Park Chanji thinks this party .

She’s sitting on the couch, a beer in each hand, dressed in this stupid party dress Byun Baekhee forced her into several hours ago. Chanji isn’t a dress type of girl; she prefers loose t-shirts and jeans or shorts over anything floaty and pretty. She doesn’t know why she let Baekhee force her into this anyway. She should have stayed at home with her best friend, Do Kyungsoo. He had the right idea; doing homework on a Saturday night.

Normally she’d deny ever thinking that, because she’s usually an avid party-goer, but this party really, really . There’s nobody decent to look at and the music is terrible. She’s tempted to tell Lu Han-oppa to let her do it, but that would require moving, and she’s lazy. She takes another swig of beer.

Her other friends seem to be enjoying themselves far more. Baekhee has the top of her dress loose as she dances close with some random guy they don’t know. Chanji snorts into one of her beers, knowing that Baekhee probably doesn’t even know his name.

Kim Junghwa, dressed in a strapless top and short jean shorts, what Chanji wishes she was wearing right now instead of this ridiculous dress, is dancing for their oblivious older friend, Kim Junmi, who probably wouldn’t recognise Junghwa’s crush on her if they all told her. Junmi—conservative but smart in a blue tartan dress with leggings—seems to be enjoying the show at any rate, if her applause is anything to go by. She just clearly has no idea that Junghwa is attempting to seduce her.

There’s one final member of their group, baby Oh Sera. Well, she’s not exactly a baby at twenty years old, but she is cute and they always end up over-indulging her, especially Junmi. Chanji hasn’t seen her all evening, since she’d headed into the kitchen for something that wasn’t a beer. Sera has never been one for beer—she likes cocktails and alcopops; sweet, fruity nothings without much kick to them. Chanji has made fun of her for it more than once, but Sera doesn’t seem to mind.

Chanji is a little worried about Sera. It isn’t like her to be missing from the dance floor of a party for so long. Usually she’d be up there with Junghwa, her long, messy, multi-coloured hair getting in the way of everyone because she never ties it up unless forced. She claims it’s because tying it up is too much effort, considering it’s so long, but Chanji thinks she just likes people looking at her.

Another swig and the bottle is empty. Chanji drops it on the floor with the rest of the bottles and swigs from her other, and that’s when Sera staggers out from the kitchen, a cup in her hand that sloshes, liquid that may or may not be pink, or maybe purple, spilling over onto the floor and her bare legs. Like Junghwa, she’s in tiny shorts, but her top covers a little more, at least. She comes over to Chanji and stands there, wobbling, for a few moments.

“Having fun?” she shouts over the volume.

“No,” Chanji replies, grimacing.

“This party is great!” Sera adds. “The drinks are great! I think this one has four alcohols in it? It’s amazing! You should try some, Unnie!”

Chanji tries to refuse, but Sera reaches over and s the glass into her face, and Chanji finds herself drinking it anyway. It tastes like paint-stripper and she tries not to retch. “How can you drink that?” she asks.

“It’s fantastic! Better than beer,” Sera tells her, as indignant as a drunk can be, and then wanders away to where Junghwa is trying to coax Junmi into dancing. Between them, they manage to get Junmi on her feet, at the very least.

Chanji watches as Junmi sways a little, but knows she hasn’t had anything to drink as she’s their designated driver. The rest of them always drink a little too much, so someone has to look after them. Chanji thinks Junmi would have stayed at home with Kyungsoo if it weren’t for her sense of duty. She’d never let them sleep over at Lu Han-oppa’s house. Chanji knows Junmi loves Lu Han dearly but she wouldn’t trust him with them as far as she could throw him—unlikely to be far.

She’s grateful that Junmi, although she thinks of herself as their mother sometimes, doesn’t police them more at parties. She thinks she’d be even less happy if Junmi was taking her beers and trying to make her not drink her sorrows away.

Junghwa suddenly wraps herself around Junmi, holding her in a hug, in a move that is highly uncharacteristic of her and Sera whistles before turning away from them and heading towards Lu Han and his terrible taste in music.

Chanji settles into her chair as the music changes to a rap song she likes and she bobs her head to the beat, her expression dropping once the song ends and a Justin Bieber song starts playing.

“You look miserable.” Chanji turns her head to find Kim Jongdae standing behind her, hands resting on the back of the sofa.

“The party is boring,” Chanji tells him. “I’m drunk and bored.” She’s not even really that drunk, although the pile of bottles at her feet is around five or six. More pleasantly tipsy—though not enough to make the party enjoyable.

“If I remember tomorrow,” Jongdae says, “I’ll be sure to tell Lu Han-hyung not to invite you again.”

Chanji laughs, rolling her eyes. “They’re usually better than this, but Kris-oppa is usually here, so of course they would be.”

Jongdae laughs as well. “Good point.” He his head. “I’ll get you a present.” And then he’s gone, staggering away through the crowd. Chanji ignores him. He’ll probably forget in a few minutes, anyway.

He doesn’t forget, and comes back five minutes later, tugging Sera by her wrist.

“Jongdae-oppa,” she’s whining, when they come within earshot, “Jongdae-oppa, it hurts.”

“Shh, baby,” Jongdae coos to her as if she really is a little girl. Then they’re standing in front of Chanji. “Here,” Jongdae says, sounding proud of himself, and he pushes Sera forwards. She wobbles for a moment and then falls into Chanji’s lap. It hurts, a bit, as Sera’s knees collide with Chanji’s stomach and thighs, but then Sera settles more comfortably, knees on either side of Chanji’s hips. Chanji awkwardly reaches up to still Sera as she makes to fall onto the rest of the sofa beside them. Her hands feel warm on Sera’s sides.

“Uh?” Chanji says, looking up at Jongdae in confusion.

“My gift,” Jongdae says, and then adds, as if it wasn’t clear, “to you.”

“It’s Sera,” Chanji says, somewhat drunkenly affronted at the idea that he thought that was what she’d want.

“She kisses like a demon,” Jongdae says, and winks. Chanji vaguely remembers the Spin the Bottle game they played at the last one of these parties, when Kris Wu-oppa wasn’t working overtime, when Kris-oppa was still willing to kiss them gently like the gentleman he is. Jongdae’s spin had landed on Sera, and she had thrown herself into it. Chanji had, admittedly, thought it looked good.

Chanji tries to argue, but then Sera wriggles in her lap.

“You don’t want to kiss me, Unnie?” Sera whines, and then pouts cutely.

“It’s not that I don’t want to—” Chanji manages, and bites her lip, trying to organise her thoughts so she can explain why it’s a bad idea to Sera. But then Sera’s fingers are in her hair, tugging her ponytail loose so that her hair spills out down her back, and Sera’s fingers are tugging at the nape, twisting her fingers in the loose strands, and Chanji moans, quite without meaning to. Sera grins and tugs Chanji forward to meet , and Chanji goes willingly.

Sera really does kiss like a demon. It’s wet and tastes of paint-stripper, but Chanji finds she doesn’t mind. She gets into it fairly quickly, tongue wrapping around Sera’s before following it into . Sera kisses well, like she’s had more experience than Chanji knows she has. Even Chanji hasn’t had much experience with kisses, though she’s at least kissed Kris, Baekhee, Jongdae, Junghwa, even Lu Han, once, when she’d thought she’d actually liked him and convinced him she was normal enough to go on a date with her. Though that hadn’t lasted long.

Jongdae leaves some point around the time when Chanji tugs Sera closer, so that her crotch is against Chanji’s bellybutton and the swell of her s is pressed against Chanji’s throat, and Chanji doesn’t care at all.

They don’t get to kiss as long as Chanji wants. Sera is pulled out of her grasp before either of them can suffocate, and placed on the ground in Junmi’s sturdy, sober arms.

“We’re going home now,” she says. She looks strangely red and dishevelled, the top buttons of her shirt undone and her long hair a mess, but Chanji isn’t sober enough to consider the reasons why. Junghwa had probably got her dancing.

Chanji, even drunk, is good at keeping her impulses to whine at bay, so she obediently drags herself to her feet, swaying as she stands. Sera, also swaying, reaches out to hold her up, and Chanji grins and takes her hand in hers when she’s steady. Someone, probably Junghwa, fake-retches and Chanji laughs anyway as Junmi leads them and Baekhee, finally detached from her boy of the night, out to her car.

Junmi buckles them all in carefully, motherly, before driving them back to the house they share with Kyungsoo.

Chanji turns to look at Sera, to find her looking back at her. She smiles and then leans over and presses a quick kiss to Chanji’s mouth.

“Ugh,” Junghwa groans.

“Like you’re any better,” Baekhee sing-songs from the front seat, looking and sounding admirably more sober than the rest of them despite how many shots Chanji had seen her down.

Junghwa makes a sound of outrage but doesn’t make any movements to hit her, instead curling up towards the window. Chanji thinks it’s a good idea, and moves to rest her head against the window, when she feels a weight against her shoulder and looks down to see Sera dozing off. She smiles and rests her head against Sera’s, feeling herself drift off to sleep as well.

The next morning she wakes up in her bedroom to find her head throbbing and Sera pressed against her side instead of in the top bunk where she usually sleeps. It takes Chanji a moment to remember why she feels so warm and happy and is surprised to find that she still likes the idea of pressing against Sera and kissing her, so she snuggles in closer until Kyungsoo barks for them to wake up and eat his traditional hangover breakfast. He may not come out with them most of the time but he’s a great friend, and his hangover breakfast always works.

Chanji heads out first, dressed only in a loose t-shirt and her underwear, Sera still insisting on a few more minutes of shuteye.

The rest of them are already out there, Baekhee, dressed properly, spooning egg into with a grimace on her face—probably not as sober as Chanji had thought, then—and Junghwa, who is only in her underwear, making pathetic faces at Junmi, so she will feed her like she’s a baby. Chanji begins her own breakfast, shovelling egg and bacon into messily until Kyungsoo makes a disgusted expression and shoves a napkin into her face. She wonders if it’s hard for him, being the only boy in the house and the only person who cares about hygiene, surrounded by messy, tomboyish girls who like to wander around in the house mostly , and then decides she doesn’t really care.

A moment later Sera comes out, in her underwear like Junghwa, and she flops into the chair next to Chanji. “Feed me,” she demands, both sleepy and bratty. Chanji has always found it cute, but for some reason arousal coils in her stomach.

She obediently spoons up egg and mockingly, just to make herself feel better, says, “Say ah~.”

Sera grins but opens , and Chanji finds herself feeding Sera more than eating herself.

“Ugh,” Baekhee says. “I’ve lost my appetite. This is disgusting.”

“Says the girl who was all over some stranger last night,” Chanji points out, laughing.

“He was hot,” Baekhee defends herself, “and I would never let him feed me. Nor would I have made out with him in the middle of a party.”

“You did make out with him,” Junmi says, without turning to look at her. “I remember it.”

“Oh,” Baekhee says, with a frown. “I don’t remember that.” Then she grins, a little evilly. “I do, however, remember Junghwa kissing you.”

Both Junmi and Junghwa turn pink with embarrassment. Chanji is intrigued. She’s never seen Junghwa blush before. And she hadn’t known they’d kissed. The laugh rips out of her, unbidden.

“Don’t get me started with you,” Baekhee says. Kyungsoo, when Chanji sneaks a glance over at him, looks torn between wanting to stay and wanting to run away out of horror.

“I’m perfectly satisfied with what happened last night, thank you,” Chanji says, and when she turns to look at Sera, she’s beaming.

“Me too,” Sera says.

“Looks like you and me are the only single ones, Kyungsoo,” Baekhee says with a regretful sigh. “We should bond. Over our single-ness.”

Kyungsoo squeaks and runs out of the kitchen.