Jenny groaned.

    “Ugh I was so close this time.”, she pouted as Devil Jin celebrated his victory against Lily in the Tekken 6 game. Zelo laughed.

    “Better luck next time, shorty.” Jenny stuck her tongue out at him.

    “Luck has nothing to do with it, you dork. Devil Jin is too OP.”

    “Whatever makes you feel better. Rematch?”

    “Nah. This is our fifteenth match. As much as I love Tekken, I’m done.” Jenny flopped onto the blue, suede couch, propping her feet on Zelo’s lap. She reached for the novel she had left on the glass coffee table and started to read as Zelo played some more.

    One hour later, Jenny had finished the novel and had moved her feet off Zelo. He was moving around too much trying to beat story mode. Instead, she was working on bouncing Mochi on her feet a few inches in the air. She had already trained Kookie to stop squirming when she did this. Mochii still wasn’t used to it.

    Another hour later, Jenny was lying on the black carpet halfheartedly playing with Kookie and Mochi. Zelo was still paying Tekken. She had a mental bet going on that he would have to pause the game in twenty-three minutes to go to the bathroom, drink some water or who knows maybe do something else like talk to her instead of grunting whenever she asked him something. She let out a sigh to see if Zelo would notice. Nope. This was not what she had in mind when Zelo had asked her to come over and hang out. This was her first time in his apartment. At first, she had been interested in everything in the apartment. You could tell a lot by how someone’s apartment looked. Zelo’s apartment was a little messy, but it felt cozy and lived in.

    Thirty minutes later, she was actually pretty comfortable on the floor. Still bored out of her mind but comfortable. The rhythmic click clack of Zelo’s game controller lulled her to sleep. As she drifted off, she hoped she wouldn’t kick either of the dogs sleeping near her feet.

    She woke up cradled against something hard and warm. She didn’t remember the floor being this warm or comfortable. She snuggled closer to the “floor” with her eyes still closed. Zelo was probably still playing Tekken.

“Zelo’s such an idiot.” she murmured.

When she felt herself being lowered onto something soft, she bolted awake.

    “How long was I out? What year is it?”, she asked sleep still coating her voice making it huskier. Zelo laughed.

    “I didn’t notice you were asleep until Kookie yelped because you kicked him. And it’s still the same year. Don’t worry.”

    “Oh no. I feel so bad. And stop laughing at me. You know I don’t nap. It’s only because I was so bored.”

    “Is that why you called me an idiot?” Jenny internally face palmed. Ugh. He probably thought she was being annoying and clingy. Well, too late now. Might as well roll with it.

    “What do you think?” she asked , crossing her arms.

    “But I’m your idiot.” he said staring at her with his puppy like brown eyes. Must resist. She looked away.

    “Don’t think that’ll work every time, Junhong.” Oh no. She used Junhong. She must be really mad, thought Zelo. A thought occurred to Jenny.

    “Wait. What time is it? I should probably get going.”,she said noticing that it was dark outside the window.

    “Why don’t you stay over tonight?”

    “Why would I do that? The walk isn’t that bad back to my place. It can’t be that late.”, she said confused, turning back to him.

    “So we can do this.” He leaned in and gave her a soft and slow kiss. Jenny felt warmth spreading from her stomach and the butterflies fluttering. When he pulled away, she tried to get her thoughts in order.

    “Um..that’s good and all. But I don’t have any pajamas or toothbrush or anything.”, she pointed out, still a little breathless from the kiss.

    “You can just borrow something from me and I have a spare toothbrush.”, he answered easily.

    “But Mama Chang said it’s inappropriate.”

    “You’re already in my bed though.” he said raising an eyebrow. Jenny looked down, noticing the plaid blue sheets that faintly smelled like Zelo for the first time.

    “I-But-I didn’t-”, she sputtered turning pink. He chuckled over how cute she looked all flustered.

    “I’m kidding. No funny business. I’ll sleep on the couch tonight.”

    “Um no you don’t have to. I’ll sleep on the couch. It’s pretty comfy.”

    “What kind of boyfriend lets his girlfriend sleep on the couch.”

    “Then..how about we sleep here...together?” It was Zelo’s turn to start blushing. God is testing me, he thought.

    “Was this your plot?”, he tried to joke. Jenny smacked him.

    “Shut up. How many times do I have to tell you? I am a pure and innocent being.” She rolled her eyes.

    “I don’t know about that. You show some erted tendencies.”, he teased.

    “Do not!”, she protested.

    “Whatever. It’s settled. We’re sleeping here.”, she huffed.

    “Alright, alright. Let me get you some clothes to change into.” Zelo got up.

    “Wait. Can we eat first? I’m a little hungry.”

    “What do you want? Curry or ramen?”

    “Curry. Do you want help?”

    “Why don’t you shower first? You’ve been rolling in dog hair.” Jenny looked down at her shirt and noticed all the dog hair.

    “Oh no! Why would you put me in your bed with all this hair?” she asked as she tried to brush the hair off the bed. He shrugged.

    “It’s not that bad. Here are some of my old pjs. The shower is the first door on the left. Meet me in the kitchen when you’re done.”

Zelo was still chopping vegetables when Jenny got out of the shower.

    “Hey do you have a hair dryer?”

    “Yeah it’s in the closet next to the bathroom…..” he trailed off as he looked up and saw Jenny drying her hair with a blue towel and wearing only the white t-shirt  he had given her.

    “What uh happened to the pants?”, he asked hoping she didn’t notice him swallowing.

    “Oh those? They didn’t fit. Besides this covers everything important. It should be fine.”, she replied inspecting the curry ingredients he had out, seemingly oblivious. God is testing me, he thought again.

    “Anyways, I’ll be back to help after I dry my hair. I doubt water from my hair is one of the ingredients for this curry.”, she said turning to leave. Zelo tried to keep his eyes and thought from wandering to places they shouldn't.

A few minutes later she rejoined him.

“Okay, what should I do?”

“Why don't you cut the meat?” They worked in comfortable silence. The only sound were the knives chopping away.

“So it says here that we need to let this simmer for fifteen minutes.” Said Zelo reading the instructions on the box. He was fiddling with a kitchen timer in his other hand. His back was turned to her so she took this chance to sneak up behind him to give him a back hug. He just looked so cute in his glasses and sweater squinting at the curry box. He also had on that nice black and silver leather watch she gave him. She felt him tense up. Does he not like it? She started to pull away with an apology blossoming on her tongue. But before she could even start to apologize, he did it first.

    “I’m sorry. It’s just uh ineeberthotmmsertosopcodbsesi”, he mumbled the last part while staring at the tiled kitchen floor looking pinkish.

    “I’m sorry for surprising you like that. I saw it in so many dramas I wanted to try it out at least once. But what was that last part? I couldn’t catch it.”, she said confused. He mumbled it again without meeting her eyes.

    “What? I still can’t hear you.”

    “I said Ineverthoughtmyshirtorsoapcouldbey.”, he said in a rush turning firetruck red. It took Jenny a few seconds to fully comprehend his words, but then it was her turn to turn red and look everywhere else but at Zelo.

    “Me? y? Haha good one. I have never been called that in my life.”, said Jenny as she laughed nervously. Zelo looked genuinely confused.

    “Never ever?” Jenny shook her head. He closed the space in between them and engulfed her in a hug.

    “Well, from now on I can tell you that everyday.” Jenny buried her face into his shirt.

    “Please don’t. That’s so embarrassing.”

    “What else should I do? Call you my cutie patootie? Sugar plum baby?” Jenny made a face at him.

    “Those are almost worse. Why don’t you just send me pictures of cute dogs?”

    “You got it, y.”

    “Will you stop?” she said burying her face in his shirt again.

    “Fine fine. Let’s eat”, he said as the timer went off. They ate while watching a Japanese game show. They cleaned up and started to get ready for bed. Jenny laid in the queen sized bed, her heart was pounding in her chest. She couldn’t believe this was really happening. Wasn’t this kind of fast? This was only her first time visiting Zelo’s place after all.                            

    Zelo finally emerged from the bathroom.

    “Move over. There’s almost no room for me.” Jenny had to keep herself from snorting, but rolled over to make a Zelo-sized space plus some extra room.

    “Come back. You’re so far away.”

    “Will you make up your mind already?” she said faking exasperation. They spent the next few minutes talking, but Zelo kept shifting positions. Jenny would have to change positions, too. He took up so much space and she was trying not to lay on him so his limbs wouldn’t fall asleep. He finally found the perfect position. Their legs were tangled together and he had one hand on the small of her back and the other one propping his head up.

    “Why don’t you take off your glasses?”, she asked.

    “I want to see your face clearly.”

    “We’re so close though. My eyes are worse than yours and I can see you just fine.”

    “But you said you love it when I wear glasses.”

    “That doesn’t mean you should wear them to bed, dork. What if one of us rolls over and crushes them?” Jenny said. She was low key pleased he remembered  that.

    “Then I guess you will have to be my eyes. You can’t leave my side.”

    “Who said I would do that?” she protested.

    “You would do it for me.”, he said matter of factly. Jenny grumbled a response, knowing he was right. He eventually took off his glasses and put them on the bedside table.

    “What are you thinking about?”, Zelo asked curiously.

    “Honestly, it’s a little embarrassing.”

    “You have to tell me now. I love it when you’re embarrassed.” he said, grinning

    “You’re a little , you know that?” said Jenny rolling her eyes.

    “But I’m yours.”

    “Yeah yeah.”

    “Now stop stalling and tell me.” he said not letting her off the hook.

    “Well it’s just that I’ve seen hundreds of people with brown eyes, but I think you have the nicest eyes I have ever seen.”, she admitted.

    “Well you see. My eyes change color based on my swag level. They’re the darkest brown when my swag level is at maximum. I've never seen them change.”

    “I think you meant dork level.”

    “Pretty sure I didn’t” They both burst out laughing. Jenny yawned.

    “You can’t go to sleep! We should stay up all night!”, he said.

    “I don’t think I’m going to last.” , she said scootching closer to his chest and moving her legs. Zelo could feel that her/his shirt rode up a little and her bare leg press up against his pajama pant leg. He wondered how she could sleep in this kind of situation, but he already knew the answer. Jenny could be a bit naive at times and he loved that about her. He tried to calm himself down so he could drift to sleep, too.

    When Jenny woke up the next morning, the first thing she saw was Zelo’s face inches from her.

    “You scared me! What are you doing?”, she exclaimed.

    “I was wondering whether or not I should tickle you awake.”

    “I hope you know I would’ve kicked you in the face.”

    “It would’ve been funny though.”

    “Whatever. I’ll just get ready to head out soon.” She sat up and was about to get out of bed when he s an arm around her waist to pull her to his chest.

    “Hey!”

    “I’m not ready for you to go yet.”, he said snuggling her.

    “Aren’t you tired of me yet?”, she asked half-joking.

    “I can’t get enough of you”, he replied. She smiled into his chest.

    “Well I guess I can stay for breakfast.”

    “Perfect.” He came in for a kiss but she avoided it.

    “We both have morning breath. None of that until we brush our teeth.” So Zelo settled for a forehead kiss before he prepared to drag himself out of bed.