Chapter Text
Illinois looks surprised for a second, then smiles.
“You said that so confidently,” he coos. “You got experience breaking into places or something?”
You can feel yourself start to sweat from nervousness, and you’re not sure if that’s because of the question he asked or the sultry tone in which he asked it.
“You… you could say that,” you answer noncommittally. Illinois pats you on the shoulder.
“Well then. I’d say midnight’s our best bet. We should probably… find a place to stay until then,” he says with yet another wink. “Unless you wanna sleep in the c–”
“LET’SFINDAPLACETOSTAY,” you blurt before you can stop yourself. Illinois smiles again.
“Sounds like a plan!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shortly, the two of you end up at the only motel in Largegrove, and just your luck…
“The only rooms we got only have one bed,” the clearly overworked old lady at the front desk says in a raspy voice. “Sasquatch knows people aren’t exactly comin’ ‘ere for family vacations.”
“That’s fine by us, ma’am,” Illinois says while you’re busy engaging in a staring contest with the floor. He puts his hand on your back again as the two of you make your way to your room.
Your mind is racing. The total amount of time you’ve known Illinois can be measured in hours. And now you’ll be… sharing a bed with him!?
Just the idea of sleeping next to Illinois makes you giddy. You never would have dreamed of something like this.
And who knows? Maybe, once this adventure is over, you and him will have even more chances to—
You shake your head. You’re getting ahead of yourself.
“You alright there, tiger?” Illinois asks, gently rubbing your back as you walk. It takes all your willpower not to shudder. It feels really good.
“Y-yeah,” you squeak.
The two of you get to your room, and there is indeed only one bed. After a quick sweep of the room for bedbugs, you start getting ready to go to sleep. There’s not much you need to do, really, considering you didn’t even bring pajamas. You didn’t expect the date to go that far. You can sleep in your clothes once; it won’t hurt.
Illinois, on the other hand…
It’s the first time you’ve seen him without his hat. You had expected his hair to be slicked down with sweat, but no– it’s endearingly fluffy.
This is also the first time you’ve seen him without his shirt, but you’re trying desperately to ignore that because otherwise you are definitely going to collapse onto the floor.
You set your alarm for 12am and hop into bed, and Illinois gets in on the other side. You quickly turn to face away from him and shut your eyes as hard as humanly possible.
“G’night, sunshine,” you hear him mutter as he turns off the lights. Your heart nearly explodes. Sunshine!?!?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Your phone alarm goes off at midnight on the dot. You and Illinois wake up and quickly realize you’re wrapped tightly in each other’s arms. You immediately feel yourself blush and become thankful it’s too dark for that to be seen.
“Guess it’s time to put our plan into action, huh?” Illinois asks groggily, but with his usual charm.
You…
Disagree. [Go to chapter 10]
Agree. [Go to chapter 11]