Taeil sighs as she waddles her way into the kitchen, a hand pressed to the middle of her aching back.

Dance practice had been grueling, the new comeback is more heavily dance-oriented than any of their previous concepts and the routine is taking it's toll on everyone. Her feet throb, ankles stiff from wobbling around in much too high heels for hours on end, and a headache threatens mightily at the center of her forehead.

What she needs is a good, strong cup of coffee.

She quietly brews and pours herself a cup, conscious of the three other girls sleeping just down the hall.

She wants nothing more than to strip down and burrow into her covers, pass out until Jihoon comes in tomorrow morning and hugs her awake. But Jiho had promised to stop by after she finished shutting down her studio equipment, and Taeil hasn't seen her since the group practice that morning, and it's always during this time of night that Taeil most strongly misses her girlfriend's soft skin beneath her finger tips.

So she waits.

She hops unsteadily up onto the counter top next to the stove, leaning against the cabinets behind her, and sips at her black drink, letting the steam cling to her eyelashes.

She dozes for the half hour that she waits, short hair wavy and ticklish on her nose as her head dips down more and more towards her chest.

Until the dorm lock clicks open, and the door knob twists carefully to muffle the shrill squeal it makes when turned too fast, and Jiho steps inside.

She looks tired, bags under he makeup-free eyes and exhausted wrinkles around the corners of once she removes her plain face mask.

She leaves her flats beside the shoe rack and pads silently onto the kitchen linoleum, reaching for Taeil before she's close enough to touch her. Taeil sits her coffee cup beside her and opens her arms, wrapping them around Jiho the second that she's within reach. Taeil keeps her in a loose hold, feeling the tremors of her fatigued muscles against her skin, and buries her face in Jiho's hair as Jiho crosses her own wrists behind Taeil's back.

They stay quiet for a while, just holding each other, letting their tiredness move sluggishly to sit at the back of their minds.

Contentment takes it's place.

"Are you hungry?" Taeil whispers, not moving.

Jiho doesn't answer out loud, just shakes her head against Taeil's collarbone. Taeil tightens her thighs around her and rubs her back, taking in the scent of her coconut shampoo, and the underlying scents of sweat, perfume, and hair spray.

"Let's go lay down, hmm?" Taeil phrases it as a question though she is already disentangling herself from Jiho to scoot down off of the counter. She winces when her weight hits her ankles, and Jiho frowns at her.

"Sore?" She asks, voice as soft as a whisper.

Taeil shrugs an affirmative, and Jiho kisses her cheek softly, dry and chapped and everything that ever inspires warmth within Taeil, all in one.

The two girls walk back to Taeil's room and fall beneath her blankets in a tangle of long and short limbs, Jiho's hair falling across Taeil's shoulders and Taeil's feet worming between Jiho's, looking for heat.

They fall asleep quickly, solidly, wrapped up completely in each other.