the bottom. A small pathway maps out a route for you to follow as you take in the various lines of flowers and colors. One short glimpse at the brochure tells you that these are spring flowers, and that you and Jungkook are visiting during the perfect season. You and Jungkook continue through your makeshift tour in silence, taking in the flowers as well as the view that extends out far beyond your line of sight while Jungkook snaps photographs behind you. Words don’t need to be said when everything around you says it all.

At the bottom of the field is a cafe, a small brick building with an outdoor seating area facing the now upward flower display. You and Jungkook order sandwiches and soda, and take your seats outside as you wait for your number to be called. There are a fair amount of people today at the field, most of which you can see ahead roaming through the flowers ahead.

“Have you ever been to a flower farm before?” Jungkook asks, as he glances over at you to see how bright your expression is.

You smile as you turn to him. “No, never. But thank you for bringing me here, it’s beautiful here.”

Jungkook smiles, looking a little smug. He looks proud of himself. “I’ve always wanted to come here, so I’m glad I was able to bring you along.” It looks like he wants to say more, but the number that rests between Jungkook’s fingers is called out, interrupting the conversation. He returns a moment later with the food. “I actually wanted to ask you something,” He says, taking the sandwich plate off the tray and placing it in front of you.

You take the napkins that are being offered to you. “What’s up?”

He settles down into his seat. “I didn’t get to return the question that you asked me last night.”

It takes you a second to realize what he’s referring to. Immediately, you feel yourself turn red as you press your lips together. You were definitely drowsy last night, and hadn’t put too much consideration in the aftermath of asking Jungkook about his college relationships. You instead try for a laugh, as you wave him off. “Well, you don’t need to ask me. It’s pretty boring.”

“Nonsense,” Jungkook brushes off, taking another bite of his sandwich. “So tell me, did you get into any relationships in college?”

You laugh, albeit a little nervously. “No, not really. I never even went on any dates before—I guess, like you, I just couldn’t see myself in any long term relationship with anyone that seemed to like me.”

“Well, how about crushes on your end? Did you like anyone?”

You gaze over at Jungkook—taking in his wide curious eyes, his soft voice, his contagious laugh. The memories of him waving at you in class, of him catching up to you afterwards to continue previous conversations, of him going out of his way to say hi to you in the library. Jungkook has always been thoughtful, considerate, and soft along the edges. How could you not have crushed on him during college?

And how could you not continue to have these lingering feelings for him afterwards?

You think about your own advice you had given to Jungkook. You should reach out to her. Since you guys were friends before, I’m sure asking her out just to catch up won’t seem so weird. You need to make your move. Could you even follow your own advice?

You look down before Jungkook could start asking questions about your staring. “There was this one guy,” You start, trying for an uneasy laugh. “But I don’t think he ever noticed me. Well, that’s a lie. I guess we were kind of friends? I think it’s more along the lines of me being out of his league.”

“That’s depressing,” Jungkook notes as he finishes his sandwich. You hardly even noticed him inhaling the thing. “How could you be out of a guy’s league? You’re so smart and funny and easy to talk to—if anything, a guy would probably be out of your league.” He leans forward, bringing you close enough where you can clearly make out the mole underneath his lip. “Tell me about this punk. So I can tell you he’s not good enough for you.”

You laugh, keeping your gaze on him. You doubt he’d be so confident had he known about ‘this punk’. “He isn’t a punk,” You remark quietly. “He’s really nice, and really sweet. I was pretty quiet in college. Definitely introverted and kept to myself and had a hard time making friends. Although I would have honestly barely considered him a friend, he just made me feel like my time was meaningful and my attention was valuable to him.” Jungkook’s eyes continue to bore into yours. “If anything, I just wish he knew how much I admire him.”

Jungkook’s gaze is unwavering across your face, once again displaying that unreadable expression. Yet, despite that, something glimmers in his eyes and he seems to come to an understanding you yourself don’t know about. That glimmer keeps swimming across the orbs, even as he switches his gaze between your eyes. They flicker down to your lips for a second, and your heart stutters in your chest.

Jungkook coughs, pulling away from you as he seems to hyper-focus his attention on the soda still in front of him. He looks shy as he steals another glance at you from across the table. “He might not have made you feel that important if you were too scared to tell him how you felt.”

You look down at your sandwich and take another bite. Something about the way he’s staring holes into the side of your face tells you that he knows something that you don’t. You wonder what he’s thinking.

Jungkook wears that thoughtful expression for the rest of the visit to the flower field, as the pair of you return back to his car and slide back in your seats. He stays quiet as you resume the trip, slowly making your way back onto the freeway and towards your second motel.

This kind of quiet is different than the previous silences the pair of you have grown to share over the past twenty-four hours. Unlike the comfortable moments of unspoken words, this is more tense. Like he knows something that you don’t.

You don’t know what to say, or how to break that silence. You don’t know if perhaps you said something you shouldn’t have, or said something to make him uncomfortable. All of those thoughts are not pleasant ones.

Jungkook stays quiet for most of the drive through the mountain. The music you have selected is loud enough that seems to drown the tense atmosphere, but the questions still press themselves deeply into your mind. What is he thinking about?

And worse of all: did he know you were talking about him?

You and Jungkook only speak a handful of times during the trip. He asks you if you need to use the restroom, if you’re hungry, and if you could play him your favorite anime openings. The pair of you have a handful of laughs about your mutual love for Haikyuu and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, but most of the drive to the motel is ridden out in silence.

The pair of you reach the hotel around dinnertime, definitely nowhere as exhausted as you had been the previous night, but just as eager to finally reach your destination. The tension between you and Jungkook has eased slightly, so you can only assume that perhaps he has overcome whatever was bothering him. You yourself have pushed the thought of Jungkook knowing the truth out of your mind. After all, if he had known, you assume he would have brought it up. Or at least called for an Uber to send you home. You assume you would have provided some sort of reaction for the two of you to talk about. But alas, those thoughts follow a conversation that has not happened, and will probably never happen, because you’re sure that you’ll never have to be in a situation that forces your feelings to go out of control once again—!

“Hi,” Jungkook returns to the hotel clerk behind the desk, a girl to be about your age, who is flickering her gaze between you and Jungkook. A flicker in her eyes tells you that she already has multiple thoughts and assumptions about your relationship. “Do you have a room with two beds?”

“Oh!” The girl blinks, momentarily looking taken aback. “Of course, let me check.” She turns her attention to the computer screen in front of her. Her eyebrows furrow together. “I’m sorry sir, we only have rooms with one bed available—either a full, queen, or king-size mattress.”

Jungkook makes a noise in the back of his throat as he taps his credit card on the desk. Just watching from the side, you notice how he swallows, how he looks down, how his cheeks turn red. He turns to you after a moment. “D-Do you, uh, do you mind?”

It takes you a second to realize what Jungkook is asking. He’s asking if you’d be okay with sharing a bed with him. Him: your college crush, the guy you never really lost feelings for.

You turn red too. “U-Um…” You press your lips together and swallow. “S-Sure,” You manage, waving your hands out in front of you. “I-I don’t mind. I-If you don’t mind, of course.”

“I-I don’t mind either.” Jungkook, however, looks like he’s about to combust. He looks a little lost again. He blinks once, twice, and seems to realize that he’s supposed to hand the woman behind the desk his card. “Uh, whichever room is the cheapest.”

“That’ll be the room with the full-size bed.” She flickers her gaze between the two of you. “If that’s okay.”

“O-Of course,” He stammers back, allowing the girl to take the card. He looks at you. “Do you mind staying here? I have to go to the bathroom real quick.”

“S-Sure, go ahead.” A part of you wants to hit your head on the desk. What is happening to you? Why is the mere thought of sharing a bed with Jungkook turning you into a pile of mush? You’re a grown ass woman—!

“So the two of you on vacation or something?” The woman behind the desk asks. She’s still in the middle of scanning Jungkook’s credit card.

You try for a smile. “Kind of, we’re going to a friend’s wedding.”

“I see, that sounds fun.” She smiles. “You know, I have to be honest, I was a little surprised he asked for two beds. You guys would make a cute couple.”

At the label, you start to turn red. “O-Oh n-no, we’re not a couple at all. That’s very flattering, b-but yeah we’re not together.”

“Oh, I know,” The girl rebuffs. Her smile looks more like a grin. She places Jungkook’s credit card on the desk, along with a receipt and a pen. “I hope the full size bed will change that.” She gives you a wink.

You part your lips, unsure what to make of the situation. “What—!”

“I’m back,” Jungkook says, sliding up from behind you and making you jump slightly. “What did I miss?”

“Uh…” You wonder if your face is too red or not. It certainly feels that way. “Here!” You push him forward towards the desk. “She scanned your credit card. You just need to sign and we’ll be on our way.”

If Jungkook notices the stiffness in your posture, he doesn’t comment as he leans forward to sign the receipt. Just over Jungkook’s shoulder is the worker, looking at you with a now shit-eating grin across her lips. Several questions ping through your mind, but you don’t get to ask any of those because Jungkook is turning around with his credit card in hand.

“Uh, ready to get going?”

“Sure!” You say, voice a few several pitches higher and you return to wanting the ground to swallow you whole. Jungkook leads the way out of the lobby, and you dare one last glance back towards the woman behind the counter.

She’s waving a slip of paper in her hand.

You turn back to Jungkook. “Hey Jungkook, give me a second. I think we forgot to grab something at the desk.”

It sort of feels like a walk of shame to reach the worker behind the counter, who is still grinning at the sight of you and your internal struggles. She hands you the slip of paper, mouths something that makes you go red, before you’re turning back towards Jungkook. “Good luck,” She had whispered.

Before you’re reaching Jungkook, you open the paper. At the very top is the WiFi password.

Underneath the WiFi password, in what you can only assume is her handwriting, is one sentence. Fate said you guys only get one bed- don’t worry, I think he likes you too :-)

“What was that about?” Jungkook asks.

You shove the paper into your pocket. “The WiFi password,” You supply.

The walk to the hotel room is quiet as Jungkook leads the way through the different hallways, corridors, and numbers on plaques. That tense silence is back as he guides the two of you, stopping only when he reaches the number that matches the one on the index card. He gives you a look, and inserts the card key into the slot. The door beeps, and he pushes open the door to find, true to the word of the lady behind the counter, one full-sized bed in the middle of the room.

For the first few hours, it’s easy to ignore that full-sized elephant in the room. Jungkook takes out his laptop and you guys watch your favorite season of Haikyuu together—it’s season two—or you guys linger about on your phones. It isn’t until nighttime falls into your bones, into your minds, that you realize that you really need to address the new situation.

“I’m gonna take a shower first, if that’s okay,” You say, already sliding off the bed to gather your belongings from your suitcase. Jungkook is humming along to the Haikyuu ending song, but he stops long enough to accept you taking the first shower. He watches you as you fish pajamas out from your suitcase. “Hey, Jungkook…” You start. “Are you sure you’re cool with this?” You gesture to the bed. “I can sleep on the floor. They give you extra bedding for a reason…”

“What? No, of course not, I’m not letting you sleep on the floor.” He moves until his knees are pressed into the mattress. “And I’m cool with this. Promise.” He hesitates. “Are you sure you’re okay with this?”

“Y-Yeah,” You manage, straightening into a standing position with your clothes in hand. “I don’t really move around when I’m sleeping. And I trust you, Jungkook.” You keep your gaze on each other until you break it first, turning around to step into the bathroom.

You step out many minutes later, hair freshly washed and feeling much more relaxed than before. Jungkook has moved to the desk in the corner of the hotel room, typing away at some emails on his laptops. He does, however, whirl around upon hearing you exit the bathroom. The sight of you in your sweats, t-shirt, and damp hair makes his eyes linger.

You merely tuck a strand of hair behind your ear. “You can go now,” You say quietly.

Jungkook nods. “Thanks.”

Breaking that eye contact again, you turn to the bed and lift the blankets to slide under the covers. You rest your head on the pillow, and immediately start to drift away.

You are brought back after what only feels like a few minutes, when you hear a light switch turn off followed by the blanket next to you lifting up. You turn slightly towards the other side of the bed. “Jungkook?” You whisper.

A stillness. “Ah shit, I’m sorry. I was trying to be sneaky.”

“Mmm…” You mumble softly, turning your body 180 degrees in order to face him. You can vaguely make out the shadow of Jungkook’s outline. “Don’t worry. I’m a really light sleeper. Come on in.”

There is a shift in the blankets until you feel the additional weight of Jungkook’s figure crawling in next to you. The knowledge that Jungkook is lying right next to you turns your blood hot both with anxiety and because Jungkook brings in a new wave of heat underneath the covers. For a cool spring night, it’s comforting. But also further anxiety-inducing.

Jungkook shifts and even though the pair of you are on opposite sides of the bed, you can still feel the warmth radiating off his body. In the silence of the hotel room, you can hear Jungkook breathing.

“Is this okay?” It’s Jungkook asking. His voice is quiet, soothing, and very close to your face. You realize that you guys are facing each other.

Still, you have to give an answer. “Y-Yeah,” You reply softly. “Goodnight, Jungkook.”

“Goodnight.”

You turn onto your back. You try to go to sleep, you really do. But your heart is pounding, and rather than the blood filling your ears, it’s the sound of Jungkook’s breathing.

“Y/N, you still awake?” Jungkook asks softly.

You snort. “It’s only been a minute.”

Jungkook smiles. “Sorry. I just… I have a question. A thought, actually.”

“What is it?”

“Well, okay, I don’t want to come off as arrogant or self-centered, but it’s just a question and just this thought that I have…”

“Jungkook.” You turn back to face him. “You can ask me the question. I don’t mind.”

“Well, alright.” Jungkook shifts. He’s a little closer now, you can make out the outline of his face. Everything looks slightly more defined now, definitely a result of your eyes adjusting to the darkness. “When you were talking about the guy you had a crush on… you know, when I asked if there was someone you were interested in while we were in college.”

“Oh, I remember.” Your heart feels fuzzy, even though you have no idea what he’s going to ask you.

“Okay, um. I guess I just wanted to know. Were you talking about me?

The world seems to stop tilting on its axis—and all the consequences of that follow along. Everything around you slows to a grind: your heart stops in your chest, and all the air drains out of your lungs. You hold your breath, feeling as if your body has just been dipped underwater. Thousands of thoughts ping through your mind. You feel like that episode of Spongebob where all the file cabinets in your brain are catching aflame. You suddenly feel like you have no thoughts, but too many thoughts at the same time.

Above all, one question rises above all the rest: how did Jungkook know?

You’re so wrapped up in your thoughts that you don’t hear your name being called. It isn’t until you feel a hand at your shoulder do you jolt. “H-Huh?”

“S-Sorry.” Jungkook sounds a lot more nervous now. “You weren’t responding.”

“I… I was thinking,” You reply lamely.

A pause. “What’s your answer?” Were you talking about me?

You swallow. Should you tell the truth? Or should you deny everything with the hopes that Jungkook will forget this conversation ever existed?

The words spill out before you can think of a proper answer. “What if I was?”

Jungkook is quiet for a moment. “Well…” He starts up again, inching forward towards you. Every move he makes is amplified in your ear, every squeak of the mattress and every rustle of clothing echoed in the small space that is your hotel room. “I’d be kinda frustrated, to be honest. Because when I was talking about my own crush, it might have been about you.”

At Jungkook’s confession, the world seems to come crashing down on you as everything around tries to catch up to you. Immediately, you assume that perhaps you hadn’t heard Jungkook correctly, or maybe you’re completely misinterpreting what he’s trying to say to you.

In a perfect world, maybe you’d say something witty and smart. Maybe you’d play along until he snapped. Maybe you’d be fluent in courting talk and understand exactly what he’s trying to say to you.

But this isn’t a perfect world, and you are neither witty nor smart. You most certainly are not aware of flirtations. You need boys to be as straightforward as possible. Which is why you utter the most comprehensible: “What?”

You feel a warmth at your hip—Jungkook’s hand against your skin. “Ahhhh.” Jungkook starts, not at all sounding fearful but rather casual. Still the underlying case of shyness, however, because this is still Jungkook. “I forgot you sometimes need simple things spelled out for you. Remember when you emailed our Arts History professor three times because you kept forgetting what font she wanted the assignment in?”

You flush—Arts History was the class you and Jungkook were forced to pair up together for. Maybe you would have protested it more had you known Jungkook would turn out to be a little shit over it. “That was a one time thing! You’ve been bringing it up for as long as I’ve known you!”

Jungkook giggles, pulling you closer so your face is against his collarbone and his chin rests on your shoulder. “Shh, okay, okay, I’m sorry.”

Your face is burning at the feeling of your bodies so close together, your fingers pressed against his shirt and your nose against his skin. He smells like floral fabric softener. “Jungkook…?” You whisper softly, breath fanning his neck.

Jungkook tilts his head to rest gently against your temple. He stays quiet for a moment, absorbing the moment. “If you did have a crush on me in college, it would be frustrating. Because I had a crush on you too.”

This time it’s straightforward, just like how you’ve always wanted it. Why can’t you seem to reply?

“Oh.”

“I know.”

You curl your fingers around Jungkook’s shirt. “What if…” You start slowly. “What if I said I still had those feelings?”

Jungkook seems to think about his answer. “I’d say that I do too.”

You swallow, nodding in a way that allows him to feel the movement. “Okay then.”

Without a warning, Jungkook moves to curl his whole arm around your frame. This brings you even closer together. He noses your hairline. “Go to sleep,” He whispers softly. “We can talk about this tomorrow.”

A part of you wants to say no—that holding off on confessions isn’t what happens in novels or tv shows or movies. But the larger part of you knows that you won’t be able to have a proper discussion like this when you are weak, tired, and vulnerable. Your heart stalls at his consideration, allowing yourself to be content just like this: asleep, cuddling with Jeon Jungkook as you’ve imagined since you first developed your crush.

It’s much better than the fantasy.

You wake up the next morning with Jungkook’s arms wrapped around you, his soft breathing against your neck and his lips dusting the skin of your neck. There’s a new kind of comfort you find being held like this, and a part of you wants to melt back into his arms. You think you can pretend to be asleep just to stay here a little longer, but the urgency you have to pee and get the day started becomes too pressing.

Your previous assumptions of Jungkook being a heavy sleeper are confirmed as you manage to untangle yourself from him without so much as a whine from his end. By the time you finish with the bathroom, Jungkook is just beginning to push himself into a sitting position.

You linger near the foot of the bed. “Good morning,” You greet, almost nervously. For good reason to—the memory of last night is vague but defined well enough where you aren’t sure what the next course of action should be. It’s not like your college ever offered a course about what to do when your crush admits to liking you back.

Jungkook looks at you from across the bed. He gives you a small smile, a reassuring one. “Morning,” He says back. “How did you sleep last night?”

You twist your hands together. “Pretty good, actually. How about you?”

“Me too.” He adjusts his position so he can crawl over to you. He slides his legs over the side of the bed right next to you. He brings his hands towards you, palms up. Although he’s close enough to reach you, he doesn’t. Instead, he asks: “Can I?”

You don’t say anything, you merely rest your hand in his. He tugs you towards him, stopping only when you’re standing between his legs. He still keeps his fingers curled around yours, turning your hand up to play with your fingers.

He looks up at you, a soft smile across his lips. “Hi.”

You smile back. “Hi.”

He laces your fingers together, resting them between your bodies. “I guess now for the bigger question… how are you feeling?”

You look down at your hands, deciding you like the way his larger hands cover yours. “H-How did you know I was talking about you?” You ask instead, looking over at him.

Jungkook shifts his gaze away for a moment. “I don’t know,” He admits earnestly. “You were just looking at me back at the flower field and I had a feeling. And I really think a part of me was hoping you were talking about me.”

Unable to help yourself, you feel the side of your mouth quirk up into a small smile. “What would you have done if I wasn’t talking about you?”

He exhales in a laugh. “Honestly, I might have just driven out in the middle of the night and gone over a bridge or something.”

You laugh, trying to diffuse your smile by pressing your lips but it only works so well. “I was really surprised to hear you liked me back.”

“Of course!” He exclaims, looking momentarily shocked that you would feel this way. “I wasn’t messing around when I said you were smart, funny, and easy to talk to. That’s what made me really like you when we first met. Whenever we talked you just felt so real and approachable—like I could just be myself around you. And even now, seeing you after graduating and realizing you’re still all of those things. It just makes me like you more.”

You feel your heart thumping wildly in your chest. You’ve never thought of yourself in the way Jungkook is describing you—you always just assumed that you were in the background, that you’d never be enough.

Jungkook is looking at you, his eyes big and wide and full of truth. “Is that weird?” He asks.

You shake your head immediately. “No, no it’s not weird at all.” You shrug a shoulder, giving him a meek smile. “It’s really sweet, actually.”

Jungkook grins at that, heaving out a breath as a sign of his lowered defenses. “I think you’re sweet too.”

You groan at that, throwing your head back as Jungkook breaks into a series of giggles. “You’re corny.”

“You’re not complaining,” He points out. This is true.

You shrug. “I guess that means I’m expecting us to catch up on three years of terrible flirting.”

The smile slides off his face. “You’re right.” He brings your joined hands closer together until your whole body is standing closer to his. “Can I ask to kiss you?”

The four letter K word makes your heart stutter in your chest once more. Your hands are so close to his chest that you can feel his own heart beating, and the thought of Jungkook being equally nervous for this gives you enough confidence to return his question. “Why don’t you ask and find out?”

He smiles, a bunny smile that crinkles his eyes. “Touche. Can I kiss you?”

You smile back. “Yes…” You whisper, leaning down just enough for Jungkook to crane his neck up in order to meet each other halfway. It’s just a closed-mouth kiss, a soft weight against your lips.

It’s one that Jungkook pulls away from before you can really enjoy it, really ponder asking for more. “Sorry,” He says immediately, pointing to his mouth. “Morning breath.”

The pair of you stare at each other for a moment, before bursting out into laughter. That tense atmosphere is gone, replaced inside with that previously casual and comfortable air—as you step away from Jungkook and let him get his morning started. Except this time, the air is filled with open lingering stares, shy smiles, and Jungkook taking your suitcase wordlessly as you exit your hotel room.

By the time you load into your car, it’s nearing noon and the gas tank in Jungkook’s car is almost empty. The pair of you agree in another champion’s breakfast—gas station food.

“I swear, we’re both going to have terrible breakout tomorrow during the wedding,” You point out. Despite your words, you still tear into your Nacho Cheese Doritos with the aggression of a gorilla. “I’m going to photograph horribly. Irene will be so embarrassed.”

“You photograph horribly? Inconceivable!” He says the word just as it is said in The Princess Bride, which makes you burst into another fit of laughter.

The afternoon pans out the same way it has for the past two days. Jungkook drives onto the freeway, you decide the music, and the conversations fade in and out. Neither of you talk about the events of the previous night or of what happened in the morning—but the way Jungkook reaches out to laces your fingers together is more than enough.

The town Jungkook has selected to stop for the evening is a five hour drive from the wedding venue—and it’s an actual city space this time, with restaurants and grocery stores and apartments. As soon as Jungkook tells you this information, you are bursting with excitement. It’s been two days since the pair of you actually stopped and lingered in a city environment and you miss it.

It takes another whole day of driving to reach the city destination, as the first alert you get is the increasing number of cars that have joined you on the freeway. These more busy freeways guide you into the city, where you are greeted with the first sight of buildings, sidewalks, restaurants, and parking lots in days.

Even though most of these landmarks are simple flashes that you and Jungkook pass through on the way to the hotel he has selected, you keep your eyes glued out of the window in order to take in as much of the surrounding area as you can. You continue to watch as the immediate high rises become more sporadic and spread out, until he’s finally pulling into the hotel. The sun is just setting behind the many buildings along the horizon. Lots of other cars are parked in the parking lot. You can hear other cars, buses, and trunks driving around the background—and you feel strangely comforted by this discovery.

“Are you okay with sharing another bed today?” Jungkook asks as he guides the pair of you into the lobby. “I may or may not have called to make a reservation earlier when you were in the bathroom.”

You laugh, feeling giddy at the thought of Jungkook taking the initiative to continue progressing your now slow-growing relationship. “Was that all they had left?” You ask teasingly as you make your way to the counter.

Jungkook smiles down at you. “Perhaps I didn’t ask…”

Your lips part. “Jungkook!”

“What?” He’s laughing now. “I think I’m gonna bow out of any excuse to cuddle with you now that you’ve given me a taste of what that’s like?”

You’re gasping in the midst of your laughter. “You’re terrible,” You manage.

So Jungkook checks in—true to his word, he has reserved a single full-sized bed for the room.

“Hey, so, I was thinking,” He starts as he’s following the map provided to him by the employee with directions about getting to his appropriate room. This hotel is slightly bigger than the off-the-road ones you and Jungkook pulled into, so it takes a little longer to find the room. After a few minutes of turning the map over, you two eventually find the room.

“What’s up?” You ask as you push open the door and roll your suitcase into the space, with Jungkook following closely behind you.

“Come here,” Jungkook requests gently, watching as you let go of your suitcase and make your way towards him. You move into his space easily, allowing him to hold you by the waist. “Since we’ve both admitted to missing out on three years of courting, flirting, and dating—I think we should go out to an actual restaurant to have an actual date.”

You lean back slightly and give him a slightly shocked look. “Really?”

“Yes!” He says. “Besides, someone has to put their foot down and say that eating only McDonalds and gas station hot dogs is not the right way to go.”

You laugh at that. “True, but we were having so much fun!”

“Nope!” He exclaims, shaking his head. “The foot is going down, we’re going to an actual restaurant for dinner. Get changed, take a shower, whatever you need to do to freshen up.” There’s a finality in his words as he finally steps away from you, the smile of sweetness still on his lips.

The restaurant Jungkook picks after scrolling through Yelp and other lists of recommendations is a corner Italian place that apparently serves the best Linguini and clams—a dish that you really enjoy. So you put something together much more presentable than your usual round of sweatpants and baggy t-shirts—replacing the sweatpants with black jeans and giving yourself a cream colored cropped sweater. It makes Jungkook’s eyes widen all the same. He’s clad in his usual black jeans and oversized coat that is perfect for the spring breeze.

Since the restaurant is within walking distance of the hotel, you and Jungkook agree to chill off on the driving just enough to stretch your legs and actually have a walk for once—all while celebrating the final night of the road trip.

“I was a little worried about this at first, to be honest with you,” You admit softly to Jungkook, long after the pair of you have been seated in a corner booth and have ordered your food. You’re circling the pasta noodles around your fork, and Jungkook is watching with a touch of amusement and adoration in his eyes.

“Not gonna lie, so was I,” Jungkook returns back with an equally meek smile.

You gape at him. “You invited me though!”

“I did!” Jungkook exclaims with a laugh, looking down at his own order of food. “Me inviting you was honestly a spur of the moment thing. Me catching up to you, however, was me trying to be brave.”

“You seemed pretty brave throughout most the trip,” You point out

Jungkook shakes his head, situating his arms in a cross motion. “Nah dude that was just all a very well thought out facade. A part of me was expecting it to go terribly so I could at least walk away knowing that I built you up in my mind and the fantasy of that was better than the reality.” He must see the look of uncertainty casting a shadow over your mind because he immediately cuts back in. “Just so you know, the reality is much better than anything I could have conjured up.”

You lower your chin slightly, staring over at Jungkook. You bring one shoulder up into a half-hearted shrug, maybe to showcase a certain level of carelessness. “What were you conjuring up then?”

“Oh, I don’t know if you want to go there right now,” He rebuffs, looking a little red in the cheeks. “I think we should start slow. Refer to the PG thoughts, if you will.”

You laugh, focusing your gaze momentarily on the last of your pasta. You had sorted through the clams, since they weren’t your favorite things to eat. “Jungkook, are you admitting to me that you have thoughts above PG?”

“Oh shit, that wasn’t my intention!”

You giggle. “I’m messing with you, Jungkook!”

He pouts. “Don’t do that.” He rests his hand on the table, palm up, inviting for you to take it. “I just want to spend today with you, and take it slow—I just want to hold your hand and kiss you and lay with you and just be with you in the way I couldn’t be with you in college. Is that too weird?”

You look down, pressing your lips together, trying not to squeal and definitely not trying to throw yourself off the chair. You look back over at him and squeeze his hand. “That’s not too weird at all. That’s actually really sweet. Honestly, those are things I probably would have asked for regardless. I don’t really know the rules of dating—I never really went out that often.”

Jungkook smiles sweetly back at you, he brings your hands up to kiss the back. “I’ll give you a few pointers then, let’s get going.”

After the check is paid for—it ends up being a split between the two, it’s the best compromise you can come up with considering he wants to take you out but you want to pay him back for driving this far—the pair of you emerge back into the city space. Jungkook’s hand is still wrapped around yours, using that connection point to pull you close to him.

“Now this move,” Jungkook explains, beginning to lead you both back to your hotel room. “Is when the gentleman walks the lady home, because their date went by smoothly and he wants to see her for as long as possible.”

You laugh. “I’m enjoying this so far.”

The pair of you continue down the sidewalk, using the time it’ll take to walk back to the hotel to walk off the food in your stomach. You resume your conversation, giggling and laughing all the same until you’re walking through the lobby of the hotel and slowly making your way to your hotel room.

Right before you step inside, Jungkook stops you. “Normally, the front door is where the gentleman drops the lady off, and they talk about how well the date went.”

“Oh, well, in that case, this was so nice, Jungkook,” You remark, beaming at Jungkook’s own smile. “I’m glad you convinced me to eat real food for once.”

“You’re welcome—I had fun too.” Jungkook slides closer to you. You, completely hypnotized by his next movements, watch as he cups your face with his hand to angle you upwards. “This is the part where we have a first kiss, because the stars are lined up for this. And because I really want to.”

You smile, curling one of your hands around the wrist near your face. “Seeing as we’ve already had our first kiss, how about a second one?”

Jungkook smiles back, eyes lidded towards your mouth. “I guess that’ll work.” His lesson on dating, it seems, is done, as he leans in to kiss you. You suck in a breath as he covers your lips with his. It’s deeper than the first time he kissed you—which had been more of a peck with a side of morning breath. But now you’re both awake, tasting like wine, and drunk off each other. It’s a more real kiss.

You whimper as Jungkook’s tongue runs over your bottom lip, before slipping into your mouth. It’s a sensation you can get completely lost in, until Jungkook pulls away.

Under the hallway light, you can make out his flushed cheeks, his wet lips, his dark gaze.

Immediately, Jungkook is pulling you to his side before he starts digging through the pockets of his jeans. “Alright, we’re going inside right now.”

You lean into his shoulder. “I thought I was supposed to invite you inside, Jeon? What happened to giving me pointers on first dates?”

“Screw that,” He retorts, practically shoving the hotel door open. He turns around to face you. “Now, this is our hotel room. And I want to kiss you in private.”

Your laughter is drowned out as Jungkook tugs you by the wrist into the room.

Under different circumstances, waking up next to each other after a first date would hit you with a wave of anxiety and maybe even a vague sense of embarrassment at letting someone you like see you in such a vulnerable position.

Right now, however, under the morning sunlight within the covers of your shared hotel bed, you just feel happy and content. You wake up on your side, with an arm resting over Jungkook’s chest and his fingers curling around your own. There is an immediate feeling of giddiness that overtakes you, because it’s hard for you to believe that this is happening. Someone you’ve liked and continue to like actually returning your feelings? That has always been such a foreign concept to you.

You don’t know how long you continue laying in bed until Jungkook starts shifting next to you, signalling his wake. You watch as his eyes slowly peel open, laced with grogginess but still looking unfairly attractive that there are butterflies in your stomach.

Jungkook lets out a sigh, as he looks down at you. A tired smile takes over his expression. “Morning.”

“Good morning,” You reply back, voice soft and a little shy. “Happy wedding day.”

That is true. Today is Irene’s wedding—an event you and Jungkook will arrive at in nearly five hours. There’s a strange sort of knot that is beginning to twist itself in your stomach, a knowledge that something good is coming to a close but a fear in the unknown as to what this would mean regarding your relationship with Jungkook. Neither of you have laid down groundwork for your relationship—if this even is a relationship to begin with. You may be inexperienced with this kind of stuff, but you’re sure that one date and making out on a hotel bed doesn’t immediately constitute an exclusive relationship.

If Jungkook notices the tension in your form, he doesn’t say anything. He kisses your temple and grumbles something about wanting to get the day started. He mentions something about not having to worry about getting dressed for the wedding straightaway—that he has reserved a room at the hotel some of the guests of the wedding would be staying at, which is where you will be getting ready before the event. You nod, hearing pieces of his words, but a lot of it gets lost in your own thoughts.

Is it okay to ask questions about where you stand with Jungkook? Is it foolish of you to even bother wondering? You’ve seen movies and have had conversations with friends about guys who dismissed questions like that as ‘moving too fast’. You don’t want to scare Jungkook off, but you also need to know that you’re not wasting your time.

You remain in bed, staring up at the ceiling as you sigh and try to organize through your thoughts. You also try to break down how the past three days have been.

However, trying to do so proves to be a difficult challenge, as Jungkook’s phone starts buzzing excessively on his side of the nightstand—it seems like he is getting a series of text messages from someone.

You know you shouldn’t be looking or prying, but the constant binging of alerts only eats at your nerves more. You turn in the bed towards Jungkook’s side, picking up the device to search for the silence switch along the sides. The screen, however, lights up and you immediately see a name you have not seen or heard since college.

Jennie (9:53AM): hey jungkook !! just thought I’d ask where you want to meet up before the wedding starts

Jennie (9:53AM): since we’re each other’s plus ones, I think we should show up together but idk let me know what you think

Jennie (9:53AM): I’m excited to see you again and catch up, it’s been so long !! :)

You freeze, feeling your body overload with information and questions come flooding into your mind. At first, you think you reread the message wrong. You think that maybe Jennie is texting the wrong person. But after the third or fourth time, you realize that this isn’t a dream. That Jungkook already has a plus one to the wedding, and it isn’t you.

More than that, it’s Jennie.

Jennie is also someone you went to college with, and someone that you only heard of between the grape vines and therefore is someone that is only vaguely recognizable. But you definitely know her. Jennie had been one of Irene’s friends, president of her sorority—and labeled some of the nicest people on campus. Even just from rumors and the one time you ran into her around the school, you can see it. Jennie is nice, beautiful, friendly, and outgoing. All the things you are not.

And now, she’s Jungkook’s plus one to the wedding. And Jungkook did not tell you.

Your lips part as your head starts to spin. Why didn’t Jungkook tell you he already had a plus one to Irene’s wedding? Maybe he did not owe you the explanation, and maybe you should never have assumed he’d be your plus one to the wedding.

The thought of you assuming Jungkook would be your date to the wedding fills you with a vague mortification—why did you have to go ahead and assume?

Your mind starts to spiral as you fall into the depths of overthinking. Now you were set to attend a wedding alone, with no plus one, and surrounded by people you don’t know. All while watching Jungkook sit with Jennie, eat with Jennie, and dance with Jennie.

Holy fuck, holy fuck, what were you going to do? You can’t go to this wedding alone. You can’t confront Jungkook about this—you’re not even supposed to be touching his phone or looking through his phone. He would definitely be upset. How could he not be?

At once, the tears collect in your eyes. How could this be happening? Seconds ago, you had been so content and happy, excited to attend this wedding with Jungkook. Seconds ago, you had been confident about your feelings, and Jungkook’s feelings in return. From all the kisses he showered you in, the date, the talking, the confessing—how could you not feel that way?

Had Jungkook just been pulling your leg? After all, he did have three years to talk to you, to go out with you. Why hadn’t he said something sooner? Is he here right now: talking to you and laughing with you because he hadn’t found anyone and knows that you would do anything for him?

In the background, you can vaguely make out the shower in the bathroom turn off, signalling Jungkook’s near completion with the bathroom. At once, it feels like you’re in a car that has enforced sudden breaks and has sent you flying against the dashboard—like you can’t breathe.

Hastily, you rest Jungkook’s phone back on the nightstand and roll back over to your side of the bed. You blink quickly, trying to rid of the tears that have collected in your eyes while also trying to calm the lump in the back of your throat.

Just as you’re starting to get a handle back on your feelings, the bathroom door opens and you can vaguely make out Jungkook’s humming as he exits. The fact that he sounds so carefree while you’re hurting only a handful of feet away almost makes the tears come back in. But you’ve learned how to hide your emotions well.

Jungkook’s soft laugh brings you out of your thoughts. “Still in bed?” He asks jokingly, sitting on the edge and placing a hand on your ankle. You try not to stiffen at the gesture. “You know, even though we’re getting dressed at a different hotel, we still need to get going.”

You take in a breath. “I’m comfortable here,” You exclaim, sitting up and facing Jungkook. He’s looking as wide-eyed, easy-going, and comfortable as always. You’re not sure how long you can keep up the facade of being okay. “I was just waiting for you, that’s all.”

You don’t wait for him to reply as you slide off the bed, grab your clothes from your suitcase, and lock yourself in the bathroom. You ignore the lump in your throat as you brush your teeth, as you get your day started. Finally, you look up at your own reflection in the mirror. Unlike previous times, when there had been a glimmer to your gaze—you don’t know you recognize the now disheartened individual before you.

You exit the bathroom and immediately turn to pack up your suitcase once more, ignoring Jungkook in the process. The boy is on his phone, typing something—probably a text message. Maybe he’s responding to Jennie, confirming their date for tonight, as he remains completely oblivious to your feelings.

The thought brings the tears back to your eyes.

“Ready to go?” Jungkook asks, all smiles and soft eyes as he slides off the bed to face you.

You don’t look at him as you shoulder your carry-on bag and straighten into a standing position. “Yeah.” You don’t mean for the tone to come out dry and unresponsive, but you’re too focused on trying to get the tears out of your throat.

You miss the way the smile slowly slips off Jungkook’s face as he watches you move towards the door.

Jungkook moves towards you, reaching forward to take your suitcase from you just as he’s done for the past few days.

You, however, brush him off. “It’s okay, Jungkook.” You pull open the door and make your way down the hallway without looking back to see if he’s following closer behind you. You don’t need his help, you don’t need his pity. You don’t need him to do these things, to lead you on—especially if he was going to end up with some other girl at then end of the day.

You stay quiet as you make your way to Jungkook’s car. Jungkook steals the occasional glance in your direction, seeming to finally realize that something is wrong.

He, however, doesn’t say anything until you’re back on the freeway—on the five hour drive towards the wedding venue. “Everything okay?”

You’re playing with your hair, but you stop long enough to spare him a short glance. You’re not even looking at his face, you’re looking at the chair he’s seated on. “What do you mean?”

Jungkook clears his throat. “You’ve been really quiet since I got out of the bathroom. You…” He gestures to the center console. “You’re not even playing any music.” He tries for a smile. “I’d really like to listen to your ‘everything’ playlist.”

“Sorry, I’m not really in a music-listening mood right now,” You whisper, realizing that you should probably cover up your ass a little better than you are currently. “S-Sorry, I think it was something at the restaurant yesterday. I’m not feeling super hot right now.”

“Oh no, do we need to stop by a pharmacy or something? I can run in and get some stomach machine or whatever—!”

“Jungkook, it’s fine.”

Maybe it’s the finality of your tone, or the sharper edge in your voice, but Jungkook quiets down again. One glance in his direction shows you the furrow of his eyebrows, the set of his jawline—he looks hurt and confused. And that kills you inside.

A small part of you wants you just lay all your cards on the table—to admit your side of the story and let him know about the texts and the hurt feeling still eating itself at your heart.

But another part of you, the bigger part of you, doesn’t want to give Jungkook that power. You don’t want to be the one to crack first, to be the one who gets hurt first. So you refuse to say anything, settling deeper and deeper into the seat of Jungkook’s car. Contrary to your initial thoughts, he doesn’t plug in his own phone to play his own music. He simply allows the pair of you to bathe in silence.

Without the music to distract you, without Jungkook trying to make conversation, it forces your mind to linger on the events of the early morning. Maybe Jungkook didn’t tell you because it was obvious to him that the pair of you would never have been a plus one to the wedding in general. He’s probably hurt because Jungkook can’t get his way with you.

The realization that he doesn’t even have the consideration to warn you ahead of time that an invitation for a ride doesn’t equate to an invitation to be a plus one brings the tears back to your eyes. Did you not even deserve a warning? Why would Jungkook let you kiss him, let you fall in love with him—only to turn his back on you like this?

You have to keep your eyes glued to the window of the passenger’s side of the car, just to make sure Jungkook won’t see the tears. You can just imagine that he’ll ask, and the conversation will steer the pair of you into an even more awkward space.

It’s a very agonizing five hours. Not having that time to recover from the shock of those texts is becoming increasingly more difficult for you to handle.

There are a few times that your tears overwhelm your whole system, where you have to sniff to get a handle on your body’s response to the emotions going through your body—which you’re sure Jungkook can hear. After all, there’s no music playing and there is a silence that is threatening to swallow you whole.

Jungkook, however, does not say anything in response to your very obvious sniffle. He merely tightens his grip on the steering wheel, and keeps his mouth shut. You wonder if he’s waiting for you to talk first, to explain what’s going on with you.

The sky is bleeding orange by the time Jungkook pulls into the new hotel, the final hotel. There is still two hours until the wedding is set to start, but every nerve in your body is screaming for you to leave and go back home. Every nerve in your body is telling you that you don’t belong here anymore.

“Okay, I let you have your peace for the whole drive over,” Jungkook starts off, voice tight, fixing the car into park. “But I’m asking you this right now. Are you sure you’re okay? You don’t seem fine… and I’m worried about you…” He reaches across the car to land a hand on your shoulder. It’s a completely normal gesture, especially between you and Jungkook, but you cannot handle it.

You jerk away. “I’m fine,” You snap out, actually fixing your gaze on him this time. Jungkook recoils, immediately retracting his arm from you, looking like you just burned him. You tear your gaze away from him. You’re not strong enough to see him hurt because of you. “Why do you care anyways?”

Jungkook exhales in disbelief, turning towards the steering wheel of the car and running a hand through his hair. “What are you talking about? Is this about last night? Did I… say something to scare you off?”

“This isn’t about what you said, this is about what you didn’t say and what you’re not telling me!”

Jungkook looks like you just grew a second head. “What are you talking about?”

You whirl back to face him. “Oh, so the fact that you and Miss. Jennie were already set to go to this fucking wedding together and you didn’t even think to give me a heads up and tell me?”

Jungkook freezes like a deer in headlights. “What? How did you know about that?”

You laugh, but it’s a hollow noise that only makes that lump come back to your throat. “Nevermind,” You bite out. This time, you don’t stop the tears from resurfacing as you give Jungkook a full look this time. His demeanor changes from frozen to pained at the sight. “I hope you guys are very happy together.”

You don’t say another word as you fumble with the latch of the door before pushing it open with more strength than necessary. You can vaguely hear Jungkook struggling with his own seat belt, but you don’t care. You slam the car door shut and storm away. You don’t know where you’re going—maybe around the corner to scream, or to call a taxi that’ll take you to the airport. You don’t care about the wedding. You don’t think you could face the embarrassment in facing Jungkook or Jennie or Irene right now.

“Shit, Y/N! Y/N!” Jungkook is calling for you now, his footsteps loud against the asphalt.

Everything feels like you’re going through water, which is probably why Jungkook is able to reach you as quickly as he does. He catches you by the wrist.

“Y/N—please, will you stop and just listen to me?”

“No! Jungkook, let me go.” You start trying to tug your wrist, trying to pull yourself away from him. “Let me go! I’m leaving! I don’t want to see you anymore!” You’re gasping, the tears blurring your vision and making you feel powerless.

Without a warning, Jungkook pulls you in his arms. Wrapping his arms around you, he traps you in his embrace. And you are miserable.

“Stop it!” You gasp, trying to push him away. You’re heaving—crying and trying to escape from someone as strong as Jungkook is definitely a workout for your body. “Jungkook, leave me alone. This is all my fault.”

He pauses. “What do you mean?”

You stop struggling, allowing Jungkook to hold you as you pull back enough to look away from his face. You wipe at the tears on your face. “It’s my fault anyways. I said I liked you and you said you liked me too, but maybe that wasn’t enough for you. Just because we like each other doesn’t mean we’re exclusive. I should have asked up front, so I wouldn’t get hurt in the long run.”

“You don’t need to get hurt though,” Jungkook whispers kindly, his voice overcoming the blood in your ears, as well as your own yelling. You quiet down at that, except for your own lungs contracting to catch more air. This leaves you a hiccuping mess. He waits until he knows you’re not going to say anything next. “You’re right, okay? Jennie and I were supposed to be each other’s dates.”

You’re still trying to catch your breath.

Jungkook rests a hand on top of your head, curling his fingers through the strands of your hair soothingly. “Are you okay?”

You hiccup. “Why are you telling me this? I just told you that I’m hurt right now…”

“Shhh.” Jungkook pulls back and cups your face in his hands so you can look at him. “You aren’t listening to me. I said we were supposed to be each other’s dates. We’re not anymore.”

You blink, allowing the tears that were already filling your eyes to fall down your cheeks. Jungkook wipes them gently with his thumb. “What?”

Jungkook’s gaze flickers between your eyes. “Jennie and I are friends, so we’d figure it would be fun to just go together and have a person to sit with, eat with, and dance with. As friends.”

“W-What happened then?” You ask, a watery color in your voice.

Jungkook gives you a gentle smile, the kind of gesture that tells you that you should know the answer already. “You happened, silly.” He keeps his eyes on yours. “I saw you at the party with Jimin and invited you to come with me. I assumed when I asked that we’d be each other’s plus ones. I forgot to tell Jennie though when I asked you out.” He tilts his head at you. “You saw the texts on my phone, didn’t you?”

“I-I’m sorry.” You hiccup again. “Your phone kept going off this morning and I was just trying to put it on silent. I-I didn’t mean to look through your messages…”

“Shh, baby, you’re good, you’re okay.” Jungkook interrupts gently, wrapping his arms tighter around you and swaying the pair of you back and forth. The usage of the nickname fills you with a new feeling, a warmer feeling. It helps calm you down.

Your breathing eventually evens out, bringing you back to reality and to the realization that you and Jungkook are hugging in the middle of a hotel parking lot.

Jungkook loosens his grip on you, letting you step back. He watches you for a moment. “Here,” He says, digging through his pocket and pulling out his phone. “I think you should see this.” He clicks through a few of his apps, until he seems to find what he’s looking for because he hands the phone to you. You look over at him, confusion flooding through your features. Jungkook gives you a reassuring nod. “It’s okay.”

Still hesitant, you take the phone and look at the messages across the screen. It’s the texts from this morning.

Jennie (9:53AM): hey jungkook !! just thought I’d ask where you want to meet up before the wedding starts

Jennie (9:53AM): since we’re each other’s plus ones, I think we should show up together but idk let me know what you think

Jennie (9:53AM): I’m excited to see you again and catch up, it’s been so long !! :)

Jungkook (10:20AM): hey Jennie !! oh shit i totally forgot to let u know but i actually found a plus one :( i’m soooo sorry i should have told you earlier omg i feel terrible

Jennie (10:20AM): no worries jungkook !! who is it omg do I know them?

Jungkook (10:20AM): it’s actually Y/N? We all went to college together…

Jennie (10:20AM): OH!!!! wait isn’t she the one Irene was working with a lot for senior projects?

Jennie (10:20AM): OH HOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO

Jennie (10:21AM): OKAY JUNGKOOK I SEE U

Jennie (10:21AM): she’s THE Y/N right???? the one u were in love with for our entire college career??

Jungkook (10:22AM): …… maybe?

Jennie (10:22AM): WOWOWOWOW good for u Jungkook !!! glad to see u finally having the balls to ask her out !!

Jungkook (10:22AM): OKAY THAT’S ENOUGH

Jungkook (10:23AM): I actually felt BAD for leaving you by yourself BUT NOT ANYMORE

Jennie (10:23AM): LMAO Jungkook I’m friends with Irene’s entire bridesmaid row i’ll be fine

Jennie (10:23AM): just go get ur dick wet!!!!!!

Jungkook (10:23AM): istg i will leave you on read

Jungkook (10:23AM): also that is NOT the point!!!!!! Just wanna love my new girl :(

Jennie (10:24AM): You’re gross

Jennie (10:24AM): but sounds good see you tonight!

You look up from Jungkook’s phone to see him watching you carefully, gauging your reaction, pleading for you to forgive him.

The only thought that can be translated into a coherent sentence comes out: “You were in love with me during college?”

Jungkook exhales in a laugh, his arms finding your waist once again. “I think ‘in love with’ was a bit of a stretch back then. I think you could agree that we didn’t know each other well enough before for me to say that.”

You’re still looking at him. “Back then…?” You echo.

He nods. “Back then.” He brings you closer, one hand moving up to gently brush at the skin of your cheek. “But it’s different now. Now, I can say with absolute certainty that I’m in love with you.”

Your lips part. “You’re in love with me?” The tears spring back into your eyes, but for a different reason entirely. The emotional rollercoaster you have just been on is unbelievable.

Jungkook’s eyes widen at the sight of your tears. “Oh shit, I’m sorry! Is that too fast? I’m sorry, I should have given you a warning or something. Or more time at least. Oh no, please don’t cry…”

You brush him off with a watery laugh, waving his concern away. “It’s okay Jungkook. This is fine, really.” You give him a smile. “I love you too. I really thought you were pulling my leg or something.”

Jungkook gives you his own small smile. “I’m sorry. I should have brought this up sooner about us being each other’s plus ones. Just because I assume something doesn’t mean it’s an established thing.” He brings you closer, his smile turning into a grin. “You love me too, huh?”

You giggle. You’re too strung out to come up with something witty or clever. “Yeah…”

Jungkook is still smiling, his gaze switching between your lips and your eyes. “I’m gonna kiss you now.”

You nod. “About time.”

He kisses you again, softly and sweetly, tongue slipping past the seam of your lips but it’s gentle caresses that make your heart feel like it’s crawling up your throat.

“OH MY GOD GET A ROOM!” A voice calls from the other side of the parking lot, forcing you and Jungkook to pull away. The pair of you look at each other and you start to laugh.

Jungkook kisses your forehead, sweeping down to your ear. “How about we check into our room and get ready?”

You giggle, nodding over at him. “That sounds good.”

So Jungkook leads the way, wrapping an arm around your shoulder as you gather your suitcases from the car and enter the lobby. You check in easily, as Jungkook is provided a map with directions on how to reach the room.

The pair of you don’t pull away once until Jungkook is sliding the key card into the door and pushing it open to reveal the bedroom you’ll be sharing for the night.

Both you and Jungkook park your suitcases near the foot of the bed, as per usual.

“Do you want to use the bathroom?” Jungkook offers.

You nod, smiling softly. “Okay.”

You gather the dress you’ve brought in your arms, about to enter the bathroom, before Jungkook’s voice stops you. “Hey,” He calls, approaching you and wrapping you in his arms again. He’s much more handsey this time, like he needs to make sure you’re not going to run away again, like you’re going to be okay. “You feel better now?” His thumb brushes your lips. “Your eyes are still a little red.”

You nod. “The makeup will probably help that,” You reassure in a soft voice.

Jungkook mirrors your movements. “Still, how about I get some ice for you so you can put something cold underneath your eyes… to stop the puffing.”

He looks genuinely concerned and worried for your wellbeing that you can’t help but smile. Since he is insisting, you decide to just let him be. “Okay, Jungkook.”

He smiles. “Okay! You start getting ready and I’ll get the ice, okay?” A quick kiss on your cheek before he’s bounding out of the door with the provided ice buckets.

Your eyes linger on the door for a few minutes before you’re turning back to your suitcase. The dress you have picked is a pink flowing floor-length number—something Karly helped you pick out before leaving. It’s soft enough that it doesn’t leave crease marks along the fabric, which had made this outfit perfect for the trip. You take the dress and your bag of makeup before entering the bathroom. You’re just slipping on the dress when you hear the hotel room door open and close.

“Okay, I got the ice!” Jungkook announces through the bathroom door. “Did you want to work on your eyes right now?”

“Sure,” You call back. “Do you mind zipping me up first?”

“Of course,” Jungkook returns, sounding distracting as you open the door to the bathroom. You peek your head through, noticing Jungkook opening his suitcase on the floor and sorting through it—probably for his own suit.

He must hear the door open, because he looks up towards you. Immediately, his eyes widen as he straightens up into a standing position. “O-Oh wow…” He’s looking you over up and down, up and down, as if he needs to commit this to memory. “Y-You look great. Beautiful.”

“Really?” You stammer back. “Thank you.”

Jungkook keeps his eyes on you as he approaches you. “You needed me to zip you up?”

“O-Oh right, yeah.” Hastily, you turn around, brushing the hair from your back to expose your undone zipper, and your bare back.

You think that he purposely grazes the tips of his fingers against your skin in his process of bringing the zipper up to the top of the fabric. You’re about to turn, thank him, but his hands back at your waist do the gesture for you. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. You look really pretty.”

You pout. “You’re being too nice to me.”

Jungkook whines, hugging you close to him. “You’re too cute.” He noses at your temple. “I just wanted to see you smile.” He pulls away after a moment. “Let’s take care of your face, yeah?” He turns around and returns with a small baggy full of ice. “Here, sit down for a second.” He leaves for a second, returning back with a towel. “Maybe… five minutes each eye. I don’t know. I’ll get ready while we’re waiting.”

So he takes his suit out from his case and disappears into the bathroom, leaving you alone with a towel of ice pressed against your eye. The cooling sensation definitely helps with the puffiness.

Jungkook appears from the bathroom a few minutes later—dressed in a black suit with a white button-down and a long skinny black tie. His hair has been fiddled with a little, but he still has that messy, boyish, lovable appearance that makes your heart race.

“Did you switch the towel?”

You nod.

“How do you feel?”

Slowly, you bring the towel down and rest it on your lap. You look at Jungkook. “How do I look?”

He leans forward towards you, holding your chin gently between his fingers. “You look better. Did you need to finish getting ready?”

“Yeah. I just need to touch up my makeup.”

“Okay, go ahead then.”

Jungkook takes the towel, and watches as you make your way back to the bathroom. You’re only gone for a few minutes before you’re emerging once more—eyeshadow a little darker, lashes a little closer, and lips slightly pinker, but overall still looking like the same version of the girl he fell in love with.

The pair of you drive to the wedding venue, a cute brick building with browns, greens, and whites surrounding. Guests already swarm the outside area, some of whom you recognize from college. The sight makes you nervous.

Jungkook sees this, and he reaches over to grab onto your hand. “You can just stick with me, okay?” He smiles. “I’ll protect you.”

You roll your eyes, but you are thankful to have Jungkook as your source of comfort and be that person you could run back to.

He parks and meets you at the front of his car, where you lace fingers and make your way towards the venue. You go through a small round of hellos and ‘nice to finally meet you’ conversations—most notably from Mingyu and Jennie, both of whom light up at the sight of your presence. Contrary to your previous worries, you find that you don’t really need to be so nervous. Mingyu and Jennie are friends of Jungkook’s for a reason—they radiate a relaxing nature that you can tell is what has drawn the three of them to each other.

They ask about you, your college experience, your current experience, passing easy conversation in the ceremony space right before the start of the wedding. It’s fun to see Jungkook joking around with the friends he grew up with, and even more fun to see how easy you are allowed into that world.

The actual wedding ceremony is a blur. You vaguely recognize the extremely attractive, excited, and watery-eyed version of Seokjin at the head of the aisle. You definitely recognize the equally as attractive, excited, and watery-eyed version of Irene, downed in white lace and looking much more beautiful than you ever remember her. Vows are exchanged, kisses are shared, there’s an applause, and pictures are taken before the guests are ushered into the main entry room—decked out with a bar and a few scattered seating areas. Jungkook whispers to you that guests are put here temporarily, as the ceremony space is being converted into a dining area.

True to Jungkook’s promise, he lingers by your side most of the night. Although you reassure him that you are fine, you are much more emotionally stable compared to a few hours ago, and that perhaps you are okay catching up with Nayeon—another girl from college, actually someone from the first party you ever attended who defended you when you were receiving unwanted attention—but Jungkook simply tells you that he likes being around you. He likes being able to put his arm around you, likes to rest his hand at your waist, likes people knowing that he has you.

It’s a few more minutes of conversation, of laughter, of old stories being exchanged between people you haven’t seen for years, when the guests are called back into the newly converted dining area. Instead of rows of chairs lined up, there are round tables filling the space. The long panel of doors once closed along the wall of the room have been opened—exposing a gazebo with a D.J. and a dance floor, all encircled by a string of big bright fairy lights.

You and Jungkook are situated at the same table as most of the guests you recognize from college. You assume this is purposefully done to give you all a common ground, and it works because conversations spring easily between you all. Even when you’re not talking about your experiences from university, you’re able to transition from topic to topic. You and Jungkook occasionally talk amongst yourselves as you’re eating, but you sit together and laugh together when Irene and Seokjin emerge and listen in during the wedding toasts.

Finally, Irene and Seokjin make their rounds through the room, stopping at the tables to cheer and laugh and exchange a few words of congratulations and conversation. Following this process, everyone at your table stands on their feet as Irene and Seokjin make their way towards you. There are bright smiles, Irene’s cheerful gasp as she takes in all the guests that have come to join her. She circles your table, hugging every guest, continuing this when she reaches you.

Irene grins at the sight of you. “Y/N! Oh my gosh, it’s been so long!”

“I know!” You return, pulling away from Irene. “Congratulations. This wedding is beautiful.”

She beams, absolutely radiating in her white dress and glittering makeup. “Thank you so much for coming! But oh my god, are the rumors true, did you really show up—!” She looks over your shoulder, and grins again. “Jungkook!” She hugs Jungkook. “I should be saying congratulations to the two of you. I was surprised to get the text from Jungkook saying that you guys were coming as each other’s dates. Gave me a whole pain because I had to switch some seats around at the last minute. But anything for my favorite people.” She turns to you and holds onto your arms. “Jungkook has had a crush on you for years, so you’re really doing him a huge favor.”

“Okay, enough,” Jungkook interrupts, scowling. But there is still that playful look in his eyes. “Did all your friends know about this? Jennie knew something was up too when I texted her.”

Irene presses her lips together. “Mingyu might have mentioned something.” She presses her hand to Jungkook’s cheek. “Stay safe, you guys. Hope you enjoy the rest of the night.” She moves onto her next guest.

Jungkook is groaning. “Remind me to never tell Mingyu anything ever again.” He glares at the boy from across the table. “Gonna fling some peanuts at that son of a bitch.”

You laugh, wrapping your arms around Jungkook’s waist. “Oh, let him be. It’s Irene’s wedding. You can get him tomorrow.”

Jungkook pouts, but he does wrap his own arm around your shoulder. “Ah, love my girl—promoting evil behavior after festive events.” He kisses your cheek as your table takes their seats once more.

The good natured atmosphere continues as you and Jungkook down your food, remaining fully engaged in the conversations happening around the table. After another hour of this, the DJ announces the start of the married couple’s first dance. Irene and Seokjin take to the dance floor and spin around, her white dress flowing around the room like light. Underneath the glow of the fairy lights, it looks like the couple is in an entirely new world. And you are so taken by it.

Jungkook does not turn to you until the DJ plays a slow song—a first slow song after a series of upbeat dance and pop genres. He jerks his head towards the dance floor. “You want to dance?”

You take his hand when he offers. “Of course.” He leads you across the room, towards the gazebo, where several other couples have moved to cling to one another. Jungkook pulls you in: one hand on your waist and the other with your own hand. “This is really nice,” You start off.

Jungkook laughs. “The wedding, or the dance?”

You smile over at him. “Both. Being able to slow dance with you, however, is marginally better.”

Jungkook is quiet for a little after that. He seems content just staring at your eyes, taking in the magic of this moment. “Thank you for coming with me,” He starts. “The whole road trip thing. Definitely would not have been as fun if I did all that by myself.”

“Well, thank you for inviting me,” You return. “Even though we had that big misunderstanding. I had a lot of fun.”

“Hey.” Jungkook angles his head a little so he can look at you in the eyes. “You know that I would never hurt you, right? You’re too important to me that I wouldn’t even think to pull some stupid shit like that again. You know that I love you too much to do that to you, right?”

“I do know now,” You say, gazing over at him. “And I love you too.”

You’re not usually an expressive person. But it’s worth saying those words just to see the grin that overtakes Jungkook’s face. It’s worth even more when he leans forward, kissing you openly in front of all his friends, nibbling gently at your bottom lip, running his tongue over the wound, and into your mouth. It’s worth it to have his fingers dusting sweetly over your skin, coaxing your mouth to open to allow exploration.

It feels like worlds pass before Jungkook pulls away, giving you that breathless smile dimple and all, before he’s leaning forward to bury his face into your neck.

“I think the drive home will be fun,” Jungkook mutters softly.

“Hm?” You hum, eyes closed as he presses tiny kisses along your neck.

“Most definitely,” Jungkook says, lifting himself just enough so that his lips hover over your ear lobe. “Because I plan on fucking you in every hotel bed for the rest of the trip.”

You feel your heart race, your cheeks heat. Yes, this was definitely worth it.

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