Work Text:
“chu?”
Sooyoung asked, raising an eyebrow with an oblivious expression quickly making its way to her face. Heejin blinked twice, her smile not leaving her mouth and eyes still glued to the older girl, who was now forming a pout with her lips and giving loud kisses to the air.
“It doesn’t sound like that to me…”
Heejin let out a breathy laugh, finding amusing the other girl’s questioning gaze and making her way towards the room’s door. “Well, maybe it doesn’t to you, but for Japanese speakers it sure does”
Sooyoung gave up for the time being, still not finding its logic as she thought the sound of a kiss was far from being somewhat similar to the Japanese onomatopoeia for it. “Oh, and you’re welcome for the free Japanese lesson” Heejin closed the door behind her, laughing softly and leaving Sooyoung alone with her thoughts, who was still chewing on the new information.
Everything had started with a simple conversation between Heejin and her, which somehow had led to talking about how hard it seemed to communicate with international fans sometimes, and then to Heejin’s limited knowledge of the Japanese language. So then the younger girl, in a disinterested gesture, decided to share a bit of what she knew with Sooyoung, not knowing that it would leave the girl in such a pensive state.
For some reason, it didn’t leave Sooyoung’s mind that easily, there was something that made it linger on her thoughts, making it far from being just a new learnt fact she could brag about later. It definitely had to do with the way it sounded…
Chu
Chu
Chuu
Oh, of course.
Sooyoung stopped scratching her chin, finally understanding the source of her confusion. That one syllable word had been residing in her brain for a long time already, and it definitely wasn’t the same thing Heejin had been talking about just a few minutes ago.
Yes, Sooyoung found the coincidence cute. Even if it was still a “u” from matching perfectly, Loona’s tenth member’s stage name sounded exactly the same as the Japanese onomatopoeia for a kiss.
Sooyoung repeated the sound in her head, liking the way it sounded but still not getting why someone could think the sound of lips against skin could be transcribed as “chu”. Then it crossed her mind.
Maybe Chuu knew.
Sooyoung shook her head.
Obviously, it was just a coincidence. It wasn’t even the same (Jiwoo’s stage name had two “u”s). And just because Jiwoo’s stage name was Chuu it didn’t mean that she would know why the Japanese onomatopoeia for a kiss was “chu”. No, she probably hadn’t even thought about it before. Why would she even know any Japanese, in the first place?!
Sooyoung would make sure to yell at Heejin later, she didn’t need this information at all. Now she couldn’t stop thinking about “chu” this, “kiss” that, or about “kissing Chuu”.
Wait.
Warmth spread through Sooyoung’s cheeks, coming to the realization that she was just indulging herself at the thought of the words “Chuu” and “kissing” together.
Well, it was stupid to pretend she hadn’t had considered it already (a billion times, in fact). She let out a shaky breath. Couldn’t she just stop being whipped for Jiwoo for a second?
Sooyoung had been keeping her feelings to herself for too long, and she was definitely not a patient person, as she had noted herself. And any thought of this kind would make her daydream about it for weeks. Oh, she just wanted a break.
But how could she? If Jiwoo was like, the cutest person on Earth? Another thought crossed Sooyoung’s mind then.
Jiwoo was a pretty affectionate person, one of the cuddliest Sooyoung had ever met. Her hand always found its way to intertwine with any of her groupmate’s , and the doses of hugs and kisses the girls were exposed to on a daily basis was a clear indicator that Jiwoo was no stranger to affection. That’s why a bit of kissing wouldn’t be a problem for Jiwoo, right? Sooyoung was sure she would let her, right?
Obviously, Sooyoung meant brief kisses on the cheek, nothing more. How she wished she could actually feel Jiwoo’s lips against her own, though.
Jiwoo was hungry. They had had dinner just an hour ago, but Jiwoo’s stomach growled as if she hadn’t eaten for months. Dragging her feet across her room she quickly made her way to the kitchen, not caring if someone spotted her stealing food from the fridge at those hours.
She saw Sooyoung walking around the living room, and thinking she was just minding her own business, kept walking towards the kitchen.
However, Jiwoo stopped dead in her tracks, raising an eyebrow at the sudden approach of her groupmate, not having seen her coming. Sooyoung didn’t even open her mouth to speak, she just brought her hand up and wrapped it around Jiwoo’s left wrist without a second thought.
“Huh?”
YYXY’s leader’s actions were being just weird. But for some reason, Sooyoung’s expression was rather funny, far from becoming a reason for Jiwoo to push her away (Well, Jiwoo wouldn’t ever do that to Sooyoung), so she stood still, blinking obliviously and waiting for whatever was about to happen.
Sooyoung brought Jiwoo’s arm up, so her hand was right in front of her face. And, not even sparing a glance at Jiwoo, she planted a quick kiss on the back of her hand, making the distinctive sound of lips against skin louder than it should.
Thinking it was another of the older girl’s joke, Jiwoo cracked a smile, and heard Sooyoung mutter something under her breath.
“No, it doesn’t sound like that at all”
That took Jiwoo by surprise. She thought whatever Sooyoung would say next would clear things up, or make the joke up, but it only made things confusing for Jiwoo.
“What?”
The next week was a bit of a mess, at least inside Jiwoo’s head. Sooyoung would keep coming up to her and just kiss her out of the blue, and at first, Jiwoo thought Sooyoung was just trying to be more affectionate, and she appreciated it. However, Jiwoo felt there was something else, she couldn’t quite name it but she just knew there was something weird about it all, to the way Sooyoung didn’t say a word after it, or to how she avoided her eyes too.
Maybe it was just Jiwoo. In the end, it was only her who seemed to be affected by it. And maybe, it was that Jiwoo was just enjoying it way too much.
She didn’t want Sooyoung to stop, though, but she was weak. Her fragile heart just couldn’t take it, and it saddened her because she was finally getting what she wanted. (Well, she still wanted a bit more, she couldn’t help it)
Her thoughts were killing her, so she decided to talk to Sooyoung.
“Sooyoung unnie”
Sooyoung put the almost empty soda can back on the table in front of her and directed her attention to Jiwoo’s avoiding gaze, too engrossed in her own thoughts to notice the nervousness in her voice.
“You are…more cuddly than usual!” Jiwoo said, in her usual bubbly self, probably to hide the real intentions behind her words.
“Am I?
Jiwoo could swear Sooyoung was straightforwardly making fun of her now, and it irritated her to no end. Jiwoo wasn’t an idiot and knew something was up, there was no doubt of it now. But she couldn’t just ask Sooyoung nor admit she didn’t want her to stop…whatever she was doing. Jiwoo blinked twice, getting ahold of herself.
“Uh…yeah” Jiwoo laughed anxiously. “The kisses and stuff”
Sooyoung raised her eyebrows. “Oh”
For a second, Jiwoo saw Sooyoung hesitate. “Yeah, you know…” Sooyoung’s mind was working hard on coming up with a sentence that wouldn’t expose her plan on subtly getting to kiss her super dense crush (maybe not that dense as she had already noticed something was going on). Then, she could finally use the excuse she had been hiding all along. “Heejin told me the Japanese onomatopoeia for a kiss is “chu”, aaand you are Chuu….hahah”
Jiwoo’s expression was impossible to read. “…get it?”
The awkwardness of the silence that followed left Sooyoung cold, almost regretting it all…, almost.
Well, Jiwoo was actually speechless.
“Ah”
Sooyoung was ready to let out a relieved breath, thinking she got to fool Jiwoo.
“Um….so?” Jiwoo paused for a second. “I mean…Sooyoung, that doesn’t make any sense”
Sooyoung gulped. “I-I wanted to see if it really sounded like that”
“Sooyoung”
“Y-Yes?”
“You are a terrible liar” Jiwoo burst into laughter, hitting Sooyoung’s shoulder softly and keeping her hand there, rubbing softly.
“Okay, I wanted to kiss you. What about it?” Sooyoung nagged, her words so low Jiwoo almost couldn’t make them out.
“You could have just said so, Sooyoungie” Jiwoo spoke in a soft voice, forgetting for a moment about her own feelings. “Did you really think I wouldn’t have wanted you to?”
A bitter feeling took over Sooyoung. That wasn’t all of it, and she had been doing all this as a way of letting Jiwoo know how she really felt… and she wanted to clear things up.
“That’s not it, Jiwoo. You really don’t get it, do you?”
Jiwoo blinked once, then twice.
“Jiwoo, I…wanted it to mean something else”
Jiwoo blinked again, this time noticing the older girl’s cheeks turning red.
“Sooyoung”
“Hm?” Sooyoung wasn’t even looking at Jiwoo anymore, knowing she had finally understood. She played with the ends of her shirt, focusing her attention on anything that wasn’t the girl beside her.
“Do you think kisses have a “chu” sound?”
“Huh?” Sooyoung was caught off guard at the sudden question. “Well…, I still think they don’t”
“I think…” Jiwoo started, and for some reason, she was stuttering. “I think it doesn’t if it’s a kiss on the cheek”
“What?”
“I-I’m saying… you should try it on lips” Jiwoo looked up. “I’m sure you would… get that “chu” sound you want”
That’s all Sooyoung needed.