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"Ow--ugh, fuck. God damn it.”
“Can you, like, not?”
“Hmm? Fuck--what the fuck, god--” Eunsook hisses as she stumbles on another crack in the sidewalk, and then on her skirt. This maxi isn’t helping her confidence or coordination at all. Seventeen Magazine lied to her. And this sidewalk is a piece of shit. “What?” she asks when she finally regains her balance, turning a questioning look to Taeyeon. Taeyeon is frowning at her, brows furrowed, even as they reach out a hand to steady her. Eunsook frowns back, confused. “What did I do?”
“You keep taking His name in vain,” Taeyeon huffs.They wiggle the bible in their hand in demonstration. “Stop.”
“Oh,” Eunsook says. Then she sighs and shakes her head, hiking her bag more over her shoulder. “You take this shit too seriously,” she mumbles. She watches the ground as she walks to make sure she doesn’t trip on any more of the uneven concrete. It’s only when Taeyeon hasn’t replied for a few seconds that she stops and glances back. Taeyeon is back a few squares; apparently they’d stopped walking earlier and Eunsook didn’t notice. Oh.
“Wow, Eunsook,” Taeyeon snaps now that they have her attention. Their voice is harsh. “It’s almost like it’s my religion or something.” They start forward again, brushing passed Eunsook and yanking her wrist to get her to follow. Eunsook stumbles again at the tug. “I know you stopped believing years ago but you know it’s still important to me,” they say. “I didn’t see you complaining when I was praying for your bunny when she got sick.” Their voice hits a note of roughness that rarely shows up and Eunsook sighs. God--no--gosh dang it.
“Sorry,” she mumbles. “You know I think it’s cool that you still believe and everything.” She puts her hand on Taeyeon’s shoulder, rubs it over their back and fits it around her waist soothingly. She doesn’t get how, or why, but it’s impressive how Taeyeon sticks with their faith and tries to live good by it. Taeyeon doesn’t look at her; they glare at the sidewalk in front of them, brows still furrowed and a genuinely hurt pout on their lips. Eunsook leans their heads together and presses the tiniest of kissies to their temple.”Really,” she says. “I am trying to stop around you.” She straightens up and glances around just in case someone is around that might see them and suspect them of being Gal Pals. When she finds no one in this quiet little suburb, she looks back to Tae.
Their frown is smaller now, face more relaxed. Eunsook squeezes them gently and pokes her fingers into their side. Taeyeon resists, but then a giggle spills from their lips and they arch away from Eunsook’s hand.
“Okay,” they say, poking her back in revenge. “Thanks.” They give Eunsook a soft smile, which she returns. There. Good. She pulls out her phone then to check the addresses they’re supposed to be visiting. Glancing up at the house numbers, she pauses, squints, does a doubletake, and hisses a soft curse.
“Wait, fuck,” she says. “We skipped someone.” She tugs Tae’s sleeve to get them to go back a house. Taeyeon whines, steps exaggeratedly heavy as she turns around.
“We don’t have to go back,” they complain. “They’re gonna say no anyway. Everyone does. We can just put them on the no list and whoever comes back here in three years to update the lists again can deal with it then.”
“Isn’t commandment number four to not lie?” Eunsook asks.
“Number eight,” Taeyeon says immediately, the rules and regulations always first in their mind. They hesitate after saying it, and then deflate in a sigh. “Fine,” the grumble, turning up the cobblestone path to the house first. Eunsook smirks as she follows.
By the time they reach the door, she’s fixed her face into a practised polite smile, the church smile, the “I’m an innocent and charming young girl that loves God and wants you to love Him too.” Another part of her soul dies on the inside in response to it. Taeyeon is feeling the same about their obviously forced smile also; Eunsook can tell by the quick glance they give her before they reach up to ring the doorbell. Halfway through the second ring, she hears scuttling and scratching behind the door; she shares a quick confused look with Tae before it stops and the door opens.
“Oh,” she says out loud, because it was just a dog, a little brown dachshund. The pup is cradled in the arm of the person that opened the door; when Eunsook lifts their eyes to look them over, they almost say “oh” again.
What a fucking babe. They have a square smile with full lips, a cute round nose, beautiful deep brown eyes, and sharp cheekbones. A long chocolate brown ponytail hangs behind them and countless piercings decorate their ears. Gorgeous tan skin is mostly covered by thigh high socks that disappear into jean shorts. The tank top shows more; it looks like it used to be a full shirt, but the sleeves have been cut off to showcase super buff arms. More fabric is also cut off, large portions of the sides, enough for Eunsook to reasonably deduce that they’re not wearing a bra underneath it. Frick.
Stop being so fucking gay, she tells herself.
“Hi,” the person at the door says, and frick, their voice is cute too. Eunsook blinks, becomes aware that her mouth is hanging open, and closes it; glancing helplessly at Taeyeon, she sees that they’re one step behind. Dang it. It’s up to her then.
“Hi, um,” she says quickly. “I’m Eunsook, and this is Taeyeon.” She gestures politely at Taeyeon, who has finally realized that they should be smiling again. They offer a little wave with that trademark eyesmile of theirs that always gets them off the hook. Eunsook refrains from shaking her head fondly and fumbles in her bag for a flyer. “And we’re with the Basilica of St. Joseph down the street. And we were wondering if if you’d like to hear just a quick quote from the Bible?” She gestures to Taeyeon, who is wiggling their little copy of the book hopefully. Eunsook is just glad that that little speech is mostly just automatic for her from how many times she’s had to say it. She knows she wouldn’t have been able to say that with no practise in front of this gorgeous human being.
The gorgeous human being who’s smile is turning into more of a smirk, their head tilting to the side as they lean up against their doorframe. Their dog nuzzles their chin and lays little licks over their skin as they glance between Eunsook and Tae. Eunsook has never felt happier to be judged in her life. She hopes they like her pretty braids. They open their mouth to speak and Eunsook finds herself thinking that she doesn’t care what comes out, as long as she can hear their voice again.
“Mmm, sorry,” they say, “I’d love to, but I’m a giant raging lesbian and I hear the big dude upstairs isn’t into that?” They reposition their dog in their arms and fluff up their fur. “I almost went to church once, too, but then I decided to join in one of those orgy things, you know, after a death metal concert, and I’ve been studying some witchcraft shit lately and I think that means I’d be like, automatically expelled anyway? It’s a shame, though, because you’re both really cute.” They shrug, smile bright and polite. “Thanks anyway,” they say again, and poke one of their dog’s paws up in a wave as they shut the door without another word.
Eunsook stares at the door for a long moment after it closes. That was… holy shit. She blinks, runs her fingers through her hair, and slowly turns to look at Tae. Tae is still looking at the door, but after a moment, they turn to Eunsook also. Eunsook watches their throat work around a swallow. There’s a beat after that, and then they push their little clipboard list into Eunsook’s hands.
“I can’t lie,” they say. “Put them on the ‘maybe’ list so we can come back next week.”
Eunsook has never checked one of those little boxes off faster in her life.
(When they come back the next week, they’re let in after bumbled explanations and rapid confessions with a genuine smile and a name: Junghee.)