[fluff, frenemies to lovers, holiday fic, one-shot]
Warnings: slow(ish) burn, language, very tropey lmao, kissing :)
Summary: It’s Christmas eve eve and there’s no better way to spend it than being stuck with the person you detest right? Right…
Note: happy holidays everyone! i really wanted to write a cute, cozy, cliche holiday story and so i hope i was able to portray all of that lol. i hope everyone's holidays are going good so far. also we're so close to bts year ahhhh.
Holidays used to be so much fun as a kid. You missed the days when you'd get to experience whimsy. Now, as an adult, reality sets in and you’re faced with a whole lot of responsibilities.
The cafe you worked in was decorated festively. Although quaint in size, there was a coziness with the way Christmas lights across the walls illuminated the area. Stockings were hung on the wall, and a small tree was placed by the door. Despite all this and the Christmas music playing, you can't help but feel tired. It's two days before Christmas and today has been one of the busiest days at the cafe. Thankfully, it's about thirty minutes to five which means, it's almost closing time. You were standing and leaning on the counter tapping your fingers in anticipation.
“____, sorry. Something came up at home and I need to head there right now. Are you alright closing up by yourself?” Your co-worker and best friend, Hoseok asks with a look of concern. You didn't mind since there probably won't be anymore customers plus, he's covered for you last time.
“No worries! I'll be fine here.” You assure him.
“Oh my god, thank you!” He rushes to hug you, “You're the best you know that! The bestest in the world, what would I ever do without you?” He squeezes you tighter, and you can’t help but giggle at his silliness.
“Alright, alright. Now go before you squeeze me to death.” You shove him away.
He grabs his things and tells you to take care later on as you wave him off.
You hope there won't be anymore customers. At 4:45, you make the executive decision to start closing up. As you head over to the staff area to tidy things, the familiar chime of the call bell makes a sound. You mutter a cuss word under your breath, before turning around to see who it was.
Your eyebrows furrow at the site in front of you. Great… if it isn't persona non grata, Park Jimin.
You declared him your sworn enemy ever since he beat you at the 5th grade science fair with his stupid, solar powered project. Okay maybe it wasn’t stupid, but 5th grade you was salty and it didn’t help that he began gloating about it. You had mutual friends with him which made it inevitable that you saw him so regularly. Once he found out how easy it was to get under your skin he teased you relentlessly, sometimes it would be playful though most of the time you’d both end up squabbling. Jimin just liked to push your buttons, he found it amusing.
“We’re closed.” You crossed your arms.
“Oh? Don't you close at 5, and…” he does a show of looking at his wrist watch before turning back to you “look at that, there's still 15 minutes left.” He says smartly tapping on his watch.
You grumble, “What do you want?”
“Good question!” He places a hand to his chin, as if to contemplate.
You think his sole purpose in life was to annoy you. As you glare at him, you take notice of how he was looking very much like a Christmas elf, a Christmas hat sat on top of his blonde locks.
Your thoughts were interrupted,
You roll your eyes. As you process his order, you can't help but ask
“Where's the other Christmas elves?” Jimin was rarely alone, he was always with his infamous group of friends. You would think they were one unit with the way they were always together. Always so boisterous in the hallways.
He raises an eyebrow, “Curious, aren't we?”
“If you must know, they're actually waiting for me so we can do the toy drive.”
“Oh... ok.” You purse your lips. Well that definitely explains the outfit. You were surprised, frankly you can't believe that Jimin actually cared about anyone else other than himself but hey it is Christmas and maybe this is one of those miracles.
You hand him his hot chocolate, “Enjoy.” pulling your lips into a straight line, it was your best effort at a smile.
“Thanks. Happy holidays…” He makes his way outside and grabs the door open.
“Oh.. fuck!” He stumbles back as a gust of wind forces the door to shut.
You look at him startled before approaching him hesitantly and asking if he was okay.
“Yeah.. I just.. the wind.” he gestures vaguely at the doors direction.
You both now stare at the storm outside. It was hard to see anything other than the strong wind blowing bits of snow. You notice a huge white mountain directly outside the cafe.
“Um.. is that your car?” He lets out a sigh, “Yup..”
Dumbfounded and moving out of instinct you reach for the door but Jimin stops you before you could open it.
“No! Are you crazy?! Keep it closed.”
“I just can’t believe this.” The weather rarely ever gets this bad in your town and you never actually experienced a blizzard before. Panic starts to get to you at the thought of being stuck here for God knows how long.
“Yeah, we’re gonna have to wait it out.” Jimin plops down on one of the chairs.
“Oh perfect, not only am I stuck here. I am also stuck here with you.” You were pacing around now.
“You act like this is the worst thing in the world. Others would die to be in your position.” You hated how smug he sounded.
“Not me.” You clapback. You knew very well how popular Jimin is amongst your school, somewhat of a heartbreaker. You can’t deny that he was handsome and you can’t blame the group of people who’d fall for his flirtatious charms, if only they knew how he really was. Your disdain for him only grew after he broke your friend’s heart.
“Ouch.” He clutches his chest in fake hurt.
Wanting to put as much distance between you and him, you make your way to the bar. Taking off your apron. You assess the situation you were in. It was a couple minutes past five and if it had been a normal day you would’ve been home by now. You checked your phone and saw that there was no signal. You really had no choice but to sit and wait.
You tried to find the silver lining. At least you were indoors, you had a supply of food, a bathroom, everything you needed to survive. You were warm and had heating on.
As if on cue, the lights shut off.
You let out a scream, you hated the dark.
Jimin, now alerted, started calling for you. You could barely pay attention to anything as you tried to soothe yourself, sinking to the floor and hugging your knees to your chest. This is the worst day ever you thought as your heartbeats quicken in pace and fear takes over your body.
“___? Are you okay?” His voice sounded closer.
He managed to find you by the bar, the light on his phone was the only source of illumination.
You felt so vulnerable and you wish he didn’t see you like this, this is probably going to be another thing he teases you about.
“Hey.. what’s wrong?” He said softly.
He knelt beside you as you still struggled to find your voice.
“Shhh it’s okay.” He takes you in his arms and despite your current feelings for him you allow yourself to be comforted by Jimin. Your face was against his chest and you couldn’t help but breathe in his scent. The mix of his fabric softener and his cozy vanilla perfume smelled really good.
You feel the warmth of his hand on your back as he soothes you. Strangely, this was helping. You were starting to feel okay. A few moments passed as you were calming down. The feeling of fear was quickly replaced with that of embarrassment when you realize this was the closest you and Jimin have ever been. You quickly pull away from him.
“Sorry…” You say sheepishly.
“No, it’s alright. I didn’t expect you to be so scared of the dark.” He said sincerely.
“I had a really bad experience when I was young. I watched a scary movie and I just never grew out of that fear.” You weren’t sure why you were telling him this.
“Oh… well if it helps I’m really terrified of heights and… butterflies.”
You can’t help but snort, “Really?”
“Hey.. don’t make fun of me.” He pouts.
“No, I’m sorry. Why butterflies?”
“There was one time when a butterfly somehow went into my shirt and it was crawling all over me. I felt violated. Plus, they actually look terrifying if you don’t consider their wings.” He goes on a rant.
You can’t help but giggle at him being so heated over it.
“I see.. Well thank you for telling me that.” You felt a bit more at ease now.
Maybe Jimin wasn’t so bad after all…
You both get up from the floor. Remembering that there were candles stored in the staff room meant for decoration, you tell Jimin about it and he helps light them, giving the dark cafe some warm glow.
An hour had passed and the weather was still relentless. You sat across from Jimin. The air around you grew colder without the heating. You curse yourself for not wearing anything thicker as you shiver. Hugging yourself and rubbing at your arms for some heat, Jimin looks at you.
“No.” You say stubborn but the chattering of your teeth betrays you.
“You’re cold. Do you want to sit next to me? Body warmth and all that.”
“Are you for real?” You looked at him thinking he was being ridiculous.
“Well… yes.” He deadpans.
You contemplated for a second before you found yourself walking towards him. Maybe it was the cold induced delirium but you actually really needed a source of warmth, even if that source was Jimin. You’d rather suck it up than get hypothermia.
He opens his arms expecting you.
“Don’t you dare try to do anything.” You point a finger at him and he raises his hands up in defense.
“Strictly for body heat.”
You settle in his arms. For the second time today you are once again enveloped by his embrace.
“Why are you being so nice?” You peer at him.
“When have I not been?” He grins and so you scoff.
“You’re always making fun of me.”
“You’re so easy to make fun off” He quips, earning a gentle jab from you.
“It’s just… you never really gave me a chance to be your friend and you’d only pay attention to me if I teased you.” He continued earnestly.
“That’s not true…” your voice falters as you start to view your dynamics with each other in a different light. “Well you broke my friend's heart.” You try to come up with a defense.
You feel him shift in his seat. “Seriously? Is that what it is?”
“You don’t exactly have the best track record of maintaining relationships, Jimin.”
“That’s so unfair ___. Do you think I just go around enjoying breaking people’s hearts? It’s not like I’m forcing people to fall for me. You don’t know how bad I felt after I turned down Nia but, it wouldn’t exactly be fair to her if I just went along with a one sided relationship. I also didn’t expect you to believe rumors so easily.”
Ouch. You can’t help but feel a sense of guilt, perhaps you judged Jimin too harshly all these years.
“I’m sorry.” Was all you can say feeling really small, looking away from him.
“No.. I’m sorry too. I was being a real dick to you at times.” He says surprising you.
You look up at him again.
“Maybe we can start over again?”
He pulls you in tighter. You take a moment to actually look at him. His cheeks were a shade of pink along with the tip of his cute nose. His lips looked so plump and soft and maybe it was the effect that the candlelit cafe had on you but you felt yourself drifting closer. His eyes look at your lips for a fleeting second. You feel your pulse start to pick up as he also closes in on the distance. Inches away from contact, you both pause just for a second and then…
And then the lights in the cafe started to turn on, causing you both to jump and pull away. Jimin cleared his throat,
Justin Bieber's Mistletoe starts playing through the speakers. Oh God.
“Yeah..” You realize you were still hugging him, feeling embarrassed you straighten up away from his embrace as you excuse yourself to make some tea. What was that? Now that the heating was back on you were feeling warm, a bit too warm from the rush of emotions that happened a while ago. Were you actually going to kiss Jimin? You shake your head, what is this a hallmark movie? You take a sip from your cup feeling dazed.
The storm seems to have calmed down as Jimin indicates.
“I think the worst is over. I just need to clear the snow from my car. You can ride with me, if you want?” He touches his neck, seemingly nervous.
“Oh.. yeah. Sure. Yeah. Let me help you then.” You say a little too fast. Why are you acting like an idiot?
Silently you began clearing the snow from his car which wasn’t too difficult. You close up the cafe and get into Jimin’s passenger seat. There was a weird tension between you two as he drove you home.
You both arrive before your doorstep.
“Thanks!” You tell him not wanting to make the energy around you any more awkward than it is.
Taking a step onto the pavement, your life flashes before your eyes as you underestimate how slippery the ground was. You brace yourself accepting your fate, shutting your eyes and getting ready to shitface the snow.
You land on your back and you open your eyes in surprise. Somehow Jimin managed to flip you over before you could hit the ground although this also caused him to topple.
You feel his weight on top of you. He was dangerously close once again. You should’ve been feeling cold laying on the fresh snow but instead, Jimin places a hand on your face that makes your cheeks flush and your body warm with exhilaration.
You blink not really knowing what to do, your words leave you. He licks his lips as he leans in closer. You don’t exactly stop him as his lips graze onto yours. There was some hesitation in his movements before he finally plants a delicate kiss on your lips sending waves of electricity along your body. Jimin pulls away ever so slightly. Before he could try to get a read of your reaction you're already wrapping your arms around his neck, pulling him closer to you as you start kissing him fervently.
This time, it was Jimin’s turn to be shocked and there was a moment's pause before he realized what was happening. Snapping out of it he starts matching your movements deepening the kiss. You run a hand through his fluffy hair. He flips you over so that you’re on top. A thought passes through your mind at how ludicrous you both look right now, making out outside on the snow but you can’t really bring yourself to care enough. Not when Jimin felt so good against you.
You both pull away from the kiss after what seemed like forever.
“Would you like to come in? I mean… you know for body warmth purposes.” You laugh, poking fun at what he said earlier.
He chuckles before agreeing.
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