She wakes up to the glare of the sunlight, blinking away the sandy sleepiness as best as she can. When did the sun ever get this bright in the morning?

For a moment, she’s not very sure where she is. The ceilings and walls are a pale yellow, the blinds aren’t shuttered, and the sheets are a light green… Wait. Sheets? She blinks again, the grogginess rapidly fading. This… isn’t right.

Then she realises that she’s wrapped tightly in a blanket. And in Park Sooyoung’s very nice arms.

It is very nice, but she also barely manages to hold a scream back. Good lord, she’s tucked in bed with Sooyoung?

How?

Ah, she remembers now. Josie probably brought her home after she misgauged the amount of alcohol she could feasibly drink in under two hours. Mixing alcohol is such a terrible idea. She could say that she’s good at math, but when it comes to figuring out how much she can stomach before knocking out, let’s just say she might as well be tossed back to kindergarten for failing basic mental sums.

But good god, why is she even in Sooyoung’s bed? And how does she get out of bed to use the bathroom without waking Sooyoung up? , that headache isn’t going away anytime soon, and god, she really needs to pee.

As she tries to pull herself out of the sheets, Sooyoung startles, her eyes snapping open and the two of them lock eyes. She thinks that Sooyoung might’ve swallowed just before she rolls away as fast as she could.

“Morning!” Sooyoung greets as she untangles herself from the blanket, her long legs meeting the floor with a thud. “You drank last night,” Sooyoung says, by way of explanation.

“And…”

“Yeah, your friend left you in the bed. I couldn’t persuade you to let me take the couch instead.”

Seungwan’s brows rise. “You couldn’t persuade me?”

“Yeah. You’re a really strong drunk. Who knew that your spindly arms were capable of such strength, huh.”

Seungwan sighs, cradling her throbbing head in her hands. “I don’t suppose you know if I puked last night?”

Sooyoung laughs. It’s a bit too loud and it is slightly mocking, but if there wasn’t a of sarcasm in her voice somewhere Seungwan would be concerned. “Twice. You really overdid it huh?”

Nervously, she asks, “Did I mess anything up?”

Sooyoung hums as she busies herself with tidying the pillows on the bed. And then she rearranges her half of the blanket nicely. 

Park Sooyoung.

Sooyoung smirks, just a bit, when she replies, “Yeah. The first time you puked you messed the toilet up you know. I cleaned that up. And the second time?” A brow hitches. “Your black top looked very good on you before it met its sorry end.”

“Wait, what?” she glances down and notices she’s wearing a really oversized t-shirt. A t-shirt too long and too wide for her own narrow frame. “You helped me change?”

“Well, yeah doofus.” Sooyoung sounds a little too nonchalant at this. “You owe me, okay?”

“I owe you?”

“Of course you do. Drinks, on my birthday.”

Seungwan groans again, lowly. She needs more water in her system before she can deal with Sooyoung. Right now, her brain feels worse than shreds of desiccated coconut.

But she agrees. And: “Can I please have more water?”

“For this you better be buying me at least three cocktails, Son Seungwan.”

Seungwan waves her hand in agreement. “Yeah, now please, my head’s killing me.”

She ignores Sooyoung snicker as she says, “Sure, grandma.”

========

After Sooyoung gives her the glass of water, the younger girl pulls the blinds shut and leaves Seungwan in bed. She tells Seungwan that she’ll order something in from UberEats, and well, given that she’s already being so nice to Seungwan, that she’ll get to pick. Fair enough. She’s already burdening Sooyoung by letting herself be brought down by a hangover anyway. And she’s supposed to be the one looking out for Sooyoung, not the other way around!

When she tries asking if she could help with anything, Sooyoung shakes her head and curtly orders her to like down, oh my god, and just sleep.  

She’s not sure how long she’s slept by the time she next wakes up. Her head’s a lot better now, which she’s pretty grateful for. She slips off the bed, gingerly, and heads to the bathroom to wash up. 

Bah. She looks terrible. She’s sure that Sooyoung was the one who helped her remove her makeup because Seungwan always forgets to do that when she’s drunk. Without any concealer under her eyes, it’s pretty clear that her eyes are somewhat puffy, and there’s no mistaking the signs of poor sleep.

She sighs. She’s not a good drunk.

First things first, she’s gotta wash that grit out of . A shower might be in order…

By the time she pads out of the bathroom, she feels a lot better than she did twelve minutes ago. She puts on Sooyoung’s oversized shirt but throws everything else into her blue laundry hamper.

Towelling her hair dry, she exits Sooyoung’s room and finds Sooyoung walking towards her with the black UberEats paper bag in her hands.

“Oh, hey, you’re up. Just in time too. Before you ask, your phone’s in your bag still.”

“I wasn’t going to ask… but now that you’ve mentioned it, thanks!” She hops over to her bag, and ow, okay, her head still hurts, so no jumping around for today. “Thanks. Aww, the battery’s flat.”

“Yeah, sorry, I don’t know where your charger is.”

“S’okay. It’s in my bag, for future reference if it ever comes up again.”

Sooyoung levels her a look. “I swear, if you ever want to get this drunk again, give me a warning, will you? Anyway, dude, just eat your lunch already.”

========

When her phone is finally charged, she flicks their group chat open and she sees two missed calls from Seulgi. And of course, their group chat is absolutely flooded with texts and stickers and wait—

“PARK SOOYOUNG!”

Sooyoung winces, rubbing her ears somewhat dramatically. “I’m right next to you, you know.”

“What’s this?”

Sooyoung smiles innocently. “You were sleeping. It was cute. Thought the others might have liked to see a picture of you drooling.”

“But really, you had to take a picture of me without my shirt on?”

“I don’t see the problem. You’re obviously still wearing a bra,” Sooyoung points out in a matter-of-factly manner. “Besides, only Yerim-ie is laughing at you. Joohyun thinks it’s hilarious and Seulgi’s pretty amused too, isn’t she? Relax, it’s not as if I sent it to, I don’t know, the Exchange Student group chat.”

Seungwan groans. “Really.”

“Yeah, believe it or not, there’s that picture in front of you. So yes, really.”

Seungwan sighs. She’s cradled her head in her hands too many times today, but Park Sooyoung was really something else.

It’s what she deserves, she supposes.

(She doesn’t look up in time to see Sooyoung swallowing nervously. Or well, it also doesn’t strike her that Sooyoung’s kept that picture in her own phone.)

========

From: seulgom

-11:34-: are you awake

-11:34-: u r living with SOOYOUNG ??

-11:34-: wannie r u ok

-11:35-: did u get drunk? was it bc of her? ? i'm here if u need to talk ok but also omo she sent those photos

-11:36-: i mean u look good in a bra i guess? but like

-13:04-: btw if you don’t reply my texts by tonight i'll assume u died and i will fly over to kangarooland to save u bb :(

-13:05-: joohyun says i'm being too serious about this but !! whatever she can think whatever u matter more

(15:23): i’ll tell joohyun u said that

(15:24): but im ok i moved over bc sooyoung injured her back she couldn’t reach for the shelves so

-15:30-: omG pls dont tell joohyun do u want me to die wanda-ssi

-15:31-: I TAKE IT BACK u can die in koala country and i wont care D:

(15:32): just kidding

(15:33): sooyoung and i are gonna stay in today and just order in food

(15:34): we’re watching a movie

(15:35): pray for me

-16:22-: sflr i was actly out with sunmi-unnie earlier my is already gonna get kicked so go ahead and tell joohyun that i think u r more impt to me

-16:23-: but srsly tho

-16:23-: atb wannie ily i will always be here if u need to chat

(17:20): also dude i think joy took care of drunk me holy smokes

========

She does not ask Sooyoung about it. Sure, she knows that Sooyoung cleaned up after her, but… okay that in itself is a feat because Sooyoung doesn’t like doing chores.

Amongst the five of them, everyone knows that Joohyun’s the kind that preferred cleaning and all the other domestic nonsense the most. Never mind that she’s in med school, she’s really just amazing that way. Seungwan half suspects that Joohyun owns a Time-Turner, but they’re in the real world and in the three years that they’ve known each other, Joohyun’s clearly, well, not a witch. Besides, she hates heights – would make a ty witch even if she tried. She can hear Yeri laughing in her head: Seungwan-unnie, you’re mixing different witchy descriptions up. Bah.

And well, between Seulgi, Sooyoung, and Yeri, she’s not sure which one of them wanted to avoid doing chores more. For sure, Seulgi does do the chores because she’d do anything Joohyun asks of her, more or less, and chores are definitely something Seulgi’s willing to take up if it means that Joohyun’s time can be better spent making her strange Excel Sheet flashcards for the billion and one Greek and Latin terms she has to cram into her small head. Then between Sooyoung and Yeri? Tough call.

Point being, she feels like Sooyoung’s done a lot for her in one night. And that zoinks her out.

It comes back to her, in bits and pieces, like a hazy cloud drifting its way back. A vague memory of Sooyoung chiding her oddly gently, or of Sooyoung lightly removing her soiled top and replacing it with the shirt she’s currently wearing (which really smells a lot like Sooyoung). Or the way she would ensure that Seungwan’s glass of water was filled all night. Or say, Sooyoung could also have kicked her onto the carpeted floor. Wouldn’t have been too uncomfortable, and really, drunk people can sleep on tarmac roads: a soft carpet would be like sleeping on merino wool or something. Or well, ensuring that Seungwan doesn’t choke on her own puke and just perish via asphyxiation.

That would have totally been bad.

Which begs the question: why?

She shudders. God knows what kind of favour Sooyoung’s going to ask of her. Buying her a drink definitely can’t be the end of it.