Seulgi and Seungwan had a tentative agreement for their birthdays. Ever since they’d become friends, Seulgi had had a large circle of friends and while for the most part this didn’t disturb their plans, it did mean that she spent her birthday trying to divide her time between as many people as possible. Instead of the day-long celebration with her best friend that she wanted as much for herself as she did for Seungwan, they were usually reduced to a celebratory lunch or dinner.

Seungwan insisted that she had no problem with the situation and she really did mean it. She could spend any day she wanted with Seulgi and they typically ended up spending the day before or after together anyway. Still, Seulgi was inconsolable and the only thing that cheered her up was the promise that they could celebrate Seungwan’s birthday from sunrise to sunset, just the two of them.

So when February came around, Seungwan saw no reason to assume their plans for this year would be any different. On Seulgi’s birthday, they had lunch at a cosy place near the hospital and Seungwan gave her the camera lens she had bought after extensive research and a lot of questions. She had the feeling that even Seulgi should have been able to see right through her sudden, very focused interest, but sometimes a little intentional obliviousness was worth it for the sake of preserving the spirit of birthday gifts.

The rest of Seulgi’s day was packed tightly with celebrations, but she did find time in the afternoon to slip out for a quick coffee with Yerim and Sooyoung, as she mentioned to Seungwan later. She even received a congratulatory message from Joohyun, which she answered happily. Probably with many smiley emojis, if Seungwan knew her at all.

And then the days flew by, cold and short and stark, just like every winter, and her own birthday arrived. She left the apartment in the morning, tightly bundled up in protective layers of warmth, to find Joohyun right outside with a wide smile.

“Happy birthday,” she said cheerfully, leaning forward to wrap Seungwan in a hug that she could barely feel under all those clothes but somehow managed to send tingles all the way to the tips of her toes.

“I was hoping to catch you before Seulgi stole you away,” Joohyun continued with a conspiratorial smile. Seungwan had already told her about their birthday tradition and Joohyun had been adamant that nothing had to change this year. “I have a present for you, I’ll give it to you later,” she added as she patted down Seungwan’s scarf, tucking it in more tightly where it disappeared under her large coat.

She brushed something away from Seungwan’s shoulders then let her palms rest against them, eyes moving up to meet Seungwan’s. After a short moment, she broke into an excited grin and her hands tightened slightly, like she was a heartbeat away from shaking her own giddy energy into Seungwan’s frame. “Happy birthday,” she repeated.

“You said that already,” Seungwan pointed out, some part of her amused at Joohyun’s childish enthusiasm, another part slightly dazed by her focused attention. A small smile made its way to her face as Joohyun scrunched up her nose in a poor attempt at contriteness.

“I like birthdays,” she admitted in a whisper that almost tempted Seungwan to move closer so she could catch it better. Before she could move, or at least decide whether she should, Joohyun’s hands were moving down her arms until they were nearly at her wrists. “You look nice,” she said simply, her smile a little smaller but still radiant.

Seungwan raised a sceptical eyebrow. “I look like an overstuffed sausage.” She pulled up her arms to showcase the similarity, caused by all the layers protecting her from the winter cold. Joohyun’s hands slid off her sleeves with the movement and she brought them to her face to stifle a laugh.

“But a very cute one,” she riposted, giggling as she was met with Seungwan’s confused sputtering.

The sound of heavy steps preceded Seulgi’s huffing figure that emerged from the stairway soon after, taking a few more rushed steps until she stood in the middle of the hallway. “I’m here! I’m not late!” she gasped out.

Seungwan smiled fondly at her best friend, even though she had interrupted a rare moment of Joohyun complimenting her without sounding creepy about it. She hugged her neighbour in farewell, patiently waiting as Joohyun adjusted Seungwan’s beanie so that it covered her forehead nearly down to her eyes, then walked off to go to work with Seulgi.

 She’d managed to shuffle things around so that she only worked a half-day and soon after lunch she and Seulgi were free to celebrate to their hearts’ content. As usual, it was too cold for any outdoors activities, so they ended up at an arcade, nearly empty in the early afternoon. They both loved this kind of place, from the shooters with pink and blue guns to the racing games set inside vehicles that jostled them from side to side, but especially the dancing games. Those they played again and again and by the time they stopped for a breather they were both sweaty and red-cheeked.

After some refreshing slushies that allowed them to cool down enough that stepping outside wouldn’t shock their system too severely, they rushed to Seulgi’s place. There, Seulgi insisted that she had to take a hot shower so she wouldn’t get sick. When she stepped out of the bathroom in fresh clothes that Seulgi had leant her, feeling undeniably better, there was a wrapped object on the sofa that definitely hadn’t been there before.

“What’s this?” she asked slowly, circling around to take a seat next to her present.

“Oh, that?” Seulgi replied with a careless wave of her hand, her attempt at sounding casual failing against the smile she couldn't suppress. “I didn’t notice it there; someone must have snuck it in when I wasn't looking.”

Seungwan lifted a foot to poke at Seulgi’s leg, but her attention was drawn to the present which she carefully unwrapped. It was a picture frame, containing a photograph of a large, furry cat reclining regally on a pillow and gazing to the side with an alertness that suggested the presence of an assistant with a squeaky toy.

“It's a picture of Mr. Fluffers!” she gasped out. Seulgi shifted on the sofa, moving closer to where she sat to study the photograph over her shoulder.

“Do you like it?” she asked with anticipation, her chin brushing against Seungwan’s arm as she spoke.

“I love it!” She set it down with care and turning around to envelop Seulgi in an appreciative hug. “How did you even take it?”

“Oh, well, the lens you gave me for my birthday is really good for these kinds of shots,” Seulgi explained happily once they'd parted. “And Sooyoung helped me set everything up and get him into position and stuff.”

“She's really something, huh?” Seungwan commented thoughtfully. Seulgi perked up and she knew right away that she hadn't interpreted her words the way Seungwan had intended them.

“I know, right? She says it's because she's a college student with a lot of free time to kill, but I think she's just really nice,” Seulgi said with a lowered voice, like Sooyoung might pop up from some corner of the room and deny it.

They'd talked about Sooyoung’s feelings a few days after she'd stopped by Seungwan's apartment. After her initial worry at how Seungwan would take the news, Seulgi had been nothing but cheerful. Sooyoung was as eager to spend time with her as ever and Seulgi was overjoyed that their friendship was that precious to her. She really liked her, and Yerim too. Seungwan was glad things had worked out for them, one way or another.

“So,” she carried on, happy to go along with Seulgi’s misunderstanding and drop the more serious subject, “how did you get him to pose all fancy like that?”

“Well, we dropped him on the pillow and he just sat there,” Seulgi said with a shrug. That certainly sounded like him.

The day would end with dinner at Seungwan’s place, so as night fell they made the short trip over, stopping on the way to pick up food from the local Thai place. Seulgi kept ordering more and more dishes until Seungwan had to physically pull her away from the counter.

“Seulgi, we couldn’t eat all this if we had dinner three times over,” she tried to reason, but Seulgi only shrugged and said that all that dancing had made her extra hungry. They left with bags so full of food that Seungwan figured she’d be eating Thai leftovers for a week.

And then, walking down the hallway and mere steps away from her home, Seulgi suddenly turned around and knocked on the wrong door.

Seungwan liked to think that she put the pieces together fairly quickly, so that she was frozen in confusion for only a second and had managed to correct her trajectory and turn her feet towards Joohyun’s door before it eventually opened, revealing three smiling faces. She smiled awkwardly at the chorus of happy birthday wishes that greeted her, trying to dismiss the words with a wave of her hand.

“I’m guessing this is why we bought enough food to feed an army,” she joked in an attempt to change the attention away from herself. Seulgi assented with a nod and the three people by the door finally dispersed, moving away to allow Seungwan and Seulgi to enter. On their way to the kitchen to put down their bags and sort through the dishes, Seungwan caught Seulgi’s eye and gave her a small smile.

“I thought my birthdays were Seulgi days, from sunrise to sunset,” she quipped, recalling the words of their birthday agreement. Seulgi bumped against her with a smile of her own.

“The sun set a while ago, Wan-Wan,” she pointed out smugly, clearly proud to have found such a loophole. Seungwan couldn’t argue with that, not that she particularly wanted to anyway, so she just rolled her eyes and set the bags down on the kitchen counter.

They had a loud, animated dinner, all side by side on Joohyun’s sofa. As usual, Joohyun sat next to Seungwan, as close as she could be without outright sitting on her lap, but this time she didn’t let her head rest on Seungwan’s shoulder. Instead, she kept just enough distance between them that she could look in Seungwan’s face whenever she spoke but still remain unnervingly close.

Despite the Joohyun-shaped distractions, Seungwan still managed to enjoy her time with her friends, happy that Seulgi had helped them arrange it, but especially glad that all five of them were celebrating together. It really should happen more often.

Not too long after they’d finished eating, Sooyoung and Yerim were already shrugging into their coats, claiming that it was a weekday and they had 8 am classes the next day. Before leaving, each of them pulled out a bag of candy from their coat pockets and handed it to Seungwan with renewed wishes of a happy birthday. She wasted no time in popping a piece into , savouring it slowly as she waved them off.

Seulgi left a bit later, because she too had to get up early next morning. That left only Seungwan and Joohyun and even though it was already past her own bedtime, something in Joohyun’s eyes kept her from leaving.

They stood in front of each other, still near the door from when they’d said their goodbyes to Seulgi. Joohyun looked at Seungwan with nervous eyes, lips pressed into a thin line, and Seungwan was reaching out to her before she even thought of it, taking her hands and holding them in an attempt to comfort her.

Joohyun turned them around distractedly and studied them. Her face cleared a bit as her attention fell to Seungwan’s hands and she pulled back slightly so that she was holding on to her fingers instead.

“Your hands are nice,” she said quietly, the slight tremor of her voice subdued under a dreamy haze. Seungwan found it hard to hear her, given that her heart suddenly felt like it was beating in her ears.

“I’d bet you’re very good with them,” Joohyun added after a moment of silent examination. Seungwan felt like her stomach had dropped down to her feet, or maybe her lungs had jumped up to , or her heart had hit her ribcage with such force that it had popped right out. Either way, she was struck speechless, desperately trying to keep her jaw from dropping.

Joohyun seemed to notice her reaction and she was confused for a moment before she broke into light giggles. “At your job, I mean. You have long fingers, that must help in handling surgical tools,” she clarified with an amused smile. Seungwan wanted to dig a hole somewhere and crawl into it and die because she wasn’t sure how to keep being alive after this moment of humiliation. “Although I’m sure you’re perfectly skilled in other departments as well,” Joohyun added, and somehow that made everything even more embarrassing.

She pulled back her hands in one quick motion then held them uselessly in front of her body for a moment before sliding them into the pockets of her jeans. Joohyun followed the movement with her eyes but didn’t protest it, only giving Seungwan a tight smile as the subject of her worries seemed to return immediately to her mind.

“I’m… Well… I’m also good with my hands,” she said after some hesitation. Seungwan held off on a reaction until she’d elaborated, unwilling to humiliate herself further. “And I… I haven’t given you your birthday present yet.”

Nope, not reacting until she knew what was happening. She wasn’t a complete fool. She knew she was reaching the wrong conclusion so she wouldn’t allow her legs to turn into jelly quite yet, even if they were already trying to. Her hands were getting sweaty inside her pockets but she refused to pull them out either, afraid that their shaking would give her away.

Joohyun reached for her arm, pulling her towards the bedroom by her elbow. Seungwan’s mind whizzed through so many scenarios so quickly that she was surprised her head didn’t fall off. The door opened and Joohyun the light to reveal an impressive number of candles standing on every surface of the room. Then she turned to Seungwan with uncertain eyes.

Joohyun bit her lip as Seungwan took in the room, clearly waiting for Seungwan’s eyes to return to her, but the truth was that she’d already scanned every corner of the room and now she was just trying to avoid looking at Joohyun. She couldn’t even imagine how red her face must be, but she was sure it would only get worse if she got caught in those eyes.

“What’s…” she managed to croak out, still looking at a point between the bedside table and the closet. She didn’t say anything, wasn’t sure she even could, and just waited for an explanation. Because she had absolutely reached a conclusion, despite her best efforts, and now she was floundering.

“I noticed that you’ve been a little on edge lately,” Joohyun began carefully, like she was afraid she’d spook her away, and Seungwan could imagine why. She took a deep breath then continued. “I give very good massages. I took classes.”

Seungwan blinked so many times that it felt like somebody had installed a strobe light in Joohyun’s apartment. “Massages?” she asked simply. She thought back fondly to a time when she could build sentences with more than one word. “Massages,” she repeated, like she was feeling her way around the concept.

“Yes. I could give you one,” Joohyun finally supplied once it became clear that Seungwan wouldn’t be getting beyond the one word any time soon.

“Oh! Okay!” she replied with an artificial excitement that only sounded hollower given the quiet that enveloped them. She hoped some vigorous nodding would help her appear more genuine.

“That’s nice, let’s do that,” she added quickly, taking a few steps into the room. She needed a few seconds away from Joohyun’s questioning gaze that she was sure must see right into her erted core.

“Great!” Joohyun’s voice sounded from behind her. The relief was almost palpable and it was enough to make Seungwan feel vaguely guilty that Joohyun could have been that nervous because of her. “Take off your top, then.” The guilt was immediately flushed out of her system, along with every known human emotion except possibly panic.

“Take – What?” she asked in a squeak, turning on her heel to fix pleading eyes on her captor. Joohyun smiled, holding a bottle in her hand.

“This is a proper massage. With oils and everything.”

“On my skin?” Seungwan returned redundantly.

Joohyun seemed amused by the question. “Well, yes. Unless you’d like the oils somewhere else?” Seungwan’s eyes widened even further and her hands finally slipped out of her pockets as her arms crossed over her stomach. Joohyun’s brow furrowed slightly at the action and, incredibly enough, guilt managed to leap across the terrified chaos that was Seungwan’s entire brain and land right back at the forefront of her mind. “Only if you want to,” Joohyun reassured slowly.

“No, I do, let’s do it,” Seungwan’s mouth blurted out without her permission. She immediately pulled her sweater up to cover her face before Joohyun could see her wincing at her own words. Throwing it away towards Joohyun’s desk chair, she raised her fingers to fiddle with the buttons of her shirt. Joohyun took a single step towards her and she willed her hands to stop shaking and start ing a little faster, before Joohyun could get any ideas of helping.

Thankfully, that was the moment she remembered all the candles and quickly turned her back on Seungwan to busy herself with lighting them. She paused after each one, adjusting it carefully, so that Seungwan was already undressed and lying face-down on the bed by the time Joohyun’s job was done.

Then she settled on top of Seungwan, straddling her back and running her hands along its length. She paused along the way, testing different spots with a warm and soft palm and nimble fingers.

“You’re even more tense than I’d expected,” she finally concluded, almost drawing a laugh from Seungwan, because of course she was tense. Joohyun was on top of her, she wasn’t wearing a shirt and every inch of her back was about to be carefully prodded by her apparently very skilled hands. With oils.

The laugh turned into a gasp when Joohyun’s fingers brushed against the strap of her bra. “Would you mind if I open it? Only if you want,” she added as soon as she’d made the request. “It would improve the experience.” Seungwan was glad her face was hidden from view because every one of Joohyun’s words only deepened the blush that set her entire face on fire.

She hummed something that she hoped Joohyun could decode, not very confident in her ability to speak. It seemed to work, as the small click and the sudden feeling of Joohyun’s hands running unimpeded across her back indicated. Then the hands were gone for a moment, returning coated in something smooth and cool that quickly became pleasantly warm as they moved in soothing circles.

Time moved at an agonizingly slow pace as Joohyun’s hands moved from spot to spot, pausing to work at a particular point before making another sweeping brush across the full surface of Seungwan’s back and settling somewhere else. She clenched the pillow tightly under caresses that only inflamed instead of relaxing.

Joohyun hummed. It was hard to interpret it, but she didn’t sound pleased. After another round of kneading the flesh between Seungwan’s shoulders, she huffed softly as she dragged her knuckles up and down her spine. “You’re so tight,” she muttered unhappily. Seungwan nearly choked on nothing at all. “Try to relax your muscles a little, it seems like you’re clenching them. I know that you’re a bit uncomfortable but I promise my massages can be very pleasant if you let them.”

Her hands paused on the small of Seungwan’s back as she thought. “Try to abstract yourself from the sensation. Think of nice, relaxing things,” she suggested, hands hesitantly resuming their movements. “Like your cat. Mr. Fluffers is big and furry. Think of running your hands through its fur. His fur,” she corrected after a moment. Seungwan muffled a giggle at her efforts.

“His fur is very soft. When you run your hands through it, the sensation would be familiar and pleasant. And I read that cats have high internal temperatures, so he’ll be very warm as well. That should be nice at the end of a cold winter day. Think of your warm soft cat, sitting on your lap as you pet him. He might even purr. Does he purr?” Her voice was soft and she enunciated every word carefully, so that her speech had a measured, constant cadence that soothed Seungwan in its monotony.

She hummed in agreement, opening to reply with actual words but only letting out a soft sigh. Joohyun’s hands suddenly felt much better, much less like a fiery brand across her back. The attempt at relaxing her was working, even if Seungwan wasn’t thinking of Mr. Fluffers at all. It was the hypnotizing lilt of Joohyun’s words that drained away the tension in every inch of Seungwan’s body.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Joohyun said with a chuckle. She redoubled her efforts and Seungwan felt her body melt into the mattress like a hot stick of butter. She wasn’t sure she’d ever felt this good in her life and yes, that included –

She froze as a moan escaped her lips. She squeezed her eyes shut like that would somehow make the situation go away. As expected, it didn’t work. Above her, Joohyun’s hands stilled, then started moving across her back, softly, lacking any of the pressure required for a massage. Seungwan couldn’t tell whether that was good or bad.

“You’re tensed again,” Joohyun pointed out simply. Her hands continued to flutter up and down as she sighed quietly. Was she frustrated at Seungwan? She sure had a knack for eliciting that particular response lately. Joohyun’s hands paused by her shoulders and she rubbed her thumbs across the skin, the touch too light to be anything other than comforting.

“Don’t be embarrassed to make… sounds,” she said, a little hesitantly, and Seungwan could relate, because this was a very strange situation to be in with a friend. “I’m used to getting them. My massages are very good,” she added teasingly, bringing her hands back down with a little more force. Seungwan suppressed a shiver, unsure whether it was Joohyun’s touch or her voice that caused it.

“Do you want me to talk about your cat some more?” Joohyun asked softly. No, she didn’t. What she wanted was for Joohyun to flip her over, finish what she’d started with her bra and put those heavenly hands to good use. But those were very bad thoughts to have, especially with her friend still on top of her, dragging her hands along the sides of her ribs and making it increasingly harder to keep in another moan, one that would have a much more ambiguous cause.

“I think maybe,” Seungwan began with a croaky voice, only then realizing just how dry had become, “that’s enough massaging for today.” She felt Joohyun’s hands pause and her index finger tap thoughtfully against her skin.

“Was it… Did you like it?” she asked after a moment of silence that felt unbearably loud.

“Yes, definitely. It was very nice.” Seungwan tried her best to keep her voice even as she waited for Joohyun’s weight to shift off of her. Instead, she felt it settle forward until Joohyun’s hair was falling over her ear and tickling her nose. “Is this part of the massage?” she asked awkwardly.

“No, this is a hug.”

“You’re going to get oil on your shirt,” Seungwan pointed out, unsure of whether she actually wanted her to move away.

It was a strange sensation to feel Joohyun shrug on top of her like that. “It’s going in the laundry anyway,” she said in a low voice. Seungwan didn’t offer up any more arguments, settling for breathing in and out slowly and letting the smell of Joohyun’s hair fill her lungs.

Eventually, Joohyun slid off her back, pausing to snap Seungwan’s bra strap back into place before getting up off the bed. Seungwan followed suit, albeit a little slowly. She felt tired and sluggish and wanted nothing more than to go to sleep and wake to a less eventful day.

She shrugged into her shirt as Joohyun cycled around the room once more, putting out every candle as carefully as she’d lit it and finishing by retrieving Seungwan’s sweater and handing it to her.

They walked towards the apartment door in silence, Seungwan’s hand tightly held in Joohyun’s. Before she could leave, Joohyun pulled her into another hug, this one vertical. “Are you sure you liked your present?” she asked near her ear, hands clenching a little tightly at the fabric of her sweater.

“I did, I promise,” Seungwan replied without hesitation to ensure that Joohyun didn’t worry on her account. Joohyun seemed to accept her words and pulled away slightly. She paused halfway out of the hug and leaned to press a kiss to Seungwan’s cheek.

“Happy birthday,” she murmured, oblivious to the way Seungwan’s mind was running at full speed trying to pull her away from doing something stupid like kissing Joohyun right then and there. She took a step back and smiled shyly, just as Seungwan finally managed to inhale again.

“Yeah,” she said dazedly, turning around and nearly walking into the front door, which she hadn’t actually opened yet. She managed to stop herself before impact and get out injury-free. She waved dorkily at Joohyun as she crossed the hallway, then took a very long and tired breath as she collapsed against the door of her apartment, safely inside.

Joohyun really was going to be the death of her one of these days. One way or another.