doncaster city lights | YUNGBLUD

twenty-seven

Julia shivered and wrapped her arms around her chest when she felt another breeze touching the skin on her face. She was wearing a warm coat, with Dom's sweater underneath it, but the sun was down and it had gotten pretty dark and windy. She had to admit she was glad she didn't have to walk to Dom's apartment on her own.

She looked around another time to see if Dom was coming her way. She didn't blame him for being late, though, since she had only texted him about coming to his apartment last minute. He hadn't even had the chance to get ready.

Just when Julia put on the hood of her jacket for more warmth and grabbed her phone to check for any texts, she heard someone call her name from behind.

A big smile formed on her face as she turned around and saw Dom approaching her, walking quickly.

"It's so good to see you again Jula," he said happily and a little loud as he walked up to her and hugged her tightly. Julia could hear how his heart was basically pounding in his chest and how he had trouble catching his breath.

"Did you run?" she asked him confusedly, letting go and adjusting her bag on her left shoulder that had fallen off as they hugged.

Dom shrugged while running a hand through his hair, letting it fall over his face right after, while obviously trying to control his breathing.

"I didn't want to let you wait so long here. This metro station has a lot of creeps."

Julia slightly smiled and wrapped her arms around her chest again like she had before Dom came. "That's cute."

"Now let's go home quickly before your toes freeze off," Dom said as he put his arm over her shoulder shortly to steer her in the right direction.

As they walked away from the metro station to Dom's apartment, Dom started enthusiastically talking about the song they were writing together and his further ideas for it. Julia was just listening to him and admiring the way he talked so expressively and passionately, and seemed to totally be into it. She knew it was because of his ADHD, probably, but it was just sweet.

"Did you eat already?" Dom asked her after they walked up three stairs to get to his apartment in the flat and he put the key in the lock to open the door.

Julia shook her head. "I left my house when it was like half past three."

Dom chuckled as the door opened and shook his head as well before letting her inside only to give her a fond look.

"I cannot believe you came here."

He walked straight into the kitchen while Julia took off her shoes and jacket. She then followed him to the kitchen where he already was opening drawers and cupboards to get the equipment he needed to cook.

"Is it ok if I cook dinner tonight? Or would you rather have pizza?" Dom asked her without turning around. Julia sat down at the kitchen table and turned her chair so she was looking into Dom's direction.

"I'd love to see how good of a cook you are," she answered him, chuckling.

"Alright. I hope you don't die because of food poisoning," he joked, though sounding dead serious. Julia knew he was joking though, because he had been living on his own for over two years now so it'd be weird if he didn't know how to properly cook.

Dom had made Julia tea as well so "she could warm up" while he was cooking dinner. After twenty minutes of him more talking to Julia and yelling whenever he realized something was about to burn, Dom was done and he sat down next to Julia, putting the plates and pans in front of them.

"Please tell me if you hate it."

Julia chuckled and slowly took a bit of it while basically feeling Dom stare into her soul. It was so funny to see how serious he took it even though it was a normal dish he cooked for her; nothing special about it.

"It's ok I guess," she mumbled after her first bite, trying to remain serious because she wasn't looking at Dom but she could just imagine his smile dropping and his eyes widening.

"Oh I- I can order pizza if you want," he proposed, laying down his own cutlery and looking up confusedly when Julia started laughing.

"I'm kidding dummy. It's great."

"Will you ever not prank me when I ask you if the food is okay?!" he said acting annoyedly, referring to the time they ate at Dom's favorite cafe and Julia tried the nachos.

He tried to give her an angry look, but then laughed and bumped her shoulder playfully before eating again.

-

"Before we start writing again," Dom started, taking Julia's plate from her and washing it off in the sink while she was standing next to him, leaning against the kitchen counter, "do you actually have a test tomorrow for art history? Like you texted me?"

Julia pressed her lips together and tried not to smile while looking outside she window that was next the kitchen. It had a view on the city lights, even though Dom was living at the side of the city so there wasn't much to see. It was still kind of pretty.

"No."

Dom turned off the tap and turned his head to look at her. She felt his stare for a few seconds before he mumbled, "you're lying."

Julia chuckled but immediately looked serious again as she kept looking straight ahead.

"I'm not."

Dom grinned and he grabbed her face with one hand, squeezing her cheeks a little, and turned her head to make her look at him.

"You are," he said, a smile creeping on his face.

She looked into his eyes not saying a word, but apparently her face said enough.

"Sounds like we have to have a study hour first."

Dom squeezed her cheeks even more, causing Julia to laugh and try to get his hand away of her face.

"I don't wanna study," she whined, holding the hand she took off her face with both of her hands to stop him from walking away and potentially grabbing his laptop to search for his summaries.

"Jules you're not gonna pass your year like this," Dom said all serious, unconsciously bringing his other hand down to play with Julia's fingers.

"Why do you care?"

"I know your parents care."

She hated how he was fully right with that and her parents were indeed disappointed in her already and she had promised them to do better, which hadn't worked out yet.

"So we're gonna study Jula," Dom concluded determinedly and he moved his hands away only to boop her nose with his pointer finger. Then he walked away from her tocthe drawer his laptop was laying on.

"I came here to write," Julia kept whining while she walked over to him because she knew he wouldn't stop until she had studied.

"But I want to keep that good reputation for your parents and don't wanna be the boy who distracted you from getting good grades," Dom argued, sitting down on the couch and stretching his hand as a sign for Julia to come his way.

She sighed. "I hate you."

"Come on. It's gonna be an hour max because my ADHD can't take more," Dom said jokingly, finally convincing Julia to walk over to him and go through his summaries together.

Dom was right about the hour: after fifty minutes he closed his laptop and threw it on the couch next to him.

"Done. I'm fucking done."

Julia laughed and shook her head. "You talked so fucking fast explaining the last paragraph you looked like a rapper."

"I wanted to be done with this," Dom laughed and he ran his hand through his hair, looking relieved that they were done.

The way Dom explained it in his own funny and weird way did genuinely help Julia remember a lot of things she would've forgotten otherwise. It's not that she was sure she was going to get a good grade, though; fifty minutes of studying for a test was far from enough but it was always better than nothing.

"Let's go fucking write."

-----

Do you ever sit and think about that one video Halsey once made for Dom's birthday which was the cutest shit EVER. Like I know they broke up but that video- 🥺