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Jinora was regretting all her life choices that lead up to this moment. It all started when she made a bet with her younger sister, Ikki. If she won, Ikki wouldn’t bother her for a whole week, but if Ikki won, Jinora would go to the next social outing she was invited to. Of course she lost, but the cherry on top of the cake was that the next event she received an invitation to was one of the biggest parties her classmate was throwing this year. She couldn’t even lie to get out of it because Ikki had witnessed to the invitation.
It happened on the one day their schedules aligned and they had to go directly from Jinora's history class to Ikki's cheerleading practice. Since she had dragged Ikki with her to campus, the grinning gremlin had been there when somebody from her major had approached her, and now she was spending her Friday night at a dumb college party.,
Right now, she was cursing Ikki as well as everyone else at this party. This was never really her scene. As much as she hated to admit it, she fit the goody-two-shoes stereotype quite well and she would much rather be at home reading a book right now. Even watching Rohan and Meelo while they fought about who got to play Fortnite first would be better than being here.
The cold splash of an alcoholic beverage hit her, snapping her out of her train of thought. “Oops, sorry! My bad, I didn’t see you there!” a girl she didn’t recognize apologized with slurred words. Jinora tried to keep her face as neutral as possible as she responded. “It’s ok.”
Her face fell into a scowl as she began searching for a bathroom. The last thing she wanted was to smell like booze for the rest of the evening. How had her plan of just hiding in the corner failed her so early in the night? She really just needed to stay long enough so that Ikki wouldn’t say she cheated and make her go to another party.
“Hey babe! Just the person I was looking for!” She heard someone call out over the music. She ducked her head and kept walking. The chances this person was talking to her were very low, and she just wanted to make it to the bathroom in peace. Of course, right as she thought that, a hand grabbed her arm, spinning her around.
“Hey Jinora, I was talking to you.” a voice called out, in an almost threatening manner.
Just what she needed. The son of Chief Saikhan, someone her dad occasionally worked with as a politician, was trying to interact with her.
“Hi Izuku.” Jinora tried not to sound too annoyed, for her dad’s sake.
“I wasn’t expecting to see you here, but my night just got a thousand times better!” He flashed a megawatt smile. “Come on, let's go to the dance floor. I’ll show you a good time.”
“No thanks. I was just on my way to the bathroom.” Jinora turned to start walking away, but he tightened his grip on her arm.
“Well, I can wait for you by the bathroom, and then we can dance afterwards.” Izuku insisted. He was very lucky Jinora was a patient person, because she could easily break his hold on her arm and suplex him if she so desired.
“Actually, I would prefer it if you didn’t.” Jinora stated, trying to escape as civilly as possible.
“Here, I even brought you a drink. You know, it really wouldn’t hurt you to loosen up every once in a while.” He shoved a plastic cup in her hand. She definitely wasn’t going to drink this beverage of questionable origins.
“Thanks, but why don’t you hang on to it? As I just said, I am on my way to the bathroom.” She attempted to push the drink back into his hands, but he refused.
“Babe, come on! I am just trying to show you a fun time!”
“Hey, I am back with the water you requested, princess.” A guy slightly shorter than her slid around an arm around her shoulders. She turned to meet eyes with a familiar pair of green eyes.
“Sorry, dude, but my girlfriend doesn’t drink.” The man firmly pushed back the drink until Izuku was holding it.
“Kai?” Jinora squeaked out as felt herself begin to blush.
The last person she expected to see her was the vet tech who she cried all over not too long ago when her dog Pepper got sick. She had been so distraught, thinking her dog had parvo and wouldn’t recover. However, it turned out her dog had been choking on a chicken bone she had eaten on a walk and recovered as soon as she threw it up. After making such a fool of herself in front of such a beautiful man, part of her hoped to never see him again. However, another part of her hoped every day that she would have an excuse to visit the vet again.
Though not even in her wildest daydreams had she imagined their next meeting would be at some college party, which she had been forced to attend, while she was being hit on by a creep, and she was still drenched in someone else's drink . Especially not the part where he was acting as her knight in shining armor. Not that she particularly needed one (she had a black belt in taekwondo) but now she had a way to escape the conversation without being rude.
“Oh, babe, did someone spill their drink on you? Some people really don’t know how to hold their liquor” He sent a glare in Izuku’s direction, as if he was the one at fault, before continuing. “Let’s go to the bathroom.” He held her hand like he had done it a million times and then she was being whisked away to her original destination.
As soon as the door shut, it was just the two of them alone in a cramped bathroom, with just a small sink and a toilet. Tension filled the room, as they no longer had an audience. He dropped her hand and took a seat on the toilet, staring at her expectantly.
“I am not usually this big of a mess,” Jinora blurted out, finally cutting through the silence.
“Well, I gotta admit, I didn’t expect the next time I saw you would be at a party like this. You don’t look like you’re enjoying it that much either.” Kai offered gently. He didn’t look too put off to be stuck in this small bathroom with her.
“I lost a dare to my little sister, actually. I don’t like parties.” Jinora admitted out loud before turning away. There was no true escape because he could still see her flustered reaction in the mirror. He probably thought she was the lamest dork out there.
His laughter cut through the silence of her confession. “Ah, another victim of an outgoing, extrovert sibling! I have an older brother, Bolin, and man, he used to put me through it. He thought he was doing me a favor.”
Jinora smiled for the first time that night. “Wait, Bolin is your brother? My close family friend - practically a sister - dated your other brother, Mako.”
“Seriously!? What are the chances?” They both grinned at each other, but as the eye contact continued, Jinora felt herself flustering. His green eyes were very mesmerizing, and even his patchy facial hair was endearing.
“I hate to be that guy, but your shirt is very transparent right now.” Kai said, interrupting their moment, and averting his gaze respectfully.
Jinora turned to face the mirror fully and saw her stomach was on display to the world. Her light yellow shirt had failed her in almost every way possible. If nothing else, she had definitely made an impression on Kai- she would permanently be the crying, see-through-shirt girl.
“It really highlights your abs if it makes you feel better.” Kai added, and Jinora shot him a glare. If she wanted to display her stomach to the world, she would have worn a crop top.
“Right, sorry.” Kai ran a hand over his neck awkwardly. “Here, take this,” he shed his jacket that was layered on top of his hoodie and passed it off to her.
Now that she looked closer at him, he was wearing an abnormal amount of layers for a house party. Minus the jacket he just handed her, he was still wearing a hoodie, a t-shirt and a long-sleeved undershirt.
“Thanks,” she finally got out. Jinora found a cleanish looking towel and patted off her shirt a bit before putting on Kai’s jacket and zipping it all the way up. His jacket smelled like cedar and deodorant.
“Looks good on you,” Kai commented, giving her two thumbs up and a chuckle. She blushed again, even though it was probably lip service, since she knew his jacket probably looked ridiculously oversized on her. Even though she had a few inches on him, it was now clear to her that he had broader shoulders.
“Ugh, this is so embarrassing. I can’t believe I cried all over you the first time I met you and now I am taking your clothes because someone exploded their drink on me.”
“How is caring about your dog embarrassing? I thought it was sweet that you were so worried. Also, it’s not your fault some dumbass spilled their drink on you. If anyone should be embarrassed, it should be me since I am the one who randomly declared myself your boyfriend.” Kai's forest green eyes were earnest as they gazed directly into hers.
“You make good points,” Jinora agreed, a grin creeping onto her face. “Well, you really saved me from that situation. I was so close to judo flipping that guy, and he’s the son of the police chief who is friends with my dad, so I was trying to be polite. Obviously guys like him don’t understand polite.”
“Oh shit, that dude was the son of the police chief?! Oh well. YOLO am I right?” Kai smirked at her.
“You know, actually, I think you might be more of a hot mess than me. Who uses the word YOLO in this day and age?”
“Damn, hitting right where it hurts. I thought we had something special, babe!”
“Oh, right, sorry boyfriend that I just gained approximately five minutes ago,” Jinora rolled her eyes. The movement caused her to shiver a bit due to the damp fabric pressed on her skin.
“You wanna bust this joint? I can walk you home after I say goodbye to my friends.” Kai suggested as he stood up from his seat. Their sudden closeness reminded her they were still in a very cramped bathroom together.
“Sure… that sounds nice.” Jinora responded, looking away from Kai to keep from blushing. She opened the door, breaking their peaceful bubble to venture back out into the raucous party raging around them.
Kai laced their fingers together easily and shot her a wink. “In case we run into your little friend again.” Jinora couldn’t fight that kind of logic, and also she didn’t seem to mind holding hands with him anyway. His warm hands felt nice in her ice cold ones.
Kai’s friends didn’t even blink an eye when he came back holding her hand and wished them all goodbye. Jinora felt her heart rate return to normal as soon as they stepped out of the house. She really wasn’t built for group events. She always did better in one-on-one situations.
“I guess now would be a good time to ask you where you live, huh?” Kai started.
Jinora let out a laugh, something she seemed to be doing often in his presence. “I'm in the dorms over by Future Industries Hall.”
“Oh, ok cool. That’s only about a ten-minute walk. Looks like I won’t be walking all around the world tonight after all.”
“What about you? Do you live around here?”
“Nah. I live in an apartment with Bolin and Mako about a fifteen-minute drive from here, but they told me they would pick me up, so it’s no big deal.”
“Oh, I see.” Jinora tried not to feel too disappointed he didn’t live that close to her. It made sense though, since she assumed he didn’t go to school at this university. “So how did you get invited to this party anyway, considering you’re a vet tech and all?”
“It’s because I am such a cool boy that I naturally get invited to all the parties.” Kai smirked.
Jinora shot him a look. “Ok, ok. Just kidding. I briefly went to college here before I dropped out and decided to be a vet tech instead, but I still have some friends in college. What about you? What’s your major?”
“I’m a history major,” Jinora started.
Their conversation continued for the entire walk. It flowed so naturally that ten minutes had felt like a mere moment. It wasn’t until they arrived at the dorms, Jinora realized they had held hands the whole way there. Jinora let go of his hand, trying not to let the flushed feeling engulf her face too.
“Umm… you want to add each other on Snapchat?” Jinora asked as they stood at the entrance awkwardly.
“Sure!” Kai eagerly pulled his phone from his pocket, briefly showing her a wall of notifications as he unlocked his phone. Jinora tried not to laugh too hard at his username “cash-money-kai” when they added each other.
“Well, thanks for everything tonight! You were the best fake boyfriend a girl could ask for. I'll wash your jacket and give it back to you some other time.”
Kai smiled at her, but this time the smile made his eyes crinkle in a way that made her heart race. It almost felt like they should kiss at this moment, but Jinora pushed away that urge and gave him a big hug instead, before running into her dorm. She grinned to herself. Going to the party was not a complete loss after all.