Tonight (ft. TWICE’s Tzuyu) [Birthday Fluff]

It goes without saying that you adored your girlfriend. While both of you hadn’t dated for long, you really wanted to do something amazing for her on her birthday.

You had racked your brain for a good month. This was the first birthday of her’s you were spending with her, and you really wanted to make the effort to give her a birthday to remember. How were you going to do that? You grabbed at any source of information you could find - the Internet, books, magazines, articles, whatever.

The thought of your girlfriend was always enough for you to break out in all smiles. You’d met her at a concert, after months of being friends online. Both of you were in a clique made up of fans of the band whose concert you were attending. That was your first time meeting up, and through the few days you spent together for the concert, both of you hit it off. The cherry on top was that both of you ended up finding out that your residences were only ten minutes away from the other, which meant that both of you could regularly met up every weekend for coffee, a movie, or just to hang out. Soon enough, these friendly meetups blossomed into dates, and your friendship blossomed into a relationship. The whole friends-to-lovers trope seemed less unrealistic now that you’d fallen under that category.

Back to her birthday though. As you sat down to plan, you thought about a conversation you had with your girlfriend from a month back.

—

“Yah, babe, babe, babe, look!”

Chou Tzuyu excitedly tapped your arm, shoving her phone in your face with an amazed smile on her face. A picture of the night sky was displayed on a photography account on Instagram, and you held her hand steady to grab a good look. Tzuyu seemed to vibrate with excitement, rushing to like and save the post. “I love shots like these! I really wanna see the night sky like that someday… Oh, how I want to lie under the stars, and be free of stress. Nothing but me and the stars, the wind, the peace and quiet…” She clasped her hands together, holding them close to her chest. She closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath, then exhaling with a smile. You just stared, moving to face her on the sofa both of you were sitting on. Tzuyu returned to viewing more photography on her phone, and you lay there thinking about how cute she was gushing about the night sky.

—

You had your answer.

“Babe! What’re you doing here?” You gave her a wave, leaning against your truck parked outside her bakery.

Chou Tzuyu ran a bakery in the city center. Her bread was one of the best you’d ever tasted. Each bun was fluffier than the clouds overhead, the taste fresher than any other bread in the world. To you, when it came to bread, it was either hers, or nothing. She put her heart and soul into every single creation of hers. If you left her alone, there was no doubt she’d eat bread for all three meals of the day, and if you left her alone for even longer, she’d turn your kitchen into her laboratory to experiment with more pastries and how to make them.

Tzuyu ran to you, almost barreling you over with how hard she hugged you. She had the brightest grin on her face, nothing hiding her happiness at seeing you outside of her workplace. She looked just like the puppies she held so dearly in her heart, so pure, so unfiltered in her happiness. If she had a tail and puppy ears, you knew her ears would be soft and relaxed, and her tail would be wagging frantically.

“Hi baby.” Tzuyu smelled like bread and butter. Whenever you met her after work, she would smell just like that. You learnt to love the smell, as where she went, the fragrance would follow. Your arms wrapped around her tightly, as both of you swayed left and right in front of your truck, uncaring of whoever saw you on the street. “How was work?” You opened the door to your truck, letting her in, before shutting it and going over to the driver’s seat.

“Good, I earned about 1.5K today, and tomorrow’s my off day!” Tzuyu closed her bakery one day a week to rest, and you loved how it fell nicely after her birthday today. You smiled, grabbing her hand, rubbing your thumb on the back of her hand. “Happy birthday, baby.” You leaned towards her, planting a kiss on her cheek. Tzuyu squealed in surprise. “Thank you, babe!”

“Come, let’s go for dinner. I have somewhere I want to take you.”

Dinner was relatively uneventful, though you went all out and took her to one of the best Chinese restaurants. You knew she missed home - there were days she would seem out of it, and would look at photographs of her family. Tzuyu had moved here for her studies years ago and stayed to start up her bakery. You wanted her to at least be able to taste home on her birthday. She was clearly enjoying the spread on the table, her hands moving quicker than you could imagine, grabbing tons of food off the plates. She really missed the food from Taiwan. You didn’t each much, just enough to fill you, and you let her have the rest of it. It wasn’t often she had the chance to enjoy herself like this, and you loved seeing her cut loose.

After a bit of bickering about the bill (”It’s your birthday, I’m paying!” “No, I ate so much, I should be paying!”), you led Tzuyu out, pulling her to your truck. “Let’s go, we have a lot to do tonight.” You could see Tzuyu’s curiosity, but you refused to sate it, instead pulling out of the parking lot towards your next destination. “It’ll be a long ride, let’s listen to some music.” As your speakers began to play a familiar guitar riff, Tzuyu gasped, before exclaiming, “Robbers!” Yes, both you and Tzuyu were fans of The 1975, and it was at their concert that you’d met each other. As you drove through the roads of the city at night, you could hear Tzuyu singing the song softly. You decided to join in, grabbing her hand once more, squeezing it, before beginning to sing with her.

‘She had a face straight out a magazine
God only knows but you’ll never leave her’

As both of you sang, you could feel Tzuyu rub your knuckles, her smile somehow audible. You knew how much she enjoyed drives at night, and cruising with her significant other was something she loved.

‘You’ve got a pretty kind of dirty face
And when she’s leaving your home she’s begging you to stay, stay, stay, stay, stay’

You thought about how much you cherished her presence in your life. Since the concert, she had quickly grown from friend, to crush, to girlfriend relatively quickly, and it all stemmed from how much both of you enjoyed this song. As you let go of her hand to turn the steering wheel with both hands, you could hear Tzuyu whine at the loss of contact. Laughing, you let your hand return to hers after your truck moved towards the exit of the city. You were lucky that traffic was relatively light tonight. The truck neared the exit as the song built to the outro. Both of you fell to the emotion of the song, duetting it together as you left the city.

As you exited the city, another familiar guitar riff plays. This time, neither announced the title of the song; Tzuyu just begins singing again, and you spare a few glances at her as she vibed with the music. Under the illumination of the streetlights, she looks just as gorgeous as compared to when she was bathed in natural light. Every glance you spared her led to you gaining an epiphany - you wanted to spend more moments like this with her. While your relationship was still relatively new, you began to suspect that she might be “The One”.

“Join me!” Tzuyu taps your arm incessantly, and you snap out of your thoughts as you navigate the road. You are mostly the only vehicle on the road, with the occasional oncoming truck, or car on the other side. Discarding your train of thought, you let yourself fall to the chorus of the song.

‘Oh we go where nobody knows
With guns hidden under our petticoats
No we’re never gonna quit it
No we’re never gonna quit it, no
Yeah we’re dressed in black from head to toe
We’ve got guns hidden under our petticoats
No we’re never gonna quit it
No we’re never gonna quit it, no’

Both you and her cruise in the night, enjoying the songs playing from your phone connected to the speakers in your truck. The night was yours, and there were hours to burn.

“We’re here!”

The radio is turned down to silence, and you stop the engine of the truck. Tzuyu gets out and surveys the surroundings. You grab a mat, cushions, and some blankets from the backseat, laying them out on the back of the truck. Beside you, you hear Tzuyu’s scream of happiness as she looks up at the sky. Above you, the stars shine brighter than they ever had, the full glory of the night sky displayed in the expanse above the both of you. The wind blew around you, the night breeze chilly against your skin.

“Come, baby.” You helped Tzuyu onto the truck, passing her a small bottle of cider for her to warm herself up in the night chill. Both of you sat at the back of the truck in comfortable silence, her sipping from her bottle, while you stuck to juice, since you needed to drive. Both of you carried on gazing at the sky.

“Look, do you see the Big Dipper? That’s also called the Great Bear…”

‘Ring!’ A mobile phone ringtone broke the peace and quiet after your impromptu lesson. Tzuyu fished for her mobile phone, and from the screen, you could make out vague Chinese characters. Your questions were answered instantly when Tzuyu’s face lit up, and she answered with “Hello, Mama!”

You turned to your side, getting up to greet Tzuyu’s mother. After exchanging pleasantries, Tzuyu began to converse with her mother in Mandarin, which left you out of the conversation. However, you did not mind trading that for the view of your girlfriend with unbridled joy stemming from spending time with her family members. You lay back down on your side, looking up at the smile of pure happiness on Tzuyu’s face. You let your love for her show through your expressions. She was your world, your pearl, your home. She was your everything, and the flame of love in your heart was shocking, considering how strong it burnt for her.

Somewhere along the line, Tzuyu began to laugh, covering her face in shyness, before turning to you, then giggling. Her mother began to laugh, saying something in rapid Mandarin. Moments later, Tzuyu hung up, turning to you and planting a kiss onto your lips.

“What did your mother say?”

“She told me to marry you.”

“What?”

“She told me to get married to you. Her reasoning was that you looked at me like the sun shone out of my ass, and this time wasn’t the first. Every video call she’s seen it happen.”

“It’s true. I love you. Every part of you. Through your flaws, insecurities, everything. They make you who you are, and I love you.”

Tzuyu’s eyes glistened with tears. You drew her into a hug, holding on tightly to her. “Don’t cry, oh no, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I’m so happy. I love you so much. I really do.”

“I love you too. So much.” You broke the hug, wiping at her tears with a handkerchief you brought. “Let’s finish up before we go back.”

The drive back was just as fun as it was on the way there. Both Tzuyu and you were somewhat dancing while singing along to the song playing on the speakers.

‘And I said, ooh, I’m blinded by the lights
No, I can’t sleep until I feel your touch
I said, ooh, I’m drowning in the night
Oh, when I’m like this, you’re the one I trust‘

You wanted tonight to last forever. Driving back and viewing the skyline of the city with this song as accompaniment was magical, and the experience was brought to the next level with your girlfriend- no, your world next to you.

“Thank you for today, babe. I loved it so much. I love you so much. Thank you.”

“No problem, baby. I love you too. Happy birthday.”

Tzuyu rose to kiss you deeply on your lips, staring deeply into your eyes after the kiss ended. “This has been the best birthday ever.” You smiled, pushing her towards her house. “Go on, I’ll see you tomorrow. Goodnight, Tzuyu.”

“Goodnight, babe.”

As you drove off, you thought about that ring you saw back in that jeweler’s before you left to pick her up. Maybe…