#gasp i am so shocked well here's the sappy fluffy you ordered m'am

[nobully]

Steer + kiss. ( pretend to be shocked )

nonverbal starters | steer place a hand under their chin to make them look up; kiss a kiss on the cheek, knuckles, forehead, in their hair - you’ll get your playlist but im shuffling the songs :)

Days had passed since their last kiss, and life was...slow. But it was the kind of pace that neither of them minded. They ate, they slept, they lounged around. Nicolette suggested they get books so Wang Yi took a trip to the library and back but found he couldn't read them without straining his voice. That was okay, she read them to him instead, both of them huddled up together under the covers at night.

Sometimes he nodded off first, and she'd keep reading just to feel his head on her shoulders and soft breaths tickling her chest. Sometimes she fell asleep before him, only to wake up later in the night to find herself all tucked in, the book set aside, and him asleep by her with one arm draped over her torso. She preferred the latter better, because it meant she could scoot closer by turning towards him and feel his arm following along until he cradled her close.

There were movie marathons where they watched fearlessly as monsters chased after hapless victims (horror didn't really phase them as much as it should and for some reason Nicolette found them funny?), quietly debated in whispers over the murderer (mysteries were nice but they'd read all the books and knew half the plots), and suffered through crappy romance flicks where Nicolette snorted and criticized everything on screen while Wang Yi numbly sipped on his drink and fed her popcorn between speech breaks.

It was kind of like a vacation and a dream rolled all into one, where they shut out the rest of the world and just withdrew into themselves for a while. There was an interlude where Wang Yi met up with Zhilan to get his birthday present, but then he'd came right back to Nicolette waiting for him by the door, kissed her on the cheek, and showed her a few of his neater tricks before setting his new basketball in a corner of her room. That night he'd made longevity noodles and they shared Zhilan's cake and that was it, because it was getting near bedtime by then and obviously that meant going the hell to sleep.

By the second week Nicolette had proposed reading a chapter book for bed and Wang Yi had agreed, not minding one way or another. Except she ends up choosing a collection of love stories of all things, which means he's stuck questioning the motives of the characters and what they'd do for their feelings every other page.

Also, why the hell was everyone so sappy all the time! Nobody acted like that in real life!!

(Getting transmigrated into novels with the same tropes didn't count as real life either!)

"Wait," he finally spoke up one night, voice softer than usual but much better than before—his vocal chords were healing along nicely. "That part, right—I don't get it, he raised her chin and she starts blushing? It says she likes it, but isn't that more like assault?"

"It's super romantic!" Nicolette huffs back. "I mean, imagine if someone lifted you up by the chin..."

"Yeah, I felt super attacked and embarrassed, which I figured was kind of the point?" Wang Yi nods. "When I did it to someone else, I was goading them to bite me. Didn't work, though..."

"Ok, what," Nicolette blinks, but shakes her head and decides not to ask. "It'll make more sense when someone you like does it to you instead."

"Show me, then?" Wang Yi turns to her expectantly.

And as warm as the unspoken hint of I like you feels, Nicolette still smacks him. "Not when you're expecting it! It has to be a surprise."

"What, there's so many rules..." Wang Yi mumbles, but shuts up when Nicolette starts reading again. Of course he nods off in the middle of the couple's heartfelt confession and Nicolette starts to question her choice of literature because she's not getting the he dozes off later and tucks me in treatment but whatever, at least his forehead's free at this angle to steal all the kisses she wants.

One for I like you, two for sweet dreams, and three for please, stay with me.

—

“When are we going to do it?” Wang Yi asks first thing next morning as he’s serving up breakfast.

“Do what?” Nicolette asks, sipping her orange juice and browsing her phone for the latest Spinstagram updates.

“The chin thing.”

Nicolette stops scrolling to arch her brows at him. “Yiyi, not now.” She told him already, it has to be a surprise move!

“Nini, why not?” he asks, mimicking her tone exactly.

“You—oh! Did you just call me Nini…!”

“Why, what’s wrong?” he creases his brows.

“You barely call me any nicknames, Wangyyyyy!!”

He looks at her and blinks. “That’s not true, you used to be ‘demoness’ in my phone.”

“God, don’t ruin the moment,” Nicolette gets up and all but leans across the table. “Say it again.”

“You’re making it embarrassing…”

“Yiyi, come onnnn~” she pleas. “It’s only fair!”

“Ugh, fine…” Wang Yi puts up a resigned face, but his small smile gives him away. “…Nini?”

“What about some other ones?”

The smile slips. “You want more?!”

“Why not! I have at least two for you!”

“I guess…” Wang Yi trails off to think. “Letty? Nico? Colette…? Uhh…I guess Coco works too…”

They’re not all spectacular, but it’s fun to see him try.

“And your favorite one?” she urges on, excited to see what he’ll pick.

“…Nicolette.”

She sits back in her chair with a sigh. “You’re such a moodkiller, Wang Yi.”

“So, the chin thing…”

“You’re not getting any!”

“All right, all right…”

Nicolette waits for the inevitable backtracking—because it’s common knowledge that the less you get, the more you want, right? But Wang Yi actually drops the subject and goes right on eating his eggs while browsing his phone too. She takes a peek: he’s on his own account on Spitter, scrolling past a timeline that’s a mix of weird science facts and sports videos.

With a private huff, she gets her own phone to take a picture of her yet-untouched plate (thoughtfully arranging a few of the garnishes for aesthetics), fiddles with the filters, and posts it to her Spinstagram with the caption:

nicawlette: bf made me breakfast ❤️ #personalchef #malewife

Annnnnnd post.

Seconds later, Wang Yi’s phone dings without fail, and she has to suppress her satisfied smirk as he clicks on the notification and tabs to her account.

"...Nicolette, it's just eggs and tomato on toast."

"But you made it," she crows. "For me."

"Also for myself?"

"Take a compliment when I give it," she huffs back and picks up her toast for a munch. "Mmm, delicious~"

"What's a malewife?"

"Another nickname," she replies back easily. "Aren't you going to like my post?"

"Yeah, yeah..." he presses the heart and she eagerly refreshes the page, checking for his username in the list of likes...

Besides her usual friends and commenters, all she sees at the bottom is a very unobtrusive heart from the username "crcl3." It doesn't even have a profile picture besides the default blank avatar for new users.

"...Yiyi, why are you still using a burner account for Spinstagram?"

Wang Yi blinks at her, then flushes slightly. "I don't have any other ones. I just made that one to follow you...like, way back."

Okay, fair, and she's weirdly flattered that he's still doing it now that they're long past their stalker-victim accusations. "Why'd you make yourself sound like a bot?"

"Huh?"

"Your username!" she shakes her phone at him. "It's just a bunch of letters and a number!"

"What are you talking about?" he scoffs back. "That's the chemical formula for chromic chloride."

"Wangy, in English please."

Instead, he just gulps down his orange juice and looks evasive. "It was just a spur of the moment thing. I chose it because it makes the brightest purple I know..."

Purple? Unexpectedly, warmth floods her chest at the statement. "Was it..." She's almost afraid to ask, but she has to know. "Did you pick it...because of me?"

Wang Yi concentrates on the phone screen in his lap. "A shitton of stuff happened to us the first time we met. I can't name all the details, but I did remember your hair. And your eyes? Three shades of purple aren't easy to forget. Well, and the attitude. So I used that to find you online..."

"You mean the same damned attitude that saved your life?" Nicolette retorts, though there's no real heat in it.

"I know." He pauses, then murmurs, "You kept me from going under this time, too."

He's still looking at his lap, and suddenly Nicolette has an overwhelming urge to see his face. She circles around the table (ignoring the wince she makes when she moves a little too quickly) until she claims the spot in front of his chair, wraps her arms around his shoulders, and kisses his hair, still soft and sweet with the scent of her shampoo.

His hands move to cling to her even as Nicolette croons, "Of course I did."

"Nicolette..."

"Because I wasn't going to lose what's mine?"

She hears him exhale with enough intensity that can only mean a raging blush, and giggles to herself.

"I—" Wang Yi begins, but never gets farther than that.

Because Nicolette's gotten him by the chin and steers his head up gently until they're looking eye-to-eye. He blinks at her, bright red and a little panicked, but doesn't try to turn away. It's a little endearing how he always looks like someone facing his crush for the first time, every time. Still grinning, Nicolette asks, "Are you feeling attacked?"

With the tiniest of movements, he shakes his head.

"What about embarrassed?"

A slightly bigger nod.

"Are you going to bite me?"

He side-eyes her (or rather, the teeth marks still peeking out from her collar) before croaking out, "Only if you want me to?"

"Not this time," Nicolette whispers. "It's different, isn't it?"

"...yeah," Wang Yi breathes, and his hands begin moving up her chest and over her shoulders until they're hooking around her neck. "But I still don't like this chin thing."

"Ohhh?" she lets him embrace her, fingers still caressing his jawline as she teases. "Why not?"

"It keeps you too far away."

He turns to take her thumb into his mouth even as he pulls the rest of her into his lap, like a persistent puppy leading its owner home. When she collapses onto his legs, he lets go to rain soft kisses on her nose, cheeks, and forehead. Laughing, Nicolette lets him take the lead for awhile before seizing the win by stealing his lips for the day.

—

"There are still things I don't understand," Wang Yi whispers to her when they're done.

"That's okay," she murmurs back. "I'll show you what they mean, one by one."

Until he gets it. Until he feels it. Until what starts as like can grow and turn to love.

She thinks, now that we've promised ourselves to each other, we have all the time in the world.

(They go to bed holding hands and wake up next to each other as strangers.)