Against all odds, you manage to wriggle your way out of John's death grip. He's all but passed out in the bed, and your moving doesn't disturb him at all, it seems. You're a little worried about him needing something to cling to during the night, so you grab a pillow from the other side of the bed and move it so that it rests within his reach should he decide to look around for something.

You turn off the bedroom light and shut the door quietly behind you, moving towards the living room with silent footsteps. You would so much rather spend the night curled up with your- your heart flutters even as you think the word- boyfriend.

He's your boyfriend and he said he loves you.

Every fiber of your being sings with the memory and you're very tempted to turn right around and climb back into bed. You turn to face the door- as though you're actually considering it- and then with a reluctant, hesitant sigh, you turn right back around and cross the rest of the distance to the couch. You really don't want to spend the night on the couch, in fact, you hate the idea; you're going to wake up tomorrow morning feeling like shit all over.

But then you think about John in the morning, and the panic he'd surely be feeling should he wake up in bed with you. If he remembered any of his conversation with you from tonight, despite how clothed both of you were, he'd probably freak out. It was best for both of you if you just spent the night separate. There'd be enough time for coddling him tomorrow- and judging from how drunk he had managed to get himself tonight, he was going to need a lot of it.

You fall asleep happily thinking about it, forgetting to even grab a blanket for the night.

Several hours later, you wake up- cold and uncomfortable- to some loud sounds and swears in the bathroom. You groan unhappily, stretching your sore limbs and back out before you even attempt to sit up. You take a moment to rub at your neck and dismiss some of the knots that have formed, and then count yourself off to standing.

"John?" you call lightly, shuffling towards the bathroom. "What the hell are you doing?"

He peeks his head out from around the edge of the bathroom doorway- his hair a mess, and his eyebrows furrowed in annoyance and probably a little bit of pain. Put simply, he looks like absolute shit. "Where is the advil?" he asks desperately, skipping over all of the morning greetings you guess you weren't really expecting this morning.

You laugh a little, pushing past him to get into the bathroom. "Here," you say, moving towards the cupboard and locating the bottle of pills with ease. He grabs it from you with his good hand and fumbles with the top; it's pretty hard to open a child-proof bottle when your most important hand is stuffed into a hard cast. But he finally manages, and pours a couple out into his hand. He pops them in and turns on the sink, washing the small, white pills down with water straight from the faucet.

You watch with a raised eyebrow, a little sadistically amused. "Rough night?" you say.

John groans loudly. "Leave me alone," he whines, grabbing the bottle of advil and exiting the room. "I'm going back to bed." He leaves you chuckling in the bathroom, but you catch up to him in no time, meeting him in the bedroom and sliding into bed along with the poor guy.

Surprisingly enough, he doesn't protest when you hug him close to your chest.

Okay so he whines a little when you move him, but that's it.

John falls back asleep soon enough, his back pressed against your chest and his arms wrapped around the forearm you have draped over his torso. You think you might've dozed off for a little while, following John into a light sleep before he pulls you back awake again. He moves around, shifting seemingly endlessly until he finally pushes himself to sit up. You watch as he looks around, rubbing his eyes and yawning quietly.

"Feeling any better?" you ask him, moving a hand to rest on what little you can access of his under his cast.

He looks back at you, smiles tiredly and nods. "Yeah. I think so, anyway; my headache is mostly gone, so..." He shrugs. When you don't sit up to join him, he moves to lay back down next to you once again. "So how come you slept on the couch?"

You let out a short laugh. "Do you remember any of what you said last night?"

The memory must not be very fresh, because he needs to take a moment to think about it- his eyebrows furrowing and his mouth curving down into a slight frown before all that tension in his face suddenly releases in surprise and slight horror. "Oh my gooooooood!" he moans, turning over to bury his face into the pillow. "Oh my god oh my god oh my god." His voice, as muffled as it is, sounds so distressed and embarrassed and it makes you laugh even more. You rub circles into his back in an attempt to comfort him.

John peeks up at you. "We didn't... do anything, right?"

"You put it in my butt and I came so hard I'm going to be blind for the rest of my life."

He just stares at you in- telling from what little you can see of his face- confused horror.

Again, you snort. "Nah, dude, we didn't do anything. That's why I was sleeping on the couch, remember?" You give his back a couple of light pats in assurance. He then sighs in what you think is relief and buries his face once more.

"That's not funny," he grumbles. "Don't joke around like that, asshole."

You smile, leaning down to kiss his head. The next few seconds of both of your lives are silent, as you struggle to find the words you want to say regarding last night- about what John had last said to you last night. "So did you mean it?" you ask finally, as calmly and cooly as you can manage.

"Yeah," he says, and your heart flutters, "you are an asshole." And then your heart sinks and you can feel your mouth twisting into the least amused face you've ever pulled.

"No, not that." You poke him just under the ribs and snicker when he jumps. He smacks you in response, but it's totally worth it.

"Then what?" He turns over to lay on his side so he can face you.

You hesitate, worried that he doesn't remember, or that when he does remember, he'll realize it hadn't been genuine. "Last night..."

"Yeah?"

"You said..."

"Yeah?" He grins, his eyes twinkling with just a hint of mischief. He's trying to coax this out of you.

"Well I mean, you said a lot of things, but-" He effectively cuts you off, leaning forward and kissing your lips with his own. You can feel yourself relaxing more and more with each second that your mouths are connected. A half a moment later and John pulls back, still smiling brightly.

He can't help but plant one more very short kiss before he says anything. "Yes," he says, a bit quieter. "I... I think I meant it."

Your heart soars in your chest. Your breathing feels lighter and easier and your entire body just feels like the whole world was lifted off your shoulders. You surge forward and kiss him, accidentally knocking him back and he laughs, taking you down with him. God- you think- this is great. You have him. You have John and he loves you and- god. John.

John.

Who you've only known for about a month, who you can't wait to spend the rest of your life with- wait, is it too soon to be thinking about that? Who fucking cares, you decide; you're in love and this is by far the strongest and most sure you've ever felt about anything and you just want to hold him and be with him forever and be there to talk to him and write with him and just do every single last thing there is to do with him. Because you love him. You love him, you love him, you love him.

"I love you."

"I love you, too!"

Notes:

Here it is, everybody!

The finale!

Thanks for sticking around regardless of however long you've been reading this fic! Especially to those of you who have been around from the very beginning! It's been over a year and a half since I started and it's been a fun ride.

Thanks for waiting for my hiatuses to finish and for my rough spots and for everything else. Finishing this is a huge step in my writing and I only hope I can continue to entertain you guys with my works in the future!

Be on the lookout for my upcoming oneshots and for my next big project!