They made it through their London concert okay.

Jennie did her best to give all of her energy, but she was disconnected, her vocals lacked the power they usually had. She was tired, and maybe nauseous, but she got through it. Jisoo tried to be as energetic and engaging as possible in order to make up and distract away from Jennie. This had her actually speak to the audience (despite the fact she was still very shy about her level of English). From the corner of her eye, she could see a smile in Jennie’s face – Jennie always thought Jisoo was hilarious when she spoke English. She had once said it was like unintentional aegyo, because Jisoo’s voice grew smaller and she used small words.

She wondered what had caused Jennie’s earlier panic attack. She figured it was just the tour, and the phiscal and emotional toll it had on them; at some point, and in some capacity, each and everyone of them would have a bad day, or few days. It was inevitable. The jetlag they were currently experiencing also probably didn’t help; she would make sure Jennie was in bed early that night.

Gone was her resolution of giving herself some space from Jennie; she would never be able to walk away from her when Jennie was obviously unwell. Jisoo would always put her first. Her own broken heart would just have to wait until Jennie was back on her feet.

That night, after the show, when they returned to their hotel, Jisoo decided to go down to Jennie’s room to check in on her.

They hugged, when Jennie opened the door, but it was the most unsatisfying hug Jisoo had ever participated in. Jennie barely held her; her hands were around her waist and then they were not, touching her only for a millisecond.

Something was wrong. Jisoo now had the confirmation. While she desperately wanted to know what was going on, she also knew that Jennie would come to her when she was ready, and she wanted to respect Jennie’s space.

“How are you feeling?” She asked, simply, as they walked inside. She noticed a room service cart with empty dishes, which let her know Jennie had eaten. She mentally checked that box.

“Better.” Jennie granted, but her tone didn’t sound optimistic. “Just talked to my parents. I feel better now.”

“Missing home?” Jisoo asked, affectionately rubbing Jennie’s arm. She noticed how Jennie tensed up for a quick second, before she stirred and moved away discreetly.

“Yeah.” Her voice was slightly whiny. “I wish I had Kuma and Kai here for emotional support.”

“I think in order to become service dogs they actually need to be able to learn something,” Jisoo joked, and Jennie gasped in offense.

“To come after my dogs in my moment of weakness.” Jennie clutched at her chest, dramatically. “Plus, you’re one to speak. Don’t get me started on Dalgom.”

Jisoo pointed her index finger at Jennie threateningly. “Hey. Dalgom is a genius. Don’t even go there.”

They laughed, and Jisoo was happy to see that Jennie’s tension had somewhat eased. She would heal Jennie through laughter; that had always been her superhero power.

When they were quiet for a moment, Jisoo took the hint. “Well, I just came up here to make sure you were okay. So, I’ll let you rest.” She looked for a sign that Jennie wanted her to stay, but she found none.

“Yea, I’ll probably sleep like a rock today.” Jennie said, avoiding eye-contact. Jisoo moved towards the door, but before she could get there, Jennie added, sounding serene but also thoughtful. “Thanks for calming me down, by the way. I thought I wasn’t going to be able to go on stage tonight. You really helped.”

“Of course.” Jisoo said, and they smiled to each other, before she grabbed the door knob and open the room’s door. “Good night.” She wished.

Why were they suddenly being so polite and formal to each other?

As soon as the stage lift started making its descend, marking the end of their first act, the stage manager could be heard spitting out instructions in their in-ears, “Light’s off. Band on stand-by. Prepare for Jisoo’s solo. Jisoo to wardrobe ASAP, the rest of the girls prepare for their respective solos.”

The lift hadn’t yet stopped to a halt when Jennie was startled by a loud thump and an accompanying shout. She spun on her heels to see Jisoo, covering her face with her hands and slightly hunched over.

. There was blood.

“Jisoo to wardrobe, now!” The oblivious stage manager insisted.

“She’s hurt!” Jennie yelled at Yuri, who was standing by uselessly frozen in shock. One of the stage managers jumped into action and communicated what had happened through their headset.

Jennie reached Jisoo who was now gushing blood out of her nose. She had knocked her face on the stage, trying to rush to transition into her solo outfit. “Lean your head back.” Jennie instructed her, trying to sound as calm as she could, despite the fact that several different people were now shouting at each other in their in-ear.

Jisoo’s eyes had watered, and Jennie could see in how much pain she was. She held Jisoo’s elbows and carefully directed her to the nearest-by seat she could find.

“Get her some tissues.” Jennie commanded to the stage assistant, over her shoulder. “And tell him she can’t go on stage right now; Rose can go ahead first.”

Someone brought them a roll of toilet paper, and for the next few minutes Jennie helped Jisoo stagnate the bleeding. It wasn’t until it finally stopped that Jisoo finally looked down, caught a glimpse of the sleeve of Jennie’s top and gasped, “Oh, I’m so sorry!”

Jennie’s sleeve was stained with Jisoo’s blood.

Jennie had barely noticed it, and she definitely didn’t care. “Are you okay?”

Jisoo was still holding a ball of toilet paper against her nose. “It really hurts.” She admitted. “I’m not sure if I can perform-“

“Shh, don’t worry about that now.” Jennie reassured her, running her hand through Jisoo’s hair. She felt like she could cry, just by seeing in how much pain Jisoo was. But she had to stay strong for Jisoo. Calm. Collected.

In that moment, Jennie couldn’t help but notice how similar this situation had been to the one from just a few days prior, but with Jisoo and Jennie taking on opposite roles. One of them had gotten in trouble, and the other had seamlessly jumped into action and rescued the other. Tonight, Jennie had been the Jisoo to Jisoo.

The weird, confusing feelings Jennie had been trying to get her head around for the past few days were nothing compared to how much she loved and cared about Jisoo and her well-being. In a way, it put things into perspective. She shouldn’t resent the fact that she loved Jisoo too much or try to fight the feelings; she should put her love into good use by being a good friend to her.

While waiting for their turn in hair and make-up in the green room of Brighton’s venue, Jisoo had lied across the sofa that she and Jennie were sharing, resting her head on the girl’s lap. The previous night’s mishap had resulted in a trip to the ER following the show (she had been able to finish it out, though) to get her nose x-rayd. It turned out her nose was fine, but the bruising and pain had kept Jisoo awake, which explained why she was so tired.

Jennie’s hands started playing with Jisoo’s hair softly, occasionally even rubbing her scalp, and that sensation, along with the lulling sound of Jennie’s voice as she talked to Lisa about their pets, had Jisoo nod off for a moment.

It wasn’t a deep sleep, in fact Jisoo was mostly dritfing in and out of conscience the entire time.

“Just about to go down and get some food for everyone,” She heard Yuri say. “Apparently there’s a good Chinese take-away just around the corner. What can I get you?”

“Hm.” Jennie’s voice was barely above a whisper, and Jisoo knew it was for her sake. “Something sweet and sour for me. And dumplings.” She paused. “And Jisoo will have Chicken Chow mein.”

Perfect, Jisoo thought, her eyes still closed. Except maybe she would also would have liked-

“And spring rolls.” Jennie added, almost as if reading Jisoo’s thoughts. “She likes the veggie ones better.”

She felt Jennie stir slightly. Then something was being thrown over her shoulders. It was soft and warm and it smelled like Jennie. She figured it to be Jennie’s sweater, to protect Jisoo’s bare shoulders against the chilly room.

She nodded off again, and moments later registered someone else – two people, or maybe even more – entering the room. They had been talking to each other, but after Jisoo felt Jennie move slightly, the conversation abruptly stopped. Jisoo was pretty sure Jennie had just shushed them.

Jisoo almost laughed, in her state of drowsiness. She imagined Jennie as a mother lioness, and herself as her cub, Jennie hissing at anyone that posed as any threat to Jisoo. It was sweet and endearing.

Next time she drifted into conscience again, it was a feminine voice that had her awakened, probably belonging to Emily, their new stage assistant. “Aww, she’s precious. They are ready for her in hair and make-up, though.”

“Can Lisa go ahead instead? She was just around here, I think she went to the bathroom.” Jennie suggested, “Give this one another 20 minutes.” She explained, tenderly.

She was so lucky to have Jennie in her life. Jisoo never, ever, wanted to do anything that compromised their friendship, and that included confessing her feelings for her. In a way she felt like she was lying and omitting something huge to her best friend who Jisoo was sure kept nothing from her; but in another way, she knew that she was doing it out of love and appreciation for their relationship.

There was an interesting (for the lack of a better term) new dynamic on tour. And just like any other thing that was consuming Jennie’s thoughts lately, it involved Jisoo. And the new stage assistant Emily.

Emily was a British intern who would be touring with them in Europe. She stood out from the other crew members by being roughly around the girl’s ages and having a warm, relaxed, bubbly character that made the girls feel less like they were being bossed around by the stage manager and more like directed along.

In different circumstances, Jennie would have been totally fine with Emily, if it wasn’t for the fact that her and Jisoo had stricken a somewhat unlikely friendship. Unlikely, not only because of the language barrier between them, but because of how affectionate Emily could be towards Jisoo (and, Jisoo, at occasions, back at her). It wasn’t that Jisoo wasn’t affectionate with anyone else around them (Lisa and Rose, of course, but also several of their backup dancers who had been working with them almost since their debut), but it was certainly unusual for Jisoo to be that close to someone she had just met.

Jennie had to admit she was annoyed. She was already jealous when Jisoo showed any type of attention to anyone else; let alone when that person was an attractive, blue eyed, blonde bubbly girl who seemed to get Jisoo’s random sense of humour despite their language barriers. She couldn’t help but to theorize that Jisoo probably had a crush on the girl, and she hated her for it. It wasn’t just that the fact that Jisoo was lusting after someone else got her so mad and jealous; it was also that she feared for Jisoo’s heart, in case Emily would not return such feelings. Emily didn’t know Jisoo was gay, and that the special attention and touchy nature of their relationship could be leading Jisoo on, in a way. It was all very dangerous territory.

It wasn’t until that night, when they were about to step out onto the stage, and Emily was helping Jisoo with her corset, which had been a bit too tight, that Jennie noticed something. She had been watching everything from across the room, bubbling rage in her stomach because the way how Emily’s fingers were dancing around Jisoo’s torso was a bit too intimate for her taste, when her eyes fell on Emily’s wrist and the tattoo she had somehow missed. A rainbow flag tattoo.

Her heart sunk. Her worst fears, which she h