pick me, 1 0 1

11. Park Jihoon | Not What He Had Planned

https://prettywordsyouleft.tumblr.com/

Summary: Despite Jihoon's attempts, tonight's dinner date wasn't going to go exactly according to plan.

Characters: Park Jihoon x reader

Genre: fluff, cute, and squishy feelings

Word count: 1304

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He had everything set.

Dinner had just arrived, the table was set, the lights were dimmed, and music played in the background.

Just as his hyungs had advised him, Jihoon had checked off the list one by one, satisfied that the dinner date would go smoothly now that he was fully prepared.

He had waited all week for tonight to arrive, it had been too long since Jihoon had been with you last, and he had missed you more than he was willing to admit out loud. With school and work, not being able to meet up with each other was natural. But lately it had seemed neither of your schedules matched up enough for more than a quick goodnight call, sporadic messages in your kakao chat throughout the day, and video calls when you were eating lunch.

But he had wanted to eat together, without the use of the technology bringing you together.

There was a knock at the door and he took a deep breath before heading over to let you in, his smiling spreading into a bashful grin at the sight of you actually in front of him.

"Are you just going to keep staring, or will you let me in?" you teased and he blushed a little, biting his lip and letting you slip inside. Your eyes travelled around the romantic setting and he felt his nerves kick up a notch; he'd never done something like this for you before.

"Jihoon this is so perfect!"

"Really?" he asked as you turned around, your eyes wide with amazement as you nodded. He smiled then, directing you over to your seat and pulling it out for you. You both smiled at how awkward it felt but you were enjoying it too much as well.

"What's for dinner? Please tell me you didn't cook."

He laughed, there was no denying his lack of skills in the kitchen to you, and he presented the large pizza with an air of confidence, making you both laugh again. He then passed you a slice before sitting down and lifting his own piece up in a way of a toast. "Delicacy at it's finest."

"I'm actually really starving and this is exactly what I needed," you admitted, both of you getting stuck into eating.

Conversation flowed on a basic level as you satiated your hunger, asking about work, study and other happenings around you both that you hadn't yet shared with each other.

It was in the middle of you talking about a classmate when the romantic environment Jihoon had worked so hard to create suddenly went dark.

"What just happened?" you asked, Jihoon growing flustered at the blackout.

This wasn't part of the plan. "I think the power just dropped out."

"I was feeling the romantic lighting you had going Jihoon, but this is a bit much," you said, trying to lighten his darkening mood that you were picking up on. He smiled weakly, his mind racing at how to solve this issue. You turned on your torch app in your phone and then held it up, both of you blinking at the stark bright light. This wouldn't do. "Do you have any candles?"

"Ah!" he exclaimed, nodding his head and getting up. You followed him with the light into the small kitchen, the taller boy rummaging around in a drawer and producing a couple of candles and little stands. You both smiled at each other, taking the candles over to your dinner table and then Jihoon took your phone from you, going back to search for some matches.

He audibly sighed.

"What's wrong?"

"I can't find anything to light them with." He turned with a pout, and you couldn't believe even in this situation you could find everything he did so captivating.

For a moment you sat still trying to think, and then jumped up, knocking into the table with your foot. "Ahh!"

"Are you okay?!" Jihoon rushed to your side as you hopped around for a moment, nodding your head as the initial shock and pain eased off.

You grabbed the candles and took them back into the kitchen with a slight limp, Jihoon right behind you with a protective hand raised ready for any mishap you might face in the short journey.

"We can light them using the gas on the stove."

"Are you sure?" he questioned, eying the stove top warily. You reached to turn the hob on and then gently entered the wicks into the flame, smiling as your idea worked. Carefully carrying them back to the table after you turned off the stove, you both sat back down.

"Now this is more romantic, right?" you mentioned, Jihoon looking around at the lights dancing along the walls and then nodded his head.

Dinner was finished and you sat at the table together for a bit, content in each other's company.

Jihoon's face soon fell though, as he realised the movie he had planned for the rest of the night wouldn't work anymore. He racked his brain for what you could do next, but the fact that his plans were crashing more as the night progressed seemed to make it harder for him to come up with any solutions.

"You're thinking too hard," you told him, rounding the table and coming to sit down on his lap.

He instantly wrapped his arms around your waist and rested against you. "I had everything planned and now it's a mess. I wanted to watch a movie with you."

"So why can't we?"

"No power, remember."

"Come on, let's set up all the same." Taking his hand as you stood up, you looked around the living area and then raised your index finger as another idea came to mind. Jihoon watched you as you let go to move the furniture around, throwing all the cushions on the ground against the back of the sofa, and grabbing the large throw blanket off the arm chair beside it.

"What on earth are you doing?"

You looked up at Jihoon and grinned. "Don't you remember watching movies inside a blanket fort as a kid?"

He nodded slowly, soon joining you, settling the blanket precisely over the back of the sofa and armchair to create the cosy little den. You both crawled in together, instantly curling up in each other and then Jihoon glanced at you sheepishly. "Now what?"

You produced your phone for the second time, pulling out the popsocket and placing it down on the small end table you had shifted into the makeshift theatre for two. Jihoon laughed but reached forward to grab your phone, choosing the movie he had planned to watch and then pressing play.

It was surprising in the tiny environment how clear the movie was to watch from your phone, and you both became engrossed in the comedy, wrapped up in the storyline and each other.

And then the lights suddenly turned back on, making you both jump in fright. The blanket fell down thanks to Jihoon's head hitting it and for a moment you were both still, until his laughter began. You mirrored the reaction, laughing until your stomach hurt.

"Tonight has been an absolute mess," he stated and you propped the blanket up a little, gaining some much needed air from the thickness and heat it had created under there.

Glancing up at his face, you shook your head, smiling at him warmly. "It's perfect."

"Yeah?"

"Mm. We've managed to eat, laugh, snuggle and be in each other's company all night long. I'd take another black out any time to be stuck here like this with you."

Jihoon gazed at you for a moment, before leaning down to capture your lips in his softly.

You were right, despite everything leaving his control, tonight had been exactly what you both needed.