They arrive at the Kingston theater twenty minutes later.
Minji's hair is much messier than before, her cheeks are slightly flushed and Hanni has completely given up on trying to keep her thoughts straight, no longer tipsy on the wine but rather on Minji's hot mouth against her own. It takes a while, but eventually they make it out of the bookstore and into the theatre.
"Can we still go in?" Hanni asks the man at the ticket office, unable to keep the smile from curling around her lips.
"Hm.." he says, frowning deeply. "We dont really want to disturb the performances - but perhaps, if you walk up to the first balcony and keep quiet, it's all right."
"Thank you," Hanni says, quickly holding the door open for Minji before the man changes his mind.
They make their way up the half lit staircase, but right before Hanni reaches out to open the door, Minji grabs her wrist and pulls her back, making her spin around - and they're kissing again.
Hanni can't help but fall back against the wall, pulling Minji closer against her, all tension and sparks and oh my god she's kissing me again - Minji pulls away, smiling a little smugly. It lasts long enought to leave Hanni completely breathless and short enough that the only things she wants to do is switch their positions and pin Minji against the wall with her body, kissing her again and again and again until-
"Sorry," Minji breathes out with a smile, and Hanni has to bite down on her lip hard to snap herself back into reality. "I really wanted to do that."
Hanni swallows, before stammering out. "N-no problem - I mean, n-not a problem... like, at all."
The corner of Minji's mouth curls even further upwards and Hanni curses herself internally for being so ridiculous the whole time.
(She curses Minji a little bit too for making her entire body forget how to function.)
"Good to know," Minji grins, flirtatious edge to her voice."Thanks for the assessment."
Hanni can feel herself flush, but the way Minji is looking at her makes her heart race, and the tension softens so she laughs as well, before letting her fingers fall to the back of Minji's meck and abruptly pulling her down to kiss again.
When she pulls away, she catches the shy glint in Minji's eyes and the way her exhale is suddenly a little stuttered, and Hanni can't help but smile and feel her confidence spike.
"Let's go, beautiful.", she says, relishing in the way Minji's eyes widen at the bold term of affection. "We're here for a poetry slam event, remember?" Minji rolls her eyes jokingly, like that's the last thing on her mind, and Hanni grins. "I thought you said you were serious about being a writer, but you seem a little bit unfocused..."
Minji bites her lip, leaning into Hanni a little more, before winking at her and abruptly reaching for the door. There are only a couple of other people sitting on the balcony, because most of the spectators are on the ground level, so there is still more than enough space in the front row. They quietly make their way to the seats. On stage, two guys are in the middle of a double performance, their voices low and deep, reaching far into the theatre with their explosive poem. After they've taken their seats, Hanni takes one more glance at Minji, whose eyes are already glued to the stage, and then she leans back in her chair and lets her mind be carried away by the steady beat and well constructed sentences.
God she loves this kind of stuff so much.
Every time someone is brave enough to step onto the stage and share something they've created, Hanni can feel her heart swell up. She's so easily touched by all the stories and impressed by people's willingness to show emotion, making her laugh or hold her breath or fall back into her chair and thinking damn that was beautiful - and she can tell that Minji's feeling exactly the same way.
"Wow," Minji breathes close to Hanni's ear while they applaud a young girl who just performed a really intense and personal poem. "That girl was amazing. I wish I could do something like that, you know? I have goosebumps all over my arms - here, feel this."
She fulls on Hanni's hand and brings it to her forearm. Hanni bites her lip, not really focused on the goosebumps, but rather on smooth and soft Minji's skin is under the tips of her fingers. She traces them slowly over Minji's wrist, moving over her pulse until she can't stop herself from interlacing her fingers through through Minji's and taking her hand in her own.
Minji's eyes are glinting in the darkness while she smiles, looking down at their hands. Then, she brings Hanni's fingers up to her lips and kisses the back of her hand.
It's such a small gesture - something so innocent in comparison to theur kisses from before - and yet it sends Hanni's pulse soaring through her veins. God, she's never been on a date like this.
"You could be." she breathes out, leaning closer to Minji's ear, be ause she doesn't want to disturb the performance on stage.
"Hm?" Minji hums against Hanni's jaw. "What?"
"You could be like that girl on the stage," Hanni say. "Speaking right from her heart, giving people goosebumps all over their body - you've been doing it to me all night."
She can feel Minji's breath hitch. Their faces are so close to each other and the darkness of the theatre and the pulsing creative air around them only intensifies the moment.
"Really?" Minji says then.
There's a very slight edge of insecurity to her voice and Hanni can't stop herself from moving even closer, letting her lips fall against Minji's ear as she whispers, "You make me - feel so many things at the same time - like, so many, insanely intense things."
She only barely notices Minji's eyes shutting close, only barely registets the way her voice has hone all throaty when she eventually stutters out, "Well- you make me- I can't... I can't concentrate when you're so close to me."
Hanni can feel her mouth go dry.
Jesus.
What is happening to her inhibitions? How is she not able to stop herself from constantly crossing every single line she has set for herself?
She absentmindedly registers that the girl on stage ends her poem with "... you breathe your heart into my mouth and I don't ever need to write about anything else again." and then the audience start clapping again and Minji turns her head and Hanni's lips fall against Minji's mouth almost accidentally except it's far from accidental, of course.
They kiss slowly, softly - shifting closer only ever so slightly - almost too afraid to break the intensity of the moment by rushing things. Hanni absentmindedly registers that someone else begins their poem on stage.
But then Minji's presses her body into Hanni a little harder, a little bolder and Hanni's hand falls to Minji's thigh, even though she didn't really mean to, and it causes Minji to let out a wuiet throaty sound that makes Hanni's spine arch completely outside of her control - and suddenly Hanni is not away of anything happening around her, because Minji shifts forward harshly, deepening the kiss and Hanni's fingers start to press harder against Minji's thigh with every hot shiver that is running diwn her spine. Her pulse quickens, her brearhing turns uneaven, and when Minji softly sinks her teeth into Hanni's bottom lip, biting down on it, Hanni's not able to stop herself from moaning into Minji's open mouth, accidentally digging her fingernails right into Minji's skin. Minji gasps and pulls harder on Hanni's hip, pulling her harshly into-
"Ladies and gentlemen!"
They both startle out of the kiss at the same time. One of the boys from the first performance is standing in the center of the stage.
"Thank you! Thank you!" he shouts into the microphone. "This concludes our program for tonight. We hope to see you again at one of our upcoming events. Thank you all for coming and give it up one more time for all the wonderful people who performed tonight!"
The whole audience erupts in applause and Hanni falls back into her chair, not daring to look Minji in the eyes, not daring to do anything because her entire body is heated and all she tastes on her tongue is Minji and all she feels is the intensity of the way they just let themselves-
Fucking hell.
Her mind can't even form a complete thought.
Minji coughs as everyone starts leaving the theatre. "Should we- should we go?"
"Yeah," Hanni says, a little too quickly. "Yeah - okay - let's go."
The fresh night air thank fully cools Hanni's heated senses a little. She takes a deep breath, then another. They're still standing infront of the theatre entrance, trying not to look into each other's eyes for too long.
"What do you think?" Hanni asks.
Minji's face lights up right away. "I loved it," she breathes out. "I loved it so much, all the poems and the people - and you sitting right next to me the whole time, making me feel like..."
She trails off abruptly and Hanni blushes hard.
Her mind is spinning - she doesn't know what to do anymore. It feels like she's fifteen years old again, shy and nervous and giddy and scared and excited and overwhelmed, and most of all not having a single clue of what she should be doing. She doesn't know if this is the moment to offer to drive Minji back to her dorm already or if it's still appropriate to ask her if she want to go out for drinks. She doesn't have the slightest indication of what social behavior is expected from her at this part of the date, because she's crossing her own boundaries for the entire night already.
She doesn't know whether to kiss Minji again or not, doesn't know if she would be able to stop if she did.
"How-" she stutters out. "How are you feeling?"
Minji softly smiles at her. "I'm feeling really good. Are you okay?"
"Yes," Hanni says out, a little too quickly. "Yes, yes, I'm fine. I'm great, actually. But I just- I want to make sure that you're... well, you know, that you feel good and that this is okay, that it isn't - I don't know, like, too much or something."
Minji bites down on her bottom lip, shaking her head softly. Then she says, "You're wonderful, you know that?"
It makes Hanni's breath catch in her throat. "I dont- I'm really not-"
"Yes, you are." Minji cuts in, beofre Hanni can say anything else. "You are so wonderful and this whole night has been absolutely amazing and I just can't believe you just asked me if I'm okay and is this is... okay - because, it's so much more than okay, Han."
Hanni's heart swells in her chest. She forces herself not to look away from Minji as she rambles out, "Do you maybe, like, want to come over to my place for - for drinks or for... tea, or something. Please dont feel like you have to- I just... dont really want to say goodbye yet, but if you feel like going home-"
Hanni's usually not the kind of girl who usually does things like this. She doesn't do crazy romantic dates with picnics and blankets. She doesn't bring someone along to her favorite places in the city right away. She doesn't kiss a girl like that when she's not even halfway into the first date and she sure as hell doesn't invite her back to her place in the spur of a moment.
Hanni also doesn't write her number down on someone's coffee cup-
-except if it makes her heart burn up like a forest fire.
And that's exactly what happens when Minji breathes out, "Yes - I want to come back to your place. I dont want to say goodbye yet either. Yes - Han, let's go."