“I was thinking,” Irene picks up her cup of morning tea, “that we should live together.”

Seulgi rubs her eyes sleepily before fixing her gaze at the other girl for a brief moment. Irene is sitting on the kitchen counter, taking a sip of her tea, peering at the younger girl through her cup keenly.

Seulgi clears , slowly making her way to the kitchen for coffee. She really shouldn’t, because it makes her have heart palpitations sometimes, but she wants to be totally awake for the conversation they’re about to have.

She looks up briefly to see Irene frowning slightly at the coffee she’s preparing but says nothing. Her dear friend Wendy would snatch it away from her and give her a lecture but she’s in the shower right now.

“Well,” Seulgi says slowly, sounding a bit hoarse in the morning. “We’re already living together.” She adds sugar into her coffee, averting her eyes from Irene. Stating the obvious has always been Seulgi’s forte.

Seulgi doesn’t need to look up to see the teasing smile on Irene’s face, because she hears it in the leader’s voice, “Seulgi, you know what I mean.”

Not even a single sip of coffee yet, and Seulgi’s heart already starts beating a little harder and faster. She wordlessly continues to stir the coffee as Irene waits for a response. Seulgi eventually sets down the spoon and takes a few gulp of her coffee. Too much sugar.

She puts the cup away. “Isn’t it a little too fast?”

“What are you talking about?” Irene lets out a small giggle, eyes gleaming with mirth. “Now is a good time. You wanna live in this dorm until you’re twenty-eight?”

“You’re twenty-eight.” Again, with the obvious.

Irene rolls her eyes. “Yes. Which means all of us have lived together in this dorm as a group for four years,” she stands on her feet now, setting her cup on the counter behind her. “That’s long enough.”

“Aw, Leader-nim, you’re already getting sick of this group?”

“Of course not, stop trying to change the subject,” Irene glares playfully at the other girl. They’re now standing face to face, so she has to look up at Seulgi. She loves their height difference.

Seulgi meets her gaze, not entirely sure if it’s Irene or the coffee that’s making her heart race. She thinks it’s likely the former. “When I said too fast, I meant—”

“—us,” Irene finishes for her with a smile.

“Us,” Seulgi echoes her to confirm, but adds nothing.

“Is it really too fast?” Irene shrugs nonchalantly. “I think we’ve been together for quite some time now, but you would know that, right?”

Seulgi clears again, feeling rather dry even after drinking coffee. Having never officially put a label on the relationship they have built, Seulgi has never been completely sure where it is going. This, she certainly did not see coming, not in the near future, anyway.

It’s not an unpleasant idea at all; the realization starts to sink in. Quite the contrary, it sounds pleasant. Good. Exciting. She could label it with every positive adjective if she had the time. It was just her nervousness showing earlier, like it always did back then when they were in the verge of becoming something more.

Irene was always the one who initiated everything. It has always been like that since the very first time they met. Seulgi really doesn’t mind, in fact, she prefers it. She would follow her leader – her girlfriend – everywhere.

“Okay,” she says finally, her voice sounding slightly hushed.

Irene an eyebrow, one corner of her lips tugging into a lopsided smile. “Really?”

“Yeah, let’s live together,” Seulgi says, louder this time, with the biggest grin on her face that is so distinctly Seulgi. Her heart beats even harder and faster in exhilaration. “We’re gonna be all domestic and cute with each other at our own place.”

“In that case, we’re gonna have to learn to cook better,” Irene says, eyes sparkling with excitement. “We’re gonna find a place not too far from here so the others can visit often.”

Seulgi winces visibly at the mention of their members, though her excitement doesn’t die down. “How are we gonna tell them?”

“That we’re moving out? We just tell them the truth, it’s the best way, and they’ll understand.”

Still, Seulgi is dreading it. “Can’t we just accidentally let them know, like the way they found out we were together?”

Irene lets out a laugh. “By letting Joy catch us in the act?”

“That’d be interesting. Oh, hey Joy. Oh no, you caught us again. You’re right, we’re in this store to buy furniture for our new apartment. We’re moving out. Please help us move our things? We’ll buy you food afterwards.”

Their laughter dies down after a moment. Sobered up, Irene looks fondly at Seulgi. “And if someone within the group or company has a problem with it?”

Seulgi steps forward and wraps her arms around Irene’s waist, pulling her closer. She wonders if Irene can feel her heart hammering against her chest. “Then you, my dear leader, are gonna have to deal with it.”

Irene shoves Seulgi’s shoulder playfully before the latter tightens her hold on Irene’s waist and gives her a sweet kiss.

a/n: lol idk. thanks for reading, merry christmas! happy holidays!