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“alright people we got five minutes till midnight, i repeat five more minutes! keep your new years kiss close to you!” shepherd announced, tugging bell closer by the arm.
you couldn’t help but sigh out and take a big swig of your beer.
you had no one as your ‘new years kiss’.
it seemed that literally everyone had one but you.
blythe and finau had their wives, shepherd paired up with bell, oliveras brought her boyfriend julio along so it was obvious who she was gonna kiss.
the only ones left were you and meachum – detective mark meachum. the guy that was so hard to read, this man was definitely not an open book.
let’s be real here you’ve had a slight thing for the guy but you definitely weren’t going to walk up to him and ask him to be your ‘new years kiss’
oh no, that would be ridiculous, you being able to finally kiss your crush? hell no, very scary. also what if you fell for him harder huh? it would completely complicate working with him.
you stood there in a corner by the snacks like a sad little lost lamb, holding your beer bottle in one hand and the other one hidden in your jeans pocket. you honestly couldn’t look more miserable.
your eyes focused mainly on your bottle, you couldn’t wait to get the new years countdown over with so you could go home, to your sad lousy apartment where no one was waiting for you there.
was your mood down? yes. was it because you felt single as fuck seeing everyone paired up? yeah. were you gonna do anything about it? hell yeah, drink.
bell and shepherd prepared the champagne glasses, a bit last minute if you asked me but hey at least you didn’t have to go through the party planning. you just had to come over and be miserable with your little champagne glass, yay.
“y’came alone?” the deep, raspy voice made you look up. it was meachum.
your heart rate quickened at the sound of his voice, it was so manly and.. sexy. jesus girl calm down before you start blushing.
“o-oh uh, yeah, all alone.. i mean– not alone, i obviously got you guys..” you blurted out, being subtle with your crush never seemed to be a thing, but to your luck meachum probably thought you were simply not the partying type.
you cleared your throat, looking down at your bottle, unable to keep eye contact with his mesmerising green eyes.
meachum smiled softly, his eyes crinkling slightly. “yeah..” he took a sip of his own beer. “..me too.” he licked his lips, looking down at his own bottle of beer.
his voice almost matched yours, in a grinchy type of way. it’s as if he was also pretty miserable with the fact he was alone.
well would you look at that.
“one minute left!” oliveras exclaimed, a wide smile on her face as she walked over to her boyfriend julio and linked her arm with his.
meachum didn’t fail to notice you subconsciously sighing out, now he was sure you were bummed out instead of being excited for midnight to strike.
the weird tension between you two grew as you heard everyone starting to countdown, “..10, 9, 8, 7…”
meachum lifted his gaze, looking around as everyone paired up with their partners. a sudden burst of confidence rushing through his veins, maybe it was a new years miracle, maybe it was just the alcohol.
but one thing he did know – he was gonna take this chance to kiss the girl that has been on his mind for a while.
“..3, 2, 1. happy new year!” everyone shouted out in unison.
“eh what the hell.” meachum shrugged before putting his beer down on the table and instinctively grabbing you by your arm, pulling you closer to him, so close your heart was away to jump out of your chest.
your faces inches away from each other, his eyes filled with warmth, something you didn’t get to see very often, especially on the job.
“happy new year.” he murmured softly enough for you to hear, then cupped your face with his large calloused hands and joined his lips with yours in a sweet and oddly gentle kiss, leaving enough room for you to pull away if you wanted.
with a tough guy like meachum, you’d simply assume everything about him would be rough – but to your surprise, he was super delicate with you.
at first you were utterly in shock as to what was happening, your heart was beating rapidly. your body froze for a split second before your brain rebooted and you kissed him back, your hands resting against his chest. you sure as hell did not want to pull away.
you melted into the tender kiss, his lips moving against yours with practiced ease, as if it wasn’t his first time kissing you.
was the symbolic new years kiss supposed to be this long? probably not. but whatever, you weren’t going to complain about him kissing you, even if it was just out of pity.
or so you thought.
soon enough you had to pull away for a bit of air, both your and meachum’s breaths ragged, panting even.
“w-what was that?” you gulped, slightly disoriented, your heart still going a hundred miles an hour.
your small hands still clenching onto his grey henley, trying to ground yourself back into reality although your mushy brain preferred bathing in the memory of his soft lips on yours.
meachum couldn’t help but subtly smirk, seeing you so mushy and so so close to him, not pulling away, not stepping back. you liked this, and so did he.
“didn’t have a pair-” his voice low and gravel, his emerald green eyes looking right into yours. “-you didn’t either, figured two and two… after all it’s apparent bad luck not to kiss someone.. close to your heart.. on new years.” his words did not fly over your head and you definitely caught on to the no-so-subtle confession.
your eyes widened just the slightest, a happy smile twitching at the corners of your lips, were you away to faint because you are apparently someone meachum considers close? yep. oh yeah.
he noticed that you didn’t step back, you didn’t deny or argue with him, he was really hoping his feelings were requited.
you eventually managed to calm your butterflies down, letting go of his henley and straightening up.
you cleared your throat as you mustered up your courage to ask, “how bout..” you looked at everyone else at the party having fun and doing their own things before turning back to him with a smile. “..we get out of here and do.. whatever..” you offered.
meachum raised his brow at your offer, “… double stuffed crust pepperoni and animal style fries at my place?”
“you got soda?” you asked.
“we’ll get some on the way.” he declared with a sincere smile, grabbing your coat and helping you put it on before getting his own.
“ready to go?” he asked, looking you up and down.
“yeah.” you really couldn’t help smiling like an idiot, you heart pounding in your chest with excitement.
“let’s get outta here.” he announced, taking your small hand in his, intertwining his fingers with yours and exiting the office with a boyish smile.
new years has started wayyy better than you expected, maybe the kiss tradition indeed brought good luck.