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azzifudd · 6 months ago

Text

streams

paige bueckers x azzi fudd

summary:

Jon Wanna explain why my friend asked me if it was true that you and Paige were making out at a bar last night

Jose WHAAAAAAT

four times paige & azzi were on tiktok live

rated: teen

2.8k words

disclaimer: you kinda have to know about the lore surrounding all those lives they've been a part of to fully understand this. this is based around existing events, but obviously a fictional interpretation of those events. also a warning that this is sappy as hell

[AO3 LINK]

“Let’s go! Two more points!” Paige’s shout echoes through the room. She stands from the bed and howls at the top of her lungs.

Azzi is unfazed. She knows just how much Paige loves LeBron. In fact, to her embarrassment, she has spent countless nights staring up at his face as she laid in Paige’s bed.

She hears Amari proclaiming that she’s single and sees Paige go over asking to be dapped up.

“Someone said Paige has a girlfriend and I have a boyfriend.”

“Paige does not have a girlfriend,” Inês protests, or maybe it’s Ice, Azzi can’t really tell, too distracted by Paige who has come back over to the bed and is leaning half over her with a smirk. Azzi rolls her eyes, but still returns the soft peck that Paige presses to her lips.

Then she playfully shoves Paige away, letting her get locked into the game again while she reclines on the bed. Almost immediately, she finds herself becoming extremely bored. Maybe she’d be interested in watching if LeBron was getting the record against Steph, but he’s not. Azzi didn’t even recognize the team he’s playing against.

She grabs Paige’s ever present iPad and pulls up her favorite game.

Paige stares back at her, eyes wide and incredulous. “Azzi, we can’t play- Are you serious? She wants me to play a game right now, when LeBron’s about to get the record?”

Azzi pouts at her, but Paige doesn’t give in. Instead, she jumps up, yelling, “Lock in!” as the game returns from commercial break.

But when not even half a minute later, a foul is called, Azzi takes advantage.

“Free throws! Come play,” she demands, and Paige flops back onto the bed without protest. Inês makes a whip motion with her hand, and Paige gives her the middle finger.

“Don’t laugh at me,” Azzi whines.

Eventually, the game starts again, and Paige stands up, shouting about the gameplay. LeBron finally breaks the record and everyone screams in celebration. They all watch the ceremony before Amari begins to wrap up the live.

“Only cuz of LeBron, not cuz of Azzi.” Paige says, when a viewer mocks them all for shutting up at Azzi’s complaint. But she still crosses back from the other bed, laying beside Azzi for some quick cuddle time before she has to go back to her room.

“Paige, someone’s gonna take you to breakfast,” Amari reads.

“Better not.” Azzi mutters, under her breath as the others laugh.

Amari ends her livestream, and they spend a little more time messing around, until they realize that it’s almost curfew.

Ice turns to Azzi’s bed which has been suspiciously quiet for the past few minutes.

“She’s asleep, already?!” Paige appears to be deeply asleep, mouth slightly open and face pressed into the pillow as Azzi cuddles in behind her.

“Shush, you know she has trouble sleeping sometimes.” Azzi whispers over her head.

“Well, she’s gonna have to have trouble sleeping in our room, because I’m not getting in trouble when the coaches come for room check and lover girl is missing because she’s over here being your little spoon.” Ice grabs a pillow from Inês bed and whacks Paige in the face with it.

“Bruh, what the hell?!” Paige sputters.

“Let’s go! I want to sleep too.”

“Ugh, fine.” Paige stands and quickly gathers her things before going to stand beside Azzi’s bedside. Without a word, their friends turn away as Paige leans down to kiss Azzi goodbye.

The next morning, a knock sounds at Paige’s door.

“Ice, answer it.” Paige shoves her head under a pillow.

“You’re closer to the door.” Ice complains.

“Freshman duty.” Paige fires back.

“I’m not even a real freshman!”

Knuckles rap against the door again. “Room service!”

Paige finally drags herself to the door and pulls it open. The hotel employee wheels in a cart full of food, transferring it onto the table in the corner of the room. Paige thanks him and he leaves.

A full breakfast spread covers the table. A small white card sits by itself on a plate at the center of all the food. Ice wanders over, drawn by delicious smells. She picks up the card, snorting out a laugh at its contents.

“Thank you, Azzi.”

Paige’s face scrunches up with confusion before she takes the card from Ice’s outstretched hand.

Enjoy your breakfast.

Love, Not Paige’s girlfriend

Azzi wakes to the sun shining directly into her face and her bed moving beneath her.

It’s only when the bed groans in pain that she realizes it’s not the bed that’s moving, it’s Paige beneath her, burying her face into the crook of Azzi’s neck.

“Why do you sleep with your blinds open?” Paige hisses, clearly as hungover as Azzi feels.

“I do not sleep with my blinds open,” Azzi rasps, unable to raise her voice above a whisper as her head pounds. “I didn’t have time to close them after you threw me onto the bed and koala bear’d onto me.”

“You know I get cuddly when I’m drunk.”

It’s an understatement. Azzi is still foggy on some of last night’s events, but she can remember how Paige had spent half the night latched onto their teammates and the other with her hands glued to Azzi’s body.

Azzi throws the blanket over both their heads, hoping the darkness can help them recover before they have to wake up. But before they can get any meaningful rest, a knock sounds at the door.

“Hey, are you guys decent?” Caroline’s voice comes through the door. “I’m coming in, in three, two, one.”

She still gives them a few more seconds. She’s one of the only girls on the team that hasn’t walked in on them, and she wants to keep it that way.

Azzi has poked her head back out of her sheets, but Paige remains hidden, just a lump in the blankets.

Caroline places a bottle of Gatorade and a bottle of coconut water on the bedside table alongside some pain killers.

“Caroline, my angel.”

Azzi sits up, throwing back the pills with a deep swig of the coconut water. She nudges Paige, who simply rolls over and buries her face in Azzi’s stomach.

“Dude, drink the Gatorade.”

Paige cracks an eye, looking up pitifully. “Feed me.”

“Ugh.” Caroline makes a disgusted noise. “Well, when you guys are good, Ice brought breakfast. Not sure how much you remember from last night because you both were pretty gone, but something happened on Ice’s live that you’ll wanna see.”

“Um, that don’t sound too good.” Paige has finally propped herself up to take light sips of the Gatorade that Azzi has passed to her.

“It’s not a huge deal,” Caroline says, clapping her hands together. “Just something you should know about.”

“We’ll be out soon,” Azzi replies, and then Caroline exits, leaving a confused Paige and Azzi behind her.

Azzi sighs and reaches for her phone, shocked to see her group chat with her brothers has over ten unread messages.

Jon Wanna explain why my friend asked me if it was true that you and Paige were making out at a bar last night

Jose WHAAAAAAT

The rest of the texts are mostly them arguing about a clip on tiktok and asking Azzi if it means that she and Paige are coming out.

She tilts the phone to let Paige read the messages.

“What the fuck? Ice! Isuneh!” Paige gets out of bed, suddenly very awake and heads toward the dining area, Azzi following close behind.

A bunch of the girls are gathered at the dining area, some eating and some clearly waiting out their hangovers.

“Good morning, Paige and Azzi! I brought breakfast.” Ice says, her voice sounding falsely positive.

“What happened last night?” Paige questions, taking the last available seat next to Ice and pulling Azzi to sit on her lap.

Ice winces and slides her phone over. “Before y’all get too mad, it’s been wiped from TikTok and not that many people saw it.”

The video is only a few seconds long, a grainy snippet from Ice’s livestream from the night before. The camera pans along the bar, showing Jana, then Caroline deep in conversation with Azzi who is wrapped up in Paige’s embrace. They watch as Paige’s hands roam from low on Azzi’s hips, up toward her back as she turns toward Paige with a hand on her face. And then the camera is jerking and the frame fills with Ice’s shocked expression.

“Bro, you need to warn us when you’re on live. That could’ve been so much worse.” If Ice had kept her camera on them for even a second more, it would have been much worse.

“I’m sorry, but I did! It’s not my fault you can’t keep your grabby hands off!”

“You know I can’t help it. Did you see her last night?”

Even now, Paige’s arms are wrapped around Azzi’s waist, and her chin is tucked over her shoulder as they look down at Ice’s phone.

Ice rolls her eyes as Azzi smiles, pleased at the comment.

Suddenly, the smile drops as Azzi looks sharply at Ice. “No more lives. You’re banned.”

“What?! That’s not fair!” Ice looks pleadingly at Paige, always the more lenient of the pair.

“Let’s just chill on the lives for a bit, aight? At least until this blows over.”

Everyone agrees, and after Ice apologizes one more time, Paige and Azzi take their breakfast back to Azzi’s room so they can get some more sleep.

Paige only lasts three days before she lets Ice and KK back on live.

It’s nearing 11:30 PM when Paige tells Ice and KK that she’s heading out.

“Girl, boo.” KK shoots her a thumbs down. “I thought we were gonna play some more Fortnite.”

“Nah, I’m tired dude. Supervising y’all on live took a lot out of me.” Paige smirks as KK rolls her eyes and Ice, the main instigator in most of their slip ups, muffles her laughter.

Paige leaves them to their own devices, slipping out of the apartment. She doesn’t tell them the real reason she’s leaving early, that Azzi had made it clear that if Paige showed up at her door past midnight, they would both be sleeping alone that night. The girl takes her sleep seriously.

She can imagine how much shit she would get from the girls if they knew how she refused to even consider spending a single night away from Azzi, but she doesn’t care. She just wants to be near Azzi, always.

Paige lets herself into Azzi’s apartment, which is dark and quiet, with all its occupants asleep or on the way. She heads into the bathroom, brushing her teeth with the brush she keeps there, and gets ready for bed.

When she finally makes her way to Azzi’s room, she’s surprised to see light still shining from beneath the crack of the door. She eases the door open, as quiet as she can. She isn’t surprised to find Azzi asleep, with a book in her lap and her glasses falling off her face.

Paige doesn’t try to stop the grin that spreads across her face at the sight. She moves closer, putting the book on the bedside table and carefully sliding Azzi’s glasses off her face. Then, she turns off the light, flooding the room with darkness.

“Mm,” Azzi hums as Paige slips under the covers next to her.

Paige shushes her, trying to ease her back into sleep as she pulls Azzi’s head to rest on her chest.

“Go back to sleep, baby. I’m sorry I woke you up.”

Azzi murmurs something else into Paige’s neck, clearly more awake now.

“Watch out for my boyfriend.”

Paige has already closed her eyes, but they shoot open when she registers what Azzi has said.

“Huh?”

Azzi smiles lazily, stretching her body until she’s pressed head to toe against Paige’s.

“Y’know since I apparently have a boyfriend now, he probably wouldn’t like finding me in bed with someone else.” Their legs tangle together beneath the sheets.

Azzi’s words finally register, and Paige groans in understanding.

“What the hell? How’d you find out already?”

It couldn’t have been an hour since the moment where Paige had had a too visible reaction to KK reading a fan’s comment claiming Azzi had a boyfriend and that she was with him at that time. She hadn’t been able to stop her growing smile, and before she even realized it, she was scratching awkwardly at the bridge of her nose, trying to distract from her reaction and Ice and KK’s muffled laughter.

“Ice texted me, but I’m sure it’s all over Tiktok already.”

Azzi shifts again, until she’s seated astride Paige’s hips, hands splayed across the hard, flat plane of Paige’s abdomen. Paige inhales sharply as the other girl begins a slow glide in her lap, hands immediately find their place among familiar curves.

With a sure grip, Paige guides Azzi into a heavy grind, pulling their bodies together until they are both panting. Azzi dips her head to give Paige a searing kiss, tasting mint and something distinctly Paige.

When they part, Paige snarkily says, “What would your man say about you kissing someone else like that?” But the effect is slightly lessened by how breathless she is.

Azzi reaches down to tug her shirt over her head before leaning down again. She whispers, “Stop talking,” against Paige’s lips. Paige does.

When Azzi texts that she’s on her way over to the hotel, Paige drops Drew off with Ice and heads to the market next door. By the time she’s done, Azzi’s dad has dropped her off at the front.

It’s been just over a week since Paige has seen her, but Azzi is always a sight for sore eyes. She looks smaller than usual with the big brace over her knee, and when Paige hugs her hello, she holds on just a little longer than what might be considered casual, pressing her face to her favorite spot where Azzi’s neck meets her shoulder and sneaking a kiss there.

“I missed you,” Azzi breathes into her shoulder.

They text almost constantly, and are on FaceTime whenever they’re free, but it’s not the same as being together. It takes Paige back to the years before UConn, before she knew what it really meant that she would sometimes miss Azzi so much it felt like a wound.

She squeezes Azzi around her waist one more time before pulling back and leading her up to the room. She swipes the key to unlock the door and holds it open so Azzi can limp through in front of her.

Ice has taken Drew to bother some of the other girls, so they can have some much appreciated time alone.

Paige has barely shut the door behind her when Azzi is crowding her up against it, throwing her arms around her shoulders as her crutches clatter to the floor. Paige catches her around the waist, dropping her shopping bag on the floor, and lets Azzi kiss the hell out of her.

“You really missed me, huh?” Paige rasps as Azzi moves her lips down the line of her jaw, her neck. Her hands reach down to palm Azzi’s ass, pulling her closer and squeezing.

She knows something is wrong when Azzi pulls back, releasing a choked gasp. Her head ducks down to stare at her knee, throbbing at the sudden movement. When she looks up at Paige again, her eyes are wet.

“I can’t even kiss you without hurting myself.” Azzi lets out a bitter laugh.

Paige remembers the back and forth of emotions that came with such a big injury. How one moment it could be like nothing had happened, but then something would remind you and the world would feel like it was crashing down on you.

She pulls Azzi into the room, helping her to take a seat at the end of one of the beds before going back to the door to pick up her bag.

Paige comes back to kneel in front of Azzi handing her the bag with an uncharacteristically shy look on her face. Azzi pulls out an only slightly crushed bouquet, two family sized bags of her favorite chips, and a stuffed plushie.

Azzi stares at the gifts for a second. She shouldn’t be surprised at Paige’s thoughtfulness, not when she’s been this way for as long as they’ve known each other.

But she loves how Paige can still surprise her after this many years. She just loves her.

So she places the gifts gently to the side, cups Paige’s face between her hands, kisses her softly, and tells her just that.

💗 I love you, Pookie. 💗 9:13

😡🙄 9:14

love you too 9:15

#azzi fudd #paige bueckers #pazzi #like almost embarrassingly sappy

282 notes · View notes

toastedqueso · 3 years ago

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Thank Me Now

Pairing: Jaehyun x Original Female Character | Jaehyun x Female Reader

Other Members: Mark, Johnny, Doyoung

Genre: Fluff, Strangers to Lovers

Warnings: alcohol consumption, slight profanity

Words: 6.9k

Summary: Jaehyun thought teaching kids basketball would be a rewarding experience. What he didn’t expect is that he’d be rewarded with a friendship with someone who seems oddly familiar. With the help of his meddling friends, the friendship could maybe lead to something more along the lines of what Jaehyun wants.

A/N: This fic was really because I wanted to write some fluff and comedy. Also, Mark is Mark. I don’t know how this got so big. I thought this fic would be 2k max. There are some references to basketball, accounting and medical school. I don’t think you need to know much about basketball in order to read this fic, other than knowing that Michael Jordan and LeBron James are huge stars and some of the greatest players. They were both in Space Jam, but very different decades (1996 vs. 2021). We won’t argue who’s the GOAT though.Education notes (US-based): - CPA = Certified Public Accountant. To become a CPA you need to pass the CPA Exam (there are 4 parts that can be taken separately) + have the education requirements + fulfill the required work experience. - For the sake of simplicity for the education requirements, OC has a Masters in Accounting - MCAT = Medical College Admission Test. This is taken for Med School. Let me know if you think I should add notes on anything else!

When Jaehyun signed up to coach Basketball Camp for 6 year olds, he thought he’d have the rewarding experience of passing down his basketball skills. He thought he’d be like a Professor, passing down valuable basketball knowledge to the youth. He thought he’d inspire the future LeBron James or Steph Curry. What he didn’t expect was that he’d spend most of the time trying to find ways to keep their attention while he tried not to collapse from exhaustion.

Jaehyun blew his whistle and waved the kids over. “Put your basketball in the cart and make a circle around me!”

Jaehyun watched the kids put the basketballs away and gather around him. Guessing from the lack of noise and complaints, they were running out of energy too.

“Thank you for putting everything away. Good job, everyone!” Jaehyun remembered from his crash course in Youth Coaching that he needed to always thank the kids and congratulate them for doing well.

“There’s one last thing we need to do before you leave and that’s stretching!”

“Coach Jae! What’s stretching?”

“You’re going to find out! Stretching will help you grow big and tall like me!” Jaehyun lifted his arms above his head. “Now stand like me and reach up to the sun!”

The parents started piling in to pick up their kids as they went through the stretches. A few parents had their phones out taking pictures and videos to commemorate the athletic milestone for their kids. After they finished stretching, Jaehyun thanked everyone for working hard and reminded them to stay hydrated before dismissing class.

Some of the parents came around to thank him and his coaching partner, Mark, for teaching their kids and gushed about how excited they were for their kids to learn basketball. A few of the moms were a little too comfortable with him and patting his arm in between their conversation. He tried his best not to show how uncomfortable he was and played it off.

After most of the kids were picked up, Jaehyun noticed a little girl sitting patiently on the bench with her duffel bag

“Hey! Jamie, right? Can I sit next to you?”

“Sure Coach!” Jamie scooted over to make room for Jaehyun, though the whole bench was empty. She shoved an unopened packet of gummy bears in his face. “Do you want some of my gummy bears?”

“Sure! Thanks Jamie.” Jamie kept the packet shoved in his face, which he figured might mean she needed help with opening it. “Do you want me to open it for you?”

Jamie nodded her head. “Yes please!”

He grabbed the packet and tore off a corner before handing it back to her. She took a few gummy bears out and handed them to Jaehyun.

“Thanks Jamie!”

They sat together and enjoyed the gummy bears together. They ranked the flavors of the gummy bears and orange came out on top for both of them.

“Is your mom picking you up today?” Jaehyun didn’t want to sound like he wanted to get rid of her, but he was exhausted and starving.

“Nope! My big sister is picking me up! She’ll be here soon!” Jamie said excitedly.

Jaehyun nodded. Irresponsible teens, he thought to himself. He figured she was out hanging out with friends and conveniently forgot. “How about we call your sister. Do you know her number?”

“Yep!” Jamie gave Jaehyun her sister’s number and he called her. He figured she wouldn’t pick up, but after the fourth ring, she picked up.

“Who the hell is this?” A rather angry sounding girl shouted on the other line, followed by a slamming door.

Ugh. Not the teenage angst. Jaehyun grumbled, as if it wasn’t him only a handful of years ago.

“Hi! This is Jaehyun, Jamie’s basketball coach. I’m waiting with her on the bleachers. Are you on the way?”

“Yeah I’m here. Sorry about that. I was at a group study session,” Jamie’s sister huffed. “I’m walking over now.”

“Okay, I’ll let her know. See you soon.”

“Bye Jordan!” Jamie screamed, as Jaehyun hung up. A minute later, someone who definitely didn’t look sixteen ran over to them.

“Hey Jamie! Sorry I’m late!” She apologized. “Sorry for making you wait with her too...Jaehyun, right?”

She combed her fingers through her disheveled dark purple hair to tame it. She had on a washed out My Chemical Romance shirt and frayed jeans. She was not what he was expecting. She was hot and something about her felt familiar. He was hoping they hadn’t hooked up before and he conveniently forgot.

“Sorry! Shit!” Jordan cursed.

“You said a bad word!” Jamie gasped.

“Sorry! Don’t tell mom and dad!” Jordan rubbed her forehead.

“I’m so sorry I’m late. I know you’re mad and you have every right to be. I got caught up with my CPA exam prep study group. I totally won’t let that happen again,” Jordan rambled. She grabbed Jamie’s duffel bag and held out her right hand for Jamie to grab.

“Hey it’s alright. You can call me Jae.” Jaehyun extended his right hand. “Have we met before?”

Jordan glanced at his hand then up at Jaehyun. “Uh no? Was I supposed to?”

Jordan gave him a puzzled look. She seemed to be trying to match his face with a memory, but was coming up short.

“Oh. No, it’s just that you seem familiar.” Jordan squinted at him. She was either trying to recollect where they might know each other from or judging him even more.

“Sorry, I made it weird. Maybe it’s the hunger making me see things.” Jaehyun awkwardly laughed and rubbed his neck.

“It’s fine. We definitely should leave. Sorry to keep you waiting,” Jordan apologized again.

“Don’t worry about it. Are you picking up Jamie tomorrow?”

“Yep, everyday. Big sister privileges now that I’m back from college,” Jordan joked. She smiled at Jamie and held out a hand for her to hold. Jaehyun felt his heart swell at their sisterly interaction.

“Cool. I’ll text you tomorrow to remind you,” Jaehyun offered.

“Oh, you don’t have to!”

“It’s fine. I already have your number. I’ll text you so you know ‘who the hell’ the number belongs to,” Jaehyun said, referring to their phone call. He hoped Jordan wouldn’t be offended by his reference. Fortunately, she laughed.

“Alright, if you insist and think keeping track of 10 kids playing basketball isn’t keeping you busy enough.” Jordan smiled.

“Can we go now? I’m dying of hunger!” Jamie complained.

“Well that’s my cue to get out of here. Thanks for staying with Jamie. My parents would’ve killed me if anything happened to her.”

“Not a problem. She’s a sweet kid. She even shared her gummy bears. We love the orange ones, right Jamie?” Jaehyun held out a hand in front of Jamie and Jamie gave him a high five.

“That was sweet of you, Jamie! Sharing is caring, right?” Jordan complimented Jamie. Jamie smiled and nodded at her sister. Jaehyun could tell Jamie really looked up to Jordan.

“We’ve taken up enough of your time. Thanks for keeping Jamie company.”

“Of course. She’s a sweet kid. See you tomorrow!” Jaehyun waved.

Jordan and Jamie waved back and headed towards her car.

“I’ll text you!” Jaehyun added. Right after he said it, he realized how pathetic he sounded and felt his face heat up.

Jordan turned back and giggled. “Okay. And if you can remember where you know me from, let me know!”

Jaehyun nodded and laughed. He was really hoping it wasn’t a one night stand years ago.

‘Exhausted’ didn’t even explain how Jaehyun truly felt. He loved the kids. The kids were adorable and listened well, but had way too much energy. They definitely had bowls of sugar for breakfast because there was no way all of them still had energy to keep running around so much. Jaehyun was worn out and about to collapse and his coaching partner, Mark, wasn’t faring much better.

Jaehyun sighed and blew his whistle. “Alright everyone! Water break! Let’s sit in the shade and drink some water. We’ll start cooling down and cleaning up after that.”

Jaehyun picked up his phone and water bottle then joined the group under the tree shade. True to his word, Jaehyun texted Jordan that Jamie’s basketball camp was ending for the day in less than an hour.

“Who are you texting?” Mark peeked over his shoulder.

“Jamie’s sister,” Jaehyun replied, not looking up from his phone.

“Uh…” Mark gave him a stuttered response.

“She’s like my age,” Jaehyun explained. Mark looked back and forth between the kids and Jaehyun. Jaehyun could tell Mark was trying to make sense of it.

“Mark, don’t break your brain.” Jaehyun gave Mark’s head a slight shove.

Jaehyun’s phone buzzed with a text notification from Jordan and he unlocked to see her reply.

Jordan: Thanks Jae! I can’t wait to ditch my study group. Today has been kicking my ass 😭

Jaehyun frowned.

“Oooh she calls you Jae already?” Mark commented as he rested his chin on Jaehyun’s shoulder.

Jaehyun shoved Mark off. Jaehyun would’ve usually been nonchalant about it, but he didn’t want Mark to catch wind of anything.

“Oooh is Coach Jaehyun texting a girl?” One of the kids teased.

Mark cleared his throat. “Um. It’s a very natural thing to do, you know, like text a girl or um a guy or a person.”

Mark looked at Jaehyun to see his reaction at him trying to diffuse the situation. Jaehyun just shook his head and sighed.

“Okay, break’s over! Put your water bottles away. Grab a ball. We’re going to practice layups,” Jaehyun announced. Sometimes he felt like it was harder to manage Mark than the kids.

They continued their drills and finally the kids were showing signs of fatigue. The parents began to arrive when they started their cool down stretches, signalling the end of their day. He spotted Jordan saying hi to some of the parents before sitting by the benches.

Jaehyun gave his closing remarks for the day thanking the kids for working hard and telling them they would be future superstars like Lebron and Steph, which was met with a lot of cheers. Before they ended for the day, he had the kids huddle around him and Mark. On the count of 3 he had them shout “GO TEAM!” It was cheesy, but the kids were excited to scream at the top of their lungs so it was worth it.

The kids ran over to their parents, or sister, in Jamie’s case. Jaehyun waved at the departing kids and wanted to wait a few minutes before going over to say hi to Jordan, but he was bombarded by a few of the moms. While he uncomfortably kept up the conversation with them, he looked around to see if Jordan was still around. Fortunately, Jordan and Jamie were sitting on the bench eating gummy bears. Jaehyun excused himself from an overly friendly mom with the excuse that he had to head out soon. Jaehyun jogged over to where Jordan and Jamie were sitting.

“Do you have any orange gummy bears for me?” Jaehyun asked.

“Sorry. They’re all gone because you were too busy flirting with the moms,” Jordan quipped.

Jaehyun groaned. “Don’t rub it in! I thought they’d never let me go.”

Jordan laughed. “Oh don’t worry. I enjoyed hanging back and watching you squirm uncomfortably while they flirted with you.”

Jaehyun groaned. Usually he would’ve politely responded, but today all of his energy was zapped.

“Not to burst your ego, but Mrs. Murray’s like that to any man who breathes. You could try throwing your co-coach at her.” Jordan looked over at Mark.

As if sensing they were talking about him, Mark looked over and waved. He jogged over quickly to introduce himself.

“Hi I’m Mark! You’re…” Mark looked over at Jamie and back at Jordan. “OH! Ooooh. You’re THE sister!”

Jordan raised her eyebrow. “Yeah, sure am. I’m Jordan, Jamie’s big sister. Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you, too!” Mark beamed. He looked over at Jaehyun and raised his brows. Jaehyun tried his best to ignore him. He did not need Jordan prying into whatever Mark was trying to convey to him.

“Did you hear that, Jamie? Jae said you’re going to be the future LeBron!” Jordan wrapped an arm around Jamie and brought her into a side hug.

“No, I’m LeBron!” Jamie replied.

Jaehyun smiled and nodded. “That’s right. You’re a champion like him.”

Jaehyun ruffled her hair. He was glad she had big dreams already, especially the kind he had set out to help mold by coaching basketball.

“NO! I AM LeBron!” Jamie emphasized every other word.

Jordan laughed at Jaehyun and Mark’s puzzled looks. “What she means is that she was named after LeBron James. ‘Jamie’ is from his last name.”

Mark’s eyes widened at the realization. “Woah, that's so smart.”

“Jamie…LeBron James.” Jaehyun smiled. “Nice. He’s my favorite player.”

Jaehyun high fived Jamie. If there’s anything he’d learned about her the past few days, it was that the kid loved high fives.

“That’s creative. Your parents must be basketball fans.”

“Yeah, huge fans. They named me after Michael Jordan,” Jordan added.

When he made the connection, Jaehyun burst out laughing. “Also my favorite player.”

Mark shot him a sly grin. Jaehyun had unfortunately forgotten Mark was there.

Jordan laughed and rolled her eyes. “Were you even alive when he played?”

“I was born in 97!” Jaehyun replied.

“So you don’t remember him at all,” Jordan pointed out.

“I’ve seen ‘Space Jam’!”

“Michael Jordan the actor doesn’t count!” Jordan argued.

“Okay, fine. But I’ve seen enough clips to know he’s great,” Jaehyun protested.

“Whatever. And here I thought you were cool. I even brought you a bag of gummy bears.” Jordan held up the bag.

Jaehyun stepped closer to grab the bag, but she pulled it closer to her.

“I can’t trust you with the basketball greats of tomorrow if you don’t know Michael Jordan!” Jordan hissed. “You don’t deserve these gummy bears!”

“I’ll do better next time. I promise,” Jaehyun pleaded.

Jamie and Mark giggled, but Jaehyun knew for very different reasons.

Jordan turned to Jamie. “What do you think, Jamie? Should we give Jae the gummy bears?”

“Yes!” Jamie shouted.

“You’re lucky she’s a nice kid.” Jordan handed over the gummy bears. “You better mean it the next time you say Michael Jordan is your favorite player.”

Jaehyun grabbed the gummy bears and turned to Jamie. “Thank you for letting me have this, Jamie! I’ll be sure to make Jordan proud, okay?”

Jamie nodded back in response. Jordan got up from the bench and picked up Jamie’s duffel bag.

“We better head out. We’re officially out of food and hungry,” Jordan announced. “See you tomorrow.”

Jordan and Jamie headed to the parking lot after bidding their farewells. Jaehyun and Mark walked back to the basketball courts to grab their stuff.

“Sooooooo,” Mark started, raising his eyebrows repeatedly.

“Shut up, Mark. Go home.” Jaehyun rolled his eyes and grabbed his duffel bag. He wanted to savor the gummy bears in peace without Mark hinting at their flirting.

Things started to fall into routine between Jaehyun and Jordan. They’d text back and forth and spend some time chatting when Jordan went to pick up Jamie. Jordan liked to hang back and watch Jaehyun awkwardly squirm while the moms flirted with him. She’d sometimes take pictures of Jaehyun’s awkwardness and send it to him. Fortunately he took it in good humor and texted back, “You literally could save me, but choose to watch me suffer 😭”

She sent him clips of Michael Jordan and said “Learn about the GOAT, you uncultured fool.”

To which Jaehyun replied, “You don’t need to educate me about my favorite actor!”

They continued their banter back and forth and weaved in conversations where they learned more about each other.

They learned that they were the same age and both recently graduated from college, though Jordan got her Masters in Accounting too as part of her CPA requirements. Jaehyun was planning to head to Medical school, so he took up coaching basketball as a break in between graduation and MCAT preparations.

After basketball camp ended everyday, Jordan would hand Jaehyun a bag of gummy bears. This quickly became their tradition. Unfortunately, so did Mark smirking at Jaehyun after he ripped open each bag.

They found out that they both had their own culinary talents. Jaehyun’s specialty was Korean food, while Jordan’s specialty was baking. They shared pictures of their creations and promised to share them in the future.

Jordan once sent him a picture of puffed up dough and texted, “Jamie said this proofed dough looks like you 😂”

Jaehyun replied, “I’m offended 😭”

Jordan texted back, “Don’t be! Proofed dough is cute 🥺”

Jaehyun blushed. He hoped she meant what she was insinuating and he was reading the signs right.

Jaehyun made it a point to teach kids about basketball greats other than the ones currently playing. On this particular day, he taught the kids about Michael Jordan. He made sure Jordan was there when he went through his talk. He showed them a Michael Jordan slam dunk compilation, which left the kids in awe. He wrapped his speech by telling all of them to watch “Space Jam” to watch more of his ‘awesome talent’. Jaehyun specifically turned to Jordan to watch her facepalm.

After Jaehyun broke from their huddle, he walked over to Jordan with Jamie in hand.

“Nice little presentation there,” Jordan commented.

“What can I say? I had the best teacher.” Jaehyun winked.

“Well, I’m afraid I have some bad news.” Jordan frowned.

Jaehyun gulped. His mind went racing about what it could be. She’d no longer show up to pick up Jamie? She didn’t want to see Jaehyun again?

“We ran out of gummy bears, so I have nothing for you,” Jordan announced.

“But Jordan, I’m hungry!” Jamie grabbed onto Jordan and whined.

Jordan sighed. “Can I make it up to you with some pizza?”

“Yeah! Yeah! Let’s go!” Jamie started dragging Jordan’s arm.

“Woah! Slow down! You’re going to pop my arm out!” Jordan grabbed Jamie and threw her onto her shoulder.

“Well, that’s my cue to leave. She’s getting borderline hangry now.” Jordan announced.

“I’m sure I’m not that far away from hangry either.” Jaehyun laughed.

“You’re welcome to join us.” Jordan put Jamie back down on the ground. “Right, Jamie?”

“Really?” Jamie jumped in excitement. “Please!”

“Hell yeah!” Mark popped in. Jaehyun mentally groaned. He’d forgotten Mark was still lurking around. “I mean, heck yeah!”

“I can drive. Probably the easiest option anyway,” Jordan suggested.

They grabbed their bags and followed Jamie to her car. Jaehyun was thankful Jamie had offered to drive to save him the effort of making excuses not to drive. He walked to work in an effort to enjoy the outdoors before it got too hot and, more importantly, it came down to buying food or gas and food won.

Once they reached Jamie’s car, a blue MINI Cooper, Jaehyun admired the car. It was adorable and really suited Jamie’s whole aesthetic. Jaehyun was interrupted by a shove to his shoulder. He turned around to find Mark smirking at him.

“You’re riding shotgun,” Mark commanded. “You know you want to.”

Mark gave Jaehyun another light shove and a thumbs up. Jaehyun closed his eyes and shook his head. He knew Mark had the best intentions, but subtlety was not his strong suit.

They piled into Jordan’s car and buckled up. Jordan handed Jaehyun the aux cord.

“I can trust you with this, right?” Jordan raised a brow.

Before Jaehyun could respond, Mark chimed in. “You definitely can trust my man, Jae. He has the best music taste. He’s a great singer too!”

Jaehyun could feel his ears burning. He threw Mark a look, who just smiled back at him.

“You sing? You never mentioned that! I definitely have to hear you some time,” Jordan said. “But for now, you have aux cord duties.”

She handed the aux cord over to Jaehyun. He connected it to his phone and opened Spotify. Most of his playlists were R&B Slow Jams and Mark probably wouldn’t let him hear the end of it if he played one of them. He decided Mariah Carey would be a safe choice and hit shuffle. Unfortunately for Jaehyun, “Touch My Body” came on. Even Mariah Carey wasn’t cooperating with him today.

“Oh I love this song!” Jordan shouted. “Okay you can have aux cord privileges in my car.”

Jaehyun sighed in relief. “Who doesn’t love Mariah? But don’t expect me to sing like her.”

“I’m sure you’re still great,” Jordan reassured.

“I hope pizza’s ok with you. You don’t have any specific gym bro macros this would conflict with?”

Jaehyun scrunched his eyebrows in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, your muscles.” Jordan pointed up and down at him. “Don’t think no one noticed with your arms out like that.”

“OH.” Jaehyun suddenly felt self conscious.

“Sorry, it’s not a bad thing. Definitely not.” Jordan smirked at Jaehyun. “You worked hard for your muscles, why not show off all the hard work?”

“If that’s what you want. I’ll show off more in front of you.” Jaehyun winked.

He flexed his biceps to make a point. Jordan laughed at his flexing. He liked how comfortable the two of them were with each other.

Jordan laughed and rolled her eyes. “Whatever. You’d do it for me, but all the moms would just eat you up.”

They continued bantering back and forth the rest of the ride while Mark kept Jamie entertained and kept a watchful eye on Jaehyun and Jordan. Mark repeatedly texted Jaehyun the eyes emoji, to which Jaehyun responded back with the eye rolling emoji. Mark was having too much fun sitting front and center to their flirting.

Once they arrived at Dani’s Pizza, Jaehyun offered to order, which Jordan initially declined. He refused to tell her his Venmo, but she argued there weren’t many people named “Jaehyun Jung” around and she had his number. They settled on Jordan covering next time, which was met by a smirk from Mark. Jaehyun fully intended on making Mark pay for this. Literally.

After ordering and grabbing their drinks, they grabbed a table by the window. They watched Mark and Jamie play thumb war, which Mark dramatically fake lost to appease Jamie. Jamie cheered and got a round of high fives from everyone.

“Look at you, champ! Basketball is making you so strong you almost broke Mark’s hand!” Jordan shook Jamie’s shoulders.

“Oh man! You’re like Hulk!” Jaehyun chimed in. He made Jamie flex and look angry like she had transformed into Hulk.

“Thank God she’s only fake breaking other people. When I was in 1st grade, some idiot stood in front of me while I was on the monkey bars. I accidentally kicked him in his mouth and knocked out 2 teeth.” Jordan cackled. Jaehyun went silent and froze hearing that. He was having flashbacks to his childhood.

Mark joined in on the laughter. “Wait for real?”

Jordan nodded. “Yeah. I told him to get out of the way, but he just stood there. I might have tried to shove him with my foot, but I accidentally kicked him instead.”

And then it clicked for Jaehyun - why he felt like he knew Jordan. He had sensed he might have known Jordan for more recent reasons, but it made sense that it would be because of something else that left an impression on him.

“Wait a second. Did you go to Eastwood Elementary?” Jaehyun interjected.

“Yeah, why?” Jordan cautiously replied.

“Oh my God! That’s why I felt like I knew you! You kicked my teeth in!”

“What?” Jordan and Mark shouted.

“Wait, hang on! I didn’t kick you! You were in my way! Why were you even just standing there?” Jordan retorted.

“My teeth were wobbling and I was trying to push it out with my tongue!”

“Well, then I helped you!”

Before they could argue any further, their pizzas arrived. They put their argument on hold and dug in quickly. They shifted their conversation to how basketball camp was going with Jamie filling in her excitement for the sport. Jordan gave them a few pointers on how to manage the kids, which Jaehyun and Mark appreciated. As adorable as the kids were, they were a handful and they knew they could get away with anything. Jaehyun noticed how attentive Jordan was to Jamie. Although Jordan was Jamie’s older sister, she was very maternal towards her. She made sure Jamie had enough to eat before she started eating. He could tell spending time with Jamie meant a lot to her.

After they finished eating, they piled back into Jordan’s car. Jordan insisted on driving them home and Mark invited himself over to Jaehyun’s so Jordan drove them to his place. Halfway through the ride, Jaehyun could feel the food coma and fatigue slowly overtaking him until Mark broke the silence.

“Man, I really can’t believe you kicked Jaehyun’s teeth in. What were the chances?” Mark asked.

Jaehyun laughed. “You know, now looking back on it, it’s pretty funny.”

“It was funny back then too. You were such a mess.” Jordan laughed. “Man, what were the odds?”

Jordan looked over at Jaehyun and smiled. Jaehyun smiled back. The odds of this happening had to be lower than getting struck by lightning, but he was glad this happened instead.

“You know, Jamie didn’t cry when she lost her first tooth,” Jordan said, diverting the attention to her sister. “That’s because you’re super powerful!”

“I am!” Jamie piped up.

“You’re really great with your sister,” Mark commented.

“Thanks Mark.” Jordan smiled at him through the rearview mirror. “I try to spend as much time as I can with her. She was born after I went off to college in New York so I only got to spend time with her during the holidays.”

“Wow all the way in New York? That must have been cool though,”

“It was! I was there for 5 years because I had to get my Masters in Accounting too to become a CPA. I moved back a couple of months ago and I’ve been preparing for the CPA exam and job hunting. I’m taking my first section in 3 weeks.”

“Dang, you’re hella smart!” Mark commented. Jordan laughed at Mark’s reaction.

“I know what you mean. I’m still on my post-graduation pre-MCAT break, but that’s ending soon. I’m studying for my MCAT this fall.” Jaehyun sighed.

“Enjoy the free time while you can. The MCAT is intense, but after a summer of teaching kids basketball, it’ll be a breeze,” Jordan encouraged.

“He’s getting great practice to be a dad too,” Mark quipped.

“Jamie, Coach Jae is great, isn’t he?” Mark questioned.

“Yeah! He’s the best!” Jamie agreed.

Jaehyun laughed awkwardly. “That’s because Jamie’s the best.”

He held out his hand in front of Jamie and she gave him a high five.

“I agree. Jamie did say yesterday that you were the best.” Jordan smiled at Jaehyun. His ears began to turn red at the compliment

“You both are great,” Jordan quickly added, turning to Mark. Mark turned to Jaehyun and gave him a knowing glance.

They soon arrived at Jaehyun’s parent’s house and bid their farewells.

“Bye Coach Jae! Bye Coach Mark” Jamie shouted as they got out.

“Bye Jamie! Remember to eat well, drink a lot of water and get lots of rest before tomorrow!” Jaehyun said more for Jordan’s sake. Jamie nodded.

“Thanks for the ride and having lunch with us,” Jaehyun said to Jordan.

“It was our pleasure. I still owe you lunch sometime,” Jordan replied.

“Anytime you want, I’m always down,” Jaehyun replied.

Jordan laughed. “See you later, Jae. Bye Mark.”

“See you!” Jaehyun replied. “I’ll text you!”

Jaehyun felt his ears burning right as he said it out loud. Jordan giggled, noticing his embarrassment. He was hoping the ground would crack open and swallow him, but even then he knew that Mark would find a way to rub it in.

“Cute,” Jordan commented. Jordan and Jamie waved one last time before they drove off.

When they were out of sight, Jaehyun walked up to the front door with Mark trailing behind him.

“Well, what can I say? I’m the best wingman!” Mark nudged.

“You didn’t do shit.” Jaehyun shoved Mark off and started unlocking the door.

“Really dude! I just sprinkled a little bit of magic and got things going.” Mark rubbed his fingers together, pretending to sprinkle things around. “She knocked you out already, don’t let her slip by.”

“Go home and shower. I don’t want to smell you anymore.” Jaehyun knew Mark was right, but he wasn’t going to let him have the satisfaction of being right.

“Hey! I…” Mark sniffed himself. “Okay you have a point. Well shit, I’m glad I’m not the one drooling over a student’s sister.”

“GO HOME, MARK!” Jaehyun slammed the door shut in Mark’s face. He flopped down on the couch and closed his eyes, hoping to get some rest, until he felt his phone buzz. He unlocked to see a new text from Mark.

Jordan: lol sorry i kicked your teeth in 😂 Jordan: if it makes you feel better, at least they grew in nice

With Jordan’s first CPA exam coming up in 3 weeks, Jordan and Jaehyun didn’t get to spent much time talking outside of texts and the quick greetings when she came to pick up Jaime. Jordan promised she’d follow through with their lunch deal after she was done with her first exam. Jaehyun jokingly demanded he be wined and dined at his favorite taco truck because she was making him wait. However, he reminded her she could take her time and her priority was the exam and he knew she’d do great.

To encourage Jordan, Jaehyun suggested they celebrate once she was done with her first exam. He whined that he’d have to buckle down soon and study 8 hours a day for months to prepare for the MCAT. Jordan empathized with Jaehyun. She offered to go bar hopping before he had to buckle down and reminded him they’d have to squeeze in an hour of karaoke because she still hadn’t heard him sing.

“It’ll be my turn to root for you!” Jordan said whenever Jaehyun whined about his upcoming studies. “You’ve helped me relax whenever I’ve been stressed out, it’s the least I can do.”

Even if basketball camp was ending soon, they both knew they built a strong enough friendship that they didn’t need to depend on that to be their opportunity to hang out.

On the morning of her exam he texted her a lengthy good luck message and reminded her they needed to celebrate once she was done. After the exam she said felt like she did well, but she was extremely exhausted and would need to take a raincheck on their celebration. Jaehyun was a little disappointed, but he understood. She’d been balancing studying for the exam, job hunting and making up for lost time with her sister that she needed a break.

Jaehyun was feeling a little anxious. Jordan hadn’t texted back since last night, but he was hoping she was enjoying her break. Jaehyun took a sip from his beer bottle to try to calm his nerves, but the stale taste did nothing. One of his friends, Johnny, bought a new mini grill and wanted to “break it in” so he invited some friends over for lunch. Fortunately, Johnny was always their designated griller so Jaehyun could camp out on the couch and watch Great British Bake Off. He was learning all about proofing dough and he had to admit, proofed dough was cute in a strange way.

Unlike Jaehyun, Doyoung hovered around Johnny and made sure the meat was cooked to the standard he deemed ‘perfect’. Jaehyun was watching Doyoung fight Johnny for the tongs, when his phone lit up with a text notification from Jordan. He unlocked his phone to see a series of messages from her apologizing again for being too tired to hangout the night before. She sent him a picture of a white fluffy poodle that reminded her of him. He disagreed and thought it resembled Queen Elizabeth instead. He would’ve been offended with the poodle comparison if she hadn’t added that the poodle was the cutest thing she’d seen all week. He could at least agree on that. The poodle was cute.

She also sent him a picture of her outfit of the day - a pastel peach floral pattern summer dress. He texted back “prettiest thing i’ve seen all week 😊”

Jordan quickly replied, “shameless 🙄”

Jaehyun smiled at her response.

“What’s got Jaehyun glued to his phone and smiling like that?” Johnny shouted from the kitchen.

As if on cue, Mark sat up straight and caught everyone’s attention.

“Not what, WHO,” Mark replied, wiggling his eyebrows.

Everyone stared at Mark and waited for him to continue. Jaehyun groaned. Jaehyun hadn’t expected anyone to notice him on his phone, not that he was being very stealthy.

“He has a thing with someone he met at the basketball camp we’re coaching.”

“Wait. You’re thirsting over a mom? I thought MILFs were Doyoung’s thing,” Johnny said.

“It was only that one time!” Doyoung punched Johnny in the arm.

“She’s not a mom. She’s a kid’s sister,” Jaehyun explained.

Johnny gave him a judgmental look.

“Don’t worry, we’re the same age,” Jaehyun clarified.

“Hmm still Doyoung’s type. She comes with a kid. No judgment though,” Johnny said.

Jaehyun rolled his eyes and sipped his beer. It tasted worse with each sip. He would’ve preferred a cocktail, but a) they were too lazy to mix drinks, and b) they went with the cheapest option - beer from Costco.

He turned back to his phone and noticed Jordan was typing a message. He anxiously waited for her message to appear. After a while she finally messaged, “I know you said you’re busy, but can I call you? It’s urgent.”

He quickly texted back “Sure”. Her message suddenly made him worried and he stepped out into the balcony for some privacy from his nosy friends.

Jaehyun picked up on the second ring. “Hey, what’s up? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m good. Really good,” Jordan said. Jaehyun hummed, encouraging her to continue.

“So the reason I’m calling you is because two months ago I applied for a job at PwC. I didn’t think too much about it and they were pretty slow with the interviews, but the recruiter just got back to me and they offered me a job! I’m officially employed!”

“That’s amazing! Congratulations!” Jaehyun exclaimed.

“Thank you! God! I feel so relieved!” Jordan confessed. “I’ve been so worried, but everything is working out.”

“Hey, I know this is really short notice, but let’s celebrate?”

“I wish I could, but I’m babysitting my sister,” Jordan groaned.

“That’s okay, we can celebrate with Jamie. She’s a part of us,” Jaehyun blurted out. Jamie had become a constant presence around them, so it only seemed right that she would be included in the celebration.

Jordan laughed. “Okay sounds like a plan. I’ll text you my address.”

Jaehyun went back into the apartment and announced he was leaving. Doyoung scoffed.

“We haven’t even finished cooking yet,” Doyoung complained.

“Here, have some meat.” Johnny held up a piece of Bulgogi for Jaehyun.

Jaehyun took a quick detour to the kitchen and let Johnny feed him a few pieces of Bulgogi. While Johnny fed him, Doyoung told him to wait. He opened a kitchen drawer and pulled out a pack of gum and a toothpick.

“I don’t know what you’re getting up to, but I’m sure you’re going to need this.” Doyoung handed him the gum and toothpick and shooed him away. “Now go away.”

“Hey! Hold on!” Johnny raced into his room. Johnny was taking a bit of time to get whatever he needed to and Jaehyun was growing impatient.

“Can you hurry up? My Uber is going to be here soon!” Jaehyun shouted.

“So impatient!” Johnny shouted back from his room. He finally rushed out and slammed a few condom packets in Jaehyun. “You know, just in case. Be safe.”

“Oh my God,” Jaehyun groaned. “Her little sister is going to be there.”

“And? Have her play Minecraft or something. Doyoung could probably give you tips,” Johnny jokingly suggested. He turned to see Doyoung fuming.

“I’m going to kill you, Johnny!” Doyoung pointed the meat tongs at Johnny, trying to intimidate him.

“I’d love to break this up, but my Uber is here.” Jaehyun shoved everything in his hands into his pockets, including the condoms. Regardless of whether he’d need them now or not, he wasn’t planning to return them to Johnny. Jaehyun stepped into his shoes and opened the door.

“Tell Jordan and Jamie I said hi!” Mark yelled as the door slammed shut.

Jaehyun raced down the stairs and found his Uber waiting in front of the apartment building. He hopped in and texted Jordan that he’d be over in 15 minutes. He shoved 3 pieces of gum in his mouth, hoping it would be enough to make his mouth minty fresh. He arrived a couple of minutes earlier and wanted to admire the house and garden, but he needed the time to calm down before he rang her doorbell. The two of them had been dancing around each other for so long and he knew now was the right time to finally cut to the chase.

He rang the doorbell and let out a sigh. He heard footsteps rushing to the door and held his breath. When the door swung open, Jordan was standing in front of him in her peach floral summer dress. She looked even better in person.

“Hey!” She greeted him.

Jaehyun stepped forward and held her hand. “You look absolutely beautiful.”

He let go of her hand and cupped her face. He looked into her eyes sensing they both wanted the same thing. He bent forward and met her lips. She seemed to be caught a little off guard at first, but soon responded to his kiss. She slid her hands up his chest and wrapped them around his neck and hair to pull him closer. The kiss started off soft and slowly deepened. She lightly brushed her tongue against his lower lip and he easily granted her permission to move further. She tasted like sweet strawberry and he mentally thanked Doyoung for giving him the gum.

They broke apart after a while to catch their breath. They both looked at each other’s flushed faces and giggled.

“Well, that was something,” Jordan said. “Your front teeth grew in nice thanks to me.”

Jaehyun and Jordan laughed at the memory from their childhood. Jaehyun reached out and held both of her hands.

“Sorry, that was so sudden. I’ve been wanting to kiss you for a while,” Jaehyun apologized.

“Me too.”

“You too?” Jaehyun let out an exasperated sigh. “So, we’ve just been tiptoeing around each other for weeks?”

“No offense but you were sweaty 100% of the time I saw you. That’s a hard pass for me.” Jordan grimaced.

Jaehyun made a mental note to thank Doyoung for the gum later. At least a lot more level headed than he was.

“I’m doing this out of order, but can I take you out to dinner? Like a date. We can go karaoke too. I’ll finally sing for you,” Jaehyun suggested.

Jordan’s face lit up. “Yes, absolutely. You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to ask you too.”

“Are you free tonight?” Jaehyun asked.

Jordan laughed and kissed his left cheek.

“Was that a little too desperate?” Jaehyun gave her an uncertain smile, causing his dimples to deepen.

“You know, you’re the cutest when you smile like that with your dimples,” Jordan cooed.

“I was wondering when you’d talk about my dimples,” Jaehyun confessed.

“Narcissistic, much?” Jordan pinched his cheeks. “I’ve been wanting to do that for so long!”

“Now you’re being mean!” Jaehyun pouted.

Jordan dropped her hands to his chest and ran them down his abs, sending a shiver down his spine.

“These muscles don’t fool me. You’re a baby.”

Jaehyun suddenly felt self conscious realizing the front door was still wide open during broad daylight for all her neighbors to see them.

“We could, you know, go inside and get some privacy.” Jaehyun tilted his head inside. He kicked his shoes off and walked Jordan slowly further inside. As if on cue, Jamie came rushing downstairs and grabbed onto their legs. They quickly moved apart before Jamie noticed what they were doing.

“Well, dating me would mean a lot of interruptions from this one too.” Jamie sighed. “We’ll have to finish where we left off some other time.”

“I don’t see how that’s a bad thing. Jamie’s the coolest!” Jaehyun bent down and picked Jamie up. He gave Jamie a high five and noticed Jordan smiling fondly at the two of them.

“Don’t you remember? Mark said I’d make a great dad.”

#jaehyun #jaehyun fanfic #jaehyun imagines #jaehyun scenarios #nct scenarios #nct imagines #nct fanfic #fluff #comedy #strangers to lovers #jaehyun fic #nct fic

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