2016

”I wanted to stay with you,” Seulgi says, staring up at Irene earnestly. And suddenly, Irene’s transported away from all the cameras, and away from the audience streaming their LieV, and she goes back to all those days with Seulgi laughing without boundaries back in her old dorm; back when it was just them and the weekends were theirs.

—

2009

“Do you have any plans for the weekend?” Joohyun asks, pulling a hair tie and letting her ponytail down. Wiping the remaining drops of sweat from behind her neck with a towel, she turns around to smile gently at the younger trainee. “Anything you’re looking forward to?”

“...No,” Seulgi mumbles after a moment of thinking, looking pensively at the scuffs on her dance practice shoes. Gotta get new ones...

Joohyun frowns, setting her towel down and slowly making her way over to the sullen younger girl. “You’re not meeting up with Soojung or Jinri like usual?”

Seulgi shakes her head quickly. “No. They’re too busy preparing for debut.”

“Even on the weekend?” Joohyun raises an eyebrow at Seulgi’s nod.

“Yeah,” Seulgi mutters, biting her lip before pulling her signature Seulgi Smile from out of her back pocket, beaming up at Joohyun. “It doesn’t really matter though! I just have to work harder, right? Maybe I should come in tomorrow for a bit of extra practice...”

“Or,” Joohyun suggests, coming to sit in front of Seulgi on the wooden floor of the SM practice room. “...You could stay over my place tonight? And we could spend the weekend together, if you want.”

“What?” Seulgi’s eyes go wide. And suddenly, she looks more bashful than Joohyun’s ever seen her, gazing hesitantly up at the older trainee through her eyelashes. “...Can I really?”

“Of course,” Joohyun smiles, softly touching Seulgi’s shoulder comfortingly. She hasn’t been at SM for too long, but Seulgi has always been nothing but friendly, and she doesn’t want the younger girl getting lonely. And there’s something about the way that Seulgi smiles at her that makes her want to try harder, because maybe, just maybe, they can get through all of this hardship together.

Joohyun wants to stay with Seulgi.

—

2016

“Did you mean it?” Irene asks from beside Seulgi on the drive home from their LieV broadcast. She doesn’t look over at the orange-haired girl, just continues to stare contemplatively out the window.

“About what?” Seulgi asks. She said a lot of things during that LieV while in the midst of reminiscing on her and Irene’s trainee days, so it was hard to pinpoint exactly what her leader was referring to.

“When we were talking about how you used to come over to my dormitory a lot,” Irene says to clarify, finally turning away from the window, something unknown in her eyes. “You said something.”

Ah, so that’s what this was about. Seulgi grins cheekily. She knows what Irene means. She just wants to hear the older girl say it herself.

“What did I say exactly? Sorry, you know how slow I am sometimes.”

Irene pouts, huffing and crossing her arms. “Well fine then, forget it. If you don’t remember, then I guess you didn’t really mean it.”

“No!” Seulgi whines, immediately latching onto Irene’s arm and tugging insistently. “I remember, I remember! I was just playing with you, unnie, I promise! I meant it. Just so you know.”

That gets Irene’s attention, and she bites her lip, combing her purple-silvery hair back out of her eyes from habit, her fingers lingering as she tries to collect herself and her fast-beating heart. “I want to hear it again.”

“Of course,” Seulgi says evenly. “Do you have any plans for this weekend, unnie?”

Irene blinks. “No, not that I can think of.”

“Good,” Seulgi smiles, her eyes turning into perfect crescent moons. “Because I want to stay with you.”

End.