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KIM JISOO IS NOT trying to show off today, but it just so happens that her breaststrokes are quite exceptional, as she thinks so herself, and her self-assessment only happens once in a blue moon. And, yes, maybe she just beat her record time in finishing her laps, but that has nothing to do with the fact that Jinyoung is there with Rose. Like at all.
Coach YG blows his whistle, rewarding the seven girls of the swim team, including Jisoo, a good natured-smile and a "hit the showers ladies!"
Jisoo propels herself forward, diving until she reaches the lip of the pool where Jinyoung and Rose are waiting for her. She emerges gasping, and is immediately greeted with a disappointing sight in front of her: Jin being focused on a stack of papers in front of him rather than Jisoo.
Rose gives her a final whistle, then: "You killed it out there, Jisoo! You were so good!"
Jisoo grins, because yeah, that must've been her best performance yet, and she finds herself grinning. Jin looks up a few seconds late, and gives her the biggest grin he can muster. "You were great, Jisoo!"
"Thanks," Jisoo says, and realizes Jin is looking at her legs with a guilty expression. "I'm gonna go to the showers and get changed. I'll be in a bit..."
"I think some of us prefer your current attire, but you go do that." Rose's smirk only intensifies as Jin's eyes flit back to Jisoo's legs.
"Yeah, I will." She says.
(She doesn't.)
Because before she can even strip off her suit and get rid of the disgusting chlorine-smelling water off of her body, she receives a text message from no other than Jennie Kim.
01.36 PM, JENNIE KIM
come over0
01.49 PM, KIM JISOO
Just finished swim meet
01.49 PM, KIM JISOO
Why, what happened?
01.50 PM, JENNIE KIM
emergency
01.50 PM, JENNIE KIM
hurry up
01.50 PM, KIM JISOO
Im on my way
01.52 PM, JENNIE KIM
also, I'm***
01.53 PM, KIM JISOO
Jesus Christ Jennie
01.53 PM, JENNIE KIM
you had the time to capitalize the lord's name, but not proper punctuation?
01.53 PM, KIM JISOO
This is coming from a girl who doesn't capitalize anything
01.54 PM, JENNIE KIM
shut up and hurry
01.54 PM, KIM JISOO
Yes ma'am
Jisoo doesn't have time to change out of her suit, so she grabs the nearest jacket and a pair of crusty flip-flops and heads out of the shower room.
"Where a-?" Rose asks, following Jisoo to the exit.
"Don't ask." Jisoo cuts her off, the squeaks of her rubber flip-flops echoing throughout the (now) empty swim room.
"What are you doing?" Jin calls out after her, totally just Jisoo's imagination making him sound disappointed.
"Jennie." Jisoo says as an explanation when she reaches the exit. "Text you guys later."
"Okay."
She sprints towards her car, the cold air hitting her bare body.
*
The ride to Jennie's apartment is hell, or at least Jisoo thinks, but the elevator ride is so much worse, because somehow Jisoo has a sort of hatred towards elevators and the tight spaces and the fact that she's alone right now is- good God, I'm scared-
When she reaches Jennie's floor, she immediately knocks and shouts out, because random images of Jennie lying on the floor is crossing her mind right now, and Jisoo doesn't really want a flashback of when Jennie got alcohol poisoning. When nobody answers, her knocking just intensifies, not even bothering to ring the doorbell.
After a minute of incessant knocking, she braces herself to do something dumb - like ram down the door with her shoulders, or her feet or something, just so she can get in the dumb apartment, but then it opens and she is greeted by a carbon copy of Jennie Kim.
Except this Jennie has more lines on her forehead, smile unlike Jennie Kim at all, and aura more refined. It's her mom.
"Jisoo, thank God, you're here." Jennie's mom looks relieved at the sight of her.
"Where is she? Is she okay?" Jisoo says, her breathing quite labored, and cranes her neck to get a glimpse of what's inside.
"She came down with a flu this morning and you're the only person I know who can get her to take her medicine." Jennie's mom says, looking exasperated and tired - a known Grace Reed Effect, as Jisoo calls it.
Jisoo tries to picture an ill Jennie Kim, with tired eyes and dull skin color and fails, because even her immune system is somehow like her, and she's only ever seen her best friend sick thrice even after all their six years together, and those were simple colds.
"Oh." Jisoo says, relief washing over her veins like a blood substitute. "Okay."
"Please, come in." The woman says, opening the door wider for Jisoo to enter. "You must be freezing in that."
Jisoo looks down subconsciously on her swimsuit and the jacket thrown on top of it, and crosses her arms. "Okay."
"She's right in there," Her mom says, leading Jisoo down a bright-corridor which leads to the familiar room of Jennie, and smells of air-freshener Jennie always seems to spray every damn day. "I told her to text you, sorry if she was a bit dramatic."
Dramatic, Jisoo thinks, malice laced on her own brain. She almost has had a heart attack reading Jennie's texts earlier. Jisoo sees Jennie lying down on her bed, the teddy bear she's gotten her on her sixteenth birthday around her arms. This causes Jisoo's heart to flutter somehow, because even after all these years Jennie still has the teddy bear.
"I guess she fell asleep a while ago." The woman says, looking concerned. "Jisoo, I know this is a lot to ask of you, but her dad and I are flying down to Japan for this weekend and I was wondering if you can check up on her? I-"
"I can sleepover." Jisoo says.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah," Jisoo says, smiling softly. "I can't leave her in this state." She looks at Jennie, and sees her tired eyes and dull skin and basically everything unlike her.
"God, Jisoo, you're a lifesaver. I don't know what I would do without you." Jennie's mom says with a look of relief washing over her. "Are you sure, though?"
"Yes. I'm sure." Jisoo says.
"I left money on the kitchen counter for you. We'll come home on Sunday afternoon." Her mother says, moving out of the room without anymore acknowledgement.
Jisoo moves inside of the room, sitting beside Jennie on her queen sized-bed, adjusting her blanket, as she drags her fingers along her best friend's porcelain skin.
What am I going to do to you, knucklehead? Jisoo thinks to herself, chuckling inwardly and fishes out for her phone on a backpack she's thrown carelessly on the floor to text her mom about sleeping over at Jennie's.
It's not everyday that you see Jennie pale and clutching worn teddy bear against her chest, pale and weak. Despite it though, Jennie Kim remains a feat in itself: brown hair against pale skin, striking as ever.
"You're dripping on me." Jennie's groggy voice breaks the silence in the room, and Jisoo immediately looks up from her phone, only to see Jennie still with her eyes closed.
"Sorry. It was raining outside." Jisoo says, looking sorry that she woke Jennie up.
"Clearly." She cracks an eye open and looks Jisoo up and down, assessing her outfit and realizes she just came from the swim meet. "Remind me again why I stopped going to those swim meets of yours?"
"You said, and I quote, 'I don't want disgusting chlorinated pee water dousing my physics homework,' unquote." Jisoo says.
Jennie closes her eyes once again. "Hmm. Sounds like me."
Jisoo scoots closer to Jennie to leech off some heat from her, because despite the heating in her room, Jisoo is still in the damn swim suit and the thin jacket. She runs a hand through her drenched hair, and realizes Jennie has her eyes on her, following the movements like a cat follows a red light dot.
"My parents are leaving are they," she says with a hint of disappointment, because even if Jennie Kim shows no emotions most of the time, she does this time, and her voice even breaks at the end.
"Yeah." Jisoo tries not to say sorry. "I'm staying though."
"Good." Jennie says, and smiles, not reaching her eyes. "Do you want to borrow some clothes?"
While clothes do sound appealing, because Jisoo reeks of pool water and is currently freezing, Jennie's mental and physical health take priority over hers for now. She heads off to the kitchen, scrambling the cupboards and closets trying to find something she can use to cook soup with, and finds that there's absolutely nothing to scrap off of the empty closets. She finds a bottle of cough syrup, however, and checks the expiration date to see that it expires in the next five years, and so she grabs that and heads off to Jennie's room once again.
Jennie still has her eyes closed, however Jisoo knows her too much that she knows she's not sleeping. Jisoo's phone, carefully tucked on Jennie's nightstand, buzzes and finds Jinyoung's contact name displayed on her screen.
02.35 PM, PARK JINYOUNG
Is everything okay?
02.41 PM, KIM JISOO
Yeah, jennie just came down with the flu
02.42 PM, KIM JISOO
She gave me a heart attack lmao
02.43 PM, PARK JINYOUNG
oooooOOh is that a sleepover?
02.43 PM, PARK JINYOUNG
Can I come? It would be fun I swear
02.43 PM, PARK JINYOUNG
I have a recipe for soup and it works like magic
02.44 PM, PARK JINYOUNG
THink of it as Jin Therapy
02.46 PM, KIM JISOO
I got it covered. thanks for the offer though
02.46 PM, PARK JINYOUNG
Oh come on
02.46 PM, PARK JINYOUNG
Pleasseeeeeeee
02.50 PM, KIM JISOO
Fine. But don't rope us into watching another musical
02.51 PM, PARK JINYOUNG
YAYYYY
02.51 PM, PARK JINYOUNG
Don't worry btw, I got the musical part covered
02.51 PM, KIM JISOO
Please dont
02.52 PM, PARK JINYOUNG
Les Miserables or Love Never Dies?
02.53 PM, KIM JISOO
I swear to god jin if u bring one of those i'm gonna strangle u
02.54 PM, PARK JINYOUNG
I'm bringing pitch perfect 1 and 2
02.55 PM, PARK JINYOUNG
Text me the address btw my car broke down earlier
02.57 PM, KIM JISOO
i hat eyou
03.00 PM, PARK JINYOUNG
I love you too Jisoo
03.01 PM, PARK JINYOUNG
See you on 15
Jisoo sighs, knowing that she can't do anything about the inevitable film watching of the two musicals later, and she vows to kill Jin by asphyxiation later if he brought anymore than two.
Jisoo slumps down on Jennie's bed, somewhat dry now, and Jennie says: "Jin's coming over, isn't he?"
"Yes."
"Did he bring musicals again?"
"Yes."
"God, one day I'm going to throw him into the pits of Lazarus."
"I'll help you."
*
"I'm not sick." Jennie says, rather stubbornly, looking disgusted as Jisoo pours the thick cough syrup into a table spoon.
"Yes, you are." Jisoo says, letting go off the bottle as it fills up the spoon and setting it down on the kitchen counter.
"I am not," Jennie says, with the same ever incessant stubbornness radiating in her tone, and Jisoo finds herself taking a deep breath before she can shove the spoon in her best friend's pie-hole. "Don't accuse me of being sick because I am not sick."
"The fist-sized mucus you just hacked up earlier begs to differ, Jennie."
"It was not fist-sized. Stop with the hyperboles."
"But you're still sick."
"Is that another hyperbole or-"
Jisoo groans. "Jennie, you're sick. Look at your skin! You're basically green." She says, trying to push the spoonful of cough syrup into her best friend.
"That's just my natural skin color." Jennie retorts, voice full of disdain as she eyes the pink-colored syrup in front of her.
In between their banter, however, a voice cuts in and says this: "Let the green girl go!"
Which leads to Jisoo and Jennie looking at the hallway, and seeing a Park Jinyoung dressed in sweats and a shirt, holding two paper bags with green stalks sticking out, which Jisoo could only guess is celery and is an ingredient for Jin's "therapy".
"Jin, stop with the Wicked references. Haven't you dragged us both to watch the live version like two months ago?" Even Jennie seems annoyed at this point, and Jisoo could only think that's my best friend right there! inwardly.
Jin shrugs, almost way too enthusiastically, in his all mannered boy-next-door moves, walking towards the girls and putting down the two paper bags on the kitchen counter.
"How did you even get in?" Jisoo asks.
"Sorry, the quote was way too perfect to not use within the context of your situation." He says. "By the way, the door was unlocked so I let myself in."
"Whatever," Jisoo says way too quickly, and now refocuses on her best friend who still refuses to drink the medicine. "Jennie for the last time just take the meds or-"
"Why don't you just use moist paper towels?" Jin says, opening his backpack, which probably is filled with every thing known to man and Christ, is that a first-aid kit?
"Moist what?" Jennie looks at him with an are-you-kidding-me look, a trademark that she has mastered. "Do I look barbaric to you?"
"I'm just saying, it works."
Jisoo sighs and washes the spoon on the nearest sink, and refills it once again with a fresh batch of cough syrup. "Jennie, for the last time, I need you to drink this."
"No."
"Have you always been this high-maintenance or is this a side-effect of all the cocaine you've been snorting?" Jisoo rolls her eyes, holding the spoon up again.
"Sorry. It's the testosterones."
"Testosterones?" Jisoo repeats in confusion.
"Yes, Jisoo, Testosterones are hormones that stimulate the male-"
"Shut up, I took sex ed with you back in tenth grade. I know what that means."
"All I'm saying is, I can smell the tension in this room." Jennie says, crossing her arms and leaning against the kitchen counter. She eyes Jin, who's humming something that sounds like something that came out from Mamma Mia!, and she tries not to sigh.
"I blame the legs." Jennie says, looking at Jisoo's legs guiltily before snapping her eyes back up to the syrup in front of her and scrunching up her nose. "It draws in all the boys, and the occasional girl."
Jisoo shifts uncomfortably, realizing she's only in a swimsuit once again. "Just take the medicine, Jennie."
"Make me." She says, her eyes glinting something dangerously close to smug.
Jisoo's stomach tightens. "It's just medicine."
"It's children's medicine, Jisoo. And as far as I'm concerned, I am not a child. At least not according to my height and to the size of my breasts." She says, not even pausing a bit.
"Well, you're acting like a child right now so you should be fine."
"Wow, that's such clever word play, Jisoo. Tell me, from what musical did Jin inadvertently force you to watch did that comeback come from?"
"Or," Jin interjects, putting his soup on a tupperware. "What about you eat some of the ginseng soup I've made you. It tastes good, my mom swears by it."
"Sorry, Jin. But I'm going by this unofficial rule that reads: Don't ingest anything that Park Jinyoung has touched." Jennie pauses. "Come to think of it-"
"Jennie," Jisoo says now, dragging the a until she puts down the syrup-filled spoon on the kitchen sink. "What do I have to do to make you drink the damn medicine?"
Jennie pauses, tucking her hand under her chin, probably to piss Jisoo off more than she should be. "Grovel. Bow down to me."
Jisoo groans, and looks at Jin who seems to be amused by what's enfolding in front of him, taking a bite out of a carrot stick which she assumes are the snacks he brought.
"Next."
"You could always buy me some disinfectant wipes." Jennie shrugs.
"Next option," Jisoo says sternly.
"Do you really want to know?" Jennie asks, her tone teasing and Jisoo finds herself rolling her eyes more because despite her being used to her best friend, somehow she's more insufferable this day. Jisoo nods. "Kiss Jinyoung."
This drains Jisoo off all of her energy somehow, and all of her confidence is suddenly pooling down her feet, and yes, clearly Jennie has said that intentionally just to set her off like this.
Jinyouny moves closer and puts his arms up and yawns with fake nonchalance. "Alright, Jisoo, where do you wanna do this?"
"Shut up Jin." Both girls say simultaneously, and Jisoo finds herself glaring at her best friend.
"Fine." She says, her voice unwavering.
"Wait, what?" Jin's eyebrows move upward infinitesimally, obviously shocked by the notion. "At least let me put some chapstick on first-"
"Jin get the keys, we're going to the grocery to get some disinfectant wipes." Jisoo says, finally cracking after her and Jennie's stare-off contest.
"Finally," Jennie sighs, now looking at her fingernails.
"Now that you mention it, and you're still here. I might give you a grocery list. Wouldn't want to waste the opportunity now, do I?" Jennie says, heading off to her room to probably get a list ready.
Jisoo waits in silence, and it's as if Jin can understand that silence means don't talk to me, and when Jennie comes back with a long list, she seethes. "Bitch."
"You too." Jennie smirks.
"Ugh," Jinyoung says, throwing his hands up in the air in utter exasperation. "What is it this time?"
*
"Jisoo?"
"Hmm?"
"This is fun."
"In what alternate universe is shopping for Jennie fun?" Jisoo asks, rolling her eyes.
"I don't know." Jinyoung says. "Just makes me feel like we're shopping for our kids or something."
Jisoo manages not to roll her eyes this time, as she reaches for a bottle of Febreeze on the aisle, and checks the item off from the list. "Jesus." she mutters.
"Honey," Jinyoung says, and Jisoo has to look up to confirm that he's talking to her. "Should we buy kinder eggs for our son?"
"Stop it," Jisoo says, voice laced with annoyance.
"How about our little Seongyi, does she need the toothpaste?"
Jisoo gets goosebumps from this somehow, because Jinyoung has managed to make his voice two octaves deeper, and it sounds so sexy somehow that Jisoo almost forgets that they're teenagers, and Jinyoung is a well-trained singer and aspiring broadway-slash-kpop star.
Damn actors and their manipulation skills.
And their superior vocal cords, damn it.
"Does this mean I have to sleep on the couch, darling?" Jin continues, and Jisoo grabs a bottle of Lysol and Clorox from the aisle, brushing Jin's comment off.
"Does Jennie use Lysol or Clorox?" She says, holding up the two items like they're fruit from the produce section, and Jin somehow forgets about his stupid concept.
"Get Lysol, my dad uses it."
"My mom uses Clorox."
"Just get both."
"Fine." Jisoo says with finality, realizing Jennie would like two brands of the same product anyway, and the whole discourse has been for nothing.
It's been five minutes of fruitless strolling, and Jisoo finds herself not knowing where all the items on the list are left. She passes by the cereal aisle, however, and is now contemplating a life changing decision: Honey loops or Froot loops.
"Seriously, Jisoo, you just look like a crazy person looking at those two- just get them both and let Jennie decide."
"But Jennie doesn't like it when I get two cereals."
"Then get the Froot Loops."
"But honey loops,"
"Just get the Frost Flakes."
With this, Jisoo wrenches the cart from Jin and stalks down the aisle.
"Aw, Jisoo, come on!" Jinyoung whines, holding up the box of Froot Loops.
She keeps walking.
"Marriage, am I right?" Jin stage whispers to a random man setting a loaf of bread inside his basket.
*
Jisoo almost dissipates into thin air once she reaches #21 on Jennie Kim's Damned List From Hell. She thinks it's rather fitting, as twenty items has cost her almost an hour now, and she thinks she hasn't been this exasperated her whole life.
She's never going out grocery shopping with Park Jinyoung again, she realizes, when she thinks of how much more emotionally and physically taxing it is to be around him.
Park Jinyoung is a marvel, she realizes, with his aficionado musical-boy looks, his penchant for quoting musicals that somehow make him more attractive than he already is, and his radiating optimism that will never fail to make anyone smile. He's a marvel, Jisoo realizes, when he sings Chicago's Cell Block tango in perfect English as he fishes the freezers for ice cream. He's a marvel, Jisoo realizes, when he cracks jokes that fail to deliver the punchline, but Jisoo finds herself laughing somehow. Park Jinyoung is a marvel, and it's a realization that Jisoo should've had a while ago.
"Jin, why don't you go wait in line while I get the final item?" Jisoo says, crossing off SUAVE SHAMPOO (STRAWBERRY) of the checklist, and already on the final item: tampons.
Jin looks more than happy to oblige, nodding off with a bob, and whistles the tune of America in West Side Story. The fact that Jisoo knows what song it is, is rather disturbing, since Jisoo has never felt nothing but boredom when watching musicals.
Huh.
Finding six-feet tall Park Jinyoung is quite a struggle in itself, because it turns out that he isn't in any of the checkout aisles, and Jisoo finds herself circling the whole damned store once again only to see a mop of brown hair suspiciously attached to a boy, and she backs up a bit and realizes that yes, it is Park Jinyoung with his thick threaded brows and his pointed nose and his gorgeous lips and-
Who is he talking to? Why is he talking so fast?
Jisoo backs up again, only to see that Jin is talking to a little girl, and she moves closer. Once she's within earshot, she catches the gist of the conversation.
"Frozen isn't about just about a snowman, you know that right?" Jinyoung speaks with so much passion Jisoo almost forgets he isn't talking to a seven-year old girl. "It's about sacrifice and-"
"Jinyoung-ah," Jisoo calls out, looking embarrassed, and the little girl runs off to who knows where, and Jisoo gives him a look that says what-are-you-doing.
"I was just explaining to her what Frozen meant," Jin tries to explain himself, and it just so happens that Jisoo is in a bad mood right now, and won't even let him explain anything right now.
"You know kids don't watch cartoons to know what subliminal messages lie on the movie, right?" Jisoo says, shaking her head and getting the cart beside Jinyoung before she even forgets what the reason they were here for is.
"Well they should be," Jinyoung says, catching up behind her. "Besides, it's not just a cartoon-"
"It's a cinematic masterpiece which contributes to the struggles that millions of teens and pre-teens face in this society." Jisoo says without a pause. "You've said it before, Park."
"You really get me, Jisoo." Jin says, holding a hand against his chest.
"Not that hard to get someone who acts like an eight-year old, honestly." Jisoo retorts back.
"I'm not-"
"Start unloading the groceries."
"But-"
"Now,"
*
"Wanna stop by at Starbucks?" Jin breaks the silence in the car once they've finally loaded all the groceries in the trunk.
"Yes, please."
"Do you drive or do I-"
"It's my car, I drive."
"Okay."
*
"Coffee or hot chocolate?" Jinyoung asks once they're inside the shop, which, surprisingly is not that crowded and actually has an empty booth on the side, which Jisoo has now sat down on.
"Coffee, black and a shot of cream." Jisoo says, thinking that if she goes on this day without caffeine on her system she'd officially go insane. "Get Vanilla Latte for Jennie."
"Okay." Jinyoung says, going on the queue now, and Jisoo takes out her phone to shoot Jennie a short text.
05.06 PM, KIM JISOO
At starbucks rn, grabbing coffee. should be home soon
05.09 PM, JENNIE KIM
wow, coffee at starbucks? i thought people went there for a massage
05.10 PM, KIM JISOO
Shut up, you're annoying
05.10 PM, JENNIE KIM
i didn't even speak
05.11 PM, KIM JISOO
Currently rolling my eyes
05.11 PM, JENNIE KIM
is it because you got my order wrong
05.12 PM, KIM JISOO
It's vanilla latte right?
05.13 PM, JENNIE KIM
wow you know me well, kim.
05.14 PM, KIM JISOO
We're both kims lol
05.14 PM, KIM JISOO
Is that all, your grace?
05.15 PM, JENNIE KIM
i like how you're slipping in casual game of throne references in each of our conversations now lmao
05.15 PM, KIM JISOO
I hate you
05.15 PM, JENNIE KIM
i love you too princess
Jisoo's heart flutters, and she blames the damn air-conditioning of the place and not the text she's just received. She waits a few seconds more before Jin heads toward her, three drinks, two in each hand and one tucked in his inner elbow.
She tries not to laugh at the sight, and not to kiss Jin on the cheek for remembering to get at least ten sachets of sugar, because Jisoo can't digest coffee without it being pumped with a ton of sugar somehow, and she just can't help but swoon.
"Should we go now?" Jin asks, setting down the coffee on the table.
"Yeah." Jisoo says after a pregnant pause.
*
"We're back," Jisoo calls out once her and Jin have unlocked Jennie's front door and kicked off their shoes by the mat.
"Finally," Jennie says, looking up from a worn-out book, which Jisoo can just guess is a Harper Lee book from the library.
"I was beginning to think you guys died."
"I can see that our deaths have completely devastated and bothered you," Jisoo says wryly, dropping all the paper bags on the kitchen counters.
"I actually mourned my losses before you guys got here, so."
"That quick?" Jin butts in. "I'm hurt, Jennie."
"Someone out here has to be sane and coherent to actually plan a proper funeral." Jennie says in a bored tone, without looking up from her book. "By the way, be a dear and put the groceries in the cupboard, sweetie."
"No."
"Okay," Jennie says easily.
"Here's your latte, your Grace," Jisoo bows down, and gives Jennie her drink.
Jin breaks the silence with a pop by a DVD case.
Jisoo groans. "Is that what I think it is?" She says, rolling her eyes already.
"If you're talking about one of the most iconic musicals of all time, and its less relevant sequel, then yes."
"Oh my god," Jennie says. "Are we really going to watch that?"
"After, you drink your medicine, Jennie." Jisoo reminds her, and now gets a fresh spoonful of cough syrup.
"Didn't you go out to buy stuff? Why didn't you buy actual medicine?"
Jisoo stops at her tracks. "It's what you deserve. Now open up!"
*
"Jiji-yah, before the movie, do you want ice cream?" Jin calls from the kitchen.
"Yeah, the coo-"
"Cookie dough kind, I know," Jinyoung finishes.
Jisoo smiles.
Jennie watches her and thinks that the random Kim Jisoo trivia paired with the use of the nickname that no one has ever called her, and Jisoo's lack of negative response to said nickname has set something inside her and she feels angry.
Is it jealousy?
No, no, nope, Jennie Kim does not ever get jealous.
In what parallel universe does the striking Kim individual get jealous, anyway?
She doesn't get jealous. Ever.
Does she?
(She does.)
She knows she's jealous, because even before Jin can give Jisoo her ice cream, she finds herself standing up to go to the kitchen and perches on one of the counters to watch Jinyoung work.
"You know you don't have to put that into a bowl, right? Jisoo could eat the whole gallon if you let her." Jennie says cattily.
Jin somehow doesn't pick up on her tone, and laughs. "Yep, that's Jisoo,"
"Yeah," And despite Jennie having unsaid feelings for Jisoo, she realizes that being jealous of Park Jinyoung is just wrong.
It is wrong, because Park Jinyoung has always been the most decent man that Jennie has ever met, even with his incessant annoying ways of somehow roping both her and Jisoo into watching the stupid musicals, film or live. Park Jinyoung has been nothing but an amazing friend to both of them, which is why Jennie finds herself smiling fondly at him, despite the fact that yeah, she should be jealous because this guy has her best friend's attention and-
"God, everybody's in love with that girl," Jennie says, craning her neck and looking fondly at Jisoo who's light reading the book Jennie has set down a while ago.
Jin chooses not to talk, because he is aware of the fact that both of them have unsaid feelings for Jisoo, and puts back the cookie dough ice cream he's already scooped back into the ice cream container, and just puts a spoon in there, realizing that yeah, Jisoo's probably going to devour it all.
"The pizza guy will probably fall in love with her." Jennie says, looking at her best friend and her pale skin which looks so so beautiful against the dull creme of the couch, and her hair that has never looked so soft- and her eyes, her eyes-
Jin laughs, only a little more natural this time.
Only later that he realizes that the statement isn't an exaggeration when the pizza guy arrives.
Jisoo answered the door, smiling hastily and saying, "Let me get my wallet real quick. Here, I'll take the pizza."
The guy smiles and hands it over.
Jennie leans against the doorframe and assesses the guy.
"So, uh, is your friend single?" He squeaks out, and Jennie hums.
"Do you know the entire soundtrack of Les Miserables and Love Never Dies backwards?"
The words Les Miserables somehow make Jin tune into the conversation, making him stop by the doorframe and crane his neck to see the whole exchange.
"...No?"
"Do you have a copy of the original broadway soundtrack of Aladdin produced by Robin Williams?"
"No."
"Do you at least have one photocard by the ever-iconic and legendary Barbra Streisand?"
"No."
"Then I'm afraid you aren't my friend's type."
*
"Can we all sleep on the floor?" Jinyoung asks, after the three of them clean up after the boxes of pizza and the empty ice cream buckets on the floor. They're absolutely stuffed and tired, despite not doing anything but watching the two pitch perfect movies.
("This is the best part!" Jin says, his mouth stuffed with ice cream.
"Shut up, Jin, you've said that like five times already and it's only been thirty minutes into the movie.")
"Why the hell would we do that?"
"To feel the sleepover spirit"
"This is a coed sleepover,"
Jin gives a pout, and Grace finds herself sighing.
"Fine."
*
"Goodnight, guys."
"Goodnight, Jin," Jennie murmurs, muffled by her pillow.
"Night," Mutters Jisoo before shifting into a more comfortable position.
"Stop with the blanket stealing, other Kim." Jennie complains. "I'm cold and sick, remember?"
"Oh so you're sick now? By the way, I have a warm body."
Jisoo scoots over and for once, she's the little spoon, her back fitting against Jennie's chest, and Jennie thinks that it's just platonic cuddling - because she's rooting for Park Jinyoung. And Jennie sort of has a small crush on Rose, so.
"Love you both, by the way," Jin mutters sleepily.
"The feeling is mutual, now go sleep." Jisoo says.
"Just so you know, if either of you wakes me up before eleven, I'm going to kill you both by asphyxiation."
"Duly noted, Jennie." Jinyoung says.
*
Jennie's nose won't stop bugging her.
She sits up in the dead of night, looking for water. Or tissues. Or stupid children's medicine that she'll never admit to taking because she's not even remotely sick. Nope.
Jisoo wriggles around from the floor. "Jennie?"
"Sorry for waking you up," Jennie whispers, settling back down on the ground.
"S'okay."
Jennie can feel Jisoo's breath hitting her face, and it somehow smells of toothpaste, and the thought of Jisoo using her toothbrush is disgusting but at the same time it tugs at Jennie's heartstrings and plays a symphony of melody and she's stuck between opening her mouth and closing it. Like a goldfish.
"Goodnight," Jennie says, closing her eyes, and opening them again, because Jisoo in her sleepy state is gorgeous and soft and pretty and ethereal and Jennie doesn't want to kiss somebody this much. Jisoo's essence is unabridged debauchery. Debauchery that Jennie is always willing to indulge in.
Just not tonight.
"Jennie?" Jisoo says huskily, and wow, that's so hot-
"What?"
"I love you."
"Hmm, too attached." Jennie says with a yawn.
Jisoo softly laughs. "Maybe,"
Jennie's eyes snap open. And maybe it's because of Jisoo's minty breath at the dead of night, or how beautiful her eyes are, or how her skin glows at the city lights peaking from the windows, and good God, Jisoo's leaning in and Jennie doesn't lean back and finds herself stuck in her place, and finds that Jisoo's chapped lips taste like watermelon.
It's a mix of mint and watermelon and Jennie wants this taste bottled up and mass-produced. It's a mix of desperation and pent up feelings and a mess of limbs and teeth and tounge and-
And.
And Jennie jolts awake, sweat dripping down her neck. She looks around and finds Jisoo softly snoring, and Jin on the far end of the rug.
First we feel, then we fall. She recalls the quote lecture they had a week ago on twentieth century literature.
Literature has never been more relevant than now.
*
"Breakfast." Jinyoung declares in the morning, scraping off a couple of eggs from the pan to ceramic plates on the kitchen counter,
Jisoo comes in, rubbing the sleep off her eyes, with a yawn. "Eggs?" she says, and tries to open her eyes without hissing at the bright sunlight.
"I'm not that good at cooking. We should've called Rose for this."
Jisoo lets out a soft laugh. "That's fine. None of us know how to cook without burning down the house either."
There's a long comfortable silence, and Jin stares at Jisoo for way too long, and realizes she looks the best in mornings - the sunlight hitting her dark skin and her sleepy smile. He likes her a lot in the mornings. In the afternoons too. Maybe he just likes her generally.
She looks up at him. "What?"
"Nothing,"
"Oh."
"Where's Jennie?"
"In her room, sleeping. Turns out she slipped off last night and decided to sleep on a bed and can't commit to the whole sleepover thing."
And suddenly they're both gravitating towards each other, and up, up, up, Jisoo finds that Jin is taller than he should be, which makes this harder for her, but they're kissing- and it's everything Jin pictured it would be.
It's a dream.
Jin jolts up, blinks, and finds himself staring into a dark ceiling. He sits up in the darkness. His eyes adjust and he can make out the frame of Jennie Kim across the room, also sitting up.
They both glance down at Jisoo, who's lost in her own dreams, then back at each other, their faces etched into paintings of astonishment.
He suspects Jennie's awake for the same reason he is.
Everybody is in love with Kim Jisoo.
Truer words never spoken, he pictures Jennie saying.
And then he'd laugh as if the whole situation isn't hurting him, nor Jennie. He'd laugh and somehow forget that both of them are irretrievably so in love with this girl.
Jennie smiles like she's rooting for him. Maybe she is rooting for him.
Jin can't tell, but he thinks her eyes are getting glassy. Is she crying? Please don't cry, he tries to say this without words, with only his facial expressions, and tries to use all of his trainings in auditions and-
Before he can check whether or not Jennie is crying however, she lays down and rolls to the possible farthest edge of the makeshift bed on the floor, as if to say she's all yours.
He lies back down and falls asleep to the sound of Jisoo's breathing.
His last thought is that he wishes he could be like Jennie, willing to give up his best friend for someone else, but he isn't, because on top of being over-bearing, and stubborn, and annoying, and idealistic, Park Jinyoung is also absolutely selfish.
And Jennie Kim is tremendously not. She is unselfish, and Jin has realized this since he's known that Jennie is in love with Jisoo.
Maybe Jin can string better words for her, but right now he's falling asleep and he hears a small sniff which he can only wish is Jennie's cold, and not sniffles from crying.
He sighs.