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"Just start it without me!" Xiaoting's voice is loud from the kitchen , even for Youngeun and company sitting in the TV room. She imagines Mashiro covering her ears and laughing while trying to shield her eardrums from being in the same room. Xiaoting may be quiet much of the time, choosing to smile and listen far more than she speaks in halting Korean, but she sure has lungs when she wants to.
"We're waiting for you!" Yujin shouts back, gently smacking Hikaru's hand away from the remote while Youngeun and the others wince at her volume level. "Do you need help with the kettle?"
There's a pause, then: "I'm fine."
"Ah, that's my cue," Yujin says, a small smile on her face. She turns to Youngeun, who's sitting carefully on the couch, in order to not shake it unnecessarily. "Don't let her start without us. We want all butts in seats before pressing play."
"There are only six seats in this living room to begin with," Youngeun starts, but Yujin is already rolling off of the couch, stepping over Yeseo and Dayeon's pillow pile that they've built on the floor. Youngeun can hear her start to explain the buttons of the electric kettle to Xiaoting (“That one's for quick heat”, and “you want to fill it up to this line”). And Youngeun can't hear Xiaoting say "Thank you, unnie," and she can't see her batting her eyes in gratitude at Yujin, but Youngeun knows it's happening as much as she knows that tomorrow, Yujin will take out her label maker and print Chinese instructions for all their appliances to boot.
Youngeun sighs. Why she is the one to police Hikaru's impulse control, she has no idea, but she gives Hikaru a pointed look anyway. Hikaru pouts but leans back against the firm back of their couch, the one that was so new a month ago but is already starting to show wear from the way Dayeon launches herself onto it after practice and falls asleep immediately, the way Yeseo and Mashiro sometimes take turns perching on the arm when there's too many people squished on the couch, the way Bahiyyih lies on the sofa back and stares at the ceiling late at night, with Youngeun below on the seats, as they talk and talk about nothing, about debut, about lunch, about everything.
And as always, Hikaru is an object at motion, even the piece of furniture most designed for rest in their dorm. She rests against the couch for probably less than a second before taking the opportunity to grab Chaehyun as she walks by the couch, full sheet mask on, and pulls her into her lap.
"Can we like, not jostle the couch?" Youngeun says wearily while Chaehyun just splutters "Hikaru!" while making no effort to untangle herself from the tiny cage of limbs that is Ezaki Hikaru.
"You're going to get essence all over the couch!"
"So? You haven't hugged me today?" Hikaru says. Chaehyun throws a bewildered look at Youngeun, who shrugs.
"I literally held your hand on the ride home from the studio today!" Chaehyun says.
"That's not a hug!" Hikaru reasons, tickling Chaehyun in the side for even making such a suggestion.
Mashiro walks in, plate of steaming dumplings in hand, just in time to hear this, and makes a face. "Do I need to get the spot cleaner again?"
"Not if Hikaru gets off me."
"You're the one on me!"
"You started this!" Chaehyun exclaims, but her face is all smiles. "Let me take my mask off and then I'll cuddle you, you big baby."
It's Hikaru's turn to choke on a dumpling, one that she snatched from Mashiro's plate before it touched the table. She petulantly lets Chaehyun go, almost kicking Yeseo in the head.
"Hey!" Yeseo turns around and frowns in everyone’s general direction. "Think of the floor dwellers!"
Someone has to take the floor every time they all gather in the living room, but Yeseo and Dayeon don't look like they're complaining the way they're snuggled against the base of the couch, eyes on Dayeon's phone. Yeseo turns back to the phone, where Dayeon is toggling with the contrast on one of her selcas.
"Unnie, it's the saturation. Here."
Yeseo takes the phone, and her hands are flurry of activity while she manipulates each setting.
Hikaru catches Youngeun's eyes, zoning out on Yeseo. "Youths, am I right?"
"You're barely one year older," Youngeun says drily.
"You're all youths to me," Mashiro announces. She casts one last look at everything, the dumplings now neatly placed on their coffee table, a stack of napkins next to it with a few pairs of chopsticks, though almost everyone will inevitably grab them with their hands, and gives her head a firm nod. It's so motherly that Youngeun smiles to herself.
"Thank you, mom."
Mashiro smirks at Youngeun. "You're one to talk."
Youngeun blushes, following Mashiro's gaze to where Bahiyyih is sleeping on her thigh. Fair enough.
Hiyyih must be really tired if the chaos of the last few minutes hasn't woken her. Of course she's tired though, they all are. Their dance practices alone are enough to run someone into the ground, even with Dayeon gently and firmly making practice as efficient as possible. Add the vocal training, lessons to brush up her foreign language vocabulary, and normal school, and Youngeun definitely feels it. She feels like every member feels it, and deals in different ways. Chaehyun, by slathering on every possible beauty treatment in the name of self care. Yujin, by declaring mandatory drama nights like this one. Xiaoting, by hiding in the bathroom to call her sister during tiny breaks.
Hiyyih, by falling asleep in Youngeun's lap during said drama night.
Mashiro, to her credit, is the only one who gingerly slides onto the couch next to Youngeun. She reaches over Youngeun to grab the fleece blanket lying behind the couch. “Help me?”
Youngeun grabs the other end, and together they lay the blanket over Hiyyih. She stirs but doesn’t open her eyelids, and Mashiro sinks back on the couch in relief. “I really do feel like a mom right now,” she tells Youngeun, while scooching closer to her and leaning her head on Youngeun’s shoulder. “I’m ready to pass out.”
Youngeun pats Mashiro on the head in response. “Me too.”
“No one is passing out,” Yujin announces as she drags Xiaoting into the room, plopping them both down in the middle of the now-full couch. “We have a piece of culture to educate some people on.”
“Now?” Hikaru asks, hand already on the remote. “But Chaehyun–”
“Is ready!” Chaehyun chirps from the hallway, sliding onto the arm of the couch. She swings her arm around Hikaru and doesn’t complain when Hikaru just pulls her closer, so she’s less sitting on the arm of the couch and more half in Hikaru’s lap. The movement jostles everyone, but at this point, Youngeun is so used to it that it makes her smile.
Except for all the movements and noises that have happened in the past ten minutes, in which Hiyyih has slept through, she finally cracks open one eyelid. “What time is it?” she asks blearily.
“Time to get this cranking ,” Yujin says, nodding at Hikaru. “We can do Japanese subs this time.” She smiles apologetically at Xiaoting.
Hiyyih blinks up at Youngeun and Mashiro while the drama starts up on the screen. “How long did I sleep for?” she whispers.
“Fifteen minutes?” Youngeun guesses. “You can go back to sleep, if you want. Here.” She pats her thigh before wondering if that’s too weird, but Hiyyih just gladly sinks her head back down like it’s her favorite spot in the dorm.
“I want to watch. It’s Yujin unnie’s favorite drama, so it has to be good,” she reasons in a whisper. Everyone’s attention is turned to the screen now, even Yeseo who’s finally put Dayeon’s phone away and has her head resting on Dayeon’s shoulder. Dayeon seems to be serving as a rest for multiple people too, as Chaehyun rests her foot on her free shoulder from the couch. Dayeon is giving her a foot massage through her fuzzy socks with a tiny smile on her face, while Chaehyun herself is kneading Hikaru’s hand in hers. Xiaoting sees the main female lead on screen, and points to Mashiro next to her. “Cute, like you!”
Mashiro blushes and pokes Xiaoting in the side. “No, she’s more like you!”
Everyone’s attention is on the screen except Youngeun, who watches them all instead. She had thought they were an odd bunch at first, thought she’d never said it out loud. Practices had been a little rough around the edges, a little overly polite, with everyone tiptoeing around the others, elbows flying into limbs on accident, language barriers adding an extra layer of worry. And Youngeun, who was always a little more serious than anyone thought upon first meeting her, had laid awake in her dorm bed the first few nights, feeling the starchy new sheets against her skin, unable to fall asleep, mind turning the day's interactions and practices over and over again.
And then, well, nothing outright changed, but more slipped into place. Their formations became tighter, practices somehow went longer not for lack of perfection, but just because everyone wanted to linger, just to hang out. And the laughter in the dorms became louder, much louder to the point where their neighbor had come over one night to wearily request them to quiet down. And Youngeun had finally been able to fall asleep in her not-so-new bed at night.
The thoughts cascade in Youngeun’s mind while everyone laughs at a fresh joke in the drama. Youngeun feels a poke at her thigh.
“Youngeun?” Hiyyih whispers. Her eyes are on the screen the entire time she says it. Youngeun can feel how warm she is through her pajama pants. “You okay?”
Youngeun looks back at the screen, warmed by everyone’s laughter. “Yeah. I’m perfect.”