“Again? Seriously, Chaeyeon, you should be more careful.” Wincing from the pain when the ice bag came in contact with the now darkening bruises on her knees, Chaeyeon only impishly smiles seeing the frown on the older girl’s face.

“It’s fine Saku-chan. It’ll heal over the next few days.” She placates, not minding the other girl’s grumbles. “Besides, I have to work hard this comeback to give our fans only the best of the best.”

Sakura, in her best efforts to not press the ice bag harder, only glares at the younger girl for a moment before sighing. “You’re pushing yourself too much. I think they’ll appreciate it more if you take a rest and take care of yourself.” She knows how hard Chaeyeon practices for this comeback- or every comeback for the matter- and she knows Chaeyeon has a resilient body so these bruises will indeed heal over the week, but she can’t help to fuss over their main dancer. After all, the said girl tends to worry about their members more than herself which is why Sakura took it upon her own to assume the role of scolding her roommate.

Chaeyeon only smiles and watches Sakura continue with her task. The bruises don’t really hurt, she’s already used to it after training for years, but she always finds it amusing when the second eldest in the group scolds her oh so thoroughly for one minute and proceeds to worry over her the next minute. It’s a refreshing experience, having the seemingly untouchable idol (that’s how the fans see her as expressed over Twitter) care for her. Chaeyeon thinks on how domestic this scene is from an outsider’s point of view, with how her legs are propped over Sakura’s lap and the latter gently switching the ice bag from one knee to the other. Kind of like an old married couple, she muses. (Again, it’s from the fans’ tweets, and no she isn’t lurking on Twitter).

The comfortable silence in their room continues for a few minutes before Sakura asks for the cream to aid the healing process, and rubs it softly on the dancer’s knees. They’ve done this already ever since they debuted, but Chaeyeon still can’t help feeling ticklish whenever the soft hands of the Japanese girl circles around her skin- like a feather tracing the lines on her body. Sakura knows this so she grins as her nails lightly tickles the inside of Chaeyeon’s knees and stops when she knows a kick is going to come soon.  She doesn’t want to aggravate Chaeyeon’s injuries after all (but she also doesn’t want to possibly explain why there’s a foot-shaped mark on her face the next day, no sir).

----

“Ittai! Ittai ittai ittai ittai!”

“Stop screaming like I’m murdering you or something. You’re gonna wake the kids.”

“You’re having fun with this aren’t you? After all the care I gave to you this is how you repay me? I’m going to-” Sakura whimpers as the hands massaging her sore legs tighten for a bit before continuing with its task.

Chaeyeon rolls her eyes at the act of the older girl. “You’re being dramatic.” Sakura gapes at her, stunned from the choice of words before she hisses again as the deft hands pass over a particularly sore spot. “It’s supposed to hurt since you’re not used to this, but I’m thinking you’re being a bit…” Chaeyeon trails off, finding it hard to focus on her task as she tries to stop herself from giggling at the helpless expressions of the older girl.

“Don’t even try to finish that sentence.” Sakura says, slumping on her bed in relief when Chaeyeon finally finishes her torturous massage. She was exhausted after the vocal training she had earlier, with how the trainer recommended 100 squats every day to improve her core muscle and stamina. So imagine her happiness when Chaeyeon offers her a leg massage, only to experience the most painful handling she had in her whole existence (she’s exaggerating, she just has a low pain tolerance).

The dancer only hums, though her eyebrows crease when Sakura doesn’t move after being poked on her leg. “You still haven’t washed yet.” She knows Sakura has been working extremely harder this comeback and she acknowledges the tremendous improvement the girl had over their time as a group. However, Sakura has been coming home quite late these past few days so she can’t help but worry over her roommate’s health. She thinks of the times Sakura cared for her whenever she comes home sporting new bruises on her body, and thinks how it’s her time now to repay it- thus the massage (she just didn’t expect the girl was that sensitive over a massage).

“Saku-chan.” When there was still no response, Chaeyeon gently shakes the other girl until bleary eyes met her clear ones. She loathes to disturb Sakura when she’s already resting- loathes to do it to every members- but she knows Sakura will appreciate it more to wake up with no dried, crusted flakes of make-up on her face the next day. “You need to wash up. It’ll be more comfortable.”

For a few seconds, Chaeyeon thinks Sakura fell asleep again with her eyes open but the said girl slowly rises from her bed and practically drags her body to the bathroom like a zombie. Chaeyeon giggles at the sight and proceeds to prepare the older girl’s bed. They’ve only been roommates for about two weeks but they already have a routine of preparing each other’s bed when the owner is too exhausted to do so, kind of like a married couple (definitely a married couple). Minutes later, Sakura emerges from the bathroom with a fresh face and barely open eyes. She goes straight to her bed, plopping down on the soft pillow as she releases a sigh of relief and content.

“Thank you, Chaeyeon-ah.” Sakura says, her voice going softer as exhaustion takes over.

“Silly Saku-chan, what are roommates for?” Although she’s not sure the other girl heard her, Chaeyeon still smiles as she cards her fingers on Sakura’s hair until her body completely relaxes. After making sure the girl is already asleep, Chaeyeon heads to her bed. She glances to the sleeping form on the other bed and whispers, “Goodnight, roommate.”

Probably has a lot of errors and spelling mistakes but I wanted to get this out of my system once I heard they were roommates hehe we love soft roommates taking care of each other uwu

Hope you liked this chapter! Stream Secret Story of the Swan and keep voting for IZ*One!