Jungkook's POV:

I didn't know what the I was doing. But here I was, standing in front of Jihye, my face covered with snot. Asking her out on a date.

"I..." She stuttered. "Is this a prank?"

"No, why would I prank you?" I chuckled.

"I knew it." She shook her finger at me. "This is a prank. I bet you have a camera on you."

"No I don't." I patted my body. "See? Nothing."

"Haha, good one, Jungkook." She clapped. "Best joke ever."

"This isn't a joke." I said, getting impatient. "I really do like you."

"Well, I don't believe you." She folded her arms. 

"That's your problem." I leaned closer to her. "And we're gonna go eat ramen together."

"As friends." She mumbled.

"As a date." I repeated.

"No." She pursed her lips together, pushing me away. 

I stared at her as she walked away, completely dumbfounded. 

"Just...no?" I followed her.

"No." She repeated, picking up a stack of coupons and newsletters and putting them aside. 

"Um..." I looked at the pile of coupons, and idea forming in my head. "What if I told you I had coupons?"

"Hmmm, maybe." She tapped her chin. "But I don't really feel like going out anywhere though, so..."

"What about the ramen shop downstairs?" I suggested, hope rising in my chest. "I'm sure I can find some of their coupons."

"I guess." She shrugged. "The pasta's ruined anyways."

"It's a date, then!" I grinned, taking her hand.

"Yeah, not so fast." She drew back quickly. "Help me clean up the kitchen, and then we'll go."

I grumbled and picked up the mop. The things I go through for this girl, seriously.

I helped her clean up the rest of the kitchen before we went downstairs. She wanted to change her clothes and wear something a little less "homely", but I insisted that she didn't. She looked good wearing my slightly faded blue sweater and old denim shorts.

"I look like a slob." She grumbled as we walked inside the restaurant. "I'm wearing my dad's shorts, for 's sake."

"I think you look nice." I grinned. I wanted to tell her that she looked really ing cute, but that would be overdoing it.

"Sorry for, um, burning you with the sauce." She scratched her head sheepishly. Her bangs were back to their overgrown state, and her long wavy hair was haphazardly tied up in a bun.

"It's ok." I smiled, boldly reaching over and tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "Nothing says 'nice to see you again' than first-degree burns."

"Shut up." She punched my arm. "You surprised me."

"You also sneezed on me." I reminded her. "Twice."

"It was an accident." She looked away, cheeks turning red. 

I simply laughed and picked out a menu. Our arms were pressed against each other since the place was pretty crowded, and I'm pretty sure my heart was beating at an dangerously accelerated rate.

She hummed softly as she looked over the options. Her cheeks seemed flushed too, but that was because she had a habit of absent-mindedly pinching them when she was thinking about something. She had said that her cheeks were way too chubby for her liking, so pinching them apparently made them seem less "flubbier". 

"Your cheeks aren't flubby." I blurted out suddenly.

"What?" She laughed, cupping her cheeks. "Are you staring at my cheeks?"

"That just makes me sound like a ert." I shook my head. 

"But you are a ert. I mean, have you looked at yourself during concerts?" She scoffed. "It's like I'm watching an amateur stripper perform a modest show."

"That's just a part of my job." I chuckled smugly, flashing her my most charming smile. "What's the matter, sweetness? Is my iness too much for you to handle?"

"Ew, get the hell away from me." She pushed me away, scrunching up her face.

"Come on, you know you want a piece of this." I smirked, leaning closer to her.

"I'd much rather have a piece of someone who is old enough to drive, thank you very much." She gave me a smug look, knowing full well that she had me beat.

"Well, I'd would like to have a piece of someone who isn't a bi-"

"Watch yourself." Jihye threatened, her voice becoming dangerously low.

"-mean person, but unfortunately you are my date, so that's bad luck for me." I folded my arms and looked away in a huff.

"Dude do you have, like, any idea of how to talk to girls?" She laughed, pinching my cheek.

"No, and I'm proud of it." I scowled at her. "It means I'm not a player."

"Seems a bit rich, coming from the guy who tries to seduce his fans 24/7." She scoffed, turning her attention back to the menu.

"Hey, I don't seduce my fans." I complained. "And you can't judge me on first date behavior, because I'm pretty sure this is the very first date you've ever been on."

"Child, please." She laughed smugly. "I've been on a date before."

"Wait, what?" I stared at her in surprise. "You've dated other people?"

"Not a lot." She flipped through the pages indifferently. "A few first dates, that's all."

"They never called you back?" I felt slight jealously prick my heart. 

"Nothing like that." She gave me a small smile. "I just didn't like them, I guess. I thought we were just going out as friends, but then they would try to hold my hand or kiss me, and it would just be really awkward."

"Oh." I looked away. Was she going to do the same to me? "So you never realized that you were on a date?"

"Nope." She laughed. "It's hilarious, now that I think about it."

"How long ago was this?" I mumbled, looking at my feet.

"After I started college." She said nonchalantly. 

"Doesn't seem like you." I folded my arms across my chest. "I had no idea that you liked other people."

"I don't." She said softly. "I like you."

"Hm?" I pretended that I hadn't heard her. "What was that?"

"Nothing." She muttered, sounding embarrassed. "I said that I like jjambbong, and I want to try that."

"Oh, sure." I chuckled. "Also, just so you know, this is a date."

"We'll see." She tucked her hair behind her ear, grinning smugly. 

Jihye's POV:

I wasn't exactly sure how I had made it this far into this date without breaking down or passing out. Maybe it was because I had been screaming internally ever since I saw him this morning, or maybe it was because my nails had dug so far into the skin of my palm, that the pain was keeping me sane. Whatever it was, I wasn't about to jinx it.

I felt a light tapping on my head as I was lost in my thoughts. 

"What?" I looked up at him from my bowl of noodles. He was sitting across from me, biting on a packet of sauce. 

"You take a really long time to eat." He whined. 

"You're lucky this isn't rice." I pointed my chopsticks at him. "We would be here all day."

I heard him mumble "I wouldn't mind that" under his breath, which made my cheeks flush. I still couldn't believe we were actually on a date. I was still pretty sure that this was a really elaborate prank, and I was on Punk'd or something.

"Say, what happened to your entire 'I'm not getting a boyfriend until I turn twenty-one' thing?" He asked me, playing with the tissues. "Are you still keeping that up?"

"Yep." I wiped away a stray noodle. "I haven't had a boyfriend yet."

"Hm." He nodded thoughtfully. "Have you ever kissed anyone?"

"Do my laptop and phone count?"

"Nope." 

"Well, then, no." I cleared my throat. "I don't know why, but kissing seems weird to me. Like, what if you accidentally cough, or you have food in your mouth? What happens then?"

"Well, hopefully you love that person enough to not let that affect anything." He smiled. "It sounds cute though. Something an OTP would do."

"Something you and Taehyung should do." I whispered under my breath.

"What?"

"Nothing." I laughed awkwardly. "Damn, you really can't seem to hear anything I'm saying today."

"I'm hindered by your beauty." He cooed.

"God, you're greasier than full-fat bacon." I rolled my eyes. "Shut up, and let me eat."

"You're seriously going to eat all of that?" He stared at the huge bowl in front of me in shock.

"Of course." I munched on a shrimp. "I need to get my money's worth."

"It's ok, I'm paying." He said, taking out his wallet. "I don't mind if you don't finish the entire thing."

"Shtill." I mumbled, my mouth full of soup. "Washting ish baf."

"Don't talk with your mouth full." He scolded me. "And hurry up. I want to show you something else."

"Show me what?" I cocked my head to one side.

"You'll see." He gave me a mischievous smile.

Jungkook's POV:

A very sleepy and annoyed Jihye trailed behind me as I dragged her up to the roof of the apartment building. I tried to guide her up by offering her my hand, but she grabbed onto the railing instead. 

"How do you even know that we have a roof?" She mumbled. 

"I practically lived here when you and Hyerin were in Busan for your winter break." I explained. "She even gave me a key."

"Great." She scoffed. "Our first date isn't even over yet, and you already have the keys to my house."

"I got mad game." I laughed smugly. "By the way, enjoy the view while you can."

"Of the roof?" 

"No, of my ." I grinned proudly. "This takes a lot of work."

"Like I've said before, Jimin's is waaay nicer." She swooned. "Tae's not bad either. He's got the cute kind."

"Whatever, go on living in your world of lies." I shook my head.

"Why are you taking me up to the roof anyways?" She leaned against me as I opened the door to the roof. Her hair brushed against my neck, and I contemplated putting an arm around her shoulder. "Is it going to be like those cheesy romantic movies where you show me how beautiful the city skyline looks from up here, and I'm really blown away because I've never seen it before?"

"Well, ." I cursed. "That's exactly my plan."

"Too bad." She waddled away from me and put out one of the foldable chairs on the roof. "I've seen it all."

"Dammit." I chuckled, pulling up a chair next to her. "This was going to be my big reveal."

"Hmm." She hummed, closing her eyes. A small smile played on her lips, as I sat staring at the city in silence.

"Jungkook?" She said, her eyes still closed.

"Yeah." I turned my head to look at her. Her eyeliner was slightly smudged because she kept rubbing her eyes and yawning, and her hair had almost completely fallen out of her little bun. I smiled. She looked like a sleepy toddler.

"Come closer, I don't wanna talk too loud." She reached over and tugged my sleeve.

I scooted my chair closer to her, so our arms were touching. It was weird, I never thought much of these little interactions back when we were in school. Now, all of them made my heart race.

"So." I whispered.

"So." She whispered back, giggling slightly. She always giggled when she was sleepy.

"Did you have fun?" I asked her apprehensively.

"Mmhm." She nodded. "Wait, Is the date over already?"

"It technically isn't over until one of us goes back home." I picked at my nails. "Do you...do you want to go home?"

"Nah." She sighed happily. "You picked a good day to come up here. It's so peaceful."

"Ha, yeah, I got lucky." I ran a hand through my hair. I actually hadn't gotten lucky at all. I had been constantly checking the weather conditions since this evening, in hopes of bringing her up to the roof.

She looked at me, an unreadable expression on her face. Her bangs were clipped aside, so I could clearly see her eyes for once. Her eyelashes were actually quite long and a few rested on her cheek, dislodged from her constant rubbing.

"This feels weird." She blinked her eyes sleepily. 

"Oh." I felt a tinge of disappointment in my heart. "How so?"

"I've always convinced myself that you were a friend, and only a friend." She yawned. "It feels weird that I don't have to do that anymore."

"Wait, so how long have you liked me?" I asked her.

"A long time." She rubbed her eye again. "Longer than you've liked me."

"Huh." I smiled to myself. "How are you so sure of that?"

"I'll tell you later." She stretched, wiggling her fingers and toes like a cat. 

"Maybe on our second date?" I asked her, half-hopeful that she would be too sleepy and just say yes.

"Don't get too confident." She laughed sleepily, taking my hand and playing with my fingers. I felt my cheeks grow warm as she pressed my hand between her palms, mumbling something to herself.

"Your hands." She said, barely whispering. "You have nice hands. They're cute. You're cute."

"Are you drunk?" I laughed, trying to play it cool. 

"No. Drunk is bad. I'm not a drunk." She mumbled again, scooting closer to me and leaning her head against my shoulder. I put my free arm around her, pulling her even more closer to me. 

"Hey." I nudged her softly. "Just so you know, I didn't use any coupons."

"I already knew that." She yawned against into my shoulder. 

I looked away, grinning like an idiot. Coupons hadn't motivated her to say yes to me. Holy , maybe she actually did like me.

"Jungoogie?" She slurred, which meant that she was on the brink of completely falling asleep.

"Yes?" I patted her hair gently. 

"I wouldn't mind, you know."

"What wouldn't you mind?"

"If this was all a dream." Her voice was muffled. "It feels like a nice dream. I like this dream."

"It's not a dream."

"Alice was a lucky girl." She sighed. "You must miss her."

"Not really. Not when you're here."

"Stop being so cheesy. Goodnight."

"'Night, Jihye."

Her breathing steadied as she gradually fell asleep. I stared at the sky, thinking back to the time I first saw her. Uneven teeth, overgrown bangs, and a crooked, but shy smile. She hadn't changed since then, not one bit. She had the same mischievousness, the same curiosity to her. She still managed to make me feel at ease, just by talking to me. No, she hadn't changed at all.

I kissed her hair softly, feeling more confident now that she was asleep. She stirred and groaned, mumbling incoherent words. 

"I like you." I whispered. "Even if you don't believe me."

I could feel her smile against my shirt.