a/n: because seulrene in baseball jerseys inspire me

--

“Joohyun, Seulgi’s here!” Mrs. Bae calls out from the kitchen once she heard Seulgi’s black truck’s recognizable honking.

It was just another planned outing for the two best friends.  Joohyun couldn’t contain her excitement when Seulgi surprised her with tickets to a baseball game to support their favourite team, LG Twins!  They even bought baseball jerseys together since they were both big fans.

“Coming!”  Joohyun shouts from up the stairs.  She hurriedly goes down already wearing her baseball jersey paired with white shorts and doesn’t forget to check herself out in the mirror just by the staircase.

“Alright. Looking good,” she says to herself as she straightens her hair.  “Did I forget anything?” 

“Oh, shoot! My cap,” Joohyun runs back up the stairs to retrieve her cap from her bed with the LG Twins’ logo placed right in the middle.

Joohyun runs back down and smiles at her own reflection, “Perfect!”

“Bye, mom! I’ll be going now!” Joohyun swiftly walks out of the house and hears her mother telling her to have fun and not go home too late.

Joohyun smiles at the sight of the familiar black pickup truck and hurriedly runs to it. 

“What took you so long?” Seulgi shifts on her seat and starts the engine.

“Left my cap,” Joohyun points to the cap she was wearing once she closed the car door.  “Now, hurry up! We’re going to be late!”

“On it, princess,” Seulgi laughs at Joohyun’s obvious excited state and starts to drive.  “Put your seatbelt on.”

Joohyun obediently puts her seatbelt on and realizes Seulgi hasn’t put hers on.  “Are you crazy? You tell me to put my seatbelt on but here you are, the one driving, not wearing any?”

Seulgi widens her eyes upon realization. “I’m pretty sure I put it on awhile ago...” she mumbles and focuses her eyes on the road.

“Continue driving,” Joohyun reaches out for Seulgi’s seatbelt and Seulgi feels herself stop breathing at the close proximity. 

Seulgi feels her heartbeat rate increase as Joohyun locks her seatbelt down with a click. Seulgi knew this wasn’t the first time she had felt that way.  It happened a couple of times and each time, Seulgi just brushes off the feeling.  Never had she ever told Joohyun about this strange yet quite familiar feeling as Seulgi thinks liking your best friend is number one on the list of how to break a strong 7-year friendship.

Friendship.  Seulgi’s heart slightly breaks at the word.

“Your ears are all red,” Joohyun teases.  Maybe she notices Seulgi’s weird and awkward aura every time she gets all close or clingy.  But maybe she also thinks it’s just because Seulgi isn’t used to skinship.

“No, they’re not,” Seulgi tries to cover her bear-like ears with her hair.

“Tch,” Joohyun could only smirk.  She turns the radio on in blast and starts dancing, full of excitement, “TWINS, LET’S GOOOO!”

Seulgi laughs at her best friend’s rare state, “You’re distracting my driving!”

“WHAT? I CAN’T HEAR YOU. THE MUSIC IS TOO LOUD!”  Joohyun lies and continues her weird dance.

Seulgi thinks it’s impossible to avoid Joohyun’s contagious excitement as she feels her head jumping up and down to the music as well.  And she mentally thanks God she managed to drive to their destination safely.

--

The game already started when they arrived at the arena.  The score was currently 5-2 with LG Twins leading against the Doosan Bears.

The two best friends were able to find a place to sit with a good view.  They bought themselves snacks to watch during the game and a disgusted look plasters on Joohyun’s face.

“Chicken? Seriously? From all the delicious snacks out there...”

Seulgi happily munches her chicken and rolls her eyes, “I swear you’re missing out half your life.”

“Don’t talk when your mouth is full of chicken.”

Seulgi exaggeratedly munches on her chicken, face nearing Irene to .  “Mhmm. Yum!”

Joohyun lightly pushes her away and looks at Seulgi.  She suddenly bursts out in giggles.

“What?”  Seulgi gives a confused look and gulps in her food.

“You’re such a child... getting gravy all over your mouth,” Joohyun begins to wipe the gravy off the side of Seulgi’s mouth and it off her finger.

Seulgi gives her a weird look.

“There’s no chicken in gravy,” Joohyun wiggles her eyebrows and goes back watching the game.

After that, Seulgi can’t seem to take her eyes off Joohyun, oblivious of the girl, and she is brought back out of her daze once Joohyun starts jumping up and down, along with the crowd, cheering.

“HOMERUN!! DID YOU SEE THAT? THAT WAS AMAZING!”

Seulgi watches her happy best friend and Joohyun’s infectious smile reflects on Seulgi as the latter slowly nods.  I think you’re amazing.

The crowd calms for a while as it was a timeout.  The two best friends were busy watching their favourite players get ready and warm up. 

Seulgi gets distracted by someone whistling and brings her eyes to the direction of the sound.  Someone from the crowd was staring at her.  Seulgi looks around and finds another person looking, then another one... and another.

“What’s going on?”  Seulgi looks at Joohyun who was intently watching the players on the side.

“Huh?”  Joohyun realizes what was happening and one of the people in the crowd points her to the big screen. “Oh.”

Seulgi follows Joohyun’s eyes and widens at the sight.  Both of them were on the kiss cam!

The crowd starts to chant, “KISS! KISS! KISS!”

“Looks like they really want to see us kiss,” Joohyun laughs and Seulgi looks at her like she was a crazy person.

‘How could you say that like it’s a normal thing to do?! Best friends don’t kiss!’ Seulgi wanted to scream out but the younger one only manages to gulp.

“Let’s do it,” Joohyun says determined.  She doesn’t wait for Seulgi to respond as she grabs Seulgi by the neck, pulling her in.

Seulgi feels her cap go off her head but doesn’t mind when soft lips touch hers.  Seulgi closes her eyes.  It takes time for the younger one to process what was happening.  Muffled cheers of the crowd pass through her ears.

Joohyun tilts her head a bit and she smiles through the kiss when she feels Seulgi reciprocate.  The kiss was short yet gentle and it made Seulgi’s stomach churn.  The younger one feels her head spinning.

Her heart races for the second time today. 

Seulgi pulls back and she watches Joohyun bite her lip.

“Wow.  Now that wasn’t so bad, was it?”

Seulgi is too stunned to respond and she finds it difficult look away from Joohyun’s lips.

Joohyun looks around to see people cheering and whistling for them and she could only smile proudly.

Seulgi stays quiet during the next innings.

--

Joohyun’s smile never left her face when the game ended.  LG Twins won the game and Joohyun thinks she couldn’t get any happier.  Moonlight beams the evening sky as the two best friends walk to the parking lot with streetlights guiding their way.

Seulgi walks a distance ahead from Joohyun.

“Seulgi, wait up! Why are you in such a hurry?” Joohyun catches up and intertwines her hand with Seulgi’s like she normally does.  “You forgot your cap, you bear,” she places the cap on Seulgi’s head.

Seulgi squeezes her best friend’s hand and she feels knots tie in her stomach.

“Y’okay?”  Joohyun looks at her and notices the serious look on her best friend’s face.

Seulgi looks at her and she wishes that Joohyun could read her eyes, ‘I’VE BEEN TRYING TO AVOID THESE FEELINGS I HAVE FOR YOU BUT YOU KISSED ME AND NOW YOU’RE ACTING LIKE NOTHING HAPPENED SO OF COURSE I’M NOT OKAY. You’re driving me insane.’

Seulgi only hums a nod and forces a smile, “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I just thought that maybe you’re bothered by the kiss?  I’m sorry for kissing you.  It’s just... The crowd was so hyped up and-“

“Hyun, it’s fine.  I’m not bothered by it,” Seulgi lies. “It was just a kiss.”

Joohyun tries to hide the hurt look on her face as she detaches her hand from the taller one to walk to the other side of the car.

“Wait,” Seulgi stops Joohyun and abruptly takes her jacket off.  “Your hand’s cold. Wear this.”

Joohyun’s heart warms at the gesture and acceptingly slips her arms through the sleeves.  “Thanks, bear.”

A laugh escapes Seulgi’s lips.  She playfully bows to Joohyun, as if the girl in front of her was a princess, and directs her arm to her truck, “Hop in, bunny.”

---

The drive home mostly consisted of Joohyun blabbering of how fun the game was and how they should go to another baseball game next time.  Seulgi, on the other hand, only listened with maybe a few short replies to the older one with their kiss still bothering her in the back of her mind.

Joohyun didn’t seem to mind Seulgi’s lack of response.  She was used to it anyways with herself doing the talking while Seulgi, listening.  She was always the talkative one between them.

Seulgi stops the car in front of Joohyun’s home and it was then Joohyun reached to the topic Seulgi dreaded.

“Are you sure you’re not bothered by the kiss cam thing?  I don’t want things to get weird between us,” Joohyun confessed.

“It’s always weird between us,” Seulgi jokes and earns a chuckle from Joohyun. 

“Caught on the kiss cam... now off my bucket list,” Joohyun tries to joke back with a wink.

But Seulgi only finds herself staring at Joohyun in reply.  The atmosphere in the car starts to become tense.

And Joohyun decides to cut off that tension as quickly as possible, “I guess I’ll be going now?  Thanks for today, Seul.”

Seulgi’s shift her eyes on anything other than Joohyun and gives a subtle nod.

Before the older one could go out of the car she pauses and faces Seulgi, “Just so you know, I don’t regret kissing you.”

What does that even mean...?  Seulgi finds herself at loss for words.  Why do you like confusing me so much?

Joohyun’s eyes wait for a response but she gives up.  She nods and smiles to bid farewell and opens the car door.

Before the lost bear could stop herself, she pulls Joohyun by the arm and surprises herself when she closes the gap between.  Courage caused her lips to press against her best friend’s and she couldn’t be more satisfied.

Joohyun’s eyes widen at the sudden action but she slowly melts into the kiss, a hand hangs itself on the younger one’s shoulder.  She feels an arm snaking around her waist.

Seulgi thinks her heart could burst any minute when she feels Joohyun capture her bottom lip and pull her closer.  Their noses bump each other and she hears Joohyun’s giggle escape from only to feel plump lips on hers once again.

They find themselves out of breath with their foreheads glued to each other.  Joohyun’s nose tingles on Seulgi’s.

Seulgi’s mind goes in circles and she tries to formulate the words she has been dying to say.

Joohyun’s brown eyes displayed this whole tenderness that helped Seulgi feel less agitated.

It takes one deep breath for Seulgi to mutter the words, “I’ve liked you for a while now.”  And she silently prays this confession wouldn’t end everything.

The sincerity in her voice made Joohyun’s heart flutter.

“...And I kind of thought that maybe you like me too,” There was this tiny tinge of hope hidden somewhere inside Seulgi’s heart.  She never wanted to let go of it.

“I’m glad you finally figured that out,” Joohyun’s words draws a huge smile on the younger girl’s face but she quickly erases it with a short peck on her lips.

Seulgi pecks her back in return but much to her dismay, the older girl pulls away leaving two pats on her shoulder.

“As much as I don’t want this to end, I really have to go unless you don’t mind my mom killing me.”

“Right... Right,” Seulgi lets out a breathy laugh and it was only then she notices her hand holding Joohyun’s fingers.  She lets go of it.

Joohyun bites her lip and breathes out a, “Bye.”  The petite girl walks out of the truck and doesn’t forget to wave goodbye with Seulgi’s big jacket hiding her hand.

Seulgi laughs at the sight and waves back.  She watches the older girl walk in her house until the front door closes.

She releases a sigh of relief and holds the steering wheel, her head leans on it for a while.  Seulgi feels like she could explode and she felt like she could fly.  She leans back on her seat and notices Joohyun's cap left on the car seat.  She shakes her head and a chuckle escapes her lips as she starts her drive home.

Seulgi’s not sure of what’s going to happen next, though she’s pretty sure she’s not getting any sleep tonight.