A/N: For moonrise31, who requested a "page-torn-out" fic about the girls on a winter's day off. This turned out to be less like a page torn out and more like many scattered pages put together.

“Well,” Sooyoung says. “This is lame.”

Yuri elbows her in the side so she’ll stop taking up half the couch. “What, sitting in the dark in the middle of the day?”

“Technically, it’s the afternoon,” Hyoyeon says listlessly, fiddling with a cushion, idly turning it back and forth in her hands. “What else are we supposed to do anyway?”

“We could play hide and seek,” Yoona says brightly.

Sooyoung perks up at the idea for a second before she deflates. “Not sure how much seeking you can do in the dark. What are the others up to?”

Yuri picks up a cushion and mimics Hyoyeon, neither of them being the type to stay still. “Taengoo is brooding in her room.”

“So, typical Taengoo.”

“Well, Soonkyu is with her,” Hyoyeon says. “I’m sure she’ll keep the brooding away.”

“Maybe she should get some alcohol,” Sooyoung suggests.

“It’s Soonkyu – I wouldn’t be surprised if she could turn water into soju.”

“And the lovebirds? What are they doing?”

Hyoyeon snorts. “Knowing them, probably each other.”

They all burst into laughter. If Jessica was here, she’d probably shoot them one of her infamous death glares, while Tiffany would probably splutter something at eardrum-bursting decibels. Good thing they aren’t here.

“Is Joohyun still camped out in her room?” Yoona asks, turning to Hyoyeon. “Unnie, you checked on her a while back, right?”

Hyoyeon snorts. “Believe it or not, she’s studying.”

It’s hard to see the others’ expressions in the dark, but they all know they’re giving each other an oh, Joohyun look, followed by an indulgent smile.

“I’ll go check up on her,” Yoona says. She stands up, bumps into the coffee table, and almost falls over.

“Be careful, Yoong,” Yuri cautions. “If you hurt your face we’d never hear the end of it.”

“Girls’ Generation’s sales plummet,” Sooyoung says in a dramatic voice.

Yoona rolls her eyes, not even gracing them with a reply. She manages to refrain from knocking into any more furniture as she makes her way to Joohyun’s room.

“So…” Sooyoung claps her hands together. “What do you say to a dance party?”

“This is kind of nice, don’t you think?”

Taeyeon looks at Soonkyu like she’s crazy, but Soonkyu doesn’t see the expression as her eyes are closed. “A blackout? That’s your idea of nice?”

“Well, we’ve been swamped lately and we wouldn’t be getting a break otherwise…”

“This isn’t a very interesting break.”

“Hey, the point of a break is to relax, right?” Soonkyu says reasonably. “And we’re relaxing now.”

“I don’t feel very relaxed,” Taeyeon grumbles. “I feel like we’re trapped here.”

“This is your room.”

“What, I can’t be trapped in my room?”

“Taeyeon, I swear, if the room wasn’t already dark, the cloud of gloom hanging over you would out all the light.”

Taeyeon bites her lip. “Sorry. You know I can’t help it. If I’m annoying you, I could go find Fany—”

“No,” Soonkyu says immediately. “Believe me, you don’t want to walk in on her and Jessica.”

Taeyeon grimaces at the mental imagery. She had already done that a few times – they all have, it was inevitable given rooming arrangements and JeTi’s libidos – and it made her want to scrub out her brain with bleach afterwards.

“And anyway, I don’t mind you,” Soonkyu adds casually. “You’re not being annoying, you’re just being…Taeyeon.”

“I can’t tell if that’s a compliment or an insult.”

“Good, keep guessing.” Taeyeon rolls her eyes, quirking upward. Soonkyu suddenly leaps out of bed and over to her. “Hey, I know what we can do. Let’s tell scary stories!”

“Scary stories,” Taeyeon repeats.

“Yeah, you have a flashlight here, don’t you?”

“You’re going to shine a flashlight on your face while you tell scary stories? What are you, twelve?”

Soonkyu is practically bouncing. “Come on, it’ll be fun!”

Taeyeon sighs and relents. She knows that arguing against Soonkyu is a futile effort. “The flashlight is in the back of my closet.”

Soonkyu’s face lights up, quite literally. Taeyeon can see her expression as if she already has the flashlight in her hand. “This is going to be so much fun, Taengoo. You’ll see.”

“Uh huh,” Taeyeon says, making sure to sound unconvinced. She doesn’t think she does a very good job, and judging by the smile on Soonkyu’s face, Soonkyu doesn’t think so either.

Joohyun adjusts the scented candle on her desk so she has better lighting, rolling her highlighter between her fingers as she stares at her book with a frown. Someone knocks on her door, and she calls, “Come in!” without looking up.

“Hey, busy?” her youngest unnie asks.

“Just catching up on some work,” she replies, keeping her eyes on the page in front of her.

“You know, the point of a break is to take some time away from work.”

“This isn’t a break, unnie, it’s a setback.” She puts down her highlighter. “Anyway, maybe ‘work’ wasn’t the best word.”

“What you’re doing sure looks like work to me.” Joohyun hears footsteps leading to her chair, and then Yoona is leaning over her shoulder, closing her book. “Come on, we haven’t had some time alone in so long. You’re going to make your poor unnie return to the wolves outside?”

Joohyun laughs. “I think they’ll be hurt to hear you calling them wolves.” Yoona takes her hand, and she lets Yoona tug her to her bed. Joohyun takes a seat on the edge, and Yoona sits cross-legged closer to the middle.

“Oh they know I’ve called them way worse names before,” Yoona says lightly. “It’s all good.”

Joohyun glances at her books – she’s been meaning to catch up on the material for a while now, but she’s never had time. Until now, that is – and then back at Yoona, who’s smiling at her. It’s not a hard decision to make.

Yoona’s smile widens into one of her trademark grins (the other unnies call it an ‘alligator smile.’ Joohyun just thinks of it as a Yoona smile) as they settle into comfortable conversation, the scent of lavender filling the room along with their words and smiles.

“Jessi,” Tiffany whines. “I’m cold.”

“I have two blankets, you can take one. Or both.”

“I don’t want a blanket.”

“Sorry, I don’t have the power to turn the electricity back on.”

Tiffany turns on her pout full force. “Jessiiiiiiiiii.”

Jessica sighs. “Tiffff—it’s hard to drag out a consonant like that.”

That makes Tiffany laugh. “You can say my full name, you know.” Tiffany and Stephanie both end with a vowel.

“Stephanie Hwang Miyoung,” Jessica draws out, lingering on the Miyoung just because it bothers Tiffany.

“Don’t call me that,” Tiffany grumbles, throwing a pillow at her. Her aim is terrible and the pillow hits Jessica’s stuffed animal – a pink teddy bear Tiffany gave her for an anniversary – instead. “You know what I meant.”

“Your name is too long.” Jessica lifts an arm lazily. “Come here.”

“Why?”

“Because I asked you to.”

“That’s not much of a reason.”

Jessica frowns. “Steph,” she says, not shortening or elongating the word, just soft and steady and sure: Steph. “Come here.”

Tiffany looks at Jessica for a long moment: how she’s lounged on the bed, dark hair spread over her pillow, her phone by her side, like it’s any other day. Jessica had four flashlights (Tiffany has no idea why she has so many) and set them on her table, one at each corner like sentries. As a result, it’s not dark at all in the room. It’s not as bright as it would have been if the lights were on, of course, but Tiffany doesn’t mind this dimmer source of illumination. It makes the room…cozier.

She joins Jessica on the bed, and Jessica wraps an arm around her, pulling her close. Tiffany curls into Jessica, fitting against her, like it’s any other day. Except they don’t get to do this any other day, they don’t get to be with each other much even though they’re with each other all the time. There’s a difference in being with Jessica and being with Jessica, and Tiffany’s been too well-acquainted with the difference lately.

Jessica grabs the closest blanket and tugs it over them, tucking in the corners around Tiffany so she’s securely covered.

“What are you doing?” Tiffany asks.

“You said you were cold.”

Tiffany feels something warm unfurl in her chest. “I only said that so you would hold me.”

“Well,” Jessica smiles. “It worked.”

Tiffany smiles too, curling her ankle around Jessica’s like a vine, a promise. They had all complained about the blackout when it first happened, especially as the temperature started dropping, but now… Now she gets to be with Jessica, really with her, and it feels like Christmas has come early.

“Keep the blanket on,” Jessica says. “It’s going to keep getting colder, and if you don’t cover up you’ll get sick.”

Tiffany adjusts the blanket so Jessica’s fully under it too. “You’re the one who’s always getting sick.”

“You’re the one who refuses to take medicine unless it’s pink.”

“Pepto-Bismol works really well, it has nothing to do with its colour!”

“Sure, Steph,” Jessica says indulgently, and kisses her before she can say another word.

“One cold winter night,” Soonkyu starts spookily, shining the flashlight under her face. “There were nine girls trapped in an apartment…”

Jessica yawns. “Can you get any lamer?”

Soonkyu points the flashlight threateningly at her. “Shush. Don’t get in the way of my oratory.”

“Do you even know what oratory means?” Hyoyeon asks.

Soonkyu clears loudly. “One cold winter night,” she repeats. “There were nine girls trapped in an apartment, when suddenly all the lights blinked out.”

She clicks off her flashlight like it’s supposed to add to her frightening story. There’s a loud, pointed yawn, followed by a shushing sound and a “just let her have her fun, Jessi.” Soonkyu ignores Jessica and pauses for effect before continuing.

“The poor innocent nine girls thought that it was just a blackout, but—”

Yuri bursts out laughing. “Sorry,” she says as Soonkyu glares at her for daring to interrupt her oratory. “It’s just – I know you’re talking about us, but…” She snickers, biting her lip to stifle it.

“‘Poor innocent nine girls,’” Sooyoung repeats skeptically. “You really need to work on your story-telling skills.”

“She was practicing them on me,” Taeyeon groans. “You think this one is bad, you should’ve heard the ones she was telling me.”

“No thank you,” Yoona says delicately.

Joohyun comes running up to them, somehow evading all the things in her path the rest of them tripped over. “Sorry I’m late!” she says. “I didn’t miss too much, did I?”

“Don’t worry,” Soonkyu says importantly. “I’m willing to start from the beginning for you.”

There’s a chorus of groans that she completely ignores, and then she starts her story again. The candles on the coffee table flicker as if swaying to some unheard beat, joining nine shadows into one.