Exhaustion continues to pile onto everyone’s body with the constant schedules that require their attendance. It really feels like they have no break. A break to rest, to take a breath, to get some sleep, even. Members are getting sick with the lack of rest and their cries for rest are downright getting ignored.

In the midst of it all, Tzuyu notices her girlfriend’s tired state even more. Despite that the tough year end schedules are over; the new year isn’t any less busy. She worries that Nayeon may be heading down the path of sickness too.

“I’m so exhausted.” Sana whines as they climb into their van, Nayeon yawning as she joined in, sitting at the back. Tzuyu stumbles in after, followed by Mina, who immediately sidles up to Sana’s side and pulls her into her arms.

Even in her sleepy state, Sana worries about Mina, making sure her injured foot is raised first before allowing her to snuggle.

“It’s not a long ride.” Mina grumbles in disappointment.

“Your foot shouldn’t be constricted even more than it already has.” Sana retorts. Mina bites back another argument and listens to her, shaking off her shoe and letting it rest on another seat.

At the back, Tzuyu chuckles at their bantering. She moves to sit beside Nayeon and a sigh leaves her lips as she wraps an arm around Nayeon’s shoulders. Nayeon rests her head on Tzuyu’s shoulder too. Tzuyu can’t help the smile that forms on her lips as Nayeon nods off almost immediately after they drive away from their current location.

Tzuyu likes this. Having Nayeon close by her. She uses her free hand to pull Nayeon’s, kissing the tip of her fingers with care before threading their fingers together. Nayeon’s grip on her hand tightens almost as a reflex. Placing one last kiss on Nayeon’s forehead, Tzuyu leans her head against hers, staring out the window.

Her peace lasts for a few minutes only because she senses that there’s someone staring at her in their car. It’s Sana and she gives Tzuyu the most teasing smile she’s ever seen. Tzuyu blushes because she knows why Sana’s smiling at her like that.

It’s rare for her to show affection to anyone in public and some members are still getting used to the sight of Tzuyu being clingy behind cameras only.

So, as soon as Tzuyu sees the glint in Sana’s eyes, she knows that she’s going to be teased about her actions back in the dorm with the rest of the members.

“Shh. Tend to Mina.” Tzuyu snickers as Sana rolls her eyes at her statement. Her girlfriend was already fast asleep against her shoulder, just like Nayeon.

Nayeon shuffles a little bit and Tzuyu holds her breath. She didn’t want to wake Nayeon up when she needed to rest. Tzuyu ignores Sana when she gives her another teasing grin, keeping her eyes on her girlfriend instead.

When they reach the dorms, Nayeon is still fast asleep and Tzuyu doesn’t hesitate to carry her inside. No one is in the mood for talking as they all collapse in their rooms in tiredness, but Nayeon needs to remove her makeup and Tzuyu will not let her sleep until it’s all gone. She doesn’t want Nayeon to be scolded in the morning like the rest of the girls be.

She notices that Jihyo is doing the same for Dahyun and Tzuyu chuckles at her motherly nature. Despite the fact that Dahyun is leaning against her bed headboard, Jihyo expertly manages to remove her makeup.

Tzuyu knows that the remaining three were most likely already knocked out in Jeongyeon and Momo’s room. A nice scolding awaits them in the morning tomorrow.

In the meantime, Tzuyu turns her attention back to her girlfriend. Her head was lolling to the side. Swiftly, Tzuyu places her hand under Nayeon’s head before she falls onto her bed. With a sigh of relief, she pulls Nayeon back up and proceeds to use the makeup wipes to get rid of the remnants of their busy night. The wipes are only useful to a certain extent and the growing pile on the table is an indication for Tzuyu to exhaust her use of the item.

“Nayeon, you need to change your clothes.” Tzuyu whispers, not wanting to wake up Sana and Mina who already climbed into a bed.

Nayeon grumbles and doesn’t respond. Tzuyu really doesn’t want her to sleep in her sequined dress.

“Baby, come on.” Tzuyu tries again.

Nayeon smiles.

“Call me that again?” Nayeon asks and Tzuyu flushes. It slips out of sometimes.

“Change first.” Tzuyu makes a deal and almost immediately Nayeon stands up to change.

Tzuyu forgets what Nayeon is like when she’s exhausted because she strips right in front of her without a warning. Her cheeks turn even darker than before and even though she pulls her hand to cover her eyes, Tzuyu hears a chuckle from her girlfriend. It didn’t help.

Nayeon crawls back into bed and yawns widely, lazily reaching out for Tzuyu. “I changed. Do I get to hear it?”

She’s grateful Nayeon can’t see her red cheeks. Tired Nayeon is also very, very bold.

“Go to sleep baby.” Tzuyu obliges to Nayeon’s wishes, heart fluttering in her chest when she sees Nayeon give her one of her trademark smiles. She leans forward to kiss Nayeon on the forehead, wishing her a good night before she moves to leave the room. A part of Tzuyu wants to stay with Nayeon, but she feels like she’ll be imposing.

She only takes a few steps forward when a hand slips through hers. Tzuyu turns around and faces Nayeon. “Stay.”

Tzuyu stays.

---

There’s a lot of warmth when Nayeon wakes up. It feels like there’s too much of it. She pushes off her blanket and turns around, only to smack into something hard. Rubbing her nose, she squints at the tall figure beside her. She smiles at the sight of Tzuyu sleeping carefully even when she was beside Nayeon.

She looks over to her clock; they still had fifteen minutes. Instead of leaving the bed, Nayeon shuffles closer to Tzuyu and her arms encircle Nayeon’s waist automatically. She remains still in Tzuyu’s arm. Nayeon feels secure. She feels like she’s at home. Everything is quiet. It’s peaceful. There is no other place she wants to be.

Nayeon hears bickering outside her door. She already knows that it’s Jeongyeon, Momo and Chaeyoung, judging by their voices. She can’t hear well but she knows it’s got to do with makeup.

She panics.

She didn’t take off her makeup.

But she’s also too scared to move and wake Tzuyu up.

Mina stirs awake in the bed next to hers and Nayeon calls for her attention immediately instead.

“Can you pass me the makeup wipes?” Nayeon asks.

Mina blinks a few times, confused with Nayeon’s request. “Are you sleep-talking? You have no makeup on. Tzuyu took it off last night.”

Nayeon looks down to her girlfriend and flushes in embarrassment. She hopes she wasn’t too much of a handful for her. She kisses the top of Tzuyu’s head and runs her hand through her hair. She feels glad she has a girlfriend as caring as Tzuyu, even though she’s always on the end of her savage comments in public.

In the dorm, she’s the cuddliest, clingiest and cutest girlfriend and Nayeon loves every single part of Tzuyu.

Nayeon’s alarm blares and grunts of disapproval come from the three girls who were still asleep. Much to her surprise, Tzuyu sleeps through it and a pang of fear fills Nayeon’s chest. Was Tzuyu feeling under the weather again? She couldn’t help her worries from building.

But they are thrown out of the window when Tzuyu’s eyes flutter open. She offers Nayeon a sleepy smile and Nayeon does her best not to squeal at how cute Tzuyu was being.

“Did the three get scolded already?” Tzuyu mumbles, snuggling deeper into Nayeon’s warmth.

Nayeon laughs and nods. “The first thing in the morning. I’m sure they walked out looking like zombies.”

“We all look like zombies at this stage.” Tzuyu complains. For the second time in the morning, Nayeon worries over Tzuyu. “I mean, the lack of sleep.”

“You want to eat some breakfast? We need to leave soon and you’re in archery today.” Nayeon suggests.

“Can we stay in bed for five more minutes? You’re warm.” Tzuyu pleads. Nayeon can’t say no.

Jihyo looks like she’s about to scold Nayeon for spoiling Tzuyu, but closes when she sees how rested Tzuyu looks, for the first time in a while. A few more minutes wouldn’t be harmful for anyone. She pulls Dahyun out of the door with her, knowing it will take her at least fifteen minutes to officially wake up. She has to supervise her girlfriend or else she’ll fall asleep brushing.

Nayeon hums to herself as she leans against the head of her bed. Tzuyu’s head rests on Nayeon’s lap. She likes running her hand through Tzuyu’s hair and she massages her head a little bit. Tzuyu groans, appreciating the feeling and shudders.

“Come on, five minutes are up.” Nayeon pats Tzuyu’s head and gets up. Tzuyu’s head falls to the bed with a soft thump.

“Pull me?” Tzuyu offers her hand to Nayeon and she rolls her eyes. With a little extra effort, she successfully pulls Tzuyu off the bed, dragging her to the bathroom.

Even while washing up, Tzuyu’s hand is intertwined with Nayeon’s. She’s being a lot clingier this morning than ever before but Nayeon definitely doesn’t mind. And, when she finishes before Nayeon, she rests her chin on Nayeon’s shoulder, and she coos at the sight of the soft side of Tzuyu. The one only she gets to see.

---

They get split up in the cars to the venue. It’s ISAC today which means that they’ll just be lazing around until it’ll be time for archery. Despite Sana’s whining, she gets roped into being the MC for the event and only settles when Mina silences her with kisses and promises of rewards. Nayeon is glad that she won’t be an MC. Her biased scream when Tzuyu hit a ten in archery at the last ISAC still lingered in her mind. She wished she could’ve been by her side.

Nayeon watches Tzuyu with all the love and pride and happiness as she stands on the podium with two other singers. The crowd screams for them, but Nayeon’s attention never wavers. She never takes her eyes off Tzuyu when she speaks. She feels proud hearing her speak in Korean so fluently. Tzuyu works hard to keep on top of learning her languages and Nayeon is always there to help her when she’s having a hard time.

When she comes off the stage, Tzuyu stands behind Nayeon. Sana is there but Nayeon wants to hug the hell out of her girlfriend. She did a great job up there. Turning towards Tzuyu, Nayeon gives her a big smile, commending her for her speaking skills. In a quick second, Nayeon slips her hands around Tzuyu’s waist, snuggling against her girlfriend.

“You did well, I’m really proud of you. And I know you’ll do well with archery too.” Nayeon whispers in Tzuyu’s ear. She places a quick kiss on the side of her neck too, but no one would notice.

She knows that Tzuyu won’t do anything in public. She won’t return the hug, she won’t kiss her. But Nayeon hears the little thank you from Tzuyu and it’s enough for her.

They all wander around later on and Nayeon ends up sitting with Mina and Chaeyoung. The trio feel nervous. It’s weird being without their partners and they all want to just sit with each other. Though, it’s the hardest for Mina, with Sana being a main MC. Dahyun and Jihyo are both MCs for individual activities so they’re distracted. Chaeyoung knows Jeongyeon is with Tzuyu, but doesn’t know how Momo is doing. With bed rest being required for her, Chaeyoung remains distracted as she looks around the venue.

Nayeon hopes Tzuyu is okay, though. She knows that Jeongyeon pulled her away earlier because of her nerves. Even if she wants to be with her, she can’t just leave the two girls here alone. They’ll have to trade with the others. She feels restless without seeing her girlfriend and decides to distract herself with ONCEs.

Time flies.

It’s time for Dahyun, Chaeyoung and Tzuyu to participate in archery. Nayeon has complete faith in her girlfriend. She knows Tzuyu will do well. She gives Tzuyu a reassuring pat on her back before she moves to stand at the line to shoot.

8, 9, 10, 9.

Tzuyu does incredibly well.

When they finally leave the venue, Nayeon kisses Tzuyu tenderly at the back of the van. She expresses her pride in her kiss. She expresses her happiness and her love in the kiss. Nayeon pulls back, only for Tzuyu to kiss her again. She smiles in the kiss and brings Nayeon even closer and she settles in Tzuyu’s arms.

They don’t realise that other members have joined them and they don’t really pay attention. Even though Tzuyu doesn’t show her affection in public, Nayeon loves her endlessly. She loves these moments where it’s just the two of them. In public, she doesn’t get to hold Tzuyu like this. She doesn’t get to show her how much she loves her with kisses and hugs and plenty of affection. She prefers to be in Tzuyu’s arms away from everyone, where Tzuyu looks at her like nothing else matters.

Nayeon loves being in Tzuyu’s arms most, because it’s where everything fades, and it’s just the two of them, alone.