a/n: pure fluff because merry christmas! i would like to thank you guys for warmly welcoming me into this sinking (what?! i thought they're going strong #delulu) ship. the comments have been very encouraging so i'm back with a sort-of sequel (but u can read it without having read scarlet strings!) i really appreciate comments! have a great christmas guys <3

p.s. also, if you guys would like to chat more we can hit it up on my ask.fm/bloodscrolls

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they do a simulation prior to their lieV. they’ve switched off the bright glare of their ceiling light and the bedside lamp instead, casting a warm golden hue in the room, their shadows dancing on the ceiling. they make do on chaeyoung’s bed as the other two maknaes have kindly left the room to join the rest for a movie night, understanding their shy members’ need to rehearse for their lieV. the bed is rather small, creaking when they both lay on it, mina shuffling in to make space for chaeyoung as she tries to slide in without making the bed creak too much. they’ve seen a photo of the lieV’s set-up and know the bed is a lot bigger, with a rather homey interior, furnished with teak shelves and a bed stand, and they even have an artificial fireplace. they look around briefly: the maknaes’ room is tiny and cramped. they look down at their blanket and sheets - faded from the many washes such that the simba prints look paler than his usual orange. mina giggles and turns to chaeyoung, and chaeyoung nods at the peculiarity of it all: it doesn’t seem to fit in at all with the lieV, it almost deviates totally and perhaps draws them further away from whatever simulation they’re expecting to attain. mina slips her hand underneath the blanket and covers chaeyoung’s palm with hers, looks over and sees her face up close, bare-faced, eyelashes shorter than usual but the unique mole beneath the lip more distinct than ever, and she smiles, because this, this is the chaeyoung she loves.

“don’t worry about it, we’ll do ok.”

it’s not peculiar at all, chaeyoung thinks, because the room is warm and mina is warmer as she feels her bare skin grazing against mina’s under the covers. it might be weird onscreen but right now, she thinks they’re just ok.

“we’re the first members of twice to do this, right unnie?”

“yeah, i hope we do well even though we’re so quiet, i wonder if we’ll bore the viewers,” mina bites her lips in concern as she faces chaeyoung, her eyes wide and eyebrows drooping.

chaeyoung softly laughs in admission, cupping her other hand over mina’s, “well they can’t get michaeng’s quiet speciality anywhere else.”

they churn out a list of ideas and topics to talk about during their episode, with mina typing on her phone what they’ve brainstormed together. they begin with a brief introduction and conveying the same sentiments of the monday blues. they talk about their appreciation for their fans and efforts to make them come first, how they all celebrated a double joy when they first came in top on jungyeon’s birthday. they will not talk about how they drank soju til’ late that night, and played drinking games while in a drunken stupor. they will not talk about how mina is even more clingy when she’s intoxicated, and as they played she moved closer and leaned on chaeyoung instead, that it felt like eight members playing instead of nine. chaeyoung remembers that day even though the alcohol was running in her veins and numbing her blood. if anything, mina’s pantene shampoo filled her nose as she played, remembering how she tilted her head to rest on mina and smelled her hair at times (most times). mina remembers sleep weighing on her as the night wore on, but loved the feeling of chaeyoung’s warmth radiating on her too much to tell the members she wanted to stop playing and sleep. mina remembers falling asleep on chaeyoung’s lap, but doesn’t remember how she wakes up on her bed the next day (she likes to think chaeyoung carried her.)

“maybe we can talk about winter too,” chaeyoung suddenly chimes in.

“sure, we are in it now anyway, i’m sure we can expand on that for a bit,” mina smiles, “so what do you think about when you think of winter?”

“for me? well, love… letter… confession.”

mina an eyebrow, a grin playing at her lips as if ready to chaengie about it (yet she also masks her worry if chaengie might be thinking of anyone else but her).

chaeyoung brushes her off, a blush starting to paint her cheeks. “do you know? if you confess to someone on the first day of snow, the relationship will work out?”

mina gasps, “when did we confess to each other?”

“well, mina-ssi,” chaeyoung states, “should we count the first time? when you first confessed your love for me on a tv show?” chaeyoung smirks, only to have mina slap her shoulder for teasing her.

“hey, two can play this game. you confessed at a fan sign! in front of fans directly and our members too. i only said it to a camera,” mina pouts and chaeyoung laughs, tightening her hand with mina’s, brings them out of the covers and stares at their engraved pinkies, her other hand reaching over to graze over the design on mina’s finger, with mina trying to ignore the tingle when chaeyoung touched her.

“maybe this is our first real confession,” chaeyoung states as she continues to soothingly rub mina’s finger.

mina gasps, again. “but it wasn’t the first snow, chaeng.”

“the first snow doesn’t have any power, unnie. look at our pinkies. the skies have already decided before the first snow of the entire universe fell. we were meant for each other."

and perhaps a pre-determination of things doesn’t always turn out to be fatalistic. a confirmation, a no-way out, what has been set in stone usually sends shivers down one’s spine. one is doomed to die, they say, and determinism can only mean we have no choices to make and our hearts to break. but chaeyoung sees it otherwise. a snowflake was meant to fall, with a fixed place to land (the winds aren’t a coincidence but a mobile compass). she came into the competitive music industry, built herself from sweat and tears, rose to the stage and slowly fell. brittle as she might be, the coldness of music critics and netizens sent her falling, her members as the wind guiding her to the coziness of their dorm, and she landed in the comfort of her bed, in the warmth and support of myoui mina. snowflakes break apart on contact with the ground, but if it’s with mina then chaeyoung doesn’t really mind at all.

mina turns on her music in her phone by accident, and it starts playing fall by crush. chaeyoung doesn’t miss the gleam in her eye as mina continues to leave the song on, remembers how mina with headphones on her bed at night means personal healing time. she remembers passing by mina’s room and seeing her peacefully listening to music as her eyebrows relax and small smile is tugged on her lips. she remembers mina inviting her one day to join her, realises how she is invited to a personal space no one has been before and treads lightly in it. she cautiously lies on mina’s bed as mina nudges a headphone bud into chaeyoung’s ear and the same song plays. she remembers mina turning over to nuzzle her nose against her cheek, her earbud twists uncomfortably as the wires get a little untangled but she doesn’t mind, really, it’s mina and her jasmine scent. everyone knows how chaeyoung has a short attention span, and spends most of her time writing when she listens to music, but with mina it’s different and maybe that’s it, chaeyoung thinks, that love is about the other and not yourself and doesn’t find herself restless when she lays down with mina. she remembers reaching over to her mina’s hair as she listens to the song in her ears, wonders how she got so lucky.

chaeyoung finds herself mina’s hair as mina scrolls through their ideas, chaeyoung leaning on her side and just gazing at her. she reaches over to mina’s cheek, her lips slightly puckered and mina feels the tiny hairs on her face stand. she turns her head a little, not hinting or maybe hinting, a kiss somewhere else may suffice more, but chaeyoung meets her eyes, narrows her own and then huffs a sigh before returning to face the ceiling.

“what?”

they hadn't approached this topic on intimacy. they’re shy and quiet after all, and promotions were more important than love, and more so the physical language of it. it drove mina crazy. holding hands and sleepovers only meant more opportunities to carry their relationship forward but no one dared to take the leap. and now, she didn’t wait until the ending of her teenage years to feel the immense palpitating need to press her lips against another’s only to be met with a grunt by son chaeyoung.

“i, i j-just…”

“you don’t want to kiss me?”

“excuse me?” chaeyoung turns back to face her, her face contorted in annoyance, “i wasn’t the one going around kissing others on the lips."

mina, taking offence, returned an equally annoyed look. “when did i?”

“that fan sign. momo unnie.”

“no one asked for my permission!” mina rolled her eyes. “you know it wasn’t intentional. you saw sana unnie."

chaeyoung shrugs her shoulders and looks away, at the paint chips in the wall. chaeyoung couldn’t erase that vile (sorry momo unnie) image of mina’s lips against anyone else, and not her own. it was sana unnie’s fault, to be honest, but she just couldn’t help but dwell on the fact that mina had already lost her first kiss, and she had saved it especially for her, and now it was all for nothing. a heavy pause lingered in the room as mina watched chaeyoung deep in her thoughts. when chaeyoung returned to reality, her thoughts only made her sigh once again. mina seemed to understand.

“hey, i’m sorry. i didn’t know that was going to happen.”

“i know, it’s not your fault. sorry i overreacted. i just, i saved it for you.”

“you can’t possibly count that as my first kiss, can you? chaeng chaeng chaeng.” mina teases chaeyoung as chaeyoung tries not to be anymore childish but her lips still form a small line of annoyance as they naturally slip into a pout.

mina places her phone down as she snuggles up to chaeyoung who has her shoulders crossed and looking unamusedly at the ceiling. “chaengieeeee,” mina whines a little and softly forces her head into the crook of chaeyoung’s neck. chaeyoung stays rigid but mina reaches her hands up and uncrosses chaeyoung’s shoulders, wraps her arm over chaeyoung’s waist instead. she’s always adored her slim and toned waist. chaeyoung stills feigns annoyance, shoulders firm along her sides as mina tries to pry her open. mina slides her hand up and chaeyoung shivers as she feels mina’s hand grazing over her midriff to meet her chin, tilting it to face her. chaeyoung purses her lips realising how close they are and how trapped she is in mina’s embrace.

as chaeyoung lets out a tiny breath, mina closes in and pulls chaeyoung in by her chin so that they meet halfway. all chaeyoung hears is the vacuum of the room and in her brain, until mina re-adjusting her lips to cover chaeyoung’s top lip wakes her up. her eyes flutter close as she feels the softness of mina’s lips, the way they lead in an inexperienced, but loving manner. chaeyoung tries to respond in the best way she can, and both of them compliment each other’s movements in varying ways as they take breaths then kiss again. chaeyoung presses her palm on the curve of mina’s jaw, thumb rubbing soothingly as they kiss and kiss again. mina understands why they say you always remember your first kiss. it’s magical, in all its fumbling over and awkward hands and not knowing the best way to breathe, mina thinks, it is magical because it’s their first and because her (real) first is with chaeyoung.

as they take a deep breath, chaeyoung leans her forehead against mina’s, her cheeks flushed and chest heaving. “i’m sorry, i didn’t ask for your permission either.” chaeyoung simply shakes her head, “i-it’s ok” (it’s more than ok, obviously). thoughts of mina’s stupid incident at the fan sign are pushed to the corner of her mind now as she tries to regain composure.

she glances over and sees their window filled with snow softly falling, the white stark against the blackness of the night. chaeyoung sits up and gently tugs mina to the front of the window. a perfect snowflake nestles itself on the corner of the window, unbroken and shining. as the snow continued to quietly come down, the soft orange rays of the bed lamp embraced mina and chaeyoung.

“so… can i kiss you again?”

chaeyoung grins and leans up to meet mina’s lips. chaeyoung was quite sure that she wouldn’t be falling asleep during their lieV, with thoughts of warm breaths and pink-tinted lips crossing her mind the whole time she lays on the pseudo bed in the country-house set up.