#jeti

“Hm?” The recipient of the compliment, although commonly the recipient of such words, found herself fighting back a blush nonetheless. “Where’d that come from?”

Hearing her girlfriend laugh nervously as she normally did when flustered, Jessica smiled. “I haven’t seen you wear this top before. Did you buy it for this party?”

“Mhm.”

“Green looks great on you.”

“Tha—”

“Your abs look so sexy, and it makes your boobs look amazing, too.”

This time, Tiffany couldn’t hide the redness now overtaking her face. “O-Oh, does it?”

Jessica nodded, continuing to watch Tiffany put the final touches on her makeup. “I don’t want everyone else noticing how sexy my girlfriend is.”

“…So, are you saying that other outfits don’t make me look sexy?”

Jessica’s facial expression morphed into a conflicted frown. “Well, no…”

“So, no matter what I would wear, everyone would be able to see how sexy I am, right?”

Defeated by the now smugly smiling woman’s superior logic, Jessica conceded, “Yeah, you’re right.”

“So it’s no problem if I go to the party wearing this, right?”

“…I guess not…”

The hands around her waist were pulled off and the previously trapped woman turned around to face the defeated expression of her girlfriend. “Come on, the party’s going to be fun! I promise! And if you don’t think so, we can just leave early. OK?”

Jessica nodded, albeit more as a gesture of acceptance rather than the one of excitement Tiffany was hoping for. Seeing it, Tiffany sighed, opening her mouth to add something else, not believing she was actually saying what she was about to say. “There’s gonna be a lot of people there you can tease me in front of.”

As expected, that perked Jessica’s attention, her dreary eyes gaining an excited focus and her lips curling back into a smile. “Oh!”

Tiffany half wondered why she subjected herself to this but was quickly reminded upon seeing Jessica’s freshly excited expression. Damn, was she absolutely whipped for this cutie. “Shall we go?”

“Let’s walk.” When Tiffany gave her a strange expression, one that clearly asked who-are-you-and-what-have-you-done-with-my-Jessica, she elaborated. “The weather’s nice.” And although Jessica didn’t include her secret other reason, that she wanted to spend more alone time with Tiffany, the acquiescing woman understood it to be the case all the same.

“Do you want me to carry that?”

After departing, Tiffany made sure to bring along a bag she had prepared days before: a birthday present for Taeyeon, a few scented candles Tiffany thought she would like. “It’s ok, I don’t want my girlfriend-who-hates-any-physical-activity-but-is-somehow-an-amazing-dancer to run out of energy before we even arrive.”

The smile on Jessica’s face provided a contrast to her childish, defiant gesture of sticking her tongue out at the accusatory woman. “I wouldn’t have had to waste all that time and energy if you hadn’t told me you liked guys who were great dancers back in middle school.”

“But you look so sexy when you’re dancing, so it’s a win-win, isn’t it?”

Hearing that again perked Jessica’s attention. “Oh … do I really?”

Tiffany laughed. “This isn’t the first time I’ve told you this—heck, this probably isn’t even the hundredth time I’ve told you this. What are you acting so surprised about?” Jessica didn’t reply, instead humming happily with a smile on her face and a pep to her step, swinging their arms connected via their interlocked hands with more gusto. Tiffany couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re so easy to please.”

“Hey, don’t say that! It’s just that you’re great at pleasing me!”

Tiffany’s eyes widened, immediately noticing the innuendo in her sentence, erasing the surprise in her face when she noticed her girlfriend completely oblivious to it. How ironic was it that Jessica was usually the one making dirty, teasing remarks but Tiffany was the one with the dirtier mind? But it was something that Tiffany loved about her innocent significant other: it just went to show that it was Tiffany herself that brought out Jessica’s perverted side. On the other hand, because she did have those thoughts, what did it say about herself?

No, it didn’t necessarily say anything. Plus, she rarely had those kinds of thoughts with anyone else.

“Why are you shaking your head?”

“Hm? Oh! Nothing, I was just thinking about something.”

“What were you thinking about?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Are you sure?”

Tiffany nodded, and although Jessica was curious, she left it at that. The walk itself was twenty or so minutes, but despite taking a bit longer to get there than intended, the couple were still amongst the first to arrive.

“Oh, it’s JeTi! Come in!”

Sunny stepped aside, ushering the two in. “You’re like the third and fourth people to arrive.”

“Really? Wow, I guess walking really was worth it,” Tiffany chirped, dropping off her shoes at the entry and pulling Jessica further into the residence.

“Oh, did you guys walk?” Hyeri was the next to appear, a barely touched bottle of alcohol in her hand. It seemed like the bottle was put into her hands against her wishes—probably by Sunny—and she carried around more out of courtesy than a desire to drink. “Good thing, because did you see the parking lot? There’s barely any more space for guests!”

“Oh really? Aren’t there supposed to be, like, twenty people showing up?”

“Yeah, I know right?” The trio wandered into the kitchen, Sunny having already scurried there before them, seeing Sooyoung sitting at the island table chatting away with Taeyeon at the stove, cooking. “That’s what you get for being so popular, Taengoo.”

“Hm?” The petite woman turned around, her eyes sparkling with joy when they landed on the newly arrived couple. “Oh! Tiffany, Jessica, hi! Welcome, so glad you could make it! I would hug you, but…” the turner in her hand helped her gesture to the apron adorning her torso, already sullied with what appeared to be a smear of some kind of sauce for meat.

“No worries, and happy birthday!”

“Happy birthday,” Jessica chimed in.

“Where should we put your gift?”

“Gift? What—oh, you didn’t have to get me a gift! Just seeing you two lovebirds—…” a pause, and then, “on second thought, it’s great compensation for all the jealousy I’m about to feel seeing you two being all lovey-dovey.” Tiffany laughed, Jessica simply smiling in response. “You can put them there,” she said, gesturing to where two presents were already situated. “And feel free to grab a drink!”

“Taeyeon, your meat!”

 “Hm? My—oh, shit—! … Wait, it’s fine!”

“You call those burn marks ‘fine’?”

“It’s—…just a little! I can just carve it out!”

Sooyoung huffed. “But all that wasted food…”

The next to arrive was Yoona and Yuri, followed by the two Joohyuns that thankfully went by other names: Irene and Seohyun. As the kitchen got crowded, everyone not helping with the cooking migrated to the living room. Tiffany was lively as ever, Jessica sitting by her side being as quiet as ever. She was following the conversation but just didn’t have anything to add; even when she did, she couldn’t bring herself to interject when someone else was speaking or was afraid she might cut someone else off if she began prematurely. So instead, Jessica marveled at her girlfriend’s ability to slip into social situations so seamlessly and found herself mostly just staring at her, moving from simply sitting next to her on the couch to wrapping her arm around Tiffany’s to pulling it to her chest to resting her head against her shoulder and tucking it in the crook of her neck after Tiffany adjusted the angle of her head to allow Jessica to do so.

With each stage of increasing intimacy, the embarrassment slowly built up until finally, Jessica’s display of affection drew the attention of everyone else.

“Look at you two, making me jealous as usual.”

“O-Oh, really?” Tiffany laughed nervously, the embarrassment finally showing as a pink hue adorning the tips of her ears. Her head turned towards the girl leaning on her shoulder only to find Jessica’s brown orbs centimeters from her face staring right back. The proximity of Jessica’s face to Tiffany caused her face to erupt in a fit of pink, fighting the urge to jump in response but unable to help the meek, surprised squeal that escaped her lips.

The response brought a smile to Jessica’s face, her arms circling around her girlfriend’s slim waist and pulling her closer. “Why’s your face so red? Are you embarrassed of me?”

“I—no—it’s that—I’m not—you’re—I mean—” Jessica was pretty much the only person in the world that could bring Tiffany to this state, of being completely unable to speak, and the quieter woman loved that. It was like she had a superpower no one else possessed, not to mention how adorable and entertaining it was to watch her stammer so helplessly.

Jessica pulled her lips into a very pointed frown. “Are you ashamed to show our love for each other in front of others? Don’t you love me?”

“You—You know it’s not that!”

Jessica could hear the giggles coming from the others in the room, and that only fueled the fire in her. “Prove it.”

“Wha—How?”

Jessica’s right hand moved away from Tiffany’s waist and to her own face, tapping her slightly puckered lips. “Kiss me.”

The suggestion again sent Tiffany into a flurry of redness and embarrassment, Jessica biting back the giddy grin that was fighting so hard to leak past her pouty visage. “R-Right here? Now?” With a simple nod as confirmation, Tiffany started panicking. She really did love Jessica, but one thing about her Tiffany could never keep up with was her willingness to be intimate in public. She wasn’t even sure where this came from; even when surrounded by people she had known for a long time, such as now, Jessica was usually quite reserved. That is, when it came to speaking. Why, then, did she so easily demanded kisses in front of the same crowd she often was too reserved to speak with?

And moreover, why was she always so easy to tease? How had she not already gotten used to Jessica’s antics?

Without deliberating much more on those topics, Tiffany quickly closed the distance and gave Jessica a peck on her waiting, pink lips. A surge of squeals erupted from the crowd watching them, only causing the red hue on Tiffany’s face to turn redder, the pout of Jessica’s lips now replaced with a content smile. “This was your idea,” Jessica mouthed to her, Tiffany having no choice but to nod in acknowledgement.

Yoona, who had been helping with the cooking, wandered in shortly after. “What’s happening here? Why’s everyone making so much noise?”

“JeTi’s just being their usual adorable selves,” answered Yeri.

“Aah, I see.” Jessica smiled, her right hand returning to Tiffany’s waist but her head with some distance from Tiffany’s shoulders.

“Do you guys need any help with the cooking?”

“We’re almost done, you go back to cuddling with your Tiffany and making everyone else in this room jealous.”

“Yes ma’am,” Jessica answered, playfully saluting her. Yoona giggled at the response, whisking off back into the kitchen, conversation in the living room shortly afterwards picking back up.

However, this time, Tiffany didn’t join. “Since when did you get so close to Yoona?”

Hearing the poorly masked jealous inquiry made Jessica break out into a wide grin. “Aww, are you jealous?” she cooed, reaching up to pinch Tiffany’s cheeks.

“No, I—” Tiffany recoiled, escaping Jessica’s fingers, before finishing her sentence, “—I was just saying, because that was like the first thing you said since arriving here other than ‘Happy Birthday’ to Taeyeon.”

“Don’t you worry, I love you much more than Yoona.”

“…but you still love her?”

“Well, whose waist do I have my arms wrapped around right now?”

Tiffany huffed, defeated. “Don’t call other women ‘ma’am’. You’re only allowed to call me that.”

“Yes, mommy.”

Again, Tiffany’s face exploded in a fit of red. “I—I said ‘ma’am’, not ‘mommy’!”

The advantages of having a loud voice: people could hear her easily, it suited her extroverted nature well, and it was always easy to identify her as well as to find other people in a crowd.

The disadvantages of having a loud voice: people stared daggers at her in quieter places like libraries, and whenever Tiffany was having embarrassed outbursts, she often times couldn’t control the fact that her voice pierced the room she was in.

What followed was a brief moment of silence and confusion, then an explosion of laughter.

“What are you two even talking about?”

“N-Nothing!”

“Tiffany was just saying—” before Jessica could say anything incriminating, the embarrassed girlfriend of the speaker interrupted the sentence with a hand to the mouth.

“It’s-It’s private!”

“Oh, I’m sure it is.”

“No, I—I’m not even going to say anything.” Jessica joined everyone else in laughter, her hands moving up and wrapping around the sulking girl’s shoulders, allowing the flustered girlfriend to hide her face in Jessica’s chest. “Jess, help, they’re bullying me…”

“You brought this on yourself, Tiff.”

In a split second, Tiffany withdrew her head and looked up at her significant other, bewildered. “This was because you said—you said that thing!”

Seeing Tiffany pout and sulk, Jessica could do nothing but completely melt. “Aw, you’re right, I’m so sorry,” she cooed back in reply, tenderly placing a peck on Tiffany’s pouty lips. And although Tiffany felt the tips of her ears burn a little brighter in embarrassment, a content smile befell her face, tucking her head back into Jessica’s chest and cuddling up to her closer.

A chorus of ‘aw’s filled the room.

“They’re soo cuute~”

“I’m so jealous…”

“It’s like they have reverse personalities when they’re with each other.”

“I know, I would’ve never expected Tiffany to be so meek around Jessica if I hadn’t known them for so long.”

“Even as someone who has known them for so long, it’s still a little surprising sometimes.”

“You guys are making wish I had a boyfriend…”

Not knowing how to respond, Jessica just smiled back, eventually deciding it was ok for her to stay silent since Tiffany also didn’t respond. By the time Sunny popped back in the living room and announced that dinner was ready, there were probably two to three times as many people as there was space on both couches.

For dinner, Tiffany returned to her usual energetic self, occasionally interrupted by Jessica feeding her from their shared plate.

Observing this, Taeyeon plopped herself by Jessica’s side. “Are you her servant or something?”

“Something like that,” Jessica agreed, chuckling, “Hey, Taeyeon. Everything is delicious, by the way, I’m sorry you had to prepare all of this when we’re celebrating your birthday.”

“Oh, no! Don’t worry about it, I love seeing people enjoying my food.”

“I would say I love it, but Tiff might get jealous I’m proclaiming my love for anything or anyone but her.”

“Hey, don’t make such ridiculous claims!” Tiffany, who was acutely aware of Taeyeon seating herself next to Jessica, slipped out of the conversation she was having to pay more attention to the two women in her immediate vicinity.

“But you made such a big deal out of me not calling you—” Tiffany’s ear tips immediately broke out into a pink hue, her hand hastily reaching up to cover her mouth.

“You don’t have to tell her that!”

“Tell me what?” When the two turned to her, they were frankly disarmed by the innocent curiosity Taeyeon’s face. “I heard some commotion a while ago and Yoona came to check it out but wouldn’t tell us what it was about. Was it you two?”

“No, it—”

“Tiffany was telling me that I was the only allowed her to call her ‘mommy’.”

Taeyeon’s face similarly exploded into a pink hue, responding with a brief, “O-Oh!”

Seeing the bewildered, flustered reaction caused Jessica to laugh out loud, Tiffany interjecting, “That’s not what I said!”

“It’s ok Fany, I’m not kink-shaming you.”

“Taeyeon—see Jess? Now you got this weird idea into Taeyeon’s poor, innocent head.”

Taeyeon joined Jessica in laughter, continuing, “You two are so cute, every time I see you, I wish I had a boyfriend.”

“With how hot you are, it’s a wonder you don’t have a boyfriend.”

Taeyeon laughed, but before she could answer, Jessica chimed in. “What about me?”

Being met with Jessica’s big, round eyes peering at her, her head tilted like a puppy listening to music for the first time, Tiffany could do nothing but completely melt. “Oh! Wow, you’re a cutie, are you single?”

“I’m not, actually,” was Jessica’s reply spoken past the playful grin on her face, “But I asked about how hot I am.”

“Hot enough that I don’t care that you’re not single, why don’t you be mine?”

“Hmm…” Jessica pursed her lips, tapping the soft pink tissue with her finger before saying, “my girlfriend gets jealous easily, so I don’t know…”

“God, you two are so cute, you’re doing a really good job at making me jealous. I might need another present from you two at this rate.”

The trio shared another laugh before Taeyeon thanked them again for coming and, being the host of the party, excused herself to greet and thank some other people. Tiffany hopped into another conversation with Jessica following closely behind, people finishing their meals slowly for the next few hours, breaking out in different groups to continue to talk or play games on the Switch plugged into the apartment’s TV until Taeyeon gathered everyone into the living room.

“We’re going to start playing drinking games, so everyone make sure you have a drink!”

After some shuffling, Taeyeon proceeded to explain the game.

“The game is called ‘paranoia’. How it goes is that someone chooses a person to whisper a question to, specifically a question whose answer is a person, but only the answer is spoken out loud. Whoever wants to know what the question was takes a drink, but the answerer can decide to reveal the question or take a drink themselves. Then, the answer goes next, choosing someone else to ask a question to, and so on. So, who wants to start?”

“Well, it has to be you, right?”

The room erupted in agreement, the game starting with Taeyeon asking Sunny a question whose answer turned out to be Taeyeon herself.

“Huh? Really? Not, like, Sooyoung or something?”

“Huh? What about me?”

“Yeah! Is that so hard to believe?” Sunny asked, laughing.

“I just … I just thought, I live such a boring life, why me?”

“Wait, are you calling me boring, Taeyeon?” The room burst into laughter, Jessica smiling along while feeling the shaking laughter pass through her girlfriend’s entire body.

“I love feeling your laughter in my arms.”

The completely out-of-the-blue statement caught Tiffany off-guard, turning to look at the owner of the pair of arms wrapped around her waist with an inquisitive expression. “What?”

“Feeling your entire body shake when you’re laughing when I’m hugging you feels really comforting,” Jessica elaborated, although the explanation didn’t do much to appease her confusion.

The commotion about the game faded into the background as Tiffany tried to better understand the sudden confession, but to no avail. “What … why?”

Jessica shrugged, the smile never leaving her lips. “It just does.”

Gradually, Tiffany’s expression morphed into an amused one. “You’re weird.”

Jessica crinkled her nose at her. “No, you.”

This elicited a giggle from Tiffany, lovingly tapping the crinkled nose. “I love feeling your arms around me when I’m laughing.”

“You know what, I’m going to choose Jessica just because them being all lovey-dovey is making me annoyed.”

Hyoyeon’s sudden affirmation and the resulting laughter snapped the couple back into the room. A whispered inquiry later, Jessica pursed her lips and pondered a bit before answering. “To be honest, I’m not too sure if it’s Brenda Song or Tiffany, but definitely one of the two.”

Tiffany was already ready to down the drink to inquire about the question, but Hyoyeon’s devilish grin all but forced her to do it. However, it wasn’t that Tiffany downed the drink that caused everyone to laugh, but the speed at which she did it.

“Oh, is this jealousy?”

“…A little bit,” Tiffany admitted, causing additional laughter, “But I also want to know what I would be on the same level as Brenda Song with.”

“The question was, ‘who made you realize you were a lesbian?’”

Although Tiffany had already known this piece of information, it was the resulting chorus of coos and ‘aw’s that made Tiffany flush.

“Wow, good for you Tiff.”

“Aw, that’s so sweet!”

“O-Ok, next question! Jess, who are you directing your question towards?”

The game went on, the baton passing from Jessica to Seohyun to Seulgi to Hyuna back to Taeyeon, who directed a question to Hyeri, who in turn directed one to Sooyoung. While the couple were following along with the game with their undivided attention, it was the question Sooyoung directed to Sunny that got their attention; especially because the answer Sunny gave was Jessica.

“Oh…”

“What? Are you happy?”

Jessica couldn’t help but laugh at another one of Tiffany’s jealous outbursts. “It’s not something to necessarily be happy about, I was just surprised.”

“It definitely is something to be happy about,” Sooyoung chimed in.

“You—why’d you say that? Now Tiffany’s gonna—” before Sunny could even finish her sentence, Tiffany had already downed a shot, earning laughter from the others. “See?”

“So?”

Sunny huffed, glaring at Sooyoung one more time before answering, “The question was, ‘whose body do you envy the most?’”

The anticipation of the question put her on edge, but the actual reveal of the question rendered her stunned. Seeing the pride in Tiffany’s expression did well to appease the anxiety regarding the question, but what was left was just confusion. “My … really?”

“The fact that you can still make out your curves wearing that huge blue poncho is just a testament to how great your proportions are, and you also have really pretty legs too. I don’t think I can say more without incurring Tiffany’s wrath, so I’ll just leave it at that.”

Hearing the explanation gave Tiffany an enormous surge of pride, and more importantly, gratitude. “See? It’s not only me who thinks it, even Sunny thinks so too.”

“Ah, yeah, I see…”

That marked the first time many of the people in the room heard Jessica speak with that voice: a reluctantly accepting tone, like she was confronted with something she didn’t want to accept. They were used to Jessica being quiet, they were even used to Jessica’s teasing remarks to Tiffany, and some had even seen Jessica cry while watching movies together, but rarely did she ever speak in such a dejected manner.

“Why else? Did you have more?”

Sunny, confused, hesitantly pressed ahead. “Well … I mean, just in general, everything about Jessica’s body is just so well proportioned. While I enjoy having big boobs, I sometimes wished they were a bit smaller: about Jessica’s size, roughly. And she also has a slim waist, which makes her hips look wider and butt look better…” Sunny carefully treaded on every word she spoke, but Tiffany seemed to smile wider at every one.

“I know, right?!” she beamed, turning her attention to Jessica, who was hiding her face in embarrassment. “Oh, Jessica? Are you ok?”

The embarrassment wasn’t just from the compliments, though. “I-I’m ok, I’m sorry.” Jessica’s hands reached up only to be intercepted by Tiffany, leaning down and gently dabbing away at the tears that had coalesced and spilled over onto her girlfriend’s face.

The room fell into silence, the onlookers whispering worriedly amongst themselves. “No one thinks you’re ‘too big’ in any way. You’re perfect, just the way you are.”

Jessica nodded, burying her face against Tiffany’s chest, taking a few deep breaths, shaking the tears away from her system.

“I’m … sorry, I didn’t mean to bring up anything bad…”

“No! Thank you for saying that, I think Jessica really needed to hear that, especially because I think so many people assume Jessica knows how great her body is with how much confidence she carries about herself.”

“I-I’m fine. Thank you, Sunny. Honestly, I’m surprised Tiffany didn’t get jealous at all, but I think you still might need to be careful when you go to sleep tonight.”

“Ya—I’m not that petty!” A smile quickly formed on Jessica’s face, the rest of the room breaking out into a careful laughter.

“Says the girl who got mad at me about a girl who you thought was staring at me for too long at the gym, only to find out later that she was actually checking the availability of the machine I was using.”

“B-But, I mean, you can’t blame me! I mean, you look so hot when you’re in your gym outfit!”

“Ew, get a room!”

“Yah, who said that?”

The jovial atmosphere quickly returned to the room, Taeyeon checking in on the couple after the game lost the interest of the party’s participants. A few more drinking games were played, people only starting to go home well past midnight. As Taeyeon offered them to drive back home because of how late it was, the couple stayed a bit longer to help clean up, Sunny hopping into the passenger seat send them off as well.

After situating themselves in the car, Sunny was the first to speak. “Sorry again, Jessica. I didn’t mean to poke at a sensitive topic.”

“Oh, no no no,” Jessica replied, embarrassment for crying in front of everyone ringing at the back of her mind, “It was a bit embarrassing to be complimented like that in front of everyone, but I’m thankful that you said it. There’s nothing to be sorry about.”

Sunny’s gaze lingered on her a bit longer, the apologetic smile similarly lingering on her lips. “You really do have a great body though, probably among the best in our friend group.”

An entire list of people who she would consider to have a better body than hers appeared in Jessica’s mind, but she refrained from saying it. Part of the reason was because she knew that she wasn’t supposed to refute compliments, but also because her social battery was so drained that she felt barely able to speak. When they arrived home, Jessica headed straight for the bed and collapsed face-first on it, not even bothering covering herself with the blanket.

And although Tiffany felt bad for her, knowing how draining social events can be for her incredibly introverted girlfriend, she couldn’t help but smile. Her girlfriend really was way too adorable.

“Come on, Jess, we need to wash. At least brush your teeth before going to bed.”

“Help me then, mommy,” Jessica offered, turning around and holding her arms out like a spoiled child.

Tiffany laughed. “You’re too adorable.” She obliging her girlfriend’s request, helping her to her feet. It was mostly silent in the bathroom as the two did their nightly routine, only broken when Tiffany posed the question, “So how was today?”

“It was fun, but I’m exhausted.”

Tiffany could see it in Jessica’s eyes, too. Again, she felt bad for the introvert of a girlfriend she had, not completely able to empathize with the feeling but able to sympathize with the feeling of ‘having her social battery drained’ as Jessica so often described to her. “Let’s cuddle and watch a movie tomorrow.”

This brought a smile to Jessica’s otherwise fatigued visage. “I’d love that.”

This was from a request a while back that I found in my drafts that I slammed out in the span of a week or two, was very fun to write although, for the first time in a while, I didn’t really have a concrete plan when writing this. I had the personalities and the characters (since this was a request) decided, but otherwise not much. I had to look up some drinking games because I don’t drink often, but apart from that, didn’t really do much preparation before diving in.

In some ways, it felt nice to write more off-the-cuff (the ‘mommy’ thing was an off-the-cuff thing, as was the Jessica crying thing), but at times, especially when I felt a little stuck in the chapter, I missed the careful planning I usually do with everything I write.