You were the first person Namjoon dated in a long time. And as much as he hated to admit it, he was completely clueless on the whole art of romance. He’d been browsing the internet, reading articles, checking out books from the library, and watching rom-com after rom-com for just a little bit of help. He even had to fall on his last resort: asking BTS for advice.

None of their suggestions were exactly terrible. But Namjoon knew he couldn’t make a twelve-course meal like Jin recommended. And Yoongi’s advice to ‘stop thinking so much’ wasn’t that helpful. And he knew Hoseok’s suggestion to dance the night away with you wouldn’t really play to his own strengths. And Jimin and Taehyung each advocated for levels of romance that you and Namjoon probably weren’t ready for, since you’d only been together for about a month and hadn’t even held hands yet. (Yes, a month without even the baby step of slow paced intimacy.)

Jungkook’s suggestion was the only one Namjoon could accept as possible. “Just take her to one of those drive-ins, hyung.”

“Yeah. Alright,” Namjoon nodded. “But what should we watch?”

Surprisingly, Jungkook had a logical answer. “Not a rom-com. You’d just be drawing attention to all that mushy gushy love stuff you say you’re bad at. No, go for a horror.”

“Horror?” Namjoon was unsure. In the times you’d hung out, watching movies at your place, you usually reached for a Disney movie. The scariest it ever got was a few movies into the Harry Potter series.

Still, Jungkook maintained, “Yeah, horror. That way, when she gets scared, you have a good reason to hold her. And she’ll be so thankful, she might kiss you.”

It seemed like a plot from a middle-school novel. But if Jungkook was a middle-schooler in romance, Namjoon was a second-grader at best, and that was why Namjoon invited you to the drive-in to watch a horror movie.

The date was going surprisingly well. You and Namjoon were sitting in his car, barely paying attention to the previews because you were too busy laughing at who-knows-what, and you almost didn’t notice when the film started.

“Oh wait, it’s starting,” you smiled, sitting on the very edge of your seat. “Ah, I’m so excited.”

Namjoon was surprised to see your reaction. It was immediately clear that you wouldn’t get scared like Jungkook predicted. But he was even more surprised when he looked up to see a black and white film.

“What the—” Namjoon blurted and sank back in his seat when you looked at him with a confused expression.

“It’s an old movie,” you answered gently, your heart fluttering at the sight of his adorable embarrassed smile. “The story is really good, but the effects—”

You gestured to the screen, where a particularly unrealistic murder scene unfolded. It was so unrealistic, in fact, that you and Namjoon both broke into uncontrollable laughter.

“See, this is the fun thing about horror movies,” you beamed.

“It’s not exactly what I had in mind,” Namjoon admitted sheepishly.

“Oh yeah?” You teased, smirking, as you turned your gaze toward the screen,“Did you think I’d be a scared wreck? And then you could take the chance to hold me?”

Namjoon’s silence prompted you to steal a glance at him. He sat stiffly, his scarlet blush recognizable even in the dark night, determinedly fixing his sight away from you.

Moved with guilt, you crawled over to his side of the car; the space was so tight, you had to wrap your arms around him to keep from falling into the floor of the car— not that that was any less of a happy choice. You lost a bit of your courage when Namjoon stared at you with widened eyes. Still, you said, “I don’t have to be scared for you to hold me.”