*I was tagged in a winter prompt post by the wonderful @mrs-han and I couldn’t ignore it. Also I’d like to wish a merry belated Christmas and a happy new year xx
It had only started off as a joke. A lame joke where MC had begged for one of the members to be her ‘date’ over the holidays while she visited her family. She would have only been there for a day but she couldn’t bare another year of being bombarded by questions about her love life- she had to make light of the situation somehow. Zen had cottoned on to the joke, playing along with her in the messenger as he went about his yearly confession of his distaste for the holidays and his lack of a love life. Jumin, on the other hand, had not seen the humour behind her halfhearted pleas and was quick to offer up some solutions.
He recognised that she couldn’t avoid her family over Christmas but he also knew how monotonous and irritating it was to be asked those same questions constantly by people you’re meant to show the upmost respect to. So that meant only one thing: the most rational and fitting solution was for him to be her date. Jumin was the obvious decision for multiple reasons- he was the most gentlemanly, could hold conversations with ease, knew when to simply be quiet- and after a very long (mostly one-sided) conversation, Jumin had decided he would accompany her to visit her family.
MC really wasn’t left with much choice following their conversation, he had left as soon as he’d entered. The next time they spoke was the early morning of their departure; he’d shown up on her doorstep, MC was part of the way through getting ready to leave and, even though she knew him to be a man of his word, she was not expecting him to really go through with it. He presented her gingerly with a bouquet of roses as he smiled with a hint of unease. She took them with a gentle laugh, welcoming him into her apartment, “Going to all the lengths to play the part, are you, Jumin?”
“Well, I thought it would only be fitting.” He scanned his immediate surroundings, curious to see the inside of the apartment he’d heard so much about over time but knew so little of. “I have to be the ideal gentleman today. Limit any suspicions they might have.”
“It’s only for the day,” MC marvelled back, fishing through the contents of her bag, “You really didn’t need to come, I was only joking around.”
Jumin shook his head with a tender smile, “No. I chose to come with you. You shouldn’t have to go alone.”
“I hope you know you’re doing me a huge favour.” She gave him one of those intoxicating smiles that he’d never seen before he’d met her, and he found himself trying to suppress the urge to smile brightly back to her. “If anything I should be paying you to come,” her laugh was even more toxic than the aforementioned smile.
Jumin cleared his throat, regaining his stern composure, “It’s a moment away from work. We are both benefiting each other in one way or another.”
“Well, if you want to put it like that,” MC threaded her arms into her coat, before sighing deeply: “I supposed we should get going.” We have a long day ahead of ourselves.”
The journey itself was entertaining, albeit long. The hours that passed gave them chance to confirm any little details about their relationship: they’d been dating for three months and MC was absolutely head over heals for him- that was accompanied by another one of her laughs. And they even had the chance to speak in a less formal fashion than they had in the messenger or when being with the others. They’d made up an entire backstory as well as making general conversation all before they had even arrived at MC’s family house.
The visit itself had gone swimmingly; Jumin played the part of boyfriend extremely well and his experiences with simply being able to please people certainly paid off. He seemed to fit in very well with the family he had never met and he even managed to surprise MC with the amount he seemed to know about her. She even got the pleasant gift of seeing Jumin’s rare smile as he shot her glances across the table in response to something or another. Still, it would be ridiculous to think everything would have gone to plan and as the evening rolled around it was clear the ‘gradual’ snowfall was going to cause some issues.
Jumin had long since retired to the safe haven of MC’s bedroom by the time she sauntered up the stairs to meet him. The news of a cancelled train home meant a long night there, and not one he was quite prepared for. He had made himself comfortable, having intrigued himself with the contents of her childhood room, before perching himself on her bed to read one of the many novels that decorated the shelves. Its pages were bent several times over and its cover worn- an obvious favourite of hers and he could not blame her. The sound of her door creaking on its hinges brought him to immediate attention as he closed the book with care. He couldn’t smell it from where he sat, but her demeanour alone was evident enough that she was fairly intoxicated. MC’s hand gripped the door handle as she peered around the corner; Jumin’s eyes caught the flush of her cheeks and her beaming smile in an instant. “I’m sorry,” she cooed drunkenly, her eyes wide, “I shouldn’t have left you alone…” Jumin could see her thought process as her smile faultered ever so slightly, only for her to let out a quick chuckle or two, “But my aunt opened another bottle and suddenly I forgot what I was doing.”
He caught himself smiling at her toothy grin completely unreserved, before he could clear his throat and correct himself. “It’s nothing to apologise for. I chose to retire.” Jumin placed the book down beside him, subduing another emerging smile on his lips as he looked back to the woman in the doorframe. “I’ve been rather entertained by your selection of novels,” he traced his fingers across the title of the cover gently, “This one in particular appears to be a favourite of yours.”
MC hummed, entering the room further to take a better look at the publication. There was little elegance in the way she positioned herself on the bed beside him, yet it made Jumin smile nonetheless. She leant haphazardly against his frame as she sighed heavily, retrieving the book with slightly more care than she carried herself. She hummed once more, almost humoured by the long forgotten pages of the book, “I definitely read it more than a couple times.”
A silence fell among them and Jumin peered over his shoulder to find her examining the pages. She was so quiet and peaceful, he could have just held her there for hours despite knowing how wrong it would have been. He was here as a friend- nothing else. He sighed to himself and her eyes wandered to him questioningly. Her wide eyes were piercing, tempting him ever closer, yet he could only smirk. “What did your aunt have to say?”
“Oh!” MC exclaimed, wide eyed once more with her jaw lax and discarding the book much more carelessly than he’d imagined. “She claims she can see my future as clear as day,” she began slurring her words as her volume grew, waving her hands in some attempt to emphasise her words.
“Is that so?” Jumin humoured, turning more so now so she was now resting back against his chest and he could she her flushed face clearly.
MC nodded eagerly: “Yes! She claims that I’m going to marry you and that I’ll live some magical fairytale land with everything I’ll ever need.” She was giggling to herself as she spoke, her hands still flailing and her eyes fixed on the ceiling, until her volume finally dropped. “Isn’t that crazy?”
He found himself lost for words, he hadn’t spoken much to her aunt but he could he could see himself getting along well with her.
As though another thought had hit her, MC sat up all of a sudden, startling Jumin ever so slightly. She turned to him, perched on her knees and gave him another gentle smile. “I mean it must be crazy ‘cause the ‘man of my dreams’ is sleeping in my bed and I’m going to sleep down on the couch.”
“What?” His strong tone broke her innocent laughs, her gullible, drunken face almost looking sober at the sound of his voice.
The corner of her lips tilted upwards once more ever so slightly. “Well, I can’t let my guest sleep on a couch… and I can’t sleep with you, can I?”
Jumin could have sworn she was doing it on purpose, drawing out her syllables on the edge of her tongue and eyeing him down- in what he could only explain as seduction. He leant in closer to her, gazing at her docile features down the length of his nose. A smirk adorned him, his tone chilling yet somewhat playful as he retorted: “But it would be so ungentlemanly for me to kick a woman out of her own bed.”
In turn, she leant in closer to him, her eyes darkened and hard- even for Jumin- to read. “I thought you were against a man and a woman sleeping under the same roof before marriage, Jumin… Let alone in the same bed…”
He could smell it on her breath now- the strong scent champagne that had once danced across her tongue and now enraptured him. Hell, he could feel her gentle breath brushing against his skin with the little distance between them now. “Oh… I’m not sure if I recall saying that.”
“I’m sure you did…” MC spoke barely above a whisper, before she could downcast her gaze and laugh once more. She composed herself, returning to her sweetest grin before she questioned him: “So where am I sleeping tonight?”
Maybe it was his subconscious or the pure sight of her barely parted lips- he could never be too sure- but all Jumin knew was the second she had locked her gaze back on his, he was leaning in to kiss her and he had forgotten how he had even gotten in the situation. No more than a second, he assured himself of that, but that didn’t mean he pulled away in a haste. On the contrary, he took his time withdrawing from her puckered lips, his eyes slightly widened but he wouldn’t dare move an inch further from her. She gazed at him silently, almost in what he perceived to be wonder as she found herself lost for words. Jumin cleared his throat as modestly as he possibly could, before swallowing thickly and attempting to clear his conscience, “Forgive me… That was far beyond me, I had never planned to—”
MC had been the most patient woman- from the moment Jumin had first met her- but in that moment she couldn’t wait a second longer for him to finish his formalities. She had her lips locked back on to his quicker than he could comprehend, leaving his hands tense at his side before he dared to venture any further. Jumin found his fingers entrapped within the strands of her hair, all the while her hands were at the side of his waist and resting against his chest as she leaned over him. When she finally pulled away she couldn’t look him in the eye, but that sweet laugh did grace his ears once more. “Maybe I did,” she mumbled distantly, barely audible to Jumin.
“Oh,” MC’s eyes finally trailed back up to his, her fingers creating circles over his jumper. Her cheeks flushed at the sight of his shocked features, her cheeks doing no favours to hide her embarrassment. “I might have planned this…?”
Jumin scoffed at her confession, his hand freeing itself from her locks, “Planned?”
“No.” She corrected herself before her teeth began to toy with her bottom lip. “I wanted it though…”
“But you practically begged me to reconsider coming here with you.” MC cast her eyes away from him once more and Jumin couldn’t help but hold her face, tilting her chin up in line with his own. “And yet you actually wanted me here?”
“I didn’t want you here,” she met him with a gentle whisper, but that wasn’t to say he wasn’t slightly taken aback by her comment.
“Well, that’s nice to know,” he humoured.
MC thumped him playfully against his chest with an exasperated sigh: “No! You know that’s not what I mean.”
Her eyebrows furrowed further, her lips pouted. “I was joking when I said I needed a fake date today… But you don’t take too kindly to jokes…”
“And?” He questioned, stroking her cheeks with the pad of his thumb.
“And I’ve wanted to kiss you for the longest time.” He lent in at her words, as if they were some type of command.
Their lips brushed together once more for a millisecond, the lingering taste of alcohol blessing his senses again. Jumin brushed away the strands of hair falling over her delicate features with care, agreeing quietly as he did so: “And I you.”
She smiled purely at his gesture, her face flushing with warmth as she leant into the palm of his hand. “So?”
“So?” He mimicked questioningly.
She spoke smugly, her once mischievous smile returning alongside the yet to be answered question. “Where am I sleeping?”
Jumin could only laugh at her bold statement- so desperate for an answer she knew he didn’t wish to answer aloud. “If you’ll allow it,” he began, removing one of her hands from his chest to hold it within his own, “right next to me.”
