"You and I / are learning to speak / with kisses on cheeks / You and I / we're lifted / over the edge. / and I will fall for you / and I will fall for you / if I fall for you / would you fall too?" - fall, ed sheeran.

PAST

Neither of them was sure how they ended up here, tangled in the blankets and laughing with tears in their eyes as F.R.I.E.N.D.S played in the background. There was coffee on the table and chips underneath them, crushed from their weight.

Nayoung believed it was almost 3 AM, she wasn't sure. Last time she checked the time was when Suhyun called and asked her to 'look at the very beautiful picture of a horse eating a bacon sandwich I’m about to send you. I’m pretty sure he’s my Prince Charming in disguise'. (Nayoung was also not sure how Haein reacted when she forwarded the photo to her, she never checked.) It was a few minutes until 2 then.

To be honest, Nayoung wasn’t sure of many things – like whether or not life exists outside Earth, or which one of her friends ate the last slice of pizza the other day. She was also not sure when it happened, how Sejeong became a constant in her life, someone she’d die without.

She wasn’t sure how she convinced Sejeong to break up with her boyfriend the first hour they met. She wasn’t sure how Sejeong wormed her way into their tight circle of friends, dragging Chaeyeon and Haein with her. She wasn’t sure how the next few years went by in a blur of vivid colors and songs sang at the top of their lungs, how suddenly they were on their final year of college.

She wasn’t sure of many things. But there was one thing she was sure of – one thing she learned during the three years she spent with her: Sejeong was the kind of girl those love songs she once hated were written for. Sejeong was the kind of girl only paintings could describe. Sejeong was the kind of girl that was easy to fall in love with.

Sejeong was the kind of girl Nayoung inevitably fell in love with.

Who wouldn’t fall in love, anyway, with all the comfort Sejeong was always willing to give? Who woouldn’t fall in love with all the smiles that brightened up her days? Who wouldn’t fall in love with all the songs they danced to, only the light coming from their TV allowing them to see each other? Who wouldn’t fall in love with those moments, too good to be true, those moments ripped out of a romantic movie in black and white? Who wouldn’t fall in love when someone walked in your life and suddenly colored your dull gray surroundings with every color unimaginable?

Who wouldn’t fall in love? Not Nayoung, of course.

“Give- come on, Nayoung,” Sejeong grumbled, inching up Nayoung’s body with difficulty as the older tried to pin her down right arm over her back, left arm outstretched and remote in hand. “You’ve watched F.R.I.E.N.D.S a gazillion times before!”

Nayoung glared at her, offended. “A gazillion times not enough! Besides, I am not watching Saw again, Sejeong! You know I didn’t get to sleep for a week the last time!”

She pouted, that way she knew Nayoung always fell for. It was Nayoung’s weakest point, her pout, and she felt her stiffening underneath her, eyes wavering as she stared at Sejeong. “Please?” Nayoung shook her head. She’d rather suffer under the irresistible pouts and puppy dog eyes of Sejeong than watch someone shave off his stomach, thank you very much.

Sejeong, however, had other plans. She kissed Nayoung’s nose. “Please?” Still a shake of the head, but this time a blush spread on her cheeks. She kissed her chin this time before resting her cheeks against them, too tired to pull herself up. “Please?”

Nayoung grunted, pushing Sejeong off her, obeying the screams inside her head. “Alright, the answer’s still no, you insufferable little .” She grabbed her phone from the table and pushed it against Sejeong’s forehead to keep her from moving forward, earning another adorable pout from the younger. She squinted at the time displayed above a picture of her and Sejeong smiling widely in front of a huge Ferris wheel: 4:49. “No more TV, let’s go up to the rooftop.”

“Is it almost sunrise?”

Nayoung nodded before grabbing Sejeong’s hand and pulling her to the fire exit. They climbed up it à la How I Met Your Mother.

Up at the rooftop, they found their old mattress lying there with about three of their blankets and five pillows. No one ever went up the rooftop of this apartment unless they wanted to dump their junks, or they were Nayoung and Sejeong. The two long built their own home amidst all the tattered couches, tables broken in half, and lamps with torn shades – their mattress in the middle of it all.

It had been their sanctuary ever since they moved in their room, the place they went to when their neighbors were too loud or when they were tired and needed a break from paperwork or when they just wanted to watch the night sky.

The night sky that had always been there for them. The night sky that never skipped a day of appearing. The night sky, the only constant in their lives that they’d want to stay – not the tears, not the heartbreak, just the night sky.

They lied on their backs and looked up, pointing out constellations and making up stories about the stars. Wondering how something so surrounded by darkness could even shine. Wondering if they, too, could shine despite the blackness around them.

They stayed there, waiting for the sun to rise and replace the darkness in the sky, but not the darkness in their hearts.

Nayoung felt Sejeong taking her hand and tapping her fingers against her own, making up their own beats and rhythm. Sejeong always did that, tapping her fingers to an inexistent song, smiling contentedly as she hummed under her breath.

Nayoung never knew what songs she was singing. She wasn't even sure if they were all the same. But with the way Sejeong’s fingertips gently touched her skin at every tap, with the way her hums always gave Nayoung the feeling of home, she knew it was the most beautiful song in this world full of melodies and no harmony.

As the sky began to turn bright, Sejeong’s fingers intertwined themselves with Nayoung’s. Then she lied on her side and gave her a smile. “Good morning, Nayoung,” and fluttered her eyes close.

“Good morning, Sejeong,” she muttered back, before closing her own eyes, drifting off to a sleep filled with night skies and symphonies made up.

It was sad, how they could be the best pair the world’s ever seen. They could be the next Bonnie and Clyde or Monica and Chandler. They could be their grandchildren’s favorite story; the story their children will boast to everyone they meet. They could be the love story everyone dreams about, but only seldom got.

They could be everything, but as they danced around their feelings – too afraid to touch the flames, they stayed as nothing… just friends.

A/N:

This is really short, but that's okay because the next chapter will be long (but not as long as our wait for Nayoung to rise from the dead and debut). Also, if you haven't noticed yet, this is from their past. All odd numbered chapters will be during the present where there's already cute little Mina, and all even numbered chapters will be during the past. (Although near the end that might stop). Thank you for reading.

(I'm also really sorry for the next chapter and what I've written.)