One.

*

“SeungWan.”

JooHyun pressed the cup to her face, the lingering smell of hot chocolate wafting and slowly pushing away the sleepiness that held SeungWan. She cradled the cup carefully in her hands and lifted the blankets so that JooHyun could bury herself back into her side, the older girl’s face tucked by the crook of her neck. SeungWan sighed in content before taking a sip, the warmth spreading through and into her stomach.

(But the warmth in her chest never goes away, thrumming and humming for as long as JooHyun was at her side.)

JooHyun shifted slightly, her bare legs brushing past SeungWan’s and tangling together, a soft murmur escaping from her lips.

“It’s cold.”

SeungWan hummed, stretching over to the coffee table to put the cup down, the gentle clink on glass echoing through their empty dorm. With her hands free, SeungWan pulled JooHyun onto her lap, their legs impossibly intertwined (they will both regret this later) and her hands, warm from the drink, sliding under JooHyun’s shirt. Slowly, she rubbed against slowly heating skin, JooHyun letting out a sigh that was part content, part whimper. Smiling softly, SeungWan leant forwards and pressed a kiss just by the beauty mark at JooHyun’s left brow, her lips lingering and tracing over to the older girl’s temple.

JooHyun hummed, her smile pressed into SeungWan’s jaw and she murmured sleepily, her lashes brushing against skin.

“How mad would Seulgi be if we fell asleep on the couch again?”

SeungWan laughed softly, her teeth scraping against the side of JooHyun’s face.

(The last time they had fallen asleep on the couch, SeungWan’s hair was splashing gold against the pillows while JooHyun slumbered against her chest, skin sticking to skin and breaths mingling together, in a cocoon that was deliciously warm.

However, the marks on the back of JooHyun’s neck were enough of a give away to Seulgi as to what exactly they had done on the sofa and they had been banned from ever sleeping on the couch together.

Both literally and figuratively.)

“It depends really.”

Her tone was light but her intent was clear when her fingers pressed into the indents of JooHyun’s ribs, scratching just hard enough to have the older girl’s breath hitching. There was a pause before JooHyun shook her head, her voice tight and regretful.

“I’d rather she not spray us with water again, Wan-ah.”

SeungWan winced at the memory and nodded in agreement. Her fingers never left their positions, skin sticking against skin and their breaths mingling together, their chests rising and falling in tandem as they both savoured the warmth that came from each other in an unbelievably cold winter’s day. Pressing another kiss at JooHyun’s right brow, SeungWan let her eyelids fall shut, taking in the soft breathing sounds that JooHyun was making.

They fell asleep, tangled up in each other and SeungWan repeated one over and over again in her dreams.

*

When had she started to keep count?

She really didn’t know.

But she did, kept count of every single one of them, hoarded their numbers in her chest greedily, sometimes smugly because while the fans counted the ones they could see, SeungWan had the ones that no one knew about.

The ones that she traced noiseless patterns over and over again, creating solar systems and galaxies beneath her lips and with her tongue, pressing and teasing until there were nothing but stars in JooHyun’s eyes and her name falling off the older girl’s lips like a prayer.

When had she started to keep count?

SeungWan couldn’t tell.

But she supposed it had something to do with the way JooHyun’s body told her about the Big Bang, when JooHyun became the catalyst beneath her fingers, her genesis.

*

Five.

*

“SeungWan, stop!”

JooHyun tried pulling away unsuccessfully, body still shaking with mirth as SeungWan continued to blow raspberries on her arms. Another screech of a laughter broke from behind clenched teeth and JooHyun wriggled away, her body trapped beneath SeungWan’s lithe one. The brunette grinned against flesh and shook her head, her hands trapping JooHyun’s wrists on the bed and she puckered her lips, laughing along with JooHyun when the older girl started to squeal again, SeungWan blowing yet another raspberry on her arm, just by the spots that marked JooHyun’s ticklish areas.

“SeungWan!”

JooHyun broke off into another peal of laughter, tears rolling down her cheeks as she begged for the brunette to stop, her face red from laughing so hard and her chest heaving and trying to catch a breath.

SeungWan did stop and she raised her head, a cheeky smile on her face and she questioned innocently, eyes wide and imploring.

“So does that mean we’re going bowling tomorrow then?”

There was a beat and a scowl started to form on JooHyun’s face, her nose scrunched up adorably.

“We have a ton of laundry to do tomorrow, Seung-Ngh! SeungWan!”

JooHyun went into another round of laughter, this time trying to kick SeungWan off as the younger girl moved over to her left arm, where JooHyun’s body betrayed yet again by marking her ticklish spots. This time, she scraped her teeth across pale skin, her eyes slipping shut just as JooHyun’s shrill laughter caught in and an entirely different sound whistled through her teeth. There was a pause before the mirth gave way to fire and all of a sudden, JooHyun’s skin felt like it was scorching SeungWan, burning and burrowing deep into her soul.

Her lips parted slightly and JooHyun tugged on her trapped arms lightly. SeungWan unfurled her fingers but kept her palms on JooHyun’s wrists, weak enough for the older girl to break free. There was a low humming noise settling at the base of SeungWan’s skull, the want thrumming through her veins as JooHyun pulled free, lifting her body just enough for their torsos to slide together. Her breath was warm against SeungWan’s lips, her eyes dark and filled with want.

SeungWan’s blood actually sang in response, throbbing and pulsing through her body, tying SeungWan to JooHyun in ways that were unseen but there. The ache settled in her chest, her soul, her body and though SeungWan felt like this all the time, it still felt like it was new, the ache hard and bright.

JooHyun’s tongue flicked out first, between her lips before enveloping in warmth that spoke of all things holy.

JooHyun trembled, like she always does, when SeungWan’s fingers descended on her body, soft and worshipping and painting the world on a canvas marked by the loving hands of God himself.

They fall apart together, names whispered like a gospel in church.

(Six, six, six)

They went to bowling the next day, SooYoung and Yerim ecstatic to be out of the dorm, Seulgi eyeing them pointedly as JooHyun continued to pull her sleeves down, even though they were long.

SeungWan grinned and remembered the marks she left behind next to those she loved counting.

*

Sometimes, just sometimes, SeungWan got distracted by them.

There were just a few just visible, unable to be covered by clothes because SM loved putting Irene in the shortest skirts and dresses that don’t have sleeves because Irene was beautiful and they wanted to let the world know.

But SeungWan saw JooHyun beneath the makeup and the glitz, knew that the skirts made JooHyun uncomfortable and that JooHyun would