Work Text:
Turn Right at Happiness
FULL FIC HERE
The next to arrive are Joohyun and Seulgi. Their respective flights depart Seoul by a day apart (Seulgi has a panel duty for K-Con Canada), but they congregate in Toronto before going to Seungwan’s house. Their shuttle arrives just as Seungwan takes out the roast chicken from the oven. She takes off her mitten, tells Yerim to take out whatever wine she wants from the cellar under the stairs, and goes to get the door. Seulgi’s bright smile greets her as she looks into the peephole. The first thing Seulgi does after she opens the door is glomping on Seungwan. “Hi, Seulmate. Long time no see,” Seungwan says. Behind Seulgi, Joohyun rolls her eyes. After Seulgi lets her go, Seungwan draws Joohyun into a hug. “And hi to you, too, love of of my life.”
Yerim makes a loud gagging sound all the way from the kitchen.
The birthday girl arrives last past midnight after dinner’s been set aside, wine is drunk (in moderation, in Joohyun’s case), and all have settled in pajamas in front of Seungwan’s giant TV in the family room. Seungwan leaves her comfortable place behind Joohyun, who whines and promptly gets pelted with popcorn by Seulgi and Yerim, and gets the door. Sooyoung drops her whole weight on Seungwan as soon as Seungwan opens the door for her. Her hair is frizzy and smells of airport, and she looks understandably tired. “Eonniehwhydyouhaftalivesofar,” she mumbles against Seungwan’s hair.
“The newest member of Club 30.” Seungwan laughs. “Hungry, Ddoong? We have some leftover from dinner, but I can fix you something quick, too.”
“I’m famished and sleepy at the same time. You can just give me cup noodles and chances are I’ll prolly fall asleep face-first into the cup.”
Incoming steps tell her that the other three have followed her to greet Sooyoung. “Eonnie, you took so long.” Yerim is the second to hug Sooyoung.
“Blame my schedule.”
“Our Sooyoungie, ever the workaholic.” Seulgi hugs Sooyoung next.
“Diligent, not workaholic.” Sooyoung lifts her head from Seulgi’s shoulder, eyeing Joohyun. She waves a hand to call her closer. “Eldest eonnie, c’mon. Group hug time.”
Joohyun juts out her lower lip. “Big baby,” she says. Even so, she steps in and joins the unceremonious group hug right in front of Seungwan’s front door.
“Sssh. What birthday girl says, birthday girl gets.”
Seungwan laughs again. It feels good to be whole.
They go to a fruit farm first and just after they finish picking raspberries and pears, it’s raining again. Joohyun, Seulgi, and Yerim put on their boots and raincoats and play in the rain. Skip, hop, run, splash. Jump into the puddles, jump over the puddles. Seungwan sits on the lower step of the motorhome, Sooyoung a step above her. Sooyoung puts her chin on top of Seungwan’s head, both content just watching the three. They’re sharing a cup of pistachio soft serve.
“It’s Monday morning,” Sooyoung mumbles, her wooden ice cream spoon between her teeth.
“What about it?”
“It turns people into either monsters or children.”
Seungwan chuckles. She has seen Joohyun take pleasure in throwing—not feeding—bread at the wild ducks in her pond, ride her lawnmower like it’s an ATV, and pull her into a dance in the middle of her kitchen. There’s magic in simple things, and there’s Joohyun. “It’s the water, Ddoong. There’s something in Canadian water.”
Yerim hits the brake out of the blue that its force sends Joohyun tumbling all the way from the rear to the living room. She smashes into Sooyoung, who in turns smashes into Seungwan, and they three form a graceless human pile on the couch. Luckily, there’s no car behind their RV, so they don’t get rear-ended.
“Yah! Yerim-ah, what on ea—is that a bear??”
“KANG SEULGI, DON’T!”
“Oooh eonnie, look! It has cubs!”
“DO NOT FEED THEM ANYTHING, MY GOD!”
In the fifth morning, Seungwan wakes up to the smell of eggs and kimchi. Shifting and turning around, she pushes the privacy curtain away with her foot. There’s a quiet chatter, and without her glasses she sees Seulgi-shaped and Joohyun-shaped figures in front of the stove. Hands grabbing around for her glasses, she rouses and yawns. She’s careful not to wake Sooyoung, who’s still slumbering next to her. The sky looks bright from the windshield window, and below it Yerim is still sleeping, a hand hanging off the bunk. Seungwan decides to take her time, slouching back to rest her back against the headboard.
“—time is it?” Sooyoung mumbles blearily.
She checks her phone. “6:20.”
Sooyoung stretches, yawns, and throws a leg over Seungwan’s thighs. “God, it smells good. I miss my mom’s food.”
“I think Joohyunnie’s making kimchi fried rice.”
“Lucky me.” Sooyoung yawns again.”Eonnie?”
“Mm?”
“I had a weird dream. In my dream, you were fifty. Y’know, I’ve known you since I was sixteen. Now I’m thirty. That means I’ve known you for almost half of my life. When I’m forty, that means I only have sixteen years of life in which I don’t know you.”
She hums a random song and kisses Sooyoung’s hair.
“Amazing, isn’t it? When I’m fifty, I will have known you three times longer than the time I don’t know you.”
She doesn’t say anything, simply basking in the presence of a quiet morning and her found family.
The privacy curtain is pulled open to the side, and Joohyun is standing at the feet of the corner bed, hair tied in a messy bun and an apron on.
“Wake up, sleepyheads.” She tilts her head, looking at Sooyoung in particular. “Can I get my human heater back now?”
Sooyoung stretches and rolls over Seungwan to get to her feet. “Imma go wake Yerim,” she declares. She pats Joohyun’s butt as she walks pass her. “You’re welcome, eonnie.”
Joohyun waits until Sooyoung greets Seulgi in the living room then climbs up to the overhead bunk to cuddle with Yerim. Once she does, Joohyun throws herself on top of Seungwan and pulls the privacy curtain closed. Laughing, Seungwan shifts to let Joohyun wrap herself around her like an octopus. “Can’t say I’m a fan of this lots-drawing for our sleeping arrangement,” Joohyun mumbles against Seungwan’s collarbones.
“Fair is fair, eonnie.”
“We should count as a package, at least.”
She kisses Joohyun’s temple. “Greedy.”