“So… party this weekend?”

Minwoo wasn't exactly the best person to go with her problems, but he was her best friend, which meant that in a situation like this, he was practically all she had. She just really wished he had some type of solution other than throwing another one of his all night ragers- the last two of which had caused her some serious trouble; they were ultimately the reason that she was in this mess in the first place. However, her most recent situation was something she could not push onto him- the only person she could blame for her current predicament was herself and her own stupid actions. Maybe Minwoo was right and she should just stay away from alcohol completely from now on- and that suggestion really meant something coming from No Minwoo, king of parties and crying underneath a table once he inevitably became wasted as he seemed to be every other weekend. Because honestly, her past few experiences getting faced did not exactly show someone that could handle her liquor without potentially ing up her already messy life beyond repair.

S.HS - those were the initials written on her wrist in that exact fashion, with the small dotted x in the circle still separating the first two letters. There was no barrier between the last two though, nothing separating the new from the old, a perfect set.

S. Just what exactly had she been thinking, dammit?! Why not a W? Why even anything at all? Why did she have to know what a Mark meant? She liked it better before when she was kept blissfully ignorant, before Wonho kissed her, before Shownu kissed her, back when she was just in the dark and thought Hyungwon's annoying teasing was just a joke. If only. , did this mean Hyungwon was really going to be the godfather of her future children?

"Hell to the no," Minwoo interrupts her thoughts. Actually, he interrupts her worried ranting- ever since she sobered up that morning, unfortunately, she had been accidently blurting out her anxious thoughts when it became too much to keep inside. Normally, it wouldn't be a problem, but this was Minwoo, and she was so comfortable with him that everything just came out without her meaning it to. "Absolutely not," he reiterates firmly, causing her to blink back to reality. "As your best friend, that position has already been called by me and I refuse to give it up to someone else. I mean, no offence, but there isn't exactly much to look forward to as your best friend. I should at least get this."

"You ing traitor," Daeun hisses back with narrowed eyes. Honestly, she couldn't believe what she was hearing. Why did she surround herself with such infuriating people?

"Hey, you're the one who got his name tattooed on your wrist," he defends himself, arms raised in the universal gesture of innocence and surrender. "I personally didn't approve of the guy, but," he shrugs it off in an overexaggerated display of nonchalance, "I guess you've never been the best judge of character. To each their own. I was rooting for Jooheon though."

"What the hell?" Literally. What the hell. Why did everyone seem so invested in her love life, the one that until a few days ago she could have sworn didn't exist and never would?

"Anyway, since you already confessed your undying love for the -"

"Now you're just being overdramatic." She rolled her eyes at him and then winced afterwards at the headache it gave her, created by an unpleasant combination of the faint traces of alcohol still left in her system and stress.

"You got his initials tattooed on your skin, forever- you're the overdramatic one here. It's like those super cheesy, over the top gestures people do in stupid rom-coms. As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted though," he takes a moment to shoot her a pointed glare before he continues on, making her pout at how unfair he was being, "we should throw a party again. To celebrate. Or so I can scope this Wonho guy out properly, since he didn't show up to the last one and I've only met him once. He at first impressions," Minwoo once again gave a not so subtle, passive aggressive dig at the boy that was older than him who somehow seemed to have captured his best friend's heart. The comments were made partially out of protectiveness and partially out of his duty as her friend to give her for all of her stupid mistakes; she was never going to live this one down, that’s for sure.

"Please," Daeun scoffs in reply, "Wonho just period. I hate him."

"Right." Minwoo doesn't look like he believes her at all- could anyone really blame him though? Her words didn't exactly match her actions. Plus, he knew her, knew her so well that even when she was lying to herself in absolute denial, he still knew the truth. Daeun had always at dealing with her feelings -they both did truthfully, and that's one of the reasons why their friendship worked so well, because they knew that they cared for each other without having to say it out loud. This was something different though, and there was only one way he knew to help her, and that was to put her in a relaxed situation she was familiar with and hope for the best. From what he saw from their brief meeting, Wonho wasn't all that great at dealing with emotions either, so this was the best he could come up with. People hooked up at parties all the time, so it wasn’t as if he was suggesting the idea without any basis.

"So, party?" He asked again, waiting for her confirmation- not that he really needed it, this was his house after all.

"Fine," Daeun groans, just wanting nothing more than for her annoying friend to shut the hell up. One way or another, he always got her to cave; she could never really say no to him, and the opposite was true as well.

"Perfect." He grins that slightly crooked, boyish smile that she's seen almost her whole life and she knows that whatever comes next will make her regret everything and really want to hit him. "No alcohol though. And use protection- ow! Violent much?"

"I seriously hate you."

“I don’t think you know the correct definition of ‘hate’.”

···Ä···

When she shows up to the Safe House in one of Minwoo's oversized sweaters -not that Minwoo's much taller than her or anything, but he prefers to wear clothes that drown him sometimes- with the end of the sleeves dangling well past her fingertips, the others aren't entirely sure what to make of it. She seems more jumpy than usual too, nervous almost, and that isn't like the Daeun they knew at all. It's not a big difference, she still carries herself with full confidence and makes a sarcastic comment when Hyungwon teases her about her choice of fashion, but it’s enough for those close to her to notice that something's on her mind and it's causing her to act a little off.

"Whose shirt is that?" Wonho's eyes are dark as he stares at the royal blue sweater hanging off her one shoulder, showing a dangerous amount of skin- not the skin she desperately wanted to hide though, not her wrist. His expression was carefully blank, and that rubbed her the wrong way, making her glare at him for absolutely no reason aside from the fact that she loathed his entire existence at the moment just on principle.

"Why Hyung, are you jealous?" Kihyun, surprisingly, is the one that starts provoking Wonho about his attitude instead of the nosy snowman that seems to live for that sort of thing. Speaking of Hyungwon, he high-fives Kihyun immediately after the comment in made and Daeun narrows her eyes at them, wondering just when that brat had managed to corrupt her precious, sweet Kihyun Oppa. If Changkyun started making jokes about it, then that was where she was really drawing the line.

"I think Noona looks nice," Changkyun adds with a smile in her direction, completely ignoring the childish banter of his Hyungs despite them being years older than him. It looked as though she'd have nothing to worry about concerning him.

"See, this is why he's my favorite," Daeun nods towards the Maknae that beams in response, like he's just won some kind of prize.

" up," Jooheon scoffs, not even bothering to hide the insult. He swears a moment later when Daeun and Changkyun simultaneously punch him on opposite shoulders, still sore and a little bruised from the various beatings he’s been taking recently.

"That’s my dongsaeng," Daeun praises the youngest with a happy laugh, and her strange behavior from when she first arrived at the empty warehouse is easily forgotten.

"Why can't I be your favorite?" Minhyuk pouts, tone whiny, and all of them in the room collectively roll their eyes as he begins complaining again. He pulls the helpless puppy dog eyes that he knows she can't resist and decides to snuggle into her exposed shoulder like a needy cat. Wonho scoffs and turns away from the affectionate display, tuning out the rest of the conversation, and four of the remaining seven take note of the action, instantly able to decipher its meaning. Seriously, Wonho isn't as closed off and hard to read as he thinks he is- just because Daeun and Changkyun are naive and dense sometimes, and Minhyuk is just hopelessly clueless in general, doesn't mean that the rest of them are blind or stupid. Hyungwon and Kihyun share secretive looks before joining back into the conversation with Minhyuk and the Maknae line; Shownu gives his friend a gentle, sympathetic look behind his back, eyes tinged with the sadness of his sacrifice- he'd get over it though, he’d be able to move on. Jooheon, for his part, growled in frustration at how difficult everyone was making the situation seem- it was unnecessary, in his opinion. Wonho had called him pathetic, but he believed the opposite was true; Wonho was the pathetic one if he couldn't even man up and confess to a girl, even if that girl was an idiotic she-devil like Daeun that was more trouble than she was worth. If he didn't have fifty dollars riding on this, then he'd take matters into his own hands; however, since he had joined the bastard's stupid betting pool, he was forced to set back and let things naturally run their course- Hyungwon seriously owed him.

"Party?" Minhyuk parrots, bouncing in place as he listens to Daeun explain the details.

"Sorry Daeun-ah, but the last time we went to one of your friend's parties, it didn't exactly work out," Hyungwon drones on in a bored tone, glancing over at Jooheon briefly, whom immediately bristles at the implications behind his lazy words.

"That was a one-time thing," he defends himself with a frown. Ever since that night though, and after his talk with Daeun, he had been a lot more open and casual with them all, so it's not as if that fight had been all bad. "Besides, I like Minwoo. No clue how he puts up with all your , Nam, but I still like him." Remembering how the two had seemed instantly taken with each other at the last disastrous party, as well as Minwoo's words earlier that morning, she can't help but let out an amused guffaw.

"And they say romance is dead," she jests playfully.

"Maybe we should go," Shownu cuts into the conversation before things can escalate any further. He loves s, he really does, but sometimes it's like babysitting mischievous grade schoolers- just ones with very colorful vocabularies and an inexplicable tendency towards violence. "We could all use a break, and it can be an important bonding experience now that we've al