Seungwan’s known Sooyoung for a pretty good amount of time, but it’s in the past two days that she’s discovered a few new things about Park Sooyoung.

Time to fess up: she has always been closer to Joohyun and Seulgi.

Sure, she's friends with Sooyoung and all, but...

She's never known that Sooyoung's more of a night owl than a morning lark. Maybe she's had some inklings, but no, it's never been confirmed. Nor was she ever particularly well-acquainted with the scent of Sooyoung's soap and shampoo. But now that she's been borrowing them, and that well, she has learned that Sooyoung seems to love using a lot of her conditioner each time she showers, Seungwan has quickly determined that she appreciates the scent. Maybe a bit overly so, but… can she really help it?

And then there’s the fact that Sooyoung’s gorgeous. Not that she’s not known this. But she’s never seen Sooyoung without a minimum mask of BB cream and lip tint. Even without that bright red shade of MLBB, Sooyoung’s skin is still radiant, her full lips pretty and pink. God. Son Seungwan. You’re losing it.

On this thought, Seungwan also wonders if she’s made the wrong decision to move into Sooyoung’s apartment.

But. Seungwan bites on her lip. Sooyoung’s… being strangely nice.

That’s not exactly the word either. She’s not being nice in the way that Joohyun’s nice. She’s definitely not going out of her way to make Seungwan’s life any easier. She’s not really being nice in the way that Seulgi’s nice either, none of that easy amiable charm. Sooyoung doesn’t bother with that kind of niceness.

Somehow, she still feels that Sooyoung’s trying to be nicer than usual.

But why?

She can’t really pinpoint what it is, but oh, she should probably save the breakfast from burning first!

Four minutes later:

Sooyoung’s smirking. Seungwan sighs a little because she knows that Sooyoung’s inwardly cackling about how the pancakes are just slightly crispier than they should be. Still completely edible and not likely to cause a thousand and one different cancers, so it’s not like she’s hit Yeri-levels of disastrous cooking. Which doesn’t exactly say much, Seungwan knows, but…

“Oh, stop worrying so much,” Sooyoung laughs as she finishes a mouthful of pancake. “It’s not terrible. Could you get some of the syrup from the shelf though?”

“The top shelf?” Seungwan clarifies, brows rising.

“Yep. You might need to use the stool – Yeri had to use it, naturally.”

Seungwan sighs, just a little, at that remark. The stool’s a rickety little thing with shaky legs, and even though it’s not particularly tall, she wobbles a little as she climbs onto it. As she reaches upwards for the cupboard, Sooyoung appears behind her.

“Why did you bother getting up?” Seungwan asks, her arms jerking to grab the shelf to steady herself.

“If you fall, I don’t want you hit your head. Firstly, I would lose my personal cook. Secondly, I would have to call the ambulance and we’ll wind up in the hospital again. I don’t think I really want to see the nurses again anytime soon, do you?”

“Not really, no,” Seungwan concedes. There’s a strangely deflated feeling rising in her, but she pushes it aside in favour of trying to not fall off the stool. She reaches for the syrup and promptly hops down. “Here. Gotcha. Why are the shelves in this apartment all so damned high?”

“Dunno. Might be because they didn’t build the house for gremlins.”

Seungwan groans as they return to the table. “You’re terrible.”

“Oh. Sorry. I meant goblins.”

“Hey!”

“Fine. Pixies.”

“Anyway,” Seungwan says loudly, “I’m going to be out late today. Might swing by the supermarket to grab some stuff. Would you like anything?”

“Hmm? What are you going to be doing?”

“One of my friends from Canada’s apparently in town – we’re gonna catch up over dinner. I’ll come back after classes to make you something like… soba, if that’s good with you? I might not be around by the time your classes end today though.”

“Oh? Friend from high school?”

“Nah, Josie’s from back when I was in elementary school actually. She was one of the first friends I had in Ontario. She’s pretty cool. I’ve not seen her for years!”

“Hmm.”

“Yeah. Josie’s like, the nicest person you’ll meet—”

“Nicer than you are?”

“Yeah, way nicer, actually. Oh don’t look at me like that! It’s not that hard to be nicer than me. She used to bake cookies with her sis and bring them to school, which were excellent. I mean, she taught me how to bake meringues. Hmm. I think you’d like her. She’s a smart kid. Would be able to keep up with all your coding things.”

“She’s a com science major then?”

“Yeah. One of those go-getter types, you know? People are always surprised that she’s so sociable you know, since her career’s going to involve staring at the laptop screen for like, half an eternity, but she’s also a whizz at all those programming languages. Not sure what she’s up to exactly, but I think she interned at a pretty big tech place last summer. Or at least, that’s what her Instagram mentioned.”

“Cool.” Sooyoung looks contemplative for a bit. “Say hi to her for me.”

“Of course!” Then: “You don’t mind, do you?”

“Why would I mind?”

“It’s just that… we made plans to watch a movie or something right? But Josie’s only reached out to me last night and she’s going to zip out of town in two days or something. I promise I’ll make it up to you.”

Sooyoung hums. “It’s okay. I’m not mad about it. Besides, The Fault in Our Stars isn’t going to disappear from Netflix, Seungwan.”

“Are you… never mind.”

“Oh, spit it out, Wanda.”

“Nah. Unimportant. Anyway, how’s your back this morning? Are you feeling any better?”

“Smashing, thanks for asking. I feel like I could do ten somersaults already.”

Seungwan coughs, trying not to laugh. “Oh yeah?”

“And twenty cartwheels, while I’m at it.”

“Sure, sure,” Seungwan says, placatingly. “Anyway, do you have plans tomorrow night?”

“No, not yet. I confess that my mobility has dipped somewhat, you know.”

“Well. Do you want to go out then? There’s got to be something showing that we can watch.”

“Sure. Are you picking?”

“You can!”

“If I wanted to watch a horror film—”

“Oh, god—”

“—because horror’s really great.”

“Fine. I relinquish all veto powers. If I died mid-film from the adrenaline, you’re writing that email to inform Joohyun and Seulgi that I’ve died.”

“Why, don’t I need to tell Yerim-ie too?”

Seungwan snorts. “Would be more effective if you Tweeted at her. Or posted a picture of my corpse on Instastory. Does that violate the community guidelines? Sounds like it might. Maybe an Instastory of the mortuary maybe. Cause of Death: Death by Horror Film. Might make the headlines. Do you think Yeri would care enough or whether she’ll laugh about it and make my cause of death viral?”

========

By the time Seungwan finally gets back to the apartment, it’s way past midnight and she’s just a little bit over tipsy.

 Even if she’s not as much of a lightweight as Sooyoung is, Seungwan’s not a particularly strong drinker and Josie’s clearly drunk Seungwan under the table. Which kind of led to her drinking even more since the penalty was for Josie to laugh, smack Seungwan’s arm, and make her down two more shots. And so Josie’s here too, having decided to take it upon herself to drag Seungwan’s drunk home.

Seungwan groans. “You’re still walking upright. How are you still standing?”

“Simple. I drink more than you do. Now can you stop pulling on my hair, Wendy?”

Seungwan pouts as she punches in the passcode. “Maybe. Your hair’s nearer for me though. Your shoulder’s much too high up.”

“That’s because you’re barely standing upright.”

“But you’re so tall–”

Josie groans too. “Can I just dump you on the couch – oh, hey, hi roomie. You’re Joy, right? Nice to meet you.” In the darkness, Josie flashes a cheeky grin as she drags Seungwan past the threshold. “Brought your friend back. ‘Fraid she’s really knocked too many glasses into her system. Oh hey, Netflix! But I… I best be going? Do you need help taking her to her bed? I heard you got into a car accident recently.”

Sooyoung nods, slowly, as she takes in their sudden presence. “Sure. Just leave her on the bed in the room – yeah, the yellow door.” Seungwan gets up from her position on the couch and winces slightly at the effort. “Thanks for bringing her back.”

A grin. “No worries. Maybe see you again in a couple of years!”

With that, Seungwan’s friend disappears through the door. With a crash or two as she staggers down the hallway, but her yells of, “I’m okay! Just a bit of a clutz, y’know! Bye!” are somewhat reassuring that nothing’s been destroyed just yet.

Sooyoung stalks into her room and sighs. “Now what am I to do with you?”

Seungwan blinks her eyes open to suggest, “Water?” 

“Fine. You owe me.”