✨💛🌼

IT WAS WEIRD to be sitting in a studio room with people you hadn’t seen for the past few days, but it was also nice to have everyone together as a group again.

You were sitting on a sofa, sandwiched between Alfie and Indiyah, listening to Grace introduce each of you. There was a round of applause for every name before you all got properly comfortable.

“I wanna start with the winner. AB, congratulations.”

Everyone whooped and cheered, clapping in his direction.

He grinned, nodding, and you could tell he was a little shy under all of this attention.

“How do you feel?”

“It’s— I feel great. A little shocked, but yeah, buzzing. I really didn’t — like, even before coming into the show — I didn’t think I’d make it very far at all, so to win it’s like … huge.”

“Did you have any tactics, especially toward the end?”

“No, not really.” He said, “Just, stay truthful to myself, stick close with the people I know I can trust, and … yeah. That was it really.”

“That final was incredible,” Grace spoke, moving her hands around, “Reader, should we bring it over to you?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Do you feel a little bit mugged off or are you alright?”

“No, I’m okay with it!” You laughed, “I mean, I knew Alfie was gonna pick steal after, um, that whole fiasco, and I thought, like … I guess my thought process was that if I can give him the win then surely that proves, like, I wasn’t using him or anything. And … well, I think it worked.” You grinned, looking at him.

He already had his eyes on you, his line of sight flickering between your eyes and lips as you explained how you felt.

“I would too, I mean, he very dramatically came running through the crew to get to you.” Grace nodded, and everyone laughed, “Quite cinematic. What was your thought process with that, AB?”

He shrugged, laying an arm over your thighs so his hand was resting on your outer thigh, slowly rubbing his thumb back and forth, “I just wanted my girl back.”

“Awww!” Indiyah and Chian harmonised.

You let your shoulders lift as you smiled before dropping them down.

“Nah, I just felt awful, like,” He swallowed, smacking his lips slightly, “I kinda knew the Sidemen stitched her up when I woke up, but, I’m stubborn as fuck and just didn’t say anything.”

“Ick.” You turned your nose up.

“Yeah, shut up, you’re still with me.”

“Should I not be?” You quipped, tilting your head.

“Nah, nah, chill out, girl.” He patted your thigh. “But, I guess also it doesn’t really matter that I won, she’s still gonna get half of it.”

“Are you actually gonna give her half?!” Chloe sat up, peering around Alhan to look at him.

“No, I won’t give her half, but I’ll probably end up spending half of it on her.” Alfie shrugged.

“Princess treatment.” Grace commented, giving you a nod of approval, “Um, what was the hardest thing about living in the house. I’ll ask Chian and Reader this because you both cried quite a lot, my queens.”

“Oh my God, I was such a crybaby.” Chian gasped, eyes widening, “I didn’t realise how sensitive I was, like, I was crying more than the people that got voted out themselves, like, what the hell was that about!”

“And Reader?” Grace turned to you.

“I don’t even wanna think about how much I cried in that place, oh my God.” You pressed your fingers to your temples.

“Every day.” Alhan hummed, “But if it wasn’t Chian, it was you, and if it wasn’t you, it was Chian.”

“Oh, and God forbid it was both of them at the same time!” Indiyah added, shaking her head.

A round of laughter came from everyone.

“Okay, but sometimes it’s good to have sensitive queens.” Grace shrugged.

“Yeah, me and Chian were just, like, that level of emotion that some people didn’t have— I bet it’s gonna be so funny rewatching when I got ‘out’, because Chian was crying, and Alhan was laughing!”

The man in question snorted and nodded.

“Were you mad about that?” Grace asked.

“Errr … not really. I think it’s because I got to know Alhan properly, so I knew it wasn’t that he found it funny, he’s just the type of guy that laughs in serious situations.” You shrugged.

“You know I love you, Reader.” Alhan held a hand up.

“Aww! Love you too!”

“Alright, chill out.” Alfie muttered jokingly, causing more laughter.

On the TV, they began showing clips of every single time either you or Chian were crying. You were almost one hundred percent certain that if they showed the full length of all the clips, you would’ve been there for the majority of the evening, and you did not want to be spending that amount of time rewatching scenes of yourself sobbing over (realistically) nothing.

“So, what was actually the hardest part?” Grave questioned.

“I don’t know!” Chian said truthfully, “The experience was amazing, so there was nothing hard about it, but I think for me, I actually thought I could be a game player, but I really can’t.”

Chloe spoke up then, pointing to Alhan, “Snoring. Every night, snoring and farting. It was a lot to take in, actually.”

“You wanna talk about noises at night?!” Alhan exclaimed before turning to you and Alfie, “The night them two came back, all I heard was,” He then began mimicking the sound of making out.

“One night, bro!” Alfie argued, his cheeks tinging red slightly, “One night out of six! But, Expressions saying ‘Them boy there’ after every sentence. I was hearing it in my sleep, bro.”

“‘Them boy there’, I didn’t say that once.” Expressions frowned, “I said ‘you know them way there’, that’s what I said.”

“Yeah, but, same thing.” Alfie threw a hand out.

“That’s not the same thing.” Expressions pointed a finger at him.

“It’s the same thing.”

“No, it’s not.”

Noises of commotion and egging on the argument started, and Alfie lifted his head.

“Should we actually scrap?”

You kissed your teeth at him and slapped his bicep playfully.

“Did you guys actually all get on, or was that all for show?” Grace asked after the noise died down.

Everyone was in agreement that nothing was played up for the cameras, and you all worked together as a nice little family in the short amount of time that you were there.

“Nah!” Alhan shouted jokingly, making everyone scoff, “Nah, the final six was banging.”

“Oh my God.” You whispered, gently putting your hand to your mouth.

“That’s nasty, that.” Chloe scolded him with a tap on the thigh.

“Right, you guys walked in with one million pounds, and you walked out with £177,894.”

“If it wasn’t for,” Indiyah jabbed her thumb in Alfie’s direction, “This one being stubborn as anything, I think we would’ve been on, like, 400k.”

“Why is that AB’s fault?” Expressions sat up.

“You don’t know?!”

“What did he do?!” Chian sat up, intrigued.

“Yeah, Alfie, what did you do?” You huffed, crossing your arms over your chest sassily.

“Oh, shush!” He exclaimed, shaking his head.

“He spent 30k on his temptation, then as a result of that, we dropped, like, 150k on Reader so she could have some happy time with her cat, because she was bawling.” Indiyah explained it all with animated gestures. “So, that was like 180k in one night!”

“Who bought the cat prize?” Grace questioned.

“Me.” Ben held his hand up, “Alhan did the first one, I did the second one.”

“I, honestly, I was so grateful for that.” You pressed a hand to your chest, “I really needed that.”

“Yeah, ‘coz, you turned down your temptation earlier.” Marlon added, “Was it— No, it was the day before, right?”

“Yeah, and my temptation was Buttons, so when Alhan and Ben bought me that time with him, I felt really grateful.”

“And then you sent me home in the last challenge.” Alhan kissed his teeth.

“Yeah, I did.” You snorted before raising your voice to defend yourself, “But you know why! You know why.”

“Yeah, I do. It’s all good.”

“So, apart from the obvious culprits — Alhan, Expressions — who do you think was going into the shop and ordering the most?”

You raised your hand and immediately pointed your finger down to Alfie.

“I did a lot of damage in my first time in there.” He admitted with a nod.

“He was in there for two days and spent 55k.” Saffron laughed, “And then he came back and probably spent double that!”

“I didn’t eat rice once.” Alfie said.

Expressions made a joke, “I can see, Captain America, blud, you ain’t eatin’ that!”

“Yeah, I feel bigger now then I was before!” He chuckled, “It was sick. Also, I just do it for the mrs.”

Nonchalantly, he slung his arm over your shoulders, tugging you right into his side. You scoffed and rolled your eyes but leaned into his touch anyway.

“Oh, we know she likes it.” Grace made an amused face.

“Yeah, just kissing all the time.” Alhan kissed his teeth.

“Bit more than that.”

“What?!” Chian shrieked.

“I swear to God, if you were shagging in bed next to me, I’m gonna be so fucking angry.” Alhan glared at the both of you.

“Nah, nah.” Alfie shook his head.

On the TV, the scene of you and Alfie under the covers in the secret room began playing. All that was audible was the sound of your kissing and the ruffling of sheets, which didn’t give anything away, but all the adults in the room could make a pretty sensible guess about what was going on.

You sat back into the sofa, covering your face with your hands.

“Oh my God!” Chloe exclaimed, “No fuckin’ way!”

“That’s AI.” Alfie muttered, his voice muffled by his hand over his mouth.

“That’s crazy.” Marlon cackled, face screwed up in amusement.

“The Sidemen are gonna sell those bedsheets now.” Alhan commented jokingly.

“See, if I hadn’t done my ting, that would’ve never happened.” Expressions smiled smugly, “So, you’re welcome.”

“Nah, you’re still a snake.” Alfie hummed.

“Indiyah, you don’t seem surprised.” Grace peered around at her.

“I knew.” She chuckled.

“You knew?” Marlon gasped.

“Yeah, Reader told me when they got back and we all split off.”

Another clip began playing of Indiyah’s reaction to the hickey on your chest.

“I can’t believe you never told us.” Alhan tutted at Alfie.

“It wasn’t important!” He threw his hands up.

"Shall we go back to the start? Okay, so, AB, you walk in. How are you feeling?” Grace asked.

“Yeah, I’ll tell you what, I just didn’t wanna be first or last, and I was first. ‘Coz I feel like last, you miss all the lore, everyone’s already mates, and then you’re like ‘Ah, I’m the newcomer’, it’s a bit dead. First is, like, it’s a lot of pressure to clip farm early on, you know what I mean? But, yeah, it was alright.” He shrugged.

“And obviously, when you walked in, Reader came after, and that … well, let’s play the clip.”

“Oh fuck.”

You didn’t know whether to view the moment as bittersweet, sad, or just entirely awkward. But the scene of your face immediately dropping after seeing him did cause a few chuckles from your friends. Surprisingly, the hug you shared looked comfortable and natural, even though it felt anything but in the moment.

“The awkwardness was there until you walked in, sweetheart.” Grace gestured to Marlon, who smiled.

“What was that like? Obviously, Reader, you said the one thing you didn’t want to see was your ex, and then low and behold, you’re the first two people in there.”

“Yeah.” You hummed, “It was … I mean, I tried not to deep it too much, because there were going to be new people coming in soon, but also, it did feel like the Sidemen dragged it out an awful amount. But, we hadn’t seen each other in … ten— Was it ten months?”

Alfie nodded, pursing his lips.

“Yeah, ten months. So, it was a little awkward and I— Okay, I’ll be honest, I just wanted to burst out crying when I saw him. I was not happy with the Sidemen.”

That caused a wave of laughter.

“But, also thank God we were both in there otherwise we never would’ve gotten back together!” You threw your hands up.

“AB?”

“I mean, I wasn't upset to see her, obviously not, but I did think, like, ‘Fuck, this is the worst possible outcome to start this show’.” He snorted, “But, it was fine, I think the awkwardness disappeared after about a day, thank God for that.”

After that, a conversation broke out between Grace, Ben and Marlon about being the only Americans on the show, in which Ben admitted he felt a massive language barrier between him and Chloe that quickly smoothed out since there were other people to help him understand her, and Marlon expressed that he didn’t necessarily feel ‘American’, growing up in Sweden and all. In fact, he said he actually felt closer to the UK side of YouTube because of his heritage.

And what followed that, might’ve been the greatest scandal of Inside.

Expressions finally admitted that he didn’t have any kids at all.

This caused a huge debate between him and the boys and Indiyah, as they all argued that they’d had numerous private conversations with him about his kids, and how he had gone along with it like it was nothing. Like lying about having kids isn’t an all time low, especially as he used it as a way to bond with some of the other Insiders.

During this debacle, it also came out that Chian knew about his lying, but only went along with it by ignoring the entire topic and deciding not to speak up when people asked questions.

The spotlight was also thrown onto you and Alfie briefly, since you discovered that Expressions was childless during your time in the secret room.

“We only knew because of the CCTV shit, though.” Alfie defended you both. “Like, he didn’t tell us personally.”

“Also, I told Indiyah.” You held your hand up.

“You two are thick as bloody thieves, aren’t you?” Grace gasped through laughter.

“She’s my girl!” Indiyah grinned, wrapping her arms around your shoulders.

Once prompted, Chloe then opened up about how close she and Alhan got during their experience on Inside, and how she felt that she saw the side of him no one else really did; the side that was kind and warm and lovely.

“Alliances.” Grace brought up, “Who had alliances in the house?”

“We had the trio, the famous A-team.” Alhan stated, “And gradually that trio became a … not a foursome, what’s it called?”

Alfie laughed, throwing his head back.

“A quartet.” You corrected him politely.

“Yeah, that. When Alfie and Reader came back all lovey-dovey, no more awkward ex nonsense, she became a part of our group.”

“But I was still really close with Indiyah.” You added.

“I think all the alliances in the house kind of overlapped.” Saffron said, “Because Ben and Chian had a bit of an alliances, and Chian and Expressions did, then Reader and Ben?”

“Yeah, we had a little alliance.” Ben hummed, smiling at you, and you nodded.

“Then Reader and me and Indiyah had our girls trio— Oh, with Chloe, of course, and then Reader was close with all the boys.”

“Reader really was the glue that kept us all together.” Chloe verbalised what everyone was already thinking.

“I was gonna say,” Grace nodded, pointing to you, “You seem to be in the middle of this all and everything kinda goes off from you.”

“I actually didn’t even realise when I was in there.” You giggled shyly, “But, I’m glad, I guess. It’s a nice feeling to know most people like you.”

“We all love you.” Marlon uttered.

“Aww! I love you all too!” You grinned.

“Well, not all of us.” Alhan mumbled, glancing at Expressions.

“What, blud?!” His jaw dropped, looking gobsmacked.

“You voted Reader out.”

“Oh, can we not start this again?” You groaned, “Guys, I really don’t care. Besides, I made it to the final anyway.” You shrugged.

“Oooo.” Grace wiggled her shoulders lightly, “Slight bragging dig there, Reader.”

“I’m not lying.”

The attention swiftly turned to Lydia as she was given the time to explain how she felt in her extremely limited time on the show. She said how she knew she was gone the moment it was announced who it was between, and that before Alhan apologised for laughing during her elimination, she’d never been so angry at someone in her life.

Grace then brought up the fact that AB was the second to be eliminated, and how much drama that caused on its own. In the grand scheme of things, everyone had a very overdramatic reaction to him leaving, but he said he felt relieved because it was better than no one giving a fuck.

“Expressions, in this moment, you went against the boys.”

“You were the reason I went home— Well, ‘went home’.” Alfie kissed his teeth, “Dickhead.”

“By mistake.” Expressions held his hands up.

“Snake snake snake snake snake.” Alhan repeated over and over.

You suckled on the inside of your cheek.

You knew (for the most part) that he was only joking about the snakiness, but you also knew that three boys you’d grown closest too were still fuming about his vote going to you.

Indiyah pulled a face at Expressions’ pathetic excuse of a reasoning for his vote, making you snort and begin a little muttering conversation with her.

The clip of Expressions voting for you began playing, and it was the first time you actually got to hear why he chose you.

“I just think if Reader goes out, then it will make it easier to vote AB out in the future. Which is … it’s the ultimate plan.”

“That is fucking mental.” Alfie scoffed.

“Snakeeeee!” Alhan exclaimed.

“Yeah, crazy, bro.” Marlon hummed.

Expressions began stuttering and fumbling for the chance to answer and clarify the reason why he’d done what he did, but Alhan was having none of it, interrupting him to have a fake phone call and deem him to be chatting shit. Indiyah also kissed her teeth and rolled her eyes.

“Lies.”

“Oh, now everyone’s piping up!” You guffawed, looking to Grace, “Do you see what you’ve done?!”

“It’s my job, I’m sorry!” She shouted.

“The most nuts thing was that he tried to frame Reader for being the reason AB went home.” Marlon explained, “When really, if he had just stocked to the boys plan to vote for Saffron, no offence,”

Saffron waved him off.

“Then, AB wouldn’t have, you know, ‘gone home’.” Marlon bent his fingers.

“And Reader, you were— We never saw you shout at anyone in the show, except for that one time. You cried a lot, but you never showed aggression.” Indiyah added on, “So … it was just messy.”

“Yeah, I was just annoyed that Expressions said I voted for Alfie when, like, why would I? That’s dumb. I didn’t want him out, I never made out like I wanted him out. So, yeah, I just got defensive.”

“I apologise.” Expressions laid his hands out.

“It’s okay.” You chuckled.

“Nah, Reader, don’t forgive him.” Alhan tutted.

“Will you give it a rest?” Chloe tapped him on the thigh again.

The topic of discussion then filtered off into one about favourite challenges, and everyone seemed to be in mutual agreement that the eating one was one of the best. You shook your head in disgust, sharing a knowing look with Chian as Eddie, Marlon and Alfie raved on about how good the experience was for them.

Alhan then started speaking about how enjoyable his time was when it came to trolling, and even admitted that he didn’t predict to have spent as much money as he did, but at the end of the day, he didn’t regret a single thing.

When the topic of temptations got brought up, you looked to Alfie with a disappointed expression, tutting at him while shaking your head.

“Okay, I take ownership, my temptation caused the most amount of drama, and I’m sorry, to you.” Alfie held his hands up before letting one of them fall back across your lap.

The physical touch wasn’t over the top, and it didn’t scream possessive energy, but it let everyone know that you were his. You couldn’t actually tell if Alfie knew he was doing it, because his hand had been there the entire time. Maybe it was just second nature to him.

“You’re always at the scene of the crime.” Ben pointed to Alfie, “The elimination, the temptation. Always you.”

“It’s nuts, ‘ent it.” He laughed.

“Reader, your temptation caused some commotion.” Grace gestured.

“Only with me.” You clarified, “No one else was arsed except for me. But, yeah, I was very upset. Buttons is my baby, and I think what made it worse was that he was meowing at me. I was literally sitting on the floor curled up into a little ball. It’ll probably be quite funny to watch back.”

“And then Ben and Alhan teamed up to give it you back.”

“Yes, they did.”

“I just want to expand on that, particularly with Ben. You two seemed to have a little thing going on there. Did you fancy each other or?”

Ben spoke before you, “I’ll just hold my hands up now and say ‘Yeah’.”

His straightforward honesty caused some laughter.

“I mean, you’re beautiful, and your energy is something else. But, you’ve got Alfie and I’m really happy for you. Also, it was kinda just a crush. I’ll go back to America and probably forget about it.”

“Aw, Ben!” You pouted, standing up and walking across to give him a hug, “Thank you.”

After the brief embrace, you made your way back to the sofa, and Alfie’s arm fell across your lap again.

“AB, how does that make you feel?”

“I’m not arsed. I mean, I kinda figured just based on how they were together, but … I mean, Ben’s right about what he says.” Alfie shrugged.

“Damn, this is the Reader show.” Alhan commented passively.

“It really is!” Chian agreed, nodding enthusiastically.

“Alright, stop, I don’t like the attention.” Your cheeks warmed a ridiculous amount.

“AB, to finish up here, do you have any inspirational words as the winner of Inside Season Three?”

“Ummm …”

You interrupted him to mock him and cause a wave of unbridled laughter, “Yo family.”

“No.” He tutted, slapping your thigh, “Just, be yourself, I guess. I did, look where that got me.” He gestured around to him, “Also, don’t believe the Sidemen, they manipulate you into thinking your girlfriend hates you.”

“Actually she’s not your girlfriend yet, you haven’t asked.” Indiyah butted in sassily.

“Yeah, actually!” You gasped with realisation.

“Nah, nah I’ll do it after, girl. Too many cameras.” He played it off.

“You don’t care about cameras.” Alhan scoffed, "We've seen that.”

“Shh.” Alfie held his finger to his lips in the direction of his mate.

To round off the shoot, Grace concluded, “We hope you guys enjoyed one of the most action-packed seasons that we have had so far. Thank you all for being so unhinged, and thank you for watching.”

Once the final round of applause subsided, the cameras stopped rolling and Alfie turned to you.

“Will you be my girlfriend again?”

“Aww!” Indiyah giggled, clapping.

A GROUP NIGHT out had swiftly turned into a solo mission as everyone wandered off to do their own things. No one was too drunk, so it wasn’t like there were any safety concerns, and each person at least had another.

Excluding you.

You didn’t mind too much, because they were getting to be a little too rowdy for your liking.

The bar you’d found yourself in was surprisingly quiet considering the time of night, and the music that was being played was just barely above conversation level, meaning you could actually hear everyone around you.

There was a group of boys occupying a large table, and they had some sort of camera crew surrounding them.

You couldn’t decipher whether they were filming some sort of documentary or just YouTubers, but judging based off of the drunkenness of some of them, you were inclined to go with the latter.

Perhaps if you were a little more sober, you would’ve been able to make out their faces and figure out just who each of them were, but even as one of them began approaching your barstool, you didn’t recognise them.

“Hello.”

“Oh, hi.” You lowered your glass back to the sticky bar top.

“I’m Arthur.”

“Nice to meet you.” You nodded, a little taken aback as he reached a hand out.

You shook it, amused at the formality of his greeting. “I’m Reader.”

“Lovely, um, my friend George,” Arthur’s words were slurred, and he looked over his shoulder, pointing to a very attractive man with a curly mullet, “He thinks you’re really beautiful and was wondering if he could buy you a drink.”

“I didn’t realise we were fifteen and needed our friends to ask for us.” You quipped, tilting your head.

Arthur held his hands out, fingers a little bent, “Oh, you want him to come? I can tell him.”

You nodded.

“Okay.”

Arthur walked back to the table, and you briefly witnessed George hiss something threatening at his friend through gritted teeth before trying to pluck up the courage to approach you.

You found his lack of confidence in himself astounding, because he truly was one of the most beautiful men you’d ever seen. You were contemplating going over there yourself until he finally walked towards you.

“Um, hello, I’m so sorry about him,” George started off, “I didn’t ask him to do that at all.”

You chuckled slightly at his panicked apology, “That’s okay.”

“What did he say to you?”

“He said that you think I’m really beautiful and you want to buy me a drink.” You relayed back.

“Yeah,” He scratched the back of his head, “Could I?”

“Sure.” You nodded, quickly downing what was left in your glass, which wasn’t much.

“Any drink of choice?”

You told him what you’d just had and he ordered another for you.

“Are you on your own?” He asked before sliding up onto the stool next to you.

“Yeah, I was out with my mates but we all went off separately. What about you?”

“We’re doing a platform roulette.”

“Oh, wow, so you’re not local?”

“No, we all live in London.”

”Gosh, long way.” You hummed, thanking the bartender as she delivered your drink to you, “Are you going back tonight?”

“I think so? I’m not really sure, it’s for my friend’s YouTube channel.”

You perked up at that, “I thought that’s what you were doing! With all the cameras and stuff.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He nodded, “Have you had a nice night?”

“Yeah, I have!” You smiled, “We were going from bar to bar earlier, some girls leaving our workplace so we thought we’d send her off with a lovely night out.”

“Oh, that’s fun.”

The conversation between the two of you continued to flow beautifully. There was no awkward silence or eye contact that left you afraid of him coming on too strong with an audacious kiss, nor was the touch that you shared occasionally making you want to back off and sit on the opposite side of the room.

Your fingers would graze every now and then, and even when you lowered your hand to our lap, he reached out to hold onto it. It was a delicate grasp that didn’t threaten you, in fact, it made you feel comfortable.

His thumb ever so gently stroked over your knuckles as your chatter continued.

You also ended up getting progressively more drunk until you were both laughing and flirting your words, leaning into each other far more than before.

At one point, you could’ve sworn his breath was fanning your neck, and your lips were a horsehair level of thin away from interlocking, but you managed to find the will to pull back and not neck on with the bloke you just met in a public area.

It seemed like your time was about to be cut short as one of his mates came over.

“George, we’re gonna get going mate. You coming?”

“Uhhh …” He looked to you, poking the inside of his cheek with his tongue before glancing back to his friend, “Nah, I’ll stay. She’s quite drunk, and I want to make sure she gets home properly.”

“Are you sure? We can probably take a detour to drop her home.”

“Yeah, it’s alright. I’ll sort a hotel or something.” George nodded.

“Alright, see you. Message us in the morning.”

“Will do.”

Once the early hours of the morning hit, the bar began slightly hinting at them wanting you to leave.

Stumbling to your feet, you collapsed into George’s arms before finding your footing.

“Sorry!” You gasped for air, face screwed up in amusement, “God, sorry.”

“It’s alright. Are you okay?” He chuckled, keeping a hand around your wrist so that he was always there as he ushered you out of the bar.

“Perfect.” You whispered breathlessly, staring at him.

The air hit you, and it wasn’t as cold as you anticipated, but you supposed that was part on parcel due to your lack of judgement considering there was still a heatwave occurring.

“Um,” You swallowed thickly, trying to block out the sober part of you that was telling you your next question was about to be really stupid.

“Do you wanna come back to mine?”

“I mean, I wasn’t gonna let you go back on your own.” He said.

“No, but, like,” You cleared your throat, “Do you wanna stay the night? Saves you buying a hotel.”

“Oh!” He seemed slightly shocked, eyebrows jerking up before his face relaxed and a pleased smile appeared, “Yeah, I’d love to.”

You nodded, turning on your phone and just about managing to call for an Uber through your bleary vision that you only had the alcohol to blame for.

The pair of you had managed to get very comfortable around each other, even going as far to have his arms resting around your shoulders from behind as you stood on the curb, waiting for your taxi to arrive.

It was nice.

It felt natural.

His thumbs moved up and down, stroking rhythmically over the bare skin of your arms while his chin rested on the top of your head, breathing in the scent of your shampoo.

The streets were somewhat crowded, mainly full of Uni students in their early twenties, off their faces and barely standing up straight while stumbling down the road back to their accommodation (or maybe even the next bar).

George helped you into the back of the Uber when it pulled up in front of you, and you managed to slur your address to the driver.

Again, you were comfortably cuddled up, sitting with his arms around you and your head tilted to lay on his shoulder.

The radio played quietly in the back as you toyed with George’s fingers in your lap.

This might’ve been the best outcome of the night, and it certainly beat going home alone to your apartment and crashing on the sofa because you were too inebriated to make it to your bedroom.

George’s presence was warming, and it didn’t leave you feeling creeped out or pressurised. His eyes were welcoming and kind, his arms even more so, and you found yourself feeling somewhat at home within them.

On top of that, he was just gorgeous. You were sure that you’d reiterated that to him a good handful of times throughout the night, but you had no recollection of any of them.

Regardless of how attractive and charming he was, he was actually really handy to have around because you most certainly wouldn’t have made it up the stairs of your apartment building had he not been around to support you.

You also probably wouldn’t have made it into the small square of what you called home, because all your keys started blurring together in the palm of your hand until he took them from you and opened the door.

He locked it behind you, helping you remove your shoes before doing the same with his own and hanging up his coat on the scarcely populated rack beside your door.

Seeing him in your home, looking so at ease within your space caused your heart to flutter a little, and your brain to go fuzzy with a desperate need you hadn’t experienced in a while, and honestly, had given up on ever feeling again.

“George.” You gulped, staring at him.

“You okay?” He hummed, cupping the sides of your face gently.

It was probably intended to be completely innocent on his behalf, but to you it was anything but.

“Oh my God, please kiss me.” You breathed out.

“Yeah?” He smirked, “You want that.”

Shockingly, you found it within yourself to clutch onto the collar of his shirt and hurl yourself forwards, landing your lips on his in a way that you likely would’ve described as clumsy and unceremonious.

You could feel him grin against your mouth, slowly walking you backwards through the hallway.

It wasn’t difficult to find your room considering your living room and kitchen were connected, meaning there were only two other doors in the hallway, one of them being cracked open and revealing the view of your bathroom.

He moved past that one, his hand still on your cheek while the other was on your waist, guiding your movements until you clattered through your bedroom door.

Soft giggles came from your lips as he kicked the door shut and found your mouth with his once again.

Lowering yourself to your bed, you took him with you.

His hands were now on either side of your head, digging into the fabric of your pillow as yours were on his cheeks, holding him close to you while hooking your legs up and over his hips, crossing your ankles at the base of his spine.

This brought his hips closer to you, his crotch meeting your heat in a soft grind.

The whine you let out was breathy and had his fingers squeezing the pillow, stirring something deep within him.

“George.” You moaned, bucking your hips up to his and sliding your hand round from his cheek to the back of his head, tugging at his curls.

“God, you’re perfect.” He groaned against your mouth, lowering himself even further onto his forearms.

His fingers were dancing through the lengths of your hair, not in a way that you’d feel it, but in a way that gave him something to do with them without him feeling entirely awkward and useless.

His tongue was soft against yours, not awfully invasive in a way that made you want to rear back and away, but purposeful and smoothly gliding.

Gradually, your clothes started to fall away, starting with your shirt and leading down to the leather mini skirt you were wearing, leaving you in your mismatched underwear, because you truthfully did not think you’d be going home with anyone tonight, let alone be bringing someone back to your apartment.

“Reader,” George whispered, pulling back.

You hummed, lifting your head off the pillow to chase his lips and connect them to yours again.

He allowed it for a heartbeat more before detaching himself from you again.

“You’re drunk, lovely.”

“I know.” You giggled.

“I’m not.”

“So? I know what I want.”

“I know you do, but … it doesn’t feel right.” He muttered, “Plus, I want it to be good, and I want you to remember it.”

You snorted, “Okay, I’m not that drunk, George.”

“No, I know, but I’d feel better about it if you were sober.”

“Oh. Okay.”

You wouldn’t lie and say that you weren’t disappointed, because you definitely were, but you did also understand where he was coming from.

His intoxication level was insignificant compared to yours, and he didn’t want to feel like he was taking advantage of someone with a clouded judgement.

Even though you could very easily recognise that you’d want him drunk and sober, you appreciated his concerns.

He pressed one last kiss to your lips, and it lingered in a tingling way, before standing up and walking towards your chest of drawers.

“Which one has your pyjamas in it?”

“That one.” You pointed, smiling dazedly at him.

He pulled out a pair that seemed to be appealing to his taste, and chucked them towards you.

You cackled as the fabric landed on your face before sitting up to remove your bra and slide the tank top over your head, and pull the shorts up your legs.

While you did that, George stripped down into his boxers, politely leaving his clothes in a pile in the corner instead of strewn about the room like your own were.

Shuffling along the mattress, you tucked yourself into the corner that was pressed against the wall in a position that you usually found yourself waking up to. It gave George enough space to slip into the space beside you without hanging off the edge.

Like it was a second nature, you found yourself back in his arms, his biceps tight around your head and your legs intertwined.

A sleep-slurred conversation was shared between the two of you that ended when he realised he was no longer receiving any responses from you.

When he peered down, he found your eyes shut and your lips parted ever so slightly, soft snores being released into the skin of his chest.

He smiled at the sight, finding it endearing. Pressing a kiss to your forehead, he unravelled himself from you so he could switch the lamp out and get comfortable within his own space.

And that’s how you fell asleep.