Work Text:
Jungah doesn’t want to exaggerate or anything, but she thinks she has just met the love of her life.
Beside her, Jimin scoffs and says, “Oh my god, pick your jaw up off the ground why don’t you?”
Jungah closes her mouth, not because Jimin said so, but because Jungah has to say actual words to this literal angel approaching her. This literal angel that sticks out her right hand clad in a bright yellow wrist guard -- a contrast to her long purple hair pulled up in a loose, messy bun -- and introduces herself as Kim Namjoo.
She smiles at Jungah, wrinkling her small nose as two adorable little craters -- Dimples, Jeon Jungah, they are called ‘dimples’ , Jungah’s brain manages to supply -- appear in the center of her cheeks. Jungah is pretty sure she is dead right now. There’s no way this is really happening.
But, there’s still the heat on the back of her neck from the sun above, and she still feels all sweaty and worn out from lugging her camera equipment and her OneWheel from her truck over to the first shoot spot of the day. And, Jimin is still beside her, rolling her eyes at Jungah because oh no, Jungah’s mouth has fallen back open to that dead fish expression again.
So, yeah, this has to be reality. This is Jungah’s reality and she is being an absolute weirdo right now. Not only a weirdo, but a rude weirdo that hasn’t said anything to Namjoo, who has been nothing but be beautiful and an angel and oh my god say something Jeon Jungah!!!
“Wow,” Jungah says, brain fizzling to string together words, “thighs.”
Jimin facepalms. Namjoo looks down at her thighs like she herself is unaware she has a pair.
“Unnie, I’m sorry, she’s usually a lot cooler than whatever is happening right now,” Jimin says to Namjoo, sounding like she is regretting everything that is happening right now. Jungah thinks she would regret everything that’s happening right now too, but her brain honestly has forgotten how to process any other human emotion aside from absolute thirst .
Namjoo looks back up and smiles. “Uh, no! It’s okay! I mean,” she does a turn, and oh god, Jungah is really gonna die if she takes another glance at how Namjoo’s butt looks in those shorts, “the legs are what draws attention first.”
The legs are what draws attention. Jimin is sporting her usual skating look of mint high-waisted shorts, a cropped Gucci top and knee high socks that compliment her scuffed up roller skates. These are one of the few moments Jungah realizes her tiny unnie really does have some legs on her, and the guys that have skated by and subsequently faceplanted into the ground have noticed too.
But Namjoo really has legs on her. Thick legs. Strong, powerful legs in short jean shorts and--
Jimin’s manicured fingers snap in front of Jungah’s face. “Dude,” she says, flat, “do you need a moment?”
Jungah, rattled, shakes her head ‘no’. “I - I’m sorry,” she apologizes, bowing her head and shaking Namjoo’s hand. “Pleased to meet you.”
“Likewise,” Namjoo says, being polite in spite of Jungah’s consecutive brain farts. “Jimin really spoke highly of your work.”
“O-Oh, yeah.” Jungah nods her head earnestly. “I mean, I usually film skateboard stuff, but I promise to make you look good. Not that - not that you need me to make you look good, cause you already look good. Really good. You’re really pretty.”
Namjoo smiles. Her cheeks turn pink. Jungah dies again.
“Thank you,” Namjoo says.
“Unnie,” Jimin interrupts for the greater good, standing in front of Jungah as if that will shield Namjoo from the word vomit Jungah can’t stop spitting, “you can get ready if you want. I still need to go over with Jungah what tricks I’m thinking about doing.”
Namjoon blinks, then nods her head and smiles back at Jungah before she heads over to a bench with her purple Adidas bag hanging off her shoulder.
Jungah finally reclaims use of her brain when Namjoo is no longer within radius, and she turns wildly to Jimin to hiss, “You didn’t tell me she was gorgeous. ”
Jimin raises a perfectly shaped eyebrow at her. “I told you she was one of Yoonji’s friends and a good skater. I didn’t know I had to warn you about hotness.”
“Unnie, I’m gay .”
Jimin blinks, not understanding Jungah’s obvious plight. “So am I?”
“But I’m gay and single and how could you just tell me to come and film a video knowing she looks like that? ”
“Oh my god.” Jimin looks over her shoulder at Namjoo tugging on knee pads, then tugs Jungah further off to the side and out of the way of skaters barreling by. “Look, you know you can’t be zoning out like this right now. She has a lot of high hopes for this video and I talked you up way too much for you to be doing... this .”
Jungah shakes the jitters from her arms. Fuck, she’s really sweaty. She shouldn’t have worn this baggy sweatshirt and these really baggy track pants, but she thought she was just going to film someone from Yoonji’s entourage -- whose usual choice of fashion is sports bras and gym shorts -- and therefore, did not feel the need to impress.
Quickly, she lifts her arm towards Jimin. “Can you smell me sweating?”
Jimin reels back from getting a noseful of Sweaty Jungah Pit. “Wha -- Jungah! ”
“Unnie, please! Am I sweaty?! Do I stink?!”
Jimin pulls a face, then leans in to sniff the air around Jungah’s armpit. “No. You don’t stink. But I have deodorant if you wanna be sure.”
“Please?”
Jimin goes to grab the stick of deodorant from her backpack and tosses it to Jungah, who hastily applies it. “So, I’m thinking we do some rail and curb grinds before making our way over to the ramp and then eventually the bowl. That’s unnie’s specialty,” Jimin explains, taking the deodorant back from Jungah to toss back into her backpack.
“What about freeskate stuff?”
“If we get to it. I paid you for two days filming, you know. So, we might as well get as much footage out of this skate park as possible.”
Jungah nods her head in quiet agreement. They usually don’t film at skate parks anyways, on account of there not being one skate park that has everything they need compared to the streets where there’s more flexibility to get creative.
Laojena has too many aggressive assholes hogging the rails, and the ground at the skate park by the Han River is too spongy for Jungah to pick up any speed. Sangam Extreme gets too crowded with beginners on weekends like this, and a creep spooked them both into not wanting to visit Ansan’s skate park for a long while.
But this park is good. The ground is solid beneath Jungah’s feet and there’s not that many skaters present to get in the way of her filming. There’s plenty of open spaces for some jam skating and spins if Jimin is up for it, and the noise level is manageable, a fun loudness that gets the vibes running.
It doesn’t have a lot of obstacles for Jimin to jump though, and Jungah’s not going to lie, three/fourths of the ramps here look like absolute shit. But, it’ll work for now. Jungah will make it work.
In fact, Jungah is so wrapped up in figuring out how to make it work, that she doesn’t even realize Namjoo is skating back over to them, until Namjoo playfully bumps into her.
All thoughts of cinematography and setting up the shot vanish out of Jungah’s head when Namjoo’s left tit squishes against Jungah’s arm. How can she think of anything else? Oh god, Jungah thinks she has died again. This is the fourth time and they’ve only been at the park for twenty minutes.
“So! What are we going to do?” Namjoo asks, regaining her balance and not leaning so much of her weight onto Jungah. “I’m kinda new to the whole ‘filming’ stuff, so I hope I won’t be holding you back.”
“N-No!” Jungah stammers, furiously shaking her head to further emphasize how wrong Namjoo is. “Actually, if you want to get warmed up, I can film you doing that.”
(Jungah realizes now that she should have been filming Namjoo getting ready as a sort of establishing shot, or to gather some more B-roll for the story she will eventually tie together, instead of gay panicking. But the thought of asking Namjoo to go back, unstrap her knee pads and undo the laces of her cute yellow skates only so Jungah can film her doing it all over again induces more gay panic, so Jungah decides to be smart and just shut up.)
Namjoo smiles. “Okay. Um, I’ll do some pumps on the halfpipe?”
“Okay. I’ll be over there.”
Namjoon nods and makes her way over. Jungah sets her camera bag down and starts putting together her set up.
“That wasn’t so hard, was it?” Jimin asks her. Jungah isn’t looking at Jimin’s face, but she sounds like she’s giving a smug looking ‘oh ho ho’ kind of smile.
“I’m being a professional like you want me to, unnie,” Jungah responds.
“You’re always professional.” Jimin skates circles around her, like a vulture in mint colored hot pants. “Let’s hope you keep it up when you see her skate.”
Jungah snorts. Then, because she doesn’t believe that there is some celestial being up above that wants to fuck with her, she says, “Unnie, I gawked over her thighs as my introduction. There’s no way I can get more embarrassing than that.”
It turns out, there is no limit for how much of an embarrassing human being Jungah can become. It’s like Jungah stuck her foot in her mouth with her ‘wow, thighs’ comment and then proceeded to eat the rest of the lower half of her body.
The thing is, it starts out relatively well. Jungah gets her camera set up ready and gets on her OneWheel and films Jimin doing her rail grinds and curb stomps. This is what Jungah is used to, so she gets herself into the zone of following the swift movements of Jimin’s body, her sharp turns and fancy legwork on the park’s flat surfaces.
Jimin falls on her butt twice trying to do a salchow off a ledge, but that makes Jungah loosen up. Accidents happen, and they laugh it off after Jimin gets done with her pouting and cursing for fucking up the shot. It’s all good fun.
Then it’s Jungah’s turn to shoot Namjoo.
And the thing is. The thing is, Namjoo is a completely different skater than Jimin, which should have been very obvious. She’s also a different skater than Yoonji, who is more the hill bombing, speed skating type that is rarely caught in the skate park anyways.
Namjoo skates very... powerful . That’s the only word that Jungah can think of as she watches Namjoo roll back and forth on the halfpipe, crouching down with her strong and beautiful legs, before she shoots up and angles her body backwards to do a flip and then land with both feet down and ass sticking out as she rolls backwards and does it all over again.
When Jungah gets the mic close up to the wheels, it’s like she can hear the weight of Namjoo’s body saying ‘fuck you’ to gravity. When Namjoo pushes off to jump, she soars . When she lands, she stomps . When she falls, she doesn’t really fall , but more so hurdles her body to the ground and rolls. Between Jimin and Namjoo, Namjoo is the only one that actually is wearing full covering with the helmet, wrist guards and knee pads. After Namjoo’s first fall, she sees why.
“Shit!” Jungah says when Namjoo falls out of a rail grind and tumbles into Jungah’s path. The OneWheel barely stops with Jungah’s sudden pivot backwards, and she gets off to help Namjoo back up onto her feet. “A-Are you okay?”
Namjoo winces, rubbing her butt. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. Little sore, but it happens.”
“Do you need a Band-aid?” Jungah blurts. Because she likes the way her foot tastes, she also adds, “I have the Hello Kitty kind.”
Namjoo laughs. “No, I don’t think I need a Band-aid,” she says in between her laughing. Namjoo laughs really loud. Jungah is very endeared and wants to hear it forever.
“U-Um,” Jungah starts as she sees Namjoo skating back to give the trick another go. “Don’t throw so much of your weight onto the turn when you jump, unnie. It should be more on the inside of the skates, not the heel where you’re leaning.” Jungah centers her weight on the ground, standing on the inside edges of her old Vans.
Namjoo nods, taking Jungah’s stance and her words in thoughtful consideration. “Okay, lemme do it one more time.”
Jungah nods and gets her camera ready.
Namjoo starts a distance away from the rail, and she charges into it like she charges into all of her tricks so far. She jumps and goes high, tucking her legs in tight like a cannonball before she extends them and her skates come down hard on the rail. Her arms fly out to give herself balance and she pulls the stance Jungah showed her, sliding across the rail and coming off in a clean jump.
Jungah stops the video before she can taint the audio with her banshee yelling.
“That was so good! Gold! Perfect!” Jungah shouts as Namjoo skates back over to her, face flushed and all smiles.
“Great!” Namjoo huffs a breathy laugh. “Glad the shot was good!”
Jungah nods, coming in close so Namjoo can see for herself. On the skates, Namjoo stands a little taller than Jungah, and Jungah has no idea why she finds Namjoo towering only a few inches over her extremely hot. Namjoo also makes a lot of intrigued and happy noises when reviewing the footage, which isn’t exactly hot, but is so fucking endearing that Jungah’s heart hurts.
Soon the three of them make their way towards the bowl. Jungah has to go back to her truck momentarily to switch out the OneWheel with a skateboard dug out from the nightmare that is called her back trunk. After sticking the OneWheel underneath a bag of laundry she forgot she had and isn’t even sure if it's washed, she skates back over to where Jimin and Namjoo stand on the south side of the bowl.
It’s larger than ones Jungah usually skates, with a spine running down the center that Jungah wants to play around with. Namjoo is tightening the scrunchie in her long hair. Jimin, meanwhile, takes her sunglasses out of her backpack to put on, long pink hair still hanging loose around her shoulders.
“Fuck, it’s hot,” she curses.
“Yeah,” Jungah agrees, wiping at her forehead. She feels so gross, and Namjoo looks at her with too much pity.
“Don’t you want to take that off?” she asks, gesturing to the sweat jacket.
“I mean,” Jungah coughs, embarrassed, “I - uh - I don’t have anything on underneath.” She backtracks. “I mean! I’m wearing a bra! But, you know, I-I’m fine. I’m totally fine.” Jungah waves her hand in front of her person to show how totally fine she is. Namjoo nods, not looking like she quite understands, but isn’t going to question Jungah’s weirdness any longer.
“Okay. So, do you have anything in mind for the shot or?”
“I’ll follow you both around on my board. Maybe get some stationary shots down at the bowl before coming up and getting any jumps or flips. Um, and also, if we can use the spine, that’ll be pretty cool,” Jungah explains in a mumble.
Namjoo nods. “Okay. Lemme just get a feel for it. Drop in when you’re ready.”
She turns and jumps into the bowl, smoothly transitioning into her stance and begins to carve along the side of the bowl past other skaters.
Jungah audibly gasps. “She’s so hot.”
“Stop being so horny over Namjoo,” Jimin scolds, sitting on the edge of the deck and getting ready to drop in herself.
“I’m trying,” Jungah whines. “But she’s so pretty and she skates so powerful and strong and I just wanna get my head crushed between her legs.”
Jimin wrinkles her nose at Jungah, then just chooses to not acknowledge what Jungah said and drops into the bowl. Huffing, Jungah grabs her camera and her board and drops down after.
She sticks with Jimin at first. Jimin carves fast and Jungah skates after with her camera held low to get all the footwork and sound of Jimin’s wheels. She watches Jimin soar up to pivot on the coping, then drop back in backwards and do a one-eighty transition turn back to her usual stance. Back and forth, left and right, Jimin rockets herself up and then drops herself back down with gravity. She’s a colorful ball of energy, and some skaters stop just to watch her move and dart around.
But, Jimin’s not a bowl skater, so Jungah only gets a couple of minutes of Jimin doing her carves and pivots before she is shooed away to find Namjoo, the star . “Make unnie look good, Jungah,” Jimin says with a teasing grin, before she skates away just to feel the wind blow through her hair.
Jungah pumps her way up the side of the bowl to the spine getting the flat of her board on top before dropping into the opposite side of the bowl.
She finds Namjoo there, and it’s like Jungah is watching a speed demon.
Namjoo moves like skating is all she knows, all she breathes. She’s carving quickly along the side, even faster than Jimin, and Jungah is just trying to focus on keeping Namjoo centered in the shot while keeping up with her.
She wants to call out to her, but Namjoo just seems so in the zone, and this raw power is so perfect for the camera that Jungah just follows after and hopes she’s capturing the feeling that is making her stomach feel all jumpy through her camera lens.
Namjoo then rockets up the side of the bowl and does a handstand on the deck. She holds the pose for twenty seconds, then spreads her legs into a V-shape, before she pushes off with her hands and drops back in.
And that’s, that’s woah. Just, wow. Jungah has to stop for a moment and stare in absolute awe and wonder.
She also stops right in Namjoo’s path, and Namjoo doesn’t have the time to quickly change directions before she slams right into Jungah and takes them both to the ground.
The few skaters on that side of the bowl all collectively stop and make a universal noise of ‘wow, that looks like that hurt’. It does hurt, and Namjoo is really heavy on Jungah. Not that Jungah is complaining or anything. She thinks her head bonked against the concrete too hard to think about complaining.
“Oh my gosh!” Namjoo shouts, still half sitting on Jungah’s stomach, but looking sorry about it. “Oh my gosh, Jungah-ssi!”
Namjoo gets off at last and the wheeze that comes out of Jungah’s throat sounds more like a groan of pain instead of the quiet plea of ‘no, come back, crush me more’.
“Jungah! Jungah?! C-Can you hear me? Are you okay?!” the three Namjoos ask Jungah, floating around her vision like beautiful angels. She feels one Namjoo grab her face and smush her cheeks. “Jungah!” she shouts.
From out of Jungah’s left peripheral vision, some guy walks over and rudely intrudes on the Moment they’re having. “Dude, is she okay?” he asks one of the Namjoos.
“I-I don’t know--” Namjoo sounds like she’s going to cry. Jungah tries to tell her that it’s okay, she’s fine, ‘please don’t cry for me, you beautiful strong woman’, but she just blows spit bubbles.
From behind Random Guy, Jimin comes skating over, eyes wide in shock. “What happened?!” she asks.
Namjoo looks at Jimin, chest heaving with frantic breaths. “I-I was coming back in from a handstand and didn’t know she was right behind me and I--”
“Hold on.” Jimin turns to Random Guy, who quickly looks away from ogling Jimin’s ass. “Are you a doctor or something?”
Random Guy blinks at her confused. “Uh, no?”
“Then unless you’re gonna help, can you please go away and let us scrape our friend off the ground?” Jimin snaps. Random Guy recoils from the bite in Jimin’s words, then looks to Jungah.
“I think she might have a concussion,” he says to Jimin as Jimin stoops down and tries to pick Jungah up by her armpits. Namjoo helps as well, both girls getting Jungah into a standing position at least. The camera hangs from Jungah’s neck, the pull out screen bent backwards on its hinge and microphone completely broken in two. But aside from that, it’s fine. Still recording and everything.
“Jungah? Hey, hey we’re gonna go to the doctor--” Jimin tries to say.
“No,” Jungah says, which is the first word she’s able to properly say.
It’s also the only word she’s able to properly say, since the next thing that comes out of Jungah’s mouth right after is straight bile and vomit. All over her sweat-soaked sweat jacket and all over Namjoo standing directly in front of her.
The last thing, the very last thing Jungah hears before everything just goes black in her field of vision, is Namjoo’s disgusted scream.
The very last thought Jungah has is a simple one: ‘fuck’.
“It couldn’t have been that bad,” Taeyeon’s gentle drawl soothes to Jungah’s bedroom door. It’s hard to hear her though, what with Jungah crying her lungs out into her pillow.
It’s been two hours since Jimin dropped Jungah and her truck off at her apartment. Yoonji had to be called in to take both Namjoo and Jimin home, since Namjoo took an Uber to the park and Jimin didn’t want Namjoo waiting for an Uber with puke on her shirt. And when Jungah remembers that, Jungah wants to start crying all over again thinking how Namjoo waited in the ER with Jimin still smelling like vomit. All so she could be sure Jungah was alright and got checked out for her concussion.
Actually, scratch that. She’s already crying just thinking about thinking about it.
“Jungah~” Taeyeon whines. “Bunny, come on. Let me give you your kisses and tell you the cute girl you threw up on still thinks you’re amazing.”
“I’m so gross , unnie~” Jungah sobs, wiping her nose with her wads of toilet paper she stole from the bathroom before flinging herself on her bed to cry. “Like, like first I show up all sweaty and gross and then I make myself look so unprofessional by talking about how beautiful her thighs are and - and Jimin really complimented me and hyped up how good my video work is and I fucking threw up on her a-and-- ”
“Your work is good, Bunny. You were just having an off day. All artists have them.”
“Yeah but they don’t throw up all over their art,” Jungah snaps, before throwing herself backwards to further cry into her pillow.
“Okay, I’m coming in whether you have pants on or not.”
Jungah doesn’t have pants on. They, along with all of her other vomit-covered clothes, are thrown into a trash bag by her nightstand to be washed when Taeyeon goes to the laundromat later on tonight.
God, Taeyeon has to wash Jungah’s puke clothes. Jungah sobs even louder.
“Bunny,” Taeyeon says, coming into Jungah’s room. “Jungah, stop it. The doctor said for you to not exert yourself.”
“I just feel awful . I ruined the video.”
“But the camera was safe! And you still have the footage on the SD card. And you still have another day to film when you get better, don’t you?” Taeyeon sits on Jungah’s bed and rubs Jungah’s bare leg. “It’s not the end of the world. You still have a second chance to make it all better and show Cute Girl you’re the fucking shit.”
“Who would want to come back and film after getting thrown up on?” Jungah asks into her pillow. Her nose is all snotty and her face feels all flushed from crying. It’s already bad enough Taeyeon has seen her crying in her Iron Man-print panties (again), but she doesn't want Taeyeon to see the gross snot face she’s making while she cries in her Iron Man-print panties.
“Look, Yoonji knows cool people. Cute Girl, by knowing Yoonji, is therefore cool and will most definitely want to finish this video.”
Jungah raises her head. She’s feeling dizzy again, but doesn’t know if it's cause of the crying or cause of the concussion. Maybe a little bit of both.
“I’m gonna give Jimin-unnie her money back.”
“She will refuse and then punch you in the gut for you offering to do your job for free and we both know it,” Taeyeon scolds. She gives Jungah’s leg a nudge, and then crawls over to spoon her.
“Listen to unnie. You are going to rest up and unnie is going to take care of you. And then, when Jimin calls you back about filming, you’re going to say ‘yes’ and then, you’re gonna make yourself look hot as fuck. That way, when Cute Girl shows up -- because we know she’ll come back because you’re an amazing skateographer -- she’s gonna see how hot you are, fall madly in love with you, and then this will become the story you tell everyone at your fabulous wedding in the Maldives.”
Jungah sniffles. “Can we get married in Bern?”
Taeyeon squeezes her and blows a raspberry in Jungah’s hair. “You can get married wherever you want, Bunny. Cause she’s gonna love you.”
Jungah feels a smile creep on her lips. “My hair doesn’t smell like vomit, does it?”
“Nope.” Taeyeon nuzzles her face more into Jungah’s hair to further reassure.
“You’re not saying that just to be nice, right?”
“Trust me, Jungah. I love you and all, but I wouldn’t stick my face in your hair if you smelled like puke.” Jungah thinks she feels Taeyeon smiling into her hair. She most certainly hears her laughing into it. “And Cute Girl really sat there in the ER for an hour smelling like your vomit. Like, if that isn’t destined true love, I don’t know what is.”
Jimin calls Jungah every day to check in on her and how she’s doing, but she only brings up the second day of filming two weeks after the incident occured.
In that span of time, Jungah managed to edit the parts that she did shoot correctly, and she did get some good footage of Namjoo skating and doing her tricks. She just really wishes she could have used the handstand shot. The moment she sees Namjoo’s body hurdling backwards towards the camera lens before the crash, she feels like she needs to vomit all over again.
It’s a Sunday when Jimin calls to ask, but they don’t agree to shoot until Friday morning during golden hour. Namjoo will be free then, and they’ll have the entire day to get in whatever footage is needed for Jungah to put together a killer video.
It’s fine. It gives Jungah enough time to figure out how to clean herself up and make one last ditch effort to impress Namjoo and hopefully ask her to be her friend and eventual girlfriend/wife.
Jungah sets her plan in motion Thursday night.
Firstly, Jungah looks up Namjoo on Instagram. That venture ends up going nowhere because apparently, Namjoo doesn’t have an Instagram, if the two wasted hours scrolling through Jimin and Yoonji’s following lists are anything to go by.
She checks Twitter next. Luckily, Yoonji just liked a photo with Namjoo in it, Namjoo lying on a couch covered in a blanket and an adorable looking samoyed, which makes the photo and Namjoo’s Twitter account appear at the top of Jungah’s timeline. Things are looking up.
Namjoo’s Twitter account looks like it’s a personal Twitter account. There’s no talk of brands like on Yoonji’s Twitter page and all of the photos Namjoo posted are more personal and cuddly looking ones rather than the photos Jimin posts of her modeling the Moxi skates and her bright stylish wardrobe.
Namjoo doesn’t even talk about skating. Outside of her retweeting literature quotes from bots, Namjoo really likes talking about her dog and her cactus. And also about baking bread. The bread tweets are funny. Namjoo is apparently not a culinary expert in the kitchen, but she’s trying and Jungah audibly sighs in fondness as she looks through Namjoo’s sad thread of her attempting and failing to bake a loaf of sourdough.
Jungah continues to scroll through Namjoo’s Tweets and pictures. She feels kinda like a creep scrolling through Namjoo’s account and not liking or retweeting anything. But at the same time, Namjoo might secretly hate her, so this is just a safety measure. But Jungah likes all of Namjoo’s Tweets in her heart, which is what counts.
Research done, Jungah goes to bed that night feeling determined, hands clenched and brows furrowed. Things are going to be better, she tells herself. Things are going to be better and she’s gonna be hot and cool and Namjoo will (hopefully) love her.
It will be a good day, she promises to herself. It’ll be better.
Friday morning comes early. Real early. Stupid early. But Jungah wakes up even earlier than that.
“You look too awake,” Jimin grumbles when Jungah comes by her place to pick her up. Her hair is in a messy ponytail and she’s wearing Yoonji’s oversized Fear of God sweatshirt over pink hot pants. Jimin probably has not been awake for no longer than the thirty minutes it took from Jungah texting her she’s on her way to now. She still looks super hot though. Life’s unfair like that.
“I couldn’t sleep,” Jungah admits. She’s trying not to eat of all the peach-flavored chapstick she applied in the drive over, tries not to touch another strand of hair on her head thinking it is out of place. Compared to Jimin, she’s a lot more dressed up in her plaid skinny jeans with holes ripped in the thigh and left knee, and a soft grey cotton sweatshirt with four different types of cacti printed over her stomach.
(Jungah always had this sweatshirt, mind you, but, you know. Since Namjoo likes cacti…)
“Is Namjoo-unnie gonna meet us at Gwanghwamun?” Jungah asks, pulling away from the curb and starting down the street.
“Actually,” Jimin yawns, “I said we’d pick her up so she doesn’t have to Uber there.”
Jungah’s foot slips on the break accidentally, causing the truck to come to a fast and sudden stop. Jimin’s face shams against the dashboard, and now she’s very awake.
“Jungah!” she yells, face red from the impact and the self-restraint of not murdering Jungah right here and now. “W-What the hell?!”
Jungah holds the wheel sheepishly. “I-I’m sorry,” she apologizes. “J-Just, I didn’t know we’d pick her up.”
Jimin rubs at her head. “I have a feeling I should tell her forget it if that’s how you’re gonna drive--”
“I’ll drive safely! I promise!” Jungah places a hand over her heart. “The last thing I want to do is hurt you guys. I’m sorry, unnie. I won’t freak out about this again.”
Jimin pouts at her, still rubbing at her forehead. “Namjoo is super chill, alright. You don’t have to freak out over her. Please. For not only her safety, but mine as well.”
“Promise.” Jungah says, hooking Jimin’s pinky around hers to seal the deal before she starts driving again.
Namjoo lives in an apartment complex near Jongmyo, which is very convenient. She comes running out the front door with her bag and her skates dangling in her other hand, dressed in overalls and a fitted yellow crop top. Jungah sighs, feeling fond all over again and forgetting momentarily that she needs to unlock the door for Namjoo, until Jimin has to reach over and unlock the door herself.
“Morning,” Namjoo greets with a smile to Jimin and Jungah. “How is everyone feeling?”
“Tired,” Jimin sighs, yawns.
“Um, good,” Jungah answers back. She puts the car in drive and begins to pull away from the curb. It’s not going to take them long to get to Gwanghwamun, especially with the streets being empty this early in the morning.
“So, Jungah-ssi,” Namjoo speaks, and Jungah tries to ignore how sweaty her hands get hearing Namjoo say her name. Cool, Jeon Jungah. Play it cool.
“Yeah?”
“So, well, I’m really sorry for what happened last time,” Namjoo apologizes, rubbing her knees together and biting at her soft bottom lip. “Like, it’s all I’ve been thinking about since it happened. I’m pretty sure I must have gotten on Jimin-ah’s nerves calling to ask about you.”
Jungah’s face is literally on fire right now, but she is playing it cool. “Oh,” she says in a cool manner, “um, it’s alright. I’m sorry for worrying you like that...and I’m sorry for...for the…” Jungah closes her mouth, feeling like she’s going to mini vomit from thinking about the incident again. But Namjoo nods her head and leans back in her seat.
“It’s completely okay,” Namjoo reassures, giving a shy laugh, “you might not believe it, but it’s not the first time someone’s threw up on me.”
That makes Jungah feel better, but it also makes her feel worse because??? Getting thrown up on is already traumatic enough and Jungah put Namjoo through that again???
But, Jungah doesn’t try to think about it anymore. They apologized and it’s all water under the bridge. Sweaty puke Jungah is gone and Hot Jungah -- with the kissable peach flavored lips and fierce cat-eye (that she begged Taeyeon to do for her at four in the morning) -- is here.
They get to Gwanghwamun as quickly as Jungah expected them to. Jungah parks at a nearby McDonald’s and all three girls get out to begin setting up their stuff. Jungah takes phones and spare shoes to put in her backpack to carry. She then circles around the two other girls with her camera, making sure to capture B-roll of Jimin lacing up her skates and Namjoo strapping on her knee pads and wrist guards and--
“Oh!” says Namjoo, and she looks at Jungah. “Um, so, this might be weird, but--” she digs into her bag and pulls out her yellow helmet and also a slick black one. She hands Jungah the black helmet, blush on her cheeks.
“Um, I also packed some extra knee pads and stuff. If you want them. Just, you know,” she gestures to the empty streets, “this is uncharted territory for me, and I don’t want to cause any more accidents.”
Jungah’s heart hurts. She stops filming to properly admire the helmet that was given to her. It looks like it was never even used. Jungah brings the helmet to her nose to smell it, and it smells brand new.
Namjoo giggles. “Is it okay?”
Jungah stops sniffing the helmet, embarrassed. “I - I like the way new equipment smells,” she blurts, and that doesn’t really help her case of ‘not looking like a total weirdo in front of Namjoo’ but Namjoo doesn’t seem to be all that bothered.
“Me too. I get all excited when I get some new skates to break in.”
“Y-Yeah! It’s fun breaking in a new board for me. Like, sometimes me and Yoonji-unnie go hill bombing and just--” Jungah angles her hand down and makes a ‘woosh’ noise to represent how fast she goes on new wheels. Namjoo giggles again. Jungah feels powerful.
They skate over to the front of Gwanghwamun and Jungah explains the basics of the shooting while Jimin gets some warm up stretches done. It’s really simple; they’re just going to go down from here to Sungnyemun and everything in between is fair game. In fact, Jungah already sees a flatbed truck parked out of the way that will be perfect for doing jumps off of.
“Golden hour is only thirty minutes, but we can still continue shooting after that,” Jungah further explains, then gestures towards the empty street. “In fact, I kinda want to do one shot with the two of you doing a carve down the center of the street heading towards Gwanghwamun.”
“Okay, Director-nim,” Namjoo says, and Jungah gets stupid giddy.
Jungah captures more B-roll of Jimin doing her spins, and then records some extra audio of Namjoo’s wheels before she gets herself into position. When she gives them the go-ahead, Namjoo and Jimin rocket past her, carving their wheels from side to side.
Jimin’s always been good at carving, but she’s especially good at shuffle and jam skating. Even without music playing, she has a rhythm to her body as she moves.
It’s not only her legs that move to the melody in her head either. She moves her neck, tilts her chin and swishes her hips to an imaginary beat as Jungah follows her on her board after that initial shot. When she transitions into her turns and her jumps, she moves so fluid and with such grace, arms out like a swan and playful wink thrown to the camera.
Jimin knows how to skate for a camera.
Namjoo, on the other hand, doesn’t.
It’s not Namjoo’s fault, but it’s obvious on camera that Namjoo is a little bit on the green side. She’s definitely a lot more conscious about where Jungah is now, constantly looking over her shoulder to make sure the coast is clear before she hops herself onto a planter and does a backflip off of it.
Her jumps off the flatbed truck are far more safe and tight compared to the backflips and handstands she was doing in the bowl and on the halfpipe. She sticks to grinds when it comes to the stone benches positioned along the street, compared to Jimin who is determined to get Jungah footage of her doing a backflip off one, no matter how many times she falls.
She’s smiling a lot less too. Laughing a lot less. In general, Namjoo looks like she’s not having much fun being here, and seeing Namjoo’s down expression through her camera lens makes Jungah feel really bad.
“Unnie?” Jungah asks Namjoo as Namjoo pauses to catch her breath and Jimin grabs them some water from a drink dispenser.
“Hmm?”
“Are you feeling okay?” Jungah asks, hoping she’s not prying. “Like, you’re not...really skating the way you were at the park.”
Namjoo straightens her back. “O-Oh,” she stammers. “I’m sorry. Just, you know, I’m not used to skating in the streets and...well…” she bites her lower lip, not knowing what else to follow up with.
Jimin skates over in the midst of the silence, handing a water to Namjoo and a water to Jungah. “What’s up?” she asks, looking between the two. “Lovers’ spat?”
“ No ,” Jungah says, hoping she’s not as red in the cheeks as she thinks she is. “Unnie is just...well, Namjoo-unnie, you look a little stiff on camera.”
Namjoo nods, thumbing a water droplet on the side of her water bottle. “I’m sorry.”
“No, don’t apologize.” Jungah shakes her head. “You’re still skating really well, but it looks like you’re thinking too hard, you know? Compared to how you were in the skate park where you just let go and--” Jungah bites her bottom lip. “You’re not...worried you’re gonna hurt me, are you?”
Namjoo averts her eyes. “...It’s at the back of my mind, yes.”
“Aww, unnie,” Jimin coos, “Jungah has fucked herself up way worse than that what you’ve done.”
“Y-Yeah!” Jungah exclaims, cheeks hot. “One time when I was fourteen, I accidentally ran into the back of a truck, knocked one of my front teeth loose, and swallowed it.”
Namjoo looks horrified. Jimin looks like she wasn’t thinking of this particular story, or that she even knew this happened.
Jungah’s rationality, meanwhile, is yelling on top of a mountain somewhere in Jungah’s head for her to shut up, but Jungah’s mouth just keeps talking. “P-Point is! You don’t have to worry about me! I just want you to focus on you being you and having fun , you know? Like, we’re just three girls vibing and skating. And also--” she hits her helmet, “I got my safety gear on! So, I’ll be fine!! Just think about having fun and being powerful and strong and beautiful and - and really sexy Kim Namjoo!”
A pretty shade of pink spreads over Namjoo’s cheeks, the color going all the way to the tips of her ears. “Wow,” she says, sounding like her breath was taken away. “U-Um, okay.”
She giggles, sounding shy. “Um, let me just...get these last few jitters out and I’ll be ready to show you some real skating.”
Jungah nods, then moves into a squat because the blood is suddenly rushing to her head and she is feeling really hot .
Namjoo skates off to the side, getting a feel of the cement and the planters and the empty benches. Beside Jungah, Jimin gives a little snort.
“You’re both so obnoxiously gross about each other it’s getting ridiculous,” she drawls.
Jungah puts her face into her hands. How could she have told Namjoo the tooth story, ugh . “Shut up. She’s not gross about me.”
“She called me last night to ask me your favorite color so she could pick out which helmet she should give you to wear.” Jimin winkles her nose at Jungah. “And last I remembered, Namjoo doesn’t even own black helmets.”
Jungah blinks.
…
…
Jungah gapes. “ No. ”
Jimin nods. “ Yes. ”
Jungah places her hands over the helmet. The absolutely smooth and polished and beautiful brand new helmet -- “Unnie, no. ”
“Yes, Jungah. Yes.” Jimin gets up and gives Jungah’s helmet a few friendly slaps. “Come on, Bunny. We’re burning daylight.”
Namjoo loosens up greatly .
Granted, she’s not as fluid in swift footwork as Jimin is, but that’s okay. Namjoo is having fun and she’s wearing a big smile on her face as she carves and weaves around the planters, Jungah and Jimin following after her. Frankly, that’s what Jungah cares about most.
Namjoo does salchows off of park benches and backflips off of large planters, skating along the outer rim of it by balancing herself on one foot. She plays off of her strengths and, after getting some tips from Jimin, she utilizes the sides of the buildings to help launch herself into tight front flips to show off for Jungah’s camera.
She’s not really much of a shuffle skater like Jimin is. Matter of fact, the only dance move Namjoo knows how to do is the crabwalk.
(“I asked Jimin-ah to show me how to do it, cause I like crabs,” Namjoo explained to Jungah like it’s her personal secret, and then proceeds to show Jungah her crabwalk. Without music for Namjoo to dance to, she looked very dorky-looking. But Jungah is practically overflowing with love and adoration for Kim Namjoo so she tells Namjoo that is the best looking crabwalk she’s ever seen in her life.)
Nevertheless, even without the rock and ebb to her skating, Namjoo still looks so cool .
Just, how she moves and darts around with such speed and certainty blows Jungah’s mind. How she throws herself into the trick and commits one hundred percent, and if she falls, she just gets back up again with a little laugh and promises to ‘get it this time, Director-nim!’
She has power everywhere. It’s in her arms and how she holds her head, her posture. Her legs, the turn of her hips as she crouches down and goes in for the jump or the flip. When she executes a trick successfully, she fist pumps the air and laughs her loud laugh.
She’s just... wow .
They make their way down the street slowly, taking advantage of the golden hour and the way the city skyscrapers look with the orange glow of the sun slowly creeping its way into its place in the sky. Jungah pieces together the clips in her head, what she might want to keep or discard or re-shoot.
And all this is fine. This day of shooting is going significantly better, but Jungah is still not accomplishing the secret mission of somehow convincing Namjoo to become her wife and for them to get married in Bern. And also, maybe, adopt a couple of dogs and start a cactus farm. Whatever Namjoo wants, Jungah wants to give it to her.
So far, the small talk between Namjoo and Jungah has only been quiet compliments about Jimin’s own skating as Jungah reviews the footage, or Jungah instructing Namjoo so Jungah can get a better shot of a flip or a pivot. No flirting is going on between them, and that makes Jungah feel a little sad. She decides to resolve this, but the only thing is how?
Golden hour is disappearing as they approach Sungnyemun Gate, and the sun is beginning to make itself comfortable in the blue sky. Cars and service vehicles are slowly rolling out into the streets, morning joggers and little old ladies walking their tiny dogs pass them by, and the shops are opening for business.
Jungah is absolutely starved for a real meal, and also a warm bath because her legs are tired from standing and skating and crouching for the last thirty minutes. They still have a little ways to go past Sungnyemun until there’s a spot for them to actually sit down at. When Jungah sees the seating area beneath a set of trees, she thinks she hears an angel’s choir.
“ Ugh ,” she groans, plopping down on one stone seat while Namjoo skates over with her hands on her knees. “I need to do more endurance stuff.”
Jimin rolls over to the both of them, still looking perfectly fine with her hands on her hips. “We’re not done, are we?”
“My legs are gonna fall off, unnie,” Jungah whines. “I’m gonna have to be pushed around on my board soon.”
Jimin rolls her eyes. “Well, let’s take a break and see what to do after.”
Jungah pouts. “I thought I was the director here.”
Jimin smirks, winking at Jungah as she skates over to rifle through Jungah’s bag for her phone.
“I’m just trying to buy you some time before you work up the balls to ask her out already,” Jimin whispers to Jungah. Jungah blows a raspberry at Jimin’s teasing grin, then pauses as Jimin reaches into her tight front pockets and hands Jungah a slip of paper.
Upon further expression, she sees that Jimin had given her a phone number belonging to someone named Seungdae.
Jungah looks at Jimin confused. “Uh, unnie? What the heck is this?”
“Ignore the phone number and turn it over,” Jimin instructs with a roll of her eyes.
Jungah does so, finding the paper to actually be a coupon for one free hour for couple’s skate at a roller rink in Cheonho.
“The weirdo that was staring at my ass after you brained yourself gave it to me,” Jimin explains with a scoff. “Probably thought I’d want to go with him, but I figure you can put it to better use. Namjoo loves doing sappy things like that and you’re a big sap yourself, so--” Jimin gestures between Jungah and Namjoo, who has found a seat on the ground rather than the bench she’s leaning up against-- “don’t say I never help you.”
Jungah wants to be a little bit indignant about Jimin calling her a sap, but she’s too happy about this literal golden ticket to Namjoo’s love that she is willing to give Jimin a pass this time.
“Okay, I’m going to call my baby unnie~ be right back!” Jimin loudly announces, giving Jungah’s helmet some reassuring smacks as she skates off. With the coupon in her tightly clenched fist, Jungah tiptoes over to Namjoo’s side.
“Hey, unnie.” Jungah takes a seat next to Namjoo. It hurts to cross her legs, so she sits with them extended in front of her and hopes any pedestrians walking by don’t trip over them.
Namjoo smiles at her. “Hey yourself,” she says. She tilts her face towards the sky and lets out a contented noise. “This was actually a lot of fun. Whenever Yoonji-unnie talks about doing videos, she makes it sound so complicated.”
“Well, Yoonji-unnie films with a whole team, and she has to keep her sponsorship to rep in mind as she skates in order to make the brand look good,” Jungah explains. “You’re not sponsored by anyone?”
Namjoo laughs. “Oh gosh, no. I...I wanted to do this video in the hopes that maybe I can stir up interest in roller skating? Like, maybe some other skater girls will see the video on YouTube and, and we can like, all get together and do one big skate event. Or something.”
She brings her legs to her chest, resting her chin on her knees. “To be honest, I’ve only been doing this for...three years now?” Namjoo guesses with a hum. “And I was really lucky to have met someone as amazing as Yoonji and Jimin by just skating at a park...even luckier that I got the chance to work with someone as talented and cool as you.”
Jungah’s face is on fire again. The coupon feels like a sweaty ball of paper in her fist.
“W-Wait, don’t butter me up,” she begs, “otherwise I’m gonna have a brain fart and ruin what I want to say to you.”
Namjoo blinks, then smiles. “Um, I’m sorry?” She politely gestures for Jungah to speak.
Jungah sucks in a deep inhale. “So, I know that when we met, everything went super awful and even though I apologized, I still feel horrible about it because you are the prettiest girl I’ve ever met. Not only are you pretty, but you’re so cool and you’re so talented . Like, three years? You can do all of this in three years and I couldn’t even do a proper kickflip until I turned twenty and you’re just so--” Jungah grips her head to keep it from floating into space-- “you’re just so cool and you’re hot and sweet and nice and I like your legs and I wanna go on a date with you!”
Jungah then punctuates her confession by thrusting the sweaty scrap of paper towards Namjoo. Namjoo stares at it, then quietly takes the paper to unfurl it and look.
“...Is this like...a triple date?” Namjoo asks.
“Wha?” Jungah looks and quickly turns over the coupon to the right side. "Ignore that."
“Oh.” Namjoo looks the coupon over, her smile growing bigger on her lips. “I love things like this.”
“So I’ve been told.”
Namjoo’s cheeks are pink. Jungah’s sure hers look the same, if not redder. “...I’d love to go on a date with you.”
“R-Really?”
“Mmm-hmm.” Namjoo giggles to herself, looking down at the coupon in her hands like it is priceless. “Spending a Saturday night skating with a cute girl sounds very fun.”
It’s been a while since Jungah has died from her overwhelming feelings for Namjoo. She almost forgot what it was like.
Jimin decides to conveniently come back the same time Namjoo puts her contact info in Jungah's phone and makes plans to go skating next Saturday evening. When it’s time to get up, Jungah pulls Namjoo to her feet, setting her hands on Namjoo’s waist to hold her steady.
“Are we going to film more stuff?” Jimin asks. Jungah still has her hands on Namjoo’s waist, very unaware that she can pull them away now.
“Um, if Namjoo-unnie is up for it?” She looks to Namjoo, awkwardly pulling her hands back to rest at her side. “Wanna get some more footage? I think we have enough for a good video. You both were amazing during golden hour and hit a majority of your tricks on the first go.”
Jimin flips her bubblegum pink hair. “That’s cause we’re amazing like that, huh unnie?”
Namjoo gives a humble laugh. “And cause we had a great director to set the shot for the trick in the first place.”
Jungah makes a dying whine. “Oh my gosh, unnie. I think my head’s gonna pop off its shoulders when you say stuff like that,” she bemoans.
Namjoo giggles, patting Jungah’s helmet. Jimin makes a face at the both of them. “I think we should just skate around. See where the day leads us, maybe?” Namjoo suggests.
“If it leads to me third wheeling, then I say we call it,” Jimin says with a pout.
“Oh, but when I third wheel you and Yoonji-unnie, it’s not a big deal?” Jungah questions. Jimin sticks her tongue out at her, skating over to swat Jungah on her butt as she passes.
“All this lovey-dovey stuff is making me hungry. Yoonji-unnie said if we're still out, she’ll meet up with us at Seoul Station and get us some crepes. Come on.”
Jimin skates ahead of them, and Jungah throws down her board to skate after. Namjoo comes along the side of her, keeping Jungah’s pace, kind of like they’re in their own little world as they glide together.
Jungah smiles at her, feeling good and tingly all over.
It’s looking like it’s going to be a good day.