simply a force of nature.
Jan. 12th, 2022 07:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lovebalancepairing: minjeong/yizhou
tags: modern-setting, coming of age, high school.
rating: t.
other notes: more fic in january? i truly can't wait to not write again for two years because of this.
anyways, this is basically just a prequel - companion piece to i'm alright, if you're alright. you don't need to read it, but there are sprinkles of references in this. sorry for any typos again, i don't ever catch them until it's too late. thanks for reading and/or comments.
On Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, Minjeong works at the local theater. Sometimes she sells tickets at the booth, sometimes she monitors the popcorn and snacks (giving less to people she doesn't like), sometimes she cleans. Minjeong’s been an employee of the month twice, and the second time she asked her manager not to display her name on the bulletin board because some guys from school teased her about it. Minjeong’s not afraid, but would rather not deal with the hassle.
Basically, Minjeong is a silent force within the team. She doesn’t smile if she doesn’t feel like it, she cleans up when she really needs to, and she takes over when someone else needs it.
Minjeong is a force of nature, and she knows everything.
Yizhou nervously pulls out a thread from her white sweater as her brother pulls up to the front of the theater. It’s a bit busy right now, Friday night, and Yizhou wishes that it was a bit emptier. Still, she turns to her brother who looks a bit annoyed that he had to drop her off, and smiles.
“I’ll call you if I need a ride,” she says to him again.
He says, “Just make sure it’s before 1 in the morning.”
Yizhou always appreciates how Kun doesn’t linger, doesn’t ask questions. Yizhou was sure he would question her when she suddenly brought up going to the movies out of nowhere. She’s never been active about going out on the weekends, she knows this, so Yizhou had prepared so many excuses. “Oh,” Yizhou would start, “Some guy from my history class - Hendery, you know him right - he asked me to come. No, it’s not a date…well, maybe?”
But all he had done is grin at her and then walked into the kitchen.
Yizhou leans over and waves into the car as a goodbye. “Don’t wait up,” she grins. Kun smiles back at her.
“1 AM.”
Tapping the side of the car door, she stands up straighter and turns around. There are a few people from school here, a group of sophomores and juniors. A few girls from the cheerleading squad too, linking arms with each other, laughing loudly. Yizhou spots Aeri, eyes decorated with glitter and a red shade (for their school), and wonders if her boyfriend was here.
Yizhou shakes her head and walks into the theater, saying hi to a few of her classmates who call out to her.
The first thing she does is walk into the bathroom and lock the stall. Her boots are chunky and noticeable, so she raises her feet to the stall door. She wishes she brought her earbuds because all she hears is the silence of the bathroom.
But she can wait.
She does, she counts up to eight minutes, and when she hears the last person leave the bathroom, her boots make a loud bang on the floor. Yizhou looks into the mirror, fixing random strands of her hair that keep popping out of place. Then she shakes her hands roughly.
This morning, she wrote in her diary, ‘Yizhou, you got this! Take the first step!!’
Yizhou starts walking fast but then slows down when she reaches the ticket booth.
Minjeong is tugging at the piercing in her ear lightly, her nails chipped and painted black, and looks up. Yizhou can already feel her voice shake in nervousness when she says. ‘Hey!’
‘Hey,’ Minjeong smiles, leaning close to the glass. She’s so pretty, Yizhou thinks, her blonde dye fading and her roots starting to show. “You here by yourself this time?”
“You know me,” Yizhou swings her arms out a bit. “Sometimes I need the silence.”
Minjeong rolls her eyes in a joking matter, but her smile grows. “What’re you here to see?” Yizhou looks into her eyes before glancing at the list of movies behind her.
“Um, maybe-”
“I know you’re not in favor of horror,” Minjeong scrunches up her nose, and turns and points. “The kids' animation film though,” Minjeong turns back. “Has not sold a single ticket tonight.”
Yizhou can’t fight down the giddy feeling in her chest. “By myself?”
“Or with some company,” Minjeong offers after a moment, almost quietly, looking at the time. “If you can wait a few minutes?’
“Oh,“ Yizhou says. “Yeah, some company is definitely preferred.”
During the movie, Minjeong lets Yizhou have a free large soda and popcorn. Their knees and thighs touch throughout the night. Yizhou is over the moon and can feel the heat in her cheeks. Minjeong asks Yizhou to stay the rest of the night until the theater closes, and Yizhou messages Kun that she has a ride.
“This is your car?”
Minjeong slaps her hand against the hood, shaking her keys. “Yep. It’s from my uncle.”
“It’s vintage,” Yizhou jokes as they both climb into the car.
“It’s old, but it gets the job done.”
On the ride to Yizhou’s house, Minjeong plays her late-night drives playlist and tells Yizhou every name of the songs that play. Yizhou takes a mental note of all the songs she likes and takes an extra note of the songs that Minjeong turns up just a little.
“Hey,” Minjeong leans close to the window on the passenger side. “I know we have each other on social media and stuff, but do I have your number?”
“I don’t think so.” Yizhou leans forward onto the car and watches as Minjeong types her number into her contacts.
The last thing Minjeong said was “I’m working this Sunday if you want to come by.”
Yizhou can’t help but look back as Minjeong makes sure she makes it inside. She shuts the door, before shutting her eyes and leaning forward on the wood, head resting on the door.
“Have fun?”
“S…shut up,” Yizhou says to her brother. ‘Not now.”
___
Yizhou isn’t sure when she started liking Minjeong.
They had always known each other, going to the same schools since early on. Yizhou is pretty sure everyone can recall when they started liking someone.
She is one of the few that can’t.
If she had to pin it down to something, maybe when Minjeong had messaged her on Instagram out of the blue.
‘Hey,’ the message said. ‘You weren’t in class today! If you need the notes, let me know!’
Silly, she knows.
Silly, but Yizhou had been unable to stop thinking about it for weeks.
__
“You have someone you like, right?”
Her friend, Yuna, pulls the strands of Yizhou’s hair as they sit on the floor in the hallway. The air is buzzing, everyone saying good morning to each other.
“Why are you asking me the first thing in the morning?’
“You keep smiling,” Yuna wiggles her head as she leans into Yizhou’s space. “At your phone.”
Yizhou shuts her phone off just as Yuna tries to reach for it. “Stop it,” Yizhou warns playfully through her teeth.
“Who is it, tell me.”
Yizhou shakes her head as Yuna leans into her space, shaking her. They’re giggling when some fingers brush through Yizhou’s hair.
“Good morning,” Minjeong says as she walks by.
“Hey,” Yizhou says dumbly and a bit lightly like she’s out of breath.
When she’s out of sight, Yuna hits her shoulder, shaking her.
“No fucking way?!”
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Date: 2022-01-14 04:10 pm (UTC)