Naeun/Namjoon, pg, 3k, fluff, from prompt 30. Ice Cream Parlor

Naeun’s favorite ice cream flavor is watermelon.

***

Naeun walks down the road in the pair of the shortest hot pants she can find in her closet, the one that made her brother yelled at her and told her to change it but Naeun thinks she has great legs and when will she shows them off if it’s not during summer?

The sun is glaring down and already Naeun feels sweaty, her white tee sticks to her back uncomfortably as she adjusts her sunglasses. There’s one ice cream parlor near the park that she likes to visit since she’s a child, and she picks up her steps seeing the store is just a few meters ahead.

The air con is in full blast inside the store, making Naeun sighs when the breeze hits her neck. She stands in front of the display case, removing her sunglasses to look down at the varieties of ice cream flavor inside the fridge.

“Hello, welcome!” a deep but cheery voice greets her, and Naeun glances up to the worker on duty. Tall, healthy tanned skin, and a too wide for comfort smile.

“… I want watermelon,” Naeun says, her eyes leaving the worker down to the ice cream she wants. “… And vanilla.”

“Coming right up! Cone or cup?” he asks while opening the cooler.

“Cone.”

“… Right! Here, watermelon and vanilla!” The worker hands Naeun her ice cream with the same wide grin, undeterred by Naeun’s cold demeanor.

Naeun just nods and pays it on the cashier, about to leave the shop when the worker from before tells her to, “Enjoy your ice cream, have a nice day!”

She whirls around in her place. “… I know you from somewhere, don’t I?” she blurts out. He’s a little bit too familiar, but Naeun also knows that she doesn’t know him. Not exactly.

The grin on his face melts a little into a smile now, but still amicable and full of enthusiasm. “I think you do,” he says. “We’re in the same major.”

“Huh.” So that’s why. Naeun rarely pays attention to her surrounding, plus the English Major has quite a number of students, few months into university is not enough for her to memorize her peers. “… Well. Good work.”

A bright, “Thank you!” alongside a sunshine smile is what Naeun gets as a reply.

***

Naeun isn’t sure how Soojung manages to rope her into going to the unofficial joint MT (it’s a sogetting*, really) between English and Chinese Major, but it probably has something to do with her friend’s persistence and talking skill. She’s seriously good at getting what she wants.

“Naeunnie, Naeunnie, it’ll be fun, we’re going to the beach and play volley and eat ice cream and drink until the morning and I heard the boys are hot! There’s this popular sunbae from Chinese Major called Zitao—” She wasn’t listening anymore by then, but the summary was, Soojung wouldn’t take a ‘No’ as an answer.

She slept through the journey, and now she’s standing drowsily in front of their lodge, her friends busy moving their bags to the assigned rooms – even though they’ll probably sleep together in the gathering room or something.

Some boys are helping the girls, and a boy comes to Naeun, picking up the bags on her feet and asks, “What room number are you?”

Naeun needs some times to recognize him. “Huh, you.” It’s the boy who works at the ice cream parlor.

“Huh, me,” he mimics good-naturedly, grinning again afterward. “Namjoon, actually. My name.”

“Oh. … Hm. Naeun,” Naeun tells him, and Namjoon nods, hoisting Naeun’s bag on his shoulder. “So, where to?” 

True to Soojung’s promise, the students from two different majors head straight to the beach after settling their luggage, the girls in their bikinis while the boys try to impress with their six-packs. Soojung, too, is in a white bikini although she wears denim hot pants and a thin jacket on top, but her toned abs is on display and it’s certainly draw attention, even Naeun stares enviously at them.

She finally gets to see the famous Sunbae from Chinese Major Zitao, and it seems the rumors do him justice cause he’s plain gorgeous, a direct translation of tall, dark, and handsome idiom. Probably should add muscly into the idiom too.

Soojung’s like an excited puppy when she spots him and she wants Naeun to be her wingman – Zitao’s chatting on the side with an equally tall guy although their skin contrast like day and night – but Naeun’s not interested so Soojung drags Jinri with her instead.

Naeun shakes her head at her friend’s antic, wondering, not for the first time even though it’s only been a couple of hours since they arrived why she’s here with a bunch of strangers she doesn’t intend to know. But she’s here, might as well enjoy it, and Naeun opens her bag to take out the sunscreen.  

She’s in the middle of applying some lotion onto her arms when Namjoon drops down on his knees in front of her, making the sand crumbles around his knees, “Hey can I have some of that?” he asks, already offering his palms for Naeun to put the sunscreen.

Without a word Naeun squeezes the tube on Namjoon’s opened palm and he glances up with a grin. “Thanks! Want to join us playing?” he rubs his arms carelessly, jerking his head over his shoulder.

Naeun shifts her gaze to the crowd behind Namjoon, they’re about to play volley beach. She shakes her head – Naeun stays away from any sports that involve balls, she’s just not good at them. She raises the sunscreen tube again, because Namjoon looks like he needs more for his torso.

Namjoon brightens up at the offer and he thanks her again, now applying the lotion to his chest and his back. “Join us whenever, alright?” His eyes disappear into a mere slit when he’s grinning – Naeun doesn’t reply.

She also doesn’t tell him that he doesn’t spread the lotion on his back evenly.

***

Later at night they have a BBQ party, the girls cutting the meat and the vegetables while the boys grill them. Naeun keeps her participation at minimum, she helps cooking the food but she doesn’t talk much with the other girls. Naeun has always been a loner, it’s only thanks to, again, Soojung’s persistence that they’re friends.

Speaking of Soojung, she’s also still persistent at chatting up Zitao, now without a wingman as Zitao is also alone. But after some times Soojung returns to Naeun, carrying a small plate full of watermelon slices that she puts next to Naeun on the floor.

“It’s useless,” Soojung grumbles even without Naeun’s asking. Their friendship works like that. “He has a girlfriend already and apparently he’s coming only for the fun.” She bites onto her watermelon with too much force than necessary.

“… Why don’t you go after his friend,” Naeun says, handing Soojung a tissue for the mess she made. “He keeps looking at you.”

“Who?”

Naeun points to a direction with her chin. Soojung follows her gaze and sees the tall, pale boy that accompanies Zitao earlier. Right on cue, the boy turns his head slightly to look at her.

“Sehun?” Soojung looks back at Naeun. “Really?”

Naeun shrugs. “He stares at you when you talk to Zitao. I don’t think he’s being discreet either.”

“Hmm… Maybe I will.” Soojung finishes her watermelon and puts the rind back on the plate, leaving.

It doesn’t take long until the spot Soojung leaves is occupied again, this time by Namjoon who stares at the watermelon with high interest. “Are you going to eat that?”

“No. Take them,” Naeun pushes the plate closer to the boy. His dark hair is messy and un-styled, as if he doesn’t bother to comb them after shower.

“But don’t you like watermelon?” Namjoon asks, picking up one slice and starts to eat. “You bought watermelon ice cream that time. Or you just wanted to try new flavor?”

“I only eat watermelon if it’s ice cream…,” Naeun pushes her hair back, briefly wondering why he remembers what she ordered, or why she’s telling him that. Honestly, the reason she eats watermelon ice cream every summer is not because she’s a big fan of the taste, but because it brings back memories. Good memories of the eight years old her outside the ice cream parlor, crying because she dropped her ice cream until a boy came out from the store and made her smile.

“That’s unique. … At least try it? It’s really sweet. And juiceful. Is that the correct word?” Namjoon furrows his eyebrows but he brings the watermelon – the watermelon he already bites – to Naeun’s mouth, expecting her to take a bite too.

“… Juicy,” Naeun tells him, eyeing the fruit warily. But Namjoon looks at her with a silent encouragement in his eyes so Naeun obeys, opening for Namjoon to feed her. She wonders again, a lot of whys, but Namjoon grins at her as if he’s proving his point, so Naeun just shrugs. It’s okay, but she still won’t eat watermelon voluntarily.

As the night proceeds they gather in the living room of the lodge, the couches and table pushed aside to make a wide space in the middle. They start to bring out the soju and alcohol and Naeun really, really questioning what exactly Soojung said to her that she agreed to all of this. She makes a mental note to hang up the phone the next time Soojung tries to talk her into anything involving people.

They play games, drinking games, mixing soju and beer into a big bowl that guaranteed will make the drinker passed out. When the participants left is only about eleven of them – it’s 2 in the morning and the amount of alcohol knocked a lot of them, sleeping next to each other in the cramped space – they start to play truth or dare.

The reason Naeun’s still up and awake and in the game other than her surprisingly high tolerance is Soojung, who’s drunk already but too stubborn to quit. She wants to make sure that Soojung’s okay, and if it’s possible, drag her to sleep on the mattress inside their room.

Sehun’s there, and Naeun is right about him being not discreet – when he’s asked about who’s the prettiest girl at the MT, the Chinese Major points at Soojung with his thumb and says, “Soojung,” without missing a beat. Soojung maintains a poker face, but she giggles at Naeun after, nudging her side repeatedly with her elbow.

Namjoon is there too, and even though the tips of his ears are red and he’s grinning like a mad man, it’s also his usual default face; his eyes are still clear. Either he hasn’t been drinking much – Naeun doubts it, even she can’t escape from drinking a lot through the night – or his tolerance is through the roof.

It’s his turn and he also picks truth. One of the boys asks him about the most memorable kiss he ever had and they look at him in anticipation, looking forward to some detailed story of a make-out session or the embarrassing awkward first kiss.

“Ah…,” Namjoon smiles, “The most memorable? Isn’t it definitely the first kiss? Uh, let’s see… I was eight—”

“Anything under thirteen doesn’t count!” someone protests.

“It counts for me!” Namjoon counters, laughing. “It’s the truth! Anyway, I was eight and I just bought an ice cream and when I walked out from the store there’s this girl crying—”

“Boriiing!” another yells but he gets a lot of ‘SSSHH!’ from the girls who apparently interested in the story.

“—She dropped her own ice and that’s why she’s crying. And you know me, I’m a gentleman,” he wiggles his eyebrows playfully, “So I gave her mine and she stole away my first kiss. And my heart,” Namjoon clutches at the shirt above his chest. “She’s also my first love and we played together that evening. Theeee eeend!”

“Please don’t tell me you made a promise to get married later when you two grow up,” someone says.

Namjoon shakes his head, still grinning. “Don’t worry, I didn’t. I don’t see her again after that day.”

The game continues after that, no more discussion about Namjoon’s first kiss and first love, but Naeun is unable to look away from Namjoon for the rest of the night, seeing him in a different light after the story.

Because she’s pretty sure that it’s also the story of her first kiss.

It’s past 3 when finally there’s only four people left, including Naeun and Namjoon, and they decide to go to sleep. Soojung is out cold, curling on the floor, doesn’t budge no matter what Naeun does. Out of the corner of her eyes Naeun sees Namjoon goes around the room, putting thin blankets over their peers’ bodies and gives pillows to some.

“Do you need help with her?” Namjoon asks her when he spots Naeun trying to haul Soojung up.

“Yes—please,” Naeun huffs, blinking away the pounding in her head and the sleepiness.

Namjoon holds Soojung easily and carries her to one room, laying her on the bed and automatically tuck her in. Naeun climbs to the other bed, and maybe it’s the alcohol in her system, but it can also be just her in general, but right before Namjoon’s about the leave, she says, “Tuck me in too.”

The boy seems puzzled for the first three seconds, but then he comes back, pulling the blanket over Naeun until it reaches her chin with a lopsided grin. “… Good night…,” he whispers, ruffling Naeun’s hair lightly before he turns off the light and closes the door.

***

It takes more than a week after the MT until Naeun is sure with what she wants, and when she does, she walks to her favorite ice cream parlor once again, hair tied into pigtails, in the same shortest hot pants accompanied with her red converse.   

Through the glass wall she can see that Namjoon is working inside, in a red shirt and red cap uniform with a white apron around his waist. He’s bobbing his head – presumably to the song’s playing inside the store – while wiping the counter, his partner behind the cashier reads a music magazine.

Naeun exhales and walks in.

“Vanilla, cone,” she says to Namjoon without greeting him.

“Hey!” still he brightens seeing her. “Aaand coming! No watermelon this time?”

“… And another cone for watermelon. But,” Naeun almost crosses her arms in defense – her nervous gesture, “But bring it out after I leave.”

“Huh? What?”

“You can, right? Just step out for two minutes.”

Namjoon tilts his head in confusion. “Yeah I can, but I don’t understand, is the watermelon for your friend outside—”

Suddenly the cashier with ‘Yoongi’ on his nametag pipes in without even looking up from his magazine, “She wants to talk to you, dimwit. Go. Go…, take fifteen. Or even twenty minutes break if you want,” he says, his tone sounds lazy.

Namjoon’s mouth makes a wide ‘O’ – Naeun quickly pays for the ice cream and goes out, purposely not looking at Namjoon’s direction.

She waits outside, and it doesn’t take long until Namjoon follows her. “You want to talk?” he asks, one hand holding the watermelon ice cream like Naeun’s request. “Is this for me…?”

Naeun stares at Namjoon, and she keeps the eye-contact when she dumps her vanilla ice cream to the ground.

Namjoon gapes. “W-What—What are you doing—”

“I hope—,” she clears , “I hope you know what this is all about even without me crying, cause I just waste my money on that.”

“What…,” Namjoon is still confused, looking back and forth between Naeun and the thrown ice cream.

Naeun’s palm starts to get clammy. Maybe this is a bad idea.  

But then Namjoon looks down to his own ice cream, the watermelon ice cream, and he looks to the vanilla ice cream on the ground, and he blinks several times. When he looks back up to Naeun, the confusion in his eyes already changes into something else.

“… No way. Seriously? You’re really… Wait, this is not a prank, right?”

“What do you think,” Naeun replies, stubborn to make Namjoon realizes by himself.

He starts to laugh in glee, throwing his head back. “Oh God, I can’t believe—This reenactment, is it really necessary? Can’t you just tell me?” But he grins, wider than normal, and like their 8 years old, Namjoon brings his ice cream to Naeun's mouth.

“… I’m not good with words…,” Naeun mutters, accepting the ice cream offered and takes a bite.

“You could, you know, just attack me with a kiss like you did before,” Namjoon smiles amusedly, dimple showing. “You’re pretty bold back then.”

Naeun glares at him – she just showed him her gratitude because he gave his own ice cream for her – but she can’t keep the glare for too long because Namjoon’s grin is bright, and his hand when he intertwines their fingers together is warm.

Namjoon ends up taking the twenty minutes break Yoongi told him and they talk outside, sharing the ice cream Namjoon holds with her right hand while his left holds Naeun’s hand.

***

Naeun’s favorite ice cream flavor is watermelon, because it reminds her of good memories – memories of summer, a boy with a bright sunshine smile, and her first love.

*sogetting = blind date