pairing: Jihyo x Tzuyu

summary: It's not every day that she meets a tall, kind stranger.

note: for Ethel, the Queen of Jitzu and Fluff ♥

The weather forecast had been all wrong.

Where her car should be, is a huge pile of snow. The only thing revealing the car underneath is a curvy slope and two white antlers that appear to be two wing mirrors.

"Perfect," Jihyo mutters and begins searching for a door handle. With much effort she manages to open the icy car door and throw her purse on the front seat. Next problem is the trunk that is hiding what she most needs: a car brush, so that she can get rid of the snow.

By the time the car is far less snowed under, her jacket is wet from melting snow, making the fabric heavy. Leaning on the side of the car she tries to wipe the windshield, but no matter what she does she can’t quite reach the middle. There’s a triangle of snow that she knows will make seeing difficult.

“I swear to-,“ she swears under her breath, stands on her tiptoes and reaches one more time – but only manages to slip on the icy ground, finding herself sitting on a pile of snow, cheerful snowflakes spinning in front of her eyes.

"Hold this," a voice says from above. A hand lifts the brush from her lap and as an exchange, Jihyo gets some type of a cord on her palm.

"Charlie, sit.”

Jihyo looks up and stares at a tall girl in a dark coat, currently using the brush to clean the spots on the car that she couldn't quite reach. And in the end of the cord... is a white fluffy dog, the size of a polar bear cub, staring at Jihyo like she is his new best friend.

"Um..." she manages and the dog in front of her inclines his head, as if carefully listening to what she wants to say. His white tail swishes on the snow, making a fan shape on the white ground.

Jihyo gets up, watching the dog carefully. He is so big that if he decides to jump on her she will be on the ground again, faster than you can say "snow". She isn’t going to admit it to anyone, but dogs make her a little nervous – like all the other animals who don’t answer back when you talk to them.

"Thank you, I-" she starts, finally turning her attention to the young woman who has cleaned the car as if it is nothing, as if she cleans cars for tiny strangers all day, every day. But before Jihyo gets any more poetic with her gratitude, the girl turns around, revealing her beautiful face.

For some reason, Jihyo's cheeks flush red and all the polite words die in . On top of that, the girl begins to brush Jihyo's jacket from the snow, giving her a perfect opportunity to stare at the side of the girl's face as she concentrates on other things.

"Your dog is very pretty," she says, when all she wants is to comment on the symmetry of the girl’s face or the pretty line of her shoulders and how they look like they could use a good, warm hug.

"He likes you, too," the girl says, a ghost of a smile on her glossy lips.

"How do you know that?" Jihyo says and tears her gaze away from the girl, and glances at the dog sitting politely a few meters away from them.

"Charlie doesn't like strangers."

Just as Jihyo is about to inquire further, the girl stops her movements and offers the brush back to Jihyo.

"There. I think you should be able to drive now." The girl smiles a little and takes the leash back, turning around as abruptly as she had arrived a moment ago.

Jihyo stands stunned, one hand still holding the leash that is not there anymore and the other hand holding a brush that wasn't there a moment ago. The tall, dark figure slips away to the street with a dog as white as the snow all around them.

Something about it all pulls at Jihyo's heartstrings.

"Hey! What's your name?" she shouts, for once happy that she owns a voice big enough to fill a cathedral or two.

The girl slows down but doesn't stop walking and waves a hand in the air as a goodbye.

"Tzuyu!"

"Tzuyu," Jihyo repeats, air coming out of her lungs as a white cloud and dancing in the cold air above her head.

It's not every day that she meets a tall, kind stranger.

-

A week later Jihyo stands in the same spot, carrying a garbage bag in her hand. The uncommonly cold weather is still keeping Seoul in its grasp and she walks slowly as not to slip.

Dear Santa, please give me snowshoes for Christmas, she thinks.

She throws the bag in to the bin, and turns around to go back when she hears loud barking behind her back. It's not unusual to hear dogs barking in a city as big as the one she is living in, but something about the proximity of the sound makes her turn around.

The sight makes her gasp.

"Charlie?!"

A fluffy, white dog stands in the snow, but his tail is not swishing back and forth like it did when they first met each other. Instead, he looks agitated – not that she is an expert in animal behavior.

As Jihyo just stands there staring, the dog barks again, turns and runs away, only to stop and turn when she isn’t following him.

"Where's Tzuyu?" Jihyo asks, forgetting the cold around her and the fact that she is not wearing any gloves or a hat.

The dog keeps barking and trying to slip away, looking almost annoyed that she isn't taking the hint.

"You want me to follow you?"

As Jihyo takes a step forward the dog starts to run and it takes all the speed Jihyo can muster on the icy road to keep up with him. After walking for a hundred meters, she starts to feel the cold in her hands and face and begins to wonder why on earth she is following a stranger's dog on a Christmas Eve. She nearly turns around to walk back but her curiosity wins the round.

After walking a few minutes, the dog turns to a park nearby. Jihyo can hardly see his white tail anymore as he disappears between the trees of the park.

"Why am I even here?" she mutters to herself, looking warily at her surroundings even as there are bright lights everywhere and the place looks safe enough.

Suddenly she spots Charlie again, standing next to a dark mass laying on the path.

"Tzuyu?!"

She runs as fast as she can, forgetting the slippery path she is walking on and nearly trips as she crouches over the slim frame of a girl.

Time falls off its hinges as Jihyo tries to shake Tzuyu awake. With freezing fingers, she types the emergency number on her phone and waits ten years - waits a century for someone to pick up. Charlie sits with his paw on Tzuyu's shoulder, looking like a guardian angel from canine heaven and as Jihyo feels herself slipping away from her own body, she watches the dog’s calm exterior and takes comfort from him.

Just as the ambulance arrives Tzuyu's eyelids begin to flutter open and she looks Jihyo right in the eye, small frown forming on her forehead.

"Miss? Miss. You've hit your head," one of the nurses says as they finally arrive, completely ignoring Jihyo with her freezing hands and Charlie, the worried owner of a fragile human being.

"Charlie?" Tzuyu says, talking as if through a storm.

"Miss, we're taking you to hospital."

"But my dog-"

As Tzuyu struggles to get up, Jihyo realizes what she is so agitated about. The dog cannot go with her and she doesn't want to leave him behind.

"I- I'll take him," she says and Tzuyu lifts her gaze, her eyes full of worry. "You can come get him afterwards," she continues, hoping that it's enough to soothe the girl.

"Okay," Tzuyu says and the moment of clarity passes and she falls back, looking a little sick.

"We'll take your information so that she can get back to you," one of the nurses says as Tzuyu has finally been lifted safely into the ambulance. Jihyo moves and talks on automatic, while constantly watching the girl who looks so small under the bright ambulance lights.

Suddenly time starts to flow normally again and Jihyo finds herself standing in a deserted park as the ambulance drives away, a silent dog by her side.

-

"I'm sorry, mom," Jihyo says to the phone and walks around in the living room. "I can't come today."

Charlie sits in the middle of the room, looking so big that the room itself seems smaller. However, something about him makes it look like he has always been there, in Jihyo's life.

"Yeah, I'll let you know. Goodnight."

After the call disconnects, Jihyo sighs heavily and flops down on the couch. Absentmindedly, she picks a Christmas headband with reindeer antlers from the table. She puts it on her head, remembering a slightly drunk Nayeon unnie, at their company’s Christmas party a week ago, insisting that the headband looked fantastic on Jihyo.

"I still don't look as cute as you," she mutters and gently touches Charlie's silky head. He shuffles closer and puts his head on her knee.

For the tenth time Jihyo wishes Tzuyu was there too and wonders how she is doing. She had tried to call the hospital earlier, but as she wasn’t a near relative she couldn’t get them to reveal any information. She understands their cautiousness, but it doesn’t make her any less worried.

"Have you eaten today?" she asks, and runs her fingers through the dog’s soft fur. Charlie’s only answer is a lazy swish of his tail.

"How about we order some pizza?"

-

In the morning, Jihyo wakes up to barking. She groans and opens her eyes with much effort. An empty pizza box lays open on the table in front of her and she realizes that she has fallen asleep on the couch. The fact that her neck hurts like hell, confirms what her eyes can already see.

She gets up and remembers: she is dog-sitting a huge white fur ball that must be the source of the current barking that threatens to make her ears bleed.

"Charlie? What's going on?" she croaks and limps to the foyer where the dog is sitting and making noise. For some reason he seems excited.

"There's nothing there," she says and plans to prove her point by opening the door, when the bell suddenly rings.

Charlie turns his head to look at her as if to say "I told you so." She forgets to remark anything witty and just silently walks to the door, wondering who could it be.

"Hi," Tzuyu says as Jihyo opens the door and before she manages to answer anything back, Charlie moves past her and nearly knocks Jihyo over with his excitement.

"Hi, baby," Tzuyu coos to the overexcited dog and somewhere deep down Jihyo wishes it was her that got called a baby with such a voice.

"Did they release you already?"

Tzuyu looks a little sheepish, while still fondling the dog.

"I made them," she says and worry makes Jihyo frown. She crosses her arms and looks a lot like her mom when she is angry - not knowing it herself.

"It was only a mild concussion… but they released me on one condition.”

"What is that?" Jihyo asks, and studies the girl's face.

"Someone has to watch over me, in case I get any symptoms. I was thinking if I could..."

"Stay here?"

"Yeah..."

"Of course, you can!" Jihyo beams and wonders what her mom would say if she found out that she is spending the Christmas Day with a strange girl and her charming dog, instead of being home with her family, eating a proper dinner and not cheap takeaway.

"One thing," Tzuyu says, an odd look on her face.

"Hm?"

"Did you notice that you have a mistletoe branch in your headband?"

Jihyo’s eyes almost fall off their sockets as she turns a festive shade of red. She gives a quick peck to Charlie's forehead before turning around and taking the headband as if nothing has happened.

Tzuyu’s laughter echoes in the hallway and Jihyo thinks that it sounds like music coming through a new door that she is just about to open.

A/N: I hope everyone's having a lovely holiday!