it’s a quiet tuesday when seulgi’s life lands flat on its . 

she had been in the living room, playing animal crossing on her switch, k.k. jazz crooning blissfully from the tv. they’d attempted to create a decently sized living room despite the cramped flat, moving around the furniture and relegating some of seulgi’s closet to irene’s room.

(“I, seulgi kang, hereby entrust my least worn clothes to bae joohyun---”

“shut up and help me put these in the closet.”)

she hums, wiggling in her seat as she successfully catches an oarfish (I hope I catch morefish!) when she hears a crash from her room. she sighs.

“kim yerim, that better not have been you snooping through my stuff!”

there’s no response. it’s then she remembers yeri’s out to shoot her reality show.

she resists the urge to pinch her nose, stretching as she stands up. once she’s satisfied with the way her back cracks, she slowly makes her way to her room. had she left her window open again? she really should get rid of that metal rack, it was nothing but trouble.

she reaches the door when she hears a hushed curse, and more shifting.

“ , is this the dorm? this looks like mom’s stuff… god, I hope they’re not ho-”

that’s definitely not a voice she recognises. her brain goes into fight or flight, kicking the door as she yells, fists up to greet… a kid?

there’s a teenager on her floor, tangled up underneath her metal rack, polaroids strewn across the floor. she’s currently struggling to wriggle out from underneath it, and she freezes at seulgi’s entrance, eyes wide.

“wait! , this is heavy- stop! I’m not a robber!”

“then who the heck are you!”

the kid groans, finally pushing the rack off of herself. she scrambles, pushing herself up against the bed in a semi-upright position.

“would you believe me if I said I was your kid?”

seulgi’s staring blankly at her when irene pads out of her room, rubbing her eyes as she approaches her.

“what are you yelling for? you gave me a frig-” she cuts off at the sight of the kid, yelping. 

“who is that!”

“that’s what I’m trying to figure out!”

“less yelling, more listening!” the girl puts her hands up, giving a “woah, there” gesture, “I’m not a robber, or a sasaeng, or whatever else weird s that might get into your dorm.” 

irene just scoffs. seulgi blinks.

“I’m kang sumin. I’m kang seulgi and bae joohyun’s kid from 2045.”

“hah, and I’m the president of korea. I’m calling the manager.” irene turns, already heading towards her room, but something compels seulgi to hold her still.

“wait. look at her face, unnie.”

as sumin blows the hair out of her face, seulgi finally gets a good look, and her world tilts slightly on its axis. it’s a perfect amalgamation of both her and joohyun’s face. she has her eyes and mouth, curving into small crescents as she gives a nervous but toothy smile that seulgi swears she’s seen on many a show broadcast. 

but the rest is all hyun, from her small nose to soft face, hair falling in gentle waves, parted the same way joohyun prefers hers. she’s tall from what she can tell, despite her awkward half-sit, legs stretching out from a thin waist, broadening up into wide shoulders. 

“this must be a prank. some kind of hidden camera.” irene mutters, but seulgi hears the disbelief in her voice, “where’s the camera team, kid?”

the kid has the nerve to look offended, “what kind of producer would joke about two girl group members having a kid? c’mon, ma, be serious.” 

“she has a point,” seulgi murmurs, nudging irene when she gives no response, noticing the odd expression irene has on her face, seeming almost unnerved as she stares at sumin, “hyun?”

“it doesn’t make sense. you’re telling me our kid,” she pauses imperceptibly at ‘our’, “time travelled from 2045 to see her idol parents?”

“pretty much.” the kid stares expectantly at them both, bouncing on the balls of her feet, “are you done freaking out? can I raid your kitchen? I’m starving.”

irene’s progressed from unnerved to constipated, and seulgi just nods, gently steering irene towards the couch, “help yourself. there’s sujebi in the fridge.”

“your sujebi? oh, hell yes!” sumin practically skips out of her room, and both seulgi and irene’s eyes dart downward at the squeaks her shoes make.

“shoes off!” they both demand simultaneously.

sumin stops, sheepish as she shucks them off, “my bad. was outside when I travelled.”

as she darts off to deposit them at the door and raid the fridge, seulgi turns to irene, who still looks like she’d eaten too much chicken, “hey, hyun? you okay?”

her head swivels, eyes looking up to her, almost pleading, “this punk just crashed your room claiming to be your kid and you let her eat your sujebi?”

“I’m scheduling my breakdown for later so we can get you over yours.” seulgi shrugs, cocking her head to the side, “you have to admit, she looks a lot like us.”

irene waves her hand dismissively, “sure. that’s not hard to do with a little bit of makeup and a prayer. but time travel? our country can barely manage to keep a president!”

“they got to space. don’t see why time would be far off.”

“okay, fine. say she time travelled. what does she want with us? we’re not parents! I just turned 30. we’re idols. we don’t have time for, for a kid.” irene finally slumps down onto the couch, adrenaline crashing down.

“baby steps, hyun. let her get something to eat, and then we can start asking questions.”

then the door lock beeps, and the door swings open as joy’s voice rings out.

“baby, I’m home!”

irene buries her face in her hands.

sumin really wishes she’d looked at the user manual before using this thing.

she’s currently at her moms’ old dorm dining table, nibbling at a piece of rice cake as aunt sooyoung stares at her from across the table, unblinkingly. aunt yerim had taken one look at her and beelined towards the pantry (“oh, I need something strong for this”). wendy had just blinked, before hobbling over with her cane, sitting at the table. and aunt sooyoung went for this.

“so you’re saying you’re hyun and seulgom’s kid? and you used a weird geeky watch prototype irene unnie was promoting to travel to 2020?”

“yep.”

joy leans back, “aight. I believe you.”

her m- irene splutters, “that’s it? that’s all you needed?”

joy shrugs, “it’s 2020. it’s been a storm all year. this might as well happen.”

. she stops chewing, “oh. it’s that year. what month am I in? is the virus over yet?” 

“t’s april.” wendy pipes up, “at least we know the virus ends within the year.”

“in korea, at least.” sumin mutters under her breath.

“don’t talk when you’re chewing. I can’t believe you’re all so calm about this.” irene whines from beside wendy, leaning against the canadian as she pats her knee.

yeri scoffs, “I think seulgi and joohyun unnie having a lovechild is one of the less surprising things I’ve found out this week.”

both seulgi and irene look away at that, blushes creeping up their necks. they definitely wouldn’t be this shy if they were together. which means sumin overshot. way overshot.

. 

“aaaanyway,” she drawls, bringing their gazes back to her, “is there anywhere I can stay while this gizmo stops fritzing, or…?”

seulgi shakes her head, “it’s a really small dorm. you see my clothes out in the hallway."

“where the hell are we going to hide her? we barely have any space for ourselves.” wendy waves an arm around their surroundings, as if to emphasise her point.

“obviously it should be with irene,” joy scoffs, “you have the biggest room, and she’s your-” her face scrunches up then, like the word is a particularly nasty chicken bone stuck in .

“ kid. I’m her kid. 1, I’m still here, and 2, you won’t explode if you acknowledge my existence,” the teenager huffs, crossing her arms. 

“who knows, punk. you’re doing all sorts of ed up to the space time continuum right now.” joy glowers at the stares she gets, “what? I read.”

“how about, instead of subjecting unnie to sleeping with someone she’s never met, we put the kid in seulgi’s room and seulgi unnie can sleep with joohyun unnie.” yeri retorts, “that way everyone’s comfortable.” 

“uhm, I never agreed to that.” seulgi blinks rapidly, eyes wide. 

“please, we all know whose bed unnie would crawl into when there were thunderstorms. think of it as punishment for having a kid when everyone knows we’re at the beginning of the end.” yeri waves her off, “go show her to her room. us grownups will figure out how to hide her.”

seulgi splutters for a bit before acquiescing, standing up and motioning sumin over.

oh, thank god.

she practically jumps out of her seat, scuttering over to seulgi’s side. she gives a small, jerky bow to the rest, then follows seulgi to her room.

“you’re gonna have to clean up the mess you made. I’ll get rid of the rack, though. if you’re anything like me, you’ll knock it over once a day.” seulgi throws a grin over her shoulder, and suddenly, sumin really misses her mom.

“uhm, yeah. that’s probably good.”

the dancer steps gingerly over the mess on the floor, sliding her closet open. sumin darts down, sweeping the polaroids into a pile. quite a few are with family and friends, a few of which sumin recognises as overbearing aunts or loud uncles. the rest are with her members, and sumin notes the prevalence of irene.

(maybe she didn’t overshoot too much, then)

“I’m guessing time travel doesn’t come with a suitcase, so I’ll give you a couple of my things. you’re a little taller than me, so some of these might be a tight fit. you might have to ask joy for some clothes.” she’s already laid a small pile on the bed, and sumin hums her approval at her choices.

“those look awesome mom, don’t worry about it.”

seulgi freezes then, hand resting against a coat hanger. sumin swears inwardly.

“I mean. seulgi. unnie? aunt? ahjumma? I’m not used to this.”

“no, mom’s… fine. just not used to it. unnie doesn’t sound right, and I’m definitely not an ahjumma.” she finally turns, a small smile gracing her features, “you might not be born yet, but that doesn’t mean I’m not your mom, right?”

her eyes prick at that, and she looks heavenward, tamping down the hot tears that threaten to swell up, “don’t say emo like that.”

“language.” her mom taps a finger to , and sumin knows then.

she’s getting her moms back. she has to.