A/N: So the "I love you" series has begun! As a person who, as a general rule, hates sequels, I truly hope that any of these chapters are actually worth reading. They're fun to write, even if I don't end up being entirely satisfied with them, and they're a bit more difficult to write because we aren't very far in the story yet. So bare with me and leave criticisms to help build this fic along (or compliments, compliments are always welcome!)

For anyone who doesn't know, this is a tag series to "The History Books Forgot About Us", so every chapter is related to a chapter in that series.

And, if you haven't guessed it, I own exactly nothing related to Emma.

"Of course I do" continued

"And once he's done it, he realizes that saying all of those things, and all of those other truths he's kept so well hidden from her, don't feel half as good as the feeling of her kissing him back."

Emma wonders when she stopped needing exactly seven and a half hours of sleep. Though a morning person by nature, she still used to always need two alarms to get herself out of bed at the required time. Maybe it was the fact that now, more often than not, she only had one alarm to rely on (not having brought her bedside clock with her), meaning she could only trust the rather fickle alarm on her phone.

Whatever the reason, most mornings she now awoke ten to twenty minutes before her alarm, and spent those dwindling minutes counting and recounting the diamond tiles on Alex's ceiling. Emma had discovered early on that Alex was a light sleeper, so though the idea of sneaking into his bathroom and fixing her bedhead was tempting, she knew she would never actually get away with it. So instead she lays there quietly, letting her mind drift like she was still fast asleep, waiting for their two alarms to wake up the man beside her.

It isn't much of a wait and by the time she counts the tiles for a third time, the tinkling of bells and the incessant chirping make an awful enough combination of noise to stir Alex awake. Emma turns to grab her phone off the bedside table and presses the 'snooze' option. She yawns spectacularly before turning back to Alex, who still looks half-asleep.

"Hi," he mumbles with happy smile on his face. He has half his head pressed into the pillow and looks like he's about to knock himself right back out at a moment's notice.

"Morning," Emma replies sleepily, as though she hadn't just been awake for the last five minutes. She settles back under the covers to move closer to him. With yet another yawn, she props herself on her elbow and pokes her boyfriend in the cheek.

"I'm awake," Alex complains, smiling again and opening his eyes fully. Emma can hardly believe, or accept really, that he could look so good when he'd just woken up and felt herself running her fingers through her hair subconsciously.

After following the motion for a few seconds, Alex catches her hand and weaves his fingers through hers into her hair.

"You're so unfair."

Emma furrows her brow, "What?"

Alex laughs and pulls himself closer to her. "It is six in the morning and you still look camera ready," he scoffs, moving his hand down to sit on her waist. Emma groans and presses her face into the crook of her elbow, whining "Alex."

"It's true!" he presses, tugging at the arm blocking her face. Emma groans again, keeping her arm in place to cover her silly smile. She was still completely unaccustomed to his compliments, which was yet another one of the new territories they'd stumbled into since they'd started dating.

It wasn't that Alex didn't compliment her before they'd kissed and he'd confessed how much he wanted to be with her, but it was different now. Emma was used to dragging compliments out of him, but now Alex just decided to spring them on her whenever he felt like it. It was disconcerting only because it made Emma realize how far they'd moved away from what they once were.

She gives up trying to fight him and lets him pull her arm away. Alex smiles at her in that way that kind of makes her forget that breathing was a necessary bodily function. He stares at her for a minute before speaking.

"Emma Woodhouse, you are radiant," she snorts and rolls her eyes before moving a hand to her forehead. "And, apparently, that isn't limited to any time of day," he finishes, still looking at her.

Emma meets his eyes then, to take in him taking her in. There's an honesty in them that makes her realize how much he believes in what he's saying. But it's more than that; it's almost like he's seeing all of her – all those parts of her that he fights with and gets embarrassed by tied in with all the things he enjoys about her. The level of adoration is so strong it's almost as if she can physically feel it weighing in the air between them. It doesn't help that his hand is still laying on her waist, his thumb brushing against the stripes in her pajama top.

She isn't sure if it's because he's looking at her like that or because that fact doesn't worry her, but she ends up saying something she thought would have had to be dragged out of her when the moment eventually came. Her hand moves from her forehead to wipe the sleep out of her eyes as she mumbles, "I love you."

With her hand half covering her eyes, Emma can only just make out Alex's face. She watches his eyes widen before his face settles into a look of confusion.

He lightly lifts her hand from her face to re-establish eye contact before stating, "I'm not sure I heard you correctly. Did you say you –"

But his question is lost between her lips meeting his. On Emma's part, there's an urgency behind her lips because she isn't quite sure she was ready for those words yet. Alex kisses her back calmly, as if to say that she could breathe and not worry about it if she didn't want to. It only made her love him more.

Emma pulls back and licks her lips, which were still dry from sleep. Her hands had slipped under the collar of his white T-shirt so she moves them to his shoulders before really looking at him. Alex smiles at her fondly before kissing her lightly once again.

"Not used to that," Alex says before leaning away from her again. Emma wasn't sure if he was referring to her embarrassing declaration or the kiss so she simply shrugs. Her boyfriend laughs, "Are you over your ridiculous aversion to morning breath, then?"

Emma groans, but laughs as well in spite of herself. Just as she had learned pretty early on that Alex was a light sleeper, Alex had just as quickly discovered that Emma didn't kiss anybody without properly brushing and flossing in the morning. The clashing of their two morning preferences had to be expected, they clashed in every other aspect of their lives, so of course they couldn't wake up and simply be adorable. (Well, they obviously could and did figure out a way to do so, but this was still the basis for their first argument as a couple.)

(The first of many.)

"Or were you just trying to avoid me hearing what you said?" Alex continues, while Emma rolls her eyes. "That you love me?" At the word love, he surprises her by tickling her. Emma sits up on his bed, giggling and trying to grab his hands and keep them away from her while repeatedly telling him to stop.

"Sorry, that doesn't sound like an answer to my question," he reports, after Emma had landed a kick to his side.

"Yes, fine, you idiot. I love you," she replies, through her laughter, batting his hands away with her own. But once she's said it, he stops fighting her and catches her face with his hands instead to kiss her. Emma sighs against his mouth, as reaction to finally getting to stop laughing. The kiss is sweet and gentle and Alex uses his thumbs to push her hair behind her ears.

When he pulls back, Emma's sure to get the first word: "And no, we both still really need to brush our teeth, please."

Alex laughs but nods with his forehead pressed to hers. They stay like that for a minute or so before Emma's snooze runs out and the tinkling of bells reminds them that the real world continues outside Alex's condo.

Emma pulls back first and Alex follows her lead, though he looks more reluctant about it. "Do you mind if I go get ready first?" Emma asks. It's a request rather than a demand and it feels foreign to her, especially because Emma always gets the bathroom first while Alex cooks them breakfast. But now, the balance felt off and she wasn't sure what to do to right the scales.

"Well," Alex cocks his head to the side as if thinking it over. "You do love me," he concedes, patting his finger to his chin with a grin. Emma pushes him by the shoulders, and Alex uses his hands on her waist to pull her back to him.

"Alex," she whines, dramatically. He holds up his hands in surrender before gesturing towards his en suite bathroom.

"You're going to hold this over my head for a while, aren't you?" Emma asks, as she pulls herself out of Alex's bed.

"I don't know what you mean," he imitates her from once before, smiling over at her innocently.

Emma flips her hair behind her back and smirks at him, "Well, I'll just have to use that to my advantage." Alex looks up at her confused as she moves towards the bathroom.

"So, Alex?"

He makes a face to show that he is listening. "We should really discuss getting me that puppy."

Alex bites his cheek to refrain from smirking but chooses to flop back onto his bed instead.

"Well, seeing as you love me..."

Emma scoffs, "You are too easy."

"I said we'd talk about it, I didn't say it would happen, Emma."

She hums out a very skeptical "Mhm" before slipping into his bathroom and closing the door behind her.

It isn't until that weekend, when Alex surprises her with a trip to San Francisco, that the two of them would both stop holding her confession over each other's heads. Because after dinner at her favourite vegan restaurant and a trip to the national opera centre, Alex finally makes his own confession. And when she compliments his words with her own, he leans forward to whisper that they could consider that her first "I love you" if she'd prefer, because he knew that Emma was more for calculated acts than spontaneous ramblings. But Emma had been happy to tell him that it didn't matter which they considered to be her first confession, so long as she got to continue saying those words as often as she liked thereafter.

This is practically a drabble, but what can you do! Hopefully it was still enough, though I haven't updated anything in a while - my apologies, as always. I've been busy and the last few episodes have been anything but inspiring. Still, let me know what you think and whether I should even continue. If I do, there's a chance these chapters won't be in the same order as in THFAU, just because it's easier to write it that way and hopefully more entertaining to read as well!