**Febuary 24th**
Mariana turned left onto the last stretch of road before her driveway, and looked over to Suga for a moment, promptly returning her eyes to the road. "My Aunt Jess, Uncle Al and little cousin Lizzie from Texas are staying with mom and I for the week too, so you and I are going to be in my old bedroom downstairs since they'll be in the guest bedroom on the main floor. I will warn you though. My room hasn't changed much since my last rearranging when I was probably 13." Mariana admitted with a little amused smile.
"That's fine." Suga started with an amused smile. "It'll give some insight into how much you've changed from when you were younger."
"Yeah, that was a drastic change." She said with a slight chuckle.
"Let me guess... Goth phase?"
Mariana bobbed her head from side to side. "More like a scene kid skater girl that wore a lot of black and fishnet gloves." She admitted.
"Hmmm. You in fishnets...Oh, that's a dangerous thought." Suga hummed in amusement as he smirked.
Mariana could feel the blush rising in her cheeks as she pulled into her driveway. She let Suga get out, helped him grab his bags and led him to the porch before squeezing her truck into the garage next to her Mom's Escape before getting out and closing up the garage to meet Suga back on the front porch and walked with him to the front door.
"Brace yourself. You didn't get to meet Boomer last time you were here." Mariana said with a chuckle as she stuck her key into the lock slot.
"Boomer?" Suga asked with a little curious smile.
"Our dog. He's 110 pounds of muscle and love, and he usually refuses to leave my side when I come home." Mariana explained and pushed the door open, and right on cue, a big built black labrador that had grey starting to show around the points of his face bolted out of the door before Mariana or her mom could stop him.
Suga took a step back as he smiled at the dog that was beating his tail against Suga's legs every time he circled around Suga to follow a smell.
"Suga, Boomer. Boomer, Suga." Mariana introduced them with a chuckle as Susan came to the door and greeted them.
"Hi guys, come on in...Boomer!" Susan started and grabbed Boomer's attention. "Come in here. Leave the poor boy alone long enough to let him in."
Boomer did as he was told, still throwing his tail around as he trotted back inside, Mariana and Suga following him so that Susan could close and lock the door behind them. "It's good to see you again, Suga." Susan said with a little smile.
"You as well. I wish it was for a happier reason." Yoongi said to her, his thick Korean accent surprisingly not making it all that difficult to understand him.
"So do we all." Susan said with an appreciative toothless smile. "Mariana, why don't you go show Suga where your room is while I can call everyone inside to do introductions? Lizzie wanted to see the horses."
Mariana nodded. "Okay." She started and turned her attention back to Suga. "내 침실이 이쪽이에요." [My bedroom is this way.]
Suga nodded to her as he adjusted his backpack strap before following her downstairs into the basement, to Mariana's room, Boomer staying right by her side.
The room was average size, but the neat organization of everything made it seem larger than it was. There were small trinkets on shelves and in open spaces on the bookcase next to the door on the opposite wall of the bed. Books of all genres lined the shelves, some worn from being read time after time.
The aura of the room was rather dark, yet comfortable at the same time, with the turquoise and black colors aiding in the aesthetic.
A few posters and memorabilia from an array of different bands and events hung on the wall, while BTS, Monsta X, Day6 and other groups' photo cards were clipped to a blue string of Christmas lights with mini clothes pins, and surrounded a corkboard of pictures of Mariana and her friends or pets with a work desk and chair sitting underneath it and against the wall.
A long shelf on the far side of the room held various trophies, the greenish colors of a few 4-H awards offsetting the color scheme, but served as a nice reminder of achievements earned. Underneath it was another shelf full of one, sometimes two versions of every single BTS album, most of Monsta X's albums, and a few albums from various other groups.
The bedsheets were that of which was expected. The colors matching with the walls, it had a paisley floral pattern, consistent with what Yoongi expected for how Mariana had described her younger self. The wall behind her bed was a familiar stark jet black, seeming endless in contrast to the rest of the room. It was always the background shown in the video calls when Mariana and they guys called each other over her Christmas break.
Suga set his bags along the wall next to the footboard of the bed, and turned his attention to the corkboard of pictures, smiling as he noticed a pair of tickets from adjacent years under the same push pin.
"2015... That was our first concert tour that came to the states." He said with a smile.
Mariana nodded as she walked up and stood next to him. "Yeah. I clicked on a music video out of curiosity in 2014, and it's changed my life forever." She stated with a reminiscent half smile.
"Which music video?"
"War Of Hormone. Still one of my all-time favorites."
Suga wrapped his arm around her with a smile, holding onto her opposite hip. "Is it now?"
"Mhm." She stated and looked up to Suga.
"That means a lot to hear you say that." He told her before leaning over and kissing Mariana's temple. "We should probably head back upstairs before your mom thinks we've disappeared."
"Yeah, we probably should." Mariana agreed and took Suga's hand in hers before he could get it too far off of her hip.
"Who do you want to introduce me as?" Suga asked on the way to the stairs, stopping as Mariana froze in thought.
"That's a good question. My aunt does NOT need to know I'm dating an international K-pop idol... Wow. That's a sentence I never thought I'd seriously say..."
Suga chuckled a bit. "A little overbearing?"
"She doesn't mean to be. But she will pay for one of those online background checks, and then proceed to tell my entire family what she found."
"Let's definitely try to avoid that for now. The best friend I am then." Suga agreed with a little chuckle and they resumed making their way towards the stairs. "I always knew it was a bad idea to date your best friend." Yoongi joked as they ventured up the stairs, bumping his arm into Mariana's shoulder playfully.
"That sounds like experience." Mariana joked back a bit. "Wait, was Yoonmin a real thing, and I missed it?" She continued the joke with a playfully sad smile.
"Oh, yeah. Definitely. We were all over each other. I'm just recently straight." He joked, his voice heavy with sarcasm.
Mariana couldn't help but laugh as she bumped into Suga's upper arm. "Well darn. I imagine you two being an adorable couple."
"Oh, we so were." He said with a stereotypical teenage girl tone.
Mariana started laughing so hard that she had to hang onto Suga to keep standing. "I think I was less prepared for that voice than I was for "boo elephant"!" She told him through a laugh.
"You'd be surprised what my voice can do." He replied, smiling from ear to ear in amusement as he wrapped an arm around Mariana's side and helped hold her up.
"It never fails to surprise me, that's for sure." She said through a chuckle.
"Good to know. Now, let's get moving again before your whole family starts getting suspicious." Suga said, patting Mariana's butt to make her move faster.
Mariana squeaked a bit as her posture went rigid for a quick moment before she relaxed with an idea to try pushing Suga's buttons with.
"Yes, oppa." She said with an innocent tone before stepping in front of him to lead the way up the short flight of narrow steps, intentionally adding just a bit of emphasis to her hip swing.
"Don't push it..." Suga commented with a slight hungry growl, slowing his stride slightly just to watch her walk.
Mariana looked over her shoulder at him. "But I have to push it to open it." She stated with a little smile in her tone for her victory as she grabbed the door handle.
"You better hope you know how to be quiet tonight..." He said low enough for just Mariana to hear it rumble from his throat as he came up behind her, looking at her with the same mischievous glint in his eyes as they stepped through the door, Boomer leading the way.
Pleasant chills went down Mariana's spine as she turned to close the door behind them. "I'm sure we'll figure something out." She said with a little smile and turned back to Suga, placing a hand on his chest as she kissed him while mentally patting herself on the back for her little confidence boost. "Come on. Everyone is this way." She said with a nod of her head and led the way with Boomer still at her side.
Suga quickly changed his demeanor as he nodded in response, following behind Mariana as they turned a corner into the living room where everyone was sitting on a fairly long couch behind a coffee table.
"Ana!" Lizzie exclaimed in excitement and ran up to Mariana and wrapped her arms around her.
"Oof! Hi, Lizzie." Mariana smiled out as she hugged her 10-year-old cousin back. After about 30 seconds of Lizzie not letting go, Mariana's aunt spoke up.
"She's been super excited to see you again, Ana. Who's this?" Jessica asked as she diverted her attention over to Suga.
On cue, Lizzie stepped back from Mariana and looked up at Suga, her jaw dropping.
Mariana's eyes went wide. She knew that starstruck look all too well.
"Lizzie....." She mumbled to the little girl and slightly shook her head."...please." Mariana requested as Suga looked between the two and Jessica, shifting from foot to foot nervously, not really knowing what to do. Of all people, you wouldn't think he'd be the type to freeze up.
"Sorry, I thought you were someone else." Lizzie quickly apologized to Suga, both he and Mariana mentally sighing in relief. "It's nice to meet you..."
"Suga." He said with a little smile.
"I've met my secondary family in Korea through Suga. He's my best friend." Mariana said with a little smile.
"It's very nice to meet you Suga." Jessica said with a happy smile. "I'm really glad things are going well for you over there, Ana."
"I am too. I think moving to Korea for school has been the best decision I've made yet."
"I can agree with that." Suga commented, a little smile playing on his lips.
"Are you still planning on moving back to America when you're done with school?" Al asked.
Mariana's lips pressed into a little curl in thought for a moment. Yoongi knew she didn't know if she wanted to keep up with being a translator, but he didn't know the plan was still to move back to the U.S weither she did follow through or not. She looked over to Yoongi, with a certain apologeticness in her eyes before returning her attention to her uncle. "I don't really know anymore. I don't think I want to be an international translator anymore, simply because I want to be able to stay in one place. But I don't want to leave Korea either."
"But, you promised me you'd come back..." Lizzie said with a bit of disappointment.
"I know Lizzie. I'll still come back for the holidays and some birthdays. But I have a lot of reasons to stay in Korea." Mariana stated and looked over at Yoongi for a moment, making him flash her a little smile.
"You have, what, two years of school left? That's plenty of time to figure something out." Al stated with a little smile. "I know your dad would be proud of you, no matter what you choose."
Mariana flashed a half smile. "One and a half, but, thanks, Uncle Al."
"Ana, can we go for a trail ride?" Lizzie suddenly changed topics with a big smile.
Mariana and Suga both chuckled a bit at her enthusiasm. "Sure." She said and turned to Suga. "You coming with?"
"Absolutely." Suga said with a smile.
"Yay! Come on! Let's go!" Lizzie exclaimed and grabbed Mariana by the wrist and started pulling her towards the back door.
"Okay, we're going now." Mariana stated in amusement as Suga started following them. "We'll be back in a bit." She announced to the parents.
"Be safe!" Jessica exclaimed with a little smile.
"Have fun!" Susan told them as she pet Boomer's head and Lizzie promptly led Mariana and Suga back outside to the barn.