Author's note: Here's what's up: yours truly had a very bad week, death in the family and all, so, because I am moonsun trash, and writing silly stories is my coping mechanism, here's an unexpected update on this collection. I made myself smile writing this, and I hope it does the same for you. Thank you so much to Mrgtop on AO3 for the prompt. I am sorry it took me so long!

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“Yong, come to bed? It’s almost 2am. I’m lonely.”

Yongsun shifted uncomfortably in the armchair, balancing her laptop on her knees. She glanced at Byulyi, heart swelling at the sight of her freshly showered, bare-faced partner. Byulyi looked extra small among heaps of pillows and a fluffy comforter, as she sat up in their gigantic California King hotel bed.

“Two minutes, babe. They sent an email with concept ideas, and guess what? They’re insisting on fantasy fairies again. I told them a thousand times already, it’s not gonna happen. But that won’t stop them from trying,” Yongsun said with a deep sigh, fingers moving quickly on the keyboard, undoubtedly sending back a strong-worded email.

“Can it wait until tomorrow?” Byulyi whined. “’m tired. Wanna cuddle.”

“Two minutes, babe,” Yongsun repeated gently. “You know I’m doing this for us. So that we don’t get delayed,” her tone was conciliatory, eyes fixed on the laptop screen.

Byulyi pouted, but didn’t disturb Yongsun again until the leader finally closed her laptop and climbed into bed next to her, ten minutes later.

“You said two minutes. That was way longer,” Byulyi muttered, arms crossed on her chest.

Yongsun gave her a weary smile, exhausted after a long day of rehearsals, of vlogging, of trying to communicate with their team about Mamamoo+’s next comeback from the other side of the world.

Not to mention, still a fair bit jetlagged.

“Come here,” she grabbed Byulyi’s hand, undoing the guarded knot of her arms and pulling her in for a brief, but intense kiss. “You get so whiny when you’re exhausted.” She brushed Byulyi’s hair away from her face. “You’re lucky you’re adorable.”

“And you’re lucky we’re business partners,” Byulyi pouted against Yongsun’s lips. “You go into overworking robot mode when you’re exhausted. If you were an idol and I were, I don’t know, a professional waterslide tester, I wouldn’t let you destroy our work-life balance, being on your laptop at 2am.”

Yongsun giggled, pulling Byulyi closer, fingers dancing on her collarbone. “Well, we are life and business partners, so either forgive me or thank me, but just let me spoon you to sleep now.”

The two women rearranged their bodies with practiced ease, Yongsun’s body glued to Byulyi’s back, both of their frames occupying just a small fraction of the gigantic bed.

Yongsun relaxed into the mattress, feeling her own eyes closing. Sleep threatened to overtake her. She nuzzled her nose against Byulyi’s nape. Byulyi’s skin felt soft and smelled good against her lips.

But Yongsun could tell from Byulyi’s still too-irregular breathing that her lover was still far from falling asleep. She tried to relax Byulyi with a few slow kisses on the back of her neck, but that didn’t seem to work.

Confirmation came when Byulyi freed herself from Yongsun’s safe grip on her stomach, and turned around to face her instead.

“Yong.”

“Mmh?”

“Would you still love me if I couldn’t work anymore?”

“Of course, I would,” Yongsun replied, drowsy but determined. “You can be my sugar baby, or something,” she giggled at the idea. “Don’t worry about work now, love.” She blindly reached for Byulyi’s neck, drawing Byulyi closer until she felt her breathe against her cheek. Her eyes closed and her muscles relaxed, feeling safe in their embrace.

Until Byulyi spoke again.

“Would you still love me if everyone started hating me for no reason and no one wanted anything to do with me ever again?”

Her voice snatched Yongsun away from that sweet state between sleep and wake. The older woman groaned.

“Yes, Byulie,” she mumbled curtly, attempting a pacifying caress on Byulyi’s hair. “You’re the love of my life. Nothing can change that. Let’s sleep now.”

Byulyi was silent for a few minutes, but Yongsun didn’t let herself relax this time. Instead, she sighed. The rigidity in Byulyi’s muscles would have been subtle to anyone else, but for Yongsun, it was a dead giveaway.

“Baby?”, she pleaded. “You’re so tired. You don’t want to sleep anymore? Tomorrow, we’re supposed to —”

“Would you still love me if I was a worm?” Byulyi cut her off.

If it had been a little earlier, if Yongsun had been any less exhausted, a little less jetlagged, a little less frustrated at the fantasy fairies and at Byulyi’s pouting when she was only working late for them, for their future together, maybe she would have caught the note of genuine insecurity in Byulyi’s voice. Maybe, she would have responded with more reassurance, more cuddles, more kisses. She would have held Byulyi close, as she had done countless times before, until all her worries melted away in Yongsun’s embrace.

But hypotheticals are not reality, and Yongsun was too exhausted, too jetlagged, and too frustrated to recognize that sometimes the answer to some questions has nothing to do with the question itself.

“If you were a worm, I’d be the earliest bird in the world so I could get you,” she smiled, lightly slapping Byulyi’s .

She expected Byulyi to congratulate her on the greasiness, but instead, the rapper frowned, exhaustion painting her features, too. “Be serious,” Byulyi said, impatiently.

Yongsun raised an eyebrow at her, even though she wasn’t sure Byulyi could even see her, in the darkness of their hotel room.

“Be serious?”, she echoed. “Well, have you always been a worm, or have you been transformed into one just now?”

“That’s not important,” Byulyi answered, irritation seeping through her voice.

“It is,” Yongsun remarked. “If you’ve always been a worm, I couldn’t have fallen in love with you in the first place. And if you’ve been turned into one, why did that happen? Is that some kind of mortal sin and punishment stuff? Do I have any hope of bringing you back?” She was wide awake now, mind fully engaged with the possibilities.

“Yongsun!” Byulyi replied in annoyance, voice growing louder and more piercing. “It. Doesn’t. Matter! Just answer the question — yes or no!”

“It’s a stupid question, Byul-ah.”

Yongsun’s calm tone got on Byulyi’s nerves. The rapper lifted the comforter off of them in a sudden gesture and got out of bed, pacing almost violently toward the door to their hotel room.

Yongsun didn’t appreciate getting her cocoon of blankets so abruptly disrupted. Irritations surged through her veins.

“Where are you going?!”, Yongsun sat up, her brows furrowed, her voice a blend of frustration and disbelief. “To pick up other worms in the hotel lobby?!”

In a flash, Byulyi grabbed the still-wet hotel shower cap she had hung on the hook by the door after her shower, and, with an impulsive flick of her hand, propelled it through the room, aiming at Yongsun.

“IF I WERE A WORM, I WOULDN’T EVEN WANT TO BE WITH YOU!”

The shower cap’s path faltered midway. It plummeted as Byulyi yelled, with an almost graceful dance against gravity, landing on the floor, nowhere near Yongsun.

“THAT’S WHAT I’M SAYING!”, Yongsun yelled back.

An exasperated sigh escaped Byulyi’s lips. “WHAT IF I STILL WANT YOU?! IT’S YOUR CALL! YOU DON’T GET THE EASY WAY OUT!”

“OH, FOR ’S SAKE, MOON BYULYI!” Yongusn got out of bed too, taking violent steps toward the door herself, trying to shove Byulyi out of the way.

“WHERE ARE YOU GOING NOW?!” Byulyi echoed her, outstretching her arm and touching the wall so that Yongsun couldn’t go past her, or reach the door. “TO GO PICK UP NON-WORMY WOMEN IN THE HOTEL LOBBY?!”

Right then and there, it took all of Yongsun’s sheer force of will not to try and strangle Byulyi. They stood face-to-face, their bodies tense and rigid, mirroring the tension between them. Yongsun tried hard to regain control of herself, but failed. When she spoke next, her voice still came out loud and shrill.

“At least I could be with one of them! I can love a worm — I can make you a little ing terrarium — but I can’t be in a relationship with one!”

Byulyi’s shoulders hunched forwards, fingers clenched tightly into her fists, trembling with the intensity of her rage. “You’d make me watch from a terrarium while you build a life with someone else?!”

Yongsun lost her patience all over again. “YOU CAN’T BE A FAMILY WITH A WORM! A WORM CAN’T GIVE YOU EMOTIONAL SUPPORT! A WORM CAN’T HELP YOU FIX THE HEATER! YOU CAN’T MAKE LOVE TO A WORM!!!”

Byulyi became even more upset. Her jaw clenched tightly, muscles visibly taut as she took a step back, against the door now, shock and betrayal prompting her to keep her distance from Yongsun. “So you just love me for what I can provide to you. That’s really nice to know.”

Yongsun made an abrupt, dismissive gesture with her hands. “THAT’S NOT WHAT I SAID! YOU ARE NOT A WORM!!!” Her eyes filled with tears of frustration. “YOU KNOW WHAT’S REALLY NICE TO KNOW?! THAT YOU DON’T LOVE ME ENOUGH TO STILL LET ME HAVE A GOOD LIFE IF YOU WERE A WORM!”

The tears spilled, fast and hot on Yongsun’s exhausted face.

Byulyi’s mirror neurons activated immediately despite herself, as it always happened when it came to Yongsun, an invisible but indestructible thread linking the corners of their mouths, so that when one smiled, the other did too, and when one cried, the other followed suit.

“Of course I want you to have a good life,” the rapper cried. “But I want you to have a good life with me.”

“I want to have a good life with you too,” Yongsun wailed. “I love you more than anything. More than my own life. Just don’t get turned into a worm.”

Byulyi took a step forward, closing the distance between them and bumping into Yongsun until they melted in each other’s arms. “I won’t,” she said, sniffling. “I love you more than anything, too.” She captured Yongsun’s lips in a trembling kiss, tasting the salt of their tears.

They held each other until they stopped shaking, and their heartbeats became regular again against each other.

Yongsun took Byulyi’s hand, and together, they fumbled through the hotel room, getting into bed and under the comforter again.

“Spoon me to sleep?”, Byulyi asked, unable to suppress her yawns. “Want you close.”

“I’m here, love.” Yongsun obeyed, arranging herself and tightening her arms around Byulyi’s torso until the younger was fully secured against her, their bodies adhering perfectly. “Right here with you.”

Byulyi’s hand went back to rest on Yongsun’s hip.

Safe in each other’s arms, breathing in synch as if they were one, finally, Yongsun and Byulyi fell asleep.

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“I take it they stopped fighting now?” Wheein said tentatively, after about sixty seconds without any nonsense or screaming about worms coming from the next room.

“I think so,” Hyejin agreed, chuckling. “I bet they’re playing a game of tonsil tag right now — you know, kiss and make up.”

Wheein pulled a face like she was going to puke, dramatically clutching her stomach as if the idea was too much to handle.

Hyejin’s belly laugh filled the room. “Well, at least that was entertaining.”

“For you, maybe.” Wheein stuck her tongue at her best friend. “I didn’t find that entertaining — just excruciatingly cringe, Hyejin-ah.”

Hyejin reflected for a few moments. “I think they’re both cringe and goals at the same time.”

Wheein shrug. “Maybe. But we’re their kids, and I still don’t wanna hear it.”

Hyejin laughed again at Wheein’s disgusted expression. “Do you think it’s safe to go back to sleep now?”

“I don’t know, but if they keep fighting and wake us up again, I’ll make them eat dirt, worms and all,” Wheein grinned.

“We’d just be collecting more blackmailing material,” Hyejin said, clinging to Wheein like a koala.

“We already have enough for a lifetime,” Wheein sighed, hugging her best friend back.

The warmth of Hyejin’s body right next to her always made Wheein get sleepy so much faster than when she was alone. Her eyelids grew heavy, the rhythm of her breathing slowing down and becoming steadier as she started to succumb to sleep, until —

“Wheein-ah?”

Wheein got startled back into full consciousness. “Hmm?”

“Would you still love me if I was a worm?”

“AHN HYEJIN!”

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Author's note: 

This is 100% what I imagine Moonsun arguments are like, and you can’t convince me this isn’t super close to canon. 

Did you know that according to some research, on average, couples fight the most on Thursdays at 8pm? That makes total sense, since Thursday is the last day of the working week before the relief of Friday and then the weekend, and, at 8pm, people have been up for many hours already and running low on energy and patience. So I guess the moral of the story is, if you absolutely have to ask your partner whether they would still love you if you were a worm, do it on a Saturday morning. 

I hope you are all having amazing weekends <3 Let's all get ready for MMM+'s comeback!