Chapter Text
Seoyeon was staring out at the ocean, night having fallen hours ago. The cruise ship’s deck empty and dark but for small lights on the ground so people didn’t accidentally fall off the side.
She sighed into the night sky, content for once.
“What are you doing out here looking like a sad pumpkin?” Her head snapped around, eyes meeting with an amused Dahyun.
Her childhood friend was wearing a bulky white t-shirt Seoyeon knew she snagged from Kaede’s suitcase. It reached halfway down her thighs and nearly covered the shorts Seoyeon more than once had wished were a fever dream but were very real. Usually by the third round of soju glasses being raised to their lips did Seoyeon actually find the dog face on her butt to be actually amusing. But Dahyun wasn’t deterred, always ready to rebuttal any kind of annoyed yet ultimately joking comment Seoyeon made. Combined with their mutual stubbornness and Dahyun’s Busan accent that Seoyeon subconsciously had begun to mimic in their teens, there was never a quiet moment with them around.
“How about knocking for once? You could have walked in on something not meant for your eyes.” Seoyeon said sarcastically, one hand over her chest like she was the painting of Venus.
“We’ve been to jjimjilbangs together for as long as I can think alright, I’ve seen it all Seoyeon-ah.”
“Don’t let Kae-ya hear that.”
“Don’t let Nien and Yooyeon-ah know then.”
A beat passed where they just looked at each other, expressions stubborn and standoffish. From the outside it might have looked like the fiercest argument with the three-step distance between them adding more tension than being a mere coincidence.
The melancholy that had been clawing at Seoyeon’s heart like a quiet requiem into the night had finally loosened its grip and she fully embraced this turn of events.
Dahyun snorted and started to laugh, quickly infecting Seoyeon as she usually did and both of them took a minute or two to compose themselves.
“You startled me.” Seoyeon said finally and turned back around, focusing back on the dark ocean in front of her.
“Sorry.” Dahyun wasn’t sorry at all but despite another bout of familiar banter already on the edge of both of their tongues, Seoyeon was only a little surprised when friend’s features softened. “Aren’t you cold?”
“It was 23 degrees last time I checked and that’s way nicer than the 29 degrees with no clouds in sight that Tokyo blessed us with before the cruise ship took off.”
They fell quiet again and Seoyeon was anticipating what was about to come. Dahyun knew her like the back of her hand, it wasn’t a secret to their respective partners.
Dahyun took deliberately slow steps toward her, Seoyeon just waited and listened to her flip flops come closer. Once she reached her, a pair of arms wrapped themselves around Seoyeon’s shoulders from behind. She heard Dahyun’s slow and relaxed breaths and a chin resting softly on one of her shoulders.
“Did Yooyeon-unnie tell you to check up on me?” She asked and Dahyun just huffed out an amused breath.
“Even if she did it’s not like I’d listen to her.”
“Don’t let her hear that.”
“How sweet of you to assume she doesn’t already know that.” Dahyun chuckled, that mischievous little sound, that should have warned anyone from miles away that they had no idea what they’d just signed up to. “She knows me well enough by now.”
“Well it’s not like she and Nien didn’t have to pass the SoDa-test to even consider dating me.”
“Don’t you dare make it sound like I was being unreasonable. I was only handing over the most important person in my life, I had to make sure the people who she engaged with were up to par with my standards with her.” Dahyun’s passion melted into something more soft and vulnerable. “You know I’d do anything for you.”
“Me too and I think it’d be a lie to pretend I didn’t give Kaede quite the hard time.”
“You’re lucky she isn’t petty or your ears wouldn’t have been safe until our wedding.”
Seoyeon’s eyes widened.
“Are you making plans?”
A soft laugh and a long breath told Seoyeon enough and she couldn’t help but smile. She had a feeling it was supposed to be some big reveal Dahyun and Kaede would have teased until their 7 day cruise was over. The type of news to be shared around a filled dinner table: one pair of chopsticks grabbing a piece of meat while a rice-filled perilla leaf was already waiting in another hand, someone (probably Seoyeon or Kaede) grabbing for the soju bottle for their first refill and warm laughter spilling with shared anecdotes being reminisced on.
It would have been a scene Seoyeon would have loved to tattoo into her brain for permanent stay.
“Not exactly plans.” Dahyun paused and Seoyeon rolled her eyes, smiling as she listened for her childhood friend to find the proper words. “Okay, maybe they’re plans but we’ve been definitely talking about it more. We want to do something small and it will probably be two ceremonies. One with my family in Korea and the other with hers in Japan.”
“Any plans for the honeymoon? Maybe Switzerland.”
“That sounds more like Yooyeon-unnie than me or Kaede.”
“I know I was joking. Your perfect honeymoon would probably be an All-you-can-eat buffet at a karaoke bar.” That made Dahyun laugh out loud, happiness echoing into the night and Seoyeon’s body shook with the impact of it.
“And what would be yours? Competitive table tennis, beach volleyball, wrestling or a race for a gold medal.”
“I’d wrestle you to the dirt for that gold.”
“Of course you would.”
Another silence followed and a gust of wind made the temperature drop just that bit that Seoyeon felt goosebumps raise on her arms resting against the cruise’s railing.
With Dahyun right with her the feeling in her chest had quieted somewhat but now something else became more apparent and it made everything that had been going on in her head hit her tenfold. Her lip began to wobble and she had to take a steadying breath, swallowing down the wad of emotion that had been silently lingering in the background ever since this group vacation had been in the planning stages.
Seoyeon had to be incredibly naive to think that Dahyun didn’t notice every little shift in her posture and intake of breath to steady herself. If anything she was waiting for them and now buried her face in the space above Seoyeon’s right shoulderblade.
“So that’s why you were up here.”
“Is it that obvious?”
That was a rhetorical question, at least it was in the context that she was talking to Dahyun right now. The same person she’d been arguing on which brand of ice cream captured the essence of cookies and cream best since they were learning how to count and read. The same person who was the first to witness her slow and creeping affection for Yooyeon grew with every passing day, interaction in the office and shared morning coffee on their way to work. The same person who’d told Seoyeon 50 times over to confess to the goofy, pink-haired barista who was definitely flirting with her and Yooyeon every chance she got.
Dahyun found the question even more amusing, considering that she was chuckling right next to Seoyeon’s ear and holding onto her even tighter now.
“Tell me, we both know it won’t get resolved otherwise.”
“I hate how right you are.”
“You adore me.”
Seoyeon’s face pulled itself into a toothy grin and she raised one of her hands to gently grab one of Dahyun’s wrists. Squeezing three times as she was gathering the words in her mind, arranging them to make sense and make the biggest impact as they’d be breathed into life soon.
“You probably know it better than me but you know that feeling where your chest feels like it’s about to burst. Not because you’re frustrated but quite the opposite. It feels like my body could swing itself into a 40 hour dance and still not be tired once it is over.” Her heart was pounding in her chest as she spoke and her words were speeding up with every syllable. “It’s like my heart just wants to burst as I take a look around the room and see your dorky, crooked smile thrown Kaede’s way while she’s making another attempt at throwing peanuts into Nien’s open mouth. She’d yell ‘Homerun’ despite making a 3-pointer. All that while Yooyeon-unnie has one hand raised to her chin and smiles like she couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.”
Besides the ocean passing them by, Seoyeon's heavy breaths were the only thing audible around them and she didn’t notice when Dahyun squeezed impossibly tighter. Forehead now resting right on Seoyeon’s shoulder.
“Gratitude, you’re describing gratitude.”
“I sure am, SoDa-ya.” Seoyeon chuckled and let out a growl into the night, another laugh following. “I love it so much, love all of you so much. This is honestly the best thing in my life and I just want to hold onto it for as long as I can, preferably forever.”
“We did a number on you, you don’t get emotional like that.”
“Tell me about it, it’s exhausting, I could sleep for a week but we’re reaching Jeju in like a day or two.”
“Yeah, that checks out.” Dahyun sighed and looked up at the dark sky. “Reminds me of when I described my love for Kaede to you.”
“Loving her is like never wanting to wash your favourite t-shirt because you don’t want to wear anything else to begin with.” Seoyeon said sagely and Dahyun groaned.
“Give me a break, I was emotional and drunk.”
“If I said I actually relate to that sentence you’d probably wonder what aliens abducted the real me.”
“You’re spot on.” Dahyun said matter of factly and Seoyeon sighed.
“Can you blame me though, it’s Yooyeon-unnie’s favourite Zelda shirt and Nien’s shorts are like the most comfortable fabric ever.”
“Who even brings separate suitcases when we all just share our closets.”
Seoyeon and Dahyun both laughed, the moment passing as another soft silence followed.
“I am so glad that you convinced Yooyeon-unnie to join the cruise, would have felt wrong to leave without her.” Seoyeon said wistfully, smiling as Dahyun squeezed her shoulder four times.
“She had no chance and you know it, the second I suggested it, it stopped being a suggestion and became a direct order.” Dahyun’s bravado was exaggerated yet earnest in the way Seoyeon had come to expect it, Kaede’s snarky breath of sarcasm leading them into hour-long debate sessions more than once. “Like you said it would have just felt wrong without her, it was either all of us or none of us. We could have just had a staycation in one of our living rooms if she wanted to but I’m not having a group vacation when one part of the group is missing. That’s just nonsense, a crime nobody should even dare think about committing.”
“What highly concentrated sugar did you inhale?” Seoyeon was barely able to contain her laughter while she fully sensed Dahyun’s pride at making her laugh yet again. “What are our respective girlfriends even doing?”
“Kaede was re-reading Berserk and she was debating on just skipping the Black Swordsman Arc altogether because it makes her eyebrow twitch. Very relatable but that story is the definition of it gets worse before it ‘might’ get better.” Dahyun said lightheartedly and Seoyeon grinned. “No idea what your girlfriends were up to though, Yooyeon-unnie was trying to get the smell of pickled garlic out of her mouth. ‘I can still sense it being there and mocking my tongue’. Nien was gallivanting between our shared bathroom and bedrooms like she shotgunned a bottle of soju straight.”
“How do you shotgun a glass bottle?”
“Don’t ask me, just accept the vision I’m presenting.” Dahyun said it like it was the most obvious thing and after literally growing up diaper to diaper with each other it was to Seoyeon but she couldn’t help but nag her favourite person.
“I accept the vision you’re presenting wholeheartedly but of course I’ll question it, you know me, I’m a skeptic at heart.”
“You’re annoying that is.”
Another dam broke and they were both struggling to keep upright as full body laughs shook their bodies. Dahyun was leaning even more into Seoyeon and that made the wobbling of their legs even worse. It didn’t take much longer until Seoyeon’s legs buckled under their laughter and they found themselves on the floor.
The whole scene made them laugh even more and Seoyeon, one hand holding a piece of the railing, while holding her stomach had tears filling in her eyes. Dahyun didn’t look much better. One flip flop had somehow landed a couple meters away from them and she found herself padding the floor as more waves of laughter wreaked through her body. As she slowly managed to get a hold of herself Dahyun got up and now hopped her way to her lost flip flop while her arms were jutted out and trying to keep her balance.
Seoyeon was wiping tears out of her eyes as she watched her with a bright grin on her face and now slowly got back up to stand.
“Who needs a gym when you can laugh like that, I’ll get abs after this.” Dahyun said once she reached her flip flop.
“We should tell Nien about this great workout, she’ll totally appreciate it.” Dahyun raised her eyebrow at Seoyeon’s sarcasm, hands resting on her hips and only a pair of glasses would have been needed for her to resemble a disappointed teacher on an overnight field trip. “I think it’s time we go back to our girlfriends.”
Silence.
A careful look thrown her way, the air left open and free if Seoyeon had any objections but with a soft touch above her heart all she could feel was relief accompanied by warmth.
“Yeah.”