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“We’re hooome!”
A warm, sharp aroma welcomes Yizhuo as she leads Cooper through the door to her and Aeri’s apartment.
The little greyhound strains at his harness, joyous yips accompanying his frantically wagging tail.
“What’s got you so excited, huh?” He zips into the kitchen the moment Yizhuo frees him.
“Heyy Coopie!” A deep laugh echoes into the hall. “How’s it going??”
Yizhuo smiles to herself, hangs up her coat and kicks off her shoes, pushing them to the wall to join a seemingly endless collection of others. She pads around the corner and finds a locked-in Aeri crouching by the counter, holding a kettle over a cup of instant ramyeon.
Jimin sits at the table, tousling Cooper’s short fur and making excited, silly faces at him. “Are you gonna watch Auntie Minjeongie’s birthday party later, Coopie? Are you??”
The dog’s tail is a blur; it looks like he could go shooting off into the sky at any moment.
Warmth fills Yizhuo and she gives Jimin a little wave before dropping her purse to crouch next to her girlfriend.
She gives Aeri a kiss on the cheek, giggling at how her tongue is poking out. “Is this really that serious?”
“I need to get the perfect proportions of everything so I can enjoy the pain just enough without catching on fire. This is dangerous shit, Ning-ah! D’you want the woman you love to be burnt to a crisp??”
“I mean… to be fair I did set your apartment on fire on your birthday that one time~”
Aeri laughs, “Okay but like in real life though, like I WILL catch fire and lose all my hair.”
“Eh, might be fun polishing your head before concerts and stuff,” Yizhuo grins.
Aeri rolls her eyes and clunks the half-full kettle down on the counter before grabbing a couple seasoning packets.
Yizhuo giggles and stands, turning to Jimin. The older girl is hard at work with a pair of scissors, Cooper curled up by her feet.
“Whatchya makin’, unnie?”
Jimin proudly picks up a chopstick with a picture of Minjeong performing her solo stage glued to it. A second stick sits on the table next to a glue gun, waiting for the half cut out picture in her other hand.
“My fan pickets!” Jimin’s eyes are crescents from how hard she’s smiling.
Yizhuo melts, “Aww, that’s so sweet~”
Jimin somehow grins even harder and gets back to work.
“Jeongie’s over there getting set up already, right?” Yizhuo pulls up a chair.
“Yeah, I left with her and asked the driver to drop me off here.”
Aeri sits down on Jimin’s other side, being careful to keep her food away from the older’s project. “You haven’t got any schedules tonight, right Ningie?”
“Yeah, all clear! What’s the plan?” Yizhuo pulls up a chair.
Aeri slurps up a mouthful of noodles and speaks, muffled by her food and the hand hiding her mouth. “Wll, ‘mbviously w’ d’n’t w’nna t’ke ‘way frm ’er sptl’ght.”
Her eyes are starting to water as she swallows. “Hha… uhm.. So, like… I was thinking…”
Yizhuo bites her tongue as she watches the older girl suffer.
“I was thinking we should… like~hah~ Jesus fuck— What did they PUT in this??”
Yizhuo finally takes pity and hurries to grab a strawberry milk from the fridge. Aeri takes it and tears it open in an instant, downing half the bottle in one go.
Aeri sits, slightly hunched and panting with a drip of milk on her chin.
Yizhuo chuckles and wipes the milk off with her finger, quickly licking it clean before sitting back down.
“You were thinking?”
“Uh~ yeah! I was thinking we should sneak in and watch from the audio booth, and Jiminie would stand at the back so Birthday Girl can see that her girlfriend is there to support her.”
Jimin chimes in, “And if people try to focus on me instead of her, it’s over for them.”
“You’re gonna kill them??” Yizhuo exclaims with a giggle.
Jimin’s eyebrows shoot up and she gently slaps the younger woman, “Not our fans!! I’ll just get mad at them, and if all else fails I’ll hide behind Manager-unnie.
“...If anyone says anything mean, then I’ll kill them. That probably won’t happen though.”
“Well, I think this is all a great idea.”
Jimin holds up both her completed Minjeong sticks and grins.
—♥—
The last of the fans are filing out, the venue workers starting to crisscross the floor to search for any lost belongings or messes.
Yizhuo and Aeri quietly leave the audio booth and sneak across the hall and through a door before anyone except the security guard can recognise them.
The pair remove their hoods and stroll backstage.
“Ahh, that was so lovely~” Yizhuo smiles.
Aeri takes her hand and nods, “The fans are for sure gonna be demanding all those covers to be uploaded, I wonder if there’s any way we can coerce the company to make it happen for her actual birthday…”
“That’d be wonderful. They’re gonna have to make do with the Shinee challenge for now, though.”
The pair round the corner and see Jimin slipping into a dressing room, Manager Unnie guarding the door.
“It’s just them in there, I’ll let you guys know when the cars are here.”
“Thanks, unnie,” Yizhuo slips in first and smirks at the other couple exchanging a smiley kiss.
“Thank you for coming, love.”
“Of course! I’m always your biggest fan, Mindoongie~” Jimin replies with a grin.
“Love your pickets by the way.”
Yizhuo speaks up, “Right? She made them herself, aren’t they so cute~”
Minjeong turns and lets her mouth fall open in happiness. “Oh my god, were you two here for the whole show??”
Aeri grins and walks over to hug her, “Yeahh, we were hiding in the sound booth.”
Yizhuo embraces Minjeong too. “You did so well, Minjeongie. The fans’ll cherish this.”
Aeri perches on the sofa arm. “Did you hear me yelling ‘Kim Minjeong’?”
Minjeong’s eyebrows shoot into her bangs, “That was you!! I was like, ‘wow that MY really sounds like Aeri-unnie’!”
Yizhuo flops down on the sofa beside her girlfriend, “Still got the in-ear colour wrong, though.”
Aeri shoots her a thin-mouthed, indignant look.
“What?? You got it wrong!”
Jimin and Minjeong snort with laughter.
“Anyway,” Yizhuo pulls out her phone. “What kinda food are we thinking tonight? Something birthday-themed!”
Minjeong crinkles her eyebrows, “What even counts as birthday themed besides cake?”
“I dunno but I’m not having any if it’s whatever brand that shit ass ramyeon I had earlier was.”
Jimin laughs and puts her arm around a confused Minjeong to stabilise herself. “She nearly died because her noodles were too spicy. She was literally trying so hard to make the perfect proportions too~”
Aeri flushes a little in embarrassment but her mouth twitches, “Hey, all good science requires trial and error! Learning from your mistakes! I’m used to Shin ramyeon, I didn’t realise that that other brand gets their ingredients from the core of the sun…”
Minjeong snorts with a grin, “Don’t worry Aeri, I’m sure you’ll figure it out soon enough.
“But as for dinner, I kinda feel like galbi-tang… since it’s for my birthday I guess a birthday food is just whatever I want, right?”
“Can’t argue with that,” Yizhuo agrees.
“Let’s order it in and watch a movie though. I kinda want to just have a night in, under a blanket at home.”
There’s a soft rap at the door and it opens, Manager Unnie’s head poking out. “Cars are here, you guys! You’re all free tonight, where d’you wanna go?”
Yizhuo and Aeri stand and Minjeong speaks, “Our place, pleaaase! All four of us.”
The manager gives a thumbs up and holds the door open for them. “Happy early birthday, by the way!”
Minjeong smiles, “Thank you, unnie!”