Caught in the Rain
Pairing: St. Van x reader
Genre: fluff
Summary: You and Geumhyuk on your first date, getting hit by a sudden rain shower.
Warnings: you get wet, but not in that way lol
Word Count: 1772
Author’s Note: This one is dedicated to my absolute sweetheart @silverstonemanor who has been putting up with a lot of my Minghao harassment and really deserves some more Van in her life. Merry Christmas, enjoy baby girl! ♥
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You’re walking along the narrow sidewalk that runs next to the city park, the streetlights creating little circles of light in the otherwise dark evening. The winter air is cold but your skin feels hot. Your heart sits in your chest, thumping out of control because of the man strolling next to you. He’s a friend of a friend and you’ve just had your first date with him.
Jang Wooyoung had set you up after he’d figured out you liked him. You’d tried to be subtle whenever you were in the same room with Geumhyuk but your good friend had seen right through you. He’d figured it out after a night on the town a few weeks prior and thus insisted the two of you got to know each other a little better.
So far, it had been both the most nerve-racking and most beautiful night you’d had in a long time. He’d picked you up at your place and you’d taken a taxi to his favorite Italian restaurant. You’d been really quiet at first, just like you always were when he was around. You were so afraid of saying something that might turn him off but you’d found, to your great relief, Geumhyuk was much easier to talk to than you’d imagined. He is so warm and attentive, holding doors open for you, asking you questions and actually listening to your answers.
And he looks so handsome. He’s wearing a cream, low-cut, knit sweater that shows off his collarbones a little underneath a red scarf. You’ve been unable to stifle the thought of how nice of a place it would be to nuzzle up against, but you’ve kept that information to yourself.
Now, walking side by side through the deserted city streets, he looks radiant. It’s nearly freezing and the sky is rumbling in the distance but neither of you seem to notice. He’s telling you about his dog, Cash, about how he’s always chewing on his sneakers but he can never get angry because he’s just so darn cute. The way his eyes light up as he tells little stories pulls smiles from you you didn’t know you had in you.
“Do you want to meet him?” he asks, eyes flitting to you hopefully. You can see a cloud of breath leave his lips.
“I would love too!” you reply, immediately regretting how eager the words had come out.
He chuckles sweetly, still not pulling his eyes off you.
The sky gives a sudden deafening crack and within the next couple of seconds, rain begins pouring down on the two of you. You both look up at the same time, Geumhyuk’s hand immediately taking hold of your upper arm and pulling you with him towards the park fence, where the trees would shelter you at least a little. It’s not raining that hard yet but the air feels heavy with the promise of a true storm.
“Here, take this,” Geumhyuk says, shuffling out of the jean jacket he was wearing over his sweater, “to cover your head,” he adds, giving the top of your head a tiny pat before handing it to you.
“No,” you mutter, fingering the jacket, “you’ll catch a cold.”
He shakes his head, smiling down at you. “I’ll be fine,” he replies, taking the jacket from you again and holding it over you.
You’re staring right into his chest because you know if you look up your faces will be so close you might actually pas out. You can smell his cologne, sweet but not overpoweringly so, and oh so inviting. You feel warmer just from standing close to him and you figure you wouldn’t mind waiting out the storm like this. You imagine him putting his toned arms around you, holding you close but then, with another loud bang from the sky above, you come back to reality, realizing he must be getting wetter and colder with every passing second.
“We should find a proper place to hide out,” you suggest, your small voice barely audible over the noise of the rain now.
His head dips down towards you a little, eyes locking.
“My place isn’t too far from here actually,” he shrugs, turning to look out into the deserted street with a pensive gaze. When he turns back to you his lips were pulled up into a little smirk.
“We could make a run for it if you want.”
You chew your lip, thinking about your options but the next moment you feel the back of Geumhyuk’s hand touch yours and all you can think is that you’d follow him anywhere.
“Let’s do it.”
His grin widens as he takes your hand in his and starts to run, not even bothering to stay on the sidewalk because there’s no one around this late anyways. You hurry after him, fingers tangled in his and laughing - you’re both laughing like careless kids, letting the rain pummel down on you. You don’t even try keeping his jacket over your head. Your sole focus is on the man pulling you along like he's known you for years.
He didn’t lie; it’s not far to his apartment, tough the few minutes you'd run were enough to have you soaking wet. Your laughter dies out as you reach his doorstep and, in your case, is at once replaced with a brand new nervousness. It’s a tight squeeze to keep away from the rain while he fumbles with the keys to the front door of the building. You suddenly realize what exactly is happening: you are going home with your crush after your very first date. You are going to enter his own private home; just the two of you. You sincerely hope he’s not expecting anything from you. Not that you think he’d be that kind of guy, but still. You follow him into the narrow building gingerly, trying to still your now out-of-control heart.
You’re greeted immediately with the earsplitting barks of Cash. Geumhyuk shushes the overly excited dog with a loving smile that makes him look more adorable than you’ve ever seen him, and turns back to you.
“He doesn’t bite, look,” he says, petting the now very happy dog.
You smile and crouch down to rub Cash under the chin. “He’s sweet,” you say gleefully.
“Oh!” he pipes up, coming to a stand, “let me get you some dry clothes,” and he disappears through a door on your left. When he returns he’s already changed into a soft, gray hoodie and sweatpants, looking like the human representation of a teddy bear. He hands you the pile of clothes he’s brought with him.
“Feel free to use the bathroom to change,” he says, and you get the feeling his hand lingers just a moment longer on yours than necessary, “I’ll fix us something to warm us up.”
You blush profusely as you watch him walk off into the kitchen, still a little shaken over everything that’s happening. But then you notice you’re dripping all over his hardwood floors and hurry your way into the bathroom.
His clothes feel so nice and dry and soft and warm and they even smell faintly of him and you wonder whether there was any chance you could walk away wearing them. He’s given you a gray hoodie and sweatpants that funnily match the ones he’s wearing. You smile timidly as you look down at yourself. This is nice.
He’s already waiting for you in the living room when you come back out. He’s put on some soft music in the background and prepared a set of steaming hot drinks.
“I didn’t know how you liked your coffee so I made a guess,” he says, his eyes following you as you made your way over to sit down beside him.
“It’s perfect,” you reply quickly, taking the steaming mug in your hands just to have something to hold onto. You’re getting nervous again so you put the mug to your lips and sip slowly, relishing how the hot beverage warms you up from the inside.
“Did you have a good time tonight?” he asks out of the blue and you nearly spit coffee all over his couch.
Swallowing hard, you answer, “yeah, of course,” immediately hiding your face behind your mug again.
He looks gratified and takes a sip of his own drink. “Me too,” he says after setting it back down. A silence falls over the two of you, only interrupted by the snoring of the sleeping dog in a corner of the room. He seems to be thinking about something and you feel your nerves start to act up again. This is the moment, you think. This is the moment the conversation will die out and he will hate you forever.
“You know,” he finally breaks the silence. He’s toying with a loose thread at his sleeve, “I wish Wooyoung had introduced us sooner,” he says and his eyes fall on you again.
You don’t know what to say. All you know is, if he continues to look at you like that, you might actually pass out.
He looks back down at his sleeve.
You know it’s your turn to speak. You take a shallow breath and ask, “why is that?”
You watch him bite the inside of his cheek for a moment before he turns back to you and this time there is something new in his look.
“Because,” he starts and his hand reaches out toward yours, “then I’d have more confidence,” he interlaces his fingers with yours, slowly, making sure you’re okay with this, his expression sweet as candy, “more confidence to do things like this.” He squeezes into your hand ever so gently and it sends a jolt of electricity through you. He seems to notice because he starts grinning.
“You’re so cute,” he says and he pulls his hand back towards himself, letting you fall into him so he can wrap his arms around you.
You can feel and hear his heartbeat against your ear and it’s fast, just like yours. He squeezes you a little closer, letting out a contented sigh. You can’t believe this is happening. Just a few minutes ago you were out in the cold rain and now everything is so warm and soft and comfortable and you slowly feel yourself begin to get drowsy. You don’t want to fall asleep. You want to enjoy this moment. But maybe falling asleep is the best way to enjoy this moment, because waking up in Geumhyuk’s strong arms is definitely something to look forward to.
