it had been tiring today.

sooyoung knew if the younger kids were to see her now, they would make endless similarities of the snow crunching beneath her boots and her cracking bones. (she grudgingly bets that yeojin would be the most ecstatic, always poking fun of the older girl as much as she can.)

but she doubts the kids would still be out by now, the cold bite of the early winter air harsh against her skin beneath the rough fabric of her suit. it was way too early in the second half of the year for the snow to start falling and the cold was just settling deep in her bones that made her realize how tired she already was, only wanting to have a warm bath and sleep in her comfortable bed.

her shaking hands pushes her keys inside the doorknob of her shared apartment with jungeun, the tiny spark inside her still lively at the excitement of home.

it brought a smile to sooyoung's face at how cheesy she sounded.

how cheesy jungeun made her.

the door unlocked and sooyoung pushed in, feeling the immediate warmth of the bright living room.

colors filled her vision as she distractedly takes off her coat and heels, forgetting to yell out that she's home as the pretty christmas decorations lodged her words from escaping . she could hear giggling from the living room, the exciting melody of a familiar taylor swift song blasting from the speakers. sooyoung couldn't help the soft smile on her lips as she crept to the living room.

the fire was blazing in the fireplace, a familiar dog resting near it with a dark-haired girl petting it. said child turned at the sound of sooyoung's footsteps, lighting up at the sight of sooyoung.

"auntie sooyoung is here!"

three more heads popped up behind the couch at the mention of sooyoung's arrival, letting out excited squeals. sooyoung laughed as the four little kids ran over to jump in her arms, the older kneeling to match the kids' heights.

"auntie sooyoung! we made you cookies!" the brown-haired girl with pigtails excitedly says, hugging sooyoung's right arm.

"that's sweet of you, yerim-ah."

"auntie sooyoung, will you help me with the new nerf arrow mommy got me? with the apple and all?" the smallest of the bunch questions, clinging on sooyoung's torso with a bright smile.

"of course, yeojin. we wouldn't want your arrow skills to go rusty, don't we?"

"auntie sooyoung, krypto learned how to sit! and mama got him a really cute collar!" the dark haired girl from awhile ago says as she keeps her distance, settling with holding sooyoung's pinky in her hand.

"krypto has you, chaewon. he'll always be a good boy."

the kids triumphed at the attention as sooyoung grinned, turning to the quiet kid clinging on her back with arms around her neck. sleepy eyes met her own as sooyoung laughed gently, letting go of the other kids to carry the sleepy child on her hip.

"welcome home, auntie sooyoung," the kid sleepily mumbles as she rests her cheek on sooyoung's shoulder blade.

"hello, hyejoo. do you want to sleep?" sooyoung gently asks as hyejoo nods against her neck, the younger child easily dozing off in her arms.

the other kids started whining as sooyoung's attention focused solely on hyejoo, sooyoung laughing at the three in her feet before playfully shushing them. she pointed to the sleeping child in her arms, beckoning hyejoo's friends to keep it down as they begrudgingly nodded.

"yerim! yeojin! you left the flour a mess here!"

the two said children winced at the scolding yell from the kitchen, looking up at sooyoung's raised eyebrow before sharing a look, only to dash up the staircase with quiet giggles. sooyoung held back a yell, remembering hyejoo in her arms.

she placed the sleeping child to lie on the couch, placing as many pillows as possible and tucking her in with a blanket. sooyoung approaches chaewon next, who returned to watch krypto.

"chae," sooyoung gently nudges, kneeling to meet the tiny girl's gaze, a gentle smile on her lips. she nudges her head to the side, beckoning to the direction yeojin and yerim disappeared off to. "mind calling those two back down to help your aunt lippie to clean up their messes?"

chaewon nodded, hugging sooyoung and giving her a sloppy kiss in the cheek before venturing out to search for her troublemaker friends. sooyoung smiles at this before standing up, jumping to see jungeun already leaning against the counter, watching her with that beautiful smile she always had.

"hey, you." jungeun says softly as she lifted herself off her leaning stance to pad over to sooyoung, wrapping her arms around sooyoung's neck in a familiar embrace. the smaller of the two stands on her tiptoes to gently press her lips against sooyoung's, the taste of sugar sweet on her lips and the warmth in sooyoung's body no longer coming from the fireplace.

sooyoung was a little breathless as jungeun pulled away, words failing her once more as she stared into jungeun's deep, brown eyes. sooyoung liked jungeun's eyes the most, always so expressive and brought out the fondness she had for the girl no matter how much she tried to hide it.

it didn't matter, with how she loved everything about jungeun, anyway.

"hey." sooyoung finally says back, albeit a little dazed. jungeun giggles at this, placing a kiss on sooyoung's nose before pulling her closer, swaying both their bodies in the tune of the slow love song blasting from the speakers, undoubtedly another taylor swift track.

"you're good at that." jungeun mumbles against her neck, resting her head on the crook of sooyoung's neck as the taller tries not to get too affected at the feeling of warm breath against her skin.

"good at what?" sooyoung asks playfully, grinning at the soft smile playing on jungeun's lips. the younger pulls her head away to meet her gaze, her smile growing impossibly softer.

"with the kids." jungeun says softly as she presses a kiss on sooyoung's cheek. a laugh escapes sooyoung as she pinches jungeun's cheek. "you're getting awfully affectionate with me tonight, miss kim."

jungeun glares at her, swatting at her shoulder as she laughs, pressing a kiss on the younger's forehead as a silent apology, comfortable silence filling in the gaps their gentle dance couldn't fill.

"you really think so?" sooyoung mumbles softly, almost vulnerable as she meets jungeun's gaze. "that i'm good with kids?"


jungeun stays silent, the smile on her face saying enough as she nods, pressing another kiss on sooyoung's lips for reassurance. they held each other closer, sooyoung humming the melody of the song into jungeun's ear.

"you know," sooyoung starts, meeting jungeun's gaze as she spoke in a serious tone. "i'm gonna have to be good with kids with how much we do it every week."

jungeun's shrill yell of horror earns laughter from sooyoung, the taller laughing as she willingly recieves the hits jungeun repeatedly gives her, just until the three kids return while giving them weird looks.

the two stay silent about what jungeun was screaming about, despite sooyoung wiggling her eyebrows every now and then. the three kids shrug it off and move to drag sooyoung into the kitchen to eat the cookies they made.

hyejoo still manages to sleep through all of it.

-------

sooyoung always finds jungeun beautiful, including the moments like these.

the kids were long gone, having picked up by their friends, thankful for watching the kids for the afternoon. haseul was horrified at the idea of yeojin training her archery skills with the classic apple target with sooyoung, kahei already having tears in her eyes from laughing too much. the couple went home with haseul explaining to yeojin why they can't do that and chaewon quietly conversating with their other mother, probably to know if dog cookies were possible with how much she worried over krypto being left out from their cookie session.

jiwoo and jinsoul arrived around half an hour later, just finishing hyunjin's basketball game. the teenager was sitting in the back with another one of jungeun's art students, the two quietly amongst their little word with pink cheeks. yerim was gracious to bring cookies enough for a whole battalion, waving goodbye excitedly to her two aunts as hyejoo manages a tiny wave before falling back to sleep in the comfort of jiwoo's arms.

it was just the two of them left in their warm home, enjoying each other's presence.

jungeun's quiet whines fell into a silent scream as her back arched like a bow, the thin layer of sweat glistening on her skin beneath the christmas lights of their bedroom. wave after wave of pleasure left her shaking, chest heaving up and down as she shivered at the intensity, her grip on the sheets loosening as sooyoung crawls to her side, both breathless after their vigorous activity.

sooyoung wraps her arms around jungeun, pressing a kiss on the younger's forehead as she met jungeun's gaze, smiling as jungeun basked in afterglow.

"fancy seeing you here." sooyoung joked as jungeun rolled her eyes, kissing sooyoung with oh, so much passion that it got her heart bursting out of it's seams.

"you're sweaty." jungeun complained as sooyoung laughed, flicking jungeun's forehead as she shifted closer in the warmth embrace they shared.

"so are you, dimwit." sooyoung snarkily says, contrasting the fond smile on her face as jungeun giggled. the huge smiles of laughter on their faces settled into one of content as they leaned their foreheads against each other, faces so close that they could feel each other's breath on their lips.

it was in that moment that the thought crashed into sooyoung.

the thought she always knew in herself, that promise she told herself that she would one day fulfill to jungeun.

sooyoung scrambled out of jungeun's embrace, getting out of the bed to search their bed table, mumbling to herself as jungeun blinked, processing sooyoung's actions as she sat up to stare confusedly.

"sooyoung, wha-"

jungeun's words got caught up in as sooyoung held a small box in her hands, glancing nervously at jungeun as she knelt on one knee on the side of their bed. jungeun gulped as she could feel the tears welling up at the sight of sooyoung.

sooyoung awkwardly rubs the back of her neck, realizing how ridiculous they would have looked like to anyone who would see them like this. but she clears , continuing with what she had to say.

"okay, to be honest, i had this planned out in where i'm not stark at 3am in our bedside. the gang and i had this romantic dinner idea and i had this whole speech, but you know i'm not good with those at how i flunked english in high school." sooyoung rambles as she meets jungeun's wet gaze, the younger laughing as sooyoung tries to lessen the shaking of her hands. she breathes deeply as she lets herself be vulnerable; something she never had trouble with when it was with jungeun.

"jungeun, you... you deserve the world. so much more than it, actually." sooyoung says so sincerely, feeling her own tears surfacing as jungeun has steady falls of tears gushing down her face. "it kills me when you yourself don't even see it sometimes, a-and i'm sorry that this ty proposal doesn't prove quarter of the things i would do for you."

sooyoung gulps as she continues on, despite her tears getting the best of her.

"it had always been the little moments between us, you know? it was the little things that got me to realize that there could be so much more, that there were the bigger things that i could have. but the longer time i had with you, i realized it didn't matter how big every moment was, if we were in a yacht in the sea, or if we were just here in the place we made home." sooyoung spoke, lips quivering as she can't hold back the tears anymore.

"every moment mattered, because it was with you, jungeun. it was with us, and i can't even say enough words to describe how happy you make me with every lasting moment i have with you."

sooyoung breathes deeply, forcing her shaking hand to lift the lid of the box, snapping it open to show the most beautiful ring jungeun has ever seen.

"kim jungeun," sooyoung's voice cracks with a sob as she asks the question she had longed to ask ever since she looked at jungeun's eyes all those years ago. "will you marry me?"

sooyoung lets out a small 'oof' as jungeun pounced at her from the bed, holding her in an embrace as the sobs finally left their bodies in full force.

jungeun pulled away first, her nose already snotty as she sobbed. sooyoung didn't know what took over her as she started laughing, recieving the harsh swats jungeun was giving her.

"you ing jerk!" jungeun sobbed as cupped sooyoung's face, wiping sooyoung's tears away as she caressed her cheeks. "of course i'll ing marry your stupid !"

"you're saying yes?" sooyoung mumbled in disbelief, eyes shining once more with tears as she smiled brightly, jungeun sobbing harder as she thumped against sooyoung's chest.

"of course i'll say yes, you big idiot!" jungeun cried as she kissed sooyoung passionately, her wet gaze filled with so much love and sincerity. "a million times yes."

sooyoung gave a wide smile as she whooped loudly, laughing at jungeun's expression. "SHE SAID YES!"

"sooyoung!" jungeun says exasperatedly, albeit laughing as she pulled the taller into another kiss.

there were the little exciting things and every new thing that comes and go with each and passing day.

but sooyoung was sure of one thing.

no matter what the world may bring, she would always come home to jungeun.