𓆝 ⋆｡𖦹°‧

Jerry squeezed your hand, he looked at you and gave you a sheepish smile, it was sweet how despite being officially together for a while now he still acted like this was all brand-new to him, like puppy love never ended. No matter how many times you told him you were ok with him displaying his affection for you he would mostly shy away every time, waiting for you to initiate.

“Do you wanna sit down?” He pointed to a nearby bench, in the end the two of you had wandered into a park while looking for things to do (because neither of you wanted to go home just yet). You nodded and along you went. 

The day was sunny yet windy, a perfect mixture for a date, you sat down and Jerry began fiddling with his hands. You dropped your head on his shoulder and he jumped a little before settling in and relaxing. The wind picked up and raked through the trees, making their branches sway softly.

Smek.

A clumsy kiss had been given to the top of your head, Jerry had turned his head completely to the side to avoid your gaze, his ears had gone beet red. Giggling, your hand reached for his and he allowed you to keep them in your lap, but he still couldn’t look at you.

Jerry gathered his courage and turned at you, the motion of him turning his neck so fast you’re sure it must’ve given him whiplash, his hands shot from yours to your cheeks, he held you gently and steeled himself for what he was about to do.

He wanted to go in for a peck, but the closer he got the more reluctant he became, so he settled for kisses on your cheeks, one for each, his hands trembled and he was happy he was sitting down so you wouldn’t notice how his legs turned to jelly. Your laughter graced his ears and it encouraged him to be courageous, even if just for this short moment. 

His body had tuned completely to the side to face you, one of his hands came to rest at the spot where your jaw meets your ear, the other still tenderly holding your cheek, a smooch was finally delivered to your lips. And another, and another, and one more just in case, and another one in case you needed reassurance that he loved you, and another one because he knew it'd take him a while to be this bold again. Your lips parted and his forehead came to rest on yours. Shit. He did it. The first time he has kissed you first and it’s not even indoors.

“Since when are you so bold?” You teased him and enjoyed the sight of his cheeks becoming redder by the second, He turned his head slightly and mumbled.

“I’m bolder than you think.” He pouted and looked a bit offended for one second before he moved back to his original position. “I couldn’t help myself, you’re just too cute…” He wanted you to see him as manly, as daring like the heroes in the movies and books he loved. He wanted to make you swoon, although so far it was more likely for you to woo him; but surely one day the roles would be inverted and he’d get to relish because he’d be the one to get you all red and flustered.

You said something to your uncle and made your way to Bill. His lips quirked up on a smile and he had to consciously put a scowl on instead, you would’t catch him being corny while not in the comfort of his own room. He was sitting on a flimsy white plastic chair that felt like it would give up on him any second, it creaked with his every move, but he didn’t want to stand up either, he knew that as soon as you got near him his legs would turn to jelly and he didn’t want to embarrass himself.

You weaved your way across the dancing floor and stood in front of him, your arms behind your back and a big smile on your face.

“Hey” You tilted your head to the side and smirked when his cheeks flushed.

“Hey.”

One of your hands found his, it was clammy and he thought it was a little gross but he didn’t stop you, he laced his fingers with yours. He didn’t register the fact that he was smiling until his cheek actually began hurting. God dammit.

“Anyway, what did you want?” He covered his lips with his other hand, feigning boredom or nonchalance though the heat he radiated and the flush on his whole face betrayed him.

“Dance with me” Bill immediately jolted back like you had just burned him, his brows borrowing and a frown taking place where his smile used to be.

“Fuck no” The answer was instantaneous, he didn’t even have to think about it to know he would rather give ONE of his favorite figurines than dance at all, and even more so in front of your family and strangers.

“Why not?” Your whiny voice only served to irritate him, you should know this is completely out of his comfort zone, you should know he’d say no.

He hissed your name “You know why not, don’t play dumb” His voice was stern, an irate tone to it. He let go of your hand and crossed his arms over his chest. You didn’t like the look he was giving you, like you were stupid.

You gave him an unimpressed look and quirked up an eyebrow “Fine. Then you get to watch me dance with someone else” Turning around and ready to march your way back to the dance floor you also crossed your arms.

“Wait!” Bill reached a hand out to hold onto your arm, his whole body jerking forward, almost plummeting against the floor. He’d forgotten he was tipsy. You turned around and he felt irritated by your blasé attitude, you were acting like you didn’t care if he danced with you or not and it hurt his ego, you should be the one latching onto his arm, not the other way around. 

“What? You can’t have your cake and eat it too” His eye twitched a little at that.

“What a stupid fucking saying” You knew that he knew he was trying to delay the inevitable. The truth was Bill would do most everything for you, if he wasn’t willing to he would’t have begged you when you told him to, he wouldn’t have saved money he’d otherwise use for his own enjoyment for date nights with you, hell! He wouldn’t have shown up today.

But that was different, back then it was just you two in his room, you were asking him to step away from the shadows and be an active participant of his life. 

“Whatever! Are you dancing with me or not?” Bill grit his teeth. He felt like he was on one of those tell tale games with timed decisions. On one hand he could make myself miserable yet make you happy, on the other he could stay in his comfort zone and disappoint you. “Nobody will look at us Bill, everybody is too absorbed in their own lives.” 

He scratched the back of his head and looked at the floor. He knew he’d give in, he knew it. He slowly let go of your arm and braced himself for what he was about to do. He grumbled but sighed, his resolve broken by a pair of pretty eyes.

“Just ONE song and then I’m sitting my ass down for the rest of the night.” 

You grinned and pulled him closer so you could give him a little smooch on the cheek, he bristled at that like a cat does when it comes across a body of water but otherwise let you do as you wanted. You grabbed him by the hand and pulled him along before he changed his mind. It was true that everybody was minding their own business, a lot of those present were already intoxicated and toed the line between lucid and blackout drunk.

A slow song was playing in the background and you knew that was probably the best kind of song for you two to dance to. Bill’s whole body was stiff and he looked like someone had made him swallow rotten food, the furrow on his brows so pronounced you just knew he would get premature wrinkles.  You put his hand on your waist and his other one was laced with yours, your other hand resting on his shoulder. 

“Follow my lead” You began moving slowly, one step at a time and he followed in a standoffish manner, he almost tripped over his own feet. “You can’t blame me! I’m halfway drunk at this point.” You playfully gave him a kiss on the hand and he tsk’ed. 

“It’s ok, I knew what I was getting myself into” 

Slowly Bill eased into a steady rhythm, your bodies gently swaying to the music. Even though he was not happy about this turn of events, he was happy to be pressed against you, your warm body made him feel comfortable in a sea of unknown faces. Everything else seemed to melt as his focus was solely on you.

“Aren’t you happy I roped you into dancing?”

“Don’t push your luck, woman” But his words had no bite, as a matter of fact he found himself smiling at your words.

Extra: 

About a week after you were chilling with Bill laying on your lap when your phone pinged with a notification. You opened the app and saw a video in your chat with your aunt, it was a video of you and Bill dancing. You giggled and showed him your screen, he immediately rose from his position and yelled your name.

You wanted nothing more than to hide away in your room under the safety of your blankets, but when you got home your room looked like a mess, your roommate popped by and apologized saying she was in a hurry looking for something and assured you she didn’t take anything, everything should be in your room, your now very messy room.

This was the straw that broke the camel’s back, you tossed your bag on the floor then locked the door, your roommate was happily watching the TV, unaware that she had chipped away the last little bit of your patience. It’s not that you didn’t like her, or that she did things like this often, but today you just couldn’t, you didn’t have it in you to sit down and explain to her why what she did crossed multiple boundaries. You sighed loudly, took your keys and walked outside to your parked car.

It had been stormy and cloudy lately, it was also very humid and your hair seemed to have a mind of its own, when you got inside your car and turned it on you were met with a sensor light going off. Great. Just peachy. You turned the ignition off and got out, slamming the door on your way out. The fucking bus it is.

Waiting for the bus came with its own problems, there was a weirdo sitting across from you who kept trying to get your attention to flirt, there was a very pungent smell too and your window was jammed, it seemed quite on par with your unfortunate streak lately. Finally the bus dropped you off (3 streets away from your desired destiny) and so luck would have it, it began to pour down. You ran and almost slipped but managed to maintain your balance. 

FINALLY you reached Bill’s house. You didn’t bother knocking, knowing that the door was most likely left open, and you were right- the first thing going your way in a while. There was nobody around but there were sounds coming from the basement, the place where you knew your NEET boyfriend liked to dwell in. Making your way down you could discern the background noise of a movie, a sci-fi movie to be exact, you reached the bottom of the stairs and took a good look around, the basement hadn’t changed much in years, only accumulating new boxes for Bill’s stuff, it looked cramped and had a weird smell like wet cardboard and used socks.

“Hey” 

“For fuck’s sake!” Bill jumped from his seat in the sofa, whipping his head to look at you “You just gave me a fucking heart attack, woman!” Your silence unnerved him, he repositioned himself so his body was facing you. 

Without so much as a sound you walked around the sofa, Bill’s face following you as you moved, you plopped down in his lap and curled your arms around him.

“Dude, what’s wrong with you?” He put his arms around you and tried to look at your face but you wouldn’t meet his eyes “You’re scaring me, say something!” 

Finally you looked up and Bill was met with your teary eyes and pouty lips. You tried to say something but no words would come out, this made him soften his expression the slightest bit. “Baby…” He rarely called you pet names, and it was even more rare for him to say with such a gentle expression and a tender tone.

The waterworks began immediately, you sniffed and sobbed resting your face against his shoulder, his hand rested on the back of your head. Bill was terrible at consoling people, but for you he would try, you were the next best thing after his collection, seeing you this sad made him feel something akin to dejection (and it also turned him on a little, you did look pretty cute with tears running down your cheeks).