Chapter Text

Weibo—group chat

Minghao: yo Tzuyu I saw that we’re coming back on the same day

Tzuyu: !!!!

Tzuyu: btw I got the ok to see you guys again

Minghao: freeeeeedom

Jun: nice

Jun: you free for lunch this week?

Minghao: yeah we should chill before things get crazy

Winter melts into spring and it’s late march, around a month until both Seventeen and Twice are set to have their comebacks. Tzuyu’s headed to meet Jun and Minghao at the Chinese restaurant that they used to frequent; while they’ve got the okay to meet up, it seems prudent that they not walk there together.

As Tzuyu waits to cross the street a tiny ladybug lands on her arm, and she brings her hand up to her face to greet her little friend. She loves this time of year, with the breeze and the blooming life everywhere. She’s greeted by a few fans on her walk, though everyone stays respectful and is understanding that she can’t take pictures with them as per JYP’s policy. As much as fans and the public can have wayward logic about some things, she’s glad to be a public figure in a country that seems to largely respect idols’ private lives.

Jun and Minghao are messing around on the street as she walks up; Jun’s got Minghao in a headlock and they’re tussling by the looks of it.

“What am I ever going to do with the two of you?” Tzuyu asks wryly as she approaches.

“Nice to see you, too,” Jun retorts, quirking an eyebrow at her as he lets Minghao go.

“Let’s head in,” Minghao says, dusting his hands off on his pants and holding the door open for them all.

“Junhui! Minghao! Tzuyu! It has been too long.”

As they enter the shop Auntie Mei approaches them at the front, and she is as short but warm and friendly as ever, her voice grainy with age and her silver hair twisted back in a clip. It’s been a while since they last visited but last time Auntie Mei had mentioned that she’d be on a trip for a while, so it’s a reunion for them all. They all take turns hugging Auntie and she busies herself with nagging Minghao for being a rail, as per usual.

“I brought back some special sauce ingredients from my trip that’ll be just the thing for it,” Auntie Mei says with a delighted gleam in her eye. “You all will love it.”

“Only tea for me this time please, Auntie,” Tzuyu says. Auntie Mei eyes her skeptically up and down and feels Tzuyu’s ribs.

“You’ll wither away at this rate, my dear,” she says with a tutt.

“My comeback is soon and I’ll be on broadcast often,” Tzuyu explains. As much as she wishes she could have some of the Chinese food that she so misses, her stomach is about to be bare on television nearly every day for over a month. Food can wait.

“The lot of you, honestly,” Auntie Mei laments.

“I’ll eat it,” Jun volunteers, wrapping an arm around Auntie Mei’s shoulders. “I’m sure it’ll be wonderful.”

Auntie Mei grins, her face creasing fondly up at Jun.

“Someone appreciates me, then,” she quips, clapping her hands together in delight. She then ushers them all over to a booth, sliding the partition halfway shut before she pauses. “Oh, before you leave you all need to come upstairs. I brought something back for you.”

“Oh Auntie, you didn’t have to,” Jun says modestly.

“Oh, I know,” she replies with mirth in her eyes, then shuts the door behind her.

“So, how was Taiwan?” Jun asks from across the table. He and Minghao are squished into the booth beside one another, allowing Tzuyu to take the opposite side for herself. She’d just returned a few days ago from taking her exit exam for her middle school in Taiwan.

“Did you get us anything?” Minghao adds. Tzuyu rolls her eyes in derision before then there’s a rap at the door and Auntie is back with tea.

“Green tea. Good for metabolism,” Auntie Mei says with a wink at Tzuyu as she sets the tray down.

“Thank you,” they all chorus, and she slides the door back shut.

“Taiwan was kind of a whirlwind. So no, I didn’t get you anything,” Tzuyu says with a pointed look at Minghao. “I landed, took my exams, and then was back on a plane by the end of the day.”

As she’s speaking Jun pours a cup of tea, then blows on it and hands it to her.

“Is that seriously all you’re going to have?” Jun asks in disbelief, as though the idea of skipping a meal is such an alien concept that he can't fathom it. He must dance a whole lot for how much he eats but how fit he manages to stay.

“One meal per day until comeback time,” Tzuyu replies with a resigned sigh, and then takes a sip of her tea. “I guess it’s different for you guys.”

“You could say that. Minghao will literally set alarms and wake up from a dead sleep so that he doesn’t miss a meal,” Jun snickers. Tzuyu surveys Minghao with envy; he’s so slim that she has trouble believing it.

“I wish. I’m going to Japan soon and will probably only get to try one or two things,” Tzuyu replies, doleful.

“It’s Sakura season there right now, isn’t it?” Minghao asks, taking a sip of tea and then making a face and sticking out his tongue like he may have burnt it.

“Sakura?” Tzuyu asks.

“Cherry blossom season. The flowers are popular here but it’s kinda nuts in Japan. There’s cherry blossom flavored and themed everything,” Jun explains. “It’s wild; almost every food place and store has something with it. You’ll have to try it and all and report back.”

“Hmm. I may do,” Tzuyu replies. There’s a rap at the door and it slides open again. Auntie Mei places plates in front of Jun and Minghao and Tzuyu stares at them wistfully until one piled with vegetables is slid in front of her.

“Steamed veggies, with garlic too. Full of fiber, good for digestion,” Auntie says with an encouraging nod when Tzuyu looks up at her questioningly.

Tzuyu’s stomach grumbles and she accepts it without protest, saying her thanks.

“So, how’s the comeback prep going?” Tzuyu asks, dipping a floret of her broccoli into some soy sauce. She tells herself that she’s only mildly tortured by the aroma of Jun and Minghao’s food. Nope, she does not need it. These vegetables will do just fine.

Minghao stays silent beside Jun, allowing him to answer the question for himself. Jun hadn’t said anything to Tzuyu about his outburst and isn’t sure he wants to muddle her view of him like that. She’s never seen him as anything short of positive or playful, and he’d prefer to maintain that image.

“It’s alright,” Jun settles on, “there’s some discord when you get so many people working on the same project, obviously, but on the whole everything has smoothed out. Everyone has been pretty good at communicating and talking things out when there are problems.”

It’s vague enough, but encompassing of the truth nonetheless. Tzuyu nods in understanding as she chews, her hair bouncing up and down with the motion.

“What about you?” Jun asks.

“I’m not sleeping much these days, but when am I ever? I think this comeback will be successful. We’re going with the same fresh, bright image again that really worked for us last time. The song’s upbeat and the choreography is cute,” Tzuyu says succinctly.

“Should we make a bet?” Minghao says with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

“A bet?” Tzuyu asks.

“Yeah. First one to win on a music show, wins,” Minghao clarifies, chomping down on a bite.

“That’s a little bit arrogant, don’t you think?” Tzuyu snorts.

“I prefer to think of myself as a realist,” Minghao says with a shrug, mouth half-full. “We’ve both won rookie awards. It would stand to reason that one of us might be able to sneak in a win before all of the big groups come back later in the summer.”

“So what would we win?” Tzuyu asks, intrigued.

“Loser has to put a silly picture on SNS?” Jun suggests.

“Nah, too mild,” Minghao dismisses it.

“If we lose, don’t say I didn’t try to make it agreeable,” Jun grumbles, stabbing none too gently at his food. Tzuyu steeples her fingers and leans in.

“Loser has to put an embarrassing picture chosen by the other team on SNS,” she says slyly.

“That is… slightly evil,” Jun marvels.

“I like it,” Minghao says gleefully, as though he’s already envisioning ten ways to ruin Tzuyu’s image with one picture.

Tzuyu just does a little happy dance. She may not look it, but she can be quite devious when the situation calls for it.

“That looks so good,” Tzuyu laments after she’s finished her plate of bland vegetables, chin propped up on her hand while she stares at the boys’ plates forlornly. As much as Auntie had tried to make her food palatable, they’re still steamed vegetables when it comes down to it.

Jun picks up a piece of his chicken with his chopsticks and brings it towards , making a little ‘aah’ sound.

“One bite,” Jun says to answer the pained and conflicted look on Tzuyu face, before she can argue. She complies and opens . After weeks of eating bland food the flavor feels like it’s blooming beautifully on her taste buds, filling her world with a color and happiness she hadn’t noticed it was missing.

“Two bites?” she says timidly, and Jun and Minghao both chuckle at her before Jun feeds her another.

After their dinner Auntie Mei leads them up the back stairs of the restaurant to her apartment. Every inch of the living room is decorated in fabrics, patterns, vases, screens, plants and paintings; the entire room is like a fractal, with more detail for every examined inch, and bursting with color. The cluttered restaurant downstairs is mild compared to this.

“Auntie, I’m going to use your bathroom, ok?” Minghao asks, and she waves him off as he departs down the adjacent hallway.

Tzuyu takes a seat on the ornately patterned couch while Auntie Mei putts around the room, fishing out a paper bag. Jun busies himself with fawning over a small orange cat, scratching its chin while the low bass of its purr fills the room.

“Aha! I brought back some herbs for you all. Good for health,” Auntie says, unloading the bag. “And here, Tzuyu. This is for you.”

The auntie totters over and hands Tzuyu a small, bloodred velvet box. On one hand, for their relationship of having spent time together sporadically the gift is a bit over the top, but on another hand outlandish gifts are a bit par for the course when one is famous. For the auntie’s advancing age Tzuyu doesn’t dare question it, only opening the jewelry box when Auntie nods excitedly at her.

“Oh, this is too much,” Tzuyu says in awe as she opens it. Inside is a dainty gold chain with several small beads: jade, rose quartz, and a glittering white stone. The auntie waves her concerns away.

“Good luck. Keeps the evil spirits away,” she says with a happy gleam in her eye. In this moment, Tzuyu is overcome with memories of her own grandmother, who was also generous, charming and obliquely superstitious like Auntie Mei. In their brief meetings Auntie has shown a striking fondness for Tzuyu, likely because her own grandchildren live so far away as she’d mentioned in the past. Like Tzuyu, Minghao and Jun, the distance had forced her to adopt a makeshift family in them. For this, Tzuyu thinks to herself that she should pay Auntie more visits in the future.

Tzuyu holds the necklace up to examine it; the gold chain glitters in the hazy lighting of the room.

“Junhui, help her,” Auntie Mei commands to Jun beside her, swatting at his shoulder and nodding her head towards Tzuyu who fixes her with an uncertain gaze. “A lady should never have to put on her own necklace.”

Tzuyu stands and hands Jun the necklace, and she turns around and pulls her hair to the side. In this moment she feels like she travelled back in time to that night weeks ago that he stood behind her. It’s not quite the same and it feels like so long ago already, but the familiar feeling of apprehension wells up inside of her anew.

Jun reaches around her front to thread the necklace around her neck, and his fingertips ghost over her skin as he works on the clasp, lingering just the slightest bit as he adjusts it to be in the center. Her stomach does a little flip at his gentle touch, and the care with which he fastens it.

She turns around and it’s like the world fuzzes out, and it’s just him looking at her with a softened but intent expression. What she doesn’t notice is Auntie’s satisfied smirk behind Jun.

The door creaks and Minghao exits the bathroom, shattering the moment that they’d briefly gotten lost in. Tzuyu beams at Minghao to compensate for her skittish reaction and brings a hand to her necklace.

“Minghao! Look at the beautiful necklace that Auntie brought me.”

Jun is left only with his head spinning in confusion for the complicated look that Tzuyu just fixed him with. She may forever remain a mystery, at this rate.

“Make room for hyung on the couch,” Jeonghan says, shimmying in between Dino and Vernon.

“Who has popcorn?” Hoshi asks, slotting himself into a spot on the floor between Dokyeom and Woozi.

“Any last bidders for the final lineup bets?” Mingyu calls out, holding something akin to a Superbowl betting chart. Leave it to him to be crass about a show determining others’ futures. Leave it to the rest of the members to participate. Idols they may be, but they’re teenagers and early 20-somethings all the same.

It’s the first of April, and the Seventeen members are all currently crowded around the TV for the Produce 101 finale in which the final lineup of the group IOI is announced. They’d all watched the last 10 episodes of the survival show with varying levels of attention, but the show to form a girl group has come to grip the nation and tonight is the finale. That, and the fact that it involves some of their company members means that all 13 of the Seventeen members are now crowded around the TV to watch the final episode.

“No matter what happens, we have to support the rest of the Pledis girls,” Seungcheol says from his spot at the corner of the couch.

“Of course we would!” Hoshi says, before chomping down on a handful of popcorn.

The group is full of shock and laughter during the episode, and from time to time they even throw popcorn at the screen. The performances and songs are killer and Mnet seems to be drawing the member reveals out for as long as possible,

“Sohye!” Dino shouts in disbelief, growing sheepish when the rest of the members fix him with critical looks. He gapes, trying to defend himself. “She’s likeable and charismatic, but… for a girl group?”

None of them correct him. They all know how difficult it’ll be for Sohye, who never trained to sing and dance, to have to keep up with everyone over the next 11 months that IOI will be active.

Over the course of the episode, the lineup of IOI is revealed to include Pledis trainees Nayoung and Jieqiong. Eunwoo, the only other Pledis trainee who has made it this far, is eliminated and Jun is disappointed for her; he knows she must be crestfallen. After all of the years the Seventeen members spent training together with the girl trainees, he’s developed a decided soft spot for them all.

On the other hand, it's been so long since Jun last saw Jieqiong. Before Produce 101 started filming in December and Seventeen's promoting last fall they'd actually been fairly good friends. Along with Minghao they'd been some of the few Chinese trainees at Pledis. Though she'd segregated herself more to assimilate and learn Korean and was de facto isolated in practices specifically for the girls, they'd all remained friends. Snapchat had been her and Jun’s main mode of communication, as Jieqiong had been better friends with Minghao since the start and MingMing before him. Jieqiong’s friendly, and she and Jun have remained close over the years and get along fine, but he had never spent much time alone with her outside of practice or group gatherings, and consequently had never been exceptionally close. Jun found Jieqiong to be funny and thoughtful but their friendship had remained surface level with most things.

Nayoung had been a harder egg to crack. Offstage that girl is like the opposite of reactive, only staring and observing stoically to the point that it could get a little unnerving. Jun had felt a sense of accomplishment and even a tiny bit of pride the first time he’d gotten her to crack the slightest of smiles at him.

Jun has mixed feelings on whether the final lineup are the best candidates to join I.O.I. but then again if he had it his way, all of the Pledis Girls would be in there. This is why Jun could never put together groups; he’s too soft and sentimental and wants everyone he knows to have their chance, even at the cost of including the under qualified. Some of this is a lasting effect of Mingming’s leaving the company nearly 2 years ago. Mingming had been Jun’s first friend since arriving to Korea, and though he’d trained with them for years he’d ultimately been let go from the company around the time that Minghao joined. The loss of his closest friend had been a bitter blow at the time, and Jun had gone through a particularly low point in the wake of his departure. He’d gained a softer heart towards other trainees as a result of it all, a difficult thing in an industry so harsh and competitive.

“Somi made it!” Vernon says, clapping his hands together.

“Isn’t she pretty good friends with Chaeyoung?”

“Isn’t she like, 15?"

Somi had completed along with all of the Twice girls for a spot in their group and had been the only contestant to join Produce 101 from JYP. She’d apparently been extremely well-liked at the time and appearing on Produce 101 had breathed new life into her public notoriety. She came in first place, beating the second place contestant by nearly double the votes.

“We should message Nayoung and Zieqiong congratulations,” Seungcheol suggests, and they all gather round to film a short video of congratulations and good luck.

Later Jun messages Zieqiong privately as well. She’ll be getting her phone back today if his estimates are correct, and though it may be buried under a deluge of well wishes it only feels right to individually congratulate his friend.

Snapchat

Jun: congratulations! Proud of you.

To his surprise she messages him back soon after.

Snapchat

Zieqiong: thanks Jun ^^ it still feels pretty surreal

Jun: going back to real life might be crazy. I'm here if you ever need help

Zieqiong: or unsolicited advice ㅋㅋㅋ

Jun: that's unsolicited advice from a sunbae to you, hoobae :p

Zieqiong: ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Jun: see you at Pledis soon, I guess?

Zieqiong: we're jumping straight into prep for promotions, so maybe? If not, see you backstage at music shows!

Jun: :o

Midway through April Twice heads to Japan for KCON. It’s their first trip to Japan as a whole group and the Japanese girls are babbling excitedly about the things that they have to squeeze in during their precious few free hours. None of them are from Tokyo so it’s an exciting trip for them in any respect.

The first thing Tzuyu notices in Japan is the crystal blue sky, a wide, clear expanse punctuated by a few cottony clouds. The air is cool and breezy, and everything seems to be covered—whether by nature or deliberate decoration—a pale baby pink. Everywhere she looks, things are adorned with cherry blossoms. The tree branches covered in the flowers sway calmly in the breeze, and it’s bizarre how quiet Tokyo is for the size of the city.

One of their first stops is at a convenience store. Everything is in Japanese which Tzuyu has no hope of understanding, so she pulls Sana along with her as her guide. She points out a bottle of pink soda and asks timidly, “Sakura?”

Sana nods her head ardently and takes down a bottle.

“I’ve never seen this! It looks good though. Oh, I miss Sakura season!” Sana says in her voice, which is bubbly and bright by default.

Seeing it Tzuyu’s reminded of Jun’s mention of Sakura and his command to try things, so she picks up a bottle to take back for him and Minghao to try. There’s some cherry blossom patterned socks near the register for 100 yen so she grabs them for him too, just to be cheeky.

In the afternoon they make their way to the KCON venue and spend the day in rehearsals and sound checks before performing, both by themselves and with their 2pm sunbaes. Ever since her scandal in January had affected their promotion in China—Nichkhun and Chansung in particular—she’d grown far more timid in their presence. In practice however the two had made it a point to be friendly and inclusive towards her, assuaging Tzuyu’s guilt about the whole situation. It’s not her fault, she still has to remind herself, but it still feels unjust that her affairs would affect them so.

Late that night, after their performances are done for the day the girls all gather together in Momo and Jungyeon's room back at the hotel.

"So, first Japan performance down," Nayeon says from her chair in the corner, her body wrapped around a pillow which is serving as a substitute for her usual giant stuffed toy.

"I can't believe I stumbled over my Japanese onstage!" Sana moans, burying her face in Mina's shoulder. Mina pats her head and nods to show her sympathy. Tzuyu feels her pain; speaking two languages can be hard at times since it's difficult to keep them both separate. Even when she speaks to Minghao and Jun she finds herself peppering in Korean words from time to time. It feels more natural not to have to delineate between the two, the trouble is that only a few people would understand her if she were to blur both.

"It's ok, it's intimidating the first time. You'll do better next time," Jihyo says, ever the encouraging leader.

“Did you all hear that Somi is gonna be promoting at the same time as us?” Chaeyoung looks up from her phone.

“Somi!!” Momo and Sana chorus happily, and all of the girls make noises of joy at the news.

“I’m still so glad she won first place. She really deserves it,” Chaeyoung says. Her statement has a weighty significance for them all; each Twice member feels a morsel of guilt that Somi didn’t make it into their group but still, none of them would trade their spots for her. It’s a selfishness that they don’t dare to articulate but all feel.

“Seventeen is promoting with us, too,” Jihyo says from her spot on the bed. The girls all clap happily again.

“I feel like it’s been ages since I’ve seen any of them,” Jungyeon notes. “Nayeon, how have Seungcheol, Jeonghan and Joshua been?”

“Well we’ve only met up once since the whole scandal happened back in February. Jeonghan is cutting his beautiful long hair, which is truly tragic news if you ask me,” Nayeon says, nestling her chin into her pillow in her consternation.

“Wae?? Like Chaeyoung short or Jungyeon-unnie short?” Jihyo asks.

“Not sure. I made Seungcheol promise he’d snap it to me though so I’ll report back.”

“Chae, how are Mingyu and Wonwoo?”

“They’re alright. Wonwoo keeps writing these emo raps so I’m keeping tabs on him but otherwise they seem fine,” Chaeyoung says, looking up from her phone.

“You and Wonwoo, eh? Anything going on there?”

Chaeyoung locks her phone screen and drops it on the floor beside her, lounging back on her hands and letting out a resigned puff of air.

“Don’t you think he’s too old for me? Besides, I don’t see him like that.”

Tzuyu can’t help but calculate their birthdays in her head and realize that she and Jun are the same distance apart as Chae and Wonwoo. Not that it matters. Nope, definitely not. Tzuyu's not sure why that stabs at her heart a little bit to think about.

“I really don’t mean to be a party pooper, but guys, just a reminder about the whole dating thing. I know some JYP artists like Jokwon and Min have admitted to dating before the 3 year ban is up, but regardless of what you do you need to be smart about it.” Jihyo says. The implication of that is strong though Tzuyu can't help but notice that Jihyo doesn’t explicitly tell them not to date. She can be quite the slippery one. “Dating scandals are disproportionately harmful to girl groups. I'm not saying it's right, it's just the truth. As much as we've been successful until now we can't jeopardize it. Of course we've all talked about it but it bears repeating.”

What Jihyo says weighs on them all. It’s true; girls usually do bear the brunt of backlash when dating scandals are revealed to the public. It’s yet another reminder of the possessive nature of fan culture. So many people become enamored with idols as a form of escapism. Tzuyu’s not immune, either; she was obsessed with certain boy bands in her youth, too. Idol worship is a seductive thing, and the industry plays to that.

Nayeon nods along, face devoid of expression, Tzuyu has to wonder if there's more to Nayeon’s friendships than there would seem. Or maybe it's the same as Tzuyu, where she worries about putting her friendships in jeopardy. It’s a delicate balance, one she’s still learning to master. They all are.

The days running up to both groups’ new song releases are filled with a dizzying mix of photo shoots, rehearsals, stage costume fittings, recordings, last minute adjustments to choreography and saying a few prayers. However, with the music videos filmed and all of the pre-release teasers taken care of there’s a bizarre lull in the days before both Twice and Seventeen’s songs are released: a foreboding quiet before the furor of their impending comebacks.

Tzuyu and Jun take the opportunity to meet up for what will probably be the last time before their rounds of promotions come to a close. They invite Minghao but he cryptically says that he has ‘things to take care of’ and disappears for a day, as Jun knows him to occasionally do. He never asks where Minghao goes; he isn’t sure he wants to know, for that matter.

Jun and Tzuyu meet up at a café to chat, and sit in a booth in the back that’s out of the way. She even pulls the plant beside the booth in a tiny bit to obscure them further.

“Paranoid, much?” Jun chuckles at her.

“I prefer to think of it as being careful,” Tzuyu replies.

“It feels like it’s been so long since we last saw one another,” Tzuyu laments after they collect their coffees. They’re always busy but the last few weeks have been especially so. Twice continued to perform special stages in addition to all of their recording sessions, music video filming and regular dance rehearsals. Somehow, staying up for days that grew ever-longer made it seem like there had actually been more time since they’d last seen one another, even though it was less so. Jun has been busy too; Seventeen’s choreography wasn’t finished in time for the MV so they’re rushing to polish it, still.

“Did you miss me?” Jun asks, chewing on his straw.

“No,” she says unconvincingly, looking down shyly. Tzuyu grins when she looks up at Jun to find him smiling fondly at her.

“How was Japan?”

“It was nice. We really only got to spend a day there and half of that was spent rehearsals, sound checks and recording for KCON. You know the whole deal.” Tzuyu swirls her straw in her drink before taking a sip. “The cherry blossoms were everywhere. Literally inescapable. Oh! That reminds me: I got you this.”

From her bag she pulls out a bottle of blush pink liquid and a tiny little parcel wrapped up with a bow.

“It’s nothing amazing,” Tzuyu says as a qualifier, handing it all over to Jun. Upon further examination the bottle is Sakura pepsi, and he unwraps the parcel, taking great pains not to tear the paper.

“Socks?”

It’s a pair of white socks with a pattern of tiny little cherry blossoms speckled over them. It’s simple but Jun is speechless with how touched he is for her remembering his mentioning it and thinking of him while she was away. He’s filled with the overwhelming urge to close the gap between them, to hug her or something, but they’re in public so he restrains himself.

“Oh, shoot, I forgot to bring an album for you.” Tzuyu mutters, rifling through her bag as though it may materialize if she looks hard enough.

“An album for me?”

“Yeah, the girls and I all signed it for you and the other guys. A token of friendship, you know. Nayeon sent it with me because she thought you’d all get a kick out of being able to listen to it a few days before it dropped. Don’t tell anyone from JYP though. I think they’d frown on us sharing ‘trade secrets.’”

“I’ll have to tell Woozi not to copy any of it in the next few days,” Jun quips.

“Not that I even have it to give you, though. Unless…” a mischievous look takes over Tzuyu’s features. “We could go to JYP to get it.”

“First you’re trying to cover yourself with a plant and now you’re inviting me to the building where people are highly likely to pass by and recognize us?” Jun asks incredulously.

She just shrugs.

“You can use the maintenance entrance.”

This is how Jun ends up around the back of the JYP building, not nearly far enough from the dumpster for his liking. He finds this all slightly absurd but when Tzuyu’s got a mission, there’s no fighting it. He swipes Tzuyu’s card at the door and makes his way to the dingy freight elevator. It all feels very unglamorous. The things he does for her.

She meets him where the elevator doors open on the 4th floor and presses a finger to her lips, eyes twinkling deviously as she takes him by the hand and leads him through the labyrinthine halls of the JYP building.

They make it up 3 flights of stairs, down 3 hallways and past 2 recording booths when Tzuyu tenses at the sound of a deep voice in the impending distance.

"That's JYP PD-nim", she says, low and stricken, and she pulls open a door and pushes Jun inside of it; he feels his back press up against a thick throng of fabrics; it’s a clothing closet, apparently. She holds a finger to Jun's lips and looks at him frantically as the voices grow louder, and only relaxes when they fade down the hallway.

It’s then that she becomes acutely aware of the way she's thrown her body fully into Jun's in her hurry, and the way Jun is holding her steady, his hand against the small of her back. A few of his fingers have managed to slip beneath the fabric of her shirt, rumpling up the cotton and dimpling into the skin there, both to hold her and in the tension of their predicament moments ago.

She gapes up at him, their faces mere inches apart. This moment feels so precarious, like his ability to control himself is just about out the window. Her finger slides down and away from shushing him, and the way she’s looking at his lips is like torture.

She buries her forehead into the crook of his neck to avoid it and he presses his eyes shut, letting out a heavy breath and relaxing his arms that are around Tzuyu.

She doesn't have to say it. Neither does he.

Author's note: If you enjoyed this at all please comment, no need to worry about coherent or elegant or anything. I can feel myself losing a little focus on this story so the comments keep me going with motivation to write!! You can say your favorite moment, or ESPECIALLY let me know if you were waiting on this update! Also please let me know what you want to see more of from this story!! Even though I have the whole thing outlined already, the comments do influence some of the exposition (got requests for Tzuyu x Jun interactions and more of Jun’s perspective on the last chapter; ask and ye shall receive).

P.S. Sorry for the delay in posting. My 4th of July was pretty wild and turned into a multi-day ordeal and I couldn’t write at all during that time. I got a bunch of planning ahead done recently though so fingers crossed that updates won’t take so long going forward.