It’s Halloween. The night is setting in, fake cobwebs hung on every corner of the street. The mood is fantabulously scandalous and dark. 

And Wendy is dressed as a minion. 

She’s dressed as a minion with pigtails in her hair, while everyone around her is strutting around as a ‘y version’ of everything and anything. In fact, she thinks she’s just seen a ‘y tofu’ walk by her. How does one be a piece of tofu, let alone a y one? 

-

Wendy tries to ring the doorbell of the frat house hosting the party, but from the doorstep she knows the doorbell won’t be heard. Music is being blasted throughout the neighbourhood. (She wonders if there are any non-college students living nearby.) 

She contemplates turning around and going home. There’s still revision to be done, especially with their exams looming ahead. But before she can even cement her thoughts, her phone rings - an obnoxiously loud “BA-BANANA-BA-BA-BANANA-NANA” startles her.

She looks around suspiciously. Did someone manage to read her mind and find out about her wanting to go back home? 

Nonetheless, she picks up her phone. 

“Wannie!” 

“Hey Seulgi,” she replies. Hopefully Seulgi doesn’t hear her trepidation. 

It’s difficult to understand what her best friend is saying; there’s a whole lot of rustling and probably a few curse words in the mix. “We’re on our way! Sorry we’re late, I couldn’t fit into my Pringles costume.” 

“It’s alright, I’ll just head in first!”

“Yeah! Go par-teh! Joohyun-unnie is already there - I’ll get her to look for you!” 

Well darn, now she definitely has to go to the party.

“Sure, I’ll see you soon!” Wendy thinks she’s done a marvellous job at hiding her nerves, but it doesn’t get past her best friend.

“Wannie.”

“Yea?”

“Don’t worry too much. We’re all going to be there.” 

The rustling stops for a second and Wendy hears the one voice she loves the most. She can’t discern the words, but the voice already makes her smile. 

“Sooyoung wants me to tell you that she loves you.” More unintelligible words. “And that she can’t wait to ravish you- 

Which by the way, TMI much? Plus Seungwan is a minion why the hell would yo-...” 

The rustling restarts with a vengeance and she hears Seulgi yelping, before everything stops, and Wendy is straining to hear anything. 

“...hello?” 

“Unnie!” Joy is panting slightly, but has clearly gotten the upper hand - Seulgi can be heard groaning in the background. 

“Sooyoung?” 

“Baby!” Joy sounds so bright, wonderfully shining even through the phone, that Wendy feels almost starstruck at her voice. “We will be there soon, alright? I love you!”

Seulgi snatches the phone away from Joy at that moment, yells a “goodbye!” and ends the phone call - all in one breath. And Wendy is left listening to the dial tone. Still, she feels fluttery and warm. 

“Love you too,” she whispers to the dial tone, staring down at her wallpaper - it’s a photo of Joy, obviously. But this week it’s a throwback wallpaper to their first Halloween as a couple, back when Joy was but a little cherub, all eager and full of disgruntled teenage rebelliousness in her Pooh bear onesie. 

Wendy spends another minute blindly staring at her wallpaper, missing her girlfriend, before the door slams open, startling her once more. 

Turns out it is Irene at the door, looking far too amused and elegant in her Aubrey Hepburn getup. And Wendy feels comical dressed as a minion. 

Everyone is going to be judging her. 

But Irene doesn’t let her dwell on her insecurities. “Seungwan-ah! I’ve missed you.” There’s the faintest scent of alcohol that lingers on, when Irene winds her arm around Wendy’s, tugging her into the house. “You study too much.” 

A sudden hush falls over the party-goers. She can hear the whispers already. And she can clearly see them pointing indiscreetly at her. (Because why would the campus resident Aphrodite be clinging to the school loser?)

And the whispers and judgement almost causes Wendy to tense up, but instead she takes an inconspicuous breath, and clenches her free hand instead. 

She’s not even uncomfortable at the judgement. 

(Irene is her own person, and an amazing person at that, before her beauty. She’s smart and caring and kind and so, so soft. And Wendy hates when people only sees Irene’s beauty without all her talents as well.)

If Irene notices her internal rage, she doesn’t comment. Instead she leads Wendy into the kitchen, where the few alcohol-searchers scatter immediately. The bunch of stragglers linger by the hallway, clumsily spying on the both of them. 

Irene towers over her in her heels, even when they are basically of the same height normally. Wendy lets out a nervous chitter when Irene swoops down to place a kiss on her cheek, the both of them dissolving into laughter at the hilarity of the situation. 

“Aw shucks, Seungwan, you look really adorable.” Irene’s voice is soothing, and it almost blocks out the whispers. Almost. “I can see why Sooyoung chose this outfit for you.” 

Their audience in the hallway gasp audibly when Wendy leans in for a hug. And, honestly, are these party-goers that jobless to be that dramatic and nosy? 

Whatever. If she lived through hell week in college, she’ll live through a Halloween party. 

“Well, Sooyoung strangely loves minions, and I love her,” Wendy says. Irene cringes at the loving explanation, before noticing the heart-shaped sticker under her left eye and laughs maniacally. (Seungwan can hear their audience melt at the sight of their goddess blessing them with a genuine laugh.) 

“Why are you so whipped?” Irene teases, catching her breath from her laughter. And honestly, Wendy has no clue what made Irene so tickled - but it seems like her Joohyun-unnie laughs at everything she does. 

-

In between pointedly ignoring the staring and picking out a safe drink, Wendy finds herself almost zoning out when she gets deposited on the living room couch. A sip of the horrible tasting beer, another twist of the loose thread on her denim pinafore. She spends her time watching the other students - all the bodies thrumming and moving with the music. Some of them are still talking about her. She can see them huddled in little groups, fingers pointing, heads turning. 

Eric comes up to her at some point. He’s a good friend at the music conservatory - always packed with warm smiles and a particular flair in songwriting. He gives her a fist bump, a sloppy kiss on the cheek and then departs with two finger guns. Wendy yells over the music that he’s too cringy to be her duet partner the next semester, but it doesn’t seem as though he believes her, because he blows her a kiss, and does the worst, greasiest, wink in the world. 

Laughter bubbles up. 

She dribbles some beer down her chin, and Eric snorts out his gross alcohol concoction.

(And honestly, is it that shocking to the other students that she, Wendy, the top music student, is close to Eric, another phenomenal music student?) 

-

Shortly after Eric leaves to find his friends, Irene returns with an armful of sweets. God knows where she got them from, but Joohyun is resourceful like that. 

They take their time sorting out the candy. And people are still giving them a wide berth of space. But the party has resumed its rebunctiousness, the students deeming Wendy old news and getting back to their partying. 

Nobody appears to be -out drunk yet. It seems, to Wendy, almost as if they are waiting for something, or someone to arrive. 

But just as she’s about to ask Irene, another hush falls over them all. If the previous silence surrounding them is suffocating and harsh, this silence wraps around them like a blanket - quiet murmurs of anticipation, the excitement fizzing as everyone nudges one another. 

This is pretty much the first college party she’s attended and so Seungwan feels clueless. She turns to Irene for an explanation, but all she does is wink conspiratorially and mouth “Watch the door.” 

Confused, but trusting, she watches the door. (Everyone’s watching the door.) With bated breath they watch as the door opens. To reveal-

Her girlfriend. (And Seulgi)

And wow. 

Sooyoung is wearing the tightest police costume, the material clinging to her skin, and she can only blink as she watches Sooyoung step through the door looking ethereal and well, hot. 

She feels as though she’s on auto-pilot mode. She’s already stood up, and her feet rushing rushing as she totters her way into Sooyoung’s arms. It’s almost like a movie, Seungwan thinks, how dazzling Joy’s smile is, how Joy’s eyes are locked into her own, how the entire world seems to fade away when Joy’s there. 

She’s laughing and Sooyoung is laughing and everything is so bright, so warm, and Seungwan feels the happiest when Sooyoung pulls her into the biggest hug. 

Joy runs her hands down Wendy’s pigtails, fingers curling around the tips. She leans down and captures Wendy’s lips with her own, loving and lingering. 

Seungwan’s insides feel like mush right now. She feels fuzzy and soft and Sooyoung is instinctively pressing Seungwan against her body. She reaches up to trace the contour of Sooyoung’s face, taking a moment to appreciate how Sooyoung also stuck a little heart sticker under her left eye as well. 

“I’ve missed you,” she whispers. 

Sooyoung coos, pulling Seungwan closer to pepper more kisses all over her face, and grins victoriously when she gets granted with a peal of laughter. Wendy is an angel to her. An angel she’s waited an eternity for. 

And everyone is staring, wide-eyed and shocked. As nosy as the university students are, not once in the few months since Joy has started university did they ever consider her to be attached, let alone to the nerd in year two - whom everybody swears has only been seen in school. Alone. Surrounded by either musical instruments or books. 

Everyone is shell-shocked.

Well, everyone but a few. Seulgi and Irene are ‘calmly’ tearing through the piles of candy. Seulgi gives her a quick wave when she notices Seungwan looking. She conjures two heart-shaped chocolates out of thin air, holds them over her eyes, and says, “Hearteyes motherER.” Irene flicks a hard candy at Seulgi’s head, earning another yelp and a half-hearted apology, before directing her glare at the mass of party-goers staring. 

Nobody moves an inch. 

Everyone is staring.

Joy, ever so attuned to Wendy, hears her tittering in that nervous way she always does, and tries to shift Wendy, protective instinct rising. 

But then Seungwan loves to surprise. Her back straightening, she holds her ground and shouts, “What, nobody’s seen love before?” 

It’s probably not the best line, but she’s not on her own turf, and is nervous as heck, so Wendy thinks she’s done a pretty good job. 

Sooyoung wraps an arm around her waist, hand resting dangerously high, and drops a kiss on her temple. She’s proud. And it shows - in the way she holds Wendy, in the way she looks down her nose at the party-goers. 

Irene cackles.

The cool facade she maintained as Aubrey Hepburn shatters as she wheezes, her face turning red. 

The crowd shuffles awkwardly before dispersing. The party regains momentum and soon enough the majority are drunk beyond reason. 

-

The whole night Sooyoung clings onto her girlfriend, arms wrapped around Wendy and never once leaving her side. 

As popular and sultry she is, the news spreads like wildfire around the university at how soft she is for ‘the nerd’, all pouty and innocently child-like in her love for Wendy. 

Nobody believes they’ll last long, believing (hoping for) this to be a phase, before Joy moves on to someone cooler, more deserving. 

They’re wrong, of course.