a concept for you miss rainah: you’re in florida, at universal studios with monsta x. you stumble off of the ride with the teacups with jooheon and you just look so cute flushed and dizzy that he can’t help but lean forward and spontaneously kiss you. the rest of the boys are on the incredible hulk ride, but that ride makes your head hurt so you decided to sit it out and jooheon offered to stay and keep you company
“You want to ride that,” as the words leave your mouth, everything less than enthused, you feel the color drain from your face. You don’t notice it, too focused on the towering form of the Incredible Hulk coaster looming in front of you over the waterfront, but standing next to you, Jooheon spares you a glance of worry.
In front of you, Minhyuk tosses you a grin over his shoulder. “I was told if you come here, you absolutely have to ride this ride.”
You press your lips into a hard frown. Usually, the rides that seemed to garner the most popularity and attention were Revenge of the Mummy and, most obviously, Hogsmeade. But the guys had long since worn out their curiosity over that little corner of the theme park. Which had been completely fine—you weren’t sure you could stomach one more butterbeer even if your life depended on it—until you’d wound up in front of the Hulk.
As Minhyuk starts to bicker with the others, many of them calling him out as being the second to scare easily after Jooheon and teasing him for his charade of courageousness, knowing that as soon as he sits on the ride he’ll be a mess, you feel your frown deepen. None of them are aware of your fear of heights that you don’t have control over; roller coasters were a bit of a challenge to get you on to, though you weren’t scared of them in particular.
In fact, you weren’t even scared of The Hulk, for all it’s curves and how tall it was. One year, you’d even ridden the thing ten times before finally giving up due to a headache.
Every time you got off of that specific roller coaster, your head hurt. You didn’t want to spoil the rest of the day with the guys by getting on the ride so early. But, shifting from foot to foot, you found it difficult to speak up against getting on the ride.
Can’t we do this one later? The question lingers on the tip of your tongue.
“Hey, are you okay?” Jooheon’s voice next to you, infinitely closer than before, startles you. He’s leaning forward just a little bit to get a better look at you and what you assume is your pale face from just imagining the possibility of an oncoming migraine.
“I, uh...” You stumble over your words, aware of the others pausing in their Minhyuk-bullying to turn and see if you’re alright.
“I just... whenever I go on this ride I get a really bad headache and I don’t think I can ride it this time with you guys I’m so sorry—” when the words finally leave your mouth, they’re a string of a run-on sentence that leaves you breathless, and you realize then that you’d forced your declaration out quickly, without a pause of breath, with the fear that they might be disappointed or upset.
Of course, there is Minhyuk’s disappointed, “Awww!” that leaves his mouth, but it’s to be expected coming from him.
“We can skip—” Hyunwoo starts to offer, but your gaze snaps up and immediately you start shaking your head.
“No, no! You guys go and have fun!” You blurt, causing the older to frown. “I can just sit this one out, it’s really not a big deal. I just don’t want to ruin the day.”
Hyunwoo nods in understanding, and somewhere amidst the guys you hear an, Only if you’re sure, mumbled, paired with Minhyuk’s disappointed whine again, before Jooheon speaks up.
“I’ll stay behind with you.”
You feel your stomach skip at his words, though push it off as the butterbeer mixed with your anxiety about disappointing the guys making your stomach churn. You have to admit that being stuck alone in an amusement park kind of sucks, and you know how addicting The Hulk can be to ride, so who was even to say you’d only be alone for a single ride? Despite that, though, you immediately pipe up as you had before.
“No, it’s okay, you can—”
“Oh, please,” Changkyun interrupts with a snicker. “If Minhyuk’s going to be a mess after this ride is over, Jooheon won’t even be a function human being anymore.”
“He’ll probably start crying as soon as he’s strapped in and they lower the protective bar,” Hyungwon agrees.
Next to you, Jooheon scoffs in some sort of mix of amazement and disbelief, and you have to bite your lip to keep from laughing. “You know, guys, sometimes there are times where you just shouldn’t point out the obvious.”
“There’s no reputation to save if that’s what you’re worried about.”
Jooheon scowls at the youngest. You’re still biting your lip, biting back laughter, as he becomes the next target of the group bullying and the bickering picks up with him joining in this time. When Hyunwoo manages to calm everyone down enough to tell you two to have fun with whatever you decide to do, and drag everyone towards the line, you wave at the small group.
“Are you sure you’re okay with this?” You ask Jooheon, glancing at him as you lower your hand once the rest of the guys have disappeared amidst the crowd.
“Of course.” Without hesitation, Jooheon flashes you a dimpled smile. Cute, you think, your heart clenching and your stomach flipping again. “Plus, Changkyun and Hyungwon were right, I’d probably end up crying before the ride even started.”
You laugh, and if possible, Jooheon’s dimples deepen further with his smile.
The two of you wander around aimlessly for a bit, people watching and generally just chatting and enjoying each other’s company. As you two wander, you find yourself wondering how long the others will end up being on The Hulk for, and how long the line is going to take them. Lost in your thoughts, you don’t realize you’ve stopped in front of the teacups ride, staring as the people in the cups furiously turn the wheel, spinning faster and faster.
There’s a small smile of amusement on your face as you watch the ride, one Jooheon takes note of immediately. He pauses next to you for a moment studying the ride with you, before his gaze is entranced with you and the small smile on your face; the small light in your eyes of wonder. As the ride slows to a finish, you’re about to turn away and continue on with him. His hand, however, finds the small of your back and pushes you in the opposite direction—towards the teacup ride.
“Wha-?” You start, stumbling along in surprise.
“What? No, t-that’s childish it’s fine—”
“Please,” Jooheon glances down at you with a smile, one of his dimples faintly showing on a single cheek. “We’re at an amusement park, the point is to be kids.”
That’s something you can’t necessarily argue with, so you shrug and allow Jooheon to lead you along. You’re grinning by the time you’re situated in the teacup, hands poised and ready to start spinning the wheel.
“You’re not planning on killing us, are you?” Jooheon muses, taking note of your determined face. “Remember we had a lot of butterbeer and churros earlier...”
You’re surprised that there’s a lack of nervousness in the pit of your stomach at the mention of butterbeer, making you wonder why it had been acting up so much earlier. Through a grin, you assure him, “No, no killing. But l’m kind of curious if the teacup ride will scare you too...”
“Do not,” Jooheon warns, just as the ride begins, narrowing his eyes on you. You laugh at his reaction, and before you know it the two of you are working together to spin the wheel faster despite the fact that he’d just threatened you not try and scare him. Luckily, he doesn’t end up being frightened. But there’s a lot of loud laughter coming from your teacup in particular, tears pooling at the corners of your eyes the faster you spin and Jooheon’s laughter mixing with your own and ringing out loudly.
The force at which you two cause the cup to spin has you slowly sliding towards Jooheon with each complete circle you do. You’re aware of your stomach and the butterbeer doing the flips again as you find yourself practically nestled against his side by the time the two of you stop spinning the teacup, and the ride begins to slow down to a stop.
You’re out of breath from laughing so hard, and Jooheon’s dimples are deep imprints on his cheek from the strength of his smile. When you exit the ride, you stumble to catch your balance, unaware of how dizzy you actually are. Jooheon catches you, hand gently but firmly finding your elbow.
“We really did a number there,” Jooheon muses, glancing down at you as the two of you exit the ride. You’re swaying just a little bit, balance out of wack, but Jooheon’s hand hasn’t left your elbow.
He’s staring at you again, his dimpled smile full of a fondness and brown eyes sparkling with amusement. The way your cheeks are flushed and the way your words fall from your lips, just a little out of breath, have his own stomach doing some flips of its own. Cute. He, however, knows the flips aren’t the butterbeer.
“I think we had to have been spinning faster than everyone there, don’t you—?” You tilt your head up to focus your attention on him, but your question is abruptly cut off, Jooheon’s lips pressing against yours.
You feel every nerve in your body short circuit, everything—including your heart—stop. Now you’re aware that it isn’t the butterbeer causing the flips in your stomach, but instead it’s the way Jooheon’s lips feel against yours, gently urging; the way his hand on your elbow that had been balancing you tugs you a little closer to him. Your body doesn’t even process the kiss before it’s over, quick and spontaneous.
Jooheon pulls away, his soft dimpled smile a little impish. You feel dizzier than before, the kiss having stolen what little breath you’d been able to catch.
“J-Jooheon?” You stumble back, just slightly, surprised; Jooheon’s hand is still on your elbow, though, firm and ensuring you don’t fall over.
“Let’s go get another churro,” he declares, voice chipper and only the glint in his brown eyes giving away what he’d just done. He allows his hand to drop from your elbow, only to slide down your forearm to entwine his fingers with your own, claiming your hand for himself as he leads the two of you along.
“Jooheon?” You echo, once more, voice suddenly finding some firmness.
“Hm?” The sound reverberates from the back of his throat, sounding suspiciously proud, and you’re aware of your stomach doing one more flip as you glance down at your linked hands.
You bite your lip, deciding not to question further. You’re not exactly sure what to ask, anyway, as you study your hands. Except that maybe you’d like another surprise kiss like that, sometime.
