Work Text:
This isn't their first meeting, and yet...
'Why do I feel so weird?!'
Gwajam takes a sip of her lemonade to hide her quivering lips, taking care to do so slowly. The last thing she needed was to choke on her drink and spit it out–especially not in public! Her heart pounds at the thought.
Gwajam doesn’t subscribe to the concept of anxiety, she couldn't in her line of work and her choice of fandom, but today...
Her hands leave imprints on the glass, where the condensation has gathered. She drags a finger through it, observing how water gathers at the point of contact and begins to slide down, eventually reaching the table and pooling around the base of the glass. She shifts her phone and wallet out of the way.
The repetitive motion is soothing. When the droplets connect and combine, when the bubbles in her drink burst, it's as though her nerves disappear with them. She takes a deep breath, then a sip, and then barely swallows before the seat across from her is being carefully pulled back, its rubber feet dampening the sound of them scraping against ground.
"They took so long to make my order..."
The table's new occupant sighs, punctuating it by setting her glass down on the table and sinking into her seat. She frowns down at the drink, lips pulled into a petulant pout.
"They even made me go up to the counter to get it..." Her complaints fade as she looks up, finally meeting Gwajam's eyes directly. "Sorry, Gwajam. We'll go somewhere else next time."
She's wearing grey lenses today. Combined with the light swipes of colour on her eyelids, her eyes look huge. They bore into Gwajam.
"No problem, Moochun unnie. Actually..." Gwajam clears her throat, pulling her phone out of her jacket and fumbling the fingerprint unlock sequence twice. She shakes her head at herself and continues speaking as she scrolls through her notes app, words spilling out to compensate for those stagnant few seconds, "I know a few other places we can try out."
She sends a list of links through their DMs, hearing Moochun's phone chime twice in response, and then nothing else for several seconds.
When the silence stretches on, and she glances up to gauge Moochun's reaction, she feels her brain start buffering. "Next–uh, next time...?"
Gwajam's voice comes to a stuttering halt.
Moochun stares at her phone, delight exuding from every crease and curve on her face. A smile fights its way onto her lips, making them twitch widely, like the joy itself was begging to show itself. Her pupils tremble as they assess the screen, darting between random places before landing on one specific spot and staying there, glinting in the late afternoon light.
'Is she crying?!'
Gwajam's hand finds the tissue dispenser and slides a few over to Moochun, who collects them without looking away from her screen. She blinks when she puts the tissues to her face, then looks between them and Gwajam. Suddenly, Moochun leans in, her eyes gleaming with more than just tears.
"Hajin just posted!" She hisses, her voice low. "In the fan cafe!"
The urgency in her voice evokes dark memories. Feeling her stomach drop, Gwajam frantically navigates to the app, opening too many others on the way there. The images that greet her strike her breathless.
There are a few typical selcas, which Gwajam downloads immediately. She lingers on an unexpected group shot of the older members and zooms in to take in the elated grins on their faces.
But then, when she scrolls down some more…
It’s the maknae line, napping together in the sunlight!
'So...'
"...cute!" Gwajam hears Moochun hiss, followed by the sound of her tearing more tissues from the dispenser. "He's so–!"
She can't blame Moochun, though she's conscious of the attention their table is sure to be receiving, what with all the noise they've just made. Gwajam slouches in her seat, pulling her phone closer to absorb the lines of Kang Hajin's smile.
'It's so nice to see him like this...'
She swipes to the next photo again, observing the slackness in Joo Eunchan's face, the way Dan Haru curls into him. How the other members in the photo also stare at them with soft smiles.
Satisfaction holds Gwajam.
She sets her phone aside and takes a sip of her iced coffee, tilting her head up to stare at the ceiling.
‘This life… is good.’
Gwajam sits with that thought for a moment, and then decides to verbalise it, turning her gaze to Moochun so they can fangirl together, when–
'No offence to Soda’s looks, but...'
Even with the pile of serviettes now littering the table, Moochun's eyes remain tellingly red and shiny. Gorgeously teary. She pushes a stray strand of hair out of her face, her thin fingers delicately tucking it behind her ear, continuing to scroll on her phone all the while. She smiles as she taps at the screen with expert swiftness, probably updating their group chat, evident in how intensely Gwajam’s own phone is vibrating. The downward angle of her head accentuates the roundness of her cheeks as well as the youthful flush she's been sporting since she waltzed into the cafe.
'Moochun should've debuted at Rene, instead of being the person managing the debuts...!'
Gwajam considers the merits of complaining to an entertainment company before her common sense comes back to her.
‘If she had debuted, we wouldn't have met!’
They spend the next twenty minutes gushing about Kairos, alternating between drinking and talking until there’s nothing left to sip, and yet still so much more to say.
"I thought we would have to worry about," She takes a look around the room to catch any prying eyes before finishing her sentence, "Yugeonie and Siwoo."
"Really?" Moochun frowns. "I didn't realise there was anything wrong."
Gwajam snorts, "That's because Hajin worked his magic again. I think all of the members are already friends because of him.”
Moochun hums, tilting her head as she noticeably zones out in thought.
Suddenly, she jerks upright.
"Is that the photo from Hajin's birthday cafe?" Awe colours Moochun's voice, making it breathy and reverent. She points to something in Gwajam's wallet.
There, just barely peeking out from his sleeve, is baby Kang Hajin, his face frozen in a gummy grin and staring towards the viewer. The plastic cover she'd carefully sourced from her friends turns the matte photo shiny, accentuating the power of his megawatt smile.
Gwajam's fingers twitch.
'I need to pinch his little cheeks!'
...Is what she thinks her body's instinctual reaction means. However, before she can blink, she's slammed the photo down on the table between them and proclaimed–
"It's yours!"
Gwajam freezes, her lips still parted around those damned words. Moochun jumps, eyebrows shooting up.
With a shaky but stabilising resolve, Gwajam squares her shoulders and repeats herself. She watches as Moochun blinks rapidly, her eyes darting between the photo and whatever ridiculous expression Gwajam is sure she's making.
"No, what? I couldn't possibly–"
"He's cute, right?" Gwajam's voice pitches upward. The words come out rushed and barely intelligible, but all Gwajam can focus on is the disbelief in Moochun's face, and how her eyebrows scrunch together, and the way she was was looking down at her phone, as though Kang Hajin's existence was enough to make her day. If that was the case with a few selfies, then...
"Take it." Gwajam slides it across the table, careful to avoid the puddle created by her drink's condensation.
She watches indecision flood Moochun's face, starting on her temple and flowing down to her lips, which pull into another tense pout.
"If..." Moochun begins, still looking between baby Kang Hajin's face and Gwajam's. "If you're sure–?"
"Yes." Gwajam nods decisively, even as her hands curl and her nails dig into her palms, because it feels like all of the tense muscles in her body abruptly relax when Moochun smiles and lifts the photocard from the table with careful fingers.
She's mindful and doesn't fidget as Moochun stares down at the photo with reverent, starry eyes, before tucking it into her own wallet.
'At least I still have the four-cut photo...!' Gwajam consoles herself, surreptitiously biting the inside of her cheek.
'...They're probably reselling the baby photo already, right...?'
The unease in her heart flees the moment Moochun reaches across the table and snags both of Gwajam's hands, holding them between her own. Her heart does too, trying its best to escape from her body through her throat.
'...!!'
Moochun grins up at her.
"I'll treat you to dinner!" She squeezes their clasped hands and shakes them. "And then I'll buy you breakfast and lunch, too!"
The opportunity before her is clear, begging to be uttered into existence.
"Tonight."
Moochun continues shaking their hands, now humming Kairos' debut song under her breath. Gwajam tightens her grip on Moochun’s hands gently, until her personal concert pauses and she meets Gwajam's eyes.
"Unnie, treat me to dinner tonight!"