Work Text:
It’s a strange feeling.
The tingling in her stomach and that anticipation that makes her throat go all dry.
It reminds her of that very first performance in front of the producers – only now she’s somehow even more nervous and it makes her huff out a shy laugh because for the longest time she had thought that nothing could ever strain her nerves more than monthly evaluations. But here she was now – her body teaching her otherwise.
She feels a pair of dark eyes on her and the tightness in her chest worsens without her having to meet the gaze directly. She knows what it wants to tell her anyway. Heck, it’s even her own fault that she gets that look.
To distract herself from the thoughts that are beginning to form in her head, she reaches for the small green bottle in front of her and twists the lid off. She hesitates for a second before lifting the bottle to her lips and taking a small sip.
The liquid runs down her throat and it burns a little as the taste of plums unfolds in her palate. She waits, but nothing else happens other than her throat being somewhat less dry. She almost feels a little disappointed that it doesn’t evoke any other physical response, but then again, she’s never done this before, so she really has no idea what to expect.
“Unnie! Yah, wait for us.”, someone behind her yelps and she’s quick to put the bottle back down on the floor again – busted.
“She can’t wait for this to start.”, the girl who owns the dark eyes says, as she sits down in front of her with crossed legs.
“Wonder why.”, she then adds – not loud enough for anyone to hear except her vis-à-vis.
They stare at each other for a moment, and then they are joined by four other people – each one of them plopping down beside them, forming a circle on the floor.
“Did you taste it? Is it good?”, the tall blonde girl sitting at her right asks quietly – eyeing her own bottle of Soju skeptically.
“It’s okay I guess.”, she answers with a shrug – head snapping up when there’s a loud thud coming from the middle of their round.
“Okay, listen up losers. Since I’m the oldest, it’s my unpleasant responsibility to look after you poops tonight and-.”
“Stop whining, Chu. This was your idea after all.”, comes a grinning remark from the blonde – which is being addressed with a quick: “Shush Chaeyoung-ah. The adult is speaking now.”
There’s a dramatic pause before she continues – dark eyes wandering from one person to the next.
“As I was saying, before being so rudely interrupted, I am in charge tonight, so I’d advise you all not to overdo it with the Soju. You all have minimal to no experience with alcohol, and I guarantee you I will not be holding anyone's hair up, so… let’s all drink responsibly.”
The tense silence in the room could’ve been cut with a knife right then, but before things got too stiff, the eldest girl in the room laughs out loud – pointing at the others in glee.
“Oh my God, you should’ve seen your faces right now. To die for.”
There was a collective exhale around the group and before anyone knew what was happening had the blonde girl already launches forward to hit the back of their friend’s head as a punishment – almost knocking over several soju bottles in the process.
“You are the worst comedian ever, Kim Jisoo.”, the girl establishes after she had returned to her place – demonstratively opening her beverage and taking a big gulp.
“You’re not so bad yourself, Park Chaeyoung.”, Jisoo retorts – making the others in the group groan audibly. It was always like that with these two. They could go on for hours and hours with their quarrels – so she decides to put an end to it right away by changing the subject to more important matters.
“So, how do we do this? We spin the bottle and whoever it lands on must choose truth or dare?”
“That’s correct, Miss Kim.”, Jisoo nodds in agreement.
“Right. And when do we drink?”, comes the question from another blonde girl in the circle. She hadn’t touched her bottle of Soju yet and Jisoo was quick to open it for her whilst answering her.
“Whenever it’s your turn and you refuse to answer the question or the dare, Manobal. Say are you sure you’ve played this game before?”
Lisa, the girl with the short blonde hair sticks out her tongue at Jisoo and shrugs before murmuring something about the game being played differently in Thailand.
“So… who starts?”, the oldest asks, but her eyes are already fixed on someone as she grins slyly. “How about our dear Miss Kim? Jen, would you do us the honor?”
Her head snaps up from where she had been zooning out – staring at Lisa’s profile absent-mindedly and she needs a moment before she registers what’s happening around her.
Jisoo’s amused eyes are nagging her, but she shakes it off by bending forward and grabbing the bottle in the middle of the circle.
She sends a quick silent prayer to the Gods as she gives it a spin – anxiously waiting and hoping. What for, she’s suddenly not so sure about anymore.
It’s only about one hour later when she finds that her bottle is almost empty. It amazes her that she hasn’t even noticed up to right now how much she had been drinking and how she totally doesn’t feel any different.
Was it that easy? Being drunk. Or was she a natural? Was she maybe one of these people who could drink and drink and drink without it affecting them?
Probably.
But then again, her friends too didn’t seem to act much different – despite Jisoo being even louder than usual and Jinny, Miyeon and Chaeyoung laughing at absolutely everything and Lisa getting the hiccups after her first sip. But other than that? No change recognizable.
So it’s completely reasonable that she reaches for a new bottle after downing the last remains of her first one – the rules of only drinking when it’s her turn in the game long forgotten.
And apparently she’s not the only one, because even before she’s able to touch the bottle, her hand makes contact with another one and by the way her skin starts to burn up, she doesn’t even have to look up to know who it belongs to.
“Sorry.”, Lisa says with a smile as bright as the sun and shiny eyes. “Nini’s first.”
She pushes the bottle in her direction and makes a sloppy bow gesture that almost has her kiss the floor and it makes Jennie giggle uncontrollably.
Slightly embarrassed, Lisa clutches her knees and runs her hand over her flushed face and Jennie thinks that it’s the cutest thing she’s ever seen in her whole life.
It makes her want to crawl forward and enfling the girl in a tight hug – preferably one that doesn’t end. Like ever. And maybe, just maybe, Jennie would also like to run her hands through Lisa’s soft hair and down her neck and--.
“Earth to Jennie. Hello? Are you in there somewhere?”
She spins around only to find five pairs of eyes glued on her and Jisoo’s fingers snipping in front of her face.
The oldest one laughs audibly when she sends her a puzzled look.
“Where the heck did you just go, Jendeukie?”, Jisoo smirks and points to the bottle still sitting in their midst. “It’s your turn.”
She nods – grateful for the distraction because, seriously, what the fuck had just happened. Maybe she wasn’t that immune to the effects of alcohol after all. But she really didn't want to go there right now.
So she's quick to spin the bottle – hoping for the best, because she could still feel Jisoo’s eyes boring knowingly into her – but of course there is no such luck. The one time tonight where she doesn't want the neck of the bottle to point at this girl, it does.
“Lalalalisa-yah!”, Jisoo screams out way too loud and way too pleased, as if the other hadn’t witnessed who the bottle was pointing to.
“Truth.”, Lisa announces before anyone could even ask her what form of play she wanted and then all the attention was back on her again.
Jennie gulps as she tries to stop her head from spinning too much and think of an appropriate question, but her train of thought stops at the realization that she indeed felt a little light-headed all of a sudden. Yes, definitely the alcohol.
“If you can’t think of anything, I have a great suggestion.”, Jisoo mentions mischievously – her tone making Chaeyoung look at her confused and Jennie would’ve killed her if she hadn’t been frozen in place momentarily.
“I can switch to dare if it helps.”, are the words that bring her back to life and she shakes her head a little too aggressively. Jisoo has to stifle a laugh at that, and Jennie skillfully ignores her.
“No, no it’s fine. Uhm… So, truth… My question is… Do you… I mean… Have you… Did you ever have a crush?”
As soon as she voices it out, there’s a loud groan coming from a face with dark eyes, that even overshadows the happy claps of Chaeyoung and Jinny who seem to be thrilled about the topic.
“Oh please, what kind of lame ass question is that?”, Jisoo sights – the mischievous tug of her mouth only identifiable to Jennie.
“Shut up, unnie. I wanna hear that one.”, comes Chaeyoung to her rescue and Jennie’s never been more grateful for her nosy friend.
The tall blonde nudges Lisa who’s sitting to her right – frowning, deep in thought.
Jennie only realizes that she’s holding her breath when Lisa answers nonchalantly: “I do.”
There is silence, until Jisoo breaks it – again with a volume way too high and gives Jennie the chance to finally audibly breathe out again.
“What do you mean you do? Did you have one or nah?”
Lisa's mouth is already open when Chaeyoung beats her to it with a slight roll of her eyes.
“Unnie, are you stupid? It means that she has one right now.”
Immediately there’s a lot of “uuuuh”’s and “ooooh”’s and an “ohlala Lalisaaa” erupting from the others and suddenly Jennie’s throat feels as dry as the desert again. She grabs her Soju-bottle almost out of instinct and takes a huge sip – all the while feeling Jisoo’s eyes on her. Yet again.
Meanwhile, Lisa gets bombarded with questions about her secret crush, but the blonde just shrugs and grins, explaining to the others that this game doesn’t work like that.
Jennie’s not sure if she’s happy about that or not but she finds that it’s probably for the best. She would need a lot more alcohol for that conversation.
So, she’s rather glad when the other girls drop the topic and continue with spinning the bottle.
There’s a lot more drinking, some silly dares to prank-call the trainees from JYP and order some exotic pizza – much to Chaeyoung’s delight, as well as a bunch of semi funny questions about their pasts and futures until finally it’s Jisoo’s turn to spin the bottle and it lands on Jennie once again.
This time she’s hyper aware of the fact that she’s in the spotlight, because Lisa keeps poking her cheeks – almost crushing her whole body into Chaeyoung, who’s sitting between them, in the process and Jennie tries to ignore that she feels a little funny in her stomach because of that.
“Dare?”, Jisoo blurts out without a beat, not really giving Jennie an option but she’s almost down to two empty Soju-bottles and she doesn’t have to willpower to fight with her anymore. So she just nods – absent-mindedly grabbing Lisa’s hand that’s still in her face and holding on to it. She tries to ignore how soft Lisa’s skin is and how well their fingers fit together. She has to focus, for crying out loud. But then again, her intoxicated self finds it rather hard to see or hear anything when there’s a smooth thumb stroking the back of her hand so tenderly – it almost makes her black out.
But then Lisa’s finger stops caressing her and Jennie realizes that everyone is looking at her funny – everyone except for Lisa whose eyes are wide open, staring at a complacent Jisoo.
“Wait, what?”, Jennie asks hesitantly – not quite sure if heard correctly.
“I said…”, Jisoo repeats painfully slow. “That I dare you to kiss Lisa.”
Like a deer in headlights, Jennie finds herself stiffen and her throat tighten – desperately looking for a way out of this misery. She doesn’t remember how much times goes by until she’s finally able to move – her face sporting a painful grimace as she forces out a laugh. One that soon infects the others who have no idea about her inner turmoil.
“You are one funny jokester, Kim Jisoo.”, Jennie laughs – almost convincing herself that it’s a genuine one. “You almost had me. Now tell me your real dare.”
“I’m not joking, Jen. That’s my dare. But I knew you’d be too much of a chicken to do it, so…”, Jisoo answers in such a calm tone that it immediately shuts everyone up. Including Jennie herself who suddenly feels every nerve of her body tingling in a rather uncomfortable way, but she doesn’t really get why. Wasn’t this what she wanted from the beginning? Wasn’t this the reason she suggested the game in the first place? So why was she suddenly not sure about it anymore? Was it because Lisa apparently had a crush on someone and there was a very high chance of that someone not being Jennie herself? Or was it the opposite… because what if Jennie was that someone? Never had she ever let herself dream of that being a possibility. But now…
No. She had to stop. All this overthinking did terrible things to her heart and her constant pruning made her look suspicious.
So, she made herself snap out of it and raise her eyebrows at an awaiting Jisoo.
“You think I won’t do it?”, she asks and in one swift movement takes another gulp from her Soju.
“Watch me.”
It’s the last thing she says before she pushes an open-mouthed Chaeyoung away in order to pounce on a completely stunned Lisa.
But Jennie doesn’t let herself think about the fact that she is imposing herself on her best friend right now. This is part of their game anyway and Lisa knows that.
So, when she crashes their mouths together in what can only be described as a way too uncoordinated and sloppy kiss, she’s completely taken aback when she finds that Lisa doesn’t immediately draw back and push her away.
Instead, the other girl slightly tilts her head so that their lips can meet in an even more comfortable position and if Jennie isn't going completely insane right now, she’s almost certain that she can feel Lisa’s eyelashes brush against her skin as the blonde closes her eyes.
What the hell?
Jennie’s sure that she is neither breathing nor is her heart beating at this moment. This holy moment that probably only lasts a few seconds but feels like a lifetime. A lifetime that Jennie would like to hold on to forever, because the feeling that gets triggered in her is so indescribably great – it almost makes her moan into Lisa’s mouth.
“Okay, wow, easy there, tigers.”
It’s Jisoo’s voice once again who interrupts them and it takes up all of Jennie’s willpower to not literally strangle her friend, because she’s already missing Lisa’s lips on hers and the alcohol in her system makes her oblivious to the fact that they just had a whole ass audience watching them share a much too intense kiss.
“Better stop it or we'll get the idea that you guys are enjoying this.”, Jisoo adds with a laugh which Jennie joins in, because it’s the perfect camouflage – as well as her only escape.
Soon enough the rest of them laughs along – first subdued and then louder and louder until they finally all roll around the floor, holding their stomachs with tears of laughter in their eyes.
Over the heads of Miyeon and Jinny, Jennie exchanges a glance with Jisoo, who winks at her knowingly before moving to pad a coughing Chaeyoung’s back.
It gives Jennie a second to roam the room for another pair of eyes – ones she’s avoided to look at ever since she had stopped kissing their owners face.
When she meets them, they’re already watching her – something profound hidden behind them that only Jennie seems to recognize and it makes her swallow down hard, because whatever it is that she discovers there, it’s more than she’d have ever expected and it leaves her stunned and agitated all the same.
Oh, what she would give to be able to read minds right now.
“Penny for your thoughts.”, she hears Jinny whisper in her ear then, but before she’s able to think of a lie, there’s Chaeyoung to the rescue for what feels like the tenth time that night.
“I’m exhausted. Let's drink up and then go to sleep, shall we?”
“You heard the chipmunk, empty your bottles and off to bed with your drunk asses.”, Jisoo commands, as she pushes an almost-empty bottle of Soju into Jennie’s palm.
“Here, drink up, Jendeuk. I feel like you need it.”
“Funny.”, Jennie mumbles, but finishes the bottle anyway, because Jisoo was right. She needed it. The experience of kissing Lisa had sobered her up at once and she kinda missed the way the liquor made her feel all brave and invincible.
Thinking about who's been assigned as her roommate this month – with whom she was about to be alone with just minutes from now – she desperately needed some more.
So, she wasn’t even sorry when she snatched Miyeon’s still half-full bottle from her hands and downed it in one go.
Her friend was half asleep already anyway and didn’t even protest, it was only Chaeyoung who laughed at her, giggling something about being greedy and Jennie could only silently agree with her. Greedy. That she was indeed.
So much so that the realization of today's events will probably bite her in the ass, come tomorrow morning. But that shall be a problem for future Jennie.
Right now, she needs to not think about that and preferably also stop thinking about being in the same room when Lisa undresses before changing into her sleeping clothes – which nowadays consist of shorts and a T-shirt she stole from Jennie herself.
Yeah, that’s right. Lisa sleeps in her shirt and on more than one occasion this has been a difficult fact for her. Difficult in terms of being too cute to be true.
And still, Lisa couldn't be dissuaded, no matter how many times Jennie had teased her about it already.
“Do you want to finish mine as well?”
Jennie is pulled out of her thoughts by something cold being pushed against her lips and for a second there she slips and closes her eyes – flashbacks from something else pressing against them suddenly alive in front of her inner eye, but she catches herself right in time and she nods automatically.
“You don’t want it anymore?”, she asks before taking the bottle from Lisa's hand – careful not to touch her while doing so.
“Nah, think I’m good.”, the blonde grins and Jennie must agree, what with the way she slurs the words drunkenly.
“Aw, our little dongsaeng is wasted.”, Jinny babbles loudly – placing both her hands on top of Lisa’s head and patting her like she’s a puppy.
It makes Chaeyoung and Jisoo burst out in laughter and Lisa blush until she’s almost the color of a ripe strawberry.
It’s cute – because well duh, it’s Lisa and Jennie’s finally feeling drunk again – which is most likely also the reason she feels the need to stand up for her.
“Leave her alone. She’s not nearly as drunk as Miyeon is. I bet you can’t even walk in a straight line anymore.”, she says addressing her other friend who only blinks at her bewildered.
“Wha…”, Miyeon mumbles as a response and points warningly at Jennie who side-glances at Lisa with a smirk.
“Of course, I can… Here… Watch me…” Miyeon straightens before getting into an upright position, but not without the help of Jinny who steadies her by holding onto her arm.
As soon as Miyeon stands on her feet, her legs give out and she collapses to the ground with a loud thud. Jinny is quick to mitigate her fall by catching her and they all hold their breath – hoping that she didn’t hurt herself, but when they hear a giggle coming from the pile that is Miyeon, the tension falls, and they all find themselves in another fit of laughter.
That’s when they consistently come to the conclusion that it’s definitely time to call it an end, before someone really hurts themselves.
Jennie catches herself thinking that it's a little too late for that – but she dismisses the thought when Lisa reaches out to pull her off the floor.
They bid their goodbyes to the others and start to make their way to their room, when suddenly Jisoo’s voice breaks through to them from the other side of the now otherwise completely empty dorm.
“Hey Jenlisa. I’ve got one last dare for the both of you. I dare you to come clean and stop being such wussies. It’s been three years and we’re tired.”
“Keep me out of this, unnie and leave them alone.”, Chaeyoung yells from inside of their bedroom before her head appears shortly in the door as she pulls a smug-looking Jisoo with her.
“Thank me later.”, is the last thing the older girl calls out before the door closes and leaves two seriously confused girls behind.
Confused and shattered to the bone, Jennie has to hold onto the doorframe to steady herself, because – even though she’s still under the influence of alcohol – she’s pretty sure that she got the message.
And by the way Lisa looks like someone just pulled the rug out from under her feet, she must have too.
It was now or never. Jennie could feel it. But before she was able to think of the right thing to say – or do – Lisa opens her mouth to form the three most beautiful words Jennie had heard to date.
“It is you.”, she mumbles – not more than a whisper and yet, so incredibly loud.
“You’re the crush I was talking about before, Nini.”
Heaven.
It really existed.
Here, in Lisa’s words it was hidden.
Hidden behind clouds of insecurity and fear. With a few storms to come, for sure.
But still. It was heaven.
The only place Jennie wanted to be.
And stay.
“You’re not just saying that because you’re drunk, right?”, Jennie laughs – resonating the tiniest trace of fear, which Lisa wipes away with her hand moving up to curl around Jennie’s neck and the movement of her head denying the words.
“Did you only kiss me like that because you’re drunk?”
Jennie shakes her head a little too enthusiastically and it draws a broad smile from Lisa.
“There you go.”, the blonde girl murmurs, as she carefully takes a small step forward. “So tell me, Kim Jennie. Truth or dare?”
Jennie almost faints at that point.
“Dare.”
“Kiss me again.”