A/N - This is a prompt from chaengbyul and Lifewithoutmichaeng

The time has come children - I am beginning to set up the plot lines for next season :)

The Down Side of Love

Love isn’t always easy, sometimes it is a difficult thing to muddle your way through. People are different, people argue, people disagree. That is not what this particular episode is about, oh no. This is about the little problems, three stories about tiny problems found with any relationship - not wanting to hurt the others feelings. Sometimes when we love someone we feel a need to lie to them about non-important things, like if they look good with that haircut (the answer is always yes) or do they look fat in that dress (the answer is always no). What you are about to read are three instances in which three out of our four favourite couples encounter these situations.

Why don’t we start with the biggest lie?

Dahyun was a musical prodigy - this is something everyone knows. She could play piano in her sleep and churned out song after song. Give her a few hours sat in front of the piano in her living room and she’d turn out a beautiful ballad, give her ten minutes with a keyboard in music class she’d create a jingle for some product. Never had she not been able to produce something beautiful using her immense talent. Jeongyeon and Chaeyoung (her closest friends) thought it was awesome, she wrote some of their bands best melodies and was definitely a reason most people came to see them. Easily excitable people like Momo and Sana would constantly gush over Dahyun’s ‘magic fingers’ (which elicited some volatile reactions from their girlfriends….also that sentence sounded more explicit than intended). More neutral people like Jihyo would find pieces they liked more than others and find the hidden beauties Dahyun would hide in each one. Then those who didn’t express compliments very often such as Mina and Tzuyu would even swallow their awkwardness and pride to say some kind words towards the music.

Then there were people like Nayeon who thought Dahyun’s talent was as good as .

Nayeon was easily Dahyun’s biggest fan, as a girlfriend should be. But Nayeon always had a thing for talented people, she had dated Mina for a similar reason. There was something about talented people that attracted Nayeon, it wasn’t just admiration - it was more than that. Nayeon was someone who believed in love at first sight, so when someone displayed a talent that amazed her she would fall in love. Like when she heard play that one day in the practice room…

Nayeon was talented in her own right, she was actually a very good singer. Her mother had made her have lessons since she was young, eight year old Nayeon singing at her family’s high society parties had become a staple among upper circles. Even now that she was older she was still marched out every year to perform, it made her parents look good to their friends and that was how the life of socialites continued. One of these parties was coming up actually, as usual her father had knocked on her door after returning from his business trip baring gifts for his daughters and told her of the next event which was the following week. He had requested Nayeon find something to perform and she readily agreed, always wanting to impress her parents.

However, this time rather than find some Top 100 ballad to sing she decided to do what Dahyun always did. Dahyun constantly said that Nayeon was her muse, the majority of the songs Dahyun had made the last few months had been with Nayeon in the focus. Nayeon thought it was sweet that her girlfriend viewed her as inspiration, so the idea of returning this and allowing Dahyun to be her muse for a change - she was going to write a song about her. So Nayeon spent all week writing the song, working hard on it to make it perfect. When she performed it to Dahyun her girlfriend had told her it was amazing, that it was the best song she’d ever heard! Nayeon was elated and announced her plans to play it for their friends before performing it to her family’s associates.

“You’re gonna sing this at you party?”

“Technically it’s a luncheon but yeah!” Nayeon beamed, “Why not?”

“Um….no reason…just that…maybe you should stick to the Top 10s, let this be our song.”

“Aww,” Nayeon pecked her nose, “You’re so sweet!”

In the end Dahyun couldn’t talk her out of it and she gathered all her friends in her living room to prepared the show. She was just searching for the microphone when Jihyo approached her, she had shown Jihyo the song before Dahyun and Jihyo had been critical about it. She once again tried to talk the older girl out of it but Nayeon just stopped her - if Dahyun said it was good then it had to be! So she stood there and performed the song, she sung her damn heart out and when she finished she was met with silence. Jeongyeon started laughing first, then Chaeyoung and Sana, Mina tried not to laugh but let a few chuckles escape while Jihyo face palmed, Momo cocked her head in confusion and Tzuyu just looked bored.

“W-What?” Nayeon asked,

Dahyun thumped Jeongyeon to get her to stop, the laughing girl wiped away her tears, “Sorry Nayeon, that was just…..so bad…”

“It was really bad.” Chaeyoung as the couple descended back into laughter,

“What do you mean?” Nayeon asked very upset,

“I tried to warn you.” Jihyo sighed,

“Tzuyu….was that satire?” Momo asked quite seriously,

“I don’t know what that was.” Tzuyu replied in deadpan,

“Sana stop it!” Mina scolded under her breath, nudging her girlfriend’s ribs,

“D-Dahyun..?”

Dahyun sighed, “I’m sorry…”

“So you let me embarrass myself!?” Nayeon shouted,

“I didn’t think it’d go this far…”

She didn’t get to finish, Nayeon stormed off demanding they all got out of her house.

Crap….

_____

The second lie is the most innocent.

Whilst Sana and Mina were still not ready to sleep with each other yet, they did spend every night curled up in bed asleep together. Mina loved being cuddled, the feeling of Sana’s chest rising and falling beneath her head, the warmth of being wrapped up together - being the last thing they saw and the first thing when they woke up the next morning. Mina was all about sentiment and these little things made her happy, sure it wasn’t but as both girls only slept in shorts and tank tops there was still skin to skin contact which made them both happy. Only Sana had a small problem when Mina fell asleep each night.

Sana got hot….quick - and not the kind she was used to.

Mina would go to sleep with her head on Sana’s chest, their legs tangled together and skin pressed against one another’s and Sana would burn alive. It was fine for the first hour or so but eventually Sana would start sweating and feeling warm and be desperate to switch on a fan or open a window. Only she didn’t want to risk waking Mina who enjoyed their arrangement so she couldn’t move, all she could do is lay there and cook like a Christmas turkey. Sleep would be impossible so she’d be up all night, how the hell did people do this in movies!? To think it was winter right now, what would it be like in summer? Sana would probably wake up with third degree burns. It was her own fault really, Mina had asked her multiple times if it was okay.

“Are you sure you don’t mind cuddling all night?” She had asked once before bed, “You always look uncomfortable.”

“Of course I do,” Sana had lied, pecking her forehead gently, “I always love cuddling with you.”

So night after night Sana would nearly die of heat in their bed without any hesitance because it made Mina happy. At one point Sana approached Momo and asked how she dealt with it, especially since Momo had two girlfriends cuddling her at night rather than just one. Momo told her that she, Tzuyu and Jihyo would usually wake up to find one of them had taken the covers off in order to cool their skin. So for the next few nights Sana would push the covers to Mina’s side in order to sleep better. Until one night when after she’d done it Mina awoke.

“Oh no,” Her sleepy voice drawled out, “I’ve stolen all the covers again.”

“It’s okay honey.” Sana replied, cursing herself for not waiting until Mina was in a deeper sleep,

“No it’s not.” Mina sighed sitting up and giving Sana more blankets than before,

Sana thanked her through gritted teeth and tried to endure…

Just get through tonight….

One minute at the team…

Oh God it’s so warm….

Too warm….

I’M BURNING ALIVE!

“I CAN’T TO IT!” She shouted, startling Mina, “I’m soo hot Mina, I love cuddling with you but by God was your Dad a furnace or something I’m burning alive here!”

“What….” Mina growled out very offended at Sana’s outburst,

Crap….

_____

The third lie was the smallest lie.

These are the lies that get you, usually their so small you don’t even think about them until the catastrophic repercussions begin. It was one of the rare times Jihyo was able to house the three of them at hers, her siblings were out overnight visiting their father and their Umma was visiting Jihyo’s grandmother for a few days. So Momo was in the shower, the other two having gone in before her to wash away their activities from earlier. Jihyo was showing a rare playful side tonight, forcing Tzuyu to let her plait her hair. Tzuyu had agreed on the promise of no photos which Jihyo had no intention to keep, though that’s not the lie we’re focusing on today.

“Done!” She chirped, pulling Tzuyu backwards a little to peck her lips,

“Can I take them out yet?” Tzuyu asked, smiling to show Jihyo she was kidding around,

“Hmm…nope!” Jihyo grinned kissing her again,

Tzuyu turned and knelt on the bed so that she could kiss her properly, it was rare for it to be just them because usually Momo was around too. Not that they minded, it was just nice that they could have conversations without it being a lecture. Jihyo’s main target for these lecture was Tzuyu and so most of their conversations went that way, it wasn’t that they didn’t love each other - they just had been together so long (neither of them being particularly clingy) that sometimes the romance aspect went by the wayside. Suddenly a weight crashed into them - knocking both girls on the bed as Momo assaulted them both with kisses. She always did when she felt left out, Tzuyu and Jihyo giggling beneath her.

“You were kissing without me!” Momo pouted,

Jihyo kissed her pout, “You always kiss me in public, let Tzuyu have me to.”

“Sharing is caring.” Tzuyu commented with a smirk,

Eventually they all lay together, Momo wriggling in the middle (Tzuyu’s arm trapped under both her girlfriends meaning it’d be VERY numb in the morning). The lights were off but they were just idly talking until they were tired enough to sleep. The two older girls were still obsessing over Tzuyu’s archery win, both still hoping she’ll take up Irene’s offer to join the archery team. Tzuyu had one week left with Jackson and then he was going to let her go - Jihyo had even bust into his office to make him confirm it. Keeping her busy was probably the most useful way to keep her out of trouble.

“You looked so hot in your archery clothes.” Momo told her,

“You really did.” Jihyo agreed,

“You’ve seen me in them before…” Tzuyu was embarrassed they could hear it in her voice,

“Yeah but how old were you in that photo?” Jihyo asked,

“I don’t know, about twelve.”

“Exactly….it’s a bit creepy if we said that about twelve year old you!”

“Good point.” Tzuyu chuckled,

Then Momo asked a question that she and Jihyo had both wondered and never thought to ask. As you probably know there were three photos on Tzuyu’s cabinet. One, as previously mentioned, was of twelve year old Tzuyu in an archery competition. Another was of Momo, Jihyo and Tzuyu all pulling silly faces - it had been their first photo as a thruple. The finally one was the photo they had no real explanation for.

“Tzuyu can I ask you something?” Momo began,

“Sure.”

“Who are those girls in the photo on your dresser?”

Tzuyu froze, “What girls?”

“The ones either side of you, y’know in that airport.”

Tzuyu hesitated, “Just some girls I was friends with back home.”

There was the lie, she didn’t know why she lied she just did. This lie was different to the one Dahyun told, there wasn’t really a big gesture to make up for it. The night after Nayeon had embarrassed herself in front of everyone, Dahyun had decided to surprise her. She spent all night reworking the song, talking Jeongyeon and Chaeyoung into helping her make it into something to be proud of. Then the night of the party they performed it, Dahyun singing it and Nayeon joining her once the initial surprise had passed. In the end they spent a beautiful evening performing together, Nayeon vowing to write more songs but making sure Dahyun would always be around to help her write them.

The lie in this third story is also different from the innocent lie Sana told. It couldn’t be solved that night with Mina scolding Sana and the older girl explaining how he had felt, that it wasn’t that she didn’t want to cuddle Mina - it was that she would overheat when they did. They were then able to work it out for the following night, Mina going out and buying the biggest fan she could find to keep the room a freezing temperature. This meant they could snuggle together for warmth. An easy fix once they were honest with each other.

Tzuyu’s lie was the smallest, it was even the most believable but it also would still be found out. Not yet but soon enough and when it unravelled it would drag up all the other little lies Tzuyu had told over the years. But who were those women? Who were they to Tzuyu? Why was she lying in the first place? These answers will come, eventually both of her girlfriends and the readers following their story will discover the truth. The only question we should be worried about is this one:

What happens when the truth comes out?