#me: lemme write u a dissertation rq---

[nightingeal-arch]

📩 a kiss between two people in a fake relationship . (consider: while they're still in the mutual pining stage, ellie has a work thing or smth and drags joon along as his fake bf) @lctibule 🔆 kiss and tell – accepting!

she can't remember how this started. who's idea it was, who agreed, why she thought it had been a good idea to put herself through this. it was no secret that big events were neither of their favourite places to be, both preferring to be curled up at home, or at least holed up in the corner of a cafe where the rest of the world could be drowned out. but a conference where ellie had been invited (strong-armed) into speaking was a little less optional, and minjoon, ever the nurse's saviour, didn't let him go through this alone. the speech had gone well (between her quiet timbre and friendly eloquence, ellie had a way of speaking that kept people listening), and for the more important speakers, the evening had passed without too much of a fuss. 

the problem was now, the post-conference drinks, surrounded by ellie's co-workers who were all far too invested in ellie's personal life and more than a little intoxicated. maybe if ellie's love life was a little less entertaining (and here, entertaining means absolutely disastrous) they would be less interested. but as it stood, he'd had one too many first date stories relayed over the nurses' office coffee machine for them not to put her on the spot. or worse, put minjoon under a microscope. so far, he'd been someone ellie had kept to herself. a selfish notion, perhaps, that keeping the man she'd assembled care packages for; altered his sleeping schedule just to speak to, a little mysterious to others meant he'd be hers for a little bit. but elinor is less than subtle, and his co-workers weren't stupid. they could tell minjoon was important. and now he had moved to the states, he was only more present in her life and there was no denying the truth of it. minjoon is important.  

maybe it was just that neither of them corrected the assumptions, maybe that was it. or maybe ellie had been worried about being interrogated for not bringing his most recent first date story. or some mix of the two? what it meant, however, was that they were tucked into the corner of the bar, minjoon's arm around ellie's waist and his every move making ellie blush with their closeness. they looked like they were dating. it kept many of ellie's colleagues off her case about her dating history, but this was the first time it appeared that ellie was serious about anyone since hyungmin. which sparked whispers. there really had been no winning this evening, huh. 

"i'll be right back." she leaned in, close, just for minjoon to hear, lips tantalising close the base of his ear, murmuring an apology, the pleading in his voice serving various purposes. "i really need to pee, but the second i'm back, we can go."

"oooooh, we're finally splitting the lovebirds?" matty's voice teased as ellie gently pried herself away from minjoon's side. he couldn't tell which part of it was more agonising: feeling the space between them grow; knowing that she didn't actually have a right to that kind of closeness; or suddenly feeling everyone's heads turn, spotlighting the pair. "what, not going to kiss him goodbye?"

"i'm not going far." she's defensive, of herself, of minjoon, of their relationship. which was, despite what everyone believed, and despite his own, desperate yearning, entirely platonic. "can't a lady piss in peace these days?" he reached for minjoon's hand all the same, squeezing it. for his sake or her own, she couldn't tell. he could tell that matty was gearing up into what could only be called a lecture, and knew it would be easier to just concede. 

bright blue eyes combed minjoon's expression, searching for anything that could be read as hesitation, anything that would stop her in her tracks, communicating with him silently and, hopefully, efficiently, that he was sorry, for this, for the evening, for matty and everyone else. of all the ways elinor had imagined kissing minjoon for the first time, and believe that he had spent many hours imagining it, this wasn't it. that didn't seem fair. her heart racing in her chest didn't seem fair, but minjoon showed no sign of protest (they had spoken before they arrived, about keeping up appearances - he knew this was okay).

despite everything, it's a little too easy. at least at first. a gentle graze of her lips against his, stomach in knots as his eyes flutter closed. what's more difficult is pulling away, is not leaning in deeper and consuming minjoon where they stood. ellie's long-tested self control allowed him only a moment of considering what it would be like to trace her tongue against minjoon's lips, to find out how he tasted and learn it by heart before pulling away, keeping the kiss chaste, sweet. 

"let's just leave." a whisper against the man's lips, a change of plan. "please, i'm sorry, let's just go home, i'll take you home."