Chapter Text
It’s Megan that tells Lara about it—barging into the practice room with a shit-eating grin, spreading her arms wide open, and saying, “She’s blonde!”
Sophia follows right behind her, smiling like a proud mom. “Lara, Dani—look at Yoonchae.”
Daniela leaves Grant and Sohey from where they were talking about the solo dance breaks for the possible WILD comeback and tour, and prances over to Lara.
Lara is still stretching when Yoonchae finally walks in, trailing after Sophia with an exasperated expression—and, oh.
Oh.
Lara had known, of course, that Yoonchae was going to dye her hair blonde. That was always the plan of marketing, their stylists, management, and ultimately Yoonchae herself.
“I want a change,” the Korean had bluntly said during the conceptualization of the comeback three months ago.
Lara knew—expected it—but knowing and seeing are two completely different things.
Yoonchae walks in, and Lara’s world sort of tilts on its axis for a solid few seconds. The Korean’s wearing her dark denim jeans low on her waist, a habit she picked up from Dani, her GAP sponsored underwear peaking out, and a cropped black shirt, along with an oversized hoodie.
Nothing different from her usual off-duty wear, but it feels different somehow all of a sudden.
Her bleach blonde hair doesn’t look synthetic, even if it’s an almost bright pale yellow hue. It frames her face in a way that makes her look older somehow, more mature—like Yoonchae had turned eighteen last year, but for some reason, it feels like it just registered in Lara’s head now.
She’s blinking owlishly at the other members, and looks a bit embarrassed, but there’s also a small twitch in her lips.
Lara and her are close enough—they’d really become best friends last year, ever since Yoonchae’s English took on that SoCal accent and she started being more confident with her humor and speaking—close enough that Lara sees that lip twitch and knows what it means.
Yoonchae’s gloating, in that silent understated way she knows how.
“You like it?” The maknae simply asks.
Daniela all but squeals from next to Lara, excitedly clapping her hands. “You look so fucking good!”
Sophia keeps nodding next to the Korean, like some mom or spokesperson. “She does, doesn’t she?”
“I told you, I told you, I told you,” Megan keeps chanting and Lara sort of wants to push her and say shut up, because Lara needs, like a moment.
She needs a moment to process this.
Lara must have been taking more than a few seconds to think it through, because Yoonchae flickers her eyes to her, and asks, “Do you like it?”
And why does that matter all of a sudden? That Lara likes it? Everyone else likes it.
“Yeah,” Lara finds herself saying, her mouth working against her. “Looks great.”
Yoonchae raises an eyebrow, because they both know that’s weirdly understated and relaxed—that Lara would normally be saying something referencing Mean Girls, like that’s fetch or something crazier like you’re hot, I’m hard or whatever joke.
“Okay,” Yoonchae says. “I’m glad you like it.”
“It’s amazing!” Daniela is still saying from next to Lara, coming up to Yoonchae to touch the hair. “So much better than I thought.”
“Genuinely fits her face well, right?” Sophia preens.
Megan has stopped saying I told you so ten times per second, and has started going to all the back-up dancers practicing with them to bring them over to glaze Yoonchae’s new hair too.
Yoonchae doesn’t mind any of it, almost dismissive in the way she says her thank yous, her eyes never leaving Lara.
x
Yoonchae: do you actually like it?
sent 10:05pm
Lara: yes ofc!
sent 10:07pm
Yoonchae: [sent 2 images]
sent 10:08pm
Yoonchae: thinking of styling it like this, what do you think?
sent 10:08pm
Lara considers launching her phone across her living room when she sees the images.
image 1: Yoonchae wearing her blonde hair in a bun with her glasses on, the baby bangs framing her face.
image 2: Yoonchae wearing it in a mid-rise ponytail, facing sideways from the camera, showing off her jawline.
Yoonchae: did you fall asleep?? old
sent 10:20pm
Lara: no no just went to the bathroom
sent 10:21pm
Lara: yeah both look good!!
sent 10:21pm
Yoonchae: just good?
sent 10:23pm
Yoonchae is going to kill her. Lara is going to be the next member leaving KATSEYE.
She knows what the younger girl is doing, knows Yoonchae—who is normally self-assured—is just a girl at the end of the day, and just like any other normal person, is seeking validation.
From Lara.
It felt important somehow.
Lara: looks hot ofc ;)
sent 10:30pm
Yoonchae: good
sent 10:30pm
x
Yoonchae, of course, eventually seeks her out. The fans never believed it—but there was something very “youngest sister” coded about the way the Korean would seek out the other members, knocking on their doors, and sitting on their beds back when they lived together.
Now that they have their own places, Yoonchae would seek them out in their hotel rooms when they were on press tours or had shows.
They were doing press for the WILD documentary, and Lara’s more or less somewhat adjusted to the change.
Sometimes, she still found herself staring at Yoonchae too long, or being hyperaware of whenever she entered a room or was next to her. Most times, Lara’s been dealing with it.
It’s weird—it’s just hair, it really isn’t a big deal anymore because it’s been two weeks, and everyone else has more or less stopped glazing it—but Lara can’t explain why it’s changed things for her.
Her hotel room bell rings, and she figures it’s the food she ordered, or more likely, maybe Megan.
Sometimes Megan did that—just entered her room, stole snacks, and munched away high out of her mind while video calling her close friends in Discord.
Lara just let it happen. One sort of has to treat Meg like a puppy, unaware of its surroundings but happy to be there regardless.
Lara walks up to the door, and checks through the peephole to make sure it isn’t some crazed stalker—and of course.
Wide eyes, some Nike cap, and blonde hair. Yoonchae.
“Let me in,” the Korean says. “I have to pee.”
No please, no hello. Lara rolls her eyes fondly. Ever since Yoonchae’s gotten the hang of English, she’s sort of (and she means this in the best way possible) a different person. That, or she’s always been a menace and funny and blunt, it’s just that she can actually express it now.
“Say the magic word,” Lara says.
She can see Yoonchae pout through the eyehole. “Not funny. Let me in.”
“I’m not joking. What’s the magic word?”
“Fine. Please.”
Lara decides to fuck with her a bit. She’s earned this. Yoonchae’s been making her feel weird with her blonde hair, and sudden confidence, and stupid tall height these days.
“Nope. That’s not the magic word,” Lara says.
“Lara,” Yoonchae replies, clearly annoyed. “I will keep ringing the bell if you don’t let me in.”
Lara doesn’t budge, and Yoonchae takes that as a challenge. She starts incessantly ringing the hotel room bell.
What a bitch—fine.
Fine.
Lara opens the door and crosses her arms. “Rude.”
Yoonchae takes off her hat, and runs a hand through her blonde hair. “You’re rude. I just wanted to come in.”
Lara’s reply dies in her throat because, like, Yoonchae just did that—just, like, ran a hand through her hair and now it’s tousled like how they describe hair in those stupid romance novels, and why is Lara thinking of romance novels right now?
“Are you going to, like, move?” Yoonchae asks in that SoCal accent she picked up from Lara, Karlee, Megan, and just being in LA long enough.
Right. Lara steps aside, and tries to reorient herself as Yoonchae finally enters her hotel room.
“What’s up?” Lara asks.
“Bored,” Yoonchae replies as she takes off her shoes (thank God, they’re both Asian, because sometimes Daniela didn’t do that—kept her shoes on in the house—but then she explained some Spanish belief about it being bad luck to walk around barefoot, so Lara lets her get away with it).
“So, you came here to terrorize me?”
“Yep.”
“Ugh. Here I was, actually having a stress-free day,” Lara teases her.
“You should be happy,” Yoonchae bites back. “Better me than Megan.”
Lara actually laughs at that. Laughs at the fact that it’s Yoonchae saying it, and—when did she get that funny?
Their dynamic’s shifted a lot since last year. More playful now, less sweet. Yoonchae ragebaits her often now, using every ounce of her English fluency to annoy the living daylights out of Lara.
And what’s annoying is the fact that Lara can’t help but bite back, be baited by her.
Normally, she’s immune to it when it’s from Sophia or Megan. The only other person to get under her skin was Manon, but Manon’s been traveling all over the world since her hiatus, and is normally just video calling her these days.
“Let’s scroll on reels,” Yoonchae all but demands, pulling her iPad out.
“You came here. To watch reels?” Lara asks, incredulous as she lays down on the bed next to the younger girl.
“There’s nothing else to do. I don’t have the, what’s the word?” Yoonchae asks her, as if Lara would know.
“The word for what?”
“Like—brain room.”
“Capacity,” Lara supplies. “You don’t have the capacity.”
“Yeah. That. Brain empty,” Yoonchae tells her. “Watch?”
“Fine.” Because Lara’s brain is also fried. She’s exhausted from all the documentary press. Having to say the same ten things ten different ways.
“Come here,” Yoonchae says, patting the spot next to her.
Lara curls up next to the younger girl, automatically cuddling into her, laying her head on Yoonchae’s collarbone, and putting a leg over her legs. Lara’s the group cuddler—she’s touchy, something she says in every interview when they ask the typical “what’s your love language” question.
Usually, Sophia’s her victim, but Yoonchae and her have gotten so close this year that Yoonchae’s been her body pillow every time they’re next to each other.
Yoonchae molds herself to adjust to Lara, wrapping her other arm around Lara to make Lara the small spoon. She props the iPad up with her other hand, and says, “you scroll, Lara.”
And Lara does it. They lay there for around an hour, just laughing at reels. Sometimes, the occasional sad OT6 edit comes on, but Lara scrolls through those as fast as she can so as to not ruin the mood.
It still hurts. Manon is their friend, still, but—yeah. Work. Management. Time. Things like that.
Eventually, Lara feels her eyes get half-lidded and droopy, and then Yoonchae’s grip on the iPad starts to get wobbly, and before she knows it, they’re both asleep.
X
Yoonchae: i left my cap
sent 7:35am
Lara: [rolling eyes emoji]
sent 8:00am
Yoonchae: bring it please
sent 8:02am
Lara: [choking self emoji]
sent 8:02am
Yoonchae: i will do that to you if you don’t bring it
sent 8:04am
Lara pauses for a second, and doesn’t know why that makes her blush all of a sudden. She shakes her head—this is Yoonchae—she’s known her since they were teenagers in training.
Lara: I’m sooo scared [laughing-crying emoji]
sent 8:05am
Yoonchae: I’m serious
sent 8:05am
Lara: kk I’ll bring it [rolling eyes emoji]
sent 8:06am
x
Sophia insists that they all come see her before she goes on hiatus. Something like a group dinner. She wants it to feel like a celebration of her break, not a departure.
Hiatus has sort of become a trauma word for the group ever since—
Yeah, Lara won’t get into it. She misses Manon, they all do. In that sad way you’d miss a sibling that went off for college, that had shiny new friends, and occasionally visited home, but was clearly happier elsewhere.
Lara wishes she could go back, sometimes. To 2024. When things were a bit less complicated.
Sophia texts the group chat: dress up, please and sends them the address to this high-end Italian restaurant near WeHo.
Dani: can pick you up Soph :)
Sophia: thank u!!!
Megatron: I’m driving but I’m not picking anyone up <3 srry
Yoonchae: I want to pick someone up
Right. Because Yoonchae had her license now, had happily chatted on WeVerse to inform the fans that she could finally drive that car she bought when she was seventeen.
Lara remembers that, remembers teaching Yoonchae to drive because Dani drove too fast, and Megan drove too recklessly, and Sophia didn’t drive at all (passenger princess to her core), and Manon wasn’t really around nor had a license.
Maybe she had one now, Lara didn’t really know.
What Lara does know is that she’s too lazy to drive today.
Lara: Chae pick me up
Yoonchae: what’s the magic word
Yoonchae’s like that. She did that with “it’s not that deep” too. Lara taught her that phrase and she’s been overusing it every time someone opens up their feelings.
Lara rolls her eyes fondly at the message.
Lara: I’m driving whatever
Yoonchae: nvm okok I’ll get u
True to her word, Yoonchae’s outside of Lara’s place thirty minutes before they all have to meet Sophia.
“You’re too early. It’s, like, fifteen minutes away,” Lara grumbles as she enters and sits on the passenger seat.
Yoonchae shrugs. “Ungrateful.”
Lara auto-connects to the Bluetooth and starts blasting Ariana’s new petal album.
“Can’t believe Sophia’s not joining the tour,” Lara finds herself saying as they start driving. “The first leg, I mean. It’s weird.”
“She never takes day-offs,” Yoonchae says, nodding.
“You too,” Lara points out. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you miss a show. Seriously.”
“Lucky, I guess.”
Lara chuckles and then makes the mistake of glancing over to Yoonchae at the same time the maknae places a hand on Lara’s thigh.
And okay—Yoonchae is driving with one hand (a habit she learned from Lara and Meg), and has (for some reason) placed a hand on Lara’s thigh, and given it a gentle friendly squeeze.
“It’ll be okay, if you’re worried about Soph,” Yoonchae says.
Right. She’s comforting Lara, except Lara is suddenly not thinking too much about their leader’s impending hiatus anymore. She’s thinking about how big Yoonchae’s hands have gotten, how her palm splays on Lara’s thigh taking up real estate there, and how she looks driving with one hand, making complicated turns, and glancing at the rear view every now and then.