Jieqiong steps out into the living room of the IOI dorm and immediately stops. Already, she can feel that there is something off. “Where’s Chaeyeon?” she asks the nearest person, who happens to be Doyeon.

    “She’s in our room,” Doyeon informs, but pulls Jieqiong a little closer to quietly say, “She’s a bit… sulky right now so can you…?” She trails off, but Jieqiong knows enough to understand the situation. She gives a short nod before slipping into Chaeyeon’s room.

    When she first steps into the bedroom, Jieqiong wonders if Doyeon was wrong about Chaeyeon being there because she doesn’t see anybody. The covers on Chaeyeon’s bed were thrown back to reveal nobody there and there wasn’t anybody in Yoojung’s or Doyeon’s bunks either, but then Jieqiong catches a glimpse of the duck-patterned socks she had bought Chaeyeon peeking out from under her bed, and she smiles to herself. How cute.

    “Hmmmm,” Jieqiong loudly wonders to herself in an exaggerated voice. “I wonder where my beloved Chaeyeon unni is?”

    “She’s not here,” replies Chaeyeon, voice muffled but still loud enough for Jieqiong to hear the waver in it.

    “Awww,” Jieqiong pouts as she slowly lowers herself to the floor. “I wanted to tell her that I reallly reaaallllyyyy love her.” She crawls under the bed and lies next to Chaeyeon. “Hi,” Jieqiong cheekily greets the older girl now that they’re face to face. Chaeyeon doesn’t give much of a reply, the pout never leaving her sullen face, and Jieqiong’s grin droops a bit at the sight. “What’s wrong?” she asks, more serious once she realizes the gravity of the situation.

    “I messed up the choreo when we were performing Yum Yum at the concert earlier,” Chaeyeon confesses, leaning into Jieqiong’s touch as the younger girl cups her cheek.

    “You know that’s not that big of a deal, right?” Jieqiong says. “I’d probably be fired as an idol with how many times I screw up if everyone took mistakes that seriously.”

    “Yeah, but,” Chaeyeon trails off, fiddling with the tips of Jieqiong’s hair. “People already hate me enough as it is. I don’t want to give them any reasons to hate me even more.”

    “Who cares about all of those people? There are a lot more people who like you.” Jieqiong grins cheekily. “Like me.”

    Chaeyeon gives a weak smile back, but it seems like she’s in a better mood than she was before and Jieqiong will take what she gets. Chaeyeon then scoots closer and buries her face in Jieqiong’s shoulder. “I could really use that ‘I love you’ right now,” she mumbles into Jieqiong’s shirt.

    Jieqiong lets out a warm laugh. “I love you,” she says honestly, wrapping an arm around Chaeyeon’s waist to pull her even closer. “I seriously really reeaaallly love you. So even if the whole world hates you, it doesn’t matter. Because I love you. And that’s the only thing that matters.”

    “Aren’t you being a little bit too big-headed right now?” Chaeyeon says and Jieqiong whines at Chaeyeon’s tease. It’s quiet for a long time after, with Jieqiong just absent-mindedly Chaeyeon’s hair. “Sorry for making you be here for me,” Chaeyeon says after a while. “Under the bed, I mean.”

    “Nah,” Jieqiong brushes it off. “It’s actually more comfortable than I thought it would be. It has its own charms.”

    Chaeyeon lets out an incredulous laugh as she hits Jieqiong’s shoulder for saying something weird. “Let’s stay here then.”

    “Okay.”

    (Jieqiong’s back aches like crazy the next day- partially from sleeping on the floor all night and partially from where Somi kicked her to wake her up- but then she sees how Chaeyeon seems much more relaxed than she has been in days, weeks even, and she can’t bring herself to regret giving in to Chaeyeon.)

A/N: Kind of short and really cheesy but whatever? Inspired by the clip of Chaeyeon looking super stressed out after she messed up the choreo for Yum Yum during their most recent event + Jieqiong falling asleep under the bed to keep a puppy company. Please ignore the real life timeline where Chaeyeo is currently with DIA and doesn't live in the IOI dorm anymore.