A/N: An anon challenged me and this was the result. I'm fire. 

“We should move in together.”

 

Wendy murmured into her hair quietly, her fingers playing with brown locks as Irene laid against her on the couch. Irene kept quiet for a moment, admiring the way Wendy’s fingers looked under the lighting from the television, before answering quietly with another question, her fingers clenching into a fist around her sweater sleeves.

 

“Do you think it’s a good idea?”

 

Wendy’s lips moved to her temple, where words continued to burn into her skin (but no longer as comforting as she first found it), reasons whispered into her ear.

 

“Well...You’re already here most of the time and when you’re not, I go and pick you up for work anyways. It makes sense, doesn’t it?”

 

Irene’s breath hitched, just soft enough to fly by Wendy’s attentiveness and she nodded tightly, a ball rolled up tightly in and preventing her from speaking. Wendy kissed her temple and settled into the sofa, pulling Irene closer, her fingers dipping under the sweater and resting against skin.

 

“I’ll pass you the keys later, okay?”

 

Irene nodded again, her voice hoarse and scratchy.

 

“Yeah. I’ll speak to Nana about  my place later this week.”

 

Wendy hummed, her attention returning towards the television show they had been waiting the entire week to catch, scratching against Irene’s stomach gently (comfortingly) with her nails.

 

Irene stared at the ground, her mind wandering and her attention solely on the way the blood was rushing to her ears, heart thumping to a rhythm that would never differ.

 

(SeungWan, SeungWan, SeungWan.)

 

*

 

“You’re moving in together?”

 

Nana asked without any infliction in her tone, long fingers wrapped around a white ceramic mug as she brought her drink to her lips. Her eyes, however, told of a different story, a story Irene had long learn how to read but pretend not to understand.

 

(She didn’t want to.)

 

“Yeah. So about the roommate situation-”

 

Nana waved a hand, cutting her off mid sentence.

 

“It’s fine. If you’re moving in with Wendy, then I’ll just ask Lizzy if she wants to be roommates. I know she has been looking for a place.”

 

The mention of their mutual friend had Irene frowning, the brunette tilting her head and gazing at the blonde opposite her, Nana steadfastly drinking her coffee slowly, eyes on the table and fingers tight around the cup.

 

“How’s-”

 

“Let’s not go there, JooHyun.”

 

Irene relented easily, aware that there are some topics that shouldn’t be broached in broad daylight and that it was a favour that should be returned when Nana has always kept shut about her situation and offered a bony shoulder for when it got hard. Irene cleared and brought her own drink to her lips, the latte staining bitter on her tongue.

 

(But it was somehow sweeter than the taste that was already present on her lips.)

 

“Thanks though, I know I’m putting you through some trouble.”

 

Nana shrugged, the apathetic blonde placing her cup down and looking up, her eyes trained on Irene’s face.

 

“No worries. Though, you should keep the key.”

 

Frowning, Irene questioned softly, the soft whispers of the cafe’s patrons washing over them like a blanket.

 

“Why?”

 

Nana leant back, her eyes still but not cold and she folded her arms.

 

“Just in case.”

 

Irene nodded, sipping her drink again but not really tasting much else.

 

*

 

“I’ll put this here?”

 

Irene pulled in the last of her bags into Wendy’s room, Wendy coming over to wipe Irene’s sweaty forehead with her hands. Blushing, Irene turned away and pulled up her shirt to do the job, Wendy chuckling softly before carrying Irene’s bags over to the closet.The brunette opened the doors carefully, waving a hand to the significantly empty space that was on the left of the cupboard.

 

“Ta-dah! I cleared out a section for you.”

 

Shaking her head, an easy smile made its way to Irene’s face, the older brunette trudging over and wrapping Wendy in a backhug.

 

(Like holding the entire world in her arms.)

 

“I don’t need that much space. You know how I am with my clothes.”

 

Wendy grinned and bent down to the bags, pulling out about three of the same shirts, her eyebrow raised slightly.

 

“Yes, I do know. And hopefully, by the end of the month, I can sneak in some shirts that aren’t striped. Or denim. You know, just for variety.”

 

Irene gasped and pulled on her (beloved) striped shirt lightly, falling into Wendy when the younger brunette tugged back with slightly more force. Their lips were just breaths apart from each other and the proximity had Irene struggling to speak, the older woman defending her clothes airily.

 

“I’ll have you know that stripes and denim are always in fashion.”

 

Wendy’s grip had already loosened on the shirt but the both of them made no effort to move out of the hold, Irene already distracted by the way Wendy’s lips would brush across her ever so lightly.

 

“Hmm. Well, you always did look good in them.”

 

Her answer was swallowed by Wendy’s lips, her tongue pushing past teeth and into Irene’s mouth, eliciting a groan from the older brunette. The shirts fell to the ground and Wendy pushed Irene towards the bed, her eyes twinkling when she pulled away, Irene’s breath leaving her lungs and following Wendy’s lips.

 

“And you always looked better out of them.”

 

(Suffice to say, there was no unpacking done that day.)

 

***

 

Wendy’s fingers had marked her body so many times, trails of fire left in their wake, burning in scars that no one could see but will never heal.

 

And Irene was sure that if anyone were to look closely, all they’d see would be Wendy’s name written in every inch of skin, thrumming through her veins and keeping the beat in her heart.

 

***

 

“You know...”

 

Nana trailed off, the blonde looking unsure even as she started to speak again.

 

(Slowly, carefully, as though her words would shatter Irene.)

 

“Have you ever thought about...”

 

She didn’t even have to finish her question for Irene to understand. The brunette looked back down to her screen, the words on the document she was typing up suddenly making no sense as the unspoken words played in her head loudly.

 

Nana cleared .

 

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have-”

 

“No, I would never think about it.”

 

There was a palpable silence before a creak was heard, Nana moving in her seat opposite her.

 

“Why?”

 

Irene smiled, soft and sad even on her own lips.

 

“Because SeungWan deserves all the love in the world.”

 

*

 

“TaeYeon unnie dyed her hair blonde today.”

 

It was an offhand comment but one that had Irene stiffening behind her laptop, her fingers slowing down just enough for Wendy not to notice what her words had done.

 

The air in the living room had shifted but she can bet that she’s the only one who noticed because Wendy was still plucking out different contracts from the pile of paper surrounding her on the ground whilst Irene stayed on the sofa. Clearing , Irene pulled on a brown lock that was laying on the laptop, the colour dark against the sleek silver.

 

“Yeah?”

 

Wendy hummed, Irene picking up the small hitch in Wendy’s voice as she spoke about her partner’s new development in life, Wendy’s admiration for her senior from high school blatant even though Irene wasn’t looking at her.

 

“Yeah! It looks really good too.”

 

There was a sigh and then another comment.

 

(Soft, tired, sad.)

 

“She looked like a goddess sent down to earth.”

 

Silence hung over them heavily.

 

Unable to take the tension only she could feel, Irene sat up from her position and ran her fingers through her hair, grinning as she eyed Wendy who was looking at her with wide eyes.

 

“Huh. I didn’t know you had a thing for blondes, SeungWan.”

 

Wendy grinned apologetically.

 

“I- It’s not that, Rene...”

 

The younger woman’s eyes swiveled to the ground, softening into a look Irene knew intimately as she murmured softly.

 

“It’s just that TaeYeon unnie did look good.”

 

Chuckling, Irene stood up from her seat with shaky legs and sauntered over to Wendy, plopping herself down on the dazed woman’s lap as she drawled, arms looped around Wendy’s neck loosely.

 

“Well then, looks like I have some changes to do, don’t I?”

 

She laughed at Wendy’s dumbstruck face and could only stop herself from shrieking when the brunette realised that it was a blatant tease, Wendy tickling her mercilessly even as the papers around them got crumpled.

 

(But SeungWan’s jaw had dropped when JooHyun came back with hair like rose gold, shining as though it was spun with sunlight.

 

Her words marked JooHyun’s skin repeatedly that night.)

 

*

 

Nana raised an eyebrow when she saw her new hair colour, the blonde looking impressed and bored at the same time, curling into a smile that was rarely seen.

 

“Looking good, JooHyun.”

 

She ran her fingers through her hair self-consciously, practically hiding her face behind her bangs.

 

“You think so?”

 

Nana hummed, a low sound from the back of , her eyes kept on the colour of spun sunlight, a light smile on her lips.

 

“Yeah. Why the change though?”

 

Irene put her bag down, her fingers tight against the leather and she answered softly.

 

(They promised each other never to lie, not after several drinks and confessions about their lives a lifetime ago.)

 

“Because TaeYeon unnie dyed her hair blonde.”

 

Nana’s pen dropped with a click but the blonde picked it up like it never happened, her voice light and her tone even.

 

“You wanted to match her, huh?”

 

Shrugging, never lying to Nana (but to herself), Irene sat down and pulled out her laptop, speaking over the partition easily.

 

“She did look very good in blonde.”

 

***

“I love you."

 

Wendy forced the words out from behind clenched teeth, her head thrown backwards as her fingers gripped onto Irene’s shoulder tightly, her pupils blown and whines interjected into the atmosphere.

 

(Wendy- SeungWan was the loud one.

JooHyun kept her cries to a whimper, silent behind bitten lips and face pressed into a pillow.

 

Unless-)

 

There was a pause before Irene whispered back, quiet and deep, throaty in a way she was used to making her voice sound like every time Wendy said it to her like this.

 

"I love you too."

 

There was a spark of something behind Wendy’s eyes and then it was chased away by closing lids, Wendy surging up to kiss her moans onto Irene’s tongue.

 

***

 

"Blonde hair suits you, Irin."

 

Irene froze, her fingers pulling out several strands when TaeYeon's voice rang out, the older woman smiling softly and her eyes twinkling. Schooling her expression into one that didn't speak of jealousy and pain, Irene forced her lips to turn upwards, lowering her head slightly in respect as she replied the compliment.

 

"Thank you, unnie. Congratulations, by the way, on this new deal you’ve gotten.”

 

TaeYeon grinned, her hand coming up to clasp on Irene's shoulder, the sound of her black dress swishing on the carpeted ground, the noise of her clients and people in the luncheon muffling her words slightly.

 

"Thank you. And you still sound like you don't believe me."

 

A laugh tore from Irene's throat unwillingly, shrill and desperate to her ears (it must've sounded normal to TaeYeon because the older woman didn't react, her smile just as radiant).

 

"That's because blonde hair suits you better, unnie."

 

(That’s because you’re always the prettier one, unnie.)

 

TaeYeon's eyes softened to something that made Irene ache inside and the grip on her shoulder tightened, comforting and heavy at the same time.

 

"You are beautiful, Irene."

 

(TaeYeon always heard the silent voice inside her.

 

She never knew how, despite all her efforts to keep her thoughts away from her face.)

 

Irene smiled and ducked her head lower, plastering on a bashful look. She would've replied with something else but all it would do was just make this conversation go in circles so she kept shut, jolting only slightly when Wendy's arm slid around her waist, the younger woman's question light.

 

"Are you teasing my girlfriend again, unnie?"

 

TaeYeon laughed, loud and ungraceful, her fingers leaving Irene's shoulder while Wendy's grip dug into Irene's side. Irene turned her head towards the brunette, catching sight of something dark and ugly behind beautiful brown eyes before it bled away to its normal warmth, Wendy staring at the way TaeYeon was tugging on strands of Irene's hair playfully.

 

"I was just telling her that blonde hair looks good on her."

 

There was a glint in Wendy's eyes, pained and wanting before it was snuffed out, crinkling into a smile that didn't reach .

 

"Of course she does, unnie. She's always beautiful."

 

Irene found herself pulled deeper into Wendy's embrace, her cheek aligning with Wendy's lips, intimate in a way Wendy never was in front of TaeYeon. She blushed, her bashfulness real this time and the ache in her chest lifted slightly.

 

(Maybe. Just maybe.)

 

TaeYeon laughed again and raised her hand in surrender.

 

"Okay, okay. I get it, I'll leave you two lovebirds alone."

 

She felt Wendy's eyes following TaeYeon as the older blonde walked towards Tiffany and Sunny, Tiffany greeting TaeYeon with a kiss on the cheek followed by an eye roll from Sunny. The ache behind her ribcage returned and Irene lifted her head just in time to see the intense longing and want