Work Text:
[dh]
Surprisingly, it begins with Dahyun.
Tzuyu was on the phone with Sana and Nayeon on the other end. The two tourists had their cheeks pressed against each other closely. Had their mouths even closer to the phone’s microphone, just to make sure that Tzuyu could hear them.
Tzuyu could hear them well enough. The conversation that upped to screams even reached Dahyun who was at the fridge looking for the cookies Chaeyoung bought last night.
Dahyun eyes a greeting card flipped over and taped to an otherwise inconspicuous box behind the bottles of soya milk, a glaring ‘Do Not Eat I Like These Go Buy Your Own’ written in gel tip red. Perfect.
She gets one for herself and one for Tzuyu.
“Whyre you guyths squinthing?” Dahyun asks once she’s propped next to Tzuyu on their couch. She hands Tzuyu the cookie, and Tzuyu in turn hands over the phone. Whatever conversation with Tzuyu was dropped and the smiles Nayeon and Sana wore got stretched wider.
“It’s very hot here! The sun is literally overhead and oh, we should’ve brought shades!” Sana supplies, pouting at Dahyun as if Dahyun could give them a solution to their problem. Nayeon nods along while drinking from a water bottle she bought with finger points and squeals and probably more coins than should have been necessary.
“Well, did you at least put on sunscreen?” Dahyun’s more coherent this time. The cookie was gone all too quickly. She lets her eyes drift to Tzuyu, who merely stuck her tongue out and held her cookie closer to her chest. And then Dahyun’s eyes go back to the video call because Nayeon was spitting out the overpriced water out of pure shock and Sana was yelling,
“Nayeon what the hell? Are you cra—”
“Sana, we forgot about the sunscreen!”
There are more screams but the screen is nothing but black and Dahyun figures Nayeon’s phone has been thrown into the handbag while they run back to their hotel.
[mm]
And then it continues with Momo.
“Hey,” Momo calls out, struggling to get up from the floor while making sure Boo and Dobby land safely on the carpet. Jihyo and Jeongyeon eye her warily. Jihyo has half a foot out of the door and Jeongyeon has her hands gripping the neck of a golf umbrella that was hopefully still functional. “Is it sunny?”
Jihyo takes another step out. And another, and another, and then shouts from the fire escape in affirmative.
“Why?” Jeongyeon asks, her attention more on the two dogs who suddenly think the umbrella’s ferrule is the newest collection to their chewables. “I thought you didn’t wanna go with us to the arcade?”
Momo sneezes four times in under three seconds. She did want to go but she promised Sana and Nayeon that their apartment would be clean by the time they’d come back. The dust is thick enough to trigger her allergies and she’d pick Jihyo and Jeongyeon’s pouty faces over hearing Sana and Nayeon give her an earful any day.
Momo goes into a hidden closet by the door. Continues to sneeze and every sneeze brings a laugh out of Jeongyeon so at least somebody’s happy with all the allergens in the air.
“Take this one,” Momo says, handing Jeongyeon a bright yellow umbrella.
“Does this work?” Jeongyeon asks, letting go of the black one in her hand much to the joy of the canines on the floor.
“I don’t know, but it’s yellow.” Jeongyeon shoots her a confused look, and Momo rubs her nose to scratch an itch that was up inside before explaining, “So that it won’t be that hot. Black absorbs color and if you guys walk under a black umbrella then you’d get hot. Physics, you know? Optics.”
Jihyo returns and breaks the silence of Jeongyeon’s wonder and Momo’s suffering.
“Come on, Jeong. I have beef with some fifteen-year-old down at the Street Fighter machine.” Jihyo says, tugs the umbrella free from Jeongyeon’s grasp. “Wasn’t this black?”
Momo lets out another sneeze and Jihyo opens the umbrella, shielding her and Jeongyeon from the aerosols Momo lets out.
“Physics.” Momo offers.
“There’s some cetirizine in our apartment if you don’t have any. Mina should be home.” Jihyo offers back, before dragging Jeongyeon along. Momo hears Jihyo do another explainer on optics as they leave.
[cy]
Goes a level higher with Chaeyoung.
Tzuyu starts baking. She says it’s because she’s bored and baking was as good as a hobby as any but Chaeyoung hears Dahyun asking Mina to go with her on a grocery run to buy flour and vanilla extracts and almonds and if Mina could pay for it because Dahyun was currently short on cash.
Chaeyoung thinks it’s not really because Tzuyu was bored.
Dahyun comes home for the second time by nightfall. There’s a takeout bag from Chaeyoung’s favorite chicken resto and there’s a 6-pack of Chaeyoung’s favorite beer brand. Tzuyu’s third batch of cookies grows in the oven while Dahyun and Tzuyu say sorry for the stolen cookies over good chicken and even better beer.
Chaeyoung wasn’t mad. Not really, but it was fun to see her roommates scramble out of guilt. She keeps up the pretense of being mad because Dahyun keeps giving her all the wing parts of the chicken platter and Tzuyu offers her share of coleslaw and fries.
“I’m not mad, you know.” Chaeyoung breaks the moment Tzuyu gets out the latest batch from the oven, the first success story for the day. They’re chocolate chips with almonds in between and the design oddly looks like some post-modern nudity art in pastry form that Chaeyoung feels a stupid tear fall from her left eye. “I’m not mad.”
“We know,” Dahyun says, flicking her fingers to Chaeyoung’s forehead. Slides her thumb down smoothly, dabbing the stray tear away. “We wanted to make it up to you anyway.”
“I was bored.” Tzuyu defends herself. But she saves the prettiest cookie for Chaeyoung and stuffs the rest in two separate bags. “And now I have to go. Promised them the first taste if it ends well.”
“The weather channel said there’d be a chance for rainfall tonight.” Chaeyoung says, frowning at the sight of Tzuyu grabbing her windbreaker from their coat rack. With a container in each hand, Tzuyu has nothing to shield her from any rainfall.
“I promised them,” Tzuyu says. And then pouts. Chaeyoung finds herself standing up from the dinner table, tugging along Dahyun to stand up as well.
Chaeyoung looks for an umbrella and Dahyun says Nayeon borrowed the one they had a few weeks ago. Tzuyu doesn’t believe Dahyun. Chaeyoung doesn’t either but there was no umbrella and Tzuyu wanted to deliver the cookies while they were still warm, so they leave their apartment with their windbreakers zipped up to the neck.
Chaeyoung grabs a forgotten paper folder by the door, just in case.
Momo inserts that it was inevitable for them to get drenched, talks about angles and velocity and torque in between her thank yous for the cookies. Offers them to stay the night instead, but Tzuyu declines for the three of them because Mina was already waiting for their share of the sweets. Momo looked like she was going to say more, but a crash echoed in the apartment and a dog’s cry could be heard a split second after.
The rainfall gets harder, and Mina’s voice is only a few decibels higher than the pitter-patter of the droplets as she scolds Tzuyu for walking under the rain. Jihyo tells them to stay the night, and when Tzuyu declines for the three of them again, Jeongyeon offers them a yellow umbrella.
“I told you it was gonna rain.” Chaeyoung complains, squeezing herself in between Tzuyu and Dahyun on the couch, grabbing both their blankets to get warmer. There’s a shush from both sides, and Chaeyoung complains to the group chat instead.
[sn]
Spreads to Sana.
“Looking good.” Jeongyeon laughs more than states, and Nayeon hits Jeongyeon in the face before Sana could vocalize a whine.
“We forgot the sunscreen,” Sana sighs. The backseat window of Jeongyeon’s car is cool, and her burnt nose finds comfort in the cold glass. “How’s the weather here?”
Nayeon gives Sana an odd look through the rearview mirror but Jeongyeon’s unfazed.
“Pretty decent, actually. The clouds are up there.” There’s a motorcycle that accelerates and overtakes the car, missing Jeongyeon’s side mirror by a hair’s breadth and Jeongyeon lets out a string of curses that make Nayeon and Sana laugh. “But there was a thunderstorm last night, and now there are three idiots that are sick.”
Sana makes Jeongyeon stop at a noodle shop and makes Nayeon pay for three bowls of beef special. Is fully prepared to fuss over her sick people but gets pleasantly surprised to see Mina open the door to an apartment that wasn’t hers. In an apron that was highly likely Tzuyu’s.
“I see that Hawaii’s sunny this time of the year.” A shine of silver makes itself seen, and Sana gets torn whether to give the wannabe baker a hug or a punch.
Nayeon gives Mina both, twice. One for her and one for Sana. And then proceeds to give each sick person a peck on the forehead before following Mina into the kitchen.
Sana gives them forehead kisses too but doesn’t stop there. She wakes them up and hovers and does everything short of manually stuffing the soup down their throat.
They resist, of course. But Sana’s stubborn and eventually they became not-so-sick people after a bowl of beef special and the second pill Mina hands over.
“I’ll go ahead,” Mina says, giving them a pat each on the head. “I have a schedule by the beach down south tomorrow.”
“It’ll be sunny. Bring sunscreen.” Sana says, her eyes scrolling down the weather app.
“It will?” Mina asks, “At the south’s surf spot?”
Sana manually types the exact location Mina’s talking about and sees the variation in the prediction.
“Sunny in the morning. Small chance of thunderstorms by two in the afternoon. Cloudy by nightfall.” Sana reports.
[jy]
Rolls off the tip of Jeongyeon’s tongue, and maybe off everyone else’s too.
“You didn’t have to drive me all the way here,” Mina says, and there’s a tint of rose pink peeking out under the shades she had on.
“You say that now but you’re the one who knocked on my door at five in the morning earlier so,” Jeongyeon replies, cutting off talking in exchange for letting out a big yawn.
The large cup of coffee Mina bought for her was drained two towns ago, but her tank was filled thanks to Mina’s black card, so Jeongyeon figures the morning drive was worth the hassle. Even though the sun was too bright and she needed to squint to see the road clearly.
They arrive at the surf spot, and Mina hands over her pair of shades to Jeongyeon after all the bags Mina packed gets taken out of the trunk.
“Oh,” Jeongyeon says, touched by the gesture. But then she sees the sheepish smile playing at the edges of Mina’s lips and a familiar sense of fond irritation creeps up in her head. “You didn’t think to lend me the shades while I was driving?”
“I thought about it,” Mina says, and then takes a sidestep to dodge the halfhearted kick Jeongyeon was swinging at her. “But it was sunny and it’d hurt my eyes.”
There’s a fisherman who overhears their conversation and agrees to the weather. Gives off unsolicited information that the weather would be sunny for the rest of the week down south, while the areas up north would have constant rain. There’s a landslide warning as he explains on weather patterns and how the waves give off the telltale signs, another explainer on how the mainland would be a mix of sun and rain, and it’s too early to digest anything more so Jeongyeon nods politely for the rest of the talk.
Tzuyu’s face flashes on the screen when Jeongyeon is a town and two cities away from home.
“Heya, want something from the south?” Jeongyeon greets, shows off a half-eaten peanut delicacy that she bought earlier. “I’m on my way home now.”
“Can you look over Butter and Kaya?” Tzuyu asks, pouts, and whines all in one go. Jeongyeon’s heart swells at the sight. “I’m going north and Dahyun’s mom called asking her for a visit and Chaeyoung’s going to tag along with me so,”
“There’s gonna be pretty heavy rain up north for the rest of the week. Heavy enough for a landslide precaution.” Jeongyeon repeats what she remembers of the conversation earlier. “Oh and yeah, I’ll look after the dogs.”
[jh]
A buzzword to Jihyo.
“The weather?” Jihyo asks, and Mina reverses the camera, letting Jihyo see the sun shining down on the waves. Jihyo sees sparkles despite the 3G connection she’s having at the building’s basement. She gives off a jealous sigh. “Show off.”
“It’s worth showing off.” Mina says, poking a tongue out just to press on Jihyo’s annoyance. “How’s the weather there?”
Jihyo eyes the wet tracks on the cement. Evidence of rain brought by the cars going in and out of the parking area. “Wet. I think it’s gonna be flu season.”
Mina frowns, but her face gets smaller when another video pops on the screen.
“Hello,” Chaeyoung interrupts. Waves her camera to let them see Tzuyu’s back, busy with her laptop.
“The weather?” Jihyo finds herself repeating, and she wonders when she started the habit of needing to know about it.
Lightning flashes, a white fork playing at Chaeyoung’s background. A beat later, thunder rolls and Jihyo’s view of Chaeyoung’s screen is nothing more than the tacky flower-design blankets common in hostels for low-budget transients.
“It’s very wet.” Chaeyoung says. She gets the phone again and gives Mina and Jihyo the view of Tzuyu placing a bucket right under a dripping ceiling. Then there’s a sneeze. “I think I got the flu.”
[ny]
It gangs up on Nayeon, and oddly enough she likes it.
“I’m leaving.” Nayeon shouts over the television, over the volume level 61 Sana set to earlier. “Should be home by dinner tomorrow.”
Momo doesn’t reply, but she disentangles herself from Sana’s limbs and goes to their hidden closet by the door. Hands Nayeon a black umbrella wordlessly and goes back to the couch.
The dogs run their little paws up to Nayeon, and Nayeon crouches down to apologize to them that they weren’t going to play fetch anytime soon.
“What’s this?” Nayeon waves the umbrella, and the dogs get even more excited. “Is Dahyun looking for her umbrella already? Don’t tell her I forgot about it.”
Momo spares her a questioning look and decides to pause the drama they had on to talk but Sana beats her to it.
“It’s raining.” Sana states. Nayeon lets out a snort, and Sana returns it with a glare. “Use the umbrella, Nayeon. I don’t want anyone else getting sick.”
Dahyun appears out of nowhere, her arms cradling a dozen plastic bottles. “I come with vitamins!”
Sana and Momo clap too enthusiastically. Nayeon thinks they relentlessly baby Dahyun but then she finds herself giving off a deep curtsy when Dahyun makes a show of distributing the vitamins. Maybe she indulges in Dahyun’s antics more than her roommates, but Dahyun’s smile is wide enough to make slits of her eyes, so Nayeon thinks it’s alright.
“The weather is crazy, everyone and their mothers have the flu, and these vitamins were on sale down at the drugstore.” Dahyun thinks for a moment and Nayeon stalls from leaving. “Where are you going?”
“Family calls. I’ll come home tomorrow night.” Dahyun nods in understanding. In between the umbrella in her left hand and the bottle of vitamins in her right, Nayeon shakes her head in disbelief. “Do I really need these? Home is just a bus ride away and I really don’t like bringing things.”
There’s another glare from Sana, a new one from Momo, and the stare-off that was starting gets interrupted by the simultaneous notification from their phones.
“Jihyo says it’s gonna be sunny tomorrow.” Dahyun relays.
Momo gets up again, but this time makes her way to Nayeon’s room. A bottle of sunscreen hits Nayeon in the chest.
[ty]
Comes to a point where Tzuyu doesn’t question the answers given.
“Did you pack the vitamins?” Dahyun asks, her hands easily unzipping the bags that took the combined efforts of Jihyo and Momo to close. “I don’t see the vitamins. You need vitamins.”
“There’s an umbrella in your hand-carry. It’s tri-fold and lightweight and it costs as much as five kilos worth of dog food, so you better take care of it.” Nayeon volunteers. “Oh, better use it, too.”
“Tzuyu, the weather page got translated into Chinese. I can’t understand Chinese.” Sana pouts at her screen and pouts even deeper when Jeongyeon laughs at her. But grins instantly after Jeongyeon does a few taps to the screen. “Nevermind, Jeongie fixed it. It’s gonna be sunny for the rest of the week in your city!”
“Sunscreen.” Chaeyoung says, “Unless you like burning and peeling and, hey, Mina what did you call it? Exfoliating?”
The chattering in the room shifts to a round of laughter at the expense of a sunburnt Mina.
“It isn’t that bad. Ray said it added character.” Mina winces as she picks on a free edge of skin off her face. “But Chaeyoung’s right. Sunscreen, Tzuyu. The SPF 50 ones, none of the 30s that Sana gave for Christmas last year.”
“Ray is a 12-year-old boy who you constantly bully over PacMan and Tekken at the arcade, I don’t think his word is believable.”
Mina throws a half-filled bottle of SPF 50 sunscreen to Jihyo’s head, misses, and hits Dahyun in the eye instead. “Shut. And put that in Tzuyu’s toiletry bag. Sorry, Dahyun.”
“I think–” Tzuyu starts, and promptly gets cut off by Momo.
“I’m seeing stories from friends at the airport. It’s kinda windy and their hairs are a mess. Here, take this with you.” Momo takes the baseball cap off her head, taps it against the wall three times, and fits it to Tzuyu’s frame. “Perfect.”
[mn]
By Mina, it’s something.
There are raindrops, falling on the rooftop.
It’s a shower that starts an hour before Nayeon comes banging on their apartment door in the morning, bringing her laptop in one hand and a very wet black umbrella on the other.
Rainfall that continues when Chaeyoung and Dahyun appear huddled under a yellow umbrella, with Tzuyu a step behind under her own tri-fold solo-sized one. Unlike Nayeon, who barged in immediately, Tzuyu has the decency to say they were bored and that they wanted to hang out.
Mina sighs and suggests that they bake. Dahyun and Chaeyoung agree instantly, although the two make a beeline to Nayeon who was cocooned in a blanket she stole from Jihyo’s room.
The rain continues to twilight, when Jeongyeon keys in their door with Sana and Momo in tow, their hands holding paper bags from Mina’s favorite pork place.
Jihyo steps in a few minutes after the instant packs of ramyun boil, mutters complaints about the rain and cabs and friends who steal designated drivers.
Momo picks up what Mina couldn’t understand and tells Jihyo to go get dry and that they’ll wait for her before they’d eat dinner.
The light flickers constantly over dinner.
Their phones vibrate ominously, simultaneously. There’s a heavy rainfall alert and coastal areas are advised for storm surge precautions while mountainous areas are advised for landslide preparations.
Nobody says it, but everybody is moving with a purpose. Jeongyeon and Jihyo get the spare mattresses out of their rooms, Nayeon and Chaeyoung rearrange the furniture in the living room. Momo sneezes in succession as she carries a tower of blankets, and Sana hits an end table as a consequence of being blinded by the pillows in front of her face.
Mina’s by the window, looking at the blur of droplets racing to the ground.
“Mina, come.” Sana commands. She pats the empty space beside her, and Mina spares the rain a second-long glance before closing the curtains. She curls up beside Sana, and Sana scratches the bottom of Mina’s chin unconsciously.
[…]
“Thunderstorms tomorrow.” Dahyun announces, and the choir of hums barely rise above the volume level 87 that Sana set the television to.