Work Text:
It’s dark in the room, except for the faint light coming from Hyejoo’s phone. It sits by her feet, face down with the flashlight illuminating a small circle around her. The silence, the darkness, it’s calming. Much more calming then the crowds and the stages. God, she didn’t expect that being an idol would involve this much interaction. Talking, smiling all the time, being so bright—it’s exhausting. She doesn’t see how the other girls do it, especially Chaewon.
Her head falls back as she closes her eyes, thinking wistfully of the blonde. Out of all of the girls, she’s the one that knows how she’s feeling the most. The other girls are all so…bright. They’re all very loud and social and exuberant. Chaewon is too of course, Hyejoo knows this, having seen the many times when the older girl had been infected by the other’s joy. It’s almost a marvel though, how the blonde can switch sides and go from “cute crackhead” (as the fans call her) to the shy, sparse worded savage that Hyejoo knows and loves. She loves both sides of Chaewon, of course, but her favorite is the side that rubs her thumb over the dark haired girl’s hand when she knows she’s anxious, and the one that climbs into her bunk at night to count the stars she put on the ceiling above her. Yeah, that’s her favorite.
“Hyejoo-ah?” She hears a soft voice call, and her eyes flutter open. The voice calls again and she smiles as she recognizes it, softly thumping the door in front of her as she hears footsteps slowly go past. The steps pause, and the door opens slowly to reveal Chaewon’s creamy platinum blonde.
The older girl smile down at Hyejoo fondly, a contrast to the way her head tilts and her brows furrow together. “Why are you in a storage closet?” She asks. Hyejoo shrugs, glancing at the boxes around her before answering,
“I needed a minute.”
The blonde’s smile softens, if possible, and she steps inside, closing the door before sitting at the younger’s side. “You okay?”
Hyejoo hums, “I am now.”
Her hand mimics a spider, crawling over and tapping Chaewon’s side. She looks over, giggling as the spider does a little dance before crawling to the blonde’s hand, lacing their fingers together. She smiles and kisses Hyejoo’s cheek, giggling again when the girl’s skin turns pink.
“Unnie—” she starts, but Chaewon cuts her off with a tut. “Chae,” she corrects, melting at the smile she receives in return.
“How do you do it?”
“Do what?” The blonde asks, and her thumb starts doing the thing again where it draws shapes on her hand.
“How are you so much better at this then I am? The crowds, the talking, all of it?”
Chaewon’s smile falls, but her eyes still retain the soft, warm look that she always has when the two talk. “You’re not bad at it, Joo-ah, you’re just not used to it yet.”
“But I feel like I never will be used to it.”
“Then you won’t.” Hyejoo looks at her in confusion. “I can’t tell you when you’re going to get the hang of it, only you can. The crowds will always be there, and so will the paparazzi, and so will the netizens. But so will I.”
Hyejoo’s shy. If they were standing she would be in the classic schoolboy pose, hands behind her back and toes tapping the ground as if she has a rose behind her back or a “do you like me” note. Her head dips and Chaewon giggles again, light and angelic. She lifts the younger’s head up with a fingertip, moves so suddenly that the other girl startles.
She moves the girl’s arms, opening them up so that she can straddle Hyejoo’s thighs and wrap her arms around her. It’s a good thing that they were home, in comfy clothes, or this would’ve been even more awkward. After a few moments the blonde drags Hyejoo’s arms around her, wrapping them around her waist. The captive (who the other girl was now using as a pillow) stays tense, frozen at the sudden contact. She grabs her wrist, pinching and squeezing just to convince herself that it wasn’t a dream. Her breath catches when Chaewon moves closer, her mouth coming awfully close to her ear.
“I’m sleepy, Hyejoo-ah,” she says, and snuggles into the younger’s body, resting her head in the crook of Hyejoo’s neck. The human pillow unfreezes, a shaky hand coming up to stroke her hair and scratch at the girl’s nape, just in the way she likes. Chaewon hums in approval.
“Then sleep,” she says, and the other girl hums again.
They sit like that for a while, with Hyejoo softly running a hand through the girl’s golden locks. She’s too afraid to close her eyes, not until her companion does first. Just as she thinks Chaewon is asleep, the girl mutters something softly, her lips brushing over Hyejoo’s pulse point.
“I know you, Hyejoo. Don’t think you’re a burden, or that you don’t belong. You do. It wouldn’t be the same without you,” she says.
“Don’t think you’re broken Joo-ah. If you are, I’ll fill up the cracks.”
Hyejoo smiles softly, letting the calming darkness lead her to slumber as Chaewon’s soft snores fill the room.
Sooyoung finds them an hour later, clinging to each other like koalas. Haseul calls just as she finishes taking a picture, and she smiles fondly at her dongsaengs before closing the door.
They can rest a while longer.