A/N: It's been...almost 2 years since the last chapter. Honestly, I've tried to work on this fic many, many times over that time period but it just refused to come along. I've always been a writer heavily dependant on my muse; I can't write a fic just because I want to and I never chose to not update this or any of my other ongoings. I want to very much - I want to finish all my fics, every single one - and I just can't write them. I open up the Word document, I stare at the page, I try to type and I fail. I've said time and again that I haven't abandoned this, but to be honest there have been times when I doubted whether I could really continue this. I don't even know how this chapter happened. Just like many previous times, I opened the document and tried to write...and somehow, this time I managed to. I stayed up until ~3am to finish this chapter, which is basically the story of this fic and I think it's fitting how I've come full circle. This has been a very long author's note. I don't even expect you to have read it all. Thank you for listening if you have. Without further ado, here's the next chapter!

The smoke alarm startles them apart.

“Leave it,” Taeyeon mumbles against Jessica’s mouth.

“Taeyeon,” Jessica laughs, drawing back a little. Just enough to place some breathing room between them, to leave some air, but Taeyeon doesn’t want air, she wants Jessica. “The kitchen is going to catch on fire if I leave it.”

“So let it.”

“I would, but I don’t want to be responsible for this building burning down, not to mention all the people in it.” Taeyeon pouts, and Jessica grins and pokes her in the cheek before turning the stove off. “You’re so insatiable, honestly.”

Taeyeon looks at Jessica with her best innocent expression. “Can you blame me?”

“Yes.” But it’s not Jessica who says that. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I totally support blaming you.”

Taeyeon glares at Hyoyeon, who had somehow come all the way into the kitchen without them noticing her. Then again, they were a little occupied. “I don’t recall asking you for your input.”

“And yet I gave it to you anyway. You’re welcome.”

“What are you doing here?” Jessica asks, like Hyoyeon doesn’t live here as well.

“I smelled something burning.” Hyoyeon wrinkles her nose as she takes in the blackened mess in the pan. “I thought you couldn’t get any worse at cooking, but now you’ve completely charred toast. Good job.”

“I always strive to impress,” Jessica says airily.

“You’re very impressive,” Taeyeon says, clapping her hands together.

Hyoyeon looks between the two of them. “You two are honestly so cute.”

“Thanks,” Taeyeon says, while Jessica ducks her head, cheeks pinking.

“But I can’t handle so much cuteness before I’ve had my morning coffee.”

“It’s not even the morning anymore,” Taeyeon points out.

“It still feels like the morning to me,” Jessica says.

“It’s the morning to you until like, 1pm.”

Jessica smiles. “Exactly.”

“Coffee,” Hyoyeon grunts. “Need coffee.”

“I’ll make you some,” Jessica says in a rare offer of hospitality.

Hyoyeon eyes the frying pan again. “No thanks.”

Jessica looks so offended that it sets Taeyeon off. She laughs so hard she has to lean on Jessica for support, and Jessica scowls at her but puts an arm around her waist and steadies her.

“I’m still hungry.”

“You were the one who ruined my masterpiece.”

“A sandwich?”

“Exactly, a masterpiece. And those were the last pieces of bread we had. There’s still a slice of cheese left. You can go eat that.”

“Sica, you’re so cruel to me.”

“You’ve been spending too much time around Sunkyu. Turn your aegyo off before I smother you with a pillow.”

“Sounds . You—mmph!”

“I warned you, Kim Taeyeon.”

Taeyeon rubs her cheek with a pout. “I can’t believe you really tried to suffocate me with a pillow.”

“Well, I wasn’t trying very hard,” Jessica says, like it makes everything okay. She’s hunting in the cupboards for something to eat, because Taeyeon can’t reach the higher shelves. Well, Jessica can’t either but she can at least reach one more shelf than Taeyeon. “You’re still alive and your breathing is fine, so obviously you’re unharmed.”

“First, you deprive me of food, then of air. I take it back – this is an abusive relationship.”

“Oh my God, have you always been such a whiny baby? I feel like I’m dating a child.”

“First of all, yes, she always has been,” comes a familiar loud voice from the door. “And second, doesn’t that make you a pseudo-e?”

“I’m not a e,” Jessica splutters.

“That’s good to know,” Yuri says. “My niece wants to come visit. I wouldn’t want her in the company of a e.”

Jessica turns the full force of her scowl on them. “I don’t want to be in her aunt’s company either.”

“Where were you two?” Taeyeon cuts in before this turns into a full-blown fight. Although that would be fun to watch. Especially if it gets physical. She has front row tickets and she just needs some popcorn.

“Just out,” Tiffany replies with a shrug, closing the door behind her. “We heard about this new vegetarian restaurant opening a few blocks away and went to check it out.”

“It was really good,” Yuri says. “We should all go sometime.”

“Yoona and Sooyoung are practically carnivorous though,” Jessica says. “I don’t know if they’d want to go to a vegetarian place, but I’d be down.”

“They make this mock tangsuyuk that tastes so much like pork I can’t tell it’s not,” Tiffany says. “It’s definitely worth a try. They have veggie burgers too but they’re not as good.” Leave it to Tiffany to get a burger.

At the mention of tangsuyuk, Taeyeon’s stomach lets out a loud grumble. Pay attention to me! it demands. I haven’t been fed in ages!

I have been, purrs another part of her. She tells them both to shut up.

“I’d ask what you two were doing but we already know the answer to that,” Yuri says with a smirk. Tiffany covers , but her eyes are sparkling and Taeyeon dreads the barrage of questions that’s bound to come. Tiffany has never been one to understand the concept of boundaries.

“You’re really obsessed with our lives, Yul,” Jessica drawls. “Trying to compensate for your own lack of one? There are websites for that, you know.”

“We live with Lee Sunkyu, of course I know.” Yuri sounds unaffected, but Taeyeon doesn’t miss the quick, almost imperceptible look she throws Tiffany. “Are you familiar with these websites? Been getting ideas, huh?”

“Yah, Kwon Yuri!”

It’s good for Yuri’s sake that there are no pillows in the vicinity, Taeyeon thinks. She would learn the hard way the consequences of messing with Jessica too much.

Jessica demands that Yuri accompany her to the convenience store to pick up some food. “And bring your wallet, I’m not bringing mine.”

“What am I, your slave?”

“Yes.”

Taeyeon snickers. “Don’t fight it, Yul. Just let the princess get what she wants.”

“Hey, you’re her prince here, I’m not.”

“Of course not.” Jessica loops her arm through Yuri’s and starts dragging her toward the door. “You’re my slave.” She turns suddenly to Tiffany. “Any objections, Tiff?”

Tiffany blinks. “Uh, no? Do I even get a say in this?”

“Save me from this tyrant princess, Fany,” Yuri says, pretending to fight Jessica’s hold. Taeyeon knows she’s only pretending because if she actually wanted to she could leave Jessica in the dust. She’s seen Yuri do fifty one-handed push-ups without breaking a sweat; she could probably bench press Jessica and then do Pilates afterwards.

“Sorry Yul, you’re on your own,” Tiffany says. “This peasant learned not to mess with the princess when she wants something.”

Taeyeon raises her hand. “So did this peasant.”

Jessica gives a dainty wave. “See you later, peasants!”

Yuri gives them another plaintive look, but Taeyeon can see the corners of twitching up as she and Jessica leave the dorm.

“I guess you’ve been demoted from prince to peasant,” Tiffany says. “I hope the change from a royal life to this one isn’t too jarring.”

“I was never a fan of the royal life anyway,” Taeyeon says, and only after the sentence leaves does she realize how it sounds.

Tiffany chuckles. “You’re thinking about it too, huh? The fans have had too much of an influence on us. We know their vocabulary and everything.”

It’s impossible for the fans not to have a large influence on them, Taeyeon thinks. After all, they essentially exist for the fans. They may as well belong to them, in a way. Certainly many of the fans think so. They always say that they would not be Girls’ Generation without their fans, and of course that’s true, because what are idols without their fans? It’s a symbiotic relationship, and Taeyeon is no longer sure who are the hosts and who are the symbiotes, who is clinging onto whom.

“Do you remember the lyrics for Say Yes?” Tiffany suddenly asks. “People joked it was a song written for us.”

For us. For TaeNy. But Taeyeon and Tiffany aren’t really TaeNy, are they? Or maybe Taeyeon and Tiffany of Girls’ Generation, of TaeTiSeo, are. Maybe that Taeyeon, the one on the stage, under the lights, is. This Taeyeon, Kim Taeyeon, doesn’t always feel so sure who she is.

“And then Lost in Love really was a song written for us,” Tiffany adds.

Taeyeon remembers relating to that song a little too hard, even though it was about lovers separating and they had never been lovers. She longed for what she couldn’t have back then, or at least just a fantasy of what she thought she wanted. Now what she has is much more real than a fantasy, more solid, more surprising, more…just more.

“What do you really want to say, Tiffany?” Taeyeon asks, feeling like she’s stepping a foot outside to a grey sky and hoping it doesn’t rain. “Did you really want to talk to me about duets?”

“What, I can’t talk about our music?”

“Of course you can, but…” Taeyeon doesn’t know how to put it. Even though they’re singers, that’s certainly not all they are. She finds it ironic at times, how she just wanted to be a singer but had to sign up to be so much more. And yet the more often just made her feel less. “Is that really all you want to talk about?”

“You know, you don’t have to act like I’m always talking in riddles, Taeyeon. It’s not like there’s always some hidden layer to what I’m saying.”

But isn’t there, Taeyeon wonders. There’s a hidden layer to almost everything they say and do. The layer that separates the idol from the person. Maybe that layer has gotten thinner over the years, worn by time and experience, but it’s there. And Tiffany has always been the best idol out of all of them.

“I know,” Taeyeon says, finally. “It’s just that… Sometimes when I’m talking to you, I don’t know if I’m talking to Tiffany or Stephanie.”

Tiffany looks hurt for a split second, before the expression disappears under the layer. “She said that too,” she says in a low voice.

“Who? Yuri?”

Tiffany gives her a look that asks who else. “I guess I’ve become so used to being Tiffany that I don’t really know how to turn her off. I don’t really know how to be Stephanie anymore.”

It’s so…honest, so sincere and vulnerable a statement that Taeyeon doesn’t know how to react. She’s used to lies dressed up in pretty costumes a lot more than she is to truths laid bare. Somewhere along the line, her life has become a road laid with the former, and when the latter comes along she has to stop and revaluate her path.

“You used to call me Stephanie, you know,” Tiffany says. “You don’t do that anymore. It’s like you know she’s gone.”

“I… Do you want me to call you Stephanie?”

Tiffany shrugs. “Do you feel that way too?” she asks instead. “I mean, your name’s just Taeyeon either way, but still.”

“I do,” Taeyeon says, after a moment. “I think we all do, to an extent. But not everyone is as…”

“Fake?”

Taeyeon frowns. “I don’t think you’re fake.”

“I’m an idol, Taeyeon,” Tiffany says, like that explains it all. “We’re idols.”

“I know,” Taeyeon says again, “but we’re people too.”

She remembers the warmth of a blanket cocoon, the scent of burned toast, the sight of tawny hair spread over a pillow, the taste of homemade japchae, the music of a spontaneous duet, and she wonders if that’s what happiness is like in five senses.

“You’ve changed these past couple of months, you know,” Tiffany says. “I can’t see the old you saying that.”

“Changed? In what way?”

“You just seem…lighter now. Looser. Like you’ve taken a weight off your shoulders.”

Taeyeon almost rolls her shoulders back. “Is that a good thing?”

“I think so. I like seeing you more carefree. Relaxed. Happy.”

Taeyeon clears , feeling self-conscious, like she wants to take out a mirror and check if there’s anything different about her appearance. “Thanks?”

“But you’re still Taeyeon,” Tiffany says with a grin. “Talk about feelings for too long and you look like you want to run away.”

“I don’t want to run away,” Taeyeon protests. “Plus, running is too much work anyway.”

“Now you sound like Jessi. Are you guys turning into one of those couples that pick up each other’s habits and finish each other’s sentences?”

“I don’t want to pick up her habits.” Taeyeon wrinkles her nose. “I like cucumbers and I don’t want to sleep all day. I don’t think she’d want my habits either.”

“But you want to be able to finish each other’s sentences?”

“I never said—”

Tiffany claps her hands together. “That’s so cute, TaeTae! I’m going to tell Jessi that. You two are such a cute couple. You should wear matching bracelets or something. Ooh, I know a great place for couple jewellery!”

Taeyeon resignedly wonders why she ever tried to go against Tiffany. She really does feel like a peasant right now, under the reign of a princess as a girlfriend and a general as a best friend. Leader of this group? Yeah, right.

Jessica and Yuri return from their food run with their arms laden with bags. Well, Yuri does, anyway. Jessica is holding just one small bag, containing a package of Pepero that she’s currently eating from. Yuri, meanwhile, looks like she just went on a shopping spree.

“Tae, I got you some of these, I know you like them.” Jessica hands Taeyeon a tuna triangle kimbap.

“Thanks,” Taeyeon says. She’d forgotten how hungry she was earlier, but the sight of the food makes her stomach emerge from its slumber.

Tiffany, meanwhile, goes to help Yuri with her bags. Judging from the corner of a distinctive red and white striped bag, Yuri bought her favourite strawberry candy.

“Want one?” Jessica asks, holding out a stick of Pepero, and then puts it into Taeyeon’s mouth without waiting for her reply.

Taeyeon chews. It’s chocolate almond, one of her favourite flavours. “It looks like you had a productive run.”

Jessica beams. “We did! The ahjussi at the store recognized us and tried to give us a discount. We still paid him in full though.”

“You mean, I paid him in full,” Yuri grumbles. “You didn’t pay a single penny, and you didn’t carry a single bag.”

Jessica holds up the one with her Pepero with a pointed look.

“Okay, you carried one bag.” Yuri makes a show out of clapping. “Good job.”

“Thanks.” Jessica holds out another Pepero. “Want one?”

“No thanks. Save it for your girlfriend.”

“What did you get for yours?” Jessica glances at the bag with the strawberry candies, while Yuri freezes and Tiffany becomes very interested in the contents of another bag. “Oh true, you got those.”

Taeyeon reaches for the Pepero and stuffs one into Jessica’s mouth, smiling when Jessica makes a miffed face at her. “Sorry you had to deal with this one, Yul.”

Yuri sighs theatrically. “It’s okay. I guess this is my punishment for using up her moisturizer last week.”

Jessica glares. “It was you?!”

Yuri chuckles nervously. “Um, sorry?”

“That moisturizer was—”

“Jessi,” Tiffany cuts in. “I saw these cute couple bracelets the other day.”

Jessica gives Tiffany a blank look. “We already have couple rings. You want bracelets now?”

Yuri slaps a hand to her forehead. Taeyeon has to bite down on her cheek to hold back a snicker.

Tiffany rolls her eyes so hard it looks painful. “Not for us, dummy. I’m not your girlfriend.”

“Thank god,” Jessica mutters, and Tiffany glares at her.

“What’s that supposed to mean?!”

“Nothing,” Jessica says smoothly. “So what about the couple bracelets?”

“Well, they’d be so cute for you and TaeTae! Don’t you want couple jewellery?”

“Not really,” Jessica says in a bored voice. “Seems like a hassle. And too much potential to create some kind of scandal with a male idol.” She pats Tiffany’s arm. “Thanks for the idea though. I guess.”

Tiffany looks like she might start steaming at the ears. Taeyeon hopes that Mount Miyoung isn’t going to explode.

“Hey,” Yuri says to Taeyeon. “I think Hani is coming down with an ear infection. What did you do last time when Ginger got one?”

It’s a completely transparent attempt to get away from a fired up Tiffany, but Taeyeon happily jumps on it as they bid a hasty retreat.

Taeyeon has just closed a tab of tattoo designs and opened one of nail art patterns when Jessica walks into her room.

“So we’re going couple jewellery shopping with Tiffany next week,” Jessica says with pinched lips, the way someone would say we’re attending a funeral.

“You lost the fight?” Taeyeon asks sympathetically, having gone through the same experience many times herself.

“It was not a fight, just a friendly discussion.”

“Okay, if you ever get into a fight that turns physical, call me over.”

“So you can resolve it? No offence Tae, but I don’t think you’d be much help in a brawl.”

“No, so I can watch it,” Taeyeon says. “Maybe film it. I mean, where else am I going to get to watch two hot girls wrestle?”

Jessica gives her an incredulous look. “That’s why you want me to get you? Not so you can help me but so you can on us?”

“I mean, like you said, I don’t think I’d be much help. Tiffany would probably just take me hostage and use me against you.”

“Eh, she can keep you hostage. I don’t want to pay the ransom.”

Taeyeon pouts. “That’s how little I mean to you? You wouldn’t even save me if I’m kidnapped? I thought you were going to be my bodyguard.”

Jessica stares at her for a second like she has no idea what Taeyeon’s talking about, and Taeyeon falters, wondering if she forgot, if the conversation was too old and too insignificant. Then Jessica breaks into a smile. “I thought you said you were going to be my bodyguard.”

“Oh, that’s true.”

“I’m supposed to be your hairstylist, remember?” Jessica asks, wrapping a strand of Taeyeon’s hair around her finger.

“So we’re going to be the hairstylist and the bodyguard together?”

“Sounds like a great pairing to me.”

“Me too,” Taeyeon says, and smiles.

A/N: This ended up being fluffier and cheesier than I expected?? There were some scenes I had written aaaaages ago that I was planning to incorporate into this chapter but will have to wait until the next. I mean, TaengSic have had bucket loads of angst in this fic (and in life). Let's rejoice in the fluff for now.