Don't Threaten Me With A Good Time

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Fuck. Shit. Other swear words. Jae didn't have many more coherent thoughts than that at the moment. He wasn't panicking; actually, he'd gotten to the weird sort of zen-like state that he slipped into sometimes when things felt completely out of hand, sort of like his body was on autopilot and the rest of him was just hitching a ride. There wasn't any reason for him to be like this, panicky or not; he and Hazel had agreed that this was a no-pressure thing.

And it was. Everything was going to be fine between them, regardless of what happened at the dance.

No pressure.

Yeah.

Fuuuuuuuck.

"Jae?" His mom's voice drifted in from the hallway.

"In the bathroom," he called back. He was situated in front of the mirror, staring down his reflection to make sure there weren't any glaring issues with his eyeliner. He'd debated back and forth for a while whether he should wear any makeup tonight, but hell. He liked the way he looked, had worked hard for a long time to get his usual appearance to where he liked it, and to ditch it for something like a school dance just felt phony. Hazel liked him in makeup anyway, or at least had never given any indication that she had a problem with it.

Hye poked her head into the bathroom and smiled at him. "Everything okay?"

Jae let out a slow breath. "Yeah. Just finishing up."

She gave him a once-over with the loving-but-critical eye that moms did. "Pull your hair back so we can see your face."

"You can see my face fine," he tried to say, but she was already at his side and reaching up to pull it back for him before he could finish. "Mooom." He pushed her hands away and stepped back to do it himself. Hye returned to straighten his ponytail once he'd gotten it fixed anyway.

"There." She smiled again and cupped his face, rubbing at a probably-imaginary smudge on his cheek, then sighed. "My baby boy is so handsome."

"Don't say things like that when Hazel is here, please." As Jae had predicted, his parents were thrilled that he was willingly going to the dance, much less going with an actual date. Personally, he thought they were going a bit overboard with it; it wasn't like he was getting married or anything that merited actually getting emotional.

"Don't get uppity, and maybe I won't." She kissed his cheek and then retreated back to the hallway. "Your dad is setting up the camera in the living room, so we'll be ready for pictures whenever Hazel gets here."

"Okay." Jae glanced at his reflection one more time and grudgingly admitted that he did look more polished with his hair back. He'd decided on a vest and tie to match Hazel's dress (burgundy, because she had good taste and the sense to stay away from all that neon bullshit) over a black button-down and slacks rather than a suit, on the grounds that his dad's hand-me-downs were too short and renting one for just one night seemed like a waste of money. Maybe when prom rolled around, he'd go the full suit route, but for now, he was satisfied. He also sort of looked like he'd escaped from an underground emo-punk band in the early 2000s, but that was secondary. It would be dark in the gym. And he was only there for one person, anyway.

With one more deep breath and a few more mental expletives, he abandoned the mirror to go downstairs and wait for Hazel's arrival.
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((Placeholder for Hazel))