Chapter Text
Jihyo is satisfied.
She successfully made a very delicious looking apple pie and is staring at it in all of it's golden glory.
Now all she has to do is let it cool down a little before she calls her younger sister down. As she puts it on the stove top, she looks up out the window and sees a small, flannel-clad figure on a skateboard. Said figure had a mop of short blonde hair and looked so dejected as she slowly skateboarded down the street. It was like watching a lost puppy.
"TZUYU-YA!" Jihyo yells but after waiting a second she got no reply. "Right, probably blasting music."
The brunette takes off her gloves, takes out her phone and opens her messages app.
God Jihyo
some blonde kid just skateboarded down the street crying
Ah-Tzu
...that would be Son Chaeyoung
Tzuyu sighs, takes off her headphones, and rises from her bed.
If Tzuyu wasn't so focused on her friend, she would've thought it was funny that Jihyo didn't recognize Chaeyoung but she proceeds down the stairs and throws on a jacket.
"Which way did she go?" Tzuyu asks loudly.
"Down the street," Jihyo yells, "She's probably by the corner by now."
"Alrighty," Tzuyu sighs and she twists the door knob to the front door.
When she walks down the steps, she goes near the garage and gets her bicycle that's chained to the side of the gutter. She rummages her pockets for the key, unlocks it, and pulls the chains off. She then walks to the street, gets on said bike and makes a nice right out of her drive way, down the street. She decides she should probably pick up speed and increases her peddling. As she peddles she looks around for a mop of blonde hair and as she reaches the corner, she's about to go straight down the street when she sees blonde in the corner of her eye. She immediately hits her breaks and uses her feet to stop, which she probably shouldn't do, but whatever. She turns around and looks down at the little park area of her street's corner and sees Chaeyoung's small figure with her head in her knees in front of a tree.
"Chaengie?" Tzuyu asks, she was close enough to her to see Chaeyoung flinch.
"Hey Tzuyu..." Chaeyoung's hoarse voice comes out muffled as she keeps her head in her knees.
"What's wrong?' Tzuyu asks as she sits down next to her and leans against the tree.
"Mina doesn't mutually want to paint skateboards with me," Chaeyoung mumbles and Tzuyu blinks; did she hear that right?
"What?" Tzuyu asks, trying not to laugh.
"I asked her out...and she rejected me..." Chaeyoung says, her voice cracking.
"Chaengie..." Tzuyu says quietly and she pats her smaller friend's back, even rubbing small circles into her back.
"I really thought she liked me..." Chaeyoung sighs, "Am I destined to fall in love with straight people?"
"...she isn't straight though?" Tzuyu accidentally says out loud and claps her mouth.
"...how do you know that?" Chaeyoung whips her head out of her knees and faces Tzuyu; her face red and shiny from tears.
"I...um...I..." Tzuyu tries to think of a lie but she simply cannot, "...I heard Jihyo talking to someone on the phone about Mina liking that person too but I don't know who she was on the phone with. All I know is that it's a girl and Mina likes them..."
"Oh..." Chaeyoung blinks and sighs before leaning back into the tree and staring up at the leaves, branches, and pockets of sky.
"I'm sorry, Chaengie..." Tzuyu says lowly but Chaeyoung just sighs.
"It's not your fault," Chaeyoung says, "You didn't do anything wrong...but ugh...why does it always end up like this."
"Are you talking about what happened with your confession to Jeongyeon-unnie a year ago?" Tzuyu asks and Chaeyoung nods.
"I just want to find love!" Chaeyoung yells, flails her arms through the air dramatically, and drops them to her sides.
"C'mon, you need a pick me up," Tzuyu stands up and turns to Chaeyoung with her hand out.
"Only if you pick me up," Chaeyoung pouts and Tzuyu sighs for probably the nth time that day.
Tzuyu reaches down, loops her arms underneath Chaeyoung's legs and behind her back. She inhales a deep breath and stands up with the smaller girl in her arms, said girl lets out a small yelp. Tzuyu then gestures for Chaeyoung to pick up her skateboard, and Chaeyoung shakily picks up her skateboard with one hand and loops her arm around Tzuyu's neck.
"Damn, when did you get strong," Chaeyoung asks as Tzuyu walks to her bike, grunting.
"Archery I guess," Tzuyu answers simply as she let's Chaeyoung down onto her feet.
"Damn," Chaeyoung says again as she puts her skateboard on the ground, "Where are we going?"
"Back to my house," Tzuyu says as she mounts her bike, "My sister made apple pie."
"Oh yum," Chaeyoung says as the ride back up the street, "Oh, I passed by your house on the way here, is that how you knew I was this way?"
"Well, I didn't see you...Jihyo-unnie did," Tzuyu says before snorting, "She and I quote, texted me, 'some blonde kid just skateboarded down the street crying.'"
"Ugh...she didn't recognize me?" Chaeyoung asks, slightly embarrassed by how she must've looked earlier.
"Nope, JIhyo's so busy with Student Council and her clubs that I forget to tell her you bleached and dyed your hair blonde," Tzuyu chuckles, "She also has obviously not seen you at all this week so, yeah."
"Ah right, right..." Chaeyoung nods her head as they near her house. It's been awhile since she was at Tzuyu's house. She spent so much time after school, walking Mina home that she kind of just abandoned her best friend. "I'm sorry."
"Eh?" Tzuyu asks as they turn into her driveway, "What for?"
"I kind of left you these past few months," Chaeyoung looks up to Tzuyu as they secure their modes of transportation. "I was so infatuated that I forgot about my best friend."
"It's alright, Chaengie," Tzuyu says with a small smile, "You should just do what you want to do, don't worry about me."
They both make eye contact and something went off within Tzuyu.
It was a strange snap and wave of feelings.
She looked from one of Chaeyoung's eyes to the other and noticed something different about them but she couldn't tell what.
Maybe her eyes are just weird from crying...
"Anyways, let's go inside," Tzuyu turns and they both walk to the front door. Little did she know, Chaeyoung was staring at her the entire time with what can be described as a confused frown.
When they entered Tzuyu's home, they took off their shoes and walked towards the kitchen.
"I'm back and I brought the blonde kid!" Tzuyu says and sits down at the kitchen table with Jihyo, who was having a slice of her apple pie.
"Hey, Chaaeyoungie, sorry I didn't recognize you," Jihyo laughs, "You look nice though."
"Huh-? Oh, it's no big deal, thank you," Chaeyoung blinks and sits down as Jihyo gives them both a slice.
"So why were you crying?" Jihyo asks, "If it's alright for me to ask."
"Rejection is bitter but this pie," Is all Chaeyoung says, "Is delicious."
"Damn, she's edgy," Jihyo gave a lopsided smile, "So...I guess she's not ready to tell?"
"I thought-!" Chaeyoung dramatically stands up, "She was my dove from above but she in the end she was just as they say...a black swan."
"Ah, Mina?" Jihyo asks and Tzuyu nods with a small smile, "I kind of thought you and Tzuyu would end up together at some point though."
"What? Really?" Tzuyu asks as she swallows her last piece of pie.
"Yeah, you two would be cute," Jihyo says casually and takes a second slice of pie.
"What are you saying?" Chaeyoung laughs, almost nervously, "Tzuyu is cute, I'm just...cute sized..."
"Pfft," Tzuyu wheezes and Chaeyoung's face turns a beautiful crimson, "You are cute sized."
Tzuyu looks up to face Chaeyoung and as she calms down, she makes eye contact with her best friend again.
She feels it again.
Not so much a snap but a wave of feelings being released and crashing on the rocks of the coasts within her. They tossed and turned against each other and her insides the longer she looked at Chaeyoung. Whatever it was that was blooming within her, it was new and she wasn't sure how to deal with it so she just inhaled and began to eat a second slice of pie.
Jihyo, on the other hand, was watching the entire thing unfold and watches the two obviously confused Maknaes. What an interesting turn of events.