pairing: Jihyo x Jeongyeon

summary: Jihyo’s red hair was a warning sign, but she ignored it.

rating: M (not quite but...)

“What’s up with, Jihyo?” Nayeon asks, looking from one member to another. She has always had an old woman’s ability to smell gossip and unusual behavior, which Jeongyeon knows all too well.

Sana frowns softly, indicating that she has noticed something, too. Beside them, Dahyun is busy playing with her phone. She is surprisingly quiet in the dorm, never missing anything, but keeping things mainly to herself.

“What exactly do you mean?” Tzuyu asks, intelligent eyes alert and unreadable.

“She is just so unfocused,” Nayeon says.

Jeongyeon shifts, her hand coming up to rub the side of her neck and the arc of her collarbone. The skin on her body is warm, but her hands are cold.

Once they stepped into the club, they were in another world. The music was attacking them from all sides and it made her feel breathless. It was in her ears, all over her skin, holding her by the hollow of her waist like a reckless lover. She wondered if Jihyo felt it, too.

On the dance floor, they took the furthest corner and hid behind smoke and darkness. They didn’t talk, but they danced and kept watching each other. It seemed like a game of who could hold the eye contact the longest. Jeongyeon would never admit it, but Jihyo won almost every time.

The younger girl twirled, hair flowing like an invitation and when her hips moved in a rolling motion, Jeongyeon had to keep herself in check. The habit of mouthing lyrics (“even hell would feel like heaven with you, so what can I do”) during dancing was something they both did, but only Jihyo made it look so good.

At some point during the year, Jihyo had gotten very y and as she made the realization she could feel it deep inside, pulling and twisting. For a split second, she had tried to push it away, but there was no way that she could succeed. The thought was like a car crash, horrible and fascinating, totally consuming.

It wasn’t the way she looked that had changed so much, but the way her eyes focused and how she carried herself. The charisma that she had always had pushed through the layer of shyness and made her irresistible. Maybe it wasn’t such a new revelation in the first place. Something had always been there, right below the surface and that she had never managed to acknowledge it was astonishing. She could have tipped over the edge long before, but the fact that she did it now, only made it better.

She shouldn’t have been watching her friend like that, but Jihyo made it impossible not to.

“Maybe she is just stressed out?” Sana muses.

“I don’t think it’s that,” Nayeon says and leans back on her chair. “She doesn’t seem unhappy, just far away.”

Jeongyeon stares at a wall on the other side, barely listening.

They had gone to the toilet after drinking too much water (they had decided not to drink alcohol, but she felt drunk anyway) and the place had been deserted. The light in her cubicle had been flickering like swarming moths around a candlelight and it had added to the feeling of unreality. Her senses had gone to overdrive when Jihyo had danced illegally near with a smug face and a smirk in her eyes.

She was aware of every batch of her own skin, the bare and the clothed. It was like something had been released in to her bloodstream and now it was taking over faster than she could keep up. There was something frightening about it, so that she washed her hands with an utmost care, paying attention to every finger and nail. But the strikingly normal act didn’t make it any easier for her to concentrate, nor could she push away the new thoughts by breathing deeply.

She had suddenly walked into a story of surrealism.

She exited the cubicle and found Jihyo already there, leaning against the sink and fixing her make-up. The glowing red hair around her face was like a warning sign, the color of a dragon’s breath, telling her not to do anything until she could calm herself down. However, she had never been particularly good at that. She could show a straight face and play her part, but she could never lie to herself.

Leaving the overanalyzing for another day, she walked closer until her front was pushed against Jihyo’s back and placing her hands on either side of the other girl’s hips, she locked her to where she was.

In the mirror, she could see Jihyo’s eyes unfocusing and re-focusing until they found hers and burned her with a hot, heavy gaze that made her feel even more lightheaded. The younger girl let her head fall back, until it was resting on Jeongyeon’s shoulder.

They looked like club gods; she with her tall proportions, a chic haircut and a crop top, Jihyo with her wild hair, smoky eyes and tight jeans. It was a shame that nobody could see them, because even she could admit that they left an impression. She would have wanted to add more pressure, but the situation seemed to rest on a thin layer of ice so she just marveled at the fact that they could be breathing so heavily without even kissing. A kiss would have made it real, but now they still existed in a place where nothing had happened, yet everything had.

“Jeongyeon?”

“Hm?”

“What do you think?” It is typical of Nayeon to pull her back into the conversation, as if her opinion weighs all that much. They have been so close for so long, that she isn’t sure who would struggle the most if they had to be apart.

What did she think of what? Jihyo?

“It’s probably nothing,” she says and looks at the older girl with clear eyes, doing her very best to concentrate on the things that are in the present.

“Yeah, I agree,” Sana says and Jeongyeon nods lightly. Tzuyu looks undecided whilst Dahyun acts as if she doesn’t have an opinion on the matter.

Jihyo gasped at the sudden darkness, but said nothing. The exit sign glowed behind her with a sickly green light and Jeongyeon let it guide her to the other girl. She hovered over her for a moment, but the tension had already reached a breaking point so that she pushed the younger girl against the cold wall and kissed her so fiercely that their teeth banged against each other.

Jihyo curled her hands around Jeongyeon’s shoulders, while she had to grab her by the , because what else would any sane person do? She squeezed it over the protective layer of jeans and pulled on her lower lip, instantly moving them towards the harsher side of things. But how could she be gentle when she had been looking at her like that, all night?

She wanted to scream, just for the sake of it, like an animal who feels alive.

Jihyo’s hands travelled onwards and into her short hair, pulling her head as if they weren’t already stitched together from the lips. They were so close that when one of them moaned, she wasn’t even sure whether it was her or Jihyo or both. It made her want to tear the other girl’s clothes into small pieces and the intensity of the feeling would have made her stop in any other situation.

“Jeongyeon, why are you so quiet?” Nayeon asks and when she blinks away the haze she can see that they are all watching her. Even Dahyun who has raised her eyes from her phone.

“I’m tired,” she says and does feel a need to close her eyes, but for a completely other reason. “I just don’t see any point in talking about this when you could just ask Jihyo herself.”

Nayeon looks rather disappointed. She is so used to the younger girl agreeing with her in almost everything that when she doesn’t, it feels like a mild betrayal.

“Fine,” she says and drops the subject.

To an outsider it might have looked like they were tearing each other apart, but the only thing falling to pieces was the years’ worth of pent-up emotion. It was dying, going down with a huge flame.

Jeongyeon moved her hands so that she could touch Jihyo’s thighs. She had read from somewhere that the other person’s thighs, just above the knee, would make them . It wasn’t really a problem in this case, but she would happily drive Jihyo mad from desire if she could.

Just then the redhead decided to change strategy and grabbed Jeongyeon’s jacket collar, forcefully turning her around. Now the taller girl could feel the wall behind her and wonder how fast it had happened.

“Not here,” Jihyo whispered and contradicted her words by the older girl’s neck.

She had done ed up now-

There is a clank at the door and it is pushed open with a gentle swing. As Jihyo struts in, Jeongyeon presses her thighs together and stares with every intention of making the other girl feel as unbalanced.

“We’ve got to go now,” Jihyo says, hand on the door handle. “The others are already in the car.”

Jeongyeon watches the looks on the girls’ faces and some of them can hide it better than the others that they have just been talking about the leader. Dahyun looks rather guilty even as she hasn’t said anything and Sana is a bad liar by default. Nayeon tries to appear smooth, but it is Tzuyu whose expression never changes. It’s quite admirable how well she can hide her feelings, even when she is the youngest.

It was like the plates of the Earth had moved under the sea. An underwater volcano had erupted, heating the water to a boiling point and sending shivers in forms of earthquakes to the shores.

But how did she dare to leave her there, just when the things were getting interesting? She had been so weak from desire that all she could do was to stare as Jihyo walked away, only turning around at the doorway, saying goodnight. Good ing night, rolling in sheets and resisting herself not to do anything about the frustration. She wouldn’t give Jihyo that satisfaction.

“Jeongyeon?”

She blinks and realizes that the room is almost empty without her making a single move to get up and get going. Thankfully, Nayeon has already walked out, so that she wouldn’t be a witness to another one of her slips, because slipping is exactly what she is doing.

“Are you going to stay here?” Jihyo asks and there’s more than a hint of mockery in her voice. Jeongyeon stands up, but doesn’t break the eye contact. She walks to the younger girl and stares into her large, slightly wet eyes.

“After you,” she says and the words roll heavily from her tongue. The desire is so strong that it’s making it hard to speak. Jihyo squints her eyes, as if she isn’t liking the rather open show of emotion, but they both know that it’s not true.

Jihyo purses her lips and turns around, leaving the room, Jeongyeon trailing right behind her. She watches every movement carefully like a jaguar.

During the sleepless night she made many plans and came up with so many new ideas that she surprised herself. She wouldn’t let Jihyo get away with it, when it was clear that she wanted this as much as she did.

First, she would corner her in a quiet place during a time she wouldn’t expect it. She would kiss her neck and make her moan uncontrollably, so that Jihyo would have to cover with her hand. She would continue until the other girl would be writhing from pleasure, but she wouldn’t kiss her lips, no way. She would bite her shoulder and leave a mark and Jihyo would have to muffle a scream. The scream would ring in her ears long after she would be done with her.

She would her sweater slowly while keeping the other girl’s hands above her head with the other hand. Jihyo would be able to break free from it, but she wouldn’t want that. She would love it, but never admit such a thing.

“I can hear you thinking,” Jihyo says as they have almost walked down the whole corridor. Her voice still has that superior quality to it and it’s frustrating.

Jeongyeon catches up with her and grabs her left wrist, preventing her from going on. She spins the younger girl around and couldn’t care less about the others waiting in the car. Somewhere inside her mind, she knows that the uncaring recklessness is dangerous, but she pushes the thought away.

“Jeongyeon!” Jihyo tries to sound stern, but it comes out as a sigh and the way her eyelids flutter tells the older girl exactly what she needs to know.

“Then what am I thinking about?” she asks and smirks, thrilled that she is taller than the leader so that she can watch her whole face without any obstructions. Jihyo has always worn her heart on her sleeve and it shows now in the way she bites her lip and stares at the other girl’s mouth.

“We’ve gotta go.” Jihyo tries to wriggle herself free, but it is a halfhearted attempt at best.

“Answer me,” she says and lets her thumb the skin on Jihyo’s wrist.

Jihyo looks at the door ahead and then back to where they came from, hoping and fearing that someone else would come and interrupt them. Once nothing happens, she gives in and leans forward.

“You’re thinking about me,” she whispers and stares boldly, her wrist still caught in Jeongyeon’s hand. She is so cocky that the only thing left to do is to surprise her and so Jeongyeon moves forward, air rushing in her ears as she captures Jihyo’s lips with her own.

The redhead gasps and tilts her head so that their lips fit just right. It doesn’t feel like a rerun of an old trick, but a completely new emotion and Jeongyeon forgets all her plans and fantasies. She toys the other girl’s mouth with her tongue and soon Jihyo is , the sound echoing in the long corridor where anyone could come in.

Jeongyeon finds her self-control as she remembers how she was left standing in the garage, in the middle of the night, after hours of merciless teasing. She pulls away sharply and Jihyo makes a whimpering sound, standing there like she lives for her kisses.

Jeongyeon turns around and walks away, feeling like her body is both stronger and weaker than the moment before. She knows Jihyo is staring and it makes her lips curl up. Gotcha.

“We’re going to be late if you don’t hurry up,” she says and hears that Jihyo is finally following her, after an extensive period of stunned immobility.

She knows that Jihyo is going to make her regret this and she is more than looking forward to it.

A/N: This fic has been a long time coming, but it's here now rip ot4 2ne1 This was a struggle to write, but I hope it's okay!