Chapter Text
01.
“Yeosang’s in town.”
You nearly choked on your rice as you heard what your friend said about his brother. It was a Friday night, just like any other, spent in another green tent with a bottle of soju and a platter of fish cakes and ddeokbokki at your table. It was actually usually movie night, but for some reason, she wanted drinks first tonight.
Minyeo paid no mind to your reaction, or at least she tried—the smirk on the corner of her mouth did not go unnoticed as you swallowed your food, glaring at her before taking another shot of alcohol.
“Well—that’s good,” you managed as you set down the shot glass, rubbing your hands together before taking another stick of fish cake. “When’d he get here?”
“This morning. He was passed out in his room when I left this morning,” she shrugged, pouring herself another shot, “and he brought company.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. His entire band’s taken up the guest room. You wouldn’t believe all the snoring.” She nonchalantly took another shot, but she didn’t miss the flush of color on your cheeks as soon as she said it. It was no secret to anyone that Ateez was a group you liked, despite the history you had with Yeosang. The acrylic photocard holder chained to your tote bag jingled slightly as you shifted in your seat, Yunho smiling with a little heart cheek pose in it. “Yunho’s there, too.”
If you weren’t out in public, you probably would have strangled her right there, but you settled for narrowing your eyes at her and begrudgingly shoving more food in your mouth. “Well—that’s good.”
“You already said that.”
“What am I supposed to say?!” You whined, half chewing.
“I don’t know, but your reaction right now is really amusing.”
“Har har,” you rolled your eyes, trying to still your rapidly beating heart. The idea of your now-famous high school crush coming back to his hometown with his equally famous bandmates in tow made your stomach do backflips. You were perfectly fine admiring them from afar, when you could fangirl within the confines of your small officetel without being bothered by the knowledge that you could run into them any time you hung out at the Kang household, which was often. Now, you were conflicted.
“I’m going to Seoul soon.” Yeosang sighed as he propped himself up on his elbows on the backrest of the couch, looming over you from where you sat, waiting for his sister to come down.
“Are you nervous?”
“A little. But you’ll cheer me on, right, noona?”
You laughed as he looked down at you, playfully batting his lashes. “Don’t start now, you never call me that.”
“Should I start calling you seonsaengnim?”
“Don’t jinx it,” you glared at him playfully, a smile betraying you. “Hopefully next time, I’ll be worthy of the title.”
“Don’t worry. You will.”
“Are you scared about going to Seoul?”
“A little,” Yeosang sighed and sank a little lower on the soft cushion of the backrest, his face effectively hovering right on top of yours as he leaned closer. “I’m more scared that you’ll forget about me when I’m gone.”
“You’re still coming over to my house right?” Minyeo’s voice snapped you back to the present. She had sat there pouting with her hands cupping her cheeks, to which you responded by rolling your eyes.
“Fine. You really like to torture me.”
“That I do,” she beamed, downing the last shot of soju straight from the bottle. “And since I am the bestest friend of anyone in the world, drinks are on me!”
—————
The drive back to the Kangs’ was not long—it was only about 20 minutes from the town center, a route you knew by heart. You had been going there since middle school, before you were even old enough to get a license or drive a car. Pohang was the largest city in North Gyeongsang, so it made sense for your parents to send you to one of the best all girls’ schools in the country, albeit alone in a dormitory where you would have to mostly fend for yourself alone. It wasn’t hard with Minyeo around; she lived close to the town center and opened her home to you, so you had a fair share of homecooked meals (even if, in reality, the two of you mostly made them yourselves). This had been your second home for more than a decade, and you knew your way like the back of your hand.
And you also knew Minyeo was a terrible drunk.
“How could you be blabbering this much when we’ve only had one bottle each??”
“Soju,” she hiccuped, “can be a traitor.” She had a dopey smile on as she tried to get the car door open from the passenger seat. You took off her seatbelt yourself before hurrying to open the door for her. Minyeo stumbled into your arms, giggling softly as she leaned against your tall frame. “You might thank me later.”
“When you pass out drunk in the middle of the movie later and make me haul your ass into bed? No, thank you,” you scoffed and dragged her to the front door, grimacing as you punched in the passcode. You didn’t even finish when it swung open, making you look up to whoever had opened it.
“Y/n noona?”
You froze in your steps as your worst fear came to life. Yeosang was standing right in front of you, hair tousled in a pretty mess over his head and wearing a black sweater with his hand on the door knob. For some reason he looked delightfully surprised, and you didn’t know why. You blinked a couple of times, stammering his name. “Y-yeosang! Minyeo told me you were here…” you muttered, feeling her smirk at you from your side.
This sneaky bitch.
“Yeah, I got in this morning. Did my noonas have too much to drink?”
“Not too much!” Minyeo quipped, holding up a finger. “Just enough… to lose the desire… to walk…” she babbled, giggling as she leaned against you a bit more, purposefully pushing you to Yeosang’s direction. You rolled your eyes, but you could feel your cheeks warm up, being brushed by the cool winter air.
“You should bring her inside, I think I’ll go—”
“No!” your tipsy little friend cut you off with a whine as she attempted to straighten up, wearing her signature pout at you before weakly pulling you through the entrance. “It’s movie night and we’re—hic—watching a movie!”
“I don’t think—”
“You won’t think, just watch!”
The rising volume of her voice made you wince, and you couldn’t help but notice the heads turning from the sofa in the living room.
Oh shit.
“Fuck—fine,” you groaned before hauling her further inside, Yeosang stepping to the side while holding back his laughter to let you through. “But we are NOT watching a horror movie!”
“Don’t you love horror movies?” Minyeo cooed at you with a bat of her eyelash. They really are siblings, you thought as you rolled your eyes once more, shaking your head at an attempt to avoid the gazes of the people you knew were all gathered on the living room floor and sofa.
“I do, but not you,” you huffed, finally making eye contact with one of them as you reached the couch, your grip tightening around Minyeo’s shoulder when you finally realized it was Jung Yunho, who smiled apologetically before ducking his head and turning to the television, which, unsurprisingly, was playing a horror movie.
You remembered the photocard on your tote and pulled it tighter towards your other side.
Yeosang laughed lightly at your exchange, and you once again froze in place as he wrapped his arm around your shoulder in a friendly way. It felt awkward to you, but at least it hid the one thing you wished no one could see. “Well, I think we should get formalities out of the way before these two Disney princesses go up to the second floor—you all know Minyeo noona—” a flurry of greetings“—and this is y/n noona, a childhood friend of ours.”
Friend. The word stung a little bit, but you had learned to get over it. You accepted your place in his world, but it was like a sudden pinch on your side.
The boys said hello and all you could do was awkwardly smile and wave with your hand still clutching the strap of your tote.
“Nice meeting you,” you mumbled, voice slightly shaky. All you could think of, was Yunho can’t see his photo. From a quick glance you could see him smiling at you as he sat on the floor, and for a moment you forgot the awkwardness brought on by Yeosang’s proximity, mirroring his smile as you fought the urge to tuck your hair behind your ear.
“Will you join us if Minyeo passes out? It’s one of your favorites,” Yeosang grinned. You glanced at the screen. Midsommar. He remembered.
Minyeo clicked her tongue, “Not a chance. I’m not letting you steal my best friend. I’m watching too!”
“Will Poulter gets flayed in this movie,” you whisper, but it’s met with the loudest “I don’t care!” you had ever heard a drunken Minyeo screech. The room buzzed with hushed whispers as she stumbled her way to the sofa, squeezing between Wooyoung and San on the couch with her arms crossed over her chest.
“Welcome home, noonim,” Wooyoung said with a grin, letting her comfortable settle in the couch cushions with his arm resting against the backrest.
You shook your head at the sight and pulled away from Yeosang with a roll of your eyes, “I think I need a drink.”
“More alcohol?” He furrowed his brows as he followed you to the kitchen and away from the noisy gaggle from the TV screen.
“More alcohol for me—” The soju was right where you knew it would be, and you grabbed one bottle before reaching for some water in the fridge. “—and water for Princess Minyeo over here.” You were faced with the usual pictures stuck on the door: a family dinner photo, the siblings as kids, and the three of you sitting outside by the playground in your school uniforms on Yeosang’s middle school graduation. It made you smile a bit before you turned and handed Yeosang the glass of water. “You take care of her this time.”
“Um, y/n noonim, Minyeo noona is asleep,” Wooyoung called out from the living room, and sure enough, she was snoring, head thrown back against his arm, her own arms still crossed loosely over her stomach. The sound of the old man splatting onto the ground broke the silence in the room, Minyeo’s snores mingling with Florence Pugh’s screams, and the sound of sniggering following right after.
“Well, noona, it looks like you’re having movie night with Ateez.”