2006. Winter. Taeyeon is seventeen. Leeteuk is eighteen.

It was winter. And it was cold. Very cold. Exceptionally cold, which was strange because it was only barely the end of November. Seven in the morning and she was probably the only person up at this hour. Her phone sat opposite of her, on the study table. She had wanted to call him when he woke up, (Leeteuk, of course, who else?) but she was worried that he wasn’t awake yet. Besides, who would wake up so early in the morning, and during the holidays too?

Pulling her blankets over her head, she decided to try and fall asleep again. But just as she closed her eyes, her phone buzzed twice. A text message. She groaned inwardly, kicking her blankets off in frustration and picking up the phone with her foot. Fortunately, she managed to catch it before it tumbled to the ground. Flipping it open, she was pleased to see the sender.

From: Teukie<3

Gooooooood morning my little bunny!
You’re awake right? Because I think
I see you sitting on the bed trying
to sleep again. Can I come over? Or
do you want to come over? ‘Cos I am
bored. T^T
x

To: Teukie<3

Good morning! And I am not a little
bunny. I told you to stop that, did
I not? Anyways, I am awake and I’ll
greatly appreciate your coming over.
xo

She never received another message, probably assuming that Leeteuk had already made his way over. Since it was early in the morning, her parents were probably asleep, he’d most likely climb over and up the house, either that or quietly enter by the back door. She sat in her room, rolling around on the bed in an attempt not to fall asleep while doing so. But it was useless, and plus, Leeteuk took a long time. She was about to text him to hurry up, but was too lazy to do so. Another minute or so and she was asleep on her bed, curled up in a fetal position.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

“I’m coming in…” Leeteuk announced softly, turning the doorknob and pushing open the door slowly. He peeked through and saw that she was sleeping. Chuckling silently, he entered the room and closed the door. Instead of waking her up normally though, he pounced on her and closed a hand over so she didn’t scream. She started violently attacking him though, because she thought that his was some kind of robber. Or . Or both.

When she finally realized that it was just her boyfriend, she nudged him in the stomach, hard, causing him to clutch at his side and let go of her. Satisfied, she crawled to the other side of the room and watched him moan in pain while she tried to stifle her laughter that seemed to be coming on hard. “Yah… Taeyeon-ah… When… did you… become so strong?” He managed to speak between groans. After a bit though, he seemed to stop hurting and watched her unblinkingly, waiting for the answer.

“I don’t know. I just… That was like a reflex action. I didn’t actually want to hurt you. You okay?”

“Oh, good. I’m okay.” He replied calmly.

“All right then. What took you so long?”

“I brought cupcakes and hot chocolate!” He said proudly, holding out a huge brown paper bag that seemed to store a bunch of things. Reaching in, Leeteuk pulled out a tumbler of hot chocolate and three cupcakes, one chocolate, one vanilla and one blueberry. “Choose one, or two. Or three, and I’ll just take tiny bites from you.” He smiled, holding out the cupcakes with his hands. Taeyeon stared at them, looking at one cupcake then the other, and repeated the process a few times before pointing to the vanilla one.

“I choose that.”

“Damn. I was about to eat that,” he pouted.

“We could always share.”

“Yay,” he smiled, “I was hoping you’d say that.”

“Why would I not?”

Leeteuk nodded in agreement and handed her the cupcake. She grabbed it and began eating it, watching him. “Eat the cupcake,” she said, pointing to the remaining two. Grinning, he shook his head and pointed to her cupcake. She rolled her eyes and handed it over to him, but he shook his head again, this time pointing to his mouth. “You are such a kid,” she chuckled, shoving the cupcake in this mouth playfully. He bit down a large section and swallowed it after chewing for barely a few seconds and then reached over to tackle her down, pinning her wrists and landing on top of her.

She smirked. “Teukie-ah… very compromising position, don’t you think?” Leeteuk just rolled his eyes. “Do get off me, dear, or I don’t know what reflex will show this time.” To this, he was a little scared, but instead of just getting off, he flipped them over and sat Taeyeon on his lap. “Better?” He whispered in her ear cheekily, hugging her waist. Taeyeon laughed softly and nodded, taking the cupcake that was placed in the box during their little battle and resumed eating it again.

“Could you hand me the hot chocolate?” He asked, pointing.

“Could you get it yourself?”

“Do you want me to push you off when we’re both comfortable like this?” He smiled, knowing that this would definitely get her to take the tumbler.

“…”

“Ha. I won. Go get it.”

“You did not win.”

“Did too, silence is consent.”

She grumbled and reached over to get the tumbler, then handing it to him, and resting on his chest again, crossing one leg over the other. “Hey, by the way, aren’t you afraid that your parents might come up?” He asked, wrapping his left arm around her waist while holding the tumbler with his right hand, sipping slowly. “No. They don’t wake up that early, plus I think they have to go somewhere today. As long as we don't make too much noise, you won’t be discovered. So we don’t have to worry.” She replied, putting her hand over his.

Leeteuk nodded in understanding, and for the next few moments they just sat there quietly, not saying a word, enjoying each other’s company. And then Taeyeon’s teeth chattering broke the silence. She began to shiver slightly too. “Cold?” He asked, handing her the hot chocolate. By this time she’d finished her cupcake and nodded gratefully, drinking the warm beverage. He was worried though, and pulled the blankets over them. With this he still felt uncomfortable, so he hugged her close and rested his head on her back. “Feel better, Taengoo?” He asked. She sneezed softly before shaking her head a little. “Not really… I think I’m going to catch a cold.” She mumbled, her voice turning hoarse.

Sighing, he pursed his lips and gently pushed her off his lap, and onto the bed. He rolled beside her and tucked her in slowly, taking the tumbler from her and putting all the things (including the cupcake) onto the table. Once that was cleared, he climbed back onto the bed and brushed her hair to the side, pulling out her hair tie so her hair fell freely, making it easier for her to rest. “Your hair grew longer. And you curled it. It’s prettier now.” He commented, smiling.

“My hair’s always been curly. Just that when it grew out, it became… more natural? I don’t know,” she replied, touching her hair and combing it with her fingers. He leaned over slowly and kissed her forehead. “It’s golden now. Has it always been?” He seemed fascinated somehow, and this made Taeyeon laugh softly, nodding. “It’s always been. Maybe it’s more obvious now since I had relatively short hair before.”  Leeteuk leaned on his side and caressed her cheek with feather-light touches, and then enveloping her in a soft hug. She smiled, nestling against him.

“You’re going to catch my cold, you know.”

“Doesn’t matter if I do. Actually, better yet, we could both skip school together,” he replied, seemingly happy at the prospect.

“You just want to spend time with me.”

“And so what if I do?” He said, nuzzling his check with hers. “I get to spend more time with my girlfriend and future wife, what’s so wrong? If anything, I should be—”

“Wait, what did you say?”

“I said that I should be—”

“Before that.” She hurriedly cut him off.

He thought for a moment before laughing. “My girlfriend and future wife.”

“This isn’t your lame attempt at a proposal, right?”

“You are so cute, Taengoo. Of course not. You deserve more than this. I was just reminding you that you’re mine and not anyone else’s, and you will be mine forever. Forever and ever and ever… And I can be proud to say that you were my first love.” He smiled, planting a soft kiss on her lips. She chuckled, about to say something, but not wanting to ruin the moment. She kissed back, and leaned on her side as well. He pulled her on top of him and tapped her nose. “You’re the best, Taeng. I couldn’t possibly want anything more.”

She smiled, and traced patterns across his shirt. “Even if you did, honey, you’re stuck with me for the rest of your life.” Leeteuk raised an eyebrow. “Is that your acceptance to my ‘proposal’?” She shrugged, pecking his lips. That left him slightly confused, but he concluded that it could wait. Everything could wait. Because if there’s one thing he couldn’t be more sure of than anything else in the world, it would be their love for each other. (Cheesy as it may sound.) Taeyeon sneezed again, turning away from him as she did so.

“You know, even your sneezes are cute. Is there anything about you that isn’t so wonderfully perfect?” He mused, watching her get off him to blow her nose into the tissue and tossing it into the bin. When she came back, a rosy blush tinted her cheeks. “Teuk, I’m not wonderfully perfect. You, however, are perfect. Just… perfect.”

Leeteuk chuckled, and sat up straight, placing her petite body on his lap. “Let’s not get into the whole perfection battle again—”

“TAEYEON-AH! I’M COMING UPSTAIRS!” Both their eyes widened as her father yelled at the top of his lungs, his footsteps growing nearer and nearer. “Crap, go, go, get to the other side of the bed and hide there!” Taeyeon instructed, whispering harshly. As he ran to hide, she tucked herself into the bed and pretended to be asleep. Her father opened the door just as Leeteuk dove into the tiny space. “Oh, she’s asleep… I was about to ask her whether she wanted to go to the market… Hmm. Oh well. Sleep well, Taeng. We’ll come back with breakfast.”

Her father was just about to leave and her eyes were just about to open when he added, “Strange. I don’t remember having cupcakes or that tumbler…” Taeyeon clenched her fists, hoping desperately that Leeteuk wouldn’t be found out. Fortunately, her father just shrugged and left the room. She only opened her eyes when she heard the front door close and locked. “You can come out now…” She smiled softly, rolling to the side of the bed and poking Leeteuk’s body.

“God. That space is really, really tiny,” he complained, sitting at the side of the bed. “And as I was saying, let’s not get into the whole perfection battle, shall we? And since we have the whole morning to ourselves now, what should we do?”

Taeyeon smiled. “Doing what we do best. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.”

“And some kissing?” Leeteuk grinned.

She thought for a bit.

“… Fine.”

“Yay! You’re the best~”

“I know, I know. Keep that in mind.”

“Yes wifey~”

“Don’t call me that.”

“But you know it’s gonna happen sometime.”

“But still.”

“No ‘but still’s.”

“… Fine. Have it your way.”