The Start Of Something New

The funny thing about meeting the love of your life for the first time was that sometimes it didn't feel important at all.

There was no dramatic music, no moment where the universe seemed to stop and point at someone while a spotlight appeared from nowhere.

Sometimes it happened in a flexible university class on a Tuesday afternoon.

And neither person even noticed.

They just lived in the same world, at the same time and didn't know what the future had in store for them.

The classroom was half full.

Which was honestly impressive for a flexible elective. Most students only showed up when attendance became threatening.

Y/n slipped into a seat near the middle, not too close to the front, not too close to the back. The perfect location for someone hoping to survive ninety minutes without being asked questions.

He dropped his backpack beside his chair and pulled out his laptop, pretending to pay attention while actually trying to calculate how many weeks remained in the semester.

Not many. 

Like 6 more weeks, that might still seem like a lit but there will be like 2 more assessments anyways.

Thank God.

The professor was discussing something involving assessment criteria, participation expectations, and several other things nobody was emotionally invested enough to remember.

And then someone sat down a couple seats away from him.

Asa.

Not that he knew her name yet, at that moment she was just another student, another face in a room filled with faces.

She dropped into her chair with a coffee in one hand and her phone in the other, looking mildly annoyed at something she'd just read, a few seconds later she sighed dramatically and muttered something under her breath that made the girl beside her laugh.

Asa immediately launched into what was apparently a very passionate complaint.

Y/n heard exactly none of it.

He was busy opening a document he hadn't started.

And Asa didn't notice him either.

The professor began talking, the lecture had officially started.

Some people took notes, others pretended to. There was one guy in the back who fell asleep before the first slide ended.

And the two people who would one day share an apartment, a cat, a ring, and an entire future spent the next hour existing less than twenty feet apart without exchanging a single word.

If someone had walked into that classroom and told them where things would end up, neither would have believed it.

Because nothing about that day felt significant.

It was just Tuesday.

‘Cute.’ That was about the extent of his thought.

He didn't know her name and had never spoken to her and he had no reason to think he'd ever speak to her.

Asa knew exactly who Y/n was. She didn’t know him personally. She only knew what he looked like and she knew his name because he answered questions in class and talked often and he was the guy who always arrived right before class started.

She knew him as the guy who somehow looked awake despite the class being scheduled at an ungodly hour, the guy who occasionally made the people around him laugh without trying.

But university wasn't high school, people didn't just randomly walk up to strangers, especially not strangers who seemed perfectly content sitting with their friends.

So she never said anything.

And neither did he.

Which was how things stayed for the next couple weeks.

"The project will be completed in pairs." The professor said

Collective suffering immediately filled the room.

The professor continued talking and pointed to his lecture notes but nobody listened.

Because every student was currently experiencing the exact same fear.

Group work.

One of the worst inventions in human history.

"Partners will be assigned randomly." 

Oh, well would you look at that. It got even worse.

Y/n rubbed his face. "Fantastic."

Johnny beside him snorted.

The lecturer began reading names. 

“Johnny with Jimin”

“Oh well farewell Dude.” Johnny hit his shoulder.

“Yeah thanks.”

Some more students paired off, some looked relieved and the others looked horrified.

"Y/n." He looked up.

"Yes Sir?"

The professor checked the sheet. "You'll be working with Asa." He pointed to where she sat.

‘Oh, it's the pretty girl,’ he thought. 

This’ll be fun.

He stood up and walked towards where she sat, she was alone at this point.

Their first conversation between them lasted approximately twelve seconds.

"Hey, I’m Y/n" And reached his hand out.

"Hi, I’m Asa." She accepted his hand and shook it.

And that was the first time they talked to each other.

After the class finished, neither of them left. 

And no, it wasn’t because they were eager to start the assignment.

Quite the opposite, in fact.

They were both staring at the assessment sheet with the same expression people usually reserved for natural disasters or minor inconveniences.

Students filtered out of the room around them, conversations fading into the hallway as chairs scraped and bags zipped shut.

“You guys gonna stay here?” The professor asked them.

“Uh no we will go.”

“Alright. Close the door on your way out, I’m hungry.” He said as he was walking towards the door.

“Yes Sir.”

Asa remained seated for a moment, turning the pages over like the answers might somehow be hiding on the back.

Y/n packed his laptop into his bag before glancing over. She was still reading, somehow making the exact same face he imagined he was making. "Library?" 

Asa looked up immediately. "Yes please."

Five minutes later they were walking across campus together.

The afternoon sun hung overhead, warm enough that students had claimed every available patch of grass between buildings. Groups sat under trees. Some sat in a circle on the grass playing music.

The campus buzzed with that strange mixture of productivity and procrastination that seemed to define university life.

For a little while they walked in the comfortable silence of two people who hadn't known each other an hour ago and were still figuring out what to say.

Asa was the first to break it. "So what's your major?"

Y/n glanced over. "Business."

She nodded. "That explains why you looked disappointed instead of terrified."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Business students always look like they've already accepted their suffering."

Y/n laughed. "That's not true."

"It absolutely is."

"You've known me for like ten minutes."

"And I've spent those ten minutes observing you."

"That's concerning."

"It should be." The smile she gave him afterward made it obvious she was joking.

“Ok. What about you? What's your major?”

“Me?” She said while placing her hand on her chest. “Oh my major is the arts.”

“You know, that makes sense.”

“How so?”

“You give off a vibe. In a good way I promise.”

“Mmm thanks.” She accepted the compliment with a smile on her face.

They reached the library and headed upstairs, eventually finding an empty table tucked near a window overlooking the campus courtyard. It was one of those quiet study areas where everyone respected the unspoken rule of keeping conversations low.

Asa immediately dropped into a chair and spread the assignment papers across the table like she was preparing for battle.

Y/n sat opposite her.

For a moment, neither said anything. Both of them just staring at the document.

The assignment itself was terrible. It wasn’t difficult. Just confusing.

The instructions somehow managed to contain hundreds of words while explaining absolutely nothing. Every paragraph seemed to answer a question nobody had asked while avoiding every question they actually had.

He would be impressed if he wasn't the one that had to do it.

They both carried the vague hope that the other person understood it better.

Y/n leaned back into his chair and rubbed a hand over his face. "Tell me you understand what we're supposed to do."

Asa stared at him. Then slowly lifted the assessment sheet. "I was actually hoping you understood."

They both looked down at the document. Then at each other. Then back at the document.

They started laughing at nothing in particular. "Oh, we're screwed."

"We're absolutely screwed."

"I have no idea what this means."

"I thought I was stupid."

"I went over it like five times."

"Did it help?"

"No."

"Yeahh, It didn't help me either."

Y/n laughed again, shaking his head. "At least we're failing together."

"That's kind of beautiful, actually."

"That's the nicest way anyone has ever described an academic disaster."

"Thank you." She gave a small mock bow from her chair.

For the next twenty minutes they attempted to decipher the assignment.

Keyword being : attempted.

Every solution they came up with somehow created three more questions. Every clarification led to another confusing section.

At one point Asa circled an entire paragraph and pushed the paper toward him. "Read this."

He did, frowned, then read it again. "What does it mean?"

"I don't know."

"But you circled it."

"Yes."

"That doesn't answer my question."

"I circled it because I thought maybe you'd know."

"I thought you were showing me something important."

"It is important."

"Why?"

"Because I don't understand it."

Y/n stared at her for a second. Then laughed so hard he had to cover his mouth when someone studying nearby shot them a glare. "You're impossible."

"We’ve known each other for forty minutes and you're already insulting me."

"I'm making observations."

"Oh, so now you're observing."

"See?” He gestured to himself. “Business student." He had a stupid grin on his face.

"That doesn't even make sense."

“I’m good at arguing.”

She sighed with disappointment and put her head back down.

Eventually they gave up trying to understand the instructions and started breaking the assignment into pieces instead.

That helped enough that they could at least identify what needed to be done.

The panic shifted from ‘What are we doing?’ to ‘How are we doing it?’

Which felt like progress.

As they worked, the conversation gradually drifted away from the assignment. Suddenly they were talking about themselves more than the project.

"What year are you in?" Asa asked while typing notes into her laptop.

"Third year."

"Same."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"You seem older."

Her head snapped up. "Excuse me?"

"I don't mean old." He defended himself quickly.

"You literally just called me old."

"I didn't."

"You absolutely did."

"I meant mature."

She pointed at him dramatically. "You are Recovering. But poorly."

Y/n laughed. "You know, most people wait longer before threatening their assignment partner."

"I'm not threatening you."

"You pointed at me menacingly."

"You called me old. We’re even." A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth before she looked back down at her screen.

A few minutes later she asked another question.

Where he grew up, what subjects he liked, which professors he hated.

The conversation flowed very easily between the two of them.

Normally Y/n took time to warm up around people. It's not like he is a shy person, just careful around new people.

But talking to Asa felt different, like there was never a moment where either person had to force the conversation forward.

Hours passed before either of them noticed. The sunlight outside the window had almost left completely. The library had grown quieter.

And somehow they'd managed to finish more work than either of them had expected.

Asa stretched her arms above her head and groaned dramatically. "My brain is melting."

Y/n glanced at the clock. "Oh."

"What?"

"We've been here for three hours."

"What?" She immediately checked her phone. "Three hours?"

"You sound offended."

"I am offended."

"By time?"

"By how fast it moved."

That surprised him. Not because of what she said. But because he'd been thinking the exact same thing.

Then Asa closed her laptop. "We should probably leave before we accidentally become permanent residents."

"Good idea."

They packed their things, slung bags over their shoulders and headed toward the exit.

Campus felt different now, they hadn't ever stayed at campus after dark. It was the quietest they had ever seen.

As they walked outside together, the afternoon air felt cooler than before.

Neither seemed particularly eager to say goodbye, which was strange because just a few hours ago they had been strangers.

At the base of the library steps, Asa stopped. "Same time tomorrow?"

Y/n looked at her. It was for the assignment, obviously but something about the question felt oddly important anyway. "Yeah," he said. Then smiled. "Same time tomorrow."

Asa smiled back and neither of them realized it yet but somewhere between getting paired together and laughing about how completely screwed they were, something had already started. 

Just the first small spark of connection.

Days passed and the assignment slowly came together.

And while working this assignment, something else started to bloom. Neither of them mentioned it but they noticed it.

The texts that started about university changed to late-night conversations, random memes, sending photos of things throughout the day, inside jokes that the two of them shared.

Asa🌸

Look at this dog I saw!!

That by far has to be the cutest dog I've ever seen.

I know right!

Like I kinda want to get a dog now.

Maybe start with a cat to get used to the fur

Yeah maybe

One day

A friendship that somehow skipped several stages and became important very quickly.

The day they submitted the assignment should’ve been the end of their talking. That was usually group assignments worked.

Group project finished. Partnership over. Good luck with your life.

But instead they kept in contact. Almost everyday they had a conversation, whether it was in person or through messages, they always talked.

For example, a couple weeks after they handed the assignment in, Y/n had just got back to his apartment and wanted to use this time to eat some food and relax but then Y/n got a text.

Asa🌸

We got through the assignment.

Barely.

Still counts.

Trauma bonds count?

I think legally they do.

Bonds you know

And that conversation between them lasted until two in the morning. 

Just casual talking.

Months passed since the assignment finished.

And you wanna know  what didn’t finish. 

The friendship.

Actually, if anything, it got worse.

Or better.

Depending on who you asked.

The dynamic between Asa and Y/n changed. They started studying together even when they didn't share classes, started grabbing lunch together, started becoming the first person the other wanted to tell things to. All kinds of news.

And somewhere along the way, Y/n realized he was in trouble.

Because he liked her.

A ridiculous amount. 

Borderline about to get on one knee.

The realization of this, hit him during a completely ordinary afternoon.

Asa was sitting across from him in a café. Talking about something. He wasn't entirely sure what, maybe about what her friends did to themselves that she got personally affected by.

Because he'd gotten distracted. Watching her laugh, watching her smile, watching the way she got animated when she cared about something.

And then suddenly, 

Oh. 

Oh no.

He liked her. 

Like, really liked her. 

The kind that made his heart act stupid.

For the next three weeks he suffered.

And it wasn’t just him who suffered.

Johnny got tired of hearing about it. "Just ask her out."

"What if she says no?"

"Then you'll know."

"I hate that answer."

"It’s the answer you’re gonna get from me."

"It's a terrible answer."

“No one said it had to be good advice. Maybe if you had asked her out sooner I would give better advice.”

“You suck you know that.”

“I am well aware.”

“Ok fine.” Y/n decided he was going to do it. “Imma do it. I am going to ask her out.”

“Really.”

“Yep.” No more waiting. No more overthinking. No more spending entire nights analyzing text messages. He was going to ask her out. “I am going to ask her out.”

“Thats fantastic–”

“Tomorrow.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Absolutely tomorrow. I will ask her out tomorrow.”

Johnny just stared at his idiot friend. “You are beyond help.”

“That thought has popped up in my head a lot this week.”

“I can’t deal with you anymore. Go talk to your mother. I am pawing you off.”

“No, it's fine. Tomorrow I will ask her out. Finally.” One hundred percent. No backing out.

“Don’t call me if she says no.”

The next day he arrived early to where he had asked to meet her.

His heart was pounding out of his chest, he felt like he couldn’t breath. “Pull yourself together Y/n, you can’t die yet.”

Asa arrived a few minutes later, smiling the second she spotted him and seeing that made everything worse.

Because now she was even prettier.

He was going to die. "Hey."

"Hey."

They sat down together. Y/n inhaled slowly. ‘Okay. Now. Just do it. Before you lose your nerve.’

"Actually," he began.

And at the exact same time.

"As a matter of fact," Asa said.

Both paused with a smile.

"You go."

"No, you."

"You."

"No, you can go first."

They stared at each other. Then laughed. Again.

Finally Asa shook her head. "No. I'm doing it before I lose my nerve."

Y/n blinked. "...Lose your nerve?"

She took a breath. Looked directly at him. And said, "Would you like to go on a date with me?"

Y/n stared. Brain completely empty.

Asa immediately looked horrified. "Oh my God."

"No."

"No?"

"Way."

"What?"

"No way."

She started laughing. "Oh no."

"I was literally about to ask you."

Her eyes widened. "You were?"

"Yes."

"Seriously?"

"Yes."

Asa covered her face. Laughing harder. "That's actually embarrassing."

"I know."

"We're idiots."

"We really are."

For a moment neither of them could stop laughing. Not because it was particularly funny.

But because all the tension they'd been carrying for the past week had suddenly collapsed at once.

Those walks back from class where each had secretly wondered if the other might feel the same way. Apparently they had both arrived at the exact same conclusion and apparently they had both chosen the exact same day to do something about it.

Eventually Asa lowered her hands and her cheeks were pink but the smile was still on her face. "So..." she said.

"So..."

"Does that mean yes?"

Y/n stared at her. "Are you serious?"

"I'm asking for clarification."

"You literally asked me out."

"And?"

"And I was about to ask you out."

"Yes."

"So the answer is obviously yes."

She laughed again. "Good."

"Good?"

"I would've looked really stupid if you said no."

Y/n pointed at her. "Hey. That's my line."

"Too slow."

"Unbelievable."

"You'll survive."

The scary thing was that she was right.

A few minutes ago he thought he was going to have a heart attack and now he felt lighter than he had in weeks.

Asa leaned back in her chair. That smile was still on her face, looking entirely too pleased with herself. "So."

Y/n narrowed his eyes. "So."

"Where were you going to take me?"

His brain immediately short-circuited. "What?"

"The date."

"You assume I had a plan?"

"You absolutely had a plan."

"I had concepts of a plan."

"Concepts?"

"Very strong concepts."

She laughed. "That's not reassuring."

"Well I don't have to tell you now."

"And why not?"

"Because technically you asked me so technically you should have a date plan."

Her mouth dropped open. "Oh, that's evil."

"I learned from the best."

"I've done nothing of the sort."

"You emotionally ambushed me."

"You were literally about to do the same thing."

"But I didn't, so that's not important."

"It seems important."

They sat there smiling at each other. 

Eventually Asa tilted her head. "Can I tell you something?"

"Sure."

"I genuinely thought you weren't interested."

Y/n blinked and laughed."...What?"

She laughed. "No, seriously."

"Why did you think that?"

"You never flirted with me."

"I absolutely flirted."

"You did not."

"I did."

"Name one time."

Y/n opened his mouth, paused, then closed it again.

Asa immediately pointed. "Exactly."

"No, wait."

She leaned back, "I'm waiting."

He sat there with his head in his hands then popped up, "There was that time in the library."

"What time?"

"When I..." He stopped because whatever memory he'd been about to use suddenly sounded much less impressive out loud.

Asa folded her arms. Smug. "Go on."

"I complimented your presentation…"

"Y/n."

"What?"

"That's not flirting."

"It wasn't?"

"No."

"Then I've misunderstood a lot about human interaction."

She laughed so hard she nearly knocked her drink over. "Oh my God."

"What?"

"You genuinely thought that counted."

"It was a really good presentation."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Then they both started laughing again and that was the thing Y/n kept noticing.

There was no pressure to be someone else, no need to impress her.

By the time they finally looked at the clock, nearly forty minutes had passed.

"So..." she said quietly.

"Yeah?"

"Do you actually want to go on a date with me?"

The question caught him off guard, not because he didn't know the answer but more because of how sincere she sounded.

Like she genuinely wanted to hear me say it.

Y/n's expression softened. "Asa."

"Hm?" Her head was looking down at her hands.

"I've been trying to work up the courage to ask you out for like two weeks."

She looked at me with her eyes wide. "Two weeks?"

"At least."

"Seriously?"

"I even asked Johnny for advice."

She immediately winced. "Oh no."

"Exactly."

"What did he tell you?"

"At first, he told me to 'just be cool. But by the end of it he told me to ‘just do it’ and that ‘I am beyond help.'”

Asa burst out laughing. "That's terrible advice."

"Yeah I know."

"You're the least cool person I've ever met."

He made a little sound and placed his hand on his chest. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

He shook his head and the answer felt incredibly simple. "Yeah," he said softly. "I really want to go on a date with you."

For the first time since he'd met her, Asa looked genuinely speechless. But it only lasted a second.

And Y/n would later remember that exact moment more clearly than almost anything else from university.

"Good," she said quietly.

"Good?"

"Because I really want to go on a date with you too."

And just like that. 

The thing they'd both spent weeks building up in their heads finally happened.

Their first date was the following Friday. 

It wasn’t anything overly complicated because neither of them wanted it complicated. 

The entire week leading up to it had felt absurdly long.

Y/n had spent most of it alternating between excitement and panic. One minute he'd be smiling to himself while walking across campus and the next he'd be questioning every life decision he'd ever made.

Meanwhile, Asa had somehow managed to look completely normal every time he saw her.

Which only made him more suspicious because there was no way she was calm about this.

Either she was just better at hiding it.

Or maybe she enjoyed watching him suffer.

Both options seemed equally possible.

By Friday evening, Y/n had changed outfits three separate times. The first shirt made him look too formal. The second made him look like he wasn't trying at all. The third somehow annoyed him for reasons he couldn't explain.

Eventually he settled on something simple and spent the next ten minutes staring at himself in the mirror. "Pull yourself together," he muttered.

The restaurant they'd chosen sat on a quiet corner near the city center. Just warm lighting, good food, and enough privacy to actually hold a conversation.

Exactly what they wanted.

They had agreed to meet at 6:30, Y/n had arrived first. 

Not because he was trying to be impressive. Because he had left his apartment twenty minutes early out of nervousness and then walked faster than intended.

Now he was standing outside checking the time every thirty seconds like a man awaiting a medical diagnosis.

Then he saw her and immediately forgot every thought he'd been having.

Asa was walking toward the restaurant with her hands tucked into the pockets of her coat.

And she smiled the second she spotted him, it felt like a smile that was especially for him. That one look made his heart skip a beat.

She reached him a moment later. "Hey." 

Her voice was casual. Normal even. As though she wasn't currently causing severe problems for his ability to function.

"Hey." He smiled at her. Normally? I don’t know.

Asa's smile widened slightly. "You okay?"

"No." The smile stayed on his face without changing one bit.

That made her laugh immediately. "Good."

"Good?"

"Good as in, I was worried I was the only nervous one here."

"You looked completely calm."

"That's because I'm really good at lying and masking my face."

"Oh."

"Yeah, internally though, I'm having a crisis."

"That actually makes me feel much better."

"Happy to help."

Together they headed inside. A hostess greeted them and led them toward a table near the window.

Asa reached for her chair automatically. Only to pause when Y/n stepped forward first. He pulled the chair out for her.

For a second she looked surprised. "Thank you," she said softly.

The smile she gave him afterward made the simple gesture feel far more significant than it probably should have.

Y/n felt proud of himself. "You're welcome."

She sat down on the pulled out chair and he pushed the chair in gently before taking his own seat across from her.

For a moment they didn’t say anything. Just smiling and looking at each other.

This was a date, with the person they'd both spent weeks wanting to ask out.

"What? Why are you making that face?" Asa asked.

"I was thinking."

"That's dangerous."

"Very."

"What were you thinking?"

Y/n shook his head. "Just how it’s ridiculous it took us this long to do this."

"Oh." Asa smiled into her menu. "Yeah." 

"It would've been really awkward if we'd waited another month to confess."

"Would've gone crazy overthinking if nothing was said that day."

"True."

The waiter arrived and orders were placed.

And once the initial nervousness faded, everything became easy again. Just like it had been since the day they met.

Hours disappeared without either of them noticing. They talked about university, their families, childhood stories, terrible jobs they'd worked.

At one point Asa spent ten straight minutes describing a coworker who somehow managed to break the same office printer three separate times.

Y/n laughed so hard he nearly dropped his fork.

"No, because you're not understanding," she said, pointing dramatically.

"I'm trying to."

"He broke it.”  

“Mmm.”

"Three times."

"Still with you."

"In one week."

Y/n stared. "...How the heck?"

"Nobody knows."

"That's impressive."

"It shouldn't be."

"No, it absolutely is." She laughed and Y/n found himself staring for half a second longer than he probably should have.

Because she'd always been pretty. He knew that. He wasn't blind.

But tonight felt different.

Now he could actually let himself notice it. The way she got animated whenever she told a story, the way she smiled when she caught him looking.

Unfortunately, Asa noticed everything.

Including that.

Her eyebrow lifted slightly.

Y/n immediately looked away.

Which only made her grin. "You're staring."

"What? No, I'm not."

"You absolutely are."

"I'm listening."

"To my face?"

"That's where the story is coming from."

She burst out laughing. "That's the worst defense you've used all night."

"It’s working."

"It’s really not." Y/n shook his head, smiling despite himself.

Still at dinner and everything was going well until disaster struck.

It was a tiny one.

But a disaster nonetheless.

It happened while they were laughing.

Asa had just finished telling a story about accidentally sending a text to the wrong person. A story so embarrassing Y/n was convinced he would never recover if it happened to him.

"No, because then she replied–" Asa reached across the table instinctively. Her fingers brushing lightly against the back of his hand. Just for a second. A completely innocent touch.

Y/n's brain immediately stopped working. Every thought vanished.

Asa was still laughing. Still talking. Still touching his hand.

And Y/n, in a desperate attempt to appear normal, reached for his water.

The glass slipped.

Water immediately spilled across the table.

Directly into his lap.

The glass wobbled dramatically before settling.

A long pause followed.

"Oh my God." Asa doubled over laughing.

Y/n dropped his face into his hands. "No."

"Did you just spill water because I touched your hand?" Still laughing hard.

"No."

"You absolutely did."

"No."

"Y/n."

"No."

She laughed harder. Actual tears forming in her eyes. "This is the best thing that's happened all week."

"I hate this."

"Do you? Cause I am loving it." Laughing even harder, if that is even possible.

"I really do. I’m so embarrassed."

"You looked so confident." She slowly calmed down.

"I was."

"And then?"

"...You touched my hand."

That somehow made her laugh hard again. A nearby couple glanced over.

Y/n briefly considered leaving the country. He covered his face. "I'm leaving."

"No you're not."

"I'm moving countries."

"You absolutely are not." She laughed so hard she nearly cried.

That made him laugh too.

Asa managed to calm down enough to breathe again. Though every time she looked at him she started smiling all over.

And that made Y/n smile because her laugh was worth the embarrassment, every single time.

The date continued long after that.

The food eventually disappeared, plates were cleared away and the restaurant grew quieter as other customers left.

Neither of them seemed eager for the night to end, for the first time since they'd met, neither had to wonder anymore because they already knew.

They liked each other.

A lot.

And every minute spent together only seemed to confirm it.

The date lasted far longer than either of them intended, the restaurant closed around them forcing them back into reality. Neither seemed particularly happy about it.

So Y/n walked her home.

The city felt quieter at night, streetlights casting warm pools of gold across the pavement, air cool enough to be comfortable.

They walked slowly. Neither wanting the night to end.

When they finally reached her apartment building, they didn’t move, didn't rush to say goodbye.

They just stood there smiling and looking at each other. "I had a really good time tonight."

Y/n looked at her. "Yeah, so did I."

"Yeah?"

"Honestly?" He laughed softly. "Best date I've ever been on."

Asa's smile widened. "Good answer."

"It's true."

"I know."

"I mean it."

"I know."

He was still talking, still trying to put feelings into words. Asa stepped forward, grabbed the front of his jacket and kissed him.

She tasted faintly like dessert and coffee, one hand resting against his chest, the other curled into his jacket.

When they finally pulled apart they didn’t move very far, foreheads touching, smiling like complete idiots.

Asa looked up at him and asked quietly, "Would you like to come up?"

Y/n didn't even hesitate. "Absolutely I do."

She grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the lobby door. 

She walked up the stairs and he followed closely behind, they didn’t want to rush, they both knew that they were on the same page.

This felt like a scene out of ‘Hadestown.’ Will she turn to see if he is behind her, like Orpheus and Eurydice.

She did.

She turned slightly to look at him, he was looking at her already. A soft smile appeared on her face when she turned the corner to where her apartment was.

She put her key into the door and unlocked it, “Come on in.”

He had been in her place a handful of times, but this time right now, felt much different compared to those times.

The door to Asa's apartment clicked shut, but the sound felt distant, as if they had already stepped into a different dimension the moment the lock turned. 

The entryway was dim, lit only by a small lamp in the living room, casting shadows that danced across the walls. For a few moments, they just stood there. 

The silence was heavy, two people who had spent months pretending their hearts didn’t race every time their shoulders brushed.

Y/n didn't let her move an inch. 

He stepped into her space, his hands finding the curve of her waist with a tender grip, pulling her flush against him. 

Asa let out a tiny, shaky breath, a sound of complete surrender, as she wound her arms around his neck, her fingers tangling in the hair at the nape of his neck, pulling him down to her level.

"I can't believe we waited this long," she whispered, her voice fragile, her lips against his lips.

"I think I would have died if we did," he murmured back, his forehead resting against hers. "I’ve wanted to do this since the day you said that  you ‘observe’ me."

Asa let out a soft, breathless laugh that was swallowed by his mouth as he kissed her again. 

It was the feeling of two puzzle pieces finally clicking into place after months of hovering just beside one another, afraid to make the first move.

Slowly, almost instinctively, they began to move toward the bedroom, though they never truly broke the kiss. 

They moved as one entity, their footsteps clumsy and desperate. They stumbled slightly over a stray shoe in the hallway, a small domestic mishap that made them both giggle softly into each other's mouths before they finally reached the edge of the bed.

Y/n pulled back for a second, bracing himself on his elbows. He looked at her with such raw, unfiltered adoration that Asa felt her heart swell, almost painfully. 

He reached up, his thumb tracing the line of her jaw, his touch as light as a feather, as if he were afraid she might vanish if he pressed too hard.

"You're so beautiful," he whispered, his voice thick with a sincerity that made her tremble. "I don't think you have any idea."

Asa felt a flush creep up her neck. She reached up, mirroring his touch, her palm resting against his cheek. "You're not so bad yourself, Business man."

He chuckled, the sound vibrating in his chest, and leaned down to press a lingering kiss to the sensitive dip of her collarbone. Asa gasped, her back arching slightly, her fingers tightening in his shirt. 

With slow, deliberate movements, they began to undress each other. There was no rush, no frantic tearing of fabric. Instead, every inch of skin revealed was treated like a precious secret. 

Y/n’s hands were trembling slightly as he helped her out of her clothes. He traced the slope of her shoulder, the curve of her ribs, his touch leaving trails of fire in its wake.

When she mirrored the action, sliding his shirt over his head and feeling the hard muscle of his chest beneath her palms, she let out a soft hum of approval. 

She could feel the erratic, hammering thumping of his heart against her hand. "See?" she teased softly, her voice husky and low. "You're still nervous."

"I'm terrified," he admitted, pulling her close so their bare chests met. The heat of her skin against his was an explosion of sensation, a physical shock that made his head spin. "But it's because I want this to be perfect. I want you to feel everything I feel for you."

They lay back together, limbs intertwining. They spent a long time just exploring the geography of one another with soft kisses and wandering hands. 

Y/n traced the curve of her hip and the dip of her waist, marveling at how perfectly she fit against him, as if she had been designed specifically to be held by him. 

He kissed her eyelids, the tip of her nose, and the soft skin behind her ear, treating her with a reverence that made Asa feel cherished and safe.

As the tension climbed, the tenderness shifted into something more urgent. When he finally moved to enter her, he paused, his eyes locking onto hers, searching for a sign, a nod, a breath, a confirmation.

Y/n paused at the entrance, the head of his length brushing against her aching heat. He was trembling, his muscles taut and strained from the effort of not simply losing himself in her immediately. 

He looked down at her, her hair sprawled across the pillow like a dark halo, her eyes glazed with a desperate, shimmering hunger. "Are you sure?" he whispered, his voice a low, guttural rasp.

Asa didn’t answer with words. She couldn't. Instead, she arched her hips upward, a silent, pleading invitation, and reached down with a steady hand to guide him. The moment he felt her fingers wrap around him, guiding him to the center of her heat, a low growl escaped his throat.

He pushed forward, slowly at first, savoring the agonizingly perfect sensation of her stretching to accommodate him. 

Asa let out a long, shuddering gasp, her eyes fluttering shut as she felt him filling her, inch by inch. 

It was a slow, heavy invasion that felt less like a physical act and more like two puzzle pieces finally clicking into place after a lifetime of being apart.

As he slid deeper, the tightness of her walls gripped him with an intensity that nearly made his vision blur. He stopped when he was buried deep, their pelvic bones colliding with a soft thud. 

They both froze, trapped in a moment of pure, overwhelming sensory overload. The feeling of being completely merged, skin to skin, heat to heat, was almost too much to bear.

"Oh my God," Asa whimpered, her voice breaking. "Y/n... you're... you're so..."

"I've got you," he breathed, his forehead resting against hers, their breaths mingling in the small space between them. "I've got you."

He waited for her body to adjust, for the initial shock to melt into pleasure. Then, he began to move.

He pulled back slowly, almost entirely leaving her, only to plunge back in with a sudden, forceful depth that made Asa cry out, her back arching off the mattress. The sound sparked something primal in him. He began to establish a rhythm, steady, deep, and relentless.

Each thrust was deliberate, a heavy, sliding friction that ignited a fire in the pit of his stomach. He watched her face, mesmerized by the way her expression shifted from shock to sheer, unadulterated ecstasy. 

Every time he hit the deepest part of her, Asa’s toes curled and she let out a strangled, high-pitched moan that drove him wild.

The friction built, the wet sounds of their union filling the quiet room. Y/n shifted his angle, tilting his hips to grind against her most sensitive spot. 

The effect was instantaneous. Asa’s eyes snapped open, her pupils blown wide, and she gripped his shoulders so hard her nails left crescent moons in his skin.

"Right there," she gasped, her voice a desperate plea. "Don't... don't stop. Please, don't stop."

He didn't. He accelerated, the pace turning frantic. He wasn't just moving inside her; he was trying to merge with her, to erase the boundary between where he ended and she began. The bed groaned beneath them, the rhythmic slap of their bodies echoing the pounding of his heart.

Asa was unraveling beneath him. Her breaths became short, jagged sobs of pleasure, her hips rising to meet every one of his thrusts, chasing the friction, demanding more. She was shaking now, her entire body vibrating with a tension that had been building for months.

"Y/n, I'm... I'm close... I can't..."

Hearing her break was the final trigger. Y/n abandoned all restraint, his movements becoming powerful and raw. He drove into her one last time, burying himself as deep as physically possible, and held her there, pinning her to the bed.

The climax hit Asa like a tidal wave. She screamed his name into the crook of his neck, her internal muscles clamping around him in powerful, rhythmic contractions that squeezed him relentlessly. 

The sensation was too much.

Y/n felt his own control snap. With a loud, guttural groan, he surrendered to the pressure, his body shuddering violently as he poured everything into her, filling her with a warmth that felt like a seal on a promise they had both made without speaking.

They collapsed into each other, lungs burning, skin slick with sweat, still joined and trembling in the wreckage of their own desire.

In that moment, the universe shrank until it consisted only of the two of them, dissolved into a single entity of gold and heat.

Afterward, as the adrenaline faded and the silence returned, Y/n didn't pull away. He collapsed softly beside her, pulling the blanket over their tangled limbs and her head moving to the crook of his neck. 

He kissed the top of her head, his heart slowly returning to a normal pace as he felt her breathing even out against his chest.

For a long time after, neither of them moved. They stayed entwined, their hearts beating in a frantic, shared tempo, the silence of the room filled only by the sound of their recovering breath.

Y/n eventually shifted, kissing her forehead and pulling her close against his chest.

"So," Asa whispered, her voice small and exhausted, a tiny, mischievous smile playing on her lips.

"So?" Y/n asked.

"I think this was a much better date plan than 'concepts of a plan'."

Y/n laughed, the sound rich and happy, as he held the love of his life in the quiet aftermath. “Definitely.”