5 months later

 

                Chaeyoung finally brought Momo back to the subway with her. She’d been wanting to share everything she’d been working on with her, but she had never thought it was perfect enough to show anyone yet. Now that Momo had already seen it once before – and was begging her basically every day since then to show her what she was working on – she wanted to take her back herself so she could properly give her a tour and explain everything.

 

                “Can you show me how to do it?” Momo asked nervously as she picked up a random colour can from the ground.

 

                “Yeah, it’s easy,” Chaeyoung grinned coming up behind her and wrapping her arms around her to show her how to best hold the can, “And squeeze the nib with this fing—what’s that?” she asked, suddenly letting go of Momo’s waist and pulling her hand closer to her face for inspection.

 

                On Momo’s right pointer finger there was a small doodle of a cat permanently inked in the form of a tattoo. A cat that almost identically resembled Chaeyoung’s spray paint tag.

 

                Momo looked shyly at Chaeyoung, “I hope you don’t mind… I took a picture and asked one of your tattoo friends if he could tattoo my girlfriend's cat on my finger. He almost laughed at me until I actually showed him the picture… so he must have thought your tag was pretty cool. I wanted to surprise you,”

 

                “I—Oh my God this is—are you sure?” Chaeyoung asked, blinking her eyes in shock.

 

                “It’s a little too late for me to be unsure, don’t you think?” Momo teased, “It really hurt too so please say you like it,”

 

                Chaeyoung kissed Momo’s finger gently before looking up at Momo, “I—I love it… I love you,” then she stood on her toes to get a better angle to kiss Momo’s lips.

 

                “I love you too Cub,” Momo mumbled into the kiss causing Chaeyoung to suddenly break away and search her eyes, “Deadass?”

 

                Momo rolled her eyes at Chaeyoung’s vernacular, “Deadass,” she agreed before leaning down and reconnecting their lips.

 

                The kiss quickly turned passionate and Chaeyoung pulled back breathing heavily with a mischievous grin on her face, “Want to do something illegal?”

 

                “As in more illegal that everything else we’ve already done?” Momo asked warily. They had a long list including, but not limited to: tresspassing, bribery, vandalism, possession and distribution of drugs, etc.

 

                Chaeyoung shrugged, “On a scale of vandalism to drug dealing where would you rate lewd acts and/or public indecency?” she asked smoothly.

 

                “ Chaeng!” Momo cried out. On one hand she felt like she needed to be the rational voice between the two of them because this was probably a bad idea, but on the other hand she had to admit the idea did kind of turn her on a bit.

 

                “Shh, relax,” Chaeyoung hissed, throwing a hand over , “I was going to suggest the office. No one ever comes here anyway,”

 

                Momo smirked mischievously at Chaeyoung, “Doesn’t that kind of defeat the purpose though? No risk, no reward,”

 

                “You’re right…” She thought for a moment looking around, “How do you feel about heights?” she said as her eyes landed on a tall section of scaffolding.

 

                “I thought you’d never ask,” Momo said pressing a quick kiss to Chaeyoung’s lips and tugging her over towards the ladder.

 

                “I know you’ve got my mark permanently etched on you already, but I can’t stop thinking about a couple more marks I’d like to add myself,”

 

                “Chaeyoung I don’t think I’m ready for another—”

 

                “With my lips… and teeth,” She said latching onto Momo’s neck, the older letting out a moan in surprise.

 

                Next week Chaeyoung got several more tattoos consisting of flowers on her fingers from Hyolyn, a constellation on her wrist from Jay, and a scribbled ‘M’ for Momo on her forearm from G Dragon… who only agreed because he had coincidentally also been the one to tattoo Chaeyoung’s cat – which of course he instantly recognized – on Momo. The fish near her elbow—well Chaeyoung had always wanted to try tattooing herself.

 

                ~

 

                “Yah! Quit ing, the children are coming!” Yeri called down the echoing subway tunnel.

 

                Momo’s head shot up instantly, “How did she—”

 

                Chaeyoung pressed a lazy kiss to Momo’s mouth, “She’s joking—Ha ha Yerm,” Chaeyoung called down to the girl before turning back to Momo “but really we should get decent before they have an actual reason to clown us for,”

 

                Chaeyoung climbed down first and distracted Yeri while Momo finished getting dressed and fixing her hair, “Sorry I was trying to hit a tough spot up at the top… what ya got there?” she asked gesturing to the tube in Yeri’s hands.

 

                “Hah, I bet you were,” Yeri teased looking at Momo beginning her descent down the scaffolding, “It’s the official finished blueprints for the wing, as designed and calculated by yours truly… with a little help from one of my architect friends… Park Sooyoung,”

 

                “Your friend eh?” Chaeyoung said elbowing Yeri, “Didn’t seem so friendly when I discovered you two in the maintenance closet all those months ago…”

 

                “Shut up, she’s really talented…”

 

                “I bet she is,”

 

                ~

 

                Sure enough, shortly after Yeri, the kids arrived, and they brought friends. Everyone wanted to help finish this project so Yeri and her dad could start the renovations soon.

 

                “Heekie is this your girlfriend that I’ve heard so much about?” Chaeyoung asked.

 

                Heejin for once was at a loss for words as her girlfriend stared at her in question, “A—all good things I promise,” she yelped.

 

                “Yes! Hyunjinnie is precious, isn’t she?” Yeri answered for her, pulling the taller girl down into a headlock.

 

                “Good things like how you make this lazy exercise,” Chaeyoung contributed, smacking Heejin lightly on the stomach.

 

                “Yah, I’m here too!” Ryujin exclaimed, prying Yeri’s arm off of Hyunjin and wrapping it around her own neck.

 

                “Yeah me too!” Yuna said mirroring the other field hockey player’s action with Chaeyoung’s arm, surprising the girl. The older girl chuckled but gave the younger giant girl a hesitant noogie anyway.

 

                “Those idiots would be my friends,” Somi admitted almost reluctantly.

 

                “Somi set us up,” Heejin explained as she wound her arms around her girlfriend’s waist and rested her chin on her shoulder, “My friends are from dance team, they’re over there talking to Momo,” she said gesturing to the blonde and brunette talking to the older Japanese girl.

 

                Chaeyoung walked over to her girlfriend to meet Heejin’s friends, Jungeun and Ha Sooyoung. She blushed when she realized that Sooyoung was her senior, and Jungeun was her age. It was weird to think that her children had friends that were older than her.

 

                “We brought the speaker from the dance room so you can play music unnie,” Sooyoung mentioned.

 

                “Great idea!” Momo exclaimed, and then they had tunes to paint to.

 

                ~

 

                “Yeri, the party’s arrived!” Park Sooyoung called as she and Jinsoul entered the tunnel together bearing beers.

 

                “Oh, thank God,” Yeri cried out, running to kiss her on the cheek before taking out the first beer and cracking it open.

 

                Sooyoung stood frozen, blushing as Jinsoul repeatedly smacked her on the arm in excitement. Honestly, even though the relationship hadn’t been defined the two had been exclusively hooking up for the past couple months. Sooyoung should not still be blushing like an idiot every time Yeri showed her any type of affection. She couldn’t help herself, she was finally starting to admit to herself that she was in L-word. Oh yeah… and it didn’t help that Jinsoul still hadn’t stopped clowning her about not dating her yet.

 

                ~

 

                An older man that looked really out of place among their crowd arrived and everyone froze on the spot, the younger girls trying to quickly cover up their beers even though only the legal ones were drinking. Momo even stopped the music.

 

                [Jinsoul hastily tried to kick the beer box behind a near scaffolding but misjudged how heavy it would be and nearly tripped… if it wasn’t for a taller brunette from the dance team catching her with the gentlest of arms.

                “Hi, I’m Ha Sooyoung… but today you can call me Yves,” she said gesturing to the moniker she’d just inked into the wall.

                “H—hi I’m a beta—I mean a betta fish—I mean that’s my tag… my name is Jinsoul,” the blonde stuttered, blushing furiously before hastily scribbling a fish on the wall in blue paint.

                The super flexible cheerleader, Yves recalled, “Cute,” she hummed, smirking slightly at the flustered blonde.]

 

                … Until Yeri turned and noticed who it was, “Appa! What do you think?” she called, hurrying over to him, tugging Park Sooyoung along with her.

 

                “Looks amazing! I can’t wait to see those blueprints you’ve been working on,”

 

                “Dad, this is Sooyoung, she helped me a ton with the blueprints,”

 

                “Sir, you daughter is extremely talented, I barely did a thing,”

 

                He narrowed his eyes and looked between the two girls knowingly, “It is so nice to meet you Sooyoung, I hope you’ll be joining us for dinner afterwards?”

 

                Yeri was internally face palming herself. How was he able to read her so well?

 

                “I would love to,” Sooyoung said, beaming excitedly at Yeri.

 

                “Yeri, where’s our head artist? Where is Chaeyoung?” He asked surveying the group of people diligently painting.

 

                Yeri pointed to the girl who was currently spay painting a pink strawberry next to Momo who was watching contentedly, “Over there,”

 

                Yeri’s dad excused himself and walked over to the two girls who greeted him politely with bows.

 

                “Chaeyoung, I have to say I am blown away. This looks fantastic and I am so proud of you. You’ve gotten a pretty good turnout tonight I see,”

 

                “Thank you so much sir. Yeah, they all volunteered to come out here so we can hopefully have everything finished tonight… I had hoped to be done sooner, but with my arrest setting me back almost a whole day, it didn’t work out. Heejin, Somi, and Yang Yang have really been MVP’s through this though. If there’s ever a time I’m not in here, they are."

 

                “I’m truly sorry about the mix-up with the security guard. I had my people call them and sort it out. It won’t happen again, I assure you,” He said, “But from what I’ve heard from pretty much everyone else, you’re the real MVP here, putting in way too many hours and risking arrest. For that I am extremely grateful. That’s why I knew I picked the right person to award the scholarship to,” He smiled proudly at her and handed her the check.

 

                Chaeyoung stared at it in awe. She’d never seen so much money in her life. He had told her he would be awarding her the scholarship, but he’d never said how much it would be. This would way more than cover her tuition, “Thank you so much sir! I won’t let you down!” Chaeyoung finally had it. Her pot of gold. This was it. This was the end of the rainbow.

 

                “I know,” He said before walking back to join his daughter and her soon-to-be girlfriend.

 

                ~

 

                It was exactly 21:29 pm and the subway was finally finished. Everyone had contributed, Sana and Tzuyu even showed up a little later to help. It was so colourful and lively that if you squinted it almost looked like the Rainbow Road course in Mario Kart, Mina would mention.

 

                They all had a fun time creating their tag names to forever immortalize their artwork. They had names on the wall ranging from Yves, to Joy, to Joanne, to Hossey, to Ayeongie, and yes—Yerm too, someone chose a betta fish, someone drew lips, and Yang Yang and his friends signed collaboratively as a wave. Momo signed with a peach, Sana signed with candy, and Tzuyu signed with a dog.

 

                Jeongyeon, Nayeon and Jihyo showed up briefly to see how everything was going. It was hilarious to see Nayeon try and spray paint. Jeongyeon kept clowning her for trying to be ‘one of the kids’. This caused Nayeon to pop off and chase after her with the spray can making a huge mess on each other – and much to Chaeyoung’s relief, not the art.

 

                Mina and Dahyun also joined them, but neither wanted to spray paint. They didn’t judge, just watched in fascination, and Chaeyoung was proud of the progress Dahyun had made.

 

                The subway was finished that night, and everyone left happily buzzed and slightly sticky from paint. With Yeri’s blueprints they were set to break ground early next spring.

 

                Maybe later that night after dinner with Yeri’s dad, Sooyoung accidentally said the L-word—and maybe right after Yeri very much intentionally said it back.

 

                Heejin and Yang Yang were now old enough to buy their own spray paint – Somi was almost there – but that didn’t stop Chaeyoung from acting like their overprotective parent. Occasionally on a stormy night they would all show up at Dahyun and Chaeyoung’s apartment and try and cuddle with her and Momo. Chaeyoung acted tough, but she secretly loved when they showed up, and Momo didn’t mind either, she welcomed Chaeyoung’s children because she knew how important they were to her girlfriend.

 

                Jennie and Rosé never took another break. In fact, they were mostly inseparable for the rest of the year. Jennie eventually gave Chaeyoung a chance and realized they had a lot more in common than she’d initially thought. They were both also present at the subway’s painting finale. Rosé was in awe when she finally saw what Chaeyoung had been working on all this time. Once in a blue moon – when they’re not double dating with Sana and Tzuyu or Jisoo and Lisa – they double date with Momo and Chaeyoung, and whenever Rosé says something absurdly Australian, they both look at each other with a knowing glance. Even Jennie still doesn’t understand half the she says.

 

                Jihyo and Daniel were still very much making their relationship work even though they’re both very busy people. Daniel was finally able to meet Jihyo’s parents and after their initial interviews they decided he passed the test. He was Park family approved. She would have thought her mom would stop trying to get her to marry Jeongyeon once they received the wedding invitation, but it didn’t actually stop until she finally met Daniel and saw how happy her daughter was with him.

 

                The field hockey game that they were all about to be late to? Yeah, they lost, but only because the announcer Hyeongdon—or was it Defconn—either way, said something offensive about Tzuyu being unable to play because her eyes were on a “different prize”. The entire team about lost their at this, but most surprisingly, it was Sowon who took matters into her own hands (quite literally). She dropped her gloves and marched all the way to the press box to give him the punch in the face he deserved… and then immediately got red carded. Rina didn’t stand a chance in goal, but it was ok because both goalies were carried off on the proud shoulders of the team after the game. It may have been a loss for the statistics, but for the team – no, family – it felt more like a win.

 

                Nayeon and Jeongyeon haven’t tied the knot yet, but they plan on doing so two weeks after graduation and finals. Nayeon didn’t want to wait, but Jeongyeon insisted that her education was still important even if she didn’t plan on ever using it. It was going to be a huge summer wedding on the beach – thanks to Nayeon – with excellently catered food and an open bar – thanks to Jeongyeon. The wedding was still over a semester away and Nayeon was already beginning to be a bridezilla according to Jeongyeon. Oh, and apparently, she’s started secretly looking for donors too.

 

                Mina did end up quitting the dance team, but it didn’t come as a surprise to anyone. Instead, in her free time she decided to pick up a new hobby: archery. They started innocently with VRchery, but as soon as Mina had an actual physical bow in her hands, she was scary good, and no one really wanted to question how or why. Mina and Sakura eventually drifted apart… it was hard living with someone who you weren’t technically allowed to speak to – and wasn’t allowed to acknowledge you even if you did. When Sana moved in with Tzuyu, Mina took her room with Momo. Mina, Momo, Chaeyoung, and Dahyun are always at each other’s apartments or going on double dates anyway, so the move felt more natural. Dahyun, on the other hand was still attempting her rebellious phase, with her most recent wild and edgy hobby being skateboarding. She was actually learning to be quite good, and even promised she’d teach Chaeyoung how to trick it one day too.

 

                Yeah, Sana and Tzuyu moved into together. Tzuyu told Sana she was jealous that Sana would sleepwalk to other people whenever they weren’t together, so she insisted she move in with her instead so she could keep a better eye on her. Tzuyu knew she didn’t have a real reason to be jealous – she just wanted an excuse for Sana to sleep over every night. Sana was more than happy to oblige – obviously able to see through Tzuyu’s flimsy excuse – though she’ll admit she will miss Momo’s cuddles. She did wonder if Tzuyu ever goes home for vacation will she sleepwalk down the elevator and back to her old apartment? Tzuyu was back to being the star midfielder on the field hockey team, by the way. She started every single conference game after she was fully recovered from her concussion. Thankfully, with dating Sana, came the new ability to be able to tune her out at will. She hasn’t sustained an injury due to her distraction since.

 

                Chaeyoung recently adopted a cat and calls it – well… Kat. She found it in the subway and brought it home with her one day. Momo and she had instantly fallen in love with it, so she knew she had to keep it around. Truthfully, Momo is allergic to cats, but she pretends she doesn't so she has an excuse to hang out with her girlfriend more… not that she needs one anymore. (old habits die hard). Besides, when Chaeyoung is cuddling her from behind and Kat is nuzzled warmly in her front, she wouldn’t trade that position for anything in the world.

 

                Oh, and Chungha? She dropped out of college, turns out you don’t need a fancy degree when The Lee Sunmi is your sugar mommy.

 

<---END--->

 

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a/n: stan mochaeng :)