A laugh, and she’s not really sure why she’s laughing but everything that everyone’s saying is really funny right now, and all she wants to do is to wrap herself in Seulgi’s arms. Not sure if Seulgi’s the one hefting her up from the couch, and she is not sure if they’re falling over each other because Joohyun’s in heels (because she did not want to be shorter than Seulgi), and not sure if she’s too drunk or if Seulgi’s the one who’s too drunk, but it didn’t really matter when Seulgi’s own giggle bubbles against the back of her head.

Cold glass, the clink and a hooting laugh from one of the girls as they down another round of blue shots. Bass music thrumming in her veins, she’s almost one hundred percent sure that she’s smiling when she presses a kiss against Seungwan’s temple.

“You’re so happy when you’re drunk, Joohyun-ah.”

She is. She is so, so happy to be here. This buoyance in her chest does not fade even when Yerim throws her into the backseat with Seulgi and hands Joohyun a wad of cash to pay her back for the night, and, “Joohyun, text me when you guys get back home, please? Seulgi is—”

“—Too drunk, I know. Don’t worryyy,” she slurs as she waves Yerim’s concerned hand off. “I’ll text. Don’t worryyyyy.”

The youngest is unimpressed but the cabbie’s eager to get his cab going. So Yerim only purses her lips slightly as she lurches back into the bar, wondering how much energy she still has in her to haul Sooyoung off some guy on the leather couches.

The cabbie adjusts his rear-view mirror. “You guys gonna be okay back there?”

Joohyun makes a cooing sound, and her fingers raise themselves into an okay sign.

“Your friend looks pretty hammered, y’know.” His cab speeds onto the expressway, the lights outside blurring more and more. “You got a plastic bag?”

“Right, right,” Joohyun mumbles, “I do.” Her hand’s never felt as heavy as she pulls the plastic out of her handbag. From Joohyun’s lap, Seulgi stirs a little at the sharp rustling noise. “Shhhh, is okay.”

“Loud,” Seulgi mumbles. “Where’re we goin’?”

“To my place. That’s okay with you, right?”

Seulgi groans, and for a moment Joohyun’s worried that Seulgi might actually puke on the cab and that makes her remember she might want to unfold the plastic bag. (Precautions matter).

Seulgi shifts, a little bit, snuggling against Joohyun’s body. And Joohyun reaches to her hair carefully, hoping that god okay, please don’t throw up, Kang Seulgi.

“Drank too much, sowwie. Head’s heavy.”

Joohyun almost laughs. “Oh yeah?” She’s tempted to use the same tone right back at Seulgi. “Dummy. You drank lots. Do you even remember how much you drank?”

Another groan. “Do you really want me to count right now?”

Fair point.

Then Seulgi asks, “Can you tell me where we are, Hyun-ie?”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, wanna know how far we’ve got till we get back.”

Joohyun concedes. To the ticking of the meter, Joohyun gives an account of their present locale.

You know, that expressway that we need to take to get back to my place, we’ve gone off some of these turns before when you drove us previously. Think this might’ve been the bit that’s been messed up since it last rained – woah okay yes they’ve not gotten around to fixing these potholes, geez, you’d think that four months of pocketing money for the tar is long enough for someone to lodge a formal complaint about it. Honestly? Wonder how much that nets them. D’you think the contractor’s still got enough actual money lying around to fill in those holes?

If we get off the expressway now we’d be on route to your favourite museum, oh yeah, okay, okay, your favourite independently-run one, we’ve really got to make those distinctions, don’t we? Wonder if they’ll put out a new exhibit anytime soon… You’ll want to go right? Can I come with?

Hey, remember the time you drunkenly named the cat by the bridge? That was hilarious.

I kind of still have that ticket stub from the time we went to the theatre together, to watch the play Sooyoung was in. It was a pretty ticket! It’s sandwiched somewhere between my journal pages—yes I know what you think of bullet journaling, idiot.

Anyway, we’ve just driven past the turn that you last turned off wrongly the last time. Glad you did though. That noodle place by the corner of that street? Fabulous.

Mister, if you’d turn off right there, the next turn in the front, would be great, thanks.

Hey, there’s a star. Out there. Bit small though.  

You want to make a wish? Seulgi, that’s not a shooting star.

Oh, alright, I guess. We can make a wish together.

In response, Seulgi mumbles something against the fabric of Joohyun’s dress.

“What?”

Seulgi’s head shakes, small, controlled movements. Then her hand grips Joohyun’s and tightens into a squeeze. “Just want you by my side, forever.”

Joohyun snorts. “You sure?” Somewhere in her, there’s a pinprick of unease, and she’s not really sure why and she cannot really figure out this why question with all that alcohol swirling in her system. But she’s also warm – Seulgi’s hand is warm in hers.

“Yes,” Seulgi affirms. And before Joohyun can dwell on the proclamation any longer, Seulgi asks, “How long do we still have left?”

“We’re almost at my place. Two streets away.”

She can feel Seulgi’s lips rearrange themselves into a pout. “It’s nice. Like this. You smell nice.”

“I smell like booze, Seul.”

“Don’t care. Still smell like you.”

“Sure, whatever you say.”

For the remainder of the trip, Seulgi doesn’t really say anything else. Joohyun lets her free hand continue carding through the soft waves of Seulgi’s hair. Joohyun’s only moved into her apartment in the spring, but when the way the cab’s tyres squeal against the road as it makes that turn around an awkward bend makes it feel like she’s lived here for a far longer time than a year.

And living here reminds her of how she met Seulgi and her friends not that long ago either, who are somewhat younger than she is, but are also the people she’s come to trust. They helped make this unfamiliar city familiar, mapping it out with her. Seulgi, whose easy affableness pulled Joohyun out of her tendencies towards taciturn introspection, drew Joohyun to venture beyond the confines of Work, the area in and around the supermarket, and her house.

“Miss? We’re here.”

She shakes her head. She’s being overly sentimental. Joohyun pulls out some of the cash Yerim’s handed her earlier and hands it to the cabbie.

“Thanks mister,” she says, a lot more sober now, especially confronted with the prospect of hauling Seulgi into the house. “Keep the change. Goodnight. C’mon Seul, we got to get out…”

Seulgi groans, but complies, allowing Joohyun to pull her out of the cab. She doesn’t seem that inclined to follow Joohyun up to her doorstep, however, and as the cab drives away, she swats Joohyun away and curls up against the cold floor. Joohyun sighs. If she cared any less for Seulgi, she might have been tempted to leave her behind. Instead, she heads in to unlock her door, drink some water, and having dumped her bag, returns to pull Seulgi off the ground.

“Seulgi. Seulgi. Come on. We got to get you changed, yes? Let’s go in, get some water, and we can go to sleep.”

“Water?” Seulgi repeats, as she staggers in with Joohyun.

“Yes, water. Your throat’s dry. Don’t want to wake up with a hangover, do you?”

“Ugh, no, no. Don’t wanna.” Seulgi shakes her head. “Bad idea. Headshaking. No.”

“Yes, but we’ve got to get water. Water will make you feel better tomorrow.”

“Really? But wanna feel better nowww.”

“You’ll feel better when you get into bed, yes?”

“Okayy.” Seulgi latches onto Joohyun. “Can I sleep like this? In this?”

“No.” 

“Do I really have to change?” Now that they’re indoors, Seulgi throws herself onto the couch.

“Yes, come on, Seul.”

“Do I have to?” Seulgi looks up at her, pouting.

Joohyun sighs. “Yes, you have to. That’s final.”

Seulgi continues to pout but she recognises that Joohyun’s tone really brooked no further arguments. Reluctantly, she staggers into Joohyun’s room to find some clothes to change into. When Joohyun heads into her own bedroom with a glass of water in her hand, she finds Seulgi’s arms tangled in the mass of her own dress. She watches Seulgi struggle for a little while more in amusement before she pulls the dress off for her.

“Thanks.” Seulgi smiles, her eyes barely open.

It’s kind of stupid how Joohyun thinks that drunk Seulgi’s adorable – even when she’s a nuisance and even when Seulgi’s pretty much just squinting at her because the younger girl decided to remove her contacts before she got too drunk at the bar earlier. (In fairness, that was an excellent move on Seulgi’s part. Foresight!) For the umpteenth time, she notes that it’s a little unfair that Seulgi’s abs are still nicely defined against her tanned skin despite the volume of fried chicken and ramyun that she elects to consume.

“Joohyun-unnie,” Seulgi mumbles in between sips of her water, “Can I sleep here? Your bed is comfy.”

“Yeah, sure, of course. I’ll be outside—”

“No! Here. You sleep here too. It’s your bed.”

“Yes, but I’ve also got a stash of blankets, Seul.” 

“But it’s your bed, come on. It’s been cold lately. You don’t like the cold.”

Joohyun hums, taking the cup from Seulgi’s hands as she considers. Seulgi has made rather compelling arguments. And she supposes that the way Seulgi’s decided to tug on Joohyun’s hand rather insistently augments the strength of her argument.

“Sure. I’ll join you in a bit, okay?”

It takes fourteen minutes in the toilet for her to remove all her makeup, crawl out of her dress, shower, towel herself dry, and hop out of her own toilet to hunt for sleepwear only to belatedly notice that the pair of shorts Seulgi stole from her closet is one of Joohyun’s favourites. Though, she’s not sure if Seulgi even realises that the missing pair was her favourite out of the four other black ones.

When she gets back to her own bed, Seulgi’s already asleep. Or so she thought for pretty much all of twelve seconds before Seulgi registers Joohyun’s proximity and pulls Joohyun downwards. With a laugh, she falls beside Seulgi. An arm snakes around Joohyun’s body. Forehead pressed against Joohyun’s shoulder.

“Dream of good things, Seulgi-ah.”