“MINA-CHAN!!!!!” Sana screams as she bursts into Mina’s room, jumping onto the sleeping girl, shaking her awake. “WAKE UP! SENPAI JUST NOTICED ME!”

Mina groans as she pulls the covers higher. It’s such a long time since they could sleep in, but it’s all ruined by the stupid squirrel on top of her. “What is it now?”

Sana shoves her phone in front of Mina’s face and it’s on her Twitter page. “TM replied to my tweet!!”

“That’s great, Sana-chan. Now if you will excuse me,” Mina grunts as she buries herself deeper into her pillow, hoping Sana will get the hint and leave her alone.

But of course, Sana doesn’t, as she burrows herself in the limited empty space there is left on the bed, squeezing beside Mina. “No you are not excused. What should I do? Should I reply? DM them?”

“Or you can just spazz about it and forget it. Besides, their account is probably managed by their manager.” Mina grumbles.

“Well mine isn’t!” Sana retorts.

“That’s because I have better things to do!” Mina mumbles. “And also their image is so perfectly curated, what makes you think they will have free reign over their social networking accounts?”

Sana suddenly falls quiet and Mina turns to see Sana pouting as she continues to look at her phone, tears filling her eyes and she groans. She doesn’t want to burst Sana’s bubble, but the girl is too idealistic for her own good. She pulls Sana into her embrace. “I’m sorry, Sana-chan.”

The girl sniffs and wipes her tears away. “I will forgive you if you get that bomb English breakfast down the street with me.”

“Sure,” Mina agrees readily, before a faraway memory comes to the forefront of her head. She remembers how she’s sobbing as she tries to scrub the pancake mix off the floor, and how the sickeningly sweet smell of it seems to haunt her for a whole week after that (it still does, to this day). She gulps. “Just, no pancakes.”

--

South Korea, Seoul

It’s their first week of promotions, and they go around greeting and giving out their albums to seniors and juniors alike. Jihyo is already in the next waiting room while Chaeyoung is dragging her feet behind the other members, being the last in the line and she hears loud commotion as her members step into the room. She’s the last member who enters the room and she’s bowing before she can even see who they are greeting.

“Hello, we are TM!”

It’s only when she gets up that she realizes it’s I.O.I and Chaeyoung doesn’t even have time to compose herself when she’s engulfed in a tight hug. “Oooof, hello to you too Somi.” Chaeyoung greets as Somi pulls away from her with a cheeky smile. It’s a known fact that Somi is an absolute fan of Chaeyoung, going as far as naming said girl as her ideal type on radio and TV shows.

Somi is grinning at her, her arms still around Chaeyoung. “I missed you.”

Chaeyoung nods and smiles awkwardly. The girl isn’t even discreet when it comes to hitting on her, often pouncing on her to give her hugs and kisses when they meet at filming. She shoots a SOS signal to Dahyun, but she’s too busy talking to Kyulkyung that she misses the sign entirely. Somi yelps as she is pulled backwards by her collar, and Nayoung just bows to her. “I’m sorry, our beagle is out of control again.”

Jihyo follows behind Nayoung, putting a reassuring arm around Chaeyoung which she immediately melts into. “No, no I’m sorry, our maknae is just a little shy.”

“AWWW so cute!” Somi coos and tries to stretch out for Chaeyoung again. She just hides behind Jihyo this time, praying that they can just leave already. The two leaders talk some more, with Jihyo holding Chaeyoung behind her protectively and Nayoung holding Somi back from hurling herself at Chaeyoung. She sees Somi making kissy faces at her and Chaeyoung just wants to leave this place. Now.

Somi has somehow escaped Nayoung’s grip, and she’s immediately by Chaeyoung’s side, this time being more civil about her affections and tugging at her sleeves instead. Chaeyoung gulps as she grins awkwardly at the younger girl, wondering what she’s up to this time.

“Don’t worry, I was just wondering if we could take a photo together?” Somi asks, her eyes sparkling and Chaeyoung nods. She can do that much for her super fan. Somi holds up her phone, but her hands are shaking and Chaeyoung just takes the phone from her. “Let me do it.”

She holds up the phone, and Somi just makes a kissy face towards Chaeyoung as if she’s going to kiss her and Chaeyoung pulls an unamused face. They snap a few more photos and Chaeyoung returns the phone to Somi, who thanks her gratefully.

“So, have you gotten over her already?” Somi asks her hopefully. She always asks her the same question whenever they meet, even going as far as making Chaeyoung promise to date her once she gets over her heartbreak. Chaeyoung just smiles as she ruffles Somi’s hair. “I will tell you when I do, okay?”

Jihyo gathers them and Chaeyoung thinks about it. Will she ever get over her? It’s been 3 years, but she doesn’t think she has gotten any better. I hate you. (Lies.) 

Our nervous relationship

Me, trying to protect it

I regret it all

I didn’t know better

I hate you

And then it goes off again, an unfamiliar rhythm starting to play in her head. She hastily bows with her other members, bidding farewell to the IOI members and bolts back to their waiting room without waiting.

--

Chaeyoung yawns as she removes her headphones, the song finally done. She has opted to come back to the studio in the company to finish up the song, even if it means it will eat into her precious sleeping time. She checks her phone, the time indicating 1:04AM. She has to be up at 4AM to go to the salon to do her hair and make-up for the live stages later in the day. Three hours of sleep doesn’t seem too bad, she thinks, as she stretches and makes her way to the makeshift couch bed behind her.

She’s almost asleep when the door bursts open, her friend coming in as she puts a few bags onto the table. “Yo Son Chaeyoung! Are you sleeping already? Pfft, the night is still young, come on!” Yeri cheers as she pulls the blanket off her, pulling her up by the arms.

Chaeyoung wants to cry. Remind her again why they are friends? Yes, she’s friends with Yeri from Red Velvet, the one that she was fangirling over in the olden days. That immediately changed after they met at the Idol Olympics filming set and they have quickly become friends, bonding over overbearing unnies and a common love for song writing. They write songs together, and even fight sometimes so Chaeyoung likes to think of Yerim as her closest friend outside TM. But she’s not so sure anymore, because she would like to have her hands around her friend’s neck for interrupting her precious three hours of sleep (now 2h 45min and still ticking). Nevertheless, she lets herself be hauled into a chair as Yerim plops down on one beside her.

“What are you doing here Kim Yerim?” She grits, regretting her decision of letting this girl have unlimited access to JYP.

Yeri starts to pull out different containers of food, laying them out on the table. “My unnies are all asleep and I need supper.”

Chaeyoung groans as she slumps against the table. Being the youngest of her group with such a huge between them meant that Yeri was spoilt rotten by her other members, which also meant that she doesn’t take no for an answer. “I have live shows tomorrow and I have to be up by 4, Yerim-ssi.”

“That’s great! You can eat this and by the time we are done, VIOLA! Just in time for hair and make-up at the salon! Who needs sleep when you have food?” Yeri coaxes as she puts a ddeokbokki into . Seeing no response from her friend, she sighs. “Guess I have to put out my trump card.”

She pulls out a USB from her pocket, using it to poke Chaeyoung in the arm. “Guess who’s done with the final arrangement of the Yerim x Chaeyoung aka the RV x TM collaboration that will blow everyone’s minds and kill the charts when it gets released?”

At this, Chaeyoung bolts upright, looking at the thumb drive in Yeri’s hand. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” She retorts, grabbing the thumb drive over and plucking it into her computer, suddenly very awake and alert. As she waits for the computer to read the thumb drive, she looks through the bags Yeri brought, fishing out a can of coffee. It seems like it’s really no sleep today, after all.

“So, what’s the deal with you and Somi?” Yeri asks as she pulls her chair next to Chaeyoung, both of them waiting for the music file to load.

“There’s no deal?” Chaeyoung answers back, and immediately shushes her when the music file starts to play. The guitar melody is easy on the ears, and Chaeyoung is surprised when the guide singer starts singing. It’s Wendy, and she turns to look at Yeri with a “not-bad” face while the girl just replies with a smirk. The song ends and Chaeyoung is sure with such an easy-to-follow guitar melody and the general feel-good vibes of the song, it will do well for the spring season. Yerim claps as she shakes her head. “Ladies and gentleman, let me present to you, the hit song for the spring of 2017, “Spring Love”.”

“It’s good.” Chaeyoung admits, “and I think we can keep Wendy-unnie as the singer. Although we will still need to find a singer for the male parts.”

“Who needs an oppa when you have the best Chaeng oppa here?” Yeri tuts and Chaeyoung just flips her off as Yeri bursts out in laughter.

“Aww don’t be angry,” Yeri coos, “How about Eric Nam?”

Chaeyoung thinks it through, and she can already imagine the way Eric’s voice will fit in with Wendy’s voice so well. “That’s a good idea.”

“Yeah, so if we are providing the voices, you should provide the faces.” Yeri suggests. “After all, this should be a collaboration.”

Chaeyoung shrugs. That shouldn’t be a problem, she thinks as she sips her coffee. She can just ask Jeongyeon and Nayeon, the relationship goals couple who everyone wants to be like. Except this was Yeri, and she always want the unexpected.

“I don’t want Jeongyeon-unnie and Nayeon-unnie though, I want some new chemistry.”

Chaeyoung holds up her arms. “Well, no one else in our group is dating, who am I supposed to cough up for the music video then?”

“I was thinking,” Yeri says with a glint in her eyes that Chaeyoung doesn’t like, “what about, you and Somi?”

Chaeyoung smiles at her. “What about my fist and your face?”

Yeri laughs. “Come on, it’s just acting, and she’s cute. Give the kid a chance.”

“Really? I think you are cuter.” Chaeyoung says as she bats her eyelids at Yeri who immediately barfs. But she pauses, her eyes widening as she processes the thought. “Actually, that is a great idea! We would make a cute couple!” Yeri moves her eyebrows suggestively at Chaeyoung who only sighs.

“Look, I will find someone to get your music video filmed, so just leave me alone, okay?” Chaeyoung grunts as she shoves a fishcake into .

“Aww, why???? Am I not good enough for you, Oppa?” Yeri asks as she bats her eyelids at Chaeyoung, copying her previous actions and Chaeyoung swore she almost stabbed Yeri with the fishcake stick there and then.

--

Mina pulls up to the filming set, hoping off and expecting Sana to do the same. Seeing that the other girl didn’t follow her, she sighs as she walks back to their van. She opens the door to see Sana sitting inside the van, frozen in her spot as she stares at her phone. “Hello, Earth to Sana? We don’t have all day.”

Sana just turns to look at her, hand shaking as she turns the phone screen towards Mina. “This… I’m not dreaming, right?”

Mina takes a look at it, and her eyes widen. “Holy .”

Bonus

You don’t listen to me like a 10-year-old child

It’s at a fan sign where they receive bubble gun from the fans and they are shooting it at each other. Jeongyeon is shooting it at the maknaes who just whine, unable to rebuke their unnie. She moves on to Jihyo, who just glares at her, as if saying “Don’t you dare”. Jeongyeon holds up her hands in mock surrender, before stealthily moving to her last target, who’s busy talking to the fans. Smirking, she gets closer, and when she gets close enough, she presses the gun, spraying bubbles all over Nayeon.

Nayeon just frowns at her as she covers her head, not wanting the bubbles to get on her hair. “Stop it Yoo Jeongyeon!”

Even if you’re angry, even if you shout

Your nagging is just so sweet to me

Of course, that falls on deaf ears as Jeongyeon continues to shoot bubbles at the older girl while laughing boisterously. Nayeon just proceeds to shoot an annoyed expression at Jeongyeon before walking away from the latter, not wanting to burst out at her childish girlfriend in front of the fans. Sensing the change in Nayeon’s mood, Jeongyeon stops bothering the older girl, moving to talk to the maknaes instead. Chaeyoung and Dahyun both drapes an arm around the older girl, shaking their heads as they . “Someone got her girlfriend angry~”

“I’m just trying to cheer her up because she’s tired, did I do anything that wrong?” Jeongyeon mutters to them and they just shrug.

“She’s just sensitive because she’s tired, she will be fine later.” Jihyo says and pats Jeongyeon on the back before making her way to Nayeon, not wanting to leave the girl alone.

The other three follow behind their leader, making their way to the front of the stage to be closer to the fans. As they gather closer to take photos, Chaeyoung has the sense to push Jeongyeon beside Nayeon and the maknaes and Jihyo push them closer together from the two ends. Jeongyeon knows they are trying to help her, so she drapes her arms around Nayeon’s neck, placing her head against the older’s as they smile for the cameras. Nayeon leans against her, and she knows she’s forgiven already.

I can only laugh

Who are you calling a child

Nayeon is slicing strawberries while Jeongyeon watches from the side. She picks up the remnants, horrified at how Nayeon sliced off almost half of the strawberry with the stalk. “What a waste!”

“The knife isn’t cutting well!” Nayeon retorts and Jeongyeon grabs the former’s hand, stopping her.

“That’s because,” Jeongyeon says as she turns the knife upside down, “you are using the wrong side.”

Nayeon just gasps as she holds the knife closer to her eyes. “Yah, you are really smart, I didn’t realize I was using the wrong side all this time.”

Jeongyeon just chuckles as she watches Nayeon continue her task. This girl may seem to be more mature than the other members, going around calling her and the maknaes childish, but there are times (like now) where it shows that she doesn’t do very well herself in adulthood too. She’s just like them, still lacking, still trying to learn the ways of adulthood (and that’s why they are here for each other). She takes over the knife from Nayeon with a gentle smile. “Let me do it, you giant child.”

Nayeon tiptoes to land a kiss on Jeongyeon’s cheek. “Thank you, giant child number 2.”

“You are welcome, giant child number 1.”  

--

a/n: song links embedded!!