JUNGKOOK

Days on trial: 71

The early morning sun that cascaded through her windows painted everything in shades of gold. Tangerine clouds drifted on by, welcoming in the dewy winter morning, condensation beading on the panes of glass that kept us sheltered from the bitter December wind. It was the final day of the year, tweeting birds declaring the beginning of the end.

I'd always claimed to hate mornings, to loathe the empty dawn that broke silently from the darkness of night, but I'd begun to learn that it was a lie.

In fact, waking up had become my favourite part of the day - though I guessed that was hardly a surprise when my dreams had become mundane compared to the vibrancy of life.

Heart swollen with limerence, expanded to the point where it felt like my chest might just burst at any given moment, Annie's tepid sleepy sighs were my favourite aubade; a sound so pure that I had trained myself to wake up first just so that I could indulge in it at ease. Like a steaming pot of fresh coffee or a luke-warm shower, it gave me all the energy I needed to survive the dark days of December. 

When I looked at her in this light, sunrise illuminating her porcelain features, it seemed like everything about her was red: ruby lips, crimson flames that exuded between our bodies, cerise warmth that shielded the pair of us from the outside world. 

Annie was autumn; carmine leaves drifting peacefully in the wind, scalding spiced coffee that was far too sweet for my own good, blushed noses shyly peeking out from layers of scarves and woollen hats. She was both hot and cold, unpredictable and a little bit dangerous. Like my addiction to caramel coffee, I found myself coming back to her each and every time the craving set in.

I loved autumn. 

Watching her as the sun rose, I took note of her eyelids fluttering. I wondered what she was dreaming of, and if I was present in it. Did I visit her in her dreams like she visited me in mine? Who played the hero, who was the damsel in distress and who got the last word? Did she see us in colour in her dreams? Did she see me at all?

My favourite dream was the one that I was currently living. 

In it, Annie was the knight in shining armour, charging in on a white horse and saving me from myself, painting the world around us with colours I couldn't describe, just feel.

Tracing invisible doodles down her arm with my index finger, I let her slowly adjust to the sensation as she returned to the realm of living again. Her breathing would quieten, body stretch out and return to a curled potion as her head found its place on my chest, where it belonged.

"I can hear your heartbeat, yanno," her hoarse morning voice mumbled. I wondered if she could hear it skip a beat as her lips brushed against my torso.

"Didn't realise I was dating a stethoscope," I smiled, nuzzling into her tangled mane. 

No matter how tired she may be, Annie's brain was always switched on and ready to quip a quick remark, or to twist words with a smirk. It was potentially the only thing I hated about her, but my lord, did I love it, too. A double-edged sword, a paradox, so perfectly 'her'.

"Didn't realise we were officially dating."

Body firmly frozen, eyes wide, I registered the words I had spoken a few moments previously. Sinking down her bed, I levelled my eyes with hers - only to find them shut, a shit-eating grin resting on her blushed rose lips. So charming, so irresistible, so god-damn-kissable. 

My lips brushed hers, connecting ever so gently. As I pulled away from her softness, she greeted me with a fond smile, eyes hazy and hedonistic. Butterflies swarmed in my stomach, like bees hunting for fresh pollen - though they'd have been better off taking up residence in Annie, a red rose personified. 

"I wouldn't hate it if we were," I admitted sheepishly, before finding the urge to nervously clarify. I stumbled on my words a little, no doubt making a fool of myself, but she didn't seem to mind. "Dating, I mean. I wouldn't hate it if we were dating. I wanna date you, Annie."

"Say please," she taunted, beaming with a devilish glint in her eyes and a proud smile resting on her plump lips. 

Pressing my own, much thinner lips down into hers, incoherent and utterly intoxicated, I asked again. It was less of a question and more of a brave statement that I dared her to agree to. This time, there were no nerves.

"Be my girlfriend, Annie, please."

She grinned, eyes sparkling like the deep blue seas that she adored so much. A warm hand clasped the base of my neck, giving her leverage to pull my lips to hers. Our bodies knew each other well enough by this point to work like a lock and key. Her hands fell down my torso, as mine mimicked her previous position and gently grazed her throat, as if I were coaxing a response from her vocal cords. 

"So I'll put you down as a maybe?" It was my turn to tease, pretending as if she hadn't just wrapped a leg over my hip. 

"I'll think about it," she flirted with a small laugh that got lost in my lips. It wasn't even a minute before she detached herself from me, her perfect smile making her cheeks look like sweet Gala apples. "I thought about it..."

"Oh, yeah? What's the verdict, pretty baby?" I continued to steal kisses from her, entirely obsessed. 

"I think I'd like to be your girlfriend."

"You think?" I smirked against her, making her work for it. "Sorry, Annie, I need definitives."

"You're so annoying," she laughed, naturally causing me to fall for her all over again. 

"That doesn't sound like a definitive."

"Fine," she purred, hands clasping my cheeks, pinkies resting beneath my jaw. My heart was beating so fast, that as her eyes locked on mine, I thought that it might just stop altogether. "I want to be your girlfriend."

"Hmm, I'll think about about."

"Jungkook!"

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding," I shook with laughter, not letting her out of my grasp as she tried to push against my torso. "I guess it's lucky that I want to be your boyfriend, then, isn't it?"

"Guess so," her nose scrunched, not used to such sappy declarations. We were far better at bantering. Bearing our feelings felt vulnerable and slightly uncomfortable to us both, but we were undeniably secure with one another.

"I love this. I love us," I admitted, throwing caution to the wind. If I couldn't say that now, then I'd never be able to. 

"I love it too," she conceded, curling into my chest. "I'm such a multi for you."

Just as was I for her.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

One of the things I loved about Annie was how she found happiness in the mundane. She could have been watching paint dry, but still would have been able to turn it into the best part of the day - which was probably going to come in handy, given my career choices.

We'd been battling for the last half an hour to see who would declare victory as the best pancake tosser - though I think it was just Annie's excuse to call me a 'tosser' instead. 

"That's how you do it," I boasted, proudly shuffling a pancake that had just returned to the frying pan after flipping not once, but twice, in the air. "I'm a pro."

"A professional tosser? How fitting," she smirked, clearly not sick of making the same joke four hundred times over. 

The countertop was dusted in flour and sugar, spilt milk and cracked eggs, a mountain of mess than neither of us were looking forward to cleaning up. Streaks of flour lined her cheeks like warpaint, declaring contest for the title of Top Tosser. 

"My go," she insisted, as I wolfed down my pancake, drizzled in lemon juice. 

The batter poured into the pan with a sizzle, and she already had an advantage given how thin she made her pancakes. 

"That's a crêpe! Cheater," I scoffed, mouth half full of pancake, cheeks filled like a hamster.

"Rule-bender," she begged to differ, with a quietly pleased pout. Flicking her wrist, her attempt was quite frankly pathetic, pancake folding in on itself like a calzone. 

"Ohhh, look at you go, rule-bender," I winked, passing her over the spatula to straighten it out again.

"Fuck yourself, Kook," she threw me a glare that softened into a jubilant smile. "I'm letting you win."

Coming to stand behind her as she tipped the pancake onto her (incredibly tall) pile of failed of attempts, I rested my hands on her hips, creeping just under her slouchy sweater that was easily four sizes too big for her. Pressing a kiss onto her exposed shoulder, she smiled audibly. I love it when she did that; I loved hearing her happiness. 

"Want me to show you the ropes?"

She conceded, and agreed to let my hand guide hers, just as I had done that day in my studio when I helped her paint. There was something about the way she let me share my skills with her that absolutely enamoured me - though she had once told me that she was just harvesting them so that she could become the Alpha between the pair of us. I'm pretty sure she was lying. Just joking... hopefully. Fingers crossed. 

Music played quietly in the background from her speaker set by the kitchen window, soundtracking our dumb conversations as we laughed together. There was an innate ease that came with being in Annie's presence. It was hard to imagine anyone simply not loving her.

Coming to the end of our batter mix, I swirled a little more oil around the pan, letting it simmer gently. Annie was across the other side of the counter, cutting into a fresh lemon, as we'd squeezed the living daylights out of the first one. 

"Shit," she hissed quietly, withdrawing her hand from the chopping board and shaking it slightly. Instinctively, I set the pan down on the unlit side of the hob, rushing to check that she was okay. A small cut trickled blood from the side of her fourth finger, intertwining with the lemon juice that was no doubt stinging her fresh wound. "It's fine," she protested - and it was. Just a small nick, it was more like a paper cut than a knife wound.

Trailing my thumb up her finger, I wiped her blood away. As with everything else Annie was, it was cardinal red. 

"Plasters?" I questioned, dragging her to the sink to rinse her hand. She didn't protest, letting me take care of her. 

"Drawer next to the sink."

Pulling it out with a slight clank, I located them in seconds and whipped a small flesh-coloured covering onto her broken skin. Gently smoothing the plaster over her finger, I made sure to protect the wound from any outside danger. I knew that it was secured in place, but I gave it a firm stroke with the pad of my thumb just to make sure it wouldn't come off any time soon. 

Holding it up to inspect my handiwork, I couldn't help but let my stomach twinge as I noticed which finger it was that she'd cut.

Maybe one day, it wouldn't be a plaster that I'd be making sure didn't come off it.

Maybe one day, it would be a ring instead.

Maybe.

"I wonder if Jimin and Chloe have arrived yet," she pondered mindlessly. My eyes connected to hers and I knew that she'd just had the same thought process as me. Neither of us spoke for a moment, as I let her hand fall back to its natural positioning with a slight squeeze.

"He's been texting me non-stop. Poor kid is nervous as anything," I smiled proudly. 

"He needn't be."

"No?"

"They're made for each other."

Annie's gaze holds mine, and I know that her assertation of Jimin and Chloe's fated pairing is a thinly veiled metaphor. 

"Yeah. They are."

Her smile is bashful as my words get lost in the music that's gently humming around the room. It takes a second for the pair of us to realise that it's The 1975 dominating the airwaves; the same song that let me get lost in Annie's lips for the first time. 

As I held my palm upwards, she raised a brow at my change in demeanour, amused by how pompous I knew I could be - but she never judged it. No, she indulged in it. 

"Can I have this dance?"

"Thought you'd never ask," she grinned. Our bare feet padded against her cold kitchen tiles, the scent of shitty pancakes and her favourite Yankee candle unable to distract me from her perfume. Arms around my neck, Annie entertains my madness, and I'm convinced that the drug trials are the best thing I've ever said 'yes' to.

So engrossed in her everything, I forget that I haven't taken my pill that morning.

Just as I hadn't the morning before.

And suddenly, I'm two days skipped, still seeing Annie in full technicolour.

A/N:

hehe :)