In The Same Place
OT11

Sohye is the first to arrive.

There had been a recording earlier that day but it had somehow actually ended on time. Then dinner with the family, rare enough to put her in an extremely buoyant mood, and Dad dropped her off and now she sits in the large private room, alone at 2:30 in the morning.

She is early.

Partly because she feels a little bad for having him stay up so late and partly because she is dying, dying to see them all again.

She has met a few of them from time to time, but it would always be one or two at once, quick getaways of her going backstage and grabbing a few minutes of their time. She understands. She understands how busy this life is, remembers that three day stretch where none of them really had the time to properly shower or sleep, would trade anything to go back.

A knock on the door and her heart starts pounding violently in her chest.

She has been waiting so long for this has been wanting this so much that she does not know what she is going to do or say first.

A male head pokes in, “Do you want anything to drink, ma’am?”

Sohye tears and shakes her head.

“Ok,” the waiter says and closes the door.

She rubs her eyes as her phone buzzes.

CH: Almost there.

SJ: Well call me a pumpkin and paint me a different color. I was going to be first.

SM: Over your dead body, Kim Sejeong. We all know you’re going to be late. Probably last. Also who paints pumpkins?

Sohye giggles, sends her own reply.

SH: I’m already here.

SJ: NOOOOOOOOOOOO

SM: Unnie that’s not faaaaaair. You live there.

CH: We’re not meeting at the Penguin cafe today, Somi.

SM: … We’re not?!

SJ: HAH.

MN: The title of this chat says ‘NOT PENGUIN CAFE, 3AM. BE THERE OR WE ARE FOREVER DISOWNING YOU’.

SM: …

Sohye dabs the tears away with a napkin.

Chungha-unnie’s hair is shorter now, not quite a bob but not the full wavy length that Sohye last saw a month ago but it really does not matter because she could have shaved her head entirely for all Sohye cares because it really is Chungha standing here in front of her.

She really was not going to cry in front of them today because there is nothing at all to be sad about but just seeing that familiar figure walk through the door has her in tears.

Chungha drops her bag at the door and before she knows it they are in each other’s arms and Sohye can hear herself sobbing.

“Sohye-ah,” Chungha pats her on the head the way she has always done and all this does is trigger a new tidal wave of tears and hiccupping and Sohye is so, so happy and she is crying so hard.

Then more arms wrap around her shoulders and Sohye looks up into the wickedly grinning face of one Kim Doyeon and she really should stop crying because she is heaving at this point and she is not sad, not sad, not sad at all but she cannot stop herself from wailing.

“Aigoo, Sohye,” Choi Yoojung says, smiling at her through teary eyes and Sohye feels like she can breathe a little again as Yoojung ruffles her hair.

“We just saw you last week!”

“It’s not you, idiot,” Yoojung says, “it’s Chungha that’s making her cry.”

“Yah! Choi Yoojung~!”

Sohye giggles, sniffles and has her tears dabbed away by a piece of tissue Chungha is holding. Chungha puts an arm around Sohye’s shoulders and squeezes gently.

The door bursts open and another bag falls to the floor, complete with an accusatory finger.

“You started the party without me!”

“No we didn’t.”

“Yes you just did! See, isn’t Sohye already crying?”

“Just because she’s crying, Yeonjung, doesn’t mean we started without you.”

Yeonjung rolls her eyes.

Doyeon smirks, “besides, we would probably have started it without you anyway, if you hadn’t been on time.”

“Yahh!” Yeonjung smacks Doyeon on the shoulder, who leans over and whacks back. Sohye half expects to hear Nayoung-unnie’s voice telling them to stop. Instead, Chungha laughs and Yoojung rolls her eyes.

“It’s three,” Yeonjung says.

Doyeon nods.

“So we’re disowning Chaeyeon-unnie and Mina and Sejeong-unnie and Nayoung-unnie and Jieqiong-unnie and Somi?”

Yoojung snorts, “Like you weren’t late to the last time we met.”

“But it says we’re disowning them if they’re not here.”

“Somi was going to the wrong place,” Chungha says.

Their phones all buzz.

SJ: HOLD YOUR HORSES OPPA IS ON THE WAY.

SM: Who the heck is oppa.

MN: Just ignore her. She hasn’t had much sleep. We’re almost there. Sorry.

NY: We just landed. It’s going to be a while before we get there. Flight was delayed. Start without us.

JQ: Sadface Sadface Sadface Sadface, a picture of her own Sad Face. A picture of her crying face.

DY: Stop. We get it. I wasn’t mad before but I’m mad now.

JQ: Crying Produce 101 face.

NY: I took her phone away. The earliest we’ll reach is 4:30. I know Chaeyeon had to leave at 5 so you guys should definitely start.

CY: I’m almost there and I don’t have to leave till 10.

NY: Smiling Jieqiong face. Beaming Jieqiong face.

DY: Et tu, Brute.

SM: Not you too.

NY: I have this phone now, muahaha.

YooJ: The more important question is why Nayoung-unnie’s phone has Jieqiong-unnie face emotes.

NY: Se~cr~et~

YeonJ: That’s my line in my song you can’t just steal it.

SJ: Gasp.

Sohye imagines Jieqiong-unnie running away from Nayoung-unnie with the latter’s phone and giggles.

Chaeyeon is already crying when she enters the door, having been accosted by Mina and Sejeong on the way in, partly because it has been an extremely long three days and she has not had sleep for more than two hours in this period and she is tired which makes her more emotional.

And partly because she has not seen Sejeong in person in months now though they have chatted because that ear splitting grin and that voice is just so familiar, because Mina latches onto her arm and will not let go and Chaeyeon has missed this so, so much even though Mina was never really the grabby type.

Then she opens the door and it is the Fantagio girls and Chungha and Yeonjung and Sohye and the wave of nostalgia (and noise) is too much for her to handle as they come shrieking and running and hands are on her shoulders, in her hair and there are faces nuzzling into her and Chaeyeon at once wants the space to ugly cry really hard and at once never wants them to let go ever again.

So she grabs handfuls of them and holds them close and sobs into heads and shoulders.

Then the door is flung open and in flies Somi on her knees. 

“Don’t disown me!”

“You are an idiot,” Chungha says.

“It said not-penguin-cafe on the chat title,” Mina giggles.

“I’m an idiot,” Somi says, head to the ground, “but please don’t disown me!”

She looks up at them with teary maknae eyes and Chaeyeon quickly disengages from Yeonjung and Yoojung and rushes over, sniffling hard.

Somi leaps up and jumps at her, almost throwing her backwards but Chaeyeon remembers Somi’s hugs and they only fall sideways onto the couch where Somi proceeds to squish her cheek against hers and Chaeyeon is laughing and crying when more weight piles on top of them and they are a pile of unruly limbs.

“Penny for your thoughts,” Nayoung says to an uncommonly quiet Jieqiong.

Snatching her phone back had involved invoking not only Siyeon and Eunwoo but Yebin and Minkyung as well, one for each thrashing limb, and while Jieqiong usually brushes it off easily she sometimes gets moody from people ganging up on her.

Jieqiong turns away from the window, puts a grin on but not fast enough for Nayoung to miss the faint glistening of tears in her eyes that disappears when she blinks.

“If we kick Eunwoo and Siyeon out of the car, will it move faster?”

“No,” Nayoung looks over at the rest of the sleeping girls, says, “we’d have to circle back for them which would only take longer.”

Jieqiong snorts, “We have to?”

Nayoung nods, casts her eyes to the stars above as they zip along the highway towards Seoul, “We’ll be there soon, don’t you worry.”

“I wasn’t worried,” Jieqiong says.

Nayoung pats her on the head and is rewarded by Jieqiong nuzzling into her shoulder.

“I miss them,” comes the whisper a minute later.

Nayoung looks at the street lamps whizzing by.

“Me too.”

They are halfway through their third mix of beer and soju, which as far as Chaeyeon is concerned is incredibly slow for three people and two hours, but she knows they are here to enjoy themselves, not to drink any form of sorrows away so she does not complain and just sips at her drink.

She knows that Somi has been eying the table.

Sejeong nudges her in the side, gestures at Somi who at least has the grace to look sheepish.

“Is it good?”

Chaeyeon shrugs, “not bad.”

Chungha wrinkles her nose a little.

Sejeong downs the quarter remaining in her glass.

Somi looks pointedly at the bottle.

Chungha wrinkles her nose.

Sejeong raises her eyebrows.

Yeonjung and Doyeon stop trying to smack each other with the noraebang wigs.

“C’mon,” Somi says, “just a sip won’t hurt.”

Chungha frowns.

Chaeyeon and Sejeong exchange a glance.

The other 99-ers wait with bated breath. Well, Yeonjung and Doyeon do. Yoojung is flipping through the booklet of songs and paying no attention. Mina is trying to look like she is not interested and Sohye honestly does not need alcohol to enjoy herself and has no interest in trying any of whatever Chaeyeon is having.

“No,” comes a voice from the door, “Don’t you think of giving her even a sip, Chaeyeon-ah.”

“Nayoung-unnie you’re no f-,” Somi whines before her brain catches up with what just said.

“Nayoung-unnie!”

Yeonjung shrieks and lunges at Nayoung, Mina scrambles for Jieqiong and they are in a giant group hug when Sejeong suddenly lets out a loud wail. The hand on her shoulder trembles and Sohye’s shoulder shakes next to hers.

Chaeyeon reaches to rub her own tears away but Jieqiong’s fingers reach her cheek first and she instead dabs at Doyeon’s face.

Chungha rubs circles on her back and even though there is not a single dry eye in the room, they have not been this happy in a long, long time.

A/N: This is my way of coping. It's been an incredible year and although I was really late to this party, I'm glad I managed to be part of it for a while.

I'm probably not closing this oneshot collection but I hope that you'll understand that updates if any will be sparse. I have unfinished scraps lying around. If people want to see them, let me know and I may consider posting them.