Why does Tiffany smell so good?
 

Taeyeon had been asking this question to herself the entire time they were walking back to her place in the middle of the night. Shouldn’t Tiffany smell like the club they just came from: alcohol and cigarettes and a whole lot of sweat? She inhaled deeply once more. Yep. Still smells good. Like strawberries and flowers or something.
 

“Is something wrong?”
 

Tiffany's concerned question snapped Taeyeon out of her creepy smelling-induced haze. “Huh?”
 

“You keep breathing so deeply. Are you okay?”
 

Taeyeon accidentally took a misstep, almost tripping on the sidewalk if it weren’t for Tiffany's lightning reflexes: the brunette had quickly latched onto her arm and tugged her upright.
 

“Oh wow… Maybe you really are drunk?” Tiffany laughed nervously.
 

They had used Taeyeon's supposed ‘drunkenness’ as an excuse to their friends so that they would be able to leave together. Thankfully, it wasn’t all that hard to believe that Taeyeon couldn’t handle her alcohol and that Tiffany could and would bring her home safely.
 

“I’m fine. I’m…yeah.” Taeyeon needed a few lessons in reassurance.
 

“…Right.” Still, Tiffany continued to hold on to her arm (Just in case you trip again, she explained with a shake of her head).
 

After a few more minutes of comfortable silence, they finally made their way up to Taeyeon's lobby.
 

It took a few seconds longer for Taeyeon to register how Tiffany was the one leading her towards the building’s elevators. Although they had hung out several times, watching movies and just relaxing after a long day, they had always spent their time in Tiffany's condo since her home was closer to both their workplaces. Has Tiffany been here before?
 

“You…um…seem familiar with the lobby,” she hinted, turning to the brunette as they waited for the lift.
 

There was no mistaking Tiffany's sudden switch into icicle mode. “I…uh…” Tiffany stuttered, refusing to look Taeyeon in the eye. And then the blonde could almost feel the other girl deflate as Tiffany turned to face her too. “Okay. I, uh, I actually came here before. To give you the gummy candy after you helped me out with the photoshoot.”
 

Taeyeon brought her eyebrows together, trying to remember when exactly that was. “The one Yuri handed to me instead? But, I mean…if you were already here, then why would you leave without giving it to me?”
 

Tiffany opened to say something, but just then, their elevator arrived with a beep. They went inside, and Taeyeon pushed the button for her floor before abruptly turning back to Tiffany. “So…?” She prodded, earning a deep sigh from the taller woman.
 

“Okay. Fine. I saw you with someone else, okay? I was sitting in the lobby and you were with some girl.”
 

Now Taeyeon really racked her brain to try and remember when that was. A girl? And then it hit her. “Ah! You mean Seungwan? Yeah, uh…we did have a date together that day, but it didn’t really work out. We chose to just keep it platonic. I only brought her up to show her my vintage camera collection, since she’s a photographer too.”
 

Taeyeon tried to read Tiffany's face for any reaction to her response, but Tiffany just bit her lip and nodded along. It was probably wrong for Taeyeon to want Tiffany to be a little jealous about it, but she couldn’t help herself. Mainly because Tiffany actually being jealous might equate to her having feelings for Taeyeon even back then, when they were still starting out this whole real-friendship thing. And in Taeyeon's book, that was all sorts of amazing.
 

The elevator stopped at her floor, and they got off it. As Taeyeon led Tiffany towards her apartment, the former prodded further, unrelenting. “Why did you hesitate to interrupt our date, though? You were just going to hand over a gift anyway.”
 

“…I didn’t know, okay?” Tiffany quietly exclaimed. “I was very confused with myself the moment I fled your building too. I didn’t know then, but…but now I think I know why.” They now both stood before Taeyeon's door, and Tiffany hesitantly turned to meet Taeyeon's eyes after her last words continued to hang in the air between them.
 

Well, Taeyeon could stop prodding now. She was pretty sure about what Tiffany had meant by her words. She tried so hard not to smile as she fumbled around with her keys and unlocked the door.
 

Once they had stepped inside, Taeyeon let Tiffany take a good look around her apartment. It was of a two-bedroom type (three, actually, if you count the small darkroom she had inside her second room for developing some of her photos), much like Tiffany's, although not as big.
 

“Gosh, your place is so homey,” Tiffany complimented.
 

“Well, yours is too. I actually don’t know why I haven’t invited you here before. Maybe we can watch movies here sometimes, if you want?”
 

Tiffany turned to her after taking her heels off, leaving them by the door. “I’d love that,” she said, her eyes disappearing into a smile that made Taeyeon's heart thud loudly against her chest. God, she’s so pretty.
 

Taeyeon also took her own shoes off, feeling a little bit conscious in doing so as Tiffany still hadn’t stopped staring at her.
 

“So…Taeyeon…”
 

“Hmm?”
 

“Will you show me your vintage camera collection?”
 

Taeyeon choked on her spit at the way Tiffany intonated that statement. Like it was something downright dirty. “W-what? Were you trying to make a euphemism?” Taeyeon chuckled nervously.
 

Tiffany laughed heartily as she turned around to give Taeyeon some room to breathe properly, and also to place her purse on top of the end table by the door. “You’re so cute. I actually meant it literally, but then in the middle of saying it, my mind…kind of went to the gutter.”
 

“Ah…” Taeyeon visibly gulped as the younger girl turned back around and started making her way towards her. It was like watching a seductress come to life, the way Tiffany was swaying her hips from side-to-side in such an alluring manner. It reminded Taeyeon of their hot little moment on the dancefloor an hour ago, and her fingers twitched at the memory of being able to hold Tiffany like that.
 

And then Tiffany was right in front of her. Looking at her with big, brown, eyes that could just swallow her whole. Not that she’d mind. Not at all.
 

The taller girl was breathing just as heavily as she was, her chest rising and falling in a way that made Taeyeon's eyes wander inappropriately, and the room felt practically scorching. She could smell the essence of alcohol on Tiffany’s breath, reminding her of that night a week ago, when they were practically in the same situation.
 

That almost-kiss could be remedied today.
 

Remedied. Fulfilled. Turned up a notch. Intensified.
 

They won’t regret it. Right?
 

They were adults, and a little booze never hurt regarding this sort of thing.
 

But would Tiffany wake up the next morning and regret this? Doing anything with Taeyeon? Would she say that she was merely under-the-influence just like how—
 

Oh my god, she’s so close. I could count every eyelash.
 

Warm hands reached out to caress Taeyeon's cheek, and she closed her eyes at the gentle touch that seemed to light up everything inside her.
 

“Taeyeon…?” Something must have shown in her face. Tiffany was already observant enough as it is, but Tiffany knew her now. Her quirks, her ticks, her expressions. “Hey, are you okay?” The touch on her face was now tinged with concern, moving to raise her chin up a little bit. “Taeyeon, look at me.”
 

Taeyeon’s eyes fluttered open as she drew in a shaky breath, trying to calm herself down. She looked up to see Tiffany's eyes quickly flit around her face in silent worry. “I-I’m sorry, I...”
 

“Hey, no. I’m sorry. I… Maybe I was reading everything wrong… I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable—“
 

Taeyeon quickly shook her head to stop Tiffany's barrage of apologies. “No. No, you weren’t reading anything wrong. I just… I just got triggered a little bit.” Somehow, Taeyeon didn’t find it difficult to share her fear with Tiffany. It was a little difficult to meet her eyes though, so she chose to look down and hold on to Tiffany's hands with her slightly clammy ones. The moment she felt the brunette rub the back of her hands soothingly, she continued. “I just remembered one of these girls that I really liked. Like…really liked. Although now that I think about it, I didn’t like her as much as I like you.” She looked up and didn’t regret doing so, because she witnessed Tiffany's cheeks flush at her words, and it was very, very cute. She swallowed and resumed her explanation. “But, yeah. I liked her and we flirted while we were inebriated, and then we ended up doing it, but the morning after, she told me that she regretted everything, and it was purely the alcohol that had made her talk and do everything that she had done the night before. Obviously, it wasn’t one-hundred percent true, but it still hurt me nonetheless...”
 

Tiffany listened to her, sometimes nodding along, but in the end her eyes were narrowed into slits, disappearing, but not in an eye-smile kind of way. “Do I know this woman? No, even if I don’t know her, I know a lot of people who could—“
 

“Fany-ah. It’s fine. It was a long time ago.”
 

“Well, obviously not long enough, Tae…” Tiffany’s eyes softened again, and Taeyeon felt stupid for thinking that the woman in front of her would ever do the same thing to her. “Will you really not tell me who she is?”
 

Taeyeon chuckled. “I don’t want you to go to prison.”
 

Tiffany sighed in defeat, making Taeyeon laugh again, but then the brunette held her hand a little tighter and looked her in the eye. “Taeyeon-ah. I promise I won’t do that to you…if ever we umm…you know,” she explained shyly, earning her a small smile from the blonde. “I know I’m a little bit buzzed right now, so we should probably postpone…this. I-I don’t want you to think I’m going to use alcohol as an excuse. Because it’s not. Hell, I couldn’t stop thinking about kissing you the entire week, and I was completely sober the whole time. Well, except for that glass of wine I had on Wednesday night when I was in the bathtub, but…”
 

Taeyeon's brain short-circuited at the mention of the bathtub, and she wasn’t able to listen properly to the rest of Tiffany's words, but she got the gist of it. The amazing, lovely, romantic gist of it.
 

“…Are you even listening to me?” Tiffany looked offended.
 

“I’m sorry, my brain got fried when you said you were in a bathtub.” Taeyeon settled for honesty.
 

Tiffany's mouth hung open before she let out a loud laugh. “God, you byunTaeyeon,” she said with a shake of her head.
 

“Thank you, Fany-ah. For understanding. I’m really sorry…I-I thought we could—“
 

“Hey. Stop apologizing. If anyone should apologize, it’s that little b—I mean…idiot of a woman who did that to you. We’ll always have next time. I mean…we will…right? Because I like you…a lot. Like…like like you.”
 

Taeyeon laughed at the childlike confession, earning herself another blush from the brunette. “I like like you too, Fany. Very, very much.”
 

They smiled at each other, and obviously, inadvertently, Taeyeon’s eyes drifted down to Tiffany’s lips. She drew in a shaky breath, because God, she really wanted to kiss Tiffany. Screw her fears, all she wanted now was to feel those lips against hers, and maybe she could even get a taste of her—
 

Her lewd thoughts were interrupted by Tiffany's quick steps backward, away from her. “Dammit, Tae! Don’t look at me like that.”
 

“Like what?” Like she didn’t know.
 

“Like you’re going to have me for dinner. And dessert.”
 

Taeyeon couldn’t even defend herself because it was true.
 

“Wow, it’s really hot in here,” Tiffany proclaimed, fanning herself with her hands. “Wait, let me cool down. And you—“ She pointed an accusatory finger at the blonde. “—cool yourself down too. You’re too hot. I mean. God. You know what I mean.”

***

Needless to say, it was a very uny night after that. No, screw that. The in the air was still very much palpable. Even when they had tried their best to be at least two feet away from each other.
 

Tiffany told Taeyeon to take off her stupefyingly y dress and wear something very uny. Taeyeon complied, but Tiffany groaned in frustration when she insisted that the shorter girl still looked ‘y-as-hell’ in her loose shirt and sweatpants.
 

Taeyeon also instructed Tiffany to take off her clothes. And said nothing more, making Tiffany narrow her eyes and throw a pillow at the cackling blonde.
 

Taeyeon showed Tiffany her vintage camera collection (literally, sadly), which was placed in a huge glass shelf in her second bedroom. In the midst of explaining the durability and long-lasting awesomeness of the Nikon F3HP, Taeyeon noticed Tiffany holding back a full-out yawn (it was actually her third one). With that, Taeyeon ended her exhibit (even though Tiffany insisted she could still go on—she found Taeyeon's voice to be really y when she was enthusiastic about something).
 

Taeyeon invited Tiffany to sleep over that night, albeit only in a platonic kind of way. Taeyeon had lent Tiffany her sleepwear, offering her her favorite button-down plaid shirt and gray shorts, while she tried her best not to hyperventilate at the sight of Tiffany wearing her clothes.
 

They were able to make it through the night without any further y incidents, basically increasing their frustrations the next morning. Taeyeon had to lend Tiffany her favorite jeans because the latter was called over to the office for an emergency regarding some printing error in the next issue of her magazine. Taeyeon practically died of frustration because Tiffany looked incredible in her jeans. Taeyeon was petite, and she just couldn’t fill out the denim the way Tiffany did, with her heart-stopping and brain-numbing curves.
 

They were both completely sober now, and Taeyeon wanted to kiss Tiffany goodbye. Badly. Because Tiffany was beautiful, and Taeyeon was falling even harder for her. Plus, the brunette was leaving wearing her clothes (shoot Taeyeon for thinking that this was such a girlfriend kind of thing to do).
 

Tiffany wasn’t oblivious to the amount of drool pooling in Taeyeon's mouth, but she found it fun to tease the blonde. After all, she had tossed and turned all night in Taeyeon's guest bedroom, frustrated-as-hell, knowing that the root of all her recent fantasies was just a few meters away, and yet she couldn’t do a damn thing about it.
 

So she ruffled her hair ily a bit more. Undid an extra button on the button-down she had borrowed. Bent over a little more than necessary in order to pick up her purse. And gave the blonde a lingering kiss on the cheek as she said goodbye.

A/N:

Classes were suspended tomorrow, so instead of using the extra time to study, of course I used it to finish this chapter. Because I'm absolute toxic trash. Woohoo.

Sidecomments galore:

Anyone catch that mild whiff of WenTae? SOMEONE PLEASE WRITE ABOUT THEM OMG WENTAE IS REAL Y'ALL. zzz.

Were you guys frustrated too? Same. Samesamesame. I internally screamed "omgggg why can't you just kiss already" while typing this out. Heh. The slow burn is real.

I totally googled that camera stuff btw *n00bz* so please don't come after me. D:

OH AND THIS WAS MY PLAID INSPIRATION (can you believe there isn't a still of this part in google??? I HAD TO USE PAINT TO MAKE THIS IMAGE LOL)!

But when I googled plaid Fany (FANY WEARS A LOT OF PLAID I NEVER EVEN KNEW), THIS came out:

DAFUQ!? But thank you, TaeNy, for making my story slightly canon. <3

Anywayyyyy, thank you, as always, for reading! Plus your comments make my day, nay, my week, nay, my month. XD I swear I'm not drunk. o_o