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One day, I met Soohyun Unnie. She was wearing these sunglasses, and I really wanted them. So I said, "Unnie, those sunglasses are so pretty, where did you get them?" And I kept asking, and then she just took them off and gave them to me. Since then, I’ve been using these sunglasses very often.
Generally, Soohyun isn’t supposed to be this far inside Pledis, but Minghui had met her in the lobby and brought her upstairs. It’s late enough in the day that most of the offices are empty, but there are still enough people milling around that she’s glad her hat obscures most of her face. Minghui’s chatting away about a jewellery campaign they’re both shooting in a couple of weeks, leading them through identical hallways without even looking where she’s going.
Finally, they come to a large door and Minghui pushes it open. Inside, someone is screeching at the top of their voice, and when Soohyun finally pushes inside she realises it’s Sooyoung, sprawled out on the floor and trying to wrestle Chanhee into submission. Chanhee escapes and runs over to hide behind Jun, sitting against the mirror and serenely eating an apple.
Sooyoung scrambles to her feet, ready to charge after her, when she realises Minghui and Soohyun have entered and stops suddenly, crashing to the ground again.
“Unnie!” She makes it to her feet this time, throwing herself across the last few inches of floor to hug Soohyun. Minghui barely gets out of the way fast enough. Soohyun catches her around the waist, drawing her in close to her side. Sooyoung props her chin on Soohyun’s collarbone and beams up at her, her whole face scrunched up in delight. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to take you to dinner,” Soohyun smiles down at her, stroking her shoulder with her thumb. She glances up at the other three women in the room. “All of you.”
Minghui rolls her eyes, and Jun and Chanhee cheer softly and get to their feet. Sooyoung’s face falters for a second, but she’s back smiling again immediately.
“You heard unnie,” She takes a step away from Soohyun’s body but keeps her hand clenched tightly in the back of Soohyun’s shirt. “Let's not keep her waiting.”
She brings them to a barbecue place that's not too far from the Hybe building. It's a little dingy and frequented by the kind of people who'd never admit to recognizing idols in their midst even if Soohyun hadn't called ahead to make sure they had a table tucked away in the corner. It's close to the kitchen, hotter than the rest of the dining room, and Sooyoung and Chanhee lose their sweatshirts as soon as they've sat down.
Chanhee, Minghui, and Junnie share one side of the booth, with Soohyun and Sooyoung taking the other side. As soon as Sooyoung loses her hoodie she slides closer and hooks her knee over Soohyun's, leaning heavily against her side. Soohyun wraps her arm around her shoulder and cedes the grill to Chanhee, who nearly vibrates in excitement at the responsibility.
Dinner is loud; Sooyoung has never in her life cared about modulating the volume of her voice in a conversation, and the four of them only egg each other on. Soohyun just lets all the chaos wash over her. She drops her other hand to Sooyoung’s knee, squeezing it gently. Sooyoung smiles and burrows in closer.
Halfway through the meal, Sooyoung sighs softly and rests her head on Soohyun’s shoulder. Soohyun tilts her own head for a second, gently pressing it against Sooyoung’s in acknowledgement before returning to the conversation. Minghui is telling them all a story from the last Paris Fashion Week she’d attended. Soohyun’s heard the story before — she’d been there for half of it — so she doesn’t give it her full attention. She detaches from Sooyoung just enough to feed herself, trying her best to wrap ssams one-handed so she doesn’t have to jostle her head.
She holds one out to Sooyoung, kimchi juice spilling onto her fingers where she’d added extra. Instead of taking it, Sooyoung just opens her mouth. Soohyun rolls her eyes but feeds it to her anyway, carefully wiping a red smudge off her bottom lip with her thumb afterwards. Sooyoung smiles smugly and grabs her glass of soju, tossing it back fast and immediately inserting herself back into the conversation.
Across the table, Minghui raises her eyebrow at her, but Soohyun can’t kick her without untangling herself from Sooyoung so she just narrows her eyes back. Minghui presses her hand to her own chest, face instantly angelic, and Soohyun is saved from having to respond again by Junnie asking her what she’s been up to lately.
When dinner’s over, all of them make dutiful offers to pay, and Soohyun waves them all off.
“Let unnie take care of you,” she says, “I know if I hadn’t come you’d all just be eating ramyun over the sink.”
Outside, the night is still a little crisp. Soohyun has a coat but the rest of them are just in sweatshirts, not having planned to go anywhere other than dance practice and the dorm. Minghui, Junnie, and Chanhee link arms as they head back to the company to wait for a car, letting Soohyun and Sooyoung fall behind. Sooyoung’s sweater is barely a sweater, the raw hem falling several inches above her waistband, and Soohyun opens her coat as they walk to wrap around her.
“What are you doing this weekend?” Sooyoung asks.
“I have a meeting on Friday about a drama I might be doing later this year. Then I'll probably have dinner with Jiyoung-ah at some point. Maybe shopping later? It depends on how the meeting goes.”
“I probably have a free day on Sunday, but if you’re busy -”
“I’m never too busy for you,” Soohyun interrupts, “Just let me know.”
Sooyoung squeezes her waist where she has her arm wrapped around her. Ahead of them, a car is waiting just in front of the company building, Chanhee leaning out the door to yell at Sooyoung to hurry up. Sooyoung unwraps herself from Soohyun and her coat, then tips up on her toes to hug her goodbye.
“Night unnie,” She says, pressing her face into Soohyun’s neck. Her hair smells a little like the smokey inside of the bbq restaurant, but underneath it Soohyun can smell traces of her perfume, the same young and fruity one she always wears.
“Night Sooyoungie.”
She blows Soohyun a kiss through the window as they drive off.
Sooyoung has a black face mask hanging from one ear and a beanie pulled down low over her eyebrows when Soohyun picks her up from the dorms on Sunday. Soohyun waits just inside the door while Sooyoung decides which shoes she’s going to wear; the rest of the dorm seems silent and she assumes they’re alone until Jeonghee appears in the hallway, her smirk visible through her facemask.
“Oh Sooyoungie, you didn’t tell us it was Soohyun unnie you were hanging out with today.”
“Yes I did,” Sooyoung looks a little confused. “Didn’t I? I told Seongyeon unnie where I was going. Why does it matter anyway, we’re not doing anything.”
“I know you’re not.” The smirk grows wider. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t be curious about all your little activities.”
“Right,” says Sooyoung, still confused, “Well, I’m going shopping with unnie so. Your curiosity can be satisfied.”
“For now,” Jeonghee wiggles her fingers in a tiny approximation of a wave and disappears back into the rest of the dorm, throwing a “have fun” back over her shoulder as she leaves.
“She’s being weird,” Sooyoung says, “I don’t know why she cares, we’re only shopping, nothing’s happening.”
“Yeah,” Soohyun agrees, “Nothing at all.”
The car takes them to Hongdae]. If Soohyun was shopping just for herself she’d probably head to Cheongdam-dong, but she knows Sooyoung’s style leans a lot more casual than hers. She’s proven correct when the first thing Sooyoung gravitates towards is a pair of jeans she could camp in. Her face lights up when she pulls them off the rack. Soohyun looks at sweatshirts while Sooyoung rifles through the rest of the denim, occasional excited sounds emerging alongside the clack of hangers.
The pair she eventually tries on are not quite as voluminous as the first ones, but that’s not saying much. Soohyun follows her over to the fitting rooms, taking a seat on the bench in the corner with the sweatshirt she wanted, and waits for Sooyoung to emerge.
It only takes a moment for Sooyoung to come out, and when she does, Soohyun has to take a deep breath. She’s ditched her loose t-shirt to show the jeans off better, standing in the cubicle in just her sports bra. The jeans are huge; they pool around her sneakers and she’s had to fold the waistband down to get them to fit, the turned-over fabric sitting just under the waistband of her pink supreme underwear.
Soohyun swallows. “Do you need me to grab you a smaller size so the waist fits?”
“No, that's the style!” Sooyoung says, walking closer until she’s right in front of Soohyun. She hooks her thumb into the waistband and shakes it a little, proving that it’s stitched into place. “See, they’re supposed to look like this.”
Soohyun blinks for a second at the expanse of Sooyoung’s stomach in front of her, tapering into the slight vee at the waistband of the jeans. She tilts her head back to look at Sooyoung’s face instead.
“They look great.”
Sooyoung smiles brightly and shimmies a little before running back to the cubicle.
The next place they go just sells accessories, including an entire wall of sneakers in the back. There’s two teen girls trying on some matching baby blue adidas and giggling together.
Soohyun nudges Sooyoung with her elbow. “Do you want matching sneakers?”
She’s mostly joking, but Sooyoung’s face lights up.
“Really?”
“Really,” Soohyun smiles and nudges her again. “Go pick some.”
It’s easy to tell which ones she’s drawn too, even if she doesn’t pick them up off the shelf. Soohyun picks them up instead and hands them to her. They’re hideous; orange with black piping as the only other colour, even the laces and sole are orange.
“You’re not going to wear neon shoes,” Sooyoung points out.
“Well if you want the orange and black ones I can still get the solid white ones.”
“Oh,” Sooyoung looks down at the pair in her hands. “But that’s not the same. If we get different ones then we won’t really be matching.”
Soohyun looks over the wall of sneakers, seeing if there’s any she’s missed. There’s a pair up a little high that are still orange and black, but with a white base instead of a neon one.
“How about these?”
“Oh!” Sooyoung’s eyes light up for a second before she bites her lip. “Are you sure though? You don’t usually wear sneakers this bright.”
Soohyun takes the shoe down and catches the sales associate’s eye. “Well I don’t usually have anyone to match with, so.”
She gives the associate the pair and both their sizes, and Sooyoung beams at her when they sit down to wait for their shoes. When they get them, Sooyoung puts her foot next to Soohyun’s on the ground and snaps a picture of their matching shoes.
“Perfect,” she smiles. Soohyun is helpless not to smile back.
She pays for the shoes while Sooyoung is looking at bucket hats at the front of the store. Sooyoung is too busy staring at herself in her phone’s selca camera to notice her approaching and jumps a little when Soohyun bumps their elbows together and hands her the bag with her pair in them.
“Oh, did you - You didn’t have to.” Sooyoung looks down at the bag.
“I wanted to,” Soohyun tells her. “Let unnie treat you. That’s my job.”
“Thank you, unnie,” Sooyoung says, so sincerely. Soohyun wants to kiss her forehead, but they’re still in public even if they’re indoors, and Sooyoung is still wearing her fuzzy beanie anyway.
“C’mon,” She links their elbows together and pulls her towards the door. “Let's get you an americano and then I’ll bring you home. Jeonghee will be anxiously waiting by the door for you.”
“Jeonghee needs to mind her own business,” Sooyoung mutters, but lets herself be led out the door.
Later, Soohyun is scrolling her feed when she gets a notification that Sooyoung’s added to her story. She opens it immediately and sees the photo of their matching shoes, overlaid with a tiger emoji, orange heart emoji, fire emoji, and smiley face with hearts emoji. The text reads “thank you unnie” with no mention of which of her unnies it may have been.
Soohyun texts Jiyoung.
>> i’m about to do something stupid
<< when are you not
Soohyun gets up and goes over to the bags she hasn’t put away yet and digs out her own pair of the shoes. She takes one out and snaps a picture, posting it to her story with a single fire emoji before she can overthink it.
Two immediate responses; two laughing emojis from Jiyoung, and a single heart eyes face from Sooyoung.
Jiyoung is still on her sofa when Soohyun gets a text from Sooyoung that she’s on her way over for dinner.
“Alright, time to head out.” She grabs Jiyoung’s elbow and tries to urge her to her feet.
“But I’m comfortable here,” Jiyoung complains.
“Sooyoung-ah’s coming over, you’re a distraction.”
“You’re kicking me out for a little Netflix and Chill?” She says Netflix and Chill in English, sleazily bobbing her head back and forth.
Soohyun flicks her on the forehead, then dodges her slap.
“You know it’s not like that.”
“I know you’re pathetic, yes,” Jiyoung sighs and gets to her feet. “I guess I can leave you alone to be pathetic without witnesses.”
It still takes her another ten minutes before she’s ready to leave, trailing through Soohyun’s apartment to find her hat and sunglasses and steal a jacket she’s decided goes better with her outfit than the one she’d worn over. She’s pulling her shoes on when someone knocks on the door, opening it before Soohyun can push her out of the way.
“Hi,” Jiyoung says, leaning on the doorframe, “You must be Sooyoung-ssi.”
Soohyun rolls her eyes; she knows Jiyoung knows who Sooyoung is. Her attempt to be intimidating is working though. Sooyoung is just staring at her, eyes wide. Then she drops into a nearly 90 degree bow, blushing furiously.
“Sunbaenim, I -”
“Ignore her, she’s leaving.” Soohyun takes Sooyoung’s elbow, carefully guiding her upright and inside so she can push Jiyoung out the door. “I’ll message you later,” she says once Jiyoung’s outside, steadily ignoring the look she’s giving her.
Sooyoung still looks a little shocked, so Soohyun puts an arm around her shoulder and guides her to the sofa.
“Food should be here soon. Let me grab some drinks.”
The delivery driver arrives while she’s in the kitchen, and Soohyun goes to grab their food. When she comes back, Sooyoung has curled her legs up in the middle of the couch, her already tiny Adidas skirt bunched up around her thighs. Soohyun sits down on the floor to better reach the food on the coffee table, and Sooyoung slides off the couch to sit next to her. She takes the proffered chopsticks and fiddles with them for a second.
“Sorry for interrupting your evening unnie,” she says quietly. “We could have re-arranged. It’s just dinner.”
“What? No.” Soohyun turns to face her. “You’re my evening. She’s the one who was interrupting. She’ll be fine.”
It takes Sooyoung a second to respond. “Okay. If you’re sure.”
“I’m sure,” she nudges the container of kimchi closer to her.
Sooyoung’s face brightens a bit and she takes a bite of kimchi.
“And hey,” Soohyun says, “if you want to meet her properly next time, we can do that.” When I’ve had more time to prepare myself, she thinks.
“Oh noooo,” Sooyoung says, blushing fiercely, “I’d be too nervous. It’s fine if it’s at work or something, but just here… I’d have to be on my best behaviour, and I’m bad at that.”
“I think you’re very well-behaved,” Soohyun says, “But that’s okay, whatever you want.”
She lets Sooyoung pick a drama to watch while they eat, and she chooses a cute high school one that’s halfway through airing. Soohyun hasn’t seen any of the other episodes, but it’s easy to follow along and she fills Sooyoung in on some of the gossip she knows about the actors playing the teachers. After they’re done eating, Soohyun gathers everything up to put away or throw out, and when she comes back to the living room Sooyoung is lying flat on the floor, her hands on her stomach.
“I’m so full, unnie,” she says, her voice a little drowsy from soju.
“That’s good. You work hard.” Soohyun sits back down, letting Sooyoung sling her legs over her lap. She rests a hand on her ankle, slowly circling the bone with her thumb. Sooyoung wiggles a little where she’s lying, pleased. She’s pulled her t-shirt up a little so her hands rest on her bare stomach, and her skirt’s now riding so high on her thighs that if she was on stage right now she’d have a blanket tucked tightly over her lap. Soohyun keeps her eyes on her face, resting her head on her arm propped up on the sofa.
“Unnie…” Sooyoung starts, her eyes still glued to the ceiling, “Are you and G-Dragon sunbaenim… Have you ever…”
It takes a moment for Soohyun to put together what she’s asking. When she does, she nearly chokes in her rush to respond.
“Oh no, absolutely not,” she says, squeezing Sooyoung’s ankle maybe a little tighter than she should. “Never. She mostly dates guys. And she’s not really my type, anyway.”
“Oh,” Sooyoung says, tapping her fingers against her stomach. “What is your type?”
Dancing girls, Soohyun thinks. Oblivious girls. Girls who hog all the kimchi and never stop moving.
“I like girls who are… softer, I guess.”
She doesn’t realise she’s slid her hand up Sooyoung’s calf until she hits the bend of her knee. She scratches her thumbnail gently over her kneecap. Sooyoung shivers a little, pressing her knees together.
Sooyoung taps her stomach again, “I li -” She’s cut off by a text alert. “Oh shit, I’m late.”
She scrambles to her feet, nearly kicking Soohyun in the process. “Sorry, unnie! I was supposed to leave ten minutes ago. There’s a car waiting for me.”
Soohyun walks slowly to the door while Sooyoung is gathering all her things and shoving her feet into her shoes without untying the laces. She holds the door open for her, and Sooyoung presses a quick kiss to her cheek before running to the elevator.
Soohyun closes the door behind her and presses her forehead against the wood. She counts to ten.
Soohyun had been given notes about the photoshoot in advance, but they hadn’t covered everything, and she’s happy to see Minghui there when she gets to set. It’s somewhere a couple of hours outside Seoul, a newer house designed to look like it’s a hundred or so years old; it’s obvious in person but will just look rich and refined in photos .
Minghui is already getting made up when Soohyun slides into the seat next to her. Luckily, today’s makeup is supposed to be very minimal, paired with slicked back hair and clean tailoring. They’re chasing golden hour for the first set of shots and Soohyun has been up since 3am; she’d worn a chilled eye mask for the entire car ride to try and prevent dark circles as much as she can. The make-up team are grateful, setting her up with a hydrating mask to prime her skin while they finish Minghui’s smokey eyes, and Soohyun sips her iced Americano and tries not to yawn too much.
When Minghui’s done, they swap seats, and it’s Minghui’s turn to carefully sip her flask of tea while Soohyun’s face is finished.
Even for minimal makeup, it’s a lot more than Soohyun wears on a regular day, and she tilts her head in the mirror, practising a few small expressions so she knows what they’ll look like with the extra shadowing.
“Unnie’s so pretty this morning,” Minghui laughs, poking her leg with her shoe. Soohyun rolls her eyes and turns to face her.
“Does everyone else have a day off and you’re stuck here, or are you going to have to play catch-up when you get back?”
“Nah, everyone’s got schedules today. I’m probably the best off, honestly. Vocal unit are recording, Hip hop unit are shooting something, Junnie has a meeting about a film she might do next year, and Chanhee’s also modelling somewhere, but I forget for who.”
Soohyun knows she’s being baited, so she tries her best not to rise to it. Minghui is smirking at her over her tea. Soohyun breaks first.
“What about Sooyoung-ah?”
“Oh yeah, how could I forget?” Minghui taps the side of her head. “Unnie’s got meetings with choreo all day. She’s probably not going to be home until after dark.”
“See, was that so hard?”
“She’s going to be soooo tired later,” Minghui grins. “She’d probably love some supportive messages from her good friend.”
“I hate you,” Soohyun says, turning back to the mirror. She opens KKT anyway, sending Sooyoung a good morning text for when she wakes up.
She barely has her phone back in her pocket before they’re whisked away to wardrobe. Soohyun gets a plain black tuxedo, slim and fitted with a white shirt but no tie. Minghui’s suit is white, looser, and she doesn’t get a shirt underneath it, just several pieces of tape holding it in place. The suits are mostly canvas for the actual point of the shoot, and there are four separate stylists there to pick out jewellery. Soohyun gets earrings, chunky diamond-encrusted ones that cover most of her ears, and they put Minghui in a black pearl necklace that sits just at the base of her neck and looks like it’s glowing under the lights.
The actual shoot itself is pretty straight forward. They film some short clips first while the light is still best, each of them walking across the lawn just as the sun comes up and then a longer shot of them running towards the house, laughing together. Clips of them following each other through the house’s big empty rooms. It’s the kind of vaguely homoerotic thing that’ll play well on social media even if it’s aesthetically kind of boring.
There’s a break while they set up for the next set of shots, and after a small wardrobe stage the social media manager pulls them aside to get some behind the scenes soundbites. Soohyun can feel her phone buzzing in her hand the whole time they’re talking to the camera and excuses herself to the bathroom as soon as they’re done.
<< good morning unnie!!!
<< I’m so tired 😭😭
<< I hope you’re having a good morning
<< look i made a new friend!!
There’s a short, shaky video attached of a small dog wriggling with joy as Sooyoung pets her.
<< I had to say goodbye though 😭
There’s a gap of an hour or so before the messages start again.
<< I should have let Minyu feed me before I left
<< Well i should have got up in time I guess
<< Everyone else had breakfast so they’re planning on a late lunch
The most recent ones are timestamped only a few minutes ago.
<< I bribed one of the assistants to go to 7-11 for me 😂
<< now i’m invincible 💪
<< i hope you’re eating well unnie
>> We’re on a break now so i’ve had some lunch
<< Good!!
Soohyun sends her a quick mirror selca before ducking back outside to grab more coffee. Sooyoung texts back almost immediately.
<< Oh wow unnie you look so pretty!!!
<< you always look pretty though
<< i look like a mess 😂
The selca Soohyun gets back almost makes her drop her phone. Sooyoung is standing in a dance studio, flashing a peace sign at the mirror with a wide grin on her face. Her hair is tied up on top of her head and she’s wearing short bike shorts and an oversized muscle tank that’s fallen off one shoulder. Her arms and thighs are glazed with sweat and she’s wearing the shoes Soohyun bought her.
Soohyun deletes her first response.
>> nice shoes
<< 😂😂😂
>> Minghui said you’d probably be dancing all day, I hope you get enough rest.
<< I will!!
<< Ugh i have to go, we’re starting again.
<< bye unnie!!!
>> Bye Sooyoung-ah
<< 🥰️
Soohyun nearly drops her phone again when Minghui nudges her with her elbow, reminding her where she is.
“I should never have introduced you,” Minghui sighs, “My life would be so much more peaceful without unnie sending me messages all morning asking how you are.”
“I’d have found her anyway,” Soohyun says without thinking.
“Yuck.”
The second half of the shoot is easier. They take Soohyun’s jacket, roll up her sleeves and unbutton her top few buttons, and swap out her earrings for a long pendant that hits the middle of her breast bone. Minghui gets a black dress and solid gold cuffs with matching hoop earrings. The shots are all mostly them in the garden, lying or sitting in the grass, their faces to the sun. Finally, they both get matching teardrop pearl earrings and move inside where they’ve set up a white backdrop for a couple of shots where they’re facing each other like Rubin’s vase. Then they’re free to go, back in their own clothes and waiting on the shared ride the client has arranged back to the city.
“You wanna grab something to eat?” Soohyun asks.
“Yes, absolutely,” Minghui says, “Can we go to a pocha? I haven’t had salt in three days.”
It’s still early enough so when the driver drops them off near a row of pochas they’re mostly empty. They pick one with tteokbokki and fish cakes and settle in. Minghui takes a picture of her while they’re waiting for their food.
“So unnie knows you’re still alive,” she says, smirking when Soohyun tries to hit her.
They eat mostly in silence, until Minghui pushes her plate away and sighs in satisfaction.
“Are you heading home now?”
“I wanted to replace my perfume. It ran out a couple of days ago.” Soohyun pulls out her phone to check what’s nearby. “I can drop you off after if you want to tag along.”
Minghui shrugs. “I’m not doing anything else today.”
Naver directs them to a perfume boutique in a mall that’s just far enough away that Soohyun orders a taxi instead of walking. Inside, she finds what she’s looking for pretty quickly and follows Minghui around while she browses. Minghui shakes her head about the sample she’s just tried, but something about it makes Soohyun ask to smell, too.
“Not really your style, unnie,” Minghui says with a raised eyebrow.
Soohyun ignores her to speak to the sales associate instead. “Do you have anything else in this scent range? I have a friend who likes fruity scents, but I’d like to get her something a little more sophisticated.”
“Of course! Do you know any of the perfumes she usually wears, so I have somewhere to start from?”
Soohyun thinks for a second. “I’m not actually sure. She usually wears the same thing. It’s pretty fruity and young, but I’m not sure the exact name.”
“It’s Believe, the Britney one,” Minghui says.
“Oh okay, wow.” The sales associate blinks. “That’s actually a great beginner scent, but I can see why you might think your friend is ready for an upgrade. Let me have a look.”
Soohyun avoids eye-contact with Minghui while the woman goes to bring some suggestions. The third one she brings out seems perfect, and Soohyun reluctantly offers it to Minghui for a second opinion.
“Oh that’s nice,” Minghui says.
“Do you think she’ll like it?”
“I think she’d like anything you’d give her.”
Soohyun doesn’t respond. She pays and asks for separate bags.
Outside, it’s just starting to get dark. Soohyun orders another taxi to drop Minghui back to the dorms on her way home, and while they’re waiting in traffic, her phone starts to buzz again.
The first message is a selca of Sooyoung in the backseat of a car, her face mashed into the seatbelt.
<< unniiiiiiie
<< I’m so tired
<< but minyu is making me kimchi fried rice when I get home 🥰️
<< did you have a nice day
>> yeah it wasn’t too bad. I’m bringing Minghui back home now, maybe if you’re there before me I’ll come up and say hello.
<< I’m almost home!!!
Soohyun asks the driver to wait a minute when they get to the dorm so she can follow Minghui upstairs. Minghui hasn’t stopped smirking since they left the perfume boutique, but Soohyun has managed not to rise to it yet. Minghui gets off on her floor and leaves Soohyun by herself, hoping that Sooyoung answers the door herself.
Instead it’s Jihu, which was probably the best other option. Jihu just nods at her and twists her head to yell back into the dorm.
“Sooyoung-ah! You have a visitor.”
Soohyun hovers inside the door, her shoes still on. Sooyoung skids into view, dressed now in baggy sweats and a tank top with more than one red stain on it. She runs over to give Soohyun a hug.
“Unnie, hi!” She grins. “Do you want to stay for dinner? I’m sure Minyu wouldn’t mind feeding an extra person.”
“No, I have to head out.” She squeezes Sooyoung’s arm. “I just wanted to give you this.”
She holds out the small perfume bag. Sooyoung looks at it for a second before taking it, reaching in to pull the bottle out.
“Woman in Gold,” she reads carefully. She looks back up at Soohyun. “Unnie, you didn’t have -”
“I know I didn’t have to,” Soohyun says, brushing Sooyoung’s hair off her forehead. “I just thought it would smell good on you.”
“Oh,” Sooyoung blushes. “Thank you, unnie.”
“I’ll see you soon, okay?”
“Yeah.”
Sooyoung stays in the doorway, waving goodbye, until the elevator arrives.
Youtube has been showing her a lot of Sooyoung videos lately. She’d pulled the app up on her tv screen last time Jiyoung was over, and Jiyoung had started laughing so hard she’d slid off the couch and landed in a heap on the carpet when she’d seen the homepage. She’d been more careful after that, but today she’d been running late from a meeting and Jiyoung had let herself in, and Soohyun had come home to find her eating popcorn and watching youtube with a grin on her face.
“Your girl is so cute, Soohyun-ah.”
Soohyun doesn’t even deny it any more. It takes her a second to figure out which video Jiyoung is watching, and when she realises what it is, she wants to climb inside her own fridge.
On screen, Sooyoung is holding up her little ziploc of supplements her mom puts together for her, and Soohyun knows that any attempt to get Jiyoung to stop watching the video now is just going to result in greater humiliation, so she sits heavily down on the sofa next to her and sighs. Sooyoung pulls some sunglasses out of the bag; the lenses are smudged and she carefully blows on them and tries to wipe the smudges off with her sleeve. As she explains where she got them — how she kept complimenting them until Soohyun had given them to her — Jiyoung’s face grows more and more delighted, before she finally turns to Soohyun, grinning.
“Oh, this has been going on so much longer than I thought.”
“Fuck off,” Soohyun says, “I’ve seen you be worse.”
“I’ve never been this embarrassing,” Jiyoung says, “or at least if I have, I was getting sex out of it. And I’ve never given someone the literal glasses off my face before. All this for a girl who thinks you’re just besties.”
“Why do I even let you in my house?”
“You’d change your door code if you really didn’t want me here.” Jiyoung gets up and grabs some soju from the kitchen. She lets Soohyun have a glass before she starts again. “Is she even into women?”
“She is,” Soohyun sighs and holds out her glass for a refill. “She’s just…”
Jiyoung taps their glasses together. “Sucks.”
Soohyun’s met Kim Dohee before, but it’s been a while since they’ve had anything but glancing interactions. She knows they’re probably seated together at dinner to give each of them someone to talk to, but honestly she does appreciate it; it’s nice to have to think less while she’s talking.
“This outfit’s a little scandalous for you, Dohee-yah,” she says once they’re seated. “Your fans’ hearts will be fluttering when they see.”
“Stoppp,” Dohee whines cutely, covering her blush with her hands. “That’s what unnie said when I sent her a picture. She sent it back with an emoji covering me up.”
Dohee’s dress is designed to look like it’s falling off her, one shoulder exposed down as far as the built-in matching bra. Her platinum hair is done up in a loose chignon, and the whole effect does look a little like she’s been interrupted in the middle of something. Soohyun’s gotten off lighter in a tuxedo with cigarette pants and an oversized dinner jacket; no shirt under it, but that’s fine. It wouldn’t be Dolce & Gabbana if there wasn’t more than a little skin on display.
After dinner, Soohyun lets herself relax a little. Everyone inside the venue is invited or working, so the only cameras around are with people who know how to be circumspect when they’re posting. She doesn’t pay that much attention to the servers refilling their glasses until Dohee sighs next to her and rests her head on her shoulder. Soohyun puts her arm around her so she’s more comfortable.
“Sleepy, unnie,” Dohee yawns a little. “What time is it?”
“A little after eleven.”
“Do you think I can duck away soon? I’m still half on Korean time, and I have a shoot in the morning.”
“You probably need to stick it out at least a little longer,” Soonhyun says.
“Fiiiine,” Dohee sighs again, closing her eyes.
Out of the corner of her eye, Soohyun realises someone’s taking their photo. The woman has a badge at her waist and she comes over once she realises she won’t be interrupting.
“It’s just for Instagram stories,” she says, holding out her phone so Soohyun can see the picture. They look cute, so she rouses Dohee to see it and they both nod.
She asks if she can get a shot of the rings and stands behind them to get the right angle. Dohee’s fingers are more delicate than hers; the ring barely stays on when she moves her hands. Once the photographer’s gone, Soohyun spins hers lightly around her finger.
“Do they expect us to actually wear these regularly?” Dohee asks.
“I hope not. It’s going right into the closet once I’m home,” she says. “But I don’t really wear rings at all, so.”
“I wear one, usually. Outside of work, I mean. It doesn’t match, though, so I had to take it off. It’s in my purse.”
Cute, Soohyun thinks, and nudges Dohee’s refilled wine glass closer to her.
Later, Soohyun is waiting for her manager to show up with a taxi back to her hotel when she finally gets a chance to pull her phone out and catch up without looking anti-social. She dismisses most of the Insta notifications on her main account, someone else will check later to make sure they’re all fine, and swipes into KKT just as the car arrives. There’s a few messages from a group chat she’s in with some other actors, a message from Jiyoung asking when she’ll be back in town, and a slew of notifications from Sooyoung. She’d sent Sooyoung a picture of her outfit before heading out earlier, but Sooyoung hadn’t replied at the time; she’s making up for it now.
<< wow
<< my unnie’s so handsome 😍
<< have fun!!!!
<< i’m just in bed all night.
She’d sent a selca of herself in bed, her hair wrapped in a silk bonnet because she’s in the middle of getting it lifted from black to rose gold and it’s so brittle she has to baby it. Her cheeks are a little rosy and her face is scrunched up into a smile.
Then a little later;
<< oh dohee-yah’s there too!
<< tell her I say hi
There’s a missed call from around an hour ago. Soohyun checked her watch. It’s nearly 7am in Seoul, but she doesn’t know what Sooyoung’s plans are today. If she’d been up an hour ago though, it’s probably safe to return the call.
“Unnie?” Sooyoung still sounds a little sleepy.
“Are you still in bed? I can call back later if you want.”
“No, no, it’s fine,” Sooyoung huffs. There’s a rustle of bed sheets that goes on longer than just getting up, and Soohyun thinks she can hear a low moan muffled by a duvet. Soohyun can picture her rolling about in the bed, stretching herself like a big cat. “I was supposed to be up already anyway. They're coming to pick me, Kyungsun-ah, and Seojin-ah up in a bit and I need to be ready to go.”
Another rustle, then Sooyoung’s voice comes back, clearer and louder. “I’m not doing anything special though, so what about you? Are they being nice to you? Are you and Dohee-yah having fun?”
It’s probably wishful thinking to think the second Dohee mention is anything other than asking after a shared friend.
“Yeah, it’s nice. It’s still work, but it’s nice. And I’ve barely seen Dohee-yah. They’ve got her off shooting things basically all the time. I only saw her at dinner because they had everyone there.”
“You guys looked cosy.”
“Oh. You saw the picture?”
“Yeah, Kyungsunnie sent it to me. She said to tell Dohee-yah hi, but I guess if you’re not going to see her again you can’t.”
“I probably won’t. I’m leaving before her.” Soohyun feels compelled to defend herself, even if it’s from nothing. “Dohee was just a little sleepy, that’s all. She was still a little jet lagged. and there was a lot of wine at dinner. I was just the best shoulder available.”
“Oh. You’ve got very nice shoulders.”
“You can fall asleep on them whenever you want.”
“You’re so funny, unnie,” Sooyoung says through a mouthful of toothpaste. “You should get some sleep though, and I have to leave soon. When are you back?”
“Thursday evening. We should get dinner next time you’re free.”
“Yeah! I’ll have time off next week. I just have to check when.”
“Okay, I’ll see you then.”
“Bye, unnie! Love you.”
“Bye, Sooyoung-ah.”
Sooyoung ends the call. Soohyun drops her phone on the seat beside her and scrubs her hands over her face.
It’s actually not until the following Monday that she gets a chance to see her, some kind of technical difficulties with a GoSe episode dragging filming out for an extra day, running into rehearsing for a BSS fanmeet taking up the entire rest of the week. The fanmeet is on Monday afternoon, and Soohyun had offered to push dinner back even further, but Sooyoung had insisted she was excited to see her and wanted that more than going home to sleep.
Soohyun avoids the front of the fanmeet venue as best as she can, texting Sooyoung when she gets there. Sooyoung sends one of the managers out to bring her backstage, and she can tell which room they’re in even before the door opens, the three girl’s shouting at each other audible from down the hall.
It’s Kyungsun who answers the door when she knocks, sticking her head out the door and pouting a little when she sees it’s Soohyun.
“Seojin-unnie ordered food because Sooyoung-unnie is abandoning us for you,” she says, “I thought you were the jjigae.”
“Sorry,” Says Soohyun.
She’s sorry she’s not the food, at least; she’s not sorry at all that she’s taking Sooyoung for dinner. Another time she might have offered to bring the other two with them, but it’s been weeks since she’s seen Sooyoung on anything more than a screen. She’s willing to be selfish.
Inside the green room is pretty quiet. Seojin is flopped over on the tiny sofa and waves hello to Soohyun when she sees her but otherwise stays put, idly scrolling through her phone. There’s a few staff members milling around, gathering up whatever’s strewn about the room, and in the corner, Sooyoung is sitting at a chair in front of the mirror, listening very carefully to whatever her manager is saying to her. She hasn’t even noticed Soohyun arrive yet, and Soohyun leans back against the wall to watch her and wait for her to be ready.
The manager makes a joke and Sooyoung laughs loudly before blushing softly and covering her face. She wiggles a little in her chair, her shoulders shaking from side to side until the manager stops her with a gentle hand to her shoulder. She tells Sooyoung to look up at her and then carefully brushes a few strands of hair off Sooyoung’s forehead. Sooyoung stays fully still, waiting for her to finish whatever she’s doing, then slowly opens her eyes. Soohyun can’t make out what she says, but the manager smiles fondly and chucks her under the chin. Sooyoung blushes again, the soft glow only noticeable because Soohyun has spent so much time watching her face.
Finally, the manager notices Soohyun has arrived and nods towards her. Sooyoung swings wildly about in her chair and waves at her, grinning widely.
“I’m ready!” She shouts, jumping to her feet.
She darts over, stopping to give Seojin and Kyungsun a quick hug, and throws her arms around Soohyun hard enough to throw her off balance for a moment.
“I missed you, unnie,” she says, squeezing her tightly.
“I missed you, too, Sooyoungie,” she says, squeezing her back. She smells different today.
“Are you wearing the perfume I got you?”
Sooyoung blushes and scuffs the toe of her sneaker against the carpet. “Unnie said it would smell nice on me.”
“I was right,” she says, squeezing her again.
They’re about to leave when the manager calls Sooyoung back for a moment. They talk quietly in the corner for a moment, Sooyoung listening carefully. When they’re done, Sooyoung hugs her quickly and tosses a “thank you, Unnie” over her shoulder as she runs back to Soohyun.
In the hallway, Sooyoung carefully pulls a bucket hat down over her hair. It’s pinned pretty tightly against her head so all the fans could see was that it was lighter and nothing else, but she still needs to be careful on the street. With Soohyun’s baseball hat and both their facemasks, they could be just about anybody as they walk down the street. Soohyun has to remind herself of that when Sooyoung slides their hands together, swinging them back and forth between them.
Soohyun’s wearing faded black straight jeans with a structured crew neck sweatshirt, and Sooyoung has on one of her pairs of baggy jeans with a cropped tank top and an oversized fuzzy pink cardigan. They probably look cute together to an outsider, she thinks.
“Where are we going, unnie?”
“I wasn’t sure what you wanted,” Soohyun says. “So I didn't make any specific plans. Do you want to go sit down somewhere nice, or do you want to find a pocha nearby?”
“Oooh, can we get jokbal?”
Soohyun pulls up her phone to search for places nearby. “Of course.”
They’re in luck when they get to the pocha she picked, a group of people leaving just as they arrive gives them space to sit down near the counter. Soohyun takes her hat off once they’re seated, and Sooyoung flips the front brim of hers up so she can look Soohyun in the eyes while they talk. The ajumma brings them their soju while they wait for their food, and Sooyoung carefully pours them both glasses.
“Did you have a nice trip?” She asks.
“Yeah, it was fun. As fun as work trips can be, I guess,” Soohyun says, taking a drink. “Sometimes I don’t get to see much of whatever city it is, but this time I got an extra day at the end to look around. I had a lot of good wine.”
“Minghui-yah will be jealous.”
“Next time I’ll bring her back some.”
The food arrives, and Sooyoung’s face lights up. Under the table, she taps her feet back and forth, brushing them against Soohyun’s every time she moves. Soohyun pushes back, and soon they’re engaged in a giggly game of footsie under the table. Soohyun traps both of Sooyoung’s feet between hers and holds her still until Sooyoung pouts and steals a piece of jokbal off Soohyun’s side of the plate.
Soohyun releases her feet, tucking her own into the legs of her chair to force herself to do less. She asks for more soju and a refill of their kimchi and pushes the best parts of the meat over to Sooyoung’s side of the plate.
When she asks Sooyoung what she’s been up to since they last talked, Sooyoung rolls her eyes and launches into a long story about some secret battle Kyungsun and Chanhee have been waging with each other that she doesn’t understand, and about the idol who just finished enlistment who’s trying to date Wonju but she’s making him jump through hoops about it. Soohyun has only met half of Seventeen a handful of times but she knows more about all of them than she does about friends she’s had for years because Sooyoung is passionately devoted.
“I am tired though,” Sooyoung confesses. “We’re shooting the video soon and some VCRs for the next tour. There’s a lot going on.”
“We really could have postponed,” Soohyun says. “I wouldn’t have minded if you needed to rest.”
“No!” Sooyoung straightens up suddenly, jostling the table a bit. “I wanted to see you. You make me feel better than resting does.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, I mean,” Sooyoung blushes. “You’re busy too, unnie. I can’t just expect you to wait until I have nothing to do. Then we’d never get to see each other.”
“I’d make time for you.”
“Then let me make time for you,” Sooyoung insists, stuffing some more kimchi in her mouth.
“You’ve got -” Soohyun reaches halfway across the table, holding herself back from actually touching Sooyoung’s face. “Some juice.”
Sooyoung rubs the back of her hand over her mouth. When she’s done, her lips are flushed and her lower lip even poutier than normal. She looks like she’s just been kissed.
“All gone,” Soohyun smiles softly. Sooyoung smiles back.
After Soohyun pays, they step back out onto the pavement together. It’s fully dark out now, most businesses except for the bars and other pochas shut for the night.
“Let me walk you home?” Soohyun asks.
Sooyoung winds her fingers through Soohyun’s again and smiles at her.
Outside Sooyoung’s building, Soohyun asks if she can use the bathroom before she gets on the subway home, and Sooyoung brings her upstairs.
“Jihu-yah said she’s going to be out late at the studio, so don’t worry about being quiet.”
When she comes out of the bathroom, Sooyoung is in the kitchen drinking a glass of water and taking her nightly supplements. She’s taken her hair out of its pins and it’s falling in messy crimped waves around her face.
“Hey,” Soohyun says, “I didn’t want to give it to you while we were outside, but I got you a present in Europe.”
“Really?” Sooyoung smiles. “Ah, unnie, you buy me so many things. You have to stop.”
“I like buying you things.”
She holds out the box to Sooyoung. It’s a black jewellery box, unbranded. Soohyun had been wandering through the city and found a street of independent jewellery stores, most of which had been in business for decades, and a particular piece caught her eye.
Sooyoung opens the box and her eyes sparkle. “Oh wow, it’s really pretty.”
“Try it on,” Soohyun says. “Let's see how it looks.”
There’s a mirror in the entryway and they walk over to it. Sooyoung turns to face it as she hands her back the box, sweeping her hair up and off the back of her neck with one hand.
“Help me?”
Soohyun takes the necklace out of the box and stands close behind her so she can clasp the necklace around her neck. She can see goosebumps forming on her nape from the drag of Soohyun’s fingers as she fiddles with the closure until it’s secure, and she puts her hands on Sooyoung’s shoulders instead. Sooyoung lets her hair fall back down and meets Soohyun’s eyes in the mirror for a second before looking back at the necklace. She runs her thumb over it.
“It’s beautiful.”
The piece is yellow gold, a little under two inches long, in an abstract curving shape; its surface has multiple different finishes on it, brushed and matte swoops tangled with polished curves.
It’s wider at the bottom, a bulbous base tapering off with a slight curve towards the chain. Soohyun knows it’s probably supposed to evoke the ocean or something else with water, but when she saw it she couldn’t help but think of a tiger poised to pounce, one paw stretched out in front.
“I was right,” Soohyun smiles. “It does look good on you.”
Sooyoung smiles back at her in the mirror, rubbing her thumb over the pendant again. She opens her mouth to say something, but cuts herself off with a yawn.
Soohyun laughs. “Okay, time for bed. Before Manager-ssi starts sending me angry messages about keeping you out late.”
“It’s not that late,” Sooyoung insists before yawning again.
“Bed,” Soohyun says, pulling her back from the mirror.
“Take it off for me first?”
Soohyun fumbles the first time she tries to unclasp it, before she gets it off and tucks it carefully back into the box. Sooyoung turns around and hugs her again, squeezing her tight and rocking her back and forth a little.
“Thank you, unnie,” she says quietly.
“You’re welcome, Sooyoungie,” she says, giving in to temptation and kissing her forehead.
The bar they’re at is dark and crowded, but Jiyoung still hadn’t taken her sunglasses off until they were hidden in a little alcove near the back. Once she’s settled in, she dispatches Soohyun to get their drinks for them.
“Okay, baby,” she says in English, “tell me your troubles.”
Soohyun takes a heavy sip of her drink. “I think I need to confess.”
“You’ve needed to confess for months,” Jiyoung points out. “Why now?”
“I keep catching myself slipping,” she explains. “I think if I don’t do it on purpose, I’m going to just blurt it out in the middle of a conversation and scare her off.”
“Well, if a shitty confession scares her off, she’s probably not interested.”
“Thanks, I hadn't considered that.” Soohyun rolls her eyes. “She’s probably not interested anyway; it’s not like I haven’t been obvious.”
“You’ve been so obvious,” Jiyoung agrees, “but at least that means if she isn’t interested, she probably won’t be weird about it. She has to know.”
“Yeah,” Soohyun sighs. “I just have to figure out what to say.”
“Get her another present,” Jiyoung suggests. “A sexy present. All your cards on the table.”
“I don’t want her to think it’s just about sex though.”
Jiyoung leans across the table to flick her forehead. “That’s what the actual confession is for, idiot.”
Soohyun smacks her hand away. “I’m trying to be vulnerable here.”
“I’ve been listening to you being vulnerable about this girl for months, Soohyun-ah, literal months. I’m tired. You’re tired. She’s probably tired. Take a stand. Confess your passions. Eat her out on your sofa. Anything. Just something.”
Soohyun stays quiet at that. She hates to admit it, but Jiyoung is right. She’s been torturing herself for months. While she’s tearing her beer mat to shreds, Jiyoung steals her phone and searches for something.
“Here.” She hands it back. “Perfect. Go forth and… not multiply, but you get the gist.”
Soohyun stares down at the screen. “What is this?”
“A sexy present.” Jiyoung wiggles her eyebrows lecherously. “You’re welcome.”
>> Is there any time coming up where Sooyoungie has more than a couple of hours off?”
The little 1 has barely disappeared before her phone starts ringing.
Minghui doesn’t even give her a chance to say hello. “Unnie, what’s going on?”
“Nothing, it’s nothing,” Soohyun says, “or I guess it’s not nothing. There’s just something I need to talk to her about, and I don’t know how she’s going to take it, so I don’t want to spring it on her over coffee and then send her right back to work.”
Minghui’s silent for a moment. Soohyun thinks she can hear her nails drumming against a table. Finally, she speaks again.
“Unnie, are you sure?”
“Yes, I am.” No, I’m not. “It’s time. It’s been the time for months, but I haven’t said anything. I should have, but I’ve been… a coward, I guess. Selfish. I like the way she looks at me now. I didn’t want to risk changing that.”
“Oh.” Minghui’s silent again for a long moment. “Unnie… You’ll be gentle with her, right? She’s softer than she likes people to think.”
Soohyun does know that. Soohyun knows that for all her volume and bluster, Sooyoung is as soft as freshly fallen snow.
“Yeah, I will,” she promises. “Even if we have our wires crossed, I’ll take care of her.”
“Okay,” Minghui says. “I’ll have to check some schedules, but I’ll text you when I know.”
“Thanks.”
Sooyoung’s wearing gym leggings and a ragged sweater when she arrives at Soohyun’s apartment.
“Ugh, I’m sorry I’m late. Practice dragged on so long.”
“You’re fine, don’t worry,” Soohyun reassures her.
“I haven’t even showered yet,” Sooyoung complains. “Eomma called and said I should come home this weekend because I didn’t have to work, but I said I was seeing you tonight so I couldn’t, and she told me to say hi and that next time I go home she’ll send back extra kimchi for you and to make sure I tell you in advance so I can’t just steal it for myself.”
“Tell her I’m very grateful for her justified concern,” Soohyun laughs. She’s met Sooyoung’s mom over facetime a couple of times, when she’s called Sooyoung when they’ve been hanging out. She gives Soohyun a knowing glance sometimes, like she knows more than Soohyun is letting on.
“Go, grab a shower.” Soohyun pushes her gently into the apartment. “I’ll leave you something to change into in case your leggings are too sweaty.”
“Thanks, unnie,” She takes a step towards the bathroom, then turns around to wrap her arms around Soohyun in a tight hug. “Hi,” she smiles before letting go.
“Hi,” Soohyun says back.
She grabs a t-shirt and sweat shorts from her dresser while the water is heating up, handing them through the door to Sooyoung along with a towel.
While Sooyoung’s showering, Soohyun flutters nervously around the apartment. She’s second guessing everything she’s planned now — maybe she shouldn’t have listened to Jiyoung, maybe this gift would be too much. Her conversation with Minghui a couple of weeks ago had left her a little off-balance, sure that Minghui knew something, but not what. Right afterwards, she’d gone over it again in her head, sure that Minghui’s protectiveness towards Sooyoung was a hint about her possible feelings. Now though, she’s not so sure. Maybe it’s her own feelings that are the obvious ones, and Minghui’s concern had been that Sooyoung wouldn’t want to hurt her instead.
Soohyun has been staring into the fridge for a full three minutes when the shower turns off. She hurries back to the sofa, hands shoved in her pockets so she can’t fidget, and waits. A few minutes later, Sooyoung emerges, in Soohyun’s clothes, with her collarbones visible over the stretched-out neck of the shirt Soohyun only ever wears to sleep in. It makes Sooyoung look smaller than she is, the shirt covering half the shorts she’d pulled on underneath them.
“Thanks, unnie.” Sooyoung smiles at her. “I feel so much better now.”
“Good.” Soohyun swallows, picking up the box she’d left nearby. “I got you a present.”
“Ah, unnie, you buy me too many presents,” Sooyoung says, but it doesn’t stop her from coming over to take the box.
“I like buying you presents,” Soohyun says.
She holds her breath as Sooyoung carefully slides her fingers around the edge of the box, pulling the lid off and looking inside. Her eyes widened and immediately met Soohyun’s gaze. Soohyun looked back at her, desperately hoping she didn’t look as tender as she felt.
“Unnie, I…” Sooyoung trails off, staring into the box again.
Something inside Soohyun’s chest splits in half. She had always known rejection was possible, but she hadn’t thought about the way it would feel.
“Hey, it's -” she starts.
“This is so sudden?” Sooyoung cuts her off.
Soohyun can't help herself; she drops her face into her hands to try and muffle her laughter.
“What's so funny?” Sooyoung asks, a little put out.
Soohyun takes the box from her hands and settles it on the couch next to her. Gently, she takes Sooyoung’s hand and pulls her towards her. Sooyoung comes easily, until her shins press against the edge of the couch, knees slotted between Soohyun’s.
“Subtle, jagi?” She reaches up to tuck a curl behind Sooyoung's ear. “What did you think I'd been doing all this time?”
Sooyoung blushes, darker than Soohyun has seen before. She toys with the hem of her t-shirt for a second before meeting Soohyun’s eyes.
“I tried not to think about it,” she whispers. “I thought about you too much already.”
Soohyun drops her hand to Sooyoung’s leg, curving it around the back of her thigh just above her knee.
“I think about you all the time,” she says, slowly sliding her hand higher. Like this, her hand spans almost the full width of Sooyoung’s thigh, her skin warm and still a little damp from the shower. As she pushes high enough to start to scrunch her shorts up, Sooyoung’s eyes flutter closed and she puts out a hand to grab Soohyun’s shoulder for balance. Soohyun tightens her hand and pulls gently until Sooyoung is in her lap.
Sooyoung puts her arms around Soohyun’s neck. The warm flush is spreading down her neck, and Soohyun can’t help putting her lips to the skin there, wondering if she can feel the heat through them. This close, she realises Sooyoung must have re-applied her perfume after the shower. She inhales deeply, the scent of Sooyoung’s skin peeking out from under the citrus notes.
“You smell good,” She says, her hand on Sooyoung's waist
Sooyoung smiles bashfully, trying to tuck her face away. “I want to be good for you.”
“You’re perfect,” Soohyun says, cupping her jaw with one hand and finally pulling her into a kiss.
Sooyoung's body goes lax at that, melting into Soohyun's hold. Soohyun laughs against her lips, nudging her mouth open with the hand on her jaw. Sooyoung’s lips are plush; Soohyun catches the lower one between her teeth and bites down just enough to make her shiver.
Sooyoung's mouth is warm and fresh; she must have chewed some gum on the way here. Soohyun slides her hand back to cradle the back of her head and holds her there, pushing her tongue into Sooyoung's mouth. Sooyoung takes it greedily,leaninging back into Soohyun’s hold until they're pressed together from shoulders to hips.
Soohyun tightens her hold on Sooyoung’s head and tilts it back, dragging her lips to Sooyoung's jaw and then down her neck, pressing kisses down the column of skin until she hits her collarbone. She nips her there, careful not to bite enough to leave a mark but still enough to feel. Sooyoung gasps and pulls Soohyun tighter against her, whining for more.
She kisses her again.
She slides her hand down Sooyoung’s side, her fingers slipping under her waistband to dig into the soft skin of her hip. Slides it down further, pushing past the waistband of her underwear to palm her ass, swallowing the hitch in Sooyoung’s breath when she squeezes. Soohyun lets go of Sooyoung’s head to slide that hand into her underwear too, holding her tight and pulling her even closer.
Sooyoung pulls away from the kiss, gasping for air. She’s extra loud in the silence of the apartment, and when she tries to kiss Soohyun again she pulls her head back instead, just wanting to look at her for a moment.
Sooyoung’s eyes are dark and a little glazed, and her mouth hangs open a little as she’s still panting even as she tries to kiss Soohyun again. Soohyun remembers all the times she’s looked at Sooyoung’s lips stained red from candy or kimchi and thought she’d looked like she’d just been kissed and kicks herself for thinking anything could ever compare to the real thing. Sooyoung’s lips are flushed red and slightly chapped and swollen, shiny with spit. Soohyun presses her thumb against Sooyoung’s bottom lip firmly enough to make her whimper, then nudges it past her teeth to press against her tongue.
Sooyoung doesn’t break eye contact as she sucks Soohyun’s thumb deeper into her mouth; in fact, her eyes get even darker. Soohyun lets her keep going for a moment, kneading lazily at her ass until she decides she can’t wait any longer. She pulls her thumb out of Sooyoung’s mouth; it’s slick with spit, and she wipes it off against Sooyoung’s cheek before pulling her in for another kiss, harsher than any they’ve had so far. She doesn’t let herself get lost in it, though, pulling away after barely a minute to wrap her arm tightly around Sooyoung’s waist.
“Hold on,” she says, and carefully slides off the couch to land on her knees, before bending over to lay Sooyoung flat on the carpet in front of her. She holds herself up over her, the full length of her arms giving enough distance to gaze down at her. Sooyoung smiles up at her, soft and happy, and Soohyun traces a finger along her cheekbone before dropping down to her elbow so she can kiss her again
“Wait,” Sooyoung says suddenly, and Soohyun freezes, pulling back.
“Is something wrong?”
“No, I just-” Sooyoung blushes again, hiding her face in Soohyun’s shoulder. “Don’t you want me to try it on?”
Soohyun thinks about the box still on the couch. Weighs in her mind the thought of Sooyoung in what she’d picked out against the feel of Sooyoung under her hands right now. There’s no real competition.
“Next time,” she says, and kisses her again.
Sooyoung laughs and clutches at her, arching her back while Soohyun slides her hand under her shirt. She hadn’t put a bra back on after showering, and so there’s nothing in the way when Soohyun reaches her breasts, closing her hand over one as Sooyoung whines for more.
Sooyoung’s tits are perfect; firm and small, Soohyun can cover one entirely with her hand with room to spare. Her nipples peak at the slightest brush of Soohyun’s fingers and she has to break away from their kiss to gasp loudly. Soohyun laughs softly and rolls her nipple between her fingers for a moment, ending with a pinch that almost makes Sooyoung squeal.
Soohyun gives her a moment of respite, balancing on her knees again so she can put both hands on Sooyoung’s waist, sliding them up her body and dragging her t-shirt up with them until she has to help Sooyoung untangle her arms and head. It takes a moment because Sooyoung is honestly not helping all that much, just allowing herself to be manhandled whichever way Soohyun wants her. She emerges from the fabric laughing, her hair escaping from its bun, and flops back on the floor, her arms stretched over her head.
Soohyun cups her breast again, a softer hand over her nipple this time.
“Good girl,” she says, watching the flush of Sooyoung’s cheeks deepen at the words. She comes back down to her elbows, pressing a kiss against her cheek, the side of her neck, her sternum. She trails a hand down her side and presses a kiss to her underarm; Sooyoung giggles at the feeling of soft breath against her skin but doesn’t move her arms.
Finally, Soohyun kisses the side of her breast, then wraps her lips around her nipple. Sooyoung whines, arching her back to try and press more of herself into Soohyun’s mouth. Soohyun alternates between hard, tight sucks and gentle circles with her tongue, until Sooyoung’s whimpering above her. She drags her hand down Sooyoung’s torso, shoving it under the waistband of her shorts and rubbing her palm roughly over her pussy through her underwear. Sooyoung writhes under her, so hard she dislodges Soohyun from her breast, and Soohyun laughs, pressing a kiss to her skin again before coming back up onto her knees.
She hooks her fingers into the waistband of Sooyoung’s shorts.
“Up,” she says, and Sooyoung easily lifts her hips so she can slide them off. Soohyun tosses them somewhere behind her and puts her hands on Sooyoung’s knees, sliding them back up her thighs until they reach her hips again. Now Sooyoung’s left in nothing but her underwear, a thong covered in tiny pink paw prints. Soohyun stretches her hand to run her thumb along the fabric; it’s warm and a little damp already, the air between her legs hot and close. She presses her thumb against Sooyoung’s clit through the fabric, and Sooyoung whines and tries to close her legs, but Soohyun won’t let her.
“Already wet like this from just a little kissing,” she smirks down at her. “Or were you like this already, hmm? Were you touching yourself in the shower, not even knowing how tonight would go.”
Sooyoung shakes her head rapidly. “I wasn’t, not this -”
She cuts herself off but Soohyun’s heard enough.
“Oh ho?” She presses harder against her. “Not this time? Does that mean you’ve done it before? Did you think about me, when you touched yourself in the shower.?”
Sooyoung twists her head to hide her face in her bicep, her cheeks bright red. Soohyun reaches down and slides two fingers under her cheek, pushing her face back up.
“Look at me,” she says, and Sooyoung nods quickly.
Keeping her eyes on her, Soohyun re-positions herself further back, settling her arms down under Sooyoung’s thighs. She hooks her finger in the waistband of Sooyoung’s thong and slowly drags it down her legs, leaving it caught around one ankle. She kisses the inside of her calf, then her knee, then trails a series of tiny bites up the inside of her thigh.
Finally, Sooyoung’s pussy is right in front of her, and Soohyun gives herself a moment to take it all in. She knows she waxes; she’s had more than one agonising conversation where Sooyoung talked about it at length. She’s kept a patch of hair about two fingers wide, but everything else is gone, and it just means it’s so obvious how turned on she is right now. Her pussy’s flushed dark and rosy, inner lips slick with arousal.
Soohyun wants to taste her, so she does.
At the first press of Soohyun’s tongue against her, Sooyoung cries out. She twists her hands around to claw at the carpet, whining Soohyun’s name. Soohyun starts lazily, slow circles of her tongue around Sooyoung’s clit, sometimes breaking away to kiss the crease of her thigh or lap gently at her labia, deep where the smell and taste of her is strongest.
She takes her time working Sooyoung up, until her clit is hot and firm under her mouth, and then she wraps her lips around it, sucking hard until Sooyoung’s legs tighten around her. She doesn’t stay there though, releasing Sooyoung before she gets too close and bringing her down a little with soft strokes of her tongue.
Soohyun shifts a little, dipping down to press her tongue inside Sooyoung, and the sound she makes makes Soohyun muffle a laugh against her thigh.
“Oh yeah?” She asks, trailing her fingers closer and closer. “You want unnie’s fingers inside you?”
“Please,” Sooyoung begs.
Soohyun gives them to her. One first, to see how ready she is, but she barely gives her time to get used to it before adding a second one and feeling the hot clench of Sooyoung around her fingers. She starts slowly, thrusting her fingers in tiny increments while she strokes the pads of her fingers softly against the sweet spot inside her. As soon as she can thrust more, she does, adding her mouth back to press her tongue heavily against her.
It doesn’t take Sooyoung long after that; the stretch of Soohyun’s fingers inside her and the heat of her mouth tipping Sooyoung over the edge so fast she doesn’t even have time to prepare. She comes with a harsh, garbled sound, her body shaking and clenching down hard on Soohyun’s fingers still inside her.
Soohyun waits until she’s stilled before carefully pulling them out, crawling up Sooyoung’s body to kiss her again. She doesn’t wipe her face off first. She knows that she’ll taste like Sooyoung; she doesn’t care. Neither does Sooyoung, kissing back desperately even as she lies boneless on the floor. When Sooyoung pulls back, turning her face away to catch her breath, Soohyun presses her slick fingers into her mouth, watching hazy-eyed as Sooyoung licks the taste of herself off Soohyun’s fingers.
She kisses her again after, trailing her damp fingers down to Sooyoung’s pussy again. She doesn’t slide them back inside her this time, not wanting to overwhelm Sooyoung in a bad way. It’s fine; she has time to learn the exact specifics of Sooyoung’s desires. Instead, she gently circles one fingertip over her clit, only pressing harder when the tone of Sooyoung’s gasps turns needy and desperate. Propped on one elbow, she watches Sooyoung’s face the whole time, as she grows too overwhelmed to keep her eyes open and then buries her face in the curve of Soohyun’s neck.
Her finger still pressing on her clit, Soohyun presses the palm of her hand against the small patch of hair and seconds later Sooyoung’s coming, her thighs clamped hard around Soohyun’s hand as she pants wetly against her neck.
When she can, Soohyun moves her hand to Sooyoung’s torso, gently stroking her hips and stomach until she emerges from Soohyun’s neck. There’s a couple of tears caught in her eyelashes, and Soohyun carefully brushes them away.
“Was that good for you?” Soohyun asks.
“Mmmm,” Sooyoung hums in satisfaction, her cheeks flushed again. “Was I good for you?”
“So good.” Soohyun brushes some hair off her forehead. “Perfect.”
Sooyoung hums again and tucks herself into Soohyun’s neck again. Soohyun gives her another few minutes to bask before squeezing her hip.
“You need another shower jagi,” she says softly.
“Ugh,” Sooyoung says into her neck, but rolls onto her back. She looks down at herself and wrinkles her nose. “Yeah.”
“C’mon.” Soohyun gets to her feet and holds out her hands to pull Sooyoung up. Her knees buckle almost as soon as she’s upright and Soohyun has to catch her around her waist. “Let unnie take care of you.”
She starts to unbutton her own shirt as they walk to the shower; may as well add it to the pile of clothes that need to be washed later.
Later in bed, Soohyun looks down at a sleeping Sooyoung, her face soft and slack and mashed into Soohyun’s chest right between her breasts. She smiles to herself and picks her phone up, firing off the same quick message to two numbers and dropping her phone on the bedside table without waiting for replies, curling herself around Sooyoung instead.
>> It went well
Five times actor Lee Soohyun and Seventeen’s Hoshi were friendship goals.
From matching clothes to late night dinners together, these two prove that busy schedules don’t have to keep you from hanging out with your best friends.