Their school has no elevator. It’s been a bit of a controversial issue for a while, but Minkyung has never really been bothered by it. Until now. And now, she feels like joining all of those outraged parents to protest the discrimination against disabled students.

    Minkyung sighs tiredly as she watches Siyeon precariously place a crutch onto a step. “What do you think you’re doing?” she asks, and her low voice startles Siyeon.

    Siyeon slowly turns around with an innocent smile on her face. A too innocent smile on her face; one that Siyeon would wear when she knows she did something wrong like steal the last piece of meat off of Eunwoo’s plate or break Yebin’s speakers. “I’m trying to climb the stairs?” Siyeon ends the statement more like it’s a question, and her smile gets even more innocent (if that was even possible), and Minkyung gets infinitely more tired.

    “I know,” Minkyung replies as she tries to hold back another sigh. “But why? You’re already injured; why do you keep on straining it? Do you want your injury to get even worse?” Siyeon pouts, bottom lip jutting out, and looks properly reprimanded. Minkyung softens at the sight. “Hey,” she starts, placing a gentle hand on Siyeon’s cheek and softly rubbing the skin of it with her thumb. “You know I’m just worried about you, right? You’re our maknae and I don’t want to see you get any more injured than you already are.”

    “I know,” Siyeon says, placing a hand on top of Minkyung’s. “But we don’t have an elevator so…” She trails off and that leads them back to their original problem.

    Minkyung contemplatively runs a hand through her hair as she tries to think of a solution. Finally, she switches her backpack to carry in front of her and crouches in front of Siyeon. “Get on,” she says. “Unni will give you a piggyback ride.”

    And immediately, Siyeon pulls her back up with a resounding “NO!” Minkyung shoots her a bewildered look and Siyeon lets go of Minkyung’s arm. “My skirt…” Siyeon starts to explain. “They’ll see.”

    “Why does it matter? We go to an all girls’ school.”

    Siyeon just shrugs, now a bit shy. “It just does.”

    “Whatever,” Minkyung sighs as she drops her backpack to the ground. She then takes off her uniform jacket and ties it around Siyeon’s waist. “Happy?” She asks. “Now no one can see up your skirt.” Siyeon grins and before Minkyung realizes what’s going on, she tiptoes on her one good foot and presses a quick kiss against the older girl’s cheek.

    “Thanks.”

    Minkyung picks up her backpack again and carries it so it settles against her front, before crouching down again. “Now get on. We’re both going to be late to class at this rate.” Siyeon climbs on and Minkyung stands up with a slight grunt. She’s a bit unsteady at first- mostly because she’s unused to the extra weight- but ends up finding her footing pretty quickly.

    “Am I heavy?” Siyeon asks and Minkyung snorts.

    “As if. If someone has trouble carry you, it’s not because you’re heavy, it’s because they’re weak.” Minkyung retorts and Siyeon laughs before nuzzling her face into the crook between Minkyung’s neck and shoulder.

    “Your skin is really soft,” Siyeon mumbles.

    “I exfoliate.” Minkyung says and Siyeon laughs again. They reach the top of the stairs and when Minkyung moves to lower Siyeon back onto the ground, Siyeon tightens her grip around Minkyung’s neck.

    “Wait!”

    “Hm?”

    “Can you,” Siyeon stops, pursing her lips for a bit before saying, “Can you carry me all the way to class?”

    Minkyung gives her a questioning look but ends up complying with the request anyways. It’s not like Siyeon’s class is that much further. When they enter the class, everyone stares at them. Minkyung doesn’t take notice of it but behind her, Siyeon grins- a bit too smugly. Siyeon presses another kiss against Minkyung’s cheek in thanks after she drops the younger girl onto her desk. “You know, I think I’m going to stop accepting these kisses as a form of currency after today,” Minkyung jokes, her lips pulling into a teasing grin. “Maybe I should only accept payments for these piggyback rides in the form of Americanos?”

    Siyeon laughs and smiles softly to herself when Minkyung leaves, throwing a cool wave over her shoulder. (But still, when she’s on her way to school the next morning, Siyeon makes her mom stop by a nearby coffee shop to buy an Americano.)

.

    “Hey.” Minkyung grabs a hold of Kyungwon’s wrist when she meets her on the way to her own class and pulls her to the side of the hallway. “Which teacher do you have for sixth period?”

    “Mr. Yang,” Kyungwon answers, and Minkyung smiles to herself. Everyone knows that Mr. Yang lost the will to be a teacher at least a decade ago and now arrives to every class late and lets every class out early, and that’s exactly what Minkyung was hoping for. “Why?”

    “Can you pick Siyeon up from class then? I’d do it myself but I have Mrs. Kang and I heard from the previous third years that she tends to keep students back.”

    Kyungwon doesn’t even bother to hesitate before saying, “Sure. What class is she in again?”

    “2-1,” Minkyung replies before giving Kyungwon a hug. “Thanks for this. And oh!” she calls out right as she’s walking away. “Don’t let Siyeon try and go down the stairs herself.” Kyungwon gives a salute in acknowledgement before heading off to her own class.

.

    The first day of class ends and Siyeon walks out of her classroom to see Kyungwon leaning against the wall of the hallway as she waits for her. “Hey princess,” Kyungwon greets with a small teasing smile and Siyeon feels a bit embarrassed by the nickname, but at the same time- she enjoys the affection in Kyungwon’s voice. Her classmates stare at them. (Siyeon also enjoys the envious looks they give her.)

    “Hey, unni,” Siyeon greets, curiously looking around.

    “Minkyung has Mrs. Kang,” Kyungwon explains, “And judging by the way she’s not here by now, she probably got kept back a little bit longer. So that’s why I’m here.”

    “Ahh.” Siyeon nods in understanding.

    “Are you okay?” Kyungwon asks. “Can you walk?” Siyeon looks at her crutches for a moment before tucking them under one arm instead latching onto Kyungwon, putting all of her weight on the older girl. Kyungwon laughs. “I guess it’s more of a case of not wanting to walk, huh?” Siyeon doesn’t give any reply except for an innocent grin. Kyungwon shakes her head but lets the girl do as she wants. She has always had a hard time saying no to the girl. (Everyone does, really.)

    “I forgot about this,” Kyungwon mumbles to herself once they reach the stairs. “They should really put in an elevator or something. I guess carrying you down would be the best option, huh? It’s a good thing you already have a jacket covering your skirt,” Kyungwon says, referring to Minkyung’s jacket that’s still tied around Siyeon’s waist. “Wouldn’t want to accidentally flash anyone. That’d be weird.”

    “Right?!” Siyeon exclaims as she climbs onto Kyungwon’s back. “Minkyung unni thought I was weird for thinking that this morning because we go to an all girls’ school.”

    “Well, Minkyung also once went to school in her underwear because she was too lazy to put on her uniform so…”

    “Isn’t that Minkyung unni every morning?” Siyeon retorts and they both laugh.

    “Talking bad about me behind my back, huh?” Minkyung calls out as she walks up to them. “And after I so kindly carried you all the way to class this morning,” she dramatically sighs before ruffling both of their hairs.

    “Mrs. Kang kept you back? You arrived kind of late during lunch as well,” Kyungwon asks curiously.

    “Yeah, we got kept back a bit during lunch because someone had a uniform violation,” Minkyung explains.

    Kyungwon notes Minkyung’s lack of a jacket, and the jacket tied around Siyeon’s waist and smirks knowingly to herself. “Does the uniform violation happen to be not wearing a jacket?”

    Minkyung shoots the other two a guilty grin, sheepishly scratching her cheek. “Looks like I’ve been caught.” Kyungwon laughs and almost loses her balance if not for Minkyung’s hand steadying her.

    “And what about just now?” Siyeon asks.

    “Oh, some random kid got caught checking her phone and Mrs. Kang got pissed.”

    “Did that ‘random kid’ also happen to be you?” Siyeon deduces, quickly catching on.

    “I was just checking the time,” Minkyung replies defensively and the other two both laugh at her expense.

    “Wait,” Siyeon realizes, “Doesn’t practice start right now? Aren’t you guys going to get in trouble?”

    Minkyung and Kyungwon look at each other before both shrugging. “It’s fine. A couple of extra laps around the gym won’t hurt us.”

.

    “Where were you guys?” Nayoung asks when they both arrive to practice 20 minutes late.

    “Siyeon needed help going down the stairs,” Minkyung explains nonchalantly. Kyungwon has the decency to at least look apologetic. “We don’t have an elevator at this school.”

    “They should really put one in,” Nayoung frowns.

    (Neither of them end up running laps and the next day, Nayoung shows up to pick Siyeon up for lunch.)

A/N: Sorry, no volleyball this chapter. (Again.) It's pretty obvious that all the unnis love to dote on Siyeon, so I ended up really wanting to write a fic where the skyscrapers give Siyeon a piggyback? One skyscraper is missing but that's just because I'm lazy lmao