Disclaimer: I do not own American Idiot.

"I don't know." I say, laying my head against Krystina's. "They all just sort of look like cotton balls to me."

She laughs, turning to look at me with those big, brown eyes. I think I feel my heart stop for a second.

"Will, you're taking the fun out of it." She says, reaching for my hand. "The whole point of the game is to use your imagination."

I laugh, pulling her across the grass so she's pressed against me. I close my eyes and nod.

"Okay, I'm imagining you and me." I tell her, letting my hands roam her back. I gently kiss her shoulder.

"I think this is a different game." She says, laying a hand on my chest. "But at least you're putting a little more effort into this one. So, what are we doing?"

"Going on a date," I say as I open my eyes, looking into hers. "I mean, a three week anniversary is a very big thing and-"

"Oh my God, you've been counting." She giggles, trailing a few kisses up my shoulder and neck.

"I just happened to notice this morning when I checked my calendar." I run a hand through her hair. "Anyway, that isn't the point. You and I are on an extraordinary date. I mean, this is probably the best date you've ever been on."

"I like this one already." She says, nuzzling her head into my neck.

"And you keep looking at me and thinking things like "My God, is that fox of a man my boyfriend?" You know, the usual stuff you think about when you're with me." I continue, which earns me another priceless giggle. "But, this isn't one of those dates where I'm just trying to get into your pants, right? I actually have something to tell you."

"Wait, where is the date at?" She asks quickly, opening her eyes to look up at me. "I'm not sure where I'm supposed to be picturing us."

"Right! It's all about the location with you, isn't it? I'm just about to pour my heart out…" I grin, stroking her hair. "We're eating frozen yogurt. We just saw your favorite band ever. And then I look at you and I feel something really weird."

"Is it a boner?" I can tell she's asking this with a smile.

I kiss her cheek. "No. Well, maybe. Probably. But that's not the big thing. I look at you and feel something in my heart that I've really never felt before."

"Shit." She pecks my lips.

"And I'm not a hugely emotional guy, but with you everything is different. So I think, why not? I'll pour my heart out to my amazing girlfriend." I say lowly, twirling her hair around my fingers.

"And what do you say?" She asks, leaning her forehead on mine.

I lean forward slowly, pressing my lips to her ear and whisper a quiet "I love you." It's hard to believe a human being can be so quiet. But then, Krystina outdoes me. She's completely silent, and I wonder if she didn't hear me. And then I'm terrified that she did hear me and doesn't feel the same way and doesn't know how to say so.

"I-" I start, but she cuts me off with a kiss.

She lays her hands on my cheeks, kissing me gently, and I kiss back with a smile on my lips. It feels like forever, holding her there, feeling the sparks shoot between us, and I don't think I've ever been happier in my life.

She pulls away grinning from ear to ear, then lays her forehead on mine again. She starts to play with my hair as she catches her breath.

"I love you too," She whispers back.

And then we go back to watching the clouds.

xxx

I'm lying in bed that night when my phone rings. I grin, hoping that it's Krystina as I pick it up, but it isn't. JOHNNY is lighting up the screen. It's been a while since I've heard from him.

"Hello?" I say as I pick up the phone.

"Dude, she's fucking back." He responds immediately.

"With or without Alex?" I ask, rolling my eyes as I sit up.

"With. Unfortunately. Anyway, I know you said to call you when she got back, so…" He trails off.

"Fuck. I've been having a great time without her in my life." I run a hand through my hair, thinking about Krystina and Elton. "Look, I met this girl."

"And this is the first I'm hearing of it?" Johnny asks.

"Well, she's awesome. And I really don't want things to end." I look down at my right hand, where Krystina drew a small black heart earlier this afternoon. It's already starting to fade.

"Just bring her with you. I mean, that's what Tunny did and Jillian doesn't seem totally miserable with Jingletown. Her relationship is another story…"

Johnny's quiet for a moment, and I assume it's because Tunny's in the room with him. I wait until he returns to the phone, thinking it over. I'd fucking love to take her with me. But I don't know if she'd love to come.

"Anyway, yeah, dude. Bring her here. It's not like she has to stay or anything. And Heather's going to start bitching if you don't get back. I mean, she already kind of has, but we're sticking up for you, man."

"I'll ask her. And I'll see you later." I say before pressing end.

I guess this is it.

xxx

I wrap my arms around Krystina from behind, lifting her slightly. She giggles, trying to get down.

"I really hope you're Will, otherwise you should know that I carry ma-"

"It's me." I say, kissing down her neck as I set her down. "Sorry I'm a little late. I was at work."

"That's okay." She says as she turns around to face me. "I just got here too."

"Oh, thank God." I wrap my arms around her, pulling her close to me. "Do you want to meet my son?"

"Of course," She says almost immediately.

"Well, my friend called and told me that Heather came home last night, so… If you wanted to come home with me for a while you could meet everyone." I kiss the crown of her head.

"I would really like that." She says, taking a step back to look up at me. "As long as you're sure."

"With you," I say, lifting her into my arms, "I'm positive.

xxx

One week later, Krystina is seated beside me on a bus ride home to Jingletown. Our hands are intertwined and she's alternating between reading a book and asking me questions about my friends and family. I think she might be nervous, and that's such an amazing feeling.

"So, Alex is Heather's boyfriend. And you don't like him. It's not because you still have feelings for her or anything, right?" She asks, playing with my fingers.

"I used to. I mean, not when we met, but when I first met her I partly hated him because I still loved her. But that went away when I remembered what she was like. I just don't like him because I don't think he's good for Elton, or for her. I still care about her. But I don't have feelings." I wrap an arm around Krystina, kissing her head.

"That makes sense." She closes her eyes. "Will you tell me about your other friends?"

"Well, there's Tunny. And, I don't want you to freak out when you meet him, so I'm telling you now that he only has one leg."

"Was he born like that?"

"He lost it in the military." I run a hand through her hair. "His girlfriend's name is Jillian. She's probably the nicest person you could possibly meet. I think she'll like you."

Krystina grins, closing her book. "Okay."

"Then there's J-"

"Wait, who did you say we were staying with again?" She interrupts me and I grin.

"Well, I'm planning on seeing if we can crash with Theo, but if not, either Heather and Alex or Tunny and Jillian. There's another friend we could stay with, but it might weird him out. He just got out of a relationship last year and it still kind of hurts him to see other people happy. He likes to joke about it though."

"That sucks. I know how that feels." She frowns, and then glances up at me and smiles again. "Not so much anymore, though. You saved me, Will. I know that sounds totally fucking stupid, but you did. You changed everything."

I nod quickly. "You were the exact same for me." I twirl some of her hair around my finger. "You make me better."

She grins widely at me, and then she goes back to reading.

xxx

Tunny and Jillian pick us up from the bus station. I lead Krystina to Tunny's piece of shit car (which Jillian now drives due to his lack of a leg,) throwing our luggage into the trunk while Jillian fusses over Krys.

"You're probably the prettiest person I've ever seen." Jillian says, looking Krystina over. "And I really love your hair. Was it like that before you met Will? Because that would be really romantic."

I laugh as I listen to their conversation, and Tunny stops to talk to me before I get into the car.

"Hey, I'm really proud of you, man." He says, patting me on the back.

I nod, glancing at Krystina. She smiles widely back.

"I don't think I've ever been happier." I admit, turning back to look at my friend. "She just turned everything around."

"Does Heather know about her?"

I roll my eyes.

"Honestly, I couldn't think of a single reason to tell her. She runs all over the world with her asshole of a boyfriend without so much as texting me."

"Okay, but she might use this as an excuse to go off on you."

"Let her. I don't fucking care what she has to say anymore." I reply, walking around the car to open the door for Krystina. She smiles at me and gets in, sliding into the middle seat. I sit beside her and pull her against me, closing my eyes.

"I love you." She says quickly, before Tunny and Jillian get into the car.

"I love you too," I reply, and I don't care if they've heard me.

Jillian starts to drive, holding Tunny's hand across the console.

And for once in my life, with Krystina in my arms, I don't feel out of place.

I feel like I'm right where I belong.

xxx

"Once you moved out, Theo couldn't handle the rent. He's living with his mom now." Tunny informs us as I play with Krystina's fingers.

"Why didn't he just get a new roommate?" I ask.

"I guess he wasn't ambitious enough to find anyone else."

"So, do you guys have any room?" I ask, glancing at Krystina.

"Yeah, you guys are always welcome with us." Jillian says quickly, taking a second away from the rode to smile at Tunny.

"The shitbag who was staying with us while you were gone bailed." Tunny grins, and I know he's talking about Johnny.

"Where'd he go?" I ask, squeezing Krystina's hand.

She's busy staring out the window.

"I don't know. I haven't seen him in a while. He might be staying with his mom too or something. But he got a job."

"Oh yeah?"

"He mops the floors at the 7Eleven now." Jillian says.

"Our little boy's moving up in the world." I say with a grin.

"What do you do, Krystina?" Jillian asks, and I give her a thankful look through the rear view mirror.

"Well, I have friends who pay me to get the word out on their bands and shows and stuff. And sometimes I help set up or plan the parties afterwards." She says after a moment, and I pull her closer. "That's kind of how I met Will."

"That's so cute." Jillian says.

"How did you meet Tunny?" Krystina asks, and I smile at her.

"Well, I was his nurse. We're pretty sure I was the last face he saw before the anesthesia because he was hallucinating about me for days. And then, of course, I bathed him, which is when we really fell for each other. There's nothing more romantic than that." Jillian grins, and for the first time I feel happy hearing about how they happened.

"So, do you want to go to Heather's first?"

"If she has Elton." I respond, laying my head on Krystina's shoulder.

She's been pretty quiet throughout the whole car ride, and I'm afraid of the reason why. I'm hoping it's just because she feels shy, but I decide I'll talk to her about it later.

A few minutes later, we're outside of Heather's apartment. Krystina is still being really quiet. I lean my head against hers.

"Is everything okay?" I whisper.

She nods quickly. "I'm just really happy."

I open the car door and get out, reaching for her hands. I pull her out of the car and lace our fingers.

"Now that you've met the best of my friends, I guess it's time for you to meet the worst."

"I'm sure they're not that bad." She says quietly.

"I guess you'll see for yourself."

When we knock on their door, it's opened instantly. Heather's standing before us, holding Elton in her arms.

"Thank God you're finally fucking here." She says as she hands Elton over to me. "Alex and I have to go. He has this gig downtown and there's a guy coming who could totally sign him and make him famous and shit. Wait, who's this?"

"This is my girlfriend, Krystina." I say, turning to Krystina. "Krystina, this is Heather."

"Oh my God… You know what? I don't have time for this shit. We literally should have left, like, ten minutes ago." Heather rolls her eyes and yells back into her apartment. "Alex, come on!"

Heather's boyfriend pushes through us, guitar in hand.

"Thanks a lot, dude!" He says without looking at us, making his way to his car. He stuffs his guitar in the back seat and gets in.

"Can you bring him back in the morning? Alex and I kind of wanted the night to ourselves to… You know…" Heather asks, but she's already walking away, and Alex is honking the horn. "Thanks for finally coming through! We'll talk about the whole girlfriend thing tomorrow. She gets in the car and they drive away quickly.

"See, I told you." I say softly, kissing Elton's forehead.

Krystina looks mesmerized, and she slowly rests her palm on his head, caressing his forehead with her thumb.

"He's beautiful." She says.

"And so are you."