Chapter Text
Day 1
Nayeon agrees without much forethought.
Which is uncharacteristic for her, because camping - what with all the (near) solitude, bugs, hot temperatures, lack of plush bedding, lack of convenient anything - is really not her style. Maybe for an afternoon it’s a novelty, but five days?
Yes, she’s agreed to five days, four nights. Even cleared her ridiculously busy schedule to do so. She might need to get checked.
Though, the real reason she agreed doesn’t elude her. It’s because Mina asked, and while Nayeon doesn’t tend to make exceptions that sacrifice her personal comfort - it’s Mina.
Mina, who is currently driving the two of them to god knows where - their bags and supplies for the next five days filling up the backseat. Nayeon hadn’t questioned it, had replied to Mina’s question with a breezy sure, why not that even gave Mina pause, evidently surprised.
But now, on some road where passing vehicles are few and far between, surrounded by trees and no skyscrapers in sight, Nayeon begins to wonder what she’s doing here.
“Why’d you ask me?” Nayeon questions from the passenger seat, muffled through the marshmallows currently occupying half of her mouth. She had made the mistake of choosing to sleep in versus eating breakfast before they left after her first full day off in weeks.
“Hm?” Mina vocalizes, briefly glancing at her before turning back to the road. She’s a focused driver, always has been, which is unfortunate when Nayeon wants to be the target of said focus. Mina has relaxed since they got out of the bustling city, but silence still envelops them when Nayeon doesn’t add kindling to the conversation.
“To go camping,” Nayeon clarifies after swallowing the obstruction.
They’re close - god, that may be an understatement, Nayeon can’t imagine her life without Mina in it - but that being said, they don’t do everything together. They’re different in a lot of ways. Maybe it’s a miracle that Mina puts up with her at all.
“Because,” Mina says, sounding like she’s going somewhere with that before her voice trails off, like she hadn’t finished the thought in her head before speaking, or…
Anyway, Nayeon is a pro at handling stilted pauses. “I thought you’d ask - I don’t know. Jeongyeon? Chaeyoung?” Anyone who seems more in their element in the middle of nowhere? Nayeon then takes the opportunity to tease, grinning. “I’m your favorite, aren’t I? I knew it.”
Mina does something that suspiciously looks like an eye roll. Did her face get pinker? Sounding a smidge defensive, she replies, “I asked Jihyo, but she was - busy.”
Nayeon pouts, clutching the bag of marshmallows tighter. “I wasn’t your first pick? Ouch,” she says, mockingly wounded, though for some reason it does sting. Just a bit. Just a teensy bit. Nayeon is nothing if not competitive.
She grabs another handful of marshmallows, sulking via sweets. What does Jihyo have that she doesn't?
“Nayeon,” Mina says with that stern voice she gets sometimes. Nayeon would cower if she weren’t so equally charmed by it. “Those are for later! They’re going to be gone by the time we get there if you don’t stop eating them.”
Nayeon whines, but ties it closed and tosses the offending bag back to the rear seats. Then she looks towards Mina. “Well, I’m going to prove to you why I should’ve been your first pick,” she declares boldly, returning to the prior topic. “We’re going to have a great time and you’ll be like wow, I can’t believe I didn’t choose Nayeon first!”
Mina doesn’t reply outwardly, but a smile does find its way on her lips despite the attempt to bite it down.
Ha, Nayeon thinks smugly. She’s winning already.
On second thought, Nayeon regrets everything.
They manage to get the tent set up in a grassy little space tucked away near a lake, thanks to Mina more than Nayeon - however the hell tents are meant to be constructed largely evades her - and it doesn’t take long before Nayeon’s stomach is grumbling. According to Mina, it’s a decently popular camping area, but Nayeon’s not convinced any people are around. The birds vastly outnumber them.
And so do the bugs.
Terrible.
“I’m hungry,” she complains loudly, flopping down in their newly arranged shelter. Mina has disappeared again and she’s not sure her voice is being heard.
But then she hears the approach of footsteps.
The moment Nayeon’s about to sit up, Mina tosses a pile of blankets and pillows inside, covering Nayeon who now has to scramble her way out of the cumbersome fabric.
“Hey!”
Mina pokes her head in, apologetic. “Sorry! I didn’t realize you were in there.”
“Where’d you go?”
“To get the rest of our things. The tent was just the first task.”
“I thought this was supposed to be relaxing,” Nayeon puffs out, lolling her head over to rest her cheek against the tent floor while she stares up at Mina. “Just watching you is making me tired.”
Mina crawls in to nudge at her. “Well if someone would help me haul the rest, it’ll go by faster. Then we can relax.”
Nayeon pauses to think about it. Sure, she definitely should help because she has a point to prove, but also… it’s tempting to continue lying where she is. Momentum and all that. “I’m starving,” she makes a point of emphasizing it this time.
Mina squeezes her arm gently. “If you help me, I’ll cook for you.”
Nayeon sits up immediately, almost knocking their heads together but Mina rears back just in time. Mina blinks away the startlement in her eyes and laughs. Music to Nayeon’s ears.
She’s smiling. It’s terribly hard to stay grumpy in Mina’s presence. Impossibly harder when she’s giggling.
“All right, boss. Let’s get to it.”
True to her word, carrying the rest of their things goes by a lot quicker with two people. Unpacking the utensils they need does as well.
Even so, the sun has passed its highest point in the sky today, and Nayeon actually has an excuse for feeling physically tired now.
Still, she feels a little guilty watching Mina do all the work to cook them a meal. She makes a point of fussing over her to assuage said guilt, which maybe defeats the purpose of not helping altogether. Nayeon fishes out a cold water bottle from the ice-filled cooler - they’ll have to drive out to the closest tiny outback store to get more when it all melts - and presses it against Mina’s arm, who jumps at the chill.
“Nayeon,” the stern voice is back again. Probably because Nayeon won’t stop bothering her.
“Drink,” Nayeon pokes her again, uncapping the bottle and coaxing Mina to take it. “You’ve been sweating a lot.”
“I’m okay,” she replies, voice softening, but dutifully listens anyway.
Once her mission is complete, Nayeon has time to appreciate the scent of food in the air. “Smells good.” Nayeon eyes the stew, wrapping her arms around Mina’s waist and peeking over her shoulder. “Looks good.”
Mina squirms a little in her grasp after she sets the water down, only allowing it for a few moments. “It’s hard to cook like this.”
“Okay, okay,” Nayeon squeezes her once before slipping away, but playfully tugs at the apron tied behind her back. “Do people usually bring aprons when they camp?” She teases. “It’s not very rugged-camper of you.”
“I mean -” Mina is flushed. “It’s not like it’s easy to do laundry out here, so -”
Nayeon laughs, as if the explanation was needed. But Mina is cute when she flusters. “I like it,” she adds, which only exacerbates Mina’s predicament.
“Let me finish this,” Mina glares at her. “No more interruptions.”
Nayeon raises her hands in appeasement, and goes to dig out her phone from her bag, thrown haphazardly into the confines of the tent.
It doesn’t turn out to be much of a distraction - the service out here is patchy at best, and it takes forever for anything to load. After growing so used to being wrapped up in technology, the lack of it feels odd. Being stuck to just yourself and your surroundings.
Way too much time to think.
Historically, this hasn’t always been a good thing. It's what leads to potential friendship-ruining thoughts. Weird thoughts like huh, I don’t ever feel like going on dates. I’d rather spend that time with Mina, or the kind of thoughts that lead to googling it’s normal to want to kiss your friends sometimes? right? right?? at 2am. (No, that does not mean you like them romantically. Stupid Google.)
Nayeon, in fact, does a lot to keep herself from having too much time on her hands for this very reason.
She ends up watching Mina finish up with the stew preparation, and somehow the sight keeps her rapt attention more than anything in a while.
Mina is beautiful when she works. Even more so in the light of the sun.
She’s caught off guard when Mina turns back to look at her, smiling sympathetically. “Hungry, Nayeonnie?”
“A bit,” she mumbles. Right - the food.
Mina walks over to sit down next to her at the entrance of the tent. “Twenty more minutes. It just has to boil for a while, will you survive?”
Nayeon nods, dropping her head to rest on the younger girl’s shoulder.
The conversation lulls to an agreeable silence, save for the crackle of flames, the bubbling of stew. Mina starts humming softly, and Nayeon wonders if her heart has always reacted like this when it came to the other girl.
By the time they eat, the sun is setting, but Nayeon is starting to feel a whole lot better with a full stomach and the waning effect of the sun’s heat.
When night falls, the temperature cools down considerably. They kept the campfire going, lawn chairs set out. When she sees what could be interpreted as a shiver from Mina, Nayeon clambers into the tent again to reach for a couple cushions and a big, fluffy blanket.
She sets the cushions on the ground, patting it with an obvious demand.
“You want to sit on the ground?” Mina asks, surprised.
Nope, Nayeon thinks, but beckons her some more. “Come here.”
Mina tilts her head, but acquiesces, coming to settle down close to Nayeon.
Nayeon makes quick work of throwing the blanket over her shoulder, swaddling them together. Then, for good measure, she moves her arm to wrap around Mina, rubbing her back. “Cold?”
“Just a little,” Mina admits. “Not anymore, though.”
Nayeon hums, pleased, watching the stray sparks float into the sky.
They sit like that for a while.
“There’s barely any phone service here,” Nayeon comments idly.
“I know,” Mina says, an apology on the tip of her tongue despite not being demanded. “I’m sorry, I know you -”
Nayeon hushes her. “It’s fine. I agreed to it, didn’t I?” She shrugs. “Besides, maybe it’ll be good for me. Fresh air and all.”
And maybe it’s for the best - because otherwise the everpresent worry about her life and career would remain at play if she could continue micromanaging it through her phone, despite her lack of physical presence.
But it’s so nice to have uninterrupted time with Mina. Even though the impediments were all her doing.
“You’ve seemed…” Mina hesitates, careful with her words, “...stressed lately.”
Nayeon hums in acknowledgement. “It’s nothing I can’t handle,” she puffs out her chest. “You know me. I think I run better when I have a million things to do.”
“We all need a break sometimes,” Mina remarks slowly.
“Is that what this is for you?” Nayeon asks, distracted by the way Mina’s hand has found hers, skimming a thumb over the top.
Mina lets out a small breath of a laugh. “I guess. And here I am, dragging you down with me - “
“I’ll always have time for you,” Nayeon interrupts her before it can veer into something that sounds suspiciously like self-deprecation. But it comes out more forthright than she intended. “Always.”
Mina smiles, lit up solely by the campfire, as warm as the brown of her eyes. She squeezes Nayeon’s hand. “Thank you,” she murmurs.
“There’s nothing to thank me for,” Nayeon insists.
“No, there is,” Mina lays her head on her shoulder this time. “Thank you for coming with me.”
Nayeon feels like she’s glowing just as bright as the fire is.
Mina yawns, a few minutes later, and Nayeon takes the initiative to coax her back to the tent.
If it’s a break Mina needs, then it’s a break she’ll get.
Day 2
When she wakes up in the morning, it’s dawn. The familiar stickiness of mornings in tents hasn’t even completely set in, it’s that early. Nayeon wonders if it’s possible to get a flock of birds to vacate the entirety of the nearby trees.
Probably not, she concludes.
Somehow the raucous chirps haven’t managed to wake Mina up, which Nayeon is grateful for once she catches a glimpse of how peaceful the other girl looks. Nayeon wants to keep that peace for her for as long as she can.
She’s very tempted to shut her eyes again, try to capture that last hour or so of decent sleep she’ll get, but she has work to do. Besides, she was lucky, and for once managed to fall asleep nearly instantaneously, soothed by Mina’s presence.
She gingerly tries to make her way past Mina without rousing her - unfortunately she hadn’t thought this through and after fearfully mentioning the possibility of bears before bed last night, Mina had snorted and took the side closer to the entrance. There’s no bears here, Nayeonnie, she reassured her.
It’s clumsy, but she manages to roll her way out of the tent successfully.
And now it’s the next hard part - managing to cook breakfast without clattering or alerting Mina in some way.
Piece of cake, right?
Okay, so maybe the breakfast doesn’t consist much more of boiled eggs, rice, a bunch of cut up fruit and crackers - but it’s edible. She’s not exactly a master chef or anything, so it’s enough to bolster her pride a bit. It’s all about the small wins.
She’s even more delighted by the fact she managed not to awaken Mina.
Mina, who comes out of the tent just before Nayeon finishes, blearily rubbing her eyes. “Nayeon? What are you doing?”
Nayeon, already grinning, sets a plate down next to Mina. “I made breakfast.”
Mina blinks at her, and Nayeon’s glad she let her sleep in, because Mina looks… tired. Her eyes do, at the very least. Nayeon knows what Mina looks like at peak shape. “You got up early?”
“Couldn’t sleep once I got up,” Nayeon replies, though she’s more concerned about Mina to think about herself this time. Now she almost regrets falling asleep so fast. “What about you? How did you sleep?”
“I slept fine.”
“Mina,” Nayeon raises her brow, doubtful.
“It took me a while to fall asleep,” Mina admits. “I slept enough, though. Don’t worry.”
Nayeon presses her lips together, but Mina hunkers down to eat the meal she made. Her concern is temporarily forgotten when Mina voices an appreciative it’s good, coupled with that gummy smile that may have just caused Nayeon’s heart to skip a beat.
Now that has Nayeon’s ego skyrocketing.
After breakfast, they take the vehicle to restock on ice and pick up a few miscellaneous things, get into their bathing suits and head off towards the lake and find a small beach, no signs of anyone.
Everything’s going smoothly, other than the fact that her eyes keep landing on Mina’s body, and the swimwear is flattering - though Mina would still look gorgeous in a paper bag, probably - but then that makes her tear her eyes away because what are you doing, Nayeon? And…
It’s kind of just easier to look at non-Mina things right now.
Nayeon uses her palm to cover her eyes, peering out into the clear water. The sun is relentless today. “I feel like we’re the only two people left on earth,” she remarks.
Mina is looking for something in her bag, replying absently as she does so. “We just talked to a shopkeeper half an hour ago.”
“Didn’t count,” Nayeon sniffs, just to be difficult.
Mina doesn’t reply again, but instead calls Nayeon over to her. “Put some sunscreen on,” she tells her, holding the bottle up when she approaches.
“Aren’t we going in the water anyway?”
“It’s water resistant, Nayeon.”
“Pshh, I’m not going to get a burn in the water.”
Mina stares her down. “If you get a sunburn, I’ll never hear the end of it.”
Nayeon stares back. Part of her wants to refuse on principle.
A beat. Then another.
She throws her hands up when Mina doesn’t relent, because Myoui Mina can be stubborn when she wants to be. “Argh! Fine, hand it over.”
Mina won, but it still feels like a prize when she gets that happy smile in response.
Nayeon might be a sucker.
Once they’re in the water - yes, sunscreen applied, however silly it seems to Nayeon - she remembers to bring a container of shampoo and conditioner near the water’s edge. It’s never going to compete with a shower, not in a million years, but at least she can still take care of her hair.
When she’s finished, Mina signals her to hand them off to her. Instead, Nayeon wades behind her.
“What are you doing?” Mina tries to crane her neck over to look when Nayeon holds her still by the shoulders.
Nayeon squirts some shampoo into her palm. “I’ll do it,” she announces, and then begins lathering it in the other girl’s hair.
“I can do it myself,” Mina argues weakly, though she’s already allowing Nayeon free reign.
“You’re supposed to be relaxing, remember? Doctor’s orders.”
She’s sure Mina is probably rolling her eyes right now. “And you’re the doctor?”
“I am,” Nayeon grins. “Just let me do my thing.”
Maybe they’re both stubborn.
Mina gives in this time.
Nayeon makes sure not to pull or anything. Even throws in something meant to resemble a head massage, like the hair stylists do. She can feel when Mina’s body begins to relax. It makes her feel good, too, somehow.
“I feel like a child,” Mina laughs.
Nayeon doesn’t reply, too focused on the task at hand. She pulls away once she’s satisfied. “Okay, dunk, then we’ll do conditioner.”
Later, they end up going for a hike of sorts. The complaints about too much walking are on the tip of Nayeon’s tongue, but then she remembers that she’s supposed to make sure Mina’s having the best time possible.
Also, she wants to prove that Mina was right to choose her. That too, though it seems of lesser importance now.
The thing is, the scenery is beautiful - and even with a phone with no service, she can still take countless photos of a picturesque Mina next to a picturesque landscape. It’s worth the ache in her legs, she supposes.
Then Mina ends up clutching her arm after a gasp, and Nayeon’s suddenly on high alert. “Mina -?”
“Shh,” Mina holds a finger to Nayeon’s lips, and it’s probably more effective an action than the verbalized hush at getting Nayeon to pause.
Nayeon shoots her an obviously questioning look, and Mina points.
Bears?! Nayeon gulps -
“Oh, it’s so cute,” Mina gushes in a whisper, squeezing Nayeon’s arm, fawning over the, well - the baby deer and its mother, off near the treeline.
And it is. It really is, but Nayeon can think of something cuter.
By the time they make it back to the campsite, Nayeon’s fully ready to flop down and take a nap before they have to prepare dinner.
But when she opens the tent, she lets out a terrified shriek.
And then bolts away from the traitorous tent altogether. This is why she hates camping.
It’s Mina’s turn to be alarmed, holding Nayeon close once she nearly runs into her with pure concern written over her features. “What happened?”
Nayeon swallows a large enough breath so that she can speak again.
“There is a bee,” Nayeon says, much more calmly than she feels, “in our tent.”
Mina looks like she wants to laugh. Even more so, when Nayeon scowls. She’s doing an awful job of hiding it.
“That’s all, unnie?” Mina replies, amused, but also relieved.
“Don’t you unnie me,” Nayeon retorts, moving to hide behind Mina’s back and pushes her towards the tent. “You’re only allowed to call me that if you can get that… thing out of our tent.”
Mina gets her unnie privileges back.
They make a meal together this time, Nayeon refusing to loaf around again, and kind of mistrustful of the tent at the moment.
For dessert, they use the marshmallows for their intended purpose.
(Well, as intended as they are to be accidentally smeared across Nayeon’s face when Mina attempted to feed it to her after toasting them over the fire.)
This time, though, they put out the fire earlier, retreating to the relative coziness of their tent with a lantern. Their nice, bugless tent.
They lay near each other, Nayeon staring up towards the roof of the tent.
“Did you have fun today?” Mina asks a little sleepily. She’s been blinking slowly for a while now.
Nayeon rolls over to face her. “Mhm,” other than one tiny incident, that she’s not going to bring up again out of her own stubborn pride - “How about you?”
Mina closes her eyes, smiles. “Yes. It was a good day.”
Nayeon reaches over to move a stray hair out of her face, and Mina’s eyes blink open. “You look tired. I’ll turn the lantern off, okay?”
“Okay,” Mina yawns.
Nayeon reaches over to do just that, letting the darkness envelop them. Things are so silent, out in the wilderness - it’s a bit uncanny. There’s some ambience, of course - bugs and such - but that’s nothing compared to the sounds of the city.
“Good night, Mina,” Nayeon murmurs into the dark.
“‘Night, Nayeonnie,” Mina replies in kind, shifting over to lay on the side facing the tent.
Nayeon goes back to staring at the ceiling of the tent, this time her eyes unable to grasp what she’s seeing, scattered noise all over her vision.
She expects to hear the sounds of Mina’s breathing evening out anytime, but her ears pick up movement from beside her.
When it happens again, Nayeon moves to face her. “Can’t sleep, Mina?”
“It takes a while sometimes,” she sighs. “Sorry, am I keeping you up?”
“No,” Nayeon hums. She’d just been thinking over the events of the day. Thinking about Mina. “It’d be scary to do this alone,” she says as an afterthought.
“It’d be lonely, I think,” Mina says quietly.
Nayeon thinks she gets it now - why Mina wanted a plus one for her camping trip. She wonders if she wanted to do it alone at all in the first place. Or why they didn’t try to arrange one for all nine of them, their group of friends - but then again, aligning nine schedules is hard. It’s also not exactly relaxing most of the time, when they’re all together.
“Besides,” Mina speaks up again, this time gentle and teasing, “who would be there to take care of the bees?”
“Are you making fun of me?” Nayeon scowls, moving her leg to prod at Mina. Then she gasps when she feels the cold chill of her skin. “Mina! Why are you so cold?”
“It’s cold outside,” Mina protests, though with her body pressed closer to Mina now, she can feel the younger girl shiver.
This will not do.
Nayeon grabs the blankets, pulling them up to Mina’s chin. Puts hers on Mina, too, and then slides under the blanket to spoon Mina from behind.
She inadvertently shivers from the cool touch of Mina’s legs against hers. “Seriously! No wonder you couldn’t sleep!?”
Mina is stiff in her hold, but relaxes slowly. “You don’t have to -”
“I’m keeping you warm,” Nayeon declares, like it’s her new sacred duty. And it apparently is, because she doesn’t get how different their body temperatures are. Mina ought to wear longer pj shorts. She rubs Mina’s arm, up and down, attempting to warm her up some more. “Your circulation is appalling.”
“I’m usually cold,” Mina offers, though the sleepiness has returned. “It’s nothing new.”
“Lucky for you, I run hot,” Nayeon whispers, her voice naturally quieting down as Mina’s does. The scent of shampoo wafts from her hair. “Your own personal heater for the rest of the trip. Sound good, Mina?”
“Mhm,” Mina hums, accepting her fate and sinking into the embrace. Maybe out of exhaustion, but Nayeon will take it.
She sincerely hopes Mina manages to fall asleep soon after that, because she doesn’t last very long, mind wrapped in only one thing. One person.
Day 3
Mina looks much better the next day.
When Nayeon wakes up, she’s still curled up close to Mina, the other girl turning into her hold sometime during the night.
It’s almost enough to ignore the gross, sweaty feeling of skin against skin in a tent that heats up way too fast in the light of day.
“Good morning,” Nayeon smiles when Mina blinks her eyes open.
Mina seems to have a rude awakening of sorts, and is quick to disentangle herself from Nayeon with a muttered apology.
“It’s fine,” Nayeon nearly frowns at the odd reaction, sitting up. “Sleep well?”
Mina looks a little reluctant to answer. She looks away. “I did. Sorry, um. I don’t want you to feel obligated to… do that.”
“Do what?” Nayeon is a bit puzzled now. “Cuddle?”
Mina reddens at that. She’s not usually the most physically affectionate person - at least compared to some of the other girls - but she’s not usually so jumpy about receiving it, either.
“Did I make you uncomfortable?” Nayeon theorizes, a spark of panic in her head that she’s been more transparent than she realized. Nayeon can be forward - she knows that, but she’s suddenly terrified that she’s overstepped this time. That she got the wrong idea about their relationship. “I’m sorry.”
“No, no,” Mina shakes her head furiously, and it’s -
It bothers Nayeon, because they’re never so out of sync.
“Don’t worry, Nayeon,” Mina says, a smile on her face, but it doesn’t look quite right.
She wants to apologize again, or take back the offending action altogether, whatever it was - but Mina seems determined to brush it all under the rug.
Mina’s acting normal again, has been the rest of the morning, so maybe it really was nothing but a minor misstep.
Nayeon hopes, anyway.
They barely get to do anything in the afternoon before clouds begin to cover the sky, and soon enough, a downpour begins.
Nayeon frowns from the cover of the tent, after they manage to get all their supplies away from the elements. “Damn. What are we going to do now, if this keeps up?”
Mina hums softly. “This stuff happens. There’s a restaurant down by the store - we could go there?”
“I don’t think we can have a fire anytime soon anyway,” Nayeon laughs. It comes out more forced than usual.
So, they make their way across the field to go find Mina’s car to have some refuge from the rain.
The restaurant goes okay. It’s a nice little place, so far from large swaths of people, and the owners are exceedingly friendly to them.
It’s nice to feel like a transient sometimes - to be in some impermanent state for a while. Like who you are or where you’re going doesn’t matter.
But even small things can leave imprints, Nayeon knows.
This is why, when the candle on their table is lit - Nayeon, for once, holds her tongue in a place where she may have very easily slipped out a quip - looks like we’re on a date, doesn’t it?
Mina gives her a small smile over dinner, only talking of the most banal things.
Yeah, no - she’s going to fix this.
Nayeon gets a coffee to go on the way back. Mina gets tea. Nayeon insists on driving, because her hands are restless.
Once they’re parked in their camping site, they sit in the car and Nayeon watches the rain cascade down the windshield.
Mina blows on her drink.
“It’s not letting up, huh,” Nayeon observes.
Mina takes a sip. “It could be worse,” she reasons, “It’s better than it was before. I, um… I checked the weather on my phone back at the restaurant. It should stop tonight.”
Nayeon lets out a sigh. “Well, there goes any outdoor activities.”
Mina hums in acknowledgement, but doesn’t say anything more.
It’s awkward. Things shouldn’t be awkward with them. It hasn't been more than 9 hours and Nayeon's already had enough.
The rhythmic pitter patter of the raindrops on the roof would normally be soothing, but instead she’s aggravated.
“Mina…”
“What?”
“I’m sorry,” Nayeon blurts out before she can even think over her words. Apologies don’t always come easy to Nayeon, but this time it slips out naturally. “For whatever I did. Uh, that sounds kind of shitty, but you can tell me, you know - or push me away whenever I’m being too much, I promise I won’t -”
Mina’s hand finding hers and squeezing makes her lose her train of thought. The contact does not last, however.
“You’re rambling,” Mina says gently, pulling away. Then bites her lip. “I told you not to worry about it. You did nothing wrong.”
Nayeon remains unconvinced. Mina tells her not to worry about things all the time, but that doesn’t always mean nothing’s amiss. Mina’s just the type of person to try to hide her struggles so as not to inconvenience anyone.
It’s made Nayeon sharper at identifying emotions, especially the more subtle ones.
(Though, Mina’s gotten better too over the years, at letting people know when she needs space, when things are too much.)
It makes Nayeon wonder how they’re like this, then.
She looks into Mina’s eyes intently, trying to read her, but Mina’s expression gives nothing away. “You always let me get away with things,” Nayeon sighs. “So, honestly - if I did something wrong, let me know. I’ll never do it again. Pinkie promise.”
Mina smiles. It’s faint, but it’s there. “I have a question,” she says.
Nayeon blinks. “Shoot.” It’s not the answer she expected, but it’s a start.
Mina brings them back to the conversation that happened at the beginning of the trip. “Why did you say yes to camping?”
Nayeon has to stop to think of a response, thrown for a loop, because she hadn’t thought of the reason she said yes other than It’s you who asked. She’s not really sure what Mina’s getting at, either.
She stalls.
“Why would I say no?”
Mina’s brows furrow somewhat. “We both know this isn’t exactly… your thing. So why?”
“Because I - like you,” Nayeon answers, her stumble so subtle it was nearly imperceptible. She hopes it is. She loves Mina, yes, that is no secret, but somehow it seems too powerful, too real of an admission in a moment like this. Love is a strong word, loaded with lethal ambiguity. Nayeon’s afraid the way she’d say it would betray her and reveal something she’s been tiptoeing around for quite some time.
So she opts for a safer version of the truth. Sanitized.
“That’s it?” Replies Mina.
“That’s it,” Nayeon breathes out, but it feels like she’s given the wrong answer somehow. “I’d do anything for you. You know that, right?”
She’s still rambling, but this time Mina’s expression - which has felt too guarded, too careful all day - slackens into gentle sincerity. She nods towards the driver’s door.
“Outside, Nayeon.”
“What? No. It’s wet out there.”
Mina nudges her. “Outside,” she repeats.
Nayeon’s jaw falls open. “Are you kicking me out of the car? I said I was sorry!”
“Nayeonnie.”
Nayeon makes a show about it, pouting and moving slowly on purpose, but she listens, stepping out of the car and standing next to the driver’s door, scrunching her nose when the rain hits it. “Happy?”
Mina doesn’t reply, however, just exits from her own door, briskly walking past the front of the car, wrapping Nayeon in a tight hug the moment she reaches her. Nayeon’s taken aback, but it’s simple instinct to hug Mina back, rubbing circles into her back. There’s raindrops trickling down her face but suddenly it doesn’t matter. Only Mina does.
“I’m sorry,” Mina mumbles, muffled by being pressed against Nayeon’s chest.
Nayeon moves her hand to stroke Mina's hair, the black tresses soft between her fingers.
Mina lifts her head up to speak, though she doesn’t meet Nayeon’s eyes. Droplets of rain are caught in her lashes. “I’m the one being weird. I’m sorry.”
Nayeon shakes her head. “Don’t apologize. I’m just glad you’re not mad at me.”
Mina’s smile is wobbly, eyes a little shiny. “I could never stay mad at you anyway.”
“Because I’m too cute and charming?” Nayeon jokes, because she’s feeling infinitely better now that Mina’s talking to her, and in her arms, and she wants to see a real smile on her face.
It works. Mina’s smile grows wider, and she shakes her head. “Something like that.”
Nayeon pulls her closer. “We’re okay?” She checks for good measure.
Mina nods, tucked into the crook of her neck.
Nayeon leans over, heart floating, and presses a gentle kiss onto Mina’s forehead. When Mina trembles, Nayeon is sure it’s the rain’s fault, and guides her towards the tent.