Story

Interlude
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There's a lot about Yuqi that Soyeon...likes. She won't say loves. They aren't there yet. She's brave and independent and open minded and thoughtful and sincere.

But for all that sincerity, she can be bizarrely difficult to read.

"Could you...could you leave me a voicemail or something? There's a show that..."

Soyeon's barely awake when she hears Yuqi's voice. Soft, probably from the kitchen.

"Right."

She doesn't sound happy. It's Chinese, so she only catches a few whispered words.

"Okay. I'll just-I'll do something."

Soyeon is pulling her covers away absently, stretching before walking out. She rubs at her eyes, the lights of the kitchen too bright.

"Bye."

Yuqi sets her phone down and Soyeon finds one arm extended to her as she gets closer. Damn, she wanted to scare her a little. Instead, she shuffles into Yuqi's arms and only grunts once while the younger girl arranges her half in her lap, half standing.

"Who was that?"

"Hm? Oh, my parents. They just wanted to tell me about some stuff happening with our house."

"Mmm. Nothing bad?"

"No, no. I'm impressed you actually got up this early, though."

"Heard you. Why did you wake up so early?"

"Why am I being questioned?" Yuqi fires back. "I just want to make breakfast before Minnie goes crazy. We have eggs for once!"

"Good idea."

"Really? Will you eat the eggs I make if I add some green onion?"

"Will you pay me?"

"Hey!"

She leans back to avoid Yuqi's swipe and pats the girl's arm, letting herself be dragged back into a hug.

"You're lucky I respect you, our leader, or else I wouldn't make any food for you!"

"Okay, okay. Are you going to cook anything or what?"

"Yeah! You can just sit there and watch, I'll make some really good omelets!"

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They're in a pretty stable-though not clearly defined-relationship. Their first kiss was just a month before debut, the next one four months later. Soyeon found her cute and reliable and passionate and outspoken while Yuqi loved to cuddle her and ponder and gush over her thoughts and songwriting. She didn't fail to praise her nor be honest if something didn't sound amazing. She was Soyeon's first listener, first critic, even when she would jokingly complain about wanting to open one of the songs.

And despite the consistency of her on-camera persona only occasionally yielding to Yuqi's charms, when they're home and she's tired and has a headache and wants to just be warm and sleep, she goes to see Yuqi. Normally the younger girl will cuddle or hug her, toy with her shirt or hair while doing whatever on her phone. Soyeon's fallen asleep like that, feeling assured and safe and calm.

A vastly different-but no less good-sensation than the one she hopes to enjoy with Yuqi soon if...

But when she opens the door to her (their) room in a loose shirt and shorts and her makeup off, Yuqi is still in her in makeup and street clothes and already occupied.

"Your Korean is already really good, you don't need to study that much more."

"Ah, well...I know I'm good, but I have to be really really good if we're going to go on more shows. And...and sing new words."

Soyeon flops down onto the bed, wiggling until she's only partially on Yuqi's legs. The younger girl has a notebook next to her laptop where she's writing complex words, synonyms-Soyeon can read it all, but it's on the level of what Korean native would study for exams. She knows Yuqi takes pride in speaking the best out of their foreign line, but she also couldn't hide her concern for the youngest's communication struggles.

It's not wrong to say Yuqi likes being the best, but more accurate to say she has to be. She must be, because if she isn't...if she can't do it all, control it, hide it-

"I-I didn't mean to...I really thought we were alone and-and that..."

"It's okay. Letting it out to them doesn't mean everyone will know."

"But I didn't mean to," she hisses. Soyeon sighs quietly, patting her shoulder as Yuqi furiously wipes her eyes.

It's control. Yuqi has really, really good control of most things-besides her temper and volume-and losing control over something so potentially career-threatening, even if it was just in front of the members, even in the safety of their apartment, disappoints her. Not Soyeon, but her own standards, her own expectations.

"The fans will have the suspicions they have. You've seen them with Soojin and Shuhua, it's just what happens. They don't know what's real."

Understandably, that's only a half comfort to her. They have these defined pairs they go around in, chosen both through their own preference and their management's encouragement to have the foreign members "normalized" or made more Korean in their manner. Sometimes it seems like Soojin would rather swap with Miyeon, though her private acts of caring for the younger make Soyeon think otherwise.

"It's our members. They won't care. Besides, if they do, I'm the leader. And you're you. And we can yell and scare them and whatever."

Yuqi chuckles, inhaling deeply. She wipes her eyes a final time and turns back to Soyeon, taking hold of her forearm. Some people look ugly when they cry, but Yuqi isn't one of them. Her eyes gleam and it tugs at her heart in a painful way, but even her puffy cheeks are cute.

"Thank you."

"Don't get cute and mushy. Let's just go back inside, it's hot out."

Yuqi knows well enough to just roll her eyes and pull Soyeon closer, smiling at the exaggerated groan of relief when they're back into the air conditioned building.

She's going to make the point that words are just sounds and they don't need to know everything to sing it, but she made enough fun of Yuqi at their schedule earlier, so maybe she should be nice now.

"Uh huh. And...Shuhua doesn't like to bother Minnie unnie when she doesn't understand something?"

"Well it's easier if I just tell her in Chinese-it takes longer for Minnie unnie to explain something in simpler Korean terms."

Soyeon hums, slowly rolling to rest her torso on a complaining Yuqi.

"Sweet."

"No! Just practical! We baby Shuhua enough already, I'm not doing this for her feelings."

"But you're still doing it to help her. At least a little," Soyeon presses, gesturing. Yuqi bats at her hand, smiling.

"I guess. Maybe I'm just nice."

Soyeon rolls her eyes, toying with her phone. Overly proud Yuqi normally disappears within a few-

"And it's-it's something I can do to be, you know, useful."

And there it is. Soyeon pats her leg, knowing she doesn't need to repeat the speech she'd given the younger before.

"I bet your parents are proud."

Yuqi's face doesn't change at all, but she nods.

"Mm."

"Really. You're really passionate in

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