“The roof,” Jessica repeats. “You want to go up to the roof?”

“Yeah,” Taeyeon says brightly. “It’ll be fun, don’t you think?”

Jessica looks skeptical. “It’s like ten o’clock.”

“Yeah. Perfect time to go watch the stars.”

“You want to go watch the stars?”

Taeyeon half-sighs, half-smiles. “Why are you questioning me on everything I want like they’re ridiculous?”

Jessica gives her a look that’s not quite a pout but makes her soften every time she sees it. “Why can’t I?” she says with a mischievous smile. “You are ridiculous.”

Taeyeon’s fingers dance up Jessica’s arm, eliciting a trail of goosebumps in her wake. “I want to kiss you,” she whispers, her breath fanning over Jessica’s lips. “Is that ridiculous?”

Jessica swallows. “No.”

Taeyeon smiles, eyes dark yet bright, and leans in. Jessica’s eyes close. And then snap open when Taeyeon pulls away and runs toward the door.

“Come on! I’ll meet you on the roof!”

“Kim Taeyeon, you—” Jessica clenches her teeth. You goddamn tease.

Jessica ends up heading to the roof.

When Jessica finally finds her way to the roof, she sees Taeyeon standing with her arms braced on the railing, a slim figure half-swallowed by the darkness.

“Don’t fall over,” Jessica says.

She feels Taeyeon’s laugh before she hears it. “Will you catch me if I do?”

“How am I supposed to catch you when I’m here with you? Hold on, just let me take the elevator to the ground floor and stand with a mattress under where you are right now.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Taeyeon turns around and walks over to Jessica. “I knew I could count on you to save me from falling off the edge.”

Jessica snorts. “I think you’re already off the edge. Of sanity.”

Taeyeon just grins, and as terribly clichéd as it sounds, it lights up the little piece of darkness around them, like a star that had spilled past the bowl of the horizon.

“It’s stuck,” Taeyeon says, furiously trying to turn the completely immobile knob.

“What do you mean it’s stuck?” Jessica tries to turn it herself and can’t budge it even a little bit. “Oh damn, it’s stuck.”

“Yeah,” Taeyeon says. “That’s what I mean.”

“Taeyeon,” Jessica says in a slow voice. “You know what this means, right?”

“That it’s stuck?”

“That we’re stuck,” Jessica says. “We can’t go back if we can’t open the door. We’re trapped up here.”

“Well,” Taeyeon says after a moment. “At least the view is nice.”

Jessica can do nothing but stare at her in incredulity.

Jessica pulls the blanket tighter around them, like she wants to make sure nothing can come between them, not even the wind. “Tae?”

“Yeah?”

“What’s your favourite constellation?”

Taeyeon lowers her eyes from the nightscape to the woman beside her, who’s looking at her like she shines brighter than a sky full of stars.

“Aries,” she replies, and Jessica smiles, more radiant than any constellation.

“I-I liked your answer, but tell me the truth. What’s your actual favourite constellation?”

“I don’t really have one, but I have a favourite star.”

“Which one is it?” Jessica asks curiously.

“Polaris,” Taeyeon replies. “The North Star.”

“Ah,” Jessica says. “The one that can guide you home.”

“Yeah,” Taeyeon says. She means to add something else, about how it’s not actually just one star or how it’s part of the handle of the Little Dipper, but closes up on her.

Jessica smiles. “If only it can guide us home tonight, huh?”

Home is wherever you are, Taeyeon thinks. She swallows, clears . “I don’t think a star can unjam a doorknob.”

“Maybe a shooting star,” Jessica says. “We can make a wish!”

Taeyeon laughs. “Sure, keep your eyes open.”

Jessica stares unblinkingly at the sky for a moment, her whole body still, as if really waiting for that elusive meteor. Then she turns to Taeyeon.

“It’s okay. It’s a nice night. I don’t mind being up here.”

“Even though we’re trapped?”

“At least we’re trapped together.”

Jessica takes Taeyeon’s hand under the blanket, and they both return to looking at the stars; united, connected. Together.

Somehow, they end up talking about the stories behind constellations, like Ursa Major and Orion.

“Most of these stories are really sad,” Jessica says idly.

“Yeah, well.” Taeyeon shrugs. “They’re Greek mythology. It’s full of tragedies.”

“You love Greek mythology.”

“Well, they’re interesting tragedies.”

Jessica smiles a little. “You and your sad stories.”

“What’s wrong with liking sad stories?”

“Nothing. I like them too.” There’s a pause before Jessica continues. “You know what’s nice? A sad story with a happy ending.”

“Is it really a sad story then?”

Jessica’s gaze is heavy. “I like happy endings.”

Taeyeon tightens her hand around Jessica’s. “So do I.”

“I’m sorry,” Taeyeon whispers, so quietly that her voice can almost be mistaken for a stray gust of wind.

Jessica’s eyelids feel as heavy as weights but she pries her eyes open and looks curiously at Taeyeon. “For what?”

“For getting us locked up here.”

“It’s okay. It’s not like you did it on purpose. These things happen. Remember when I was helping you cut Ginger’s fur and I accidentally gave him a bald spot?”

“You gave him like five bald spots.”

Jessica smiles. “And yet you still love me.”

Taeyeon’s answering smile is the dimpled one that always makes Jessica’s mouth tug up in response. “I’m not going to stop just because you gave my dog a bad haircut.”

“Excuse you, you were the one who gave him a bad haircut. I just…contributed to the badness a little.”

Taeyeon’s smile widens. “Just a little.”

“Yeah, the bald spots were cute anyway. They added character.”

Taeyeon just gives her an incredulous look, but when Jessica sticks her tongue out, Taeyeon suddenly leans in and kisses her.

Jessica blinks, her lashes being the ones to feel heavy this time. “What was that for?” Her voice comes out rather breathless.

Taeyeon shrugs. “You’re cute.”

It isn’t the first time Taeyeon’s told her this, but it still makes her smile anyway. “I am?”

That dimpled smile comes back. “Just a little.”

I love you, Jessica thinks, and there’s nothing little about it. As if reading her mind, Taeyeon’s eyes soften, and she reaches out, brushing a strand of Jessica’s hair away from her face.

“I am though,” Taeyeon says, quiet but clear.

“What?” Jessica asks, confused.

“Sorry.”

Jessica’s brows furrow. “You don’t need to be.”

“It’s just—” Taeyeon draws in a breath that sounds like a sigh. “I thought that… I really wanted to watch the stars with you.”

“We did!” Jessica smiles. “They’re beautiful.”

“But now we’re stuck here for the night.” Taeyeon looks at her apprehensively, like she expects Jessica to suddenly get mad and snap at her. “I wanted…”

“What, Tae?” Jessica asks softly.

“Stargazing is supposed to be really romantic and I wanted us to spend a romantic night together,” Taeyeon blurts out quickly, all in one breath like she has to get the words out before she loses them.

Oh, Taeyeon.

“But then it turned out like this,” she continues. “I totally messed up, and now we’re trapped on the roof and nobody knows we’re here and it’s freezing and—”

Jessica cuts her off the fastest way she knows how, by pressing to Taeyeon’s and swallowing those self-castigating words, replacing them with the warm affection that’s lighting her up inside.

“—and we’re under a blanket together sharing memories and stories and body heat,” Jessica says brightly. “That’s pretty romantic, don’t you think?”

Taeyeon makes a sound that’s half a laugh, half something that Jessica can’t decipher. “This is your idea of romance?”

Jessica locks her eyes on Taeyeon’s. “I don’t need romance.”

“What do you need, then?”

“Don’t you know by now?”

Taeyeon reaches for her, or maybe it’s her that reaches for Taeyeon, and then they’re embracing, kissing, sharing.

The wind sweeps by them, carrying three words with it that go unspoken but not unheard.

“Tae?” Jessica whispers. “Are you asleep?”

“Yes.”

Jessica makes a sound halfway between a laugh and a snort. “Well, I know you talk in your sleep but I didn’t know you could answer questions.”

“I’m cool that way.”

“Yes, you’re very cool.”

Taeyeon musters enough effort to crack open an eye. Jessica’s looking at her with an expression she can’t quite name but makes her feel warm all over despite the chill of the night.

“You finally realized that, huh?” Taeyeon says with a crooked grin.

Jessica gives a quiet laugh. “Well, you’re asleep. This is just a dream.”

“That makes sense,” Taeyeon says. “I do dream about you a lot.”

“Do you?”

“Mm hmm.”

“Are they good dreams?”

“No,” Taeyeon deadpans. “They’re nightmares.”

“You’re a nightmare,” Jessica says, sticking out her tongue.

“A very cool nightmare.”

Jessica laughs again and presses her lips against Taeyeon’s temple. “The coolest,” she agrees.

Later on, when Taeyeon is hovering on the edge of consciousness, she remembers to say before sleep steals her away:

“They’re great dreams. But they’re still only dreams.”

And no dream can come close to you.