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13. Bae Jinyoung | I Like You

https://prettywordsyouleft.tumblr.com/

Summary: Jinyoung had been crushing on you for as long as he had been a member of Wanna One. Today was the day he finally confessed.

Characters: Bae Jinyoung x reader

Genre: fluff

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Jinyoung hadn't been this nervous since his Produce 101 days, his hands wringing together as he sat in the stylist chair, his eyes using the mirror to watch the activities behind him.

The waiting room was full of noise, Jaehwan's ear piercing laughter soon booming around the room as he talked animatedly with Sungwoon and Daehwi. Daniel somehow was able to sleep through it all, exhausted from his extra schedules of late. Jihoon and his power to concentrate on any game despite the movement around him was next to his hyung, his eyes glued to his phone. Woojin was dancing with Guanlin in the center of the room, trying to help the youngest member with perfecting his movement for tonight's performance. Minhyun and Jisung were in the chairs beside Jinyoung, getting their makeup and hair done. An assorted group of staff flittered in amongst the room, and he finally found you, over in the corner sorting through the outfits for the performance, a sigh leaving your mouth as Seongwoo approached you, with another request for the day.

"Honestly, what now?!" you cried, placing your hand over your forehead exasperatedly.

"I just wanted to know where the mic packs were, noona." Seongwoo pouted, a small sign of embarrassment in his eyes at your acknowledgment of his constant attention.

You pointed towards a case over on the couch next to Daniel, Seongwoo walked off and left you to what you were doing, your tired eyes scanning the room. And then you stopped when found Jinyoung, shooting him a small smile as he diverted his own gaze to his lap.

It was foolish really, and he had no idea when he had started to like you. As Wanna One's head coordinator, you were there every day in his world, helping the eleven members remain efficient towards the schedules, and fuelling them with food and drinks to keep them functioning when they were too tired to carry on. You were an essential member of the team, the unofficial twelfth member that gave the rest of Wanna One strength on the harder days, and laughter and friendship when life was going well.

And to Jinyoung, somewhere along the lines it had blurred – maybe it was when he was sick and you had helped him get better, or when he was upset and you had comforted him, but he was seeing you more as a woman, and not as a friend.

You were naturally short in height and it made you so cute to him that some days he wouldn't be able to stop grinning, watching as you argued with Minhyun or Guanlin for having unnecessarily long legs. Despite this you had a big personality, an innate ability to capture the attention of anyone around, and even make Sungwoon silent. Because Jinyoung was quieter than others, you had helped him with getting over some of his shyness, joking you had made him into a monster when he would wittily take down his hyungs on variety shows at times. He liked that he had opened up away from his awkward teenage years, thanks to you.

But there were downsides to this now too. Because he was entering adulthood, he had no excuse for his childlike ways anymore, and the carnal urges he had hardly understood were now more obvious to him. He would find himself looking over at you when in the same space, choosing out things about your outfit he liked that day, or how pretty your wavy hair was when messily tied up. How your eyes would grow warmer when it was summer time and how your skin looked like porcelain when the colder days flushed your cheeks.

You had affected him relentlessly without even knowing it.

And finally he had decided he would do something about it, no longer able to keep his thoughts to himself. He had worried over this decision for some time, not sure how you would react, or feel to it. But you had always told him to let the things bothering him the most out. And so he would, hoping that confessing his feelings would ease the constant turmoil he had been experiencing.

"Come in."

Stepping into the small office, he noticed you had barely sat down behind your desk, schedules only just recently finishing. Jinyoung sighed, wondering if he should come back or not. He had been worked up all day over this, and so with this thought, and your genuine smile at his arrival, he closed the door behind him and moved over to your desk.

"Are you busy, noona?"

"I should say yes," you said, patting his lower arm affectionately. His body tensed. "But when it comes to you Jinyoung, when can I deny you?"

He smiled weakly, biting his lip. "I have something important to tell you, so maybe I should let you work and wait for you to finish?"

"Regardless of when you tell me, my work never finishes."

"Ah." He nodded softly, glancing around the room before settling his eyes back on yours. It surprised him a little to find your attentive gaze still on his face and he blushed, feeling himself grow awkward.

He had practiced what he wanted to say so many times. He had made sure to be as confident as he could when doing so, in hopes the practice would make this perfect.

It wasn't that easy. He was flustered; worried you would reject him, or worse, view him as a kid because of his age. Although you had never treated him any different than you had Jisung, who was older than you, it suddenly was in his mind and he took in a deep breath to settle the nerves.

"You can tell me anything, Jinyoung. You know I'll listen to anything you tell me," you encouraged, standing up. There was still a distinct height difference and he couldn't help but smile down at you. This only made your own face mirror the gesture. "Are you okay? You're not troubled with anything, are you?"

"I am."

"What is it? Can I help you? My mother always said a trouble shared, is a-"

"I like you," he blurted out, colour flooding his small face immediately.

You froze, and Jinyoung searched your eyes frantically, hoping for a sign of something to appear. You eventually blinked, and a frown pressed upon your lips. "You what?"

"Noona, I know it's wrong of me, but all I do is think of you. Whether you're eating well, if you're resting your feet after being on them all day. How I can help you with your schedule, when you help me so much. How pretty you look when you wear purple. How, how beautiful you look right now."

"Jinyoung," you breathed, and he noticed you wrestle with your emotions and your thoughts. He sighed, realising your rationale side was now dominating. "I work for you; it's natural to get attached. Perhaps you're misconstruing this; I mean I am older than you, maybe you-"

"Do you not like me?" he intervened.

"No, of course I do."

"Not as a child, but a man," he continued and you nodded absentmindedly.

"I have eyes Jinyoung; of course you're attractive to me."

And that was all he needed to cross the distance between you both, placing a gentle kiss upon your lips. You were too stunned to move, and he was too shy to continue further, pulling his mouth away and waiting to see your response.

For a moment, nothing was said and he started to worry if he'd taken it too far. And then you took a shaky inhale of breath. "If you're going to kiss someone Jinyoung, do it properly."

It was his turn to be shocked, blinking once before snapping his eyes closed as your lips pressed sweetly onto his. He moved against you, the eruption of happiness bubbling up through his chest and onto your lips.

It hadn't been how he had planned it at all, but you finally knew how he felt.

And that was all that mattered.