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floralseokjin · 3 years

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⤑ made-up love song iii.

Your first encounter with Kim Seokjin doesn’t go so well, nor your second, or your third… and maybe that’s because it shouldn’t work on paper. You’re an elementary school teacher, never left the country despite hitting the third decade of your life not so long ago, and you’re unable to remember the last time you dated. He’s the dad of one of your students, nearly a decade older than you and divorced. Oh yes, and just another minor detail – he’s a multimillionaire.

Your lives are lightyears apart, yet somehow, your paths having now crossed, things just seem to fall into place…

pairing; kim seokjin x reader au/genre/warnings; strangers to lovers, romance, eventual smut, eventual angst, single dad! seokjin, ceo! seokjin, elementary school teacher! oc, age gap (oc is 30, seokjin is 37), seokjin is a dilf, lots of lasagne talk, flirting, kissing, fluff 🥰 words; 9,340

↪︎ chapter index

chapters; i • ii • iii • iv • v • vi • vii • viii • ix • x • epilogue (+ drabbles)

After you had time to calm down, of course you ended up telling Soojung about what happened on the date. You kept some things to yourself, mainly about how giddy you had felt throughout the whole thing, but you were sure she could see that for herself – she kept looking at you knowingly, and for once she kept the teasing down to a minimum. You ended up staying awake quite late, Soojung opening a bottle of wine. You were still excited from the date and the thought of what was to come next, but somewhere along the line, you and your best friend started getting into your feelings. (Was it really a Saturday night until you and Soojung ended it with slightly drunk sappy heart to hearts and hugs? Obviously not…)

For the first time in a while you felt comfortable enough to open up about your love life (or lack of one) and felt it easy to talk about the past and to even bring up Donghae. He was a forbidden topic for the most part, no matter how much you were over him, but tonight had changed something. You didn’t know how to explain it, and no, it wasn’t because Seokjin was somehow the man of your dreams who had magically made things better with just one date. That was dumb and only happened in cliché Hallmark movies.

No, it was because tonight had shown you that life goes on. No matter what rock bottom you hit, or how long it took you to get over it, no hurt was forever. You’d been single for a long time, and happy at that – after you’d gotten over the heartbreak of Donghae cheating on you – but tonight you’d had fun. You’d enjoyed yourself, enjoyed Seokjin’s company. You didn’t know what would come of your second date, or if there would be a third, but you were okay with that. You were just living in the moment, and right now you really liked that infuriating-not-so-infuriating bastard.

You were taking a chance, just like he was, and it was actually pretty exciting…

You woke up late the next morning, something you didn’t reprimand yourself for because it was summer break after all, but also, you had a raging wine headache that had needed all the shut eye it could get. Your head was still throbbing slightly as you reached for your phone on the bedside table but seeing a text from Seokjin waiting for you made it miraculously disappear.

Seokjin (10:28am) Hi Y/N, Thank you for such a great time last night. I can’t wait until Saturday. Would it be alright with you if I kept in touch throughout the week? Seokjin

You giggled to yourself at his insane formalities. Why was that so adorable? But most importantly how could he be both cute and sexy at the same time? He was hellbent on making you lose your mind. You thought about teasing him, asking him when he’d grown comfortable enough to drop the Regards from yesterday, but despite how well last night had gone, and despite how much you loved joking around with him in person, over the phone seemed different. You were still a little nervous – giddy nervous, but nervous, nevertheless. Your conversation from last night with Soojung came back to you, reminding you that this was all too real. You were potentially catching feelings for this man, and it was new, and exciting, but equal parts terrifying now that you’d woken up with a hangover.

Everything you typed out in reply seemed way too stiff, so growing frustrated, you settled on an emoji to cut through the formalities.

You (10:49am) I had such a lovely time too, Seokjin. Of course it’s fine to keep in touch. I’m looking forward to Saturday night! 😊

What did he mean exactly about keeping in touch?, you wondered as you got out of bed, padding your way down the stairs and into the kitchen for a much needed glass of ice cold water. A good morning text? A how are you? You knew he was busy with work all week, so you weren’t expecting too much, but just knowing he wanted to stay in contact until next Saturday made you smile to yourself as you waited for his response.

You didn’t have to wait long.

Seokjin (10:55am) Great! I’m so excited to try your World famous Italian lasagne 😁

Cute. He’d followed your lead, ditching the last of the formalities and even signing off with an emoji instead. You instantly felt more at ease, but –

Oh no.

Why did he have to bring that up and remind you of your humiliating blunder? You knew what would be taking up all of your time for the few days – you needed to perfect this goddamn dish.

Soojung on the other hand was unbothered by your predicament. Mind in the gutter as always. “Do you think that’s a euphemism for something else?” She asked straight away once you’d shown her your messages a few hours later.

“Soojung!” You exclaimed, feeling yourself get a little hot in the face. You wish she’d stop bringing up sex, it was stressing you out. You told her as much.

“You’re the one who’s invited him to your house for a second date.”

You stared at her, greatly unimpressed. “You know why I invited him here.”

You’d told her last night. You’d been hit with a surge of confidence when you’d suggested it was your turn to decide on something. In truth though, you didn’t know the first thing about restaurants, you hardly ever ate out, and when you did it was either fast food or at the food court in the department store Soojung worked at. You knew he wouldn’t have minded any choice you’d made, but that didn’t stop the slight apprehension you felt.

It was normal, given your difference in lifestyles, and whilst that seemed to be no issue thankfully, that difference was still there. However really, that’s why you’d chosen to cook for him. Seokjin had shown you something close to him last night – the restaurant he owned with his brother, and now you were to show him something close to your heart. Something that was you. You loved cooking and baking in your spare time and you wanted to share that with him however small. Granted it was things you were confident with, but lasagne couldn’t be that hard, right? A true perfectionist, you’d master it quickly enough…

Soojung rolled her eyes. “I’m sure you could suggest McDonald’s and Dilf would be insanely happy.” She nudged you, squealing like a kid. “He’s just so into you!”

You wouldn’t bite. She was making you nervous again. “Stop calling him Dilf, he has a name.”

“Geez, sorry.” She held up her hands in apology. “Didn’t mean to offend your man.”

You pushed her shoulder, silently telling her to quit it.

For the next few days it became your life’s goal to master the art of lasagne. Sunday night was spent googling recipes, trying to find the most authentic one. There seemed to be a lot of fuss on the right type of pasta. Flat edged would be fine, but the wavy edge was best. You made note of that. Next was the sauce. Two types. The tomato based one and then the white one – which you learned was called Bechamel. That seemed pretty easy to cook up, but the former seemed a little daunting. Every time you’d had pasta sauce in the past it had been premade, starting from scratch was giving you anxiety. Seokjin thought this was your expertise so you had to make it believable. What if you made it too salty? Too bland?

…Possibly you were thinking way too hard about this. Soojung thought the same.

“Just buy it in a jar, Y/N, for Christ’s sake. You’re taking this way too seriously. You don’t need to learn fluent Italian to make your little white lie believable. It’s a goddamn lasagne.”

She had a point.

“He’d be happy with a sandwich. He’s coming over for you, not the shitty lasagne.”

“Don’t call my non-existent lasagne shitty, you’re setting me up for failure.” You grumbled, looking at the ten tabs you had up on your laptop screen, all claiming to be the best most authentic recipe around.

On Monday you went shopping for ingredients. You knew a small world foods store that was just outside of town, you’d been there a couple of times when you’d been baking with the children for class. With help from signposted aisles, you found what you were looking for in no time at all, so that night, you and Soojung both tucked into your first (sort of) homemade lasagne. Only the Bechamel sauces was harder to master than you’d first thought.

“I think you added too much flour.” Soojung’s nose wrinkled as she spoke. “It’s nice, don’t get me wrong, but the white stuff… I don’t know, maybe it’s supposed to taste like that?”

Nope, she was definitely correct, too much flour, which was odd because you were pretty positive you’d followed the right measurements…

Tuesday you had a day off from the sight, and even the word lasagne. You met for coffee with your mom but kept the date with Seokjin a secret. Not that she pressed about your love life anymore, she’d long given up on that topic. It was nice to catch up and you made plans for a trip soon. It was hard to find time to visit her when you were in work so you were always thankful for the summer and Christmas breaks. You were her only child, so it made your time together even more precious. She’d only remarried ten years ago, and while Jonathon had kids from his first marriage, they lived abroad. They were older than you and had families of their own. You weren’t particularly close for no other reason than the distance. You’d only met them a few times but they were lovely people. Your father had remarried while you were still in high school, having two more children (a son and daughter) with his wife. You were very close to them despite the age gap and saw them as regularly as you could. Your extended family had long been the norm and you wouldn’t change it for the world.

Wednesday you were back on the lasagne. You purchased more pasta sauce and decided on the pre-made Bechamel sauce too, just to be safe. This time around everything went smoothly, Soojung had no complaints and neither did you, but you still invited Taehyung around on Thursday for a third go. He was way more enthusiastic than your best friend, singing your praises all night.

“Y/N, that was amazing!” He exclaimed, leaning back in his chair to pat his belly. “Dilf dick – Uh, I mean, Seokjin, is going to love it.”

“Guys, is that what you really call him when you’re alone together?” You whined.

“Blame Soo,” Taehyung shrugged. “She’s rubbed off on me. But, I’m right,” he smirked. “He’s going to want to give you his DD once he tastes this, if you know what I mean.”

Wiggling his eyebrows suggestively, you looked on unimpressed. Maybe if you gave them no reaction they’d stop?

“Oooo. I wonder what his dick even looks like. I bet it’s as handsome as his face.” Soojung squealed, sat beside her boyfriend.

“SOOJUNG!” He cried, mouth open in disbelief.

“Can we just stop talking about his… y’know…” You sighed, unable to say the word aloud. “Imagine if it was the other way around and he was wondering about what I looked like naked.” Soojung wouldn’t be impressed, that was for sure.

“Fine, you’re right,” your best friend sighed. “I’m just way too excited because you finally like someone!!” She was getting loud now, she always did when she was excited. “And I want it to work out because you deserve it!”

You chuckled. “Soo, calm down.” But you had to admit her words were sweet. You reached for her hand across the tiny table, giving it a gentle squeeze of thanks.

“What about Barman dick?” Taehyung asked randomly, totally oblivious that you and she were having a moment. “Huh? Soo? You want my Barman dick tonight?” He wiggled his eyebrows again, a playfulness to his voice as he nudged her.

She giggled but wasn’t having any of it. “It doesn’t really have the same ring to it, babe.”

Highly offended he pulled away, pursing his lips. “Whatever.”

“Okay guys, let’s not have a domestic at the dining table.” You laughed. Which was a mistake because now Taehyung’s attention was back on you.

“So, Y/N, when are you going to invite Mr. Dilf to my bar?”

You sniggered. “How about never?”

“Hey, you ladies are being very mean tonight. I complimented your lasagne.” Hm. That was true, you guessed. “What’s wrong with my bar? I think he’d love it. What does he drink? I see him as a dark rum type of guy.”

You shrugged. “He was drinking red wine on our date last week.” It still made you feel funny to say the word date. You’d gone on a date. You were dating. A flurry of excitement found its way to your stomach, your excitement for Saturday growing.

“Interesting,” Taehyung mused.

Soojung stood up, starting to collect your plates. “Okay, I’m washing, who’s drying?”

“Not me,” you sang. “I’ve cooked nearly every night this week.”

Soojung eyes were wide when you met them, as if she was silently begging you. For what? “Just please promise me there won’t be any lasagne waiting for me after work tomorrow night? I’m going to turn into one at this rate.”

Saturday arrived soon enough. You woke up the same time your phone went Bing and you knew exactly who it was. Seokjin had been texting you Good morning every day since Monday. He was no longer signing them off with his name, which was progress, and he was even adding more emojis, so you guessed you had rubbed off on him.

Sometimes he’d drop a meme with the greeting. They were mostly to do with early mornings and workloads to which you’d tease him about because it was your summer vacation after all, you didn’t need to worry about work. But you always sent a Hope today runs smoothly his way too. You didn’t want to rub it in too much.

Yesterday’s meme had been about dating, something about the guy trying to flirt but being garbage at it and asking if she liked cheese. You didn’t agree that was like Seokjin though – you were gradually learning that he was incredibly modest – but it had made you laugh. Only Seokjin could send you lame memes and you’d find it adorable… You were possibly whipped.

Seokjin (8:01am) Good morning. [Image sent]

Today the meme was about lasagne, which made you question whether he was googling these every morning because no way had a lasagne meme popped up on his social media – if he used any at all. The realisation that he was searching for memes every day was even more endearing and your heart got a little gooey. You read the text on top of the image of lasagne. Dude, is that your new white shirt? Lemme just hop off this fork for a closer look. You genuinely laughed at that one, still wrapped up in your bed sheets. So incredibly lame, but equal levels funny.

Seokjin (8:01am) I will not be wearing white… I can’t wait to see you later. Just a reminder that I hope you omitted the garlic for tonight’s meal. I don’t want to embarrass myself by itching all night 😅😂

Immediately the smile dropped from your face and you shot forward, horror washing over you. Oh no. He was allergic to garlic. With the stress of perfecting the world’s best lasagne you’d totally forgotten. What were you going to do? Find a plain tomato sauce? Where the hell were you going to find one? Was that even a thing? You needed to leave now. Jumping out of bed you almost forgot to message Seokjin back. Looking at your phone again the image of the lasagne mocked you…

Two hours later you were back at home, in need of a sit down after you’d rushed around town looking for a pasta sauce that didn’t contain garlic (very hard, by the way.) The stress had aged you about ten years. Soojung of course found it highly hilarious.

“You’d have been in ER before 9pm,” she chortled, still in her pyjamas on the couch. She’d been still asleep when you’d dashed off, a woman on a lasagne mission.

You ignored her. It wouldn’t have been that bad, right? He said himself he’d only be itching… Clawing off his own skin was probably better than his throat closing up… maybe…

“How did you manage to forget?” She was still laughing. “AND you said you’d make a lasagne. Italian food always uses garlic. He must think you’re trying to kill him.” At this point you could hardly understand her, words blurring into one as she lost her shit.

“We went over this. I wasn’t in my right mind when I said I’d cook lasagne.”

She stopped her laugher immediately. “No way, you’re not blaming me again.”

“Ugh.” You sighed, suddenly remembering something. “I was going to make my homemade garlic bread.” Now that was a speciality of yours. This night was going to be a disaster.

“Skip the garlic,” Soojung suggested.

“So, just bread then.”

She tried her best not to laugh again, not wanting to make it worse. “Yum.”

It didn’t help.

What did help though, was making her clean the entirety of the downstairs of the house. As the day went on you started to get more and more nervous, which was silly, but you couldn’t help it. You realised that your place was a shoe box in comparison to his, what the hell were you thinking when you’d invited him here?! It needed to be spotless, to distract him from the fact you would be eating dinner in the same place you would be cooking it…

You knew there was no need to worry, it was just like last week when you’d grown self-conscious only to be fine once you’d set eyes on Seokjin. No doubt tonight would be just the same, he didn’t give a crap about stuff like that, so why would you even think he would? He’d probably be hurt if he knew… You just couldn’t help those little bubbles of insecurities from floating around inside your brain. You were a law unto yourself, and the garlic-less lasagne wasn’t helping. You’d had no time to prep for it. What if it tasted like cardboard?

“Lasagne is lasagne,” Soojung reassured you, in the kitchen as you got all the ingredients together. “It’s not going to taste gross just because there’s no garlic in it. Put it this way, at least you can kiss without needing to pop a mint.”

You whined, shaking your head, you couldn’t even dare thinking about kissing him right now. You’d spontaneously combust from anxiety.

“Should we clean your room too?” She asked, picking up the jar of pasta sauce absentmindedly. You’d already read the label approximately fifteen times, double checking it was indeed garlic-less.

“What? No,” you told her, voice all high-pitched. There would be no going upstairs besides from bathroom usage. “But hey,” you exclaimed, rounding on her with the spoon you were holding in your hand. “My room is always clean, bitch.”

She was the messy one.

Soojung left for Taehyung’s place at half 6, ready for Seokjin’s arrival at 7pm, a hug for good luck before you waved her off. You’d calmed greatly now, nothing like some table laying to ease some nerves. The lasagne was prepped and ready to oven cook, you had a fresh key lime pie in the fridge and you were dressed and presentable with ten minutes to spare. Wonderful.

The doorbell rung not long after you’d made your way downstairs and you were quickly finding out that Seokjin was a very punctual man. Opening the door to reveal him stood at the porch your heart instantly warmed, skipping a beat when he gave you a dazzling smile and a soft Hey. You felt a little weak at the knees. Nope, you were not ready for tonight.

In your tiny entryway he offered you a silver gift bag. “I didn’t know what to bring, so.” He said with a shrug as you pulled out a bottle of red wine.

“Oh, thank you, Seokjin.” You hadn’t been expecting him to bring anything at all. It was a lovely surprise.

“You probably have some waiting already. I’m sorry.”

“No, no, it’s fine,” you reassured him. “We’ll use this one.” You were going to use a bottle of white wine you had laying around, nothing special at all. Red wine seemed better, fancier, maybe it would go better with the lasagne?

“Are you sure?” He asked. “I was gonna get you flowers but I didn’t want to freak you out or anything.”

You laughed. What was he going on about? “Why would that freak me out?”

His smile was crooked as he chuckled quietly. “I don’t know. I’m new to this, I thought they would’ve been too forward.”

You gave a small shrug, voice barely there when you replied. “I like flowers.”

He gazed at you, warm eyes softening as he stepped forward. “Next time.” He smiled. “Next time I’ll get you flowers.”

You swallowed fairly loudly, averting your gaze as you outstretched your arms. “Let me take you coat.” Was it hot in here? You felt a little stuffy.

He shrugged off the beige wool blend, revealing the tight fitting black shirt he had on underneath. It stretched over his shoulders, accentuating how broad they were, how hard his chest was and how much his waist curved inwards. The pants he was wearing didn’t help matters too. He looked effortlessly gorgeous, hair parted to the side, a piece curled above his left eye, softening the blow of his exposed forehead. You moved to hook his coat on the rack, realising you could’ve been gawping. Not that you could help it, the man was trying to kill you.

As you turned to face him again, he smiled. “You look really nice.” His voice was soft which just made it even more dangerous. “I think this may be the first time I’ve seen you in pants.”

“Really?” You wondered. You were partial to a dress in the summer, so he was probably right. You’d chosen a pair of black skinny jeans and a patterned chiffon blouse. Nothing too fancy, but he looked at you with awe-filled eyes. Unless you were imagining it. You cleared your throat. “You look good too.”

He stepped back, arms outstretched as he looked down at himself. “Thanks. No white.” He chuckled.

You forced yourself to laugh too, nerves creeping back just because of your stupid damn lasagne. “No white.”

Moving forward again he took your hand. It was warm and soft, just as you remembered from last week. Who cared about the lasagne when you were this close to him? When he was looking down at you with those brown, twinkly eyes? Not you anymore.

“I’ve been looking forward to this all week, Y/N.”

Oh.

You invited him inside the living room first, pouring him a small (and his only because he the car) glass of wine as you chit chatted for a few minutes. Sat next to him was RJ, who you’d taken from your bedroom to join you both for the night. He wanted to say Hi, had been your opening line and Seokjin had found it hilarious, cracking up instantly. Although his “I missed you buddy, how have you been?” went rudely ignored. Maybe the alpaca was nervous…

Ever the gentleman, he complimented you on the house, noting the décor with a fond eye. That surprised you, maybe he had played a part with the interior of his home. Well, you’d only seen the cosy family room – but it suited him very well. You knew there had been no need to be nervous when it came to inviting him into your home. There wasn’t a judging bone in Seokjin’s body.

You talked about your weeks, yours had been fine, but of course you left out all the stress over the lasagne. Seokjin’s week on the other hand had been quite demanding, but that was nothing new he told you with an accepting shake of his hand. He was used to it by now, but he had to admit tonight’s date had made it easier this time around. He was full of the charm, not that you were complaining…

Misook was babysitting Arin tonight, he told you when you asked how she was. It was his weekend this week, he and Nana took it in turns – when she didn’t cancel, he added as an afterthought – but he seemed a lot more relaxed talking about his ex-wife this time around seeing as last weekend she hadn’t broken any promises. He was happy if his daughter was happy, and that made you smile. You remembered Arin’s sorrowful face that day her mom had cancelled on her, so you were glad they’d found time to spend time together. You also remembered how irritated Seokjin had sounded when he was opening up to you on the bench at the school fate… You wondered just how often Nana cancelled plans, and couldn’t imagine how frustrating that was for both Arin and Seokjin… You hoped this marked the start of things being easier for them now.

Soon after that, you served him your starter (“garlic – wait, no I mean, no-garlic bread.”), and you chatted some more over that and while the lasagne baked. It was surprising how little you’d touched the sides on your first date, so tonight you covered even more bases. Family mainly. You told him about your half and step siblings, your parents’ remarriages of course coming up too. He seemed interested in that, wondering about your views on it and if it had affected you as you grew up. As a divorcee you understood the relevance to him and because he was so easy to talk to you found yourself opening up freely.

His parents were still married and Seokjin was the youngest out of their two sons, so it was quite unheard of for the second born to take over a family company. In fact, it was the first of its kind for his, which made it even harder for him. His older brother had been the rightful heir to LG Electronics but his passion had always been in culinary arts. His parents had been kind enough to let him follow his dreams, and thankfully, for Seokjin, that meant he could follow in his father’s footsteps. He’d been eager to prove himself but it had been hard in the beginning. His status as the youngest son meant that a lot of people set him up for failure, but with his family’s love and belief he’d managed to succeed and confirm himself as the rightful CEO. You didn’t doubt it. It seemed he’d worked hard to get where he was now. That was admirable.

The influx of information was so interesting to you and it didn’t feel real. While you could imagine Seokjin taking charge, visualising him in that tailored houndstooth suit he’d worn when you’d first met him, it was strange to think the smiley and soft-spoken man sat in front of you was from a long line of power and wealth. He should be untouchable, yet here you were able to reach for his hand across the table. Able to feel his forefinger stroking delicate patterns into your palm as you opened up and got to know one another more and more…

“So, if your family’s a big deal, what about things like arranged marriages? Are they still a thing?” You asked, maybe confusing fiction for fact.

Seokjin laughed at your wording. “They used to be, not so much anymore. I met my ex-wife through a friend. They concentrate less on things like that these days.” He shrugged, adding as an afterthought, “As a divorced CEO I think I’m a great example of that.”

That was true, you thought to yourself, wondering how the breakdown of his marriage had also played a part in the stress of his early years as CEO.

“I know it all sounds pretty crazy, but I like to think my family is just like anyone else’s.” He continued, smiling bashfully when you met his gaze. “That I’m just like anyone else.”

You wondered how many people had immediately judged him because of his status… You’d been one of them, right? Even if you hadn’t known any of the details, you’d written him off as some obnoxious, rich guy who flaunted his wealth… You felt guilty thinking back. He was the complete opposite.

You nodded in agreement before grinning. “I’d have liked to see what college Seokjin was like.”

“A complete nerd, to tell you the truth.”

He answered so seriously, you didn’t know how to react, and then he was laughing loudly, cracking up at himself. You couldn’t help but join in. That’s when your stove alarm went off, shrill and incessant, signalling the arrival of the dreaded lasagne…

It turned out he loved it though.

“This is amazing,” Seokjin praised, mouth still half full as he chewed. You did have to admit it was good. It tasted just like the original, despite the lack of garlic. Seokjin quirked an eyebrow, smirking your way. “So, how lucky am I to be able to try this World famous Italian lasagne?”

“Very lucky.” You kept your answer short. Hoping he’d just drop it.

He didn’t.

“How lucky?” He tried to pry from you. “How many people have tried it?”

You gave him a small smile, hovering your fork over the plate. Technically he was the third, but you couldn’t tell him that, could you? “I can’t disclose that.”

He emitted a short laugh. “What about the recipe? Care to share?”

You brushed him off with a soft chuckle. “A chef never tells her secrets.”

“Not even me?” His bottom lip jutted out as he looked across at you.

Your heart did a little dance. He was being unfair. “Don’t pout like that, it’s making me feel guilty.”

Thankfully the lasagne topic fizzled out after a couple more minutes, your cold sweat having time to dissipate while you chatted and ate together comfortably. However a few minutes later you noticed Seokjin fidgeting slightly in his seat. You politely ignored it to begin with, unsure if you were just imagining it, but then he started itching the back of his neck. You put your fork down, a sick feeling washing over you. “Is anything wrong?” You asked, now watching him itch up his forearm. “Seokjin?”

He looked at you in mild confusion, eyebrows creasing together as he opened his mouth. “Are you sure there wasn’t any garlic in this?”

You swallowed away the panic racing up your throat. “I’m sure.” You’d read the back of that jar and then read it some more. “I’m positive.”

… Weren’t you? You watched him scoot his chair back, leaning down to start scratching the back of his calves. He made noises of discomfort as he did so.

“Oh, no…” You were up before you could stop yourself, racing around him to start hunting in the recycling for the glass jar.

“Wait, where are you going?”

You could hear Seokjin’s voice behind you, sounding alarmed, but you were too panicked to really take it in. You needed to be sure. This was just your second date, you couldn’t ruin things already. Turning him into one giant itchy red blob had not been your intention.

“I was only teasing you.” Still, his words didn’t sink in. That was until you felt a hand on your elbow, tugging gently for your attention.

You spun around, worried eyes wide – even wider when you found him so close. He was on his feet too, bent a little to level with you, pretty much within kissing distance. His voice was soft when he spoke, you found yourself distracted by his mouth. “Y/N, I was just messing around.”

You blinked, not truly understanding with all those annoying distractions zooming around your mind, but slowly you pieced his words together. Oh. Despite the relief you felt, now you just felt silly. Plus, he was still so close to you…

You took a step back, the small of your back pressing up against the counter. You needed a clear head. “Don’t freak me out like that.” You told him, but you still sighed in relief, hand against your chest. “I thought I’d poisoned you.”

He looked a little concerned, but you could tell by his eyes he found your reaction amusing. “I’m sorry,” he apologised. “I just wanted to make you laugh.”

“Make me laugh? You nearly gave me heart failure.” However, you gave him what he wanted, a laugh that sounded weak and shaky, but it was something – you did see the funny side.

He joined you, shoulders relaxing now that he knew you were okay. He looked behind you, eyes on the trashcan, a bemused smile on his face. “What were you looking for anyway?”

“The jar.” You answered, as if it wasn’t obvious. You turned, deciding to fish it out anyway. Holding it up to him, you were adamant. “See, no garlic. Check.”

He chuckled. “I already said I was joking.” He took one look at your desperate expression and gave in, taking the jar from your hand. “But if it makes you feel better…” You watched him as he read the label, silently soaking in his handsome features. He looked softer tonight, the curve of his jaw rounding as he smiled. It took you a moment to realise he was done. He handed the jar back to you, and you prayed to God he hadn’t caught you staring at him all gooey-eyed. “It’s fine.” He confirmed. “I’ll be itch free tonight.”

You smiled and plopped the glass back inside the can. “I looked around town for hour trying to find lasagne sauce sans garlic.”

He looked guilty. “I’m sorry for being awkward.” Then he paused, eyes narrowing, the hint of a smirk itching at the corners of his mouth. “But… Y/N, are you a fraud?” Huh? What did he mean? You didn’t need to wait long for an explanation. “I thought a certified chef would cook up a batch of her own tomato sauce.”

Oh. You’d gone and put your foot in it, hadn’t you? It was probably time to explain yourself… “I have a confession,” you began, sounding wary. Seokjin looked interested albeit it mildly confused. “I… may have told a little white lie.”

He shook his head, a puff of laughter leaving him. “You’ve lost me.”

You took a deep breath, knowing you were going to have to spell it out for him. “I’ve never made lasagne before. Ever. In my entire life.”

He looked confused as silence spread out between you. He sounded it too when he spoke again. “Then why did you say it was your speciality?”

You groaned, dropping your face into your hands for one dramatic moment. “I panicked.” Peeking at him, you babbled on. “I know it sounds stupid but Soojung was curtain twitching and it was stressing me out and then you were asking me what I cooked and lasagne just popped into my head!”

Seokjin blinked, his mouth twitched and then he was laughing – loudly.

“You find it funny?” You asked, relaxing a tad.

“Very.” He laughed harder but seeing the look of bafflement on your face he tried is best to still it.

“I’ve been practicing it like crazy,” you whined, happy you could finally tell him all about your lasagne struggles. ��This is my fourth time eating it this week. Soojung nearly killed me.” You snorted at the memory. This started up Seokjin again. “And then I forgot you were allergic to garlic. Your text reminded me this morning and I had to rush out to the grocery store.”

He was weak at the knees at that, and you were laughing just because he was. It was contagious. “Stop,” you wailed, attempting to get a hold of yourself. This week had actually been quite traumatic. “I’m glad you find it funny, I’ve been in constant stress ever since you drove off last week.”

“I can’t help it.” He chuckled, although he did sound apologetic. “You’re just so adorable.” The air that settled around his effortless admission made your skin prickle. When he carried on, his tone was gentle. “You know I wouldn’t have minded if you changed the menu to something else, right?”

You pouted ever so slightly. “But you were looking forward to it.”

He gave a small shrug. “True, but… that was more so code for ‘I’m looking forward to seeing you again.’ The food was just a bonus. I’d be happy with a Big Mac.”

You felt your cheeks burn and you tried to shake yourself out of it. “So embarrassing,” you murmured. You didn’t know what for… The lasagne mess or the fact he could have this much of an effect of you? You were inclined to go with the latter.

“What about the no-garlic bread?” Seokjin asked, changing the subject a little. Maybe he’d sensed your embarrassment and didn’t want to make it worse. He was sweet. “Did you make that?”

“Yeah,” you nodded. “Well, I didn’t bake the bread. I just toasted it.” It was still a speciality of yours though. “It would’ve been much tastier with the garlic.”

He gave you an apologetic smile. “Sorry about that. This body wants to turn me into a miserable old man.”

Pfft. Old? Miserable? He was anything but.

“Sit,” he prompted you, smiling as he motioned with his head to the table. “Finish your World famous Italian lasagne before it grows cold.”

As you moved he delicately cupped his hand around the curve your waist, giving it a soft squeeze before he got to his chair first. Your stomach flipped, head dizzy as you sat and tucked your chair in. Last Saturday popped into your head, the way you’d loosely held hands outside and how you were sure he’d been leaning in to kiss you – properly.

You knew one thing. You really wanted to kiss him tonight.

Trying to get a hold of yourself, you glanced at him, catching his eyes. He was already tucking in again, and he grinned bashfully, as if embarrassed. “This really is great. All that practice paid off.” A pause. “You should show me how you cooked it sometime.”

Your face lit up in surprise. “You cook?” In the back of your mind you were aware that he’d probably been hinting for a third date, but you were so shocked by the possibly of Seokjin cooking you couldn’t stop yourself from asking.

He chuckled quietly. “I mean, when I have time and can be bothered. I like cooking but it’s just easier to go to a restaurant or get it delivered.” He looked sheepish before adding, “Or Misook does it for me.”

There was no shame when it came to that. Seokjin probably worked all hours of the day, no one could expect him to tie on an apron when he got home and start pulling out pots and pans.

“Do you cook a lot?” He asked.

You nodded. “Soojung and I take it in turns.”

“So what is your speciality?” He smiled.

This time around you were in your right mind and able to answer properly. “Veggie tacos.”

He raised his eyebrows, impressed. Then he tried again. “Can you make them for me sometime?”

He was persistent, you’d give him that. You shrugged, trying your best to sound impassive but the little smirk gave it away. “Maybe if you say please…”

He laughed, leaning forward, a hand clasping yours as he tilted his head. The piece of curled hair falling into his left eye. “Please?”

Your heart did another little dance inside your chest.

After dessert you both made your way back to the living room, settling on your couch with two pomegranate mocktails Taehyung had prepared for you yesterday. All you had to do was add the pomegranate juice and lemonade to the ice cubes and crushed lime segments and mint before serving, easy-peasy. Seokjin was highly impressed, but of course you couldn’t take the credit. It was all down to your best friend’s very helpful barman boyfriend.

You were glad Seokjin wanted to stay as you didn’t want the night to be over yet. It had flown by so fast and you’d had so much fun. You already felt like you knew him better, even after only two dates. It was strange to you, how you could feel so relaxed in a stranger’s company, but then again, you guessed he wasn’t a stranger anymore… Plus, he was so easy to talk to, so interesting to get to know…. Everything between you two came easy.

Like opening up to him, being a bit more vulnerable…

“I’ve been slightly nervous all week,” you admitted, clutching your drink to you before chuckling softly. “– and not just about the lasagne faux pas…”

“There was no need to be nervous. I thought we left all that behind on the first date,” Seokjin reassured, smiling warmly your way.

You were sat together, turned to face one another. It was intimate and cosy. He had one leg lifted, the ankle resting on the knee of the other leg, and where his pants had ridden up, you could see an inch or so of his calf before it met the black cotton of his sock. For some reason, you found that very, very sexy. Maybe you had been single for far too long.

“We did,” you agreed, hesitating slightly. “It’s just… I haven’t done anything like this in so long.”

You didn’t even think you’d ever invited someone around for dinner before. You were still quite young when you found yourself in a relationship with Donghae so your dates before him had been very basic. Your dates with him hadn’t really classed as such just because you became official fairly quickly, and your dates after him, well, it was already known that they had been few and far between.

“You already know we’re in the same boat,” he smiled before chuckling bashfully. “No, but really, when I asked you for dinner that day at the fate I was expecting you to turn me down.”

“How come?”

He looked down at his drink, lifting a shoulder. “I thought you’d think that I was crossing a line… or maybe the spark I was feeling was all in my head and in reality you just found me really annoying.”

That was cute. He’d been doubting himself. Human after all. Not that you’d ever thought he wasn’t. You still didn’t miss the opportunity to joke around though. “I mean, both can exist simultaneously.” He taking a sip of his mocktail when you replied so he ended up snorting into his glass, amused by your wit.

A moment or so passed and Seokjin gazed at you, smiling softly. If he kept this up, you’d be a puddle on your parquet flooring. “So, tell me,” he hummed. “How did I luck out so good?” You raised an eyebrow, wondering what he meant. “How come an amazing person like you isn’t married or in a relationship?”

He must’ve seen the slight shock on your face and panicked instantly. “Is that a weird thing to ask? I feel like it is. I apologise.”

“No,” you insisted, sitting up a little straighter. He followed. “No, it’s not.” You wanted to open up to him. You really did. You just didn’t know where to start. Although, it was pretty simple. “I’ve been single for a while.”

“How long?” Seokjin was instantly focused, attentive, noticing the change in your body language.

“Three years. My last relationship didn’t end very well.” You paused, wondering if you should continue. But then… It had been a massive part of your life. No matter how much time had passed and no matter how okay you were now, it had still happened. And Seokjin, he had trusted you enough to open up about his divorce – even before you’d gone on your first date. You wanted to talk about it. You really did.

“I found out my fiancé was cheating on me.”

Seokjin’s eyes widened, unable to cloak his surprise. He hadn’t been expecting that. “I’m sorry to hear that,” he said sincerely.

“It’s fine,” you smiled. “It was rough getting over it. Took me a while, but it is what it is. It’s in the past now.”

“Did it put you off dating?”

You were pleasantly surprised to find it was actually easy to talk to Seokjin about this. Your mouth was opening before you had to think about it. “I mean, at first. I was still very much in love with him, even after he broke my heart. But I got over him and I started dating again – briefly – It just didn’t feel right.” You stopped to smile. “It’s been over a year and I can’t say I missed it… but you…” Nerves growing, you pushed them away. “You’ve changed that. I’m having fun.”

Seokjin’s face lit up and he chuckled. “I did hit second date status after all.”

“You did…”

“So,” he leaned closer, a small smirk on his face. “You could say, hitting your car that day wasn’t actually my fault because it was supposed to happen.”

You snorted as you laughed, head falling against the back of the couch. “I wouldn’t go that far.”

He made a sound. “But we wouldn’t have met otherwise.”

“We would!” You exclaimed. “The parent-teacher meeting.”

He blinked, feeling dumb. “Oh, yeah.”

It wouldn’t have had the same effect, granted, but you would have become acquainted with one another regardless. “Would you have still liked me?” You asked without thinking, surprising yourself.

“Yes,” he replied immediately. “I was instantly attracted to you after all, it’s just…” Instantly attracted? Definitely a charmer... “There would’ve been no way for me to get to know you like I did.”

You narrowed your eyes. “You’re really adamant that you had to reverse into my car to make this work, huh.”

He shrugged casually. “It was the only way.”

You laughed quietly, finishing the last of your drink. Time was getting on, it was pretty late, Seokjin had already finished his, you watched him sit up to lean forward and place the glass on your coffee table. His shirt tightened across his shoulder blades and you could see his back muscles as he stretched. Oh.

Settling back into the same position, he looked over at you and grinned. His teeth were perfect. Did this man have zero flaws? Why were you so whipped? It was embarrassing.

“I had fun tonight,” you told him, trying to keep a lid on whatever was going on with you right now.

He seemed pleased with that, nodding his head. “I’m happy to hear that you think I’m a fun person.”

You scoffed, body falling closer to his. Your shoulders brushed together. Seokjin didn’t take his eyes off you. “Hm. I don’t think I said that.”

“Hey, don’t be so mean.” He murmured, one side of his mouth quirking up.

Like you couldn’t stop yourself, your hand reached for the collar of shirt. He had the top two buttons loose and your pinkie finger brushed against his collarbone. Sparks flew, but you tried to ignore them. “I thought you liked it when I was mean.” You teased, voice low.

Seokjin hummed, his eyes still twinkled like they always did but there was something else to them, a depth that made you feel funny. He sunk closer to you. So close you could study the thick curve of his eyelashes, notice that both his eyelids were different. He really did have beautiful eyes. You could stare at them forever.

Preoccupied, you slowly realised that he was watching you too, studying your features in the golden glow of the floor lamp that hovered over the couch. His lips parted, you heard them rather than saw it, but then your attention was on them again. Just like it had been earlier on in the night. He was staring at yours too as he spoke. “I wanted to kiss you last week.”

You heartbeat quickened but you tried to keep cool. “You did kiss me.” You laughed.

He sighed. “On the cheek.”

You lightly tugged his collar, fingertips now brushing the skin of his chest. “Isn’t that what you said you wanted to do?”

You could feel his own heartbeat against your forearm that was pressed into him. It was definitely running a little faster than it was supposed to – stronger. “Yes, but…” He glanced up to your eyes. “I was just being polite. I wanted to kiss your lips.”

It felt like you were holding your breath. Maybe you were, you just couldn’t think straight. Time seemed to stretch out, but you knew what you wanted. So you went after it. Giving him a small smile, you replied. “Maybe I wanted that too.”

He swallowed, voice so low now it was barely a murmur. “Is that an invitation?” His eyes bounced to your lips again, then back to your eyes as he asked permission. “Can I kiss you?”

You ever so slightly dragged your bottom lip beneath your teeth as you nodded, breath catching in your throat as Seokjin leaned forward and closed the distance between you. The hand in between your bodies moved to delicately hold the wrist of your arm against his chest, holding you there as his other hand reached for your jaw, angling your face to press a kiss to your mouth. His eyes were already closed so you followed.

He hummed at the contact, his lips soft and warm and you let yourself sink. His actions were light at first, faint as he kept constant pressure, as if he was familiarising himself with the sensation. You couldn’t even let yourself think about how this was the first kiss you’d shared with someone for a very long time. All that was going through your mind was how good it felt to be touched like this by him.

He readjusted the hand on your face, tucking some hair behind your ear to cup your cheek. You liked that. You liked it when he touched you, and he eased from your mouth completely before coming back with a firmer pressure. It was your turn to make a sound; a tiny gasp as your lips began to move together ever so slowly. He liked that, a hum of satisfaction vibrating against the soft skin of your lips. You clutched at his shirt, gathering the crisp cotton in your fist, that would surely turn it creased, but he didn’t seem to mind. He was too preoccupied with reaching for the glass you’d forgotten was hugged to your body by your free hand.

He unclasped it from your fingers and had no choice but to break away from your mouth to put it next to his on the coffee table. You whined, attempting to tug him back to you, and he chuckled, taking a hold of one of your hands. “I’ll be back,” he whispered, leaning forward to place the cocktail glass down.

And he was.

This time he used both of his hands to grasp your face and dive back in. He was more confident this time, moving in such a way his lips pried yours open. You reached for his shoulders, grasping them to hold him closer and this time you both made noises – sweet, quiet ones that worked beautiful together as your lips moulded with gradual urgency.

When your hands found the nape of his neck, fingers through his hair, he had to drag the tip of his tongue across your bottom lip, seeking entry. You met it with yours, tasting hints of pomegranate and lime with each wash of tongue. A hand of his slipped down to your side, stroking up and down the curve as if he couldn’t help but to touch you. He settled at your hip after a moment, the other splayed against the side of your neck, his thumb rolling small circles under your cheekbone.

This was getting addictive. You could tell by the way you moaned softly against each warm, wet curl of his tongue. This was everything you’d imagined and more – because you had imagined it. Late and secretly at night when you were trying to drift off to sleep and thoughts of lasagne were banished… You were glad your first kiss was here, inside, on your couch, because this wasn’t something for the open, your knees wouldn’t have been able to hold you up.

You could have kissed him forever, you mean, you definitely didn’t want it to stop but you pretty much had to. Breathing was a necessity, right? If you couldn’t breathe you wouldn’t be able to ever kiss Seokjin again and that would be absolutely awful…

You did it the right way though – gradually. Seokjin slowed it right down, only hints of his tongue left as he hummed indulgently, like he was savouring your taste before he had to inevitably pull away. It made your insides jump around like crazy, hearing him enjoying himself, and you tried your best to come to when he started easing the pressure of his lips, pressing small, chaste kisses to them instead as you ultimately (but slowly) broke apart.

You opened your eyes, blinking up at him, hands falling from his hair, aware you had become one with your cushions. You struggled to free yourself as he sat back and you watched him smile fondly at you. His breath was shaky – so was yours, and you were sure his hands trembled slightly as one reached up to scratch the back of his neck. His neck that was blotched with red, flushed, travelling to his cheeks. They were rosier than you’d ever seen them before. Your gut stirred.

“I’ve been dreaming of that,” he told you, before making a face at himself. “Too cringey?”

You giggled – it sounded foreign. “Just a bit.” But didn’t deter the fact you loved it.

You warmed when you felt him squeeze your hip, realising his hand was still there and you reached for it, tangling your fingers with his. He pulled them to his mouth, kissing your knuckles softly. His expression was thoughtful when he lowered your hands. “In all seriousness, thank you for giving me a chance, after well, you know, everything.”

You smiled, touched by his earnestness, but it was hard to keep a sane mind when his lips were as kiss bitten as they were – deep pink and glistening. You wanted to kiss his face off.

“It’s no problem,” you quipped, as if you were doing him a favour.

He chuckled tenderly, and luckily for you he was unable to stop himself from kissing you again. He reached forward, hooking a finger under your chin to press his mouth to yours softly. “I’d really love if we could keep on doing… this.” He murmured.

“The dating or the kissing,” you grinned, stealing another kiss in the process.

“Hm,” he contemplated. “Both preferably.”

And then you were on one another again, eager once more.

Although, you did manage to pull away briefly to tell him something, his mouth moving to the side of your face to kiss there instead as your hands dragged down his back. You were somehow able to get the words out – ones that made him laugh against your wet jaw.

“I’m so glad you hit my car.”

Written 2020 - 2021. Please refrain from posting my work elsewhere. No translations allowed. © floralseokjin 2021

#seokjn fanfic #bts fanfic #jin fanfic #floralseokjin:writings #fic:mls

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sokka-simp · 3 years

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Christmas Headcanons

Bakugo, Deku, Todoroki S. x reader

A/N: so I’m randomly making this because I think my blog needs some Christmas Headcanons and I myself love Bakugo so he’s a given but I know there are some Deku and Todoroki fans that may like my fics somewhere so I added them on for ✨v a r i e t y✨

Fluff

Bakugo

Bakugo was never one that was super big on Christmas, like don’t get me wrong, he didn’t dislike Christmas he just didn’t really care

The only thing he liked about it was getting presents and bragging about them to his friends

He only ever got presents from his parents and Deku because he never EVER bought people gifts

That was until he went to UA and he met you and the rest of the Bakusquad

Who all LOVE Christmas

His first year there he still refused to buy any of them Christmas gifts but no ho ho the others didn’t think the same

You got him an All Might figure

Kiri got him new gloves cause he kept burning through his

Mina got him a mini Christmas tree, which he acted particularly upset about because ‘I don’t even give a fuck about Christmas Pinky!’ He liked it though which was obvious to everyone else

Denki got him a bra for his ‘bakutitties’, Sero had to tape him to the wall to make sure Denki wasn’t gruesomely murdered

Sero got him a cool black and orange hoodie Bakugo was taped to the wall again just for fun and as an extra gift from Sero

He felt bad, so he went and got everyone something for New Years ‘since it’s a tradition in his family. Tch.’ and not because he didn’t get them anything for Christmas

After that first year, he liked Christmas a lot more

You watch Die Hard multiple times every year because Bakugo thinks it’s the only “Christmas” movie worth watching

You agree but force him to watch other movies too

He only does it so you guys can cuddle, he denies that though

“You pulled me into your side before the intro was finished and you’re gonna say you don’t like cuddles?” “No I didn’t dumbass, shut the fuck up! ....and play another one.” “YOU DONT EVEN LIKE CHRSITMAS MOVIES! YOU JUST LIKE CUDDLES! ADMIT IT.” “NO I FUCKING DONT, SHUT THE FUCK UP AND TURN ON THE GRINCH OR SOME SHIT!” “YOU ARE THE GRINCH! Wait don’t leave 🥺” “tch. Come here.”

You guys cuddle a lot in general because you’re both touch starved, but Christmas time makes it more normal so you guys cuddle a lot more

Like a lot

Not in public though, bakubaby isn’t a fan of PDA except hand holding ‘cause it’s cold’

But if you’re alone or in the 1-A building you guys cuddle all the time. You’re in the common room on a couch, boom cuddling. You’re doing homework together, boom sitting in his lap. You’re watching a movie in his bed, boom spooning.

He makes you special homemade hot chocolate

And regular chocolate

And literally anything you want

You buy him special spicy chocolate cause you can’t cook for shit, or at least not good enough for Bakugo

You tried once and burned chocolate at 3 in the morning, setting off the fire alarm, and causing everyone to have to evacuate. He made fun of you for a good month or 2 after that. He honestly still does

You buy and force him to wear ugly Christmas sweaters every year

You buy some for the bakusquad too

You have epic snow battles, like, I almost broke your nose and had a flu half of break after spending hours in freezing weather snow battles

You’re both competitive though, so you both end up either never winning or having the same amount of wins and it pisses you both off sooooooo much

You both spend days looking for the perfect gift for each other after getting together

Like you have a straight up list for everytime he even slightly hints at liking something because he sure as hell won’t tell you what he wants

You got him new mountain climbing equipment, an All Might poster, and a shirt that said ‘I’m stupid’ so you could wear the ‘im with stupid’ one

You spend Christmas Eve at one of your houses and Christmas Day at the other

You’re parents buy you and Bakugo matching Pajamas for Christmas Day, whether it’s at your house or his

When he opens your gift he’s vibing until the shirt. He glares at you so hard, that if you didn’t know he was whipped for you, you probably would have pissed yourself.

You laughed instead which caused a long string of curses

After opening gifts you guys spend the day cuddling and having snowball fights then going out with the Bakusquad for Christmas desserts

Deku

Deku looooooooves Christmas

He’s one of those people who claim to like buying people gifts more than getting gifts

Like he buys gifts for everyone in the class. And the teachers. And principal Nezu. And all his favorite pro-heros. And his mom. And that random homeless dude on the street. And his favorite food place’s employees. And just everyone.

He goes broke every year

He’s a liar though, he loves opening gifts. Sometimes he feels bad, but if it has something to do with All Might, he’ll let himself forget the price

The first year at UA, you suggested secret Santa for the Dekusquad and everyone loved it, especially Deku

Deku got Uraraka

Uraraka got You

You got Todoroki

Todoroki got Iida

Iida got Tsuyu

and Tsuyu got Deku

Deku, Iida and you went alllllll out

Urakaka tried to get something good but she didn’t have a lot to spend

~Baby’s broke 👊🏼😔

Todoroki didn’t really care and just asked Deku what Iida would want

Tsuyu got Deku the first All Might thing she saw above 10 dollars

You and Deku mega bonded while being stressed over gifts and started having gift shopping dates hangouts

You went out on your first date together a few days after Christmas, when Deku realized he couldn’t keep using Christmas shopping as an excuse to hang out

The next year, during Christmas, you did everything together

Decorate your dorms, decorate the common room, go gift shopping, ambush Iida with snowballs, cuddle, watch Christmas movies and so on

You and Deku 100% recreate Hallmark Christmas movies with the Dekusquad. They all vibe, except Todoroki because he thinks it is so stupid

Deku’s mom knits everyone from the Dekusquad ugly Christmas sweaters with their initials on it every year

Your family invites Deku and his mom over to have Christmas dinner with them

You buy him the most limited edition All Might stuff you can find

You stay up all night just so you can order it as soon as you can, you will literally camp outside of stores in snow so you can get it for him

He does the same for your interest though so it’s worth it

And it’s especially worth it when you get to see his eyes light up when he sees what you got him

You both open presents separately with your family in the morning, but you meet up a few hours before dinner to exchange your gifts to each other and get hot chocolate from your favorite cafe

Bonus story: One time you and Deku decided to go to a cat cafe on a whim and saw Aizawa sensei laying on his back in the middle of the cafe with cats all over him. You all stared at each other until you and Deku slowly backed out of the cafe. You 3 never brought it up. But you and Deku laughed about the 32 customer of the month pictures of Aizawa that were on the wall.

Deku has straight up cried opening your gifts before

You love him so much 🥺💕😩

And when you open your gift and get the goofy smile full of love on your face, Deku can’t help but think he’s the luckiest guy on Earth.

It’s just both your favorite time of the year

Todoroki

Todoroki never celebrated Christmas with his family unless it was for plublicity or something

His mom would buy him and his siblings all small gifts but she didn’t have much freedom to go and get anything big or really wanted by the kids

They all appreciated it nonetheless

So when the Dekusquad forced asked him to join the secret santa, he didn’t know what to do at all

So he went to you and to get you to help him find a perfect gift for his secret santa person, which was Uraraka

You agreed to help, being the amazing significant other that you are

You were no help, at all. You could not stop laughing when he pulled up dumb gifts

And when you found out what you were going to get him for Christmas you teased him and gave him hints every 5 minutes just to annoy him

So he ended up going to Deku and Iida because one was serious all the time and the other was so obsessed with Christmas, he changed his comforter to be All Might in a Christmas hat

They helped a lot more

He still enjoyed hanging out with you though

You and todoroki have weekly ‘Make fun of Hallmark Movies’ nights each week, starting at the beginning of December obviously and going until January.

You stay up til like 4 in the morning cuddling and having fights about who’s the most annoying character

You always buy Todoroki candy canes because ‘look sho, they look just like you, and they’re sweet like you too’

Cue the mass amount of blushing everytime you say anything remotely nice to him ever

For Christmas you got him a few things but the best is an Endeavor dart board. You saw it and got it with no hesitation.

Your gift for him consists of his dart board, mini candy canes, a soba place gift card, and a coupon book, hand-made, full of coupons that just say ‘cuddle with Y/N’

One of his gifts for you is an ‘I hate endeavor shirt’ because if he’s the president of the ‘I Hate Endeavor’ club, you’re Vice President.

The amount of times Todoroki has had to stop you from attacking his dad on sight is higher than the amount of people All Might has saved

But the other gifts really depend on what you like, because baby doesn’t wanna disappoint you, not after he has been disappointed every Christmas until you

Todoroki 100% always comes over for Christmas. Your parents would drag Todoroki from his house if they had too

He comes over Christmas Eve and spends the night, then stays for everything. Opening gifts, stockings, Christmas dinner, etc.

He even has his own stocking with his name embroidered on it

When he opened your gift the evil smile he had on his face made you know it was perfect

And the soba place card made him just as happy, he’s so lucky to have you

He loves the giddy face you have as you open the shirt first and put it right on over your pajamas

Wow he loves you

Wow you love him

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joheun-saram · 3 years

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Christmas Under Wraps (ksj)

Summary- You always wanted to work in a small town, and when you finally got matched to a small hospital in Alaska for your one year sabbatical you never would’ve thought you’d be in a place where everyone believed Santa was real. Mass hysteria or magic? Only time will tell.

word count- 12k

pairing- nurse!Seokjin x doctor!Reader

rating- R

genre- fluff, smut

warnings- very bad puns, me having no knowledge of Alaska, cheating, shitty parents, mentions of the horrendous Mario movie, softdom!Jin, whiny!Jin, explicit sex, oral sex (f and m receiving), edging (kinda), multiple orgasms, too many references to Santa

a.n- Part of @suhdays Hallmark Holiday Collab! Please check other beautiful holiday pieces written by some amazing writers. Full disclosure, this fic took me more than a month to write, mostly because I have only seen like three Christmas movies, and one of them was Die Hard and the other was Nightmare before Christmas, so please let me know what you think! Was this Christmasy enough for you?

s/o to the amazing @namyoongles for the banner! ily! 💕

As always feedback appreciated. Send me an ask! 💌

“Mr Henderson, I really need you to watch your carbohydrate intake. Your blood sugar indicates pre-diabetes and with your history of angina, it really is important that you keep this in check. I’m going to need you to do a monthly fasting glucose check for the next three months so we see some results. Okay?”

You look over at the smiling overweight septuagenarian seated in front of you. Mr Henderson was one of your favourite patients, one of the few you knew well enough to remember even his grandchildren’s name. You loved that. Being a doctor in a busy hospital in Manhattan made making a lasting connection with a patient a rare occurrence, and although you were worried about his health, you were happy you the last appointment of your five years of residency was with someone you knew.

“Doc, I’m old. A little dessert never hurt anyone huh?” Mr Henderson joked, as he patted his stomach, the buttons of his shirts working hard to keep it together.

“I’m serious, Mr Henderson,” you speak sternly, looking up from your iPad screen at the man in front of you, just as your attending walks in through the door.

“Well, Mr Henderson you better listen to Dr. Y/L/N. She’s the best we’ve got and she will keep calling you in for appointments even if she isn’t here!” She adjusts her glasses, her hands in the pockets of her lab coat, as the two delve into a conversation about her upcoming retirement. You were sad to see your mentor and friend retire, but if you were being honest, it was that fact that gave you the courage to make your big move.

Your colleagues and friends were shocked when you announced that you were moving to Alaska. You had always been the top of your program and had an assortment of top specialization programs to choose from. In fact, your father was the most shocked. He expected you to follow his footsteps and specialize in internal medicine from the prestigious program at John Hopkins. He had even spoken to one of his friends on the admission board to ensure your acceptance.

He almost choked on his dinner when you mentioned that you had accepted the family medicine specialization program in the small town of Elophtron in Alaska. He was livid, having never even heard of the town, let alone the program, deeming it unworthy of his 28 year old prodigy. But that’s the thing. You were twenty eight. There was no way you would let your father, or anyone for that matter, dictate what to do with your career.

The only person who seemed to support your decision was your long term boyfriend, Jiho, who seemed ecstatic at the news. He was the first person you told. You were nervous when you broke the news, the two of you had been a little distant the past few months, but your worries were assuaged when he pulled you in a tight hug excitedly telling you how proud he was of you. He knew how much you wanted to take a break from the city, and seeing his enthusiastic support made you confident you were making the right move.

Born and raised in New York City, the overcrowded bustle of the city thrummed through your veins. While you did pride yourself on being a true New Yorker, you would be lying if you said that you were happy here. It was easy to be lost here, to be forgotten amongst the millions of faces crossing the streets. As often as the city lights cheered you up, they also suffocated you.

The city was cold, a criss cross of concrete and beautiful glass towers housing lonely, selfish souls that didn’t mind tripping over the people sleeping in the streets. People here craved to be noticed, craved to live lavishly, and while you were born into what most craved, what you wanted was the solace of a town where everyone knew each other. A town where you could make lasting relationships that didn’t rely on your last name or where you graduated from. Elopthron, although a terribly sci-fi sounding town name, was your reprieve from the smog filled mundane.

The days leading up to your departure were full of excitement. You packed quickly, your closet surprisingly fitting into two bags that barely avoided the baggage limit. Your friends hosted a cute little going away party, full of champagne and promises to visit, while your parents hosted a cold dinner, full of lectures and judgement. As your flight landed in Juneau, your heart was beating with nerves. This specialization was at the town’s only hospital, the fact that all the town’s medical talent was under one roof had you excited to learn. Not only that, but the program stated that you would get the opportunity to run things and you couldn’t wait to put your leadership skills to the test again - you were the chief resident at your old hospital and you couldn’t say that the role didn’t suit you.

Collecting your bags, albeit with a little struggle, you reach the doors to the arrivals where the hospital had told you to meet the driver. That is another thing about this dream opportunity, they not only ensured you had a ride into town, but even provided you with your own apartment. To your shock, the driver you meet takes you not to a car but another plane, a small little thing that shakes with every gust of wind.

It makes you nervous, the shaking rattling your heart around your chest, but the view of the snow covered mountains takes your breath away. You were never one to swoon over nature, preferring your apartment to the hiking trips Jiho got excited about, but seeing the fresh untouched snow stirred something in you. It promised fresh starts and unchartered challenges, and that made your heart beat faster in anticipation.

The feeling didn’t subside even when you made yourself comfortable in your new apartment. The warm wooden finishing was a stark contrast to the metal of your home in Manhattan and as you started the fire before hanging your clothes in the small wardrobe in the corner of your room, you couldn’t stop the grin etching across your features. You were finally here.

The apartment was on the first floor of a two storey complex. It was much smaller than your expansive home, but instead of suffocating it felt cozy. The front door opened to a small hallway furnished simply with a cute oak shoe rack and a full length mirror. It led to an open concept kitchen and living room, separated by a breakfast island. The living room had a large fireplace, stack of wood next to it, and a large yellow couch opposite it. Furnishing was minimal, but your bedroom boasted a large queen sized bed, anchored on each side by matching nightstands and a wardrobe in the corner.

It was everything you didn’t know you craved as you settled in your bed for the night, noting to thank the hospital for even providing the bedding. As you stared at the wooden slats that decorated the ceiling of your bedroom, you felt comforted. It was unlike your home, where the high ceilings made you feel cold and alone, even when Jiho stayed over. Perhaps you needed this new beginning more than you thought.

The morning was not as serene however, as you somehow managed to turn off your alarm without waking up and were running half an hour behind schedule when you realised you didn’t have a coffee maker. Scrambling out into the cold early December weather you pulled your expensive but utterly useless coat around you as you followed your map app to the closest and seemingly only coffee shop on the one strip of shops the town boasted.

Checking the time to see you still had about half an hour till work started, you slowed down a little to take in the surroundings. Quaint did not cover how cute the small town was. The main strip was a large two way street with a row of little independently owned shops on either side with names such as Once Upon a Book, A Nick in Time, and Thorns and Roses. You didn’t know what these shops housed, although you could guess some, and you couldn’t wait to explore. The cutest thing about the shops was how festive everything looked, fairy lights strung everywhere, mistletoe and wreaths in every window. Like you had stepped into the Grinch’s nightmare, and it was barely October. This might possibly be the most fairytale like town you’d ever stepped foot into.

You easily located the small coffee shop, chuckling at the ostentatious pink board reading Bean There. It seemed more like an 70’s style diner than a coffee shop, filled with small vinyl tables, each with a small Christmas tree on it. Making your way to the counter, you ordered your usual, blond roast coffee with a splash of almond milk.

“Oh sorry hon. We only have normal coffee and cow’s milk,” the older woman standing behind the cash register answered with a jolly laugh, pouring coffee from a pot into a red to-go cup. Before you could say anything, she continued. “Besides, that’s some hippy stuff. We’ve been drinking cow’s milk for generations and our family has never been healthier! I swear these trends are killing the economy!”

And she talked, going on and on about the benefits of milk giving you no time to interrupt as she poured a copious amount of milk into your coffee making it resemble a latte. You were about to give up and forego the coffee this morning till someone behind you decided to speak up.

“Doris! What did we say about forcing the tourists to drink your farm’s milk?” You followed the deep, joyous voice to its owner, blinking a few times as you registered the tall, dark haired man behind you. Oh and what a man he was.

Dressed in black skinny jeans and a red flannel shirt under a fur-lined denim jacket, your eyes zeroed in on his broad shoulders. The instant attraction you felt to this stranger had heat rising up your neck. Emboldened by the fact that you would probably not see this stranger again, you let your eyes roam his body, biting your lip slightly, till your eyes met his, a small smirk on his lips. Clearing your throat you awkwardly stepped forward.

“It’s okay. No problem, Doris, was it?”

“No no. You want almond milk, you get almond milk! Doris I know for a fact you have it back there!” The stranger stops you from grabbing the drink on the counter, a hand held up.

“Seokjin! I see how it is! Just because a pretty girl wants almond milk, you share but not when Jeremy wanted to try it.” Doris huffs, straightening her bright yellow apron.

“Jeremy was drinking it as a dare, and I’d rather not waste one of the ten cartons that Dosey orders every month on stupidity.”

“Um… Really it’s fine! I’m going to be late for work so… thank you!” You try to escape. As much as your lactose intolerant gut was wincing at the thought of almond milk, you had spent way more time here than you planned.

“Wait, work? Hon you’re not a tourist at all! Where are you working?” It seemed you only made the conversation more interesting as Doris looked at you beaming.

“At the hospital?”

“You’re the new doctor? Oh my! Welcome Doc! We’re so excited to have you here! I suppose you’ll be seeing a lot of Seokjin then!” She slapped the stranger, Seokjin you suppose, on the shoulder as he stares at you with wide eyes before catching himself and clearing his throat.

“Doris! Will you just make the pretty doctor her drink then? Mine too please!” He leans on the counter and you can’t help but steal another glance at him. He really was oddly beautiful.

“Sure hon! Here you go!” Doris chuckled as she placed two coffees on the counter and you’re pleased to see yours looking exactly how you prefer. You take out your wallet before Seokjin stops you.

“Don’t worry about it. Put it on my tab Doris. Here, let me walk you to work.” He guides you out of the little cafe, a hand hovering near the small of your back.

“I’m sure you have better things to do. I’ll be fine.”

“Oh it’s no problem at all. I’m going there myself.”

“Oh. Are you a resident?” You did not expect that. By his attire you assumed he worked some manual labour, and by his face you assumed he worked as a model. Somehow you couldn’t picture seeing this man living at a library like you had your years of schooling.

“Nope. Head nurse. So Doris is right, you’ll be seeing me a lot.” He grinned at you, his cheeks puffing up in a way that made you want to poke them. What was in the air in this town? You needed to get a grip on yourself.

“Oh nice to meet you then! I’m -”

“Dr. Y/L/N from New York, right?” Seokjin cut you off before you could finish, looking at you over the lip of his cup as he sipped his coffee, casually guiding you down the main street towards the hospital.

“Right… Seokjin?”

“Yup. Kim Seokjin. How are you liking our little town so far?” He seemed genuinely interested and you smiled. It felt oddly comfortable even if you had inklings of butterflies swarming your belly.

“I love it. It’s really beautiful!”

“Oh wow. Didn’t expect a New Yorker to like it here. You know it’s always cold, right?” he smirked, slowing down as you reached a cute little pink house, before stopping completely.

“I can handle the cold. Wait, this is the hospital?” You looked at the house. It looked more like something a grandma would reside in than a hospital. You were used to glass buildings and top of the art hospitals. As you entered, the door opened to a large waiting area with faded vinyl chairs and a reception desk. It was cozy, but you couldn't believe this was the only hospital in town.

“The one and only. The town’s going to be so excited to finally have a doctor

again!” His words made you sputter, almost choking on your coffee.

“What do you mean, finally? Where are the other doctors?”

“You’re it!” He grinned.

This was not according to plan. You were here to learn. Learn from people much more well-versed in medicine than you were. You did not expect to be the only doctor. Even if the town only had around 2,000 people, it was still outrageous that you would be the only person treating them, and in this small house. Does this place even have any imaging machines?!

As the day went on, your nerves only increased. Seokjin introduced you to the other people who worked at the hospital. There were only three others, two orderly, and another nurse. There were more people in your friend group of residents back home. This was scary, and as you laid in bed that night, all you wanted to do was talk to Jiho and get comforted. He didn't pick up, and you counted the slates on your ceiling to fall asleep, pushing your mind to rest no matter how alone you felt all of a sudden.

----------

Turns out you were not that alone. Within a month you had finally gotten into the groove of things. Your five-person team gelled together pretty fast, and soon you could anticipate each other's moves and even talk without words. Running a hospital, however, was not all you had cracked it up to be in your head. Although you didn't see too many patients daily, the paperwork kept you way past dinner most days. If it weren’t for Seokjin’s insistence to leave at the same time as you, you might as well had moved into your office.

All in all, it was nice. The town had welcomed you with open arms, and it was exactly what you were looking for when you left Manhattan - a place where everyone knew your name and not because of who your family was, where you could walk into a coffee shop and they'd know your order, where you knew your neighbours and attended extravagantly cheesy block parties. Elopthron had its quirks, how almost everyone here put way too much emphasis on Christmas, adults even going as far as pretending Santa Claus was real for the kids all the time. You weren’t kidding, one time a middle aged patient insisted on not ordering the brace he needed because he knew Santa would bring him one on Christmas. When you told Jenny, the other nurse, to do a psych evaluation, she just shook her head in amusement, thinking you were joking. “Of course Santa is real, Dr. Y/L/N. Here in Elophtron, Santa comes every Christmas with presents!” she had insisted, leaving you baffled. This town was absolutely bonkers, but it was starting to feel like home.

The only thing stopping you from feeling fully content was the fact that your parents were still icing you out and somehow regardless of being only four hours out of sync, Jiho and you had barely communicated this month. You would think you were being ghosted if it weren’t for his sporadic one liners.

You sighed as you looked over the budget for the month, the numbers somehow refusing to add up as you looked at your phone, the Instagram notification lighting it up. You could use a break, so you decide to scroll through your feed, only to stop abruptly at Jiho's new post.

Love my baby so much! Happy four months, beautiful.

It was a cute caption, if it weren't for the fact that you and Jiho had been dating for over four years, your anniversary was in March, and that he was kissing a stunning blond that you didn't recognize in the picture.

You looked at the picture again, closing the app and starting it again, just in case it was a glitch. Nope, apparently, Jiho had broken up with you and forgot to tell you. You could feel the tears pricking your eyes, but they weren't because of sadness. Oh no, you were furious. No wonder that fucker was so excited about your move.

You let out a huge groan, throwing your phone across the room, as you stood up and kicked your desk, tears now freely flowing. You couldn't believe the nerve. You hadn't expected this from him. In fact, much like a loser, you were expecting him to propose at Christmas. You thought back at how he had told you he loved you and called you beautiful, much like he was now professing to that new girl and it made your stomach twist. You wanted to break stuff. No, correction, you wanted to break his face.

You didn't realize you were rage pacing until Seokjin appeared in the doorframe, looking at you with wide eyes.

"Everything okay, Y/N?" he asked, stepping in front of you to stop your pacing. In the past month, Seokjin had gotten surprisingly good at reading your moods. It was like he could see a slight change in your micro-expressions and be able to tell whether you need a coffee, a hug, or a walk. You were truly grateful for him, but at this moment you were afraid you were going to take out your anger on him so you tried to calm down. Stopping your pacing, you plastered a smile on your face.

"Yeah. Everything's fine. Don't worry. Why are you still here?" Seokjin, however, didn't buy your flimsy excuse and pulled you in a hug. You felt yourself instantly calm. It was oddly intimate. He had hugged you before, but never like this. His arms were tight around your frame as your face met his chest, enveloping you in his vanilla scent. Your attraction to Seokjin had faded slowly over time, but right now as he tightened his grip around you in an effort to comfort you, your heart skipped a beat.

With your rage fast diminishing, all you had left was your heartbreak as you slowly started to cry in his chest. He didn't question you. His usually talkative personality, giving way to an understanding silence as he slowly rubbed your back.

When it seemed that you had calmed down, Seokjin pulled away, looking at you with concern. Without asking you for details, he suggested going on a drive. You accepted, knowing that if you just went home all you would do is wallow. You let him drive you to a burger joint, picking up your favorites, before getting back in his truck. The two of you drove for what seemed a long time, the food getting cold as soft pop music played in the background.

He never once pushed you to talk, letting you take in the trees lining the highway, as you watched the snow glittering in the moonlight on the banks. Finally, he stopped the truck, getting out before opening the door for you, taking your hand as you stepped down from the height.

The view blew you away. He had driven you to a field of sorts, getting the back of his truck ready with some blankets. But it wasn't the pine-lined field that took your breath away, it was the sky. Above you the navy hues of the night were alight in colour, pinks and greens blooming like waves in the sea. Stars prickled through occasionally as the weave of colours danced slowly, mesmerizing you. You don't know how long you stared at it in awe, but when you turned around, he was already sitting on the back of the truck, under a blanket, your food being taken out of bags.

He speaks for the first time when you settle next to him.

"You want to talk now?"

"I don't know." You shrug, rattling the ice in your cup as you swirl around your drink.

"It's okay if you don't want to. Just... do you need to go back?" He seemed hesitant, almost disappointed, as he asked. It was endearing how much he cared about the town not being left without a doctor.

"No. Definitely not." You said firmly, staring at the sky, missing the way he smiled at you in relief. The last thing you wanted to do right now was go back to Manhattan so your parents could tell you how you failed and accidentally run into Jiho and his blonde. Hoping to deflect the conversation, you looked at Seokjin, his cheeks puffed as he took a big bite of his burger. "Seokjin, can you tell me something about yourself?"

"What do you want to know?" He says, sipping his drink.

"I don't know. Anything."

"Hmm... well I'm a nurse and I’m the most handsome man in the world." He laughed, clapping his hands slowly as if applauding his own wit. You rolled your eyes, unable to fight the smile that made its way to your lips.

"Oh my god, you dork! Tell me something real. Tell me a secret." You bumped him with your shoulder.

"If I tell you a secret, will you tell me what's wrong?" You hummed, eyes wide in anticipation as you munched on your cold fries. "Well. I secretly kind of hate this small-town life."

His answer shocked you. In the month you’ve known Seokjin, he has been this little town’s biggest fan. With the number of people who greet him, and routinely give him presents, you don’t doubt he could easily be elected mayor. In fact, the chief of police even suggested using him as the town’s mascot, for crying out loud.

“If you hate it why are you here?”

“Did you know I lived in San Francisco for ten years till last year?” You did not. You couldn’t imagine Seokjin amongst those tech snobs, nor could you imagine him in anything not flannel. “Yeah. I loved it. I worked at this amazing hospital and went out to all these clubs. I was kind of a party animal.” He chuckled, looking at his lap fondly as he picked at the blanket.

“Why come back?”

“Well… my family established this town. We were the first ones here and well I promised my dad when he died that I’d help continue the little traditions in this town.” He shrugged, his mouth a lopsided smile. “Promised him I’d raise my kids here. Family comes before fun.”

“That’s… wow. You must really respect your dad, enough to change your life for him,” you spoke softly, leaning into his lap a little to place your hand over his. “It must have been hard to lose him.”

“It was, but I hope I’m making him proud.” He gave you a genuine smile as he squeezed your hand, before tapping it. “Now enough about my emo self! Are you going to tell me what’s wrong now?”

And so you did. You spent probably three hours out in the cold, before calling it a night. You told him about Jiho and how he broke your heart, and he related by telling you about his own ex that had broken their engagement when he suggested the relocation. Spending time with Seokjin was comfortable, it was easy. There was something about him that warms you up, like hot chocolate on a snowy night.

You hadn’t been that vulnerable around anyone in a while. Your life in New York was calculated, you never knew who you could trust, and so you trusted no one. It felt oddly freeing to be able to talk about your heartbreak and insecurities with Seokjin, and after that night under the aurora borealis, you both became closer. Before, you would only see each other at work, but since then you had been hanging out outside of work a lot. Sometimes the two of you would grab dinner at the local diner, or he would pick you up for working, grabbing coffee and flirting with Doris shamelessly for freebies. The more you spent time with Seokjin, the more you realized how different he was from what you had assumed.

When you first got to know Seokjin, you thought he was hardworking and amiable, but now you knew his dorky side. The side that would come up after a glass of wine, when he would start cracking lame dad jokes, clapping his hands, and laughing at himself. The side that got especially shy, ears turning a bright red, every time you complimented him on anything, be it his work ethic, or a nice new shirt he bought. The side that would go on and on about the Mario universe, regaling you with details about why Wario was misunderstood, or why the movie should only be watched when wasted otherwise it was a waste.

To be honest, you never knew there was even a Mario movie, and when you told him such he gasped loudly, grabbing you by your shoulders and excitedly making plans to watch it together. You wouldn't tell anyone but with your newfound friendship with Seokjin, he had also gotten very comfortable touching you. Maybe it was the aftereffect of being so vulnerable around him that one time or the fact that you were trying to get over Jiho, but every time he pulled you into a hug or brushed past you it made your heart skip a beat. You controlled the flush slowly creeping up your neck, as you shrugged his hands off your shoulders and solidified your plans to watch the movie together.

True to his word, Seokjin showed up at your house with a case of beers, a local microbrew full of hops that made your tongue sing. Halfway through the movie, you had no idea what was happening, Mario and Luigi, who had terribly fake accents, by the way, jumping through trying to save the damsel in distress in what looked like an acid trip. The alcohol didn't help as the plot got more convoluted, but that didn't stop Seokjin from excitedly trying to help you decipher it.

You don't know when it happened, but his arm was around you, casually draped where your head met the couch, his fingers lightly caressing your shoulder as he sipped his beer. You took another sip of yours trying to calm yourself. No matter how many times you tried to focus on the colours exploding on the screen, all you could think about was your hammering heart as your skin heated up under his innocent touch. It wasn't when he abruptly pulled his arm away from you that you were broken out of reverie.

"So what did you think?" He asked excitedly, turning on the couch towards you, a leg moving up and under his other. You hadn't even realized the movie ended. Did they save the princess? Or was it their business they were trying to save? What was this movie even about?

"Um... it was something," you commented, hoping that the vague answer would satisfy him, as you chugged the rest of your beer.

"It's cause you're not drunk enough! Y/N! I told you, you had to get wasted to like this movie!" He whined, clumsily opening another bottle and handing it to you. You weren't drunk, he was right. You were on the right side of tipsy, just on the edge of jumping into oblivion. Seokjin on the other hand, seemed much more ahead of you as he struggled with the bottle opener.

Chuckling, you reached out and put your hands over his, helping him uncap his bottle. You didn't notice how close you had gotten until he whispered thanks and his breath ghosted the skin of your nose. Looking up, your breath hitched as you saw the look in his eyes. Usually filled with mirth, it was jarring to see him looking at you with want, his long dark hair falling into his eyes as they traced your features. You saw his eyes linger on your lips and all you could do was blink. You knew you should move away, he was coworker and friend, but you froze, the two of you lost in the silence.

He made the first move, bringing his hand to your face tentatively. You leaned into it, sighing a little, and that's when you felt his lips on yours. Soft, plush lips that you had imagined more than a few times this past month, molded around yours. The kiss was shy, a little soft as his thumb caressed your flushing cheek. Your hands still on top of his on the beer tightened as you deepened the kiss, and he followed, grunting slightly, his hand moving to the back of your head, angling it a little. You mewled when his tongue licked at your lip, granting him access as it roamed your mouth, easily taking charge as your heart exploded within your chest. You hadn't been kissed like this before, the balance of gentle and domineering, making your knees weak. You were glad you were seated because otherwise, you'd be on the floor.

You don't know how long you were kissing, but the spell was broken as his phone rang, making him pull away abruptly, lips swollen and face red. It took everything in you to not go in for seconds as your mouth followed his. He didn't oblige you though, as he pulled away, resting his hand on your waist as he reached for his phone.

"It's my mom. I'm sorry," he apologized with a pout that did not help how you were feeling. Finding it hard to speak, you simply nodded as if in a daze. His wide, grateful smile made you turn to putty as he answered, only to frown. Quickly ending the call, he grabbed your face and kissed you again, hard but quick, taking your breath away.

"I have to go. I'm so sorry." He looked at you, his forehead pressed against yours, as you blinked. Standing up from the couch, you straightened your t-shirt, as you walked him to the door. He stopped in front of it, his arms around your waist as he pulled you into a hug, making you smile. You felt like a teenager who got to kiss their crush, it was bizarre. Pecking your lips a few times, he bid you goodbye, waving as he walked off, leaving his truck in your driveway.

Shutting the door, you giggled giddily, forgetting all about your earlier worries of maintaining a professional decorum, as your fingertips grazed your lips, still feeling the touch of his lips. That night he messaged you just once, and you reread the text over and over as you fell asleep.

Thanks for watching that stupid movie with me tonight. Can't wait to continue where we left off ;)

The next day you were extremely excited to go to work, changing your outfit multiple times before settling on a pretty pastel pink dress and leaving your apartment, noticing the truck was no longer in your driveway. Stopping by to grab a cup of coffee, you greeted Doris.

“Hi Doc! Happy last day to send Santa a letter!” she chirped as he poured your order. You shook your head in amusement. This was by far the weirdest aspect of this town. They were all so obsessed with Christmas, grown adults refusing to talk about how Santa doesn’t exist. It would be endearing, charming in a way if it weren’t for the fact that Bean There was the location where they collected these letters to Santa, and it was full of people scrambling to write. You would think it would be mostly kids, but you could spot Mr. Hernandez, a sixty year old retired lumberjack, scribbling away, as well as Molly, the recent college graduate. It seemed the town had no age limit when it came to believing in Christmas miracles.

“Doris, I don’t know what’s in the air here, but you guys know Santa isn’t real right?” you whispered, not wanting to incite a full out riot, like you accidentally did when you first moved and made the same comment. Either this town was very much into the spirit of things or you were just too late to catch up to the mass group hysteria everyone seemed to be a part of.

“Y/N! You just have to believe, hon. I’m telling you every year, whatever you write on those letters comes through. I mean you can’t ask Santa for love or anything but anything material comes! Always. How else do you explain that?” You frowned as she pushed your coffee towards you. Sure, you didn’t have a logical explanation for that but that doesn’t mean Santa was real. However, you were in a great mood this morning, looking forward to seeing Seokjin, and so you acquiesced to Doris when she waved a piece of paper, writing the first thing that came to your head which was a snowglobe, since the shelves behind the counter was lined with about a thousand. You could use a cute one to put on your desk, if Santa was in fact real.

When you walked into the hospital, coffee in hand and pep in your step, you looked around for the familiar mop of dark hair, half expecting a ho ho ho, or some cheerful Christmas pun Seokjin usually pulled out in the morning, but you were met with an empty lobby. Even his office was empty. It was odd. He was usually the first one in after you.

Walking into your office you felt your earlier excitement twist into nerves. What if he regretted last night? What if he thought you were unprofessional? But he had texted you, surely he couldn’t regret it too much, could he? Oh! He was so drunk last night. He probably regrets it and now finds it awkward to be around you. Technically he was your subordinate, so were you now one of those creepy bosses they show on television? Inviting your employees to your house to get them drunk and make them kiss you? This was bad. Your thoughts raced through your mind as you tried to focus on today’s schedule in front of you, before, thankfully, Jenny broke through them.

“Hey Y/N. I’ll be taking over Seokjin’s workload while he’s on vacation. Is there anything in particular you need help with today? Otherwise I’m just gonna follow the notes he left behind.”

“Vacation?” you stammered, clearing your throat and taking another sip of your drink.

“Yeah. He takes the ten days before Christmas off every year. Something about a family obligation.” She shrugged.

“Oh. He didn’t tell me.” You tried your best to not sound disappointed.

“It’s been on the calendar for years, doc.” Jenny chuckled as she walked out of your office, leaving you confused as you went to check the employee calendar and lo and behold, there it was ‘Kim Seokjin on vacation’, staring at you. You were annoyed. You expected at least some notice. Did he think he could just kiss you and then go off to wherever he was. Fuming, you opened your phone to text him.

So when were you going to tell me you were away for the rest of the month?

You waited a few minutes, staring at the screen, but when the message still showed unread you gave up and did what you do best when people piss you off. You worked. And you continued working for the whole week, till you were fed up with Seokjin. He had seemed so caring and then to ghost you out of nowhere? Sure, you can expect that perhaps his vacation slipped his mind, but did he suddenly lose his fingers? He couldn’t do you the courtesy of sending a text when you had left on what you thought were nothing but good terms? “Continue where we left off”, your ass.

------------

It was two days to Christmas and you were bored. You parents had decided that since you were away, they were going to go on a cruise. Sick of scrolling endlessly through social media, envying your friends, you decided to take a walk to the only place open 24 hours in this town, the diner. It was 2 am and you didn’t think you would see anyone other than Mark, the friendly twenty-year old whose family owned the place.

You were enjoying your plate of fries, and a milkshake when the little bell above the door grabbed your attention off your phone and in walked the last person you expected to see - Kim Seokjin. He was dressed casually as always, his black parka over a white hooded sweater and dark jeans. It didn’t seem like he noticed you, waltzing over to the register to order a coffee as he sat on a stool, waiting for the fresh pot to brew.

Seeing his face, made you stupidly angry. You knew rationally that he didn’t owe you anything, you were just friends. Friends who shared a pretty nice kiss, but you were friends, you had no claim over him, but you still found yourself fuming and getting up from your booth to march over to him.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” you spoke in a normal volume, but Seokjin jumped high, his eyes widening as he put his hand on his chest, staring at you.

“Y/N! Um… what are you doing here so late?” He asked, his eyes shifting around, looking anywhere but at you.

“That’s all you have to say to me?” You crossed your arms, wanting answers.

“I can explain! I swear it is not what you think!” He jumped up from the stool, arms in front of him as he tried fruitlessly to calm you down.

“What is it, then? Did you lose your phone? Did you lose your head?” You scoffed, fully knowing that your comeback was far from witty, but you could barely think, indignation mapped onto your features.

“It’s not that… it’s just… I don’t know how to tell you. I don’t even know if I can.” He rubbed the back of his head, his ears turning red, as they usually did when he was embarrassed. Seeing his demeanour suddenly made the pieces click in your head. There was only one reason people ghosted each other. It was a rejection. You felt your face heat up at the realization, feeling like you were going to cry. Oh, this was bad. You couldn’t believe you were about to shed tears over a kiss. You needed to get out of here.

“No need. It’s okay. I’m a big girl. I can take a hint.” You said quickly, your voice seemingly calm given the situation as you zipped up your parka and walked out of the diner, ignoring his calls of your name. If he really needed to explain himself, he could have followed you, but you walked the ten minutes to your apartment alone, burying yourself under the covers once inside. You didn’t realize that unwittingly you had been thinking about your future with Seokjin, picturing dates and waking up together when all he had been doing was figuring out a way to gently let you down. You decided to let yourself feel the sting, dampening your pillow cases, finding that somehow this hurt more than what Jiho did. Who knew the kind, wholesome small town boy could hurt you worse than a cold lawyer from New York?

----------

Having no close friends yet in town and not wanting to burden the nice people who invited you to their homes, you decided to pretend that you were going to New York over the holidays. You stocked up on enough groceries to get you through the New Years and decided to hide out in your apartment. You spent your time cleaning your apartment, doing skincare, reading the latest medical journals, and binging the Crown on Netflix.

On Christmas morning, you decided to treat yourself for brunch, making an obscenely large stack of pancakes, piling it high with fruit and chocolate chips, and drowning it in maple syrup. Foregoing dressing up, you sat on your living room floor in your festive pajamas as you watched the political ongoing of the royal family, and enjoyed your sugar loaded creation. However, before you could truly dig into your pancakes, you were interrupted by a knock on the door.

You didn’t know who would be knocking at your door this early and on Christmas. You weren’t expecting anyone and everyone knew you were supposed to be out of town. Sighing you begrudgingly rise as the tempo of the knocks increased. Huffing you opened the door to be greeted by none other than Kim Seokjin, dressed in the ugliest Christmas sweater you had the misfortune of seeing and jeans, with a campy Santa hat atop his dark hair. The forest green Christmas sweater, adorned with a stuffed Rudolph and what seemed like real mistletoe, also apparently lit up, the twinkling red and green lights on it glowed in the morning sun as little flurries collected in Seokjin’s hair.

Regardless of the terrible wardrobe choice, you couldn’t deny the sudden pull you felt towards him, your heart skipping a beat at seeing him on your doorstep with a small box wrapped in shiny paper. However, you were nothing if not determined, so you schooled your initial wide eyed expression into a glare as you crossed your arms across your chest and leaned into the door frame.

“What are you doing here?”

“Came to give you your present.” Seokjin smiled as he brought the gift towards you, making you scoff and roll your eyes.

“Seokjin, I don’t want you or your presents.”

“Not gonna lie, that kind of hurts.” He scratches the back of his head nervously, sending his hat askew as he sways a little on his feet, unsure of how to proceed.

“Good,” you say as you move to close the door on his face. Not going to lie, you were pretty proud of your resolve. Before you could fully shut the door, Seokjin put his hand out to stop it, jumping a little when he saw the cold look in your eye. Stepping back sheepishly, he cleared his throat.

“Please Y/N. Just let me explain.”

“Go ahead.” Still holding the door half closed, you stared at him, your resolve melting as he seemingly shivered outside.

“Can I at least come in? It’s kind of cold.” You rolled your eyes again, and acquiesced. Not because you wanted to hear him or be near him, but because he looked kind of pitiful shaking in the cold in a sweater that didn’t seem built for the Alaskan winter. Stepping aside you let him in your hallway, leaning against the wall, your patience at an all time low. “Okay. So… um… how do I even start this?”

“Seokjin. Just say you don’t like me and go. It’s Christmas. The least you can do is be straightforward.” His stammering was infuriating. It made you want to kick him. However, as the words came out of your mouth, Seokjin looked shocked, his eyebrows disappearing beneath his bangs as his mouth flew open. It was a pretty funny sight, and if you were less angry you would’ve chuckled.

“Why do you think I don’t like you? What?”

“Hmm… Let’s see you got drunk, you kissed me and then you disappeared! Like poof!” You gestured in the air with your hand, trying to make the point more apparent.

“Well that’s what I am trying to explain!” And now he was gesturing, his hand with the box rising in the air.

“Oh my god,” you groaned.

“Just open this. It will help start my explanation.” He took your hand in his and placed the box on top of it. You eyed him suspiciously as you began to unwrap the iridescent paper. Inside the box was a snowglobe, the scene inside showing a field full of flowers with a small truck with two people on the hood. When you shook it, it came alive with glitter and tiny styrofoam flurries. It was very cute and very reminiscent of the night Seokjin and you first became friends. You loved it, but it wouldn’t be you if you weren’t petty enough to hide your true emotions to look at him with disdain.

“A snowglobe? Okay? So?”

“Don’t you wanna know how I knew you wanted this?” He spoke slow, his words and spaced out as he frowned at your scowl.

“I didn’t want this?” You matched his slow pace, enunciating each word as you raised an eyebrow in question. Why did he think you would want a snowglobe of all things? I mean he knew what you really wanted was those cupcakes that Doris only made once a month, you had told him how much you adored them on more than one occasion. If he wanted to be all romantic he could have at least bribed her for some of those!

“But… you asked Santa for it!” he sputtered, jogging your memory to remind you of the throwaway wish you made in the letter to Santa a few days ago.

“So you steal mail now? That’s a federal offence, you know.” You narrowed your eyes at him.

“No! No no no. I don’t steal mail. Unless it’s snail mail because it’s easy to catch.” He laughed at his own joke, but seeing your deadpan expression, he backpedaled, nervously running his hands through his hair again. “No? Okay, bad joke. But I didn’t steal it. You sent it to me! I’m Santa!” He was talking more with his hands than his words, waving them around in the air.

“Your excuse is that you’re Santa? How old do you think I am?” you scoffed, moving to push him out of the door, ignoring how solid his bicep felt under that ugly sweater. How was he not getting electrocuted by those stupid lights?

“No please don’t kick me out! I’m telling the truth!” Seokjin planted his feet in the ground turning around and looking at you with wide eyes, the cinnamon depths softening your anger as you sighed. This was so far fetched, the least you could do was hear him out. If nothing else, this would make a great story to share over drinks sometime.

“You have five minutes. And I’m eating my pancakes while you talk.” You let go of him as you walked into your living room, Seokjin close on your heels. You sat on the floor next to the coffee table and he followed suit, sitting much too close to comfort, his thigh grazing yours as he stared at your pile of sugar.

“Oh. Can I have some?” he asked, clearing his throat at your glare as you aggressively cut into a piece before stuffing your face. The nerve... “Sorry! Okay um… so did you think it was weird that the whole town just happened to believe in Santa?”

“I honestly was going to write a paper on mass hysteria, but yes.” You were much more interested now. You always did find the town's dedication to upholding the sanctity of Santa bizarre.

“Well, that’s because for almost a hundred years, people in this town have been getting what they wanted for Christmas, without fail.”

“Because you’re Santa?” You looked at him, waiting for him to explain only to be met with a soft smile as he nodded. His cheeks puffed up with his little smile and it took all of your willpower not to poke at them. Why did he have to be so cute when you were trying to be mad at him. Also, what grown man insists they're Santa? “So where are your elves? Is Rudolph just hiding in your truck?”

“I’ll have you know I’m an elf-made man!” He joked, his pun making you lose control as you let out a light laugh before remembering you were supposed to be mad and trying to hold a neutral expression. Seokjin, on the other hand, made no such effort, a wide grin adorning his features, making his eyes disappear beneath his squishy cheeks. “Hey got you to laugh! But no. No elves. Just me, well, and my family. It’s the family tradition I was talking about. For generations the Kims have been sending people in this town presents on Christmas in secret.”

“Wait how do you even afford this?” This made no sense. How was he buying these expensive presents, and also Santa was Korean? How did his family even hide this for so long? Why were these town people naive enough to believe this? How did he do deliveries? Did he work with Amazon? You had so many questions!

“Um… I’m kind of rich?” he replied sheepishly.

“Kind of? You give 2,000 presents a year!” Your pancakes were forgotten as you swiveled around to face him, your knees touching his thigh, momentarily distracting him as his eyes dropped to where you touched him, before following suit and facing you. The two of you sat cross-legged across from each other as he started what may have been the most useless and longest rant he embarked on since entering your home, talking animatedly as always.

“Yeah… but that’s not the point! The point is the days leading up to Christmas are really hard and this year I had to figure out how to make the drones work and this kid wanted an exact replica of Han Solo’s gun and those are really hard to find and then Mr. Hernadez decided he wanted a rare Amazonian flower. Like where am I supposed to find a flower in December?! And don’t get me started on Doris she-”

“Seokjin. Relax. So you ghosted me because you’re Santa?” You placed your hands on his knees to get him to calm down as his face seemed so red from his rant you were worried you would have to resuscitate him if he didn't take a breath soon. He calmed down exponentially, taking a deep breath and locking his eyes with yours.

“Yeah, and I couldn’t tell you and if I did tell you, you wouldn’t believe me till today anyway. And just… I’m sorry.” He sighed, placing his hand on top of yours on his knee as he held eye contact, and it seemed like you may forever get lost in his irises. He looked at you with such a sorrowful expression, that you weren't sure if the pout of his lips was exaggerated for effect or if it came naturally to him.

“I don’t know what to say… I kind of have regrets” You bit your lip as you gazed back at him with mischief.

“You do? I… I’m sorry. I didn’t even think about the fact that you might not like me back. Oh. I’m an idiot. Okay. I will see you at work. Happy holidays!” He spoke in flurried words as he tried to stand up before you stopped him mid-rise.

“Seokjin wait! That’s not the regret.” You were quick to stop him as he sank back down, a confused look on his face.

“It’s not?”

“No. I regret only asking Santa for a snowglobe! I should’ve asked for a car!” you chuckled, trying to lighten the mood.

“Oh sure! What kind? I can get you a car.” He did not miss a beat before picking up his phone and scrolling through what you could only imagine being his gift list. Wait, were the Kims part of the mafia? You really should ask him where he gets all this money from someday. Nurses get paid pretty terribly, so it's definitely not that.

“Seokjin. I was kidding!”

“Oh. I knew that.” He put his phone down as he looked at you, blinking slowly a few times.

“So you like me.” You ask, leaning in slightly with a smirk.

“Yes.” He answered resoundingly, a determined look on his face as he leaned in as well. The two of you only a hair breadth apart.

“Are you going to kiss me again?” You whisper, not wanting to break the sudden shift in the atmosphere, as you looked at his plush lips, before meeting his gaze.

“Do you want me to kiss you again?” His voice was lower, a little strained as he looked at you, his eyes jumping from each feature before settling on your lips.

“Yes.”

“Then come sit in Santa’s lap.” He leaned back, patting his lap with a smirk, making you blanch as you pull a disgusted face.

“Okay. I changed my mind.” You leaned back, before he came closer, his hands cupping your face.

“No no! Sorry! I just have always wanted to use Santa puns and you’re the only one outside of my family who knows and I don’t kn-” You cut off his rambling with a kiss, a soft, quick one on his lips that made his breath hitch. He recoiled a little in shock, staring at you before pulling your face to his and crashing your lips together.

This kiss was neither soft, nor short, but a flurry of emotions as you both tried to express what you couldn't in words. His lips were firm against yours as his hands moved down your body to pull you closer by the waist. A soft groan left his lips as you parted yours and he wasted no time starting to explore your mouth, his tongue meeting yours. His plush lips moulded against yours and you couldn’t help the moans that fell out of your mouth. You had missed his mouth against yours, the feeling as refreshing as the crisp sun after a blizzard. He tasted like coffee and you sucked at his tongue with fervour, eliciting a shocked moan from him as his hands left your waist to find your ass, gripping it harshly to pull you into his lap. You wasted no time straddling him, as you grind your core against him, making him groan. He bit your bottom lip as he pulled apart to catch his breath. Staring down at your heaving chest, he traced his hands on your hips, before breaking into a smirk. Gone was the rambling man from earlier, his eyes clouded with lust as he took you in. He leaned closer, his lips on your neck as he kissed from your collarbone peaking through your thin pajama top to your ear.

“Now that you’re finally in Santa’s lap, tell him what you want for Christmas.” He whispered, nipping at your earlobe. Wow, he really was not going to let this go. You groaned in annoyance, cupping his face to pull him away from your ear to face you, ignoring the pout on his face.

“For you to shut up.” You kissed him, tilting his head slightly to give you access, before he pulled away, shaking your hands off his face till they rested on his broad shoulders.

“Come on! Let me have this!” He whined, his pout bigger as he looked at you with puppy eyes. You chuckled at his antics, shaking your head as you leaned in for another kiss, missing the taste of his lips already. His hands moved from your hips to the hem of your shirt, slowly moving up under it, tracing over your ribs, just below the swell of your breasts, leaving goosebumps in their wake.

Moaning gently, but not one to be outdone, you mirrored his movements, moving your hands down his built chest, feeling the soft material, and groaning in annoyance as you reached the stupid stuffed toy stitched to the centre. You reached the bottom of his sweater, but before you reached under it you pulled away, Seokjin chasing your lips.

“Will this dumb sweater shock me if I put my hands under it?” You huffed and played with the hem of his sweater as he smiled goofily, as if realizing he was wearing it for the first time. The goofy smile didn’t last for long as he moved his hands to cup your chest, massaging gently as he leaned in kissing your sternum, visible from the top button that had somehow loosened during your makeout.

“The only shock you’ll get is how loud you’ll be screaming my name when you cum.” He pulled on your nipples, making you mewl as you involuntarily arched your back, rolling your hips on his. You felt breathless, and you couldn’t believe his stupid wordplay was making you this wet.

“Big talk for someone whining about Christmas puns.” You moaned out as he tugged harder on your nipples in reprimand, his hands pushing against the fabric, as he bit the sensitive skin of your neck. Forgetting your earlier concerns, your hands go under his shirt, feeling his soft skin, the tiny hair on his abs tickling your fingertip, as you push the sweater as high it would go revealing his golden skin.

“Yule be sorry for doubting me.” He finally gives your sore nipples a rest, as his hands move to pull his sweater off, momentarily getting tangled up in, making you chuckle, which he mistakes for praise aimed at his puns, wiggling his eyebrows as he emerges from the monstrosity. If you weren’t so whipped for him, you would have made him leave. You didn’t know if this was a one off, if he really wanted things to progress or he just wanted sex but all thoughts fell out of your head as his lips reattached to your neck, his hands on your hips making you grind against him as the two of you made out like teenagers at prom.

“I will literally murder you if you make another pun.” You moaned out, losing yourself in his touch, his lips leaving behind blooms on your skin. If he kept moving your hips like this you were going to cum. You grabbed on to his hair as you moaned at the sensation your body lit as your clit grazed his length through the layers of clothing. Your legs shook as the feeling in your stomach tightened and Seokjin chuckled against your neck.

“Yeah murder me with that pussy.” You could feel his grin but all your annoyance was forgotten as you felt yourself let go, mewling his name, your orgasm washing over you in waves, your grip on his hair tightening.

He kissed you as you came down from your high, his erection solid against you as his tongue explored your mouth. When he pulled away he looked almost crazed, the lust in his half lidded gaze mirroring yours as his hands moved to your top, slowly unbuttoning it. “Fuck that was so hot. Let me unwrap you, baby.”

He wiggled his eyebrows again as he looked at you. How could this man be this sexy and this dorky was beyond you. Wanting to see him writhe over you, you started kissing his neck, moving to his chest, leaning him back as you inched closer to the waistband of his jeans.

“You first!” You exclaimed, wasting no time to unbutton his jeans as he sighed in relief, moving to remove them completely before you reached for his boxers. You were a little taken aback when his cock popped out. It was bigger than you thought, head red as a bead of precum glistened in the late morning sun pouring in from your windows. Your mouth watered at the sight and without thinking you licked up his length, his groans egging you on as you bent over him.

“Shit so perfect! So good to me,” he moaned out as you looked at him. His head lolled back as he leaned against his hands behind him, his wide chest rising heavily due to your ministrations. He let out a loud moan, resembling almost a whine, as you wrapped your mouth around his head, sucking softly. You loved that moan, wanted more of it as you took him deeper, his hand coming to rest on your hair. He panted loudly, his moans filling your room, your mind, as you gazed at him looking at you with awe. “This look soots you.”

He really had to make another dumbass joke, didn’t he? You pulled off his length, sitting back as your hand replaced your mouth, slowly stroking him as you scowled at him. God, you wanted him to beg you so bad.

“That better be suit with a u-i or I swear I’m not gonna let you cum.” You gripped him harder, twisting your wrist as your panties get wetter with power. He mewled a little, twitching in your hand as you grinned. His head lolled to the side and suddenly he looked at you, his eyes sparkling with challenge as your words finally processed in his mind.

Before you could react, he was on you. One hand gripping your wrist and other behind your head as he leaned you over till your back was on the cold hardwood floor and he hovered over you. He smirked at you before he leaned in to kiss you sloppily, making you lose all senses.

“Aw sweetheart, it’s cute you think you’re in charge.” He cooed, as his forearms trapped your head, his kisses becoming softer, reminiscent of the first time he kissed you a week ago. He took his time, his weight a comforting presence on top of you as you melted into the floor. He looked at you with adoration when you broke apart, his nose touching yours and a soft smile on his face.

“But seriously, Y/N. I didn’t come here for this. I want this so bad but I want to take you out, I want to hold your hand, drink a milkshake with two straws together. I don’t know! I wanna spoil you!” His voice was low, but his words were fast, like he just couldn’t hold them in any longer. You giggled in disbelief, caressing his back. This man really was going to be the death of you.

“Seokjin you’re naked and you want to hold my hand?” you chuckled as he nodded, his eyes glinting and smiling wide. He reached out to hold your hand, lacing his fingers with yours as he leaned in to kiss your cheek sweetly, an oddly saccharine contrast to the way he was devouring you moments ago.

“I mean I also want to rail you hard, but yeah I don’t want it to be just sex.” You felt your heart flutter at his words, your face heating up more than it already was and you leaned up to kiss him.

“Me neither.” Your grip on his hand tightened and his cock twitched against your thigh, bringing your lust back to the forefront of your mind as you kissed him again, much more hungrier this time. “So come on get on with it. Choo choo!”

He leaned away looking at you with wide eyed surprise before breaking into a shit eating grin.

“Was that a rail- fuck! You’re perfect!” He gushed as he kissed his way down your body, unbuttoning your shirt as he went. He lapped at your nipples, hardening them under his tongue as his hand pulled your pajama shorts off, your panties following quickly after. You wanted to throw another quick witted remark at him, but all thoughts disappeared at his sudden enthusiasm as his mouth made its way to your core. He began to kiss down your slit, light feathery kisses that had you desperate for more, mewling as he continued.

“I’ve wanted to do this for so long, it’s really taken a mistletoe-ll on me.” He grinned, his breath warm against your folds. Your retort was forgotten when he slid his tongue inside you, flicking against your sensitive walls before he was sucking at your clit. The pleasure was unbearable and you shook under him, thanking yourself for forgoing carpeting the floors. He put his arm over your hips to hold you down as you chanted his name. You were dripping, your heart beating loudly in your chest as he ate you like a man starved, pushing you closer and closer to your high. You walls clenched around his tongue as you moaned louder, your hands in his hair, pulling him closer.

“I’m so close!” you whined expecting Seokjin to speed up to guide you through your high. He, however, slowed down, the pressure in your belly ebbing slowly away as you whined his name. “Why did you stop?!”

“Tell me my puns are funny.” He looked up at you grinning as you yelped when two fingers entered you. His fingers curled inside you making your back arch as you moaned his name. “Come on admit it, Dr. Y/L/N”

“No… they’re… stupid...” you breathed out as his pace increased and decreased keeping you firmly on the edge, your walls fluttering, your eyes squeezed shut as you refused to beg. He kept up his taunting till you thought you would lose your mind, every nerve in your body on fire as your legs quivered. He was insane! Not being able to take it anymore, you conceded. “Fuck… please! Please Seokjin! Your puns are hilarious. I give! Please…”

“Good girl. Knew you were on the nice list.” he exclaimed as his mouth latched on to your clit and before you knew it you were screaming, your body shaking as you had one of the most powerful orgasms of your life, your arousal gushing out of you as Seokjin gleefully lapped it up. You felt a buzzing in your ears, your vision spotty as he coaxed you slowly through your high.

Seokjin kissed his way up your trembling body, and slotting his mouth against yours, he caressed your sides as you tried to catch your breath. When you opened your eyes he was smiling at you, lying next to you on the floor.

“Told you not to doubt me, baby,” he said lowly as his nose bumped yours gently.

“No pun this time?”

“I was gonna say mistletoe-ld but I already used that one.” He grinned.

“Oh my god,” you groaned, facepalming. “Why do I still want to fuck you?”

“Because I’m a sex god.” He wiggled his eyebrows. You stood up, a little shakily, at his comment, looking down at his alarmed face before walking away to your bedroom. Before you reached the door, you looked back at him. Seokjin was still in the same position, looking at you dumbfounded, probably wondering what he did wrong. You rolled your eyes at him as you gestured towards your room.

“Come on Santa, don’t you wanna climb up my chimney?” You laughed at the speed he stood up, his hard erection bouncing funnily as he ran towards you with a dopey smile, placing his arms around you in a back hug as you walked into your room.

“Stop being funny or I’ll fall in love with you,” he whined, rutting against you petulantly, making you giggle. You guided him to your bed, making him sit with his back to the headboard as you grabbed a condom from your bedside table, stroking him to gently roll it over his length. His breath hitched as you climbed over him, your knees on the bed next to his thighs. Seemingly unable to wait anymore, he put his arms around your waist, pulling you into a hungry kiss, a flurry of tongue and teeth.

You rise, your hands on his shoulders as you slowly descend on his, his girth a soothing pain as your walls stretch around him. The two of you moan into each other’s mouths as you stare at each other, face red and eyes blown from lust. For the first time, there was silence between the two of you, your staredown intense as you slowly started riding him. It felt delicious and it took all of your strength not to close your eyes in pleasure.

Your pace increased as Seokjin’s hands were placed firmly on your hips, pulling your hips higher so he could thrust into you. You kissed him at that, no longer able to take his intense stare and he groaned, increasing his speed. His cock rammed into you and you saw stars, clinging on his shoulders as waves of pleasure flowed through you. He kisses and bites your neck, his lips leaving blooms of petals in their trail, as his movements become sloppy.

He leans back a little, grabbing your hand to guide it to your clit, rubbing your fingers on it. The added friction to your bud paired with his wild thrusts has you coming undone in seconds. Your toes curl as his name stretches around your moan and you still in his arms, your vision hazy. He cums shortly after, thrusting in you a few times chanting your name before falling lax against the headboard, pulling you against him.

The two of you sat there for a while, till he softened enough to slip out of you, the feeling sending shudders through the two of you. Placing a hand on your chin, he brought your lips to his, before looking at you with a soft smile, his eyes sparkling.

“So… Merry Christmas?” He shrugged making you giggle, as you rolled off him and sat next to him.

“Who knew I’d be a ho ho ho for Santa?” Seokjin laughed, clapping as he squealed with glee, before calming down enough to put his arms around you, cuddling you close, and grabbing one of your hands in his. He played with your fingers as he smiled.

“I’m sorry I ghosted you. I promise I’ll never do that again.” He kissed your temple, tightening his arms around you.

“It’s okay. You made up for it.”

The two of you spend Christmas morning together. You made more pancakes, dressed in only his horrendous sweater as he belted out Mariah Carey in his underwear. Your heart swelled when he placed gentle kisses on your shoulder as the two of you swayed to the music, barefoot on the kitchen floor. You knew you made the right decision when you moved to Alaska, it just took you this moment to realize how right.

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I hope you liked this fluffy Christmasy piece, for more fics of mine check out my masterlist

#bts fanfic #jin smut #jin fluff #jin x reader #jin x y/n #jin fanfic #btsnoonanet #thebtswritersclub #seokjin smut #seokjin fluff #seokjin x reader #seokjin fanfic #purplearmynet #hallmarkevent20

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tamakissimp · 3 years

Text

headcanon- secret santa

summary: they’re their crush’s secret Santa

characters: Izuku, Shoto, Iida, Shinso, Dabi

warnings: cursing

request: @awkwardteengirl505 hey hun! sorry to be a pain but can you do a secret Santa part 2 please? with the rest of the gang like izu, sho,dabi ect. also hope your having a fabulous day :D

a/n: thank you! I hope you have a good day too! and yes, I was already kinda planning on doing these headcanons for more characters so thank you for requesting!🥰

𝕚𝕫𝕦𝕜𝕦

𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕕𝕔𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕥: 𝟞𝟡𝟡

Izuku bits his tongue to keep his giggles down. He didn't even need to fully read your name, he could recognize your handwriting anywhere. Heat flushes through his cheeks as his mind goes wild with ideas for potential gifts.

"Who'd you get 'Zuki?" you suddenly ask. His heart skips a beat at the nickname. He quickly stuffs the piece of paper into his pocket and looks in your eyes. A mistake, on his part, since he immediately looks down to the ground after.

"No one!" he says a little too quickly. You hold your hands up in the air and take a step away from him. Izuku curses at himself for his response. "I mean, i-it's a secret! A t-total secret s-so I can't t-tell you.".

You nod at his words before flashing him a smile. "Okay, okay. Then I'm not telling you either,' you say as you shoot him a wink. You turn away from him when Ochako taps on your shoulder. She happily shows you her note before you show her yours.

Izuku stars at your interaction with your mutual friend. A small smile tugs on his lips as he sees how happy you get. You whisper in Ochaka's ear so that none of the others can hear you. God, he needs to make this gift perfect.

☆◦ 。＼｜／。◦☆

Izuku unwraps his gift with shaky fingers. He carefully pulls the black ribbon off the box before moving into the green wrapping paper. Out from under the paper, a box appears. Simple doodles decorate the sides. He recognizes some of them. They're the same doodles you always draw on your notes.

The drawings range from hearts to flowers to little face. A blush washes through his cheeks. He quickly lifts the lid of the box. A sweater lays waiting for him. He quickly grabs it out the box. He runs the soft material between his fingers.

Izuku looks up at you. A goofy smile is plastered on your lips. Yep, that makes it official. This sweater is the only thing he is going to wear for the next week.

"T-Thank you so much!" he says as he gives you a little bow. You nudge his side while shaking your head.

"Stop with those formalities," you say before pulling him in for a hug. Izuku remains frozen as you hug him. He memorizes the feeling of your body presses against his. He bites his tongue to stop a whine from spilling out as you pull away.

"Now, I think it's your turn if I'm correct," Shoto says. You nod at the half-and-half boy as you reach towards the gift bag with your name on it. It's small, smaller than the others.

Izuku's body runs cold as he watches you unpack his gift. Insecurity clouds his brain. Compared to your gift, his is trash. Maybe he shouldn't have taken Iida's advice.

A gasp leaves your lift as you read over the words written on the slip of paper stuffed in the gift bag. "A...date?" you ask before looking over at Izuku. His cheeks as he looks over at his 'gift'.

Coupon good for one date

Fuck. He should have thought of something else. Why would you want to go on a date with him? Facing rejection in front of his friends will be the worse thing to ever happen to him-

"I thought you'd never ask," you say. Wait, what? Izuku's head whips up to look at you. That same goofy smile from earlier is displayed on his lips. His heart fills up with the heat.

"Really-" he says. You cut him off but moving forwards, cupping his face and planting your lips on his. Izuku stiffens for a second before melting into the kiss. It's brief, but it's all he could ever wish for.

You pull away only to be welcomed from various comments and wolf whistles from your friends.

"I thought you two would never confess," Shoto says. You finally look away from Izuku to stare at the 'coupon' once again. Izuku laughs a little as Iida gives him a couple of reassuring pats on his back. O God, is he thankful that he's your secret Santa.

𝕤𝕙𝕠𝕥𝕠

𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕕𝕔𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕥: 𝟞𝟜𝟘

Christmas is new to him. His parents were to busy abusing raising their kids to bother with holidays. All he knew about Christmas comes from the few Hallmark movies he saw. So when Izuku told him that the whole, so-called, Deku-squad were going to do secret Santa it took a lot of explaining. You took the role of guiding Shoto through it.

"Just, grab a note," you say as you point to the bowl sitting in front is Shoto. He nods before reaching into the bowl and grabbing a note. He looks at you again. "Open it up! See who you got.".

Shoto folds the note open. His eyes widen as he sees your name scribbled on the note. He quickly folds it closed again. "And?" you ask. "Why'd you get?".

"It's a secret, isn't it?" Shoto says. You laugh at him. You expected Iida to stick to the rules, not Shoto.

"That's true," you say. "It's a bummer though. I got Izuku.".

Shoto nods at that. Some part of him is disappointed that you aren't his secret Santa. He would even dare to say that he's jealous of Izuku. Though he pushes those thoughts back down quickly. He has no reason to be jealous, right?

☆◦ 。＼｜／。◦☆

'Y-Y/n, it's your t-turn!" Izuku says. You smile at him and grab the bag with your name on it. Izuku's attention is immediately turned back on the various amounts of Allmight merchandise you got him.

You look over your group of friends before looking back at the gift bag. You quickly grab every gift out of the bag. From the looks, if it, your secret Santa went above the budget. Way above the budget.

A simple chain necklace, a new Christmas sweater, a gift card for your favourite store. You quickly realized who your secret Santa was. Only one person had enough money to pull this off. You were certain when you pulled a new phone case out of the gift bag. It has a photo of you and Shoto printed on the back off it.

Once all the gifts are stalled out around you, you turn to your friend. "Shoto, you shouldn't have," you say before pulling him in a for a hug.

Shoto awkwardly wraps his arms around your shoulders. A smile tugs on his lips as he feels you nuzzle into his neck. You pull away again to glance at the gifts.

"I can't accept all of these," you say. Shoto quickly shakes his head.

"From my understanding, secret Santa's were supposed to give each other gifts, correct?" Shoto asks. You nod at his words. "Then please, do accept them.".

You sigh. You could see that there was a meaning behind every gift. A shirt that Shoto already owned, so that you match now. A teddy bear, that is similar to one he once won for you at a fare. A box of chocolates from the brand you both enjoy.

You nod before mentioning towards Iida to grab his gift. He happily reaches towards the pile laying in front of you all.

"I'll accept them if..." you say. "If you let me pay you back. Let me take you out for food tonight.".

Shoto's cheeks flush at the idea of you two going to a restaurant. Could this be? Maybe...

"Are you asking me out on a date?" he asks. A nervous smile spreads over your lips.

"If I am, would you say yes?" you ask. Shoto nods. You happily smile before giving his arm a light squeeze. Shoto's eyes widen at the action but he can't deny the butterflies swarming up because of it.

"Then consider it a date!" you say. Shoto nods before looking away from you and towards Iida, who's now unpacking his gifts. God, never had he guessed that Christmas could be this much fun.

𝕚𝕚𝕕𝕒

𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕕𝕔𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕥: 𝟞𝟝𝟙

Secret Santa was just another opportunity for Iida to prove that he was a class president. He made it his personal mission to get his secret Santa the best gifts money could get.

He is busy hyping himself up as he reaches into the bowl to grab a note. He unfolds it. Y/n. Fuck. Ass. Shit. Fucking fuck. Panic washes through his body.

"Iida!" you say. The panic that was building up in him melts the moment he hears your voice. He turns towards you with a smile on his lips. You run over to him with a goofy smile on your lips.

Once you reach him, you tap him a couple of times on his arm. "Do you want to go gift shopping with me? Please?" you ask. He can't say no to you. Not when you give him those big, puppy-dog eyes paired with that goofy grin.

Iida quickly nods. "Yes! Of course," he says. "I'll take you shopping. That's what a good friend does!".

"Great! How about tomorrow at four?" you ask. Iida nods. You smile at him one last time before running off to talk to god knows who. Iida remains in his spot, relishing the warmth flowing through his heart. He is thankful that his mind is still clouded by a loving fog. If not, he would be freaking out on how he's going to hide that fact that he's your secret Santa.

☆◦ 。＼｜／。◦☆

Iida's normally calm composure is now failing on him. To him, it feels like you're unpacking your gift at an agonizingly slow pace. While in reality, you're tearing through the baby blue wrapping paper at rapid speed.

His fists clench and unclench as he tries to keep his nerves at bay. When you have finally thorn away all the wrapping paper, a smile spreads over your lips.

You proudly hold your gift in your hands. A little basket filled with snacks, a new mug and a book from your favourite author. Along with a letter situated in a pretty green envelope.

"This is so sweet!" you say. With that, Iida's body relaxes. A cocky smile spreads over his lips. "Who's my secret Santa?".

With that, Iida lifts his hand. You carefully place the basket on the ground beside you before crawling over to Iida and pulling him into a hug. "Thank you," you whisper into his shoulder.

Iida's smile grows at your hug. His nerves are on fire and his senses are tingling. His happily wraps his arms around you. You pull away from him - way too quickly for Iida - and look him in the eyes.

"What's in the envelope?" you asks. Iida's cheeks grow red at the question.

"Um-N-Nothing!" he quickly says. "Just open it when you're by yourself, okay?". You nod at him before crawling back to your original space, wondering what could be in that envelope.

✨bonus✨

You clutch the small basket to your chest as you take quick steps towards your dorm. You pull the door open and rapidly throw it shut behind you. You gently place the basket onto your bed before gabbing the envelope out of it.

The light green colour suprised you. Blue would have suited Iida better but it's pretty none the less. You quickly open it before snatching the letter out of it. You gently fold it open before reading it.

You're way too excited to read the whole thing. You opt for scanning the text quickly instead. I trust you. Well, that's good. Trust is essential in friendship. I hope you won't treat me differently. Wait, what? I like you.

Oh, crap. Meet me tonight at my dorm have feelings for me as well. If not, we'll pretend I never confessed.

You throw the letter down onto your bed and run over to Iida's dorm. If Aizawa would have seen how fast you ran, he would have been proud.

𝕤𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕤𝕠

𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕕𝕔𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕥: 𝟟𝟘𝟠

To say that he was surprised when you invited him for secret Santa, was an understatement. Most of the school feared him, though you never did. You opened him with wide arms and showed him what it's like to be treated like a normal person.

Shinso ignores the hateful glares thrown his way. The only thing he's paying attention to is the way you pull him towards the bowl that Kirishima is holding.

"Y/n!" the redhead says. You greet him as well. "Oh, you brought Shinso.". For a moment, a prepares himself for another hateful comment thrown his way. "You're in general studies, right?". Oh, that wasn't so bad.

Shinso nods at Kirishima. A smile spreads over the redhead's lips. "Cool! I heard that your quirk is super manly!"

Shinso looks over at you with confused eyes. "Hell yeah," you say before reaching into the bowl and grabbing a note. "Hitoshi's quirk is badass.".

A smile spreads over Shinso's lips before grabs a note as well. "You're unbreakable, right?" he asks. Kirishima proudly smiles at him while humming in agreement. "That's...cool,".

"And manly," you add. Kirishima chuckles at you before excusing himself to continue handing out notes. You turn back towards Shinso.

"Let's see who we got!" you say. Shinso nods before folding his note open. Y/n. Thank fucking god. He would have died is he had someone else, let alone a big-mouthed little shit like Bakugou.

He looks over to you. The moment you've read the name on the note, you quickly close it again. A bright smile falls on your lips as stupid giggles follow suit.

"Did you get me?" Shinso asks. He means it teasingly but you take it seriously. Your eyes grow wide.

"How did you know?" you ask. Shinso chuckles to himself before wrapping an arm around your shoulder and leading the two of you towards the couch standing in the common room.

"Only I could make you giggle like a fucking idiot," he adds. You shake your head as you snuggle into his hold. Fuck, was he glad he pulled your note.

☆◦ 。＼｜／。◦☆

The whole afternoon has gone by surprisingly well. So far, Bakugou has only blown two holes in the whole, Denki has only short-circuited ones and Iida has only given five lectures. No one has said anything hurtful to Shinso. The 1-A class have started to warm up to the general studies student. Shinso would even dare to say that he was having a good time. Though, sipping hot chocolate while laughing his ass off with you could make any activity 'good'.

"Come on, idiot. You're next," Bakugou groans out. He has his arms folded over his chest, doing his best to put on a 'tough guy' facade. Though, his attempts fail since the pastel orange cap that Kirishima gifted him is still planted firmly on his head. The knitted yarn along with the fluffy pomp-pomp sitting on top of it makes Bakugou look more like an angry toddler than a threat.

With a smile, you grab your gift bag. You look over at Shinso before opening the bag up. He's lazily leaning against the couch while taking slow sips of his hot chocolate.

The jet-black gift bag reveals a white scarf. Sloopy stitches and small holes quickly give away the fact that it's homemade. The creamy white colour reminds you of only one person.

You look over to Shinso to see him already smirk at you. You quickly wrap the scarf around your neck. The soft wool feels amazing against your skin.

"Did you make this, 'Toshi?" you ask. Shinso slowly nods. You run your fingers over the fabric again. "Thank you. Really, thank you.".

Shinso's heart flutters at the sight of you. Your excitement travels over to him and he can't stop a goofy smile from pulling on his lips.

"Shitty hair, you're next!" Bakugou calls as he points at Shinso.

He shakes his head as he grabs his own gift bag. "My hair is not shitty, it's cool," he says before grabbing his gift out of the bag.

"Meh, it's actually kinda shitty," you interject while rubbing the scarf against your cheek. Shinso shakes his head at you. God, you're a dork. But you're his dork.

𝕕𝕒𝕓𝕚

𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕕𝕔𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕥: 𝟜𝟛𝟟

The only reason he agreed to do this was to stop Toga from bugging him. That and the chance that he could get to be your secret Santa. Or better yet, get you to be his.

While flirting was normally his forte, all his skills when out the window when it came to you. He stumbles of his words and his hands start shaking. He feels like a highschool boy all over again. Maybe he could use this as a way to get you to go out with him.

"Bacon bits, come on and pick one," Shigaraki calls. Dabi grumbles at the nickname.

"Not my name, crusty," he says before sticking his hand into Mr Compress' hat. Please be Y/n. Just this once, let the universe work in his favour. He pulls the note out of the hat. He folds it open. Y/n.

Dabi thanks any god that might be up there. For once, luck is on his side. Dabi's eyes shoot over to you. You're talking with a giddy Toga. She's hanging on your arm and discussing potential gifts with you.

You look over at him. He winks at you and you quickly look back at Toga, too flustered to look at Dabi again. He chuckles to himself before walking over a dark corner of the bar try to look 'cool' and 'mysterious'. No one can know that he's secretly thinking if a romantic present to give you.

☆◦ 。＼｜／。◦☆

"Y/n-chan! Open your gift!" Toga whines out. You shake your head at her as you carefully tear the wrapping paper away. It's clearly cheap. Knowing your friends, most likely stolen, though you don't mind. You smile as you see your gift.

A small teddy bear with dark purple patches to match Dabi's scars. You quickly look over at him. "So you can cuddle it. I know you want the real thing," he says while gesturing to his body. "But this is the closest you'll get.".

You smile brightly at him as you wrap your arms around the plushy. Dabi's heart does summersaults at the sight of you, though he does his best to hide that.

"So I'll never get to snuggle with you?" you ask with a fake pout. Dabi rolls his eyes at you.

"If you wanted to get into my bed you could have just said so, baby," he says. You look away from him again as you mention for Toga to open her gift.

Dabi smirks as he continues to watch you cradle the plushie. Some part of him grows envious of the inanimate object. Maybe, he'll offer to cuddle you tonight. Maybe.

188 notes · View notes

connordavidscamera · 3 years

Text

Christmas Confessions | Connor Brashier

A/n: this is absolute trash and I’m sorry, but sometimes you gotta put out the bad stuff to get to the good stuff. This is also for @wondershawns winter writing challenge, so I hope you enjoy it! My prompts were “old Christmas family photos” and “we’d make a cute couple.”

Summary: Christmas time brings up some feelings for these long time friends

Warnings: friends to lovers, fluff

Word count: 2.2k

***

Christmas vacation has always been a big thing in our family. It just became even bigger once the Brashier family started joining us. Which, while I like to say our moms are the reason for that – they are, for the most part – it’s really because Connor and I have been attached at the hip since we were in preschool. But it also helps that our moms became best friends too when Connor and I had our first play date. Then if we flashforward a couple more years, Sam and his family joined us too.

Yeah, Christmas vacation is quite an adventure, but it’s truly the greatest time to be surrounded by the people I love for two whole weeks. No responsibilities, just a fuck ton of cookies, egg nog, and Hallmark Christmas movies. The boys claim to hate the movies, but by the middle of the movie – every single time, without fail – they’re arguing over whether or not the main character should be with the big shot lawyer guy that she was supposedly getting engaged to at the start of the movie, or her old high school crush. (Sam votes lawyer, Connor and I say high school crush. But it’s funny how this is the argument every time and even though we’ve seen hundreds of these movies in our lifetime, Sam still votes for the big shot.)

“Kids! Look what I found!” Mrs. Brashier comes into the living room where the three of us are sprawled out on the floor arguing. We all turn to look at her and I furrow my brows at the scrapbook she’s holding.

“A scrapbook?”

“Yes, it has all kinds of pictures of the three of you from all the trips we’ve taken here. You should look through it. Take a trip down memory lane.” She hands the book to Connor, who in turn hands it to me since I’m in the middle. “There’s the cutest photo of you three in there from two years ago, when you’re all under the mistletoe.” She says before heading back to the dining room to sit with mine and Sam’s moms.

“Pause the movie,” I tell Sam. “I wanna look through it.” I reposition myself, taking my pillow off Connor’s back, where I was previously resting my head.

The first few photos are just of me and Connor, and a few with Dylan too, but Dylan hated being in front of the camera as a kid, so he was rarely in any photos with us. “Awe, look at little y/n missing her tooth,” Connor laughs.

“Mhm, that was the Christmas where I wouldn’t stop singing ‘All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth.’”

“Oh, I remember. You were tone deaf,” he dead pans and I gasp, slapping his arm.

“Don’t be an ass! I was six!”

“I’m aware. You’re better now.”

“Well, only a little,” Sam says.

“You both suck! I’m a great singer.”

“Mhm sure,” they say at the same time.

“I did not ask to be attacked like this.”

“You don’t have to, it’s our job as your best friends to keep you humble,” Sam nods, nudging my arm with his elbow.

I hum and turn the page, and Sam makes his first appearance. He’s putting way too many sprinkles on his cookie that looks like it was supposed to be Santa. The next photo is of all of us with our decorated cookies. Mine looks almost bare because I didn’t have enough frosting on it – I was never a frosting person, it’s too sweet. Connor’s somehow has the perfect ratio of frosting to sprinkles. Of course, it’s kinda hard to mess up a candy cane.

The next couple photos are of us in the snow – snow angels, snowball fights, another one of just us smiling at the camera, arms all locked around each other. It takes a few more pages before we get to the photo Connor’s mom was talking about.

I’m squished between the guys, Sam on my left, Connor on my right and they’re both kissing my cheeks. My eyes are shut tight and the picture is a little blurry from where the camera tried to catch my hands pushing them away.

“Hey, if you take Sam out of the picture,” Connor starts, going to cover Sam with his hand. “We’d make a good couple.”

“Don’t be a dick!” Sam shoves his hand away so he can cover Connor’s face. “Obviously we’re the better couple. You’re just the third wheel.”

“Okay, that’s enough. Turn the movie back on. We have like three more to watch tonight.” I change the subject, but I look back at the photo and I can’t help but think that Connor’s right. We do look like a good couple.

---

After we’ve all eaten, the guys and I make our way back to the living room, all the siblings following, scattering on the floor to watch movies with us. The parents have resorted to their rooms, the moms most likely wrapping last minute gifts while our dads all start drifting off so they don’t get asked to do anything. It’s their own tradition.

Once it hits midnight, most everyone has gone to their rooms, except for Connor, Sam, Dylan, and me. But Sam and Dylan are asleep and snoring loudly beside Connor and me. He’s scrolling through his phone and I have my head on his shoulder, watching the movie that’s still on. It’s one of my favorite Christmas movies. Sam hates it, which is why I turned it on after he fell asleep.

“What is it about this movie that you love so much?” Connor asks quietly.

I shrug, “I don’t know. I guess I’m just a sucker for a good ol’ friends to lovers story. It’s the best of all the clichés, I think.”

He just nods. “Yeah. I guess friends to lovers is kinda nice.”

“What? Are you gonna tell me that you don’t like the idea of knowing someone your whole life and slowly realizing that they’re your soulmate?”

“No,” he shakes his head staring down at me with a fond smile. “I – I like the idea. But, I don’t know if it would happen for me.”

“Why not?”

“Well, what if she doesn’t feel the same?” he asks seriously.

“What if she does? What then?”

“It’s not possible.”

“Says who? Any girl would be crazy not to be in love with you.”

He clears his throat, “Any girl?”

“Yeah, any girl,” I say, but I don’t think he quite gets what I’m saying. Because he just nod and looks back at his phone.

“Hey,” he says a few minutes later. “It says it’s snowing. Let’s go.”

“But it’s late.”

“So? We always go out for a walk when the first snow hits. Go get dressed. I’ll get blankets.”

I don’t argue because he’s right. It’s our tradition. Since we started coming here, we always go on a walk together during the first snow. Sam came with us once, but that just resulted in a snowball fight and this was the only quiet time that Connor and I had. So we made it a thing to go when it first started snowing, and then we’d go back out with Sam and go as crazy as we want.

I shiver once we get out there, shrugging my jacket on. “Oh god.”

Connor just snickers and takes my hand. “Come on, let’s go. It’s really coming down out here.”

I follow him and we soon fall into step with each other, our feet crunching the snow beneath us at the same speed, our breathing synchronized.

“Hey, y/n?” he says on our way back to the house.

“Yeah?” I breathe out.

“What you said inside, about liking the whole friends to lovers cliché.”

“Mhm, what about it?”

“Did you mean that you would like it if it were to happen to you?”

“Oh,” I nod and think about it. “Yeah. Yeah, I would. Why?”

Connor shrugs, “I don’t know. I was just – just wondering.”

“Do you want a friends to lovers cliché?”

“I don’t know. Maybe,” he looks down at his feet while he walks. “I mean, I could see it happening maybe… with you?”

“With,” I clear my throat, “with me?”

He sighs and climbs the steps, walking over to the porch swing where we left the blankets. He sits down, “I mean, I’m just thinking like… if I were to have a crush on you or something. Would – would it be possible that those feelings would be reciprocated?”

“Um,” I sit down next to him and look down at his hands that are clasped together in his lap. “I think that if you had a crush on me, it is very, very possible that those feelings are reciprocated.”

He looks up at me with wide eyes, “Wait, you’re – are you serious?”

“What you said earlier, about us looking like a good couple. Did you mean that?”

He licks his lips and I glance down in time to see his pinkie twitching. I reach forward and place my hand over his. He winces. “Fuck, your hands are cold.” And he covers mine with his, blowing on them to keep the heat. I stare at his rosy cheeks, and eyes that seem even brighter in contrast with the bright white snow. “Yes.”

“Yes?”

“Yes, I meant it.”

I nod once and exhale deeply. “So… what does this mean?”

“I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t even really know what just happened.”

“Well, I think we might have just admitted we have feelings for each other.”

“Yes,” he confirms. “We did that. So where do we go from here?”

“I have no idea,” I admit. “But hopefully inside, it’s freezing.”

Connor laughs, “Yeah, it is. Let’s go.” He stands, still holding my hand and he pulls me to my feet, leading me inside. We’re quiet walking back in, careful not to wake Dylan and Sam who are still sleeping, the movie still playing on the TV, but long forgotten. Connor leads me to the kitchen, and he pulls two mugs from the cupboard and gets the kettle from near the coffee maker, turning on the stove before filling the kettle with water.

“So,” I say, hoisting myself up on the counter. “Are we gonna talk about this next move thing?”

“Yes,” he answers, jumping to sit next to me, our legs touching. “I think we need to go on a date.”

“Okay.”

“Okay?” he asks, and it’s clear he wasn’t expecting that to be my response.

“Well, actually, I would like to be asked on a date.”

He blushes and looks down. “Sorry.” But then he looks back up and he has a very bright smile on his face and I’m reminded why I fell for him in the first place. His smile could light up the whole world, and no I do not take constructive criticism. “Would you, y/n, like to accompany me on an outing, one that is often referred to as a date?”

I can’t help but laugh, “Sure, yes. I would very much like to accompany you on an outing often referred to as a date.”

“Yeah? That’s – that’s great! I’ll start planning tonight.” He says matter-of-factly.

“Okay. That sounds good.” I nod and swing my feet as we both fall silent, waiting for the water to boil.

“Y/n?”

“Hmm?”

“I really want to kiss you.”

I choke on air. “What?”

“Sorry,” he shakes his head. “I didn’t – I wasn’t going to say that out loud. I just – well, yeah. I want to kiss you. Because I’ve been thinking about what it would be like to kiss you since I was fourteen and now that we’re going on a date I feel – excuse me for assuming – like I’m that much closer and it’s absolutely killing me to not know what it’s like to –”

“Connor, kiss me,” I interrupt his rambling.

He only hesitates a second before his hands are on either side of my jaw and his lips are covering mine in a heated kiss. I hum against him and reach for his hair, tugging a little, which in turn causes him to moan against my lips. And holy hell, what wouldn’t I give to hear that again over and over for the rest of my life. His tongue teases my bottom lip and I part my lips, allowing him to roam. This kiss is heaven. It’s everything I could have ever wanted with this boy in particular. It’s the type of kiss that leaves your toes curling and your mind spinning. It’s perfect until –

Eeeeeekkk!!! The kettle squeals, startling us both, and causing Connor to bite my lip as he pulls away.

“Ow,” I hold onto my lips while Connor jumps from the counter to take the kettle off the stove. He pours the water into our mugs and then grabs the tea bags from the cupboard above him, placing one in each of our cups before turning and handing me mine. “Thanks,” I say, still holding my lip.

“What’s wrong?”

“You bit my lip when you pulled away.”

“Oh,” his face falls. “I’m so sorry.”

“S’okay. Is it bleeding?” I ask, taking my hand away.

He leans closer to inspect it and shakes his head. “No, it’s not. I’m sorry.”

“You’re okay. Why don’t you kiss it and make it better?”

Connor raises an eyebrow, “You want me to?”

“Please?”

He sets his mug down beside me and I do the same. And then he’s taking my face again and kissing my lips softly. He pecks my lips six times before I groan.

“Kiss me like you mean it, Brashier.”

He chuckles and pulls me closer, doing as he’s told.

***

I hope you enjoyed!! Please like, reblog, and leave feedback!!

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#juliaswinterwriting #connor brashier #connor brashier x reader #connor brashier x y/n #connor brashier imagines #connor brashier imagine #connor brashier fanfiction #connor brashier blurb

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wonder-kid-pugh · 4 years

Text

Family - USWNT x reader

Y/n's Pov

I rub the sleep from my eyes and check the clock beside my bed. I sigh and just stare at the ceiling for a bit. My first Christmas without my parents. Thankfully my childhood home got left to me in the will so at least I didn't have to worry about anywhere to stay for the holidays. I contemplated just staying in bed and sleeping through the day.

Christmas isn't as fun when you don't have anyone to spend it with

I decided I better at least get out of bed rather than mope in bed all day. So I settled to mope all day on the couch. I put on some hallmark Christmas movie but I barely pay attention. All I can think about is all the Christmas day traditions I used to do with my parents. We would always wake up and open presents. Then we would always have a mini soccer match which almost always ended up with us pelting each other with snowballs. We would come inside and warm up with hot chocolates, always with marshmallows. My favourite was always the cookie exchange. We would all make our own cookies and we would swap with someone else. Then we would all cuddle up and watch a Christmas movie together. It was perfect.

But now I don't have anyone to celebrate with

I was snapped from my daze as my phone rings. I look at my phone confused, "Why is Kelley ringing me?". I shrug, it's probably just to wish my a happy Christmas. None of the team knew I had no one to celebrate Christmas with. They knew my parents passed away earlier this year and they were with me every step of the way, but I couldn't bring myself to tell them I had no one to spend the holidays with. They were gushing about spending their holidays with family and I didn't want them to feel guilty knowing I no longer had a family to spend it with.

I answer the phone, "Hello?". "Y/n! Open the door!" Kelley shouts down the phone. I take the phone away from my ear and look at it before putting it back to my ear, "What? Kel what door?". "Your front door! Duh!". "Kelley what are you-" "God Y/n just open your front door! It's cold out here!" And she hangs up before I can ask her more. I huff that squirrel gets weirder by the day.

I haul myself off the couch wrapping my blanket around my shoulders as I trudge to the door. I open the door and my eyes widen as I see who's standing outside. Not only Kelley, who is grinning madly at me, but the whole uswnt squad is standing shivering on my porch holding bags of what I guess to be food. "Wha-what are you guys doing here?" I question. Before anyone can answer Ash pushes her way to the front and picks me up and carries me inside the house, "Ash what are you-" "Sorry kid but it is freezing outside and you took forever to answer the door. Also that was mean leaving us outside there for so long" Ash interrupts me. The whole teams starts to pile into the living room. I go and get the extra blankets and start to pass them around to my shivering teammates.

Just as I give the blanket I was using to Mal Becky comes up to me, "Why do you barely have any food?". I shrug, "Well I wasn't exactly expecting a make a huge Christmas. I was just gonna make a salad or something later for myself". Becky shakes her head and grabs a pen and paper and starts writing stuff down. Once she's done Alyssa and Julie look over her head and both grabbing their coats again, "We're going to head to the store and pick up everything". And before I could say anything they were off out the door. "Why don't you have any decorations up? And where's your tree?" Alex asks. "I didn't see the point of putting them up only to have taken down. Again wasn't expecting to be celebrating with anyone this year" I wave off. "Well now you do. So where do you keep all the decorations because I know you have them" Christen says. I lead them to the attic and with everyone's helps the door is decorated within the hour and by the time Becky and the others are back.

I staring at the tree in the corner, all decorated and shining when I feel someone grip my wrist. I turn and see Mal smile at me, "Now want to go outside and play soccer for a little while?". I bite my lip trying to contain the smile, but it's no use as I can feel myself already grinning ear to ear, "Yeah I would love too". The whole squad when to the pitch just around the corner. The field was covered in snow but that didn't stop us. We didn't organise teams or anything, we just started kicked a ball around and tackling random people. Mal had the ball at one point and I went to tackle her but we some how ended up falling with my landing on top of her. We just stare at each other for a bit not knowing what to do, "Hi" "Hey". Her cheeks were red, no doubt like mine, but I couldn't tell if it was from the cold or what.

Before I could do anything though I felt something hit the side of my head. I whipped around to see Kelley and Sonnett laughing hysterically at us. Mal and I looked at each other before bolting up and chasing them while throwing snowballs at each other. Eventually the whole team joined all pelting snowballs at each other.

Once we came back in we all made hot chocolate to warm ourselves up. "Do you have your cookies made?" Tierna asks. I shake my head, "I had no one to trade with this year". "Well you better get started so" she says dragging me into the kitchen. Tierna and I laugh as she helps me start off my cookies before going to join the others in the living room. Just as I take the cookies out of the oven Mal enters, "You almost finished? Becky's looking to start making the food". I nod just finishing putting the icing on the cookies, "Yeah almost". Mal goes to tell Becky but I grab her wrist, "Mal wait". I pull her back into the room and silently hand her a cookie. "No we have to wait for the cookie exchange" she argue trying to give me back the cookies. I shake my head and gently push it back into her hand and wink, "No one needs to know". She rolls her eyes but relents and takes the cookie.

Becky soon comes and ushers me out if the kitchen. And a few hours later we are presented with an amazing dinner. We all laugh and joke around over dinner. And I take a moment to look around the table. I see Christen and Tobin talking amiably, I see Emily and Kelley flinging small bits of food at each other from across the table and then Becky reprimanding them for it. Rose and Alex seemed to be talking about their dogs and Ali and Ash were talking as if they were the only people in the room. "You okay?" Mal nudges me. I smile at the family around me, "Yeah I'm perfect".

We all layed around digesting the festive feast we just had all talking amongst each other. "Cookie Exchange!" Rose shouts out. We all grab our tins of cookies and put them on the table. When it's Mal's turn she picks my tin and sits back down beside me. "Good choice I see" I whisper to her. "You tempted me with the first cookie" she whispers back. Once we all trade cookies and sit back down again. "Not that I didn't love today, but why did ye come and spend Christmas with me? You were all so excited to spend the holidays with your families" I ask. "Well when we were all talking about our family Christmas traditions. T brought up how you didn't seem as excited as you usually do. But then Mal realised it's because your parents aren't here to celebrate with you" Christen explained. I turned to the girls either side of me. "But your families" I start. "We weren't going to let you be alone for the holidays. Your our family too" Tobin says. I can feel my eyes start to get watery and I wrap my arms around Mal and Tierna in a big hug, "I love you guys so much". "We love you too Y/n" Tierna says as the rest of the team join in making a big group hug.

"I'm going to go get a drink before we start the movie" Mal says. "Hey I want one as well" I say getting up with Mal. I grab two waters from the fridge and hand one to Mal, "Thanks" "No problem". I just fidget with the bottle before looking at Mal, "I just want to thank you for remembering. I didn't want to make a big deal about it, but you turned a day where I would have stayed on the couch all day to one of the best days ever. So thank you". Mal just smiles at me, "Of course Y/n. But I didn't do much". I shake my head, "No remembered and told everyone. Nobody would be here if you didn't tell them". Mal smiles but looks up and immediately blushes. I tilt my head at her confused. But my eyes widen when I spot the mistletoe hanging above our heads. Before I can utter a word, Mal cups my cheeks and kisses me slowly but full of passion. After getting over my shock I kiss her back. Finally after pulling away both of us no doubt with a dazed look on our faces.

Merry Christmas to me.

Okay so first off. I had tried to post theses earlier and I thought they did post but then when I checked my blog these were up. So yes these are late but I genuinely thought they were posted. So I'm sorry. Hope you enjoy!

#mal pugh #kelley o hara x reader #abby dahlkemper x reader #alex morgan #kelley o hara imagine #tobin heath imagines #rose lavelle imagines #ali krieger x reader #uswntsoccer #uswnt x reader #uswnt imagines #uswnt woso #uswnt imagine #uswnt #kelley o hara #Christen Press #becky sauerbrunn #emily sonnett #lindsey horan

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thesealishere · 4 years

Text

First Christmas Together! Yancy X Reader (Speed Date with Markipler winner)

[Y/N] hummed along to the Christmas music coming from the radio as they drove home from work. It had been a month since Yancy had gotten out on parole and had started living with them and they were happy to have someone to go home to every night.

Granted tonight what they came home to was a house filled with smoke and a blaring fire alarm, they ran into where the smoke was mostly coming from the kitchen, and found Yancy freaking out with a pan in hand, inside the pan was a blackened… Lump. He threw it into the sink and turned on the tap, the water instantly turning into steam as it hit the hot pan.

“What’s going on?!” [Y/N] yelled over the smoke alarm, grabbing a chair so they could get up and turn it off as Yancy opened a window.

“I uh… I wanted to make dinner for youse…” He laughed nervously before coughing. “It’s just… Youse been workin’ real hard and well, my jobs hunt ain’t going so well and I wanted to do somethin’.” He shrugged before dropping his head.

“Yancy.” They sighed, getting off the chair and walking over to him. “You don’t need to do anything like this, I know you’re trying. It’s not like it’s easy for an ex-con to get a job.” They said, placing a hand on his shoulder and he offered a weak smile.

“Still, I feel bad. Like I’m moochin’ off of youse. So, I figured I could at least make dinner, but I uh… Never really tried cooking before. Never got kitchen duty.” He let out another nervous laugh, rubbing the back of his neck.

“It’s the thought that counts. Besides, I have a plan for us tonight that includes food.” They said and he looked at them in confusion.

“What’s the plan?”

“Well, it’s your first Christmas out of prison and with me and there’s this tree lighting going on downtown. The website said there’s gonna be caroler’s and hot chocolate and shops, I figured it would be fun!” They suggested, watching his face light up as they listed the different things.

“Well why didn’t ya start with that?! Lemme get my jacket!” He said excitedly, running out of the kitchen to grab his jacket out of the closet near the front door. [Y/N] shook their head, turning the water off in the sink and closing the window before turning on the fan above the stove, hopefully that would have the smoke cleared up by the time they got home.

The drive to the small downtown area was filled with Christmas songs being belted out by Yancy and [Y/N], the two only stopping when they passed by a couple of places that were nicely decorated for the season and even then they started right where they left off in the song.

They ended up having to park a fair distance away from the town square where the tree was, but as they walked they saw a small high school band setting up and they made a mental note to stop by once the tree was lit. There was supposed to be hot cocoa, carolers, and all the small shops were supposed to be open! But once they got to the town square there were no carolers, there were small children running around, playing with light up toys as the adults all huddled around and some man on a stage was talking about something they couldn’t hear due to the crowds talking. At least there was a place where they could get some hot chocolate and hotdogs, seeing as that was the only food they had.

“Sorry Yance, I don’t know why I was expecting something out of Hallmark.” They sighed, sipping their hot chocolate, at least that was good.

“Don’t youse worry about it. Anytime spent with you is a good time to me, besides we can go check out that band once we’re done here.” He said excitedly, taking a bite of his hotdog and stepping out of the way of a child that was running from their parents from some reason or another.

“Well, as long as you're having fun that’s what matters.” They said that the two eating their hotdogs and making whatever small talk they could until the man on stage started a countdown from ten. Once they reached one the tree lit up and everyone cheered, [Y/N] looked over to Yancy who was staring up at the tree as if it was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen and they couldn’t stop the grin that spread across their face. The two stood there for a moment, letting the crowd thin out before walking a little bit closer to the tree to get a better look.

“This isn’t a tree! It’s just some big cone with stuff to make it look like a tree.” Yancy huffed once they got close enough to it.

“Well, that explains how they got one of these so big and perfectly shaped every year.” [Y/N] laughed at the pout on the ex-con’s face. “It also means they don’t have to worry about watering a giant tree, I wouldn’t want that job.” They continued on and he shrugged, taking the explanation.

“Well, it’s still really nice looking…” He said before turning away from the tree and smiling at them. “Let’s go check out that band we saw.”

The two quickly made their way back to where the band was and were happy to find that they were playing Christmas music, two of the kids getting up and singing “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”. Yancy took hold of [Y/N]’s hands and started to dance with them to the music, with a laugh they followed his lead and eventually a few other couples joined in dancing along with the music. During the songs that kids weren’t singing Yancy would sing to them and if it was a duet they couldn’t help but sing with him. They stayed there for the whole hour that the band played, clapping and whistling when it was time for them to go, the kids had school the next day after all. But before he left the band director made an announcement that they would be hosting a community dance that would be 40’s themed.

“Please tell me we’re going to that.” Yancy said as they walked away from the stage that the band was on.

“To what? The dance?” They asked before thinking about it. “Yeah, I could look into that.” They said and he smiled, starting to talk about all the fun they would have as they walked the streets, looking into the shops every now and again. They found their way into an antique shop, looking at old books and records, there was even a rack of old clothes where [Y/N] found an old leather jacket.

“Yancy! C’mere, you need to try this on!” They called and he instantly came over, moving a little faster at the sight of the jacket.

“Oh! It’s fits like a glove!” He said once he had the jacket on, pulling on it a bit and putting his hands in the pockets as they checked the price tag.

“This is only thirteen bucks? I’m getting it for you.” They said, not seeing Yancy’s face drop.

“Youse don’t have ta do that. Youse do enough for me as is…” He tried to defend but they weren’t having any of it.

“Yancy, it’s like this jacket was made for you. I’m getting it and I won’t take any ifs ands or buts got it?” They asked, he opened his mouth to protest more but one more look from them was enough to silence him.

“Right… Thanks [Y/N].” He said with a soft smile.

“No problem, just think of it as an early Christmas gift.” They said as he switched back to his other jacket and they walked over to the register where the older woman behind the counter eyed Yancy with some distaste.

“We’ll be getting this.” [Y/N] said as Yancy avoided the woman’s gaze, she said nothing as she checked them out and the two left with their purchase in a paper bag.

“Was it me or was that lady givin’ me the stink eye?” He asked once they were outside again.

“Oh, she was totally giving you the stink eye. But who cares what some random old lady thinks?” They asked and he shrugged.

“It was just… Odd is all. Not that I care what she thinks, I only care about one persons opinion and that’s youse.” He said and the two smiled at each other before they went back to looking around, every now and again [Y/N] could feel his hand brush against theirs and finally they just took his hand into theirs, watching a blush reach his ears.

“You know, the website said there was going to be carolers and I don’t think they meant the band…” They said, looking across the street as people walked around.

“Maybe… We are the carolers.” Yancy suggested.

“Wha-?” Before [Y/N] could finish their question Yancy began singing “Joy to the World” at full volume, drawing a lot of attention. At first [Y/N] covered their face and laughed, feeling their face heating up as they continued down the street. Once he finished the song a few people clapped as they bumped his shoulder with theirs.

“Very funny.” They grumbled before spotting a cafe and they quickly pulled him into it before he could start another song. Inside the shop was fairly quiet as the few people inside chatted and in the background played soft jazz, the cafe was steampunk themed and they seemed to have all kinds of different drinks and pastries. The two got drinks and some cookies before finding a table near the window to sit down and watch people walk by.

“Thanks for this.” Yancy finally spoke after the two sat in silence for some time. “Thanks for everything, I know I’ve said it already but I really mean it, thank youse.”

“You deserve the world Yancy and I may not be able to give it to you, but I can give you this and if that’s enough then I’m glad.” [Y/N] said, the two smiling at eachother, placing their hands on the table near each other.

“This is more than enough.” He said, moving his hand to rest on top of theirs. “I… I never thought I could be this happy outta prison.” He laughed, looking down at their hands, refusing to look up at them. He knew they were smiling at him, he could feel his heartbeat rapidly increase as he swallowed the saliva that had accumulated in his mouth. “I love youse.” He finally forced out, closing his eyes as he did so.

“I love you too.” There was no hesitation, they moved their hand so that their palm was facing up and they could hold onto his hand, his eyes shot open and to their face. He stared for a moment, looking for anything, any sign that he’d misheard them or that they were only saying that out of pity…

“Really?” His voice just above a whisper, he couldn’t believe it even as they nodded and he started laughing. He stood quickly, nearly knocking over the table along with their drinks and pulled [Y/N] from their seat and pulling them to him for a short, but passionate kiss.

“They said they love me!” He cheered, earning a few cheers and claps from the other people in the cafe who didn’t seem to mind the display. In the corner of the cafe, [Y/N] saw a woman that looked oddly familiar, she was smiling at them behind her cup but before they could get a better look at the woman their attention was drawn back to Yancy who was still laughing before he pulled away from them.

“What do ya say we go home, Yancy?” They asked, deciding to forget about the woman for now, right now, all that mattered was this.

“Yeah, let’s go home.” He agreed, feeling as if he was on cloud nine. Man, it was good to be free.

__________________________

I hope y’all enjoyed it! I based this very heavily on the downtown where I live! Also sorry it took a bit longer than planned, I ended up Christmas shopping yesterday and then I worked eight hours today! This was a ton of fun! I’ll make a separate post thanking everyone for participating in a bit! As always I accept any and all feedback! Thank you for reading! I hope it was worth the wait! ~Seal~

#speed date series #yancy x reader #iplieregosxreader

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collecting-stories · 3 years

Text

Love at Frost Sight

A/N: This is the Christmas fic that I wrote for my sister after she said “wouldn’t it be great if Jeffrey Dean Morgan was the love interest in one of these cheesy hallmark movies?”. I don’t intend this to be a ‘real person’ fic but I seriously can’t think of any other name for him so I’ve just been using Jeff.

Christmas Mingle Masterlist

_* ◦ ❅ . ❄︎ * ∙ ◦ . _

Two Weeks Before Christmas

Audrey rolled her eyes, practically into the back of her head, as she leaned against the monitor of her cash register, Jingle Bells playing for what felt like the fifteenth time since her shift started that morning. She hated Christmas and, even more than that, she hated Christmas shoppers.

She knew that most people were preparing to celebrate the most wonderful time of the year but she was not. The only thing she was interested in celebrating was the finalizing of her divorce papers, if she could just get her ex-husband to sign. How many years could a person be separated before they took the hint and realized that it was over? She'd felt like she'd been waiting years to hear from her lawyer and with Christmas right around the corner Audrey had the sinking feeling that she was going to be waiting into the New Year.

As customers neared her lane, she flicked the light off above her till and slipped out, heading for the customer service counter to let them know she was stepping outside for a break. She didn't smoke but if everyone else could get five minutes every time they "needed a cigarette" she should get at least ten for suffering through customers that would've been theirs. It was cold outside anyway, the fact that she was willing to brave the 30 below temperature should be indication enough that this third loop through Sliver Bells was three times too many for her nerves. Maybe she should take up smoking.

"Cady, I'll be right back." She called, waving to the woman behind the desk. Audrey had been working retail for the last eight months, since the family owned home goods shop she'd been managing had closed down. Ten years with the same company and all she had to show for it was a couple sentences on her resume. It didn't matter now though, whether it was the home goods store or Target, it wasn't what she really wanted to be doing with her time.

The only shining star in the entirety of her months at Target was Cady, her sometimes carpool and generally the nicest person she knew. Cady knew every Dolly Parton song from start to finish and she loved Christmas, far more than any one person should. She spent half her pay in the so-called Wondershop, obsessed with the glitziest, pinkest, most Christmas-y items there. Her apartment looked like an ad for the holiday and, if Audrey didn't desperately need a friend who didn't also know her ex, Cady's obsession would send her running for the hills.

"You know what?" Cady's voice came from behind her and Audrey turned around to see her pulling her jacket on over her red Christmas sweater, "I saw this app for the Holidays."

"Oh god, not another holiday dating app scheme. Please, Cads, I really just came out here to be alone for a couple of minutes." Audrey insisted. She wasn't sure she had it in her to listen to some Project Christmas or Christmas Coupling app sell.

"This isn't like those, don't be such a grinch." Cady laughed, pulling her phone out of her pocket and swiping it open to show Audrey the app she was talking about. It was exactly the Tinder for Christmas, 'meet fun people' nonsense, that Audrey suspected it would be. "You can meet people in your area who 'don't do Christmas' too...it's like a 'hey I need a date for this holiday party' deal."

"I do Christmas," Audrey insisted, thinking immediately of her mother's impending Christmas Eve party and her brother's Christmas open house, "I just don't do 'cutting down my own tree to a montage of Santa songs'. And I don't need an app, especially a holiday one, to find a date."

"You should give it a try, maybe you'll meet someone."

"I'm not really interested in meeting someone." Wasn't it good enough that she'd given so much of her time and devotion to Chris? Did she have to find more of it and give that away too? She had been sincere when she told Chris that she was done. Done with relationships and love and everything that came with it. "Losing another 15 pounds or actually completing those yoga classes I'm paying for, sure, but not meeting someone."

"Maybe it'll shake you out of your funk?" Cady suggested, waving her phone in Audrey's face as if that would do anything to convince her that she should give the app another thought.

"I'm not in a funk. I just don't like Christmas." Wasn't it enough that she didn't like Christmas? Did she have to have a reason?

"Just give it a try." She pressured.

Audrey rolled her eyes, once again, at the peer pressure techniques of her co-worker turned friend. Cady didn't have much to complain about in the relationship department. She was dating a guy who acted like she had invented the wheel, he did everything for her all the time and their relationship felt like looking through life with an instagram filter. It was all 'no complaints' and 'everything's perfect'.

"What's the app called?"

"Christmas Mingle."

"I hate that so much," Audrey muttered as she pulled her phone out of her pocket and opened the app store. The things she would do to get her friends off her back truly astounded her sometimes. She swiped through selfies that she had stored in her phone, trying to find one that didn't look too tragic to make her profile picture. This was just what she needed at Christmas, a bunch of desperate guys eager to find someone for a couple of meaningless dates. "You might as well sign me up for the Bachelor or something."

"Don't think I haven't thought about it." Cady joked, walking beside Audrey as they headed back into the warmth of Target, the overhead speaker reminding them to do their holiday shopping in store or online. Audrey held her tongue, not wanting to give Cady any more ridiculous ideas about her love life as she finished filling out her profile. Was it too cynical to say that she hated cliche dating apps and holiday themed anything?

Cady let out a squeal as she peered passed Audrey's arm, watching her best friend press the green ok button, "this is so exciting."

"Come on Cads, this stuff is trash and you know it. No one ever meets their soulmate on these apps." Audrey laughed, pocketing her phone as she returned to her station, shrugging off her jacket.

"Some people do. My cousin met a guy on Match and she loves him." She replied, "besides, maybe you'll get someone you can take to your mom's Christmas Eve party?"

"Oh yeah, 'hey I know we just met on an app where you could be cat-fishing me but why don't we go to my family Christmas party'. That'll be something."

"That's what it's for." Cady pointed out.

"Get your light on Audrey." Marci called as she walked by the register, disrupting the two women chatting.

"It really infuriates me that she's a manager...she's like 12 years younger than me." Audrey huffed, flicking her light on and watching Marci circle back around, that bounce still in her step that Audrey had lost too long ago.

"I'm ten years younger than you." Cady joked. Audrey frowned, looking over at Cady as she smiled back. Everyone else her age felt like they were hitting milestones that Audrey wasn't anywhere close to and the fact that her closest friend was 26 years old just made her feel like she had failed somewhere along the way. Why wasn't she brunching with other moms after dropping her kids at the Y?

"I know you wanna hang out here until someone swipes right on me or whatever but it's not gonna happen so, you might as well just head back to customer service." Audrey pointed out, knowing exactly why Cady was hovering around her till.

"Fine...tell me the minute someone does 'swipe right' though okay?"

"Okay, go...goodbye." Audrey waved her off as a customer stepped into her line, beginning to load their groceries as Jingle Bells started to play.

Today was going to take a whole bottle of wine if Audrey wanted any chance at all of forgetting that she had given up the last shred of dignity she had left by uploading her profile to a dating app. And a Christmas themed one at that.

_* ◦ ❅ . ❄︎ * ∙ ◦ . _

Though Audrey hadn't said anything about it to Cady, and she wouldn't if she could help it, she wasn't totally off the market. She had gone on a few dates, nothing serious, and nothing that had paned out so far. Mostly just guys that had her rethinking the divorce because, if this was the dating pool left, maybe Chris wasn't the worst guy on the market. She was so wary of stupid apps like Match and Tinder because she'd tried them and they had been nothing but a disappointment. And still, she had caved to Cady. Maybe it was peer pressure or maybe there really was a small part of her that was ready to move on, even if she didn't want to admit it. And she really didn't.

Home was an apartment above a law office downtown. Once upon a time it had been in walking distance of the shop that Audrey had managed. A quaint little place on the main street of a town that felt so much like a greeting card. She had started renting the apartment the night after she told Chris that their marriage was over. Just four years into it, he was the same person he'd been when they'd married and somewhere along the line she had forgotten what about that person she actually liked. Was he funny? Kind? Intelligent? Did he tick any of her boxes? She honestly couldn't remember. It was like she'd been living in a fog and when it lifted she just up and left with it. But Chris didn't let go, just like she should've known that he wouldn't, and so she'd been waiting four extra years just for him to sign some papers.

The little apartment that had been her home for the last four years was devoid of any Christmas decorations, an outward reflection of her inward feelings about the holiday. There was no tree, no lights, nothing to indicate that the 25th of December was more than just another day on the calendar. She kicked her shoes off by the door, sliding her feet into her slippers almost immediately as she padded across the hardwood floor in pursuit of the kitchen and the bottle of red that she had sitting on the counter. Cady had bought her a in-shower wine glass holder and she had never been more appreciative of it than she was tonight. Exhausted and annoyed and happy to be in a room that wasn't playing every Christmas song that she hated. Even the Chinese food place two stores down had a tree in their front window.

She poured herself a glass of red and headed for the bathroom, happy for a hot shower. Just as she suspected, Chris' lawyer had never gotten back about the papers, which meant that, for a the fourth complete year in a row he was refusing to sign the papers. She knew that by now she could just file without him but something about that made her feel bad, even when she knew it shouldn't. Had it really come to that? Him holding on to nothing while she ran as far away from it as she could? She didn't owe him anything, she'd given more than enough and yet, somehow, she couldn't bring herself to go through the divorce proceedings without him. Maybe Cady was right, maybe she did need to meet a guy. The app had given no notification and honestly, she couldn't be surprised. Her life was not a movie, as much as she wished it was some Bridget Jones rom-com that could assure her that everything would work out. No one was going to immediately respond and be the perfect guy. Kiss a few toads, as she could imagine her cousin saying.

In the four years that she had come to live in the apartment, even after the shop closed, Audrey had come to love the place. The first place she had ever lived outside of her parents house and a dorm room had been the house Chris had leased for them. It was an amazing feeling, uncompromising, to have a place that was just hers. Just her stuff, just her taste, she didn't have to cater to anyone or listen to anyone. She ate whatever she wanted, wore whatever she wanted, watched whatever she wanted. In all honesty she wasn't sure why she hadn't tried single life sooner. But she knew the one set back, the thing everyone always mentioned, especially around the holidays. Didn't she get lonely? Weren't there times when she walked through that door and wished there was someone to greet her? Didn't she long for companionship? She wasn't so sure she wanted to try companionship again, considering the way it had ended last time. She was afraid, every time she thought about it, that this was just the type of person she was...she would always enter a relationship with her rose tinted glasses and she would always be disappointed when she took them off.

Her phone dinged from the sink and Audrey popped her head out of the shower and looked across the small bathroom, "And so it begins." She said to herself, leaving the shower running as she stepped out, wet feet soaking the towel she had laid down across the tiles. She walked to the counter and grabbed her phone, wiping the fog so she could see the notification on her screen. A message from Christmas Meet-Cute, someone had swiped.

She hummed as she scrolled through the guy's profile. He was older, older than her. Single dad to a 7-year-old 'spitfire' named Charlie. Audrey backtracked to the shower, grabbing her glass of wine and taking a large gulp. A kid? Did she want to date a guy with a kid? It was nice of him to lay it all out there and damn, did he look amazing in his profile pic, and sure, this wasn't the start of the rest of her life but did she want to date a guy with a kid? That was not something she imagined for herself at this point in her life. Thirty-six and starting over felt a little too mature to be thinking along the lines of mom, even if there was a step in front of that.

"Chill out," she muttered to herself, scrolling back through the app to read the message he had sent her.

_* ◦ ❅ . ❄︎ * ∙ ◦ . _

"Come on Charlie," Jeff pleaded once more, looking away from his phone and the message that was waiting his reply. Charlie, the near spitting image of his father as a boy, was sitting at the kitchen table, eyes trained on his Nintendo Switch. The handheld gaming console sat on top of the notebook that Charlie was supposed to be doing his math homework in. The closer it got to Christmas the harder he was to reign in. "Homework before games."

"But dad...I'm almost done," he whined, eyes never straying from Animal Crossing. Jeff had cautioned his mom against buying her only grandchild a switch for his seventh birthday but she couldn't be persuaded and now he was the one paying the price.

"We agreed buddy, school first, games second." Jeff insisted, "turn it off and finish your homework."

"Fine." He grumbled, saving the game where he was and pushing the device across the table away from him. As soon as Jeff turned his back Charlie would have the game back in his hands, they both knew it but Jeff pretended to have garnered a win as he looked back down at his phone and the message there.

It had been almost seven years, almost Charlie's entire life, since Jeff's wife had passed away, and longer still since he had even thought about dating. But he would be lying if he said that he wasn't lonely. That once Charlie turned in for the night and it was just him, sitting up alone, that he didn't long for someone else there. A companionship that a son couldn't offer. He wanted someone in his life again, someone he could share every part of himself with. It was a little hopeful and far too cliche for a man his age but he couldn't help being that way.

-Hey, how're you?-

It wasn't exactly the message of the century but he still mulled over his response. It felt so casual. Was he supposed to dive right in and ask her out to dinner? Should he even be considering dating a week before Christmas? He glanced back over at Charlie, craning his neck to look at the nintendo switch as he scribbled gibberish attempts at math in his notebook. Jeff took another look at his phone and answered.

-Doing alright, I'm pretending I know something about second grade math.-

-Sounds rough.-

Jeff smiled, shaking his head as he placed his phone down and headed back to the kitchen table. "Alright Charlie, lets see if we can get through this math." He said, pulling up a chair and sitting down next to his son.

"I got it." Charlie insisted as he snuck his hand across the notebook to reach for his nintendo.

Jeff closed his hand over Charlie's, "no nintendo, remember?"

"I'm almost at the next part of the game."

"The next part of the game will still be there." Jeff reasoned as he moved his hand, pushing the nintendo out of his son's reach. "Come on kiddo, homework first."

"Fine."

Charlie's homework didn't take as long as Jeff was afraid that it would and, as Charlie finished the last problem on the paper Jeff grabbed his phone off the counter to check the messages. The 'sounds rough' from earlier was still sitting there, alone, waiting for a response. He worried for a minute, as he typed one out, that the woman on the other end would have moved on. Life online felt like it moved a little too fast for him but he tried to keep up with it, at least in hopes that it would pay off.

-Finally finished. Not as smart as I remember.-

-I'm sure that's not true.-

He smiled as the text came right back. Even if this mystery person was talking to other people, and he was sure she probably was, it felt like everyone always was, he appreciated that it felt like she was only talking to him.

"Dad!" Charlie slipped off his chair and ran into the living room where the tree was. On the record cabinet by the fireplace, the one that was playing an old jazz Christmas album, was Charlie's advent calendar. "We forgot to pick out the chocolate for today!"

"Oh man, what's today's drawer?" Jeff asked, pocketing his phone again and walking into the living room where Charlie had grabbed a seat on the couch, advent drawer in his lap as he looked down at the two pieces of lindt chocolate.

"Lindt!" He exclaimed, holding the pieces of chocolate up to his face like they were eyeballs. Jeff laughed as Charlie lowered them again, opening one immediately to eat it. "Lindt is my favorite!"

"I know." Jeff ruffled his son's hair, "we'll pack the other for your lunch tomorrow, alright?"

"Okay, but don't put it in the front pocket or it'll get squished." Charlie explained, handing over the chocolate and the trash to his dad.

Advent chocolate was followed by bedtime, changing into pajamas and reading a story, Christmas themed as per Charlie's request, before turning out the lights for bed. Once he was sure that Charlie was on his way to falling asleep Jeff headed back downstairs to finish cleaning up the kitchen. He grabbed a beer from the fridge and took his phone out as he reclined on the couch. These were the moments that he missed his wife the most. He knew it should've been at baseball games or birthday parties but it wasn't. It was once Charlie was asleep and he was alone again, not something he had ever really been accustomed to in his life and certainly not something he enjoyed.

-Sorry, I had to put my son to bed.-

-No worries, I'm watching some cheesy Christmas movie my friend suggested and enjoying some Chinese food.-

-What's your order?-

-Why?-

Jeff took a sip of his beer as he texted, feeling somewhat like a teenager, staying up late at night to talk to a girl.

-A bad Chinese order is a deal breaker.-

-Damn, so soon? Ok. S&S chicken and these like, rice noodles. Idk what they're called but they are AMAZING!-

-Thats all? Come on.-

-I'm one person! How much food do you want me to eat?-

-You gotta have leftovers.-

-I know this sounds gross but leftover Chinese for breakfast is like a weird comfort food for me.-

-How would you feel if I proposed right now?-

-Moving a little fast there Jeff? Lol, maybe a date first?-

-Name the time and place.-

_* ◦ ❅ . ❄︎ * ∙ ◦ . _

The mulling was somehow worse than Audrey remembered it being. That gnawing feeling on inadequacy as she stood in front of her closet and tried to piece together some sort of smart but casual outfit that didn't scream 'hopeless' when she put it on. She tried the black dress she'd bought two years ago but it felt too much like she was dressing for a funeral. Red felt too on the nose; a date at Christmastime in a red dress? How much more of a cliche could she make herself? She settled, after all that stressing, on a fairisle sweater that wasn't too loose and a pair of jeans tucked into her favorite chelsea boots. Maybe it wasn't exactly the vibe she was going for but in looked nice enough and she could get away with the french braid that she had resolved not to take out of her hair.

She had called Cady in a panic. The only friend she could reach out to in her moment of anxious fear that she was making a terrible mistake. She'd been on other dates and she'd never felt like this, which was either a good thing or a terrible thing that she was dressing up for the sake of wanting something she wasn't sure she wanted.

"What am I supposed to say? Hey nice to meet you, these are the parties I'd like you to date me for?" Audrey asked, walking to the door and then back again in search of shoes that ended up being in her closet.

"You know he doesn't have to come to my party? I already know you're single." Cady pointed out.

Audrey wanted to say that she hated Cady's dumb parties. A bunch of 20 somethings hanging onto their high school years, talking about bands that Audrey didn't care to listen to and trying to out 'counterculture' each other. "That's not even close to the point of my question." She replied.

Cady sighed through the phone, "just relax, drink some beers and have a nice night."

Audrey stopped to look herself over in the mirror, checking her teeth for lipstick. The red popped against her skin and she leaned forward in the dim hall light, "I think my roots are coming in."

"So?"

"So I'm not 26 babe," Audrey replied, "my roots are already greying."

"You're so dramatic, you probably look amazing." Cady was always ready with a encouragement and Audrey chose to take it, promising to call her when she got home before hanging up and leaving the apartment before she could change her mind about any part of herself or the night.

Jeff had chosen the place. The brewhouse at the bottom of the hill, where the stores turned into the pike and the neighborhood was even less residential. She walked, which might not've been the smartest decision, especially when she got all the way to the bottom of the hill, slightly out of breath, bundled in the green coat her mom had bought her two winters ago to 'add some color' to her wardrobe. If it wasn't so warm she'd have regifted it. The coat lasted until she hit the inside of the brewhouse and then she was pulling it off, warm from the walk and the heat blasting at the entrance. She scanned the bar for a moment as she folded the coat over her arm, smiling when she recognized Jeff at the other end. He looked just like his profile picture, thick black glasses, the begins of a salt and pepper beard, he was taller than she thought he would be but she certainly couldn't complain about that.

"Hi," she felt suddenly nervous. She'd been fine to text with him the other night but now, she was feeling like a teenager. But the nerves disappeared almost immediately as Jeff smiled, holding his arms out and wrapping her in a hug. It was warm and friendly and she couldn't help that brief moment of wishing that she could settle into the hug and never let go. But she had to so she did, letting go of him and stepping back just enough that she was still taking up his space just slightly. "How're you?"

"Alright," He replied, "admiring these holiday specials," he tapped the cardboard sign that sat on the bar, advertising seasonal cocktails.

"I think I'll stick to a beer." Audrey laughed, "I can buy a bottle of something cheaper and make my own cocktails."

"Nothing beats getting drunk at home." He agreed, flagging the bartender.

"That's my life in a nutshell," she said. "So how does this work, we get drinks and then head upstairs to get seated?"

"Yeah, figured it was more casual that way," Jeff replied. He'd only been to the brewhouse a handful of times, usually with Charlie or with friends but the food was delicious and their beers were top notch so he figured, if nothing else went right, at least he could offer Audrey a nice meal.

"Works for me," she replied, ordering the same beer as Jeff when the bartender asked what she wanted, "I don't think I've ever been in here, it's so cute. I'm not usually into Christmas decorations."

"Not into Christmas decorations?" He laughed, taking a sip of his beer.

"Is that your deal breaker?" Audrey asked, a slow smile lighting up her features as she watched him laugh and shake his head.

"No, I'll let you off the hook for that one."

"I appreciate it." Audrey replied. She took her beer from the bar, stepping away and letting Jeff rest his hand on her lower back as he walked them through the small crowd to the stairs that led up to the restaurant upstairs. "I feel like I should ask what deal breakers you do have?" She said as the host led them to a corner table near the window.

"Not too many." He admitted, "I mean, I've got Charlie so...good with kids is pretty much the standard."

"I'm not around too many but my brother says I'm a hell of a babysitter," She joked, "I could get you some references."

"I'll take your word for it." Jeff had an easy laugh, like a wave crashing over her and wrapping her in the best kind of calm.

Audrey tucked her hands into her lap, crossing her legs as she looked over the menu, "so why Christmas Mingle?" She asked, "who're you trying to get off your back?"

"Family," Jeff replied, taking off his glasses. He pulled the hem of his undershirt out from beneath his sweater, wiping the lenses off and then holding them up to the light. "I could clean these a thousand times and they'd still be dirty." He huffed.

Audrey smiled, "my dad does the breathing on them thing to clean them."

"Breathing on them thing?"

"Yeah," she reached her hand across the table, "here?"

Jeff handed his glasses over, the tips of his fingers brushing against hers as she took them. He watched as Audrey took a breath, letting it out and fogging up the lenses. She used the sleeve of her sweater to clean them before handing them back to him. "What's the verdict?"

"Good as new," Jeff smiled. "So what about you? Why're you succumbing to the dating app world?"

"Cause my best friend is 26 years old and drinking in the shower is lonely." Audrey joked, earning another laugh from Jeff, one that sent shivers right down her spine and made her lean forward a little more. "Honestly, I separated from my husband four years ago and I'm just, ready to move on. Sorry, I know that's like-"

"Nothing wrong with that. People change." He replied, an easy sort of understanding that Audrey honestly couldn't remember experiencing before.

When she had first told her parents that she and Chris were separating they had practically recoiled, the abject horror of their youngest child, their last to be married but seemingly their most in love, calling off the marriage that they had been so happy about. Friends had felt divided and still did, awkwardly dancing around the subject of Chris when they spoke to her, even now. It was a circumstance of that awkwardness that had Audrey ignoring her friends. Cady had only known her after. She didn't know the happiest moments of Audrey's life with Chris, it was easy to get sympathy and support from her. But this was different. The way Jeff said 'people change' made it seem not so taboo, not so horrible, not so worthy of guilt.

"I was the one who did all the changing, I think." Audrey admitted. "Are you?"

"Charlie's mom passed away," Jeff answered.

"Oh gosh," she took a sip of her beer, cheeks flushing just slightly. Here she was, feeling bad about being (almost) divorced and Jeff was telling her that he had lost his wife. "I'm so sorry."

"Charlie was, just a baby when it happened. So it's been almost seven years."

"Doesn't really seem like it makes it easier." Audrey replied. "People say it does, but," she trailed off and Jeff shrugged, taking a drink from his beer glass.

The waitress came around to take their orders, a pleasant lull in conversation that seemed to have advanced too far for a first date. Audrey wasn't exactly sure what made good first date etiquette anymore; whenever she had dated in the past she had always let them lead the conversation and let herself drift off. Now, making an effort to actually talk to him, to ask intelligent questions that felt interesting but not too serious too soon, she felt a sort of pressure she hadn't since she was in her 20s. The last time she'd been on a first date that she wanted to be a second she had gone out with Chris and they were so young and everything felt so exciting. And this was exciting, Jeff was exciting, but there was a comfortable sort of reality that set around her. A maturity, maybe, that hadn't ever been there before.

"Where do you work?" She chanced asking as they waited for their food. A happier topic; hopefully one less serious.

"I work at the college, I'm an English Professor." Jeff replied, "you?"

"Well, now I'm embarrassed," Audrey laughed. She didn't feel bad when she was talking to Cady or anyone of Cady's 20-something friends but everyone her age or older had always made her feel unaccomplished. "I've been working at Target for now. I used to manage an art goods store here in town but it folded about a year ago."

"Is that what you would like to do again, manage an art store?" He asked.

"I would like to actually use my art degree, maybe teach." Audrey replied honestly. "When, uh, when I was married I felt like I needed to be home, starting a family, and now I'm sort of...uh, sorry I'm like unpacking all this on you."

"Unpack away," he said, smiling.

When the waitress came back with your orders Jeff moved his elbows off the table, leaning back a little to give the young woman room to put his plate in front of him. She asked about refills, promising to bring back two beers and a glass of water for you.

"So what are these Christmas parties you're trying to rope me into?" Jeff asked, popping a fry in his mouth as he spoke.

"Well, friend Cady-"

"The 26 year old?"

"That's the one," Audrey laughed, stabbing at pieces of her fish, "she has a party that is...something but I promised I'd go and then my parent's Christmas Eve."

"I think a 26 year old's party is a little out of my wheelhouse." Jeff admitted, "Not quite sure I'll fit in there."

"I don't fit in there." She replied. Audrey had been to a few of Cady's parties since getting to know her and, if they were anything to go on, this party would be the same. "But I wanna...cut out early."

"Well that I can help you with."

"What are your holiday plans?"

"Family party and work party for my department." He said, "both boring."

"I don't mind boring," Audrey replied. She couldn't even imagine them having a boring night. Maybe it was a possibility in some world but he just didn't seem like the type capable of boring. "It's so odd to be negotiating this kind of stuff...I mean, I know that's the point of the app but I still sort of, feel weird."

"Don't think of it that way," Jeff offered, leaning his forearms against the table again, "it can just be casual or we can see where things go."

"The latter sounds pretty tempting."

_* ◦ ❅ . ❄︎ * ∙ ◦ . _

The lights along the main street outlined the buildings, a warm white glow of Christmas covering the small town. Audrey saw it every night on the way home from work, exhausted by the sight of the shoppers congesting the sidewalk and the lights glowing through her window in the evening when she was trying to relax. All she wanted those days was to find a parking space and get inside her apartment as quickly as possible. She didn't want to meander around the street or walk down to where the giant tree was always set up at the round-a-bout. She barely even wanted to hang a wreath on the glass door that lead to the tiny vestibule at the bottom of the steps up to her apartment. It was bad enough the neighbor she shared the entry way with loved to leave little gifts on her mailbox that she always felt obligated to reciprocate; the wreath was overkill in her mind.

Tonight she wasn't in a hurry to get home and out of her uniform. She wasn't suffering through the traffic that accumulated on this street or desperately trying to find a parking spot that didn't force her to walk farther than she wanted to. Tonight she was walking down the street with Jeff, her hand tucked in the crook of his elbow as she invaded his personal space. Partially to avoid bumping into anyone window shopping as the stores closed and partially because she was finding herself enjoying the feeling of being close to someone again. Maybe it was just Jeff or maybe Cady was right and she was lonelier than she thought she was, either way she was enjoying the evening more than she had enjoyed any other date she'd been on in the last two years.

"So, do you go all out with decorations for the holiday?" Audrey asked as they passed the window of a shop with a specifically Christmas display.

"Oh yeah, we hit all the marks." Jeff replied, "biggest tree in the lot, lights everywhere, wreaths...Charlie gets really excited about the holiday and I've always tried to make it a special time of the year for him."

"My dad is a big Christmas fan, he even used to dress up like Santa and put all the presents under the tree." Audrey replied, "I think I was ten when I realized that Santa looked a whole lot like my dad in a bad wig."

"I don't think I can pull off Santa...which is probably a good thing, Charlie already has a never-ending list, if he thought I was Santa it'd stretch into next Christmas."

"Smart kid," She laughed, "I just told my dad it was him...I should of thought of extortion."

"I'll keep the two of you apart then." Jeff replied, "don't want anyone getting any ideas."

Audrey lingered at a window, looking in at the tree that was on display. It wasn't particularly special compared to any of the other window displays, the only real difference being that she was getting close to her apartment and suddenly had the urge to slow down. She didn't want the night to end, as silly as it sounded to say.

"Any plans for the rest of the week?" Jeff asked, looking into the same window that she was.

"I need to finish Christmas shopping...not that I have a lot to do, really, just last minute stuff." Audrey replied. "I seriously miss getting a stocking."

"It's not the same when you know what's gonna be in it." Jeff joked, "Charlie insists I hang one but I'm just buying for myself."

"I buy for myself enough that putting up a stocking would just be overkill." Audrey said, "my apartment's up ahead...do you have to walk back down to get your car?"

Jeff had offered to walk Audrey back up the hill to her apartment after dinner and she had agreed to let him, happy to spend some extra time with him. Now that they were walking again, just a block from her apartment, she realized that he would have to walk all the way back down the hill if he drove.

"I took the trolley to the top of the hill actually," Jeff replied, "I live passed the park, in the row homes."

"Damn, if I knew that I would've had you bring me some coffee." Audrey laughed, thinking of the coffee shop that sat at the end of the row homes.

"Next time." Jeff promised.

Both of them slowed again as they reached the door that led to Audrey's apartment, the evergreen and poinsettia wreath illuminated by the light above the door. Audrey pulled her arm away from Jeff, reaching into her coat pocket from her keys. "I feel like the 'this is me' part is always so awkward." She admitted, brushing a few stray strands of hair out of her face.

"Only when the date's going well."

"Are you saying it's not?" She laughed.

"Oh, not at all, this one is going exceptionally well." Jeff replied, that easy grin on his face.

"Good answer," Audrey unlocked the front door, pulling it open and standing there, holding it with the toe of her boot, "I guess I'll text you."

"Looking forward to it." He leaned toward her, placing a kiss just on the corner of her mouth, causing Audrey to smile as her eyes opened and she looked up at him.

"Bye."

I don’t really know what to tag this but also...I’d love any feedback!!!

#christmas mingle series

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