No one could understand how or why Tzuyu’s posture had come to remain so perfect up till today. And if we’re being honest neither could Tzuyu. 

 

It wasn’t till the airing of Twice’s Private Life had people finally noticed and turned their attentions towards the Taiwanese girl’s perfect, impeccable posture. 

 

Anyone and every one couldn’t possibly believe that the girl couldn’t become any more beautiful or perfect than she already was, but there was Tzuyu, proving them wrong again. 

 

No one could say if it was in her genetics, or her early developed quirky habit of straightening her back as she grew taller and taller over the years, once she found herself towering over her classmates. But if we were making a safe bet, if anything, her beautiful posture was a mere result of Tzuyu being Tzuyu. 

 

Perfect.

 

Even up till today, years after the episode, her stature never faulted and it seemed as if she had now even carried herself with a newfound multitude of confidence and strength. Tzuyu was seen to dominate everywhere she walked as she held her head high amongst the other Twice girls, wherever they had went. Something, that even all the girls noticed and smiled about from time to time. 

 

Jihyo as the leader was nothing short of beaming every time she talked about their youngest member and showed her off to the world. Being one of the softer and shyer members of the group, might’ve been weaker traits for anyone else, but her reluctance to speak made her seem all the more wiser and thought-out when she finally chose to. Instead of blurting out her thoughts on a whim, she would pause and ponder. Instead of calling out someone, like her members Nayeon and Jeongyeon, do to eachother almost every second, she would sit back and watch the scene unfold. Instead of letting words pour out of , Tzuyu understood not everything needed to be said or not everything needed to be shown, which in aspect made her seem more mature than some of her members at times. To say they grew to be astonished of the way the maknae matured to be, was an understatement truthfully. 

 

She held herself as a sort of strong, dependent character inside and out, no matter how tired schedules had been during the day. 

 

But it wasn’t till Twice’s Halloween concert had the girl been pushed to her outermost limits and in the end, found herself slumped in the back seats of their van en route to their dorms. 

 

Two concerts in one day asked a lot from the girls especially with the heightened atmosphere from the revealing of their individuals costumes, the new songs from their comeback and most of all, Mina’s return. It caught up to the girls in the end. That’s of course why dead silence found itself comfortably settled amongst them all, as the van quietly hummed along the roads back. 

 

Nayeon and Jeongyeon being the oldest, had already clocked out in the middle seats, quiet snores emitting between them too, as if they were holding an actual live conversation. Tzuyu found this amusing. Nayeon would elicit a low mumble and short after, Jeongyeon would always follow suit with her own counterargument in the form of a low grunt. In the end, Tzuyu remained a solo audience to their unfolding “argument” that ended in Jeongyeon making a quick turn in her seat to face away from Nabongs as if she had enough of the girl and her nonsense. 

 

Even in their sleep they fight. Tzuyu thought to herself.

 

She glanced towards her side and found both Chaeyoung and Dahyun faltering on the brink of sleep. Eyelids were begging to meet to grant them a break from the exhaustion of today. That, as well as drool began to beg an escape from the corner of Chaeyoung’s mouth as gravity began to pull her head and slump forward. Her neck totally giving up. 

 

Tzuyu was in the same boat. Wearing her Maleficent head piece wasn’t exactly the most forgiving after 2 hours. Especially that alongside the points of her costume that left her craning her head every which way, just to see her members and crowd. She really didn’t know what she had gotten herself into. Tzuyu groaned and rubbed her fingers along the nape of her neck. 

 

All of a sudden she froze in place as she felt and extra weight on her shoulder. A warm extra weight actually. 

 

Tzuyu turned and saw Chaeyoung had knocked out on her shoulder. A squishy cheek hugging the point of Tzuyu’s shoulder. 

 

As the tower of the group, being the one leaned on wasn’t out of the ordinary and wasn’t bothersome for her usually. 

 

Except only, today she found it kinda was. She was ready to curl into herself against the side of the van and sleep till they had arrived but Chaeyoung seemed to have decided otherwise. 

 

She let out a sigh, relaxed, and adjusted her shoulders. 

 

Perfect. 

 

Like they always had been up till today and willed herself to stay that way till they got to the dorm. 

 

She could stay straight for Chaeyoung. 

 

Tzuyu glanced around the van at the slumped heads and honed in on the quiet snores and thumps of their heads against the sides of the car to pass the time. 

 

But only two minutes had passed till she found herself going insane from the quiet of it all. 

 

She leant her head against the side of Chaeyoung’s as the shorter girl slept. 

 

What are you dreaming of Chaeng? Tzuyu amusingly thought to herself as the smell of strawberry shampoo brushed her senses. 

 

Tzuyu’s mind couldn’t even make a best guess on what Chaeyoung was dreaming, she couldn’t even decipher what the girl’s mind thought during the day, awake and conscious. To be fair, anyone knew there were no boundaries on what Chaeyoung’s mind conjured up, so for Tzuyu to continue on with her brainstorming, was a one way street to no where. 

 

Instead she glanced at her lap and found Chaeyoung’s hand with her own which she found funny but also sad seeing how tired and frankly, dead, the girl beneath her was. Not attuned to any of her senses as she slept. What was even more sad, was the mere scene of Tzuyu trying to keep herself awake to accommodate and comfort the girl next to her. 

 

So now here was Tzuyu, fiddling with a cold palm and stiff fingers passing time.  

 

She delicately traced the expanses of Chaeng’s palm, across the creases of skin that had stretched and curled countless times a day from holding a mic or drawing, or doing something as simple as eating. Her finger crossed over Chaeng’s lone purple marker stain that had been left behind from another one of her creative projects. Tzuyu found herself grinning. 

 

She found it cute thinking of Chaeyoung’s inclination to create. Tzuyu had already received a lot of art pieces from Chae and honestly she couldn’t pick a favorite if you asked her to. Even if Chaeyoung decided to keep her piece for herself in the end, Tzuyu loved to just watch her go off with her creativeness. On more than one occasion had the duo found themselves together while this happened, either with Chaeyoung’s head in Tzuyu’s lap as she painted or drew or even from afar across the room. It was a sort of silent therapy in the end, the way her small hands produced a smearing sound as it dragged across a canvas or the way Chaeyoung mixed just the right colors to produce the most perfect shade as an utter natural talent from her own genius. In their own silence, Tzuyu had come to adore the formed crease in Chaeyoung’s forehead whenever she focused on the curve of a drawing as well as the way her tongue poked out the corner of . It was too much. If she had a marker stain for every time she was cute— wait. Where did that come from. The taiwanese girl thought. 

 

Her hand paused to a stop over Chaeyoung’s.

 

Chill, Tzuyu.

 

Her brain fuzzes out. Time had passed quickly before she realized she went on her own mind rampage. Chaeyoung has always been cute to everyone, no biggie. Everyone thought and obviously knows that. Tzuyu argues with herself.

 

Mere seconds later, fingers interlocked and palms meet to seal warmth and Tzuyu could only perk up in surprise to see Chaeyoung had decided intertwine their hands in her sleep and nuzzle herself into her friend’s side. One hand in Tzuyu’s and the other, reaching over to hold the taller girl’s waist in place as a safe column to sleep on. Chaeyoung hums dangerously close to Tzuyu’s neck. 

 

Abort. Abort. Tzuyu’s mind slowly began to descend into a haywire. To picture it, it was kind of like that one scene in Inside Out where the girls mind goes into chaos after Joy goes missing. 

 

Tzuyu only remembers that scene because she found it cute when Chaeyoung had burst into fits of laughter after comparing it to Jeongyeon when the dorm is even the slightest bit messy. 

 

Her nose got the scrunchies when she laughed super hard that night. Or any time actually. God it’s really cute. Wait, geez, there you go again Tzuyu. She found herself clenching at the thought of her slipping up over the girl again. What the hell. 

 

She didn’t realize she had squeezed Chaeng’s hand. Squeezed it alittle too hard. Enough to wake her. 

 

A small hand slowly stretched out of Tzuyu’s and a tattooed arm began to unravel itself around Tzuyu’s torso. 

 

Tzuyu could vaguely make out the pout and dry drool that sat on the girls face that droopily stared back under the low emittion of light from the passing street lights. 

 

“Sorry.” Tzuyu whispered. “I didn’t mean to wake you, I was sleeping too and had a nightmare.” 

 

Chaeyoung furrowed her eyebrows and closed her eyes in response, and promptly placed a small kiss over the girls clothed shoulder as consolation. She reached up and awkwardly patted the taller girls head. 

 

“Okay.” She let out softly back into Tzuyu’s shoulder once again, finding the same positioning a few seconds prior. Only this time, Tzuyu swears their mixed body heat had intensified by ten fold. 

 

She felt the dip between Chaeng’s chest as the shorter girl wrapped herself around her torso once again. Another thing she swears is the definite slow, rhythmic beating of a heart against her side, despite the hustle and vibration from the moving car. 

 

Tzuyu blushed and noted the small natural curve the corner of Chaeyoung’s lips smiled into and quickly turned her attention outside the window. 

 

Two more blocks Tzu. 

 

It really seemed as if time slowed down in beat with Chaeyoung’s heart resting against her.  Slowly meeting the pace of the passing by street signs all caught in a slow blur. What an idea. Everything on earth, working in tandem with Chaeyoung. 

 

The latter, it was as if Tzuyu’s heart was in a contemporary race against droplets of rain that zoomed down the window, pushed by the forces of the wind outside. Chaotic.

 

“Tzuyu your heart is racing” 

 

The girl dared not to look down at the being curled up against her at this very moment, in fear she would submit herself to dark, questioning eyes. 

 

I liked you better when you were dead asleep seconds ago.

 

Instead, she gulped down her pride and pretended she didn’t hear as she continued her death stare out the window, hoping it would melt the glass and release the burning steam that was surely rising from her cheeks right about now 

 

Luckily it had seemed the Gods took pity on the tall girl and the car slowly halted to a deafening stop. 

 

"Chaeng let’s go." Tzuyu coughed out still burning in embarrassment from seconds ago. 

 

Her body laid limp against her shoulder still so Tzuyu wiggled her shoulder and placed a small rub on the expanse of Chaeng’s thigh. 

 

“Ga-ja.” 

 

Chaeyoung finally lifted her head and followed Dahyun out of the right side of the car, under hooded eyes. Tzuyu saw she left her bag and made sure to grab in on the way out of the backseat. 

 

Once out she slowly contorted her body left and right to crack the strain from sitting upright all the way home and essentially from the entire day and one by one the girls shuffled out of the freezing cold street into the hallway of their dorm. 

 

Jeongyeon took alittle too much time to take off her shoes, blocking the doorway further into the house for Nayeon’s liking so she began little beckons of swatting to hurry her up. Pouting with eyes close as she tried to get her to move or pass Jeongyeon. 

 

Needless to say, the girls abandoned hopes of eating and settled on their mission for preparing for bed like zombies instead. If it was any other night, the girls would be insistent on shower and sink hogging for their night prep but frankly all the girls were drained of any energy to put up a fight. Dahyun had joined and slumped against Sana on the couch mere seconds after arrival and were close to passing out next to eachother for the remainder of the night, only before Jihyo could wake them to get the two up and going. 

 

Mina being one of the more considerate members swiftly floated from one task to another so it was no surprise she was the first one in bed already on her phone. She knew the girls would only wake her up once they filed in one by one especially Nayeon, the girl who had a way of making an entrance anywhere she went, so Mina decided to stay up till they can all go to sleep together. 

 

Momo and Jeongyeon clung to themselves on their respective sides of their bed and Dahyun was about finished with brushing her teeth. 

 

That left Chaeyoung and Tzuyu together, who sat propped up against eachother as they waited for their unnies to finally finish. It really being the two youngest but by now the two girls have effectively gotten used to waiting patiently for their turn.  

 

Tzuyu had once again taken her role as Chaeng’s personal sleeping post in the meantime. Posture remaining impeccable as she made sure to steady her own breathing as means of not disturbing the girl. 

 

Tzuyu felt Chaeyoung grinning against her shoulder again.

 

“Don’t humans usually need oxygen to survive?” 

 

Tzuyu clicked her tongue and gave Chae a light shove from her shoulder, rolling her eyes. She suddenly missed the feeling of warmth plastered to her side and the faint smell of strawberries.  

 

Tzuyu could only watch as Chaeng gave a small pout in return before assuming her time in the bathroom after Dahyun had just turned to exit the room. Tzuyu made no incline to think about why Dahyun had turned into Sana’s room instead. Dahyun had usually done so after every concert recently. Come to think of it, she recalls how usually these nights, she would often find the bottom bunk vacant and how Dahyun would always be in short tow of Sana for breakfast the following morning as well as the common occasion of almost not seeing Dahyun’s body poking out from underneath a sleeping, clingy Sana and the layers of blankets. It seemed Dahyun just slept better being smothered. Or could be just Sana. 

 

On the other hand Tzuyu seemed to be the polar opposite. While not completely running away from skin-ship, she also sure wasn't the one to be ensuing it. That’s why she found herself stiff to the bone when Chaeyoung had practically draped herself over her body tonight. 

 

The insane part of it all, was Tzuyu found herself to enjoy it despite all the times she shyed away from any of Nayeon or Momo’s advances at her. 

 

Was it just Chaeyoung? Maybe Tzuyu had just immediately decided that she liked hugs and all tonight. That her interest was always there. 

 

Something in the back of her mind however wanted to say it was something else. But at her tired state, Tzuyu wouldn’t let herself admit that tonight. 

 

---

 

Now days after,  Tzuyu found herself making little efforts to be closer to Chaeyoung. It was one instance that broke the mold of just being her shoulder to lean on. 

 

“Feel Specialll~~” Jeongyeon sang into the phone as the she a new vLive, an hour before another one of their concerts.

 

The girls gathered into a small semi-circle and took turns greeting the camera while bundled up in blankets as the clock continued to clicked down to stage time.

 

Tzuyu at the 10 minute mark though seemed to have been already zoning in and out. She wasn’t sure if she was reading the comments that flashed on the screen still or if she was more amused by watching it go by in a white blur. So she glanced around from a newly pink Sana sitting on the ground in front of her to Dahyun who was slowly falling asleep in her own chair. 

 

In the end however, her eyes settled on a tiny black-haired bob cut girl who was mindlessly scrolling through her phone in the opposite corner. Tzuyu’s eyes dwelled for seconds, just admiring the way black really contrasted well with Chaeyoung’s skin as well as highlighted her new tattoos adorning her arm. 

 

She failed to notice that opposite girl had caught on and met her with matching eye contact. 

 

Tzuyu shook it off and kept her usual stern, unamused you could say, face and promptly raised her eyebrow towards the shorter girl and the phone. Hinting her to come over and join. Her sudden caught in the act quickly being forgiven and forgotten.

 

In short seconds, she found a small figure blocking her view of the camera, as Chaeyoung now entered the frame to silently announce her arrival into the vLive to Onces. Chaeyoung smiled and slightly kneeled to properly see. But quickly she decided otherwise against kneeling and got up. 

 

Tzuyu mindlessly tugged at the chair next to her once she saw Chaeng wanted a seat, but to her surprise the shorter girls hands found one of Tzuyu’s crossed legs, beckoning them to unwind and form a flat surface so she could sit.

 

, remain calm. Tzuyu thought to herself as she tried to quickly reposition herself onto her chair before Chaeyoung plopped down onto her lap. 

 

Hmm.

 

Tzuyu welcomed the new subtle heat that Chaeyoung radiated onto her lap, and took in the hinted scent of heavy dewey makeup. She had felt honored and swooned that Chaeyoung chose her over the empty plastic seat next to her. Especially if it was Tzuyu, the other girls wouldn’t have dared to think of burdening her with being their own seat. Well maybe Sana. Or even Nayeon. But that wasn’t the point.

 

Chaeyoung surprised her. 

 

Tzuyu watched Chaeyoung’s smile reflect back from the video broadcast on the phone. 

 

This is weird, but nice. Tzuyu thought.

 

Chaeyoung thought this was cute too being that she was 2 times smaller than Tzuyu and she had managed to fit perfectly into her friend’s lap. Almost like a kid at Christmas on Santa’s lap. This left her smiling and laughing at this little scene of theirs. She also noted how wobbly the girl beneath her was in due to Tzuyu’s skinny legs so she cheekily wiggled around from side to side, earning a dimple filled smile from Tzuyu in response.

 

“Stop being dumb." Tzuyu laughed as she tried to hold one amused wiggling girl from sliding off her lap. Like a little worm. She looked at Jihyo and the rest of the girls to see if they saw what Chaeyoung was doing but found they were too engrossed into their own conversation to notice.Tzuyu smiled at how mindless the other girls were.

 

Chaeyoung offered a smile towards Tzuyu through the camera perhaps to say sorry just before raising herself off her lap to be excused, but Tzuyu decided she wasn’t ready to cut this moment short yet.

 

No, I’m kidding. Tzuyu’s eyes chanced up to Chaeyoung’s, smiling back in reassurance. Surprisingly, she had found her arms had a mind of their own as they had already grabbed onto the other girls torso. 

 

“Come back, it’s fine” she smiled as she asked for Chaeyoung to sit back down. Gently tugging her arm.

 

The weight of Chaeyoung was once again present on her lap and they resumed their comfortable position despite the other members reluctance to notice the two. 

 

Tzuyu brought her hands to skim down the sides Chaeyoung before resting at her hips. 

 

Surely at least one person watching the vLive should’ve caught the way Chaeyoung’s eyes had widened for a nano second. But of course Tzuyu wasn’t that individual. Instead Tzuyu was transfixed on the girl in her lap again. She tried her best to look interested in what the other girls were discussing, but how could she? Tzuyu played with the hem of Chaeyoung’s shirt instead and started to think of what the other girl was thinking at this moment. 

 

Was she enjoying this as much as I am? Am I enjoying this too much? Hold on— Tzuyu started asking herself. 

 

She silenced her thoughts by gently pulling Chaeyoung further onto her lap and resting her head, finding the other girls shoulder blade. 

 

Tzuyu then realigned her posture as best she could to provide Chaeyoung a stable back support. How she was always found herself to be the one Chaeyoung leaned on was something she had yet to figure out. 

 

What she did know though, was how nice it was to have someone close and in your arms. 

 

Was this why Dahyun was absent these past several nights from her own bed? Perhaps I’ve been touched deprived all these years and now it’s finally catching up to me? These thoughts started to rapidly shot one by one through Tzuyu’s mind and she found herself taken back only to be ripped from her thoughts when she felt a hand resting on top of hers.

 

Small fingers and a thumb that Tzuyu knew too well, delicately began its own cycle of caressing a single spot on Tzuyu’s hand. 

 

Something Tzuyu found way too endearing for her own good. 

 

Her gaze settled onto her own covered hand now, and then up towards the girl perched on top of her lap where she suddenly felt an eruption of light inside her chest when she found that two eyes were already twinkling back at her and hinted a sort of silent, quick message. 

 

I like having you with me. 

 

Butterflies erupted in Tzuyu’s stomach. And she wasn’t sure if they had always been there. Or more importantly— how they got there. 

 

Had she liked Chaeyoung? That’s what this fuzzy feeling in her stomach was, right? Was that okay? 

 

In terms of uality, Tzuyu had been exposed to the world at such a young age, that the idea of uality wasn’t anything absurd. In fact, she saw uality as such a universally freeing idea, that ones gender or didn’t define or set an ultimatum for whom a person should like. Chaeyoung, Dahyun, and Tzuyu had spent countless nights talking into the darkness of their room, about the rising exposure to uality. It was something they all had come to agree was beautiful in itself. 

 

Chaeyoung, who already had a complex mind of her own and equally as complex thoughts, believed something as simple as a human loving another human wasn’t the least bit crazy. 

 

It was the same for Dahyun.

 

While Dahyun was sometimes called a church girl by fans Tzuyu had found out, back in their trainee days, that Dahyun was lucky to had gone to one of the more accepting churches in Korea. She had grown up knowing a God that unconditionally loved anyone and everyone, and that’s why it broke her heart when she realised not everyone knew this version. Tzuyu found Dahyun explaining this to her one day, and that's when she saw Dahyun in a whole new light from there on out. Her older group member admitted that when she was by herself one day, she made it her mission to use her idol platform to introduce this better image of God. She indefinietly just wanted a world where everyone felt safe and comfortable enough to love who they wanted to love, and act how they wanted to act-- no matter how many times she was called Twice's Church Girl.

 

So now, here was Tzuyu still asking herself if this was okay. Not if liking a girl was okay— but if like Chaeyoung was. 

 

Soon enough, the butterflies left when Chaeyoung had suddenly gotten up to excuse herself and use the bathroom. 

 

---

 

Hours later after the vLive and concert finished, Tzuyu found herself in a rather familiar situation. Securely nestled against a certain someone in the darkness of the back seats, where she now wondered if it was in the black haired girl’s own plan to start and continue their end of the day ritual where they both found themselves curled against one another. 

 

Not that the tall girl minded. It’s just that, the butterflies were slowly fluttering back into her stomach. One by one. And now every time Chaeyoung made a move to be closer to Tzuyu, the taller girl toyed with the idea of actually falling for her member. 

 

To be on the receiving end of her affection now, boggled Tzuyu’s mind. They had always been close as two of the youngest members in the group but when Tzuyu was left to her own imagination one day, she acknowledged the change of demeanour in Chaeng.

 

In the past, the shorter girl hung out around Mina the most but if anyone was being honest, when Mina had decided to take a break, it left Chaeyoung reserved to herself for the entirety she was gone. Now that Mina was back, everyone expected the girl would fall back into her side but thinking about it now, she probably decided it was best to give Mina the space it took to grow and breathe as herself.

 

Nonetheless, Tzuyu made acquaintance with the ever growing familial event of holding Chaeyoung as she slept and on more than one occasion, even holding the girl close when she wasn’t sleeping at all. 

 

Tzuyu admitted she liked these moments the most, despite how stiff she had to keep her posture, because she found the feeling from Chaeyoungs voice quite amusing when it would vibrate and resonate into her own chest while they talked. And though Chaeyoung wouldn’t admit it to anyone yet, she also liked these instances too, as she found Tzuyu’s now, calmer, heart beat to be one of her favorite sounds and feelings in the world. 

 

A little metronome that only a select few people would be able to hear in their lifetime, Chaeyoung termed it one day.

 

Chaeyoung would be too shy to admit at the moment, but she also liked it when she would catch a pair of brown eyes looking down at her that would quickly shy away in half a second. Everytime it was as if she had caught Tzuyu with her hand halfway down the cookie jar— indulging in something she probably wasn’t suppose to, but who was to help her?

 

What was even more funny about this particular event was that both girls, after being in this situation countless of times, of catching eachother staring that is— was that each girl had an idea of the effect it had on eachother. 

 

Tzuyu didn't know it, but her heart was always honed in on by Chaeyoung’s ear as she rested against her chest during the moment. She always allowed for it to make its own statement, loud and clear.

And for Tzuyu, she would always allow herself the comfort of feeling the pulsation by a faint beat through the arm Chaeyoung loved to latch onto and around as she slept.

 

That’s why Tzuyu, after being caught staring for who knows what time, dared herself to not look away.

 

Stop being scared Tzuyu, and grow a pair. She said to herself as her heart began to rattle inside despite her trying to rally the troops. She offered a smile back down to Chaeyoung who held and returned her eye contact with the same intensity of contentment. 

 

For a split second, small eyes batted away at the beautiful smile before them. 

 

Chaeyoung couldn’t help it. 

 

She was almost certain no one could. Tzuyu was beautiful.

 

The shorter girl looked back up to Tzuyu that was already in her own state of trance when she had swore she saw the same eye twinkle from Chaeyoung earlier. The one that spoke.

 

I like having you with me. 

 

Except, it wanted to say more this time. 

 

I like having you with me— Do you feel it too? 

 

The car continued to rattle and tug down the road back towards their dorm under the trails of washed out dim yellow light. But it seemed time had stopped for the two. 

 

They were both mindless to how their chest slowly rose and fell as it battled against the rate their hearts were racing to. Chaeyoung’s head was on Tzuyu’s shoulder still, as she continued to look up to the other girls eyes. But her neck slowly craned itself, tilting up as if it was on its own course of trajectory. Tzuyu had a hard time seeing through the darkness in the back of the car. But yet she had managed to catch onto Chaeyoung’s focus at the moment and she too, felt the slow movement of her head, downwards meeting the shorter girl halfway. She paused, acknowledging the tiny puff of air that had escaped Chaeyoung’s nose when Chaeyoung herself had realized she’d been holding in her breath this entire time. Two warm foreheads, delicately met as proximity between the two began to shrink from existence. Tzuyu felt her own lip start to quiver as her anticipation built its way up too fast for her to handle. 

 

Please do it. Each girl whispered to themselves as they slowly closed their eyes and slowly eliminated remaining distance.

 

Both of their hearts felt like they were about to burst. 

 

That was until the moment was shattered as the car abruptly shifted roughly from one side to another, and the girls found themselves ten steps behind from where they were seconds ago. The two girls backed away from eachother and the heat of the moment vanished, but Tzuyu still felt the sharp intake of breath from Chaeyoung and the way the shorter girl deflated from contact. 

 

Tzuyu didn’t put forth much thought or effort when she decided to bring Chaeyoung into her side again. That’s how they’d always end their car rides home. It was only fitting. 

 

But it was as if they both felt the magnitude of emotions and thoughts that raced through eachothers head. 

 

If only.

 

---

 

Tzuyu sorted through her own thoughts as she laid wide awake in her own bed in the usually comforting solitude of their room. However on this night only, she felt the tension rising, building, and looming over the only two girls in the room. 

 

Dahyun had already retired to her bed.  

 

Dahyun AND Sana's bed that was, which was tucked far away from the uncomfortable environment that was Chaeyoung and Tzuyu's room now. So that left the two girls to their own devices. 

 

Tzuyu wished this didn't bother her, but she kept dragging herself back onto the question of whether or not Chaeyoung would've let her kiss her. Does she like me back?

 

Tzuyu found herself frozen at her own sudden validation. I like her.

 

The thing is, is that up till now Tzuyu had paid no real mind to placing an exact feeling on what she felt towards Chaeyoung. Back in the car, Tzuyu only acted upon what she felt was right in the moment and on the all the accumulated excitement she felt when Chaeyoung looked at her with those eyes or when Chaeyoung would neatly brush the fringes of Tzuyu's baby bangs that she found so cute, back into place.

 

She finally admitted that she liked Chaeyoung.

 

She glanced towards the top bunk through the pitch black darkness of their room but found nothing that would offer any indication of Chaeyoung being awake. 

 

Tzuyu couldn't remain calm or still in due to her own revelation so she pulled out her phone and began to mindlessly scroll through whatever app she first came across after unlocking the screen. After a few minutes of reading and watching videos and threads on Twitter, Tzuyu suceeded in taking her mind off the sleeping girl that laid feet away from her own bed. She quietly choked down her own laughter as she watched a replay of Momo, Jeongyeon, and Dahyun's vlive in the car on the way back. 

 

Suddenly she heard an escaped creak from the latter that led to a certain girl's bed. Tzuyu tried her best to make out the direction of the sound till she felt a sudden dip on the side of her own bed and a small body that gently deposited itself between the wall and Tzuyu's blanket covered body. 

 

"What are you watching." The girl next to her whispered into the darkness beside Tzuyu. 

 

Tzuyu took note of the arm that now draped itself across her stomach and the heavy head resting in the corner where Tzuyu's neck and shoulder met. She looked down at Chaeyoung, under the limited moonlight that the window offered, who laid comfortably flat on her stomach now focused on Tzuyu's phone screen. The butterflies began to make their return. 

 

"I'm watching the other girl's vLive from earlier." She said nonchalantly as she made the best effort to place the blanket across both of them now. Which was practically a death sentence honestly.

 

"Momo always brings out the weirdo in Dahyun." Tzuyu spoke as she watched her members throwing food choices back and forth to eachother. Chaeyoung and Tzuyu both laid there watching for a moment.

 

"I like chocolate" Dahyun beamed smiling with crescent mooned eyes. 

 

"Oh I like avocado~~" 

 

"Oh yeahhh~." 

 

Momo rooted, "I like-- ice creaaaam~."

 

"Oh wow~" Dahyun said as she threw up one of her infamous funny hand gestures and essentially spurred Momo to continue on her own food rant.

 

"Momo brings out the weirdo in everyone." Chaeyoung finally spoke up. "Actually no," she paused, glancing at Dahyun as she made yet another awkward hand sign on screen, "Dahyun has just always been this sort of weirdo who has her moments." She laughed into the close, shared space between her and Tzuyu. 

 

Tzuyu laughed too and welcomed the calmness she felt watching her unnies laughing on screen. It certainly helped her to keep her composure as she found herself now pressed up against the girl she now knew she had apparent feelings for. 

 

And it was as if the Gods decided to have a little fun and play a little trick on Tzuyu in this moment,  as the phone suddenly went silent and the atmosphere in the room returned back to its intensified state as both Momo and Dahyun quietly focused on reading the flood of comments. 

 

On the other side of the screen, both Chaeyoung and Tzuyu were left to hear and face the low hum and rattle of their van that they both knew too well. It was as if in that moment, they had found themselves back in the van, huddled against eachother in pitch black darkness.

 

Sharing a moment that said more than they ever could try or express to eachother.

 

And it was as if Chaeyoung took note of this. Because what she did next caught Tzuyu by complete surprise. 

 

Tzuyu fought intensely to find something remotely interesting that she could make seem she was concentrating on. But to her own displeasure, her senses only attuned to the fact that Chaeyoung had began to bring her resting arm and hand up from Tzuyu's side and slowly made its own way to find the side of Tzuyu's chin. 

 

The air thickened. 

 

Tzuyu could only submit herself to Chaeyoung's actions in due to the fact that her entire body went under malfunction and she couldn't fight her way back even if she tried. Or more importantly if she wanted to.

 

"Tzuyu."

 

It was as if Tzuyu's heart clenched under immense pressure at the sudden attention given and asked for.

 

"Please." 

 

And it was as if the taller girl's actions answered for herself as she lowered the phone face down, plunging both Chaeyoung and Tzuyu in darkness.

 

Tzuyu held onto the breath she didn't know she was holding until the next moment, where Chaeyoung's lips had finally managed to find the softness that was Tzuyu's own, where the taller girl swore her annoying stomach butterflies exploded into a big puff of what she would call euphoria. 

 

Their lips slowly moved against one another, while subtle huffs of air escaped from their bumping noses at the sudden lose of breath from finally getting what they both had been waiting for. And Tzuyu was only short of surprised to find Chaeyoung's cheek already nestled into her own hand, as both their lips melted against eachother in a slow, steady rhythm in the dark. 

 

She never knew she had wanted Chaeyoung this close and this bad before.

 

For Chaeyoung, she was already high off being the center of Tzuyu's attention these past few weeks. As they laid under a shared blanket, shy legs preserving contact and shy hands becoming more bold and bolder by the second, Chaeyoung couldn't have asked for more.

 

They slowly pulled themselves back into a hazy daze of eachother, and mustered up their confidence to look eachother in the eyes as they rested against eachother for support. 

 

A second or two passes.

 

"Oh wowwww~~." Dahyun's voice boomed from the faced down phone that now laid distraught on the ground near the side of Tzuyu's bed. 

 

The two girl's laughed at the turn of events. 

 

"I told you Dahyun has her moments." Chaeyoung grinned before dropping her head and placing a delicate, sensitive kiss to the side of Tzuyu's neck. 

 

Tzuyu could only laugh but most importantly, smile. 

 

But it wasn't because of Chaeyoung's cheeky joke. It was because Tzuyu had gotten what she didn't know she even needed.

 

In the end, the feeling Tzuyu felt having Chaeyoung close to her in every which way, was a gift and answer in itself and it had only been a matter of time till she finally realized it.

 

Now at the sum of it all, Tzuyu once again held Chaeyoung in her arms, as she put forth her best effort to keep that natural, unmatched posture.

 

And truth is to Tzuyu, it didn't matter how long she would have to remain in this certain strainful position for Chaeyoung.

 

Because in that moment when she had felt a pair of eyes flutter to a close against her own neck, she could only feel what others would deem Tzuyu and her prized posture as-- 

 

Perfect.