#unless you're a horrible horrible little optimist that is Sure that it will make a difference and make things Better

[sharkneto]

Idk a song that reminds me of number (bc i think abt ur blorbo such a normal amount in my daily life) everytime i hear it is heartilation/people by ajj ((those are 2 separate songs btw hfjjfdh)). For the playlist thing idk if u were actually looking for suggestions LOL

Oooh, you understood the fucking assignment. They're like, a pre- and post-Rob and Sarah songs. The "God I love some people sometimes" from People is So Good. He does love some people sometimes! He love them a lot. And, just a Five thing in general, is that he doesn't like many Specific people, but he is a horrible optimist and that does include a general love for humanity as a whole.

I did end up making a playlist (HERE!), but I do want suggestions! (both for playlist music reasons and also ego reasons because it's fucking wild you guys think about my blorbos enough to have songs associated with them) It's fun!

[thepokyone]

Content

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x fem!Reader (ft. Sam)

Warnings: Fluff

Words: 1.5k

A/N: Hey friends! I am back with another anon request and the last of requests from the tropes prompt list I put out a while ago. This is a combo of fake dating & first kiss so I hope you all enjoy it!

"I hate going undercover," Sam grumbled, tugging at the collar of his tuxedo.

"Hey, at least this time you don't have to dress like the Smiling Tiger," Bucky said, grinning at the memory.

Sam scowled at him. "I hate that you don't look nearly as uncomfortable. I feel like I can't move."

"This isn't too off the mark from what we would wear in the forties," Bucky said, fixing his tie in the mirror. "Still a little fancier than what I was used to, though."

"Almost reminds me of a Stark party. Always had to wear ridiculous get-ups to those things," Sam said thoughtfully. "I don't miss those, I'll be honest."

"I was never invited. Not sure why," Bucky drawled. "Where's the lady of the hour? We're supposed to leave in less than ten minutes."

"Please, you know women always take forever getting ready for these things. Practically a rite of passage. You know my prom date made us an hour late?" Sam asked.

"Fortunately for all parties, I am not your prom date," you said, walking into the room. "You boys clean up nice."

"Damn, Y/N, so do you," Sam said approvingly. You were wearing a stunning, floor-length dress that seemed to catch the light and draw every eye to your form.

You smiled at him. "Thanks, Sam. And you thought I'd make you late."

"I stand corrected," he said. Bucky was still staring at you, having not yet said anything at all, and you could feel the heat rising to your cheeks.

"Let's go over the plan once more before we leave," you said, desperate to break the awkward silence that had settled over the three of you.

Sam, wearing a knowing smirk, obliged. "We'll be arriving at the gala together. Bucky will be walking in first. You and I will be following, posing as a lovestruck couple."

"Y/N is way out of your league," Bucky said, rolling his eyes. "Who's going to believe you can pull her?"

Sam made an offended noise. "What, like you could? Bucky, the only thing you can pull is a door labeled push."

"You two are ridiculous," you said. "How about I go in alone and you two go as a couple, if you're going to bicker about it."

"No way in hell," Sam said.

"I'd rather die," Bucky said. "Obviously, Y/N should be pretending to date me instead. I mean, of the two of us, I am less likely to be recognized. She'll be safer with me."

"Fine, fine. You might have a point, but there was no need to be so rude about it," Sam said, raising his hands in surrender.

"Okay, so I'm going with Bucky," you said, a statement that made your heart flip in his chest. How were you supposed to hide your feelings when you had to pretend to date him all night? It would have been far easier to pretend to be with Sam; you didn't have feelings for him.

"Right, so once we are all inside, you and Bucky will serve as the distraction so that I can slip into the office and get the documents we need. You'll need to keep the way clear until I'm done, and once I've rejoined the crowd we'll be staying for another hour before making our exit so we don't arouse suspicion," Sam said. "Should be pretty cut and dry."

"Unless everything goes horribly wrong, but we're all optimists here," Bucky quipped.

"That's right, a positive outlook. Let's get this over with," Sam said, tugging at his tie and walking out.

"After you," Bucky said, holding the door for you. He sat beside you in the car, his warmth bleeding into you, and in all truth you were glad that he would be by your side tonight, even though if it was just to show you everything you couldn't have. His presence was a comforting one.

When the car stopped, Bucky opened the door and offered a hand to help you out. "Shall we, doll?" he asked, offering his arm as a valet pulled the car away and Sam disappeared inside.

You smiled at him. "We shall."

"Names, please," requested the doorman, glancing at the both of you with bored disinterest.

"Matthew O'Bryan and Nancy Turner," Bucky said smoothly.

"Enjoy the party, remember the first drinks are free," he said, waving you inside.

"Can you believe people live like this?" Bucky murmured in your ear as the two of you stepped inside. It was a large, open ballroom with a large chandelier that winked gold as it swayed. The decorations looked as if they cost more than your monthly rent.

"Too fancy for me," you said, allowing him to steer you around the room, dodging the larger groups of people.

"Me too," he agreed. "There's Sam."

Sam had already gotten himself a drink in the short time he had been inside. "And I suggest you do the same. Drinks will help you blend in. Then go mingle, but be around to clear in ten minutes."

He slipped off into the crowd again, smiling and chatting with any and all around him. You and Bucky made your way towards the bar. "Don't understand how he does it," Bucky said with a shake of his head.

"Natural charisma," you said, ordering yourself a mixed drink. Bucky ordered a beer, and the two of you toured among the crowd as you nursed your drinks.

"Let's dance after Sam is done," Bucky said. "You look too pretty not to be out on the dance floor."

Your cheeks burned and you glanced away, biting back a smile. "If all goes well."

"Good," Bucky said, bobbing his head in an awkward nod.

Sam's voice crackled over your earpieces. "Hey lovebirds, it's about time."

"On our way," Bucky said, touching his ear discreetly in order to be heard. "Don't move in until you see us."

The first part of the plan went off without a hitch. You "accidentally" dropped your drink, sending people scattering away, and nobody was looking when Sam disappeared down the hall.

"Heading back," Sam's voice filtered over your earpieces, and his statement presented a problem, as the party's host was standing exactly where Sam was supposed to emerge any moment.

"Follow my lead," you told Bucky, leaving his side and moving quickly to the party's host, a high-ranking Russian dignitary. You made a move as if to pass, bumping your shoulder with his. "Oh, I am so sorry! I'm such a klutz, not looking where I was going; the room is such a beautiful place to take in."

He smiled, pleased at the flattery, and gently grasped your elbow to keep you from flitting away. The man he was talking to looked briefly annoyed until Bucky stole his attention, the two wandering back towards the rest of the crowd. "No apologies needed, when a woman as beautiful as yourself is making them."

You giggled, placing a hand on his arm. "Allow me to at least make it up to you."

"How about a dance," he suggested as the music changed. "I do love this song and it would be made better with you as a partner."

"Sounds wonderful," you said, allowing him to lead you on to the dance floor. Out of the corner of your eye you saw Sam slip back into the party and breathed a silent sigh of relief.

The Russian held you a little too close, so you had no choice but to rest your head on his chest if you wanted to uphold your cover, but was otherwise respectful.

"May I cut in?" Bucky asked once the music changed again, voice cool.

"Certainly," The Russian said, placing a kiss to your knuckles. "Thank you for a lovely dance."

"No, thank you," you said, giving him a charming smile and taking Bucky's hand.

Bucky immediately drew you to him, arm wrapping around your waist. "Little warning would have been nice, you know. I wanted to rip his hands off."

"All part of the cover, Buck." Your voice was warm and you squeezed his hand. "Keep talking like that and I might think you were jealous."

"And what if I was?" He asked quietly, only just louder than the music. The two of you seemed trapped within your own private bubble, as if the rest of the world had melted away.

"You were jealous?" You asked.

He pressed his forehead to yours, noses brushing. "Of course I was. Why do you think I fought so hard to be your date tonight instead of Sam?"

"You said why."

"No, I didn't," Bucky said. "I wanted to take you because I couldn't bear to see you pretending to be in love with another man. At least this way I would get to know what it's like, if only for a night."

"And if I wasn't pretending?" You asked, hyperaware of how close your lips were, how his thumb was rubbing rhythmic circles on your hip, how you could feel the coolness of metal through the gloved hand whose fingers were twined with yours.

His lips brushed against yours, gentle and warm, over almost as soon as it had begun. "I would do that."

"I wasn't pretending," you whispered and his lips met yours again, mouths fitting together perfectly as your hand ran up his arm to the back of his neck.

He let out a sigh against your lips, perfectly content, the two of you still swaying to the music. "Neither was I."

[envirae]

ENHYPEN says 'i love you' for the first time

genre: fluff

pairing(s): enhypen x fem!reader

warnings:

༉‧₊˚✧ LEE HEESEUNG

heeseung was never one to feel any shame in saying "i love you"

i mean, if he cares for you, he'll want to let you know!

words of affirmation are def his love language

it happens for the first time early on in your relationship

he barely thinks anything of it, muttering "i love you" before he leaves the house

you stop in your tracks, a little shocked he can say it so casually for the first time

"have you...ever said that before?" you ask, trying to hide the evident blush on your face

"hm, i guess i haven't" he says, shrugging it off "well, i love you"

still in shock, you mumble a small "i love you too" in response, making him chuckle a bit

when he leaves for work, he leaves as if nothing happened

not knowing you were smiling like an idiot the rest of the day

it becomes a pretty regular occurrence after that

rest of the members under the cut !

༉‧₊˚✧ PARK JONGSEONG

feelings have always confused him a bit

what he feels? how he feels? when he feels it?

yeah, not his thing

but when he started dating you, it felt like everything fell into place

you were like a little ray of sunshine in his life, he wanted to hold you and never let go

one day, you're sitting together at a café, as he listens to you rant about some new show you're watching

he's not really listening, but you look pretty damn cute

realization washes over him like a wave, and suddenly, he knows exactly what he's feeling, how he feels it, and it's all happening right now.

"hey, i love you."

he suddenly says, catching you off guard for a second

"w- what?"

he chuckles at your reaction, simply shaking it off and smiling fondly

༉‧₊˚✧ SIM JAEYUN

jake falls in love hard and fast

and so, even though he knows how he feels already, he's unsure if you're ready to hear it

he doesn't wanna rush you into anything, especially because he wants to get things right with you

so instead, he says it very subtly

he says it when you're not around to hear, right after he leaves for work, or when you hang up the phone.

he says it when he sees a photo of you on his phone, or when you bring him food as a surprise

he says it in his head every time he sees you

and so, when he says it to your face for the first time, it feels so right

"i love you every day you're here, and every day you're not. i fall in love with you all over again every time i look into your eyes, and i'll love you until i no longer can."

and he'll say it again, he'll say it as many times as you want him too

༉‧₊˚✧ PARK SUNGHOON

sunghoon is a hopeless romantic who's been hurt before

he doesn't open up his heart to just anyone, he's tried that

so when you come strutting into his life, he's absolutely and utterly terrified

he's scared he's met someone who can potentially break through his icy walls, much like the others did

it's bitterly alarming at first, but you just have to show him you aren't like that

and so you do just that, you tell him you'll wait for him, and you understand that he's still healing

it's such a breath of fresh air for sunghoon, to have someone like you around

the L word, that he had previously thought could only bring him pain

but he just had misconceptions of it

because this is love, what he has with you

and so he says it quietly and calmly

no fireworks, no loud audience, just you and him

"god, i'm in love with you."

༉‧₊˚✧ KIM SUNOO

despite his warm exterior, sunoo isn't as optimistic as you'd expect

he's a miserable pessimist, as well as an amorous idealist

(a horrible combination, if you were to ask him)

he's got this idea in his head of the perfect person to fall in love with, but he's sure they don't exist

at this point, he's absolutely given up on love, unless his ideal type magically walks through the door

which could never happen, right?

now imagine his surprise when a starry-eyed, messy haired, goofball of a student strolls into his class?

you aren't his type, you're the opposite, in fact.

but he's so drawn to you, he can't explain it

he's staring at you in class one day, when you suddenly turn around to face him

"i love you."

it comes out in a hiccup, and he hasn't even realized he said it until you're staring at him like a madman

"i just asked for a pencil"

he's embarrassingly flustered, muttering what you assume are apologies

maybe sunoo's found his match

༉‧₊˚✧ YANG JUNGWON

jungwon has always liked things going according to plan

he liked order, and he got rather upset when they strayed

and falling in love was definitely not on his itinerary

that's why you piss him off so much

you're so perfect, you make him disregard all of his rules and plans

and even though he'll deny it a million times, yang jungwon was miserably in love with you

he can barely wrap his head around the idea, that he could ever fall in love

i mean, how could he be so irresponsible?

but something about you makes yang jungwon feel like it's okay to break the rules

"why are you so uptight all the time? you should let go, just say what's on your mind"

what's on his mind? alright

"i think i'm in love with you"

"...what?"

༉‧₊˚✧ NISHIMURA RIKI

riki's never really known what it's like to fall in love

he'd heard stories about it, watched movies and television, but he doubted something like that could ever happen to him

yeah he'd had a crush on you since primary school, but it couldn't be anything serious, right?

wrong.

every day he sees you, he fears he falls more in love with you than the last

he's so irrevocably in love with you he doesn't know how to deal with it

and that didn't change when you started dating either

he always thought it felt like a dream, being with you

and maybe that movie theatre love can be for him, too

no complications, he knows what he feels now.

"y/n..."

"yeah?"

"you know what, i love you. i really do"

taglist (permanent): @youreverydayzebra @rae-blogging @so-jays @icywhatim @sseyk @iuwon @igyus @yeoforce @bluhr @heebabyy @spoooooooooooon @athena103 @tyongolden @yjwfav @baekhyunstruly @enhacolor @fiantomartell @eternallyhyucks @junityy @changmin-wrlds

fill out here!

[ethan-bears]

Home for Christmas (Nolan Patrick x Reader)

You've resigned yourself to spending this Christmas alone. But Nolan has other plans.

Author's note: I started writing this out as a thought to send to @lindylovegang for her soft thought night tonight but I realized it needed to be a small book whole fic instead, so I decided to do this instead of editing my final paper. This is also not edited. I might edit it later. Who knows.

Warnings: light swearing, holidays, slight angst but it gets fluffy real quick, it's my first fic so it's probably not great, I'm on mobile and I can't figure out "keep reading" and I'm very sorry

Word count: absolutely no idea but good luck fam

gif credit to: bretthowden

*****

This was not how you wanted to spend your first Christmas in Philadelphia. Ideally, you wouldn't even be in Philly at all right now. You should be on a plane back home to your family and friends and the warm, familiar streets of your hometown. You should be waking up tomorrow morning in your grandma's house with the smell of warm bread surrounding you like a hug.

But no. You were trapped.

The blizzard had started to roll in earlier this morning, and you thought to yourself that it wouldn't be that bad, right? It was just some flurries. They wouldn't ground any flights, right?

Oh how wrong you wound up being.

After three hours of waiting for news in the airport terminal, followed by another hour and a half desperately trying to reschedule your flight to a time that would still work and getting nothing out of every airline representative in the building, you somehow managed to get an Uber driver crazy enough to come get you in the ocean of snow. Fighting back tears, you tried to console yourself in the backseat. At least your apartment would be warm. And you had a little tree, so it would still feel like Christmas. You'd make some soup and Skype your family, and while it wouldn't be the same as being with them, it would be better than nothing!

"Reckless optimist," you sighed as you flipped the light switch to your apartment only to be met with continued darkness. Alone in a dark, cold, apartment on Christmas Eve, snowed in with nowhere to go in a city that came nowhere close to feeling like home. Merry Christmas. Slumping against the door, you felt your hot tears break free and cascade down your face. You decided to let all the stress and frustration that had been building all day take over your body, sobbing harder than you could ever remember. Each new wave shook your body, sending you to the floor. You didn't care. It couldn't get worse, so why not act like it?

During a pause in the festivities you decided to check your phone to see if you had any messages from your dad, only to find a text you definitely didn't expect from someone who was definitely not your father.

Sir Nolan the Rosy-Faced: hey, just checking in, i know you're probably mid flight rn but just wanted to make sure you land safely when you do. Crazy storm. Text me?

Sniffing, you paused to process the message. Nolan wanted to make sure you were safe? It shouldn't really have surprised you, but the fact that he was concerned enough to text you while he thought you were still midair was...touching.

You fired a short text back explaining that the flight wasn't happening, thinking he'd respond with a simple "okay" or an "oh, sorry to hear that :(". But the next text you got (mere seconds later) surprised you again.

Sir Nolan: oh my god that sucks! Wait.....does that mean you're home alone tonight?

Me: Yeah, and the power's out, so it's suuuper cold, but idk it's fine, I'll just layer up and go to bed early I guess

Sir Nolan: are you okay?

That one hit you like a truck. No, you thought, I'm really, really not.

Me: Yeah, I'll be fine

Sir Nolan: are you sure? Cause I can come over if you want.

Any other night, you would be losing your mind at an offer like that. Ever since you had met Nolan, you'd had the biggest crush on him. All other crushes seemed like weak sauce compared to how you felt about him. But you'd cried all your energy out. The best response your heart could muster was a meek, "Sure, but don't worry if the snow's just too much."

You were met with a resounding, "Already on my way."

You decided that if you were going to be having company you should at least get up off the floor. You shuffled your way into your bedroom, habitually flicking the light switch before you remembered it was pointless. You fumbled in the dark to your desk drawer, trying to find your flashlight, and once you found it you turned it on and started changing into your warmest pajamas. Now that you weren't just a puddle of self-pity, you started to think about Nolan's sudden inviting-over of himself. You first met him during training camp when your work friend brought you along to meet up with Travis, her boyfriend. She figured that since you were new to the city and also a huge hockey fan that it couldn't hurt to introduce you to some guys on the team and help you make some friends. You weren't sure what to make of Nolan at first. He seemed so quiet and awkward that you thought your own quietness and awkwardness would make conversation impossible with such a knockout of a man. You wound up being horribly wrong, once again, but that time it was in a good way. Neither of you were really the super-outgoing party type, so whenever one or both of you started getting exhausted with the atmosphere you'd usually drift off into your own conversation in a quieter part of the room. As a result, he became a good friend incredibly fast. It seemed there was nothing you couldn't talk about with him, even though you still got nervous about certain things. Like your personal feelings for him. But that had never come up before, so you were safe. For now.

You knew he knew all about how hard the transition to Philly has been for you. How homesick you get, how you can't help but wonder if you made a mistake taking the job offer that brought you here (even though it was your dream job), and how you felt like it was hard to click with so many new people. Which was probably why he seemed so worried about you being alone tonight. He knew you felt alone most of the time anyway.

An hour and a half had gone by and you were starting to get worried about him. He only lived 20 minutes away, and even with the snow, it shouldn't take him that long unless he was stuck and just too proud to call you. It had given you time to call your mom, which you were grateful for and made you feel a lot better, but you couldn't ignore the knot in your stomach anymore. You were just about to hit "call" when you heard a knock at the door. Or more like a thump at the door.

You practically sprinted over to open it for the man-sized popsicle with his arms full of grocery bags standing on your doorstep. You paused for a second with your mouth hanging open, both amazed by the fact that he actually came over and by...him. The cold made his already pink cheeks bright red, and the snowflakes were sticking to his long eyelashes and the free locks of hair that didn't fit under his beanie. You had never seen anything more beautiful in your life.

"Can...can I come in?" Nolan's teeth chattered, snapping you back to reality.

"Oh, yeah, sorry! God, Nol, you're shivering!" you remark, ushering him through the door. Not that inside was that much warmer, but anything was better than being out there.

"It's cold," he laughs.

"Wow, AND he's meteorologist!" you quip back. "What can Nolan Patrick not do?"

Shaking his head, he made a beeline for your kitchen, looking for a place to set his bags down.

"Took me forever to find a place that was still open tonight," he muttered, pulling what looked in the dark like to-go boxes out of one of the bags. You shined your flashlight up to the ceiling to make it light the whole room as Nolan continued to pull items from his three bags. You just stood there, still dumbfounded by him.

"Pat... what's all this?" you manage to squeak out.

"This," he said, pointing to the to-go tubs, "is soup. I'm not completely sure what kind, but I figured soup would be the best thing no matter what. I didn't know if you had any crackers, so I brought some saltines. And some oranges because I knew you'd want something fruity and healthy and oranges are festive. And this," he pulled a thermos out of the second bag, "is hot chocolate. Made it myself." He grinned, sliding it towards you, obviously proud of himself. You could barely contain your own grin, feeling yourself blush. You were proud of him too.

"I saved the best for last," he continued once you took a sip of the cocoa. You frowned.

"What else could you possibly have brought?" you asked, genuinely astonished.

He looked you in the eyes and gave you a smirk. Holy hell. You were glad he probably couldn't see how pink your own cheeks were getting. The things he did to you and he didn't even know.

He carefully pulled a basket out of the last bag, and you could see it was full of a bunch of other things. You couldn't believe it.

"Nolan..." You trailed off, feeling the tears starting to well up again. Inside the basket were a bunch of little gifts with a note that read "For: y/n, From: Us". It had some of your favorite candies, one of those cheesy home-state-scented candles, a scarf with your home team's name and logo on it, and a tin of your favorite tea from a tiny local tea shop in your home town. You tried your best to fight the tears, but you weren't strong enough, rendered useless from your earlier fit.

"Nol-" You couldn't even finish your question before your own sob choked you. You set your thermos and flashlight down to bury your face in your hands.

"Hey, hey," Nolan whispered, pulling you into a hug. You wasted no time in hugging him back, squeezing him as you sobbed into his chest. "Shhhh, it's okay," he muttered to the top of your head. He slowly ran a hand up and down your back, rocking you back and forth. It only made you more emotional. He had never hugged you before, and you hadn't been hugged like this in what felt like years. You just wanted to stay there in his arms forever and ignore the world around you.

"It was a team effort," he continued. "Some of us thought you could use some things that remind you of home."

"Who...who found the tea?" you said into his chest, muffled by his sweater.

"What?" He smiled, pulling out of the hug a bit to let you speak up.

You wiped your face and took a breath. "Who found the tea?"

He pulled the rest of the way out of the hug, much to your disappointment. He leaned his head down, staring at the floor.

"That was me," he mumbled, tucking a loose strand of hair behind his ear. "I remembered you mentioning it, and it was hard to work out, but they agreed to send me some." Somehow, his voice kept getting lower and lower.

You could hardly believe your ears. He remembered that? You swore you had only mentioned it once in passing after you got a really disappointing chai from a coffee place down the street. You had no idea he had been paying attention. And he went to all the trouble of getting a store with a locals-only business model to ship a product long-distance. You started to wonder if.... No, you thought, don't get your hopes up again tonight.

You stared at him for another moment, trying to soak in the situation. He seemed surprised when you went back in for another hug.

"Thank you so much!" you whisper, knowing that if you said it any louder you'd start crying again. You could feel him relax into the hug and gave him a little squeeze before you ended it.

"Soup time?"

"Soup time." Nolan nodded, practically beaming.

You sat on the couch, eating as carefully as you could in the dark, though your eyes were getting pretty adjusted. From then on, it was conversation as usual. It came so naturally with him that even when you weren't saying anything, you were still happy. You exchanged stories about your favorite Christmases, what you thought the best cookies are, and weird things your families do during the holidays for hours, barely even noticing the time or the cold.  At some point Nolan had pulled the blankets off the back of the couch and tossed them over both your laps. You didn't notice that you'd been getting closer and closer to him with every story until you laughed so hard you fell on his shoulder.

"Stop laughing!" He pouted, audibly trying to stifle his own laugh. "I almost got hypothermia. I could've died!"

"I can't...I can't!" you breathe between laughs. "You fell through the ice...but just one leg?!"

"Yeah, and I was stuck there on my side almost doing the splits between the ice and the water and my sister just stood there laughing. Just like you!" He nudged you, pretending to be annoyed. "But eventually she pulled me out and carried me back home. Couldn't move my leg for hours, it was just sticking straight out like..." He stuck his leg in the air, demonstrating, and only making you laugh harder. You could hardly breathe. You knew it probably felt funnier because of how exhausted you were, but you didn't care. Nolan had put a smile back on your face and back in your heart.

"Hey, Nolan?"

"Yeah?"

You swallowed. "I just... I'm not complaining that you're here, obviously, but... weren't you planning on spending tonight with Kevin and his family?"

"I was, but they've got each other, and someone else who's super special to me was sad and alone, which made me really sad to think about. You deserve to be happy and I wanted to help. Easiest decision I've ever made."

You really did not have it in you for another cry, so you settled for teasing him instead.

"That's really cheesy of you, softie."

"Take it while you can," he laughed.

"I know," you smiled.

Your eyes were starting to feel heavy and you let out a jaw-cracking yawn.

"Damn," Nolan remarked. You grunted in response, earning another laugh from him. "Wanna lay down?"

You nodded, leaning into his shoulder.

"You're warm," you sleepily drawl. You wanted to lay down, but you didn't want to get up to go to your bed. You wanted more snuggles, and right now you didn't care if he read into it or not.

He seemed to get the message, moving to lay down and taking you with him. He wrapped his arms around you after making sure the blankets covered you both as much as possible. You smiled contentedly, settling into your position and closing your eyes. You barely had time to contemplate how touchy he was being tonight compared to his normal reservations about hugs and touching before you were completely gone.

*****

Nolan woke up first the next morning. He was careful to move as little as possible to avoid waking you up. You looked so peaceful, curled up with your head on his chest. He felt his heart swell as you shifted to wrap your arms around his torso and fell back asleep within seconds. He smiled down at you, noticing how beautiful you were, even with your messy bedhead and your cheek squished against his chest. He wanted to stay in this moment forever. Just the two of you.

The power had come back on at some point during the night, so it was no longer freezing in the apartment, and the lights on your tiny tree had come on as well. He glanced back over to the kitchen to the basket on the counter. It had been embarrassing enough to admit to being the one who hunted down the tea like a police dog, so he left out the part about the whole gift basket being his idea in the first place. He would've bought you everything himself, but he wanted you to know that you had other friends, too, and that they wanted to show you that they were thinking of you. The scarf was Carter's idea, the candy TK's. Claude had suggested the candle, and being the local expert on how to be good to the woman he loved, Nolan took the advice and bought the candle as well. It did make him strangely jealous of your hometown in a way he couldn't quite explain. He was worried that you would be looking for any excuse to move back home, which he really didn't want. If it made you happy, then of course he'd support you, but he'd never felt for anyone the way he felt about you. The way you laugh, how passionate you get when you talk about something you care about, whether that's a person, a subject, a place, or what the best pizza topping is. He loved everything down to the way you word your sentences. He loved how much you loved.

He was awoken from his thoughts by you stirring and opening your eyes to look at him.

"Merry Christmas," you mumbled.

"Merry Christmas," he mumbled back.

You laid your head back down, enjoying the comforting rise and fall of his chest.

"You hungry? I can try and make you some breakfast. Emphasis on try," Nolan offered.

You laughed at the thought. "That'd be nice. But I don't wanna get up."

"Me neither," he sighed, tracing his thumb along your arm. He was not ready for when you suddenly shot off the couch, eyes manic and wide.

"Oh my god!" you shouted. "I didn't get you anything for Christmas! And you did all that last night!" You waved your hand at the kitchen. Nolan sat up, confused and cold, missing the weight of you on him.

"It's okay, y/n! I wasn't expecting anything."

"No, okay, I'm making you breakfast, and it's gonna be the best damn breakfast I've ever made. Lay back down," you insisted, marching off to the kitchen, wincing at the still-cold floor.

As nice as it sounded to stay under the warm blankets, Nolan didn't want to just sit there doing nothing. Suddenly he had an idea, even though it was a risky one. He decided it was a risk he needed to take eventually.

"Get out!" you playfully threatened, brandishing a spatula at him as he stepped into the kitchen. He put his hands up in mock surrender.

"I won't touch!"

"Good," you smirk, turning back to your pan.

Nolan shuffled around nervously, working up the courage to say what he wanted to. He swallowed and took a deep breath.

"I, uh...I have an idea for what you can give me. If you, uh, still want to give me something. Besides breakfast, I mean." Smooth, Patrick, he thought.

"What's that?" You met his gaze, making his stomach flip. The things you do to him and you have no idea.

"Maybe we can go out sometime? Like, just us. On purpose. To dinner or something?"

You looked like a deer caught in the headlights, making Nolan immediately second-guess himself. He bashfully broke your eye contact, focusing on the floor again. He felt the blush on his cheeks worsening.

"Are you... serious?" you ask, voice full of wonder.

"Of course I am!" he mumbled insistently. "Wouldn't ask if I wasn't."

You almost knocked him over with the force of your hug, a truly impressive feat.

"Yes, yes, a thousand times, yes!!!" you laughed, not even bothering to play it cool. Nolan smiled so much it started to hurt, but he didn't care. He felt like he could take off and fly, he was so relieved. The weight of the world was replaced by the weight of you clinging to his shoulders. And he couldn't imagine a better way to spend his Christmas. Maybe, just maybe, he thought, Christmas would be like this forever from now on.

*****

You relaxed into Nolan's arms as he followed you back to the stove, hugging you from behind and resting his chin on your shoulder. Suddenly, you felt something more than the giddy high of getting asked out by your crush. You felt a sort of peace you hadn't felt since before you moved.

You were home for Christmas.